Denver

Denver was amazing! My first shoot happened at the world famous Red Rocks! It was my first time there and I have to say, it truly was awesome and beautiful. 

Two shoots followed that one, one at a participant's house and the other at a participant's cabin, complete with horses! 

To end my day, I had dinner with friends I haven't seen in 12 years! Thank you for a wonderful day, Denver. 

This morning I'm off to Madison, WI then will be driving to Waukesha and Chicago. Needless to say, I can feel my energy struggling to stay up. I'm hoping to catch a nap on my next two flights. 
 

Here We Go!

Waiting for my first flight for the 13 cities, 22 photo shoots in 9 days tour! Getting through security at the Portland airport was a breeze and everyone is so happy and friendly. That was a nice start to my trip! Plus, it calmed the nerves a bit. Not totally, but a bit. I'm what you might call a nervous traveler. But, by the time I get to the end of the week, I'll be an old pro at this.

I'll do my best to keep everyone updated here on the blog. Stay tuned for the adventure!

Here are my notes from the sky.

I'm on my first long distance trip for the project today and for the next 8 days. Salt Lake City, Denver, Waukesha (WI), Chicago, Ferndale (Mi), Toronto, Mohawk (NY), niagara Falls, Long Island, Long Branch (NJ), Florence (MA), Worcester (MA), and Boston. Twenty two photo shoots in 9 days.

The awesomeness of exactly what I've done and what I'm now doing hit me when the plane I'm sitting in started down the runway for take off. The reality of it became so real that it brought tears to my eyes. Wow. I have so few of those moments because I'm so embedded doing the work. The organization of it, creating the Kickstarter, travel plans, coordinating with participants, doing the shoots, editing the photos, building the web site, keeping the Facebook page updated, the blog updated, reading through participant responses, keeping responses and photos organized, answering emails and keeping my artistic integrity in check. There is so much involved with the shoots, too. I have a very short period of time to connect with participants and capture the essence of them. It takes a lot out of me. I have to stay open and take it all in. Focus on them and the surroundings without interruptions. That's a difficult task with everything else I have going on in my head.

I'm grateful to the muses for giving me this project. So very grateful to them for pestering me with it for so long. It needed to be done. For so many reasons. To start conversations and to help others find a sense of belonging.

I can do this. I want to do this. I will give it my all.

My Trip To Vancouver, BC

Photo by Linnea Strom.

The drive up to Vancouver, BC was, thankfully, uneventful. Six hours of rain and a wee bit of snow. One stop at the gas station just before crossing the border and a stop at a Hagen's to grab a salad for lunch. Before I knew it, I was at the border.

It was the first time I'd ever used my passport, which was exciting and nerve wracking to me. The border crossing officer asked me what my purpose was for visiting Canada. I told him I was visiting friends. Then he asked me where I was going. I gave him the street address to where I would be staying. “Who are you visiting?” I gave him my friend's name. “And where are you going?” I thought to myself, “Am I not speaking clearly enough?” so I spoke slowly and gave him the address again. He seemed fine with my answers, handed me my passport and sent me on my way. I was about a mile from the border when I realized I had only given him the street address of where I was going and never told him the city.

Nerves. They sure can make you a wee bit stupid at times.

Shortly after crossing the border I stopped at a bank and withdrew some Canadian currency so I had some in my pocket. It was interesting to notice that the quick cash option that we're used to in the states as $40 was $60 up there. Then the bills popped out of the machine and I instantly thought, “It's so shiny!” One of the newer bills was partially see through, too. After ogling it for a moment I continued on my way to my first photo shoot of the day.

After a couple of wonderful photo shoots in two beautiful parks, one in Port Moody and one in Vancouver, I spent the evening enjoying the company of old and new friends. I also learned that the legal drinking age in British Columbia is 19, which explained why I felt so very old at the bar that night.

Sunday was spent driving from one photo shoot to the next and having lots of fun with the participants. After a low key evening at a friend's house that night I got up Monday morning and stopped at the Cultch to check out SD Holman's exhibit, “Butch: Not Like The Other Girls”, which was pretty amazing, then headed home. Before crossing the border I stopped for coffee and a brief moment of calmness on the coast at White Rock.  Beautiful little town.

Perhaps it was because this was my first experience out of the states, but I noticed a feeling of somehow being out of place while visiting Canada. It wasn't an unnerving feeling. It was more of just an interesting observation. I was traveling alone in a “foreign” country and the only thing to guide me was my GPS. What in the world did we do before the GPS was invented? Oh yeah. We made a stop at AAA an gathered as many maps as we could.

This trip was a good practice run for me in preparation for the 9 day trip that's coming up. I have to remember to take better care of myself while traveling. Remembering to eat is the first thing. Making time to rest and regroup is another. Quiet time by myself is a good way for me to recharge. I forgot how much energy it takes for me to travel to a place I've never been, meet people I've never met and connect with them quickly so I am able to get good photographs. I love every minute of it, though. It's inspiring and brilliant.

T-5 days until the next big trip!

Travel Plans So Far

To say making travel plans and coordinating with multiple people is difficult would be quite the understatement. This is something I have learned quite quickly. But, I'm learning how to move through it and solidify plans so I have my first crazy travel adventure lined up. It happens the first week in May and it goes a little something like this: (deep breath)

• On Saturday, May 4th I will be flying from Portland, OR to Salt Lake City, UT arriving in the afternoon with a shoot scheduled shortly thereafter.
  
• On Sunday, May 5th I will fly from Salt Lake City to Denver, CO and have two, possibly three photo shoots that day then dinner with friends who live in the area. I will stay the night in Denver.
• On Monday, May 6th I will fly (early in the morning!) from Denver to Madison, WI and will drive from Madison, WI to Waukesha, WI to do a shoot there at 2pm. After that shoot I will drive to Chicago, IL for an evening shoot and will stay the night in Chicago.
  
• On Tuesday, May 7th I will drive from Chicago, IL to Ferndale, MI for a shoot at 1pm. From Ferndale I'll drive in to Detroit to catch a flight at 5:30pm to Toronto, ON, Canada. I will stay the night in Toronto.
  
• On Wednesday, May 8th I have a morning shoot about an hour outside of Toronto at 10am and possibly another shoot in the afternoon before checking in at the Toronto airport at 5pm for a 7:30pm flight to Albany, NY where I get in around 11pm. I will stay the night in Albany.
  
• On Thursday, May 9th I will drive to Mohawk, NY for a shoot at Noon. After that shoot I will drive to Niagara Falls, NY for a shoot at 6pm. I will stay the night in Niagara Falls.
  
• On Friday, May 10th I will drive to Long Island, NY for a 4pm shoot. I will stay the night in Long Island.
• On Saturday, May 11th I will drive to Long Branch, NJ for a 10am shoot then after that shoot I will drive to Florence, MA for a 3pm shoot. After that shoot I will drive to Boston, MA and stay the night.
• On Sunday, May 12th I will be in Boston, MA and a morning shoot, a Noon shoot and a 2pm shoot. Then I will check in at Boston Logan at 3pm and fly out of Boston at 5:20pm to land back in Portland, OR at 10:39pm.
• On Monday, May 13th at 10am I am back to work at my non-photography job.  

(Fourteen cities and sixteen photo shoots in nine days!)

I also have a trip scheduled the weekend of June 21st and will be going to Dallas and Houston, TX for a couple (so far!) of photo shoots and I'm hoping to schedule more for that area.

Then, in August I'll be down in the Bay Area (Oakland) for a photo shoot or two and to attend Butch Voices. I'm hoping to get some images while at the conference, as well. I'll also get to meet up with one of my favorite photographers, Syd London, while I'm there! 
 
I'm working on a trip down to Florida and a trip down to Southern California, as well. Details to come!

The Man In The Arena

"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat." - Theodore Roosevelt

Project Update & Some Thoughts

Yesterday, I finally sat down and made my itinerary to travel to the Rockies, the Midwest and the Northern East coast for the project. This morning, I feel a million times lighter. Not that I don't have more planning to do, fundraising as well, but at least this part of it is done. It's been weighing heavily on my mind. I also made plans to travel to Texas and Louisiana. I still need to make plans to travel to North Dakota, Pennsylvania, Virginia, South Carolina, Florida, Southern California, Arizona and New Mexico. I'm also quickly discovering that it's going to take quite a bit more money to do it all. I'll have to work on that or find other ways to get photos of those whom I can't get to.

I am so lucky to have the support of my partner through all of this. I spend the majority of my time, away from work, working on this project. Last night she sat down at the table where I was working and said, “Do you know how much I love you?” I asked her if all of my time spent working on the project was driving her crazy. She said no. She loved me even more for working on the project because it makes me happy. She can see what it does to me. The project truly is a labor of love for me. It came from and continues to come from my heart.

The support I've gotten for the project has been mind blowing to me. Messages like this one represent the “mind blowing” I'm talking about:

“Your project moved me to tears. I wanted to say thank you for doing something like this- something to capture what is so rarely seen. As a sociologist, my own background has been LGBT (and all other acronyms) focused - primarily on self-esteem, perceived social acceptance, and coming out. As a lesbian, my research has been intended to highlight the importance of coming out and acceptance. Your photographs are worth more than my thousands of words.”

I can't even begin to find the words to express exactly how much stuff like this means to me. See? Mind. Blowing.

It's affecting people in ways I hadn't even thought about. Good ways. Ways that help others and that's the goal of this project. To help others see that they are not alone in this world. To put faces to the words and identities and to show that there are an endless amount of identities in the world and in our community.

Yes, bottom line is that we are all human, but we're not all the same. We are all unique individuals with our own expressions, identities and ways of being in the world. Let's celebrate everyone! Let's celebrate the fact that you can choose to not be “put in a box with a label” or you can choose to be put in as many boxes as you want with as many labels as you want.

I look forward to a world where everyone is equal but I also look forward to a world where everyone is celebrated. A world where we can all truly be free to be exactly who we are.

Time Flies!

Suddenly I looked up and it was almost a month since I last posted! What the heck?!

I am due a catch up post and I will get one up in the next couple of days. Since the Kickstarter funded for the project I have been either working at my day job or doing lots of planning for the project. I have 7 shoots to edit for the project still! That only happens when life gets out of control for me. So, soon. I need to sit down and document all of this. Very soon.

Hope all is well in your world!