Ingrid's Photo Journal

The ultimate chocolate

2009-11-16T18:10:00.000-08:00

A couple of weeks ago I had the most wonderful day at my studio with Pamela Gillies photographing her raw and vegan snacks. When I tried a little piece of her chocolate and let it melt on my tongue I was convinced. I can not remember to have had such an intense experience with chocolate.

A little later we did this photo shoot together to create images for her new website Vivir - Living Foods for living people. It was such a pleasure and so inspiring to bring these creations and ingredients in a form that still give an idea of how they were crafted and that evoke the desire to touch and to taste them.

What I especially like about them is how they are presented: In irregular shapes, broken from the big bar. Wabi Sabi meets french elegance!!

Walnuts with a coating of spicy banana cinnamon glaze.

Spicy flax seed crackers: O M G !

My favorites: Green Chips - Kale leaves dehydrated with "cheese" sauce made from walnuts. They melt on the tongue..

Pamela, vibrant and beautiful as her foods.

You can order her snacks from the shop on her Vivir website

Beautiful Stores: Crackerjack

2009-08-05T01:40:00.001-07:00

Some months ago I photographed Kathleen Koch as part of a story in SeattleWoman Magazine about women owned stores in the Wallingford center. Kathleen owns the store "Crackerjack Crafts", a treasure-box full of handmade jewelry, clothing, pottery and other handicraft.

I came to photograph Kathleen, but I could not resist to explore the store, to peek in the glass cases with all the lovingly arranged pieces. Especially the work of one designer caught my attention. Beautiful filigree earrings, presented in a way that adds magic.

The designers name is Cecelia Otto, and as I found out last week, she will be at the store during Artwalk on Wednesday August 5th from 6pm to 8pm.

Isn't this beautiful..

And here an elegant lady who demands admiration...

A miniature pitcher..

Beautiful things to dream of...

The Seattle Storm owners..

2009-08-01T16:08:00.000-07:00

These four courageous women we have to thank that Seattle has again it's own women basketball team. You can read all about it in the June issue of SeattleWoman Magazine.

From left: Dawn Trudeau, Ginny Gilder, Lisa Brummel and Anne Levinson.

The game season is until the end of September. Check it out at the Storm website!

Women's Empowerment Summit

2009-06-13T01:00:00.000-07:00

This weekend I am documenting the Women's Empowerment Summit at the beautiful W Hotel in downtown Seattle.

Bettina Carey, the "Business Matchmaker" and founder of "Women in Small Biz", is bringing together "powerful and inspiring women" to learn from each other , to network and to have fun.

The gala this evening was quite an event. Many wonderful women were honored. It was electrifying and energizing, with singing and dancing and many wise words that came from the heart.

Saturday has an interesting program too with many breakout sessions and a lunch with latin icon Maria Marin

Many of my photos were used in the invitation, website and brochure.

It's a lot of fun to photograph these beautiful women in this atmosphere of openness, mutual respect and empowerment.

More to come...

Atieno Kombe - Africa Mama

2009-03-30T22:54:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I had a beautiful afternoon at Atieno Kombe's store Africa Mama in Bothell. She had invited to a Customer Appreciation Party with live music by Guillaume Mpacko . Great music and a wonderful atmospere! Lot's of fun dancing. (Some images of the party will come in a few days).

Atieno Kombe is the first woman I photographed for SeattleWoman Magazine four years ago.

She left a deep impression in me when I met her the first time, as I am sure she leaves with everybody who meets her. There is a light around her, a beauty that comes deep from inside. You can feel her strong presence watching her interacting with the people around her. Graceful, full of attention for the other person and full of joy.

Here you can see her with her stepson, whom she adopted when his mother died of aids.
Atieno grew up in Kenya. She devoted herself to work for the children who are left behind as orphans from the aids epidemic. She is the president of "Urgent Africa", a non governmental organization "committed to creating programs that build sustainable solutions for communities that have been gravely affected by aids."

I feel there is much to learn from her. Faced with the pain of the on-going nightmare of aids in Sub-Saharan Africa and the 16 million orphans "sadness and mourning is a normal part of each day", as she says. But you don't see any anger, blame or cynicism consuming her. She uses her sadness as strength to help children to live.

Atieno is closing her store Africa Mama in Bothell on this Tuesday. There is still a chance to visit.

Dearboy at EMP

2009-03-09T20:23:00.001-07:00

On Valentines Day I saw a great performance of the group Dearboy at the EMP. I knew about it because the singer of the band, Kathryn, is the daughter of our good friends Donna and Bill van Buren.

The concert was part of the yearly Sounds Off, "the Northwest's largest underage battle of the bands competition for musicians 21 and under." On February 14th four bands played. I was excited to see the girl I knew for so long playing in front of a big audience and the jugdes. The group had to compete against three other groups which were very good too. But Dearboy was the only girls band.

I never heard them playing live before and I have to say I loved it. There was a special atmosphere in the space when they played. A certain seriousness. The audience seemed to mirror the seriousness of the band members and share in their presence. No attempt to please the audience with prepared moves or fancy gestures, just the music. I was fascinated looking at them, doing their "work".

But while they somehow contained themselves, concentrated on their instruments or the text of the song, their was a wildness too. A powerful energy, a determination. These songs had to be played and had to be sung. Beautiful!!

Bass: Jessa Lowe. Drums: Willa G. Strings and sings: Kathryn van Buren. Keys: Sasha Kool

Dearboy made it to the second place on the 14th and the third in the finals on March 7th . This is quite something. Congratulations!!!

Watch out for Dearboys next performances. It's so great to see them live. Here you can hear and see them with their song "Blister"

Happy New (rest of the )Year

2009-02-16T23:21:00.000-08:00

Spring is nearly in the air, but you never know, it might snow again. And for good wishes it's never too late, I think. So here is a view of our garden and with it I am sending all my best wishes to everybody for this year, that still feels new. This year with all it's challenges, but also with it's promises of something new and wonderful.

I am grateful for everybody that crossed my way in the last year, for people I met new, and for the ones I met again. And for the times when clients became friends.

My friend Debra Gunn gave me a beautiful book as a gift. "The Wishing Year - A House, a man, a soul" by Noelle Oxenhaendler. It was my "New Year Holiday Book", the luxury I allow myself once a year, to read a book in one piece.

The author embarks on a one year "experiment in desire", looking at all the wishing theories and ideas that are out there with a critical eye, trying some out for herself, in-spite her own doubts.

The conclusion she comes to ".. she is amazed that there is indeed, both power and danger in the act of wishing."

This year, which for me began on the 20th of January, started out with a lot of wishing. I hope for us all that we keep our wishes and hopes alive and don't choose cynicism, when they don't immediately come true.

Warmly,

Ingrid

Debrena Jackson Gandy - All the Joy You Can Stand

2008-11-12T13:20:00.001-08:00

Debrena Jackson Gandy is a business consultant and success coach. She truly embodies what the title of her book says: All the joy you can stand.

I photographed her during the Women in Small Biz Expo some weeks ago. It was fascinating to watch her speaking. There was so much beauty in expressing her mission: " To empower others to create the life they desire and deserve."

You can hear - and see - her speaking tomorrow morning at 7am at the WBE breakfast at Washington Athletic Club.

Two amazing women: Big Hug with Bettina Carey, the founder of Women in Small Biz

FRIPP and FRIPP - The quality of our attention

2008-11-11T10:24:00.000-08:00

On Saturday I attended an event with Patricia Fripp and Robert Fripp at Microsoft in Redmond. "How to be an Hero on and off the Platform, from Beginner to Mastery in Business, Performance and Life"

I nearly did not go, but thanks to my friend Jaxie Binder, the co producer of Tuning The Air, who helped organizing the day, I did. I am so glad and grateful that I did.

Patricia Fripp is a well known speaker and executive speaking coach. Energetic, funny, on the point and very present. She literally jumps in front of you with open arms, waking you up.. Her brother Robert Fripp, the legendary guitarist and founding member of King Crimson, has a different kind of presence: modest and preferring to be in the background, but extremely sharp in analyzing complex connections and bringing them down - or up - to basic (and wise) principles. With that there is a wicked sense of humor and a very generous spirit. You can see it in the twinkle in his eyes..

I met Robert Fripp for the first time in 1992 - I was still living in Berlin in Germany - when I attended my first Guitar Craft course in Texas. I did not know too much about King Crimson or Robert Fripp at that time, did not consider myself a "Fan" or having any musical ability, but suddenly I was sitting in an airplane to Austin, Texas with my newly acquired guitar, following an inner voice that this was the absolutely right thing to do and a question of life and death.

And it was the right thing. I did not become a musician - I gave up the guitar some month after that- but I got very involved in Guitar Craft projects in Germany and in America as well as in Seattle after I moved here 11 years ago. I also met my husband Frank on the first course. He was teaching the Alexander Technique for many years on these workshops in Europe, North and South America.

What does this all have to do with Photography? I believe that my experiences on these courses, many of them in a two hundred year old farmhouse in Grossderschau, a small village in former Eastern Germany, helped shape a certain sense of attention. Attention and openness for moments of sheer beauty, often connected with silence. Sometimes painful "lessons", stripping away the clutter in my head and the self perception and deception.

I believe it had an influence on my photography, on who I am in the act of photographing people. I feel I can "see" better because of that, the other person I photograph and myself. What I am aspiring to - to allow the truth and the beauty of the other person come through - became a little bit more available, by not getting into my own way all the time.

In Robert's talk on Saturday there were so many beautiful and eye opening things that hit me in the mark and that I can apply to my work as a photographer. It is still settling in in me and will be material for the next weeks to work with. The sentence that is there with me all the time like a subtle bell and sometimes like a rambling alarm clock is:

"The only thing we have in life is the quality of our attention"

---------–

The event in Seattle is over, the next one will be in Phoenix, but there are cd's available and more information on Patricia Fripp's website.

A funny description of Guitar Craft by Patricia.

Some clips on Youtube.

Tuning The Air, a project by some Guitar Craft people in Seattle, worthwhile checking out their weekly performances.

Mary

2008-09-18T23:20:00.000-07:00

Mary gave herself the present of a photo shoot for her birthday, to celebrate herself a little bit. She looks so beautiful and there is something special about her eyes.

Ezra at 10 (nearly 11)

2008-07-12T17:18:00.000-07:00

With Ezra and Deborah at Sandpoint Park. It was raining a little, but that did not take away the fun. The light was beautiful and the sprinkles in the air too. I photographed Ezra before. We did a shoot when he was eight and three. It's so interesting to see a baby become a boy and then (nearly) a teenager.

This one was Ezra's idea!

Nancy Rawles, a Little Bit More

2008-05-16T09:38:00.001-07:00

I want to tell a little bit more about my photo shoot with Nancy Rawles.

Nancy initially was not so happy to be photographed. She is not very fond of publicity. I pointed out she would do the shoot for the other women, who will be happy to learn about her in the magazine and who will be encouraged and inspired by what she is doing in her writing. It's important for other women and girls to see which wonderful creative and productive women we have in Seattle.

Very soon into the shoot we talked about things that were close to both our hearts . Nancy showed me pictures about the creation of the sculpture "Sadie" and the story behind it. Sadie is Jim's wife from the book "My Jim", which refers to the story of Huckleberry Finn and the slave Jim, who escaped from slavery. For the book "My Jim", Nancy asked several artists to create objects and music that are part of the story. For the sculpture "Sadie" she asked a good friend to be the model for the artist. Many hours were spent to create just the right expression and body posture. You see all the attention and love that went into the sculpture and you get a very good feeling for the life and the struggles Sadie went through.

You find more about this on Nancy's site.

I just started to read Nancy's book "Crawfish Dreams". As in "My Jim", "Crawfish Dreams" is about one woman's struggle to create a life of dignity and meaning for herself and her family. Camille is 68 and has the dream of opening a restaurant. She "cooks up a plan to bring her family back together and discovers that love, sharing, and a dash of daring are the secret ingredients that can turn drams into reality." The language with a wry sense of humor and the love of how the people are described in their weaknesses and in their dreams are captivating.

Nancy Rawles is also a teacher. By listening to her stories about her work as a teacher you can hear that she does it with a lot of love for her profession and for the students. I wish I had a teacher like her. I was very touched by what she said about the importance of daydreaming and the importance of giving students some space for that in the daily duties. The daydreaming part comes often to my mind. It has kind of a bad reputation. You are so used to filling up your days with all the things of the list. You need to be productive and show results. It's often overlooked that there is another kind of productivity working in daydreaming.

I discovered a beautiful website with interviews from Seattle related authors: Booklust by Nancy Pearl.

Look for the one with Nancy. She has a beautiful voice...

Nancy Rawles, Writer

2008-05-11T09:26:00.000-07:00

Nancy Rawles, author of 'My Jim: A Novel,'
'Love Like Gumbo,' and 'Crawfish Dreams.' Ingrid did this for Seattle Woman Magazine.

The Grotto by Niki de Saint Phalle

2008-04-11T17:54:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures from my trip to Germany some months ago. This unassuming building is part of the Royal Herrenhaeuser Gardens, a large Baroque garden in Hannover. Once there was a castle too but it was destroyed in the Second World War, I seem to remember. The remaining gardens are very beautiful and open to the public. It was just across the street from my former art school.

I wasn't here for at least 12 years, and I remember this small building always closed. This time I went with my good friend Heide and she said "Let's see the Grotto". I had no idea what was waiting for me. I went inside and was shear overwhelmed by the colors, light and the sparkle I was surrounded with.

The artist Niki de Saint Phalle created this piece of art you can walk into. It's magical. There was this surprise in me that it is possible to totally “follow your bliss,” no stops in going for your own sense of beauty. It makes you dance. The room around you becomes an inner one.

It is remarkable to me that this was ~~her last project~~ the last project she completed herself * before she died in 2002. There is this feeling of going into another world…

. . . . . . . . . . .

And here we go again into the historical part of the garden.

It's amazing how it all works together and complements each other, the old and the new, the formal and the playful.

* ETA: Someone left a comment pointing to this: Queen Califia's Magical Circle in Escondido, California which started after The Grotto and completed posthumously. Well worth a look

My Main Site

Amalia Martino, owner of BlueShoes Media

2008-04-03T23:18:00.000-07:00

I recently photographed beautiful Amalia Martino.

Amalia is the owner of BlueShoes Media, offering publicity, marketing and business consultation for music groups.

www.blueshoesmedia.com/blueshoesmedia/Welcome.html

My Main Site

Cover Shot: Megan Griffiths, Film Director

2008-03-10T15:04:00.000-07:00

Writer and director Megan Griffiths.

From Left to Right are Off Hours Producers Mischa Jakupcak, Joy Saez, Megan Griffiths and Lacey Leavitt.

Megan with the three women she brought together to produce The Off Hours, a new indie film starring Alicia Silverstone and Aidan Quinn.

Ingrid did this shoot at Randy’s Restaurant, an all-night diner on Seattle's E. Marginal Way and the primary set for the film. It's often frequented by test pilots and crew from nearby Boeing Field and well worth the quick detour off I-5.

My Main Site

Plates Clicking Against The Table

2007-12-04T13:16:00.000-08:00

This year Frank and I were invited to spend Thanksgiving at the house of our good friends Jaxie and Bob, together with their daughters Isabel and Eve and invited friends. We had a wonderful meal and a peaceful and playful time together.

Eve is 7 years old . She made this poem for Thanksgiving:

Quite amazing, these observations and thoughts of a seven year old girl. It keeps me speechless.

. . . . . . . .

Thanksgiving was also Eve's birthday.

Part of my birthday present for her this year was a big piece of silky red fabric. It's one of the last pieces of my big collection of fabric dreams I acquired in Germany. Most of it I left behind when I moved to the America ten years ago.

I thought it might be of use in all kinds of ways for a girl like Eve, and I am glad to see it becoming and giving wings...

My Main Site

Cover Shot: Luly Yang

2007-11-27T18:38:00.000-08:00

Luly Yang for Seattle Woman Magazine

Luly is Seattle's top designer for bridal and evening gowns and just won the Nellie Cashmann Award as the Business Owner of the Year. She has an exquisite store full of sparkle on 4th and University Street.

I was very much looking forward to this photo shoot, though, like all of them, this one had its challenges. There was no time to meet Luly beforehand or to check out the location. Also, I unfortunately missed her amazing fashion show a week before the shoot, because I was still in Germany.

Karen, the editor of Seattle woman, was there with me and started with the interview. It's a different thing, the atmosphere of an interview and the atmosphere of a shoot. The first one is words and so an act of expression. What I do is something else: a feeling or mood at least is allowed to enter and, with patience, a fundamental quality of the person or situation comes to light.

For me it's important that the person to be photographed is fully present and part of the photographic dialog. That, of course, includes myself. I had probably still a little bit of jet lag and realized that I did not fully arrive yet in my surroundings. There is this interesting mixture in a photo portrait session, the need to be active and push things forward, to be in control. At the same time, you need to be receptive and open, aware so you see what is falling in your lap. Suddenly something hits you, a certain constellation of body posture in relation to the surroundings, a certain something in the eyes, a fleeting moment... Letting go is required, on the side of the person to be photographed as well as on the side of the photographer, if the real beauty is to come out.

Luly is a charming and graceful woman. What impressed me strongly is how she combines a child-like playful enthusiasm and joy about colors and shapes along with a strong business sense. In the shoot, I wanted to get through this business consciousness and was waiting for something that really spoke to me and exited me, and woke me up.

We got there, I feel. Luly was patient and went through the choreography of the shoot with me without complaint. Suddenly, after hard work, it was there. A certain mystery, an expression that you cannot pin down, knowing eyes, strength and softness at the same time, a Mona Lisa gaze that draws you in.

Thank you, Luly, for staying with me in this.

In the end we gave each other a hug, and I had finally "arrived" back in Seattle.

. . . . . . . . . . . .

A few more that were not in the magazine that show the different sides of Luly:

A shot in between shots of an exuberant young woman...

...and the queen who reigns over her empire.

My Main Site

Friederike

2007-11-14T18:33:00.000-08:00

This is Friederike, the daughter of my very dear friend Barbara T. in Hamburg, Germany. I visited them when I was in Germany some weeks ago. There was only time to spend together for one evening.

I love this picture. It might be not perfect, technically. I photographed her just after I arrived. She was standing there, in the door, watching me in her quiet way. It was a little dark.

I love her eyes. There is a certain poetic quality around this girl. She has her inner world that she has to protect a little and keep it for herself or to share it only with a view friends.

I sent this picture to Barbara, her mother. She called me back the next day and told me that she was very touched. She felt relieved because she saw in it a quality she felt might not be there anymore or that she would not see anymore, something in her daughter that tends to get invisible in the day-to-day routine.

It was beautiful to hear Barbara describe what she saw in the photo, and once again I am amazed what a photograph can do.

My Main Site

Pepper Schwartz at WBE

2007-10-09T20:17:00.000-07:00

You have the chance to see and hear Pepper Schwartz, who I recently photographed, talking about her book Prime. She will be at the Women's Business Exchange Breakfast on this coming Thursday morning, that is, October 11th, 2007.

The Women's Business Exchange is one of Seattle's largest networking organizations. Each month on the 2nd Thursday they have the breakfast meeting from 7 to 9am at the Washington Athletic Club downtown.

I still remember the first time I went to a breakfast around 4 years ago. I was impressed by seeing ca. 150 business women buzzing around. The air was full of sparkle and energy. Everything seemed possible.

. . . . . . . . . .

Here again is the picture of Pepper Schwartz for the cover, this time without the text:

I love the light on the wall. It was not easy to find the right spot to take the photos in and around her house. We looked at everything, Pepper's horse stable, the beautiful garden and rooms in the house. In spite of being beautiful, it all did not seem to be the right spot. So many things have to come together: the light, the colors, not distracting from the person, working for the cover and the text position, and in the end, it has to give the person the right "frame" and make them feel comfortable. All of this will affect the position of the body and the expressions.

I finally decided for this small spot in the kitchen. The warm yellow color and the streams of light seemed to be the right background for Pepper. I felt it connected with her ability to enjoy the moment, being exuberant and glowing from inside.

The dog who peeks in on the bottom of the picture contributed to the fun as well. Meanwhile her other big dog was lying on the opposite side under my tripod and between my feet. They wanted to take part too.

By the way, the cherries in the other picture were just there, we were eating them. They tasted so good. No bigger meaning, I just liked the little splash of red color...

My Main Site

Cover Shot: Pepper Schwartz

2007-10-04T11:21:00.000-07:00

I was away for a while, in Germany. Some good photos came from this trip, and I will put them up later. Meanwhile, I did these photos of Dr. Pepper Schwartz for an article in Seattle Woman Magazine:

They did an especially great job on the layout this time. The one below was used for the article inside:

Seattle Woman is a print magazine, but you can also download the latest issue here.

I did them at her ranch, about an hour's drive from Seattle. A beautiful place inside and out. Pepper raises horses there, but is more widely known as a sociology professor at the University of Washington and now as the author of Prime.

My Main Site

Cover Shot: Laura Love

2007-08-30T20:32:00.001-07:00

Laura Love Cover

Cover I did for September 2007 Seattle Woman Magazine. Laura is a wonderfully unique singer and musician. Download this issue here at least as long as it is available.

My Main Site

Cover Shot: Ashley Lodree

2007-08-06T16:26:00.000-07:00

This is Ashley Lodree, an amazing athlete. I photographed her for the cover of Seattle Woman Magazine in July. Not sure why the faint lines are there; they appeared when I downloaded the online version. I wanted to show the cover as it was laid out. This July edition is no longer available, but the latest one can be downloaded and is usually displayed in the upper left corner at Seattle Woman Magazine's site . I did the cover for the August issue as well.

[ETA: at least for now, the July issue can still be downloaded directly from this link . <-Fixed this link and some other things on 8/30/07]

I have to say that I am not really a sports photographer, and I don't know a lot about sports or the well known outstanding sports VIPs, but there was something special about her that touched me very much. When I worked on the photo I did of her in post production on the computer, where she is on the starting track looking into the camera with her hands on the ground, I could not stop looking. I think it was the combination of the softness in her eyes and the strength that showed in her arms that moved me so much. I think for the first time, consciously, I saw the commitment to reach a goal in her body. I had a glimpse at it, what it can mean for somebody to make a decision and then to follow up on it and not to give up.

You can see her beautiful soft eyes also in the close up:

This shot, made just a moment after starting, shows what a good athlete she is:

In the moment where she collects all her strength to push forward and get out of the blocks, it looks nearly as if she is flying forward without investing her own energy: yet her face is totally relaxed, nearly as if she is surrendering to another force which would carry her.

[ETA: Some of the photos here are not always showing up, perhaps from being viewed too many times on Flickr. Will see what we can do to resolve this. 8/30/07]

My Main Site

Eleanor Fye

2007-07-06T14:04:00.000-07:00

A while ago I had the pleasure to do a photo shoot with Eleanor Fye for her new and first CD. (I did not see it yet. It will be available this evening)

It's Eleanor’s jump into presenting herself to the world as a singer on her own, after years of being in the corporate world "working for the man". (She wrote a beautiful text about herself on her myspace site.)

Eleanor has a beautiful voice and I love her writing for her songs. I admire to be able to create poetry out of your life.

Much luck and love to you Eleanor!

The release party is today, Friday evening, at Victor's Coffee Company in Redmond:

July, 6 2007 at Victor's (CD release party!)
7993 Gilman St., Redmond, Washington 98052
Cost : free

My Main Site

Two More of this Beautiful Child

2007-06-15T10:44:00.000-07:00

Two more from the same session as yesterday's post.

Yes, those are finger puppets! I usually use them off-camera, as they can help the child relax.

My downtown studio has huge windows, one reason I chose it. As they are here and in the ones I put up yesterday, whenever possible, I use natural light. I love the look and enjoy working in the environment. I also believe it is easier on client, however old they are. The professional models I work with are comfortable with bright lights and flashes, but most people seem to find it easier to relax and be natural without them.

My Main Site