seen but not heard: November 2009

Monday, November 30, 2009

kennel club

In the wake of a tryptophanciful weekend, overflowing with stuffed bellies and long drives down back-country roads, I bring you some of the non-edible spoils! Goldberg and I spent our Thanksgiving alone together- and he cooked us a tremendous dinner, which was, in every aspect, more enjoyable than Thanksgiving last year. The menu was much the same, but last year I was just coming out of the hospital for the second to last time, I was supposed to be fasting, but was granted a few holiday nibbles (which mostly consisted of stealing a bite of M's amazing stuffing every time I was upright to go to the bathroom), but mostly I recall being in so much pain I nearly passed out repeatedly that day, being heavily doped up on codeine and watching Eraserhead in my delirium. Not a highly recommended combination. Though I was afraid to move basically through the New Year, and every mysterious feeling prompted terror that I was falling apart yet again... little did I know I was on my way to a full and shiny recovery. This year I can truly be thankful for everything I have, and top of my list is my health. I am also thankful for the amazing people I have had the chance to get to know better and spend time with this year, both personally and professionally; my travels big and small - and the generous sponsors who made the big trip to Iceland possible; as well as the amazing photography projects I had the chance to work on this year with some very fine folks near and far. Last but not least I am thankful for my Goldberg and my family, all of whom are always there for me, even when I was running off to the emergency room... again... and not in top form.... or even when I was a total crabapotamous. I love you all.

first blush © Laura Kicey, All Rights Reserved.

Towards the end of October I went to see my friend Phil Nesmith's show Flight Patterns at the Irvine Contemporary in Washington DC (which continues through December 12 and is well worth a visit!). His large scale photograms on glass plates depict intriguing interplays of winged creatures and containers, all in silhouette.

Directly after the show I made my way to visit one Ms. Plaisted in rural Maryland, where we were joined by the lovely Irina Souiki. Halloween merrymaking ensued, as did some afternoon trespassing while the kids napped. It was great to spend time with two long-time friends (Linda who I had met prior at her opening in Frederick in April, and Irina who I first met when she showed up at my Cafe Estelle opening early this year and many times thereafter when she returned to Philly on consequent business trips) - all three of us have long been drawn to beautiful abandoned buildings, though Linda had never actually been inside one, we took her for a grand tour in return for her kind hospitality.

aghast © Laura Kicey, All Rights Reserved.

Treading lightly, we managed to get into a couple houses without being noticed. When I returned home that night, driving in the dark I stumbled across an abandoned building whose location I passed along to Linda and Irina. The next day they went on to explore it and instead, came across "The Dog House" nearby, so named for the unfortunate soul Irina discovered in the basement- the remains of a small dog who had apparently become trapped, tried and failed to escape. After seeing their photos, I really wanted to make a trek back down to MD with Goldberg to do some more exploring and hopefully see The Dog House firsthand. So this weekend, we did just that.

samoyed © Laura Kicey, All Rights Reserved.

Rising at 6am (which is basically unheard of for me), we hit the road by 7:30 and were sneaking in a side door by 10... the first day this autumn that actually felt chilly enough to be winter. The house had been mostly abandoned for 18 years, according to the most recent newspapers strewn on the kitchen floor, though one of the bedrooms appeared to have hosted a squatter in more recent years, the bare mattress dressed with a pillow, frilly lamp and clock, blankets pinned up in the windows, a lone chair in the corner. Every room was a different and more daring color combination, reds, pinks, patterns, royal blues, dark grays, green, and yellow.

irish setter © Laura Kicey, All Rights Reserved.

I couldn't bring myself to go in the basement to see the house's namesake, but I was aware of his frail presence the whole time. In his honor and in the memory three friends' of beloved pets I learned were lost over the holiday weekend, I named each of the images after dog breeds and idioms.

bloodhound © Laura Kicey, All Rights Reserved.

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Finally, it is the dreaded holiday shopping time of the year. To make it a little less painful, between now and December 15th I am offering sale prices and free shipping on your choice of any photograph (or construct!) in my etsy shop (or something on flickr that isn't there but tickles your fancy) - at 8"x12"/11"x17"/12"x18" sizes. See the featured items in my shop and send a message with your print choice along with your purchase.

Labels: abandoned, animals, art, autumn, etsy, happiness, michael, travel, trespassing

Sunday, November 22, 2009

atop laurel hill and beyond in concordville

Every time I think things will slow down and I'll have a moment to catch my breath, I am whipped back into a frenzy of working and running around. Throughout the summer I've been shooting weekly for Terrain which culminated in the launch of their ecommerce site - for which I did all the on location shop section photography (not the studio shots of products). Since I haven't posted anything I've shot there in so long, I decided an update of some favorites was in order. This is just a small sampling of what I've been doing from early June right up to a couple weeks ago.

(©Laura Kicey for Terrain)

After twice opening the doors of their gorgeous home (plus their amazingly crusty carriage house, as well as vast gardens) to me for some of my creative shoots, it seemed it was high time I say thank you to Kirsten and Matthew for their wedding anniversary by doing some portraits of them together.

I realized almost one year and two days ago, we were in the thick of a snowstorm that dumped more than a foot of snow on us. This year, you never would have known it was November. Walking around Laurel Hill cemetery in shirtsleeves we made the most of the gorgeous day, the sun hanging low in the sky with a dreamy golden glow, with the magnificent backdrops provided us by the elaborate mausoleums. Not as morbid as it would seem, I mostly worked around the plentiful gravestones. Friend and frequent-model Tanya Dakin styled their wardrobe and K & M brought copious cool.

Labels: autumn, philadelphia, philly, photography, summer, terrain, work

Tuesday, November 03, 2009

knock your socks off

Back in May Sarah and I collaborated on a huge project: a book of knit sock designs by knitting superstar Cookie A. - we photographed 20 socks, 23 looks on four models (plus a 5th for details) on at least 30 locations. It was incredibly challenging, lots of fun and has really yielded a beautiful body of work. The book itself will be published in February 2010, and truly I can't wait. If you are interested in carrying the book in your shop, PLEASE do not hesitate to get in touch with me or Cookie!

This is just a sampling of all the images (and I'm not sure what is actually appearing in the book), but all wardrobe styling is by Sarah Beaver, models include Marlo Meekins, Genevieve and Chloe at Reinhard, and Mercedes.