Anne + Andrew

My dear friends Anne + Andrew's wedding is featured on Amy Fiedler's blog! Their adorable Madison wedding took place in a garden last May, and now the newlyweds are headed to Seattle for a very big move! I'm so happy for them!

Amy Fiedler is a wonderful photographer based out of Wisconsin. You can view her website here.

I photographed Anne & Andrew's engagement session last September click here to see those photos.

Russian Empire Photographs 1905-1915

Words can not describe how utterly obsessed I am with the Library of Congress Online Prints & Photographs Catalog. I especially enjoy the photographs of the Russian Empire taken by Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii in the early 1900s. Color photography had not yet been invented, so Prokudin-Gorskii photographed each subject in black and white on a glass plate negative, using red, green and blue filters. He displayed his imagery using a light-projection system involving the same three colored filters. The Library of Congress has combined his black and white negatives and converted them into color. There are over 2,500 of these lovely images on their site and I'm having a hard time deciding which are my favorite. Any of these photographs would look fantastic hanging on a wall or as room decor.

Vintage Hairstyle Cutouts

This is too funny. I would definitely buy an updated version.

To My Quarterlife Crisis Sufferers...

"If our young men miscarry in their first enterprises they lose all heart. If the young merchant fails, men say he is ruined. If the finest genius studies at one of our colleges and is not installed in an office within one year afterwards in the cities or suburbs of Boston or New York, it seems to his friends and to himself that he is right in being disheartened and in complaining the rest of his life.

A sturdy lad from New Hampshire or Vermont, who in turn tries all the professions, who teams it, farms it, peddles, keeps a school, preaches, edits a newspaper, goes to Congress, buys a township...and always like a cat falls on his feet, is worth a hundred of these city dolls. [...] He has not one chance, but a hundred chances."

Ralph Waldo Emerson Self-Reliance

/\/\ /\ Y /\

Thank you M.I.A. I have a new favorite song. XXXO

Arcade Fire Album Artwork

I don't know which I love more, the music or the album artwork for Arcade Fire's latest release. Montréal-based artist and designer Caroline Robert created the look as well as this fabulous tote.

@ The Race Track

I loved going to Golden Gate Fields when I lived in the bay area. Partly for the dollar beers on Sunday, and partly for the two dollar bets on horses with names like Bustamove.

A Walk in the Park

Buster and I have been discovering more of Royal Oak through our walks around the neighborhood. I love the park near the railroad tracks so I decided to photograph it.

Happy Birthday Buster!

My little puppy is now officially one years old. He's still a cutie. :)

For Feifei

XOXO

Broderick Tower

The 34 story sky scraper was built in 1928 and housed high end apartment dwellers until 1985 when it officially closed. In 1997, Michigan born artist Wyland painted a giant whale mural on the outside of the structure. Motown Construction Partners LP currently owns the building and has plans to renovate, including sky top penthouses. For now, it still stands empty.

Hanging Gardens

The Forest Arms Building was one of Detroit’s most lavish apartment buildings when it was built in 1908. It later housed many Wayne State college students until a fire damaged the building in February of 2008.

Scott Lowell owns The Forest Arms Building and a restaurant favorite of mine, Traffic Jam & Snug. He is thankfully trying to save the building and has already begun the beginning stages of renovation.

Team Detroit, a local ad agency, decided to create Detroit’s first vertical garden on the building as part of a volunteer beautification effort. They’re working with UCCA and Greening of Detroit to make it all happen.

To see photos of the planting visit the Remains of the D or the Hanging Gardens website. If you would like to see the Forest Arms Building in person, it is located at the intersection of Forest and 2nd in Midtown.

Michael Wesely's Long Exposures

Long exposures can be complicated at 30 to 60 seconds, but somehow Michael Wesely can take 3 year (94,670,777 second) exposures on his self built pinhole camera! I love the series he did for the MoMA renovation in New York. You can literally see the passing of time through the city landscape. He also photographed a series of the life and death of flowers through long exposure.

Lyrics & Type

This simple idea of taking lyrics and type to make these beautiful designs is fantastic! To see more visit Music Philosophy.

Humble Design

Ana Smith and Treger Strasberg formed Humble Design last year to provide families coming out of homeless shelters with functional and welcoming home interiors. Ana explains, "We'll meet the family at the space and find out what their likes and dislikes are. Then, we start the gathering process." By scouring Craiglist, garage sales, and thrift stores, the ladies of Humble Design are able to take unwanted household goods and turn them into much needed items for their families. They also strive to be completely green by reusing mistinted/returned paint. "We're trying to make Detroit the amazing city we know it can be. One family at a time," said Treger.

Both Treger and Ana are busy moms and it's very inspiring to see all that they have accomplished in just one year. To see photos and stories of some of the families they have helped visit their website here.

If you live in the Detroit area and have any extra mattresses/boxsprings/frames consider donating to Humble Design, it is one of their biggest needs. Ana and Treger might even stop by in their big white truck to pick it up for you!