Posts Tagged ‘Photography’
Everyday Design: Chicken Photograpy by Tamara Staples
Our brains have been thinking a lot about chickens. You can say we are a bit obsessed. For the past year we’ve been debating on when, how, and where. Finally, this spring we are excited to announce that we are getting chickens! I don’t think they will ever be as beautiful as the ones pictured in this pretty chicken project by Tamara Staples. I’m sure our new chicken adventures will leave us with much more respect for the award winning chicken sub-culture than we ever expected!
Who knew?!
Tamara Staples, a commercial photographer, started her career as a prop stylist for print and television. Her daytime job is obviously much more “urban” (checkout her still life photos!) but she has managed to find time to pursue more personal projects as well. As a little girl she found her love for chickens while visiting her Uncle Ron, a chicken breeder in Athens, GA. It took her nearly four years of traveling to award shows in the Midwest before she could publish her first photography book in 2001; The Fairest Fowl: Portraits of Championship Chickens.
Now with the release of her second chicken book, The Magnificent Chicken, Tamara has done it again and nearly left us all awe-struck over these awkward and yet beautiful creatures.
Tamera recalls her first visit at a poultry show 20 years ago;
“I remember stepping inside and being blown away by the birds,” Staples recounted. “They were gorgeous! And the show itself—the people, the smell, the sounds, the camaraderie of the shows and the beauty of the birds—who knew there were so many varieties of chickens beyond what you think about when they’re on your dinner plate?” - Tamara Staples | Slate
“Poultry shows exist all over this country. They are amazing organizations. There, you will find generations of families involved in the upkeep and competition of the birds, working together in a city folk’s dream of the country. When you look at these photographs, you may see a beautiful bird, you may see a proud chicken, and you may even be able to marvel at the colors or patterns that make each bird unique. What I wish you could see is the passionate 12-year-old boy, getting up before school, before daylight, no matter the weather, and making sure his birds made it through the cold night as he waters and feeds them. And now imagine his grandfather, who’s been raising and showing his birds since he was a child, carefully holding a newborn chick, imparting years of wisdom to his grandson. Imagine the family at the poultry show, as the ribbons are distributed and whether victory or defeat, all lifelong lessons.” - Tamara Staples | Chronicle Books Blog
“These chickens are works of art. They’ve been breed to a perfection by serious, passionate and life long breeders. They are the outcome of their great, great grand chickens, carefully raised to be the competitive bird you see here.” - Tamara Staples | Chronicle Books Blog
In 2003 she was featured on NPR’s hit series “This American Life”. Take a listen for a behind the scenes look at the fine art of chicken portraiture.
Every once in a while we come along a project that sorta stops us in our tracks. Our Everyday Design Series is a place to highlight creatives who create art and design out of things we normally take for granted. Sometimes the greatest ideas are found when we actually slow down and take the time to reminisce on the things we truly love.
For Tamara Staples that was chickens. 
What are the random and unique things about your world that inspire you?
From the Farm 
Purchase The Magnificent Chicken at Chronicle Books Online. A fun gift idea for Father’s Day or a coffee table book for that urban farmer enthusiast.
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GCD: Selling a Lifestyle or a Product?
We are excited to announce that we are officially working on a Look Book featuring our Green Couch Design Kitchen Line and Concrete Jewelry! The conceptual process is just getting started but we are already asking ourselves tons of questions as we figure out what are the key messages that we want to say about our products, our brand as a “lifestyle”, and/or both? If a picture is worth a 1,000 words then we had better make sure we have a clear vision about who we are and the type of visual messages we are sending our customers.
As we’ve been researching ideas for our Look Book we’ve noticed two different approaches toward selling a product:
1: Lifestyle Based Marketing: Imagery that forces customers to desire a product because of the way they feel when they are wearing that object or have that product a part of their life. When you aim your marketing toward a lifestyle approach you want potential customers to first fall in love with who you are and as a result purchase your products. With this type of imagery you are not just selling a piece of jewelry, you are selling a feeling based on the type of lifestyle your customers long to have.
Example: In this commercial you see the target audience is young adults and young families that are adventurous and want to “go” and “do”. They are not ok with sitting by and letting life pass by, instead they want to live life to the fullest. Ford focused it’s marketing efforts on the “feeling” their target market wants to have towards life (the problem) and how the Ford Explorer can help their customers accomplish that (the solution).
2: Product Based Marketing: Imagery that sells you a product by focusing on it’s features and services. Typically, this is for a product that is very specialized and more focused on the individual. Marketing efforts are narrowed into making one type of product and making it better than anyone else in your market. Customers purchase this type of product because it’s the best in the industry and it offers them something that your competition does not.
STUFF: Married for 50 Years: Love Ever After Photography Project
This year for Valentines Day we decided instead of talking about ourselves we would share some love advice from the real “experts”. We’ve been following Lauren Fleishman’s Kickstarter Project called Love Ever After and we are completely smitten! Sharing stories of couples who have been married for 50+ years Lauren is capturing these couples through photographs and collecting fun quotes about how they met and their “secret” to finding and maintaining love.
Get ready to fall in love with some really adorable old people…
“Sometimes we think we love when we don’t love. A lot of people say they are in love but really we were young and we really didn’t know what love was all about. But afterward we found out what love was! Love is sharing with one another. Don’t care what you have you share what you have. And be willing to give. Another thing I tell people now is that you have to be able to bend a little bit. Yes, love is a powerful thing. If you know what it means.” – Theauther and Annie Love
“We’ve been married for 66 years. We met in high school when I was 16 years old and my wife was 15 years old. And we’ve gone through life together. The love we feel now is a different type of love. It is a mature love. In the beginning, of course, there was a sexual attraction but right now sex has very little to do with it.”- Moe and Tessie Rubenstein
“What is the secret to love? A secret is a secret and I don’t reveal my secrets!” - Ykov Shapirshteyn and Mariya Gostsinnaya
Creatives Near You: Samantha Lamb [Farm Lifestyle Photographer]
We first met Sam Lamb as neighboring booths at a local craft fair. Turns out we have a lot in common with Miss. Lamb and we have enjoyed our random run-ins ever since. Not only does she have an eye for truly breathtaking photographs but we we’re amazed to meet another creative who lives on a farm (with cows, horses, and chickens)! She genuinely enjoys the simple things that make life so sweet and has a joyous heart that makes you feel all warm and tingly inside. It’s the kind that makes you want to sit back, count the clouds, and sip a glass of sun soaked tea reeeeaaal slow.
Q) How did you get started?
A) I wanted to capture my grandparents farm in the way that I saw it and people, to my surprise, enjoyed my captures. From there, the morning light had my full and lovely attention.
Q) What about your lifestyle inspires your work and makes it better?
A) Ooohhh my goodness gracious….everything my dears. I live on a full fledged farm, so there is no division of my lifestyle and my inspiration. I am happier than a peach!!
Q) Why do you choose to live in the country?
A) The Mornings…….I live next to lovely pastures and I have two amazing barns….one in which I keep a milk cow, in which I milk by hand twice a day. I can plant an acre large garden and share that bounty with all of my loved ones. This would not be possible in the city. Plus, the farm is a well-spring of inspiration and I am obedient to my inspiration.
Everyday Design: Book Sculptures
This is our inaugural post for the Everyday Design series. We’ve loved living in our little farm house and connecting with our local community just because we get to help expose ourselves and those around us to art and design in the most unlikely places. Thus was born the Everyday Design Series, a series of posts that look at the everyday events and products of our lives and then connecting those items and events with art and design inspired by them. This month it’s books; I love to read and to travel to random far off and even fictional areas to have wonderful adventures without ever leaving my chair. I also love the power books and print have had on the development of civilization and our continued growth due to our ability and freedom to research, learn, and develop ourselves through the printed word. So here’s to books and their continued influence and power in our lives!
GCD: NEW Product Design [Portfolio]
Product design has been a part of Green Couch Design since it’s inception in 2008, we love to work with new materials and play with the everyday elements we use in our homes and try to make them better, more fun, or just dress them up a little.
GCD: Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner!
Winner, Winnaar, Sieger, Ganador, Zwycięzca, vencedor, výherce, gagnant, vincitore, νικητής, sigurvegari, 수상자, vinneren, 勝利者…The winner of our new kitchen line is announced!
Hawaiian Farm Girl: Week 7
I live to discover. My curious spirit is often compared to a child, as I’m always looking out for things I may have never seen or noticed before. Noticing these things in nature is easy here; Hawaii is a place just waiting to unveil new discoveries to those whose eyes are open to its natural beauty.
LIFE: Oklahoma State Fair
My first real attempt at ‘life photography’ up to this point I’ve just pointed and shot, now I’m trying to actually capture the moment and bring it to life. So the State Fair was a great opportunity to capture people as people. Life in the crowd. We had so much fun, and laughed at the odd food items and the weird attractions. So here is a taste of what we found interesting at the Oklahoma State Fair…Hope you enjoy!
High class design in overalls. It's the simple life of a farm through the eyes of a couple of crazy designers. We call ourselves Green Couch Design and we are Bringing Design Home.
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