Archive for the ‘personal’ Category

Raleigh St. Clair

Thursday, August 19th, 2010

My beautiful, sweet, sweet, delightful bicycle, whom today I started referring to as Raleigh St. Claire, just went through a very traumatic experience.

A mean and nasty unmarked white bicycle chained itself up to my very own Raleigh, so that I could not remove her from where she rested. After much interrogation with everyone in the immediate surroundings, and debate about whether the tools necessary to cut the unwanted lock were even available, we decided to try taking my dear’s beautiful back wheel apart to free her from the chains. Several greasy hands later and with much help from a good samaritan – success!

In light of this nearly tragic incident, I want to share two photos from the first week that I got her, in distant place long ago…

I just don’t know what I would do without her.

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Tito

Wednesday, August 4th, 2010

I’ve been in Cleveland, OH since Saturday and though I’ve taken a ton of photos (at least 3 rolls of film) none of them were digital so we all have to wait just a little bit longer. I think I’ll have some really fun stuff come out, who knows? What I do know is that by default I took a ton of photos of Sabina’s puppy Tito Parmesan and I have one photobooth preview to keep you satiated until the good stuff comes in…

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Who Doesn’t Like Hydrangeas?

Thursday, July 22nd, 2010

They’re beautiful, they’re big, and they change color according to the acidity levels in the soil. And they’re fun to play around with in an arrangement. In light of the last post being so morbid, I thought I’d share a pretty picture of the flower arrangement I made today.

I used blue hydrangeas, white snapdragons, waxflower, orange roses and magnolia leaves. This is one of my favorite ones so far because of the colors, especially the way the waxflower looks against the blues in the hydrangea.

Flowers are fabulous.

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Not For the Faint of Heart

Tuesday, July 20th, 2010

Yesterday on my way to pick up some lunch in the neighborhood I passed by one of the most disturbing thing’s I’ve ever seen. In the middle of the sidewalk, not more than a few paces from children playing in the street and their parents sitting on stoops watching them, was the rotting carcass of what was most likely a dog. I almost passed it without even realizing that it used to be a living creature, a sure sign I’ve grown a bit too accustomed to seeing garbage and filth line Bushwick’s streets. But it caught my eye nonetheless and I slowed to try to understand the whole situation of the animal being here and the people being here and the conscious decision made by everyone who passed it to leave it there for the flies.

I didn’t have my camera with me at the time, but I came back to the scene a few hours later. This time there were not so many people on the block, just two men standing next to a nearby car. I spent about 15 minutes trying to photograph the dog and half way through one of the men leaned out from behind the car and called out to me,

“Smells pretty bad doesn’t it?”

The smell was unbearable and the reason I didn’t take any photos in color. After I left I felt ill for at least another half hour. The whole scene and attitude of the people and thought of this now unrecognizable creature was disturbing in a way that left me saddened but mostly filled with frustration towards the carelessness of the society I’m living in and the lack of respect that is awarded to other living, and dying, creatures

UPDATE:
This morning as I walked to work I called 311 and told them about the dog. They are sending the Dept of Sanitation’s dead animal clean up crew to take care of it. And it didn’t cost me a thing.

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It’s July!

Thursday, July 8th, 2010

What happened to June?? It’s so hot I’m waking up early and going to bed late because it’s impossible to sleep. Air conditioning is no longer a part of my vocabulary. I can’t remember what it was like before sweat was a part of my wardrobe.

So I’m finding things to do when the sun goes down and things cool off. This is my backyard lit by the streetlight in the parking lot next to us. These are just some random test shots I took – dropping off the film tomorrow! And picking up a shutter release and a stop watch so I can do this properly next time.

The one taken outside was shot at 250 iso at about f4 with a 30 second exposure. The following one is of Tim, only for about 5 seconds. Next round involves black and white film and the empty streets of bushwick. And maybe some more from the backyard once the timing is more resolved. Hold me to it…

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Terrariums!

Monday, May 24th, 2010

I have been working at Rose Red & Lavender since the beginning of April and not a day goes by there where I don’t learn something new and wonderful. One of the most recent projects I’ve been working on is making lots and lots of light bulb terrariums.

I started by learning how to make a larger terrarium (not pictured because it sold before I could snap a photo!). They are layered and it’s good to start with some rocks. After that, we added spanish moss, and a pretty good layer of it because it does compress quite a bit. Then a little soil and plants of your choosing! I have been using dwarf plants like rabbit’s foot fern and blue baby tears, and of course I’ve added miniature garden gnomes and tiny dinosaurs where I can.

The light bulb terrariums are a whole other ball game. They are so small you can really only use one plant. I hardly add any soil to them because it’s tiny and the inside of the glass gets dirty fast. Hollowing out the bulb was a challenge at first, but Kimberly (the garden shop’s owner) invested in a Dremel set which made the process sooo much easier and faster. Let me tell you, it is no easy feat to squeeze those plants through the bottom of a light bulb. It’s like building a ship in a bottle.

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Washington, DC

Tuesday, March 30th, 2010

A week ago I took the bus from Penn Station to DC. It was sunny and warm (exactly the opposite of the past few days in New York) which made for a great opportunity to just walk around and enjoy the weekend.

I went down to see Sabina, a very good friend of mine, who doesn’t live there but happened to be in Washington, and to see Ann who graciously allowed me to stay in her fabulous house near Adam’s Morgan. (I did also get to spend some time with a few other great friends – you know who you are :) )

Getting more to the point: while we were out and about, it struck me how many coffee shops, restaurants, corner stores that we tried to go to were actually shut down and boarded up. Mayorga Coffee, for example, used to be in the Tivoli Theater in the center of Columbia Heights, but there was hardly a trace of it when we walked over. The next closest coffee shop could hardly compare without even seating much less the comfortable and relaxed atmosphere that Mayorga gave. It was such a unique space it was hard for me to see it go.

I don’t have a recent photo of the theater/coffee shop in disrepair, but I do have a few of DC buildings, the last of which shows just a fraction of the boarded up windows we passed. Following that are a few shots of Sabina goofing around in the city…

This first one was taken in Bethesda, and in fact the blue building that you can only see a sliver of at the bottom was completely abandoned. It used to house a bar and a separate comedy club, only the skeletons of which are left, though a friend did tell us that until a few days before you could still see the tables and chairs and all the liquor was abandoned on the shelves.

I don’t actually think this General Electric plant was deserted, but it sure did look it, and it was in the Navy Yard which is pretty desolate in and of itself anyway.

As we walked around the Convention Center, we saw that this whole block of buildings had boarded up windows, and then around the corner the next block looked the same. I don’t even know what they used to be, homes maybe.

Now to the more light-hearted stuff…

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Armory Show

Monday, March 8th, 2010

This past Sunday was the last day of the Armory Show on the piers and I managed to round up Tim and Reese to join me for a walk through some of the booths. There was definitely some interesting work on display, but I have to admit, I was slightly more interested in trying to take a few photos of the attendees and atmosphere of the fair. Here are a few…

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Snow Day

Friday, February 26th, 2010

The east coast has been hit by some crazy snow storms this winter, giving me great excuses to go outside and take some photos! This first one was taken from inside the Wyckoff Starr, my personal favorite coffee shop in Bushwick (the same one, coincidentally, where I find myself working on Saturday mornings).

These next two were taken near the Lorimer stop on the L train, while I was walking to my internship. I particularly like the two through the window because of the guy walking in the snow and the car that looks like it might be made out of cardboard.

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