Bad Wig and Ugly Tracksuit Walk - Happy New Year at Green Lake

Photo by Ann-Marie Stillion, 2012 "Annual Bad Wig and Ugly Tracksuit Walk at Green Lake (left) Cory Gooch (right) Jana Rekosh"

For more photos from this deliciously fun day,  follow me to flickr.

Just watched Portlandia for the first time last night. I would say Seattle can easily give Portland a run for it's money. Shout out to Marlow Harris and Jo David for keeping this new years event alive and well.

Have yourself a Merry little Christmas

Photo by Ann-Marie Stillion, 2011 Fremont Arts Council Solstice celebration "Winter Feast 2011"

Photo by Ann-Marie Stillion, 2011 Fremont Arts Council Solstice celebration "Winter Feast 2011"

You don't have to be a sellout but you do have to learn a few things

Screen grab from Chase Jarvis Live. (Left) Ramit Sethi author of "I Will Teach You to Be Rich" and (Right) Chase Jarvis, photographer

I was introduced to photographer Chase Jarvis more than 6 years ago. He came to an ASMP meeting in Seattle to talk about this new thing called blogging. The small crowd of local photographers listened politely as he talked about the value of sharing as a way of building your reputation and your business using this newfangled mode. Then, Jarvis was a building a reputation as a sports photographer. He had discovered the power of social media long before most knew what was to come. And he wanted us to learn what he had come to understand: the internet can produce amazing results and relationships.

Now he is in demand from numerous companies to endorse their products and his app The Best Camera Is The One That’s With You is an inspiration even if you don't have an Iphone and you can buy a book on the subject if you do. That Jarvis loves to teach is apparent in every aspect of his business. Awards. Projects galore and a fine balance of art and commerce. Hefty stuff.

An email to the photographic community yesterday peeked my interest. On his internet channel, Jarvis was talking to an up and coming financial whiz Ramit Sethi whose book "I Will Teach You to Be Rich" needs little explanation of intent. Jarvis said in the email: "Sethi has single-handedly given me better insight about the business side of art/photography than anyone else in my 15 year career." Strong talk. I wanted to hear some of what had helped propel the photographer to his global rock star status. We all know loads of talent who have never even imagined the reach that the photographer has come to represent.

You can watch the entire webcast with Sethi on Chase Jarvis Live, his internet channel in collaboration with Polaroid and B&H.

Take the time if you are a creative. I would be shocked if any artist couldn't pull something out of this talk that is useful to financial and career success.

As Chase says, "we are all guilty" at some time of falling into the starving artist mode. Maybe we are afraid of being accused of selling out, maybe we sell ourselves short. Maybe we don't take advantage of the most obvious tried and true methods to sell stuff. After all, we all sell stuff no matter how you slice it.

And hats off to Chase Jarvis for his continuing effort to inspire and motivate his fellow professionals. Cynically you might say he is just working the big room of the internet. But face to face with the man it is clear that he deeply wants everyone to discover for themselves at least some of the success he has experienced.

Hair

"Joni's braids" photo by Ann-Marie Stillion, 2011, all rights reserved

Last week I started exploring the small space of my studio for portrait shooting. The lovely Joni and her amazing head of explosive braids dropped by for a few hours of fun. I am pretty excited about the possibilities. Natural light with a simple hot light. Pretty cool.

Occupy Wall Street - the 99% must be heard

From Westlake Park, Seattle Occupy Wall Street Protest, 2011. All rights reserved, Ann-Marie Stillion

 

 

It has been widely reported that Homeland Security has been coordinating the Occupy Wall Street crackdowns. Today I sent the following to  President Obama.

Dear Mr. President,

I have been a strong supporter and writing this pains me. How could you allow the government to play a part and coordinate the police against Occupy protesters? Attacking media, hurting old people, destroying books. Really? The White House should be coordinating conversations not crackdowns. We are your people and using the police against us is wrong.

Please find a way to stop attacking the people who elected you.

Thank you.

Occupy Seattle 10.08.11

Photograph by Ann-Marie Stillion. All rights reserved. 2011

If anyone at the Occupy Seattle event on Oct. 8, 2011 in Westlake Plaza knew what was going on, it was this little marcher. Headed up the street with hundreds of others of all ages and backgrounds, it's hard to imagine a sterner or more purposeful look on a child. I couldn't stop to talk as people flooded over the corner of Pike and 4th headed out for the beginning of the march. But when I looked at the shots later I wondered what this little girl would say now and in the future. I hope she sees this someday.

For more images of Occupy Seattle from that day take a look at this slideshow. The images render a difficult truth for some politicians and business groups alike: this group of people is purely grassroots, on a message of their own, as well as educated and smart enough to keep on bringing it. If you are in Seattle, stop by and lend a hand. You can get started at the Occupy Seattle website.

Happy Fourth of July

"Georgetown, Seattle, an artists' trailer park, 2011" by Ann-Marie Stillion.

Longshot 2011 - get going

 

Lumber, a dog from West Seattle, makes a plea for donations. Visitors are encouraged to go to http://pcnw.org/l... and pledge - a few dollars. Lumber's friend, photographer Ann-Marie will be shooting on the Longshot. You can make a flat donation or pledge an amount for each hour she shoots. It's a 24-hour shoot, so who knows.

churn 2011

"Subject two," by photographer Ann-Marie Stillion, 2010 from the ongoing project, churn, about American technology

For more about churn, visit my web site.

Visual abstraction

"Winter, 2010" @Ann-Marie Stillion, all rights reserved, 2011

Abstraction in visual art hovers somewhere in darkness these days. Often images are called abstraction when they are merely not well understood or don't seem to be a picture of something. I offer the idea of abstraction as being an image which brings the viewer to the same place as the artist. An abstract brings our busy minds to a pause and we breath in and out more slowly. --ams

Rally to Restore Sanity--Seattle

(Photo by Ann-Marie Stillion/arttrek.com, 10-30-10, "Laugh More")

I met up with excellent editor and beautiful friend Sherri Schultz at the Rally to Restore Sanity in Seattle. When we got to Westlake the plaza was filled (more than 6,000 by the rally organizers count) and the mood was high. We laughed while standing for sanity and articulate and thoughtful debate. When the rally broke up at noon as the rain poured down, the "protesters" scattered and one lone sign remained leaning against a retail shop, a lost balloon bobbed nearby. The sign called out "Laugh More" and the yellow balloon's message, "Enough," fell with a whisper to cold blue pavement.

Lots of other signs made me laugh that day like "Hitler is Hitler" but "Laugh More" pretty much sums it up.

Loving Mr. Picasso

Visited the Picasso exhibit at SAM this weekend. I joined my friend's Don and Brenda Gray, up from Oregon.

I wasn't prepared to be struck so deeply by the power of his work. Never a fan or follower of the great Spaniard, I became one that day. I feel every artist must see this work, which is a collection of his own making. The quantity and collection stimulated dreams and new visions. Stumbling out the museum door at dusk I felt unwilling to look at anything for a time.

This exhibit is from the museum of his work in Paris. Above is a drawing from the room of sculpture. The day I visited a group of American girls were exploring the artist's work through drawing it. My drawing reflects one of those moments. The great monstrous women's heads were poised to devour us, at least so it seemed.

Asian Guys' Hair

From "Asian Guys' Hair" by photographer Ann-Marie Stillion -- a series of images shot in impromptu street studios in Seattle's Chinatown in 2006-07.

Hard to imagine a month has gone by since I posted here - whoops! Playing catch-up since hanging the show at Habitude. Have been working on building out my website with some of my earlier projects. Am trying for an overview rather than just being current. In the newest version of arttrek.com I including the series, "Asian Guys' Hair," and am thinking of going back to Chinatown for another day or two, setting up the street studio. Looking at these images today proved inspiring. If you are interested in being a subject, send an email.

New Work @ Habitude in Ballard

You are invited to the artist reception for
ANN-MARIE STILLION "New Work"
on Saturday, Sept. 11, 2010 from 6-9 p.m.
at Habitude Salon and Spa and Gallery, 2801 NW Market Street, Seattle.
Call 206.782.2898 for more information or visit www.habitude.com.

The exhibit runs Sept. 11 - Nov. 1o, 2010

The reception is also part of the Ballard Art Walk which is
held second Saturdays throughout the year.

Join us!

To find out more about the artist Ann-Marie Stillion, 

please visit www.arttrek.com or call 206-388-3363 --

currently booking portrait sessions, 

accepting commissions and seeking representation.

Shooting for a world record in Sammamish!

(Photo above by Anne Lindsay) On Saturday, July 17, 2010, the first annual "Largest gathering of people with natural red hair" will happen in Sammamish, Washington at the Skyline High School Stadium (1122 228th Avenue Southeast, Sammamish, Washington) - right across the street from Sammamish City Hall.

A fine artist, portrait photographer and chronicler of redheads, Anne Lindsay has decided to go for the title of largest gathering of redheads for the Guinness Book of World Records.

I am one of the lucky photographers to join her team for this event. And today Anne told me it's not too late to sign up and be in the shot if you're a natural redhead: just come early and get in line. Gates open at 2 p.m. and the record winning shot is scheduled for 3 p.m. Or if you're not a redhead and want to cheer on the wild ginger madness there is a $5 admission fee. Be there or be square.--ams

Homer Simpson at LONGSHOT, 2010

The print above sold as part of LONGSHOT, a fundraiser for Photo Center Northwest this year. "Isolation Chamber" was a room set for a Popular Photography seminar at the Seattle Hilton. One of the instructors was using the image as a screen saver.

The silent cartoon character "listening" to his portable audio device and dancing to an empty room resonated with the invisible order that technology promises with (hardly) any prompting from human onlookers.

But if Tom Robbins is right and everything is truly alive, then Homer was happily dancing and the chairs were keenly attentive. I enjoyed making the image and the print. What has become an annual event was very successful this year and the exhibit of results from shooters around the world made for a wonderful exhibit of time and space.--ams

Beautiful Sue

I met Sue Doupe over a year ago. Full of energy and a great photographer with an established photography business in family portraits and headshots for actors & business in Seattle, her beauty inspires great photography. Also a skilled actor who has taught and performed, her natural sense of drama comes out in front of the camera as well as behind it.

Of late, Sue and Lisa Ahlberg and I started getting go together for fun with our cameras for a few hours a week somewhere in the Seattle. Business, children and jobs mean we can not do it for long but actually good things don't have to last long to be meaningful.

I took this picture with the Mamiya 330s I got from another photographer, Neil Lukas. It feels both heavy and light, complex and simple. Somehow I am so comfortable and excited about it in ways that the digital doesn't always provide for me these days. There doesn't seem to be a way to easily use the flash for now so I am concentrating on natural light.

I am planning on using the medium format almost exclusively for an upcoming project, facelessness, which will talk about displaced American tech workers and their foreign counterparts caught up in the current global struggle for jobs. Not an easy subject but an important human one which impacts so many aspects of life now: can we live globally and locally? Can we leave these most personal decisions to the massive impersonal corporate decision makers who often choose profit over balanced living? Can the marketplace really work for individuals to help us mind the heart and soul we need to survive once the bills are paid?

Eva Washington: sweet are the uses of adversity, a video installation

This just in from the pr office at King County's wonderful art institution, 4Culture. Pretty cool to have won a national competition supported by the National Endowment for the Arts. I just talked to Eva today and she will be there in person.

Everyone is invited to the opening reception this Thursday, Feb. 4 from 6-8 p.m. There's a lot going on at these receptions as several artists are being featured. The electronic gallery actually faces the street towards Prefontaine Place. I will be hanging out inside and out, weather pretty much being the determining factor.

Gallery4Culture at 101 Prefontaine Pl S, Seattle WA 98104 at the corner of Third and Prefontaine. IF you are driving, remember it is ART WALK too, so prepare to scout for parking. I would park down by the piers and walk up. Or get there early and eat, drink and be merry.




NEW ON E4C (4CULTURE’S ELECTRONIC STOREFRONT GALLERY)

David Kwan: SOLARIS (Quartet Version)

Ann-Marie Stillion: Eva Washington: sweet are the uses of adversity


(Seattle, WA) – Dynamic new media works by David Kwan and Ann-Marie Stillion will be added to e4c’s rotation this February:

David Kwan

Kwan has adapted his work SOLARIS, a series of sound-generated video projections for e4c. Kwan composes soundscapes from live radio transmissions, related to the electromagnetic waves that form the basis for the ordering of matter in space and that continue to permeate the environment. These soundscapes are fed through a customized video imaging system to reveal their inherent patterning.


Artist Biography: Kwan is a media artist living and working in the San Francisco Bay Area. He has presented work nationally and internationally including Berkeley Art Museum, Pacific Film Archive, Kala Art Institute, Headlands Center for the Arts, Artist Television Access, The Lab, and Mission 17 in San Francisco; Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions (LACE); Jack Straw New Media Gallery in Seattle; Akademie Schloss Solitude in Stuttgart; and Baracke am Deustchen Theater in Berlin. He holds a BA in Art Practice from UC Berkeley and an MFA in Electronic Music from Mills College, where he also taught in art, music and intermedia. www.davidkwan.net



Ann-Marie Stillion

Ann-Marie Stillion will present Eva Washington: sweet are the uses of adversity, a project that combines photographs, film and audio to examine and share the story of Eva Washington, a 76-year-old woman who lives alone on the streets of Seattle. Each monitor of e4c will portray different visual aspects of Washington’s life. Stillion writes, “Eva’s personal story is the story of millions of people around the world who find themselves living without shelter.”


Artist Biography: Currently residing in Seattle, Stillion graduated with a BFA in comparative literature from Northern Arizona University and studied art at the Academy of Art College, California College of Arts and Crafts, Laney College and others. Her photographic and design work has been published in national magazines, books, websites and corporate publications. www.arttrek.com


New work by David Kwan and Ann-Marie Stillion join the ongoing rotation of work on e4c, currently featuring pieces by: Sabine Gruffat, Noah Klersfeld Laurel Beckman, Ann Oren, Tess Martin, Heather Dew Oaksen, Tina Aufiero, Stephen Hilyard, Perry Bard and Bennett Morris.


About e4c

E4c consists of four, large LCD monitors adjacent to Gallery4Culture at 101 Prefontaine Pl S, Seattle WA 98104 at the corner of Third and Prefontaine. e4c exhibits can be viewed from the street 6:00 am – 10:00 pm, daily. Eleven artists/artist teams were chosen for the inaugural year of e4c (2008/2009) from a competitive pool of applicants. Works will be added to the rotation throughout the year. Support is provided by the National Endowment for the Arts.

Merry Christmas from Seattle

The carousel is a fixture in Westlake Plaza in downtown Seattle. Sweet memories of photographing children and families with Lisa Ahlberg, watching them rushing to get their photos completed at Nordstrom. Cold and crisp. Wishing everybody infinite peace and joy. Get ready to blast off in the new decade.--ams

Photographing People with Rosanne Olson

(Photo above by Rosanne Olson, www.rosanneolson.com)

The gifted Seattle photographer, Rosanne Olson, who also occasionally shares her talent and knowledge with the community at Photo Center NW has offered to put together an impromptu workshop. Preceding the upcoming Holiday Portrait fundraiser on Dec. 11 & 12 at which pros and students will produce portraits for the guests to take home on a cd, the workshop will cover the all important details of working with portrait subjects:

"How do you work with people to get them to relax and arrive at the best possible portrait? It is an art that takes skill, confidence and experience. In this three-hour workshop, Rosanne Olson will share tips and demonstrate how to work with subjects, including couples, children and groups."

Scheduled the week before the Holiday Portrait fundraiser at Photo Center NW, volunteers and anyone looking for a quick look at shooting great portraits will have the chance to experience the insight of a truly great portrait photographer. Rosanne Olson's three hour workshop begins at 10 a.m. on Saturday, Dec. 5.

Call 206-720-7222 or visit www.pcnw.org to sign up for Photographing People with Rosanne.

Update: The cost of the workshop is $50. The center agreed to waive the cancellation fees for this workshop since volunteers for the Holiday Portrait Event may be attending.

Note: In case you are wondering, I am on the volunteer committee for the Holiday Fundraiser at Photo Center. So feel free to shoot me an email or post them here if you have questions and I will do my best to answer at annmarie@arttrek.com