in Norway, on the south-western coast, in the magical fjørd’s region… Halsnøy Kloster.

we were invited to stay in an 1841 stone farm-house, with sweeping languid vistas on the fjord and out to the western sea. a house lived in by many souls and still inhabited by some… friendly ghosts, like “Captain Niels”, our favorite!

we had record negative temperatures and winds that visited us from the Russian Steppes. we had incredibly crispy days with orange-red sunsets, and pewter skies that reflected themselves in the silver water. we saw the most incredible shapes of ice ever. we fell in love.

last November 2012, two years later exactly, we were invited back to show the fruits of what we had sown.

we were so lucky to be graced by the creations of our sound artists friends, their soundscapes complement our videos and our mixed-media installations:

Michael Henderson
Tucson, Arizona www.fermentedmusic.com

Michael Carroll
Oracle, Arizona www.codyloop.com

Jan Krey
Halsnøy, Norway www.soundcloud.com/jan-krey

other wonderful music Rosanna borrowed from artists that hopefully won’t hate her for it:

Amiina
Iceland
www.amiina.com

For a Minor Reflection
Iceland
www.foraminorreflection.com

Brian Eno [you know who he is!]

hope you’ll be enchanted half as much as we were.
enjoy this first installment of videos

bathing beauties at one of Tucson’s oldest and CHIC-est resorts: the Arizona Inn  has been family owned and operated since its creation in 1930 by Isabella Greenway, Arizona’s first Congresswoman and a lifelong friend of Eleanor Roosevelt. The Inn was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1988. check out their gallery of historic photos – fun! gary cooper and clark gable, among other hollywood stars, would hang out while filming in tucson. and who can blame them! we heartily recommend a visit and a patio cocktail if you’re ever around these parts…

and now enjoy this technicolor splash of fun!

this photoshoot is part of a larger project commissioned by the Tucson Historic Preservation Foundation to create a gorgeous calendar featuring salient historic architectural landmarks in Tucson, all passionately photographed by yours truly, accompanied by stunning vintage fashions styled with perfection by local talent Sydney Ballesteros – check out her fashion/lifestyle blog: Golden Girl of the West

oh! see the current edition of Zocalo Magazine, one of our local City Mags, for an article published by Sydney: “Old Hollywood Awaits”

ola!

here’s a good taste of one of our favorite projects done here in the old pueblo, a commission by the Tucson Historic Preservation Foundation, headed by Demion Clinco, to document some of Tucson’s best vintage neon signs. the final product is to be launched tomorrow evening, friday april 27th: THPF’s Driving Guide to Tucson’s Neon Signs. get yours too!

info for this event here

meanwhile enjoy this eye-candy…

and it doesn’t end here…

our photography and the whole project, were nominated for a Preservation Award to be granted by the Tucson Pima County Historical Commission on saturday Cinco de Mayo.

que vivan good photography and good intents!

info for this event here

download the pdf:  guardian weekend magazine 26.11.11

or link to the Guardian

our reportage…

WE MADE THE COVERRRRR!!

Jeff Williams, father of Andy Williams, at his home in Phoenix

our reportage…

link to the Guardian article here

whew!!! we haven’t shown up in a looong while, haven’t we? we have been in the middle of the craziest move and remodel of our lives [so far] and we barely have had time to pursue our photographic dreams… BUT, here we go.

we have been curated into this edition of the prestigious Arizona Biennial, held at the Tucson Museum of Art, with our works from Japan, our series : “meiseki na yume” <lucid dream>. it is an installation of 9 color photographs, beautifully and richly printed on matte fiber, then mounted onto thick panels of luscious bamboo. it is a beauty for all to behold, and we say so with the pride of the maker, but we feel it is fair to say anybody with an eye will appreciate it.

we wanted to make this contribution our hommage to Japan, a country that deeply fascinates us and holds some of our dearest friends and inspirations. more on what moves this work a little later…

today final approval was given to Photographic Works, our trusty lab, and monday morning we install.

opening reception is June 24th, 6-8pm, at the Tucson Museum of Art. Hope you can make it!

here is a link to the Tucson Museum of Art event page

and here go the images that are part of this grouping:

here is an audio-visual we created of the series in its entirety, accompanied by Radiohead’s dreamy and haunting “Treefinger” [i hope they won't mind!]

and our lovely little book with the entire series, see for yourselves if it isn’t a little jewel… at 7″x7″ it fits in your purse and looks cute on your coffee table.

meiseki na yume [lucid dream]
by fotovitamina [rosanna salonia+matthew yates] |

through wall space gallery a great little gallery in seattle and now, santa barbara.

effort proceeds go to two great organizations:

Direct Relief International http://www.directrelief.org for help with medical supplies, and Habitat for Humanity Japan http://www.habitat.org to help in the rebuilding of communities in and around Sendai and northern Japan.

here’s our lovely piece, still 5 pieces available! only some time left to order here

for the kind ones that ordered a print, please be patient, we are working on it! thanks.

and here, if you wish to see more of this beautiful homage to Japan, is our book we designed and produced through Blurb [click on link below]:

meiseki na yume <lucid dream>:

in november 2007 we traveled to japan to photograph our friend’s wedding to his japanese bride. euphoria, exhaustion, and wonderment were the driving force of those 9 days of exploration. works are a mix of color and black and white holga and hasselblad shots.

here we are in tucson, our beloved, scorched, dry, patch of desert. and even while surrounded by loony politicians and gun-toting lunatics of all kinds, well, we keep busy doing something good and fun, so here we go.

this time we are helping the Tucson Historic Preservation Foundation, because we believe in beauty, and the power of identity with the layers of history that an old place can carry. too often in this dear far west of ours, the “old” is sacrificed for the “new”, the valuable for the cheap, in the name of the good old dollar, at least most of the time.

we are doing our thing, having a good time, photographing our most beloved historical buildings and locations, with the help of a talented local rising star: Sydney Ballesteros, a vintage fashions collector and connoisseur, who is choosing the models, styling them, making them up [hair+make-up], while picking from her own incredible collection. we are indeed lucky and we hope our style and attention to detail, textures, and color, will bring the THPF much needed attention. the result will be a super glossy elegant stylish calendar that you’re sure going to want to have! so stay tuned…

 

“such a crumblin’ beauty…”  tom waits

well we are back in arizona and we are still frosty!

wishing all a happy new year, better than last, better than the one before, better than that one, better than what? is there really any such thing as a “better year”? hmm… guess life’s what you make it, huh? buon anno anyway!

well, the time has come for us to leave these lovely shores where we spent many days sleeping and some photographing… many great people we have met here, wondeful things we have found and collected for a future exhbition here… so we will come BACK! ciao Halsnøy…

Tolkien must have been here…