After a long break...

Scrapbook Studies: The Burn Series: "Lipstick, Smoke Stacks & Pearls": 8"x10" ( 1 of 1) Silver Halide Print/s; 2011

Scrapbook Studies: The Burn Series: "Yosemite": 5"x7" (1 of 1) Silver Halide Print/s; 2011

After a long break from the blog, an entry is surely due. The business has been going well. We hired a new group of employees this summer and they are fabulous. The new crew is great, all of whom are excited and working hard. Our in-house shop in Wisconsin is manufacturing booths at break-neck speed (thanks to our skilled and dedicated guys). We have recently had sales to England, Hong Kong, Spain, Texas, Alabama, North Carolina, D.C., and New York... to name just a few. I also just refurbished some more classic chemical photobooths...bringing them back from the dead.

We also acquired 30 more photobooths this summer (including 9 Polaroid booths secured for our friends at The Impossible Project). All these units and a TON of parts are now in our new WI storage facility. Once again, we have more stuff than space.

The retail component of our studio has also been awesome. It's a fun part of the business, which thus far, is performing better than expected. We have some really sweet cameras and film for sale. Truthfully, even if they never sold, I'd be very happy to keep them around! The web store is still in its infancy, but coming along. Stay tuned for updates: http://thevintagephotoshop.com

Of course, as always, the rental and permanent location part of our business has been solid and constant. -Not much to complain about there. So, I'm still staying very busy... Despite keeping a hectic schedule, I have been sticking to my heath plan. For the last 4 months, I've been going to Yoga regularly and eating a full vegan / low sugar diet. I've also given up all alcohol and refined sweets (goodbye red wine and Twix !). In addition, I have also been trying to manage stress and work/life balance. So, has this done anything for me? Well, it's hard to say. My recent 3 month scan (June) report was very favorable. As you may recall, my previous scans from March were showing marked tumor progression, with growth almost 4x in size in just over 5 months. And so, it was good news to see a report that said my disease has been "stable" for the last 3 months. In addition, it was noted that there may be some "suggestion of improvement". Apparently, a few of the tumors in a previous study were not visible on this recent scan. That said, the Radiologist's / Docs would not commit to this statement. No matter though, I'm happy with just being stable for a while.

The big question is; was it the change of lifestyle that helped create stability, or, just a coincidence? I don't want to be let down in the future.... so for now, I'm sticking to my diet and regimen, excepting that anything can happen next round. Taking care of myself is really all I can do. -The rest is cosmic.

On other fronts, I have been working on a new photo series.: "Scrapbook Studies: The Burn Series". I'm pretty happy with the work, which was just accepted into Catherine Edelman's "Chicago Project". Currently, there are about 40 pieces in this new series, started in March. When I get some time, I'll try to post a gallery of the work. Until then, here is some info about the project...

About the Series.

Behind every photograph is a fire unseen. -Broken hearts, a mountain view, family feuds, and odysseys, are trapped in life-still. With corners neatly pinned to black paper, the snapshot bawls from under its careful designation as personal record. The scrapbook is a diary, where if it is true that a picture is worth a thousand words, the compilation is an inferno raging against scotch-tape, glue, and careful penmanship.

Technique.

The images from this series were manufactured from vintage negatives, recently printed on expired paper stock (circa 1965 to 1990: using traditional fiber based papers such as Kodabromide, Kodak Polycontrast, Oriental, Etc.). Scrapbook images from original found photos are then collaged with these silver-halide (B&W) prints. Traditionally crude "scrapbook" materials are used in image manipulation (i.e., glue, tape, fire, scissors, paper, photo corners, construction paper, etc.)