fairy tales and false utopias

Sorry for the long time between posts. Another day, another diagnosis.
That, and I had a LOT of photos to edit. On Saturday, I covered a Girl Scout event, followed by one of the most amazing personal project shoots ever. While officially, I am turning in one of these shots for my digital art class, I took these for me.

First, a fairy tale. The piece for class needs to be based off a fairy tale or traditional folk tale. I decided to go the crazy, inspired route and do the Brothers Grimm version of Sleeping Beauty. My inspiration was the fact that the original story references a spindle, not a spinning wheel, and I just so happened to have a friend with a drop spindle. Some fake blood, a princess dress, and two tiaras later, we had these.











I'm planning to make a mixed media piece with fake blood and the yarn she was spinning. I can't wait to have it hanging on my wall.


We also decided since she was bloody anyway, we might as well have some fun with it. I have an Eve hypo from Bioshock and decided it would be fun to have her be a splicer trying to stab me. Sadly, we ran out of time before we could light up the hypo and go crazy.




But there's always next time

a post long overdue

Dear home,
In the past week, I've had quite a bit of adventure. I've just been a little slow to blog it. While I have an answer to my heart problem, I have not yet been 'fixed' so I am still in pain. My priority is shooting, not blogging.

For class, I had to do a series of 'non-representational' shots. And along the way, I saw some really awesome things (most of which did not qualify for the assignment).





Part of my journeying involved taking Doug with me to the downtown area. We found the coolest wall ever. I must come back and shoot here again.

We also danced on the roof of a parking garage.

On our way home, I saw this scene. I stealthily set up the shot and snapped away before he could see me. The light was just perfect--the way it diffused through the plastic and wrapped around every surface... this was a street photographer's dream.



A few days later, Dave and I went to the beach to play mad scientist. I already showed a sneak peek of it for my project 52 because I could not wait to share it.




All of the shots were lit from below by a flashlight buried in the sand. He filled the glassware with water and dropped in some dry ice. The bubbles came from adding dish soap, as did a lovely blue color.
We also lit some isopropyl alcohol on fire as a reprise of our original mad scientist adventure.



My life feels simultaneously like it is speeding by and dragging on at the same time. I'm waiting to be scheduled for a medical procedure to fix my heart and just watching things as they come. A train speeds by, slowing down to block the road as it stops for reasons we'll never know. We inch past a church as slow as possible and the stained glass still blurs in the late night dark.


Life is strange sometimes but it is also beautiful. I may be behind on blogging, but I'm certainly not behind on shooting and appreciating. I just need to be better so I can get back to sharing what I love with you.

this counts as homework

This semester, I am taking a digital art class. Between that, I Heart Faces, and my project 52, there may be 3 posts a week. That's an ambitious posting schedule while I'm working on thesis, but I'm trying.

My assignment for this weekend is to take 100 photos. Of course, we took 60 in class. Professor Lemeh turned us loose for half an hour and expected 30 pictures when we returned. Then, she did it again with a 20 minute period. It's rather interesting to see what new perspectives on the campus I can discover when I have a time constraint and a need to be 'creative.' (The images I am turning in are straight out of camera, no editing allowed! I decided to play with a few in Photoshop and post them here because it's relaxing.)


I was having a minor obsession moment with the texture of Dori's hair and the pattern of her shirt.



I have a weird sense of humor.


Yesterday's photo excursion seemed to hinge on a desire to capture texture and form. I get the feeling this is going to carry over into next week's assignment.