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"The Lost Gateways" by Margaret Fitzgerald available on Kindle through Amazon.com

As the editor of the late Margaret Fitzgerald’s novel “The Lost Gateways: Discovered Ancient “I AM” Principles,” I am proud to announce that after months and months of negotiating with her publisher Trafford Publishing – and navigating a nightmare of dead ends, failed promises, and an amazing lack of follow-through by its support staff, the book is FINALLY available on Kindle via Amazon.com for $9.95.

There are also a bizarre number of Margaret’s books available via the internet for astronomical fees that defy explanation…  29 Euros boasts one on EBay, $147 says Alibris when shipped from NY, $53 when shipped from Florida… And even Facebook has a page for the book on Kindle.

Perhaps the latter are some indication of the value of the book that while editing it, I found to be extraordinarily enlightening each time I read through it. These kernels of information seemed to pop up like jewels beaming in the sunlight after layers of “programming” were stripped away from one’s consciousness.

For those of you who did not know Margaret or  her multiple talents, let me say that she was a woman with a mission to help heal the individuals who populate our threatened planet through a journey around a wheel of  “I AM” principles. Her mission was cut far too short by a terminal illness that kept her from completing her ambitions, and projects.

Thank you, Margaret, for the lessons you gave us!

Garrison Hullinger Interior Design team in their newly expanded design HQ

Blackstone Edge Studios has been the agency of record for Garrison Hullinger Interior Design (GHID) for a number of years. This past year Garrison and his talented team – Nicole Copko, Alison Van Delden and Lisa Luchaco – have gone stratospheric.  As a unique marketing approach, I suggested that we illustrate the process of creating great interior design – and in this case – pulling together additional elements for local and national magazine shoots scheduled later that same week as a way to further promote the company. What better way to catch the busy team @ work, I said, than to follow the group with three of  Blackstone Edge Studios’ best shooters…

BSE Shooters - Justin Myers, owner Philip Clayton-Thompson & Marshal Serna @ GHID - Cell Shooter - Donna Pizzi

When we began photographing homes for magazines years ago, the magazines were really the prime way for interior designers to bring credence to their work and clients to their doorstep. Today, the tables have changed. Now it’s social media that often drives the editors of magazine. While both of these entities usually focus solely on room decor, we @ BSE think it’s the people who drive the creativity and wanted to show them in action.

Lisa, Nicole & Alison put together a presentation in the new GHID conference room ©Blackstoneedge.com

Owner Garrison Hullinger at Kravet Fabrics ©Blackstoneedge.com

Nicole Copko also writes the GHID blog ©BlackstoneEdge.com

We’re always searching for unique ways to create business opportunities for our clients.  One way is encourage them to create blogs on their websites, or as standalone social media outlets.

The GHID Team exiting Ferguson's ©Blackstoneedge.com

A day after we took these photos, we began a 2-day shoot at an elegant beach house, featuring Garrison Hullinger’s interior design. Watch for more on that exciting event right here.

All images ©BlackstoneEdge.com - Royal Horse Artillery taken on June 2, 1972 in honor of Her Majesty's Birthday

Today I received a letter from Her Majesty The Queen! 

She was replying to a parcel I sent – a gift of the poster seen above. What a Happy New Year’s gift her letter was…

As our blog readers know from a previous post, I created a video of “I Vow To Thee My Country,” with music by Gustav Holst, a hymn which is in the running to become the English National Anthem. I illustrated the song with photographs I took 40 years ago of the Royal Horse Artillery on Her Majesty’s Birthday. The accompaniment on the video is by Maestro Rodney Menn. We completed the effort at Blackstone Edge Studios with a poster design. The first limited edition poster was sent to Her Majesty, who also has the title of Captain General of the Royal Horse Artillery. Here is her reply:

Letter from Her Majesty dated 20th December 2011

No doubt the poster will end up in the barracks in St. Johns Wood, where the photo story began at 5:00 a.m. so long ago.

You can see the video here!

Orthochromatic negative produced on a glass plate c. 1972

While living in London in the early 70s, I was awoken on a misty morning in my small bedsit in Swiss Cottage by the sound of caissons rolling and hooves clippity clopping on the damp tarmac. For a moment, I thought I was living in the past when troopers regularly rode off to the front on chilly mornings in 1914, on the eve of World War I. In fact, I was working around London for some of the great photographers of the day. I’d just landed a job in an ad agency, but I wanted to do something a little different than photographing cat and dog meat for clients. I wanted to tell a whole story in photos, capturing the preparation for the celebration of the Queen’s Birthday on June 2, 1972.

Royal Horse Artillery Barracks in St. Johns Wood © Philip Clayton-Thompson 1972

I later immigrated to the United States, where I became one of the most prolific interior design photographers over the last 20 years. I had been storing these 8×10 B&W prints for the past 40 years, and when it came time for to me sing this anthem – “I Vow To Thee My Country” with music by Gustav Holst; poem by Cecil Spring-Rice - it called out to be illustrated by these images I took so long ago. Thus, it is with great pleasure that I share this historical moment through my photography and voice.

Marble Arch opened on June 2nd for the Queen's Birthday © Philip Clayton-Thompson 1972

A limited edition poster that includes most of these images is available through www.blackstoneedge.com/poster

Watch the YouTube Video to see all the vintage images, hear me sing this moving anthem and to view the poster. There is also a link available on www.blackstoneedgeband.com

Happy Labor Day ©Blackstone Edge Studios

With a hint of fall already in the Oregon air, we at Blackstone Edge Studios wish all of you a beautiful, relaxing Labor Day. Thank you for all the hard working people in this country and elsewhere.

Piccola Casa - Take a Seat, Read a Book ©Blackstone Edge Studios

In honor of my years spent working at Unesco in Paris, France, and my degree in French Literature from Hunter College, I decided to make this clafoutis aux framboises in honor of Bastille Day.

Clafoutis aux framboises © Blackstoneedgestudios.com

The raspberries are fresh picked from my “Italian” garden behind Blackstone Edge Studios here in Portland, Oregon. Philip kindly photographed my efforts prior to digging into the tarte, which proved to be a little too “tart” for my taste, since I cut back on the sugar, but not the freshly squeezed lemon in the unseen custard below. I recall the pâte sucrée tasting sweeter as well, more like a shortbread! Ah, well… I’m sure it will be eaten before I can rue the outcome much longer!!! (Recipe hails from a VERY OLD Benson & Hedges specialty booklet of recipes from famed US restaurants – this from Ma Maison, long before Wolfgang Puck ever appeared on the scene there. Restaurant now closed!)

www.stevenargila.com

We are proud to announce the completion of the website for Hollywood film and TV composer, Steven Argila of 88Keys Music. You might remember the name from a couple of our film projects, for which he created the music, including Soccer Bob and our hit YouTube series, “Pack Your Kit,” which recently surpassed 60,000 hits worldwide in about a year’s time.

The site features clips from his feature films, including “ScoobyDoo! Pirates Ahoy” and “The Thing About My Folks,” starring Peter Falk & Paul Reiser. Take a tour of www.stevenargila.com,  and enjoy the video and audio clips that display Argila’s many talents. Steven, a graduate of Juilliard School of Music, also produced an album “Putting On Ayers,” with Nathaniel Ayers, a fellow Juilliard student, and the subject of the film “The Soloist,” starring Jamie Foxx as Ayers, and Robert Downey, Jr. as Los Angeles Times reporter Steve Lopez, who met Ayers, as a homeless musician in Pershing Square. Argila recorded the album in his studio, 88Keys Music.

Climate change is certainly a “hot” topic these days, and weather patterns have caused terrible havoc. Here in the Pacific Northwest the rains have been interminable this year, and sun only intermittent. There has been one clear evidence of the rain, and that is the greenery. Philip was taken by the evening light falling across the Italian Garden – giardino italiano – behind the offices of Blackstone Edge Studios, which I designed after the gardens of our friends in Mugnano, Italy – Roy & Evanne Diner.

Here’s a tribute to you, Roy & Evanne!

Mother Mary nestled beneath the apple tree, overlooking the lavender, iris and honeysuckle

The iris came out this week, despite dismal weather…

The clematis are huge in diameter and will appear again later in the summer.

The Cecil Bruner rose spreads across four yards!

The Cecil Bruner rose is filled with millions of blooms that cascade into four different yards.

If only we all had the energy of this rose!

Cecil Bruner Close Up

New Magazine: Fresh Cottage features 10-page spread by Blackstone Edge Studios

If you haven’t spotted it on the stands yet, it’s a brand new cottage magazine entitled “FRESH COTTAGE.” Check out the amazing 10-page spread that began from the kernel of an idea – a tip from Timi Weathers-Bottorff, co-owner of the new Snohomish, Washington, antique shop: “Ruffles & Rust Square.” Timi and her husband had spent some R&R time at friend Lisa Metke McElliott’s  Coastal Nest Cottage in Pacific Beach, and recommended it as a great place to photo.

Coastal Nest Cottage restored by Lisa & Steve McElliott - A Blackstone Edge Studios photo

Luckily, Lisa is a prodigious marketer and not only did she have a blog with photos of the adorable cottage that she and her husband Steve had taken from “frumpy and forlorn” to “Fresh and Fun” online, but she had also listed it on Vrbo with more photos. Editor Janet Mowat gave us the assignment tout de suite, along with the classy Gig Harbor home of Cindy & Dave Storrar that we had tested back in September for Cottage Style magazine, as well.

There was one caveat. We had to shoot them both PRONTO!!!

If you remember the weather back in December 2010, it was punishing. The mid-winter storms make these spring rains look like mere sprinkles. Luckily we shot the Storrars first, which was mostly interiors. Thank heavens for digital cameras because the storm didn’t abate just because we had come to town on a deadline. What once was an out-and-out rain day, now just becomes a “difficult” shoot day. Just crank up the ASA,  warm up the Kelvin and keep moving forward (because the light in winter only lasts about 6 hours, not the 10 hours granted during summer shooting). When that story published earlier this spring, Cindy received calls from around the country about their gorgeously renovated farmhouse.

Cindy & Dave Storrar's dining room into newly remodeled kitchen - Photo by Blackstone Edge Studios

It was pitch black and storming worse than ever when we left the Storrars. As we headed over the Tacoma Narrows Bridge - you know the one that replaced “Galloping Gertie,” the newly engineered bridge that collapsed into Puget Sound during gale-force winds on November 7th, 1940 – just 4 months after its completion, I realized I had left my makeup at the Storrars, so back we went over the bridge a second time! In the eerie storm-filled light, I could see Philip’s knuckles go literally white as he clutched the steering wheel – trying not to think of Galloping Gertie’s plight.

Tacoma Narrows Bridge Collapse Nov 7, 1940

The return to Gig Harbor brought out the restaurant angels who directed us to Gateway to India (Philip’s favorite “British” food) which we spotted alongside the highway. The food was delicious and kept us going during the normal 2 hour drive that stretched into 4-5 as we plodded through the storm-lashed countryside toward Pacific Beach.  As signs for the small town began to appear, it seemed as if we had made it safe and sound.

Sort of… In fact, we were lost. We drove up and down the tiny town, peering at house numbers, unable to find the adorable cottage we’d only seen online. It seems the GPS didn’t recognize the address to the cottage and our cell had no service there! We found a deli, and one of those nearly extinct things – a phone booth. But it was occupied by a guy with a load of beers crowding the cabin and a sob story that looked like it might go on all night. I talked the deli owner into letting me use her phone. The angels flapped their wings and Lisa answered the phone, gave us directions, and where to find the key.

If you’ve read these pages previously, you’ve heard Philip’s tale of falling into a ditch outside the cottage – and if you haven’t, then scroll down a bit and you’ll find it! While he was nearly drowning, I was having a ball, playing with the fabulous items Lisa had brought along from her mother’s shop in Aberdeen “Grand Heron” to add further dash to the already picture perfect place. I guess I wasn’t particularly focused on his near-death experience when I saw him undressing on the wind-driven porch… exclaiming before he could explain the strip tease – “Look, isn’t the styling beautiful?”

Seashells on display at Coastal Nest Cottage - Photo by Blackstone Edge Studios

Don’t get me wrong, I was very sympathetic once I heard the whole story, and offered to throw his socks and jeans into the handy dryer, and prop his soaked shoes on the heater vent.

But the best part of this story is the inexplicable glory that the sunshine angels decided to bestow upon us the following morning… After scouting the town for some breakfast around 6:30 a.m., we quickly showered & ate, then set up for the kitchen shots. Yummieeee…

Breakfast at Coastal Nest Cottage by Blackstone Edge Studios

Then, just as Lisa drove up and we met for the first time, the sun glorious sun splashed down upon the incredible cottage that Lisa and Steve brought back from a place of no return into this fantastic, relaxing place that is the very essence of the title of this magazine: FRESH COTTAGE… No wonder Janet Mowat, Jodi Zucker & the art director chose to give it such a big 10 page spread.  The McElliotts are sooo very talented to have turned a Pepto Bismal painted cottage held up with duct tape into a place of refuge. But where or where did those angels find sunshine in the midst of the worst storm in the Pacific Northwest in decades? You tell me!

So run, don’t walk to your nearest newstand to buy this exciting new magazine…

Here’s one more shot you won’t find in the magazine… Summer in December. Bravi tutti… Congratulations to the McElliotts, Fresh Cottage editors & art directors, BSE, and the sunshine angels… and just a smidgen of fate…

Summer in December at the Coastal Nest Cottage. Photo by Blackstone Edge Studios

"The Lost Gateways" by Margaret Fitzgerald

It was with great sadness and an enormous sense of loss that we learned of our friend Margaret Mary Fitzgerald’s passing on January 7, 2011 from bone marrow lymphoma. Some may know her work through Path of the Heart, or as an astrologer, psychic, and channel. I had the honor of working with Margaret on many literary projects, including her novel, “The Lost Gateways,” which I edited from its inception. We also collaborated on a screenplay based on the novel, as well as an unpublished work. There are few words that can describe the impact Margaret’s life had on so many, many people. Whenever I would read through one of her manuscripts, I would find new insight and  information that would awaken my spirit. Now that she has returned home, her beautiful spirit will undoubtedly continue to shine down upon us all, guiding the way to the discovery of the Self. Shine on Margaret! We love you!