intermission.

i normally don’t post on fridays, but i’ll be in williamsburg, va tomorrow at busch gardens… and i certainly don’t think i’ll be blogging from any roller coasters. :) i’ll be back on sunday to dive head first into the next several months worth of shoots, editing, client meetings, etc. time flies. i wish i could say that i would be taking pictures at the park tomorrow, but i won’t. and as strongly as i believe in the “take your camera everywhere with you” adage, i really think amusement parks should be left out for two reasons:

  • most importantly, your camera can get damaged. you can risk the water from the water rides or the heavy vibrations of the coasters… or you can choose to leave it behind where it could potentially get stolen.
  • second, i believe amusement park days should be days free of all concern and worry. and since i would be worrying about damage to my camera, it will be left behind.

i want to be thinking of nothing but “waaaaaaaaaaah” when i am on a roller coaster instead of “waaaaaaaaah oh no i hope my camera is okay waaaaaaaaah.”

so have a wonderful weekend and i’ll see you on sunday.

beauty4

its-a-beautiful-day-in-the-neighborhood1

art imitating art imitating life.

there are several photographs i’ve taken over the years that remind of movies. they were never intentionally taken for that purpose, but i instantly think of the movie now and can no longer separate the two:

the royal tenenbaums:

she and her brother richie ran away from home one winter and camped out

in the african wing of the public archives.

out-with-the-zebras

the big lebowski:

smokey, this is not ‘nam. this is bowling. there are rules.

bowling

alice in wonderland:

Caterpillar: By the way, I have a few more helpful hints. One side will make you grow taller…

Alice: One side of what?

Caterpillar: …and the other side will make you grow shorter.

Alice: The other side of what?

Caterpillar: THE MUSHROOM, OF COURSE!

toadstools

so in the age old question, which one is it? does life imitate art or does art imitate life? i am most certainly inclined to believe that art imitates life. first there was life – art came afterward. right? maybe not. but that’s how i tend to think of it. i certainly believe that that’s how it began, although some people live their lives as though imitating movies, desperate housewives, etc. now. but originally, art definitely imitates life. do you agree or disagree?

but of course, as illustrated above, art also imitates art. it can be intentional or unintentional, but it still happens. the works of others are inspiring or, in some cases, so uninspiring (or just outdated) that we feel compelled to create a new and improved version. sometimes we are awesome at that (the new star trek movie) or we fail miserably (i really wanted to like the new willy wonka, but it became painfully clear within the first scene of the movie that we were in for the longest and most painful 115 minutes of our lives).

typically photography is one of the few art forms where you are trying to capture real life in candid moments. of course, we also pose our subjects and often pose, frame, and edit in artsy ways.  photographers make a habit of imitating life and imitating art simultaneously. we want it to be real, but we also want it to be creative and artsy. but then again there are different types of photographers…

it gets a bit confusing, doesn’t it. i guess that’s why it’s one of the age old questions.

the one photograph i have that i can truly say best represents art imitating life:

walmart

every christmas we have a town underneath our tree. in the past it has been full of victorian mansions, castles, quaint coffee shops, unique mom and pop shops, etc… until last year when we found a ceramic wal-mart and decided that it absolutely had to be placed under the tree.  so last christmas all of the tiny shops barely surviving in this economy lost their business, as you can see above, when all of the townspeople made a mad dash for the wal-mart (note the bus parked outside and the sniper on the roof). now all we need is a cereamic mcdonalds with a mccafe and christmas tree town will be complete!…until Sal, the last survivng monster town cat after Button and Tang, goes on a rampage and destroys the city the next morning. but i guess that doesn’t happen in real life, does it. kind of a shame considering a giant monster cat would be awesome and we could all use one less wal-mart.


a jumpstart on autumn.

i love autumn. i really do. and not just because toothpastefordinner.com has several great autumn cartoons. and although summer is not over, i can tell you that my mind is totally over it already. i’m not sure why… i think it was the several days where it was kind of chilly because of all the rain. the light is also beginning to change – you know how autumn light is very different around 5:30 than summer light? or am i just nuts? anyway, i’ve been too busy to use the pool so to me that means that we might as well start autumn.

why i love autumn (in a list):

  • pumpkin pie
  • weather
  • colored leaves
  • stepping in crunchy leaves
  • halloween
  • my birthday
  • halloween candy
  • great photography light
  • having the windows open
  • carving pumpkins
  • wearing a jacket
  • everything about october

i’m sure there are things i am missing. but it is wonderful. last year geoff and i were new to north carolina and explored the mountains and hanging rock for the first time, so when i think of autumn now i think of those things.

it was absolutely amazing up on hanging rock in the fall. we decided we would hike up to the ledge because we knew there would be an awesome view. however, we weren’t entirely prepared for the hike instead of the walk, as evidenced by us wearing our chucks instead of hiking shoes. here we are at the top of hanging rock… both of the boys pretending to be excited but actually terrified. i was the one who climbed out closest to the edge while geoff and colombo tip-toed slowly out onto the rock, then perched themselves in a relatively safe place and laughed nervously:

raleigh-and-hanging-rock-085

hehehe…i’m not going any further than this… hehehe.

i plan on going back soon with my wide angle lens. raleigh was pretty awesome in the fall too last year. the weather was amazing and lasted for at least two months. the leaves were also colored for a really long time. eventually they fell off, but it took them a while.

bbt

i won’t be home for fall in pittsburgh at all this year which makes me a little sad. i am going home in september and december, but am skipping out on fall there entirely. fall in pittsburgh is cold, but then again i consider pittsburgh having really only two seasons: spring and winter. it’s only really warm in summer for a few days. fall is way too chilly and the leaves change color and fall off the trees within a week. i think that’s mostly because it rains so frequently in the fall there.

its-a-beautiful-day-in-the-neighborhood

the only sunny day captured on film in pittsburgh.*

*exaggeration… kind of.

i am hoping the fall in raleigh will be how it was last year. it will be the first october i have never been home. last year i was in north carolina for my actual birthday but went home the next weekend to see my family. this year my family is coming down to see me which will be lots of fun. my sister, mom, geoff and i are going to see U2 at nc state’s carter-finley stadium. woo! i am still trying to figure out how and if i can smuggle my camera inside. meanwhile, my dad (who harbors a strong disliking of crowds and bono) will stay at our house and entertain the kittens. and hopefully not cause any trouble at the science museum like last time:

dadbat