Stacey Bode Photography

My cool, writer pal Tommy posted an excerpt from a Johnathan Fields blog entry about what someone’s “Creative MO” is.  The list describes various conditions we enjoy or require to help generate creative output.  As much as I’d like to think that brilliant ideas spew from my brain day and night, it’s more accurate to say that if the wind even thinks about blowing in the wrong direction, my brain completely shuts down until I eat exactly 5 cookies.  I really enjoyed reading both Jonathan and Tommy’s lists, so I thought I’d post mine here.  I’d be curious to hear about what’s on your list too.  Happy creating!

• Clothes – At home:  bare feet, yoga pants or comfy jeans or boxer shorts if I’m lazy, old t-shirt.  I’m about to start watching Season 1 of Mad Men, so this list will soon change to satin cocktail dress, pearls, gloves, stilettos.
• Sound – Moderate background noise; dog barking, bad movies/TV
• Light – I love a bright room, but I have to keep it relatively dark when editing.  When I’m shooting, light is either my best friend or my worst enemy, and I kinda dig that.
• Time of Day – Morning, and later in the evening
• Location – My office.  I spend so much time in here, so I made it my favorite room in the house.  The locations that inspire me creatively are all the new, surprising ones.
• Directionality - Big window/door to the left of my desk, furniture to the right.  I’m right in front of a wall, but it’s my favorite shade of grey, and I’m always looking at my computer screens anyhoo.
• Routine/spontaneous – Sometimes I try to have a routine, but unexpected things come up too often to force myself to stick to it.
• Long periods or short bursts – Both.  I do short bursts often because I have a hard time sitting still for more than 5 minutes.  However, when I get into an editing groove, I lose all track of time.  Just ask Matt or Fletch, who have both valiantly attempted to pull me away from my desk.
• Carry something to capture ideas on the fly? – My life has become a series of post-it notes and index cards.  I’m also about to start using video or a voice recorder for a special project.  When I do shoots, I usually have some ideas thought out ahead of time, but most of my creative thinking behind the camera is on the fly.
• Squeaky Clean or squalor (setting) – If I don’t maintain a certain level of organization, I will lose my mind and take you with me.
• Clean or dirty (self) – Whether I shower in the morning or evening doesn’t seem to affect my creativity.  However, I always try to be a clean lady when I’m with clients (unless we’re shooting in a mud pit or a seedy motel).
• Solo or surrounded – Obviously, shoots are with people.  In my office, I have to work alone since I am so easily distracted.  Hey, what’s that shiny thing over there…….?
• Digital or analogue – Analogue notes, ideas, messages.  Everything else is done with techno digital robots and such.
• What fuels you? – Protein bars, bagels, oatmeal
• Leaded or unleaded? – Leaded, please.  Sometimes I absent-mindedly pick up my coffee cup around midnight, and start chugging away.  Regrets soon follow.
• Breaks – Cleaning, reading, blog surfing
• Mindset practices that fuel creation – Forcing myself to try things outside of my comfort zone (creatively and otherwise), looking at photography that inspires me, watching good movies
• Movement practices that fuel creation – Walking Fletch, yoga, spontaneous solo dance parties

Without sounding too much like an Oprah disciple, I’ve decided that this year I’m going to try a bunch of things beyond my comfort zone.  I’m so lucky to have friends that help me facilitate these wacky experiments.  My sweet pal Anna-Claire is so daggum wonderful, that if I write too much about her, I’ll totally start blog crying.  She invited me to Escalade Rock Climbing Gym to get all Spiderman on some walls.  Two things I’ve always been a little afraid of are heights, and my complete lack of upper-body strength.  Crazy first-time fears aside, we went, did a lot of laughing, even more climbing than expected, and even learned how to tie all the fancy knots so we were able to belay each other going up and down the “big” wall.  Man, that was cool.  I want to go back to that gym to take their aerial dance classes!

I’m proud of my climbing blisters, despite the fact that arrows are required to find them.

Our next adventure was to the Georgia Aquarium!  It’s alarming how many Atlanta attractions I’ve never been to.  Also on the list are Cyclorama, The MLK Museum, The Carter Center, Six Flags, and the Margaret Mitchell House.  Sorry, Atlanta.  Things have been busy.  Anyway, I’ve been wanting to check out all the “fish”, and finally got my chance.  Totally worth the wait, and allowed me to cross another outing off my to-do list.  As a wise man once said, “Live Every Week Like It’s Shark Week”.

My awesome friend!

We got to stick our heads into the penguin habitat!  Look out behind you, Anna-Claire!!

This next pic makes me very happy.  Even though I almost knocked over a garbage can and injured myself taking it.

Yesterday I had an absolute blast hanging with the ladies of Kiss The Bride, a company started by the fabulous Pam Jones.  KTB is like a cool match-maker for couples and photographers.  They hook brides and grooms up with the right package and the right shooter.  Win-win!

They held their first workshop yesterday at the gorgeous Roswell Mill Club, and I’m so flattered that they had me come chat to the group about branding and packaging.  Y’all know I luvs me some crafty packaging, and I’m thrilled to help other photographers figure out cool ways to present their work without breaking the bank.  Yay!  The way they ran the workshop was really awesome.  They had several of the KTB photographers talk about something they’re super at (graphic design, fashion photography, album design, etc).  How great is that?  I’m glad I got to sit in on a few of the presentations.

I also have to mention my new favorite phrase used by Katie, which was, “Live, Laugh, Photograph”.  Love that!

Here are the lovely ladies of Kiss The Bride!

I’m sorry, Pam.  You know I had to post this.  You are just too dang cute.

I’m not sure what this pose is that we’re doing.  I’m gonna call it the “golly gee”.

The KTB ladies know how to work it!

Thanks so much KTB for having me out for all the photo fun!

Yay, my art board collage samples arrived!  I love adding new pretty things to my happy place.  I spend SO much time in my office, that it practically has to explode with joyful stuff.  Not only do there have to be lovely things to look at, but often there will be some swell music playing, which leads to spontaneous dance parties with my dog.  By “dance party”, what I mean is “me doing ridiculous moves while my confused pup tries to knock me over with his giant head”.  Guys do the same thing to me at clubs.

I can’t wait to shoot Tom + Julia’s wedding in a few weeks!!!  In the meantime, I’ll keep drooling over their engagement pics.

Here’s one corner of office bliss!

Maybe some day I’ll get around to taking and posting pics of the rest of my space, and maybe even a video of how Fletch reacts to my move-busin’.

It’s been ages since my last Fletch update.  Today, he and I were lucky to get a visit from cutie-pie Kara and her gorgeous Newfoundland, Gidget.  What better reason to take some pics for the bloggy-blog?  I already knew I adored Kara, but after meeting her fluffy, giant pup….I am now in love with Gidget as well.  We both commented on how cool it was to see our dogs get to play with something their own size.  Before Gidget, the closest thing in size to Fletch was the patio table.  So here are some shots of our “babies” doing their thing.

Gidget!

Fletch!

Oh the cuteness!

Fletch, taking it easy in his favorite diggin’ hole.

My new favorite photo.  (awesome photo skills by Kara Jensen!)

This one makes me so happy.

Gidget digits!

Yay, enormous pups!!

It’s because this is the only type of photograph I like to be seen in.  I often photograph people in mirrors or reflections, which can be so cool….unless my head or my elbow decide to invade the shot.  However, when I sneak into a photo in an unexpected way, I think it’s pretty fun.  I took the pic below on the beach, and you can see Christina, me (the monkey in the middle), and Steve in the reflection of Steve’s shoe.  I also dig how the sand makes it look like we’re all living in a snow globe.  Yay!  Soon, I’ll be posting lots more images from their super-incredible wedding.  For now, this will have to do.

I’ve got another bit of info for any of you out there who have wondered what the big deal is with the pixels when you purchase a camera.  A camera with a high pixel number will let you print your images really large, change the size/resolution of the pics, or crop the photos without losing quality.  This image below is seriously cropped.  The full image is a pic of both the bride’s and groom’s shoes on the beach.  The full photo is about 30 times bigger than what you see below.  This is why we love lots and lots of pixels….hooray!

It’s been brought to my attention that this blog is well overdue for a Fletch update.  I’m not sure what trouble he was getting into during my last posts, but I can assure you that he has become the most wonderful, lovable, ridiculous dog.  He somehow picked up some mad guard dog skills, and I’m pretty sure he would take a bullet for me…..or at least taste some old food for me to make sure it was ok.

Just when we think he’s done growing, he gets bigger.  I forget how big he is until I’m walking him and everyone we pass shouts “dear god, what is that thing??!!”.  Typical responses are “polar bear rescue” or “Luck Dragon”.  I wish the pic below could more accurately show off his size.  Maybe next time, I’ll pose him next to a ruler, which he’d eat immediately.  To give you an idea, the size of his head in the photo is roughly equivalent to the length of 3 football fields.

I love you, Fletcheroooo!

Today, I had the pleasure of judging a photo contest for the West Cobb Shutterbugs!  It’s painfully unnatural for me to critique the art of other people.  My philosophy is that if you like what you created, that’s what’s important.  However, I realize that my comments are also used as a learning tool for the group, so I put my fears of criticizing aside, and chatted away about each photo.  I’m always SO impressed by the work of these folks.  They take some really lovely photographs, and pull off some technical wizardry that makes me want to learn from them too.  You can look at some of their images on their website by clicking HERE.  You should totally check it out.  They are about the nicest people you’ll ever meet, and it’s an honor each time they have me back to talk to the group.

The subject of today’s photo competition was reflections.  I don’t have any of the pretty nature-inspired reflections like they took.  As some of you know, I’m definitely a people-person when it comes to my camera.  However, I thought this post was a good opportunity to share one of my portraits that has a reflection, and give you a quick preview of Jaimie’s Cheeky Lamb boudoir shoot.  Oh boy, I can’t wait to show you more.  She has got some kinda wow factor going on!

Hey everybody!  Usually when it’s been this long since my last post, I start with “insert lame excuse here”.  However, this time, I’m thrilled to be blogging since my site has been down for about 5 days.  I won’t go into all the nasty details about “insert names of companies here”, or how it has affected me “insert long list of expletives here”.

I have images of some cool folks to post now that I’m up and running.  In the meantime, here’s a ridiculous trip down memory lane.  These pics might explain my aversion to studio portraits.  With that said, if I find myself full of enough truth serum (aka, tequila), I might just have to admit that these are some of my favorite childhood photos.

I do kinda love this first one.  That is still the face I make in most photos.  Also, the hands I have now are either brilliant prosthetics, or that is some serious shag carpet.

Oh dear.  Here starts years of unfortunate hair.  During this time of my life, I would gently stroke my head and say “pretty hair”.  I’m sure this was a joke started by my parents.  They seem nice, but they are pure evil.  I’m not sure what the deal is with the flower.  I guess they thought something in the photo should be pretty.

I would wear a fancy bracelet while farming.  I have to point something out here.  All the props and outfits you’re seeing were not supplied by the photography studio.  These were all from the creative mind of my mom.  I guess this explains why I have boxes of stuff I use for photo shoots.  That rooster might have to make an appearance in my next boudoir shoot.

I’m not sure what to say about this next one, other than I must have made my mom really mad to deserve this.

Good student = sweater vest + smarty-pants pose + apple + pretending to read when I’d rather be on my Big Wheel.

I have to give credit where it’s due.  These images where taken by the Don Frederick Studio in Wisconsin.  I wasn’t sure if they’d still be around, but they are!  Right on!  If you’re out that way and need some portraits, check them out.  Make sure you bring some eggs and a bale of hay.  My mom and I would be proud.

I apologize for being so MIA lately.  I always forget how crazy this time of year is.  It seems like this should be a slow time to hibernate and get organized.  Instead it’s an action-packed extravaganza!!  I can’t wait to get some more posts up on this here blog.  I’ve got some photos of the wonderful Rollins family, headshots of the gorgeous Ms. Pamela, three more Cheeky Lamb shoots, and of course lots and lots of pics from our BBA trip.

In the meantime, here’s a video that was brought to my attention by my lovely friend Tiff.  During such a busy time, it gave me a very entertaining dose of perspective and reminded me of all the incredibly simple bits of magic that happen every day.  The fella who made this (Will Hoffman) has some really cool stuff on his website if you wanna check it out by clicking here.  Photography is so influenced by moments, and I just ate up every second of this film.  I hope you dig it too.