March Madness at an End.

March was a great month for socializing, eating cake and reading. Not so much for art, though. I need to better organize and rally myself for April, yikes! Also, I need to blog more. Though, to be fair, I have been fairly active photography-wise. I've updated my Flickr loads in March. Check it out for yourself!

365 days of 50mm

Working full time at Starbucks is physically draining, and I have become complacent with practicing anything that can be considered creative. On my days off I am usually in a rush to clean, buy groceries, and complete other necessary errands. Therefore, in an attempt to get creative I have decided to do 365 days of posting photographs I take with either of my 50mm lenses (digital and/or analog). I am going to be lenient on myself and allow that the photos I'm posting not necessarily be from that day, but should be no more than a couple days old. I am also going to force myself to upload one (or more) each day, but definitely at least one. This means that there will hopefully be more than 365 photographs by the end. These photographs will always be uploaded to my FLICKR and sometimes here too. Please feel welcomed to follow along and wish me luck!

ps. I just realized this is personally, a very touching way to get a chance to document more of my home, cityscapes, and friends here in Montreal before moving next summer. It will also span the process of moving and beginning to settle into Toronto, should we indeed end up living there.

Summer Lights & Nights

From most recent to eldest, some photos from my special summer days and nights.

Yup, definitely wasn't sober that afternoon. Hehe.

Game night! I won both games. :)

A night of cupcake baking and Jessie making suggestive moves on her cupcake. There have been many more special days and nights, I just keep forgetting to document them, heh.

Soon I will be updating with some photos from my trip to the Dominican Republic and NYC. There are so many photographs that I need to think out what I'd like to share here and how best to approach it.

Blood Berries: Ode to Summer

I had this stubborn concept for a makeup shoot where I wanted to get a monochromatic colour scheme (with red as the only colour) but without actually making it monochromatic in Photoshop. I say 'stubborn' because I quickly discovered that this involves a lot of effort; a ton of white makeup, and because white flattens everything, a lot of re-defining my contours with black powder. I also went so far as to dye my hair a natural black for this specific concept. Oh, and careful white balancing was also a must. Though it's still not completely monochromatic (you can see some brown in my hair) I'm fairly happy with the results. Though I must admit that being the makeup artist, photographer, model and photo editor is completely exhausting, especially for the labor intensiveness that was required for this makeup application.

For larger versions of these, please feel free to visit my FLICKR account!

Junkie Jessie

Near the end of June, my friend Jessie was between apartments, and kind of enough to let me take advantage of the fact that her room was almost completely barren. She was also kind enough to model for me as a cute little Asian junkie. The shoot didn't turn out as great as I would have liked, and I think that's partly because I was super hungry while doing the makeup and photo shoot. Lame, I know, but I get seriously distracted when hunger calls. Still, some images turned out quite interesting, such as these two. The photos aren't meant to mean anything, I really just wanted to practice special FX, which I have been been neglecting.

Creative Birthday Monsters

Last night we celebrated my good friend Marisa's 22nd birthday. The party was monster themed, and they (Marisa and Alex) even created an epic cardboard city that took up most of their living room with the purpose of getting destroyed by us monsters. The decorations were super cute to boot, and I had a great time (I suspect most everyone did!). The following are some images from the party and all the costumes.

The birthday girl as Pikachu, and Alex as a fancy robot. Not sure if he based it off of a specific one.

Philippe as Mecha Dracula 2000. That was not the original plan, but as he was making his costume, his father pointed out that with the back flap up, he looked like Dracula, and thus it became so.

Heather as a Gorilla Girl and Evan as a dragon.

Phil also made this awesome mask for Jacob to wear, and a better view of Evan's dragon head.

Rachel, Jessie as drops of blood (hehe), and Carolina as a dragon, or being eaten by one.

I'm pretty sure my obscure monster reference was lost on most people in attendance, but my makeup and antlers were inspired by a magical elk in Princess Mononoke. I was so surprised and impressed that the makeup didn't melt off my face from the heat.

Views of the city. Zaphod and Usagi were so cute in there.

And lastly, singing Happy Birthday. :)

Heatwave

It is hot. Not only is it 43 Celsius (109 Fahrenheit) today, but it has been a constant heat since the weekend; even the nights have brought little relief. It wouldn't matter too much if Phil and I had air conditioning, but I doubt our old school apartment would be able to keep one running due to how much electricity they suck up.

I am in a state of lethargy. Every day this week I have wanted to make art, to clean up my apartment, but I cannot bring myself to do much at all. No matter how wretched I feel, though, I feel worse for my cats. Both are almost comatose, and I worry about how much longer they'll be able to tolerate it. Tybr spends most of his days in the bathroom on the cool ceramic tiles, sometimes up against the tub or wrapped around the base of the toilet. Poor guy, his coat is the thickest.

It's supposed to rain tomorrow, but it was also supposed to rain yesterday and today. I am still keeping my fingers crossed for it, and will even do a little rain dance for extra measure.

Luminosity in the Dark

Last night I hung out with my good friends Carolina and Jessie, as well as my lovely partner, Phil. We went to one of my favorite microbreweries in Montreal -- Brutopia -- for a burger and a beer. Afterward, we went back to Jessie's new downtown apartment which is a perfectly sized studio with great big windows and two sets of closet mirrors. It also appeared to be recently renovated, which in Montreal is a rarity indeed!

All the reflections and lights bouncing around from both inside and out caught my eye, and so I began documenting. I've always had a thing for windows with a dark backdrop on the other side (i.e. windows in homes or in buses at night, or in the subway) which allow for a myriad of lighting and mirror effects to reflect off of them. It wasn't until I was waiting for the night bus at around 3:30am that it dawned on me that I should start a series based around this theme. Only time will tell how far I'll take it, but I am going to try to keep my eye open for more dynamic looking reflections from now on.

In other news, it is way too hot in Montreal. Yesterday at 8pm it was still 40 Celsius (106 Fahrenheit)! I cannot wait for it to thundershower to break this heatwave. It wouldn't be so awful if Phil and I had a/c, but because we don't we are both constantly sticky with sweat and I have been worrying about the cats a lot. They have been intensely lethargic, and Tiberius even defecated on our bed last night. This leads me to rationalize that he is feeling ill from heat, as this has never occurred before. Tomorrow there is hope that it'll break; I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Earthquakes and sugar cookies

A 5.0 magnitude earthquake hit close to home today. The epicenter was less than 50 kilometers away from Ottawa, where my family and friends felt it strongly. The earthquake was even felt in Toronto and beyond, but I did not feel it here in Montreal, which I will admit I am a little disappointed about.

Quebec has always been considered one of the world's 'safe zones' as it is a good height above sea level, and no where close to the edge of the North American tectonic plate it resides on. To have an earthquake hit here, and at such a strong magnitude is unnerving, to say the least. Luckily it wasn't so strong as to cause intense structural damage and casualties.

2010 has been an atrocious year for natural disasters, and I can't help but think we are only seeing the tip of the iceberg. It is no longer a question of if another disaster occurs, but when it'll strike. And in times of anxiety I tend to bake; when I first found out about the 2012 theory years ago, I remember baking a huge batch of cupcakes. Today, I iced my sugar cookies.

In unrelated news, Phil and I began learning ASL today. It's a lot of fun memorizing and practicing, and I hope I can stick to it. It may come in handy in the future (if not for anything other than secretly signalling to Phil, hehe).

Apple Pie.

Yesterday my friend Carolina came over for the day. We made banana cake and two apple pies. I had far too many black bananas, so this made great use of them. I like banana cake, but I think I prefer banana bread as it isn't so sweet. The apple pies turned out phenomenally, and I was amazed by how easy they were to make. I definitely need to make more pies in the future (especially since I have a bunch of frozen pumpkin innards stored away).

June has been a slow month to start, but I'm hoping it'll pick up. For the most part, it has been spent at home in a bit of a lazy stupor, which truly goes against my nature. It's unnerving to not have a busy schedule, whether my time is being taken up by school or by work. I have been applying to a lot of jobs, and I'm hoping that I will get hired soon. At the moment I'm actually waiting on a call for a contractual job which would take me to Ottawa for a couple of weeks. It is not what I would call a job in any of my usual fields, but it would pay me enough to cover my rent, utilities, and food for July. Since I'm visiting family in the Dominican Republic next month, this contract is as ideal as my situation can get. I don't really wish to get hired full time right now seeing how I would probably have to quit in a few weeks time to travel. I have my fingers crossed, please cross yours for me too!

p.s. I got the job!

Welcome, May!

Some photographs from my spring thus far which I captured on my 35mm Pentax Asahi.

Art updates to come!

Soft Focus

These photographs were taken with my Blackbird, Fly twin lens reflex toy camera. I love the unpredictability of this little camera. Focusing is oftentimes a guessing game, as is the exposure. Sometimes I end up with really disappointing results, but for the majority they're quirky and interesting.

I also enjoy the multiple exposure option and the fact that the colours can come out either vivid or very soft and neutral. I consider shooting with this camera the same way I view stretching before exercising. It loosens me up a bit, which I personally find liberating. The preciseness of shooting digitally or even with my 35mm pentax asahi can sometimes make me feel a little crazy.

A Burst of Colour

Eye Spy: A Burst of Colour

Ok, how about a lot of colour?
Mr. Jones amazingly matches our friend's wall. Sometimes.

Nature

This is: My favorite thing from nature.

Ok, so I am lying a bit here. There are many wonderful and stunning things in nature. I really enjoy vivid greens, though. I find that greens tend to pop more on gray rainy days when everything is saturated. Yesterday I saw the most beautifully moss covered tree trunk. It was such an intense green that it felt as though it was pulsating. I'm not exactly sure why I am attracted to these vivid greens in nature. I feel as though it may be because they remind me of something...that I can't put my finger on. Childhood? Dreams? Fantasy? Another life? Your guess is as good as mine.

Elegance

My grandmother and grandfather outside the Vatican.
Gosh she was a classy, beautiful lady. I miss her bunches.

The alligator represents sharing

Today was one big productivity fail.

Final Farewell

Two polaroids from the summer. Can't say I'll miss that hot, humid season.
In other news, today is a sad day for us Canadians. I think I've lost faith in my country's judgment.

Preservation

For the first semester in photography class I think I will focus my energies around the idea of food, and the ridiculous lengths we go through to preserve it. Furthermore, I want to address how detached western culture has become to that which we consume, how food has become an almost magical entity, which magically appears on the shelves at our grocery stores. I am still roughing out my concepts and ideas, but I wrote this little blurb on the topic:

In order to preserve our bodies we preserve our food, in order to preserve our food we destroy our environment, which in effect is destroying our bodies. Our desire for self preservation conflicts with itself.

We'll see where this takes me. To engaging places, both conceptually and aesthetically, I hope!

Self Love

I never posted this here, but I created this image last summer when I had just a little *too* much time on my hands. It was inspired by an internet pal who had a little rant about how she hates photos of heterosexual girls kissing other hetero girls. I then oddly connected that with me kissing myself and wondered if that image would make anyone angry. I was also thinking about the concept of masturbation, and how to take that to a ridiculously narcissistic level. Even though it's a bit old, I thought there would be no harm in sharing it with my readers here. I giggled the whole time I was creating this. It is not meant to offend, but to amuse. The fact that it doesn't even look realistic makes me lol too. Please giggle along!

Heartache

Examining maps kind of breaks my heart. There are so many places I wish to visit in this small yet incredibly vast world. So many places I know I never will. It's not so much the hot spots like Paris, London, Rome, Sydney, or Tokyo that get me down, because I have small hopes that I may visit those locations someday. Moreso, it's discovering all the little cities and towns, the expanses of country, the special places by the sea. It's difficult to articulate, but I get sheepishly emotional when looking at geography. I wonder if anyone has ever been everywhere? Of course leave it to the romantic to wish to accomplish the impossible.

I've also noticed that I get a sickly claustrophobic feeling in the pit of my stomach when I think about the idea of living in the middle of a continent. I really love living on an island, or within a 24 hour drive of an ocean coast. I feel relieved that I am currently accomplishing both.