The Year of the Dragon

We are entering the year of the water dragon. I think this new year will be a good one. I can feel it. Are you a water sign? Haha. It's a good year for the aquatic ones, apparently. Anyway, hope you all have a swell weekend planned. Go out with your friends or your family and be merry! Be safe! See you in 2012.

I'm Waiting for the Day

1. Me. 2. The Sunlight. 3. My brother, Dylan. 4. My father. 5. Tree boy (my brother.)


The days get shorter and shorter. We've had a beautiful lengthy autumn, and I'm starting to think that maybe by some miracle winter won't come. Today the sun shines, there are birds in the trees singing songs and I'm happy to be alone. I've noticed recently that in my dreams I'm always floating in the sky looking down at things from above.

The soul becomes dyed with the color of it's thoughts.

These are some self portraits I took last week sometime on some Kodak film that expired in 2003. I'm pretty happy with how they turned out. I went to visit my dad and my brother for Thanksgiving, which was really nice. It was lovely to be with some people I haven't seen in a long time. Lot's of laughing, cheap wine, and reminiscing about old times with old friends.

I've stepped in the middle of seven sad forests. I've been out in front of a dozen dead oceans.

Well, I thought I would have better photos of our new place, but this was all that was decent on the roll I got back. My beloved Canon AE-1 is finally really dying. Half of the frames were just black! I am very sad. I guess it was good to remind myself why I never shoot black and white, haha, I'm not very good at it! I look at my black and white photographs and just wish they were in color.

I went to the circus school yesterday for open practice and exhausted myself on the corde lisse. I practiced the upside down descent to catchers to catchers arabesque over and over a million times. My right thigh is all black and blue and I have some pretty serious rope burn in my armpit, haha, but no pain no gain, right?

Lately

1. Occupy. 2. A march to Independence Hall. 3. Glass dome in some building. 4. Emily and Tammy on the trapeze. 5. Me on the trapeze. 

Here are some pictures from life lately. It's been pretty hectic, as stated in my post yesterday, but also very interesting/enriching/awesome. Things kind of came to a halt for me for the past two days as I've been pretty sick. Admittedly, it was nice to have time to myself despite feeling under the weather. Today I was feeling better and I was out and about when I spotted a CVS and I was thrilled to discover that they offer one hour film processing. It's only a few blocks from my new place! Joy! The film photographs shall be bountiful, my friends!

I've stumbled on the side of twelve misty mountains. I've walked and I've crawled on six crooked highways.

 

Pictures from left to right:
1. Ludwig, my cat. 2. Some friends and I back in high school. 3. My good friends Lindsey and Justin. 4. Coney Island. 5. Philadelphia. 6. My friend Shawn. 7. Ex-boyfriend who is awesome on a bicycle. 8. Me at age 17. 9. Lindsey a few years ago. 10. Coney Island. 11. Clouds 12. Old friend Ryan.

I haven't been able to get any film processed, so I'm posting some old polaroids. I used to shoot polaroids all the time back when the film was still in production and reasonably priced. I miss the good old days. I know I keep apologizing for my inactivity, but now I really promise I'll be updating more often. We just moved, but now we are pretty settled in and things are going back to semi-normal. Have been having fun  - I saw Beirut two nights ago and it was a fantastic show. I have some film to have processed, so look for some new photographs here this week/weekend.

Aerials are going really well, and I'm starting to notice a huge increase in strength. I'm working on contortion now as well as some juggling. I've started a Youtube channel to video my progress, which I'll share at some point. There are some photos of me on the lyra after the jump.

Blue Monday

Here are some of my first attempts at making sun prints using cyanotype papers. They're really fun and easy to use - I found mine at Dick Blick. I built a little pinhole camera that I tried out on a really overcast day and had poor results. I'm going to take it out on a really sunny day and see what happens.

OCCUPY

Sorry I haven't been posting much! Have been super busy with Occupy Philly (Our movement in solidarity with Occupy Wall street.) It all happened so quickly - and it's continually gaining momentum. My friend and I were the first facilitators for the Direct Action committee, and I have to say I'm happy we continually rotate these responsibilities. It's absolutely exhausting. I found some photos from a march over the weekend with me in them (I have been too busy to take any decent photos of my own, sadly.) I'm the girl in stripes with the sign the reads: "Capital shall not own us" which I took from an old poster celebrating the election of Abraham Lincoln. I've read a lot of disheartening things online against the protest - to which I have to say: Go to the protests. Go see what's actually happening and who is there and listen to people's stories. This isn't about conservatives and liberals - this is about the fact that the top 1% of this country account for 24% of the nation's income. Back in the 1920's when the top 1% accounted for 18% of the nation's income there was SERIOUS public outrage. President Hoover took action against monopolies around this time too. (He actually charged these corporations double what they had previously paid for supplies. Sort of similar to the Occupy movement's proposal to tax the over-rich contemporary corporate giants appropriately.) This movement comes at a time of larger political unrest throughout the world. This shouldn't be shocking, people. This has been a long time coming. Mobilize. Unite. Occupy.

September I'll Remember

These are the rest of the photos I liked from the rolls I recently had processed. I have some good ideas in mind I'm going to try to find time to shoot tomorrow. I've been pretty busy (and sick!) this week so haven't gotten a chance to shoot like I would like to. 

I've been digging the rain today - working a little - listening to old White Stripes stuff. Aerials are going well, and I'm actually taking a class on the pole too. It's all a lot of fun - really satisfies my urge to climb things. Hopefully I'll have some photos of that soon.

Things I Like: Greek Mythology - The Story of Psyche & Eros

There were once three sisters who were unusually lovely, and the loveliest of the them was named Psyche. Word of the sisters spread and finally came to the attention of Aphrodite. When Aphrodite heard of the strange beauty of Psyche she became so jealous she had to do something about the mortal girl whose fairness rivaled her own. So, she sent her son, Eros, the god of love to put a spell on her.

Way Beyond the Sun

I just got three rolls of film processed from the time I spent visiting my Dad. These are the ones I like best from the first roll. I was lucky to grow up in a very beautiful place out in the middle of nowhere. There is a man-made lake right down the street where I go all the time because it's so nice. The road the house is on actually runs right into the lake, because they had to flood over it. It's all protected land and I see all sorts of neat birds (like the hawk in the photo above.) Tomorrow I'm going to class at the circus school and I'm really excited! The trains out there actually work out perfectly I shouldn't have to wait too long to come back. I've been going easy on my arms lately.. I'm a little worried that I'll feel weak/tired, but I needed the rest and hopefully it will be a good thing.