Michigan Avenue

In our last post we talked about being inspired by "The Loop." The above photo directly illustrates exactly why downtown Chicago is inspirational and down right awesome.

This is the kind of Holga photo I would take; my style must be rubbing off on pm. Ever since I discovered that you can take multiple exposures on the same frame, I have a hard time not doing so. Part of this lies in the fact that:

• Film isn't cheap and I want to maximize its use
• It's fun to think about how you position and prepare each individual image while ultimately focusing on the end result
• It's always a mystery of what you're going to get
• Not many people shoot double exposures, so it makes my work different

I suppose I'll let pm take all the credit for this one.

Can you imagine this being your daily view from the office? Having a corner office overlooking all the constant madness and swarms of peeps below. Oh wait... this is his view. He's a lucky son-of-a-gun. I can't say I've ever had a view this good, but then again how many of us do? We're definitely get an enlargement made of this one. Maybe some prints of this will make it to our Etsy site too. (We'll let you know when that happens :))

Inspiration #1

I have been feeling like my creative inspiration has been wanning. I wanted to start thinking about things that inspire me and photographing them.

Here's to Inspiration #1: "The Loop"

Traveling to the loop on its own is inspiration. It's never see the same thing. The surrounds are always changing. People of all shapes, colors and sizes all wearing different patterns, styles and hues. Buildings of varying styles and eras, changing with the daylight and nightlife. Nature changing with the seasons, temperatures and locale in the city.

Once in the loop, it is easy to find inspiration because there is so much going on. My challenge to myself: Once downtown stop and take a moment to reflect on all of this "busyness." It's easy to get wrapped up on where you have to go and the "plan" rather than taking some time to relax and soak it all in.

What are some of your inspirations?

simple inspiration

This week I have found myself being inspired by the little, simple things. Maybe it's because I can feel spring in the air, or that I can see the sunshine pouring through our apartment windows. Well, whatever it is - I like it!

I wanted to start a new weekly creative challenge for myself. **Please do feel free to participate as well. Each week I want to find one thing that inspires me, and to try to work this one thing into some creative project.

I am been itching to take out all of my crafting supplies. Unfortunately, I have found myself far too lazy to recover them from our freezing closet and organize them. Not to mention we need a shelving unit to store everything. Okay, I will no longer make excuses!

This week my inspiration was .... asparagus. Asparagus is one of my absolute favorite vegetables, and I have been delighted that it has been on sale this week. I think its shape, structure, taste and color is fascinating. There are so many ways you can photograph this vegetable and I really enjoyed trying to think "outside of the box" with perspective and lighting.

Anyway, as I was preparing some asparagus this week I started to think of all the shapes, colors and expressions that could be used creatively with this vegetable. Naturally, the drawing above (which is mine, forgive the fact that drawing has never been more forte) captures the cuteness of this vegetable. How it always come in bunches and stays close to the others. You would never find an asparagus alone - it always travels as a team. :) I am hoping to do some more experiments with drawings, photos, colors and sayings. Stay tuned for more on that.

Perhaps it was a strange inspiration, and a strange way to start a challenge. Oh well, it is what it is. Now I'll just have to keep my eyes open for next week's candidate.