Erins Birthday!!!

Today is Erin's Birthday!

and So I wanted to write a blog about her!

Erin and I met over three years ago and even though our styles of art are very similar our personalities are very different.  I always admire Erin and her honesty and authenticity.  Erin is outspoken and will have no problem telling you she is wierded out by you, I know this because she tells me this all the time. She also has one of the biggest hearts of anyone I know. When we sat down and made out our business plan we wanted to  make a goal to shoot something  for free every month.  It was our way of helping where we could, and It has been Erin finding places to volunteer and  volunteering our work to benefits and coming up with ideas on how we can help people who need it. Erin makes me laugh about more random things than anyone else I know. I can always count on her to make a joke out of an awkward experience and it somehow makes the whole thing completely worth it just for the laugh. One time we were at a bar and she was helping me shoot a project I was working on for one of my classes and a woman came up out of nowhere and licked Erin's face, I thought for sure she was going to be upset about it because I would be if my personal space was invaded by a drunk woman but instead she had me cracking up about how she almost grabbed the woman's face and licked her back. This is why I love her.  Erin is also really gracious and self-less, I am in my last year at Columbia and Erin graduated from there as well and knows the demands both physically and mentally- she has been there to help me shoot projects, loan me lenses, offer encouragement, and bear a lot of the load of our work while I am in class, and I literally would have broken down in tears  weekly this semester if it wasn't for Erin being the voice of reason and offering advice.  Erin finds something good in everyone we photograph and after every session we shoot she is the first person to say "that girl had such beautiful eyes" or "you could tell how much he loves her" I love that Erin makes it a point to find the good in people, I think thats what makes her such a great photographer.

She is a great friend to those around her and I have noticed often that she will drop what she is doing to be there for the people in her life, She is a great wife always telling me how amazing she thinks Mickey is, even in his hooters hot pants. She is a strong, funny, beautiful, and interesting woman who I consider myself lucky to call a friend, let alone a buisness partner, but most of all she is a friggen Hoot!
So Happy Birthday to Erin, we love you!

feel free to leave comments on what you love about Erin or a funny Memory you have of her.

That one time sue Regis showed us how to sculpt glass...

As photographers Erin and I get to do a lot of fun thing; trespass, throw snow at people, eat delicious meals at receptions, and be a part of some truly amazing peoples'  inspiring and beautiful moments. We will never complain about our job. Unless you schedule your  session the hottest day of the year and we go home smelling like if a foot could fart but even then we love our jobs we just complain about how bad we smell. (true story)

This week we got to meet the  ridiculously talented Sue Regis who is a Glass sculptor in Joliet, and she makes everything from Memorial pieces to encase a loved one's remains to glass vaginas for the "Vagina Monologues." The thing that Erin and I were completely in awe of was the fact that Sue is primarily self taught.  She said she started working with Glass when she was 18. The work is done through the use of a table-mounted torch with specific oxygen and propane mixtures for the differing techniques. Most pieces are created using Pyrex clear and colored rods finished with Pyrex frit (crushed glass).

This woman was so awesome and is not only incredibly interesting but was also kind and brave enough to let us into her studio to photograph her working. She even let me try my hand at glass sculpting. I am ashamed to admit I burned myself within the first 5 seconds and almost made her regret asking me If I wanted to give it a shot, but she was a patient teacher and encouraged me to keep going despite Erin laughing at me.

Here are our photos from our Adventures in Sue's studio and I am really lame and put them to Blondie's "heart of glass" Dont Judge me.



the pendant I made! I was pretty excited about it.



to view Sue's work go to:

http://www.sueregisglassart.com/

or

The Facebook page.

that one time we launched our website.

Yesterday we did something we have been bragging for months about!

we had the launch of our Ryan _Project designed website!

for months we were telling clients about how spectacular our website designer is and how he has weekly pillow fights with Oprah.

We built him up quite a bit and he lived up to the hype and delivered.

He also makes spaghetti as well as he makes websites so Erin and I had the best night ever.

We have a lot of plans for making the website better and more "us" but we wanted something that fit us for the time being,  until we could put all the work into making a site that had all the bells and whistles we wanted. It will be really awesome to be able to send cleints to one place though now instead of having to send them to 5 different places to see our work.  between the beginning stages of our website being up and running, the delicious spaghetti and red velvet cake we would say the night was a success.

"we're a hoot!"

Many, many, thanks to Ryan for all of his hard work, creativity, kindness, dependability, hospitality by making us dinner and a website, and patience in dealing with two girls who have no idea how the internet works. We can't thank you enough, and we can't be more excited.

to see the new website go to
http://www.fstoppoetry.com/

Creativity.

In art it seems like one of those things you are “just born with.” I have come to realize that not everyone gets handed wild imaginations and that for the rest of us that aren’t struck with 8 brilliant ideas before breakfast, we can painstakingly learn the rules so we can figure out the best ways to break them.

I read somewhere that there is nothing new under the sun. And I believe this, everything we do as artists have already been done, but I love that Picasso said “bad artist copy, Good artists steal.”

I remember growing up I would get a hello kitty lunch box and then my annoying next door neighbor Bethany would do the same.  Or I would order a Chicken McNugget happy mean with a High C for lunch and then Bethany would do the same. This is infuriating even as an 8 year old.

Now that I am 24 it still feels just as infuriating and just as infantile. Not that what I do is too terribly creative, I envy the seemingly effortless creativity of a lot of my peers, but when you scrape to find a way of doing things and a visual voice and then the next week someone who has seen your work does the same- It can be awfully discouraging and even more annoying.

Erin and I have had many conversations about this. About branding, copying, stealing and honoring.

Plagiarism is so easy these days,

Why take the time to go on a journey of self discovery and struggle through writing a book that moves people when you can just regurgitate someone elses cool blog.

Why take the time to figure out who you are and what you think and how to convey that in your work when you can just compose your image the same way as someone else?

To quote cursive- art is hard.

And it’s a slippery slope that every artist faces: when to borrow from an inspiration and when to just rip it off completely.

I say for all of us artists out there lets do some soul searching. Lets ask why with our work.

Why do we make the work we do?

Why do we care about it?

Why is it important?

Why is this representational of us and of the subject and of the concept we are trying to convey.

Why do I have to make this work

Why should any one else care.

I bet if we all started looking at our work that way we would already be well on our way to being better artists and using visual language in our own words instead of eating someone elses.

That one time we were artist of the month...

So Erin and I were chosen to be artist of the month for Wassup magazine.

which is a local magazine that can be found in bars and restaurants.

we even got to do an interview. We felt pretty famous.

so here is our interview and some photos of this month's issue with us in it...

How and when did you get started in photography?

It was different for both of us. Erin was always around photography because she has family members who are photographers but she didn't take a formal class for it until it was her major in college. Alicia had a canon ae1 that her dad gave her and took photo classes in high school and was hooked the first time she saw a print in the developer.

What was the most interesting photo shoot you have ever done?

We have some really fun photo shoots as far shooting a bride in the snow, and the hot hunky hairdressers but we think every wedding is interesting because everyone has a different love story and we never stop getting surprised by our clients.

What inspires you?

Alicia says Jack white. Erin says Hanson. but outside of those two probably Mary Ellen Mark for her documentary work, Erin and I are interested in real moments. It's hard to tell what is real and what is fabricated in Photoshop these days and we are really big believers that Reality is extraordinary and that the people we photograph  are interesting on their own without us having to add to them. We look for those moments when we photograph, where people are themselves and we aren't posing them or making them into what we want.

If you had to pick one insect to eat, what would it be? we say a grub. we hear they are slimy yet satisfying

What is the most interesting place that you have photographed? Erin got to photograph outside on the second platform of the sears (willis) tower. Alicia went to Russia and photographed in an orphanage.

What cartoon character best describes your personality? Alicia's would be scat from Ice age because she is a hot mess most of the time and Erin has to wrangle her.  And Erin would be Manny from Ice age because she is the ring leader and she makes me be the poop checker.

If you were a rapper, what would you call yourself? Erin would be E-diddy because I tease her about going by so many names. She has her Photography name- Erin Lynn, Her maiden name and her married name and I never know which one she is going to use.

 

What is the worst thing you have ever eaten or drank? Alicia says an Irish car bomb. I instantly puked. Erin says sushi- but she's insane.

What was the worst experience you had during a photo shoot? Erin got into a car accident on the way to a reception one time- she hit the videographer. That kind of sucked because she had to sit there and eat dinner with him afterwards. Awkward!

Is there any advice you would like to give to a new photographer starting out?

shoot all of the time. work as a freelance for a lot of different companies so you get a feel for a lot of different styles. And take classes. In the digital age it's easy to think your photos are amazing because you have 25 friends on face book commenting and saying they like it, but  getting constructive criticism from people who are in the field and know their stuff is the only way you will grow as a photographer and the only way you will be challenged to see your work critically  .

If you could have any pet in the world, what would it be? Alicia wants a Llama and Erin has the best dog in the world, Wrigley, She's a bullmation and she's so ugly she's cute.

If you could photograph any person, dead or alive, who would it be? Alicia says Dolly Parton. Its a actually a lifelong goal of mine. Erin says Marilyn Monroe, how could you not want to photograph her? she's just got everything you could want in a model. 

How do you feel about today’s editing programs? I think they are tools and it depends on how you use them. I think they should be used to enhance what you already have not make up for what you don't have in an image. If you can't have a great image out of camera you need to look at why you have so much post-processing. Photoshop is a whole other art form and we respect it for that but Photoshop isn't photography. That's why there are graphic design artists. Erin and I are interested in the photograph itself, not the actions you can run over them.

If you had to add an extra limb to your body what would it be and where? Erin would have an extra arm so she could hold another camera, Alicia wants another mouth so she can eat more.

If you were a fortune cookie, what would you say? we would say "Life is like photography, you develop from the negatives."

If you were in a circus, what would be your staring act? Alicia would tightrope walk, because she has freakishly awesome Balance. Erin would be the Lion tamer because she always takes a situation that could potentially be disastrous and makes something interesting happen.

 

that one time we got our boudior album!

So Erin and I have been in the process of making two sample albums to test out the paper options, different album companies and all of that good stuff and we just got our boudoir album back from GraphiStudios which is an Italian company.
We are really pleased with the album but the costumer service and promptness left much to be desired so we are trying a few more companies to see which one fits us best.
however  we absolutely love the metal cover and how large the book is.
its a 16x16 book. its a coffee table album the size of your coffee table!
like I said we absolutely love the books and are looking forward to getting our wedding album in to see the differences and being able to offer our clients great albums to hold their wedding photos for years to come

Christmas Boudoir session

I love being a girl. I love being soft and smelling pretty and wearing makeup and being able to change my clothes 5 times before I walk out the door. I love pink fuzzy slippers and lace undies and painting my nails. That is why I love photographing boudoir sessions, because it celebrates femininity, being girly and sexy and soft and curvy and a confident and being an individual. There is nothing sexier than a girl who is confident in her own body. and with the media telling girls they have to look a certain way to be beautiful I find it an absolute miracle that any of us like ourselves at all.
So it completely makes my day when girls book a session with us and walk away feeling sexy for exactly who they are in exactly their own skin.

These are some of the highlights from our Christmas boudoir session.

we hope you enjoy them! and we will be doing another session in January in time for Valentine's day.

send us a message at fstoppoetry@yahoo.com for a session.