Category Archives: Uncategorized

Mar 11
The Grace and Talent of Shirley Ballas

Witnessing such a wonderful dancer and teacher as Shirley Ballas working with incredibly talented students was an honor. Perhaps I liked this dance lesson a little more because I didn’t have to hear all the things I’m doing wrong, as normally happens in my weekly lessons at Champions Dance Studio! But seriously, their grace and passion for dance was electrifying. I was asked to be there for only a short while, but I got so caught up in the energy of the moment, I stayed until the end of the lesson.
The dancers were moving fast, and all over the floor, so it was a workout to try to get the shot I was looking for and keep out of their way, but I think I got some great shots, not only of how much care and instruction Shirley Ballas offers, but also of the skill and poise of the dancers.
For a look at all the photos from this session, go here





Mar 08
Words Of Advice For Expecting Parents From Experienced Parents

Three weeks ago, I posted a list, generated by readers and clients, that offered advice to engaged couples from married couples about their wedding day (click here if you missed it).
 I really like the idea that these lists are not always what I think, but rather a resource of collected information from people in the know, people that have been through these experiences and who have learned lessons. So, through my Facebook page, I posed this question: “What’s the best advice you can give someone who is expecting a child this year?”
 Below are people’s responses. Thanks to all of you for your advice!!

  1. “Go out to a nice dinner together at least once a month while you are expecting. It gets harder for mom to eat later in pregnancy but savor the moments anyways. It will be months before you can do it after baby comes!”
    –Tara, mother of two

  2. “Save A LOT of money, sleep all you can and enjoy being with your spouse (take a trip, do something you have always wanted to do together, etc.) and get ready for the most exciting time of your life. Being a parent is the best experience in the world!”
    –Ben, father of two

  3. “Save the cash people start to give you in a jar that is only to be used on the baby. You will be surprised how much you spend after you think you have everything, and this helps save you a lot of money. But, most importantly, cherish every moment you have as a couple and as a family. It goes fast. :)”
    –Tara, mother of one

  4. “Commit your current lifestyle to memory. I can’t remember what life was like before kids – what did I do with all that free time, when I didn’t have all these expenses? :)”
    –Josh, father of two

  5. “Sort of like what Josh just said, be ready for a radical change. Kids totally change your life in ways you can’t totally anticipate. That being said, know that after the craziness of the first year or so, life does settle down eventually.”
    –Laurene, mother of two

  6. “The best advice I have is to relax. Don’t be afraid of childbirth – it’s not pain, it’s very hard work, but, like running a marathon, or completing any other monumental physical feat, it instills amazing self esteem and confidence for new moms. Embrace it and own it!
    Also, as soon as you can, start going out for coffee, lunch, wine, whatever with your partner. never forget that you are a couple. Kids are part of your relationship – they don’t take the place of it.
    And never feel bad about saying “no” to your child. You’re doing a service to your little one when you lay down boundaries and discipline. It’s ok to not want to be with your kid 24/7, and it’s ok to disappoint them, or make them mad. They’ll live and they’ll be better people for it. Adversity is good for kids. They don’t need to be raised in a cocoon of entitlement to feel secure and happy. When they face challenges and overcome them, they feel good about themselves.”
    –Adrienne, mother of one

  7. “Sleep! Sleep! Sleep! Sleep!”
    –Sarah, mother of one

  8. “Stay calm and live in the moment. Don’t stress over what might happen in the months to come or you may miss the special moments you can only experience in infancy. Also, resist the urge to smother your husband while he sleeps through the night time wakings.”
    –Kim, mother of one

  9. “90% of the ‘must have’ stuff from Babies R Us is totally not needed.”
    –Nicole, mother of two

  10. “I think the best advice I have is to be patient and don’t panic. Also, it’s important for new parents to understand that they have a new job that they will do 24-7, so they will be tired and will need breaks. It’s so important to take a break when you need one or a nap. It’s amazing what an hour break will give you. It will renew your patience, bring down your stress level and refocus your mood so that you won’t take precious moments for granted.”
    –Renee, mother of one

Mar 01
10 Of My Favorite Quotes

10 Of My Favorite Quotes

I often look to the advice and wisdom of those that have gone before me (and who are much more eloquent than I am!). After highlighting, dog earing, and post it noting a wide selection of my library (and sometimes searching frantically for the perfect quote to use), I figured collecting these quotes in one place would be much easier! So a few years ago, I started consolidating my favorite quotes into one list and have been adding to it on a regular basis. I often refer to it to look for inspiration, to remind myself of the path I deemed to be the right one, and sometimes just to giggle.

Below is just a small sampling of the quotes I have collected. Do you collect your favorite quotes? Please, share some of them with us! Just comment on this post with a quote that moves you, I would love to hear it!

  1. “No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.”
    –Unknown

  2. “Step off the road and vanish behind a curtain of old growth fir: In that instant you will have traveled back a century, when all you needed to survive was what you carried on your back. The weight of all that madding urban ambition and enterprise falls away like armor, and your heart leaps up to meet the mountains. Walking, your life slows down, and all your senses flower and open.”
    –Sid Marty

  3. “Everyone tells you what to do and what’s good for you. They don’t want you to find your own answers. They want you to believe theirs.”
    —From the movie Peaceful Warrior, and a book of the same name by Dan Millman

  4. Think of the ripple effect that can be created when we nourish someone. One kind empathetic word has a wonderful way of turning into many.”
    —Mister Rogers

  5. There is an ecstasy that marks the summit of life, and beyond which life cannot rise. And such is the paradox of living, this ecstasy comes when one is most alive, and it comes as a complete forgetfulness that one is alive. This ecstasy, this forgetfulness of living, comes to the artist, caught up and out of himself in a sheet of flame; it comes to the soldier, war-mad on a stricken field and refusing quarter; and it came to Buck, leading the pack, sounding the old wolf cry, straining after the food that was alive and that fled swiftly before him through the moonlight. He was sounding the deeps of his nature, and of the parts of his nature that were deeper than he, going back into the womb of time. He was mastered by the sheer surging of life, the tidal wave of being, the perfect joy of each separate muscle, joint, and sinew, and that it was everything that was not death, that it was aglow and rampant, expressing itself in movement, flying exultantly under the stars and over the face of dead matter that did not move.”
    –From The Call of the Wild by Jack London

  6. “All reality is a projection of what state of consciousness you are in”
    –Deepak Chopra

  7. “People are often unreasonable, illogical and self-centered;
    Forgive them anyway.
    If you are kind, people may accuse of selfish, ulterior motives;
    Be kind anyway.
    If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies;
    Succeed anyway.
    If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you;
    Be honest anyway.
    What you spend years building, someone may destroy overnight;
    Build anyway.
    If you find serenity and happiness, they may be jealous;
    Be happy anyway.
    Give the world the best you have, and it may not be enough;
    Give the world the best you’ve got anyway.
    You see, in the final analysis, it is all between you and God; It was never between you and them anyway.”
    –Mother Teresa of Calcutta

  8. “Rubber Duckie, you’re the one!“
    –Ernie from Sesame Street

  9. “A work of art is abundant, spills out, gets drunk, sits up with you all night and forgets to close the curtains, dries your tears, is your friend, offers you a disguise, a difference, a pose. Cut and cut it through and there is still a diamond at the core. Skim the top and it is rich. The inexhaustible energy of art is transfusion for a worn-out world.”
    –From Art Objects by Jeaneatte Winterson

  10. “I am a new man.
    I snarl at her and bark.
    I romp with joy in the bookish dark.”
    –The last stanza of Eating Poetry by Mark Strand (click here for a link to the full poem)

Feb 22
10 Great Children’s Books (as recalled by friends and clients)

Through Facebook, I asked friends and clients: “What was your favorite book your parents read to you when you were little?” and oh boy, did I get a lot of responses! Sadly, I am doing my best to stay true to my Tuesday’s 10 list by keeping it to only 10 items. Most of these are books I have fond memories of, but there were so many more that people mentioned that I never knew about (Max Trax) or never considered to be a children’s book (the poetry of Edgar Allen Poe). Thanks to all of you for your recommendations!

Is your favorite childhood book not on this list? I want to hear what it is! Comment on this post with your favorite book so folks can see it.

  1. The Lorax by Dr. Seuss
  2. Serendipity by Stephen Cosgrove
  3. The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling
  4. The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame
  5. Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown and Clement Hurd
  6. Chicken Soup with Rice by Maurice Sendak
  7. Sweet Pickles collection by Richard Hefter
  8. Curious George Rides a Bike by H.A. Rey (it had instructions on how to fold a boat from a newspaper. I thought it was the coolest thing!)
  9. The Pokey Little Puppy by Janette Sebring Lowrey and Gustaf Tenggren (I saw it in a waiting room recently, and showed it to my kids — VERY fun!)
  10. The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats

Feb 01
Top Ten Favorite Photographers

This week’s Top Ten List started because of an email I got from a teacher in Boston who was asking for advice for friend of hers who was getting into photography and was not satisfied with the classes they were taking, so she asked where I find inspiration.

In my college years in Olympia, WA, my classes would end in the early afternoon. I worked most nights in the deli on campus, so I killed time by disappearing into the tall stacks of books in the library, pulling out the published work of photographers, poring over all the images, fantasizing about where I wanted my studies to take me.

Below is a collection of photographers who inspire me, most of which I found during those expeditions on the bookish dark.

I could talk a long time about each of these folks, but will try to keep it short. These are in no particular order.

1. Eugene Atget (1857-1927) Architectural Photographer– I love Atget because of the tools he used, how he used them, and his overall approach to photography. He shot with an 8×10 view camera, using very long exposures, and captured the majority of his photos in the early morning hours in the streets of Paris. I have fantasized about being him at times. I imagine the work he did was extremely meditative. I have worked with a large format camera only a few times, and each exposure took several minutes to shoot. Quiet streets, working hard at getting the exposure exactly right, composing the photo perfectly, I imagine all these things came together to make for a fantastic creative experience for Atget, as I know they have made for a wonderful viewing experience for me!

2. Pierre and Gilles- Their work is a collaboration between a painter and photographer, and is incredibly stylized and iconic. The attention to the image, the use of color and emotion, and that they collaborate so well is amazing. What really appeals to me about it is that it looks like candy to me! I try to edit the occasional photo in the shoots I do to be vibrant and saturated… I wonder if I got the desire to do that because of my love of their artistry…

3. Christian Oth Wedding Photographer- Mr. Oth is based in New York City, and not only are his photos amazing, but his blog posts are inspirational. Many of his blog posts display his great work, but he occasionally interjects his philosophy and wisdom, encouraging readers like me (though I sometimes think of myself as a student of his) to “…put down the camera and just start seeing.” Or, reminding me that “it’s important to look for different view points that reflect your unique take on something familiar.” I really admire his style and his words, and hope to become as wise of a photographer as he is.

4. Sebastiao Salgado (born 1944) Documentary Photogrpaher- The way he treats his subjects, especially his photos of iron workers, is what impresses me most. The reverence of the images he took of iron workers made me feel like he was shooting monks in an old stone church. Like Atget, it felt his work was meditative, and he understood his subjects thoroughly. He captured images that were timeless, images that could be taken today or 200 years ago. The work I love most of his focuses on the proletarian struggle, showing both the industry and the humanity in our industrial world. He shows the genesis of the everyday items I use, trying to remind me that there are people behind the production of these things. He shoots in black and white, and the tone, the contrast, and the emotion of those images pull it out of time and make them eternal. I feel connected and emotional when I look at his photos. Evoking those feelings in viewers is a gift that I am so happy he has shared with the world.

5. Melvin Sokolsky (born 1938) Fashion Photographer- His extensive career, his artistic vision, and his variety is what draws me to him. The first collection of his that I came across was of a series he did in 1963 for Harper’s Bazaar where the models were in giant glass bubbles suspended off the ground (see photo). It felt risky and fresh, and made me see that there is ALWAYS another way to look at things, another way to think about what could just be a standard photo shoot. Later, I learned that he found inspiration for these images from Hieronymus Bosch’s Garden of Earthly Delights. I try to find inspiration from painters too (specifically Caravaggio), so in some small way I felt connected to Sokolsky. In addition to all the work he has done, the fact that he continues to be inspired, continues to try new things with his photography helps me see that this craft I have chosen to hone is one that I can evolve with. Check out his work (link below), it’s fantastic!

6. Julius Shulman (1910-2009) Architectural Photographer- I have often thought it best to help the work of masters spur me on to becoming masterful. I had an architectural shoot for Powderhouse Productions a few weeks ago (those photos are here). So, to help inspire me, I watched a documentary called Visual Acoustics: The Modernism of Julius Shulman, as well as one on Frank Lloyd Wright. He was a precise, playful, and prolific photographer. Not only are his photos amazing, but it is his personality, his life’s path and his longevity that really moves me. After seven years of college, he left without graduating, knowing that something else drove him. He pursued his love, and it supported him, and this gives me confidence that I too will be supported by my love of photography. In the documentary, he couldn’t stop smiling, seemingly giddy at what he gets to do every day. I know that feeling!
7. O Winston Link (1914-2001)- Trains! There is something about trains that I LOVE, and it is obvious that Link shares that love of trains. His gorgeous photos of these machines of industry captures the emotion and the awe I have of them.

8. Clarence Sinclair Bull (1896-1979) Portrait Photographer- Bull, along with a generation of photographers, found a bevy of subjects during the Golden Age of Hollywood (the 1930s and 1940s). My favorite photos matched the film noir look from that time, using several lights, not only to highlight their subject, but to light the background, crafting an environment for their subjects. These were true portraits–not just pictures–capturing the persona of these iconic Hollywood stars, and I constantly look to them for inspiration!

9. Henri Cartier Bresson (1908-2004) Documentary Photographer- Bresson captures the moment, not just of someone moving through space, but truly being with that space. All of the components (human and otherwise) in his photos are integral for each other’s survival and meaning in that moment. His keen awareness of his surroundings and his complete presence in the moment, (the Decisive Moment, as he called it) come together in each of his photos.

10. Sandy Skoglund (born 1946)- Like Pierre et Gilles, each of her photos are a result of long hours of labor, crafting the image to be exactly what she is looking for. What I like most about her photos is that there is a great expanse to them. Not only are they well taken photos, but when I peer into the frame, I feel a sense of vastness of the creative energy, an overwhelming sense of love and care that went into this image. Each of these images took an incredible amount of patience and love to create. I know how it feels to be in love with the creative process. Her work reminds me of that.

If you would like to learn more about these photographers or see their work, consult your local library, do a google image search for their name, or look below for some links I have provided:
Eugene Atget
Melvin Sokolsky
Sebastiao Salgado
O. Winston Link
Christian Oth


All Photos ©2013 Patrick Rogers Photography