bloom.

I have been coaxing my paper whites since I planted my bulb in November. Anxious, breath abated, I waited. And today...finally...a bloom! It might be a bit much, but I like to think of it as evidence of perseverance in the midst harsh conditions. Also, I secretly believe that my bulb sprouted it's first little white flower in honor of my friend Sarah's special day - a lovely flower for a lovely bride. New life is springing up everywhere, today...

...makes the day.

Christmastime. We are now in the thick of it - surrounded on all sides. I want to cozy up to it like a warm blanket or a friendly hug, enjoy it's warmth and biting coldness. Nights are now capped off with a cup of (soy) hot chocolate. Heavy on the marshmallows. Spiced up with a pinch of cayenne and cinnamon. Perfect drink to enjoy the human pinball machine outside my window - cars swerving and gliding along my icy road - {crash!}{slide!}{bump!}{crash!} "ssss! Ooooh! There goes another one!"

{photo by Leah Dankertson, 2007}

hunks for everyone!

Found this in the Stranger this morning - in an article promoting the 5th Ave Theater's production of Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. Not a full beard in the bunch (sigh.) but all that plaid is enough to make me giddy!

thanks.

{photo by Michelle V. Agins for the NY Times}

debut.

After much blood, sweat, and...well...yeah...it's finally here! - the 2008 University Book Store Holiday Gift Guide. Designed by my co-conspirator here at UBS, the lovely Liza, with all photography and styling by yours truly. Like I said earlier here on Rough Hewn, I'm really proud of the shots I took for this catalog. I'm able to see a significant improvement from last years work as well as the influence of all the expirimenting and photo research that I've been doing the last six months or so.

All of this shooting and styling has been really motivating as I begin building my first website (!) but it's also really showing me the areas where I still need a lot of training and experience. I was reading an interview of a great food photographer - Francesco Tonelli - who offered this advice:

"...while you’re still young and you are able to afford not to be paid--or not to be paid very much--and also while you’re still not threatening to professionals, try to go under the wing of some great master. That’s somehting I wish I had done myself at the beginning of my career. But it’s something that I failed in terms of A) not believing I could go so high, aiming for the best, most famous, most talented chefs, and B) being caught by some more rewarding salaried position where I’d have an important title instead of washing dishes for a master. Learn all you can—from the best. Wash dishes for a master while you can afford to."

I would love to begin working with/observing great photographers (DREAM: Roland Bello!, John Kernick or any of the photographers from Gourmet or Martha Stewart, for that matter!) and studios - soaking in as much knowledge and experience as I can. With such a small readership lately (patience, patience...), this is a total shot in the dark, but if you or anyone you know have a connection to a great photographer or studio who are willing to take an eager beaver under their wing....shoot me an email/comment.

Calling all Great Masters!!

[Excerpted from Radio Lab episode - Emergence - first broadcast 7/14/2008]

[Jad Abumrad] Think about a Seurat painting. The one where they're all on the banks of the Seine. You know the one?
[Robert Krulwich] I know the one.

[J] If you look at it up close all you see is dots.
[R] Right.
[J] You pull back and the picture emerges with all the ladies and their parasols. But the question with these systems - the big question - is whether there is a Seurat to make the dots, to paint the picture, or if somehow the painting just materializes on its own.
[R] Hmmmm....uh......well...You know that I have an opinion about this.
[J] I do.
[R] It's not a science-y opinion. Uh...I think it's not just fascinating that there are these hidden patterns and hidden rules. I think it's...umm...this is going to change the whole tone...I think its kinda...Holy. And I don't have, there's no scientific evidence because there's no science behind this, it's just an instinct. I think when you look at the way ants work or the way a Seurat painting emerges before your eyes...you're looking at an author.
[J] See, see, when you say that, all the air just gets let out of the balloon for me. It's like, the magic is gone.
[R] Really??
[J] Yeah, I think so.
[R] But, see, what you're left with then, everything you see when you wake up in the morning, as beautiful - and we all agree that its beautiful - is...empty of purpose. Is that okay with you?
[J] Yeah.
[R] Huh...

relief.

My roommate Becky, after seeing my Obama pin last night, said, "Hold on!!!" and ran to her room to grab this Kennedy pin that her grandmother was "just going to throw away". Looking down at identical buttons, I seriously got chills. That wave of history washing over you. If I ever doubt the power of design and image, I'm reminded that whoever designed my button had no doubt referenced the other in hopes to instill the same visual iconography and hope as there was needed back then. And today, this design makes history for a second time. We shall see what lies ahead, but I trust that God is soveriegn and am hopeful and excited to see history in the making.

{UPDATE! All of the rad Obama design pieces, including this button, done for MoveOn.org were by the folks at Print Liberation! Thanks, guys, for spreading rad design to the masses and helping impact history - both design & otherwise!}

cover therapy...

Music is for many, an inspiration all it's own. I know for myself, it's not only a passion it's the thin layer surrounding all of my work. Influencing it, whether I know it is or not. Even if I'm not even listening to it. It's there.

Art, design, and music have a long history together, I know, and I am often bowled over by beautiful cd packaging and LP covers. Secretly wanting to...er...lick it...it's so good! (Please tell me I'm not the only designer that feels this urge when they see great design!) But honestly, I haven't really been too impressed lately. Maybe it's just that I'm not looking hard enough or paying the right amount of attention. (Being poorish has a way of putting blinders on me.) So, I want to change this and offer to you today the first in what I hope to be a regular dialogue of great covers that are not only inspiring, but are just plane ol' "lickable"!

"So what, pray tell us, is the cover that spurred on this little rant?" It's the cover of The Walkmen album You & Me. Strong typography. Strong photography. I kind of don't want to mess it up with descriptive words that would only distract you from enjoying it. But I love it in every way. I'm doing a little detective work on the designer....and will update with my findings.

Question to the masses:
What covers have inspired you, lately?

“Are these things really better than the things I already have? Or am I just trained to be dissatisfied with what I have now? Am I just under a spell that says nothing is ever good enough?”
CHUCK PALAHNIUK
from Lullaby

“Creatures are not born with desires unless satisfaction for those desires exists. A baby feels hunger: well, there is such a thing as food. A duckling wants to swim: well, there is such a thing as water. Men feel sexual desire: well, there is such a thing as sex. If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world. If none of my earthly pleasures satisfy it that does not prove that the universe is a fraud. Probably earthly pleasures were never meant to satisfy it, but only to arouse it, to suggest the real thing. If that is so, I must take care, on the one hand, never to despise, or be unthankful for, these earthly blessings, and on the other, never to mistake them for the something else of which they are only a kind of copy, or echo, or mirage."

C.S. LEWIS
from Mere Christianity

in the mean time...

Here's a sneak peak at what I've been working on the last few weeks - some shots from our Holiday catalog shoot. I've pretty much resigned myself to accepting that Christmas will always come two months early for me. Design. Retail. Publishing. I probably won't ever get away from it.

Downsides: stunted Christmas cheer, seeing the underbelly of the holiday as business, "Christmas...that's SO October!"
Upsides: First to know about cool stuff, endless tree decorating, anticipation, hot cocoa...
Serious Upside: More time for Christmas tunes. Yes, no shame, here.

yes it is...

portraits:::chelan

My dear friends were such good sports to let me take their portraits! I had decided before I left for Chelan that I was going to take each persons portrait, with the intent to create shots that were minimal, witty, slightly canned, and ironic - very deadpan. But in return, I was blessed with these pictures - which are much more raw and soulful than I could have ever tried to create on my own. Thinking about it now, I was probably trying to emulate someone's style that I'd seen and liked somewhere - I guess maybe I needed to just get it out of my system so that I could move on to the good stuff. I don't know, but I do know that these are only the beginning... {ie. what folks in the industry like to call..."the tip of the iceburg."}

Well, I have been frantically trying to finish up editing the photos from this weekend away - there are some real gems! - and will have them up on my flikr page shortly, but I couldn't resist sharing a sneak peak.

Today my co-worker Liza passed along this link to a great project that AIGA put together to get designers involved in promoting the importance of being a part of this year's election. I have posted some of my favorites - but this is only a taste, my friend! - there are some 255 submissions so far and many of them are not only beautiful, but also smart and impacting as well. Seeing these posters (which you can also download and print out at the link above) reminded me that while I may not directly affect policy in this country, I do carry a responsibility as a image maker and visual communicator. Think about it - the flag, the statue of liberty, the monuments - all designed by the artists/designers/Betty Ross's/Maya Lin's at some point to ignite and inform a distinct American visual identity.

I encourage everyone to check out these posters, print out a couple, post them, and not only be a part of getting the vote out in November, but of informing visual culture as well! Also, if you are in Seattle, 24 of these posters will be on display as part of the Ballard Artwalk on Saturday, October 11th- find out all the info here.

(PS. I could go on and on about this year's political spectacle, but I will spare you all the exciting details. But if you perchance are as interested as I am about making an informed decision this year, I would encourage you to check out a couple of sites I checked out this week: Don Miller's blog, his recent posts this week have been regarding his involvement in the Obama campaign. Also there, you will find this link which seeks to answer a lot of the fears many christians may have about Barack Obama - I would urge you to check it out - do the research and see where it may lead you. A little scary, I know...but trust me on this one.)

" The answer must be, I think, that beauty and grace are performed whether or not we will or sense them. The least we can do is try to be there."
-ANNIE DILLARD-
from Heavan & Earth in P@TC

"Your love is better than life...my soul will
be satisfied as with the richest of foods."
psalm 63:5-6

on today's forecast...

between the commas...

I was scanning the obituaries in the NYTimes this morning and saw this...

Connie Haines, Peppy Singer, Dies at 87

Got me thinking what few words might be used describe my life someday.

Leah Dankertson, Rider of Public Transportation,...
, Maker of Piles, ...
, Magazine Subscriber, ...
, Scarf Enthusiast, ...
, Aspiring Book Designer and Photographer, ...
, Church Attender, ...
, Avid Public Library Patron,
, Survivor Fan, ...
, Drinker of Too-Much-Coffee, ...

I guess my hope when all is said and done, is that however I am summed up in the end, one description might be: Good Friend.

What words would you put 'between the commas'?

I fell instantly in love with these wonderful illustrations by Tim Root (Crappy Comics) for Stumptown Coffee Roasters - the best coffee around. Ever. I have quite a collection of these weekly ads...so there are plenty more to come!

seen and overheard....

A man and (I assume) his young daughter walk into the lobby at work...

{DAD} It's all just a big SCAM!
{DAUGHTER} What's a scam?
{DAD} A scam is something you don't want to stumble into.

dear summer...

Dear SUMMER,

I can see you're busy packing and getting ready to leave, but I just wanted to let you know that I've appreciated you staying this long. I know it was a little awkward for you. But it made all the difference, for a lot of people. Like me.

Thanks and till next year,
LEAH

{photos from my weekend at Chelan...more to come!}

weekending...

Happy September Weekend!

This weekend I will be on the lake trying to recreate the scenes above. Yes, complete with hunky models and sublime food. Well....okay, maybe not the hunky models....but good friends and food are a guarantee!

While I'm photographing everything in sight I will also be:

Listening to Jose Gonzales, Otis Redding, Fleet Foxes, Bon Iver, Final Fantasy...
Reading Annie Dillard's Pilgrim at Tinker Creek... finally finishing it, that is.
Playing for the first time, Settler's of Catan...which I've been told I HAVE to play. [Prediction: I will win. As I am the winner of all games.]
Loving lazily floating away the hours.

Look for new work next week...

{My weekend inspiration photos are by Quentin Bacon, for article an in the July 2008 edition of Gourmet Magazine}

full circle

I'm having one of those moments. You know the kind. Where your old self meets your current self and you realize either that everything has changed or, like in my case, certain things still linger. Deep passions and desires have just been lying dormant all these years - except that now you feel like you might be in a place to pursue them. Finally go for it.

A couple of weeks ago I was at the Oasis/Ryan Adams concert and they played "Don't Look Back in Anger" and it was like I was literally transported back to being fifteen, sitting on my deck or in my big chair writing the very same lyrics in my journal. The journal I had just begun. And here I was, finally seeing this band live - at 26 - far removed from the feelings that originally had stirred me, but I can't say it still didn't move me in a similar way. I do remember it meaning so much back then. That and other songs were like anthems, speaking exactly what my heart wanted, but couldn't say.

It made me feel a little homesick for that person - the Leah of fifteen - bright-eyed, hopeful, dramatic, anything was possible and yet wondering all the while when was it all going to start. Aside from the awkward teenage thing, there seemed to be an idealism, maybe even a little mystic about me. Standing there listening to Oasis, reminded me too, that back then I was mad for the Beatles (Man, I loved that band!), I was kind of a theater snob/geek, Broadway musical obsessed, and loved all things Britain. I kinda miss her and wonder if I can reclaim the pieces that matter.

So all this to say that when I went back this morning to the journal where I had written those lyrics, I was shocked and blessed to find myself come full circle. Lately, in addition to producing more artwork and photography I have been thinking a lot more about writing. Ideas and scenarios keep bubbling up that are begging me to write them. Where it will lead, I'm not quite sure, but I'm amazed at how God works in a different part of our lives, maybe even for the specific purpose of impacting the future.


So here's what I wrote back in August 1997...

"I finished reading " the Fling" and it really got me inspired to write. Cause the main character is a writer. But I just don't want to start writing something and have it end up like all the other uninteresting sappy stories I've attempted. Which usually end up going the teenage romance route, which is....NOT what I want to write. "Write what you know." Well, I certainly do not know romance and so that is out of the picture. But what I do know is so boring, it's not even worth writing about. And I'm not really into fantasy or fairy tales, so I need to find something in between. And I'm deciding whether I should write christian or secular...? But what I noticed is that there aren't really any cool christian books. Sure there's Christy Miller and Sierra Jenson, or even Palisades [these are christian teen romance novels], but those just make life so cliche, so predictable and unbelievable. What we need is for someone, like me, to write some kick ass book for cool un-Christy-Miller-Like girls.

But about what, though...Hmmmm....

'So, Sally can wait
she knows it's too late
As we're walking on by
Her soul slides away,
but don't look back in anger
I heard you say' -Oasis

I have to wait and let the ideas come to me. Oh...how I hate waiting."


And it's true - I needed to wait, not just for ideas, but for life experience. For God to transform my heart and mind and life in ways I couldn't comprehend then. To realize that I can't separate my faith from the work I do. Why do we have this need to separate between christian and secular, anyway? And to realize that while I still may not have a clue about romance, another romance novel is NOT what woman need. They need the ultimate romance novel (as cheesy as that may sound). Come on, we all want that one - the one that's real. Exhilarating. Satisfying. The one that is not fiction, but playing out right in front of our eyes. I have to remind myself this often - that God is a pursuer. He gave me an inkling so long ago that he hasn't yet let me lose completely, for one reason or another. He's bringing me back around to the point where I started - will I be brave and follow his lead? Will I write?

Looks like it.

my boys...

Enough said, I think.

{Photo courtesy of Babble - where there is also a great video of Feist singing on Sesame Street! But thanks to mom for discovering this photo and cutting it out of the Sunday paper for me!}

a bit of bounty

Last weekend, my sister let me take a bit of bounty from the garden she planted with her three friends. I got some broccoli and an onion. Lots of basil for pesto and I snuck a few apples from one of the trees. But it was the dill and a few plums that really had me inspired! The next day I was eager to photograph them.

Looking at the pictures now, especially the one above, I can't help but feel like dill is kind of a lonely herb. The last kid picked for the team. Forgotten. Maybe I relate to it a little in that way. Or maybe it's just how I shot it - isolated and in a little pile - but I can't help but feel like I want to cheer it up. Let it know that it has always been my favorite herb. And I'm not just saying that! {I had a bit of a panic when I lived in Brooklyn and couldn't find it anywhere. For days I wondered whether tuna would ever be the same....or....potatoes, oh potatoes. I know I wasn't looking very hard, but ultimately I discovered Whole Foods and things eventually returned to normal. But Oh! did I cherish that bottle of dill! }

I would also let it know that like any perfect food it's smell has the power to take me back in time to meals my grandmother made. Lovely Norwegian food - simple (always with potatoes!), unpretentious, satisfying, and always colored with a bit of dill. Plus, I always feel like I'm being a good Norwegian every time I shake a little dill on my food. Like I'm doing my part. Expressing a little Norge pride.

These plums take me back as well - to the same chef, my Beste - they had plum trees outside their home in Seattle and they would inevitably have more than they bargained for. Thankfully, she would use them to make this wonderful plum sauce/pudding/compote, similar to applesauce but with plums. Pour a little cream over it while it was hot and you were in business! So good. I'll try to find the recipe and post in here in the future.

I guess when it's all said and done, in the process of taking these photos I realized that it wasn't a coincidence that I happened to choose these foods to photograph. Both are deeply tied to memories of my grandmother's Norwegian cooking - recipes I know she has only in her head. Recipes and memories I would love to learn from her, maybe even write them down, photograph the process. So that if I am ever a mother, they too, can have similar memories tied to dill...and plums.

welcome to spain, baby!

Lately I've been craving a road trip. Travel. The open road.

Finishing Don Miller's book, Through Painted Deserts last week only confirmed it that much more. He said something that has been rattling around my brain for the last few weeks:

"We get one story, you and I, and one story alone. God has established the elements, the setting, and the climax and the resolution. It would be a crime not to venture out, wouldn't it?
It might be time for you to go. It might be time to change, to shine out.
I want to repeat one word for you:
Leave.
Roll the word around on your tongue for a bit. It is a beautiful word, isn't it? So strong and forceful, the way you have always wanted to be. And you will not be alone. You have never been alone. Don't worry. Everything will still be here when you get back. It is you who will have changed." (from the author's note)

And I guess that's what I'm wanting right now. The type of change that only comes with experiencing new places. New sights, smells, tastes...allowing yourself to be the stranger - opening yourself up to the unfamiliar, unaware of where you are going and even more unaware of who you will be on the other side of it. I've told myself I want to be braver. Take more risks. And travel just seems like an exhilarating way of doing it. Plus, I find driving relaxes me. You make a good mixed tape (yes, still), pop it in, hit the road - perfect time to think, pray, listen, sing obnoxiously loud, and ultimately get away from the common, the everyday.

Unfortunately, with a gallon of gas costing the same as a trip to starbucks(!) and my 1989 Ford Tempo flashing lights on the dash that I have never seen before - reading about the road from the likes of Kerouac, Guevera, and Pirsig will have to suffice, for now.

That is...until October, when the new PBS series, Spain...On the Road again. premieres! Mario Batali, Gwyneth Paltrow, Mark Bittman, and Claudia Bassols - it's a foodie/travel/realitytv junky's dream! Whatever your opinions of Batali - sausage fingers and crocs aside - he's put together what looks like a really fun and beautiful show. I especially love seeing the "real" relaxed and playful side of all of these personalities - Gwyneth shortens words like I do! ("Batals!?!"). Take a look at the trailer - if each show is half as fun as this trailer (sing it Willie!), I might be able to stave off the travel bug a little longer, living vicariously through their adventures road tripping around Spain.
I say, ¡tráigalo en!

my thoughts exactly...

" I do this with good things; I think joy into its coffin; I analyze too much.
I don't want to think about life anymore; I just want to live life."

DONALD MILLER
from Through Painted Deserts (19)

if you could...

Collaboration Week continues!! (Well, okay....it's friday and this is only my second post this week, but....just go with me on this.) Thanks to A Cup of Jo for leading me to a the great project from artists Rob Ryan and Jason Munn (taaalented boys!). Since 2006, they have been collecting and featuring work by talented illustrators and designers (both established and up and coming) all centered around the question, "If you could do anything tomorrow- what would it be?" As a gal who loves random questions AND illustration I couldn't help but be delighted by such a project, as well as giddy at the opportunity of submitting work for the 2009 collection. The deadline is August 11th - two days, folks!!! Get those pencils sharpened!

BTW: If I could do anything tomorrow... it would probably be this or possibly, baking this. What, perchance, would you do?

little sweethearts

I came across this great little painting from The Royal Art Lodge's collection of paitings Little Sweethearts and had to share it! #1 because it made me smile and #2 because it's a great example of a group of artists collaborating together to create thought-provoking and witty work. Check out the rest of Sweethearts here.

alphabet soup

In an effort to express and explore my growing love and interest in food photography I have decided to start shooting foods - one letter at a time! So far I have three. Check my future progress here.

{p.s. There is quite a mixed bag of food photography out there (some amazing, some booooring) - my current inspirations come from Matt Armendariz, Laurie Frankel, Béatrice Peltre, Heidi Swanson, and of course Mr. Bello. Take looksee - but maybe when your belly is full.}

a little work pride...

I'm like a proud mama today cause my Husky Football postcard came in the mail! I'm super jazzed about it cause I've wanted to shoot images like this for a campaign for a long time. Who knew football apparel could look and feel so soulful? Booyah!