It is still Polaroid Week! The excitement of that, and how inspiring it is to look at the Flickr group and see how many people still use film has been helping me a lot this week.
Some weeks it takes all you've got to keep your head above the water and to keep going.
Seeing the things I am most familiar with, being aware of my surroundings and allowing myself to just be there in that moment help to ground me a bit.
Notice what is familiar.
Until tomorrow.
~Peace~
This week I am working on finishing two more little projects, and getting back to working on my big project. I have really missed focusing on it while I have been working on the other things, but there will always be times like that. The important part is that I do eventually get back to working full time on my big project.
There are also a lot of Holiday sales coming up soon at many of the art centers. I will have a few prints for sale from my newer work. I'll make sure to post where when I have that all figured out.
I'm not really fully awake yet, so my thoughts are still really scattered. Today is mostly just going to be a work day for me. Next week I'll get back into more project stuff again. I'm still working on it, just in very little bits right now.
A couple more of the Polaroids I took on Halloween. I feel like I'm really starting to get the hang of my Polaroid Sx-70 camera. I always carry it with me in my purse now. It folds up flat, so it fits really easily.
The marquee sign at the St. Anthony Main theater. The sign is really bright, so I was able to just take this without doing anything special.
The Hennepin Avenue bridge. I didn't use my tripod on this one. I just set my camera on the railing of the 3rd Avenue Bridge that we were standing on. There were cars driving behind us on the bridge, and the vibrations make the camera shake just enough to get the light streaks. I really like how they came out though. This will be great to use as a layer in a compilation image. This was a 15 second exposure.
That's all for now.
Until tomorrow.
~Peace~
Halloween was a lot of fun this year.
With the weather as decent as it has been, I made plans to go out and take night photos of my favorite skyline. There were more people than I thought that were willing to go with me and stand in the potential cold while I took some pictures, and soon it turned into a wonderfully fun night including dinner and drinks and a walk around St. Anthony Main and of course, pictures. I loved it, and I'm hoping to do make it an annual Halloween outing!
The photos are definitely helping to get me out of my funk.
These 3 photos were taken with my Hasselblad 501c/m using my Polaroid back and the Silk 125i peel-apart film. I am really happy with how these photos came out, and I'm looking forward to using them somewhere in my project.
(30 second exposure)
When you walk towards the river, you can walk through this area by a church. There are a lot of stairs to walk up, but when you get to the top you can look out across the rooftops to see the city skyline. I have always loved that view.
(45 second exposure)
Once on the path by the Mississippi, you can see the skyline, the Stone Arch bridge, the cold cold river, this is one of my favorite places to be at night.
(50 second exposure)
Our last walk of the night led us up to the 3rd Avenue Bridge. From there you have a wonderful view of the Hennepin Avenue Bridge all lit up for the night. I think this is the first picture I have ever taken of this bridge.
I am aware that November is National Blogging Month and National Novel Writing Month and while I think that it is a bit beyond my capabilities right now to participate in either one, I am working on writing more in the month of November. In face yesterday I did find some time to work on some writing exercises and plan on continuing that. So, expect to see a few more blog posts this month with dialogs and other writings as well as photos.
Also, Happy Polaroid Week!
Until tomorrow.
~Peace~
There are times when inspiration is really hard to come by. Things seem to become mechanical and robotic.
It is hard to beat that feeling; hard to plan a way out of feeling like that.
Today has been one of those days. It has actually been awhile in coming I think. The whole week has honestly been kind-of tough and quite a bit bland in the inspiration department.
It seems that everyone regains their inspiration in different ways. If anyone reading this has any suggestions, I'd love to hear them. I have a few tried-and-true methods to get myself back on track, but I'm always looking for more to add to my list, more things to try.
Right now I'm in some serious need of refueling, and I'm hoping this weekend will help with that.
Saturday, we have a wonderful evening out with friends, that will involve me bringing an assortment of cameras and film along with me. No matter what happens, I know the night will be fun. Hopefully, I will be able to take some wonderful new images as well.
Sunday, I plan to work on some writing exercises and get back into writing more. That is honestly one of the first things I neglect when I get busy, and one of the last things I should be neglecting.
I'm really hoping that this weekend will fill my inspiration levels back up again and lead to a much smoother, more creative, and more productive week.
Until Monday.
~Peace~
It was kind-of a slow, blue day.
I'm looking forward to the weekend!
Until tomorrow,
~Peace~
I feel much more back on track today, and I'm ready for a long day of photo work tomorrow, having time to continue finishing up some other projects, and getting back to working on my big one. In the mean time, every day I try to steal a couple of moments and continue to collect images to work into my big project when I get back to working on those things.
Tonight I took these.
I love the moon, and most moon-related objects, and I have enjoyed this moon sun catcher for a long time. Tonight I decided to try and take a few polaroids with it, and I'm happy with how they turned out.
The first two were taken with my Hasselblad 501c/m medium format camera using a Polaroid back loaded with Silk 125i peel apart film. I love how soft the colors are with this film.
This last one was taken with my Polaroid Sx-70 camera using expired 779 'share-the-love' film. This camera is quickly becoming one I don't go very far without.
Until tomorrow.
~Peace~
I had been hoping to make a big deal here in my blog about making it to day 50 and only missing a couple of posts when I was really sick.
I had been hoping to have a bunch of new images to upload, new compilations, new polaroids, new dialogs.
The truth is, I have been working all day today finishing up applications. One small application to participate in a Holiday sale, and one grant application.
The grant application wasn't easy. It was an application for the Bush Foundation Artist Fellowship. Of course my chances of getting a grant like that are pretty slim – there are many many many awesome artists in the area that apply for these, and there is only so much money for the foundation to give out, so the odds are stacked against you just in numbers alone. No matter what your chances of winning though, applying for these grants is an experience. It is a long process with so many minute details you have to pay attention to and you are ready to rip things to shreds by the time you are done. But, the process makes you really think about your work and think about your purpose. In this case, it made me think about what I'm going to do after this show at Bloomington. Not that I am focusing on that right now, I think I have enough to focus on the way it is, but this grant has made me think about what will be next. And, it is kind-of a cool idea. I think I might actually stick with that, after this show. Grant or no grant.
Best part of the day:
Until tomorrow.
~Peace~
People often laugh at the fact that I always have a camera in my purse.
In fact, it is a test of mine, before I buy any purse, if it can fit one of my 3 favorite cameras (a Mamiya C330, a Hasselblad 501c/m, or a Polaroid Sx-70).
I always have a camera with me because you never know when the moment it going to be just right and you will get an image you love.
On Saturday while I was at work, the sun came out, and 3 trees in the backyard were just glowing with fall leaves. So I went out with my Sx-70 and snapped these photos. I love the vibrant colors in them, and I can't wait to add them to some compilation!
This week is full of deadlines for me, but I am taking it slow and steady, and stopping to take pictures a long the way.
Until tomorrow,
~Peace~
I know I got a lot done today.
It is hard though when you can't really show anyone just how much you have accomplished.
My biggest accomplishments today were dropping off the 125 prints at MCBA and finishing that project completely. I am also very close to finishing sorting through the photos from my last wedding ever. I'm weeding out the less than perfect ones before I start processing them all.
I was excited to learn last week that I won first place in the annual member's show at Banfill-Locke Center for the Arts. I realized, that I had never posted the image that won here. I should have, but for some reason it slipped through.
I probably never posted it before because I was always kind-of unsure if this one was finished or not. I was in a rush to get a few pieces together for the member's show, and decided to make a print of this one, just to see what it looked like on a wall. I figured that would help me decide if it was really complete or not. From the comments I have been getting, I think it is complete.
That's all I have for tonight. Until Monday…
~Peace~
j:Where am I?
q:The internet.
j:Where is that?
q:Nowhere and everywhere.
j:I don’t understand. I feel like nothing is solid. Where are the trees?
I feel like this is a different world. Are we dead? Are we still real?
q:How do you not understand this? Don’t you see the world we programmed? What we created?
j:I see nothing here.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Real World had become merely a place to live for her.
She didn’t feel like there was anything else for her there.
Here she could re-invent her awareness. Her attention to detail was particularly heightened. She could see and feel so much more.
There were of course a few people she missed, those that had a hard time finding her. But it was only a matter of time before everyone was here anyway.
Most of the artists have migrated already, and in a post-ironic way were remaking analog media here, compelling us to dream about a idealized version of our past.
She didn’t mind at all. It made her happy.
~Peace~