Walk A Few Blocks

Right now I'm listening to music that sounds like being in love.

Sometimes I wedge myself into small spaces because I am then able to transport myself into a different time, imagine a completely different world around me.

The setting sunlight is some of the best light. The streets begin slowing down and night sinks in.

And blogs are places to be unreasonably poetic.

Extra Reading:
Len Spoden: I like looking at environmental portraits that utilize artificial lights because I am a photographer who usually uses only natural lighting. People who can light something well with outside sources inspire me. The first thing that attracted me to Spoden's work was this blogpost. I like the documentary style of the photographs. Also check other environmental portraits on his website.

Date Night Models

Seeing my parents get all dressed up and going on dates makes me happy. I've always thought that I have very good role models for every aspect of life, but I think my parents beat most other people's parents in terms of fashion. When people say, "that's something my mother would wear," it's usually said with a bad taste in the mouth, but when I say that, it is a good thing!

They are so fly:

I consider myself very lucky because I am surrounded by so many wonderful people. :)

Extra Reading:

Patrick Demarchelier: Patrick Demarchelier is a very well-known photographer whose work you'd know even if you weren't a photographer or an artist. He has shot countless advertisements, magazine spreads, and covers, and his clients include almost every magazine under the sun. His work his amazing, and I am very inspired by him. 

Be Fancy

This is what dressing up looks like the night of:

And the morning after:

In I walked to the apartment with a black dress and leather jacket, my feet slipped into bright pink platforms. 

Out I walked in my boyfriend's pajamas, green bottoms, red shirt, leather jacket again, and again bright pink platforms. Walk of shame, no shame. 

It is important to practice getting dressed up for no reason. People save their dress clothes for special events, their china for proper dinners, their fancy soaps for twice per year use. Why? Any day and everyday should be celebrated in some way, or else life can become dull. Clothes are made to be worn, china to be eaten upon, soaps to clean things. There shouldn't be shame in using them for their purposes, no matter if they're considered "fancy" or not. 

Sometimes I can't handle how much my boyfriend and I look alike:

I love this car I saw on my walk of shame:

Extra Reading:

Lindsay Elliot: Elliot's website started out more or less like a large Facebook photo album, and then progressed into more formal photographs of events and gatherings. I love all the posters on the homepage of her site, and the photographs she takes "for love," which are personal and intimate, not always composed quite correctly, giving them charm. You can also read a blogpost about her work here. 

Sitting For Long Periods

Tonight I went to the park just as the sun was about to set. I sat there for a long time, watching the clouds move, watching the colors change, sitting through drizzle and a still breeze. The colors changed between cool and warm a few times, and it began to rain slightly. When I looked up, the clouds raced around inside each other, like those models of planets at OMSI that you can spin, the colors and liquids inside morphing into each other. I like sitting in places for a long time and witnessing how many things change around you in the environment. Many people walk by you, come and go, the light changes colors, gets lighter and darker, the temperature changes from slightly warm to chattering cold.

Also, there was a guy that sat a ways away from me at the park that laughed like a hyena. The girl he was with wasn't that into him, but he was still very patient and persistent, so you gotta give him that!

Look at the squirrel:

Extra Reading:

Glenn Friedel: Friedel makes large scale photograms, a genre of cameraless photography where the artist takes a piece of photo paper, places objects on top of the paper, and then exposes the whole thing to light. Making photograms is usually taught as a beginner-level exercise, so I think it is great that Friedel and other artists have taken that exercise further to create stunning pieces. Friedel makes photograms of the human form, and the shapes and colors he produces are brilliant. The link I sent you to is from Google Images because Friedel's site seems to be down. However, if you still want to peruse his website, you can go here. 

Death Scene By Self

What if you ran through the forest by yourself
through the thicket and the dark
you are barefoot and
your feet begin to bleed because you have been skimming those toes against every particle
on purpose
actually.

You come across a clearing with dewy grass
and you wipe your blood on those blades
it's all smeared now,
looking up to a moon that is
closer than you saw it yesterday.

The lover you had five years ago walks
up to you
and
hello
you made me happy one day
but those are just thoughts
it's actually silent and
your lover,
she touches you
her hand goes right through you
which makes her disappear again,
like a bubble, when it pops.

A warm, black sea bubbles up around you
there is a tiny sailboat in the distance
with a striped red sail
and if you make it to that boat
by kicking your feet
you could make it back to the thicket where you began.

Though you can't
because
you fled from real life and now
of course
you want it back
and you thought that sailboat was close, maybe
and you realize you are completely alone
all alone with yourself
your thoughts
your heartbeat
and that sailboat that

you can't reach.
I'm sorry.
It's so difficult, isn't it?

Thump, thump.
your heartbeat goes on
still

Wow, what's a DSLR again when you've used an iPhone?

Extra Reading:

Liz Kasameyer: I like many of Kasameyer's portraits because she has an intimate and mysterious style that is intriguing. She'll get very close to her subjects and expose raw moments that I find very attractive. If you check out this blog, you can read more about a project that she dedicated to people who lost their lives in the Holocaust. 

Bubbles and Swimming

Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night and my head feels like it is filled with water, like my brain is bubbling. It is almost like I am swimming, swimming through my thoughts, trying to swim into sleep. That is what art reminds me of: bubbles and swimming and murky and grey and strange.

From my twelve hour walk, which is so long that it becomes a dream:

Extra Reading:

Chris Bennett: A lover of wilderness and travel and adventure, Bennett uses his passions to aid his photography. He shoots a lot of films and makes photographs that are observant and quiet, but strong. The strength that his photographs have make them incredibly beautiful to me.