I have said before that I write in my head all the time. As a matter of fact I have been writing this post for the past two weeks in my head. When I was flying to Florida for our vacation I really wanted to write this story and I just lost it and started crying so badly I just couldn’t do it. I am warning you in advance this is a happy/sad story.
On September 13th Dr. Karl Stockhausen passed away at the tender age of 28 from melanoma. I am not sure if I had ever met him and I did not know him. So why did I cry my eyes out on an airplane on the day of his funeral? It is all because of a random act of kindness.
13 years ago when I was remodeling the house that is now the studio, it was a rather trying time for me personally. That project just about killed me (I could write a whole book about the idiot contractors I was working with). No really, I have the physical scars (I had to have back surgery from an injury during the remodeling and moving) and the emotional toll that process took on me was overwhelming. I am such a firm believer that “from all bad things good things come.” The proof of that belief is how beautiful our studio building is and how much the business has grown and excelled since we moved into our current location. But it was not an easy process. It was December of 1996 about 10 days before Christmas, I was exhausted, broke, in pain and working on stripping paint in the new place. I had also worked a full day being a photographer at the old at the Northville Road studio. I was totally fried that evening. During the remodeling I had made an acquaintance with this super nice young guy named Luke (he wanted to rent the apartment from me upstairs when I got it finished) and just he stopped by to see me that evening.
Luke figured out that I was pretty much at the end of my rope and I had not eaten dinner yet. He asked me to come to his house around the corner and have dinner with his family. I remember asking him if it would be OK if he just brought me home for dinner (I had never met his parents or family). I was so puzzled. We never just picked up strangers and brought them home for dinner at my house. But I was hungry and totally out of it anyway. He assured me it would be fine and off we went to his house for dinner.
Luke’s last name is Stockhausen and I was meeting his parents Bill and Carol Jean and several of his siblings for the first time that night. I honestly don’t know how many siblings Luke has or who was there (there were several teenage and younger kids at dinner that night). Karl may have been there, I don’t remember. We ate some kind of warm and wonderful dinner in a bowl (I don’t remember what is was and it does not matter). It’s not just that the Stockhausen’s fed me dinner; it’s that they took in this tired, exhausted and wounded bird and showed me so much kindness. I was a total stranger they did not know and they welcomed me like I was a long lost relative. It was close to Christmas and after dinner they did something else I had never seen. One of the younger children picked up the bible and read from the bible a Christmas passage.
I have no memory of what I ate or what was read, but I totally remember how it made me feel. It made me feel loved (by God and by a family of total strangers) and it made me know that this crazy time in my life would pass and that I could get through it. It was a total random act of kindness that had such a profound effect on me.
This is why the death of someone I did not even know has had such an effect on me. I am so deeply sorry for the entire Stockhausen family. I am just sick that wonderful parents like Bill and Carol Jean have to deal with the death of a child. No parent should ever have to do that. It’s just not the natural order of things. I feel so sorry for his siblings to have lost their brother. I feel horrible for Karl’s fiancée losing her love. I am sure that the loss of Karl will leave a hole in their family that will last forever. I am also sure that the strength and faith of these amazing people will comfort them and bring them through this horrible and difficult time for them.
Back to what I said in the beginning, I firmly believe “from bad things good things come.” When a door shuts a window opens. I have done a good thing because of Karl’s death by telling you this story. It reminds me that my actions and words do have profound effects on others. It also reminds me to be the kind of person whose dinner table is always open to strangers in need. It makes me want to go out of my way to do any random act of kindness for others. I am reminded yet again to put as much good and positive energy as I can out in the world.
I think that you now understand why I have been so profoundly affected by the entire Stockhausen family and why I totally lost it on the airplane. I challenge you to put some good out there and do a few “Random Acts of Kindness” on your journey called life. I ask you to have the kind of family who opens its doors to strangers in need. I hope that you can have a big pot of kindness always cooking on your stove of life. You just never know whose life you may be changing for the better. Until next time, be well.
Maybe I should change the name of my blog to “Angela’s Excellent Adventures” I actually think this is what my life is. Yes, my life one very cool (and quickly passing by) excellent adventure. I have been in Beaufort North Carolina this week with my dear friend Wendy, her hubby Charles (Benjy) and my goddaughter Mary Margaret Park. They own a fabulous restaurant called the Beaufort Grocery Company www.beaufortgrocery.com in a very cool and historic waterfront district in the Crystal Coast area of North Carolina.
I am very blessed and lucky get to do what I love. Most of the time I get to photograph what I love, people (does that mean I love the people I photograph most of the time?) I think it goes almost without saying that I also love food (I am Greek and it’s genetic, that’s my story and I am sticking to it!) This past week I really enjoyed the challenge of photographing food. Wendy and Benji are creating a cookbook for their restaurant. I am always looking for an excuse to visit friends (OK and get by the ocean too) so we thought the photography for the cookbook was a good excuse for me to get to North Carolina for a visit. It has been several years since I was in Beaufort. Like everything, this little cookbook project of theirs has been a very big undertaking and a huge project for a lot of people. Wendy and Benji are just a little busy. (Did I mention that they have another restaurant and a catering company too?)
Chili Watermelon Salad
Well Benjy got to experience “Angela the Organizational Tornado” full on. We needed to come up with a plan for getting 40 or so images created in less than a week in the middle of them doing business as usual. I knew that we had a big job ahead of us and fairly small window of time to get it done. The photography part for me was the easy part. There was an awful lot of prep and cooking that had to go on. With the help of some amazing employees at the restaurant by Friday evening we had mission accomplished. Things have a way of working out no matter how crazy it gets in the middle of it all.
Warm Summer Salad
I know that I can create some pretty decent images. I must admit I had not really photographed food very much. I like a good challenge and I am a very firm believer in the “fake it till you make it” philosophy. I didn’t exactly tell my friends that I had never taken photographs for a cookbook before. Remember, my life is an “Excellent Adventure!” I have also been known to say to myself “I’ll figure it out, I always do.” I asked my buddy Claude that “ever knowing lighting expert” how to light the food. I also looked at lots of food pictures and read a bunch of stuff online. I knew I would find it within myself to get the images we needed.
Well, as you can see my faith in myself paid off for us all as we have amazing images of some really good food for the “Beaufort Grocery Company” cookbook.
Morning Glories and Muffins
I can’t forget to mention that there is one really good side benefit to photographing food. THE EATING! After all, it's a sin to let all that great food go to waste (I have never met a sticky bun I didn't love). I was more that happy to help. I am going to need to run all the way home to Michigan to work off all the calories I ate “helping” them with their food problem. I can’t wait for the cookbook to be finished and I will let you know when it is published next spring. It was wonderful visiting all of my friends in Beaufort and getting my reward day at the beach (thanks a bunch Lisa!). I just wish my copy of the book came with a staff to do the cooking and dear friends to work, stress, laugh and eat with! Until next time ya all, be well.
PS. To see more images for the cookbook check out our Angela Carson Photography Fan Page on Facebook. www.facebook.com
I have been AWOL from my blog for a few weeks and I am sorry. I have actually been writing posts in my head. I just have not had the time to write it all down. (It actually takes a couple of hours usually to get the images and copy ready to post). As you know my life (both professionally and personally) is never boring and I am always on the go. Actually I am very happy to say that I have been a photographing manic the past month. It has been an exciting month and I have really been having fun with all the sessions I have been photographing. I am full of creative energy and inspiration right now.
A couple of years ago I photographed Big Brother Brad’s Senior Portraits; we had a blast during his session and made a real personal connection. Brad is really into photography and design and he is currently in school downtown attending The College for Creative Studies. Brad and I got to talking about how fun it would be to for us to go “shooting” together. We decided it would cool to do some “urban” photographing in the city. I am really into the “urban” thing right now and I have a new motto if it’s “sh**tty its pretty.” (I never said that I was normal.) I even talked Lauren and Carlin into being our models.
Needless to say the four of us had a riot on our photographic adventure in Detroit. Our first stop was the Heidelberg Project. http://www.heidelberg.org/ We stumbled across it looking for another location. (Did mention all the laughs on our adventure?) The very talented artist of the project, Tyree Guyton was very kind to us and let us photograph around his artwork. If you have never seen the artwork it really is very cool and you really must go to the city and see it.
Carlin is going to be a High School Senior at Mercy High School this Fall. So I thought it would be fun to do some of her Senior portraits on our little photography adventure. Carlin has been working with me this summer at the studio assisting during sessions. It has been fun having Carlin at the studio this summer. (When you see her ask her about her work nickname.) Did I mention that we have a lot of fun at the studio and we really like to laugh?
I was so happy that on short notice Lauren worked it out to come on our photographic adventure. I photographed Lauren’s Senior portraits last summer. She is a great person, fun to be around and she is a dream to photograph. (She also has a really cool collection of vintage dresses that are fun to photograph too.)
Our next location was a really dumpy warehouse area with several buildings that were in lees than perfect condition. The kind of building I can’t find in Northville and exactly the reason we were on our “urban” photographic adventure. Way cool!
The girls thought it would be fun to do some images together in Lauren’s cool vintage dresses. I just loved the contrast of the beautiful girls in the gorgeous dresses posed in a total disgusting mess. I just love this image.
The final image I took of the girls together was with the graffiti on an old warehouse door as the background. Like I said, this is nothing like what I am usually photographing in the suburbs. I love all the texture, color and depth in these images.
As you can see we really had fun creating these images. It was so much fun just creating images for me. Don’t get me wrong I get to create beautiful and creative images everyday for our clients. This time I just got to do what I wanted first. We had a great calibration going on between the two photographers and our beautiful models. Brad and I plan on having another creative “photography play date” again soon so we can continue the mutual inspiration we create for each other.
The very best part about our “urban” adventure is after describing how much fun we had photographing in the city to another client. We are off to photograph in the City next week for a very cool High School Senior from Plymouth. I will share some of her images just as soon as I can. I can’t wait! I had a blast last time and I am sure I will again next week. I hear that we are even going to have a Dad’s Harley in the images too. I am so lucky to get to do every day what I love. I have the best job in the world! Until next time, be well.
I have to admit I have a bit of guilt (I am Greek and that is just what we do) about not having photographed my family enough. The other day when I woke up I just decided that was going to be the day I did something about that. The event that really got me going is that my youngest nephew Evan was getting his “surfer long hair” cut the next day and I really wanted to capture him with his long hair and at this age (he is 9). It was fairly early and raining but I knew that I only had a couple of hours free in my schedule to photograph him. So I dialed up the phone and asked him about letting me photograph him. He wanted no part of getting up and in the shower at that moment. So I did what every good adult does when the really want a kid to do something, I bribed him. The set price for my model was $20. for a morning of work. OK game on. Well as you can see we just had a blast together creating his portrait.
We started out in our natural light room at the studio. I just wanted to capture Evan’s personality and photograph him as we see him. A regular kid and that he is. The weather cleared up enough for us to go outside and get a few more images. I found this cool set of rusty steps right in downtown Northville. I love to go around town and discover little areas that are perfect to photograph. This year I have been on a mission to do something I have not done before on my location sessions. I have been pushing myself as an artist to try different things. I am also having fun with different compositions. I do love a challenge.
I hope that you have enjoyed these images of Evan and they get you thinking about how important your family is to you. It is so easy for all of us to have all the insanity that is all of our lives get in the way of all the important stuff. I am so happy and thankful that I took the time this week to create Evan’s (or Scooter, as I call him) portrait and spend some real quality time with him. Even if it did cost me 20 bucks! Until next time, be well.
Cause I am like that ya know. I had such a great session on Tuesday I just had to share a few of the images with you. Kelsey is Senior at Northville High School and she is just adorable and a pleasure to work with. I knew I had photographed her family 8 years ago but I just could not place them. The second that Kelsey and her Mom Denise walked in I remembered their family session like it was yesterday. (I think I really do have a photographic memory. My memory freaks me out sometimes!) The even better part is how quickly we picked up exactly where we had left off chatting and catching up. I love when you see someone that you have not seen in awhile and it is like you have not missed a beat. I just love to connect with people. (Do you think that this just might be a theme in my blog?)
Kelsey brought me a ton of great clothing to work with and she was ready to have some fun getting her senior portraits taken. Needless to say we took a zillion great images and I can’t wait for her to come and see her images.
I have to admit when I heard that Kelsey was a hockey player I had a little different mental image of what she was going to look like. Let’s just say that Kelsey is one “super hot’ little hockey player.
My goal when I photograph High School Seniors is that every session is unique so that nobody’s session is like anyone else’s. So we go to all kids of different locations and do tons of different images. Kelsey had a great idea to ask all her good friends to come into the studio for a group photo. It was such a blast having 11 High School Seniors in the studio. Their energy was great and I think everyone had a fun time taking the “BFF-Foto” Thanks everybody for being so nice and coming in. I hope you had fun, I know I did.
I hope that you enjoy seeing a few of Kelsey images and that she does not hate me cause you know I am just one big old tease! Until next, be well.
I had a wonderful personal and photographic experience last week. I was asked by Esther (a good friend of my Mothers) to create a portrait of her with her best girlfriend that was visiting from out of town. No problem, I can do that. When they came to the session I started to get the history of their relationship. It was such a wonderful story. Esther and Galina have been best girlfriends for 52 years. They started showing me photographs of them together over the years and telling me stories. They had meet as school girls in their native Russia. They had spent time together working as young woman. They married about the same time. The two couples were very close through the years. At one point they had country homes right next to each other. The history of their relationship was such heartwarming story. They had their families at the same time; they grieved together through personal tragedies, they grew older together.
Almost 20 years ago their friendship would change forever as Esther and her family immigrated to the United States from Russia. Now they had a long distance friendship through letters, a few phone calls, e-mails and a few visits. This is what really struck me. It would have been natural for their friendship to change and for them to grow apart with such a distance between them. The exact opposite happened as Esther and Galina continued to grow old together. They shared even more and grew closer together, in spite of the physical distance between them.
I have often times said that for me photography it is all about the “story and the relationships” that I enjoy. Of course, I am inspired by photographing however my real inspiration comes from my subjects. When I get to know who I am photographing and what makes them tick that is when I feel that my portraits really have “life” to them. I do that with everyone I photograph it many different ways. What I have not mentioned as I started to hear Esther and Galina’s stories, I was only hearing half of the story as Galina does not speak a word of English. What a great idea it was to bring me some photographs of them together through they years. I learned about them from their snapshots together. What I did not realize until just this moment is; I watched their body language and without understanding what they were talking about I saw how they talked to each other. I learned about them by just experiencing them together.
Well let me tell you that experience was so inspiring and special. It made me think of all of my amazing girlfriends. All my girlfriends that have laughed with me in good times and supported and at times carried me along during my most difficult times. The girlfriends I have had for 30 years and the ones I am just as close to only after a few years. I have so many great girlfriends from all over the country and world. I am blessed to have a bunch of good girlfriends from so many aspects of my life. I have my photography girlfriends that I have traveled the world with. I have a dear, dear girlfriend from High School I am still close to. I have relatives that I consider girlfriends. I have good friends that I went to summer camp with as a kid. I have many clients that have become my girlfriends over the years. I have so many diverse and different strong, kind, loving, funny and passionate friends. I am reminded yet once again how blessed and lucky I am.
I wanted to share with you my favorite portrait of Esther and Galina. I took a beautiful portrait of them happy and looking into the camera they both loved. That is the portrait that they had in mind when they asked me to photograph them together. However, the image that I had to capture and that really spoke to my heart is the two of them just being close and really being as one heart together. As much as I know that this really them it was kind of difficult to actually take that picture. Remember I could not give Galina any verbal direction as she could not understand me. I got the image that was in my heart of them and they loved it too. I hope that you enjoy this image as much as we do and that this story reminds you how blessed by the good friends you have in your life.
On Tuesday, I am off to spend several days with two of my dear girlfriends. I am so excited to spend time with Lynn and JuliAnne. I am sad that the fourth person in our group Annell is not able to join us this time. These 3 amazing woman are all fabulous photographers and we get together yearly to share, create and inspire each other. As much as I don’t enjoy my body getting older with all its aches and pains I sure do appreciate and enjoy my many friendships and I look forward to growing old with all my girlfriends. They sure do make all the highs much higher and the lows a little easier to endure. Here is a big hug and kiss to all my girlfriends (way to many to mention by name and you know who you are) and you know how much I cherish and love each and every one of you. Until next time, be well.
I just wanted to take this opportunity to wish you a very happy 4th of July. I have always just loved this Holiday. I think because it is the only “official” holiday in the summer. As I get older I appreciate more and more what is means to really be an American. We have so many opportunities and freedoms as Americans that I think most of us as are not fully aware of. I am always trying to be mindful of all that I have and today is one of those days that I reflect a little more often on how blessed I am.
I hope that you have a day full of family, friends and love ones. A parade, a hot dog, ice cream and some fireworks will fill out a perfect holiday for me. Whatever you do today try to stay mindful of how lucky we are to be Americans. I am also very appreciative for all the people who have given their lives over the years to protect my freedom. Have a wonderful Holiday and until next time, be well.
