PHLOG – Harvest Life

Posted on January 12, 2023January 12, 2023 by LaShawnda Jones — Leave a comment

Perspective: Spillover Atwater Park

If you haven’t heard of Pete Souza, look him up. I’ve been following him on Instagram since 2017 (according to the app). he’s a former presidential photographer who served Regan and Obama. Following the Obama Administration, Souza based himself in Madison, WI.

On his IG account he shares political images that function as commentary on cultural and historic American moments. However the post that has impacted me the most was a series titled, “The life of a tree, 2020” posted on December 20, 2020.

Life of a tree, 2020. Series post by Pete Souza. Madison, WI.

Though I’ve long done serial photography – returning to favorite spots for varying perspectives – I only thought of myself as an amateur developing my skills. After Pete’s post where he describes happening upon a tree and later realizing the tree was in multiple images, and then deciding to be intentional about a series, I decided to be intentional with a series highlighting my time in Milwaukee, WI.

Since returning to Milwaukee in Spring 2021, I’ve made it my business to enjoy the scenery with the changing seasons. Wherever you are, nature is breathtaking.

My first subject was a tree on Bradford Beach on Lake Michigan. The second and third spots became a lakefront tree line in Veterans Park and a tree-encircled lagoon that reflects the downtown skyline. The forth and most beloved spot is the Harbor Lighthouse. The Spillover II sculpture by Jaume Plensa in Atwater Park in Shorewood, WI enraptured me a year after the other locations. Though it’s a late entry to my intentional Milwaukee/Lake Michigan series the spot has delivered some stunning and introspective images. You can be certain there will be some Spillover II prints available soon.

Late Autumn Sunrise

Sunrise at Atwater Park, Shorewood, WI Spillover II

Early Winter’s Morning

Posted on September 10, 2022September 10, 2022 by LaShawnda Jones — Leave a comment

Harvest Photo Brochure

This summer, Harvest Life partnered with Visit Milwaukee, the convention and visitors bureau for Milwaukee, WI. On their Milwaukee 365 social calendar, Harvest Photo’s Photo Walks are available for booking.

After several unsuccessful attempts in both Arizona and Wisconsin, Harvest Photo finally got approved for AirBnB Experiences this summer as well.

When Experiences first became available, I proposed a desert walk and shoot on Dove Mountain in Marana, Arizona. I was hosting in my home at the time and thought it would be a great add-on experience for guests. Airbnb declined my proposed Experience, stating it was too much of a personal service. They wanted something that anyone could participate in in a group setting.

This summer I had two requests for Milwaukee photo shoots by travelers via Airbnb. I explained to both requesters that I had submitted photo experiences prior and why they were declined. The second requestor sent me screenshots from around the country of other photographers doing exactly what I had been asking to do. I sent links to those Experiences to Airbnb and asked what wording they required for my experience to be accepted. I basically plagiarized descriptions from other Experiences, resubmitted my experience, and was approved within 24 hrs.

I share this because I was discouraged. I wasn’t interested in resubmitting my proposal when the first traveler asked me for Airbnb booking info.

I had become so comfortable with rejection, I anticipated it. That hurts to say, as I hadn’t really thought about it like that before.

The Milwaukee Photo Walks have been well-received and I know this format is something I can do wherever I am in the world. That sparks my joy.

All this being said, it was certainly past time to update my Harvest Photo brochure from real estate to more personal offerings.

If you find yourself in Milwaukee, WI while I’m still roaming the city, feel free to look me up for a shoot or walking tour.

If you should encounter me in another city, I’m sure my offerings will be the same or similar. Look me up there.

Should you need a photographer for a life, community, or company event somewhere I am not, remember me. Travel is part of my lifestyle. Branding session needed? I got you!

Please view, like, and share my Harvest Photo brochure below.

Thank you all for your support in the visible, invisible, spoken, and unspoken ways. Though I must say, I respond far more eagerly to what I can see and hear. Feedback is fuel.

Be blessed as you go.

LaShawnda

Posted on September 3, 2022 by LaShawnda Jones — 1 Comment

Photo: Red Lighthouse Series

Upon my return to Milwaukee, WI in spring 2021, I began photographing several spots repeatedly. My intention was to capture as many seasons as I could while in town. It’s been well over a year now and I’ve entered a second cycle for this project.

In edition to capturing spaces at different times of the year, I captured different times of day and various weather conditions. I think it’s a lovely collection of work, but of course I’ biases.

My goal is to offer several as prints in the near future.

Which ones would you enjoy most in your space?

Posted on August 7, 2022 by LaShawnda Jones — Leave a comment

Sunset Photo Walk w/Father + Son

Yesterday, I had the pleasure of hosting Rio and Rei for my Sunset Photo Walk Along Lake Michigan. Father and son are on a road trip from Washington DC to New Mexico. I’m so pleased they added my #airbnbexperience to their stop in #Milwaukee

Young Rei is into photography and got some great practice time with techniques and suggestions I shared with him.

#roadtrip #travel #travelphotography #photowalk #airbnb #airbnbhost #lakemichigan #mam #milwaukeeartmuseum #milwaukeephotographer #mkephotographer #milwaukeephotography #visit Milwaukee #Walk #tour #Sunset #moon #joy

Posted on April 27, 2022June 11, 2022 by LaShawnda Jones — Leave a comment

Mountain Landscape Composites

Creating composite images is a favorite process of mine. It’s time consuming and I have only worked on a small fraction of the images I’ve captured, but seeing a panorama come together from several images is an inspirational joy. Usually editing is required to even out lines in the landscape, but when it works, it works beautifully.

Below are some composites from my time in Arizona. I’ve been mining my cache for possible prints and NFTs to offer for purchase. Are there any you can see on your wall?

Sabino Canyon, Tucson, AZ

Chiricahua National Monument, Willcox, AZ

Posted on March 1, 2022March 1, 2022 by LaShawnda Jones — 1 Comment

Fantasies Wide Awake: Reprint + NFT Collection

In 2005, I self-published my first book, Fantasies: A Metamorphosis of Sexual Attraction. Over the last few months, I’ve been re-editing the text and images for a reprint. The new version comes with an updated title as well, Fantasies Wide Awake.

From out of print to reprint

The process of reviewing and re-editing my first literary and photographic venture became a journey of photo editing that evolved into creating a NFT collection of the final images.

Fantasies was photographed in Milwaukee, WI by two local photographers as work for hire. Lisa Richelle was the project photographer and took most of the images. Shalina Ali took the cover photo series. Shalina’s work was for a calendar I produced in 2004, VoLux Full-Figured Calendar. Some of her images did double duty in Fantasies as well, which was my first book and poetry collection. The cover for Fantasies was designed by Jon Polito later in New York City when I moved there; he also designed the covers. I used a vanity printer and ordered about 200 copies of the book, most of which were sold on 125th Street in Harlem. Quite the beginning!

For the 2022 reprint, I didn’t take any new photos, but I did pull in some images from other photo projects. This version also includes images by Jason Lam (NY), Qiana Reed (OK) and Willis Roberts (NY).

Re-visioning vintage

Shalina Ali and Lisa Richelle photographed on 35mm film. The book images were in black and white as the interior of the book was black and white.

My first edit for the reprint was focused on removing the background, smoothing out the lines and bright spots. Then tinted to a sepia tone. After sitting on that for a while, I came across a photo of flowers. From that point I began experimenting with making the images look more fantastical – like a bed of roses dipped in fairy dust.

*Evolution of cover design for Fantasies*. Photographed by Shalina Ali, 2004. Model: LaShawnda Jones.

*Original black and white to current colorful composite*. *Photographed by Lisa Richelle, 2005. Models: Phil Griffin and LaShawnda Jones*.

*Black and white to sepia to color collage. Photographed by Lisa Richelle, 2005. Models: Jennifer Olsen and Phil Griffin.*

*Scans of original 35mm prints by Lisa Richelle and Shalina Ali. Models: Phil Griffin and LaShawnda Jones.*

Buy your copy of Fantasies Wide Awake here, on Amazon.com or BN.com.

Dipping into the NFT pool

The idea to blend the bouquet of flowers with the sepia images came from a brainstorm of creating images that would present as solid NFT offerings. With each blending attempt, I loved the look more and more. By the time I finished layering and compositing the images for the NFT collection, I realized printing the 2022 version of Fantasies in full color with this collection would indeed be an actual refreshing of an old work.

As I explore the NFT photography spaces, please fill free to view my collections on OpenSea (HarvestLifer: https://opensea.io/harvestlifer). The Fantasies Wide Awake NFT Collection is viewable at https://opensea.io/collection/fantasies-wide-awake-2022.

Please be patient with me as I am new to crypto, digital art and monetizing virtual assets. Uploading images to the collection is a learning exercise on its own. With practice comes understanding. I recently realized that uploading and listing for sale are different functions. Important to this process is understanding crypto wallets, transferring crypto between platforms as well as the associated costs. Transfer fees and gas fees eat account balances extremely fast. Essentially, nothing is listed for sale yet because I’m still moving crypto around and testing the site for the best gas prices and times (lower fees). Eventually, I will list the images one by one for sale.

If you have any NFT pointers, please share!

#nft #digitalart #photography #phlog #indiepublishing #publisher #photoediting

Posted on January 3, 2022January 3, 2022 by LaShawnda Jones — Leave a comment

2022 Calendar Planning: Starting the year off with an outline (Recording)

Listen to my 2022 planning outline suggestions for #indie #creatives, #solopreneuers, and #SmallBusiness owners. There are no hard and fast rules, only simple techniques for staying on track with your overall 2022 goals.

Note: The first couple of minutes are dead air, mic was off. 🙃 (Start after minute 3:00).

Please share your techniques and suggestions in the comments.

https://twitter.com/i/spaces/1ynJOZmroMXGR

Posted on May 13, 2021May 14, 2021 by LaShawnda Jones — Leave a comment

A Prayer for Sojourner Truth

Thoughts from the Road.

Today I honor my ancestors. I honor all the women who stood and spoke in their power. May they rest well. May we live well as we continue moving forward in the footsteps of giants.

For a few years now, I’ve wanted to do a road trip focusing on historic African American Women. The pillars for me are Sojourner Truth and Harriet Tubman. I’ve been mapping out sites they lived and worked for a while.

Throughout March and April this year, I finally got on the road for an extended trip. This one wasn’t focused on African American Women exclusively, but it was deeply saturated in African American history and culture. However, because I AM Woman is named for one of Sojourner Truth’s speeches, I truly wanted to make sure she was part of this road trip. So Battle Creek, MI was added to my route. I visited a monument dedicated to her and her grave site at Oak Hill Cemetery.

We think of history as being so distant, but standing at Mother Sojourner’s grave site made me very aware that her time was not so long ago.

#sojournertruth #africanamerican #women #woman #womenrights #abolistionist #activist #roadtrip #crosscountry #battlecreek #michigan #oakcreekcemetery #ancestors #prayer #photography #journey #america #americanhistory

Sojourner Truth Monument

Oak Hill Cemetery

Posted on May 9, 2021May 14, 2021 by LaShawnda Jones — Leave a comment

Nnamdi Okonkwo

In 2009, I had the pleasure of meeting Nnamdi Okonkwo at an art show in Manhattan.

Pictured: Nnamdi Okonkwo, Sculptor, with Resolution

A couple of years ago I started following him on IG and told him I was looking forward to the day I could purchase my first piece of art from him.

Have you thought about what your first real art purchase would be? I’ve long suspected mine would be sculpture. Something three-dimensional.

When I moved to New York City in 2005, I began visiting art galleries. My favorite one is on Central Park South. There’s some beautiful work in that gallery. But even if I could swing the exorbitant price tags, the pieces I liked best didn’t really reflect me.

When I met Nnamdi with his lady Resolution, I wanted to lean in, take a seat and speak with them both. Not only did he speak to me but so did his work.

Last month while on a cross country road trip, I asked if he was available for a studio visit. He was. I visited and it was the highlight of my trip and a true joy I will remember throughout my life. I placed an order for two small sculptures, “Joy” and “They are Waiting.” I wanted to select art that not only reflected some of my physicality, but also expressed where I am spiritually and emotionally. My whole life is long waits dotted with bursts of joy.

The below video shares some of my exploration of Nnamdi’s studio as well as his graciousness in opening his space and answering my questions. I’ve also added pictures of him from the art show in Manhattan and of me sitting with his “Friends” monument installation in Harlem in 2012. I refer to this statue as “Sisters,” in the video but please note “Sisters” has three more figures than “Friends.”

When we sat to talk in his studio last month, Nnamdi started off by saying he remembered meeting me all those years ago. My first inclination was to dismiss his comment. Then I had to reject my dismissal. He and his work had made such an impression on me I’ve literally remembered one of his pieces with me as a figure in it (see video). ☺

We live in a superficial world where people change their interests with the shifting winds seeking instant gratification. I’ve never been one for the quick fix. I’m purposeful and methodical. I come through on the follow-through eventually.

For those of you who may be beating yourself up for taking too long to do something or acquire a wishlist item, remind yourself it’s your life to live at your pace. When you’re in a comfortable enough space to do that unnecessary, but pleasurable thing, your satisfaction will have no limits.

Check out Nnamdi Okonkwo’s work at http://www.nnamdiart.com. Yo can find him on IG (@nnamdiart) and Facebook (@nnamdi.okonkwo.96).

Friends, Harlem, NY (120th St. & 5th Ave)

“In my indigenous culture, womanhood is venerated. In my sculpture I want to express the noble virtues of humanity such as empathy, love, humility and inner strength which women possess. The voluminous shapes are aesthetically pleasing and intoxicating to me, but why also serve to emphasize the largeness of the soul of womanhood.”

Posted on December 24, 2020August 23, 2021 by LaShawnda Jones — Leave a comment

Milwaukee Art Museum Image Edits

In 2018, I hosted a number of mini photo shoots for women interested in free photos and possibly being part of my final project titled, I AM Woman. The portrait sessions took place in New York City, Chicago, Gary, Milwaukee and Phoenix. The various backdrops include skyscrapers, water, desert, green parks, and museums.

Though I wanted interesting backgrounds, the backdrops were not a focus or priority. The locations were chosen for convenience and diversity. New York sort of lead the charge here as I held about six sessions around town. One was a practice shoot with a former co-worker in Central Park North. My second practice shoot took place at a women’s conference in Harlem. The third shoot was someone else’s photo project that I asked to join in Brooklyn Bridge Park. Permission was granted to tag alongside her photographer for my own shots and I offered to share my work with her for her project. After this, I scheduled my own sessions and accepted whoever showed up. Battery Park, Central Park, Columbus Circle – the City is certainly a huge part of I AM Woman.

Meeting in open, well-populated landmark locations seemed to work well. All the women were, for the most part, comfortable and almost immediately at ease.

In Milwaukee, the meet happened at the Milwaukee Art Museum. The landmark architecture of the Burke Brise Soleil, designed by Santiago Calvatrava, had to be the backdrop for this Great City on a Great Lake.

At the end of the shoots, I didn’t think I had done such a good job capturing the building. It was blurry and cut off in a lot shots. In others, the angles were unattractive. Again, since the building wasn’t my priority, I went about selecting the images of the women that best represented how they saw themselves.

Luckily, I don’t really delete my digital images. Years ago, I decided to keep everything I shoot with the belief that what I don’t like today will be amazing to me tomorrow. Because of this, editing the images for I AM Woman is exposing a great deal of possibilities by blending images I would normally do nothing with into images that need a bit of umph! I stitched four such photos together that didn’t work by themselves to get a great final image that will be the background of one of my portraits from that day in the final cut.

These were shot with my Sony A7iii and Rokonon 14mm wide lens; composited with Microsoft ICE; color and cropping were done in Lightroom; removals and smoothing done in Photoshop; and final finishes were done in Topaz Labs Impression. What do you think?

*Stitch of about 4 images cleaned, trimmed, removed people and car*

Progressive Images