Archive for August, 2013
Brandon Reese – Illustrator
Brandon Reese is a Charlotte-based artist who puts the “ill” in “illustrator”. (No, no, really, hold your applause!)
I first became aware of Brandon’s work when he created the art for Lunch Money’s CD Dizzy.
Since then, he’s created gorgeous illustrations for Original Friend and Spicy Kid, as well as the Grammy-Award-winning Can You Canoe? by The Okee Dokiee Brothers. If you primarily get your music via download or streaming, Brandon’s illustrations for Original Friend should make you seriously rethink that.
Brandon’s art is filled with the kinds of characters who you want to take by the hand to go on an adventure, even if that adventure is just lying in the grass looking up at the clouds. I think the thing about his work that most resonates with me is his sense of playfulness. Without stripping the world of its complexity and difficulties, Brandon reminds his viewer to not take life too seriously.
Anyway, at the end of last year and the beginning of this Richland County Public Library put on an exhibition of Brandon’s works called “Laughter and Raindrops”. I decided to recruit a few kids and photograph them with the illustrations (which look great large, by the way). Yes, I probably should have posted these when you could still go see the exhibit–mea culpa. To see more of his work, though, you really ought to visit his website. If you’d like to dig a little deeper into his portfolio (and maybe even discover his subversive side), I suggest a tour through his blog. In the meantime, feel free to whet your appetite with these:
What’s that? You’re in love with Brandon’s work and want to exchange money for the opportunity to own some of it? I can’t say I blame you. Here are a few places you can do just that:
You could get a CD he’s illustrated like: Dizzy, Original Friend, Spicy Kid, or Can You Canoe?
You could buy a book he’s illustrated such as Print Writing: A Creepy-Crawly Alphabet, or one he’s written and illustrated, like Draw Me Healthy: A Sticky Book, which also lets you (or your kids) illustrate and re-illustrate the story through the magic of Post-It notes.
Finally, if you want to grace your walls with his art, you can visit his gallery at Thumbtack Press where you can purchase his prints. The should look great hanging next to your photos by Lumos Studio.
Brandon Reese – Illustrator
Brandon Reese is a Charlotte-based artist who puts the “ill” in “illustrator”. (No, no, really, hold your applause!)
I first became aware of Brandon’s work when he created the art for Lunch Money’s CD Dizzy.
Since then, he’s created gorgeous illustrations for Original Friend and Spicy Kid, as well as the Grammy-Award-winning Can You Canoe? by The Okee Dokiee Brothers. If you primarily get your music via download or streaming, Brandon’s illustrations for Original Friend should make you seriously rethink that.
Brandon’s art is filled with the kinds of characters who you want to take by the hand to go on an adventure, even if that adventure is just lying in the grass looking up at the clouds. I think the thing about his work that most resonates with me is his sense of playfulness. Without stripping the world of its complexity and difficulties, Brandon reminds his viewer to not take life too seriously.
Anyway, at the end of last year and the beginning of this Richland County Public Library put on an exhibition of Brandon’s works called “Laughter and Raindrops”. I decided to recruit a few kids and photograph them with the illustrations (which look great large, by the way). Yes, I probably should have posted these when you could still go see the exhibit–mea culpa. To see more of his work, though, you really ought to visit his website. If you’d like to dig a little deeper into his portfolio (and maybe even discover his subversive side), I suggest a tour through his blog. In the meantime, feel free to whet your appetite with these:
What’s that? You’re in love with Brandon’s work and want to exchange money for the opportunity to own some of it? I can’t say I blame you. Here are a few places you can do just that:
You could get a CD he’s illustrated like: Dizzy, Original Friend, Spicy Kid, or Can You Canoe?
You could buy a book he’s illustrated such as Print Writing: A Creepy-Crawly Alphabet, or one he’s written and illustrated, like Draw Me Healthy: A Sticky Book, which also lets you (or your kids) illustrate and re-illustrate the story through the magic of Post-It notes.
Finally, if you want to grace your walls with his art, you can visit his gallery at Thumbtack Press where you can purchase his prints. The should look great hanging next to your photos by Lumos Studio.
Carolina CrossFit
It’s been a fairly CrossFit-filled couple of weeks here at Lumos Studio, but I did call our last post about Carolina CrossFit a “teaser”, so I guess it would be duplicitous to not share at least a few more photos from our recent shoot.
First, though, bear with me for just a tiny bit of back story. Several years ago, when Carolina CrossFit was just starting out, a friend of mine invited me to the gym to see what it was about. To abbreviate significantly, I wound up working out there for several months. If you don’t know anything about CrossFit, feel free to go read up on it–there’s far more to it than I’m going to try to explain. What IÂ will say is this. I don’t really like exercising, but I really like CrossFit. At Carolina CrossFit I saw results almost as soon as I started working out, because if you show up and do the work, there’s essentially nothing else that can happen. Your body will change. It’s pretty much the law.
A friend of ours saw the last post and joked that he now knew he could never go to a CrossFit gym–implying that the people there were too intimidatingly fit. Yeah, yeah, I get that. The thing is, though, it’s not that CrossFit is a place for fit people, it’s that people who go to CrossFit get fit, consistently. Honestly, though, that’s not the best thing about Carolina CrossFit. It’s the people and the community that are the heart and soul of the place, and at the center of that are the owners, Paul and Dorothy.
(I feel like there’s a Sesame Street “big…small” skit in there somewhere.)
And though the folks who go to CCF may look tough…
…they’re actually some of the friendliest people you’re likely to encounter.
(Dang.)
According to Michelle (above), she always wears her pearls when she’s working out. See, CrossFit isn’t just for girls, it’s for ladies.
If you’re interested in getting in the best shape of your life, no matter where you’re starting from, the folks at Carolina CrossFit can help you get there. They’ve just moved into a brand new facility in downtown Columbia, so feel free to drop by and check it out. Who knows, I might even be there. I’ll be the one lying prone on the floor gasping for air. Forgive me if I don’t say “hi”.
Madame Stephens’s Adventures in World Language Land
Madame Stephens was beginning to get very tired of having nothing to do, so she was considering in her own mind (as well as she could, for the hot day made her feel very sleepy and stupid), whether the pleasure of having a croissant would be worth the trouble of getting up and going to the pâtisserie, when suddenly a White Rabbit with pink eyes ran close by her.
There was nothing so very remarkable in that; nor did Madame Stephens think it so very much out of the way to hear the Rabbit muttering to herself in Spanish; but when the Rabbit actually took a watch out of her waistcoat-pocket, and looked at it, and then hurried on, Madame Stephens started to her feet, for it flashed across her mind that she had never before seen a rabbit with either a waistcoat-pocket, or a watch to take out of it, and burning with curiosity, she ran across the field after it, and fortunately was just in time to see it pop down a large rabbit-hole under the hedge.
In another moment down went Madame Stephens after it, never once considering how in the world she was to get out again.
There was a table set out under a tree in front of the house, and Mrs. Schwarzbauer and Mrs. Ham were having tea at it: Mr. Ugro was sitting between them, fast asleep, and the other two were using him as a cushion, resting their elbows on him, and talking over his head.  “Very uncomfortable for Mr. Ugro,†thought Madame Stephens, “only, as he’s asleep, I suppose he doesn’t mind.â€
Next to the table, atop an enormous mushroom, Mrs. Nazario reposed, quietly blowing bubbles, and taking not the least notice of Madame Stephens or of anything else. Behind the table stood Mrs. Zuleika, the Queen of Hearts, and to her left sat a large cat which was grinning from ear to ear.
“Please would you tell me,†said Madame Stephens, a little timidly, for she was not quite sure whether it was good manners for her to speak first, “why your cat grins like that?â€
“It’s a Grantham cat,†said the Queen, “and that’s why.â€
The Cat only grinned when it saw Madame Stephens. It looked good-natured, she thought: still it had very long claws and a great many teeth, so she felt that it ought to be treated with respect.
“Grantham Puss,†she began, “Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?â€
“That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,†said the Cat.
“I don’t much care where—†said Madame Stephens.
“Then it doesn’t matter which way you go,†said the Cat.
“—so long as I get somewhere,†Madame Stephens added as an explanation.
“Oh, you’re sure to do that,†said the Cat, “if you only walk long enough.â€
Madame Stephens felt that this could not be denied, so she tried another question. “What sort of people live about here?â€
“Here we have,†the Cat said, waving its right paw round, “a Hatter and a White Rabbit. Visit with either you like: they’re both mad.â€
“But I don’t want to go among mad people,†Madame Stephens remarked.
“Oh, you can’t help that,†said the Cat: “we’re all mad here. I’m mad. You’re mad.â€
“How do you know I’m mad?†said Madame Stephens.
“You must be,†said the Cat, “or you wouldn’t have come here.â€
Carolina Crossfit’s Famously Hot Showdown
More CrossFit!
Saturday morning Wendy and I went out to the first half of Carolina CrossFit’s Famously Hot Showdown at the Field House in Columbia, SC. Two hundred athletes competed in CrossFit games, including a sandbag run, kettlebell swings, farmers carries, back extensions, burpees, pullups, something called an “angry root hog”… Yes, these people chose to get up before the sun to come out and do this on a Saturday. Look at ’em, they’re so happy!
You know how CrossFitters sometimes say “Our warmup is your workout”? They’re not kidding. The guy below is just getting ready for the first event.
And this was the first event: the sandbag run. (It’s pretty much what it sounds like. Grab a sandbag and run.)
I appreciate that it’s apparently this guy’s idea of a great time.
This dude? He’s just won the second event of his division…and I asked him to pose for a portrait.
I suspect he would have rather been posing like this:
It was really impressive watching the athletes push themselves to their absolute limits. One thing I love about the ethos of CrossFit is that even when folks are competing against others, they’re still primarily competing with themselves.
Big thanks to Paul and Dorothy and the rest of the folks at Carolina CrossFit for inviting us to photograph this great event! Everybody was friendly, upbeat, and just generally a blast to hang around.
Carolina CrossFit – A Teaser
Wendy and I got up earlier than we usually do this morning in order to photograph some of the students and trainers at Carolina CrossFit. We’ve only begun to go through the photos, but we wanted to share a few quickly to encourage you to come out to The Famously Hot Showdown they’re putting on this Saturday. If you’re a fan of fitness, you’ll appreciate these folks. So, check out these folks that seriously make me reconsider my Netflix+CookOut addiction, and come back soon to see more from this great community.