Today, the photos speak for themselves.  A few selections from a series on signs is posted on my flickr page…come hear:

Save Our City, Sky Stop, Sorry, What’s Real, Turn in Here, Exit, Church and Gay, Please, Do Not, Restoration in Progress

Wendy

Sunday Signs on Flickr

Warhol Museum; Andy's Lion

Spent a fabulous weekend with my fabulous husband who allowed me to do some fabulous editing work. In the photography phases of my life,  subject matter may change like the weather but one thing remains constant; I am shooting or I am editing.  To be editing provides the brain (right or left?) with much needed solace.  Not unlike the creative part of shooting, you are creating an entire new body or project.  Whether it’s a portfolio, a book, a marketing campaign…they all benefit from tight photo editing.

My mind wanders through the myriad of images we have taken at Aerial Innovations or through my own archives.  Once I have seen them several odd amounts of time, I can almost review them from memory. The strong ones remain, the weak ones fall away.  Once back with the thumbnails/contact sheets cut apart, it turns into a big memory game…which ones go together, making secret little matches.  More weak images fall away, several new surprises happen, until it is cohesive and tells a story.

I keep in mind from the beginning the skeleton of this story.  What are the images trying to say, who are they saying it to, can they complete the thought or do they need more help?  All of these componants go into the story.  If you understand, I have been successful.

Driveway with Flags

Friday before Memorial Day..I will pretend it’s Sunday since I am going where there are no connections, except with family, friends & nature.  A few images up of “flags”, the great american-photographer subject.  I start to notice them more and more, then it begins to fade into the backdrop until someone says, “notice the flag?” and I am back to seeing them every where.

Love of country, love of countrymen, love of symbolism in imagery.

Happy Memorial Day 2009.

Wendy

Flags on Flickr

Street View, NYC

The New York City trips I have taken over the past five years consitute an extremely varied body of work. It was as if I could not be limited by subject matter or format, my eye exploring every avenue.  I was fortunate to have 5 (or is it 6) trips from which to choose images.

The editing process for this group has boiled down to , “Can I look at this image another hundred times?”  If I can, it makes the cut.  I have reviewed these images probably more than any other group of work I can think of. The NYC images are comprised of film and digital captures..even going so far as to haul the C220 around (that is probably what gave me some minor shoulder problems..yeah, film is expensive.)

The series currently uploading to flickr are from a batch of about 500-600 quickie prints from the local fotomat..remember those? Ok, it wasn’t fotomat but they are 4×6 prints that you get to anticipate and look forward to picking up, then go through roll by roll in order of how you shot, reliving the trip frame by frame. By now, my batch is crazy messed up with initials on the back of friends favorites..and probably missing a few.  I have only scanned about 1/3 of them, of which this is about another 1/3.  Then add in the digital. Nice to have a project.

Wendy

NYC Images on Flickr

Another Sunday, traveling back to Nashville. Thought I’d check out the iPhone app for WordPress. If it can’t post photos then I’m out. If it does photos, then I posted a photo of Will and Sheila at Ricks Market… Coldest beer in town. It didn’t make the corner store cut… Had a parking lot.

Ilia's Camera

With the advent of digital, sharing photos has evolved from flipping through proof prints and looking at contact sheets to online galleries, web sites, emails, and simply reviewing the back of the camera and easily deleted.   Going back to the archives of images captured on film is an interesting voyage; the beginnings of image series show up that are now captured digitally and series that existed only on their own…hidden in the emulsion and silver which I rarely use today.

I am beginning these weekly posts of images captured on film with an image of photographer Ilia Varcev loading his camera.  Going forward, images posted will be scans of prints or negatives.  This is an an effort to add to the digitally captured images that these series have evolved into.  These are similar trains of thought, begun by investigating with color, black and white, whatever was at hand and now grown with the ease and speed of multiple types of digital capture.  In one series, an image may have been captured by medium format, 35 mm, a sony point and shoot or a Canon 5D.

Enjoy.  All images will link to flickr which will host more images.

From the Series Art & Artists

Three Bars

..in with the New Year. I began this blog earlier in the year to share archives of photos that had been sitting on my hard drive.  I was able to accomplish about 1% of that goal (not a bad start!). I got a little sidetracked as I delved into book publishing (see previous few posts) and keeping our companies’ blog up to date (www.aboveitall.wordpress.com).  So as we head into 2009, I need to reinvigorate or reevaluate my initial goal of creating an archive of personal work.  The plan will be to bring new work as it is created, reveal past work as it goes through my updated workflow and continue to share accomplishments in the commercial world.

It may be difficult to keep this blog as a pure archive as this year holds new challenges and commitments including the desire to continue producing photography books and our company’s upcoming show at the Nashville Airport (coming June 2009).  As our company’s role in the construction market continues to grow, we also face challenges as the construction market has seen a slow down with speculation and hope being the biggest motivator and topic of discussion.

One goal within the realm of our commercial work is to attract more assignments with creative goals and clients. Whether this is within the construction industry or with new clients in creative industries, we are committed to the same mission – high quality custom photography. To attract the opportunities, we have also been very involved this year in establishing an online presence to present our talents.  This includes (but is not limited to) updating our web site, maintianing the blog, getting the stock site more under control, driving traffic to the bookstore and continuing to develop our email and direct marketing.  So, not a lot of time to reminisce on old photos!

I will leave with one new posting, some photos I took today (first of the new year!) while Rodger and I were visiting a renovation project by Global Outreach Development.  It’s an old Middle School in Hermitage where this world-wide and world-helping organization plans to have their “home base”.  They are still in demo phase so the school has many interesting juxtapositions, along with wonderful light and construction imagery.

Cheers to all and Best Wishes in 2009!

Wendy

A photographic book of this magnitude takes more than shooting, editing, layout, marketing and publication.  It takes perspective.  At this point, after the shooting, layout, reviews and final development; the universal question of any additive art is asked…when is it done?

I have worked many hours (mostly while watching football), doing the layout.  And the editing recently has been c-u-t-t-i-n-g….if it doesn’t work….it goes.  The shooting we approximated at probably over 200 hours not including the 5-10 minutes per month of circling the building doing the aerials.  At this point, it’s a matter of layout, pacing, information and the all important safety review.  Then comes the pre-press excitement.

My reason for detailing progress on this project has been guiltless self-promotion, no doubt. But this has been a contagious condition.  The excitement around the Icon was equatable to a Who concert…sold out in 48 hours! the papers said~ Construction began and promotion was fierce.  Move ins began within moments of CO’s being delivered (Certificate of Occupancy for the laypeople).  I am caught up in the hype and hope this final project can be the culmination of the excitement…a retrospective of the building….a building of AN Icon.

What the book will entail in the end is a complete visual documentary on the entire building project as seen from every viewpoint.  How much would it mean to you to see how your home was built?  Some place that so many invested their time, money, labor, sweat, emotion…countless hours, meetings, decisions….all for a broad vision of contemporary living?  If it’s more than listed below…let me know and I will let you know my PO Box where you can send the check….

Book Details:

Anticipated Release: Mid-October

Anticipated Cost: Under $200 per copy

Anticipated Length: Under 200 Pages, 11×14 hard bound

Anticipated to be available for online purchase.

Enjoying the Amenities

Just as no one image can fully capture the depth of the Icon project, no one type of photo can even come close.  Many image themes are proving to be necessary in telling the story;  from tiny construction detail photos of materials, trades & building, carefully crafted interiors and full format 4×5 views to portraits, humour and moments of pride.

One special surprise has been the shots of workers at their trades that wind up looking posed or staged.  The workers move in a carefully choreographed series of steps around a symphony of trades, plans and skills. No one person holds the center stage for long but at times steps up to lead an action. In some of these transitions  a moment was captured showing the tension and symmetry that is almost every trade in construction.

The image below is an example, where the task of setting forms for the next concrete pour moves your eye around the frame and the 3 pairs of men interacting with each other.  No dramatic movement, it is a task to do carefully, yet in this moment you can see the stages from planning to execution to finishing.  You leave the framing knowing the next step of these men and can understand the mark they will leave on every inch of this project.

Placing Column Forms

Between visits to the pool this weekend (yes, at the Icon), I have managed to do production on about two-thirds of the images.  It is Labor Day afterall, I was built for this holiday!  I have posted a few on the flickr site, any feedback would be welcomed.  In addition to production, I jumped in and started layout using the book-production software that is available at Blurb.

The “kids” at the 9th level pool are having the time of their lives.  The greatest gift has been to see the building in almost full swing, residents loving the amenities, making friends and welcoming everyone to this spectacular place.  So far, not a complaint in site (except for normal punch items and the loading bay doors being to short….)

At this stage, we still have about 20 images left to make along with any out-takes and snaps on the side.  I am up to page 60-something of the layout (about 1/4 done, I would say) and I am devising my list of facts to incorporate (if you have any curiosities about the building, now’s your chance to ask!)  We look forward to another tour today and seeing the buffed floor of 1707.

posted by Wendy Whittemore, CoOwner Aerial Innovations of TN, Inc.

Ninth Level Amenities Deck under construction