Cover Shot: Organic Farm in Indianola, WA

So much happened since the last entry. I hope to catch up.

Here is the new and current cover I did for Seattle Woman:


Rebecca Slattery, with farm apprentice, Sonya Servine and the chickens.

Done at Persephone Farm, Indianola, WA.

It was very interesting to see the farm owners and their apprentices working with their hands. I realized that in my mind I picture farm work with big machines. It's comforting to see that the appreciation of hands on work, the direct contact with the earth still exists. It will effect the quality of the food we eat, that's the belief of Rebecca and her business partner who own and run this beautiful place.

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Dancer, During Filming at Dry Falls, Eastern Washington

I was running the video camera for my friend Diana who is making a film of her dance students for UW. Also did some photos of the dancers and the surrounding area.

They were first rolling around in the dust of this desert area, so that is why the clothes look a bit distressed. I will post more of these. They were all done in Dry Falls, Eastern Washington.

Note: Yes, that is the original background. We used a trampoline!

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Kissenschlacht (Pillow Fight)

Last week I went to the Northwest Film Forum's Wiggly World, a production facility for film people in Seattle, to use a 16mm editing table. I needed to look at a copy print of a 16mm movie I made 21 years ago. It was a little bit exiting. I did not use an editing table for nine years or since I live in America. In the 80s, I was very interested in experimental movies and created several myself which were shown at German and international Festivals.



This is a long time ago, and I gave up on film making for several reasons, so it was a surprise when I received a letter from Annette Brauerhoch from the University of Paderborn. She is a professor for film science and is putting together an archive and collection of experimental short movies by women filmmakers in Germany and wanted to include my movie in the selection. She saw one of my films - Kissenschlacht - 20 years ago on a festival and has it still in strong memory. I was surprised and touched and honored.

Interesting to look at the movie again: to see if the ideas I had twenty years ago are still of value or maybe just ridiculous. At that time, I was intrigued by newspaper pictures of politicians. I worked on that for my study at the University and analyzed body postures and structures of these photos. This went into a little 16 minute long movie . I "animated" these pictures and combined them with pictures I filmed of my sleeping boyfriend all aiming for one continuous movement. I was happy with the way it came out, although some may find it boring to look at a sleeping man and not much is happening.

At that time the movie was quite well perceived. It was accepted on festivals and often written about it:

"A masterpiece of the experimental storytelling . . . Ingrid Pape confirms with this calm and wordless study the 'sovereign' preciseness and musicality of her filmmaking."

- German film kritic Michael Koetz writing in the Frankfurter Rundschau, 1986.

While that was nice to read, the question is: Do I still understand and stand by what I did 21 years ago?

What I realize now is that very likely my intense studying of these pictures gave me a good base for my photography. My understanding of body postures in photographs, film and life goes into my work now.

The other thing that's satisfying to know is that the film will light up on a big screen again, projected from a celluloid film, will be shown to students and film scientists and not just sit in a dark box. It is still alive and not just a "sin of youth".

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Cover Shot: Lynne Barker and Lucia Athens

Here is the new Seattle Woman Magazine cover for April.



This photo shoot felt like a little adventure. Lynne Barker and Lucia Athens are both from the Green Building Program of the Seattle Department of Planning and Development. I did not have a chance to meet them before. When I waited for them at the City Hall, two woman walked towards me, looking at me. Then one said, "Are you Ingrid" and I realized these were Lucia and Lynne. Somehow I expected some 'outdoor' types. We laughed and Lynn said "Did we not fit your stereotype?" A little bit true.

We decided City Hall did not really work for the shoot and Lynne suggested the Municipal Court building on the other side of the street. It had a beautiful green opaque wall installation with water in front of it. This gave me a boost of energy.



I loved the green wall with Lucia and Lynne outfits. The black was great and the silver geometrical jewelry corresponded to the metal elements in the wall design. But it was hard to get it all to work. The sun was extreme, there was wind which blew over my reflector stand, the time was limited - this was Lucia and Lynne's lunch break - no assistant to hold the reflector, and the space with the pool in front did not seem to have "easy" spots for them to be. But in the end it all worked out: Lucia and Lynn were up to everything and had a lot of fun, a young man who worked in the building helped hold the reflector, we found the 'perfect' spot to stand, and the clouds showed just in the right moment, to cover the merciless early afternoon sun.

This is what I love about the shoots: in the beginning you have all these elements they are disparate and problematic and then, after just jumping in with trust and the willingness to bear it, all falls into place.

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You can also download the whole April issue here, but only for a while. It’s available in print form at many locations around Seattle, of course, and many of the their past articles are available for reading in text form from their site as well.

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Blossoms

Last Monday, I walked to a music performance around 7.15pm on NW 65th street. I love the "Blue Hour", when the sky is darkening but still blue, and the warm yellow lights on the streets and in the windows lighten up. At the Ballard High School, there were some trees in a line full in bloom. It was already quite dark but the blossoms glowed by themselves. The affluence of the blossoms was kind of overwhelming. Walking under them feels like being in a fairy tale. Beauty freely given.

I stopped and took out my camera, in a shy try to "recreate" ("capturing" would be futile here) something that might come close to my perception.







Then I went to the performance of Tuning The Air, which is happening each Monday for several month again. It was beautiful. Jaxie (one of the guitar players) asked me after the performance how it was. I tried to put it into words. "It was strong", was one of the things I said. Walking back through the dark street and the cold air, my words were continuing to do their own thing in my head and developing further what I wanted to express about the music. "It was strong in being gentle and gentle in being strong" came to my mind.

The next morning in waking up the blossoms and the trees appeared in my head and they connected with the music of last night and it hit me. They kind of belonged together, there was something very similar about both of them: being subtle and gentle in the detail and powerful at the same time.

So hard to do, but sometimes it's there, just like a gift.


Spring is Here...

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Northwest Women's Show

Last Saturday I went to the Northwest Women's Show at Safeco Field to visit Marianne Scholl the publisher of Seattle Woman Magazine at their booth. She made this photo of me helping a little by giving out magazines. A lot of women came in who knew already our publication and were often enthusiastic about it.

It's a wonderful magazine, full of articles about amazing women. I love to contribute to it with my photography.

And, off course, it's also satisfying to see many of the covers I did all in one place.

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Diana Garcia-Snyder

Diana is a dancer. I was spending some time with her one day to work out how I would do the filming for a movie she is creating with her dance company. I had my Nikon, as always, and took a few reference shots of the dance studio to get the feel of the place and test the lighting. She was standing in a spotlight here, and I like the drama of the moment, the sense of presence.

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Peacock Presenting

This peacock was wandering around a farm I visited yesterday. I was there to do the photos for a story on local organic farming in Seattle Woman Magazine. Will be out in May.

Something about the standing stone in the background gives it an archaic and symbolic feeling.

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Seattle Woman Magazine Cover Shot: At the Spa

Here is my latest Seattle Woman cover. It's out now:



Always a little (positive) shock for me to discover the new issue, when it has my cover on it. It's exiting to see how the picture turned out in printing, after I looked at it for such a long time on my computer and worked to bringing out the best in it.

I think it came out really beautiful. A little lighter than expected, but that adds to the atmosphere of being in the spa, as if a little mist. And her skin looks radiant and glowing.

We did the photo shoot at Olympus Spa in Lynnwood on a Sunday, when the spa is closed to the public. Having the whole place by ourselves was such a luxury. (Thanks you again, Sun!) I wish I could have jumped just into the water.

When I went some days before the shoot, just to check out the location, I was very touched, walking through and seeing all the woman. There was something beautiful about seeing all the women, having space for themselves, being "good” to themselves. Nearly like a secret society.

Of course, the place is not a secret. A good friend of mine, Patty, is a big fan of this spa. Recently I met her and I commented on her beautiful face and relaxed expression. She smiled at me and said, like a little secret she would share "I spend a day at the Olympus Spa." I definitely have to go there just for myself, maybe with a girl friend.

The shoot went smooth. Erin Skipley, the make up artist, did a great job with what needed to be a natural make up look. It's just very nice to work with her and she does everything to bring out the features in the best way.

Michelle Marshal from the Seattle Model Guild was our model. It was great to work with her, and it's not just about the beautiful face. We all know that, I think, but it so much easier when there is a dialog and a cooperation and the model brings in variations of moods and expressions, gestures and postures. When we looked at many pictures and model cards, we decided for her, because of her warm eyes and connecting smile. It really came out in the photos.

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You can also download the whole March issue here, but only for a while. It’s available in print form at many locations around Seattle, of course.

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Smith Tower

ETA: 2/22/07: By coincidence, Smith Tower on the front page the day after I made this post: Seattle Times writes that it may be turned into condominiums.
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I was speaking about the Smith Tower in my last post. This is the view out of my studio window.







Once, I covered an event on the very top floor, in the tall pyramid-shaped part. That was fun.

When the building was opened in 1914, it was the forth tallest in the world. One hundred and fifty-nine meters. It's only been washed once I read as, for some reason, it stays exceptionally clean by itself. There is a room on the 35th floor called The Chinese Room. The furniture and many of the fittings and carvings were gifts from the Empress of China. You can take a Virtual Reality tour here.

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I did this photo some month's ago. The light was very special. Warm afternoon light with a certain glow, at the same time dark clouds and some blue sky. There was some magic in the air, a kind of a stronger presence of things, as if the objects reach out to you, not just being there in the gray, passively waiting for us to see them.

The blue little globe or ball on top of the tower was lighting up. I never registered that before. Probably catching the light from the sun.

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Studio Upgrade and Shawna Locey

Spend several hours yesterday together with my husband Frank doing some improvements on my studio. My husband is the technical talent, and it is very satisfying to work together with him on that. We got a lot done. Now the couch can move, with wheels. It feel as if it can fly.

The studio is in the 619 Western building downtown, full of artists. It's a great space, but is what you could call 'shabby chic.' Great windows with the view on the Smith tower. The big studio room actually reminds me of my Berlin apartment where I lived for some years.

The building is very old, has it's own charm. The Studio is developing. I enjoyed working on it so much, I wanted to look at it again and again.





Here are some more photos I just did recently with the singer Shawna Locey, a beautiful young woman with a powerful voice. You can listen to her songs here.
Looks like some of my photos are on her MySpace now.

We spent several hours together, working with different outfits and settings. (By the way, her make up was done by Erin Skipley, a make up artist I work with.). In the end I asked Shawna to sing. (Why did I not think of that before??)





It was great to hear this strong voice. In her dress she reminded me of a mixture out of Julie Delpy and Rita Hayworth. I don't know if these comparisons do any good, but it's inspiring to see these pictures pop up in your head. In any case, it's beautiful if somebody can sing this way, raise the voice for herself. Breathing deep and being proud, standing there.

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