by Wendy Scheel | Jan 8, 2016 | New Products
I wish you all would’ve come over to my house yesterday and spent the day with Spencer and I.
He came up in the morning for his monthly photo/teaching/motivation session with me. We had so much fun.
The first hour was filled with catching up stories. He had been to Texas over the holidays so I wanted to hear all about his adventures and of course I had to share with him the stories of Arthur aka Arty his dog that had stayed with us while he was gone.
You’ve seen this photo of Arthur, but I forgot to tell you that he had written a poem titled, Revelations – Arthur’s 2015 Poem.
Read it, please. This is one amazing dog.
Of course a person with so much creativity would own a dog that is also full of ideas and thoughts. And to organize those thoughts in the form of a poem, not to mention that Arthur doesn’t even have thumbs…beyond all comprehension. 🙂
We had so many more stories to swap but it was time to get to work. This is what work looks like for the two of us. Make that the three of us. Roni, the cat had to get her 15 seconds of fame.
We used my new plank wallpaper wall as the background for yesterday’s shoot. There is so much natural light coming in through the windows, it makes for a great studio set up area.
I love to see what Spencer creates through his lens.
Let me show you.
Scroll back up and notice the “Love” sign he is photographing.
This is how that photo turned out.
Pretty nice, right?!?
Sometimes after Spencer shows me a photo and I comment that I like it, he pauses. Naturally I ask, What? What are you thinking? I have learned over time that that pause is because he is thinking, Can it be better?
And this is how he defines better.
Love.
More like…Better. Superior. Beyond my expectations!
We/He shot two more signs. I didn’t know at the time that Spencer took this photo. We had used broken skewers to prop the sign up, because, well…sometimes even “love” needs help to stand tall. 🙂
Here is another font of Love…
And an Eat wall art option.
These signs or wall art have been cut by Jack, my 17 year-old craftsman. 🙂 They are cut from 16 gauge steel and are about 7 inches tall and 11 inches long. This is the same material that he cut the custom signs from that I chatted about in a previous post.
From steel wall art, we moved on to Checkers for lunch. A working lunch mind you.
Now are bellies were full and we were ready to tackle the new light fixtures I have made and then some candid DIY shots. All of which I will share with you later.
But here is a sneak peek. Just to peak your curiosity.
I have a couple Sidenotes to share tomorrow. I’d love for you to stop by.
Wendy
If you are interested in purchasing a sign, clicking on the word Love or Eat that is highlighted above the pictures will take you to my shop. 🙂
by spenceralbers | Oct 21, 2015 | Guest Posts
Well, hello there. You’ve read my name roughly 100 times on this blog and probably know I take pictures but I have the honor of knowing about all the behind the scenes things that happen at Old Lake George. Wendy asked me to start helping with the shop about two years ago, back in the Pooh Pooh Pillow days and since then I have gotten to witness the dramatic transformation that this blog and business has done.
In the early days of the shop I would help design banners for the shop or take a few pictures when I was in town, I lived 4 hours away at that point. A year ago, I moved to Minneapolis and Wendy asked me if I wanted to take a larger role in helping create the face of the shop and what would become the blog. In the last year Old Lake George has gone through a dramatic transformation.
The Photos
The transformation really started with the renaming of the shop and with a focus on the product photography. Together, Wendy and I spent hours talking about a new name for the shop. (She covered the story here.) When “Old Lake George” was settled on and a new logo designed, it really started a whole new era for the shop.
We also started photography days. Wendy and I had long talked about how important the photos for the shop were. She took the plunge and had me do all of them. Once a month I make the trip to Wendy’s house and we spend the morning taking photos, laughing, rearranging her house, and usually breaking something. Yes you read that last one right. We have broken candle holders, decorations, and completely dissembled fake flower arrangements. Its all for the perfect picture.
Our photo shoots usually take over the whole living room area. We move couches, carry tables down stairs and just generally destroy the beautiful utopia you can see in the house tour photos. We take great care to create great pictures every time and the light in her living room is perfect for photos throughout the day. The photos below show the great length we went to make a fake bedroom within her living room.
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The “set” in the middle of the livingroom.
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The image we wanted but by my iPhone.
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The final image from the big camera and with some gentle editing in Photoshop.
At this point we have taken over 10,000 photos. Many of these photos will never see the light of day, but they are part of the Old Lake George story. We are doing a big shoot this coming Friday. I can’t wait for everyone to see whats to come.
The Blog
I’ve always known Wendy as my Aunt but also never one to shy away from telling a good story or sharing her opinion. When she brought up the topic of a having a blog last spring, I knew she could do it well. She was nervous at first, like anyone would be when you start sharing your life with the internet. We talked on a daily basis during the first few months. She wanted to do it right, she wanted to make sure the blogs made sense… she cared that she was “doing it right.”
Now, after 50+ blogs I would say Wendy is doing it right. Wouldn’t you???? 🙂 Its been fun to see the progress the blog has made. (For the record she said I could write whatever I wanted in this guest post… so Wendy… take the compliments and enjoy them. I know you struggle taking positive feedback.)
As the blogs have been published, I have seen the writing become more fun to read but have you seen the pictures??? Sometimes I have caught myself thinking, “Did I take that photo?” Nope, Wendy has gotten 10000% better. I may be out of a job soon! 😉
What’s Next
I knew when I started working with Wendy that she would push me to help do great work. She is never sitting still and waiting for the day to just drift by. Her mind is always running and thinking about what’s next. We talk often about how to do bigger and better things. In the last few months I made the jump to working full-time for myself and helping small businesses like Wendy’s. I would never have been able to do that without her support and that of my friends and family. (If you’d like to work together… you can contact me here. Shameless plug!)
Old Lake George will always be trying new things. I look forward to what Wendy will dream up and pitch me. I know when a big idea is coming because I hear…. “Spence… what if we did this….”
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