This cucumber is mad as hell!

Just a friendly Friday afternoon reminder. Pay attention to your vegetables or they might loose their cool.

I recently shot some scary looking characters. The new jewelry collection, Mantis7, by artist Roger Canevari is highlighted by beautiful, jewel encrusted, vintage coral skulls. The pieces, carefully crafted, yet simple and wearable, have already resonated throughout the fashion world, with a client list including Heidi Klum, Raquel Zimmerman, Lara Stone, Nicola Formichetti and Cher.

Vintage hand carved coral skulls.

Look for the Mantis7 website launch coming in October. In the meantime, enjoy this sneak peek.

Windflower Farm, Green house and Tractors

For the past two summers I have been a member of Prospect Heights CSA (Community Supported Agriculture), each week picking up a bounty of vegetables, fruit and eggs at our local P.S. 9. Every year, the farmer, Ted Blomgren, invites the members of his six New York City CSA’s to camp on his farm and experience their food first hand even if it’s only for a weekend. I spent this past Saturday night camping out at Windflower Farm near the small town of Easton NY, just a stone’s throw from southern Vermont. In this picturesque setting, Ted grows organic vegetables and some conventional fruit for an ever increasing number of new yorkers eager to shorten their food chain.

CSA Members Listen to Farmer Ted Blomgren

Farmer Ted Blomgren speaks to CSA members

Ted gave us a tour of the farm and answered questions about his farming practice on Saturday afternoon, followed by a hike to the top of a ridge on the adjoining property. From there we could see Vermont and Massachusetts. That evening we had a pot luck meal and a bon fire to finish things off. A few people tried to start a sing along to no avail. I awoke the next morning to the sun streaming in the tent. Looking out the window it was nice to see the colorful tents scattered in the dewy hay field.

Looking south over Washington County

After breakfast the group splintered off to explore the area. I chose to follow Mary Pratt back to Elihu Farm to see where my eggs come from. I was very impressed with the honesty of the farmers. Both Ted and Mary were very candid about the compromises and concerns that arise while trying to farm sustainably, keep up with demand for their products and still make ends meet.

Chickens chase a grasshopper in front of their shelter

When the farm tour came to an end we splintered off again and I sped off to the Cambridge Farmer’s Market to see what I could find. The real surprise was the lack of fresh veggies. I guess when you live in a place surrounded by farms, there is a lot less demand for farm fresh veggies, all you have to do is go knock on your neighbor’s door. I did manage to buy a bushel of corn. More on that later.

A 4H prize winning goat at the Washington County Fair

Sunday afternoon was topped off with a trip to the Washington County Fair for tractor pulling, funnel cakes and lots and lots of live stock. It’s been a long time since I’ve been to a County Fair. It was lots of fun checking out the farm equipment, drinking slushies and getting a wicked sunburn.

Dinner at sunset overlooking Lake Michigan, Orchard Beach State Park.

The last week of July brought an opportunity to get out of town for a little while. So we packed up the rental car and headed to the midwest for some camping and film festival fun in the great state of Michigan. When I was growing up my family went camping a lot, but never in Michigan. I’m not sure why because this is a state that seems dedicated to the pursuit. The state parks are pristine and somehow I think they manage to keep the bugs at the border. Camping has been on the rise during the economic downturn and I think I may have grabbed a few stock worthy photos while I was at it myself.

Cooking on an open fire.

Sara, enjoying the corn as much as the sunset view.

While in Michigan we also attended the Traverse City Film Festival to support and document The Elephant in the Living Room’s continued award winning film festival tour. The TCFF was founded by documentary film maker Michael Moore and films are chosen by invitation only. Not only did The Elephant in the Living Room get invited, it managed to sell out it’s first screening and win the Founder’s Prize for Best Non-Fiction Film. Congratulations, once again, to Michael Webber and The Elephant in the Living Room.

Just in time for our second heat wave of the summer, I sent this little promo.

I’ve been working on several projects incorporating moving images, stop motion and otherwise. Check back for more coming soon.

Since my last post things have really been heating up, last week NYC saw record highs in the triple digits. And I had the pleasure of working on some hot new projects.

In May, I worked with upstart jewelry designer Nikki Baker. Her collection is now available via her website at www.gioiellinb.com.

It was looking like the studio would be blazing hot for this shoot but we really dodged a bullet and it stayed cool through the project’s completion. Art direction and design for the website was handled by Black Paper Design.

June brought the Proenza Schouler pre-spring 2011 accessories collection into the studio. It’s always a pleasure to work with artist and art director Alejandro Cardenas on these shoots. Images from the collection will be coming soon to aaroncameronmuntz.com.

Also in June, The Elephant in the Living Room made its New York City debut at VisionFest. Director Mike Webber and Animal Advocate Scott Lope, formerly of Big Cat Rescue in Florida, answered questions following the film. More about The Elephant in the Living Room and my involvement, here.

As if that weren’t enough, July has brought the hottest temperatures and a great new project. On one of the hottest days of the year thus far, I shot new photos for ABC Carpets, Color Reform Collection. I am very excited to have the opportunity to work with ABC and this product. “These one of a kind rugs were neutralized to remove their original color and then over-dyed to create their remarkable chromatic state” and it is eco-friendly to boot. As much as I want to share some of the amazing images we created, you will just have to wait. But I will tell you this, our location had no air conditioning and I’m surprised no one ended up with heat stroke. The shoot was styled by Shane Klein at workgroup-ltd and a host of other talented people helped make the shoot happen. I have to thank everyone who worked on the shoot for soldiering on through the heat and humidity.

Hopefully the recent rain will cool things off, but in the meantime, stay cool and enjoy the summer.

I spent a couple days of this beautiful holiday weekend cycling and camping with a good friend and colleague. If this is your kind of thing, check out The Canalway Trail. It runs all the way from Buffalo to Albany with plenty of camping along the way. Perfect for a leisurely bike camping trip.

Ryan, crossing a bridge reclaimed just for The Canalway Trail.

The view from our second campsite in St. Johnsville.

Thanks to the cutting edge and innovative people at A Photo Folio, I am proud to present the iPad friendly aaroncameronmuntz.com.

I would be happy to hear any feedback about the design. A Photo Folio is continually making improvements to their sites which ultimately create a better, richer on line experience for my clients and potential clients.

I will post a screen grab of the iPad version of the site as soon as I can get my hands on it… and here it is.

This is how my website looks on the iPad.

The verdict is in and I am pleased to say that the iPad version of my website looks identical to the version you will find on almost any computer.

The image above is thanks to a great website, ipadpeek that will allow you to preview your webwork in the iPad environment from your desktop or laptop.

Summer teaser…