GOYA Friday - Summer means Haircuts for ALL!

The start of summer means haircuts for all! Yes, that's right: I got my hair cut, and then the next week Maurice got his hair cut. Or, I should say, Andy and I cut his hair. I don't have any real qualifications to do this, other than I used to cut everyone's hair in college, but that was when we were all poor and for the most part car-less, and had no other options. Desperation will make a person do strange things, including allowing me to give them a mohawk. But I digress...

Step One: Prepare the Sasquatch
(This consists of putting him on a folding table so he can't run away.)



Step Two: Begin shaving the Sasquatch



(Note spindly little tail that hides beneath 5+ inches of fur)



Step Three: Trim Ears
(Note all the fur around the table... this filled an entire large garbage bag!)



(Note my intense expression as I try not to mess this part up)



Step Four: Pet dog as a reward for being so good for the last hour and a half
(I know it looks like I'm grabbing his scruff rather harshly, but he likes it, honest!)



And that, my friends, is how you go from Sasquatch to Spider Monkey in less than two hours!

And, finally, MY new haircut:



So now everyone is cool, comfortable, and ready to begin summer!

GOYA Friday - 7th Street

The other week I went to a meeting for Artomatic, which is a huge arts event here in DC. Since I don't get to make it down to the District as much as I would like, I decided to take some photos on the way to and from the meeting. This is right outside the Warehouse Cafe on 7th Street in Chinatown, and there were a lot of interesting textures and shapes to be found just within that block alone. I got a lot of photos that day, but these are my favorites so far.

Easter Fun

Over the weekend, I had a chance to visit with family, which is very nice these days since I only get to see my family a couple of times a year. We spent Saturday with my mom's side of the family at my cousin's house, and spent Sunday at my grandmother's house - that's her on the left. I thought these photos really captured her, since she's always the life of the party and fun to be around. She's also the family member I most resemble as far as looks go, so let's just hope I look as good as she does when I'm her age! In keeping with the tradition on both sides of the family, there was so much food. I think I went into sugar shock several times over the course of the weekend. Is my family the only one that serves an Easter lasagna, or are there others out there with some unique Easter traditions? My family is full of strange holiday traditions. The Antognolis play Bingo every Christmas Eve, and I think it may be safe to say that we are indeed the only ones who do that. My grandmother calls out the numbers, but she uses a mix of English, Italian, and some made up language so it makes it really hard to win (without cheating) : )

On Sunday, I also got to see my cousin, her husband and two daughters. They just keep getting bigger and bigger. They were big hams for the camera, so I got a lot of shots of them (see below).





And finally, what Easter would be complete without a sasquatch? It's getting warmer, which means Maurice will be getting all his hair cut off very soon. He just can't do much of anything with 5+ inches of fur when it's 90 degrees out. So if I want to make a quick buck by taking some blurry photos of him running through the woods and selling them to bigfoot hunters, I have to do it in the next couple of weeks!

GOYA Friday - The ArtDC.org studio

I'm posting this a day early again, but I have a good excuse - not much time to post tomorrow!

In any case, this past weekend, Andy and I made a trip down to the ArtDC studio for a meeting, and also just to check the place out. It's an awesome space, and I look forward to holding classes there and possibly teaching one or two of them! It rained the whole day, so it was pretty miserable out, but Jesse, ArtDC.org founder, was kind enough to pick us up from the metro so we didn't have to get too soaked.

A few of these photos were taken near the loading dock of the studio, and since I couldn't decide which one I liked best, I'm posting several! The exit sign is inside the building, and the crane is near the NY Ave. metro stop. Cranes are seemingly permanent fixtures here in the DC metro area. Something is always being torn down or rebuilt.

And for all you artists out there, you should really visit Artdc.org and consider joining. It's a valuable resource, and awesome for networking with other local artists. I've met some really cool and talented people through my association, and look forward to working with them to promote the arts here in DC.

For whatever reason, I can't post the other two photos! But I'll post what I have, and update when blogger is feeling better...

Edit: Haha... better!

GOYA Friday - Cherry Blossoms

(Let's pretend it's Friday... Ok?)

This week I decided to take some photos of the cherry tree in my yard, since this is the time they're in full bloom. There's a very narrow window of opportunity for this, as they only stay in bloom for about a week before the petals start to fall and the green leaves start to bud.

I realize these aren't the typical tourist-attracting cherry blossom shots that everyone would expect, but that's ok. I like different. This is my shot of the same cherry tree from this week last year:



Again, not the typical cherry tree shot, and very different from this year's photos as well. This is a self portrait, actually. I wonder what I'll think of to do with photographing this tree next year?

GOYA Friday - The Human Pixel Project

For this week's GOYA, I am showing the final results of my participation in The Human Pixel Project. You can check out the overall goals and information at the web site, but to sum up, each participating artist gets 10 2x2 inch pieces of wood and are asked to alter them any way they see fit, so long as the finished squares represent one or all of the color swatches listed on the site. I chose to make one of each color for some diversity. Once the "pixels' are gathered, they will be used to make larger pictures.

This project was a lot of fun, but quite challenging because of the small size. My pixels are made with oil paint, sharpies, and torn photos and paper. The gray pixel is actually acrylic because I realized after starting that I didn't have any black oil paint, only a black oil stick... which didn't work very well for gray. Who doesn't have black paint? Ugh. Anyway, I think it all turned out ok, and am happy to have participated. Once these are completely dry, I'll ship them in to Human Pixel headquaters and see what becomes of them.

Munktiki Madness!

Last weekend, Andy and I photographed our friends' Munktiki collection. One of the artists who made a lot of their collection put out a call for any photos of the pieces that told a little about the people who owned them. Our friends are animal lovers like we are, and have a few rescued animals around. We had to bribe the cat with a tasty treat in order to get him to stay on the table with the skull piece, and then we released the snake. We soon realized this probably wasn't the best idea, as the snake darted behind the bookcases and put up a fight before being recaptured and put back in his tank. But we did manage to get some good photos of them all... and nothing broke!

Andy took most of the photos that day, including the one above of the cat. I took the snake photos.

And after that was done, we ate at The Vegetable Garden, which is incredible, especially for those of us being vegetarian and vegan (that would be all of us present that evening!). The menu is huge, and we can eat anything on it... heaven!

GOYA Friday - The Flag

This week I decided to stop at the parking lot I pass on a regular basis to take some Holga photos there. There's a car dealership there, and they have this huge flag that can be seen for miles. In that same parking lot is a vegetarian Indian restaurant that I absolutely love, and that area is the subject of the non-flag photo. I think I need to find a flag closer to the ground so that I can really move around it and get up close, since that was my original intention in making these photos. But all in all, not a bad roll...

GOYA Friday - Newton White Mansion

This past Saturday, I photographed alongside friends Jamie and Natalie of Borrowed Blue Photography at Newton White Mansion for Kymberly and Tony's wedding. Mainly, I wanted to test my new camera and to get back into the swing of things for the start of wedding season, but also I wanted to take out the Holga and play at a wedding! The images above are a few of the Holga photos I made that day. I have some normal images as well (quite a few, actually!), and I will post s few of them soon.

I had a lot of fun, and want to thank Jamie and Natalie for letting me tag along, and also to thank Kymberly and Tony for allowing me to be a part of their day and make some photos!

Elizabeth

I had the pleasure of photographing 3 month old Elizabeth over the weekend. Not only was she photogenic and full of expression, but she stayed awake just long enough for me to put together a really nice session! This was also a nice opportunity for me to test out my new camera (D200... yay!), and so far I'm really liking what it can do for me. Expect more photos of children and babies, as well as more images from this sweet camera in the future : )

GOYA Friday - The Gas Station

This week I took my Holga to the gas station because, well, I didn't have any better ideas! I think the last time I took a camera of any kind to a gas station was when I lived in Savannah, and I was working on a project that consisted of dressing up my mannequin, Diana (the world was ready for another!), and putting her in situations that I would normally be in. I took one photo of her pumping gas at the station near my apartment there. It must have looked really strange to see me start the gas pump, whip mannequin parts out of the trunk and assemble them, take some photos, take the mannequin apart and put her back in the trunk and drive off. But that's ok... it amused me for five minutes.

Other photos of Diana included her getting ready in the morning, sitting in my classes at my desk, checking my e-mail in the computer lab, riding the elevator, waiting at the bus stop, touring River Street, and grocery shopping. Oh, the stares I would get. I should dig up some of those photos and share them. I haven't looked at them for at least 7 or 8 years since I made them.

Art shows are for the birds...

You all might remember this post and photo where I talked about entering the bird-themed juried show, Icarus, being held by Savannah College of Art & Design. Well, not only the bird bone photo was chosen, but this photo of Andy on the rooftop in Kolkata was chosen as well, in addition to the self portrait posted above. That's 3 out of 3 that I entered! So I'm pretty happy about it, since entering juried shows is a test of perseverance more than anything. You just never know who is going to like what you have to offer, so you just have to keep trying and hope for the best. And this time around, I made out pretty well :)

So, details about these shows... there will be two shows, one in Atlanta and one in Savannah (both in Georgia). Icarus is scheduled to run from March 28th through April 29th at Savannah Gallery located at Roswell Road, Atlanta, GA, and from July 29th to August 27th at Red Gallery located at 201E. Broughton Street, Savannah, GA. These are actually two separate shows (the work will not travel), and my work will be at the Atlanta venue. Once I figure out when the opening receptions are being held, I will let everyone know!

GOYA Friday - sort of...

Yeah, I know it's only Thursday again. I'm such a rebel. But I finished my latest Holga roll, and since I can't shoot it on Friday and have it ready for that same day, it's not like I GOMA on Friday anyway...

My brain hurts now. Less thinking, more typing...

Anyway, I only had one shot on this roll that I liked, hence only one image posted. This is rush hour in Potomac. "Rush hour" is a bit of a misnomer, because it actually lasts about 4 hours, with a short break, and then picks back up again for another 4 hours. Such is life in the burbs. But if I can make this scene look at all interesting (read: staring at the back of an Audi for what seems like an eternity), then I can do anything!

GOYA Friday - Holga in Silver Spring

For this week's GOYA, I took my Holga to Silver Spring, Maryland when I went to Alchemy to show some of my artwork to Brenda, the owner. The snow was thawing and water was running all over the streets. I thought the way the sun glistened on the trails of water was really cool, and am glad the photos came out how I was hoping they would.

Today I actually just dropped off about 11 pieces of artwork there, including the mixed media pieces I posted earlier and about 7 photos, some of which are from this very Holga project. The Chinatown photo that is currently my blog header is there! And while I was there, I bought a pair of earrings to make up for my favorite pair that I lost on Valentine's day. Hopefully I won't lose these... they came from Bolivia. Very cool...

Album Influx

This week must be album week. I've gotten in two new albums that I plan to use as studio samples, and I must say they're awesome!

The first is a 10x15 Zookbook, which is a panoramic digital flush album. The cover is a suede-like material in plum, which is quite striking paired with the tiny black and white image cameo:



The pages lay flat when opened, so you can have a page spread that is continuous, which works well with multiple photos or a single large photo:




Images in this album are from Beth & Andrew's November wedding. Their reception was at Ceresville Mansion in Frederick, which I have photographed a few times and just love!

The second album is a 7x7 Asuka Stitch Bound album. I use these for my children's portraits, and just love them because they look like a child's book! A few photos are below:






The adorable children in the album above are Malik, Trinity and Aliyah.

Mixed Media

These are my latest mixed media pieces that I plan to take to Alchemy some time this week. They are 4x4 inches on canvas, so pretty small compared to my past works that were almost 3 feet long! I also worked mainly with paper bases in the past, which I still plan to do, but so far I am really liking working with canvas on a small scale. It's good to mix it up a bit, I always say! They don't necessarily need to hang together, but could look pretty cool in a line or grid if one was so inclined to hang them that way.

I have lots of plans for the future of this type of work, and possibly a crossover of mixed media into my wedding photography work (or would it be the other way around?). All I know is that I plan to have fun with this!

GOYA Friday - Snowstorm

More from my Holga project, this time taken during the snowstorm this past weekend. I took the camera along while we walked Maurice, who has a love / hate relationship with snow. He likes to play in it, but hates walking in the snow because it forms huge ice clumps on his legs... See below:



These photos have a very different feel to those I have been taking with the Holga as of late. Prior to this, it's been mostly urban scenes, but these, while taken in the DC metro area, are very rural looking. Anyway, this is how I spent my snow day!