practice what you preach - santana

Ok, so another week, another post! This week is finally actually mostly stuff from this week, which makes me happy. There are two photos from last week but that's fine. Mostly today is children, but not the kiddies I've been chilling with at NDB. Actually, the kiddies prominently featured today are the siblings of my darling Sam. They're rather funny little people, I rather enjoyed hanging out with them, their parents (Bill and Illene (is that spelled right?)), Sam, Jen, and Mom on Tuesday. As always, comments are loved! Now on with the art!



So to start, let's go back to my earliest take for the week. This was taken last Wednesday (or maybe Thursday, I don't really remember right now) when Ms. Winn and I got bored of the classroom and ended up going outside with the kiddies for some landscape drawings or something. I ended up trying to photograph the kids and then hid in the shade, since I hate the sun. I think I only like this because of the way the light bounced up into their faces. Makes it sort of like an angelic light, though really, it's just a mixture of light bouncing off the white table and also probably the metal scaffolding behind them. Still, interesting, though not my favorite photo. I really like Ms. Winn and the girl next to her, what with that repeated shape. Charming really.



And this is the mannequin I'm working on in class. I'm still totally unsure of what the hell I'm doing with it but I really like the pins in the neck. It's supposed to be a piece about my feelings about NDB but I'm not sure that's what it will end up being. We will see! I like the really smooth shadows on the chest of the mannequin. I don't really have a lot else to say, I just like this one. Next photo!



Finally, we meet the kiddies! This is Eliza and she was just a pain to photograph. She does not stop moving and she just REFUSED to smile. But I was determined and patient and while she didn't smile, she does have a very pretty look going her. Really, she's a pretty kid. I like to think she looks older, more mature for her age. Old eyes, I believe that is the expression. Just the pensiveness and the thoughtfulness in her face contrasted with the obvious youth makes my head almost hurt with happiness. It's just a nice little contradiction, it's fun to look at. And just look at those delicate little eyelashes. Just a really exquisite face. Seriously.



So that was Eliza and this is her brother, Kaz. He was a lot easier to photograph, though again, we had a hard time with the smiles. What is it with kids and smiling? So here, Jen was holding him and trying to get him to look at me and smile but he was pretty much not into doing that, which was sad. But for some reason, the lighting did a lot of interesting things and he has this lovely light over his face which makes his face maybe even softer then it was before. Similar to his sister, this is sort of a pensive thing but I'm just digging the texture and sort of silky quality to his hair, it's charming and it draws the eye down the side of the photo and curls back into frame just enough to draw the eyes back onto his face. Brilliant!



Once more, Eliza, this time being tossed by Jen. Or maybe Sam, I don't remember. The blurriness is just so much fun! It's interesting because you can see her face pretty distinctly behind all of the blur. It's interesting because she's just got this really bland expression which is really contrasting with the whole blur which suggest motion and excitement. I'm just enjoying the contrasts she brings up.



And here is Eliza again, in a head on portrait. Despite tears and refusal to smile, she made for a cool subject, I'd absolutely photo her again! Anyway, I think I like this for a number of reasons. Like before, I think she looks a lot more mature in a lot of ways then she is. The slight cock of her head with that extremely faint almost smile can be a lot of different things and it's an expression that one does not often see on young children (well, at least I haven't seen it before, though my exposure to kiddies is minimal) and it just looks like something you'd see on someone much older then her. Also, I love her eyes, really big and dark, like there's something right there that we can't quite see. Perfection. Also, the lines on her face, both from the shadow of her hair and in the corner of her eyes make her look a bit older but also a little wilder, a little wiser. I bet she's a trouble maker when she's older.



And this is the favorite photo for this week! I love the sort of threatening hand in opposition to her really sweet face. It looks menacing and dark and yet she doesn't quite look fearful, just more curious, maybe with a slight undertone of strength or bravery or something like this. I may just be reading too much into this but I just think this embodies a whole lot of those good v. evil sort of themes. But then again, I'm probably reading waaaaayyyy too much into this. Anyway, incidentally, the hand is just my mom, going to tickle her and shortly after this was taken, Eliza was pretty much laughing constantly. But still, cool photo

And that's it for this week. Time for bed. I really ought to stop posting these so late, maybe try and get them up in time before midnight! Next week will almost certainly have pride photos, so look forward to that! Good night all!

quote of the day
You are worried about seeing him spend his early years in doing nothing. What! Is it nothing to be happy? Nothing to skip, play, and run around all day long? Never in his life will he be so busy again. ~Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Emile, 1762

vesti la giubba - luciano pavarotti

More photos, though because I'm an idiot, I didn't remember to upload new photos from this week. So this week's photo post has stuff from February in NY and also from the NDB dance showcase, since I've been looking at the photos from those things for a presentation I've been working on. So yes. Enjoy, and comment, please!



This is in Greenwich Village, down a sort of older looking street. It's a pretty little area and we were standing around in the street to get out of the wind while the tour guide, Gideon, gave some general information. Unfortunately, the street acted as more of a wind tunnel and if you look down in the lower right corner, you can see one of the girls from my school trying to get out of the wind.



And this rather abstract type shot is from Santa Cruz. I was on the beach with my youth council buddies and, as always, I was just snapping away. Someone was writing on the beach and I think this was supposed to say hello. Anyway, she's standing on the o, so it says hell and beyond that, the shadow is pretty. So yes. I like the clean sort of look it has going on, there's not a lot going on that's going to pull your eye all over the place.



Ok, so I'm thinking I wasn't being entirely honest when said this was all going to be from NY in February and the dance showcase. This photo is from NY though, just from April rather than February. Mom and Tina and Le and I went out on a walk from Leslie and Pat's house and when we got to the end of the street, I noticed this building. The title of the photo is Memento Mori, which is a Latin phrase meaning 'Remember you must die.' I think it's fitting, especially considering it's the photo I ended my book on. Anyway, what with the sort of dead look of the trees and the coldness of winter (though it was really spring) it's just an interesting title for that sort of look.



This is actually from the dance showcase, during the first numbers when the girls were dancing down the isles. With it being so damn dark, I got a very blurry shot but I think that makes it more interesting. You can't really tell who the dancer is and there's not a lot of distinguishing stuff in it but I find that interesting. Also, the chairs make for rather unusual shapes with the sort of shaky lines.



More dance stuff. This dancer is really quite good and while I did get some very sharp, more professional looking shots of her, this is really one of my favorites. Doesn't that shadow just look totally impish? Like some sort of pixie or something. I love it! It totally expresses to me the sort of playful side that I see in her. And it talks a lot about the multiple sides of a person. Look at the playful shapes of her shadow and then the more sort of serious dancer of her actual self. It's an interesting image to say the least!



Last dance shot shot, this is one of the girls during one of the more risque pieces. I found it interesting though, there's a lot of life to be had in this image, a lot of movement. Once more, you've got the thing with no distinguishing features to speak of and a lot of sort of blurry lines. I used to really hate all the blurriness that comes with dance photos but now I'm just totally in love with that stuff. Blurry and strange lines are just strange and weird and so much fun!



And this is the San Mateo tea garden. It was a flower that I ran into on my little photo walk with Julie. It's a really pretty, bright thing and that makes me happy. I'm kind of enjoying indulging my pretty pink photo. It's pretty and not particularly deep or anything but it's good and fun and.. blah, I've run out of interesting things to say, probably because it's obscenely late and I'm tired like no one's buisness.


So that's it for this week. Thanks to Gian for the wonderful comment last week, it like totally made my day!! That's all now, time for bed.

is this love - bob marley and the wailers

Ok, so I'm FINALLY posting up photos and hopefully people like them. The project has totally changed. I'm just going to be using this to post up seven random photos of the week. In general, I'll be posting photos I at least took during the week but for this week, I'm posting stuff just from within the year. It'll keep me in practice. I'd expect a good deal of stuff with kids over the next three weeks, since I'm working at an art camp for middle schoolers so I'll probably photo them a bit. We'll see what I do. Anyway, enjoy!


So the first piece is a group of kids at my old middle and elementary school singing in the mandir. Um, I was sitting in the back of the room with the teacher and Jen and I snapped this. I kind of like the light stuff, though it's one of those things I'd really like another shot of. But not a bad shot in general, it's something I'm going to have to try again. Those windows just make such a pretty background.


Outside the brother's school, this took like twenty shots to get. I just stood outside the car while the au-pair lady helped me figure out how to get a good shot. The sky was just too pretty to miss! I really like this, it might be really nice if I put it in black and white and kicked up the contrast. Hmmm, I'll have to play with it in iphoto.


This is from Notre Dame's Spring Showcase. I photograph all their showcases and they've been a GREAT source for portfolio pieces. I totally owe a HUGE thanks to Ms. Lorenz for letting me hang out during the rehersals to photograph them. Also, she's been awesome about letting me sit in on just regular classes. Thanks! Anyway, this was like a very eighties music piece and it was dark and I was having a hell of a time getting a shot, since I'm not supposed to be using flash. I somehow managed to get this. I'm in love with it, such a lucky catch, and really nice colors. Gah, I'll shut up now.


And this is Mia, a very nice girl I went to high school with. She's also a graduate (how cool is that, we're graduates of high school!) and she's one of those people that I'm hoping I'll see again. Anyway, I was desperate for photos when I took this, I was finishing up my book and I needed some photos to finish out the whole thing. She was looking at something or painting and I turned around and snapped this. I think the light worked out here really well. There's a skylight above her head and then there's a white table where she is looking so the right amount of light just magically got bounced up in her face. I'm also digging the background with the paintings and easels. Also, the white spirals behind her head are great, it looks magic!


And this is from the graduation party. Aside from the big black clump in the corner, I like this. Chrissy was running around (chasing birds maybe? I don't remember) and I snapped this. I feel like this speaks a lot to Chrissy's personality in a lot of ways. People who know her better then I do, let me know what you think. Um, I'm digging the line of bonfire pits and I'm really liking the one sort of piece of our bonfire pit being that sharp and stuff. Not a lot else to say with this one, just that I love the grey and black together and the relative androgyny of Chrissy. Good shot though, I love days like that, they make for very cool photos


Another dancer, this is just in one of the usual classes, no shows here. I took off my photography class and sat in the class and photographed the kids. This was the one really great photo I got. I love the pensiveness, the sort of hesitation all around her. Seriously, it's very cool. Not a lot else to say but yes, not a bad one. Not a very accurate portrayal of her personality though, but oh well, who cares! Hehe, well, that's all for that one


I LOVE this portrait of Sam. I absolutely love it. Also on the same day as the photo of Chrissy. The wind just blew Sam's hair the right way and the purple, the way her eyes look, and the white background gives it a sort of otherworldly feel. The only problem is the rainbow blanket to the side. It kind of draws the eye away and adds nothing. Ah well, other then that, this is brilliant!


BONUS PHOTO! Only I didn't take this one, Sam did. Pretty good, right?

Anyway, that's all for this week, hopefully I'll be on time next week. I'll have to do a self portrait so everyone can see my pretty new blue hair! See you all next week! Comments are loved, constructive criticism is brilliant.

quote of the day
“Photography is a way of feeling, of touching, of loving. What you have caught on film is captured forever... it remembers little things, long after you have forgotten everything.”- Aaron Siskind