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.

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.

Photographer Jini Dellaccio

Jini Dellacio (left) greets gallery visitor Samantha Bailey at the opening of Dellaccio's one woman exhibit on Nov. 10 at Photo Center NW in Seattle.

I attended the opening of Jini Dellaccio's one woman exhibit at Photo Center NW a few weeks ago.   In her ninth decade and sitting upright in a comfortable walker, the photographer flourished in the sixties. She told me her favorite camera was the Hasselblad and favorite lens, the 200 mm. Dellaccio delighted in taking rockers of the day outside for shoots and her work includes many musicians of the day like Neil Young and The Who. Watching her greet and engage with each admirer was a true pleasure. Dellacio's collection of musician portraits hung at The Crocodile for the last few years and will travel again after this exhibit ends on Dec. 16. A limited edition monograph of her work “Rock & Roll” accompanies this exhibition and is available through the Photo Center.

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.

Fall afternoon at Green Lake

Photo by Ann-Marie Stillion, 2007

Any afternoon, depending on the season the time may change, but any afternoon there is this timeless moment at the edge of Green Lake. Such a remarkable place.

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.

Push Pin Show at PCNW -- through April 17

"On the beach - dog," digital archival print, 2009 by Ann-Marie Stillion

 

 

 

 

One of a series of three prints on exhibit.

Photo Center NW
Push Pin Show
900 12th Ave, Seattle, Washington 98122, (206) 720-7222

With thanks for hollyhocks in fall

For good friends and family,

the inspiration of art and music,

and the grace of God.

For the small moments and big.

For all that we are blessed with.

For challenges which keep us moving forward.

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.

New Work @ Habitude in Ballard Extended

This just in. The exhibit of my work at Habitude will remain in the upstairs space until mid-November and then move back to the main floor until Dec. 10.

Go see it!

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.

Churn :: American tech workers, a photography project

Visit the slideshow here
(Updated 8.16.10) Hiring workers while laying off others is defined as churn in the language of human resources. For tech workers, churn has long been a way of life, a undeniable fact of the global economy. For a few months now I have been photographing individual tech workers, learning their stories and documenting their too often silent journeys.

This photography project is meant to maintain the integrity of the broader tech worker story without compromising the individual job seeker: Each individual is photographed in a way to conceal rather than reveal identity. Anonymous text from photographic subjects will accompany the images.

Interested in participating as a photographic subject for Churn? Please contact me at annmarie@arttrek.com. At this time, the project is focused on the greater Seattle area.

If you or someone you know is laid off, or contracting with an uncertain future then consider participating as a potential photographic subject. If you are not in this geographic area but plan on traveling here and would like to be part of the project, please let me know. As support for the project becomes available, more subjects from other geographic locations will be included.

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

Happy Birthday Mr. Van Gogh

The image above was taken of Vincent Van Gogh when he was 13. Today is his birthday and he was born in 1853. The image itself is from the wikimedia commons, it is in the public domain by U.S. copyright laws.

Below is a short story originally copyrighted, Ann-Marie Stillion, 2004 and later revised as late as 2010. It is a story of my personal relationship to Van Gogh. I often think of him and was reminded the year I wrote this that he foresaw his own celebrity in his writings, that he would be famous and successful long after his death. In 2004 there was a big exhibit of his work at the Seattle Art Museum and his images hung from light poles all over town. Of course, his work can be found throughout the world now. From notebooks to the face of credit cards.

Today, I went looking for an image of him and found this photograph on wikipedia. So much is visible in his young face and so much is different from his own, more mature paintings of himself.


Here is my story of the artist.


The man who wanted to be everywhere
--for Mr. Van Gogh


One day he was allowed outside the asylum. The long cool autumn afternoons in the olive groves added to his gathering madness. He watched intensely as the gray sand swirled into wild waves under his feet like a river escaping its bed. His thoughts began to appear as a vehicle of travel.

Horizons of gold kept him awake, even as the desire for sleep crushed every thought. What appeared erratic to the friends and the medical assistants sent to save him was the effect of the effort it took to align his imagination. He had decided to thrust himself into time.

He knew he must first witness the death of all his cellular life might offer. This almost kept him from his task.

The warmth of another’s touch and that of his own body sliced away for an eternity—this would go first he knew. He stood at the doorway of his dreams without entering and practiced silence.

Eternity had called to him since he first stared up into the alcove of the church in his childhood. Curves of light, glass, incense and the frozen tears of captive saints spoke to him alone he recalled thinking. He marveled at how color and prayer bound him to heaven with so little effort on his part.

His first steps had naturally been religious. But speaking over the heads of sinners deepened his sorrow until it bent in two completely perfect spheres of light. Then he began to paint.

Existing forever is what he meant to do from the first. He painted himself into time for no other reason than he wanted to see what tied each life to the earth. From that long distance it might make sense he told himself.

Now night throws itself over a dark street in Paris and the lovers will never kiss. Strangers glide the uneven cobblestone and never stumble, nor will they meet.  The cobalt black cape of flickering starlight melts into the alchemy of fate and fortune. Someone is coming now and someone will soon leave.

by Ann-Marie Stillion, 5.31.04, revised 8.16.04, 1.26.10. All rights reserved.

For inquiries regarding republishing, please contact the writer annmarie@arttrek.com.

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?