Jes – Page 6 – Jes Lee

Printing and photo walks

April 6, 2015 by Jes

One of the things I have planned for the Made Here exhibit is a new compilation image of things photographed close to where my installation would be. Now that I have a location where my work will be displayed, I needed to get started on creating that new piece.

I had been planning a trip out to the site on Sunday for a while. It would be a quiet day, with not too many things planned. The weather was supposed to be decent, and I figured John and I could get out for a walk, and stop for a drink at some near-by place when I was done.

Of course, I didn’t expect myself to be mostly recovered from being sick, but John to be in the middle of a bad cold. He was understandably not up for going on a long walk around the city with me. So, after much hesitation, I went by myself.

You see, I have always enjoyed photo walks with friends. This is something we would do in photo class…or at least we would always have our cameras with us, ready to turn anything into a photo walk. My friend Julie would always be up for walking around the cities at night while I took pictures, usually leading to crazy adventures, and plenty of stories we still laugh about to this day.

Of course, friends get different jobs, and move away, have kids, and many things change, but I have always seemed to have one friend or another that would go with…until recently.

So, I have gone out more often by myself. I always hesitate at first, my brain telling me I hate going out alone, that there will be too many weird people, that they will hate me for whatever reason…hello inner-critic. But I eventually go anyway.

Today, was one of those days. With my brain telling me not to leave, I left John home to rest, grabbed my headphones and camera, and went to work on this project.

I came home happy, relaxed, and with 5 rolls of film from my walk that went for almost 2 hours. I think it is finally time to stop believing my inner-critic, and start admitting that I am perfectly happy to go out by myself when that is the best option.

5 rolls of film to develop Monday, and see how they might work into a new image for this.

After I got back home, I did some more work on one of the other images. I have re-scanned negatives, making the file size big enough to print 4ft square at 300dpi…and you know what? I actually like the bit I printed from the original image, enlarged past what it should be for printing resolution. I need to talk with a few people who know more about printing things large than I do…but perhaps this means a bit less busy work for me.

It was so amazing, seeing where my work will be installed! I still can’t believe I have this opportunity!

Happy Bunny day!

April 5, 2015 by Jes

Love,

Princess and GOB

Steady on

April 4, 2015 by Jes

First, I want to thank everyone that has congratulated me on my latest project! All of the kind words really, really mean a ton to me.

I wouldn’t be honest if I didn’t admit that I am a bit overwhelmed thinking of everything that is coming up, and needs to be done. But it will all happen. I have learned to have faith in that, and keep going one bit at a time.

Today was supposed to be a busy day filled with work, followed by an evening with friends. But, due to me still not being back to feeling 100% after the upper respiratory crap I have had the last couple of weeks, and John starting to not feel great again, we are slowing down. Something I probably need more than I care to admit.

So, after work today, I will go home, and curl up on the couch with John, watch a few movies, and work on the mechanical processes of getting images ready for this project. Thanks to a new hard drive in my little laptop, working on those things from the couch is possible!

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Made Here!!

April 3, 2015 by Jes

I have been waiting to be able to announce this!

I had a proposal accepted for the Made Here INTERSEC+IONS exhibition taking place this summer in empty store fronts along Hennepin Avenue. Starting later in May, four of my images will be printed (very very large!) and displayed in four of the windows in the second floor of the old National Camera building at 930 Hennepin Avenue.

This is huge! I am beyond thrilled that I get to be part of this, participating with so many other talented artists and groups….I am shocked!

I have sooooooo much work ahead of me this month to prepare… But it will be so amazing and worth it!

Stick around, I will post many in-progress reports of how things are going with preparations, on top of my regular-semi-daily updates.

And save the date! June 3rd, 7-9pm is the big public launch party for the exhibition with a tour of all the installations!

I’m pretty certain this will be one of the images I have in this installation….it is one of my favorites….

Daily things

April 2, 2015 by Jes

April is the month of the ‘daily’ exercises around the art communities I follow on the internet.

I’m going to try to keep up with a few of them, just for fun, and something else to blog about.

To start off with, April is National Poetry Month, and there are quite a few sites offering up poetry writing prompts for people that want to try the challenge of writing one poem a day.

I have tried this challenge before, and I enjoyed it! It is not easy, but it does get me back into the habit of writing daily, something I so easily get out of. Plus, I have a bunch of new journals and markers, so there is really no reason why I shouldn’t be journaling more and writing a poem a day.

So, through April, I will try to post a photo of a poem I wrote in my journal. Some pages will of course be prettier than ours. Some will be just plain pencil or ink. I’m not fussy. Just trying to get myself to get something down on paper each day.

#1 is a little haiku.

More daily projects to come soon!

Now, back to catching up a little more on what has been happening around here.

Spring break trailed off with a lot of fun events.

Saturday I spent the day with a friend…I even got up early for it! (Dear friend, if you are reading this, I’m sorry you learned the hard way I am not a morning person!!) We went to a sheep shearing event at a local park/farm, learned how to spin yarn, and of course bought wool and drop spindles to continue doing so!

I have plans for this….really…it isn’t just another crazy hobby! I did make the grey into a skein of yarn. It is a pretty crappy first attempt! Ha! But I know what I’m doing now. These supplies are not just going to sit unused! I have plans for them.

We also went to the roller derby later that evening, and watched a college friend of mine say her good byes to her team. It was very bitter sweet, but I’m glad we could be there.

Sunday was a laid back day with celebrating the anniversary of our favorite local brew pub where there was, of course, someone playing the bag pipes!

We had our first little backyard bonfire of the season that evening. I’m looking forward to many more of these soon!

Monday I spent my last long day in my studio, finishing up my little book that you have already seen.

Tuesday, I had my hair dyed before heading in to work, and spring break was officially over.

It is amazing how many things can happen in one week. I feel like it was packed full. Ups and downs, yes, but more good than sad. It feels like so long ago already.

The count down to summer break begins!

It is true…

April 1, 2015 by Jes

…I have officially entered the denial level of procrastination.

The point where so many deadlines (many of them very very exciting that I can hopefully share with you officially on Thursday) and so many to-do’s are piling up, that I start spacing out on everything. And looking at Pinterest. And pinning more recipes. And deciding I should, in fact, try making some of my own beauty products.

All the while the deadlines keep sitting in the corner.

Glaring at me.

Right along with the clean laundry that hasn’t been folded yet.

So I am playing along with this 12 by 12 project that is going through Flickr and Twitter. Every month, there is a new photo challenge posted. You participate, and upload your photos to Flickr or Instagram or wherever you like, and share them. This month’s challenge was to photograph a path you walk often, taking a photo every 100 steps or so. I wanted to do a bunch of film photos for this challenge. For all of them really, but this is the first one. But, with working, and being sick, that just didn’t happen. But, one Saturday at work, I did get out my iPhone as I was walking the halls, locking things up for the day. I played with one of my favorite little film filters, the one that “mimics” the color wet plate print look. It was fun, and picked up my spirits that day.

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Until next time~~~

Mondays

March 30, 2015 by Jes

Mondays are the second day of my weekend when I am working. Sundays are spent mostly with John, working on things around the house together. Mondays become my day of catching up on studio work.

Today, for the first time in weeks, I woke up feeling better than I have in a couple of weeks. That isn’t to say I am completely well yet, but the antibiotics and Prednisone are doing what they are supposed to. And, I now have my appetite back as well…thanks to the Prednisone. I don’t have many rules about my body, but one that I do have: I don’t weigh myself when I am on Prednisone.

Anyway, back to catching up.

As I said in an earlier post, spring break was full. Full of catching up, full of being back in my studio, full of decisions.

I worked on finishing up a few applications. That process is never-ending. But each application gets my work out there more. And that is progress.

I helped a friend one evening work on a really difficult thing, and then we went out for beer after.

I worked on my book. I finished one copy. One. The number I need to photograph for more applications. Finally. One done.

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It needs a box. A container that will finish it. I also need to complete the edition. That will happen…

Slowly emerging again….

March 29, 2015 by Jes

Things happened.

Lots of things.

Things I would love to post about here.

Things happened, and then I got sick. Quite sick.

And for the last week, I have spent most of my time going to work, trying hard to not sound like I was dying, (I wasn’t, really…), thinking about my little blog and wanting to update more and talk about what has gone on, and trying to get better.

I survived my week at work, and stayed home this weekend, and am feeling more normal than I have for a while. Yay, road to recovery…helped along by antibiotics and prednisone and many other allergy and asthma drugs…

Today, John got a door hung up on my darkroom! I can finally use it without having to block out a certain bunny with many pieces of furniture in the doorway! I’m really looking forward to getting back to work in there!

I also made it out of the house for a tiny walk around the block with John. The evening air felt really good. And the sunset was beautiful!

We’ll see what tomorrow brings. Hopefully energy to run a few art errands, and get some plans going.Onward!

Oh what a dream it was

March 12, 2015 by Jes

I can’t even begin to say how wonderful it has been to be home on spring break this week.

To say that I have finally been feeling like an artist again, more like myself for the first in a long time would be a big understatement.

Not that I don’t enjoy my job – I do. But I missed this.

There have been events around here in the last couple of weeks that have been absolutely gut wrenching. I don’t pretend that life will stay the same – I know it won’t, and I believe that change is good, to get us out of our comfort zones, and on to new things.

There have still been a few things this past week that blind-sided me though.

I went and photographed swans with my uncle again this past weekend. There is something about just sitting there, watching the birds, and talking that I really needed. Some things clicked into their proper places after that.

On we go, and keep flying, even when you don’t know how you will be able to. Hearts are resilient things. I learned from a new friend this week that the heart of a racing dove is the same size as the heart of a young turkey. I don’t know what to think of that really, except that there is proof that you can still fly even if your heart is a bit heavier.

In to the sunshine.

All on a Sunday

March 3, 2015 by Jes

We had a long Sunday. While it was not filled with art show openings like Saturday was, it was still wonderful, and filled with family and shopping and I was able to spend a lot of time with John. I always love weekends like that.

Being that it was the first weekend in quite awhile that we were both feeling good, John went with me to see the swans and test out my new lens. From where we park, it is about a mile walk out to where the swans hang out. We weren’t able to stay long enough to watch them fly away, but we were able to stay for a bit. I tried out my new lens, and I am really enjoying it! The auto focus isn’t the fastest, but it isn’t the slowest I’ve used either. And the photos I got were quite sharp. I forgot to bring something to feed the swans, so they weren’t very interested in sitting close to me. It was a nice to test the zooming capabilities of this lens though!

For reference, I took this with my iPhone from where I was sitting. More photos with my digital camera below, and more film photos to come soon.

After, we hiked back to the car, stopped at home to change, and went to The Bad Waitress to celebrate John’s birthday as well as my father-in-law’s birthday. It was nice to see them. I’m hoping we can do Sunday brunch with family a bit more often now.

After, John and I went to Ikea in search of spice jars (we didn’t find them) and the Mall of America in search of clothes. We didn’t find very much in the way of clothes, but we did come home with a stack of books, thanks to a couple of gift cards. The number of books I have purchased this weekend says a lot about where my head has been lately.

Currently, it is beautiful and snowy out, and I couldn’t be happier! I’m heading out to yoga for the first time in over a week…I finally feel like I could make it through most of class. Fingers crossed that I’m right about that!

Until next time….

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