Backcountry Photography: 2009

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

BACKCOUNTRY NEWSLETTER NOVEMBER 24, 2009

Friday, November 13, 2009

OPEN STUDIO TOUR: WARNING - IMPOSTOR

I know this is supposed to be my blog and therefore, by default, I should be authoring the articles. However, since it is my blog, I've decided to have a guest writer tonight. Welcome, Lisa Marie, who wrote a far better invitation to the Open Studio Tour than I did; damn it. I think it was the colors. Here it is for those of you who are not on her mailing list.

Greetings Sirocco Design Email List:

This weekend, November 14th & 15th, over 100 Tucson art studios will open their doors for the Tucson-Pima Arts Council Open Studio Tour http://www.tucsonpimaartscouncil.org/ Saturday and Sunday from 11am-5pm. Across our fine desert valley, artists of all mediums will be in-studio displaying and selling their work and generally having a raucous good time catching up with friends and clients, alike.

For the first year, I'll be opening the Sirocco Design Studio during the tour. Suzanne, my sister and the superb photographer behind Backcountry Photography, will be joining me for the fun. So you get two, count them two, Morrison sisters for the (free) price of one!

The studio/home is conveniently located a mile east of downtown in the lovely Miles Neighborhood, (Area Map 14-H in the TPAC guide available online). Watch for the A-frame signs with balloons, park on the street, and follow the arrows into the backyard.

I will have a gallery of the signature Sirocco Design line, including all the usual favorites along with handmade finding and clasps. Through-out the day I'll be demonstrating silver fabrication techniques (i.e. playing with the torch, hammers, stamps, and stones; creating our one-of-a-kind jewelry pieces). This will be the perfect opportunity to go through my stock of stones and custom order gifts for the holidays or yourself.

Suzanne will display a bevy of her wonderful nature, mineral and greyhound photos including matted and framed photography, prints and cards.

In honor of our inaugural event, we have decided to break open the safes & sheds to un-earth some of our tediously collected gem show finds from the past ten-or-so years. We were quite surprised (o.k., not really) to find hoards of many strands of beads, cabochons, semi-precious stone and sterling silver pendants, fossils, mineral specimens, meteorites, rocks, and generally random goodies. It'll be our own mini gem show, with lots of items at wholesale prices.

Check out our great friend Geoffrey Notkin's Logical Lizard blog at the Tucson Citizen online Friday for an entry about the event.

Light refreshments will be served.

You won't want to miss it, and we hope to see you there.

Sincerely your friendly neighborhood jewelry designer:

Lisa Marie Morrison
Owner/Smith/Designer
sirocco design
http://www.siroccodesign.com/

Thursday, November 12, 2009

SILVER LINING

Today has been a banner day for me in getting through a number of Backcountry Photography projects I have needed to do and haven’t found the time; including posting the greyhound cards, sending out a newsletter, getting ready for the Open Studio Tour, editing some of the blog posts and posting photos from the All Soul’s Procession. Whew. I guess there is a silver lining even when your car unexpectedly ends up in the shop and you're trapped at home after cancelling all the appointments you had scheduled for the day.

So, since I am on a roll and feeling motivated, I thought I would continue this unheard of spate of posts with another one that has been waiting patiently in the wings. Hee. My most recent set of fine art photos which include 5 new dragonfly images and an incredible sunset photo. I spend a fair amount of time watching sunsets (job hazard I guess) and this one stunned me. This is the first time I have seen the colors of the sunset reflecting off a rain curtain, lighting only certain parts of the sky on fire. As for the dragonflies – who knew they looked like a by-plane from the front and that sun coming through their wings cast a colored shadow.

The road taken.

Bi-plane

Naranja

Delicate shadows

The curve

Teasing

Each of these images can be produced as any of the products I carry: note cards and 4 x 6, 5 x 7, 8 x 10, 11 x 14, 16 x 20 or 20 x 30 prints. They are available as just the photo, mounted on foam core, matted or framed.

FASTDOGS NOTE CARDS - post 3

Number 3.

Dru and Raj - That's one big dog.

Kathy, Willow and Paco - Resting? Not for long.

Opal - Lazy days ahead.

Willow on the run.

Sunny happy boy.

Squeaky and his ears.

Jovi - treats?

Jovi - you did say treats.

Spats - The reach.

Willow - The hug.

Ike, Willow and Dru - Double team

Charlie, Willow and Jovi - Mine

Breeze - Bounding for joy

Willow - Time for a break.

FASTDOGS NOTE CARDS - post 2

Number 2.

Breeze out for a stroll

Breeze out for a run.

Breeze - Playing coy.

Willow - Again with that thing?

My girl Breeze - sepia

My girl Breeze - b/w

Breeze - Pillow fort

Breeze - Shy girl

Willow - Phhtttt

Dru - Mom! Look! Mom! Did you see me run?

NEW GREYHOUND LINE - FASTDOGS NOTE CARDS - post 1

As you know, I am a bit of a greyhound freak. OK I’ll admit it - obsessed really. I would have considerably more than my 3 if space permitted. So, the natural conclusion, if you have greyhounds and a penchant for taking photos, would be that there would be many, many, many, many (that’s not nearly enough ‘many’s’ but you get the idea) greyhound photos on your hard drive. (enough actually to warrant a separate external hard drive) It is like how peanut butter goes with chocolate. Hmmm, I could use a Reese’s right now…

Anyway, I digress.

I did, I mean, I do - have many photos of greyhounds: and a photography business. The amazing thing was it took a question from a friend to put the two (hobby and business not peanut butter and chocolate) together. “Why don’t you have greyhound note cards?” Again…hmmmmm.

So my first official ‘line’ of cards is the greyhound line. (heh. Another plug. You would think you were watching Josie and the Pussycats with all the ad placement. Which, by the way, you would watch often if it was the favorite movie of your favorite niece and you had movie nights often) But again – digressing.

So here we go. A line of greyhound cards. All note cards, an original photo attached to a heavy cardstock in either cream or white, come with envelopes. Prices are:

$3.00 each
4 for $10
or 12 for $25

As an added incentive, a portion of all proceeds for the greyhound cards will go to AGR (Arizona Greyhound Rescue) or GAL (Greyhound Adoption League).

Oh, one more thing. As I have mentioned before all my photos are un-enhanced. I now need to modify that statement as some of the greyhound photos have been edited. Mostly cropped to get the hounds more centered in the frame but there has been some removal of hands and legs of owners, etc. I have learned it is not easy to get an action shot of a greyhound running. Most of the photos I get are of blurry grass and the end of a tail. So…please note - all the fine art prints are still un-enhanced, the greyhound note cards have been modified.

Oh, a second one more thing…I’ve posted the photos in 3 separate posts for easy viewing. When you place an order let me know the caption and the post. This is post 1. Thanks!

Willow and Ike - Nom Nom Nom

Izzy - after the squeaky

Butters - (The anti-greyhound)

Dana
This photo was taken by my niece - so ... copyright Alexandra Morrison

Squeaky - HUH?

Izzy - Cool Rider

Jovi and Willow - Gotcha covered.

Breezy and her squeaks

Willow, Breeze, Dru and Opal - Did you say "ride"?

Jovi and Charlie - "dude, move"

NEWSLETTER NOVEMBER 11, 2009 - OPEN STUDIO TOUR

Hello All,

You are receiving this email because you have bought something from me, thought of buying something from me, stopped by my booth at a show and chatted, or are friends and family. Please let me know if you wish to be removed from this list. Thanks.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A big warm welcome to all the new Backcounrty newsletter readers. Thank you for stopping by the booth at the Big Brother Big Sister art event and writing your name on that slip of paper; a brave thing to do. It was a pleasure meeting all of you.

Well I have recouped from the BBBS event. 3 days of fun, laughing, and entertainment. (Aside from the first day of the show when I woke up to a very sick greyhound and thought she was going to die before I got her to the vet. Little panic from me in trying to get all aspects covered so I didn’t ditch out on the show, close the booth early or miss getting her in to see the doc. Her ailment was not the result of licking a toad, sniffing the pesticides in the back yard or that she was faking. Thanks for the suggestions. The docs are not sure what it was, and all the tests came back negative. She is feeling better now after lots of meds and being grounded for 2 weeks.)

Anyway…the Backcountry offices have been busy, though quietly so. I have spent the last little while doing mostly product photography and going through pictures from my recent trips. The ones I am most excited about were taken during my jaunt down old Route 66 from Kingman to Flagstaff. Do I smell a new line of note cards coming up? Hmmmmm; classic cars anyone?

I did take some time Sunday to attend the All Soul’s Procession. We try to go every year and barring an injured back from installing a toilet (last year and a long story) we have kept to that schedule. So mosey on over to the Backcountry Blog (http://www.backcountryphotographyaz.blogspot.com/) to see a few photos from the most Tucson of all Tucson events.

And to the point of this newsletter – I would like to invite all you local Tucsonans (not to exclude my other readers, I’m just trying to save you a bit of gas money) to the Open Studio Tour this weekend. Since my studio tour consists of a camera and laptop on a desk and a scarred table hidden in the back room with some tape, glue sticks, an X-acto knife and a few pens littering the surface, I have decided to throw in with my sister, Lisa Marie, silversmith extraordinaire of Sirocco Design, at her studio. Way more interesting with lots of tools to melt, hammer and weld metal and many sparkly bits of jewelry. So please stop by to wonder at the behind the scenes of jewelry making and for photography tips and tricks. I will have my camera and laptop (my studio) with me as always.

And now for the latest installment of you free desktop photo. Vegas Jane, the hostess of the open house, wants to welcome you this weekend and let you know she expects to see you there.

I hope this finds you well.

Suzanne Morrison
Backcountry Photography
http://www.backcountryphotographyaz.blogspot.com/
http://www.backcountryphotographyaz.com/
backcountry_photos@yahoo.com

ALL SOULS

Halloween is a most favorite holiday in my family. We all hand out candy and do the typical Halloween things. However, one of my sisters spends a couple of weeks getting ready for The Annual Event – her haunted house. This year was the best yet with grown men screaming in terror, women crying in fear, and teenage boys tripping over themselves in their haste to escape. All in the span of the 25 feet from the end of the driveway to the front door.

Oddly enough the littlest trick or treaters didn’t think it was scary at all. That the dummies on the front porch swing didn’t gently reach out to brush your hand as you walked past confident in your conclusion that they were only clothes stuffed with blankets. That the tall grotesque masked mannequin near the front door didn’t silently glide in behind you after you had already run the gauntlet to reach the safe place - the front door and the cute girl pirate with eye patch and pink tutu holding the holy grail of Halloween – the bucket of candy – to just be standing there, hovering, towering, when you turned around to leave. And that the bloodied doll lying in a crumpled heap on the driveway wouldn’t come to life by twitching an awkwardly bent foot or winking one glassy unfocused eye. Tempered for all ages with the level of scary reflecting the level of cockiness and attitude from the trick or treater. Her house is legend. Neighbors come back each year just to see what is new and if they can escape without needing a second pair of chonies.

But my most favorite part of Halloween is that it means the All Soul’s Procession is just a week away. The event that says ‘Tucson’ better than any other event held in this town. One person’s idea transformed to 20,000 people remembering and celebrating loved ones who have passed. My family walks every year, face paint, dressed in costume and carrying a sign with photos of those we have lost. It is always tough when, gathered at my sister’s house getting ready before the procession, we ad new photos to that sign. The best years are those when we take the sign out of storage and without any modifications we are ready to walk. We prefer that the photo of my grandmother not have additional company.

This year I did something I’ve never done before, I actually brought my camera. And used it. Typically I want to just enjoy the life-sized horse model, the paper mache masks, the costumes and the drums. We were early this year, also something unheard of, and walked down to the beginning of the parade route. I saw it from the first woop of the police siren. When we got to the end of the route, we were so close to the beginning of the procession, we decided to walk back a block or two so we could watch the tail end of the parade. Then we followed the stragglers to the docks to see the floats cross the stage. I didn't take as many photos as I usually do during a photo shoot. Too many other things going on, I guess. And I apologize to anyone out there that I got with the flash. I hope the stars you saw were very short lived and you didn’t trip over anything while temporarily blinded.

I hope to see you out there next year. Bring your face paint, costume, masks and most importantly memories of those who you would like to honor during this incredible night.