International Women's Day

It's wonderful that women have a day to themselves to celebrate being a woman, throughout the world!

Yay!

Um...now what?  I wasn't sure how to celebrate today but since we have this great technology where we can instantly find answers to just about any question we can imagine, I can just search the phrase, "how do you celebrate International Women's Day?" on google and voila!  Everything I ever wanted to know! Well, sort of.  I found other websites asking the same questions but I would recommend going to the source and read all about it on the official International Women's Day website.

On the website, there seems to be a lot of celebrating going on, at least in the virtual world.  The 591 Photography blog decided to dedicate today to female photographers and lucky for me, I was selected among some amazing artists.  I am grateful to be a part of the group.  Now go out and celebrate that special woman in your life!

PDN Emerging Photographer and F Stop Magazine

This morning I found out that one of my images in my "Bingo Culture" series was chosen by the editors of PDN to be the photograph of the week and month on their website!  The photograph they featured is one I took while I was in Fort Collins, Colorado last December.

Also, this morning I learned that five of my images were selected to be in the Portraits Exhibit Group Show featured on F Stop Magazine. I have screen shots from both.  My five images selected for F Stop Magazine are the bottom five on the left.

You can see PDN's site by clicking HERE and F Stop magazine by clicking HERE.

Reflecting on things I did in 2011

Instead of making a resolution each year, I like to set goals or just write down what I would like to accomplish in the year to come.  When I turned 39, I set out to accomplish 39 goals during the year and amazingly enough, I completed almost all of them.  I try not to beat myself up too much if I didn't do something I intended to do or not do.  So here we are on the last day of 2011...it's a reflective type of day (oh lookie, even a literal photograph for you) for some and for others, they just want it to be over for the chance at a fresh start.

This year, I intended to set out and write down 40 goals but each time I thought about it, I set out to do something else instead.  The nice thing about blogging important things or thoughts you might have is that you can go back and see what you were thinking at the time or remember what you did.  As I get older, it's nice to be able to look back on the computer instead of having to use my brain to remember what I did.  I can barely  remember what I did yesterday.

Based on cheating and looking back at my blogs, here's a list of 30 things I accomplished in 2011 (from January through today) You can click on the highlighted part to read the entire story if you feel like it...

1. I went bowling with my friends on a rainy day

2. I wrote a list of the best iphone photography applications

3. I wrote out my best tips for traveling with your dog

4. I sorted through Family Photographs

5. Met two strangers in person (In Mexico) that I met online a year prior

6. Threw a surprise party for a friend and pulled it off!

7. Watched a street fight 

8.  Had photographs published in the March issue of Trailer Life Magazine

9. Ate a date shake

10. Photographs made two spreads and my first cover of Airstream Life Magazine

11. Attended the Modernism Week Vintage Trailer Rally in Palm Springs

12. Did a photo shoot with two roller derby girls

13. Photographs published in a "camping with your dog" (including self portrait of me and Max in Yosemite) article in Dog Fancy

14. Was selected as the artist for the newly built transit mall in the heart of downtown Long Beach. 

15. Selected to be the official photographer of Alumapalooza for the second year in a row.

16. "Dissolve" was selected to participate in the Art Of Photography show in San Diego

17. "Brothers" was selected as a finalist in the Photographer's Forum "Best of 2011" hardcover book

18. Tackled the garage and finally let go of emotional things

19.  Photograph was selected for the Cover for Airstream Life Magazine's Fall 2011 issue (including a spread of 8 portraits inside)

20. Went to my brother's wedding

21. Photographs licensed to publish on Airstream, Inc. website

22. Documented the protesters of Occupy Los Angeles

23. Photographed the people of Downtown Los Angeles

24. My "Bingo Culture" series was featured on Lenscratch website

25. "Dissolve" chosen for the Dreams exhibit at the Center For Fine Art Photography

26. "The Wedding Guest" was chosen for the Portraits Exhibit at the Center for Fine Art Photography

27. My blog was selected to teach American Slang in a textbook in Sweden.

28. I wrote my story of the past three years and it was published on Salon.com

29. I wished Leonard Knight a happy 80th birthday at Salvation Mountain

30. I found out via video that I was selected to participate in Onward Compe

I am so thankful for the things I was able to accomplish in 2011.  I wouldn't have been able to do any of this if it weren't for the people in my life, and the people I came across in my life.  Since there were too many photo shoots to mention, I put some of my favorite photographs I took in 2011 in a video.  I hope you enjoy it as much as I did putting it together.  

I look forward to what 2012 will bring!  Happy New Year everyone! xo

Selected to Participate in Onward Compe'

 I knew that the winners were going to be announced today for the International Onward Compe' photography competition, judged by Todd Hilo.  Usually, I check email in bed before I get up to see if there is anything urgent to do first thing in the morning.  I received a bulk email from the Onward folks with a link to a video where they announced the photographers selected for the show.

I pressed play on my iphone while I was still laying in bed barely awake.  I didn't have my glasses on (which I need when I'm on the computer) so I was squinting to see the names on boards passing through the screen.  As name after name came up, I told myself that I was sure I didn't make it so my focus shifted to see if I knew any of the people announced.

All of a sudden, my name came up.  I was in disbelief.  I rewinded the video to watch it again and paused it on my name to see if the spelling was correct, to be sure that it was actually my name.  I played it again all the way through and then started thinking that it must be another photographer with the same name until they flashed all of the images at the end and I noticed my image, "The Wedding Guest" appear in the blur.

Just to make sure, I had some coffee and looked at the video again.  To my amazement, my name was still there.  The video I woke up to is embedded above.  My name appears at second 54.  I am just thrilled to be included!  Opening reception is February 11th In Philadelphia.  Click HERE for more information.

Art Inspired By Art

This past week I was asked to come up with a photograph inspired by another painting or photograph. My mind instantly went to one of my favorite images of all time, featuring John Lennon and Yoko Ono taken by Annie Leibovitz.  I am currently reading her book, "at work" in where she describes how this photograph came about.  Sometimes, the best shots you take are the ones where you are not in complete control.  You will have to read the book to learn why.  Unfortunately, this was one of the last photographs of John Lennon before he was shot the next day.

I love it when my friends are up to participate in my crazy requests.  I asked Jamie and Traci if they wouldn't mind recreating this photograph, but with a modern spin.  I didn't expect them to jump on board right away but they both agreed and thought it would be fun.  It was.

I came over with a large ladder, sheet and my camera.  We moved all of the furniture out of the way to place the sheet on the ground and then they put their comforter over the sheet.  I have a sliver of the couch showing and instead of jeans thrown over, their dog Ollie decided that the blanket looked like a nice place to lay down so he curled up next to them.  In this photo on the right, you can see the ladder with my foot and ollie's tail on the bottom of the sheet to give you an idea of what the scene looked like.

This photograph at the top is my favorite of the bunch.  It shows the love between these two.  A big thank you to two of my dearest friends for playing along.

Answers To Ten Questions In Photographs

In a new class that I am taking, our assignment was to tell the class a little about ourselves by answering ten questions in photographs.  On this blog, I thought about giving you the literal answer at the end of the entry about how the photograph spoke to me, or what it says but I will leave that up to your imagination.  Here are my answers in photographs that I took:

Who are you?

What did you look like as a child?

What is your main character trait?

What inspires you the most?

What do you normally never take a picture of?

What do you love about photography?

If you weren’t a photographer, what would you be?

What is the first thing you touch in the morning?

If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates?

What is the meaning of life?

Here are other photographic answers to these questions from photographers... What do your answers look like?

Self Portrait Assignment

It's the project I dreaded...the self portrait.  I'm taking a class and needed to come up with a self portrait this week. As with most photographers, I would rather be the one taking the photograph and not being the subject.  However, I've seen some amazing examples of what some photographers are doing with self portraits.  One of my new favorites is Kelli Connell.  I also enjoy the self portraits from Jen Davis.

Seeing so many wonderful self portraits from so many talented photographers can both inspire and discourage you, depending on what your brain tells you.  For me, I absolutely LOVE looking at photographs from all photographers and the group of self portraits that Aline Smithson presented were no different.  Very inspiring! Self portraits can be discouraging since it's such a daunting task for some, me included.

I have many ideas in mind and I may or may not share them here.  I will however, share this one.  I took a break from my garage purge project to see if my idea of throwing my camera in the air would work.  I have several photos of me jumping up and down in front of the camera while it's on a timer to laugh at myself and to see what comes from it.  I thought, "why don't I stay still and have the camera jump around?"  Well, I don't think I said that out loud but I wanted to try the timer idea to see if something could become of it.  On my iphone, I have one application that automatically takes one photograph after a ten second countdown.  I stood on grass just in case I didn't catch my iphone and because I don't have a cover or any type of insurance for it. The click of the "shutter" seemed to be delayed a bit so I would focus on my feet while it counted down and try to throw the camera in the air to get it to snap the photo around the same distance between my waist and feet.

I took around thirty or more shots and twenty of them I kept because there was a hint of me in the photo (strand of hair here, a toe there, etc.). Also, most were blurry since the phone tends to flip around when you throw it in the air.  Once I had one in focus I stopped and put these two together.  I still plan to do more self portraits down the road.  For now, I will stay behind the lens.

Airstream Life Magazine Fall 2011

I had so much fun last June in Jackson Center, Ohio for the second annual "Alumapalooza" event!  Held on the grounds of the Airstream Factory, hundreds of dedicated Airstream owners gather to meet, learn, and mostly have a good time together with their common love of Airstreams.

I wrote a little about my experience HERE and put together a slide show of some of the photographs I took while I was there.  You can see that slideshow by clicking HERE.

I am thrilled that eight portraits I took (including the cover) are featured in the Fall, 2011 edition of Airstream Life Magazine.  Sign ups are already happening on their official Alumapalooza website, so I would get your reservation in early for 2012.  I hope to see you there next year!

Alumapalooza 2011 Photograph Slideshow Video

There were so many favorite photographs from the event to list each on the blog so I put together a little video with some of the wonderful people I met in Jackson Center, Ohio a few weeks ago.

A big thank you to all who allowed me to photograph you with your family, including your dogs and cats. I look forward to next year!



All of these photos are available to purchase by clicking on my website here at www.AlisonTurnerPhoto.com

The Start Of A New Decade

Today is the beginning of a new decade for me.  I put out a list of 39 things I wanted to accomplish on my 39th year on this earth and I am proud to say that I completed most of them over the year.  Now on to a new decade of my life and more adventures to come.

Thank you to everyone who followed me on my crazy "driving around the USA in my tent adventures" for the past year, and the year before that.  It was an incredible few years and I hope to experience many more things to come.  As I did before, I will compile a list and share that with you.

As I mentioned, the past three years I have been wandering around the country with my dog, camera and tent.  I made the decision to go back to school for a year to see where that takes me.  I am always up for learning and it will keep me in the same place for a while.  This doesn't mean that I won't take a break for adventures here and there.  I plan to continue this roller coaster ride called life.

I look forward to more and sharing it here with you.

Airstream Life Magazine Spring 2011

I am thrilled to have my photographs included in the Spring 2011 edition of Airstream Life Magazine, including the cover!  As I traveled the country, I was fortunate enough to meet so many amazing people and on Labor Day weekend, Max and I headed to upstate New York to gather with Westy owners for their annual Westyfest event.  The cover photograph was a candid moment between Tim Frazier, his wife Margaret and their dog, Lucy in front of their Westy.

Inside, there are more photographs from the event including Zach and Deb Wood's son Zane.  I just love Zane and he is a joy to photograph.  When I first arrived, I was able to take a portrait of friends Peter, Dick, Bill and Juju.  Bill owns the property that everyone camped on and even offered Max and I our own Westy to stay in while we were there.  We accepted and fell in love with this way of camping.  I love my tent but have to say that the Westy is easy to fall in love with.

There is also another article on Robert Ramirez's Pin Up Hair design and his Airstream.  I met Robert when I went to the Johnny Cash festival last year and took photographs of all of the pin ups and festivities. I was immediately drawn to his airstream and business.

A huge thank you to Rich Luhr for the opportunity!

Facing Fears, Being Social and Taking Portraits of Strangers

A big difference in this past trip from previous trips is the amount of people I talked to and photographed along the way.  This year, I went out of my way and outside of my comfort zone to talk to people I would normally not approach, but wanted to inside.  I did things I would usually shy away from and just decided to take a chance.  It wasn't easy, but after I did it a few times, it became easier and easier to do.  Sounds simple, doesn't it?  Well, the hardest part is actually doing it.  Not just once, but at least once a day for months.

I used to hide behind the camera and take shots of people without them knowing.  In the past, it was easier since I could hide the point and click camera I was using and most people didn't notice so I would just snap and walk away.

This year I decided to get closer.  Closer to the people I was choosing to photograph and that meant approaching them, asking for their permission to photograph them and take a photograph that wasn't "posed".  It was a fast conversation since I didn't want them to move or change their body language but long enough for them to feel comfortable.  Not an easy task.  A lot of the time, I approached these people because I saw the photograph right in front of me and I didn't want them to move but wanted them to know I was taking the photo and wanted them to be ok with it.

Because I decided to move past this comfort zone, naturally I learned a lot about myself and even better, made a positive connection with a stranger.  The more positive experiences with this, the easier it became to approach people.  It turns out, people are human, just like us!

I still use caution when I see what I really want to photograph and what would be safe to photograph. A lot of the time what I really wanted to take photos of wasn't a safe place for a solo female traveler to be.  I did take a few chances, however.  I drove up to homes and knocked on the door if I saw someone or something that looked interesting to me.  I asked homeowners in Ohio if I could take a photograph of their hanging laundry and asked a man standing outside of his home in Maine if I could take a portrait of him in front of the wrecked ship in his yard.  Each time, they said yes. However, each time I had no idea what I would come across when I stepped into someone else's property.

Beyond the strangers I came across, I also met and stayed with people I didn't know too well that have turned into dear friends.  Beware of what you offer people, sometimes they might just take you up on it.

As the year wraps up, I wanted to extend a heart felt thank you to all of the people I came across on the road.  Some of you I chatted with for a few minutes and some I stayed in your home for weeks.  I am thankful for each person I came across.  It has been quite the year.  Thank you for following me here on my journey.  I look forward to writing my 40 goals for my 40th year soon.

Making Art

I've been lacking on the blogging lately.  Since I've been home, I have been slowly unpacking and making art.  Believe it or not, I still have my camping equipment in my car.  Everything in due time, I suppose.  As you may know, I have a hard time relaxing.  I am not one to sit back and relax and read a book.  I've read a few books in the past few months but they have to grab my attention for me to continue reading.  I need to be learning something new each day and doing something with art to fulfill my creative soul.

That being said, I have been spending a lot of time working on some pieces for a few shows coming up.  I will be one of the artists at "ALLOW" this Saturday at the Avia hotel in Long Beach and my work will be included in the Sipology exhibit "Urban Pets"opening this Saturday and continuing through early February.

I've stepped out of my comfort zone of mounting and framing photographs in traditional frames to mounting them on wood boxes.  I spend a lot of time first working with the box by sanding and treating it so it's a nice smooth finish before I mount the photograph and complete the finished piece with a matte coating of acrylic paint over the entire piece to give it texture and durability.  It's been a learning experience for sure.  I've done a lot of 4x4 boxes with photographs I've taken with my iphone (for sale on etsy), but the larger boxes are with photographs I took on my big camera and I spend a lot of time on each one to make it perfect...at least in my eyes.

Even though I am not out traveling the country at the moment, I am still trying new things at home.  I don't think I am one to ever stay still so who knows what will happen next.  I try to enjoy each moment while I can.  If you are still out there looking for gifts for the holidays, perhaps try something new and make art.  If you don't have the time, www.Etsy.com has several hand made goods that would make a great gift.  I hope to see you at one of the shows if you are in the area.

Caroline and Shawdee - Portrait of a Family

I am thankful to have Caroline, Shawdee and now Alexa in my life.  I've been staying with the three of them while my home is being rented.  They have been wonderful friends to me for several years.  They've always supported me in my decisions in life and more recently, supported my art.  One day while Shawdee was pregnant, I thought it would be fun to photograph them in bed in a John and Yoko style and they both agreed to do it!  Since then, I documented Alexa's birthday at the hospital and yesterday, a family trip to the beach.

Being on the road for so many months of the year, it can be difficult to hold on to close relationships since you can't be there physically to visit but when I saw them, it was like a day didn't go by except that Alexa is so much bigger!

They are both such loving parents and great friends.  I am lucky to have them in my life.