Week 9 in Seattle: Nothing but music

Some weeks I think my job is the music scene, and not in Neurosurgery. This was one of those weeks. I'm going to keep this short and sweet since I really have no words in me today. This week I got to photograph Curious Mystery, David Grey, and Morcheeba (seen here). Having 2 large shows plus an in-studio session really take up a lot of time in my life. On top of working 40+ hour weeks, I subject myself to head straight to dinner after work followed by 5 hours in a venue with sweaty smelly people. The energy is good, the music is great, but I'm just tired. If this was all I did for a job it would be great. Doing it on top of a stressful job just makes my life more stressful. I know I will never be a photographer full time, but I can dream!

Cheers,
Jill Rachel

Week 9 in New York: Subculture in the Suburbs

Late nights in Westchester are pretty uneventful - dare I say - boring. For those of us with schedules even remotely on the cusp of being nocturnal, it's damn near impossible to find anything to do after 10:00 pm, let alone a place to eat a good meal. With NYC only 20 minutes drive, you'd think that this sleepy suburb would take a page from their book and have some semblance of a night life - but, you'd be wrong.

Out of this though, has evolved an interesting subcultural - the diner life. Where I'm from in Upstate New York, there's one diner. It's where everyone ends up, every weekend night, after a night of drinking and closing down the local bars.

In Westchester though, every town has a diner, and sometimes two. You can take a drive down Boston Post Rd and see not one or two - but three - in a 5 mile radius. It's a diner-lover's paradise. Here is where not just drunk people stumbling around and hoping to sober up before they drive home come, but where you'll find every different walk of Westchesterian life. The older married couple, out for a late night steak, the college kids gossiping about the latest scandal, the crazy woman who can't believe the waiter would have the nerve to sit her in the back room. Then, you'll find me, the late night yogi. Usually accompanied by Carlo and Carolyn, or any combination of the three, ravenous after yoga or school and too tired to think about cooking.

On this particular night - a Friday night, mind you - after eating a nice dinner out with five of our friends in honor of Carlo's birthday - at the ripe hour of 10 pm we were kicked out of the restaurant and had to find somewhere to sit down, have coffee and dessert, and continue our little celebration. Where could we possibly go? Well, that's right, the local diner.

Just a mile away - because diners are everywhere you want to be - we settled into a two hour encore conversation complete with bottomless coffees, delicious cheesecake, and real vanilla bean milkshakes.

At midnight, when Carlo's birthday actually struck - we all wished him well, went our respective ways, and said what I'd like to think, were our silent little praises for the diner capital of the world - Westchester County.

Cheers,

Breezer M.

Week 8 in Seattle: Handmade Goodness

My bouts of craftiness go in spurts. I will work for weeks on knitting, scrapbooking, or sewing projects then take a month or so off. I think this stems from not having a "crafting studio" to really get work done. Now that I think about it, I've not had a studio since I left New York for Seattle. Even there the studio was part time since I had my best friend move into the room for a while. I'll be moving into a 3 bedroom condo/townhouse on July 1st. The third bedroom is small, but definitely large enough for a crafting desk, shelving, and a comfy chair. I'm hoping that will help spark some inspiration and motivation!

The fingerless gloves you see here are my new favourite thing. I've made a few pair in different weight yarns to find my most loved. This yarn is Mission Falls Superwash Merino. It's DELICIOUS. These are super squishy and very toasty. Generally when you are binding off your piece at your fingers you bind off in a way that makes it stretchy. I did the opposite. I bound off so that they have very little give. Let me tell you- best decision ever. Most gloves like this that I've tried stretch out so much they start to fall off you. These are PERFECT.

I'm hoping to find more crafty motivation soon. I find it hard to make good things come from a non-ideal situation, but maybe it's time to change that.

Cheers,
Jill Rachel

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.

Week 6 in Seattle: Poison

Last year I had the opportunity to photograph so many musicians. It's a pretty cool gig. Being from New York I was not really that aware of west coast bands. And actually, I was pretty out of the cool music loop all together. I grew up listening to mom's music- Karen Carpenter, Anne Murray, James Taylor, etc. You get the idea.

One year for Christmas my grandmother got me a Phish CD. I thought I was the coolest kid ever. Turns out I was the last human on earth to get "Billy Breathes" as a gift. That Christmas my sister was pissed at me. *I* got the Phish CD and she didn't. I never really liked her taste in music but I did like Phish!!

In 2001 I started dating James. He introduced me to so much: Stereolab, Steely Dan, MMW, Nickle Creek (note: NOT NICKLEBACK)... Within a year of dating I got to meet his brother's girlfriend (now wife) Liz. Liz, let me tell you, is the shit. She was really the person who influenced me the most in this area of my life: Old 97's, Liz Phair, Belle and Sebastian, Wilco, Billy Bragg... See where I'm going? This girl was my hero.

I'll get to the point here. I don't remember anyone introducing me to early 90's R+B. I guess it just kind of happened? This week I got to photograph... drum roll please.... Bel Biv DeVoe. HOLY HELL. I love these guys!! And to top it off, the other artists there (that you would know) were Jon B, Al B Sure!, and SWV. What a rockin' show!!!! I mean seriously- who wouldn't like hearing BBD's song "Poision" last 15 minutes with an awesome DANCE OFF!?!? My life sure can be pretty darn fantastic.

Cheers!
Jill Rachel

[For a full review with photos from that concert, visit http://backbeatseattle.com/wordpress/?p=43722]