FRANKIE SHOT ME

Sparkles and Taxidermy

2011-07-10T11:53:00.000-07:00

In Philadelphia I got to shoot Beth Beverly from Diamond Tooth Taxidermy along with performance artist Melissa Bang Bang Forgione.

Instagram and Self Portraits

2011-05-07T14:48:00.000-07:00

It took a while for me to get into the idea of photo apps. Not because they aren't totally utterly awesome... but because they make anyone, I mean Anyone, look like a good photographer. But finally I came to the conclusion that I don't care. I like how they make my snapshots look too.

The reality is a great photographer is not defined by their ability to capture a nice shot but by their ability to recreate that shot again and again in various circumstances at a moments notice. I am certainly capable of doing that. And so, I've given myself permission to play with Instagram. <3

Fred Wahpepah- my vision quest and a great cause.

2011-04-16T01:26:00.000-07:00

The first time I met Fred Wahpepah I was 15 years old. He came to my liberal Northern California high school to do a presentation on Native American culture, ceremonies and history. He brought a table full of traditional accouterments- an eagle head, eagle wings, a tortoise shell purse, handmade drums, rattles, and various other items that I can't remember. He talked about sweat lodge ceremony, teepee ceremony, sundance and vision quest. All of it fascinated me. What stuck in my mind was how pulled I felt to Native American culture. It was as if he was speaking directly to my core and my core responded with a resounding recognition of truth. I signed up to receive newsletters from his foundation Seven Circles.

Seven years later I had become very close friends with a girl I met at a truckstop at 3am off I-5 in the middle of nowhere who happened to also be an addict in recovery... named Kim.

"I am going on a vision quest- four days three nights up on a mountain with no food and no water- will you eat and drink for me? Just keep me in mind while you are eating. Especially meat. Hamburgers. Anything." This struck me as funny since she had just become a vegan. Not because she was asking me to eat for her energetically, which perhaps should have been the comical part. It turned out that she had been heavily involved with a Native American community in LA that was headed up by Wolf, one of Fred's sons. However this specific vision quest she was doing under the guidance of Fred himself.

A year or so after that my friend Podge called me and asked me to attend a sweat lodge ceremony with her. I jumped at the opportunity. It was held Sunday at 5pm in a residential area in Berkeley. We crept through the gate of someones house and found about a dozen people standing around a fire pit with Fred obviously in charge. This was my second time meeting him face to face. Fred is a funny, lighthearted man that egged-on participants to share inappropriate jokes. He talked about the importance of sharing his heritage with anyone who felt a calling to it, regardless of age, race, sex or any other factor we use to separate ourselves from each other. I began attending sweats on an inconsistent basis.

In 2010 I met my biological father and siblings. As it turned out my oldest sister Cheryl lives just north of Austin and works in Austin for the Air Force, so I've been given a chance to get to know her since moving here. For her birthday last May her co-workers organized a lovely lunch. On the way home Cheryl told me that I would really get along with her co-worker Jessica since we had similar family issues. I asked what nationality she was since she was obviously exotic looking. Cheryl said Native American and... something else... I'm not sure because I got stuck on the Native American part. I began to tell Cheryl that I was really pulled to that culture and when I lived in California I had been doing sweat lodges with this guy Fred Wahpepah... Cheryl interjected- "That's Jessica's last name!" It turns out Fred is Jessica's Great Uncle. So get this- the guy I had been doing sweats with for years has a great niece who had been working in the same room for years with my sister who I didn't know existed. Wild.

Last October I got hired to shoot a friends wedding in San Francisco and on a whim decided to buy a one way ticket. I hopped online to see if I couldn't find some other reason I should be in San Francisco- perhaps a writers conference or something. I didn't find a writers anything so I went to http://SevenCircles.org to see where the sweats were scheduled since they rotated between about four locations. It turned out that they were doing their fall vision quest in Mendocino starting the Wednesday after I arrived. My heart raced and picked up the phone to call Fred and ask if I could join them. It was late in the game, with less than a week to prepare but Fred said yes and told me to come see him as soon as I got in.

In a moment of panic I thought- What if I'm too white? Or what if this is wrong? I called up Nikki Scully who is a friend of my Aunt Jerilyn and does Shamanic Journeys for a living. My Aunt had been telling me to contact Nikki for years, any time I mentioned Shamanism or Native American anything. I called her and to my surprise she picked up.

"Hi Nikki, this is Frankie Brandelius, I am Jerilyn's neice. She had told me to call you a while back, but I am just getting around to it because I wanted to ask you a question. Do you think it's okay for me to go on a vision quest?"

"Frankie, hi. I usually don't pick up this phone after hours. You should be fine doing a vision quest as long as you are going with someone who knows what they are doing. Who are you going with, what community?"

"Fred Wahpepah of Seven Circles." Nikki let out a laugh.

"Fred took me on my first vision quest... what... 25 years ago... actually, 25 years this fall, right now. Fred is great, you will be fine. What are your fears? And how is your Aunt?" We talked for a bit longer and I felt affirmed. This was universal timing.

I got in to town I met up with Fred at his house in Richmond. He asked me why I wanted to go on vision quest and told me how the whole thing worked. I felt thrilled and nervous, convinced that I would somehow mess it up.

At the wedding the following day I told my friend Alecia about the vision quest. "Whapepah? That is my daughters doctors name. Ask him if is wife is a pediatrician! We love her." And indeed, of course, his wife is.

I met up with my Aunt while I was in San Francisco and she told me about Lit Quake- a writer's convention that was happening that week, that for some odd reason didn't pop up in my internet searches. I only made it to one of the panels where five new authors discussed what it takes to be in the industry. The next day, after much preparation for the ceremony that I'm not going to get into here- I arrived in Mendocino and met Joanna- she would be the woman cook in charge of the kitchen throughout the vision quest. "I recognize you- were you at Lit Quake?" She asked me. Wild. I also learned later that day that Fred had been on tour with Rolling Thunder who was a good friend of my Aunt as well. All of these elements affirmed that I was right where I was supposed to be.

So- why I am I blogging about this? Fred is 80 years old. His daughter- Kasha Wahpepah is 18 and has decided for her senior project to take a road trip with her dad from Richmond CA to Oklahoma where they will go to the reservation where he was raised. Kasha will be making art, taking photos and recording all that she can about her roots on this once in a lifetime trip to meet her family and see where she came from.

A part of the money is going to get Kasha the equipment she needs for the trip and for college- a camera, laptop etc. And did I mention she got admitted to Dartmouth? She is one smart cookie. This project sits close to my heart- everybody knows that my Grandparents are the world to me- I wish I could drive with them to where they were raised and record it all. Fred is like a father to so many people. He has opened up ceremony to everyone regardless of demographic and I hope we can all pull together to help them make this trip happen.

My bootie made the cut

2011-03-22T18:36:00.000-07:00

Last week was SXSW in Austin. My sister flew down from Seattle to hang out. We saw Big Boi at the Austin Power Plant, Foo Fighters and TV on the Radio at Stubbs, and Wu Tang Clang with Erykah Badu at the Austin Music Hall.

I received a call a couple of weeks ago from a good friend Ben Kutchins asking if I knew anyone in Austin who does videography. I referred him to half a dozen local filmmakers, editors and videographers I've met in the last year. The job was for SPIN magazine for a SXSW feature. Although they didn't need a photographer, it felt really good to be able to pass on work to friends. The day before the shoot Ben called to let me know that their main photographer cancelled. They booked me for three days of portraits.

The shoot was set up in a side building/storage shed at Stubbs, a huge venue in downtown Austin. They turned the room into a country store sort of set up with a bar, rocking chairs, wooden barrels scattered about, and taxidermy and wagon wheels on the walls. Artist would come in, do an interview with the head of SPIN.com and then I would pull them to the side to shoot a quick portrait.

I am pretty lucky because I can never remember who anybody is. I don't remember quotes from movies, the names of bands, actors or celebrities. I can't remember what most famous people look like and I can't recall songs unless you sing them to me. This minimizes any starstruck-ness.

First up was two members from Explosions in the Sky. I pulled them aside after the interview and introduced myself. "I know you!" Munaf Rayani said. Turns out he is an Austin local and frequents the same coffee shop as me- where I just hung my photo show. He recognized my name and my bookmark. How cool is that?

Next up was Gayngs, The Bangles, Duran Duran (who gave a killer interview), Little Dragon (a Swedish band who has a member that I'm in luv with), Surfer Blood (whose lead singer acted like he was too good to answer questions that Duran Duran answered), and Chromeo (who I've danced naked to a dozen times).

The second day we shot Wild Flag (later I was told that one of the chicks was from Sleater-Kinney, who I would have totally girl-crush-gushed over... but I didn't recognize her), then Moby (who I thought was black... ¿ ... he's not), B.o.B., and Bob Geldof (who said I was a beautiful girl. I don't know who he is but I think I'm in love), and Cisco Adler... not thong song Cisco. My favorite quote of the day was from Cisco- "I came out of the vagina ready to rock some shows." awesome.

The third day we shot Panic at the Disco, Black Lips, Pentagram, Liz Phair (who was super rad to shoot and inspired additional creativity), Diplo (who is more intelligent than his twitter feed would let on to), and Theophilus London who presence seeps timeless class into the air. My bootie made the Thephilus London video. Holler.

You can watch the videos here.

New York Times

2011-02-24T19:52:00.000-08:00

I got a call while I was in California from the New York Times asking me to scout some location shots for them in Vallejo. Of course I said yes... it's the New York Times...but I don't generally scout. Regardless, it's the New York Times.

He said he loved my landscapes (which I like to hear because I don't feel like it's my strongest arena, though I really enjoy doing it) and gave me a list of things they needed shot. Before we got off the phone I asked how he found me. He said from a photo assistant website, they looked at San Francisco based assistants and I popped up. I told him that was great, I don't generally scout and haven't assisted in a couple years, but was stoked that they found me and would love to do it.

Vallejo is a super cute little town. Though, I don't think they will use my images for the article since they probably already have a photographer hired, it is still really great to get my images in front of they NYT.

Two super talented photographer/artist friends Sean Franzen , and his lovely wife Jeremy live in Vallejo. We met for lunch then drove around Mare Island taking photos. We stopped at the One of a Kind Altered Barbie shop. Oh. My. God. I am in love with this woman Lavonne Salle. Her dolls are the kind of dark pop humour that I love. There was a separate room for all of the 'adult content' creations. Seriously incredibly creative and fun stuff. I guess christian residents got all up in arms because she painted nipples on the barbies... as if children don't know nipples exist.

And here is some of the shots from around Vallejo and Mare Island.

Rob.

2011-02-07T15:30:00.001-08:00

Rob was one of my awesome Kickstarter benefactors. We took these images out in west Marin, the Presidio and at his house. I am always so nervous about shooting in the rain (ruining my camera), but I loved it. It was totally fun and not half as scary as I imagined... of course it was just fog and drizzle. Rob is now traveling Brasil and South America. Soaking up the rays.

Tom the Great

2011-01-27T20:00:00.000-08:00

Click here to read my story of meeting Tom.

...and we're off!

2011-01-07T00:59:00.000-08:00

Hello Lovelies!

The opening was a huge success. I sold 6 prints and have had inquiries about 4 more. The show will be up in San Rafael CA at 1122 Fourth Street until February 20th. Go check it out! Make a date night of it. There is a great Puerto Rican restaurant called Sol Food, or there is hippy awesome food at Cafe Gratitude. (Food is one of the things Marin does particularly well.) The cafe is right next to the Rafael Theater, so stop in there for a flick, then hop over and check out the my photos.

So, for the opening I ordered bookmarks to handout that offered up a description of what Saturn Return is and some tips for surviving it... unfortunately they did not arrive in time. I requested super fast delivery however, the printer made a mistake and sent them ground.

Of course I realized this at 3 am the day of the opening. In a panic I called my friend Nano, he works at a local print shop in San Francisco-. He wasn't at work, but told me to call his co-worker, Ken, and let him know that I was Nano's friend. Ken said "No problem! Send the files to Joe, tell him you're Nano's friend, and we will push them through." Of course I wasn't near internet access... AND I wanted to redesign the bookmarks to match the flier I posted on my last update... so on the drive into to city (to go to therapy) I was on my laptop hustling to redesigning the bookmarks (don't worry, my friend Lila was driving). I got the files sent and within two hours the bookmarks were done. It was magical. My friend Kari picked them up, paid for them, and delivered them to the show, which was over the top sweet.

The opening went great. I showed up around 4:30 with my Grandparents to do a walk through before it got too crowded. It was really nice to have them see my career on display, and have an opportunity to show them the various places I have traveled and people I have shot. It gave context to why I am always running out the door or on my computer retouching/writing. (My Grandma is very depression era wired. The thought of having a freelance career seems ridiculous and unreliable to her. Even though she loves my photos and thinks I'm talented, she has suggested, on more than a few occasions, that I look into a career at Peets Coffee or Rite Aid. I know the intention is Sweet. She just wants me to be able to eat.)

After the Grands left, I went to the art supply store a few doors down from the cafe and bought a guest book and a second little book to record what images sold and what the prices were. I mentioned before that I was a little afraid that it wouldn't feel like an opening because the cafe didn't want outside food/beverages or music. Luckily that was not the case. At about 6:30 a steady flow of people began trickling in. From family, to friends that have known me for years, to acquaintances of my Aunt's, to fellow photographers and local artists, to friends in recovery, to ex-boyfriends, to friends of friends and so on. It was great. All in all there were about 200 people in attendance throughout the evening. I was really happy to have bookmarks to give out. They were a great conversation starter... then Kari pointed out that I misspelled... PHOTOGRGRAPHY. Ha. Oh well. I love them anyways.

I designed a set of 4 postcards which are arriving next week at my apartment in Austin and my photo book is going into production starting the 12th. I have a dear friend who is helping me design the book. I'm hoping it will be finished by Valentines Day-ish.

A few days before my opening I saw that a gallery in San Rafael was packed with people. The art looked tactile and interesting so I went in to check it out and quiz the gallery owner on the fine art world. The art was awesome- hundreds of Self Help books had been taken apart and re-stitched together to create all sorts of ridiculous magicalness. The spines of the books were cut up and reworded to make up some Outstanding new titles and the dedication pages were cut up and sewed back together to make what looked like a 4' tall cream coloured tear drop. Check it out if you are in the Bay Area. http://www.donnaseagergallery.com/current_exhibition/index.htm

I ended up telling the woman at the gallery (who turned out to be Donna Seager herself) that I was living in Austin, which led to the question many Bay Area people have- Why? Which more or less resulted in me telling her an abbreviated version of my my life story. (I left out a lot of the more interesting details as I am learning to do...I need to keep the memoir in mind.) Long story short, it turns out her husband knows my Aunt through the Grateful Dead scene and I went to high school with her son (who I may or may not have sold acid to). She seemed to be very intrigued by me. She asked to see my website, however her gallery doesn't show photography. She wrote down a list of galleries and people she thinks would be interested in my work. It was great.

SO, for the rest of my week in SF I will be ordering prints, shipping rewards, checking out galleries, going to meetings and spending time with the Grands, friends and the therapist. Got to keep the head checked.

So much love,

Frankie

Also, feel free to check out my other blog to read more about my brain- http://LittleMissAddict.com

the first Opening

2010-12-26T00:57:00.001-08:00

I'm Hung! (And currently in NYC)

2010-12-10T11:15:00.000-08:00

Hello!

So the show is officially up at it's first stop- Cafe Aroma in San Rafael. The artist who was showing before me was extremely specific in the placement of his images, using a carpenter and level to get everything just right, so I asked him if he could just leave his nails up for me. This saved a lot of time. We got to the cafe at around 9am, ordered coffee and started the process of bringing things in. About an hour into the process I posted a photo of us working on Facebook and within a half hour two different friends showed up to help out. I have known David since I was 15 working at a video store. His kids are my age and he is probably the most present adult male in my life. He is particularly talented in technical and traditionally manly matters. My friend Miguel worked with me at a boutique camera store when I was 20. He is a talented fine artist with a lot of experience hanging shows. Having them there sped up the process greatly.

At about noon my friends Justine and Sam showed up. Justine is also a super talented free spirited artist. Having her input was great. We moved things around a bit and swapped a few images out. It felt like everyone was there at the perfect moment. Higher timing. Livia offered the spine of the show keeping me on track, David offered all of the other bones to make up the structure, Miguel offered the flesh and Justine offered the final wrapping of the package- the skin. I suppose if I were to be a body part in this analogy, I'd be the heart. It was all perfect.

And! I was so grateful that 80% of images were printed on the high gloss. The owner of the lab was absolutely correct. They are stunning. The sheer ones are also outstanding but they need so much additional light to make them pop in the same way. The high gloss is definitely desirable. I am really grateful for that *mistake*. They look edible and delicious.

The next day Livia left for New York and I left for Austin. I was only there for 3 days... because I impulsively bought a plane ticket to NYC for $67. So, Saturday I hopped on a plane to go to the Big Apple, which is where I am now. I am staying with my cousin Ian and his wife Alexa in Brooklyn. They are so very sweet. We went our first night to a beard contest that one of my backers was judging. (I have now met 3 of my backers in person!) The beard contest was outstanding. I was not expecting to be met with the outstanding caliber of facial hair that was present. Unfortunately I was starving and tired so we left before the winners were announced. (Which, honestly is probably better. Who wants to see dejected drunk bearded men? They will stay on stage, impressive and confident in my mind.)

The following day I met up with Livia to go to the Levis Photo Workshops where two friends (one being the beard judge) were working. I was confused as to what the Levis Photo Workshops were. Apparently it is a huge, brilliant, marketing idea. They are offering free use of 5 studio shooting bays with top of the line camera and lighting equipment, access to 8 Mac computers with the latest image editing software, high quality photo printers and a t-shirt printer. It's pretty wild. It seemed like there must be a catch. The only obvious catch is that everyone and their mother wants to be there. Great marketing. It's a very nice idea and a very nice space.

So now I am in NYC. One of my goals while I am here are to find a place to have the show... which I am debating: cafe or gallery? I don't even know if I could get into a gallery, but the images are really nice. The other thing is that, even though it is less *prestigious*, I kind of prefer the lowbrow atmosphere and steady flow of people that a cafe show offers. Hmm...

Also while I am in town I have a meeting with someone from a major publishing house who has requested pages from my book a couple times. I have spent the last few days polishing up some a few chapters. I am very excited and anxious about this. Monday is my meeting, wish me luck!

Dog tags.

2010-11-24T21:38:00.003-08:00

Hello Everyone!

The past few weeks have been crazy! I had a minor scare on Saturday when I received an email saying the funds had been deposited into my bank account, however my bank account said otherwise. On top of that I accidentally made two Amazon accounts with the same email and different passwords... how that is possible I have no idea... so I couldn't log into my Amazon account to check on the deposit- it would just send me to an error page saying that the email account was already in use by someone else. It was stressful. Luckily, like a few people had said, the money delay was probably a Sunday issue. Sure enough Monday morning the funds appeared in my account. Phew!

I was mostly stressed because as of Monday (read: 8 days till hanging) I still had not ordered the prints. I called the lab and they said they could have all my prints (and yours) done by Friday! Which is way faster than I expected.

Livia asked me about how I was going to show the names of the prints. I hadn't even planned on putting names up but the question got me thinking. The lab offers to drill holes in the corner of the prints so that you can hang them by wire. And the lab also makes metal photo dog tags. How cool would it be to have the name of the print and edition number hanging from a dog tag off the lower corner of a print? So cool.

So yesterday I set Livia on the task of pricing engraved dog tags. (I felt like the photo dog tag would distract from the print). She walked down the huge hill we are staying on, to a pet store that only had brass ones. There was another fancy-pants dog place in Mill Valley we checked out, however they only had chrome ones which, since the prints are on aluminum, felt too fancy. I don't want the tags to outshine the prints! However, on the counter they had silver and copper hand stamped dog tags ...for $24 a piece!!! I fell in love with how they looked. So we left the store and I started calling around to jewelry enthusiasts and DIY'ers to see if they knew where to get a stamping kit and the metal dog tags. I was so excited about the idea. Plus, it gives Livia something to do. She is so eager to work but I keep running out of projects because she is so efficient.

At dinner that night I was telling my Grandparents about my idea to custom make the tags. My Grandpa said "if it has anything to do with Metal, talk to Mark. That is his area of expertise!" I had completely forgot! My uncle Mark owns Paragon Machine Works- a machine shop that makes custom titanium, aluminum and copper parts. I walked over to his house and interrupted his family dinner. He was super willing to help and seemed, even for his calm demeanor, excited. He gave me the catalog for a company that makes metal tags in a variety of shapes and allowed me to put them on his account. He also lent me a letter stamping kit!

So one day after coming up with the idea, we have the tags ready to be produced. How exciting.

Tomorrow morning Livia and I are waking up to get on the 4am ferry heading to Alcatraz for the Sunrise Ceremony. Native American tribes all over California come to dance. It will be freezing. The forecast says 37º. Wish us luck! Poor Livia, she thought she was on vacation from the cold weather!

I am really very excited for the show.

So much love,
Frankie

Kickstarted!

2010-11-24T21:38:00.001-08:00

I am back in San Francisco for the next few weeks. If you look below you will see my Kickstarter video. I decided to do a Kickstarter project because my upcoming photo show got bumped up from January 1st to December 1st, and I had yet to get any prints made... and I had no money to make said prints.

For those of you who don't know what Kickstarter is, it is a great website where people can post up projects and ask for funding to help "kickstart" a project. In trade for donating, or backing as they call it, you receive rewards. Rewards vary project to project. A musician might give a reward of a CD in exchange for funds to help record the cd. Essentially you can pre-sell or promote your project before it exists in order to bring it to life. It is pretty great way to see if your project will float and if people are interested in it.

With Kickstarter you have to set a dollar amount that you would like to raise by a deadline. If you do not raise all the money by the deadline, the project is a wash- no one has to donate any money and you don't have to provide rewards. One of the projects that was recently completed was a tripod for an iphone. The two guys who came up with the idea were asking for $10,000 to manufacture this product and one of the rewards was a pre-ordered iphone tripod for $20. By the time their deadline came they had raised $137,000 instead of $10,000. This is an extreme example but it is a great way to "test market" an idea or product with minimal overhead. Brilliant.

I had no idea if my project would succeed but I set a goal of $3000 in 8 days.
I asked my friend Chad help with the editing. He agreed and suggested that he help shoot the video too, which was awesome. I sat down the day before Halloween to brainstorm what I wanted the video to look like and what I would say. Then I opened up imovie and began sort of roughly piecing it together. Next thing you know it was 5am and I was totally obsessed. Chad and I were supposed to meet the next day to shoot the video but I let him know that I thought I had it handled. He said to send it over to him if I needed any help.

I ended up completely pitbulled onto the project for about 30 hours, missing all Halloween festivities. I had never made a video with imovie though I had recorded a few clips with the built in camera. Immediately after I finished it I posted the video on Kickstarter and Facebook and people started sending in donations. At first a few friends donated, then some friends of friends, then some complete strangers who found me through Kickstarter. It was incredible. Then people began posting my video on different pages and it all sort of took off.

Within 3 days I had reached my target goal of $3000 and by the deadline it had totaled at $4450 which is very exciting. Because the project went over the target, by quite a bit, I was able to hire my friend Livia from NYC to come and assist me. Which is really exciting. Right now we are waiting for the funds to come through Amazon. It is sort of a hurry up and wait situation. I am loading all of the photos up to get sent to the lab and Livia is assembling a database and organizing things for the show. Once the funds clear we will be sent into turbo mode.

I am really excited and grateful about all of this. I feel blessed. It is very humbling to feel so much support from the people around me. I feel as if I am community built. I am community built.

Kickstarter!

2010-11-01T14:18:00.001-07:00

Help a Libra out.

2010-10-25T13:45:00.000-07:00

My "brand" tends to be poppy [as in bright not opium] well lit images. However in the last couple years I have taken to low saturated images and most recently I've been pulled to sepia and black and white. A true shout out to the 15 year old me who thought that I would never shoot color... Last week I took a road trip from San Francisco to Austin Texas with a lovely little creature- Serra Victoria Bothwell Fels. She makes embellishments for the ladies and is based in a small town known as Brooklyn.

Opinions?

SF->ATX->SF->ATX->SF->ATX->SF->ATX->SF->ATX->SF->ATX->SF

2010-10-14T16:59:00.000-07:00

The equation above: SF->ATX->SF->ATX->SF->ATX->SF->ATX->SF->ATX->SF->ATX->SF is exactly what I have done so far this year. I am serious. Seven times since February. There have been other pit stops here and there (New York, Kansas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Arizona, Burning Man and Mendocino) but more or less my year can be summed up in that spin cycle. And, you know what, I have loved it.

It is not what I thought my life would look like at this point. I thought for sure I would be settled in to a city (nyc, sf or la) and be working on building my client list. I would send out mailers on a consistent schedule (to show my stability), tote my portfolio around to agencies and magazines, go to art shows and shmooze with other industry creatives. I would build a network of ambitious artists friends and we would collaborate on a series of wild projects drummed up to create a buzz from an audience of people (with more money and no creativity) interested in paying us to do awesome things. Oh and I would probably have an art director boyfriend or something.

Instead I went to Austin with two suitcases on a 3 week writing sabbatical and now I live there. As far as photography goes I have sort of taken a detour (see aforementioned 'writing sabbatical'). I am still completely in love with image making, but I decided it was time (with the encouragement of the recession) to put my nose to the grindstone and work on the book I have had rattling around in my brain. So I wrote and wrote and now I have 106,000 words of a memoir and am about to start (what I envision to be) a sixth month editing phase with considerably less travel... maybe.

Austin has been treating me well. The town is overflowing with affordable music shows, I have made a few friends and picked up some video work from a steady client. The work isn't what I *love* to do but it has afforded me a trip back to SF every 6 weeks... and two apartments. That's right. The first is a one bedroom house and the second is a single room cottage. They are on the same block. Really they are just an outward sign of my inward excessiveness, however, man they are cute. (And combined they are cheaper than three of the flats I lived in in the Bay Area.)

All of this has reinforced a couple things.
1) you can do anything if you are willing to do the hustle.
2) learn a skill or trade that you can use while traveling to make money.
3) learn how to ask for help and give it back freely.
4) let the Universe carry you.

Much love,

Frankie

Road Trippin'

2010-07-29T23:49:00.000-07:00

Hello loves.

A dear friend of mine turned 30 and decided to take road trip from San Francisco to Austin Texas with another friend of ours. I hopped in the car with them and we took off into the sunset Saturday afternoon. We spent our first night in Roswell NM. chasing aliens. In the am we went to the UFO museum, stopped in Albuquerque for lunch and made it to Flagstaff by night fall. The next morning we ate some delicious breakfast at a local joint called Martanne's and then headed north to the Grand Canyon. By nightfall we crossed the Hoover be Dammed and made it into Vegas where we spent two nights. I met up with some locals and did a late night tennis match photo shoot. The gents were nice enough to help me hunt down the trailer park I used to live in and the school I used to attend 20 years ago. We hopped the fence and took some more long exposure night shots. In the morning I went for a swim in the Bellagio hotel, wrote in my journal and we hit the road- through the Mojave Desert and up to San Francisco by 10 pm. The following morning I hopped into another car with my cousins and Aunt and we drove 7 hours north to Grants Pass OR for a family reunion on a farm.

This is the life.

Work in Austin

2010-07-18T14:53:00.000-07:00

Work in Austin has been going really well. I just finished a 6 day video shoot for a major e-commerce company. The project consisted 24 products in various environments both still life and with model. I am new to shooting video so there are the standard little challenges, probably the most annoying being that I don't understand editing of video so I never truly know how the final product is going to pull together. In turn, I am sure I over shot to make sure we had enough footage. After 6 days I ended up with a total of 358 videos. I thank the Gods I am working with great editors.

I also will be shooting the September cover of a local magazine here which is exciting.

It looks like Austin was a good move business wise, though I still ache for NYC and London and LA and Paris and Berlin... We will see.

Austin and Fashion

2010-05-08T23:56:00.000-07:00

I just did my first fashion shoot in Austin of two French girls Morgane and Stephanie. The bamboo forest is my backyard.

Austin, Church and the Written Word

2010-05-02T10:50:00.000-07:00

Hey all! I have no idea who is reading this but Google Analytics tells me that you folks are, so... here is an update.

I took the month of February *off* to partake in a month long writing sabbatical of sorts. I had originally planned to take this said sabbatical in New York City, Brooklyn to be specific, in the house of a sweet friend and beautifully talented musician Sheah Abelman, a member of the Yard Dogs Road Show.

However New York in February was... cold. Not only was it physically cold, but the writing project is my autobiography, which is icy enough in parts without putting myself through the actual real-live frost. So I changed plans and flew to Austin Texas to couch surf and write. Over my month long stay I fell in love with Austin. I wrote over 80,000 words and couldn't get enough of this warm little art filled music filled city-town. A 1940's house on a main street opened up a few doors down from my oldest friend Lila. The rent is super reasonable, the house is commercially zoned and is ridiculously cute. So, without much of a second thought, I moved here on an It Feels Right, Northern California whim.

The status on the book is that it is 106,790 words. I have a few sample chapters edited up and ready for review and I have a query letter that is pretty much good to go. Illustrator Winston Lehman is working on the three family trees for the book.

The house is going to be turned into a collective DIY art/photo space open for people to come coexist while they create. A dream of mine for a while has been to start an event called Church on Sundays. The idea being mixed lovechild blend of Sunday brunches with artists versions of TED talks and performances by various musicians and creatives.

[In cas you don't know what TED is, check this out: http://www.ted.com/talks/elizabeth_gilbert_on_genius.html]

Another project I have going on is Addicted the Magazine. Folks have heard me talk about it over the past 6 months, however with the new acquisition of this collective art house awesome space I am making huge leaps to manifest it. If you are interested in participating, please shoot me an email.

You can help fund the project here: http://www.kickstarter.com/profile/FrankieShotMe

So for the record, I love you.

More to come.

Frankie.

p.s. you love me.

SPIN, Justine Frischmann, San Fran Mag, EDW Lynch, HEEB, Moshe Kasher

2010-03-08T01:33:00.000-08:00

2010-02-28T21:28:00.000-08:00

Yard Dogs Road Show

2010-02-03T11:30:00.000-08:00

They are starting their Valentines Tour this weekend, check them out! http://YardDogsRoadShow.com

Mr. Matt Howse and Ms. Brigid Barry

2009-12-19T22:48:00.000-08:00

I traded tattoo time with one of my favorite artists for holiday photos. Here was the result.

Angel Island: the band

2009-12-12T06:27:00.000-08:00

Alex Pignone

2009-12-07T21:52:00.000-08:00

I recently shot Italian motocross superstar and Indy race-car driver Alex Pignone at Infineon Raceway. These images will be used by his Italian press team.

His US based assistant is a dear friend of mine. Here they are together.

ADC and PDN

2009-10-22T16:15:00.000-07:00

First off, let me start by saying I Love New York. I know every time I come here, I preach things of a similar vein, but this time I plan to do something about it. I have decided that I am moving to NYC in January. It's where I know I need to be for my career, art and soul.

Now that that's been covered...

ADC- the Art Directors Club, holds a contest every year called Young Guns. Fifty young creatives, of all mediums, win awards. The art was amazing. I just became a member of the ADC and I hadn't been to their space previously. It is a beautiful open gallery space with an upstairs balcony and an alcove for viewing films. The art ranged from incredible paintings to booklets to illustrated videos to photographs and so forth. They really covered every medium that hits the public eye commercially.

One of the first things that stood out to me- besides all of the attractive people- was the hot dogs. Everyone was carrying around hot dogs on a little paper shell. I thought this was weird, until, I approached the hot dog table to find an array of about 15 different kinds of hot dogs... well the dog part was the same across the table, but the toppings were all Asian inspired- Japanese dog, Thai dog, Vietnamese dog. I ate one that had shredded mango and cilantro toppings, and by the end of the evening I was swapping half dogs with another fellow who also felt compelled to stuff his face. We shared some dog with BBQ ribs on top, one with warm patè and another with kimchi. Delish.

I took the A train back to Ms. Harmons house and awoke at 7am to head to the PDN Photo Expo. The first seminar I signed up for was a marketing seminar headed up by Debra Weiss with panelists Andrea Kaye, Joann Tansman and Matt Seminara... The whole panel had experience in various parts of the industry. Overall I took 8 seminars ranging from marketing to website to portfolio and fine art.

For now, I have to switch to iPhoning it as I am running out the door.

love love love.

Frankie

Fail.

2009-09-30T02:13:00.001-07:00

So I failed at updating my blog with interviews, however I have been booked solid for the last 4 weeks shooting for a couple different clients- Flowmaster, Theo Mindell and the Universal Record Database.

I was hired to shoot Flowmaster through an excellent agency in Canada that works primarily with auto part companies. The majority of my female friends that I told said, 'Flowmaster... the exercise equipment?' No. Not the exercise equipment. My male friends all replied a variation on, 'Sweet! Can you hook me up with some Flows?' Haha.

The guys up at Flowmaster were great to work with. I think being a female, in a male dominated environment, may have aided in getting the gentlemen to hustle and work particularly hard. OR, perhaps they are that super efficient all of the time. ;) Either way, they were a blast.

http://www.flowmastermufflers.com/

Theo Mindell is a great client and friend of mine. He probably my most personally influential artist/entrepreneur friend. Not only is he a talented artist, he creates jobs for other talented artists. He is the owner of Spider Murpheys Tattoo in San Rafael California, and the lead singer in the band Orchid that just got signed. He recently put together an art show at 111 Minna in San Francisco, showcasing 30 Northern California tattoo artists, with live music (including an incredibly realistic KISS cover band). Along with shooting the event, Theo hired me to do copy work of the paintings. I don't normally shoot events, but I would shoot anything for Theo. The images will appear in Tattoo Magazine.

One of my strong points is that I can mingle in a variety of crowds I think this is because of the way I was raised. I am a chameleon of sorts. Anyhow, tattoo guys are not known for being the most friendly... there is a phrase 'Tattitude' that comes to mind. I had no problem some good shots out of the guys. I think being raised around Hells Angels helped with this.

http://www.spidermurphystattoo.com/
http://www.myspace.com/spidermurphystattooparlor

The Universal Record Database has been featured on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon a number of times and has a rapidly growing following. Dan Rollman- who previously worked as an advertising copywriter for agencies Fallon McElligott, BBDO and Goodby, Silverstein and Partners, co-founded the URDB which grew from a Burning Man theme camp started in 2004. The Universal Record Database is an amazing project that I have now had the pleasure of working with when they've filmed in San Francisco. Anyone can set a record, and even though I was shooting, I represented on the record front; my first record was Most 4 Letter Words in Under 60 Seconds (I was beat: my record was 46; Chris Dean is the current record holder with 120); my second attempt at a record was- Quickest Time to Produce Alligator Tears (I choked); and my latest record was Most Bunny Ear or Devil Horn Portraits Taken in Under 60 Seconds. The count is 15 portraits. I am not particularly happy with this score and I will be resetting my record just as soon as someone beats mine.

http://URDB.com

The Future of Frankie Shot Me

2009-08-16T22:57:00.000-07:00

August Self Portraits

2009-08-02T23:50:00.000-07:00

Apparently my cats don't take self portrait sessions very seriously.

The black one is Ninja, the one displaying his ass so nicely above is Prince and the little white in the lower right corner below is Lola. They are all orphans. Ninja is from Vietnam, complete with hook tail, and Lola/Prince were found in a dumpster in Lafayette CA.

Team orphan family.

And in case you are wondering, Lola is the alpha.

Interview with me on Trevor Traynor's I SHOOT EVERYTHING site.

2009-07-14T11:13:00.000-07:00

Hey all,

Amazing hip hop photographer, Trevor Traynor, who I had a show with last year at Oxenrose in San Francisco (his abandoned russian playground photo series and my incest: a love story photo series), has a weekly interview he does with various photographers around the world on his website.

I was featured this week. You can see my interview at http://iShootEverything.com

This is the photo featured in the blog:

2009-06-20T17:35:00.000-07:00

I have done so much traveling this past year, I impress myself.

LONDON
June of last year I went to London where I stayed with a great friend/performance artist Katie O'Brien. Katie and Sinead started a project called The Muffia (http://TheMuffia.co.uk), part of which includes them donning blonde wigs and Merkins. They have recently gotten a lot of press including an article in London's Guardian. Katie took me to this abandoned tunnel under the Waterloo station where graffiti artist Banksy held a 3 day street artist event he dubbed the Cans Festival. The artists, with permission from the city, filled the walls with absolutely incredible art.

CAMA BEACH, WA
In August I went to a family reunion at Cama Beach on Camano Island about an hour north east of Seattle. We stayed in these amazing little wood cabins right on the water. Each cabin comes equipped with it's own little kitchen and bathroom and each bed has it's own handmade quilt made for the Cama Beach cabins from the Stanwood Quilters. My sister Margarite came and we spent the last day in Seattle walking around and laughing till I almost peed my pants. Then I went to Portland for 4 days for a friends baby shower and had the opportunity to hang out with drag king stay with Billy Clarke a photographer/friend up there.

FLAGSTAFF, AZ
And then there was Swing Kid Vote (http://SwingKidVote.blogspot.com). Swing Kid Vote was a panic blog I started in September of 08 in response to the Palinisms that filled the airwaves. That blog and it's readers sent me to Fort Lauderdale Florida where I hitchhiked with Billy Mitchell- the world record holder for Donkey Kong and Ms. Pacman, and then onto Virginia where I got in a car chase with an angry republican housewife (her chasing me), and then to Flagstaff AZ where I met my late grandfathers last wife, author and folk singer Katie Lee. Did I mention that my Grandpa Brandy was a race car driver... awessssome. His life was pretty much a mystery to me, so getting to meet Katie Lee was a treat. She wrote a book called Sandstone Seduction that has a 22 pages of memories, love letters and photos from her love affair with my grandfather.

Really though, Swing Kid Vote was an amazing adventure and I strongly recommend reading the blog and the feedback. There are tons upon tons of photos from the trip. Truly the greatest benefit of that project was seeing how many people deeply cared about the 2008 election and were willing to do whatever they could to help.

MAUI, HI
In January a friends father flew me to Maui to see her as a surprise for her birthday. I love being a birthday gift. I got to get grounded and feel my feet on the earth in one of the more beautiful place on this planet.

NEW YORK CITY
Then I had the opportunity to go see my friend Andrew Seger in New York. Andrew was my traveling companion for the last leg of the Swing Kid Vote journey to Flagstaff. He had just moved to Williamsburg from Oakland and had a bit of free time and free cash to help fly me out. Although I am pretty sure he was drunk when he bought my ticket at 3am...

While there I got to see Kim Harmon (http://www.therealkimharmon.com), a great friend of mine whom I met five years prior, at a truckstop, off of I-5, at 3 in the morning on my way back from Los Angeles and on her way too Los Angeles. She is performance artist for whom I shot these images for her previous project posters.

NEW ORLEANS, LA
The following week after NYC, my friends Adrian and Judy Allen bought me a ticket to go see them in New Orleans. I LOVE NEW ORLEANS. Judy is an excellent photographer as well and part of the goal of the trip was to shed whatever photo knowledge I could in the time I was there. Adrian and Judy are amazing, they stayed in New Orleans during Katrina and own 4 houses, 3 of which are in the 9th Ward. The 9th Ward is where Adrian grew up and it is where Katrina hit the hardest. As Hunters Point is to San Francisco, the 9th Ward is to New Orleans. The trip was wonderful in part because Adrian and Judy are huge foodies. We went to incredible restaurants every day for lunch and dinner. Of the tops I would say Jacques-Imos was up there with creole,
jambalaya and gumbo. Mmmm. The highlight of the whole trip for me was the last day there they took me to Holy Cross- a Catholic boys school that got hit hard from Katrina and, with the exception of minor juvenile vandalism, is still frozen in time. I honestly think these are some of the most exceptional photos I have ever taken. The last photo in the grid was taken by Judy Allen.

SECRET LOCATION
In late April for my fathers birthday I drove him and a friend of his to a spot where they go train hopping. I know what you are going to say... yes it is dangerous, but he started hopping freights when he was 13 with his brothers. Here are some shots from that day trip. Unfortunately right as we pulled up a train was leaving, so I didn't get any photos of them hopping on. Next Time.

ROADTRIP SAN FRANCISCO TO NORTH CAROLINA
Now up to present time, I just took a cross country road trip with my friends Janice and Don Christopher who are blessed enough to be retiring. They bought a house in North Carolina, so we drove HWY 40 across the southern part of this beautiful country. The second day driving was my favorite- Flagstaff to Amarillo Texas, stopping in Albuquerque for lunch. The color pallet is amazing. I never really realized the varying color pallets of each part of this country. That stretch of earth is miles of salmon colored mountains speckled with rich brown bushes and the occasional tree that runs up against the pale blue sky with edible white cloud puffs. It is amazing.

We stopped for two nights in Nashville. I could definitely see myself living in Tennessee. We went to the Country Music Hall of Fame, which thankfully is dedicated to the older country musicians- Hank Williams, Johnny Cash, Kitty Wells and Waylon Jennings era. I love the outfits they used to perform in. All of the personalized elements- stitched initials on the boots, abalone inlaid names into the instruments and embroidered garments. While there I magically landed at a house turned cafe called Cafe Cocoa. There I met up with a friend of a friend (and aspiring photographer) Carrie O'Brien. She was an excellent hostess and took me out to dinner with about a dozen of her friends.

And now I am back. Home and grateful for my nest and my kittens.

Little Miss Knocked Up

2009-05-17T02:26:00.000-07:00

Natalie Murray.

Racquel Valle, the CW and Lahaina

2009-02-14T00:59:00.000-08:00

I have not written in an embarrassing length of time. I do have excuses, but don't we all. The cats are well... you will be getting photos of them at some point and I have been staying busy with a few jobs here and there.

One of my favorite designers and a close friend Racquel Valle came back to San Francisco for the winter half of her bi-coastal life and we got together to shoot her new line. I am always impressed with her fabrics and unique, but classic style. That sounds cheesy, but it is so true. Her clothes are so well made.

She lent us some of the clothes for a shoot for the CW: America's Next Top Model- Bay Area Contest that we did the following week with wardrobe stylist Shakira Holmes and hair and make-up students from The San Francisco Institute of Esthetics and Cosmetology. The winner was Keli Hampton. Super cute.

And I went to Maui for a close friends birthday. This trip totally opened me up to add the landscape portfolio to my website, which I have been thinking of doing for years after I saw that one of my favorite photographers Stan Musilek has a landscape portfolio on his site too. Here are some of the other images of me and my friend lounging at the beach in Lahaina.

So that is my brief but loving update. I have 3 more shoots coming up, so there will be an update very soon.

xoxox

Frankie

Deaths and blogspot

2008-06-29T11:46:00.000-07:00

England was amazing. The wedding was in Huddersfield which is a town North of Manchester, South of Leeds. We were there for 4 days, then Timothy and I headed to Manchester for an afternoon and then onto London to stay with my friend Katie O'brien a performance artist.

I loved it over there. The wedding was beautiful and it was sunny 6 out of 7 days. I usually never shoot weddings. This is because they are insane. Everybody says "I want something unique... I don't want traditional wedding photos... I really want your style in the pictures." What they don't realize is a) They do want traditional wedding photos and b) "my style" takes hours to set up each shot and stylize, and it usually doesn't consist of a bride, a groom and Great Aunt Jeanie. But this was family and it was really fun. It made me think that maybe... just maybe I would shoot another one.

Introduction.

2008-06-15T12:33:00.000-07:00

A photographer friend of mine suggested I make a DVD introducing myself with some photos... So I did.

I take suggestions. Go ahead and give me some.

So I had a dream last night that I was talking to the building manager of my loft and I was telling him how I needed to get out of our lease because I had a business opportunity in London.

Is this a premonition?

I leave Tuesday for the UK. I am thrilled. I just got my passport on Friday... I like to live on the edge. And I have not packed yet. However I did purchase a new lens to shoot with while I am there.

On Friday I also met with the Ford Agency in SF to talk to them about what they need from shoots, also about scouting models- as I always seem to run into stunning people who... once they find out I am a photographer, want me to jumpstart their career as a super model. It was a good meeting. They were nice, however model and talent agencies always sort of creep me out. Everyone has a huge ego... or at least they put on that front. I get that you are working with pretty people that are making a bunch of money, but seriously... you are just the pimp.

I am also finding it an interesting learning experience to blog honestly. My last blog was extremely honest, I had a lot of readers and received tons of hits daily. Then myspace booted my profile :( I hadn't backed up any of my blogs, so it has been hard getting back on the blogging wagon. It is like writing a novel and having your one copy burnt in a fire.

This time I have opted to not blog about super personal life stuff- unless it is really funny- but to instead focus on my photography, my goals and being a young up and coming artist. Which is I think much harder than just telling you guys about all the silly nonsense in my life. It is also hard to show all of yourself when your career name is tied to it. Like if I tell you guys about the time I sat on the shower drain and my butt cheek accidently got hickied in the shape of the drain- would you think I am a complete freak and not hire me...

You tell me? How much over-disclosure should one participate in when blogging?

This last month has been filled.

2008-06-09T19:21:00.001-07:00

I have spent the last month shooting, sending out mailers to photo contests and brainstorming.

Yesterday I shot Liz for FORD model agency:

Last week I shot Chris Johnston (his father is Tom Johnston of the Doobie Brothers):

And the week before that I shot comedian Moshe Kasher:

Here is one of the images I entered in the B&W Mag Contest:

The model is musician Timothy Beach. The photo was taken on a road trip from Austin Texas to New Orleans last September.

Next week I am off to London and Northern England to shoot and have a vacation. Wee!

Wish me luck,

xoxox

Frankie

day 4 of Lé Apple

2008-05-08T17:30:00.000-07:00

Oye... I am exhausted. I have been a photo warrior these last couple days. I think hugely because of my deadline (ie: plane back to California) thus I have been super photo girl knocking on doors, sending emails into the wee hours and being fearless with the hundreds of NY security guards I have met. I have decided where I would like to live if I do ever dig my heals into the East Coast. SOHO. Mainly because of the cute boutiques and restaurants... Kim says "you and everyone else".

Here is where my journey has taken me so far:

Artist and Creatives,
Ogilvy,
Universal Music Group,
Cosmogirl,
Redbook,
Seventeen,
Harper's Bazaar,
Rolling Stone,
Elle,
Complex Mag,
Ecko,
Tokion,
Fader,
Condé Nast (ate lunch in their amazing cafeteria... seriously, wined and dined... well, at least dined.)
Concept Farm
Duetsch
Kid Robot,
Kate Spade, (the receptionist looked like Jackie O.)
Marilyn Cadenbach,
Oliver Piro,
Publicis
Randy Cole (super awesome place. I hung out there for almost an hour, telling a little too much of my life story to Meredith- Randy's assistant.)

I really enjoyed going to Randy Cole's place today. The building is awesome and reminds me of my loft in Oakland, (which I now miss terribly). I first sat down with her assistant Meredith for a bit and showed her my website which she remembered from previous emails. Then I got waived into Randy's office and I encountered the moment of "ahh!" that many people experience when they meet this girl named Frankie. I wanted to be like "SEE! We are a match! It's perfect, you... woman... Randy... me... woman... Frankie... get it..." Thank god for the occasional filter that edits out those brilliant mental moments.

Anyhow, Meredith showed me the portfolios of some of the artists they represent and I was in awe. Mostly amazed by the incredible editing of images (page layout and selection within the book, and digital manipulation of some of the photos), along with the presentation that left me feeling slightly juvenile.

I wish there was a better education for young photographers. Like how do you expect us to show art directors the images that are appropriate for them to see, when we don't know which campaigns they work with?

Example: My first year out of school I went down to LA and met with a ton of creatives including Tobias. Tobias was with a huge agency outside of LA. I had pulled his name from a list of art directors, knowing that this agency had many clients that I would one day hope to work with.

So I emailed him, he said "Yes, come, show me your book and we will have lunch with another AD". So we go out to eat at this nice place and we order food, I start showing them my book and they are like "Great, do you have any cars?" Err... Not really... I have some shots with cars... kinda. Turns out that Tobias only worked with Automobile companies.

Seriously people.

Anyhow. I am looking forward to gettin back to California... I hear the rain is coming this way and I am not so smitten with wetness.

Tomorrow I have to drop by mini-portfolios to 3 more boutique advertising agencies, and another rep. Then the question is, should I rent a car and take off to MA for a night to see Josie Mae or stay in the city. I guess I could just relax on Saturday and go to the MOMA.

We shall see. Wish me luck.

big ass pond

2008-05-05T16:12:00.000-07:00

So I took off to New York to do meet and greets with advertising agencies, magazines, record labels and book publishing houses. It would have been best if I had let them know I was coming far ahead of time... but that doesn't lend itself to the spontaneity

I am in NYC right now showing my book around to Advertising agencies, magazines, music labels and book publishing houses. I started by going to meet with Joe Lombardo from Artists and Creatives. He is a strong, opinionated, loud, encouraging, flaming photographers rep. We sat down with my book and flipped through telling me what caught his eye. His feedback was that it is difficult to see me in my work. His main suggestion was to focus on clean product shots and on single "pow" portraits like the children ones I have done. He said that the heavily staged images are not as clear and direct. It is always really interesting to hear what strikes different people. Taryn Finn from Corbis in LA said that she wanted to see more off beat group portraits.

I went from there to Ogilvy Worldwide where I made friends with the security guard- an older gentleman who wanted to talk about hippies... (you are either queer or hiding patchouli somewhere in your bag if you are from the Bay). He even went so far as to play his Beach Boy ringtone for me. I then headed to Universal Music Group, then over to Hearst. Hearst publishes Marieclaire, Seventeen, Oprah, Redbook, Bazaar, and more. The security in NYC is so tight I had to go through 3 locked doors to meet with anyone. The buildings are huge and intimidating. I sat down with Bruce from Redbook and he thoroughly went through my book and gave me feedback. The images that struck him were the gun shot and the heads from the Alcatraz State Prison Assignment.

I then headed over to Rolling Stone Magazine. Called up Deborah, she said she had bookmarked my website when I sent her the email, and there was no need to drop a promo... I still went to the mail room and had one delivered... I was downstairs when I called her.

Anyhow. New York has been good to me so far. I enjoy the trains. I am walking much more than in Oakland and San Francisco, and it was actually warm today. Like 70º warm.

Now I am going to send out emails.

Oh my goal is to leave this town with a photo rep. I have my eye on this one...

Keep ya posted.

xoxox

Frankie

Truths:

2008-03-29T09:59:00.000-07:00

- I say 'totally', 'dude', 'awesome', and 'rad' way too often.

- I believe wholeheartedly in the law of attraction.

- I was born in Denver Colorado, but I am a Californian.

- My first fashion shoot was at 10 years old.

- I was adopted at the age of 13.

- My family is filled with famous artists and addicts.

- My first solo photo show opened when I was 17.

- At 19 I attended a year long vocational boot camp for photography.

- I say no to drugs including the booze.

- At 20 years old I held the title of "Miss Bondage-a-go-go" in San Francisco

- I am one of three people to have ever photographed the fake heads the prisoners made to escape Alcatraz in 1963. The other two are Life Magazine and the FBI.

- I live in Oakland with two incredibly adorable kittens who were found in a dumpster, and one incredibly adorable human man, not found in a dumpster.

- At 23 years old I photographed Gene Simmons from KISS and his family (Shannon Tweed, Nick and Sophie Simmons) for an episode of Gene Simmons Family Jewels for A&E.

- At 24 I photographed my first advertising job and my images appeared on the side of buses in the Bay Area.

- In September of 2007 my boyfriend Timothy and I posted YouTube video's pretending to be siblings in love and were later called by the BBC to be in a documentary on incest.

- In 2008 I photographed for the CW: America's Next Top Model Bay Area

- I have a 1600 sq. ft. photography studio/loft in an old Cotton Mill Factory originally built in 1917.

- In 2008 I photographed for Karen Neuburger.

- I am one of the most interesting people you will ever meet.