Intimate Portraits: Erin

I am at the threshold of my 40s. Every new decade seems so promising to me; I rarely struggle with the transition but rather look forward to the possibilities. And that is how Erin is facing her 40s. She has two daughters, a red-furred dog, a quaint little house in the tree area, and she decided it was time to exist in photos and unveil her beauty.

I always delight in women who just are. She was wrapped in white cotton, quietly laying on the mattress while I tested for light, and she would look up at me and blink a couple of times as I gave her directions, then she would pause and smile. "Relax your mouth" I'd say, and she would just be, she would simply exist for that second, crystallized by my lens with the light on her hair, and I could not contain my own smile as I looked at the back of the camera and saw her being, her eyes smiling back at me.

Be like Erin; come celebrate your entry into the 40s with us!

How to: (Very) Basic Product Photography

One of my favorite parts of the job I do is getting to know so many entrepreneurs who have turn their passions into a source of income. But they, like me, many times realize too late that owning a business is more than just making a thing or offering a service, and getting payed for it. The number of side-tasks, which en up becoming main tasks and consuming most of your time, is endless: taxes, book-keeping, marketing, networking, packaging... it makes you want to quit before you even start! And I have heard so many times: "outsource anything that you hate, or that you are not good at". Well, sure, but if can you afford that when you are just starting? How do you break the cycle?

I will share two pieces of wisdom with you here: 1) you CAN do it all, and 2) you can afford more than you think. If you are interested in how to hire us to photograph your products, skip all the way down there ↓ to 2) .

1) YOU CAN DO IT ALL

It doesn't mean you can do it all perfectly, or that you have the time or energy to do it all, and so in the beginning you will have to be okay with many short nights and a very simplified version of what you would like your business to look like. In the spirit of helping you with that, I want to share with you the one thing I am good at and that I will never outsource myself: making images (of your products).

You can find many tutorials out there on this topic, but I am going to give you the very, very basic steps, the ones that will allow you to take images of your products NOW, without expensive purchases or teaching yourself Photoshop.

Basic set up with a seamless background, for big products.

What you need:

# a spot with a window with good light (preferably right next to a corner), and either:
     - a white wall and a piece of white laminate or foam board (if product weight allows)
     - white paper (preferably a roll)
# masking tape
# a (second) piece of white foam board
# a decent camera (your cell phone will probably do!)
# time to plan
# a step-stool (optional)

I will describe the steps to take when photographing a small object (for example, jewelry), and give you some tips for each step. If you are photographing something bigger (for example, furniture) you will need a bigger space and bigger paper (like a backdrop paper to create a seamless background).

Step One: Plan

* Decide what you are going to photograph, when (choose the time when the light is best at your chosen location).
* Make a list of products to be photographed and allocate at least 30 minutes to each product.
* Make a list of any prep the product needs: do you need to clean it? Iron it? Make it? Add the estimated "prep time" to each product.
* Make a list of any props (besides the above-mentioned ones) that you may need, and if you need extra time for getting these in order, add that to the "prep time" as well. For example: do you need hangers and a bar to hang that handmade shirt from?
* Make sure your phone (or camera) has enough storage and battery life.

Step Two: (on the day of the shooting) Gather Everything You'll Need

This may sound trivial but please don't skip it. If you, like me, like cooking from scratch, you know that there is a world of difference between gathering all your ingredients before you start following the recipe, and helter-skelter-ly getting them one at a time as you follow the directions. Set up for success!

Step Three: Set up Your Product

Placing a seamless on a chair for small objects. Clamps work great!

A foam board piece opposite the window acts as a reflector.

* For best results, you want to have the window to the side of your product (see image next to "what you need".)
* If
     - you are going for the foam board and wall approach, place one piece of foam board in the corner on the ground, or on top of the appropriate surface (use a small table for a knitted hat, a chair for shoes...)
     - you are going for a seamless background, set it up as far as you can. You can tape it to the wall or the back of the chair, depending on the size of the product you are photographing (for this last one, clamps may work better, if you have them.)
* If you are photographing something that hangs, like dangle-y earrings, think of ways you can suspend it in front of the wall or paper: two pencil holders with a string between them, pins on a foam board placed vertically against the wall... many options!
* Place the other piece of foam board opposite the window, so the light bounces back and hits the product from both sides. If you are having trouble keeping it vertical, prop it against the chair or score it with an Exacto and fold it to create a book-like reflector that stands on its own. The larger your product the biggest piece of foam board you'll need. If you find at the last minute that you need to go bigger and you don't have a reflector the right size in hand, hang a white sheet high enough to send light back to your product: this is the bright side of the photography nightmare of having a client show up with a bright green shirt...

* Finally (and this is one of the most important steps), make sure you diffuse the light that's coming in the window. You can use a big piece of paper and tape it over it, or use sheer curtains. This will take care of any "features" the window may have (like cut-ups) and will give you an even, soft light. Even if your paper is not big enough to cover the whole window, just make sure that no direct, bright sunlight is hitting your product.

Make sure you cover the windows, so no direct sunlight hits your product.

Step Four: Photograph!

Take as many shots as you can think of, and then some. If you are trying to experiment with a DSLR, feel free to read my tutorial from last year. Take photos of the highest resolution possible: you can always compress them. But if you are using your phone, it will probably take care of adjusting settings to give you the best results.

Take a close-up, rotate your product to see it from different angles (a tripod/cell phone gadget comes in handy here, so the only thing moving is the product), take a shot from above (use a step stool, and be safe!)... it is better to have too many images than not enough: you will not want to have to set this up all over again for one image you later decide you are missing.

Step Five: Practice and Improve

There are a lot of things to learn and improve. You can get a "Lazy Susan" to place small objects on, build a light box, start playing with how to take good Social Media images by adding little objects or props around your product, or invite a friend over and venture into photographing your product being modeled. In the meantime, this basic set-up will give you great results. Try them!

2) YOU CAN AFFORD MORE THAN YOU THINK!

The trick here is: while you are paying somebody else to do what you hate/are not great at, you need to be hustling at the things you love/are good at, and turning those tasks and hours into money you can use to pay somebody else to do what you hate/are not great at. Makes sense?

I know, for some, even this simple procedure may be too much. So starting this month, Lightfolly is offering product photography services for our local entrepreneurs. We will meet for a vision session, where you will tell us about your brand, your products, and your story. You will decide if you need us to photograph one product, or a whole line, whether you want just product shots or social media and model images too, and we'll work together to take your products to the next level.

Here is what you get with our basic package:

* 1 product shot, on transparent background
* 1 product shot, on a background of your choice
* 1 High Resolution styled image for social media

All for $49 (Packages including model shots start at $75). But we want you to experience the ease of mind of working with you before you commit, so we are offering AN INTRODUCTORY PRICE OF $29 for our basic package ($55 for packages including model shots) if you hire us BY FEBRUARY 2nd.

The examples shown here are for the beautiful, locally made jewelry created by Nadia Kaliszewski, from Big Hollow Designs. Because the Social Media shot is High Resolution, you can crop it in several different ways to use it in various different post, as well as add whatever filters complement your brand. And yes, that is her in the photo below, but you don't have to model your own products if you don't want to: we'll take care of that! Contact us through our page or give us a call at 307-703-8118 to start discussing you investing in your company.

Valentine's Day Boudoir Minis

5x7 matted images in a beautiful 8x10 box

This Valentine's Day (February 14th!), give your loved one the gift of you; of your sensuous body crystallized on paper for him to treasure and lust over. Or gift yourself to yourself; look back one day at who you are today, at this body you are existing in, bravely, beautifully.

We are now booking a limited number of mini sessions for our Valentine's Day Boudoir Minis. For $99 you will get professional hair and makeup, a consultation, and $100 credit to be used towards printed products. The Minis will take place Saturday morning on February 3rd: you will be pampered and directed to pose and have fun, and together we will create amazing intimate portraits of you (see examples of our work here.)  We will be offering smaller print packages than our regular Folio Boxes, with 6 and 10 matted images of your choice.

Embrace your beauty, your imperfections, your uniqueness, and let us turn it into tastefully radiant portraits of you. Call us at 307-703-8118 or visit this page to book your 2-hour spot. They will go fast!

Ahead we Look

Welcome, 2018. Such a brand new notebook, comprised entirely of blank pages for us to fill.

Lightfolly has so much in store for this year. First and foremost, we have a new studio space! Starting February 1st we'll be shooting at our renovated space inside the historical Laramie Plains Civic Center. A space of over 500 square feet has been renovated just for us, and as we work on the finishing touches we can't wait to share it with all of you! Prepare yourself for an open house sometime in February/March.

We are going to photograph dancers all. year. long. Because, you know, it's beauty, fun, grace, power, and art all in one! So if you are a dancer or know of a dancer who would want her portrait taken, send them our way!

We will have a specials this year, and our quarterly headshots marathons are on. We will be once more participating of the Pop-up Art Gallery in September, and of Small Business Saturday in November, both in downtown Laramie. You can sign up for our newsletter on our website (Samira writes them, one page long, and send them once a month), if you want to stay tuned about promotions and model calls.

We are also going to continue offering our cards and prints line (check out the shop section of our website), bringing fresh designs twice a year. They are perfect to send yourself or gift to a powerful woman in your life.

So, I don't know you, but we are thrilled and excited for what's coming in the next 12 months. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Pinterest, and help us continue to create beautiful images! Like the ones below, which are my three favorite images of 2017. And happy blank page writing!

Simply You: Megan

Her eyes. They are so awake. I could tell from the way she moved that she trusted the process and the photographer about to reflect the truth of her skin back to her. It may be because she is a photographer too. And wow, did we laugh. You have no idea.

Megan didn't get images of herself because she is expecting, or needs head shots, or wanted to have prints for future generations to treasure (although they will!). She got images of herself because she wanted to celebrate herself now, today, the way she looks and feels and moves. And maybe to have some intimate portraits to share with the hubby, but I can only share a couple of those here (wink).

How do you dream of being photographed?

Hair by Robin McIntyre
Makeup by Meagan Kelley

Interview: Trey Sherwood

Let’s start with the usual: tell me about your childhood and life, and how the way you were raised influences who you are today.

My dad was in the Air Force for 20 years, and I was born on a base in Mississippi, which I guess means I am a southern lady! But my family moved before I started talking, so I never got a southern accent. I have a brother who is two years younger. We moved a lot; when my dad was gone for weeks or months at a time, it was like living with a single parent. Change was normal, nothing was always the same, but even with all the transitions my brother and I felt really supported by our parents. They were loving, kind, and hard working. They tried to better themselves and our lives so they could offer us more, which I didn’t realized at that time, but looking back I see it. Our grandparents on both sides were influential in our lives. Although we lived all over the country, every summer we would visit my grandparents in Palm Springs, California. We really enjoyed that time, getting to hang out and enjoy the summers with them. Every time I would walk in the room, my grandfather would sing: “Here she comes, Miss America”. I never thought of it as in “a beauty pageant queen,” but as his way to encourage me to do whatever I wanted in life: “If you want to be Miss America, go do it. It doesn’t matter if you are perceived as too short, you go do it.” It is just one example of how my parents and grandparents set me up for having that mindset of “If that’s what you want to do, go do it”. So I grew up without a perception that you could fail, or that failure was a bad thing. Today I’m not afraid to try things. Failure is fine but you get to succeed if you try. Whenever I start working on a new project, I start it thinking that it may take a week, or a year, or twenty years, but I will be successful. That’s just how my brain is wired; it is trained to see a situation knowing that it will result in success, never thinking that failure is an option.

My upbringing has influenced how I interact with people as an adult in terms of not taking time for granted. I define myself as an "Air Force brat," which means I don’t have the concept of being friends with the people I went to kindergarten with. I moved in high school, I moved for college... As a result I value relationships and never take it for granted that they will be long term. I make friends quickly and warm up to people quickly, because when you are a military brat you know that you may not have time to “get around to making friends later”, because they or you may not be there later.

I moved out of my parents’ house to go to college. I went to Piedmont College, a small liberal arts school in North Georgia with no football team, in a dry county. That may explain why most people there were done in four years or less (laughs). Don’t get me wrong, we had a great support system, but there wasn’t much going on, no distractions. I lived in the dorms, and did my undergrad in History, English and Photography. I knew I had no patience to be in a classroom and be a teacher, so I went on to do my Masters in Museum Studies and Public History, at the University of West Georgia. We were close enough to Atlanta that we got to do lots of field work at the Atlanta History Center. It was an amazing opportunity to work in a museum in an urban environment. There were eight students in my class, so we got so much attention. My professors there had such optimism, and they too imparted that idea of “You can do whatever you put your mind to. Work hard and success will follow.”

The day I was graduating, literally, I got a call to come interview for a job with the Wyoming Territorial Prison State Historic Site in Laramie. I flew out, did the interview, got a job offer, went back to Georgia and moved out here. Saying “I’m going to pick up and move to Laramie, WY” was not unusual at all. My brother just moved to Knoxville and my parents picked up and moved there. When my dad was transferred in the Air Force, it was common for us to go into communities where we didn’t know anybody. They didn’t have a support system; we relied on neighbors and the people that we met, for my dad at work, for my brother and me at school. As an adult, that seems okay. I had never been in Laramie, I didn’t have friends or family here, but that was not a concern or a consideration. You go where the work is. It made me very adaptable.

I started working at the prison in July of 2004, and was there for five years before transitioning to Main Street.

Where does your love for history come from?

Who knows. In the middle of all the moving my dad would always get two weeks off in the summer and we would drive from wherever we were living back to southern Minnesota, where both my parents are from. Many times it was a long road trip, so my parents would let my brother and me pick things to do along the way. And I would always say: “I want to go to a museum!” or “I want to go to this random historic site!". My mom would say: “I don’t know where you are getting this from, but okay!”. And they would take the time to stop and let us run around and explore and geek out about it. They were always really supportive, even if they weren’t into it. In seventh grade, my mom told me that I needed to start thinking about what I wanted to do when I grew up. I told her I wanted to find the gravesite of Billy the Kid… I had this odd fascination with Western outlaw culture and its crazy mythology. May be I was watching Young Guns too many times back then, I’m not sure (laughs). So I studied history. But I didn’t want to teach, and when the idea of public history and museums came into focus for me, I knew that was it; that‘s what I wanted to do with my life. All my skills are complementary to the idea of doing work as a researcher and sharing it with the public; trying to bridge professional historical research with how it influences everyday life. That has been the most influential piece of my development: not wanting to work behind closed doors but sharing what you find, your passion, your discovery with your community.

I love history but I don’t have as much time for it now, which makes me sad. Not only the idea of researching something through the past down a rabbit hole; of starting with a question about a person, time, or place, and digging and digging and digging... not knowing where the end is or how many different roads you are going to take. I love the surprise in that. But also the methodology of tracking things down: if I go to this source it’s going to give me a clue. There is something reassuring about that.

How much of that interaction with the public did you get when you were working at the territorial prison?

A lot of my work was doing research at my desk or in the archives, going through objects and cataloguing them, making sure they were in good condition… at some point I started to talk to the objects as if they were people, because I was so lonely. Human interaction is so important for me. In that sense, I’m not surprised that I transitioned into my current position as the Director of Laramie Main Street, because I was missing relating with people and the sense of community that the job at the prison didn’t have.

Tell me about Laramie Main Street; how you got to work there and what was it before you came along?

I didn’t even know what it was before I applied for the job. It turns out that they started in 2005, and since then they’ve had the same mission, they’ve been focused on economic development, historic preservation, social vitality, but their structure was so volatile in the beginning. It started because the city (elected officials, city staff, businesses, building owners downtown) was interested in an organization that could bring to fruition a model of economic development for our community. There was great momentum in the formative years; everyone had high hopes for it. It was just circumstantial that they went through five directors in the first five years: somebody got sick, somebody didn’t like the weather, somebody’s husband moved and he had the good insurance so they followed his job... In 2010 the former director asked me to apply, and I don’t think the community knew what the organization was about and what it did back then. I had to do a lot of digging to find out exactly what it was doing and how my skill set could fit in. Once I took the job I realized there was a perception that Laramie Main Street was not as established as an economic development organization so even today, when people define what a Main Street manager does, they say things like: “you plan parties,” or “you do clean up days and pick up cigarette buds,” and “you apply for street closure permits...” That is a very small part of what I and my peers do! I am recruiting businesses, growing jobs, making an impact on the economy… For years I had to fight to make people understand that Main Street is an economic development organization, equal to the Laramie Chamber Business Alliance or the Wyoming Small Business Development Center, etc. I sense a change in the last two years, but before then it was an absolute struggle to be taken seriously. I very much kept going back to the “Fake it ‘til you make it” motto: I would dress the part, take my seat at the table, and memorize my data so I could be quick to respond. Now, every meeting I go to with the City Council or a partner organization, I know exactly how many businesses are in downtown, how many we recruited, how many jobs have been created, how much growth and how much investment has taken place for whatever period is relevant, and I can answer questions that many others at the table can’t. 

That’s why you are the force-to-be-reckoned with that you are! I remember the first time somebody talked to me about you: they referred to you as “Momma Trey.” I immediately envisioned you as this powerhouse; this hen with chicks under her wings, making thing happens for our town against the Wyoming winds…

(laughs - funny now 'cause I have chickens!!!) I don’t ever think that something happens because of just one person. The change in the organization has been a combination of having outstanding board members, many of which were here in 2005 and are still involved today, holding on to that vision, holding me accountable, pushing and encouraging me… and new people from the community bringing up something interesting that they want happening and asking how they can influence the development of downtown, lend a hand, jump in. The City Council supported Main Street in 2005 and they do even more so now. There is a great crew of employees and volunteers lending hands. The support system, the organization, and I have created the success.

In terms of how people see me, I appreciate how they describe me. Sometimes I reflect back; for the most part I have a good laugh. I don’t use the word powerhouse to describe myself and I don’t think of myself as nurturing. I think I am a hot mess sometimes! I do recognize and claim the word passionate. My persona, how I embrace life, how I am with my friends, how I laugh, how I giggle, how I work, it’s all passionately. I work hard with my team and consider myself a cheerleader: for our community, our businesses, our buildings. I am a cheerleader for downtown; I go in and add my passion to the situation that is presented to me and hope that that opens the door for something to happen. I am really uncomfortable with the idea that “I” get stuff done and always laugh when somebody says “Trey did this.” Again, it is never one person. People think that when I insist in addressing the whole team I am being nice to recognize the volunteers and my staff, but I am not just being nice, I absolutely believe it to be true. There is no way one person alone can get things done in this world, it doesn’t happen that way. The problem with this idea of “powerhouse” is that it doesn’t leave any room in the conversation for the reality of the hard stuff. It sounds like magic just happened. Gary Negich, President of First Interstate Bank, did an interview with the Boomerang a few weeks ago and called me a magician. And I thought that it is great that it looks so easy, but what about the hard pieces? It is not just me making this big magic happen, it is a whole team working and failing, and not letting that failure stop us from going forward.

I recognize that, working for a nonprofit, you have to talk about the good parts, about what worked, because you want to show that the money and resources you receive brought success. But that is not the whole story. I think Carly* is the only one who knows where I fail; most people think we just get stuff done, just like that (snaps fingers.)

People may give you more credit than you have, but I think you give yourself less credit than you and your magic deserve…

That will be my next nickname. Big magic momma (laughs.) I gain a lot of strength from people around me. They say you are attracted to things in other people that you wish for yourself, and for me having an engaging team of people around me is what is defined as my success. I take strength from my friends, my peers, my coworkers. Who you surround yourself with helps define who you are. I struggle with finding a balance between acknowledging my personal success and the team’s. If I stop and think about myself or the word “I”, I feel so uncomfortable. It makes me squirm.

Why?

Wow, I don’t feel comfortable even thinking about it. I don’t do a good job in the work-life balance either, that’s why I have dogs: they need very basic things and they distract me from my work. I don’t practice self-care, I don’t put myself first, I don’t make time for myself. I know it is the healthy thing to do, but even when forced by external circumstances I struggle with nurturing myself. In June of last year my Achilles snapped. At first I thought I had twisted my ankle and I tried to ignore it, but my husband insisted in driving me to the hospital and it happened to be that I had to have surgery. It was the first time in my life I had surgery, the first time I was immobilized in any kind of way, the first time in my adult life that I had to depend on someone else for my care. It was so challenging. But I didn’t really take any time off. I sat on the couch and worked from home. Friends brought me knitting supplies and movie recommendations, they encouraged me to use this as an excuse to binge-watch Netflix and teach myself how to knit. After two hours I couldn’t do it anymore! Working on job-related projects was more fulfilling. A business owner told me “Now that you are forced to sit still I want you to think about what your life would be like if you played as hard as you worked.” It’s been almost a year now and I still haven’t figured that out. I find so much joy in my work, I get up in the morning and I am so excited to tackle something… What would it be like if I… hiked as hard as I work? Would I be climbing mountains in foreign countries? Who knows. I don’t make time for play and I don’t put as much energy into it as I do into my work, and that seems fine because I am very fulfilled by what I do. But I know it is not necessarily healthy over the long term. I am afraid of burn out. I just celebrated my seven year anniversary with Main Street and I am proud of that; most directors last three years on average, and the Laramie ones before me lasted one. But I do ask myself how long I can do it. What needs to happen for me to retire from this job, and what does that look like?

Do you leave work at 5 pm most days?

No! (laughs.) I struggle horribly with the 8-to-5 schedule and I am judgmental of people who stick to it. It’s not about the hours; it’s not about the clock. Sometimes people tell me at 4 pm: “Go, you’ve worked really hard this week, go do something nice for yourself,” but I can’t get myself to do it because I would not say that to somebody else. And if I do it as a one-time thing, as a treat, I feel guilty. If I take more than one hour for myself I start feeling guilty. How do you erase your genetics? The stereotypical mid-west work ethics is just part of who I am. It doesn’t matter how many hours it takes to get the job done, my philosophy, my father’s philosophy, my grandfather’s philosophy is: “Work until the job is done.” If it takes one hour great; if it takes two weeks that’s what it takes.

Today, people ask how is it that I am so successful. The answer to that question that never gets verbalized is “I beat up on myself so that everything in my life is successful but me, as an individual.” My husband has a job that he loves very much too; we are both absolute workaholics. We get so much fulfillment from our jobs that our relationship revolves around giving each other room and permission to work and making life decisions around that, like deciding to not have children. I have 270 children: that is how many businesses are downtown.

What is your view of women in our society today, of the role they play vs the role men play?

I have been thinking about what I’ve heard among my Laramie female friends recently, some raw and real stories from local business owners, and I feel like women, in particular here in Laramie, have so much to bring to the table. We as a group can’t wait for somebody to make space for us, we have to force our way to the table, take a seat, claim ownership and act like we belong there and know that our voices are essential. Ladies: don’t take “no” for an answer! We need to see more balance between men and women on non-profit boards, the UW boards of trustees, and in the legislature… We have the ability to create change and goodness in society. For a multitude of reasons we don’t see enough women at the table, raising their voices and saying “I can make a difference, get out of my way.” I want to encourage other women to be powerful and to be change agents, and I hope I’m setting a good example for other women.

Looking around at the National Main Street conferences, eighty percent of the directors attending are women. Because of the nature of this job, there are not a lot of men in this field. And that makes me think about my first year on my job with the State of Wyoming, working as a historian out at the prison, I had so many people comment on my age and my gender. Over and over and over again. They would say things like: “Aren’t you too young to be doing this job?” or “I think this is the first time a women has had this position.” I never understood why those things were relevant to what I was doing. I heard that so often and I tried to brush it off and walk out of the conversation. Looking back, I wish I had called it out every time, but I was so new in my career… Towards the end I was in the position to get an advancement and my supervisor told me that he would never allow a woman to have the job that I was going after. I couldn't believe that someone had the nerve to tell me I couldn't do something, much less because of my gender! I went through the process of filing complaints with HR but nothing changed, so I left that job. Most people don’t realize that I left because I was told that as a woman, I would never advance. It seems asinine in this century, this time, and this place something like that could happen. It makes me wonder how many other women has something like this happened to?

Good question. Any final thoughts to our community members?

I want to take away the mystery: anybody can be as successful as I am. I don’t think there is a barrier for that. People around me striving and working to make the community better pushes me to do more and be better myself. There is room for multiple “powerhouses” to exist in a community, and for them to encourage each other and push each other to go further. I love collaboration. If somebody out there has an idea for our downtown, walk in the door and talk to me. It’s always so exciting when that happens.

And back to the idea of being real and honest, I want to ask people to leave room for both the failure and the success we all face everyday. What we express publicly may be different from what we feel behind closed doors. Most people would say I am optimistic, passionate, happy, always cheery, but I am an absolute closet pessimist! I have gotten my grandmother's worry gene like nobody’s business. Often, when I’m by myself I get sad or worried or depressed, although I never put this forward as my public persona. When you are this emotionally and passionately driven, the positive pushes you forward while the worry is a frenzy that cannot be described rationally. When I'm feeling down, I always go back to my favorite phrase “Fake it ‘til you make it”! At the end of the day, being a workaholic and finding fulfillment in my job provides a distraction so I don’t have so much time to worry on the one "oops" that’s bringing me down.

The best advice I ever got was from Jodi Shea, a local attorney and board member of Main Street. She is one of the smartest, brave, calm, and collected persons I’ve ever met. She said to me: “When you are faced with an annoyance, a problem(real or perceived), a mistake, a failure, somebody else projecting their issues on you, think and ask yourself: is this going to affect me in an hour, in a day, in a month, or in a year”? This question quickly puts the whole situation into perspective for me! If somebody walks into my office to complain about a bike rack location, I tell myself: “This is not a life or death issue, it’s an annoyance, and it might be an annoyance for a day or a week until we get the bike rack moved. It’s not a critical issue like, having to have surgery” (laughs.) And then I can let it go.

Featuring: Brian Harrington from Legrand Wolf

Name: Brian Harrington

Company Name: Legrand Wolf

Style: Fine Art

Website: www.legrandwolf.com

Yes, you read it right. I am talking about the same Brian Harrington, photographer and owner of BHP Imaging. During the last six years his company has established itself as an approachable, professional wedding studio, capturing the spirit of many organic, western weddings. But Brian, the adventurous creature that he is, has recently started exploring another side of his creative self. Enter Legrand Wolf, a combination of his middle name and his wife’s last name, as the perfect name for his new fine art photography company.

Against the Grain

After he started BHP Imaging, as he was figuring out his way into the wedding business, the Wyoming Technology Business Center (AKA The UW Business Incubator) offered him a spot as one of the entrepreneurs they coach and guide through becoming successful Laramie artists. Brian didn’t know if his vision of success would match theirs, but he did know that The Incubator could help his company move forward. They wanted him to produce fine art photographs, and as part of the deal they would help him learn all of those “side skills” that you need when you are running a successful business on your own: bookkeeping, taxes, marketing... Brian’s end of the deal was to develop a fine art business, and with that objective in mind he has been exploring and refining his fine art photography vision as his wedding company grows.

Laramie #1

In the beginning it was an arduous journey. Brian was trying to photograph abstract art that would fit his BHP brand and fall within the boundaries of his established vision. But it wasn’t until he started to add his work to a fine-art-selling website, which prompted to think of categories and labels for the work, that he realized that Legrand Wolf wad to become a thing of its own. BHP Imaging is about people and moments. His fine art brand, on the other hand, is about inanimate objects, lines, colors, and textures. He gave himself permission to step outside the box, and then the magic happened.

Forbidden City

Legrand Wolf features older images that Brian shot during some of his trips and as a part of his everyday life, some of which nobody has seen, and also newer, more colorful work that is defining the direction he is going in. Inspired by classic abstract expressionists like Mark Rothko and Richard Diebenkorn, he wants to follow his intuition and create images that he would like to have hanging on the walls of his own house. For now his fine art work is available on his website, which features five galleries: China, Western Landscape (my favorite!), Abstract, Water, and Snow. Curating and uploading the images helped him clear the mental road block that didn’t allow him to see himself as a fine art photographer, and encouraged him to shoot from that place. He envisions his work being slowly discovered by people in other parts of the country, reaching the walls of art lovers who share it with their friends and, as a long term goal, art collectors who will help bring in big sales. In the short term he is looking into printing the images in a large format that will allow the viewer to interact with the work from within, and he is considering finding a gallery space where to show it and sell it locally.

Falling

To appease all those freshly engaged couples out there who had their eye on BHP to shoot their wedding, let me assure you that Brian is not planning on abandoning the wedding business any time soon. He is a people’s person and enjoys connecting with clients and making them feel heard. Colorful doors and water ripples don’t do that. He gets a different kind of enjoyment in walking around scouting for buildings and lines to photograph, especially now that the shine and newness of people “allowing [him] to photograph their wedding” has worn out. I asked him what he would choose between photographing fine art or weddings, if money wasn’t an issue. He said: “Probably fine art. That way I’d get some more days off and I could have a life again”. And he smiled. He shot 15 weddings in 2016, and did a huge load of commercial work, which means he took just six days off in the entire year. I know what you are thinking: why start another company if he is already so busy with BHP? Because that’s who Brian is. He couldn’t have a desk job and work for somebody else, under somebody else’s rules. He has never done it and he is not interested in it. He has started a second business every year for the last five years, with various degrees of success, and he has learned something from every one of them. This year he is actually going for a new business that won’t require a lot of extra time and attention, since he can shoot while out fishing or exploring the world during his much needed time off, but that will encourage him to confront his own idea of the kind of images he can produce.

Brian and The UW Business Incubator have occasionally differed on what success means as an artist, but they both share a common appreciation for our city, our great community, and the entrepreneurial spirit of Laramie. As he grows as an artist and explores this new path, he knows there is something out there, in the mountains around Laramie, that once he photographs it will feel like his best work. He doesn’t know what it is yet, but he can feel it is there. And he is set out to find it, like he has found a treasure within every one of his yearly adventures.

Spring

Rise

Sea

Sessions: The Women of Laramie

I want to introduce you to the women of Laramie. You may have seen them already, walking around the grocery store, exchanging conversation while they picks up their children from the same school as you, cheering by the sidelines of the Homecoming Parade.

I have featured some of them on my blog before. I have shared their images on pop-up art galleries in our beautiful downtown. I have pinned flyers with their smiling faces promoting a Small Business Saturday event. Today I want to have them all in one place, looking at you from your screen. These are the women that keep this world moving, the women that bake bread, that are bosses at meetings, the ones restoring your town, supporting your artists, making art themselves. These women own stores, run businesses, raise children. These women.

Shake their hands the next time you see them around. Women fighting it every day in the Equality State; they are the reason Wyoming has that title.

AUDREY

ELISE

MELISSA

RYAN

ALISON

LINDA

CARLY

REBECCA

RACHELLE

ANDI

JESSICA

ASHLEY

FRANCHESCA

AMY

KATIE

EMILY

DEVON

REBECCA

ROBIN

BIRGIT

LORI

NADIA

TREY

Interview: Katie Hogarty

Tell me about your life, and how you got to where you are
I was born in Sheridan, where I grew up with my parents and my sister. She is two and a half years younger to the day and we are incredibly close. You don’t choose the circumstances you are born in, but I was fortunate to have been plopped into a wonderful family, a beautiful state, and a fulfilling life. I am incredibly grateful.

I went to college in Massachusetts, and on my first year I was diagnosed with dyslexia. And all of a sudden, my whole life made sense. Growing up I struggled in school, but did well enough that nobody stopped to figure out what was going on. I was a good dancer but couldn’t learn dance steps. The diagnosis made things make sense; it gave me permission to not be so hard on myself. I transferred to Oregon and decided I was going to major in something I liked; I wasn’t thinking about a career. So I went for psychology and Hispanic studies. And, just as my parents predicted, after graduating I ended up back in Sheridan waiting tables and bartending. After a few years I found myself in Dayton, working in a beeffalo ranch as the personal assistant to a film director. I would help with weed whacking and cattle feeding in the morning, and in the afternoon I would look over screenplays. He worked in Hollywood, and that experience showed me that I wanted to be doing something more with my life, I just wasn’t sure what or how to get there.

In 2004 I moved to Laramie to go to law school. I thought a law degree was general enough to allow me to decide what to do with it later. I lived in an apartment above the Brown & Hiser law office, and I would lie on the ground and hope that I would absorb things through osmosis and get smart. I met my husband during law school, and when he moved to Sheridan we would see each other when visited my family. Dyslexia and law school are not a great combination; it was hard but I did pretty well. In 2007, I graduated 36th in my class. There were 72 students, so I was right in the middle. I am really proud of myself for that. I enjoyed the process enough to not keel over, and at the same time did well enough to have some career opportunities.

After I graduated I went to work in the governor’s office in Cheyenne, where I commuted daily. I liked solving problems from that big picture perspective, and learning from very talented people. I worked with DFS and Workforce Services, and that’s how I connected with Climb. I met Ray, our executive director, and I could see that they were a very effective organization. I fell in love with what they do and how they help women, and I stayed connected with the organization through the years. My job ended because the governor didn’t run again, and I did a couple of short lived jobs for a while until I saw the opening for the Program Director position with Climb. After a couple of back-and-forth-s, I started working for them. It was meant to be.

Tell me about Climb
Climb is a private non-profit organization with offices in Casper, Cheyenne, Gillette, Rock Springs, Jackson, and Laramie. Our mission is to provide job and life skills training and job placing for low income single moms, so they can discover self-sufficiency. We help them address barriers that have been in their way, and help them remove them in a therapeutic, supportive manner. The Climb moms get individual and group counseling, parenting advice, they learn budgeting, problem solving, emotional regulation, communication and relationship skills, how to set boundaries, advocacy, planning, goal setting… but most importantly, they get the confidence and support of a community. Living in poverty as a single mom can be very isolating, but there is power in sitting with nine other moms and seeing that you are not alone.

That sounds fantastic! How does it work?
The program runs twice a year, and we work with ten women at a time. The application process is pretty rigorous since we want to make sure the moms are doing the program at a time when it will be the most successful in their lives, since they can only participate once. Sometimes a mom may not be ready at the time she applies. Maybe she is nearly sober or in the middle of a bad custody situation, she may not be ready for the change or have the time for it… it’s a 14 week training with 6 weeks of work experience afterwards, so if they are accepted into the program, they need to be able to make a roughly 6 months commitment to Climb. And to themselves.

Every cycle is different so the kind of skills we teach varies: moms going through the Office Careers training need support on how to dress professionally and maybe how to navigate a small office where they are under constant scrutiny. We just finished a Mechanical and Service Technology Training and those moms learned how to work with sheet metal and how to install and troubleshoot heating and ventilation units. Hands-on labor. But also, we taught them how to work alongside men and show up as a woman in a male dominated industry. Our next training is a Commercial Driver training, which will allow those moms to get a license to drive buses, beverage distribution, garbage, and water trucks, and to do mail delivery.

How can Climb offer all that support in such a short period of time?!

The Climb team is small; in our Laramie office right now there is me, Manuela Hofer-Mcintyre which is our Assistant Program Director, and we are in the process of hiring a part-time health care provider. But we have a team of local professionals and community members helping it all happen. They teach the classes and conduct mock interviews based on the particular training we are offering, and we try to bring males in to teach and talk to our moms, since many of these women haven’t experienced men in safe situations before, either emotionally or physically. Climb creates a safe place for moms to explore who they are, what functional relationships are, and how to set boundaries before having to test those skills in the workplace.

How do you decide what training to offer?

We decide based on the jobs that are available in our community at any given time. The economy changes; for example, wages and job offers in office careers are down now. So we want to offer trainings that will give the moms the most opportunities. Lots of research goes into it, and into a lot of what we do. Last year was Climb’s 30th anniversary, and we have been keeping track of some statistics for all these years. The moms go through a mental health assessment at the beginning and at the end of the training, and our data shows that women are finding huge growth in their executive functioning as they learn to calm the chaos in their lives, make decisions, and plan for the future. For the first 2 years after they graduate we contact them every 3 months, and monitor their wages, get feedback about the program and what it did for them, what they’ve learned… We found a consistent increase in wages and a decrease in state dependency after participants go through Climb’s program. The data not only shows that the program is effective, but also shows organizations and individuals funding us that we are solving real problems, doing something for which there is a need, and doing it in a way that doesn’t waste taxpayer or donor dollars.

Where does your money come from?

The local team of professionals teaching life skills is mostly volunteers. We receive money from private donors, and funding from both the state and federal governments. We just received a grant from the USDA, which administers the Food Stamps program, because our statistics show a decrease over time in the use of food stamps by Climb graduates. The USDA sees the value in investing in these women in the front end because it will save the Food Stamps program money down the line. We have been recognized many times as one of top 10 organizations in the country to lift families out of poverty.

Is that the goal of the women that come to Climb?

Their shared goal is a long term career. Within that, every mom defines success differently: a higher salary, confidence to leave a relationship, being able to move out of their parent’s house… they all get different things from our programs. And this is why Climb is different from other job training programs: it is personalized, and helps each women work through their own hurdles. They come to Climb in search of a job, but end up discovering things they didn’t know they’d find about themselves. Along the way their priorities change and they find their voices and confidence.

Do you see a clear need, especially today, for women advocates helping other women find their voices?

I am passionate about supporting women and building strong female relationships. But this is not just a women’s job. My dad is a huge women’s champion; he encouraged my sister and me to make our voices heard and showed us how to do it. I am so grateful for that.  The older I get, the more I realize how systematized and accepted the current perception of women as being invisible is. We don’t talk about it and yet it’s so real. The more I deal with voiceless women the more I see it. Supporting women to succeed without having to stop being who they are is important to me. I want to help moms find their voice so they can be successful in their jobs and lives long term.

Why just moms? What about single dads?

There are a number of programs for dads out there, modeled on the Climb model. Father Factor and Dad Making a Difference are just a couple. But research shows that most families in Wyoming living in poverty are headed by single moms. Our progress report statistics tell us that 40% of Wyoming single moms with children under the age of 18 live in poverty. That is why we focus on moms, because that’s what our state needs most.

You mentioned you are passionate, and you certainly sound passionate about your role with Climb. What’s your favorite part of the job?

Being a match maker (!) between the moms and potential employers. I care for these women and also for the organizations that work with us to hire them, and I want to set them both up for success. I am on a mission to match the right mom with the right job, and I think I am pretty good at it. I have learned over time to trust my gut; I can’t articulate why I know a good fit when I see it, I just know. I also love supporting the mom when it’s tricky, encouraging her to be self-sufficient in communication with the employer, and if it doesn’t work, figuring out why and what went wrong so it can be better the next time.

And then there are the stories of the women we serve. Like the mom who came to us in her early 50s, with kids almost grown. She barely made it into the program because to qualify you have to have children living in the home or be in a reunification plan. She graduated, and she calls us on the first day of Christmas Break crying because she just got payed 13 dollars and hour to make pancakes for her kids and grandkids. She couldn’t believe that that was her life now. Or the mom that had been homeless for a couple of years before joining the program. She got on her feet through people from her church that helped out and gave her a place to live. She started working with Climb with a 3-week-old baby, she graduated, and she just got her own apartment 2 blocks away from her baby’s daycare and 3 blocks away from her work. She has a job with benefits now! In six months she went from being homeless to making thirteen dollars an hours with benefits. I could talk about Climb as an organization all day, but those are the stories that keep me going.

You are so dedicated to these moms. Are you a mom yourself?

I am an occasional foster mom. My husband is a school counselor, and there was a kid at his school that had been living in a crisis center for 7 months. That’s not a place designed to have kids for that long, and we wanted to help him. So we went through the certification process and got him to come to live with us. He was in our house for almost a year, and we have fostered other teenage kids since. We don’t have any foster children living with us at the moment, but we did it for 3, 4 years.

It seems to me that it has to be such a calling. I have biological children and sometimes, when it gets really tough, the commitment I made when I brought them into the world is what keeps me going. How do you do it?

I don’t even think about the fact that they are not my biological children; we signed up for this and it is our responsibility to show up. It is beautiful, infuriating, hard, sad… I get mad at the system at times for making it so complicated. I’m a maternal person; I have an instinct for it and like helping kids. Because we work with older kids the relationship is different than what foster parents of younger children experience. Earning they trust is tricky, but so fulfilling when you get there. It is a mixed bag, confusing, complicated... It has changed the dynamics of our marriage and bonded us in a special way. No other experience in my life has shaped me like being a foster mom has. It has forced me to get to a healthy place in my life, to address things I wasn’t satisfied with but wasn’t dealing with, to come to grips with the reality that there were healthy, stronger, happier places I wanted to go in life. Being a parent to a teen that wasn’t my own child helped me get really authentic really quickly.

Are the places you want to go in life in Laramie? You are not leaving, are you?

I am not planning on it. My father asks me “Why do you live in Laramie? It’s so cold and windy.” And the truth is I can’t express with words the love I have for this community. I like going to the grocery store and finding people you know and love, every single time. Having people to share the hard times and the good times with. Having that kind of support. I am not a good planner; for the most part I just stumble upon things. I it is hard to plan ahead into the future, but I don’t see a need for it right now. I love my career, my people… this place is my home.

Featuring: Nadia Kaliszewski from Big Hollow Designs

Name: Nadia Kaliszewski

Company name: Big Hollow Designs

What they make: Clothing, jewelry, and accessories using recycled and upcycled materials.

Website: https://www.bighollowdesigns.com

Nadia is one of the creative forces behind Big Hollow Designs, a company selling recycled and repurposed jewelry, clothing, and accessories. Together with her fiancé, Josh, Nadia spends countless hours in her studio, designing creating, and wishing the day was longer so she could bring all the design ideas in her mind to reality. She has been an artist all her life, but only saw her creativity as a money-making endeavor when one night in Encampment, Wyoming, with the music of WhatFest playing in the background, one of her friends noticed that everybody around the bonfire was wearing a funky vest. WhatVest, a collection of party vests inspired by the music festival scene, was born that night and with it, so was Big Hollow Designs.

Some examples of the WhatVest Collection - The Parrot (top, center) is a retro-western style vest inspired by the creations of Manuel Cuevas the famous designer who made outfits for the likes of Johnny Cash and Dolly Parton.

The Burton Double Windsor Hat

The first two years in business Nadia kept her full-time job in energy research at the University of Wyoming, but she would race to her studio as soon as she was home to sew and make jewelry until midnight. She took every class available, like apparel construction and graphic design, which could help her get the skills needed to run her own business. The WhatVest line expanded to hats, skirts, one-piece jumpsuits, tracksuits, cloaks, and other fun costumes. Big Hollow Design sells their products at music and mountain festivals around the region. Josh now travels with Nadia to help sell their collections, as well as his own lines of hats, the Burton Double Windsor Hat, which he creates using vintage ties. It was a win-win plan– they get to be in the scene they love, doing what they love, together. Nadia quit her job last august, and Josh has a seasonal job, which allows them to make products on the slow winter months and travel during the summer.

Jewelry - From the edgy to the rustic, Big Hollow's repurposed earrings are perfect for the true Wyoming mountain girl.

The success and response they have received has kept the company growing: they went from doing 5-7 shows in 2015 to a planned 25+ show schedule for the summer of 2017, both in the region and beyond, in places like California and Oregon. Nadia and Josh enjoy selling to people directly; she thrives in the person-to-person interaction with her customers. But the company also has a website where you can find product pages with photographs and descriptions for her one-of-a-kind inventory.

Nadia chose the name “Big Hollow” as a way to pay tribute to the unique area where she lives and works. The Big Hollow, located just west of the city of Laramie, is the largest wind eroded deflation basin in North America and the second largest in the world. Laramie has been Nadia’s home for the last seven years (before moving here for grad school she spent seven years skiing the Tetons), and its university and unique character influences the company’s design aesthetic.

Vintage polyester skirts - A limited edition line of skirts using some of Nadia's vintage patterned polyester fabric that she has collected over the years. She has added funky applique designs to give them a retro feel.

Big Hollow has recently launched a number of outdoor inspired creations, which Nadia ventures into with a certain comfort, perhaps influenced by her days as a professional skier. She says about the future of Big Hollow: “I wish to do all of this while staying true to my values of using repurposed and recycled materials and making quality one-of-a-kind pieces”.