Posts Tagged ‘ camera ’

it’s only the end of the world.

Listening to: Panic! At the Disco — Nails For Breakfast, Tacks For Snacks

Let me begin with a complaint: my coccyx aches. I just had my weave taken out and my hair wrangled into single braids, so now I’m blonder than ever. Firefox crashed every time I tried to upload this header photo and every time I turn on any sort of media all I hear about is news of death and destruction and even more impending doom. Maybe we set the year 0A.D. too far back and it’s already the Mayans’ 2012, and we’re all going to die (well, we are anyway, eventually, and I don’t actually believe that 2012 is Armageddon because Ragnarok should totally come on a February 31st).

On Saturday I went house shopping with my aunt and cousin and enjoyed petting other people’s cats and debating doors vs. windows as sniper targets (my cousin doesn’t want to live in a house with lots of windows, because “nobody’s ever been shot through a door;” I told her I was going to shoot her through a door just to prove her wrong). I won a silver medal for a double exposure LC-A+ print in the national Scholastic Art Awards, despite my photography teacher’s telling me not to hold my breath waiting to win anything. And I’ve planned an epic photoshoot with Blé for Friday inspired by:

but in suburbia and with cheaper clothes (obviously, since stylist/photographer anwa has a nonexistent clothes budget and all the shmancy vintage dresses she just inherited from her mother are at the cleaner’s). Have I ever mentioned that I love love love Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott, possibly definitely even more than I love Annie Leibovitz (okay, definitely definitely more)? But I’m having a crisis of method in deciding whether to shoot this shoot in digital or in film, but I’m kind of leaning towards the film because then I get to use all of my better lenses AND I will take a “behind the scenes” little photo-movie with my new Flip camera to make up for the fact that it’ll take way too long to get the prints developed.

2011
03/14
CATEGORY
fashion
misc.
news.
photography
4 comments

sometimes a lie is the best thing.

Listening to: Evanescence — Lithium

It’s been nearly a week, so you people have got me feeling like I owe you something. (Have you been checking out The Ridiculous Things Store, like I asked? As I said, it’s stocked more often.) This week has been the longest week of my life, no lie, even longer than preseason at the beginning of the school year. The payoff is near, though: Saturday morning I’m getting on a plane to Middle of Nowhere, USA, and getting out of here. I’m already beginning to have flight anxiety: Where am I going to put my cameras? And my lenses? (Did I mention that my dad left with my backpack when he came to visit, so for the past week I’ve been pack-less?) What about flying with unexposed film, for crying out loud?

I’m really twitchy right now. Might be from drinking diner coffee this morning, might be burgeoning spring fever. All I know is, I’ve been trying to find NyQuil all week and all I’ve found so far is 1) potheads who tell me drugs are bad 2) generic-brand Advil 3) stronger drugs that I value my health/(semblance of) sanity/scholarship too much to accept. Not to mention, shit’s expensive (or so I’ve heard). But turtles don’t do drugs, my dear readers: hugs, not drugs. (But you must understand the boundaries of “personal space” and the definition of “bad touch”.)

As you can probably tell by my excess of parentheses, I’m kind of lacking the focus to write a blog post at the moment. I also have a really annoying crick/warm spot in the center of my back, so if anyone knows how to make it go away, it would be muchly appreciated.

2011
03/03
CATEGORY
misc.
4 comments

boxing day snow whimsy + new diana+ lens.

Listening to: Santigold — L.E.S. Artistes

Happy belated Boxing Day, everyone! What a nice little footnote on the calendar that was. I spent the day before eating Polish desserts with Nigerian people (who ate all of the upside-down pear pie I baked, by the way, but barely touched the pecan one) and playing with someone else’s albino baby, and much to my delight, I received the Diana+ 38mm lens I’d been hoping for as a Christmas present. So on Boxing Day I shot two rolls of film with Blé, one with my new lens on my FM10 and one with my standard Nikkor 35-70mm lens, and I’ve got to say that I was surprisingly pleased with the results.

 

2010
12/27
CATEGORY
Lomography
photography
3 comments

an analogue portrait of the digital mind.

Listening to: Tegan & Sara — Someday

Happy December & World Aids Day! Yesterday was back to classes. First thing first period, we had a “morality quiz” — our class was split in half and put in two separate rooms, and each group had to decide whether or not to rat out the other group for some unspecified crime. If we both ratted each other out, we’d all get a 60%; if they ratted us out and we stayed silent, they got a 100% and we got a 0, and vice versa; if neither group said anything, we’d all get 80%. But since we all fail at morality, apparently, both groups ratted and we ended up with a 60%. Great way to get back in the swing of things, no?

At photo class I had the customary argument with my teacher; as usual he didn’t like anything I’d shot over break. Well, actually that’s a lie — he really liked two photos, which is up from hating all of them. Le sigh. But he thinks — and I’m sort of compelled to agree — that pretty much every photo I take has people in it, so my current assignment is to take inanimate objects.

But the thing is, I really don’t want to shoot digital right now. Actually, I really, really miss using my F10 more often, but I can’t unless I shoot black and white and develop the film myself because

1) the only roll of color film I took with me is currently in my LC-A+

2) it’s practically impossible to develop color film here, anyway.

My D3000 is just getting on my nerves at the moment, though. The ISO isn’t what I’d like it to be, nor is the fact that I can’t use my better lenses with it because of its stupid D-series mount. I’m hoping for a Diana+ 38mm super-wide angle lens for Christmas, but even that I’ll only be able to use with the F10. And I feel like with the D3000, I’m taking the same thing over and over just because I can. Maybe using the F10 for a while will force me to be a bit more creative?

Anywho. Here are some gorgeous analogue portraits from around the interwebs.

 

2010
12/01
CATEGORY
Lomography
misc.
photography
5 comments

anwa goes shopping and displays the innards of her bag, or this might’ve been a trend once.

Listening to: Mates of State — My Only Offer

It’s depressing to think that Sunday is almost over already, even though the day is technically one hour longer thanks to daylight savings time. This Friday I went to see a play when I probably should’ve been doing homework for Saturday classes; today I went to town and decided to share the fruits of that labor with you in this haul photo/ “what’s in my purse” post.

So, exactly what is in my purse/ what did I buy? Well, let me tell you:

1. Vintage vest.

My shopping buddy and I went thrift-whoring at the local thrift-and-vintage store, and I managed to snag this sweet vintage vest for less that twenty bucks. In case you were wondering, it does not fit in my purse, but somehow it magically fit over my  bust.

2. My cellphone.

Which I almost lost about three times in the two hours I was out. I’m pretty sure I almost accidentally used it to pay at the art store.

3. My pencil.

I, honest to goodness, own only one pencil (well, only one mechanical pencil). And I’m always almost losing it. The other day I stuck it on the rim of my knee-high boots and spent the next period and a half looking for it until I remembered where it was.

4. Bigelow Co. Mocha Mint Lipstick.

I usually have a tube of lipstick on my person. Either it’s this one, my brown Burt’s Bees, or my dark red Revlon.

5. My Moleskine.

Otherwise known as my baby. ‘Nuff said.

6. My iPod.

Whose earphones I’ve replaced about three times this year. First they were white, then they were from the McGill bookstore, then they were blue, and now they’re green. One day I hope to upgrade them to an epic pair of Skullcandy Aviators.

7. 0.5mm Sakura Micron pen.

I bought this today on my second trip to the art store, because I was dumb and left all of my Faber Castell pens at home. Since I’ve given up on journaling, I’m going to try and go back to drawing.

8. White Galaxy Marker paint marker.

Also bought on my second trip to the art store, once I realized that I had enough money to buy two pens. As before, I left my white marker (which really didn’t work that well, anyway) back home.

9. Doublemint gum.

My bread and butter. I have about eight packs of these sitting in my desk drawer at the moment.

10. My new sketchbook.

I’d really wanted to find one of those limited edition Moleskine Pac-man notebooks on my first trip to the art store, but a) I did not have $30 to spend on a sketchbook, and b) they didn’t have them, anyway, and the only  other Moleskine sketchbooks they carried had pages far too big for my poor procrastinate-y self to ever ink and color in. So I snagged this one instead, for under $10.

11. The CBOQO.

For those of you who don’t remember, that stands for the Communist Bag Of Questionable Origin. I bought four new buttons for it at the thrift store today; the first one says “Sarcasm: Now served daily,” the second says, “I ♥ Cats. It’s people I can’t stand,” the third says, “Patience is such a waste of time,” and the last says, “Does it bother you that I’m always right?” I buy way too many buttons.

Not pictured here: my Nikon D3000 and it’s lens cap, which I was using to photograph the rest of this crap. Also, the delicious mocha almond ice cream + espresso beverage I consumed at the local creamery. And I can’t wait to wear that vest tomorrow, even though I might need to disinfect it first.

2010
11/07
CATEGORY
misc.
1 comment

sur la rue encore.

Listening to: Gogol — Start Wearing Purple

marion cotillard, taken for french vogue by mert alas & marcus piggott and rudely cropped by anwa.

I was eating lunch today when my friend the Newsstand Guy called me to give me glorious news: my French Vogue had arrived! He kindly put it on hold for me, and I picked it up about an hour. So far my favorite shoot is the one with Marion Cotillard — and it makes me sad that the September issue of Vogue Paris isn’t half as big as its American counterpart, because the photography is SO much prettier (in my opinion, at least).

Anyhow, I’m leaving sometime in the next five hours to drive to Montréal and then to school. Currently I’m trying to fit all of my shoes into the shoe caddy (it isn’t working). By some miracle I managed to fit all of my clothes into a bag and a half, my cameras into a shoebox (barring the LC-A+ and the D3000, which I carry around), and my books into a printer paper box. My room is a mess and I still have to pack my backpack… le sigh. At least by this time tomorrow I should be in my favorite city in northern North America.

Also, happy Labor Day to all it applies to! Have a great weekend!

2010
09/03
CATEGORY
misc.
news.
2 comments

hey models, you’re great and all but I’m the one pressing the shutter button.

Listening to: Blonde Redhead — Spring And By Summer Fall

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First off: AAAAAAAAAAAHHHH OMG OMG OMG SHINY NEW NIKON D3000 IN THE MAIL Y’ALL!!!!!

Now that the above inner girly squeal has been released, you have probably gleaned that my new camera is here. Not only is it here, but it is about 5,000 shutter actuations newer (read: better) than my borrowed-from-school one and came all pretty and packaged in its camera box with bubble-wrap. Which might not have been so interesting in of itself if I wasn’t so excited. My Vogue still isn’t at the bookstore here, so I’ll have to buy it in Montréal, but that inconvenience is trivial compared to the fact that I HAVE A NEW CAMERA.

But anyway. The original point of this post was to be a PSA-reminder/ mini-rant about something that irks me: fashion photographers. Or, more specifically, the visibility of said photographers.

Maybe it’s just because my stake in the fashion industry is the photography, but I don’t think that photographers get enough credit for their work. Now, I’m not talking about all of the big names out there — Steven Meisel, Anne Leibovitz, and Corrine Day (may she rest in peace), for example. Pointing out that they’re famous fashion photographers is like saying that Barack Obama is the president of the USA. The photographers I’m talking about could be likened to the governor of Minnesota — they’re definitely doing some work, but how much of the general public can name them off the top of their heads?

The fashion industry in the media is represented primarily by two groups, the designers and the models. These are the people whose influence is more visible and obvious — the clothes are everywhere, and the models are essentially the face of the industry. I could name individuals from both of these groups for quite a while, but even as one I could only tell you the names of a few photographers who aren’t deceased. The way it’s usually portrayed, one would think that models appeared dressed in designer clothing (never mind the work of the anonymous stylists), and the divine forces of the universe swooped down to distill their perfection into a series of images. For example, when discussing a new ad campaign, it’s refereed to as such: [Model's Name] for [Designer's Name]. I’m guilty of this myself, because sometimes it’s just too difficult to find out who framed, shot and edited the images.

It’s easy to forget that without photographers, nobody would ever know what the models and the clothes even look like. Magazines like the one-still-not-delivered-to-my-bookstore would be cover-less, spread-less and ad-less. They, in essence, would not exist, which is why I think it’s good to remember that someone had to work a camera for Coca Rocha to be a lady in Vogue Mexico.

(In Fashionising.com’s defense, they do credit both the photographer and the stylist. You just have to click through a few levels of links to see it.)

2010
08/31
CATEGORY
fashion
news.
5 comments

they really don’t want me to have that magazine.

Listening to: Yeah Yeah Yeahs — Dull Life

_

Seriously, they don’t. The store has received two shipments this week, according to my new friend the Newsstand Guy,  and the September of Vogue Paris was in neither. Le sigh. But, mes chous, I will survive.

Anyhow. It’s getting veery close to school again, and I still need to organize my photography portfolio (and finish my homework, but that’s another story). My main problem is with deciding which photos are my favorites. I know that this shouldn’t be too hard, since it’s my choice after all, but I don’t want to have too many or too few. As well, it’s really hard to tell what my teacher will deem “good” or “AAUUGH THAT’S HORRIBLE GTFO”. It seems to depend on the weather. He’s also not a fan of “a bunch of pictures of the same person”, which is kind of problematic for me, because I tend to take portraits and there are only so many people whose portraits I can take (never mind like to take). And whenever I open my folders for this year, it seems like I have too few photos to choose from, or too many (it’s slightly oxymoronic, yes). I know I’m being whiny and such, but it’s really frustrating.

On a brighter note (it seems that many of my posts go this way), I ordered a new camera on Amazon yesterday. It’s a Nikon D3000, which means that I can return the one I was borrowing over the summer. My aspirational camera is the Nikon D90 or whatever incarnation it will take on next, and *one day* I hope I’ll be able to buy it for myself. As I was telling the neighbor yesterday, *one day* I will be such a great photographer that Nikon will just send me their prototypes for free and I’ll have to give them away because I’ll have so many. But that day is yet to come. And I definitely have to sort out my portfolio before it does.

Also, Nylon sent me their September TV issue, even though I canceled my subscription before my subscription counted. So here’s one of my favorite ads, partly because I’m lazy and partly because their spreads irk me for no apparent reason:

It’s my favorite because not only had I never seen an Alexander McQueen ad before, but I’d always assumed that nobody other than Lady Gaga wears it/ is able to pull it off in real life. I guess you learn something new every day.

2010
08/27
CATEGORY
misc.
photography
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tea for three.

Listening to: Larsen B — Marilyn

Well. Yesterday I had a small photo shoot. Unlike the others, this was one that I’d planned down to the last prop. The theme was “Tea for Three”, even though there was only one model — the other two guests were a stuffed pink hippopotamus and me, the photographer.

I was a bit disappointed, though, because it didn’t work out quite as I’d planned it. This was because of the lighting (poor for the indoor portion of the shoot), the fact that my camera couldn’t deal with this without flash (I’m begging for a D90 about now), and the sad realization that models do need acting skills to make a theme work (sorry, ‘Cuz, but it’s true). However, of the 200+ photos I shot, I did end up with about 15 that I really liked — an okay turnover, if you ask me. Here are even fewer of those.

2010
07/27
CATEGORY
photography
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of amazing photography.

Listening to: Tegan and Sara — Arrow


I wandered into my basement today and found an unopened box containing a Dell photo printer/ scanner, three ink cartridges, and a packet of high-gloss 8″xll” photo paper. Needless to say, my day was made. I can see my wallet emptying as I make print after print….

Anyway. Since I created my Carbonmade portfolio, I’ve been stalking the site to find new and inspirational photographers. My two photographic idols are Avedon and Leibovitz, but I decided that I need to broaden my horizons a lot-a-bit. Of course, I’ve found some pretty inspirational people, who I will proceed to list. Unfortunately, I can’t link to any of the images, because Carbonmade’s amazing about not letting people steal your art like that. Anyway:

1. Harmony Nicholas

2. Angelica Ström

3. Josefine Jönsson

I would write a long ramble about why I’m now in love with each of their work, but I lack the eloquence needed to describe great art. Sorry. But you should go browse their galleries and see what I mean.

Another awesome thing: trips to big cities. I’m heading to Chicago tomorrow and Atlanta next week, so there will be much new and varied photography. I just hope that my camera doesn’t get stolen.



2010
07/02
CATEGORY
misc.
photography
1 comment
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