frosted

delta © Laura Kicey

Welcome the longest night of the year! Snow on me. And let me out in it...

seen and making a tussle

left behind © Laura Kicey

I know I've been quiet. And I know I've not been shooting. Its the holidays and I have precious little to do at work. But this just made my whole day. Back in June when I went to visit San Francisco, I toook a walk with infamous photoblogger Thomas Hawk. Our run-in with a security guard at 50 Beale just made it into Wired Magazine


chord © Laura Kicey

In other news I will be having an arts feature interview/article on the Photos d'Kicey this winter in Lifestyles. It is a regional magazine for the Philadelphia area. Its rather posh I've been told. I will be interviewed by fellow Kutztown Communication Design grad Shannon Collins, who has some pretty cool work of her own.


hanging tough © Laura Kicey

The Divine Lorraine showing at Yards Brewery was a raging success, the turnout was insanely strong and I got to see a bevvy of people I had not talked to in ages which was lovely. Dustin and I are complete dorks, witness! My friend Miss Plum even had a sale. Go Plum!

Currently I am hiding away in the attic waiting for my next opportunity to shoot during daylight hours, being cranky and nervous in the meantime over matters I am not at liberty to discuss. In lieu of shooting I've been working on some illustrations of cats for gifts...


luna cat © Laura Kicey

Holiday cheer for all! Go 2007!

on and off the wall

been © Laura Kicey

A few things I neglected to mention, loose ends needing tied up:

I've been submitting over at JPG like a madwoman and really not promoting it at all. Currently up for voting is theme 'Street'. Rather than plug mine, I'd like to say, just go and vote for stuff you like. I was published in the Shoot Your Self Issue, the first issue to be available in bookstores and the first issue where contributors received $100 for their entries that were used.

Last Friday, the show Small Works opened at the Muse Gallery and my photo, Lifespan ,is in the show until December 30th.

In the wake of the photographer free-for-all at the Divine Lorraine Hotel, the organizer, Jim Primdahl, has also put together a show of photographs from hotel. I am pretty sure I will be participating (I really hope so as I went out and bought frames last night). The opening is this coming Saturday Decemeber 9th, from 3-6pm, at Yards Brewery, 2439 Amber Street, Philadelphia. Still hoping to return to the hotel this week for more shooting. Looks grim.


skipping © Laura Kicey

And one last thing, my interview sounding a bit like a broken record over at Smith Magazine.

crash and learn

The inverted week: the things most carefully plotted, fall apart, and the things thrown together suddenly, casually, yield prize-winning melon-sized fruits.

Last Wednesday night, when planning for the Headshots Soiree was to begin, things got off to a terribly bumpy start when one, Mr. D, drives home from work and winds up on his side, in his car... schliding across the street and into the grassy shoulder after being hit my one Mr. Truck. Shaken and achey, but generally unharmed... car has seen better days and after being towed, is still MIA.

Friday after noon I slip into my chauffeur git up and take Mr. D. Rockstar to his band's gig in Carlisle.


nosebleed © Laura Kicey

Preshow consumption of spaghetti and calisthenics did not fully prepare me for the excitement to follow, whic was akin to getting rolled down a hill, followed by a vigorous full body rub. Tingly good fun.


conquistador © Laura Kicey

The band hadn't played a show in over 19 months. Regardless... rock solid.

Planning and Headshots foodstuff gathering reconvened on Saturday afternoon. My bedroom was converted into Mr. D's Senior Portrait Studio Central. Veggies were chopped. Dips were mixed and managed. The appointed hour for portrait sitters came. And went. Hours passed. And no one came. Finally nearing the sleepy hour, four brave souls came and bared a great deal more than expected or required and superior results were had. Along with a great deal of grape tomato consumption and chest hair grappling.

The crack of Sunday's Dawn came too early and Portraits Round Two, On Location rolled in. Mr. D and rolled down to North Philly to mingle with other photographers at the abandoned Divine Lorraine Hotel.


cold storage © Laura Kicey

We were warmly greeted by Jim Primdahl, the man in charge of the reconstruction project. We were taken for a tour by Other Jim and then set free to photograph to our heart's content for the next five and a half hours.


lady in waiting © Laura Kicey

I don't think a week would have been sufficient.


passing through © Laura Kicey

Dustin was working with the studio lights, doing portraits of three of my friends who braved the cold early morning along with us.

I broke off on my own, without portrait subjects of my own. I decided as I wandered to do a series of self portraits of me exploring alone.


revealing © Laura Kicey

I had started mulling over the notion when I revisited the Rementer house last week.


ornament © Laura Kicey

I had been wanting to see the inside of the Divine for as long as I've been coming down Broad Street, noticing its abandoned grandeur in passing, but knowing nothing of its amazing history.


radiating © Laura Kicey

It was always just one of those things I file in my mind as photographic impossibilites. Like the things you see in the worst parts of the ghetto or on teh side of the expressway where there is NOwhere to pull over. Things the I'd never see through my lens.


prayer © Laura Kicey

It was an amazing experience, how beautifully preserved sooooo much of the building is. No vandalism. Jim said of all his urban projects he had never before seen a place that had no crack vials, no syringes, no bottles of booze sitting around. The legacy of crazy Father Divine and his cult seems to have shielded the Lorraine from a number of urban ills. It was incredibly peaceful and entirely exciting.


the comfort of dreams © Laura Kicey

My only disappointment was that when I got home and looked at my files I seemed to be having major focusing problems that are still unresolved, so most of these are quite soft at full size. I am worried my camera may be ailing.... using autofocus on tripod *should not* yield these sorts of results, especially with good glass. I made leaps and bounds in my understanding of exposure, so this feels like a mixed success.

I am hoping that I might yet be able to return this week and I am trying to take Friday off to do just that. Jim was generous enough to organize a show at the Yards Brewing Company at 2439 Amber Street in northeast Philly for next Saturday, the 9th of December. I certainly hope to be a part...