Its 5:30 in the morning here in PV Mexico and I just finished reading “Just Kids” by Patti Smith. The memorial poems that end the book made me get up to start writing. In my own life AIDS took a girl friend of mine, Mary Tudor, the wife of our doctor friend who delivered McKenzie and sister to my dear friend Dianne who is showing at the Soul Artist sale. AIDS comes knocking on my door regularly since my youngest brother lives with HIV and has since his youth. David has escaped the ultimate ravages of the disease but living with it is certainly not what you want for your brother or for anyone. My sorrow over what photography lost when Mapplethorpe died made me hop out of bed to try to put something meaningful into words.

The glow from the evening before I left for this trip with Doug has stayed with me thru the connective power of facebook. Reading what friends from my past and present have commented on the little video that Megan posted from the event have kept me smiling and given me a warm feeling about Soulumination. Now its not as if all the efforts that surround Soul don’t normally make me feel warmth, its just so hard to hold that feeling with the reality of the losses.

I was thinking back to my last shoot at Seattle Children’s and the amount of tears. Tears flowing onto the beautiful infant, tears that were trying to be wiped away, but 2 boxes of tissues could not begin to absorb all the anguish. The absolute sorrow that was filling the room with so much heat that it was hard to breathe left me slightly feverish feeling.

When I multiply this sorrow by the 700 shoots that Soul has recorded, I remind myself that some of our friends survive, they grow and blossom and show us that hope is indeed a part of our work. But sadly the majority end with loss and that is what we are supposed to be doing, this legacy work is not for the faint-hearted. It is such a wonderful thing that now over 35 talented photographers have realized that their hearts have what it takes to make images that will sustain memories that might help bridge and maybe even help to heal some of the pain.

I remember seeing some of Robert Mapplethorpe’s work at SAM years ago, he was shocking the world with not only his talent but with bringing the images of the gay life style into full view--never apologizing and as Patti puts it in her book, never differentiating between the beauty of his floral photos and his more provocative male images. His legacy is huge but I can’t help but morn his loss as he moved forward when others faltered. His images are often shown in the Christie’s and Sotheby’s Auction catalogs that are such a wonderful and generous gift to me from my friend, Don Logan. The prices his images fetch are high and in my heart I hope his estate benefits AIDS research.

Photography has many uses and it made me chuckle to read that when asked recently which camera to buy, Annie Leibovitz answered an Iphone, a tribute to the loss of another genius but also so very true as its definitely my next purchase and I love seeing all the images on facebook that my young mom friends post of their stunning children that were taken with their phones- tiny but powerful glimpses into their daily lives.

So with Soul we walk into one of the harder realms of photography but hopefully we do it with honor, grace and like Robert we don’t differentiate from the beauty we record in our daily work and the beauty we are called to in this much more difficult realm. We walk into sacred ground and maybe we return with a little more than we can understand or comprehend and that makes it possibly the hardest thing any of us that work with Soulumination will ever face with our cameras, but maybe the most important.

Onward in love and peace, and saluting the work of photographic genius that was lost but remains and grows by teaching us to follow the heart, Lynette

I completed my business work for the year yesterday and today I am honored to be named as a Puget Sound Journal Woman of Influence and tomorrow Doug and I fly to PV Mexico, poignant time of year. Its been hard to sleep with thoughts running thru my head about how to best honor the work of Soul in a two minute time slot, but hoping I can pull it off in loving memory and tribute to my niece, baby Lanie, my best friend's son Janus and all the angel babies and wonderful parents that we have lost. Hoping that the right words will fall into place and that my own soul has the ability to stand strong in a time of bittersweet thankfulness that the judges thought the work I have started is worthy of recognition.

I will be joined tonight by family and friends and I will carry with me the knowledge that Megan is working to get the shoots set up for four more families. The basis of Soul is just such an emotional thing that we can't ever measure success in the traditional ways. Higher numbers means more loss, no money changes hands for services rendered and yet it has a power all it own. Recently while working with my clients and friends, Kurt and Leslie and their family, Leslie reminded me that the nightmare of losing all your children's photos had been a reality for her. In the fire at their home all photos that I had taken for them and all the family photos had been destroyed, she said she could replace everything else but sadly not the negatives and prints that were wiped out that day. Those of us who are parents realize that the loss of a child is the biggest tragedy in life so thankfully Leslie has her three wonderful sons, but those precious photos are now distant memories.

I introduce you today to a tiny one whose hello is also goodbye. Cameron was photographed by Kevin and we are honored that his parents have agreed to share the images. We send our deepest sympathy and thoughts of love and peace.

We also received the releases from on of the families photographed by board member Jodi. Dash is one strong little guy born premature with multiple health issues. We are thankful to his family for sharing their son with all of us and proud to have both Jodi and Kevin working with Soul to provide such beautiful images




I am finishing the writing just an hour before leaving for tonight's celebration, huge thanks for all the kind words on facebook, the flowers from Heather and Kelly, and the curly hair by Cindy Frank at Salon Metro. I will do my best to honor the work of everyone at Soul and to be grateful to a community who has supported my business for nearly 25 years. In love and peace, Lynette

Not sure why I can't sleep but thought it might be wise to put this time to use and write this week's blog. It has been so busy that I might just be on overload from all the activity. I am hoping that the fact that I have 5 more family shoots for my business and then I am done for the year will mean some wonderfully restful nights. The fact that Doug and I leave for Mexico on Thursday for a week could also bring some welcome refreshing time before the fun and excitement of the wreath making event and the Artist Sale moves into high gear.

I am featuring the work by Margaret Vance today as we work to ensure that the attendance at the Artist Sale is in record numbers to match the record number of requests this year. Margaret's winged creatures are favorites of many and are part of my personal collection of Christmas ornaments. Mac and Lew had one of her pop up toys when they were babies and I have it stashed away in case I am gifted with grand children someday. Margaret's husband Kurt is currently undergoing cancer treatment for a recent diagnosis and is a believer in the power of prayer so please keep him in your heart.

I have lost count but I think I saw the photos for five new families to Soul move through the office this past week and I know that Leo's latest shoot is completed and ready for printing. One of our newer photographers, Michelle did two great shoots in the past couple of weeks and still managed to mail in 2 beautiful hand knit baby hats for the sale. Michael also did 2 shoots recently and they are both lovely.

The show at Annie's Art and Frame looks so beautiful thanks to Sarah who works there for her beautiful job in hanging the pieces. If you are in Ballard please drop by to see the faces of Soul. Annie's has been one of our biggest supporters, framing hundreds of photos that are part of the gifts we give. They do a wonderful job and have done it free of charge. Doug and I frame all our pieces with them and I can say they do a great job and have excellent service. They are located on Market Street on the block past the Bay Theater as you head toward the Locks. We gifted the staff with Soul tees in a small gesture of thank you for their amazing dedication to our families.

On Wednesday we are attending the Women of Influence awards dinner and I will be called to do a short speech, thankfully its only a couple of minutes and will be a time when I can share a bit about the inspiration for Soulumination. I want to thank my longtime friend and hairstylist, Cindy Frank, owner of Salon Metro who is one of the artists at the sale for agreeing to come in on her day off to help me look presentable.

We are thankful to all who have signed up for wreath making and donation of greens. If you have talent in the floral arts and would like to join us in making wreaths please call us at 297-0885 or if you have greens to donate we would love to hear from you as we love having a wide variety of greens to work with and our goal this year is to make and sell 200 wreaths. We still need more people for cashiering, and other duties at the sale so if you are proficient with numbers and are careful at recording we would be most grateful.

I will write again soon as I noticed an envelope containing releases arrived this weekend and of course I will want to share the new face with all of you, in love and peace, Lynette

I am heading home from a wonderful weekend at the cabin, the next visit will be after our trip to Mexico to gather greens for the wreath making efforts. I got to facetime with my girls in Turkey a few minutes ago and really love that they are together exploring the world. At the cabin were the 2 moms whose babies inspired the work of Soulumination. They helped me go over answers to possible questions I will be asked when we attend the Puget Sound Business Journal's Women of Influence event next week.

I have been pondering the information about on census of Soulumination photo shoots this year. We are already over the number of shoots we did last year and its not even mid November. I am thankful that the word is out so that we can provide our services to new families but of course sorry that the numbers are rising as the sorrow and loss is just so much. As always we move forward as gracefully as possible, learning to embrace life as it presents itself.

We are now on the real countdown to our annual Soulumination Artist Sale. We have many returning artists: Betsy Brown, Trina cottingham, Cindy Frank, Kristin House, Sophi Kollenborn, Maude May, Robin May, Kari Schlechten, Diane Shea, Patti Shaw, Sidni Sobolik, Margaret Swanson-Vance, Lily West, James Sutherland, Jane Wilson, Jenni Wilson and myself. We are welcoming Jody Cain, Patsy Thola Chamberlain, Sofia Christine, Jeannette Derry, Julia Garrels, Ginny Huber, Becky Morrette, Susanna Prince, Gretchen Quinn, Irene Shimizu, and Dianne Tudor. Plus we have the young artists joining us: Colin Baker, Brady Jurgens, Claire Aiello, Mary-Kathryn Egger, and Grant Comick.

Megan is busy booking more new families. Kevin was out shooting on the weekend, Dawn is working with a new family and just completed the photos for another, Michael just did a shoot and Michelle is going to Seattle Children's tomorrow.

We hope that this year's Artist Sale is the best ever. In love and peace, Lynette