DC Portrait Photographer

It's hard to come by a good natural raw landscape in the nation's capital. There are parked cars crowding every curb, dirty plastic trash bins tucked up against every historical house's façade, and frankly, just nothing that's visually interesting to me. I started to take a keen interest in photographing people this summer and after taking the artist portraits for the NEXT exhibition, I'm hooked. If you're in the DC area and you want your picture taken, drop me a line here!

Professionally Speaking

Very exciting news, kittens. Guess which Washington D.C. based fine art photographer stumbled into a professional career without really even trying? This girl.

It all started with the Laib Wax Room at The Phillips Collection. I was chosen from a group of staff artists to assist Wolfgang Laib install a bees wax room in the museum. It was an honor to work on the first installation to the permanent collection in over fifty years and with an inspiring artist like Wolfgang Laib. For my own personal use, I started taking photographs of him working and our progress. I'll write and share more about this whole amazing experience later (look forward to an entry complete with photos and an awkward radio interview by yours truly) but until then, hang tight here. Imagine my shocked face when The Curator At Large asked me to take portraits of Wolfgang finishing up the room. I'm a landscape photographer. I love hills covered in clusters of trees, the barren expanse of a sandy beach, even an urban street lined with old brick row houses, but I don't feel comfortable making portraits. Instead of panicking and suggesting someone from the audio and visual department do it instead, I smiled and said sure, focused on my mantra (there is no courage without fear, there is no courage without fear), and took a leap of faith that I could do this. The curator, The Director of Communications, and everyone else loved them. There was even talk of my photos being published in The Wall Street Journal, but at the last minute they went with a shot of the completed space taken a week after it was done. Even so, my photographs are all over the website (one is currently the first thing you see when you log on!), on giant monitors in the atrium of the museum, in e-newsletters, and more.

Excited about my recent success, I told the Director of Marketing at The Corcoran Gallery of Art about the project and my photography. He then asked if I would photograph artists for their NEXT exhibition coming up in April. I spent a day traipsing around the studios below the gallery. Breathing in the familiar scents of turpentine and fixer, watching people paint, sculpt, prepare to perform -- it was wonderful. After making the portraits, submitting the photos and waiting, a week or so later I received PDFs of the Corcoran's newsletter and various collateral materials-- all with my photographs on the cover.

My focus at The Corcoran has shifted from making Powerpoints, researching, and other menial tasks to revamping their public relations photography archive. I'm in charge of taking new photographs of The Corcoran College of Art + Design. In fact, they're extending my internship into the summer. I'm not sure exactly what will be happening, but they said it will be "more exciting" and I can't wait!

You guys. I am so thankful, so humbled, so blessed, so hopeful-- I don't know exactly how to convey what I'm feeling. All of this hard work, the unpaid internships, the hardship of moving across the country with my fingers crossed is starting to really pay off. Furthermore, I'm growing and changing, developing my skills, troubleshooting and recognizing areas in which I need to work in my own photography. It's all I could ask for. Thank you, universe. Thank you.

Of Snowy Evenings Tucked In Bed & Exciting News

I can't even begin to comprehend all that's happened this past week. I have a big exciting secret to keep until things are official and published, but here's one inkling of amazing news -- I HAVE A NEW AMAZING JOB. I'm now working in the membership department at The Phillips Collection. It's a promotion from my old job at the museum and I'm really excited to be making progress and generally movin' on up in life right now. More fantastic, amazing, oh-my-gosh-is-this-real-life things to come!

After all of my antsy nerves and hard work lately, it's really nice to come home and snuggle up in bed under a pile of blankets and my duvet with a cup of tea and watch the snow fall. Usually the short winter days, cold temperatures, and constant cover of gray clouds keeps my spirits down, but these last few months have been wonderful.

Carry Our Love In Cups To Go

Today is my last day off for two weeks. My life in DC has never been busier or (thankfully) as amazing. Not only am I working as an assistant at one museum, I'm a marketing and communications at another gallery, and I'm assisting a certain famous artist install a permanent piece of art in a museum that requires melting over 500 pounds of beeswax. To top it all off, I have a job interview (!) and am expected to attend and work one of the hottest art exhibition openings of the whole year. Did I mention all of this occurs in the next seven days? Yikes.

Pray/cross your fingers/wish upon a star for me, dear kittens. I'm going to need it.

Until I fill you in on all the details, here are two photographs from a recent adventure and my February playlist. Bone chilling winter days, flurries of snow clinging to eyelashes, and endless walks across the city and the Virginia wilderness in the inclement weather are made better by acoustic folk. Also, I'm going to marry Ben Howard. That man sings and it's like an electric amorous shock to the heart, I tell you.

Film Is Not Dead, But My Debit Card Is

Lunch with my friend Bill at Burger, Tap & Shake when I first moved to DC, along the Potomac in early fall, my great Aunt Di, Sam and I trapped indoor during Hurricane Sandy (Also, I swear we're totally both wearing pajama bottoms, I promise), view from the back of the house. All random and wonderful memories captured on my Canon AE-1 from film that I just had developed.

A less than fun memory: hearing the photo tech tell me how much I owed them while checking out at Penn Camera today. I ended up spending an absolutely insane and unsustainable amount of money to have everything developed and scanned. There's only one place in town that does film processing and even after I weaseled my way into be qualified as a student for a discount, it was still expensive. On the way home on the metro, miserably staring at my receipt and the film SLR in my lap, I came to the conclusion that I definitely can't afford to use film on my intern budget right now. On top of it all, these rolls definitely confirmed that my lens is soft and that I need to find a replacement.

... But who are we kidding really, I'm never going to stop using film. I just need to figure out how to make more money. Harvesting spare organs is out, but can't you sell plasma or something? Oh, the things artists do for their craft.

The Promise of Snow and An Old Broken Home

Today the sky is hanging low, a yellow gray brushed with angry blue and purple smoke colored clouds. It's supposed to snow. Tucked in my tiny office, knees drawn up in my little wooden chair, I'm finally editing photos again. I've been so career focused, filling out applications for competitive internships and spending all of my money on pencil skirts and sensible business professional flats and not film, I've neglected my photography.

As the holidays passed, stresses relieved themselves and the new year started out promising. I got an amazing (and ridiculously competitive) internship at a famous art gallery, I assembled a giant insurance claim for the damage sustained to my iMac while shipping it across the country, I started training for new positions at my job and got more hours, friendships with amazing artists in the area bloomed - things clicked into place and as a result, I did too. I dropped off several rolls of film at the camera store to be developed and I started saving my pennies for a new lens. I have several days off this week due to inauguration, and I'm planning on pounding the pavement and exploring the city through a lens. I feel a little more like myself and am accepting who I am at this stage in my life.

I am happy. I am choosing to be happy.

There is no courage without fear.

In the mean time, here are some images from a road trip I took this past summer in Pescadero. I won't lie and say that my aching homesickness for California has totally subsided. I miss taquerias on every corner, the endless sunny days, salty ocean breezes, Spanish rolling around on my tongue. Looking back doesn't hurt so much though, and that's a beautiful thing.

One More Reason To Stay In Bed Monday Morning

For some reason, our family is passionate about giving utilitarian Chanukah gifts. Growing up, I'd light the menorah, eat some latkes and gelt, and then unwrap a pair of socks. It was quite the contrast from the glitz and glamour of the glittery ornament adorned Christmas tree and the wrapped toys nestled under it waiting for Christmas morning. Sort of a holiday spirit buzz kill for my five-year-old self, really. When I got older, I came to appreciate the fact that socks were more important than say, that Power Rangers action figure set I had been daydreaming about (true fact: I still have a crush on the Red Ranger), and jumped on the useful gift bandwagon. Which is why I emailed my step-mother in early October with what things I needed this year. Subject line: Want. Contents? Pictures of giant, fluffy down comforters.

You see, it's friggin' freezing here at night, and the thin bedspread provided by my aunt was not cuttin' the mustard. When a giant box from Dillard's arrived with my name on it, I was so excited that I started opening it while simultaneously trying to navigate the multiple flights of stairs up to my room. All this waiting didn't disappoint. Now I have the warmest, fluffiest bed ever and one more reason to stay in bed Monday morning.

Making my Tacky Timewarp Room feel like home is starting to come along. I bought a little somethin' somethin' to hang on the walls and I'm planning on what to do above my headboard. I'm thinking about DIYing some honeycomb shelves and painting them glossy white. Thoughts?