Shelter In Place

Shelter In Place is a survival game of Zombie Horror with a ...

Weddings

Every wedding is it’s own unique love story. It is  my great ...

Broken Hearted

A few of you have asked why I don’t have any minions ...

Portrait: Ekaterina Sedia

Last week I had the great pleasure of photographing Ekaterina Sedia, the editor for the upcoming anthology, Bloody Fabulous. While shooting, we had an interesting discussion about art, photography, fashion and feminism. I feel lucky to have such interesting clients!

I worked with Ekaterina to make sure that she got just the kind of photographs she wanted. She requested a background that had an urban feel, as well as a few photos that featured the fashions she was wearing. She also needed a diversity of moods for her photographs, since she may need them for a variety of publications.

If you want to know more about Ekaterina, you can read about her thoughts on fashion and feminism, as well as her introduction to Bloody Fabulous on her blog: http://fishmonkey.blogspot.com/

I’m now accepting clients for new projects. If you want to hire me, you can check out my rates and shoot me an e-mail about your projects.

Updated Rates

I’ve just updated my rates information – prices haven’t gone up, but I realized there were things that I was providing for my clients (edits, digital galleries, consultations) that I just didn’t mention on my page. So I’ve updated my rates, and put a little graphic up there so that they are a bit easier to understand.

I’ve also updated my rates for weddings, splitting what I offer into four different packages, starting at $200.

Book Cover!

Mostly what I’m called on to do is Portraits, which I love. I love taking portraits because I love meeting new people. I photograph authors, podcasters, actors, dancers, game designers and scientists. There is so much to learn about a person when photographing them, and so many different sides to one person.

Book Covers are great because it frequently means I get to hear about a cool new book BEFORE it comes out, and I get to work with the author on constructing the cover image that will best communicate the story with the audience. It all feels very creative and exclusive and fun.

I’m available for hire if you’re in the market for a photographer. I strongly encourage anyone who is interested to wander through my portfolio to check out my style and see if what I do works for you.

NEW RATES PAGE

WEDDINGS

Location, Location, Location

This weekend I was lucky to attend the wedding of a good friend who had the whole affair at a fabulous location, a beautiful old theater in New Jersey. I haven’t been simply a guest at a wedding for years, and it was  fun just to kick back, relax and just enjoy the festivities.  Of course, having such beautiful people at such a stunning location was too much temptation for a photographer. So, at one point in the evening, I snuck off and took some photos.

If I’m not photographing a wedding, I usually don’t bring my camera. I don’t like to get in the way of a photographer who is doing their job to get the best photos they can on a wedding day. However, I DID have my cellphone, and I managed to get some nice, moody shots. It’s neat what can be done with cellphone cameras. It makes me remember that while having sophisticated equipment is wonderful, it’s not always needed to take a nice photo, and that beautiful people in a fabulous location are always fun.

How can one woman look so cute soaking her feet? .

What You Should Wear To Your Photoshoot?

I like this photo of J.C. Hutchins because it really captures how friendly and open he is. J.C. is like a friend to his many fans, your most brilliant, talented of friends, the one you want to see reach the stars.

As a writer myself, I run with a writer-crowd, and so many of my portraits have been of writers for their book jackets and websites. I’ve always loved shooting these world builders and character makers, because they are fun people to talk to and because the special needs of authors are always interesting.

A frequent question that comes up when I’m planning a photoshoot for an author is “What should I wear?” It’s a good question, and, as with all the best questions, the answer is dependent on a couple things:

What are your goals?

The first thing to consider is “What is this shoot for?” Is it for your website about page, your photo-jacket, your twitter feed? Are you hoping to get a rage of emotions to use for different situations? Considering how you will use these photos is the first step to getting the photo you want.

Who is your audience?

Who are the people who will see this photo? Your fans? Newspaper readers? What do you want this photo to say about you to your audience?

I love this photo of Mur Lafferty, it’s beautiful and feminine. In it, she reminds me of Hepburn. However, this shoot didn’t really fit Mur’s personality, so we ended up doing a re-shoot.

Who are you?

What is your personality? Are you outgoing, shy, bold? What aspects of your personality do you want to come through for your photoshoot?

What makes you feel confident?

This is the most important question. Wear something that makes you feel good about yourself. How you feel in an outfit will shine through. If you feel confident, it will show on your face, and that is the first place people look when viewing a photo, and the most important.

All this is well and good, but seriously, what should I wear?

This photo of Mur comes much closer to capturing her personality. Mur is the Editor of Escape Pod and a visionary in new media. This photo captures her strong personality much better.

Okay, fine. I get it. All these questions and thoughts doesn’t really answer your question, it just gives you more questions. You want colors, you want styles, you want concrete advice! Well, if you’ve thought about all the questions above, and have some answers for yourself, you probably know exactly what you’d like to wear.

I advise my clients to wear bright, bold solid colors, black or white. This usually helps to a make a person “pop” out of a background. Most of my clients bring several options for outfits and then pick and choose what will work best on camera. I like to show my clients the results partly into the shoot to show them the direction we’re headed, and to correct the course if it isn’t what the writer wants.

The makeup artist I work with often advises that, before a portrait, making sure your hygiene basics are covered – showered, shaven to where you like to be, with clean hair, nails and teeth – will always make your makeup artist happy.

The important thing to remember for your author portrait is that it is a thousand first impressions. When someone picks up your book or goes to your website, that will be their first impression of you. Making that what you want it to be is important, and worth investing in.

Perhaps, for you, that means a friend takes a quick snapshot, or maybe it means hiring a pro. Whatever you decide, being aware of the choice, and those first impressions, is important.

For this picture of Tee, I wanted to document him as different than the friendly, sweet man he’s often seen as. I wanted to bring out a darker side, and talking about Hamlets father, we seemed to reach into the place an author goes when considering the darker sides of a character.

Writers from this post include J.C. Hutchins, Mur Lafferty and Tee Morris. You can see other examples of the writers I’ve photographed here. To hire me for your own shoot, you can look at my rates or e-mail me at jrblackwell at gmail dot com for a quote.

Balticon 46 Schedule

The month I’ll be attending Balticon, where I’ll get to see old friends and hopefully meet some new ones. It’s always been a fun con for me, and I’m looking forward to my two readings and talking about Kickstarter and generally the whole process of getting a creative endeavor from your brain to someone elses brain. If you’re going to be there, please feel free to say hello.

Sometimes people say that they saw me at a con and wanted to say hello but felt too self-conscious and worried that they might be bothering me. I just wanted to let those people know that I am rather nice, and while we might not end up going to dinner or braiding each others hair or being best friends forever, I do like to meet people, so please feel free to say hello if you see me. I come to conventions to meet people that connect in some way with my creative work – that’s why I’m there! So if you want to say hello or ask me a question, please feel free.

FRIDAY

Readings: J. R. Blackwell, Alessia Brio and Scott Roche
Friday at 11:00 pm in Chase
J. R. Blackwell, Alessia Brio and Scott Roche reading from their works.
Speakers:Alessia Brio; Spiritualtramp; J.R. Blackwell

SATURDAY

Put Together the Total Package
Saturday at 2:00 pm in Chesapeake
Tips on how to make your book sell, including various self-publishing avenues and requirements, marketing strategies, and tools to promote your work
Moderator: Starla Huchton
Speakers:Collin Earl; J.R. Blackwell; Mugavero, Donna; Robin Sullivan; AB Kovacs

SUNDAY

Kickstarter
Sunday at 11:00 am in Derby
Real life experience from creatives who have already monetized their work using Kickstarter.com or by themselves
Moderator: Brennan Taylor
Speakers:John Mierau; Norm Sherman; Brand Gamblin; J.R. Blackwell

Battle of Blood & Ink — Book Launch
Sunday at 12:00 PM in
Two years ago, “Aliens You Will Meet” & “Voice of Free Planet X” creator Jared Axelrod announced that the original graphic novel THE BATTLE OF BLOOD AND INK would be published from Tor Books. Several episode of the prequel podcast FABLES OF THE FLYING CITY later, and the book is out! Join Jared and artist Steve Walker as they launch and celebrate the book that was years in the making! (Also listed as NM-72 in New Media Program).
Moderator: J.R. Blackwell
Speakers: Jared Axelrod

Broad Universe Reading
Sunday at 1:00 pm in Salon B
Rapid Fire readings from some amazing women/authors.
Moderator: Roxanne Bland
Speakers:Jean Marie Ward; Trish Wilson (Elizabeth Black); Emilie P. Bush – Steampunk ; Elaine Corvidae; Jody Lynn Nye (Guest of Honor); J.R. Blackwell; Trisha J. Wooldridge; TJ Perkins; S.J.; Kelly A. Harmon, Danielle Ackley-McPhail

For The Love Of Villainy
Sunday at 10:00 pm in Salon B
What is the appeal of a good villain? Why do we love to hate them? Why are some villains indelible?
Moderator: Tad from Trantor
Speakers: Chris Morse; Elaine Corvidae; Michael D. Pederson; J.R. Blackwell

MONDAY

In with the new – out with the old?
Monday at 10:00 am in Derby
Does New Media mean ignoring more traditional methods of publishing? This session examines whether using only new media ideas is a good idea. There may be only so far one can go using the web as a publishing platform. Would it make sense the use a combination of traditional publishing methods and web-based marketing? Perhaps a hybrid approach will allow the best of both worlds.
Moderator: Gary the Scribe
Speakers: J.R. Blackwell; Nobilis Reed; Cynical Woman; Andrew Eckhart

Women of the Empire

I missed the boat. That’s how all of this got started. I missed the boat when my friends Tee and Pip asked me if I wanted to write a story for their project:  Tales from the Archives. I was deep into the edits of Shelter in Place, and couldn’t devote the time to the story to make it a good one. This happens, occasionally, and it’s always a bit depressing. I want to say yes to everything and everyone, but sometimes, to make Project A shine, you can’t take on Project B.

After Phoenix Rising came out and I discovered they had not only dedicated the book to my husband and I, but invented characters with quite similar names, a story started peculating in my head based around a character with my name. Dr. Blackwell has an odd little character voice, she’s a wild, innocent person,  not a woman of the world, but a women of science, mischievous and brilliant. She is many of the things I wish I could be, and quite a few of the things I’ve lost.

I wrote a story knowing it couldn’t be included in the Tales from the Archives, but just for pure fun, just to share with Tee and Pip. I thought it might be too racy to share with the world in general, and that I might be taking too many liberties with their characters. I wrote it just for fun. Of course, the story wasn’t content just to stay between friends. Tee and Pip had bigger plans.

I had no idea that they planned to do a Volume 2. I shouldn’t have been surprised though, with the success of their series, the demand for more stories for their fans is high, and Tee and Pip are very good to their fans. So they asked if they could include it, I said yes, gave it a bit of a sprucing up, and now you can listen to the whole thing over on their website. They’ve done a lot with the audio I gave them, Tee added his own voice to the story, which adds millions, and they’ve got music and sound effects too. All of it makes for a very polished end product. They are masters of audio over there, and it’s a pleasure to listen to.

Women of the Empire is one of the naughtiest things I’ve ever written. It’s a coy, funny, flirty little story. It’s a magical pixie dream girl at the school dance. It’s a hilarious young man you meet at a party. This story may not open your horizons or tell you something about the human condition, because this story just wants to dance. I hope you’ll give it a whirl.

Listen here: http://www.ministryofpeculiaroccurrences.com/2012/05/08/tales-from-the-archives-volume-2-three/

The Battle of Blood and Ink is in stores today!

My husbands graphic novel, the Battle of Blood and Ink, hits stores today! This is so exciting, as it’s been years in the making, and so much work for Jared and his artist, Steve Walker. I am so proud of Jared and Steve, and so happy for them that their book is finally out.

You can buy the book in your favorite bookstore, or on Amazon.

Stages of Beauty

A photo from one of my first shoots.

In his transformative book, Understanding Comics, Scott McCloud discusses the stages an artist goes through to reaching Mastery. It’s gotten me thinking about the stages I went through as a photographer when thinking about beauty. When I first started taking photos, it was because my friends were saying how ugly they were. “Oh, we’re just a ugly group,” they’d say. “Glad we ugly folks found each other,” they’d repeat, over and over. I disagreed, so I bought a point and shoot and started going, just to show them how attractive they were to me. I either succeeded, or they figured out I don’t like them saying how ugly we are, but either way, that kind of talked stopped.

At that point, I had reached STAGE ONE: Everyone Has Something Beautiful About Them. In that stage, I figured I could find something beautiful about anybody. One of the first lessons of the camera is that the photographer gets to choose what you see – so you can cut out some of the “bad” parts and focus on the “good” parts. You get to choose what the beholder gets to look at, and you become the director of a microsecond movie.

Self Portrait

STAGE TWO: Beauty Is A Construct: After about ten thousand photographs, you start to realize that beauty is this concept set up by society with guidelines that have you cutting and cropping your photos to conform to invisible guidelines – you are chopping off heads and contorting to fit to an artistic standard you did not invent. Maybe this comes when you find yourself photoshopping a model so that he no longer looks like himself. Or maybe you find yourself shooting some beautiful models against a stunning background and you think to yourself “How simple! How boring! Anyone could take a beautiful photo if they have attractive people in a gorgeous setting – isn’t there more than this?”

There is.

STAGE THREE: Fuck Beauty, Show Me Something Interesting: At this point, you are like “Beauty, meh. WHATEVER.” At this point, you don’t give a flying fuck what society thinks is beautiful anymore. You just want to find things that are interesting, striking, that challenge you and the people who view what you do. Who cares what society thinks is beautiful, instead, let’s find some good stories, lets find something interesting and photograph that.

At this point, you think you have reached true enlightenment on the topic, but guess what? You haven’t. BLAM!

Self Portrait (Taken on the same day as the one above)

STAGE FOUR: Beauty is a Tool: Then you realize that “beauty” is just a tool in your arsenal, a tool you had been lead to think was the only tool, but really, it’s just one of dozens, hundreds maybe, in your toolbox. Society’s constructs of beauty, your own ideas of beauty, these are just tools you can use to construct your images and stories. You don’t need to reject it, you can use it, because you know what it is and how it works and you can use it to communicate with people, or not use it, which also communicates something with people. Either way, it’s just a tool, along with many, many others.

Do I think there is a stage beyond this? Absolutely! I don’t think that my stages are a progression that every artist has to jump though – these are just philosophies that influence the way I create photos AT THIS MOMENT. If I change my mind, move to a different place, that will influence the way I make photos again. Will that make be a better photographer? Maybe! Or not! Or maybe to some people, but not to others.

As a photographer, one of my obsessions is what the camera sees, and what it can let me show you. The camera has shown me that I can transform what is usually there, and set up a scene for an increibly striking moment in time. As much truth as the camera is known for, it also allows me to lie elegantly. I can be a bold crusader for truth with my camera, seeking out the real in every person, but I can also be a master storyteller, creating dreamscapes for a few seconds. And if I’m good enough, I can do them both.

Ashe of the Air

Ashe of the Air, from Jared’s book, The Battle of Blood and Ink, as depicted by the fabulous Liza!

I really like this photo. I love taking photos of people jumping. I know I’m not the only photographer who gets a kick out of this, but it doesn’t decrease my fun one coin to know that other people are having fun too.  Liza is the fantastic lady in this photo, which I am completely late in posting, seeing as I took it nearly a YEAR ago. (I get behind on stuff that isn’t paid work!) Liza created the costume, but the character is Ashe, from Jared Axelrod’s The Battle of Blood and Ink, which is coming out May 8th, this coming Tuesday!

Jared worked so hard on this graphic novel. Along with his illustrator, Steve Walker, this is the culmination of years of hard work. To introduce people to the world, Jared created this fantastic podcast, which is totally free, called Fables of the Flying City, which acts as a prequel to The Battle of Blood and Ink. He and Steve also created some comics for people to enjoy. If the book does well, there will likely be sequels and more podcasts to listen to.

I’m thinking about making a poster for this image, taking Liza out of the background and putting her up against some lovely clouds and giving it away for everyone to download. I’ve already made a very short “making of” video for Jared and Steve, which features them talking about the themes of the book and their inspirations, as well as images from inside the graphic novel. I am so proud of Jared for working so hard on this project. He’s my inspiration, living with him is what has made me the artist I am today. If it weren’t for Jared, I might just be a lady with a lot of ideas. With Jared, I’ve become a lady with a track record of completed projects behind her. Together we are an engine, humming along.

Difficult and Marvelous

April was a difficult month, for reasons my husband goes into here: In My Hands

Along with the hardship, there was some marvelous things happening as well. I shot my first ever newspaper cover, where I took photos of the fabulous Black Tribbles, a group of geeks that is redefining geek. When I started taking photos of this group, it was like hanging out with friends I’ve known forever. Their show is like that too,  like hanging out with friends you’ve never met, where you are part of a group that is effortlessly cool.

Velociraptor! Cannibalism! closed our Kickstarter this month, and we raised $43,619 to produce the game we all dreamed up at the Global Game Jam. This means that we get to produce a game that has fabulous art and fund a print run to go out to our Kickstarter supporters. To have a project receive such support is an incredible honor. When we started the project, other people laughed at our group, and said that what we were producing was silly. As it turns out, a lot of people happen to like silly, and we found those wonderful weirdos, and together we’re all going to have quite a lot of fun. Thank goodness for all the weird ones, the people with the odd sense of humor, the people who don’t take themselves to seriously, the people who like to have fun, who are fun, who like to laugh. Thank goodness for you, you wonderful, glorious weirdos, for without you, there would be no Velociraptors wearing bow-ties, and that would be a sad world indeed.

I finally got around to posting photos of the Liza as Ashe, the lead character from The Battle of Blood and Ink, my husbands graphic novel that gets released this month! This has been Jared’s focus for a long time, he’s been working so hard on this graphic novel and now it’s finally coming out in bookstores. If you want to help us, and see more work from Jared, the best thing you could do would be to pre-order a copy.

My gig as the Creative Director for Galileo Games is going well, I am working with some incredible authors on a book called Have Blaster, Will Travel, which is a fabulous space adventure. Galileo held a Kickstarter for that anthology, and we raised over $4k for that project, meaning there will be a print run and we get to commission new artwork for the cover of the anthology.

During the Kickstarter for the anthology, my publisher, Brennan Taylor was hit by a truck and I was hospitalized. Yet, we still managed to run the Kickstarter, update our backers, edit work from our writers and generally kick this things ass. Sometimes people say that they worry about investing in Kickstarter projects, worry that the people who run them will flake out on them. I think if there is anything April proved, it is that Galileo Games will always come through, even if we are hit by trucks or hospitalized. If the zombie Apocalypse comes, we will get you your books, if we have to walk through fire to do it.

Jack Scoresby came to visit this month, and I took some fun photos of him which will likely result in more Dr. Mercury fiction for everyone. We ate a lot of great food when Jack was here, and we took some great photos too. We took an amazing set of photos where Jack was Aquaman and Jared was Batman that has to be seen to be believed.

Life is difficult sometimes, but it is also marvelous. At the same time as you might be crying, there are a thousand glorious things floating right beyond the tears.  Please, friends, no condolences, I prefer good news instead. My baby, though gone now, brought me incredible amounts of joy and though I mourn his loss, what I want most of all is to celebrate life, his life, my life, and yours.