Paul Engstrom Photography Eureka, CA Chicago Grosse Pointe Park

The Twentieth Annual Skillman Foundation Thanksgiving Parade Float Design Contest

2011-11-23T17:53:00.000-08:00

The Skillman Foundation celebrates the twentieth anniversary of its Thanksgiving Parade float design contest this year. The contest is open to Detroit Public School students from the fourth through eighth grades, and the winning drawing is transformed into a magical three-dimensional float by workers at the Parade Company on Mt. Elliott in Detroit.

The winning drawing by seventh grader Lesly Nunez (below right) of Clippert Academy in southwest Detroit. The theme was inspired by her father's colorful gardens.

Lesly stands with her Clippert Academy art teacher Ruth Goldfaden in front of the magical three-dimensional float interpretation of her winning drawing at the Parade Company 11.14.2011.

Lesly Nunez meets the press at the Parade Company on Mt. Elliott in Detroit 11.14.2011. See Lesly tomorrow morning when she rides on her float down Woodward Avenue in "America's Thanksgiving Parade" ! I'll be there making pictures !

Parade Company President and CEO Tony Michaels, Skillman Foundation President and CEO Carol Goss, and winning artist Lesly Nunez join The Clown and the five Honorable Mention winners from the Twentieth Annual Skillman Foundation Float Design Contest at the Parade Company in Detroit

The Skillman Foundation President and CEO Carol Goss and float design winner Lesly Nunez in front of "Community Garden" at the Parade Company in Detroit 11.14.2011.

Better days at Borders, Eureka, CA

2011-07-19T16:42:00.000-07:00

Well, Juni--yes, that's mom--there's always Old Town Coffee for the brew, but what about the magazines and the books?! Well there's Eureka Books in Eureka, and Northtown Books in Arcata. But I don't know if they have coffee, too. Rookery Books is on the Arcata Plaza, but I can't find a website for them.

Though Borders became a sprawling national chain, it's roots, of course, are in Ann Arbor, MI where mom, dad, a sibling, a nephew, probably a few cousins and myself attended the University. Brothers Tom and Louis Borders started it all, and the chain seemed to have maintained it's hometown status until the end; even as it faced labor woes and picketers at its flagship store on Liberty St. in 2003, for example, one likes to think they gave an inch--or a quarter per hour--for old times' sake. Today in Ann Arbor, we mourn the loss of Borders while still reeling from the absurdity of the independent bookseller Shaman Drum's demise and displacement by a Five Guys burger joint--just a half block from the original Borders store. Quite a nice varnished wood facade for a burger joint! The original Borders is now a CVS. Maybe Starbucks will start carrying books with its music.

Lynn Engstrom at the R. B. Stevenson Gallery, La Jolla, CA, May 6, 2011

2011-06-10T02:05:00.000-07:00

The witticisms of Henri Cartier-Bresson

2011-05-18T15:26:00.000-07:00

No matter what might think of Charlie Rose's style--he can sometimes talk over his guests and put words in people's mouths--he has an amazing library of interviews available on his site. Here is a rare and wonderful example. My favorite part is when Henri shows how he "inhales" the moment he presses the shutter!

A Gold and a Silver for The Skillman Foundation's 2009 Annual Report!

2011-05-18T15:11:00.000-07:00

The Skillman Foundation's 2009 Annual Report, "Tough Boys: Schooled in Hard Knocks, Young Men of Color Reclaim Lives, Offer Lessons for Others to Follow," takes home a Gold and a Silver! The Council on Foundations last month bestowed the report its top Wilmer Shields Rich Award for Excellence in communications, and the Ann Arbor Ad Club awarded the report a Silver Addy in February! OK, the pictues are nice : ), but it also won for graphics, writing, and most importantly, I think, relevance. Take a look here.

The Skillman Foundation's 2009 Annual Report

2010-11-21T03:55:00.000-08:00

From the very beginning of my darkroom days, the photographic process has always seemed to be a mix of magic and alchemy. While now I understand the technical underpinnings of capturing light on a page a little bit more, I get that same magical feeling during the creative process of publishing The Skillman Foundation's Annual Report!

OK, so an annual report takes a little more time and a lot more work than simply watching an image appear within seconds in a tray of Dektol, but the publishing process remains just as magical, only on a more macro scale. We start with a theme, and we try to capture that theme in a series of photographs, and then we organize those photographs with talented writing and design into a journal that we hope is greater than the sum of its parts.

And I think it is.

Not because I want to brag about my photography--though I must say the images looked great as posters at yesterday's Boys of Color: Perilous Times conference at Marygrove College in Detroit : )--but because the images, the writing, the design, the statistics--thanks, Data Driven Detroit--and of course, all the amazing interviewees all contributed to communicate the gravity of the message: the crises facing our black and brown boys generally in this country, but specifically in Detroit.

And while I try to do my part, I am continuously grateful to be able to do what I love to do in an environment that deals with such significant issues and, hopefully, contributes to positive change. I am honored to be part of Carol Goss' team at The Skillman Foundation, and I love all the neighborhood liaisons I've worked with as well!

Thanks to my friends--the Communicators Dorrian McGhee and Bill Hanson, the Writer Eddie Allen, the Designer Kathy Horn, and especially the subjects in the photographs and in the stories who trusted us and cared to get involved.

I invite you to peruse The Skillman Foundation's 2009 Annual Report as well as the Schott Foundation's report, "Yes We Can: The 2010 Schott 50 State Report on Black Males in Public Education," and get involved.

A sentimental look back at summer...

2010-10-19T00:23:00.000-07:00

Every year since 2001, the Residential College at The University of Michigan Ann Arbor has produced a Shakespeare play in Nichols Arboretum, and the actors stage the scenes in different areas of the Arb and the audience follows along. This year was my third time attending and my second production of "A Midsummer's Night Dream." I had forgotten when the series began, but I only found out recently that the first production of "Dream" was their first in 2001! Apparently I was there at the beginning! (BTW-as a long-time bartender, I should mention that Bell's brewery's summer brew Oberon is named after the character owner Larry Bell played in high school!) Attending Shakespeare in the Arb has become somewhat of a tradition for me now--along with attending Greenfield Village's annual Antique Car Show the first weekend of September!--and I'd like to share some photos of the play and the Arboretum in general. Nichols Arboretum is generally an amazingly peaceful space, though occasionally startlingly transformed by the royalty, gods, faeries and magic of Shakespeare.

Portraits in low light with the Nikon D3s.

2010-07-05T23:32:00.000-07:00

Ah, yes. How I've learned to love the low-light capability of an old-fashioned 50mm 1.4 with the new-fangled Nikon D3s! Shallow depth of field with amazing tonality at 6400 ISO. OK, so the top one was shot at only 3200...That's it for the tech stuff. The geek meter is going off!

Shanna and Aaron's engagement session!

2010-07-03T00:33:00.000-07:00

Shanna and Aaron were naturals! And the matching t-shirts were a stroke of genius! Casual, yet weirdly uniform in a classic, hipster way. I wish I had thought of it! Congratulations to you both, and I can't wait to capture all the fun of your day.

The Detroit Symphony Orchestra (DSO) at St. Hedwig's in Southwest Detroit on June 10

2010-07-02T19:14:00.000-07:00

Ismael Duran (top), the director of COMPAS, the collective youth performing arts center on Vernor in Southwest Detroit, introduced guest conductor Kazem Abdullah and the mini-subset of the DSO that played at St. Hedwig's (1903-04) on Junction Street. At bottom is the altar in the basement of the church where refreshments were served.

The Osborn Neighborhood Alliance Open House and the Detroit Symphony Orchestra (DSO) June 9, 2010.

2010-07-01T14:11:00.000-07:00

Leonard Slatkin and the Detroit Symphony Orchestra presented a mini-concert as part of the Osborn Neighborhood Alliance Open House at the Matrix Human Services Center 13560 E. McNichols Rd. Detroit 48205. The DSO performed a series of free concerts last month in Beverly Hills, Canton, Detroit neighborhoods, Flatrock, and Warren. Here, the DSO performed after the Osborn Neighborhood Alliance, a governance board working to improve the Osborn neighborhood, held its first open house.

Heather's Moving Away!

2010-06-05T12:14:00.000-07:00

Deanna and Michael's wedding, Toledo, OH.

2010-06-03T15:19:00.000-07:00

We started the day at Julie's Styling Gallery in Perrysburg, OH before making a few portraits before the wedding at Bethel Lutheran Church in Toledo. Congratulations Michael and Deanna!

Michelle Obama at Adams Field, Wayne State University

2010-05-29T01:50:00.000-07:00

The Party Crashers at The Corktown and The Token

2010-05-29T00:45:00.000-07:00

The reluctant celebrity Anne Carson and her husband and sometime randomizer, Robert Currie

2010-05-17T12:49:00.000-07:00

The classicist and poet Anne Carson and her collaborator and husband Robert Currie appeared at Nicola's Books in Ann Arbor, last Thursday, and I made some photos. Ms. Carson has published a new book, Nox, a collection of memories--both those written recently and those xeroxed from a scrapbook journal kept over the years--about her brother who died unexpectedly at 33. I don't consider myself a paparazzo, but I enjoy capturing creative people in a natural environment. OK, maybe not so natural as real, like a parking lot. Ok maybe not always so real.

A winning Trivial Pursuit answer

2010-02-11T20:08:00.000-08:00

A few years back, in a heated Trivial Pursuit battle between generations of cousins at our annual Whitehall, MI retreat, I won the final game--and I'd like to remember the tournament--with the winning answer, "Karen Finley"! When the question asked for something about a performance artist renowned for smearing chocolate and honey on her naked body, most everyone looked at each other with embarrassed blank stares and nervous giggles. Except me!

Irving Penn dead at 92

2009-10-07T22:48:00.000-07:00

Irving Penn, the famous formalist photographer, died yesterday. Beauty and detail with amazing compositions in both fashion and still life. A great influence.

Photo ethics and strange bedfellows

2009-09-27T00:01:00.000-07:00

I'm not a fan of former Vice President Dick Cheney, but for a nanosecond, I felt he didn't get a fair shake. David Hume Kennerly agrees.

The Skillman Foundation's Good Schools Guide

2009-09-24T05:27:00.000-07:00

Charles Wright Academy

The Skillman Foundation's Good School's Guide has just been published and can be downloaded here. I was privileged to be part of the design team that put it together, along with Kathy Horn at Blue Skies Studio in Ann Arbor, Bill Hanson and Dorrian McGhee at the Foundation, and others. Last May and June, I must have visited over 50 schools in Detroit that had applied and received grant funding from the Skillman Foundation, and I made photographs of (mostly!) spontaneous moments in the classrooms. Teachers and administrators were all so welcoming and accommodating, as usual--this is the second year already that I've worked on the Good Schools Guide--and the students, well, very few ever turn down an opportunity to have their picture taken! Congratulations to all the grantees, and thank you to all those who welcomed me into their schools.

One of the first engagement sessions?!

2009-09-13T22:42:00.000-07:00

Is this one of the first engagement sessions?! A little stiff, I would say. But the lighting is nice!

The Proposal (1872) is a painting by William Adolphe Bouguereau (1825-1905), (below in a self-portrait), a Realist painter in the age of Impressionism. He painted mythological and Classical themes in a contemporary realistic style and was very popular in his day, but, alas, the Impressionists gained popularity after 1920, and Bouguereau's style fell out of favor.
Nice lighting!

New art gallery and photography studio!

2009-07-23T01:28:00.000-07:00

all iPhone photos

While looking for a rather conventional cubicle in which to meet clients, I serendipitously came upon this former coffee cafe in Grosse Pointe Park, MI online and decided the extra square feet could possibly be transformed into a gallery space and studio. Housed in an old building on Mack Avenue with concrete walls and tin ceilings, the space had more character than anything I had seen in the office complexes. Of course these projects always involve more time and energy than one imagines initially, but, with the amazing work of friend and Ann Arbor carpenter Paul Spence, the space is finally transformed! Since my neighbors are the Hardluck Lounge and Dylan's Raw Bar and Grille, I've adopted some of their evening hours: Friday through Monday evenings, 7-10pm. Come visit!

"The most luminous, archival, and rare"

2009-05-20T16:17:00.000-07:00

In college, I learned how to make platinum/palladium prints. Instead of the silver gelatin coating found on most commercial papers, platinum/palladium metals lie directly on the paper providing an elegant matte finish and an image with a much wider tonal range. The permanence is also extaordinary; platinum/palladium metals are more likely to outlive the paper the image is printed on!

Patented in the 1870s, the process involves mixing platinum and palladium metals--palladium is frequently added to help vary the tone and the contrast of the print--with a ferric oxalate solution and spreading it on fine papers of the photographer's choice. The coating is dried and contact printed with a film negative using an infrared light source. The infrared rays stabilize the print and produce a beautiful image with varying warm blacks, long gray tones, and subtle highlights. Both the aesthetic and the permanence of platinum printing make for a perfect choice for wedding and family portraiture. Above, platinum/palladium prints of two of my friends, Rozann and David.

Bob's Mexican Suitcase

2009-05-04T17:29:00.000-07:00

After my Uncle Tom Nurnberger died several years ago, my cousins were sifting through his possessions and found a series of letters he had written before and after, I guess, taking part in the landing of the first wave of soldiers at Omaha Beach during World War II. There were cryptic references to "Bob," a photographer Uncle Tom had befriended and who had joined the soldiers and documented the landing. At some point--either in an email or during our annual reunion in Whitehall, MI--my cousins mentioned "Bob" the photographer and wondered earnestly whether I had ever heard of "Bob"--"Bob" Capa! Well, yeah, the name sounded vaguely familiar!

Well, flash forward, and "Bob's" old "Mexican suitcase" surfaced a year ago at the International Center of Photography in New York containing old curled negatives of the Spanish Civil War by "Bob," his photography partner Gerda Taro, and David Seymour, their friend and one of the founders of Magnum, the famed photojournalism coop. Apparently "Bob" had asked his assistant to hold onto the suitcase for safekeeping after "Bob" left Paris for New York in 1939 when the Nazis were moving in. THEN, a Spanish general who was working as a diplomat helping Spanish refugees flee to Mexico somehow came upon the suitcase in Marseille before fleeing himself to Mexico. After the general died, the stash ended up in a Mexico City filmmaker's possession who made their existence known only in the 1990s. It wasn't until 2007 that, after some extensive negotiations, the filmmaker gave them to ICP. There will be an exhibit in 2010.

The Spanish Civil War negs have nothing to do with "Bob" and my uncle, but, if you know the fate of the Omaha Beach negatives, you'll know never to trust your assistant with your negatives! "Bob's" assistant took his now fabulously famous film of the Omaha landing back to the lab, where, in his haste, the assistant "cooked" most of the film with a hot air dryer! Only eleven--I think--images survived. "Bob" was a forgiving guy and buddies with Uncle Tom!

It's in the details

2009-03-26T19:28:00.000-07:00

The details are in the highlights--or rather they should be. When choosing a photographer, look to see if she captures the details in the highlights. A high quality photograph should show texture in (most) of the white areas. This is particularly important in the bride's dress but is also important in anyone's white attire (below)!

Location, location, location

2009-03-12T14:50:00.000-07:00

The location of your wedding is about the most important choice you're going to make. That, and the food, of course! Not only will a carefully chosen location add meaning to your occasion, but a favorite location can add meaning to your memories as you peruse your photographs years later. Here, Tami and David chose the Michigan Theater in Ann Arbor. The marquee (above) adds to the historic record and the ornate lobby (below) adds theatrical drama to the portraiture.

Rebekah and Conan chose Cavanaugh Lake (above) outside of Chelsea, MI. Of course parks, arboretums, and botanical gardens all add natural beauty, but choosing a spot where you may have met or spent time with your partner only adds to that meaning.
Sometimes there's no place like home when the Southern California scents of your favorite pear tree (above) float just outside the back door. Stephen, above left, recites the narrative that led him to share this beautiful setting in Los Angeles with his life partner Cesar and celebrate their wedding with the lucky rest of us. Of course, an elegant reflecting pool (below) always adds to the ambiance!

The Jones Family Reunion

2009-02-12T15:55:00.000-08:00

I know it's not a wedding, but reunions are fun to shoot too! The Jones have a reunion one weekend every summer at their family house on Lake Erie. Not only are they all friendly and smart, but the food is amazing! Brother John charters a fishing boat VERY early Saturday morning, and everyone enjoys the fresh perch and walleye later that evening. Definitely a highlight! ( Sorry, the video quality seemed to have gotten somewhat squashed during the upload! )

Blossom Dearie dies

2009-02-09T11:47:00.000-08:00

For a bio, click here

Friends and I saw Blossom at Danny's in New York several years ago. I don't know if iconoclast is the right word, but she was definitely one who made her own irreverent path using wit and humor. Every bride--or groom--should hear the classic, "Peel me a grape"!

Wedding songs "When I Fall in Love"

2009-01-28T07:28:00.000-08:00

"When I Fall in Love" by Nat King Cole is one of my favorite songs, but coupled with these hilarious images, it shows that (rarely) "cheesy" can be fun! There IS such a thing (sometimes) as good cheese! Just not when it comes to choosing a wedding photographer!

Welcome!

2009-01-27T10:37:00.000-08:00

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