Keeping in touch and sharing information and images... |
AUTUMN 2008 UPDATE |
N E W S . . . |
Photo LA
This yearly event is a great way to see and purchase photography by the well-known greats and contemporary photographers. Galleries from all over the US and abroad bring photography under one roof in Los Angeles for one weekend. There will be three lectures by photographers on the Sunday. For more info: www.artfairsinc.com
18th Annual Photo LA: 9th, 10th and 11th January 2009 at Barker Hangar at Santa Monica Airport
Carleton Watkins
A show of Carleton Watkins' photographs is at The Getty Center until 1st March 2009, for those of you who are in Los Angeles. It is well worth a visit if you are interested in the history of the expansion of the West or in the beginnings of photography. He photographed from 1850 during the gold rush until 1906. Using the link below, you can view a slideshow about the technique of collodian glass negatives and albumen prints used by Watkins.
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N E W ? |
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Letterpressed albums
I love these original albums with their delightful illustrations which are letterpressed with ink onto the celery fabric.
They could be used as a baby book with my customized baby pages. The albums would also work well for creating a book of photos of a special event for your child - such as their birth, baptism, adoption, or a birthday party. Or you could use it for journal entries and scrapbook items.
These square 8" x 8" albums have fifty cream blank pages with interleaving rice paper. A hand-made felt bag can be custom ordered to store and protect the album.
Albums can be ordered at any time and do not have to be accompanied by a print order. |
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New felt colours
Gorgeous new colours of soft wool felt are hanging in my studio ready to be made into album bags. The felt is hand-dyed with plant derived dyes that create subtle and natural tones.
The colors now in stock are a deep blue, rose red, pretty salmon, light purple and a soft mustard and an lovely orange.
Album bags can be ordered with any of the albums. There are two sizes to fit both the 8 x 8 and 12 x 12 albums. |
P H O T O - P O W E R |
Discovering family history through the power of photographs
With my husband's family photographs in hand, we began our journey in October to the little village of Molinillo in Spain. We didn't know what to expect. We just knew that we wanted to see where my husband's grandmother, father and aunt had lived before they emigrated to New York. After driving through tiny villages south of Salamanca and a four kilometer drive along the edge of a hillside, we could see the a cluster of buildings surrounded by mountains and open space. We had arrived in Molinillo. They don't get many visitors in Molinillo and so we attracted attention and the elderly villagers came out of their homes and gathered around us. When we said that Steven's grandmother was called Hernandez, they laughed and said that most people in the village are called Hernandez!
But because we had photographs the villagers could tell us that they knew of them and they showed us where they had lived. They had stories to tell and memories to share.
Our photo from the 1930s |
An English-speaking couple, Julia and Jose, invited us to their house. As we sat overlooking the olive trees, grapevines and mountain tops, we got out the photographs we had brought. Julia's family were from Molinillo and she was interested to see if she could identify anyone. She recognized two teenagers who were standing by a truck in the village square of Molinillo. They were a nephew and neice of Steven's grandmother. Disappearing into her house, Julia brought out a few of her unknown photos from a small tin and among them she had a photograph of my husband's father and aunt when they were just young children. We were totally amazed! We have the very same photograph. Julia told us that her grandfather had emigrated to Buffalo, New York, and was friends with a man from Galicia and his family. My husband told Julia that his grandfather was from Galicia and that he and his grandmother had emigrated to Buffalo. Through our old photographs we learnt that our families had been friends. |
The black and white photograph had been kept all these years by Julia's family. We left her with the names and dates on the back of the photograph. We reluctantly left Molinillo but our expectations had been exceeded. We were amazed at the power of photographs to tell a story and connect us to our past and make connections in the present. |
P H O T O S |
To see an slideshow of images from a WOMB TO ONE series go to: www.karenphotographs.com/autumn08
My "womb to one" service captures those precious moments from pregnancy through to the first birthday. Clients choose how many sessions they want in the first year. I photograph in the comfort of their home and we spend as much time as necessary. The resulting series of images are hand-printed and can be put in an album.
The series of photographs in the slideshow is from a pregnancy session, newborn session, christening, and a one-year-old session of darling Maribelle Joy Bellias. As well as portraits, I captured some of the life moments - such as bonding, feeding, sleeping, playing, reading and bath time.
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ALL IMAGES © COPYRIGHT 2002-2016 KAREN LEACH. IMAGES MAY NOT TO BE DUPLICATED OR DISTRIBUTED IN ANY FORM OR FASHION. |
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