Welcome to the Nachtwey Lounge

My friend Mel and I had an entire conversation about the name of the lounge, also known as the back wall of the photo room. I liked Nachtwey Lounge. It sounds classy. Sophisticated even. She suggested some other photographers' names and maybe f/64 or something to do with postmodernism. I don't remember, because I still liked Nachtwey Lounge better.

I should explain that this didn't start out entirely my scheme. A group of us talked about how we needed a couch. Everyone in the photo department spends their life in the same room and it needed a more homey feel. We decided we could remedy that. Jake had a couch and became the best red herring ever. Devan had a truck. Melanie and I had the muscles ( . . . or at least the feminine wiles to get a couple guys to carry in the couch from the top of the stairs just outside the GT). And we had Mike's silence, in exchange for him having a place to nap when his shifts were slow.

Then my roommate Chessie gave me an idea. What if things just started showing up? One thing a week . . . a table, then a book, then a blanket . . .

This one got the most reaction:

I would like to point out that there are many more things this particular expression could mean. And no matter what he says, we get this exact look all the time. (Also the . . . is a very specific version of this expression. See Mel for an example.)

John, of course, couldn't be left out of the mix:

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Most of the items were thrift store finds and fix-ups. Chloe helped with the lamp (which needs to be rewired, I think), and there were suggestions given by several others as to the additions week-to-week. Yes, there were more people that knew about this too. I'll let the rest of them admit to it if they so wish. Until then, Photo world... enjoy the Nachtwey Lounge!

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(And on a side note, there is a severe lack of pictures of Barb. The Capitol Reef classes need to change that this summer!)

Dear Family & Friends,

Some of you may know already, but I've been working on my final project in school--a project in which will take place in Estonia. As a result, I have been spending this school year working on funding. On top of the grants and scholarships I have applied for, another fundraiser I have started is through a website called KickStarter.

Kickstarter is a website that helps launch creative projects. I have set a goal amount to raise $4,000, and from there it's up to backers to decide how much they are willing to pledge to this particular project (each amount also has an incentive attached). If the total amount pledged equals or exceeds my goal, the project will be funded. If it comes short of that, it will not. The final date for pledges is April 20th at 10:00pm.

This is where I'm looking for your help: even if you are unable to help financially by pledging, I am asking that you share the link below wherever you are able: Facebook, email, blogging, etc.

For those who I have already noticed sharing this on facebook, thank you! There are 18 more days and any advertising of this project helps!

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1623087744/tales-from-estonia


Sincerely,

Marie

An episode not to miss!

In the fall semester, I took a fine art photography class. One assignment given was to mimic a fine art photographer. We were given a list. I call it the "List of Eminent Doom." I looked through, and only one photographer seemed like one I'd be interested in trying their style: Cindy Sherman.

Cindy is most known for a series called "Untitled Film Stills." These pictures consist of a woman dressed up and pretending, more or less, to be an actress at different points in a career. There was one problem with Cindy's work to which I could not reconcile myself: she is the woman dressed up. Yes, these are often referred to as self-portraits. My friend Mel said she'd volunteer to be in them instead, but I knew I'd have to have more than just a loathing for pictures of myself to remain behind the camera. Then I found an article. A glorious article.  In that article, Cindy was interviewed and states that the mistake people make about this series is in calling them self portrait.

DING! DING! DING! We have a winner! 

There were other points I could quote, but that did it. I grabbed Mel, her array of wigs, my camera, and a roll of film and got onto the project quickly. The day I brought mine, the first thing Travis (aka Professor Voldy) said was "Wrong. You're not in them." I would like to first point out that I didn't have to say I was mimicking Cindy. The images were that awesome. Still, he argued with me about it. He tried to get me to admit I should have been in them. I wouldn't budge and neither did he.

It was okay, though. Expecting to win an argument against Travis is like expecting that they might decide to start up the show Pushing Daisies again. It's just not likely.

Except then it happened. Me winning, that is. We stopped arguing about it that day. What I refer to is when he told his fine art class this semester that ... and I quote... "Marie won". Yes, he admitted publicly that I won the argument. But when I asked him about it, he vaguely waved me off and tried to restate what he'd "meant". It wasn't until we got into it one day that, in a moment of acting like a five-year-old, he huffed, "Fine! You win! You happy?"

I smiled and confirmed that, yes, I was very happy.

Why do I tell you this story? For a few very good reasons.

First, I could very well be the first student to have gotten Travis to admit defeat. This is huge and may never happen again.

Second, our podcast has a Cindy Sherman episode up. It's the first one about a photographer that we've done, so you need to go listen! Here! (You can use the player on the right.)


Last: hold out hope people! Pushing Daisies has more of a shot than you ever thought before!

Dear Aunt Emma,

The last few years it has been wonderful to have you living a few blocks away.

I've enjoyed seeing you for holidays and family gatherings.

I loved visiting with you.

We will all notice the empty seat where you should be, but I am grateful you won't have to endure any more surgeries, rehab, or pain.

Love you, Aunt Emma. Rest in peace.

Leap Day Adventures!

I spent the last half hour sitting here trying to figure out how today became such an entertaining anomaly. And then I remembered... it's because of that once-ever-four-years phenomenon called Leap Year.

While subbing for a photo history class, Jason Alexander popped in and told me I needed to demand the prorated price from the teacher I was subbing for (who apparently asked Jason to just say "hi"). There's something about a celebrity reminding you to not undervalue your services that makes you stand a little taller. As for the demands... I'll just let my teacher buy me lunch sometime. Or remind him how helpful I was right around grading time.

Then there was the about-to-be-infamous Chester the Best-er driving incident. You know... the one where she was in MY car driving to the gym with me in the front seat and rather than turning into the drive, she decided to go against traffic, in the bike lane... on the far left side. *sigh* Asian Drivers.

And, of course, the continual urge to go up to Mr. Right and say "Marry me. Marry me now. Or at least help me find a hot Irishman." It worked for Amy Adams, right?

Leap Day...

              You...

                          Are...

LEGENDARY!

Upgrade in Status

Friday, my sister called me.

"I kinda need help on something, but I'm not sure if you can... maybe?." She sounded nervous with a dash of apprehension and a bit of phlegm.

"What is it?"

"Well, Cory and I are in art history--" my ear perked up "--and I just can't figure out a few things."

So she started it, tentatively, with a piece by Cimabue. I corrected her pronunciation and she seemed surprised and elated to finally know how the name was said (Sim-uh-boo-ee). She started to describe which piece.

"Madonna and Child?" I asked.

"Madonna Enthroned," she corrected.

"So, you have Mary holding Christ in the center, with angels around them, prophets below in a really odd use of space," I analyzed as a basic overview.

"You know this one!" Apprehension gone (though still with the phlegm... I think she may have a cold?), the relief that I actually would be able to help seemed to become a reality to her mind and she made her way into asking more questions... about more pieces... each one surprised at the idea that I knew the image and, perhaps, some information about it.

We decided that the quick run through wasn't quite enough and set up to do another session in the morning on Skype. The next day, somewhere between baby talk with my niece and nephew, and actually getting down to business, I told Megan, "I'm excited about this! Here I always kind of thought I'd just be the freak in the family that was way into art history."

"Oh, you're still a freak," she made clear.

"Yes, but now I'm a helpful freak!"

We went on from there, having discussion of Giotto, the proto-Renaissance, tempura, and halos (if you got giddy over any of those terms, you may be a freak like me), and it all helped to reaffirm something I've been figuring out for a while now:

I love teaching!

So the next time you need help with art history, you know who to call. Because no one will be quite as helpful of a freak as me :)

Mini Me

The one on the left is me at 5-6 months, the one on the right is my niece Ava (4 months). Can you tell who she looks like? Somehow she picked up on those recessive Mason genes. As a result, if I never have kids of my own, the stunning good looks will at least continue on!