Week 8 in New York: The L Word{s}

It's not often that I make it down to the big city. Although I live only about 30 miles away, I have it in my head that it's a cumbersome feat of epic proportion. Getting there, navigating my way, having any real purpose or destination - these are factors that frankly, seem insurmountable! Therefore, I in fact, have not been into the city on my own since having moved here about a year ago.

As with all misperceptions that are eventually dashed by reality, this one too has been.

Armored with intention on Friday, I made an early morning trek down to Manhattan. Sure - I missed my train in Port Chester, had to drive 15 minutes south to run and catch the Crestwood blue line. Sure - I then had to ride the train for 30 minutes, wend my way through the millions of commuting masses at Grand Central, catch a shuttle to Times Square and then get on the 1 train for another 10 minutes, and sure - I then had to walk 6 blocks in the pouring rain in heels - but it was all so eaaassssyy!!!

I know it doesn't sound it, but honestly, I was stunned at how relaxed and calm I was throughout the whole endeavor. How easy it is to get into that NY state of mind. After tending to my little errand at the local Law Library, I stopped to enjoy the incredible wealth of beauty that the lights & lines of Lincoln Center had to offer. The city on a whole is so stunning when you take a moment to step back and appreciate the intensity of the architecture around you. It's a never-ending smörgåsbord for the amateur photography hobbiest.

Hopefully I'll be getting down there a little more often in the days to come with any luck.

Cheers,

Breezer M.

Week 7 in Seattle: Breathtaking Views.

The scenery in Seattle always amazes me. Every day I see something breathtaking. In Washington State we have Mountains (high enough to have SNOW), Desert, Rain Forests, The Ocean and Lakes. In a 6 hour car ride you can hit all of them. There aren't many places where this is possible.

On Saturday Laura (roommate) and I went for a 4 hour walk around our home. We live 5000 feet from the Puget Sound in 3 directions. From our dining room you can see these mountains- the Olympic Mountain Range. If you walk down the street for 3 minutes you come up over a ridge with an even better view. Walk 15 minutes down to the water and this is what you get. A sweeping view of the entire mountain range! Mount Olympus, the largest mountain on the left (south) end of the range tops out at 7980 feet above sea level making it the 5th highest mountain in Washington State. Don't worry- I will have Mount Rainier photos up here at some point during this project. :)

When the weather warms up a bit I'm definitely going to be taking more day trips to photograph this beautiful state.

Week 7 in New York: Feathers & Friends

Sometimes inspiration strikes at the strangest times, and in very strange ways.

This slightly feral, framed, feather formation hit me out of nowhere one afternoon while I was getting started on a very other craft project. As I sat pulling feathers apart from the bunch they came in from the art supply store - in preparation for creating feather earrings for a client of mine - I noticed that I had lain them all in perfectly straight, puzzle piece, interlocking rows. While this was fascinating to me (the subconscious always is, no?) I knew that I couldn't take ANOTHER photo of stuffs just sitting in their place. So I started looking around for a more creative outlet.

I thought about taking them outside and seeing what I could do with nature - but it's winter, and it was windy - so that was a no good. I mentally went through the possibilities of what else I could do - ranging from gluing them to the door to hanging them up on fabric with string and straight pins - I realized that the answer was right in front of me.

This frame until recently (and probably will again soon) housed a gridded photo that I took in California. Knowing that it would be the perfect home for my fanciful feather design, I quickly took the photos down and got to work.

I realized soon after that this was an absurd idea and that none of the feathers would actually stay put for very long, nor would they actually even go in the positions that I had intended. However, the end result was pretty funny, and decided that it needed to be recognized for what it was. The polaroid of my girlfriends in the middle was a last minute addition when I noticed how spot on the color-scheme matched with the feathers.

A week later - after taking about 5 feathers down for the earrings, 3 more feathers falling on their own, and then taking about 8 more down for a second pair of earrings - this spontaneous combustion of creativity, is looking laughably pitiful. Time for the photos to go back up!

Cheers,

Breezer M.