shutter to think

Semana Santa, Antigua

I spent a week with friends in Antigua celebrating Semana Santa traditionally by making alfombras, or colorful carpets used for the processions. It was a delight to be a part of a creative group. I didn't really intend on photographing Semana Santa, because here in Antigua its quite touristy, although the processions are pretty amazing. I had first thought that I was going to make some travel images for stock, but found myself just taking a break from shooting. But it was until that Friday that suddenly things came together. Here's a slideshow of some images from that day.

You can also catch my snaps on my tumblr: http://liannemilton.tumblr.com/

Destination: Semana Santa in Antigua, Guatemala - Images by Lianne Milton

a little amor in guatemala city

It's really sweet to see a little love in one of the most violent cities in Latin America...

'I Wanted to Live' - story on Depression for NPR

Last week I photographed an assignment for National Public Radio on a story about new depression drugs saving lives. I met 28-yr-old Chris Stephens, who was very open about his depression and his life in general. He was also super open about being photographed which really helped me. I spent a couple hours working on various portraits, in and around his home, and to his favorite writing spot. The challenge was to show a new life for a people suffering with depression. 

This story is fascinating because the new drugs being developed are designed similarly to Special K. And in fact "Special K," which is "an FDA-approved anesthetic named ketamine, can relieve even suicidal depression in a matter of hours. And it works on many patients who haven't responded to current antidepressants like Prozac."

And for people like Chris, this has given them a second life. 

To hear the story: New Depression Drugs Offer Hope For Toughest Cases 

Outtakes:

Food and Art in Sebastopol

An October travel assignment for the New York Times travel section sent me to Sebasotpol for the day to photograph their eclectic food and arts scene.

These assignments are always really fun, but they can be super crazy and stressful as I'm usually running around with my shotlist photographing places and people under varies lighting conditions. I try to shoot indoors when its in the afternoon and outside places when the light is softer. Sometimes I have to be at two places at the same time as I'm trying to compete with time before the light falls. Its just hectic sometimes! But I always meet really cool people and discover new places, such as one of the best thrift stores I have ever been too, Aubergine.

Sebastopol is also home to some very creative people, and one of them is Patrick Amiot, whom is picture in my outtakes. I also want to thank his wife Brigitte Laurent for giving me a private tour of their home, Mr. Amiot for showing me his "studio," which is pretty much a very cool junkyard, and a photographer's paradise to photograph.

The town also has really incredible food. I was also lucky to photograph a farm (this was off the list but I really wanted to go) where most of the foods for dishes at the restaurant, Peter Lowell, are grown.

Innovation tackles truancy

For the New York Times and Bay Citizen...what a great assignment and program for these kids. I shot this in early December. I hope that more schools will develop hands-on, creative and innovative programs to help give disadvantage kids opportunities such as this. I'll just let you read the story by Trey Bundy, whom I've worked with a few times, and is a fantastic reporter. Here's the lede of the story, "For decades, teachers and school districts have battled truancy, struggling to engage students who cope with economic hardship, community strife, domestic violence and drug abuse. Some students avoid school because they are not interested or because they are being bullied. But since 2008, in part because of programs like those at Downtown, the San Francisco district’s chronic truancy has dropped by 31 percent."

Read the story here: On Land and in the Bay, Innovaction Tackles Truancy

San Francisco's new minimum wage for the WSJ

An assignment for the Wall Street Journal about San Francisco becoming the first big city in the U.S. with a minimum wage topping $10 an hour, on Jan. 1, 2012. I was assigned to photograph a clothing manufacturing factory in downtown San Francisco in an area that most folks don't go. In fact one construction worked asked if I was lost because I was trying to find the backdoor of this building. But inside the seamstresses were busy. It was a bit challenging because first the lighting was awful. The women were also really shy, and didnt speak english, but they were all sweet and we had many laughs as I'm sure I looked really silly to them trying to photography inconspicuously.

Here's the story: Minimum Wage

Tugboats in the San Francisco Bay

Last month's assignment for the New York Times and Bay Citizen....was so fun to be out on the water.

The tugboat was a state-of-the art two-year-old boat that cost about $50m. I had first envisioned the old classic tugboat, being out in the elements, the wind whiplashing my hair and seawater spraying on my face..hahaha none of the really happened. But it was still a fun assignment! The captain did let me drive for a bit too...

That day's job entailed assisting a cargo ship coming in from Singapore to the Oakland docks. The ship was incredibly huge. I often see them off the coast of San Francisco from Ocean Beach or from the window of my flat. You really have no idea how enormous these ships are until you are next to it. Really interesting experience, and of course I love any kind of water assignment.

Here's my clip and following outtakes:

Catch the story here: tugboats

 

Out of the Rolling Ocean

With the last six frames left of a roll, I headed down to the beach to capture this amazing blue glow I saw from my yard. My favorite time to shoot and it lasts only minutes. The earth, sky and ocean in the same blue color palette. This day was the last of a weekend-long the bluegrass festival...it was summery fall...surf was good that day as was the music from the park.

Visiting a dark past on Angel Island

I visited Angel Island for the first time in October. We took the ferry and rented bikes to cruise around the island. Considering I was born and raised in the San Francisco/Bay Area, I feel like its a shame that it me took so long to visit a part of my history, not just locally, but about my ancestry.

The island is a state park, and the dark history that haunts it is just part of its rich story, which you can read here: http://angelisland.org/history/. During the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act, this island served as a detention center for all incoming Chinese immigrants. You won't find "detention center" in our American history, though that is essentially what it was. Instead you'll read: United States Immigration Station (USIS).

The buildings have since been renovated, new paint, the grounds immaculate, and the only real sense of how life might have been here are the etchings of poetry by prisoners on the wooden walls of the dormitories. You might say that I was a really disappointed, but not surprised, in the softening effect of our American history.

For more history on the "Immigration Station," please click on this link: http://angelisland.org/history/united-states-immigration-station-usis/

i made a book...pacific park

snaps from a quick trip to la last year with a friend....thanks Missy!

PACIFIC PARK by LIANNE MILTON | Make Your Own Book

blinded...

"Please, remember me
My misery
And how it lost me all I wanted
Those dogs that love the rain
And chasing trains
The colored birds above there running
In circles round the well
And where it spells
On the wall behind St. Peter's
So bright with cinder gray
And spray paint
'Who the hell can see forever?'"

- the trapeze swinger -
iron & wine

the devilettes

A few months ago I photographed a friend's dance troupe in San Francisco, the Devilettes, during one of their last shows of the year...it was something i had been meaning to photograph for awhile and finally got around to doing it...and what fun! Shooting small events or mini projects is a good way to give myself a break from "the work," to shoot and wander freely without thinking of the storyline. Now i want to go back and shoot more! Thanks Melissa, and the Devilettes, for having me there!! {music by Link Wray: Ace of Spades}

The National Palace of Culture

Guatemala City --

Los Barriletes....the kites

Here in Guatemala on Dia de los Muertos, or otherwise known as Todos Santos - All Saints Day - families get together and fly kites, have picnics, drink, and be merry at the cemetaries of their deceased. On Monday I went with a friend to check out the kites at Santiago Sacatepequez....to the cemetary where it overlooks a lush green valley.

When two worlds collide

Over Labor Day weekend, this city gal found herself immersed in a quaint village in the middle of Wisconsin. This time I wasn't on assignment. I was hired by a colleague, who otherwise assigns me stories for NPR, to photograph her wedding. Honored and touched, this moment also terrified me: I'm photographing my picture editor's wedding! As soon as I touched ground, met all their closest relatives and friends, I soon enough felt like I was part of their extended family. Here is a colorful snapshot of mixed iphone and hasselblad images from Ephraim, Wisconsin.

Thank you Coburn and Brad, and your families and closest friends, for a memorable time and having me document one of the most celerbated days of your lives....