Evita-Buenos Aires

Shanae'a Moore being lifted in adoration during Evita play rehearsal. Shanae'a is the star of the show and is doing a fantastic job. The JDHS theatre department has had many great leading ladies for their musicals. Shanae'a is right up there with Patty Hull, Michaela Goade and Gysell Stone and many others.

I am really enjoying taking photos in black and white with my digital camera. It re-connects me with my photographic roots.

Jill Paintings

Comic filter
Pastel filter
Impasto filter

I just got the Alien Skin Software program called Snap Art 2. I have been up most of the night playing with it and learning how it works. Here are some examples of what the program can do. There are several filters that can transform photos into paintings. No computer program can ever replace what a real painter can do when he or she pours their soul onto a canvas but in the digital realm it can make pretty convincing images.

I was at a Folk Festival Dance two years ago and I took photos of my friend Jill dancing to the Celtic Rock band Fire on McGinnis. Here are examples of the Impasto, comic and pastel filters I just got.

Jill inspired me to start my blog. For my five blog followers check her blog out to see what a great blog should be like.
http://arcticglass.blogspot.com/

Evita dance scene

I got my new Miller/DS-20 fluid Head tripod today! It is the most expensive tripod I have ever bought but it is a splendid new tool to have.

I took photos at the Juneau-Douglas High School Theatre Department's rehearsal for the upcoming production of "Evita" today. I can tell the kids were getting tired from the hours long play rehearsal but I can tell there was a lot of progress made. The JDHS Theatre Dept. director is Michaela Moore. Every year her shows are very good. This is a photo of Aaron Cohen who plays Che and the star of the show Shanae'a Moore working on a dance move. I won't post too many more photos of the rehearsals since I do not want to show too much of what the kids are doing in advance of the show. I am looking forward to going to every performance!

Paris and Stephanie

As I look through all of my negatives and slides from my career I keep finding priceless treasures.

This photo is of me and my friend Stephanie at a cafe near the Opera House in Paris, France and at a picnic on the Seine river walkway.

I attended the Northern Short Course (NSC) in Syracuse, NY in March of 1992. The NSC is a workshop for Photojournalists sponsored by the National Press Photographer's Associatin for its East Coast members. I really could not justify going to the NSC since I could have gone to a simuler workshop on the West Coast but it was someplace very uncool that year like Stockton, CA. Not that I consider Syracuse a cool place but it permitted me a great excuse to spend 5 glorious days in New York City after the workshop.

I really did not learn too much at the NSC. After the workshop I went to catch a bus to the Syracuse airport. I found a bus stop but I had to wait for a half hour until the bus arrived. I went into a bar to get out of the cold. I sat down and my friend Dan was in the bar as well and talking to a woman who turned out to be Stephanie. We talked for a few minutes and I found out she used to live in Moscow. I asked if she knew my friend Heidi who was also working in Moscow and it turned out she did. We all knew Heidi. Dan from New York City, Stephanie from California and me from Alaska. In a world of billions 3 random people in a bar in Syracuse all had a connection.

I could not talk long since I had to catch my bus. Stephanie and I exchanged email.

Long story short we kept in contact and that September we went to Paris where Stephanie was my guide and interpreter. I was in search of the best Duck l'ornge as well as taking photos. Fun days spent riding the metro and visiting sites like Jim Morrisoin's grave in Pere Lachaise Cemetery and the other usual sites. Nights were spent looking for transcendent dining experiences.

We have visited each other many times since then. In places like Hong Kong, Juneau, New York City. She just gave birth to a son. She and her partner live in Beacon, New York where she is the director of Fovea Exhibitions.

http://www.foveaexhibitions.org/

Heidi visit

The New Years weekend was full of emotions. None of my feelings were about my former work. I have accepted that and it is history. More important things were stirring.

I took my daily walk through town and photographed a raven in a tree at Evergreen Cemetery. Its stark lonely vigil matched my mood.

All of Juneau except me was happy with the clear weather and a rare blue moon.
Sunday morning came and I spent several hours clearing out old files. Bank statements from 1998, auto manual for car I sold 20 years ago.
I had the music of Aztec Two-Step on full volume on my stereo to try and blast away my blues. The louder I played my music the deeper I fell into a well of melencholy.
I noticed there was a message on my cell phone. There was a familiar voice I have known since childhood. "Brian, This is Heidi. I am in town for a few days........."
Beautiful, wonderful Heidi. I have not seen her for about five years when we last saw each other in New Jersey. We have been friends since our grade school days of playing softball together with her and her sisters at the Capital School Playground. We worked together at the Juneau Empire back in the 1980s. She started out as photo intern for the Juneau Empire and has become a very successful international photographer.

http://www.heidibradner.com/

It was a short visit. I only got to see her for a few hours. But it was enough to make me as happy as I have been in many months. She will be on next plane back home to London soon. And I will be wondering the streets of Juneau.

Riley Woodford in concert January-2, 2010.

I am playing with the video option on my new Canon Camera EOS-7. I have a lot to learn before I can make a good clip. Here is a video of my friend Riley Woodford singing my favorite Grateful Dead song "Me and My Uncle" during a Saturday concert.

Favorite photo of 2010

I took this only 13 hours into the new year but I suspect this photo of my good friend Mari in the 17th Annual Polar Bear Dip just might be my favorite photo for 2010. A graduate of Davidson-the Harvard of the South and currant University of Washington Law student has both beauty and brains to match.