Monica J Frisell Photography

I spent a few days photographing Robert Morrow a local Ballard bow maker in his shop. Making bows for stringed instruments is no easy task. It is a slow and meticulous process, where tiny flaws in the wood become large obstacles. I followed Robert making a bow a for a violin player named Thomas Yee. And was able to listen to the bow the very first time it was ever played on a violin.

This is a selection of photographs that I took of J W Black in his shop. Being the daughter of Bill Frisell, I often get the amazing opportunity to meet these amazing guitar builders and craftsmen. So I took a weekend with Bill and we drove down to Eugene Oregon to visit J in his shop. My dad brought 6 guitars for him to look at and modify. Bill was planning on replacing some bridges, but ended up getting a whole new neck on one of his guitars. J said this while working and I think it is very fitting: "Guitars are funny. When you first put them together they all sound like dog shit. It takes those extra two, three, four, five hours of messing with them. I cant just assemble a guitar and put it onto a stand, I have to come back to it six, seven, eight times. Before you go 'oh yeah, this is a guitar that can be used'. Its really scary. Cause when you're first starting out your so depressed, you're like 'oh god, this is just never gonna happen'. But there is just a certain amount of tweaking, that I dont know, things just kind of.... So yeah, you know, you can never stop."

Maria Cristalli had me out to her space last week in Cle Elum. She has had her blacksmithing studio there for about two years. Her and David Tuthill have worked together for many years. These were some stills that I took, a short film will soon follow.

At the National School of Academic Equitation trainer and teacher Craig P Stevens focuses on finding harmony and unity with the horse. By working with the horses body and strengthening it in order to make it possible for it to go into various forms, the horse gains strength and endurance. Craig and Mary Anne allowed me to photograph them while training and teaching others in this ancient form of equitation.

Steve Andersen owns Andersen Stringed Instruments and is a guitar builder that has his shop in the Greenwood neighborhood of Seattle. He hand builds each of his guitars with great care and precision which limits his production to maybe 12 guitars a year. I photographed him in August of 2011.

Jennifer Stenhouse is a jewelry maker and has a small studio in Building C in Ballard. She also is an instructor at the Pratt Fine Art Center in the Central District in Seattle. She works with found objects and stones to create fantastic pieces of jewelry. I photographed her in her studio as well as in her stone-setting class at Pratt during July 2011.

Matt Pollitz owns X-Ray Auto which specializes in refurbishing and maintaining vintage Volvos in Seattle. I spent a morning photographing Matt in his shop during July of 2011.

David Tuthill lives and works as a blacksmith in Ballard. I spent a morning photographing him work in his studio during the summer of 2011.