I told you a little bit about my new photographic series last week.
I started working on the series yesterday and wanted to share this image with you.
My Great Aunt Frances Reid owned her home in Brentwood from 1968-2010 (42 years) and since she passed away our family has to sell her home.
In a perfect world I would be able to twirl a magic wand and have the home stay exactly like it is forever -- a museum of sorts. But since that is not possible I thought it was appropriate that I photograph the home. Not so much the rooms but the little things.
My Aunt Francie had a wonderful book collection so I thought it was important to photograph it.
My dear friend Ron Marasco came over yesterday and we went through all of her theatre books. Ron helped me tremendously figure out what was a rare treasure and what was as he calls it "readily available." I could not have done it without him.
In going through the books yesterday we found a book that belonged to choreographer Jerome Robbins (dated 1946), a book signed by playwright Moss Hart given to Francie's husband actor Philip Bourneuf and a script with a note from film/theatre director Elia Kazan.
I cannot wait to share more of this project with you.
There was a time in my life when I watched a lot of network television. This was before HBO, F/X and Showtime got into the series television world.
Two of my favorite shows from the early 1990's were "thirtysomething" and "Northern Exposure."
After a ten year acting hiatus Richard Cummings, Jr., who I was already familiar with from recurring roles on both of those series, asked me to shoot his headshots.
I was very honored that he asked me and we had a great time shooting these recently one Saturday afternoon.
I went to junior high school and high school with Mark Walter and Robin Zander. Mark and Robin are now married and Robin brought Aidan to me recently for new headshots.
I've never had the experience until now of two people I knew as a kid having a child themselves.
It's like seeing Robin and Mark as I remember them as kids all mixed into one kid -- Aidan!!
I found this great new company called RedBubble where you can purchase any of my images as a greeting card, canvas print, matted print or framed/matted print. Talk about making my job easy.
I shoot, I upload and they do the rest. Most of the images I have on the site are my floral images but I'm sure as time progresses my repertoire on RedBubble will expand.
In Honor of Valentine's Day - A Special Kolo Essex Journal
As many of you know I'm a big fan of Kolo products. I especially love using their Essex journals.
In honor of Valentine's Day I created a special Essex journal.
The journal includes images from an engagement session I did with Heidi Jo and Matthew along with some vintage Valentine's Day postcards, some of my Through the Viewfinder (TTV) images and a quote from George Sand.
This journal can be given to the couple and they can add mementos that have special meaning to them (movie tickets, a pressed flower, a book of matches, photos from a wonderful day spent together) along with notes to each other.
Rayko's 3rd Annual International Juried Plastic Camera Show
I am honored to be a part of the RayKo 3rd International Juried Plastic Camera Show in San Francisco, California. The opening reception is February 26 and the show will be up until April 17.
Click here for more information about the RayKo Photo Center and the exhibition.
Special thank you to Rachelle Chuang for helping to make this happen. I'm so happy to have met her last year through the Museum. Click here to view the Envelopments blog entry.
Envelopments and my photography together? You just can't beat it.
Most of the time I separate my professional and personal life but sometimes the lines blur and the death of my Great Aunt Frances Reid is one of those times.
The world knew her as Alice Horton on DAYS OF OUR LIVES but to me she was Aunt Francie. I could go on and on with ridiculously funny stories of things she would say to us when we were kids and someday I'll share some of those stories.
In the television world she was the quintessential grandmother and in real life she was anything but. Funny how what's real and what's on television can be so different.
I have always been the archivist and historian in my family. I'm not sure if that has to do with my love of photography or just that I am an incredibly nostalgic person by nature.
This is one of my favorite early photographs of Francie. I have no idea who took the photograph or what year it was.
As things pop in my head or photographs of her come out of boxes in my house there will be more blog entries.
I was just informed that I have received, for the second year in a row, the WeddingWire 2010 Bride's Choice Awards for Wedding Photography.
The annual Bride's Choice Awards recognizes and celebrates excellence in quality and service within the wedding industry, as determined by recent reviews and extensive surveys from over 500,000 newlyweds.
April Rocha Photography is among the top five percent of all vendors in the WeddingWire community.
