Tuesday, January 30, 2007

New Site Goes Live

Candy: I've been working hard for the past week or so to update my website, and I'm pleased to announce that the new design is finished and live. The graphic design portfolio is still in production and should be live by the end of the week.
To see it for yourself, just click the photo above or the Candy Rice Photography link at the right.

Tonight begins my first night of shooting sports photos in Colorado, with three basketball games at a local high school. I'm excited to be behind the camera again at a game.

That's it for today. I hope you're having a super Tuesday and a terrific week!

Friday, January 26, 2007

16th Street Mall

Candy: On Wednesday afternoon I spent a couple hours wandering the 16th Street Mall in Denver, trying to be brave enough to approach a total stranger and ask if I could make his/her portrait.

No luck. Not enough courage yet, though I came close with a street musician.Instead, I made some images of the interesting light patterns and objects in the area.

I revisited the Denver Pavilion sign from the last post, and this time found some better angles. I also liked this one, because it's one of my initials.
While at the Pavilion, a three-story shopping area, I couldn't help but notice the way these strings of lights looked almost like a transparent ceiling of lights.
The light was incredible here and I waited for quite a while for people to walk through in the right spots, finally settling for this shot.
I liked the way the Paramount Cafe's sign was lit with the neon and partly in shadow, partly in sunshine.
When I saw this store's sign juxtaposed against the gothic building and modern skyscraper behind it, I had to stop and find an angle that would show the unlikely mix of architecture.After a little while I wandered a few streets north and south of the mall. I liked the diminishing perspective of this building's glass wall.
As I was walking by Denver's tallest building, the Republic Plaza, I was struck by the light on the numerous railings out in front. As I was making this picture, a man walked by and said to me, "Hollywood! Action!" Funny.
Then I looked up and couldn't resist taking a classic picture of a skyscraper. This is the upper third or so of the Republic Plaza.
I then made my way back to the mall and as I was walking into the bright afternoon sunlight I saw this.
As I got closer I saw the vent in the street with the backlit steam rising from it.It was cathartic to get out and spend some time by myself with the camera. The weather was nice, 40s and sunny, and although it was a little chilly (I was forced to stop at Caribou Coffee for a hot apple blast) I had a blast.
Most of yesterday and today has been spent finishing the design of some business cards. They're finally at the printer and I should have them back Friday night. I made several designs as a temporary fix and am posting several of them here for you to see.
These two are for my sports photography launch next week (if I can get my website finished...it's going to look like the top of the first card below).
This one is for graphic design services, which I plan to roll out by the end of February.
These are the other cards designed to promote my photography.Special thanks to those of you who gave me input during this process--I appreciate it more than you know.
On Friday I'm having coffee with an amazing wedding photographer from Denver, Steve Tinetti. He makes absolutely incredible images of the kind I'd like to make someday (check out his cool website). He's a fellow Minnesotan and I'm really looking forward to meeting him.
So that's it for tonight. This post was image-intensive and for those of you on dial-up I apologize.
Have a great Friday and an even better weekend. Remember this: Enjoy yourself. It is later than you think.

Sunday, January 21, 2007

Downtown Denver

Candy: This week we explored parts of downtown Denver, spending a good share of Wednesday afternoon at the Denver Art Museum during Tim's day off. I decided not to take the camera along so that I could more fully experience the art, so I don't have any photos of the museum to share with you.

The museum has chosen to make fun of its own abbreviation (D.A.M.) by using it everywhere, from the line to "get your D.A.M. tickets here" to "Hot D.A.M. this is exciting" in the museum maps.

The museum itself is comprised of two buildings connected by an enclosed bridge. One building is 4 stories and the other is 6 stories, with each level filled with various exhibitions including pre-Columbian pottery and artifacts, modern and abstract collections, photography, and sculpture, to mention a few.

I'm always amazed at the emotions a visit to an art museum evokes in me. I enjoy much of what I see, even feel strong attachment for some of the pieces, and also inevitably become angry at other pieces. Always insightful.

For example, I absolutely loved one of the paintings in the western art section. It was a high-contrast painting of an old drive-in movie theater, and I loved the colors, the mood, and the memories it pulled out. Then, in the abstract art section, I became strangely angry with a painting of a piece of lined notepaper. I don't know what made me angry, but I was mad just looking at it.

The experience was great, though, and I was reminded that a visit to an art museum is always worth the money in exchange for what I learn about myself.

Tonight we went back downtown, first to Invesco Field (what used to be Mile High Stadium) for the Enterprise Rent-a-Car holiday party (aka Enterprise prom, as some call it), and then to take some photos of the Denver City & County Building.

I had read online that this particular building, which forms part of the square at the capitol, is lit in a spectacular fashion twice during the year--once for the Christmas holidays, and once during the National Western Stock Show, which is going on now. So I hauled the tripod and camera out and fired away, resulting in the panorama at the top of this post.
I then turned 180 degrees and shot this photo of the Colorado State Capitol.
By then we were chilly--it was only 25 degrees or so--and decided to drive to the 16th Street Mall nearby. When we were visiting this outdoor pedestrian-only mall I had noticed a huge Denver sign and wanted to see what it looked like at night. This is one of the resulting images.
We also walked up to the mall and saw that all the trees were still wrapped in their holiday lights and shot this image looking east on the mall.
I hope to make time next week to go back downtown and shoot some candid photos of shoppers at the mall as well as explore the interesting mix of architecture with my camera. When I do I'll be sure to post some more photos.
In the meantime, both Tim and I hope that you've had a great week and that you are healthy, happy, and gaining wisdom each day. Take care.

Sunday, January 14, 2007

Tim is Always Right

Candy: It's true.

Last weekend I was feeling pretty sick, and by Monday night Tim forced me to go to the doctor, telling me that he was sure I either had bronchitis or pneumonia.

I kept saying, "No, it's just a bad cold. Let's stick it out another day."
However, Tim won out, and the doctor performed two simple tests on me and announced: "You have pneumonia."
I'm certain that as I glanced at Tim, a little "I told you so" gleam appeared in his eye. He was nice enough not to say it, though.
As a result, this week has been a real struggle for me physically. I don't think I've ever felt so sick for so long. It has certainly given me a lot of time to think, though, and I've come to some important conclusions.
First, Tim is always right. That's it. From now on, I'm not going to question anything he says. Ha.
Second, it's time I showed you the dining room, so here it is.
Third, it's time I believed all of you wonderful people who have been telling me that I have a little ability for photography. I'm finally going to do something about it. Starting with sports photography, and hopefully also before too long wedding photography as well.
I'm putting this out here on the blog because I'm terrified to head into photography as a profession, and so that you'll all hold me accountable if I don't do it. I need your encouragement and your kicks in the butt.
My plan is this: approach several fantastic photographers in the area and see if one of them will let me be his/her assistant. Additionally, I am preparing some marketing pieces to be printed by the end of January and launch an action sports photography campaign in the local high schools.
In addition, I'll continue to apply for work to help pay the bills and hope that I'll get exactly what we need (and maybe even more than we need) in order to continue to live.
Some scary times are ahead for me. I've never been afraid to risk everything to help make Tim's dreams come true, but I'm super scared to try to make mine come true. Tim fully supports my decision (in fact, he's practically forced me to the edge of the cliff), and now it's time for me to make the leap.
So, here goes nothing. Thanks in advance for your support. I'll keep you posted.