telephoto-eye: photography of hana carpenter

images of boston -- color

2010-08-28T18:10:00.004-04:00

and now for my favorite color shots of boston. it can be such a vibrant place.

this is my cousin nina, up a tree in the public gardens. we got to walk across the pond, and were thoroughly excited about it.

boats on the charles, most of them from MIT's sailing team:these are some of the many souvenirs the guys in the common have to offer. not pictured: super-patriotic "don't tread on me" tees.the colorful rings on the fence at tadpole playground:these trees along the esplanade are popular among emerson's photography students. here they are in the fall:and here are some pretty star magnolias, photographed near hynes:ok! that's the end of that little retrospective. see you around, everybody!

images of boston -- black and white

2010-08-28T17:58:00.005-04:00

i decided to make a few posts compiling my favorites out of all the photos i've taken in this city. the first is my favorite black and white photos. let's get this show on the road.

i love how forbidding this ONE is. i believe it is on tremont street, on the way to fanueil hall from the common.
here is the distorted reality of a reflection in a window near south station:this is the brattle book shop in the back bay, one of my favorite places to go and browse on a nice day. (no rhymes intended.) i actually sent this image as a post card to the netherlands.and here are some girls enjoying the sailboats at the esplanade:

welcome back!

2010-08-27T09:49:00.004-04:00

greetings, blogtopians and internites! i have return from the great, bright beyond with photographs. yes, real images of the strange and physical world in which i have lived for the past few months. as the summer season draws to a close, let me boggle your mind with these snapshots!
above, you will see pictures from chicago. my brother now goes to loyola university. congratulations, stevie! next, i have a couple pictures for you from the united states botanical garden in washington, d.c. if you ever go, make sure you spend a long time in the mosses and ferns room. it is a cool, damp, silent place; a place full of spores and peace.
and finally, allow me to introduce the newest member of my family. she's a cat. her name is ms. minoes. show 'em some love, minoes!squeezable, no? see you next time, and my (repeated) apologies for such a prolonged absence of photography!

big schools

2010-04-23T00:38:00.004-04:00

whenever i visit uconn, i get to appreciate the things large schools can have that emerson never could. first, there is the huge library. i may be a bit biased because nathan works there, but i think it is beautiful. they have so many old books, and it is so big that you can always find a place to feel alone and hidden.
the second is the greenhouse. actually, nathan used to work there, too. it has plants from all over the world. someday i am going to get nathan to do a guest post on my blog with the pictures he took of them. they are seriuously beautiful.that's all. i'm home for the summer, so you can begin to expect the usual posts re: flowers, bugs, and the great outdoors.
happy mother's day!

the "other" boston tea party

2010-04-21T19:47:00.004-04:00

the tea party express rolled into town last wednesday. i'm not going to say anything else about it. allow my photos speak for me.
these colors don't run.
because they're all white.

we are all going a bit mad here

2010-04-14T23:22:00.004-04:00

i am a hotheaded person. i am rough around the edges. i lose my temper easily, and my cool easier still. it's not as if i don't try to be patient. i always aim at temperance. but controlling it is not so easy as just "not doing". nathan will always put up with my explosions, implosions, and general coarseness. he will step right into the line of fire and take the abuse, he will get right at me and say some silly thing that was exactly what i needed to hear. he can create calm from chaos. i wish i could be so consistent and gentle with him. the best i can create is the simulacrum of calm.one picks up where the other leaves off. wasn't that cute.

finally we awaken

2010-04-06T14:35:00.004-04:00

an appeal to all the senses to come out slowly.

nearly two months...

2010-04-06T14:26:00.005-04:00

...is how long i have been away from this blog. they were a weird two months. i kind of went off photography for a while. my classes have had me spending a lot of time in books, analysing the theories others have about the world. i have been doing a lot of thinking about morality, biology, and the ways the two intersect. there has been regrettably little time or motive for any kind of creation of my own during days of study and nights of community service. however, with the coming of warm weather, my mind has been refreshed. there is a way to work it all in, it just requires a lot of positivity.

so please, dear readers, allow me to step sheepishly back into the fold. here is a picture of some twisted, rusted metal: a promise of things to come.

konica big mini

2010-02-08T23:48:00.006-05:00

i finally got some of the pictures from my konica big mini printed. i love them! the tone they all have, that cool greenish-blue! the glory of analog (well, sort-of analog)! the photo-processing guy couldn't say enough about them, too. but i think he may just have wanted to see some good ratings on the customer service survey. you tell me what you think:the full set is on my flickr photostream (see the link at the side). i forsee a lot more of these film scans in the future. let's hear it for outmoded technology! hieperdiepiep! hoorah!

the last day in january

2010-01-31T23:49:00.003-05:00

i had a wonderful day today. the only bad part was when nathan had to leave.
nina, max and i got lunch with my aunt and uncle, then walked across the public gardens and up the esplanade to sweet where we got delicious, heavily icing-ed cupcakes.i always feel stronger after i see them. hopefully that isn't just because i eat more then.

the grounds for sculpture

2010-01-20T22:55:00.005-05:00

often when my cousins visit, we find ourselves with a beautiful fall or winter day and nothing to do outside. solution? the grounds for sculpture in hamilton! the landscaping is beautiful and (sometimes) the sculpture is too. but we always have fun.they have peacocks and peahens strutting around the premises. i am sure they are fed up with cameras by now.

i am working on getting my head around florence and san gimignano. there is a lot of beauty to attempt to condense.

home to boston

2010-01-20T22:50:00.005-05:00

this is the view from my room on the 11th floor. if you want to appreciate the beauty of a city, 11 stories up is the place.

ice and moss

2010-01-15T00:08:00.005-05:00

a short break from my fond bloviations on travel.
today was an ice and moss day. the air was fresh, sweet, chilly, and the ground was crunchy. a walk alone through the sourlands left me with this feeling.

venezia di diurna

2010-01-14T23:26:00.003-05:00

it's quiet and mysterious at night, but vibrant and alive by day. you really visit two venices when you go.the above picture grabbed me in the daylight and under the flourescents at night.i like them both.

venezia di notte

2010-01-07T10:38:00.007-05:00

i have been having some strange experiences lately. nathan is playing assassin's creed 2, which takes place in the vital parts of renaissance italy: florence, venice, rome, and even san gimigano among them. it gives me a constant feeling of deja-vu. i have never seen a game so accurately depict reality before. they bathed florence in the right light, detailed all of the intricate decorations of il duomo and st. marco's (which, incidentally, you climb all over), captured the insanity that is rome. we have been joking that i got suckered into paying for the real tour when i could just have done it in the game. of course there's no truth in that; italy must be lived to be understood.

i took the classic college student course through italy: venice to florence to rome. from florence i also visited san gimigano, which was probably the most beautiful place i've ever been to. and i've been places.
the train ride from munich was staggeringly long, but tempered by the stunning magnitude of the snowy alps passing by the windows, good friends, and a card game called scopa (heard of it?). we stepped onto the platform in venice's central station at night, and wandered in awe for quite a while after checking in to our hostel (which happened to be a 3-bedroom-apartment-cum-hostel). we actually did get lost, but that's supposed to happen in venice. enough yammering, here is a visual description:
often the camera will distort the colors of the night, but i promise these are accurate. venice really is green at night. it's eerie and peaceful; feels thick with ghosts who dance and laugh and cry and kiss and kill each other. i will share with you how bright venice can get in my next post.

what did the tomato say to the straggler?

2010-01-07T10:29:00.002-05:00

hello. the world has settled down for me, at last, after goodbyes and airplanes and suitcases and hellos and presents and an excess of delicious food.
my head is immersed in craft projects, reading, and sleeping in late.

time to backtrack and catch the great collective mind up on what i did after brussels. yikes, that's almost the whole trip. so it goes.

sunset

2009-11-25T15:55:00.004-05:00

a time for silhouettes that simplify problems.
quiet observation, as the air gets chill.

the beaux city of brussels

2009-10-29T18:49:00.003-04:00

victory! here, at last, loyal readers, is the documentation of the weekend i turned 20!
my big goal in brussels was to see the mannekin pis, because quite honestly i didn't know the first thing about the city before visiting. i didn't even know they spoke french there. so yes, i saw the mannekin.but then i saw the rest of the city, and the mannekin pis is absolutely not the coolest thing there.lots of sculpture.
i also have to comment on this particular image:the view from this spot in the park looked just like some kind of city from star trek. it was so futuristic and blue.

herfst

2009-10-26T20:02:00.002-04:00

the most beautiful time to be born.

and so, to ghent!

2009-10-24T16:43:00.005-04:00

fortunately, bruges does not speak for all of belgium. ghent is awesome. it's like if bruges and brussels had a brilliant lovechild. it's full of art and medieval charm, just to the right scale, and everything is affordable for a lowly student such as myself. (don't get me wrong, you can go expensive if you want to, but it's not forced like in CERTAIN towns.) plus, the people are friendly here and the oldsters aren't scabs. i had coffee with a woman who has lived in ghent all her life, and had been going to that particular coffee shop (mokabon, where you can go to the best cappucino ever for only 2 euro) since she was nine years old. a cute young couple also sat with us, and spent the entire time pinching each other as they stirred their coffees. and that was only the beautiful beginning to my day.

one more cool thing: there is a street in ghent where you can do graffiti without getting in any trouble. behold.
does it not speak to the innermost happiness of you soul?! they love art in ghent. i also took in the s.m.a.k., where i saw some crappy modern art and some cool modern art. in addition to its exhibits, there is "coming people": the museum displays art students' work, chosen by curators from the museum itself and from international museums (this year it was a person from japan). also, they actually allow you to take (non-flash) photos in the museum, which is an awesome idea. i'm still working out whether or not any of the photos i took are good enough to be worth posting. only photoshop will tell! for now, just enjoy this beautiful image from a junk shop (where, incidentally, i wound up haggling for and buying a melodica):wow.

bruges: the simple

2009-10-24T16:26:00.003-04:00

if you have ever seen the movie in bruges, you will know that colin farrell spends nearly the entire thing making fun of how boring bruges is. let me halfheartedly apologize for referencing this movie in my post. i know it's all bruges is known for and that it's so cliche to use it as a jumping-off point. if that bothers you, you should probably go away. there is a reason that said film is the only thing in bruges that people talk about. let me allow colin to explain:

"if i grew up on a farm, and was retarded, bruges might impress me; but i didn't, so it doesn't."

yeah, that's pretty much true. it's a lovely old city, really, but everything is super expensive and everyone is old. old and cranky. all the museums ad cathedrals are under construction, so they're either not worth seeing or closed. they don't let you see jesus' blood for some reason, so even that small novelty is out the window. plus everything smells like groty egg farts, all the time. this first photo is an extremely typical street-shot of bruges.
what are you going to do? pay 4 euro for a bottled beer and feel sorry for yourself, then go to ghent.

nighttime in paris

2009-10-24T16:13:00.005-04:00

we come at last to the end of our paris series!
i took a small break in between posts to go to belgium. no big deal.
the last day i spent in paris was a monday. at night the city was deserted (parisians have to sleep too), and alex and i walked around with a cheap bottle of wine and all the time in the world. an interesting fact about this night: it is the first time i have peed on (not in, mind you) a foreign country. don't worry, i managed to avoid peeing on myself. check this first photo out extra close: alex took this little baby at night without a tripod. he has the steady hands of a surgeon.
this last photo is my absolute favorite ever. alex's idea, my drunken execution.
coming up are photos from belgium, including bruges, ghent, and my birthday in brussels!

streets of paris 2: art and architecture

2009-10-22T13:56:00.004-04:00

i didn't wind up taking too terribly many photos of buildings on my trip. i have a lot of shots from high places like the butte montmartre and the eiffel tower, but they are really very basic. i think i was just hyped up on caffeine and excited by how much i could see. check out this beautiful place!
i saw that poster being glued to the wall while i was having coffee with my mom and aunt. the man who put it up painted the wall over and over with glue, and took especial care to lay the poster flat. he even cut of the corner so he didn't paste over that red clown's speech bubble, which was an absolutely adorable act.
the next and final segment will be: paris by night!

streets of paris 1: the people

2009-10-22T13:08:00.004-04:00

the general pleasantness of the parisians, especially when the weather is nice, came as something of a surprise to me. all we ever hear about the french in america is that they are grumpy and short-tempered. oh yeah, and that they hate us. well, i ran into the sort of americans that even americans hate (i.e. the kind who pronounce pigalle like "pig-alley", which i promise is something i actually heard), and that was the only time i felt self-conscious of my nationality. and at that point, my mom, aunt, and i were laughing at these people along with the rest of the metro car. here are some images of the people of paris, being cute and all-around french.
yup, that's a didgeridoo. the caliber of street performers in paris sets the bar very high for the rest of the world. take this guy for example:i don't know if you can tell, but he has a live goldfish in that jar on top of his head. and he was actually managing to juggle and dance in time with the music. he so deserved the money he was earning! i also gave some change to a guy playing "volare" on his guitar in the metro, and a guy who was playing the entire amelie soundtrack on his accordian in a metro station. i wasn't the only one with her camera at the ready! these people are all taking photos of a solid chocolate-and-swarovski-crystal representation of the paris opera. decadence, thy name is paris.
and what would a post about the people i saw in paris be without photos of my beloved mommy and auntie?
this was while having coffee on the first level of the eiffel tower. yum!
next up will be the sequel: the streets of paris sans people. (i just rhymed)

la nourriture

2009-10-22T11:43:00.011-04:00

so, i have given up on doing things in any kind of realistic order. the pictures i took on a recent trip to nijmegen accidentally went back to the u.s. with my mom when she left paris this weekend, so instead i'll just skip right forward to paris. all that matters is that i'm updating! i have so many photos from paris that i have decided to split them into several smaller, themed posts. this one is all the photos i have of food. i spent the majority of my time there (4 of the 5 days) staying in an apartment with my mom and aunt on rue mariotte (of which there will be pictures later!). down the street from us was a regional farmers' market which set up every day of the week except monday. the vegetables there were so fresh and beautiful, i've never seen anything like them:
this woman sold roasted beets at her stand, which was such a wonderful idea. the last night's dinner was just 2 big fat beet and a huge hunk of crusty bread.
but with dinner must come dessert, and there is plenty of that in paris. my mom and aunt had heard about this "chocolate exposition" that was going on, so we went to that. you pretty much just pay the €12 admission price and walk around sampling the finest chocolates france (and other countries, like italy and even japan) has to offer. this was fun. i ate so much chocolate, and brought home so much more. as we speak, my dad, brother, cousins, and uncle are probably gorging themselves on the treats my aunt and mom brought back. i was also able to visit laduree bakery, which was one of the only places i had on my mind from the beginning of the trip. it was packed full of tourists, having made a name for itself not only because of its age but because its pastry chefs were responsible for the desserts featured in marie antoinette. the macarons and religeuse (violet flavored, no less!) i got were so out of this world. hooray for the french! coming up next in the paris series is the view from the streets! stay tuned!

... p.s., check this out:it was so good.

i love junk shops

2009-10-11T16:24:00.006-04:00

i am an old lady at heart. junk shops catch my fancy like no other thing. there is something about the layers and layers of compounded lives in them that is at once crushing and fascinating. so, dutch junk shops? count me in! this particular junk shop was in maastricht, owned by a really nice man with a really bad cough.don't tell my cousin max, but there were world war ii helmets and gas masks in there!

the best trip ever

2009-10-06T17:00:00.012-04:00

ok, let me start this off by saying: really old churches. they're pretty damn cool, right? they have beautiful sculpture, architecture, and some serious presence. we're agreed as far as that is concerned. what if i then say: really old churches to which you get an all-access, backstage tour from an expert, plus coffee and cookies. did you have a heart attack from the awesome prospects contained within that last sentence? you did, but you're still alive? good, because here's the coup de grace for your blown mind (and arteries): i did that last friday!!!!

my art history professor, rob duckers, is the curator of the treasury of the basilica of st. servatius (sint servaas in dutch). that means he deals with ancient roman glass bowls, saints' bones, silver, gold, and "pieces of the cross" (most likely just some very old olive wood, but still), among other cool relic-y type things. he took us to the town of maastricht, which is also the town in which d'artagnan (of 3 musketeers fame) was killed in 1673, to see all the dirty secret parts of the basilica. this included the emperor's special balcony, the lofty third floor where the bells used to be, and the crypt. yeah, where they keep the cool coffins and stuff.

this is the basilica of sint servaas, of which, i am sure, far better photos exist:the treasury is beautiful, rob and his colleagues have done such a wonderful job of taking care of and displaying it all. i didn't walk around in the dimly lit galleries taking photos of relics behind glass, so you're going to have to trust me on this one. there are a million things i could say about romanesque column capitals and the different periods of architectural features in this basilica, but i will spare you the details and take you to the church of our lady, star of the sea:
i roped you into reading this post with the promise of churches, but there is a bonus feature that i didn't tell you about: maastricht itself is beautiful and many hundreds of years old! oh, look, here's a little piece of history right here:those of you with particularly sharp eyes will have noticed the sign that says "hellpoort 1229". those of you who speak dutch or are simply very clever will have figured out that "hellpoort" means "hell's gate". why would a medieval city want to name one of it's entrances hell's gate? well, i'll tell you why! this was the gate which led to the gallows before the city spread outside its walls. the vast majority of the people leaving this gate were leaving maastricht for good (unless they planned on coming back as ghosts). and everyone convicted of a sentence worthy of hanging was, logically, going to hell for their crimes. so, for most people, this gate was the way to hell!
the windows above the red wooden part are cells where prisoners about to be executed were kept. i imagine it was a lovely view if you could manage to ignore the gallows in the foreground. the red wooden part itself is accessible from the fortifications, allowing the gate's guards to pour/throw whatever dangerous objects they were able to find on invaders.

the hellpoort is in the "old" (everything is relative here) part of town. across the river is the more modern parts of maastricht, which i didn't get to see much of. it is full of nice coffee shops and stores, though. here is a view of the river, with the "old" area on the left and the "new" area on the right. the bridge going between them was rebuilt in the medieval times in almost the same place and in the same style as the original roman one, which stood there for centuries before.
as you can clearly tell from the picture, maastricht is a beautiful, beautiful city. everyone staying in kasteel well should go--it's a pretty short trip from here and you don't even have to spend the night (though it is an option, there are hostels). maastricht also works perfectly with a trip to haarlem, the next stop in my ever-growing collection of photos. stay tuned!

amsterdam and back again!

2009-10-06T16:09:00.005-04:00

this post is loooong overdue. if any of you have been to my flickr, the photos from my weekend in amsterdam (september 25-27) have been there for a while. i can get myself to edit and upload them, but posting is apparently one step too many! as you probably have figured out, getting the feel of a place is not my strongest point. if you want an all-inclusive tour of amsterdam, better to find it on earthalbum. however, if you're here for a hana's-eye-view...
i don't know how i left that city without visiting the FOAM museum! my friend alex and i did get to the van gogh museum, however, which was really cool. i felt a real kinship with van gogh while walking through the exhibits and reading about his life, and this was despite the moderately large crowd milling around the galleries. we also took a trip as a class to the rijksmuseum (where i didn't get to see the famous rembrandt de nachtwacht because my teacher spent so long lecturing about other paintings! gaaaahh!!!) and the amsterdams historisch museum, both of which were really good lessons in dutch art and social culture.

over the past two weeks, how to accurately describe this city has been buzzing around inside my head. judgement aside, i can absolutely say that amsterdam is food for the senses. if you are paying a little attention, you will find yourself soaking in the strangeness of humanity when you visit.

journey to nijmegen

2009-09-23T18:11:00.004-04:00

my friend peter and i went to nijmegen on tuesday. it's a really neat town, it even has a red light district (a single lamp post with red tape on it and 2 duplexes with girls in the front windows). here's what i took with my camera, using which is the same as putting a big red sticker that says "MADE IN U.S.A." on my forehead. here's a fun quiz: how many people do you see in this picture?

also, here is a picture of the coolest tree ever, which resides just outside the doors of kasteel well. one could probably sleep in it, if one were so inclined.this weekend is the trip to amsterdam!

the surroundings of kasteel well on a sunny day

2009-09-23T13:34:00.005-04:00

so, i have yet to accurately capture the image of the castle in its entirety. a friend of mine by the name of nicole has done an exceedingly wonderful job at that, however, and you can see her work on her flickr. for now, i have to show you what meager things i have managed to snap--a lot of plants and flowers, as seems to be my tendency.
i took a trip to nijmegen yesterday, and will be putting those photos up later tonight after i sort through them. so much has been going on, sometimes there isn't even time for a camera. imagine such a thing!

kasteel well

2009-09-19T09:42:00.004-04:00

i've only been here for a day (i think lost one somewhere in between, and i feel a bit cheated because of this, but i'm going to disregard this), however i think it is safe to say that the town of well is the most beautiful place i've been in my entire life. my camera, of course, has been glued to my neck the entire time. i haven't got so many pictures yet--the old trigger finger functions a bit worse on no sleep. want to see some photos?
you only get a peek of the castle right now. i promise more later!

the final days in america

2009-09-16T23:44:00.004-04:00

who says you can't go to the beach in september?
we visited plum island, which is also a wildlife refuge and exceedingly pleasant.

i recommend you view the following photo up close by clicking here. it's the brattle book shop on west street in boston. on nice days they have outdoor shelves full of a really robust and interesting collection of used books at cheap prices. on all days they have an immense selection indoors, arranged on tall shelves in classic bookshop fashion.my flight leaves tomorrow at 6:05 pm. next time you see me, i'll be living among the dutch (or, rather, ruling over them from my castle).

sept 6

2009-09-06T22:34:00.006-04:00

this seems to be a weekend for fairs. in a true testament to the nature of america, this one is completely different from yesterday's. instead of samosas, funnel cake. instead of traditional dance, freakshows. instead of mehendi, face painting. well, maybe it's not so different after all...
if someone were to ask me to sum up the nature of america, i would point them to a carnival such as this one. this is what it is. just in case any of you were wondering, these photos were taken at the great allentown fair in allentown, pa (where my friend meg goes to muhlenberg college!). the fair will be open until labor day (cripes, that's tomorrow!), so get your butt in gear if you want to visit it.

sept 5

2009-09-05T17:22:00.005-04:00

today i went to the indo-american fair in west windsor. it was a fascinating cross-section of new jersey's indian population. people apparently come from all over the state to go to this fair in mercer county park. there was a stage with dance performaces, vendors selling saree and chat foods, and fun things like mehendi artists and bouncy castles (an odd combination, i know). thanks to the new lens i got some colorful shots!
the fair continues into tomorrow (sunday, sept. 6th), so if you're in the area i highly reccomend you visit! click the link at the top of this post for more information.

fm amen!

2009-09-05T00:13:00.001-04:00

sometimes music can do that for you.
tonight is one of those times.
(103.3, WPRB)

sept 3

2009-09-03T11:57:00.005-04:00

i got a new lens!! i got a new lens!!! aaahhhh!!
this is a really big deal for me. it's like a photography rite of passage (is it for other people, or am i just being silly?). it's a 55-200mm lens, which allows me to get closer shots of things that usually run away, like this bee! now all i have to do is get used to changing the lens. i have been neurotically cleaning every part of my camera with canned air today.

august, round two

2009-08-31T23:50:00.004-04:00

my mom's side of the family recently came up for my grandmother's memorial service. we planted two sugar maples at the main entrance to the stony brook millstone watershed center, one for her and one for my grandfather. this corresponded with the weekend of the watershed's butterfly festival. here are some of the celebrated lepidoptera:
we also rode in the back of my uncle's pickup truck. such are the joys of moving fast during the summer:
tomorrow my dad goes back to work (which is also back to school. imagine that double header.). he and i went on a walk at swinging bridges (behind the insitute of advanced study in princeton). the bridge is awesome! it was super muddy, and we both came very close to taking some major spills.
august is royally and officially over. most of my time is devoted to alternatively worrying about and being excited for my trip to the netherlands. it's all about planning weekend trips and stuff--i wonder if there is a single person on this trip who is thinking about the schoolwork?here's to summer as a big kid.

"jorb"

2009-08-15T12:35:00.001-04:00

this hangs over the head of my bed, because jorb is my favorite word.

how august feels

2009-08-14T23:45:00.001-04:00

madame hana's carrot menagerie

2009-08-11T17:40:00.009-04:00

hur-ry! hur-ry! step right up! admission is free and the subjects are fascinating! SEE the carrot lovers! GAPE at the carrot that looks like some legs! GAZE IN AWE at the carrot giving a smaller carrot a piggy back ride! not for those with weak constitutions! women and children, look away!

tuvan throat singing

2009-08-11T12:20:00.005-04:00

a couple of thursdays ago i was fortunate enough to take in a free performance by the amazing ensemble alash. they are comprised of some of the greatest musicians in tuva, a small republic of russia located in southern siberia.
they are all throat singers. if you've never heard throat singing, you will be blown away. even if you have, these guys are among the best. listen to their samples on their site, and seriously think about buying a cd.
for some reason stephen colbert has been all about throat singing lately, so maybe you heard about it from him. at the suggestion of chris (nathan's mom's boyfriend, but i know him a lot better than that title makes it seem), alash is going to try and get on the colbert report. they deserve the colbert bump.the igil, a stringed tuvan instrument played with a bow, always includes the image of a horse's head because of a legend about a boy and his beloved horse. nathan is building one of these, and he got a lot of tips from the group's interpreter/friend/agent when we went to the concert.

if you live in the princeton, nj area, there is talk of the group returning for another performance. i highly reccomend going! the concert we went to was presented by the arts council of princeton, so checking their website would probably be your best bet. now go visit the alash website (linked at the top of this post) and listen!!

memories of colonial williamsburg

2009-08-05T16:59:00.009-04:00

so, remember that girl who used to update this blog? no? well, allow me to introduce myself...

the pictures from colonial williamsburg have been sitting on my computer for quite a while. there aren't very many of them, because much of the time i was trying to fit in and look historical. clara and i looked so good. we took that town by storm. we were in at least ten vacation photos (meaning people actually posed with us!!), and got some very suspicious looks from the real colonial williamsburg staff. it was really fun! we didn't last very long camping--it turns out that the mosquitos in virginia have giant fangs that can pierce everything you might try to use to keep them from your blood. we spent one night at that campground, packed up, and checked in to the days inn across the street. i spent most of the time with my camera in my basket, because it was really fun to pretend we worked there. we were definitely living out a fantasy. clara doubly so, because she looked like felicity.one of the things i was most enamored with was the brightness and variety of the wallpapers and fabrics that people (mostly the wealthy, actually) decorated with in the 18th century. i guess with all the stoic portraits we see in school it's easy to believe that everything looked that way. not so! i present to you a few of the textiles of colonial williamsburg:
all in all, colonial williamsburg is a beautiful place. it's worth a trip, but even more so in costume. you feel like royalty, even if you dress like a peasent or a middle class person. everyone says hello to you, and little girls will freeze in their spot and begin to drool on sight.
i have a lot of catching up to do with my photos. keep your eyes peeled all week!!

bright colors.

2009-07-24T01:00:00.005-04:00

i have very little to say because i am so damn excited! i leave for colonial williamsburg tomorrow with my friend clara, and i hope to come back having had a buttload of fun and taken a buttload of photos. i am sure i could muse on the beauty andwonder of colorful things for about 4 paragraphs, but instead i will post the pictures and go on my merry way to bed. you guys just need to see these, is all!i brought my beets in from my garden, and this cicada was just chilling out on the stalks! it really didn't want to leave...nathan had to flick it off the stalk to get it to fly away!
those last two were leftovers from my firefly attempts--i couldn't get any of the little bugs on film, but the sunset provided some truly lovely views.

i would also like to add that i saw a performance by prominent tuvan throat singers alash today, and took some photos which i think came out well. look forward to an informative, musical, and photographic post when i get back from my trip! hurray!

jul 18

2009-07-19T17:41:00.004-04:00

i am very wary of night photography. i have a tripod, but i rarely use it because my lens is very poor in low light anyways. i was in the mood to try it last night, though, so nathan and i went to the watershed and i set up my camera (that sentence sounds very inappropriate, young lady). i took a whole bunch of pictures of the sky, trying to capture an image of the stars, and took a few shots at the skyline.
this last one is really freakin' cool, if i do say so myself. you can't really tell from this tiny photo, but if you click here and go to the large version on my flickr page, you can see the evenly-spaced blinks from the plane's red light as it flies across the shot. i promise this is the actual image i took (no stars added), but i completely changed the contrast, brightness, and color settings. as i post this, i have photos of fireflies from tonight waiting on my camera (the draft of this post has been sitting on my computer unpublished all day). this is how things get done in the summer. :)

the past few weeks.

2009-07-16T18:17:00.005-04:00

comrades and lovers--i return with photos!
i'm sorry for the long break. at a few parties over the past few days, several friends (and even vague acquaintances!) from high school have told me that they like my blog and/or photography. shamefacedly, i realized i haven't updated this thing since the fourth! there have been quite a few pictures fermentin' on my camera, spanning the time between posts. they are all green. maybe this is because they have been sitting on my camera for so long that they have started to get moldy. take a look.
the below four photos were taken at that time of the day--the late afternoon haze on a summer day when the light is golden and every picture you take is amazing. check out the cool "flare" effects caused by my dusty, uncleaned lens.that's my dad. it's his birthday on monday (july 20th). you should facebook him and tell him happy birthday! his name is chris.i'm friends with him. that's right--he's my dad and my friend!

happy birthday, dad!

jun 27

2009-07-04T14:25:00.002-04:00

i uploaded some pictures to flickr planning to post them here, but forgot about them completely! i visited the marina in trenton where nathan's parents are fixing up their boat for a cookout type thing last weekend, and it was a totally beautiful day. i got lost for like 2 hours trying to get there, but when i did arrive i ran around frantically taking pictures.
the marina is right next to a coal plant which captures the sunset beautifully. it also buzzes every 15 minutes or so. it's at this point that i realize i am really, really from new jersey--i was going to describe the coal plant as "majestic". it's an impressive structure, but it ain't majestic.

flickr did a really good job of arranging my photos on my front page:
does it grab similar colors on purpose, or is that just luck?

a cool thing!

2009-06-27T01:23:00.005-04:00

during the town yard sales in the beginning of this month i found a waterlogged strip of 35mm still negatives sitting by the side of the road. i noticed that not all of the images were washed away, so i picked it up and shoved it in my backpack and forgot about it. the other night i was bored so i went through my stuff, and lo and behold, there were the negatives! it was around 2 am and i was already in bed, so i just grabbed my old powershot, opened up my cell phone, and used the screen to backlight the film. with my camera in macro mode i could capture the negative, then i inverted the colors in photoshop. results?
i almost crapped my pants when i saw the second one (figure of speech, people). why are children so scary?

there is one other surviving image on the strip of negatives--i think i'll use my same über-amateur method to capture them. i like doing things that way. post soon to follow!

jun 26

2009-06-27T00:56:00.005-04:00

my friend mikee is really cool. he can do a really good russian accent, he can mime violence like nobody's business, and his voice is as smooth as belgian chocolate. he also has an old pinball machine in his basement--the kind that's completely mechanized and makes those satisfying dinging noises that all the virtual ones try to mimic. it's really pretty. while hanging out today i took some pictures of it, instead of the party that was going on in the background.
i used nathan's tiny canon powershot 880 and my old powershot a520. the first photo here is my a520, and the second two are his 880. i bought that a520 in hawaii in 2004--it was the first digital camera in my family and it's of the variety that still had out-of-the-lens analog viewfinders on them (making the film-to-digital transition easier for technophobes everywhere). this thing took all kinds of crap from me in my early teens, just learning how to use a camera for more than family portraits and blurry pictures of my dog. i paid for it with allowance money in the form of travelers' checks, with my rudimentary signature on the back. it's kind of like an old friend. aww.

in my humble, unknowledgeable opion, when it comes to consumer digital cameras, canon blows any competition out of the water. perhaps they blow competition out of the water in other fields, but this is all i have any expertise in. discuss if you want. see you in the comments!

jun 21

2009-06-21T16:02:00.003-04:00

remember those tiny little sprouts i posted pictures of at the end of may?
booyah, grandma! each of these radishes is gigantic, spicy, and delicious. they are my father's day gift to my dad, who helped me build the garden earlier this summer. idn't dat just da sweetest widdle thing?

today it's actually sunny out. that's a rare occurrence. how about you take a little look into my world?those marigolds came out of my garden. they keep the rabbits away because they're all spicy smelling. i like how the flower petals taste--try some!

speaking of trying some...did you know that vegan cinnamon rolls exist?! i know i haven't said even a teensy word about veganism in a while, but i promise these will make up for it. click here for the recipe!

iranian election

2009-06-19T01:10:00.006-04:00

i just wanted to post this link to faramaz hashemi's flickr photoset of the iranian election protests.

photography has played an immensely important role in the global publicization of the protests and violence happening in tehran. with the country's media blockade, the protests have made reporters and photojournalists out of amateur photographers. these people are taking pictures to document and express the changes and horrors happening around them, and this is photography in its purest form. the power and succintity of image is fully exemplified in the shots which have been uploaded from within tehran. i am so pleased that the people of iran have managed to get this much exposed. i hope as many people around the world see these pictures as possible, and that they help to keep us vigilant and aware as iran's series of events unfolds. whatever the outcome, it cannot happen in secret.

june 17-18

2009-06-18T17:05:00.006-04:00

i think today felt like this for a lot of people, myself included:
rain is everywhere. we are all tired.
here's something to wake you up.
i bought a konica "big mini" 35 mm camera off ebay last night, so when it gets here prepare to see my experiments in film photography (kind of). i picked a big mini because of hiromix; it was the first camera she used. i like the look of the pictures the big mini takes--they have a certain cast to them. i want to try processing the film myself in a makeshift darkroom. i will probably end up accidentally fully exposing (or otherwise destroying) my first five or so rolls, but maybe i will get the hang of it (or just give up and take them to the rite-aid) and you'll see some results here. wsh me luck!

tiny cakes!

2009-06-15T13:05:00.004-04:00

the other night i was watching food network and some show was on where a chef had to cook barbie-sized hors d'oeuvres (i was one letter off from spelling that right on my first try!!) for the barbie brand's 50th birthday celebration. he did, and they were adorable. one of his hors d'oeuvres was a tiny little birthday cake, with a little bit of icing and sugary sprinkles. at 11:00 at night, with an grumbling tummy and an inherent love of desserts, i spoke the unintentionally rhyming words: "i need to make some tiny cakes". and so i present to you, adoring fans, the products of a night of baking: les tout-petit gâteaux!
the cakes are no larger than a silver dollar, vanilla flavored, and decorated with buttercream frosting and various things. if you want to see pictures of each cake indiviually, please go to my flickr page! if you want to make your own, it's easy. there's no special recipe; use any cake and icing you'd like. i found that it was easiest to cut small cakes out of a large cake--baking them in little cupcake pans made them oddly shaped. when you put your large cake pan in the oven to bake, make sure the middle is indented a little so the cake will rise flat. this makes it easier to cut the little guys out, and you'll get to use more of your cake. i also reccomend cutting around a stencil (like a bottle top or something) with a knife rather than using cookie cutters--unless you have some wicked sharp cookie cutters, they tend to make the cut all messy and crumbly. try making them layered! try making tiny pies! whatever you do, send me your pictures!

may 30

2009-05-31T23:44:00.004-04:00

i just got a flickr pro account! all of my photos are visible at my photostream now. exciting!

nathan and i went to the watershed on saturday for a walk. we both brought our cameras. it was so much fun, like being in a super secret club of photographers. also, we are proof that canon and nikon can get along :)

here he is checking out a spider on his arm. after punching a plant.
this is a stereotypical picture of a field. i love it nonetheless:happy june!!

may 24

2009-05-25T13:56:00.004-04:00

summer is definitely here. the day was hot and oppressive, the evening was the time for blowing bubbles and drinking beers on the deck. brown brew in green glass bottles.
the beets and carrots have found their way out of the ground. strawberries and tomatoes are growing in pots around the side of the house. marigolds have taken root.

may 23

2009-05-24T15:22:00.006-04:00

hello blog fans! i would like to introduce you to....baaaaaaby radishes :)
i am so proud of them. they exploded in just 2 days. the hardest part now will be thinning them so they can grow healthily. i can't throw my babies out!

my family and i took a trip to duke farms (formerly duke gardens) yesterday. it was...disappointing. they closed down the themed greenhouses and the mansion last year. they have a loop trail in the woods, but there was nothing there that couldn't be seen in the watershed or the sourlands. they are in the process of restoring it, so maybe in a few more years there will be some attraction. they seem to have a grand plan to make themselves a main landmark in new jersey. i also think it's good that they want to turn it into a center for environmental learning--hopefully they will find the funding to pull this off. but however simple the duke estate was, it was nice to get out and take some pictures. i just got word from nathan that we have permission to photograph the honeybrook organic farm where he works. this is super exciting. wildflowers! veggies! herbs! children! see you soon!

may 18

2009-05-18T11:25:00.005-04:00

i was taking photos for a listing on etsy today, and this was one.i just like it.

lately there have been several visitors who got here from google searching "telephoto photography". i did this too, just see where i show up. guess what? i am on the 43rd page! this means you have browsed through 43 freakin' pages of results before arriving here. all i can say is props to you for being so diligent in your googling efforts. that's a lot of clicking, fellows. if you're one of these wandering soldiers of the internet, please at least drop me a comment! i applaud you!

i would also like to take this time to respond to jordan's comment on a large, public scale: YES! i will be posting more vegan-releated things here as i cook and live my life. but these so-called "things" will always include photos, so please do not fear, photo-kateers.

today i hope to get around to planting some of my vegetable garden, and from this will spring various and sundry photographic efforts. keep your eyes (and bananas) peeled!

may 14-16

2009-05-16T17:28:00.006-04:00

here are the products of the past few days!my garden box is all built! it awaits a fresh load of dirt, some deer netting, and my seedlings! five of them have sprouted in the peat pots i planted them in. i love the smell of peat moss, it makes me think of everything good. my mom used to have it around all the time because our soil is very heavy and clay-like, so whenever she planted/tended her gardens that was what everything smelled like. spring!
cupcakes! these are vegan vanilla cupcakes. and this is the recipe!
(from the cookbook "vegan cupcakes take over the world!")

ingredients:
1 cup plain soy milk
1 tsp. apple cider vinegar
1-1/4 cups all purpose flour
2 Tbsp. cornstarch
3/4 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 cup non-hydrogenated margarine, softened (or 1/3 cup canola oil) (i use a brand called earth balance)
1/4 tsp. salt (increase salt to 1/2 tsp. if you are using oil instead of margarine)
3/4 cup sugar
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/4 tsp. almond extract, caramel extract, or more vanilla extract (depending if you want a different flavor mixed with the vanilla or not)

steps:

1. preheat the oven to 350 degrees. line a muffin pan with cupcake liners.

2. whisk the soymilk and vinegar together in a measuring cup and set aside for a few minutes to get good and curdled. (ew!)

3. if you are using margarine: sift the flour, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into a large bowl and mix.

4. in a separate large bow, use a handheld mixer at medium speed to cream the margarine and sugar for about 2 minutes until light and fluffy (don't beat it for more than 2 minutes!). beat in the vanilla and other extract (if using), then alternate beating in the soy milk mixture and dry ingredients, stopping to scrape the sides of the bowl a few times.

5. if you are using oil: beat together the soy milk mixture, oil, vanilla, and other extracts (if using) in a large bowl. sift in the flour, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda, and salt, and mix until no large lumps remain.

6. fill the cupcake liners two-thirds of the way (you can even fill them a wee bit more--they don't rise too much) and bake for 20-22 minutes. transfer to a cooling rack and let cool completely before frosting.

there is also a recipe for frosting, which i didn't get around to doing this time:

ingredients:

1/2 cup non-hydrogenated shortening (a.k.a. crisco)
1/2 cup non-hydrogenated shortening (a.k.a. earth balance)
3-1/2 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted
1-1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/4 cup plain soy milk

steps:

1. beat the shortening and margarine together until well-combined and fluffy.

2. add the sugar and beat for about 3 more minutes.

3. add the vanilla and the soy milk and beat for another 5 to 7 until fluffy.

and there you go! the photo blog turns into a food blog! let me know if you make these/how they turn out.

not dead yet!

2009-05-12T23:54:00.003-04:00

it's summer break!!!! i have been very busy with my hands lately and my camera has not been tagging along. we're working on a vegetable garden in the back yard, i've been unpacking and redecorating my room, and i've decided to go vegan (which involves lots of delicious cooking!). hands full, days full! here are a few old pictures from my uconn trip to tide you over.
kapow!!
i think i'm going to finally make the trip to the mercer museum/fonthill manor this month. there are also a few concerts in store for me (hauschka, mice parade, dan deacon, they might be giants...). don't worry, photo-kateers! you'll get your fill!

apr 24

2009-04-24T21:59:00.003-04:00

i am at uconn visiting the one and only WUNCH (that's nathan, my boyfriend, for those not in the loop)! he had an hour long chemistry exam today, so i wandered around campus and snapped some shots:tomorrow it will be 80 degrees. expect some hot photos!

apr 22

2009-04-22T14:46:00.003-04:00

there is a gentle grayish light coming from the picture window in the living room. it is drizzling. the windows are open, and from the fifth floor i can hear cars going by and the wind in the alleyway. some of it catches in the window and blows a soft, fresh breeze on my bare feet and legs. under my soles the wooden coffee table is smooth and cool. the ceramic of the cup of tea i just finished off is still warm in my hand. occasionally a seagull will scraw from outside, giving the illusion that the ocean is just beyond the adjacent building. i feel just like this. it makes me sleepy.

apr 19

2009-04-22T10:50:00.005-04:00

beautiful. beautiful beautiful beautiful! the weather has been kickass, causing me to forsake my work and run free about the city. with spring my head gets pulled in every direction, full of ideas and choices and impulses. this is why this post is tagged with almost every tag i've got--i'm all over the place!

let me tell you why i love the "selective color" feature in photoshop. no, better yet, let me show you. this is, after all, a photo blog.horray for cool jellies! i took a trip to the new england aquarium on sunday, where a (heavily sponsored by soveriegn bank) exhibit of jellies was going on! the underground rooms were packed with hideous, screaming children (as was the rest of the aquarium), but you wouldn't know it from the looks of these guys. they're all "oh, yeah, i'm just glubbin' along."
did you know that to reproduce, they just spray their sperm and eggs all over the freakin' ocean and hope the stuff runs into each other somewhere in the great blue? squishy. insert "salty ocean" joke here. GUH.

p.s.: check out the cool new bar of links i've created right over there ---->
it has a bunch of links to my friends' blogs, which you can and should enjoy to the full extent of the law. i would also like to take this time to pee my pants over the fact that we are coming up on 500 hits, and a decent amount of them are not from my mom and dad's computer. thank you, boys and girls!

mar 17

2009-04-17T19:53:00.005-04:00

there is always time to take pictures on beautiful, seventy degree days. i had a date with myself today. there was a whole lot of pink.
i walked past this place and decided to go in. it's a cupcake restaurant. SERIOUSLY. a cupcake restaurant. and its adorable inside--all princessy and pink like a cupcake place should be. heaven. i have never had a more delcious cupcake in my life. plus two tons of icing.
i walked down to the esplanade to enjoy the spoils of cupcakey victory. i have never felt so attached to an object in my life. if that cupcake so much as shifted i would have crapped my pants. it is impossible to take a bad picture of a cherry tree in bloom.thanks for looking!

apr 6

2009-04-06T19:39:00.001-04:00

my camera went off by accident today when i was taking photos of things to sell on etsy.
well, i like it!

hello!

2009-03-30T17:35:00.003-04:00

congratulations, blog! we have reached 400 hits!

on that note, if you are reading or looking briefly, you should leave me a comment! i love to get feedback. even the kind of feedback that tells me i need to do better. i'll also link to other photoblogs, because it's better when we're all in it together. just leave me a link and a greeting on any post.

the end!

mar 28

2009-03-29T01:06:00.004-04:00

today i went on a photo adventure with my dear friend jordan of best friend for lifelong. we tooled around by the esplanade, taking photos and talking. MIT was out there sailing. i edited a lot of my photos this time around because we were talking about it. what do you think?
i also recommend checking out his blog for both funny posts and his take on today!

mar 26

2009-03-28T00:40:00.002-04:00

freedom from the wecb dungeon leaves me with just enough time to take some photos! nothing special here :{)
spring! keep on coming!

mar 24

2009-03-24T16:43:00.008-04:00

i was recently on a film shoot which went from 10 pm to 4 am. afterward a couple of friends and i explored the city at those ungodly hours of the morning, eventually making our way to the beach to watch the sunrise. i didn't have my camera with me, but i was seeing so many things which were strange and different than they looked in the day. i made a mental note to do it again with my camera. of course, i picked the coldest night of the month to do it (last night). i woke up at 4 am, did some serious bundling, and went out to see what i could see.

i think i was a little jazzed up on coca cola and sugary diner pancakes the time after the film shoot, because i didn't see as many AMAZING pictures this time around. but i really enjoyed the search. the city is really surreal that time of night.
please make it be warm again!

mar 15

2009-03-16T09:29:00.004-04:00

it's over. spring break is over. we have to go back to work. this is a sad reality. walking through minuteman state park yesterday the immense suckiness of this fact hit me. but let it be said...i had a lot of fun this break! usually my spring breaks consist of sleeping or anticlimactic trips to florida. i think this time around i had a new appreciation for being home. thanks, college! below are 2 photos from minuteman.
i am especially proud of those pigeons. i was just taking a picture of them sitting there, then my cousins walked up and scared them. the forces of the universe organized and gave me a cool picture! i spent the weekend before the trip to minuteman at my aunt's house. observe with wonder!
my camera had been sitting in the cold car all night, then i brought it and every glass element on it got fogged up. it was scary--i thought it was the end of my camera. before it unfogged and i releaxed, i took this hazy photo. i promise it hasn't been edited except for size!

my spring break photos are nothing compared to my photoblog friend jordan's! check out his photos from his italy trip here. as a doctor, i reccomend you read his blog daily--it's often hilarious and always filled with awesome photos. to spring!

mar 9

2009-03-13T00:45:00.004-04:00

let me start off by saying: i love kimya dawson. she makes me happy. she is who i aspire to be. in my eyes she can do no wrong. she is my hero!!! listening to her songs is like getting a huge, warm hug. only that hug...is in your soul!!! so obviously, getting to see her in a hometown near me is cause for nights of feasting and merriment. this show was wonderful and magical and so much fun! her shows never feel like shows, they feel like family reunions. good ones! i am so thankful to have had my camera with me. in the past i've been stuck with my tiny digital camera that can't do butt in low light. my lens still more or less sucks for low-light shooting, but having the slr made a world of difference. enough talk! let's check these photos out!
if you have never heard kimya's music beyond juno or the radio, i suggest you listen. if you are wondering why there is a person in a neon orange bag prancing around behind kimya, i suggest you go here, and also watch this. and by the way, his name is dave end, he is a super cool musician and a member of the underthrust dance troupe. he makes me feel like hugging everything. i am really excited about this post. i hope you learned something! and if you didn't, i hope you at least liked the pictures!

by the way, it has just come to my attention that we have surpassed 300 hits. that's a lot of hits! thanks, guys!

mar 7

2009-03-10T17:49:00.003-04:00

at last! spring break! i came home to beautiful warm weather (though not anymore) and a computer full of viruses (my parents') that had to be repaired. to relax while the computer taunted me from my living room, i took some pictures around the house.the crocus growing in my front yard makes spring a much nearer reality.
in the evening my mom and i went on a walk around one of the many tracts of preserved land near my house. i found (part of) a deer that wasn't so lucky...enough of my disjointed narrative! more pics to come--i went to philadelphia for a concert last night and i had my camera at the ready the whole time. hooray!

old photos!

2009-03-04T21:47:00.004-05:00

it's blast from the past time! i was googling myself (read: slacking off from research, bigtime) today, and i found my old account on a site called stock.xchnge. this site used to be a big deal to me. when i was 15 or 16, i discovered the wonderful world of stock photos. i mostly used them to make livejournal and/or neopets layouts (ahem...which is totally not what i do now...). i found this site, probably while googling "stock photos" in an effort to feed the graphics-making beast which lived inside me, and i flipped out. it lets you upload your own photos so that other people will use them as stock for advertising, graphics, etc. i think i had these visions of being catapaulted to photography fame when people saw my photos. i wound up adding two (2), then forgetting about the site. after many long years, here they are again! my two contributions ever to the world of stock photography, and probably among the first original photos i uploaded to the web!
there's the silhouette of 16-year-old me, being austere behind some curtains! how strange that my memories can live outside me on here. now i even remember how i arranged and decorated my room that day. it was beautiful! you can expect some exciting and new photos from hana land very soon--it's almost time for spring break!

feb 27

2009-02-27T18:41:00.005-05:00

pictures at last! today it was 59 degrees. 59 degrees means...walking around boston! i had a great trip to the west end library, here's what came out of it.

we are getting the first tastes of spring!

feb 25

2009-02-25T23:49:00.002-05:00

me and my colored socks...this is nothing special. but i haven't uploaded anything in a while. i promise when things calm down here i will take better photos. hooray for semi-midterm season!

video project

2009-02-19T15:42:00.002-05:00

i'm posting from my new macbook pro! i have no pictures for you all today...but there is a good reason for this, i promise! my friends alex and monique and i have been working on a project for our media production class. we decided on some good, old fashioned stop motion animation. so here it is, finally completed, and set to "exquisite dead guy" by they might be giants. enjoy, and please let me know what you think!

feb 15

2009-02-16T00:49:00.002-05:00

this week i'm working on a music video project. i'm going to call it a photography project because it's all stop motion. i will make a link available to you guys here when it's done. for now, enjoy what might possibly my the first photographic evidence of me knowing somebody at emerson.
this is alex. everybody say hi. hi alex!

ahhh!

2009-02-11T21:07:00.006-05:00

and now i'm going to do a quick update with some business.

first point of order: i have reached 200 hits. i am pretty sure that about 50 of them were me checking to see how many hits i have/previewing while editing the layout, but this still makes me excited. that means people like to read this and keep coming back! eeee!
in line with this, i encourage you to leave me a comment if you see something you like! i have anonymous comments enabled, so you don't have to sign into crap to say something. you really have no excuse.

second point of order: you may have noticed my nifty new creative commons license. it's totally lenient, and just asks that you give me credit when using my work in noncommercial derivatives and that you share whatever you make in an equally generous way. i can only feel like i'm contributing to my culture if my work is available for everyone to remix.
and in line with that, you should send me a link to what you make! show me! i am greatly excited by the idea of inspiring others because there are so many people who inspire me.

third point of order: i put my blog on stumbleupon. i know, i'm lame, "thumbs-up"ing myself and all. buuuttt...if you're stumbling, and you like, thumbs-up me. do a girl a favor.

thanks for looking. high five!

feb 11

2009-02-11T12:57:00.009-05:00

i actually have photos for you! i had an hour before class today so i decided to do some wandering around the common. i wish i could describe to you how the air smelled. just think cold, clean, cotton sheets. i definitely whiffed spring. you probably did too if you live in/near boston. words cannot express my excitement for spring.
i really wanted to make this here paperclip stand out against the grass. paperclips are pretty visually impressive, as far as office supplies go, especially when they're colorful. so i got into photoshop and edited the crap out of this photo. may i say again, what a perfectly marvelous program. in internet news, i was fortunate enough to discover earthablum today. you can go to any part of the map and see photos from that area. i am in true love with the photos from japan. this is an awesome way to spend your time, and in a way it's a comprehensive course in photography. there is as much (if not more) to be learned by seeing other peoples' work and trying random things with your camera as there is to be taught in any photo class. i recommend all you readers out there go to earthalbum, select an exotic or exciting destination, and immerse yourself.

feb 5

2009-02-05T12:47:00.004-05:00

part of me is thinking that this is an off-week for my photography. i was messing around in my dorm room and just couldn't quite get it. i'm going to post these two here in the hopes they will grow on me.um, also, i hate the fluorescent lights on my wall. they are the ugliest plastic sconces and they give off the grossest light. aaaah! i'm going to drown my sorrow in a cup of tea.

feb 3

2009-02-03T19:04:00.003-05:00

today was pretty much the exact opposite of yesterday. it snowed. in fact, it's still snowing. i didn't have class until 4, so i took the time to ride out to the wonderland t stop on the blue line and visit revere beach. those of you who have seen eternal sunshine of the spotless mind would understand very much why a trip to beach in the snow is such a desiriable thing for me.
so, turns out the movie told the truth: the beach is actually there all year round. it sort of faded into my view through the snowstorm. here's something eternal sunshine didn't convey: the beach is freaking terrifying in the wintertime. i swear all of my organs sank 2 inches in my chest when i saw it. i don't know if anyone else can verify this fact--maybe i'm just crazy.

my photos don't convey the fear--i think it has something to do with the waves moving. in fact, the photos i took today are not my a game. i was so awed and distracted by the beach around me (and the fact that there was SNOW FREEZING ON MY LENS, DEAR GOD WHY). but maybe you will enjoy them simply for their novelty. there is a beach in this photo. there is also snow on said beach. what?!
good photos or not, i still had a great time. and i found some cool snail shells. i think i'm going to go back a lot, just because i can actually get to a beach in a reasonable amount of time FOR TWO DOLLARS. what is this madness?

feb 2nd

2009-02-02T15:37:00.002-05:00

today is a day full of dripping snow. i wish i could be home to see the melt. i wandered around in chinatown:i have received my wecb showtime for this semester: thursdays from 12-2 PM. we go on air feb 6th, so my first show will be on the following thursday. to listen go to http://wecb.emerson.edu (there's also a link in the sidebar).

jan 20

2009-01-23T00:21:00.002-05:00

a couple of days ago i took two photos for a photo exchange i was a part of on livejournal. they were supposed to express who i am, or my personality. i included other photos (most from this blog) expressing other parts of me, but with these i was really just going for how much i love color and detail in my life and my pursuits. (and just a note: the second one is taken through my glasses.)

how did i do?

jan 15

2009-01-15T15:54:00.004-05:00

i love my car. everybody i know makes fun of it and calls a piece of crap, among other terrible names :{(. when my brother got his license he didn't want to drive my car to school because he thought it was ugly and embarrassing. i guess most chicks don't dig that square silhouette. well, most chicks are boring! i think it's the coolest thing on the road. sure the engine stalls out sometimes, it drips oil everywhere, and it makes some pretty weird smells, but who among us can say that we don't do the same?
for those of you who don't know, i drive a 19-year-old volvo 240. this update is a mini-tribute to my volvosaurus, the car that just won't die.

jan 11

2009-01-12T17:41:00.004-05:00

these photos on sunday i took are all unintentionally blue themed. i think blue is a good way to describe how the watershed (nature preserve) smelled when i was there. it was at that point where the ice was melting so it was slick and shiny and clear, but it was also so cold that the snow still crunched and the plants were still coated. just relax and think about the winteriest clear january day you can think of. and look, there it is!
i used to have this i spy book with a winter scene in it. everything in the photograph had a golden, late-day light that made the objects hidden in the snow look extra magical. i couldn't believe it when i found that exact lighting!! these treasures were actually little thingies i hid in a fort i built out there during high school. i forgot about them, and a year later they were right there waiting to pose for me! you can see the value of my treasure is entirely sentimental. is that a power ranger coin?

there is this really cool blue pump by the lake that always makes me think of that bob dylan song "subterranean homesick blues". whenever i walk by i say "the pump don't work cause the vandals took the handle." i love that line, in all it's silly rhyming glory.i am still promising some lovely photos from the mercer museum or fonthill manor. just you wait!

jan 4th

2009-01-05T21:33:00.005-05:00

my room at night is very yellow. a lot of the best parts of it came with me to college, but i saved a few here. bask in its glow!
which is the real captain kirk?! i was yelling "I AM CAPTAIN KIRK!" in my head the entire time while taking this.

lovely glow brought to you courtesy of my tripod. i am going to visit the mercer museum this week. look forward to some awesome photos!

my christmas break thus far

2009-01-01T23:03:00.003-05:00

hi! i have my computer back and that means pictures for you! my mom is sitting behind me on the couch and she keeps trying to get looks at the pictures before i post them. sneaky mom! here they are so you can stop craning your neck. :{)

the first two pictures are the results of my favorite christmas present--a tripod!
this is what i wake up every day in the winter hoping to see. it's my backyard covered in snow, as seen from my bedroom window in the morning!!!! hey weather, let's make with the flakes already!

these next two are not necessarily well-made photos, but i love them!

the first is nathan's present to me. we had christmas with our families (him at home and me in boston) so we celebrated our own mini-xmas on the 23rd. this beautiful arrangement is what greeted me when i walked in his front door!
he made the tree out of papier mâché and painted it those beautiful colors. all of those leaves that have "fallen" off the tree are real--the boy must have been pressing leaves for months! excuse the bed in the background--he was living in his living room. :{O

my dad got my mom the BEST present ever this christmas. she loves to watch "top chef" on bravo, so...she got a top chef apron! it even has her name on it. and, i swear, she wears while she's cooking. yes!!! (i made her pose for this picture. note the sarcastic smile.)

ok, that's it for now! hopefully you'll be hearing from me more frequently now..
p.s. i managed to avoid dick clark and his little monkey sidekick ryan seacrest this year. and guess what--my eve still rocked. can you believe it?! happy new year!

dec 13

2008-12-13T16:57:00.006-05:00

i was walking through the common at dusk and i couldn't help myself. the white lights they've put in the trees are so beautiful! i only had my little digital camera with me, so the quality is not the best, but these pictures make me feel like winter. when i see them i hear buddy holly's "everyday" in my head. i recommend you listen to it (click here and press play in the corner) while you look at them.i put a tripod on my christmas list, so hopefully some of the fruits of that will show up here over the holidays. in four days i get to go home to new jersey!

nov. 17

2008-12-03T21:26:00.004-05:00

i was looking through my photos because i am thinking of submitting for the photo book at the college, and i found this one.
i rather like it. when i was first going through photos from this day to put up here i passed this one by. maybe it's because i was seeing fall leaves freaking everywhere and i was sick of them. or maybe i thought it was too cliche. but cliche or not, it's colorful. could it be that i just miss the leaves now that they've gone?

thanksgiving day

2008-12-03T21:10:00.003-05:00

i have been so busy with the end of this semester. but i'm here! these photos are from thanksgiving, still fresh in everyone's mind. i know this first one is blurry, but it's just one of those things. it has to be displayed.the following picture merits a disclaimer: it may or may not have been taken by nathan. we were both messing with my camera and taking pictures of the pie (perhaps a substitute for eating it. this was before dinner had started and it was off limits.), so this one may have been his. regardless, enjoy.usually i come out of thanksgiving with a lot more photos, but this year i was alternating family time with writing a 10 page paper on the black death. which is the only way thanksgiving should be celebrated.

happy december!

oct 31

2008-11-20T20:40:00.004-05:00

this is my friend joe in full halloween costume. he was a version of twiggy ramirez, and (emerson kids that we are) we did a photo shoot. these are just two shots that came out of it. maybe he can tell me if there are some others he likes? (hint hint)

afternoon of nov 19

2008-11-19T16:44:00.003-05:00

it's a bitter, bitter cold day in new england. when you look at my photos from today imagine touching cold concrete with your bare hands.

weekend of nov 15

2008-11-17T16:53:00.004-05:00

i have left the blog post-less all weekend. i was out taking photos for it! and enjoying a nice family visit. here i have for you some immensely moody shots of the fells in winchester, ma:

a tiny sparrow taking a tentative peck while the pigeons aren't looking:
and something sinister:

highly appropriate since i saw the exorcist for the first time last night. imagine that staring at you in the dark! beats out linda blair in pancake makeup any day.

afternoon of oct 17

2008-11-14T13:03:00.003-05:00

well, i made the mistake of thinking i was all caught up. i just found some photos from a day i went out to do a shoot of gym signs for em magazine. joe came with me and we encountered the blue reflection from the side of some bank building in downtown crossing.
after i got the pictures i needed we walked down to the esplanade and i took the archetypal esplanade picture.i realized only after taking this that i saw the same shot in developed images' (the photo club here at emerson) black and white book from last year. great minds think alike! why have i not joined said photo society? it's a mystery.
but here's one i'm sure i made up. there was a dead branch from some bush and/or tree on the steps that go down into the water (not the charles, but this stagnant pool of yuck before it), and i held it up and took some moody shots that remind me of italy for some reason.
but i will allow those who have actually left our country to be the real judge of that.

evening of nov 12

2008-11-13T14:34:00.004-05:00

i'm back in the present! kind of. my friend joe is creating a garden on his bedroom wall. his beautiful drawings are still seedlings.

weekend of oct 5

2008-11-12T18:49:00.006-05:00

going back even further in time, and trying to catch myself up: the weekend before my birthday i visited my aunt muggy and her family in winchester. we went apple picking and to the topsfield fair (a shocking affair, i do declare..). i spent this entire weekend jazzed up on caramel apples. i was too busy eating them to take photos of them. just a few little photos illustrate my first weekend of experimentation with my d80:
the inifite amount of possible explanations for the expressions in this photo is really my only reason for posting it.

weekend of oct 11

2008-11-11T14:22:00.010-05:00

my birthday weekend was really strange. my plans for celebration here at emerson were pushed out of the schedule and i found myself at home saying the final farewell to my grandma jeanette. my birthday present (received a few weeks earlier) was a nikon d80 with an 18-55 mm vr lens (i.e. my dream camera). here's what i did with it: