Another Project

I have a new blog up & running! It is a project with one of my most amazing friends who I miss all the time. A kind of communication project because we are often too busy to share the smaller details of what's going on & personally, those are the things I miss the most. To be able to see pictures from home & to share my own experiences with a close friend is something I'm really looking forward to!

Now I suppose we could always just email things to each other, but we are looking to see if it ends up being a type of story. If it does, it'll be a story you can follow too at No Postage Necessary

Learning to fly Again

This was my final project for a ceramics class I took this Spring. I only have a few quick photos of it that I snapped in the studio because it's going to be on display so I haven't been able to take it home yet. You can see the other pictures here.

The assignment was to create a self portrait that either actually looked like you, or that metaphorically represented some aspect of yourself. Over the past year, I had quite a lot to deal with in terms of "personal issues". But of course, I am tough as nails! . You will notice this version of our ugly bird has a bandaged wing, but the bandage is beginning to come off, it is no longer needed. Some things that happened were so hurtful, I was almost certain I could never really recover. Yet in time,  I found myself learning to fly again.

Neighborhood

So I'm taking a beginning photo class at school this semester & have been having too much fun with our current assignment which is to create a series. Initially my thought was people & their pets because I love that relationship. I think it's so sweet & kind of funny. Some people get really weird about their pets & I love it.

But that was starting to go the "too cute" route & as I was doing it, I realized that is a project that would take me a lot longer than the time I have to do it how I would really like. We were supposed to take a good portion of the photos during spring break & in between trying to schedule people at their convenience, work on other assignments, & actually trying to relax, I couldn't always capture in my favorite kind of light.

So I think that is a project I will have to return to in the future. Maybe this summer? I definitely need to improve my directing people skills so if you've got time, let me know!

Thanks again to those of you who let me photograph you. If I haven't sent you your pictures yet, I will probably do so this weekend!

Anyway, during spring break I also started what I have been tentatively calling "neighborhood". There are a lot of brand name housing developments where I live & I've always found it a weird blend of amusing & sad. So basically for my project I have been going about taking pictures of the same models of houses in these neighborhoods. My goal is to try & make you, the viewer, feel that same amusing & sad mixture. Because for some reason we are so willing to conform & that the idea of living in these nearly identical houses is actually so appealing to some people. Seriously for some pictures, I thought I had accidentally done the same one twice! & yet even with all these limitations, people do attempt to customize, to make their house into their home. Here is a sample:



Also, I finally made an "About" section here & "Book" where you can preview 15 pages of "plant collectors in bolivia", but don't buy it, I promise I will give you a copy as soon as I can.