Mill Friends

All the work I’ve put into my website is paying off! Last week I got an email from someone who found my site through a google search, liked my work and wanted to hire me. Two months ago, my name would not have surfaced.

Jessica and a group of self-described creatives rented an old mill house in Salt Point, NY for the weekend. I’ve passed the place many times and wondered how it remains standing considering the violence of the water running through the base of the house. During spring melt off, the entire first floor appears under water. Jessica wanted me to take a portrait of she and her friends. I don’t normally shoot portraits, but was intrigued by her description of their strong bond and the unusual location.

Up close, the house shows its age. The uppermost walls are crumbling, but beautiful still in their masonry. I had to duck my head to rap on what I took to be the door. The anteroom was full of broken rock, two shuttered windows above the river crashing below. I’m glad I didn’t know there were nine of them before I arrived. How do you photograph nine people in an artful way?

Inside, the house was frozen in time, about 1975. One of the bedrooms had a row of windows overlooking the living room on the first floor below; a perfect foil for this lively bunch. They grouped themselves in the windows and performed for me. I liked the deck as backdrop. Blue sky above the falling walls, strong lines of the wooden deck boards at an angle to the corner. Some groovy orange chairs arranged back to back and the rest was all about them. They have an ease and respect with each other that you can see even in the photos. So strong their gift of friendship, so rare. I wanted to capture the power of the water in one of the setups and had them stand opposite the house on a small spit of land. A couple of the women wore heels but didn’t flinch at my request. I climbed through one of the anteroom windows and stood on the ledge above the roiling water to get the shot. One false move and me, or worse, my camera, would fall into the frigid torrent and be forced out the hole in the wall. Not as powerful a portrait, but a strong statement about the place they’d shared.

The Woman in Blue is my favorite of the day. Though she is play posing, her spirit is real, the blue and orange fill the frame with painterly color, her beauty seduces us. She makes us wonder what she sees in the distance. Thanks to Jessica and her friends for allowing me to share their day.

Can You Land that Helicopter Again?

The day dawned with a crystal blue autumn sky, so clear it hurt your eyes. We couldn’t have ordered a better backdrop for shooting an emergency helicopter landing at Saint Francis Hospital in Poughkeepsie, NY. Nadine and I had been hired to take documentary-style photographs with special emphasis on their acclaimed trauma services. Our contact, Karen, was very excited about the work we’d already delivered.

After years of deliberating, I’d bought a high-end digital camera (Nikon D2H) a few months earlier. This was its first commercial outing, October 2005. We’d done a bunch of semi-staged setups over the course of the week prior. At night, we’d save out a bunch of low-res jpg files for Karen to review and forward to her team. It was a much easier and infinitely more artistic process than looking at contact sheets through a loop.

We’d done our homework and knew exactly where we wanted to be when the helicopter was due to arrive. Saint Francis overlooks the Hudson River valley and from the topmost building there was a stunning wide-angle view of the hospital grounds in the foreground, the valley in the background and the welcoming statue of Saint Francis not far from the helipad. I think the building had six floors plus the extra stairs to the roof. Of course, the morning of the shoot, the elevator wasn’t working. No problem. We were early. We energetically mounted the stairs to stake out our position. No sooner had we set up the tripod, Karen got a call that one of the doctors we’d been unsuccessful in photographing earlier was available, but only briefly. We had time to shoot the doctor and still make it back for the helicopter. So, we packed up, went down the seven floors to emergency, set up the lights and photographed the doctor in action.

Minutes to spare, we ran back up to the roof. At that point, we’d set this up several times, so our fingers flew, the camera was mounted on the tripod in no time. The pilot had radioed in. I tried to slow my heart back to normal after running up the stairs and patiently waited for the helicopter to appear in the viewfinder. One of the reasons I’d chosen this camera was its fantastic burst rate. It shoots something like eight frames per second. I set the camera to continuous shoot mode and as soon as the speck of the helicopter was in the frame I simply held down the shutter button. Delightfully, the camera fired off frames at a dizzying pace. But then, just as the helicopter was getting close, the camera quit shooting. I’d maxed it out and it needed to save what it had shot before letting me continue. I was frantic. The pilot was coming in slow to make sure I got my shot, turning different angles for me. Ugh.

Pilots are always so cool. He didn’t flinch when I asked him if he would land again. In fact, I think he’d been asked the question before, because his ready answer was that helicopters look the same taking off as they do landing. While we were talking, they got an emergency call and had to leave asap, so we ran back up the bloody stairs to get them on their way out. This time, I was more selective with the shutter.

Later that same afternoon, a real trauma case was coming in by helicopter. Karen got approval for us to shoot their arrival. We stood with our backs to the helicopter till the whoosh of the blades died down. The shots I took of the team unloading the patient and rushing him into the ER are so much toothier than the staged shots. You can feel the urgency.

Sunset was near as we ran up the stairs one last time to shoot the helicopter’s departure. A pink light escorted them out of view. Our thighs burned for days afterward.

Blog-o-Meter Reading March 27, 2008

Search results for Molly Ahearn:
• Google: #2 (#1 is amazon.com’s entry for my book)
• Yahoo: #1
• MSN: #1

Google Page Rank for my site: 2 (out of 10)

Number of page views to this blog: 677

Number of page views to my site: 821

Genessee Sunset

Beer is at least as old as the Egyptians. People take their beer seriously. Germans frown on French beer, Brits pooh pooh cold beer, not many but the Irish can stomach Guinness, and everyone makes fun of mass-mixed American beer. From PBR to Milwaukee’s Best, old-time American breweries are known for outputting quantity not quality. Gone are the days when a man worked a 10-hour shift and came home to a 12-pack of Schlitz and an episode of Archie Bunker. Microbreweries with clever names like Pete’s Wicked Ale, The Flying Dog, Gilded Otter and 21st Amendment are today’s rage. People want their meister to brew custom blends in quaint copper keg-lined shops, not windowless cinderblock factories. This Genessee brewery sits atop a bluff overlooking the Genessee River in Rochester, NY. The golden lager hues of the sun setting on its industrial façade are metaphor for its waning popularity; the beauty of the light a reminder of what once was. Bottoms up.

Genessee Sunset is my April home page photo and a new addition to my Americana collection. Be the first to buy a print online and get a 50% discount on the size of your choice.

Cowboys in Georgia?

My husband’s family is from Georgia and we visited with them a couple of weekends ago. While we were there, we went to the Booth Western Art Museum, known locally as the Cowboy Museum. My initial reaction was, ‘cowboys in Georgia? huh?’ But there it stands in downtown Cartersville, affiliated with the Smithsonian, too. The dynamic angles of the building and its outdoor sculptures inspired me. In this time of reduced funds to the arts, I feel it’s important to give back when I can (plus you never know, something else could come of it). After returning home, I offered free use of my photos in return for photo credit. They were delighted and are going to use this photo in their press kit.

21st Century Artist Hangout

The beret-bearing beatniks had Greenwich Village, we have artscuttlebutt.com. Begun by ArtCalendar magazine (a fabulous publication, get it if you’re an artist and don’t already subscribe), artscuttlebutt.com, or the butt as some call it, is an online artists community. Joining is free. You create a personal profile page with some work samples, a brief bio and any other info you want to get out there. If you don’t have a website, this is a quick way to develop one. That’s only the beginning. For me, the greatest part has been talking to other artists. Everyone at the butt is friendly and open and interested in sharing. I’ve been trying to spend an hour a week looking at new art and talking to other members. Most seem to be painters, not photographers, but seeing fresh work inspires me.

As with other community sites, I don’t understand the ‘friends’ concept. (Someone please comment about this.) What does it do for you? Is it a measure of popularity or does it gain you a toehold over other members? At nearly 50, I feel moronic asking someone, ‘do you want to be my friend?’ Am I alone in this?

Some of the features at the butt are less explored. There’s an area to join or start groups, but the categories don’t seem relevant and there are very few. I started a photography group and had to list it under literature & arts. Right now, I’m the only member. The forum seems an interesting place to share information, but an index might inspire further exploration. The Events feature could be really cool if it alerted you to things happening near you.

The default page design is plain vanilla. After some digging, I realized I could change the colors to match my website and blog. Navigate to My Account/Settings/Design My Profile. A list of all page items comes up, allowing you to edit colors (if you know the 6-letter web color, you can type it in the text-sized boxes). If you know how to write a cascading style sheet file, you can probably do lots of other stuff, too.

One thing I’ve noticed. The more you participate, the more your work is featured. The number of stars next to your name on your profile page shows your level of activity. So, help me earn more stars, check my profile at http://www.artscuttlebutt.com/mollyahearn, and consider joining yourself.

Spitzer, Are You Kidding Me?

Heard the news while lunching in the Atlanta airport. Why is it always the zealots that get caught with their pants down? Dug out this shot of him marching with the local dems in the 4th of July parade prior to his being elected.

Make Beautiful B+W Images from Color Files

Finally got around to upgrading to Adobe Photoshop CS3. Discovered a really great new adjustment layer called Black and White. Applying the default settings to a color RGB files get you 90% of the way to a richly toned B+W image. Use the sliders to get the last 10%. The red slider lightens or darkens human skin and faces. In the image I’m showing here from last year’s fair, I moved the green slider to lighten the carpet under the dog’s feet as well as the trees in the distance. I lightened the audience faces by moving the red slider from the default 40% to 81% lightness. If you’re using the image for print purposes, you can flatten and convert your file to grayscale and still maintain good tonality.

Seward, Alaska: Home for the Hearty

Last summer we took a once-in-a-lifetime trip to Alaska. Here’s one day from my journal and, of course, some photos.

August 1, 2007: Seward is a fisherman’s paradise, host of the annual silver salmon derby. The winner beats thousands for the $10,000 prize. In January, people jump into Resurrection Bay at the polar bear fest (a sobering thought!) In April, Seward celebrates the migrating gray whales. There is an end-of-the-world feel to the place. Only the strong survive here. No time for messing around, they get straight to the point—“cheap beer, lousy food”— reads a sign over a tavern.

The same Good Friday quake that hit Anchorage in 1964, caused a gigantic hole to form in Seward’s harbor sucking water and a lot else down to the bottom of the sea, like a giant toilet flush—131 people died, 86 homes were destroyed, all of the commercial oil and fishing buildings and docks were destroyed. Tsunami waves as wide as the bay and 30 feet high crushed what was left.

The local fry shack offers a dozen different types of fish fry options. I savored the Pacific cod for lunch—so good I forgot to leave Bill a promised last bite.

The road to Exit glacier is marked with a large sign (full of bullets holes as are all signs in Alaska)—Travel Beyond this Point not Recommended. We blew past wondering if it referred to us. Around a curve in the river, Exit came into view. You can almost see it grinding its way through the mountains, leaving fjords and gravel and milky ice cold water in its wake.

On a hike from the National Park cabin we got pretty close to the glacier not close enough to touch but close enough to feel the chill flowing down the icefield. I know I’m going to be disappointed with my photos, each too small a piece to convey the enormity of this place.

Mitch Seavey was the 2004 Iditarod champion. We signed up for a sled dog ride at his training camp. About 100 huskies were tied to plastic barrel homes, waiting impatiently for their next call to service. As they saw us round the bend, they whimpered and paced in anticipation. Our group visited the puppies first. We cuddled and cooed over eight-week old pups—one fell to sleep so hard it didn’t wake through three or four different handlers. Ryley had no clue how to hold one and they kept slipping through his arms. The next pen held eight-day old puppies, their eyes glued tight. Both mamas tolerate these intrusions six times a day. Our wheeled cart had four kids and four adults instead of the usual eight adults, so it flew through the woods. The lead dog was yellow, lab-looking. No two of these dogs look the same. It’s hard to believe they are a bona fide breed. Ryley rode up front with two other kids. They screamed with delight when one of the dogs pooped. The team didn’t stop.

The neverending daylight urged us to do one more thing despite the post-cocktail hour. We visited the Alaska Sea Life Center built with money from the Exxon Valdez oil spill fund. The puffins once again were our favorite attraction. We watched them above water first and then from underwater. They can’t fly well in the air, but underwater, they fly naturally, wings spread wide, holding their breath for remarkable minutes. The seal swam in a mantra-like circle around and around reminding me of the polar bear at the Central Park Zoo that had to undergo psychiatric treatment. The fleshy sea lion slept.

The Crab Pot serves live king crab. The thought was irresistible despite the whopping price. Bill and I ordered a 4-pounder which they brought out alive for our approval. The taste was exquisite, rich and full and buttery. I will never be able to eat frozen crab legs again.

Site Boost Tip: Meta Data

If you saw my first blog-o-meter reading last week, you already know I’ve made good progress in improving my website’s ranking. Consistently now, my site is the first listing when you search for “Molly Ahearn” on google, yahoo or msn. That was my primary goal in recreating the site, so I feel pretty good about sharing how I did it.

In his course on search engine optimization on Lynda.com, Richard John Jenkins, explains the importance of including targeted, brief meta data on every web page. The page title is the only kind of meta data visible to the eye, appearing above the browser toolbar. Most people title their web pages, but many don’t add the equally powerful meta descriptions and keywords. If you have no idea what I’m talking about, don’t despair, read on.

Jenkins’ figures out what meta data to add to each web page by extensively researching words people will be most likely to use in a search. All of the search engines offer free key word search tools for you to find out the number of times people have searched words and/or terms and suggest alternatives. Google’s is located at: https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal?defaultView=2. In my case, it wasn’t rocket science. I wanted people to find my site by typing my name, or typing my name and Dutchess County fair, or my name and cowgirls, etc. If the goal of your site is to generate sales, I’d recommend developing a carefully selected group of keywords.

My site has about 25 pages. I am an organized person—to a fault some would argue—so I created a table with four columns: page name, page title, description and keywords. It was an easy way for me to keep all this data in one place and to visualize my strategy. Search engine spiders—a creepy name for the way the search engines comb through sites looking for information—are apparently not very bright. You need to repeat your key words a lot for them to hear you. In fact, it’s a good idea to include your select 3 to 5 key words in the page title, description, key word list AND MOST IMPORTANTLY in the actual text displayed on the web page. In the old Flash version of my site, I included meta titles, descriptions and key words, but I didn’t have any html text. That mistake alone prevented the spiders from understanding what my site was all about.

If you go to my home page you can match the text with the meta data I used.
Page title: Molly Ahearn / Fine Art Photography / Dutchess County / New York
Description: Molly Ahearn is a fine art photographer living in Dutchess County, New York.
Keywords: Molly Ahearn, fine art photography, New York, Dutchess County
(Richard, feel free to offer advice!)

How do you add this glorious stuff to your site? If you have a programmer, give them a text file with the meta data you’d like to include and they can add it for you. If you’re building your site with Dreamweaver, in the Common toolbar there’s an icon for inserting meta data. You click on it, and enter text into a popup window. I prefer to do this in html code view (believe it or not), because I can make sure that it’s added to the top of the page in the order it should: page title, description, keywords.

One other thing, you can see what meta data people are using on any given page by going to the browser’s (Firefox, Safari, etc.) View menu and selecting Page Source. A popup window opens with all of the html text, a frightening jumble of jargon. Look for the word meta in the top third of the page.

Hope this helps some of you get more traffic!