Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Bowler Hat


I love this little otter! I just recently purchased it for myself. It is by Ryan Berkley.

I also bought this one of the Tiger for my sister's birthday gift. (Her nickname is Tiger)


Back to that concept of finding artwork that makes me happy :)

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Summer in the City

It is that time of year again. Time for the sweaty summer in the city. I just made one of the best $1.00 purchases ever. This lovely fan from Pearl River.
Somehow the Subway platforms are so much more bearable now.

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

I hope they Call me on a Mission...

We are still hoping for a foot or two of growth ;)

My little Brother Grant Goes into the MTC today to serve a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. He will be serving in Ventura, CA. I couldn't be prouder of him, although it is going to be hard to not see him for so long.


He is the little guy in the yellow shorts.... this is how I like to think of him... as that little red hair kid that stole everyone's heart with how cute and full of energy he is.



Just to name a few reasons why he is so great....

1. He is willing to try new experiences and wants to share those experiences with others. When I was home a few weeks ago I took him out for sushi and he convinced me we had to try the raw oysters at the sushi bar.... I did it because he was so into it, it made me excited too..... although I think I will not need to ever eat those again (for the record he loved them)


2. He is ready and willing to help when needed. Over Christmas we ran out of room in our freezer and grant helped us retrieve our frozen treats from the yard ;) Grant is my go to guy when I need something... and yes that does mean that I often ask my 19 year old brother for dating advice... and somehow his advice always makes the most sense, and makes me feel great!


3. And of course let me not leave out the fact that he is a Second Degree Black Belt and basically I have to say how amazing he is because, "he could kill me with his little finger and not break a sweat doing it"... no I am serious, he has been sure to remind me of this whenever I threaten to kiss his cheek.



Good Luck Grant you are going to do great! I love you and am so proud of you!

Sunday, June 6, 2010

Sneakers

Sometimes life gives you little gifts that just make you smile. This week at work I was cleaning up the old e-mail campaign archives and came across this image.


A memory came rushing back to me. I was in my freshman year of the photo program at BYU. Part of the requirements were to take some basic core level art classes. Several of which were drawing classes. I can sketch a bit and can do some line drawing illustrations, but have never really considered myself someone who could draw really well... which is silly when I think about all the years I wanted to be an "artist" before I discovered photography... not really sure how I was planing to do that or what I was planning to do in that role.. but I knew I loved to create things and could see things in my mind before they were realities.

Anyway these classes were sort of really hard for me. I did well, but didn't really excel. One class in particular I struggled with. Observational drawing. This class was brutal and the teacher was so exact in his execution. Sometimes I would wake up in the night in a cold sweat from dreaming of him standing behind me while I drew. He was the type of teacher who would say at the start of a semester "You all start out with a F and work your way up" not the other way around. I like to think I grew on him (but that might be my positive optimistic attitude taking lead of my memories).

Most of my classmates were so supportive. They would tell me that I was a photo major and to just get through the class and you will be fine. But I wanted to be so much more than fine. I wanted to do well, really really well. I worked so hard in that class. I drew and drew and drew... and the improvement was pretty minimal... but I kept drawing.

This teacher sometimes would come up to me and say, "These are terrible, you should scrap it and start again, you can't manage to salvage that, the proportions are all off" and so I would. I did everything he told me to, I wanted to get it all just right. My final project for the class was to draw anything I would like to.... But what?

I'm not sure why, but in the end I settled on my roommate Emily's hiking boots. I worked for days and days on that picture. and on the final day of the class I walked up to the teacher for my evaluation (bracing myself for the blow). After looking for a while at my work, he looked up at me and said... "A on shoes, B in class".

I almost yelled "WHAT!" at him, I was so suppressed.

He looked at me for a bit smiled and then said, "Now, you never have to draw again and can go and just take your pictures."

I must have been on a high from doing so well on the final assignment, so I was feeling confidant and said to him, "But I like drawing."

His response, "Well they are good shoes."

As I turned around to leave I looked back at him and said "Who knows maybe one day I will get paid to draw some shoes?"

And this teacher, true to his form, and attitude from the whole semester, stopped smiling and looked at me earnestly and said "Dear, how about you just focus on getting people to pay you to photograph some shoes."

I was too happy to have survived that class to be offended by his comment. In fact I had completely forgotten that story until the other day when I came across that sneaker image.. In which I combined shoes I photographed and yes I shoes I drew.... and I was paid to do both.

Friday, June 4, 2010

Because it has been one of those days





The Vedar image is by Alex Brown, Featured on 20x200.

Regrets I took off my friend Holly's blog. Yeah, I blog borrowed :)