Random Found Objects

Swell Booth

Christina — Fri, 18 May 2012 20:02:53 +0000

Every now and again, David and I do photobooths as a side gig–but I wouldn’t call them “photobooths”. Instead, they’re more like “instant portrait studios”. “Instant” in that we provide on site printing of 4×6 prints, and “portrait studio” in that there is no box, we have professional studio lighting and a photographer who takes the photos–not automated software. Over the last several years we’ve really enjoyed doing these–for events, street fairs, parties–and we just recently decided to get more aggressive in marketing this service. In doing so we thought it was high time to separate Random Found Objects Photography from the photobooth, and give it a name and brand all it’s own. Enter Swell Booth. Swell Booth made it’s first official appearance at the Fork & Cork Wine Festival in April and at The Creekmore Law Firm‘s (aka The Artful Lawyer) quarterly art opening in the beginning of May.

I love the different ways people interpret the booth, interact with it and they way their personalities come through in each photo. Here are three of our favorites from the last two booths we did. The third photo is of our good friend Jeff Greenough. He’s an awesome photographer and wonderful mentor. Thanks Jeff!

Headshot

David — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 13:00:27 +0000

Here’s an outtake that I am a bit fond of from a shoot I did yesterday for an upcoming annual report. I really like the expression and the way his hair is blowing in the wind, it adds that touch of personality that you don’t always get in photos like these.

Bird Beard

Christina — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 13:22:44 +0000

Every year, starting November 1st, David sports a “winter beard” through the middle of March. He usually trims it throughout the season, but this year I was able to convince him to let it grow with no trimming just to see how big it could get. (Thinking, “why stop there?”, I and some of our friends tried to push for a full “year beard”, even including a significant cash bribe. Despite our enthusiasm, David insisted the beard would meet the razor in March).

I decided that before the Big Shave, we had to put the beard to good use–we needed to record the epic four and a half months of growth AND celebrate the coming of Spring, and what better way to do all that than a “bird beard”??

Promo Package/ADDY Award

David — Sat, 24 Mar 2012 14:19:54 +0000

Okay, so this post should have gone up about two weeks ago…but better late than never, right? Right! Two Saturday evenings ago we won a Gold ADDY Award for our self-promotional direct mail piece! We have been sending these to prospective clients, each containing three samples of our work, a hand-written letter to the recipient, one of our hand-printed business cards, a coaster and three little button magnets made by yours truly. You can see the whole package below.

Winter’s dormancy and camera phones

Christina — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 22:37:35 +0000

We went to Brown Farm (a.k.a. Heritage Park) not too long ago, an open-space in town that provides nice walking paths, trails, and a place for Eastwood to run around and pee on all the things. Going out on short trips like this, I tend to forget or leave my camera at home and usually end up regretting it. Thank goodness for the continuing advancement of camera phones. Perhaps I shouldn’t still be amazed…I mean, new astounding technology has just become the norm these days. But the camera on my phone has come to mostly replace our little Canon point-n-shoot, and is a fine fill-in for times just like these, when I notice the lovely things around me while on an afternoon walk. It’s been an unusually warm winter for the most part here in the southwestern part of Virginia, but the landscape is still stark and quiet as it always is this time of the year, allowing us to really appreciate the contours of the land.

Kappas and the tree

Christina — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 19:30:33 +0000

Over two years ago, life-long Blacksburg resident Chris Kappas asked if I could take some photos of him and the big Sycamore tree that resided just outside his office in downtown Blacksburg. It had just been announced that the tree would be cut down come summer. The tree had been sickly for sometime, and a lot of residents had noticed that each year it was a little less robust, standing a little less strong, and never leafing out as much as the year before. Nearly 140 years old, it had become a much loved icon and institution in Blacksburg, and Chris, a town institution himself, remembers climbing its trunk and branches when it was still small enough to do so. For many of us that have grown up in this town, the Sycamore was a constant figure, always providing a hillside of shade during our humid mountain summers and adding a burst of brilliant yellow in the fall. In most of these photos, Chris stood posed, looking straight into the camera, but I was able to sneak a frame or two of him being more reflective.

Graphic type

Christina — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 23:07:41 +0000

While I was documenting our business cards being printed at Appalachia Press back in October, owner John Reburn let me roam around his awesome space and take photos of all his super neat-o stuff to my heart’s content (I’ll post those photos soon, honest!). I spent a good amount of time marveling at his sliding drawers of neatly organized vintage letterpress blocks, but I really loved this one cabinet that was filled with extra large antique (mostly wooden) type blocks and the graphic quality they created in each drawer.

Merry Christmas!

RFO — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 22:52:12 +0000

We hope you all have a safe and happy holiday! Here is a little gift for you, a few fun images of our pal Eastwood posing with some friends to brighten your Christmas spirit.

Appalachia Press & Business Cards

RFO — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 03:49:53 +0000

With our recent re-branding and creation of marketing materials, we really wanted to have business cards that would stand out and let our personalities shine through, so we turned to the über-talented John Reburn of Appalachia Press in Roanoke, VA. John had previously letter-pressed our wedding invitations, and it was an absolute pleasure working with him. He was kind enough to let Christina hang out in his workshop while he printed our cards. She documented the whole process, here’s a quick look into what it takes to print a business card the old-fashioned way.

Sauerkraut Band

RFO — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 18:00:35 +0000

Every Fall we try to attend the amazing Oktoberfest celebration up at Mt. Lake. The entertainment provided by the Sauerkraut Band is always a riot and the members were kind enough to take a moment to sit for us. With these portraits we wanted to try and capture the warmth and nostalgia encompassing the whole event, prosit!