I'm currently in the midst of a non-photographic obsession...quilting. At least this one quilt, which is an assemblage of some fabric scraps I had, a huge freecycle haul from over a year ago, and some flour sacks from The English Building Market.



It has taken already many hours of work, and based on a few time measurements I've realized it will take at least another 10-15 hours of just assembling the tiny pieces. Which is what I get for deciding to make a patchwork quilt of 3x3" squares (final size=2x2").




I just can't get over how photogenic the project is, all the scrappy bits of fabric piled on top of one another. Even the laying out of the quilt (because I learned I am too much of a control freak to have the possibility of the same fabrics side by side) was amazing. I did a time lapse of that 5+ hour project that I will have to post soon...quite likely with a Yakety Sax soundtrack.



So maybe I spent this Sunday looking like a redneck grandma with my sweet Sherwin Williams camouflage baseball cap, but I am excited to be done in another 30 or 40 hours with what I hope will be an awesome quilt!

(Thanks KW for the quilter photo)

Making Time

In the past year I've done three shoots for the organization Flashes of Hope, two at the Hole in the Wall Gang camp in Ashford, CT and the most recent one at the Smilow Cancer Center at YNHH. The premise of the shoots, photographing sick kids, capturing and preserving moments when there may not be many more moments to come, is a tough one to reconcile. But the kids are amazing, and we have so much fun, and I like the idea of making them feel special in a positive way. The people that work in places like this are also incredible. I haven't met anyone yet that was anything less that kind, fun, gentle and upbeat; all while dealing with situations that can so easily get you down.
I was reminded of this sense of positivity yesterday at a memorial service for a friend who was shot and killed in his home just last week. He was young and kind and good and there seems to be no explanation for his violent death, which makes it all the more frustrating. Friends gathered to tell stories, friends from all over the country and all over every demographic, who wanted to share the beauty and love they felt, and offer some kind of comfort to his family. Be kind to one another.

Some Summer

Late August! Where has the summer gone? I spent 3 weeks driving around the country with an awesome friend. We saw so many different landscapes. Being in a different new environment almost every day and having the freedom to go photograph as much as I wanted...well, it was just spectacular. Stefanie would look through my pictures and we would joke that it was the tour of old American hotel signs, although I'd argue its any old sign, especially if neon is involved. These two shots are from around Marfa, TX. The southwest is chock full of things I like to photograph, human places that the desert has reclaimed. Sunfaded, windblown, deserted (ha!). Such a fascinatingly inhospitable place with failure dotting the landscape. Buildings and vehicles abandoned, hard to tell if it was before or after their usefulness was called into question. We rode into Marfa as the sky exploded with thunder, lightning and rain. I guess this is more common than i expected, and inches of water piled up in the low-lying areas of our campground. It was probably for the best that we didn't get there even thirty minutes sooner, or our tent may have ended up underwater. Storms like this explain why the landscape was so much more lush than I anticipated, a bright, young green that stuck around until we reached some higher and dryer elevations. I haven't spent much time in the desert, none until an unnecessary trip to Las Vegas sent me out and about in a convertible and I fell in love with the alien landscape. I think about moving to one of these places, but I worry about how sustainable it is to be a human who enjoys regular showers living in a land where the water source is someone else's diminishing abundance. For now, I'll try to visit and shower in the rain whenever possible.

Thank you!

Wowee! Thanks for voting Kelly Jensen Photography #1 in 2010!

Stormy Weather

When the clouds are heavy and the sun gets low, the light that bounces around never ceases to amaze me. This is a must shoot situation. If I don't have the big guy (5dii), then hopefully I have the little guy (g11). Worst case scenario it's the phone. This time, obviously, the big guy was out and about with me. I've been quite fond of shooting in this light since I started photographing anything seriously, its popular for a reason, folks!

Kitties

Springing!