Rochester Downtown Association is starting up the ArtWalk again this Thursday from 5-9pm and we're excited to once again open up our studio for it! So this Thursday night, come get some fresh air and check out a piece of the arts being offered around Rochester! We're playing it easy on the first one and will be hosting Michelle's work in the first floor of our building. We plan to host other artists at the studio in the future. If you are some type of artist (audio, visual, surreal) or know of any that would like some show time, please contact the studio. If you're looking for a map of the ArtWalk, head here!
Michelle has also been asked to show her work at the "9:1 Artist Collective" at the Civic Center Theatre Friday night! So check out Shel's work and the work of 8 other local artists there starting at 5:30 and swing over to the studio for the concert! Here's some additional info with this show:
Please join us for this free and fun celebration of the arts in Rochester!
* View pottery, stained glass, photography, oils and acrylics created by local artists -- and displayed in a gallery-like setting. Artists include Jay Koski, Dawn Sanborn, Robin Kautz, Susan Waughtal, Tim Cnossen, and Michelle Fagan.
* Hear poetry and prose read by area authors, including Pam Whitfield and Jennifer Koski.
* Hear original songs performed by Bob Sanborn.
* Enjoy a cash bar, and order off a menu prepared by Chef Johnny Mangouras (aka Chef Mango).
For more information, contact jenniferkoski@gmail.com.
There you go! Have a great week everyone and I hope to see you around some of these events! Shawn
A little while ago Fagan Studios was featured in the Rochester Chamber of Commerce's monthly magazine, the Chamber Advantage! I've been shooting the covers for the magazine for a couple years now so to be featured on it was pretty out of the norm for us! We had some fun with the shoot though mixing some digital photography along with a little old school photo booth style! Head here to see the magazine as a pdf.
We've been hopping with seniors and weddings recently so I hope to post some of those here and more up on our Facebook book page. I photographed a senior today and will be doing something a little different with a few of her images so keep your eye here on the blog for that!
We're also underway with updating all the images on our website and adding a mobile site too for phones and iPad type devices! It's a busy summer!
I hope you've all had a wonderful 4th of July weekend! Shawn
Yet another gimmick in my mind to try and get me blogging more! Ha!
I was driving the other day (actually it was last week and I wanted to do this last Friday but of course, fail) and several things popped into my mind of cool items, videos, music and what-not that I came across or thoroughly enjoyed. I thought it'd be a fun and different thing to post, you can get a little feeling for what's inspiring me, and frankly wasting some of my time too! Hopefully I'll do this every Friday and I'd love your feedback too! What would you like to see more of from our blog here?!
Over the past few years, I've come to love Impressionist painters' works. John Singer Sargent is definitely one of my favorites and I've started looking into others. I recently stumbled upon some of Velazquez's work and after reading about the above painting, the unheard-of-to-me composition of the piece, the way the light works within it, the connections created between the subjects and the viewer... it all blows me away.
I think my love of these masters' works is going to have a major impact as Shel and I look to reinvent what it is we do with our photography! To me, so much of a photographic portrait is in the eyes. That tells a huge piece of the image's story to me. Now I'm seeing the combination of eyes, lips and especially hands now! I'm excited!
2) LISTENING
LCD Soundsystem
FYI: this isn't the official video of this song, but it's entertaining none the less, ay?!
I can't get enough of this song! I've heard it on the world's greatest radio station a few times and one morning Shel showed this to me. I instantly had to buy the album! I have a number of their other albums but have been dragging my feet with this one for some reason. Now it's on constant rotation wherever I'm at! I had it pumping in studio324 this morning as I set the space up for a wedding which will be happening here tonight!
Their last show is April 2nd so if you're still looking for a birthday present for me, tickets to that show would be greatly appreciated!
3) READING
Whenever someone asked me what book I was reading, I felt like I always had to start with, "It's a lame name but a wonderful book, ok?!" "How to Win Friends and Influence People" is also the first book I've finished in MONTHS! I enjoy reading but rarely dedicate time in my day to do so. I'm working on changing that habit. Plus I always start books while I'm in the middle of others! I think I have three more that I'm halfway through! Anyway, if you're a business owner, a pastor, a dad, a mom, an employee, a human being, you should read this book! It's a wonderful read but the lessons, many of them common sense, but so much common sense is lacking today, are priceless. There are dozens of items that I apply just to the raising of my kids! Seriously, the best $9.98 you can spend on a book.
Here's a quick lesson that's easy for me to remember for one thing and that I'm applying as I too sometimes get to short tempered or impatient with my boys: When you're training a dog, the animal learns best by giving it praises, not by berating it. It desires your praise. It wants to make you happy. It loves the reward of doing what's good. Sometimes with kids, I'm too quick to get upset about something wrong they did and to short in the praises I offer when things they do are great! So I'm working on completely flipping that around and being quick to praise and build up. I've been doing it for the past two weeks and have seen an amazing change in how my youngest, Jonas, gets ready in the morning for example!
4) WATCHING/LEARNING
Shel and I saw Blue Man Group when they came through Rochester a couple years ago and of course had a great time! One of the, "songs" I guess, we saw them perform had to do about how the eye works. I honestly had no idea that the human eye worked very much like a film video camera from years ago, more or less!
The other day Ben, one of my graphic designers, and I were talking about this kind of thing and I thankfully found the "song" on YouTube. So here it is for your enjoyment and education!
5) SUPPORTING
Last week studio324 hosted an event supporting kids in NY and Africa through the organization 100 Cameras. They give cameras to kids who then document where they live and what they do. I love it when my boys pick up a camera and start shooting. It's of course technically never perfect but it's amazing to see what they basically see, and how they see it! I love how raw images created by kids look. So from the images created by these kids around the world, prints are then made and purchased. 100% of the profits then go back to support the communities where the images were taken. Awesome!
Do you have $25 to spare and could use some new art in your home or office? Head to their site to purchase a print!
(Along those lines, watch the astonishing documentary "Born Into Brothels." Similar concept. Wild that fellow humans live in such situations. The movie won an Oscar a couple years ago.)
Well, that'll wrap up this Friday's post! So what has inspired you this past week?! What has made you smile? Comment below and have a wonderful weekend!
After spending a week out in the beautiful Black Hills of SD, more or less my home town of Rapid City, we returned home and hit the ground running with the beginning of our "summer." That would be Lucas's baseball games, Tribal Warfare at the Gate youth group and of course TONS of shoots! We have one more spot open in late June and just a couple more in July so schedule soon!
I don't really enjoy watching it on tv but man do I LOVE watching baseball live! I don't care if it's minor league, the Pirates and the Reds or little teeball/baseball action! Sitting outside on a beautiful summer evening, awesome. Thankfully the later of those I get to do every Tuesday and Thursday for the next couple months! Unfortunetly, Lucas's home field for the season smells like 13 ponds of dog poop every week, probably due in large part to the 13 pounds of dog poop locked in the cage just behind the home dugout. But fortunately there's a great relief from the heat at the park's water sprinkler!
Tonight our boys were running around the park after the game and before we knew it, both of them had ditched their shirts and shoes for the fountain! Jonas then came over to Shel and I sitting on a nearby bench where I asked him, "I thought I asked you not to get drenched." "Oh I'm not, my shorts are just a little wet," he says with water running down his head and bare chest!
Kids. Boys. Awesome.
Let's go summer!
PS: The above photo was taken with my couple-hours-old iPhone 4! Mmm, iPhone 4. The best camera is the one that you have with you, get it out and shoot!
I'll post more. Ha! So I was of course planning to get some behind the things cleaned up and cruising, one of which is a redesign of this blog and to get some rhythm going to post more! But of course our off-season has cruised on by and there was nothing off or slow about it! From early/late seniors, spring weddings, commercial portraits, shooting carpet, shooting glass awards (which ended up being one of the MOST difficult things I've EVER photographed) and of course a lot of time getting our new venture studio324 up and moving, we've been hopping! And then I'm just plain old embarrassed about my lack of writing here and feel ridiculous about making a post!
Well, here's to getting over that! I was getting some images ready for the Rochester Women Magazine and ran across the below image of Ann Marie Gullickson leading the RWM staff in a laughing yoga session! It was seriously one of the funniest and craziest things I've ever photographed! There were several points where I was saying to myself with my eyebrows raised to my hairline, "OH MY GOSH." But that accompanied me laughing behind the camera and the RWM ladies busting a gut!
They would pull a different "laugh" or game of sorts out of a bag and then perform whatever the paper said. This particular one was a binocular laugh where you'd hold your hands around your eyes and pretend they were binoculars. But you wouldn't look at the other people in the group from a distance but get RIGHT up in their face and peek at each other. Ann Marie was going around to the other ladies and then hopped right in front of me!
So be sure to grab the next issue of Rochester Women Magazine for this great article and if you need a little laughter in your life, check out one of Ann Marie's laughing yoga sessions!
So my friend Misty just left a comment saying I’m the worst blog updater ever. I don’t know what she’s talking about! I write down ideas to blog about on my phone, that’s just as far as they get most times! Ideas about how I placed fourth in a nation wide senior portrait contest, a rock’n maternity shoot, thoughts running through my head about portrait art... All in due time!
I did want to share with everyone about the first floor of our downtown building here though! A little while back I shared that we’re turning the street level of our building into an art gallery space open to the public for events such as groom’s dinners, holiday parties, baby showers, corporate meetings and so on! Well now, we’re adding concerts to the mix!
Everyone always complains that there’s nothing to do in Rochester, so here’s something to do! Block off Friday night, February 19th at 7pm and come down to studio324 for an evening of incredible God centered acoustic music! A local friend and extremely talented musician Dave Reynolds will start the night off followed by the headliner, Jeff Rohlwing from Madison, WI.
Michelle + I first heard Jeff’s music about a year and a half ago and we couldn’t stop listening to it! We’d pretty much always have his music going during dinners to help set the mood, lowering down our two wild boys so we could sit and talk! Ahh, I can’t wait! A friend of ours, Wade Beavers, first turned us onto Jeff and says he puts on an amazing show! Click here to head over to iTunes and preview some of his music and you might as well buy an album too!
So if you’re looking for an awesome night out with some inspiring music, block the 19th off! We can only host about 100 people in the space so we’re offering tickets for sale here or you can try at the door, no guarantees though! At $6 a piece, you can't go wrong!
It’s all kind of turning into a monthly concert series of sorts with shows booked for the next four months! If you know of an artist that you’d like to see here, let us know, or let them know to contact us!
In case you haven't devoured the most recent issue of the Rochester Women's magazine, I feel you should know about a new venture we're launching at our building downtown! We've decided to open up the first floor to once again host corporate and private events in an awesome space! I feel like sometimes the inside of our building is noticed more than the sweet art on the walls, so I suppose we'll open it up so more people can see it!
We're currently taking bookings for late 2009 and all of 2010 so call now to reserve it for a company Christmas party, senior open house, groom's dinner, bridal or baby shower, business meeting, instructional class... pretty much anything you want to do in a place just oozing with character! Studio324 can host up to 85 people depending on how you want the studio laid out with tables, chairs, couches, etc...
There will be more info at Studio324.org shortly so keep an eye on that! Of course you can call us at 259-2973 if you need info right away or to book the venue! We're offering an introductory rate as we build recognition up for the space so book now to get in on that!
We're pumped to put the service and experience people have come to expect and love with Fagan Studios into a new venture!
If you have a kid selling Boy Scout popcorn, Girl Scout cookies, Band chocolate bars, and you’re looking for an easy sale, hit up Casa de Fagan, man I’m easy! Heck, I even stop at every lemon aide stand to shop local and help support upcoming entrepreneurs! And if I’m driving by towards a shoot with no time to stop, I’ll even drive back out of my way to take part in a refreshing cardboard cup of the yellow water, and pay double what they’re asking. Sucker.
I don’t know if I feel bad for people selling door to door or perhaps it’s my total desire to avoid all conflict, i.e., saying “No, thank you. I do not need overpriced window cleaner that you can lick of the little sprayer stick straw thing because there are no chemicals in it.” But I can’t, I don’t. I always buy at least one thing of popcorn, even though I have five other boxes left from the past five years. I always buy boxes of ThinMints, even through the half dozen we do end up never last longer then a half dozen days. And most recently, we bought not one of the amazing drinkable household cleaner, but three, and all in different colors!
The art of door to door sales, this man had! He rhymed, he wiped, he scrubbed, and yes, he licked the little sprayer stick straw thing! He even told me I was a “smart dude” when I shared that I couldn’t smell any chemicals in his eko-green kook-aid cleaner! How could I disagree and how could we say no, even Shel was impressed! So, to prove to our clients that the portraits we create for them are indeed awesome, they are indeed original, they are indeed edible, I think I’m going to chew one for every ordering session! How could you say, “No, thank you. I do not need a 20x24 print of my family, that you can bite.”
Shawn
PS: Alright, so the cleaner (Advanage) really is pretty awesome, says Shel and our 6-year-old window washing wizard Lucas. Even he saw the salesman demonstration and learned. He now washes the window, runs his fingers over what he just cleaned and shows, “no streaks!”
I'm thinking that if I start with a small goal of blogging every Friday, that'd be a great place to start! Yesterday's snow was pretty wild with how much fell in such a short amount of time. I stuck my head out of the top floor window and captured the below at the studio. This was just before the lightning and thunder started, which would have them kept me from sticking my head out!
I don't know what made me think of this video last night. Maybe it was hanging out at home with my boys, maybe it's because I've been a little worn out with the end of the busy season and I have a three-week-long cold that's draining me a touch. But I wanted to share it. Perhaps you need a good reason to leave work early tonight. Perhaps you need a good reason to sit down with the fam for dinner this weekend. Perhaps you need to give that friend you haven't spoken to in a while a call. Whatever it may be, check out this video and live this weekend up ay?!
