Riverside Custom Design Baths

If anyone knows Gene at Riverside, you'd know that he is not one to back down from a challenge - or one to say "ok, that'll do."

His pursuit of perfection shows in these baths - one home, three baths, none of them extremely large or extraordinarily lavish, but always done to a T with all the bells and whistles. And a relentless determination for excellent materials and the highest level of craftsmanship.

The photography day was a totally gray, "fer cryin' out loud, why not just go ahead and rain!" sort of day. I brought along my portable sunshine and made glorious shafts of light through the windows, plus carefully placed fill lights to brighten the shadows and exposures that balance the room lights.

Hiya Cupcake

I was a humdrum person, leading a life apart, when love flew in through my window wide - and quickened my humdrum heart.

Love in this case is a cupcake from Delight Bakery.  I have always admired their work - and now a chance to photograph it. Yep, love flew in - in the form of very chocolate cake with a most voluptuous frosting and a Ghirardelli chocolate... hiya cupcake!

New Leaf Trays and Lace Bowls for Black Cat Pottery

Cheryl has upped the ante on her new Black Cat Pottery work - beautiful lace bowls and leaf bowls - another great big step forward.

I really enjoy photographing art for artists - it is a chance to bask a little in the reflected glow of their creativity and craft - plus it is always inspirational to have some time to chat about art and art-making with one who is in the business.

We had some help this time from Dora who is always cute in every way, always talkative (no simple utterances from Dora - she speaks in words and sentences), and always there's those luxurious whiskers (whiskers?)(I wish they showed up a little better, but trust me: deluxe). See the middle photo below...

New Notable Greetings Cards

It was a busy fall season this year - so much so that I have only just finished new card sets for Notable Greetings.

A new Summer Michigan Wildflowers, a Fall Michigan Wildflowers and a new set of Orchids will all surely be favorites.

The wildflowers series would not be possible without the generous availability of my good friend Cheryl English's garden. All the wildflowers are plants in her care. Please visit blackcatpottery.com for the latest on her wonderful pottery work.

Michigan Wildflowers - Summer Collection 7

Michigan Wildflowers - Fall Collection 3

Orchids

Plex Systems Brochure

After working with Plex last fall for a charity event, I was impressed with the people I met: interesting, engaging, and - as is not so often the case with employees having to attend after-hours company-sponsored events - they really enjoyed being together.

My first impressions were again proved to true with this most recent assignment: photographs of the people and places of Plex Systems for an upcoming brochure to recruit software engineers. We had a great time together and made a great big stack of really nice images. Here's just a few:

Grosse Pointe Magazine Portrait

I get the opportunity to meet some wonderfully interesting people through Grosse Pointe Magazine, a gem of a publication.

This day was a cold a snowy "I'd rather stay inside" sort of day, but once I got myself out there and met Dzvinka Hayda, the outdoors was all forgotten. We had a nice chat and created a really nice image for the magazine - she'll be featured in the upcoming issue. I am grateful that she is so pleased with the image that it is her new "About the Author" favorite.

Chazzano Coffee Roasters

I might say that the people of Chazzano Coffee Roasters are just jazzed on caffeine, but I'd be taking a quick swipe at the low-hanging fruit of a glib little joke.

Truth is: they know coffee, live coffee, sleep and breathe coffee. They really are jazzed about it - it's the first thing on their minds - all the time. They roast some of the most interesting coffee bean varieties from all over the world. Here you can buy the freshest coffee anywhere - roasted, like, yesterday - and ground - right now - just for you.

And you can enjoy sampling an eye-opening (really!) variety of those coffees, brewed in so many different ways. I was served the same beans ground and brewed as espresso, as Turkish coffee and in a French press - each was a completely different experience. They even have an extraordinary range of teas - from the blackest, smokiest Lapsang Souchong to the greenest of green teas - ground into an impressively bright-green powder.

We produced a great big pile of images for stock use on their marketing materials, including brewing, roasting, products and a portrait of owner Frank Lanzkron-Tamarazo. Thanks to Ed Marsh at Nightcry Graphics for facilitating a productive photographic session - always a great pleasure to work with professionals who are also artists.