I Give Thanks For....

All Images © Emily Shur 2009

...my last few remaining boxes of 4x5 Polaroid. Happy Thanksgiving.

A Very Large Hole

My Two © Emily Shur

So, we made it and have seen what we came to see - The Grand Canyon. The Shurs are not a very adventurous people, so we kind of skirted the rim and saw the grandest of cracks from many different vantage points. It is big and beautiful and I doubt we scratched the surface, but as it has been in many family vacations of the past, we got the gist.

The past week has been an exercise in faith for me. I lost out on a few work things, any one of which would have made my day, week, month, or year. All of which I was anxiously waiting by the phone/computer to hear about. Alas, it wasn't in the cards for me on any of those specific opportunities, and as always, there is no choice but to keep marching on. Sometimes it's hard to keep brushing things off, especially when you may not feel that the good in the universe is balancing out with the not so good. My friend Nina wrote something a week or so ago that stuck with me (not to mention she used a picture of mine to illustrate her thoughts!). I agree with her that life, photographic and otherwise, so often boils down to someone taking a chance on you. One person believing in you. And so often, that one person is all you need.

The trip we are taking this week is my and the husband's 60th birthday gift to my parents. So here I am, spending the week with the parents - two people that have always believed in me, the husband - someone who took a chance on me, and The Baroness - the one in whose eyes, I can do no wrong. Yeah, it's pretty cold here in Grand Canyon, Arizona, and I had a shitty previous week, but there are bigger things out there than individual disappointments....like very, very big holes in the ground to stand around and look at with your peoples.

I Honestly Don't Think We're Going To Find The Grand Canyon On This Road.

Vacation, 1983

This coming Monday, we are packing up the Family Truckster (The Prius) and heading to The Grand Canyon for a week of good ol' American family fun. My parents are meeting us there, so it will be a full on Griswold-esque vacation complete with dog (The Baroness, not Dinky). Hopefully no one will get tied to the rear bumper.

Like many photographers, the desert is appealing to me, and I'm excited to spend some time getting my Misrach on.

Miike Snow

A little over a month ago, the husband and I woke up at 5am to record and shoot a Transmissions session with Miike Snow. They wanted to do it at their house in the hills as the sun came up. Above are a couple portraits I took of them. Below is a shot of the actual session, and here is where you can download the music for freeeeeee. It's good. I also recommend browsing through the Transmissions archive. The husband knows what he's doing.

All Images © Emily Shur

All Flakked Up

Today's Flak Photo © Emily Shur

Coming to you from the Salt Lake City airport this Friday the 13th, to share with you my picture on today's Flak Photo! I love this photo. Thank you so much to Andy Adams at Flak Photo for his continual support and exposure of my work. Another big thanks to Elizabeth Avedon for her post today as well. Their compliments mean so much to me. Stuff like this makes me happy. Time to go home now.

For My Mom

Pink Convertible, 2009 © Emily Shur

Today is my mom's birthday and a big birthday at that. I thought this would be a good excuse to post a picture I took last weekend while out shooting more for my project. This picture has nothing to do with the project itself, but it was too good to pass up so I shot a couple of impromptu sheets of film. My mom loves pink and is very young at heart, so this image is my little tribute to her.

My Network Television Debut

Me and Tina Fey....like peas and carrots

My Bust cover of Amy Poehler was hanging in Liz Lemon's office on last night's episode of 30 Rock! This is one of my all time favorite shoots and all time favorite subjects. The original is here:

Amy Poehler © Emily Shur