Cast Away on Design*Sponge - and a few portrait spots still available!

Yay! My favorite design blog, www.designspongeonline.com, has featured Justine's Cast Away store on the blog today, along with information on the portrait day we're running on Saturday. I still have a few spots left, let me know if you're interested!

Wheatley Allen and his sculptures at Gump's, San Francisco

I come from a family of artists. My mom and her dad, brothers, sister and sister-in-law have all painted, sculpted, done printmaking, etc., throughout their lives. Add in the next generation and you have many more cousins doing the same (plus me, not a painter but I dabbled in many artsy things until finding my niche in photography). So, it's not new that my uncle Wheatley Allen (yes, Wheat!) has work to share - he's been sculpting his whole life, and has done very well just making a living from his art.





He's been commissioned by US presidents, foreign heads of state, and many other important people for his beautiful bronze birds. I'm not sure how it happened, but Wheat started sculptured all birds from a young age (mostly sea birds, but some nearby owls, etc., too), whereas his brother, Peter, sculpted only sea mammals throughout his life. Consequently, we have some beautiful bronze quails and otters in the family!



Anyway, when I found out that Gump's, a big, fancy department store in San Francisco, is now carrying a selection of Wheat's sculptures, I offered to photograph some portraits of Wheat and his birds in Gump's. We had a quick shoot and a lot of fun.



Next I will be photographing his beautiful wife, Rosemary, in her painting studio, and am thinking about paying a visit to the foundry that casts Wheat's birds. Who knows where this project will go next? Maybe I need to get in the studio with my mom, my aunt Suz... any volunteers?





A few shots taken on my vintage Yashica with medium format (120) b/w film:





This is one of Wheat's favorite pieces:





I love the sleek, smoothness of the bronze in these birds, and the rugged whorls of the driftwood he used as a base for others. Amazing!







Gump's didn't have two of my very favorites - I think they might've sold out already - but here they are on Wheat's website. So beautiful!

Owl in a Fence Post

the Quail Family

(I often try to explain how wonderful Quail families with babies are, darting around in the springtime, and I think Wheat has captured it beautifully!)



(One final note - I have a certain nickname amongst the Allen family, and it was given to me as a baby by none other than Uncle Wheat. Anyone want to know what it is? :))

A flower and a kitty

Just a few random shots of cuteness for today, as I edit thousands of images from the past few shoots. I love these beautiful pink blooms. Here's one dead next to one thriving - there's something sweet about that.



And, even sweeter - Gracie playing peek-a-boo!





I still have a few mini portrait sessions available for my Portrait Day at Cast Away, let me know if you'd like me to reserve one!

Walking around my neighborhood with an old 120 camera

I have a vintage (1950s) Yashica camera I like to play with sometimes. It is totally manual - no auto anything, not even a light meter - so I have to slow down, really focus, and guess the lighting as best as I can. Luckily, film is very forgiving, so I am able to make a great exposure most of the time. This is a really fun camera to play with for portraits, weddings, or just meandering around my house, as I did on this day. I walked just down to the farmer's market, thinking about what I'm going to put together for the Sonoma County Artist Award for Emerging Visual Artists, taking some shots for fun.



I had the lab develop the film and print a contact sheet, and when I scanned the images in from the contact sheet, I decided to leave them in these somewhat random diptychs. What do you think?





There is much more in bloom now, even a few weeks after I took these, so I'll have to do another neighborhood walk-shoot one of these days.

Happy Spring and Happy Weekend!

Santa Cruz weekend, part two

A few more shots from our lovely weekend in Santa Cruz and with family last month. Some sunset shots - not a bad place to be! I love California.



My goofball husband:



Lemon tree at dusk:



My mother in law's kitty is adorable, and seems to think she's a tiny queen of her tiny jungle. She was honestly trying to climb this tree.



We had lunch with the cousins both days. We were so spoiled by their fresh, delicious produce and wonderful company!













This little rat was one of two they were pet sitting for a friend. I believe this one was named Licorice - Marshmallow must've surely been all white, n'est-ce pas?



Love this sculptural light fixture:



And love, even more, this table. This is the Allen Family Table (well, that's what I call it), which was acquired by my grandfather in maybe the 60s or 70s. It was a Navy table, and it has matching benches. I think what's Navy about it is that they can all be bolted down and also folded up somehow. Also, the sides of the table are curved upwards just a bit, so the food doesn't slide off if the ship is rocking.



But, mostly I just love and adore it SO much because it reminds me of countless hours spent eating with family (or making gingerbread houses with my grandma in the winter!) at the beach house where my grandparents lived in my childhood. I can wax poetic about this house for hours but I'll just say, I really, really loved that place, and I miss it all of the time. I remember eating the same meals again and again at this exact table. For breakfast, homemade waffles with real butter, real maple syrup, bacon, and fresh squeezed orange juice. For lunch, pb&js for the kids, while the adults ate a salad with little pink shrimp, avocado, and creamy dressing. For dinner, it would be lamb with mint jelly (I didn't eat the lamb, but I DID eat the mint jelly - kinda gross when I think about it now), peas, potatoes. I'm sure that there were many other dinners, but I think I was so little that I would often fall asleep before the real meal happened. I feel like a lot of my childhood memories are fuzzy, but I remember SO much about the beach house, even though I was probably only 9 or 10 when it was sold. What a wonderful place to be a kid.

I'm so glad that Lisa and Rafi and the girls continue to use this funny old table!

Our after lunch walk was about as gorgeous as a walk can be - down to the lighthouse park and cliffy beaches to watch the surfers.









A found note drawn by the girls:



And little Truth in a moment of quiet:



I love Santa Cruz, and can't wait to go back and visit some more!