Indie Photobook Library.

I'm excited to announce the addition of my zine to the archives of the INDIE PHOTOBOOK LIBRARY! Founded by Larissa Leclair in 2010, the iPL is an archive of self-published and indie published photobooks. The iPL "promotes and showcases the books in the collection through international pop-up and feature-length exhibitions, articles, conferences, guest lectures, and also preserves them as a non-circulating public library. Having a specific collection dedicated to this contemporary movement in publishing allows for the development of future discourse on trends in self-publishing, the ability to reflect on and compare books in the collection, and for scholarly research to be conducted years, decades, and centuries to come." It is an honor to be part of such an amazing project.

If you haven't gotten your copy yet, CLICK HERE!

Bucket list: hangin' with the captains.

I've always loved airports. All the possibility! All the places you can go. One of my first memories was the massive departures/arrivals board at Frankfurt airport in Germany - one of those old flippy kinds, where all of a sudden the letters and numbers whip into a frenzy, whirring and clicking like a million typewriters, stopping with a new display of far-away worlds: Karachi, Cairo, Tokyo, New York, Dakar...

At the moment I don't live near a big international hub like that, but the feeling is close to the same no matter what airport I'm in: ahhh, the smell of jet fuel, the shuffly sound of hundreds of people wheeling their suitcases, the background p.a. announcements (especially lovely if delivered in more than one foreign language), and the crew, of course, all stripes and uniforms and well-worn flight cases. Emerging from secret elevators and breezing through doors requiring passcodes. What exactly is back there? I've always wanted to know.

So I asked around, and - lucky me - a dream came true at Detroit Metropolitan Airport. With my very own visitor's badge and personal escort, I took a tour of the TRACON room and the control tower, went through several secret doors, found out where the peanuts are stored, and strolled to the gates with the captains. Tim let us onto his plane and John sat me up front and showed me what handles and switches and buttons (don't push the red one!) did what. TOO fun. For a day I was with the in-crowd, feeling like Cinderella. Whenever I'm at an airport now I smile for a new reason: I've had a glimpse of what's behind the scenes. Thank you, John, and Tim, and everyone at Detroit Metro for making a little dream of mine come true.

A few airport landscapes from the day...

(an adventure from November '09 but I'd forgotten to post it)

Up in the air.

Haven't posted flying news in a while and thought it was time! First off, I soloed in the Champ last summer and celebrated with red velvet cupcakes...

Then in November it was planning and flying a dual cross-country, basically using a chart and compass and the scenery outside the window. Flew to Tiffin, Wyandaot County, and the little grass strip in Ada...

Over the winter I studied like crazy and took the written part of my flying exam a couple weeks ago. Back in the day, John had gotten a 100 on his, and so did Gary, so how could I settle for anything less? Once in the testing room, I got nervous and completely forgot how to use my plotter. Bizarre! So I saved those questions for last and re-taught myself how to use it: Ummm, if east is 090... where does this piece of plastic go?

Now all I have to do to 'finish' my training and get my license is to learn how to fly a new airplane - one with lights and navigational equipment, a yoke instead of a stick (how do you steer this crazy thing?!), more dials and buttons and generally more things to remember. Sorta feels like starting from scratch again though, which is a bit discouraging, especially with dwindling funds (trade photography for time in a 172 anyone?) and summer scheduling conflicts . It's easy to understand why so many people who start flight training wind up letting it go - sometimes it seems SO uphill. But when I look at these photos I realize how far I've gotten already, even if it's taken me longer than I wanted it to. I also think of fellow student pilots who might be having a tough time with their training and I want to hang in there for all of us! Way to go, team!