July 2006 - Applegate, Oregon
The day after my older sister DaNel married Gavin, I went back up to the wedding site, also on my Gram's ranch, camera in tow. With no one around, which makes laying down in a field of oats a little less suspicious, I filled up several cards with images. My Dad spent months turning this normally dry, brown field into a beautiful green park! The bridal party, including DaNel in her wedding gown, walked down through these knee high oats. It was a breath-taking moment!

February 2007 – Santa Barbara, California
This doll, which only stands about six inches tall and cost just a few dollars, has brought a fair share of laughter to my life. Jodie Willard, my boss at Door 9 Studios in Santa Barbara, handed me $100 one day and asked that I come up with some creative stock shots. This was one of the results! This little doll was the star of the studio for a couple days, and a reminder that often times simplicity equals success. A big thanks to Jodie for allowing me to use this image for my project!

October 2007 – Interstate 90, somewhere in Montana
When the ideas started coming together for this project on the highway back from Jackson, I really was beside myself with excitement. I couldn’t help but pick up my camera, conveniently on the seat beside me and just start clicking the shutter…YES, while driving! The mountains and roadsides were speckled in Fall colors, adding to the beauty of not just the view, but this moment in my life!

October 2007 – Blanchard, Idaho
I was recently blessed with a two-night stay at Stoneridge Resort given to me by two brand new friends of mine in Idaho. Brett works next door to the Droolin Dog Espresso stand, and he and his wife, Jocelyn, have become, in a very short time, good friends of Jennifer and mine. The resort is set in a beautiful landscape, and this shot was taken on one of my afternoon hikes. In one hand my camera, and in the other I am holding this branch up against an overcast sky.

January 2007 – Santa Barbara, California
Alice Keck Park is one of my favorite places in Santa Barbara, and inspired many detailed nature images throughout my time living there. This shot was taken in the middle of the day, a bright, cloudless sky overhead. I stood in a place where the sun sat perfectly behind this lamp, making it appear on, and then I simply exposed my camera for that light.

October 2004 – Santa Barbara, California
Coffee, on many levels, has been a huge part of my life, especially over the past 10 years. I am into my seventh year working in the coffee industry, whether it Starbucks or now Droolin Dog Espresso, I have served up a huge number of lattes. This image was created during a Commercial Advertising class at Brooks. The espresso size, red coffee cup is sitting on a green piece of paper, both on my tiny table at the first apartment where I lived alone. I love the point of view and love the play of colors, oh and also loved living alone.

February 2007 – Santa Barbara, California
Speaking of Starbucks, I made an amazing amount of life-long friends while working at stores in both San Diego and Santa Barbara. I met Kelly at the De La Guerra Starbucks in Santa Barbara, and despite the fact that we only worked together for a short time before she moved on, well I guess it was two years according to Kelly and during this time and the years that have followed, she has become a very close friend of mine! She asked me to put together the wedding invitations for her and Will’s September 2007 wedding, I was honored! This is one of many shots used in uniquely creating a memorable invitation. It was used for both the gift registry inserts as well as for the reception name cards. Thanks again to Kelly and Will for allowing me to be part of this very special time in their lives.

March 2007 – Santa Barbara, California
Sometimes the best things in life are right in front of our faces. This lovely, little, yellow flower was growing right next to where I parked my car at the last apartment I lived at in Santa Barbara. I opened my door, took one step, squatted down and captured this image against yet another perfectly blue, Santa Barbara sky.

September 2004 – Santa Ynez, California
Some of my favorite days are when I commit to just jump in my car with my camera, and drive until something inspires me to stop. One this particular day I had ventured about 40 miles up Highway 154 towards Solvang, when I saw a park sign I hadn’t noticed before. I made the left turn and drove another 10 or 15 minutes until I saw the entrance. The park, Nojoqui Falls County Park, was pretty empty, and as I walked around I noticed this picnic table being drenched by a sprinkler that was suppose to be watering the grass around it. When I got closer I saw that the table was covered in pine needles and leaves from the canopy of trees it was sitting under. The 1/4 inch of standing water on the top, along with the sky’s reflection combined for an interesting play of light on the objects that were resting in it. I had found this rusty bottle cap while walking in the park, threw it up there and started snapping, along with dodging the sprinkler each time it came around!

November 2005 – Salton City, California
After graduating I took two trips, one back East to visit family and friends in Connecticut, New York and Maine, and the other was a solo road-trip I took down to Joshua Tree and the Salton Sea. Since seeing some of my Brooks professor’s work from this area during my first session in November 2002, I had always wanted to go check it out. It took me three years. It really is a fantastic place and remains on that long list of places that I must revisit.

July 2005 – Santa Barbara, California
As many of you will attest to and rightfully I will admit, I am a bit of an over achiever. Graduating Brooks was a huge achievement for me, and walking across that stage and celebrating with family and friends, although wonderful, just wasn’t enough. People were coming from out of town, my Santa Barbara friends were excited for me and I wanted to do something special that weekend. A photo exhibition of my work seemed like a great idea, well not only did I do one…I did three! This photograph, along with 14 others of the same purple wine glasses where exhibited at a local Santa Barbara winery, Cellar 205. See the story of the wine glasses under image #27. This image was taken on that same little kitchen table as image #7, the reflection is created by the natural light, diffused by my sheer, green curtains coming through my kitchen window.

December 2006 – Applegate, Oregon
My Gram’s house is just a mile up the road from my parent’s house, and when I was a youngster and decided to go up to visit, there was always a decision I had to make….do I take the road or should I take the back way through the fields. I won’t lie and say that I took the back way every time back then, but now when I go home, just as on the day I took this image, you can be assured I walk through the fields and along the dirt roads that lead to her house. This shot is over looking one of her many ponds, standing on the dirt road next to the hay pit. I feel so blessed to have been raised being surrounded by such beauty every day!

July 2005 - Santa Barbara, California
I have always been envious of musicians and have wanted to learn how to play the guitar for many years, so after receiving this beautiful Ibanez as a gift from my parents for my 20th birthday, I signed up for lessons. Life happens, or so the excuse goes, and after only one lesson, I set the guitar down. This happened while living in Connecticut with my first nanny family, and since then the guitar has traveled with me to Applegate, then to San Diego, then back to Applegate and then Santa Barbara, each time with expectations of taking lessons and learning how to play. This image was taken during the time ‘we’ spent in Santa Barbara, in my apartment, leaning up against a wall in the corner of my bedroom, lit only by a nearby lamp. The guitar is back in Applegate now and I still have not learned how to play. Someday!

September 2004 - Santa Ynez, California

This image is taken on the same wet picnic table as image #10. Instead of the reflection being caused from shooting towards the shade of the trees, this very different effect was caused from the direct reflection of the open blue and cloud spotted sky. My feet were in the same spot for both images, I simply turned 45 degrees to the right for this one. This particular day of shooting, in this rather ordinary park just might be the most successful day of final images that I have had thus far. For this image I picked a couple blades of grass, placed them in the water, opened up my aperture all the way, and clicked. It would have been a riot for an onlooker to watch me running in and out of the area each time the sprinkler came around! This photograph is my absolute favorite from that day!

November 2005 - Sedgwick, Maine

I have been to Sedgwick, Maine three times, the first time in 1999 while I was living back East, the second with my Gram in 2002, and the third right after I graduated from Brooks in 2005, each time driving up from New Canaan, Connecticut, thanks to the Daifotis family. The reasons…the first to meet my third cousins, Brockway and Audrey McMillan, the second to take my, then 84 year old Gram, to visit these first cousins of hers that she hadn’t seen in 60 years, it was also my Gram’s first time East of the Mississippi, and the third reason… because I fell in love with Maine and these very special relatives of mine! Brockway and Audrey are both very talented artists and truly incredible human beings! Brockway is also a photographer and has continually impressed me ever since that first time we met. Both 92 years old, like my Gram, Brock recently made the switch to digital photography, buying a Canon 5D like mine! This image was taken on a crisp, Fall morning just at the back of their house.

June 2003 - Calcutta, India

Getting the opportunity to go to India was certainly the highlight of 2003. My sister DaNel’s best friend from Coe College was getting married and because Chandrika had also become a friend of mine, I was invited to go! The entire trip was another lesson in culture appreciation, and India is another place on that list that I must revisit. You can see some of my other images from the trip on my photography website: www.melaniebessphotography.com, look under the ‘personal’ section. Indian weddings are huge celebrations, with five days of traditional events and ceremonies. With that being said and our tight traveling schedule, it didn’t allow for much ‘wandering’ time, and if we did it was mostly by car. (Transportation in India is a whole other story, too long to explain here, but a spectacle to witness!) This particular image was taken out the window of the car we were in… I only had time for one shot, as the chaotic traffic only cleared for a moment. As a photographer, those are often the images I appreciate the most!

December 2005 - Santa Barbara, California

Every Sunday in Santa Barbara since November 2003, next to Sterns Wharf, an organization called Veterans for Peace set up this alarmingly staggering, Arlington West war memorial. Each wooden cross they place in the sand represents fallen U.S. service members in Iraq. At the end of 2006, they had to cap their display at 3,000 crosses, as the logistics of setting them up became too much. Nevertheless it is an eye-opening display that now stretches over an acre of beach. The night I took this image was the first time I went down specifically to truly appreciate it and try to capture it with my camera. This is another image I didn’t realize I had until I went back through my archives in search of the 30 for this project. I achieved the effect of the photograph by using a long exposure and turning my zoom lens while the shutter was open.

March 2000 - Jerusalem, Israel

Backpacking through the United Kingdom, Europe, Northern Africa, the Middle East and then on to Australia was the best decision I have ever made. It was one of the many reasons going to Brooks was put off for five years from the time I was accepted. This image has to rank among the top ten taken throughout that incredible year. The opportunity to visit Israel, namely Jerusalem, was a life-changing experience. The history that exists there, the braid of religions, the spirituality it confirmed and encouraged in me, and the sheer beauty of it all will always be something I will never take for granted. The day we went to the Wailing Wall, or Western Wall was one of most uninhibited, emotional days I have yet to experience. This lady was one of the reasons why. After writing her prayer on a piece of paper and placing it in a crack in the wall, she began sobbing uncontrollably and praying out loud in a language I couldn’t understand. As I was watching her, and became overwhelmed with emotion myself, she rested her head on the wall and continued her crying prayers. It was a beautiful moment, so I lifted my camera, composed the image the best way I thought would translate the emotions, and clicked. Then I sat my camera down and walked up to the wall with my own prayers.

November 2005 - Joshua Tree National Park, California

You know, I have to admit that one of my favorite things is experiencing a new place… and doing it alone. Don’t get me wrong, I love having people around me and going places with family and friends, but there is just something completely different about the adventure when it is just you and in this case, nature. This trip was a last minute, spontaneous decision I made with the intentions of just getting out of town and relaxing after the craziness of the month leading up to graduating Brooks. Driving through Joshua Tree is like being on another planet, the vegetation and scenery are like nothing I have seen before, making it quite a unique place. When I saw this particular ‘Joshua Tree’ just off the side of the road, I pulled my Honda over, grabbed my camera and walked down toward it to set up a shot. After taking a few, finally being startled by the moment of quietness, I turned a complete circle and realized that for as far as my eyes could see, there was no one around, no cars driving by, none in the distance, there was NOTHING but me in this unfamiliar land. Moments like those make me so proud and thankful my parents raised me to be so independent, because it was truly a great moment!

October 2004 - Santa Barbara, California

Looking back over the imagery I shot for Brooks’ assignments, it became clear to me that some of my best work was created during the many Commercial Advertising classes I took, certainly a reflection of the incredible instruction I received from my talented and inspiring professors. I am not sure what was happening in my mind, while brainstorming this assignment, to conjure up such a combination of random things, and the same goes for image #24. But even after seeing this image as much as I have, there is still something about it that makes me pause each time, usually with a smile on face. Others that have seen it had the same reaction, so there has to be something successful about that. I shot this thrift-store, yellow phone first, then placed the kiwis where the receivers had been, and under the same lighting, took the second image. Then came a little Photoshop magic, and voilà!

September 2005 - Santa Barbara, California

It might be true that I have more dandelion images than any other single-object subject matter. I love that they are just weeds, and yet they bring childish joy to anyone, no matter what age, who picks one and attempts to clear the soft tufts in one breath. If you haven’t tried it in awhile…DO! There are so many life analogies that can be made corresponding to the stages of a dandelion. Every time I saw one that hadn’t ‘blown it’s wish’ in front of my apartment, I would pick it and attempt to get it up the stairs without destroying it. This one was intended for one of my purple wine glass images, and now I can’t remember if this was the exact one I used. I had these long vertical blinds on my sliding glass door, and I do recall that it was the end of the day and the last bit of light was streaking through, hitting the side of my black TV stand, and it was beautiful. When I took this image I was laying stomach down on my carpet, pushed up against the glass for the best angle and light, the dandelion leaning against the rim of a drinking glass placed next to the TV stand, and my neighbors getting yet another curious moment from me.

October 2004 - Santa Barbara, California

Back to those advertising classes and another image created to say something louder than the simplicity of the object itself. You can see I had this monochromatic thing happening when looking at this image and several others I chose, all shot over the same few months. However, I suppose it wasn’t a phase because I still like to set things up in this fashion. The tonality of this tiny, stainless steel teaspoon and the environment where it rests were enhanced using Photoshop. One fun aspect about this image, it can easily be changed to any hue, and in fact I have yet to sell it twice in the same color, until now!

August 2004 - Montecito, California

I will admit that of all the montages I have done, this is one of my favorites. I shot it using a very simple set up; small table, green tag board swept up like a seamless, a Smith-Victor light on the left, and a white fill card on the right. Again, this was two separate images blended together, for the first, I carefully cut the pear and peeled back the skin just as you see it. The second, using double-sided tape, I carefully placed the zipper on the pear to follow the slit running up it’s belly. The excess zipper at the top of the opening I looped outwards and secured with more tape, making sure to keep the open flaps in their same position as the previous image. I shot this the night before it was due as my first ideas didn’t work out. I remember this because I was staying with my friend Carrie, who was house-sitting for friends, and this was shot in their large, Montecito living room.

April 2005 - Santa Barbara, California

With a name like ‘Shooting Star’ you would think that this would be the flower associated with making wishes and not the dandelion. During the springtime in Oregon, as image #1 and its story proves, these wild flowers are everywhere. There are several places on my Gram’s ranch where the blanket of purple stretches for as far as you can see. My favorite is among all the oak trees up next to the Back 40! My sister Jennifer made the request that I finally offer this image to be printed, and it took some digging to find where and when I had taken it. My assumption was that it was during an Easter visit in Applegate, but I guess my memory isn’t as good as I thought! I finally remembered that I came across this Shooting Star while on a clean-up outing at some of the painted caves just north of Santa Barbara. It was an amazing day of hiking and exploring, spent with the amazing kids from City at Peace, a youth organization I felt privileged to volunteer for!

February 2004 - Santa Barbara, California

Volleyball has been a part of my life for a very long time. I suppose it all started whenever Friday nights at Applegate School were dedicated to open volleyball night for anyone who wanted to play. Those nights are some of the highlights of my elementary youth and bring back such fond memories. Once eligible to play on a team in the 6th grade, I continued playing through high school, where as a freshman, I was lucky enough to get playing time on the varsity team. While living back East as a nanny, I also played both indoor and outdoor, making some incredible friends all because I decided to check out the YMCA’s Open Volleyball Night! Volleyball is also big in Santa Barbara and unfortunately I didn’t play except for a few times at the beach with friends. I did however incorporate it into an assignment called 25 Strangers, where I set my camera on a tripod in the sand and had to get 25 willing – male – strangers to come have their picture taken. Yes, my idea! This image was taken on that same beach, but on a different day while I was on a walk with my camera, no strangers required!

August 2005 - Santa Barbara, California

About six years ago, I came across a huge clearance sale where all these beautiful wine glasses were being sold for too good of a price to leave for someone else to snag. I knew they wouldn’t go to waste, so I bought…oh about 60! I had decided that I would use them as gifts for family and friends who were getting married, or celebrating a special occasion. Kelly and Will, talked about in story #8, received that last set as their wedding gift in September. Well all except the two purple sets that I couldn’t part with. Who knew at the time they would later inspire a photography exhibition and also create some of my favorite imagery? This is my top pick from the series, shot on my windowsill in my apartment.

March 2004 - Ojai, California

The first time I drove out to Ojai was during my first session at Brooks, and the first time that my friend Carrie and I really hung out. That's a lot of firsts! The two of us, now as thick as thieves, packed our huge 4x5 cameras into my Honda and spent the day out in this quaint, little town getting to know each other and getting to know Polaroids! When someone mentions Ojai to me now that day is immediately what comes to mind, and I smile! This image of a Calla Lily was taken on my second time out to Ojai, this time alone… Carrie was busy! Flowers are easily associated with emotions and there is something so soft and intimate about this one, perhaps because of the contrasting warm white against the dense black background, or maybe it was the mood of the entire garden I was walking through where I found it. Either way, to me it says sympathy.

August 2005 - Santa Barbara, California

The assignment was ‘Color on Black’, the class was on color-correcting images and my professor was quite worthy to be teaching it! It takes me more than two hands to count how many truly, incredible teachers and professors I have studied under. I am not just talking about at Brooks, but also going back through high school and clear back to grade school. Some of these inspiring individuals are now very dear friends, and have influenced more in my life than they will ever realize. I am so grateful to each and every one! The only requirement for the assignment I shot this image for was to photograph a single colored object on a black background. So I sprayed a black sheet of construction paper with water, placed it in a 9x13 glass pan also with water in it, pulled some yellow pedals off a store bought flower, sprayed on more water, placed it in direct, slightly backlit sunlight and then realized there was no point to the image, no story… not until I made the composition a little less staged.

April 2007 - Applegate, Oregon

Not long ago there was a birdhouse and suet block covered walnut tree outside my Gram’s front door. She had grown tired of the nuisance those fallen walnuts had become and finally asked for something to be done. My siblings and I decided to replace it with a young, maple that would offer a crimson canopy in years to come. While home for Easter, right after my sister and Dad put it in the ground, I thought it would be fun to start a photo diary of this young, new beginning and the changes it would make over time. Taking shots, as I walked around it, of all the angles, when I got to this point of view, I loved what I saw. This is the top portion of my Gram’s old house, quite the contrast to this new, young tree.