Nothing’s More Artistic Than to Love Someone

a summer day in barcelona spain

Cara and George- A British Wedding

Recently back a few weeks ago from a European adventure…

Spent the first half of my trip in the beautiful country outside of London, spending time with Cara and George, documenting their wedding day. Both of their families were so welcoming and the whole wedding was one of the most beautiful ones I’ve ever been able to be a part of. Cara and George were absolutely delightful and one of the most easy going couples I know. We had a blast hanging out all day and shooting. We even got to throw in some lightpainting!  And  I must say, outside of London lies some of the most gorgeous country side. Enjoy some of the highlights:

Resisting Inertia

When I swore I’d be a better blogger, I decided to go on 5 different trips across the country instead. To say the least, this summer has kept me moving, hopping planes from Milwaukee, Las Vegas, San Fran, Louisville, Chicago, and so forth. It’s been hard to keep me stationary. And it will remain hard to keep me stationary.

When you have as wonderful of friends as I have, and have continued to make, little will get in your way of flying across the country to share in just one beer with them. Because what else do we have in life? I realized last night that it’s not the ultimate goal I’m so much concerned with anymore as it is the road I’m taking to get there.

This post is about resisting inertia and building the relationships you’ve always wanted to have. If you want something, you have to believe in it first. Cheers, to my friends.

4th of July w/ Ryan (Queens, NYC)

Pitchfork festival seeing Big Boi w/ Ryan (Chicago, IL)

Visiting Sam and Katie @ the Bean (Chicago, IL)

Sarah’s Surprise Viral Video (Brooklyn, NY)

Lazy River @ MGM (Las Vegas, NV)

Studio 54 w/ Kendra, Stevo, Matt (Las Vegas, NV)

Morning Margarita Races (Las Vegas, NV)

The farthest distance I’ve traveled to share a beer with the best person I know (Las Vegas, NV)

One of my oldest and bestest (Las Vegas, NV)

Breaking it down with Jesse somewhere in Vegas (Las Vegas, NV)

Alive

!!!

I’m alive!

mkm-photo has gone under quite a few changes over the past year! Welcome back!

We are now Michelle McSwain Photography Inc based out of New York! My new site should be up and running next week and you can already see some of the changes here on my blog (new logo, style). I am so excited to get everything under way!

I’ve been all over the place the past year. I’ve moved into a new loft in an amazing old warehouse in Brooklyn, where I’ve painted an entire wall a chalkboard and hung kelly green curtains on my 15foot windows. It’s a lovely house…now home. I’ve been to the west coast, visited LA, drove up highway 1 to San Fran, drank wine in Napa, spent a weekend at a beautiful 1800s house in the Poconos, a weekend in Milwaukee, and a week in Louisville. Shot slide film with my Holga, shot with my Large Fuji Instax as well as my new Mini Instax, shot with my antique Argus, and kept it real with my Canon 5D.

With summer here, I’ll be traveling even more and shooting. Hope you enjoy some of the photos of what I call my life.

Triple Exposed 35mm Slide Film Holga (Hawaii)

35 mm Slide Film Holga (Highway 1 West Coast)

35mm Slide Film Holga (LA Sunset)

Fuji Instax Polaroid (West Coast California)

Fuji Instax Polaroid (Golden Gate Bridge)

Digital Canon 5D (West Coast California)

Digital Canon 5D (Wine Country Napa Valley)

Digital Canon 5D (Haman House Eagles Mere Pocono Mtns)

Digital Canon 5D (Haman House Eagles Mere Pocono Mtns)

Digital Canon 5D (Haman House Eagles Mere Pocono Mtns)

Digital Canon 5D (Haman House Eagles Mere Pocono Mtns)

the argus

When you open a magazine today, the images you see are so far from real. Retouching and photoshopping have taken photography to such a greater level that it can hardly be recognized as photography anymore. To be a successful photographer and produce commercial images, you have to strive for this type of “perfection” in your work. I have spent so much time learning the ins and outs of photoshop all to make my images look cleaner, sharper, more flawless, and stunning.

While on my trip across the Middle East and Europe, I shot with my professional equipment to be able to capture this type of perfection and live up to today’s ideals of what is “good” photography. However, I also brought with me, my 1939 35mm Argus C3 to shoot with.

The Argus C3 was one of the first 35mm cameras to be introduced to the USA in the 1930s by Charles Verschoor and became one of the best selling cameras of it’s time. I was so excited when I found one of these in a box of junk a friend was throwing out. Since then, I have cleaned it up a bit and the boy and I take turns shooting with it. The images it produces are incredibly raw and far from perfect and help remind us of what real beauty looks like in the world. Because of the age of the camera and the way it was made, light leaks in through a ton of tiny cracks making crazy colors and effects. Also, the winding of the camera is very unpredictable, making for double and sometimes triple exposures.

These images are untouched and perfectly imperfect.

 

Egypt and Israel, ironically in the same frame.

 

 

Santorini Greece

 

 

Egypt

 

 

Alexandria Egypt

 

 

Alexandria Egypt

 

 

Double Exposure Giza Pyramids

 

it’s not where i am, it’s who i’m with

 

 

I wrote this little “poem” the other day…..

santorini greece

OK, now my favorite of all time. When I think of Greece in my head, I think of white stucco homes with lots of blue….and Santorini was exactly that. Santorini was another one of the Greek Isles and the whole city is built on a cliff side. We rode donkeys up to the top of the mountain and saw just how breath taking the view really was.

Santorini was like a paradise for me. All the buildings were painted white, with pastel rooftops and cobbled stone streets. We spent the whole day trudging through the narrow walk ways, going under yellow painted archways and admiring the view of the Mediterranean.

the view

the ocean view

by the port

santorini

color balance

the donkey i rode to the top

patmos greece

After a few days in Athens, we visited Patmos, one of the Greek Isles.  Being one of the Isles, it was full of hills and green pastures.  We saw the cave where the apocolyptic book of Revelation was written by John while he was in exile as well as visited a 2000 year old Monestary where Monks still visit and stay today.

streets of patmos

coast of patmos

from the top of the island of patmos

ancient monastery

athens greece

Now, I am finally to Greece, which was, hands down, my most favorite place we saw throughout the entire trip. I thought Greece was beautiful! I absolutely loved it there! The people were gorgeous the city was gorgeous, and the food was delicious! It was just fantastic! We went to Athens first, which I loved. The city life was so amazing there…. and clean! Everyone was so friendly, however, not as many people could speak English as I thought. It reminded me of a cleaner New York and less crowded. A friend of mine said that overlooking the city from the top of the Acropolis reminded them of LA. I have never been to LA before, but I can see the resemblance.

Every two steps, you would run into some ruin from thousands of years ago. We saw the Parthenon and all the surrounding temples and what was still standing of the ancient market  place. It gave me such an eerie feeling to be surrounded by the left overs and evidence of a culture that died out thousands of years ago. One of my most favorite parts of Athens was how there were stray dogs evvvveryyywhere! Literally, all over the place, just hangin out. I loved that. One night, we went out to some bars and a puppy stayed with us the whole night. Made me so happy!

I wish we would have spent more time in Athens but while I was there I was able to capture a few great shots.

parthenon

temple on the acropolis

ancient temple

sunny in athens

italy

Italy was our last stop on our trip. By that time, we were all pretty wiped out from traveling and seeing so much. I have always always always wanted to go to Italy. I wish we could have had more time there and I wasn’t so exhausted and ready to get back to the real world of internet and cell phones so I could have enjoyed it more, however, the place was just as beautiful as you’ve heard. We first went to a little coastal town called Sorrento. Sorrento was quaint and quiet and set right on the water of the Mediterranean. The streets were all cobbled stone and narrow and wound up and down and around the hillsides. From Sorrento, we took a train to Pompeii. It was a little expensive to get into see the ancient city covered in ash, but it was well worth it. The whole city looked almost just as it probably did 2000 years ago. The streets were all intact and most of the buildings were as well, with the wall murals and paintings still visible. It was beautiful. A little eerie in some places being that they had contained a few bodies and put them on display…bodies that were found covered and frozen in time, in ash.

sorento, on the coast

sorrento

pompeii

pompeii

pompeii

The next day we spent in Rome. Rome was quite an awesome city. We saw all the classics. The streets of Rome sort of reminded me of New York City, however, much older, but much cleaner. While in Rome we went to the Vatican where we were actually able to see the Pope speak. I thought that was pretty cool…not many people get to see that in person in their lifetime. We saw Michelangelo’s Pieta and St. Peter’s Basilica where he painted the ceilings. Art history in college all started to make sense while here. Hah. Seeing the real artwork in person is so much more intriguing than in a book.

rome

rome

rome

st. peter\