Photography Bloom

What's Happening

-Lots of my photos are in the newest issue of upFront magazine from Penn Nursing Science

-I shot my first Bar Mitzvah!

-I did a family shoot with Carol and her son Nick that I loved and have another family shoot coming up next week.

Year in Review (how original) 2011, Welcome 2012

Happy New Year, friends!

2011 saw very little blogging from me here, but a lot more photography work! Most of that work was for publications so the photos can not be shared until they are printed. It's been a good year for me, building up more steady work slowly but surely. I somehow am still managing to make things work balancing this with my art endeavors and eking out a very meger living.

Some highlights of 2011 included traveling to Brooklyn, NY to photograph Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jennifer Egan

Oh, who am I kidding--that was probably THE highlight. :)

I had a wonderful experience shooting a three-day conference put on by the International Herbert Marcuse Society, where I met and marched with Anglea Davis!

I shot several creative happenings for the beautiful White Pines Productions

I did several new family shoots and one repeat customer.

 

I shot some art events during Homecoming Weekend for the Penn Gazette for my third year in a row.

I gained a new client with Penn Nursing Science and have already done several really interesting and fun shoots with them and am looking forward to more!

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In 2012 I will be shooting a Bar Mitzvah in March, doing more work with Baby Loves Disco, and continuing to work with the Gazette and Penn Nursing. My goal is to find more university press work from one of the many other schools in my area in the hopes of having a few shoots every month to keep things solvent.

May your new year be full of love and peace, no matter what turmoils you may face. May your goals be reached. May you find surprises along the way. Be safe and be well.

Happy New Year. xx

Dzieci Workshop

One of the summer residencies presented by White Pines Productions this summer was the Dzieci Theater group, a unique and experiemental troupe of actors and spiritual movers who believe in service in art. Do check out their mission page!

During their week in residence, they offered a workshop described as

Dzieci Paratheatrical work is an essentially non-verbal and improvisational experience, with guidance gently provided by the company through sound and gesture.

Employing elements of ensemble theatre, meditation, and ritual, the Workout will flow in accordance with the nature of the participants and lead towards a heightening of consciousness and deepening of community, while guaranteeing a good, hearty sweat.

Being witness to the process was truly remarkable. There was absolutely no talking as individuals were guided from the front entrance and shown through gestures to imitate, then imitate the Dzieci member who had already begun to move in very slow, deliberate movements through the main room. Eventually there was this sort of surreal conga line of men and woman of all ages moving in a style reminiscent of Tai Chi.

As I took photos in the silence, eventually I noticed members of the troupe start to shift the energy of the whole group by interacting with others in a slow-motion warrior pose. As everyone caught on, it began to speed up and the group suddenly morphed into a battlefield as grunts and yells were added. Things changed again into a primal scene of people ripping out hearts and eating them and I couldn't help but laugh and marvel at the energy in the room!

The group became like one organism, pulsating and breathing together and continuing to twist and change with only the simplest of prompts from the Dzieci troupe (and truth be told, I could not be certain who was in Dzieci and who wasn't once things got rolling). The room was hot and everyone was sweating buckets, but there was total dedication. Eventually this 'warm-up' moved into helping and holding one another, then full laughter before quieting down and moving out into a circle.

 
And then I watched this incredibly beautiful and unadorned ritual of one person pouring a cup of ice-cold water from a pitcher and giving a drink to the next; then that person taking the same cup and giving a drink to the person on the other side of them, and so on (filling the pitcher when needed). After the intense, sweaty and down-right intimate experience these people had shared over the past hour, this communal sharing of replenishment almost made me cry.

You can see my full set of photos H E R E.

Q Family Band + Young Pilgrims

Another wonderful FREE event put on by White Pines Productions at the Elkins Estate this summer! I had so much fun shooting this event, though it made me pine longingly for my youth (well, maybe not my youth).

The Young Pilgrims were up first, and I believe they are all high school students, followed by the Q Family Band, an 11-piece mix of high school and college kids from Cheltenham who rocked my world. They included 3 violinists and a trumpet player, as well as a banjo, drums, guitars, base, xylophone and a marching band drum! The room was filled with friends and family and neighbors and despite the heat, there was tons of energy.

What struck me most about all of these kids was the unadulturated JOY in playing music they clearly felt, and therefore projected out to the crowd. That kind of energy is infectious and everyone had smiles on their faces the whole time.

 

You can see the whole set of images in the online gallery at http://sarahbloom.zenfolio.com/qfamilypilgrims

Fore!

I had the pleasure of shadowing and photographing my good friend Lee Wybranski while he worked the AT&T National out in Newtown Square, Pa. a couple of weeks ago, signing the posters he had designed for the event. Lee and I know one another since our college days, which was longer ago than should be possible based on the laws of physics, but here we are: older.

Lee has built a business using his great skill as an artist and his natural abilities at the kind of social networking done with real handshakes, shared drinks, and the occasional cigar. What started as custom pen and ink drawings of people's homes turned into country clubs, and then turned into a full-fledged art and design studio called Group W Art Works. He works his tail off regularly and couldn't be prouder of him. He's designed the poster for the US Open (yes THAT open) for the past 4 years along with many other golf events; he had a coup last year with designing the poster for the Dad Vail Regatta in Philadelphia; and he's recently been highlighted in this Ralph Lauren Magazine article.