by Matthew | Dec 15, 2014 | Photography
Last week we sent out the latest Idiots’Books newsletter. Like every newsletter, the banner image featured a photo of Robbi and me. Here’s the one we used.
I like it. Actually, I love it. In part, I love it because it is so surprising. That’s not what we look like and yet it must be since it’s us in the photo. But also it was surprising because five minutes before the photo was taken, I had no idea that I was going to be part of a glam photo shoot. No indeed.
As I often am on an average afternoon, I was on the phone having a conference call with the folks at my office. We were talking about a project. We were sharing ideas, critiquing work. That sort of thing. Suddenly, Robbi came over to me looking like a harlot and wielding eyeliner. It looked like this. It was terrifying.
The idea for the newsletter was that Idiots’Books had just gotten a makeover. In case you missed the news, we’ve just launched a new Idiots’Books site and Idiots’Books blog in addition to a brand new Robbi and Matthew online shop that sells all of our stuff, including the entire Idiots’Books catalog.
Robbi’s great idea for the banner image was that since Idiots’Books was getting a makeover, so were we.
And so, as my colleagues and I continued to discuss, Robbi started working on her greatest challenge to date.
That is, making yours truly look pretty.
I later asked one of my colleagues if she or any of the others were aware of my temporary distraction, but apparently, my contributions continued with their usual degree (or lack) of coherence.
There is a reason I did not embrace my inner goth in high school. It’s that my outer goth is so unsatisfying.
While I continued with my call, Robbi set her camera on a tripod and proceeded to set up the shot.
From my vantage, she was having a great deal of fun admiring herself. I’m not sure why she needed me.
But, eventually, I was invited to step into the frame. I put the phone on speaker and continued to monitor the proceedings.
We didn’t know exactly what sort of shot we were going for, and so we tried a few configurations, some of which were downright humiliating.
Some of which were simply odd.
But eventually we found a shot we thought we could work with. We liked the composition, the affect, the delicate balance of mascara and shoulder. But something was missing. We weren’t quite fabulous enough.
A few minutes with PhotoShop did the trick.
It’s amazing what a little bit of black and white and a whole lot of overexposure will do.
It has taken nearly five days to get all the eyeliner off. It will take the rest of my days to remove the stain upon my reputation.
But I do love this photo. I’m glad it exists. I’m glad that it’s possible for us to look like that, if only for a moment.
![Idiots on Instagram]()
by Matthew | Aug 18, 2014 | Photography, Uncategorized
Happy, Monday, all.
It is a happier Monday than most for me, because my family has returned.
They rolled into Chestertown late Friday night, and we have had a few days of intense hugging, story telling, and swimming.
But cheerful family reunions are not the point of this morning’s post. Quite the contrary.
When Robbi and I were at the Alt Summit in Salt Lake City in June, we learned about the importance of various social media outlets that we had been largely ignoring. And so we resolved to be better patrons of Instagram, Twitter, and Pinterest.
We had both already started Instagram feeds, and both enjoy taking photos, so we started there.
If you follow us on Facebook, you might have seen some of the following pictures over the past few weeks and months.
August peeking out the window of our house in Alaska when he was supposed to be sleeping.
Alden and her two new friends having lunch at the Lake of the Ozarks in July.
August and Robbi doing their best imitation of Lady and the Tramp.
This strange yellow fish that got caught in our nets.
Sunset on River Road, from a run I took in late June.
A fence on Truslow Farm Road.
A gorgeous orange balloon posing with Robbi at the Alt Summit garden party.
My two cheerful and one curmudgeonly children last Mother’s Day.
Our 1921 Vandercook Platen Press. It makes beautiful prints, but it might be the greater work of art.
But not as great a work of art as Robbi herself (who also makes beautiful prints, I should add).
The kids at the dentist.
Alden at a face-painting themed birthday party last spring.
Those photos above were from my Instagram feed. The ones below are from Robbi’s.
Alden at the Bennington Monument.
The kids sharing ice cream at the Wind Chill Factory, just south of Ticonderoga.
Kato harnessing his inner buccaneer at the Silver Bay YMCA program (in case you can’t tell, he is a Wee Woozle).
August and Bob napping in the afternoon sunlight in the cottage at Lake George.
Impromptu midnight picnic in the Anchorage airport baggage claim (courtesy McDonalds, open 24-hours).
Robbi sketching on her Wacom, designing the tutorial for Benji McBean’s Amazing Machines.
Kato and Alden getting ready for a roundup.
Robbi settling in for a sugar-and-caffeine-fueled all-night drawing binge .
Robbi painting the final art for the cover of Benji McBean, using her digital sketch as reference.
Painting the rosy cheeks on a bully.
Outgoing mail.
First watermelon of the season, on Bob’s back steps.
Working.
Just finished binding make-your-own mix-and-match book templates for our workshop at the Reisterstown Public Library.
Painting.
If you enjoyed these photos, there are many more for the viewing. Robbi and are both in the habit of posting to our Instagram feeds several times a day.
You can find us at:
@writingmatthew
and
@drawingrobbi
These are, incidentally, the handles we use for Twitter, too, though I cannot make great claims for the quality of our Twitter feeds at present. That’s the next horizon, to be tackled when we’re feeling ready. For now, we’re having fun taking pictures.
We’d love it if you’d join us.
![Idiots on Instagram]()
by Matthew | Jun 4, 2014 | Photography, Stuff We Like
This just in: a photo sent by friend and former Idiots’Books intern Tilly.
Tilly now lives in Portland, and so I’m guessing this shot was taken while gazing at some storefront way out west.
I don’t know the specifics, but I’m happier not to. There’s something so poignant about this photo just as it is. It says so much about us.
First off, we are scrappy, industrious. Why merely discard your heap of broken cookies when you can sweep them into a plastic bag and sell them as a product?
But we are also forthright and straightforward about our intentions. We create clear signage that clearly explains the facts on hands. These cookies are available, but they are not intact.
We are shrewd consumers, always on the lookout for a deal. Broken cookies may not be quite as pleasing as their non-broken brethren, but they taste the same, right? They can still be chewed and swallowed. As long as they are not excessively stale. At this point we notice that the label says nothing about when the cookies were broken and how fresh (or not) they might now be.
We like to have options: scanning further to the right, I see that a smaller-sized option is available to those who might be interested in some broken cookies but not quite interested enough to fork out a full $2.50. Though some of us might see this lesser bag as half full, I tend to think of it as half empty.
And finally, looking past the cookies for a moment (I realize it’s hard to do), the rest of the store seems to be completely empty. A gloomy warehouse of no plenty. As if the apocalypse has come, the other consumables have all been carted off by the eager mobs, and nothing remains but these two bags of cookies, rejected by even the hungriest survivors on account of their being broken.
It was a bold move, creating this particular product. I would like to see the accompanying marketing blitz. Billboards? 30-second TV spots? A Facebook page?
Tilly, let us know if there is more to this story? Or don’t. I’m sure it could never compete with the story in my head.
![Idiots on Instagram]()
by Matthew | Mar 4, 2014 | Life, Photography
Just a quick post this morning to share a few recent photos that show why, in spite of not having robust restaurant choices, nearby museums, and madding crowds with which to mingle, I love living in this place.
Here is a view from the Chester River Bridge the other night. The sky and the river were distinguishable only by the line of trees along the water.
And here we are a few nights later, driving out by Great Oak. We paused by the side of the road to see the final exhale of the sun before it set beyond the treeline.
I tried various Instagram filters on the image just above, but nothing could compete with the original.
![Idiots on Instagram]()
by Matthew | Oct 22, 2013 | Life, Photography
The weekend before last, we were lucky to have a visit from our friend Ashley Weeks Cart, she who commissioned our Ephropology poster, she who curates family and creative life at Blogalacart, and she who takes gorgeous photos of just about everything.
We were even luckier that she happened to bring her camera along.
Yesterday, I posted many pics of the family over on the Bobbledy Blog. Have a look if you’re interested in seeing her photos of the kids.
Today I’ll share some studio shots and our new publicity pics.
Here’s Robbi at her desk.
And me at mine.
And here we are together, in various degrees of idiocy.
If we were, say, choosing the photo for a dust jacket, which would you pick?
Robbi and the tough guy?
Robbi and the carnivore?
Robbi basking in the glow of admiration?
Matthew beaming while being affirmed?
Mutual satisfaction?
Unequivocal affection?
Shared contentment?
Shared disapproval?
Or joint enthusiasm?
So many choices…
There’s really no bad options, as far as I’m concerned.
To check out Ashley’s photos of our kids.
To hire Ashley to take photos of your family.
To read her lovely, inspiring blog.
![Idiots on Instagram]()
by Matthew | Sep 18, 2013 | Life, Photography
It was 46 degrees when I woke up this morning. For the first time in a long time, I was legitimately cold. Actually shivering. It was a welcome moment. This is how I mark the end of summer. I love the fall and the promise of nights beneath heavy blankets. And, of course, runs that aren’t so hot.
It was foggy on the bridge this morning.
‘
I couldn’t help but stop and snap some photos of the lamplight through the heavy haze.
Somehow, the empty streets seemed even more deserted than usual.
I love living in a place where I can stand in the middle of a bridge and take a picture in peace on the first true morning of fall.
