Thinking about Pen

Pen E-pl2?
Pennsylvania?
Pens to write with!?

I guess all of them. But anyways, I have a few new photos. Some are two weeks old, or a week...not exactly sure. But the other set of photos (in a gallery) were taken today at a Garage where my dads friends work. They were working on my lovely car so that Jackie and me can go to Pennsylvania without the worries of breaking down :)

Ok LETS START!

Honestly, this one just makes me laugh. I dont know why i thought of putting a cup of detergent with a bunch of string. I do feel the colors work, and the fact that there are many strands of string attacking the lonely black really helps ( i took a few with with just one and it was pooooo)

I find it fascinating that i can puncture an egg without it breaking. All those cracks i had to do myself. In fact, it made a perfect hole.

I really enjoy string. I love lines, and all the various things you can do with string. Thats all i have to say about this picture. Not my favorite.

So, the next picture is a link that you can go to a gallery of the rest of the images from today (the garage) This one just happens to be my favorite :)


CLICK THE PIC!!!!!

And so it begins with coffee again

No more soup titles from here on out (I think) :(. It was fun while it lasted, but "Story of the Lost Sole" is now over. The finished product was made into a book and a slide show for class. But now its time to start thinking about a new project.

Its been a few weeks since I last updated. I mainly have been preparing my final portfolios for classes and working (sorta) but while doing all this, I have been thinking about my next project. My goal: To work on a project all summer, so I have new things to hang at City Wide next fall.

My first idea was to just continue my within the realm of thought series from a while ago. In fact, its still that but with a twist. Instead of doing all black and white, i would like to incorporate color. No more mamiya for the series :(. Instead it will be digital. BUT! Fun fact. the olympus E-pl2 has a fun feature on it that came in handy for me today. It Keeps the same amount of pixels (12.3 megs to be exact) and compresses them into a 6x6 image. SO! im shooting in square format still, and am not losing pixels! YAAAAY!

So, two new pictures for today (one in color, one in black and white) then i will close with a small gallery of my Plastic carnival pics (i showed some in an earlier post, but I'm gonna have the whole series up now.

So this is where the new series will start: with coffee grounds. Its interesting. My original ideas all started from the shoe with coffee grounds...that looks alot like this image. I found myself wanting to use them again, with that crazy wooden spoon. Water is also something i want to play with as well. I always found it very beautiful when its photographed in a cup or on the background.

Rocks. :) I really like the feel of this image. i'm not quite sure why. It reminds me of harry potter and the half blood prince. Theres a part with rocks in a row. :) haha

SO thats it for today, here is a wonderful gallery, hope you like them

and check back in the coming week to see how the project is going! :)

G!A!L!L!E!R!Y!

Pea shoe for the Sole

This blog entry is dedicated to my lovely girlfriend, who helped me come up with this title. I was having difficulties thinking of another soup. So, as she was breaking up a little piece of bread, she smiled and said "Pea shoe for the Sole." So...that's the title.

This week is the second to the last blog for "Story of the Lost Sole." It will be presented (again) with two new photos. And! just like last week, if you click on them, you will see a super-duper gallery! Yay!

Hope you enjoy :)

On the Beach, in the grass, a suprise waited for us.

"The Children played rain or shine, but forgot there pail and shoes behind."

The little flash fiction makes me smile, especially because it rhymes. This was not the original photo idea. In fact, this is at a beach. Jackie and I went there purposely to take a photo of rain boots in the sand, but after seeing this picture, the idea changed. The pail and other various purple objects were left behind by someone and added some more spirit to this picture. The dimensions of the image are pretty interesting as well. I cropped have of it out. I saw this picture as a long, but thin image. 

Pretty.

"No funeral: only the wind brought the flowers."

I actually think this picture is pretty. The colors are really well balanced, and the shoe is nicely framed. The trailing of the flowers also adds to the depth of the images. The shoe itself is even interesting. I like the half open thing its has going on. The flash fiction came to me as I was driving away from taking this picture. I really like it. Its peaceful, just like the picture..and slightly sad. Definitely my favorite as of late (as in the past two weeks).

Fisherman's Shoe [its a type of soup]

Here we are again. Its interesting to think that this project is coming to a close very soon. For the class I need 15-20 images. Do you know how many I have total (counting today's 2)??? 22. :) Yup...22 images which is good.

There is one problem with that though, I feel like I have lost steam. My mind can only do so much at one time, and I feel like these last two especially are forced- just like 2 weeks ago. But, they will have to do. I don't dislike them, I just like the others better.

So here we go- I hope you enjoy! :)

p.s. I'm trying something new. If you want to see the pictures only, click on the pick and a gallery should show up with the pictures in a gallery.

ALSO! this blog marks the first- I am going to have other work besides shoes. There is a gallery at the end of this blog that will have my Carnival pics in it.

Attic

 "Kept in the attic, next to the unwanted boxes, 

the memories sit and wait."

First pic is of shoes in an attic. The Flash Fiction is more exciting than the actual picture. However, I feel cluttered when I look at it. So the attic feel is definitely there. I do enjoy that instead of some one being the interest in this Flash, I made it memories- abstract. Something different, to bad I am not as fond of the picture. But still, its okay and part of the series nonetheless. Its not terrible- just others are more exciting. :)

Next!

Little kids, and there shoes

"A voice shouted "NOW!"  Quickly, he ran leaving behind his shoe. He never looked back."

So I like this pic better than the top one. I find it more interesting, much more calming. The Flash Fiction makes me smile. Definitely fits little boys- always in trouble, and always forgetting things. I'm not quite sure how you could forget a shoe, but its happened. 

Well, those are the latest shoes- now on to other new pics. Recently, Jackie and I saw a small carnival, so we stopped, and I took some pics with my Diana (a small plastic camera) Below is one picture from the mini series, but if you click on it, you can see the other 4. Hope you like them :) 

Cream of Shoe

 Today is a special day for this particular blog. Why you ask? Because there is a dedicated slide show for all to see. Sadly, it only has two photos in it, but I hope you still Enjoy it. :)

 (psssst.....click the link below to view!)


Newest Images/Flash Fiction

Its flashed based. I apologize for anyone that can not see them. BUT! Just for you, next time I post I will re-post the images. :)

So, on to photography.

Today, I was pleased. These pictures feel much better then last week. I have had comments from the pictures, so obviously not everyone disliked them as much as me, but its still my project, and lets face it- I want to be happy with them. (not to sound all snippy or whatever, just saying).

First image!
The picture feels right at home, doesn't it? I really enjoy the rustic feel and how all the textures seem to match pretty well- from the chair, to the shoes, and lastly the grass. Its interesting how much they all fit. I had an issue trying to make this picture straight, however. It was on a hill, and every time I look at it, I still feel as though its falling to one side or the next. I'm not quite sure if its me, or the picture, but whatever.

The flash fiction plays off all these textures and molds them together in a nice little package. It makes me smile. :)

NEXT
Christmas came early this year...so early that in fact, its April still. No...this is no April fools joke, but I do enjoy this picture. NOW THATS A FACT. The colors play nicely against each other and the fact that there is only one shoe is flattering as well. I tried some where there was both shoes in the picture, but they seemed to heavy.
The flash ficture obviously plays homage to the christmas theme- being christmas colors and a bush that seems to resemble a christmas bush, well...it feels at home.

So these are the new pictures, I hope you were able to view them AND enjoyed them as well.

:)

French Onion Shoe

So, this week was slow photography wise. It was tough trying to even get inspired, for some strange reason. I'm not quite sure why, possibly just a dull in the project I guess. So anyways, I have three new photos to show. One was taken yesterday, the other two were taken today. I hop you enjoy:

ut oh...someone left the shower running

 "Pass out in the shower 

and only the water will stroke your face."

So yesterday was a difficult day for me. I tried to force myself into taking photos, but I wasn't really liking them. This is the only photo from the set that I found decent. I really like how if you look closely there is water bouncing off the shoe (if you look at it small, you probably wont see it) and I like the sense of distance between the shoes and the viewer. It gives it a different feeling then a lot of my other photos. The Flash Fiction makes me smile, because even though it says a lot, I stayed away from a gender.

Put them in soup and they will sing in your belly :)

"The honey combs taste good with syrup

...and nail polish."

This is the first from today. I have been wanting to take this photo for a while, but just never seemed to get a chance. These particular shoes I thought fit, mainly because of the bottoms. They look like honey combs. So! I used that idea, and put it in the flash fiction. 

Tools for Tools

"The constant strain on life itself, had worn his tools and everything else."

Here is the tools. I love my dads old work boots. They might have been the first pair of shoes that I looked at and said "I WANT TO PHOTOGRAPH." This isn't the picture I'm referring too, but they are the shoes. I like the repetition in this photo, with the lines. At first, there was only one shoe, but i like the framing effect with both shoes in the photo more. The Flash Fiction made me think of my dad immediately, and the fact that it kind of rhythms is fun too :)

I'm not going to lie and say these are the best pictures I ever took, cause there not. I'm not very fond of them, but hopefully they will bring me to next week, where I will take a picture that I can look at and say "I like that lots." TRUE STORY! 

Hope you enjoyed them....more then I did. 

:) 

New England Shoe Chowder

A lot has happened to me in the past week.
1. I am pretty sure I am getting a tiny photo job (hopefully)
2. My computer died on me, so I'm surprised I'm actually posting on time.
3. My Grandma is in the hospital, she had a stroke- but shes okay, which is good.

So, photography was a challenge this week, However, I still managed to get 3 pictures done (even though only two are going to be posted due to complications with a new camera). So, here they are:

You can't see them, but I had friends

 "Under the snow; Under the leaves; 

the shoes revealed what it was to be free."

Friends? While i was setting up this picture, a family of ducks was curious about what I was doing. They waddled up to me and all around me. I guess they were curious. The picture is okay, I'm not crazy about it, but I like it at the same time. It reminds me a little too much of the one I took last week next to a tree, but nonetheless its part of the series. In fact, even though I'm not crazy about it, I do like that they are actually part of the leaves. When the shoes interact with the background it has a nicer flow. I enjoy the little Flash Fiction as well. Very ambiguous, and it sort of rhymes too which is a plus.

Cute little shoes<3

 "Little child, empty world. All order, No mother."

So, I'm pretty sure this is one of my favorites. As of right now I love it. Possibly because its taken so differently then the others that came before it. Usually, I like to get in the shoes bubble and make it fill majority of the frame, but these shoes were tiny...and the world is BIG. So, I thought about it, and why not make the world look big to the shoes. Sort of how a child would see the world. Also, everything is very ridged and orderly. Immediately when I looked at this picture I thought of a orphan. The Flash fiction is ambiguous, but it decaffeinate makes me think of an orphan, I'm not quite sure if its too ambiguous, but for the moment thats the story.

Sorry there was only two this week, hopefully next week I will have the other i shot, and more :)

Hope you Enjoyed them.

Goulash Shoe

Haha Goulash.

Anyway, Spring break is this week. You can tell by the 5 inches of snow we are suppose to get tomorrow....oh boy.

Yesterday, it tried to snow for a little bit, and for the first time I actually went out in it, and photographed. I suprised myself. I hate snow. I hate it so much...yet i live in CT...and my girlfriend wants to move to Canada...haha I guess I'll never get away from snow. :)

So, pictures? Yes please! OKAY! I have...how many...? 4! to show you :) Hope you enjoy. 

Before I reveal the new stuff, I just want to say one more thing. I feel more at ease about this project for the moment. I swear, its like a roller coaster. Sometimes I hate this project, and other times I love it. Honestly, its much more difficult then I suspected, but its working. I'm also playing with color, which is a BIG plus seeing how I usually try and stay away from all color. 

Ok, Pictures:

Oh snow, how i hate you.

  "The backyard was empty.
Gone without a scream- without a whisper."

BUT NOT THIS PICTURE<3 haha. So, this is the picture that I took while it was snowing. You can't really tell, but I wasn't really going for falling snow anyway. The only reason why I went out while it was still snowing was because it wasn't raining yet. BUT in any case, I really like the brick wall in this picture. Also the fact that the snow isn't over abundant. The brown shoes do tend to help the image as well. Now, the little Flash Fiction I wrote for this: I enjoy it lots. I'm not quite sure if its clear enough or not, but I think its perfect. It has just enough mystery, but enough so that you can understand whats going on.

mmmm ash.

 "He eats his victims."

This picture was taken today (just like the other two following). The picture is my least favorite of the set today, mainly because I think I just don't like those shoes. But the picture itself is enjoyable. The tone it sets really fits the little Flash Fiction. [On a side note, this one was inspired by the latest episode of House. The patient eats his victums...and he is homeless. YUM] The desaturated color fits the gray bricks, AND the red in the picture is a perfect saturation...now. before it was extremely bright, almost made it look black and white with just some red.

TREEEEEEEE!

 Buried alive beneath the earth- the tree marks the grave,
where the others can mourn.

I love the park. While I was setting up this picture, various elderly people kept walking by and staring at me. One even laughed. I'm not quite sure if it was because of the picture, or because I had a quite large bag of shoes next to me. But none actually had the courage to come up to me and ask me what I was doing, instead they stood far away and just watched. I would have gladly talked to them, even though I was in a rush, it was cold, and I wasn't dressed properly...bur. OK picture: the orange in the shoes worked out. I think if that wasn't there, people would be tricked into thinking it was a black and white. Also, my lovely foot print was planned. I had to push surprisingly hard to get that lovely grip in the dirt. The Flash fiction makes the picture even more depressing than the pic would be without. It fits. Makes me kinda sad, but that's a plus.

Yellow shoes<3

No swimming. 7 years old and fell in the river.

Oh! Did I say the last one made me sad? Well...then this one makes me just completely depressed. I have been wanting to take this photo for quite some time now. This was the pic I went to the park for honestly. AND I finally used my 85mm lens for something other than pictures I will never actually use. It was nice. So, while I was setting this picture up, I was hanging over the river, trying to get the shoes to stay...they kept floating away. Luckily, there was a pile of rocks next to me. I stuffed the shoes with rocks, so they would finally stay. Worked out pretty well. Nice long shutter speed, so that the water didnt look all choppy and gross.

So these are the four. Hope you enjoyed them. Honestly I feel as though I'm starting to get even more comfortable. I'm glad that I can feel the emotions I'm trying to express through the images. The lines of Flash Fiction also are adding another layer to the pictures.

Okay, that is all.
:)

The "New" Tomato Shoe

Why is the tomato new? Because today is the dawning of a NEW era. Not industrialization, or a french revolution, but just as important (well...to me).

Last week, Andy pointed out that the series wasn't quite going in the original direction, which was sadly true. HOWEVER, we brainstormed and he came up with an idea of using "flash fiction" with the pictures. What is flash fiction you ask? Its a way to write a story in under a few sentences. So...in a way, its giving the pictures really long titles. He said it was because I like to write, which isn't true at all ;) nooooo.

I really like this idea. I usually go for the type of pictures that makes the viewer come to their own interpretation of the photo, but with these little lines I have noticed I can manipulate what they see fairly easily. 

So, Today's blog will consist of the two new pictures, plus the original pictures posted prior (I'm doing this, so that you can look at the pictures again, in a new light- with there little sentences.)

Hope you enjoy!

"SPIN THAT RECORD"

"To spin the record was all she ever wanted to do. 

To bad her parents made her go to college for buisness..."

Okay, just so everyone is clear on how this is going to work: First you will see the picture (NO WAY!) then, you will see my corny little saying underneath the picture. THEN you will see the actual Flash Fiction of the picture. I just wanted to make sure no one thought that "Spin that Record" was actually the flash fiction... :)

So, I tried multiple views of this picture, this one was the one I decided to show for now, but I'm still undecided on which one I will actually end up using. I'm having a lot of fun with this split toning (this one is green and purple). The picture itself makes me smile, frankly only because I actually put a shoe on a real record (Its a copy of "Let it Be" by the beatles; Got it at a flea market, already scratched up.)

aaaaaaaaaaawwwwwwwwww Quincy so cute<3

"When she left for college, everyone seemed to miss her; especially the dog."

 This picture is of one of my dogs, Quincy. He's a cutie unless he is beating on the other one...then he isn't. But I was amazed at how well he listened to me when I would tell him to stay,  he usually doesn't. I like this picture more then the one above. I think the line I gave it is also a nice touch, kind of a sad/heart touching little story. At first, I was a little disapointed that I couldnt get him to look at the camera; BUT after reviewing them, and giving them a flash fiction, I realized that its as if he is staring out, waiting for her to return.

Hope you enjoyed the two new photos! Here are the recaps of the old photos, with there lines of FLASH FICTION! :) Enjoy

“The separation; One was gone, while the other lived on in a world that seems drastically less special than before.”

“Even though she was born with no arms, she played the piano just like Mozart.”

“A young man sits on the edge of the woods and the world. Placing his shoe on the ground, he could feel the cold, damp bark caressed by his foot.”

“Russia was the trap. 

The Berlin Wall was nothing compared to the fence that keeps him tucked away from truly living

his life.”

 “Casually dressed and late: Just another day, a half step away.”

“If the wedding was in an hour, why was he still naked?”

"Spaghetti on her head, hats on her feet, shoes in the fridge: 

now...if she could only find her keys."

I really enjoyed a lot of these. Some were funny, some were sad. Others were just depressing. Hope you enjoyed them all :)

Chicken Noodle Shoe

Aren't you excited!? Its finally getting warm out again! HURRAY!

Okay, on to photo news. So, I have been pondering ideas for about a week now. I actually attempted to shoot an idea a couple of days ago. Sadly, it didn't come even close to what was envisioned...SO it was scraped. Its really difficult trying to come up with ideas that I feel are more me, then just regular old shoe pictures. But in any case, I have 4 to share today with you [yay!]. Hopefully you enjoy them, especially one that I find very interesting.

Split Toning #1

So! Remember how I just told you I had a full photo shoot that didn't come out as planned? Well, it didn't, BUT I did get this image from it. Crazy table right? I also like the play on distance between the two shoes. I tried to like this photo in color, it just wasn't appealing to me. Then, I decided to try Split toning (I've known about it in general, but never really tried it before). I enjoy that even though this is a black and white image, you still feel the browns really coming to life from it. :)

"OMG! What a talented Shoe!"

So, Mozart of Shoes? Possibly. I found this particular shoe at a Goodwill, really enjoyed the browns. I have a old antique piano that's falling apart and no one plays, hanging out in my living room...Brown shoe, brown piano? So I tried them together, using classical composition (as you can see) and vola! Super Dooper Talented Shoe.

"Does someone feel lost in the woods?"

Split toning Number Two. I have a pair of green converses, that I absolutely love and have worn in to the point of breakage. They have always reminded me of the wilderness: trees, grass, weeds, you name it; so I figured, why not throw them on the very large pile of random barks in my backyard. The composition is very pleasing with all the lines (did you notice I'm having fun with lines today!?) and the Split toning only enhances the dreary photo.

"Burrr, Its chilly"

Midnight snacks are always fun, so why not chomp down on a pair of bright pink shoes? Doesn't it sound delicious!? WHY NOT!? Well anyway, I really enjoy the clutter of this photo. The fact that I actually put shoes in the refridgerator just makes me smile. Hopefully, this is in line with a bunch of new ones coming soon that I won't give away quite just yet. ;) But the color in this is kind of bizzar. the refridgerator didn't want to cooperate with me. It was of course a different light source then the exterior lights, but for the most part I still feel this works, and gets the idea across. Midnight snack anyone?

These are the newest photos to "Lost Soles." I hope you enjoyed them :)

The Simple Flavors of a Shoe Bistro

Ahhh...can you smell the aroma? Tasty isn't it? Now, of course shoes may have an odd smell to them, but there is also a beauty that extends far past the exterior of the item. Each shoe represents our souls personally.

So, over the past few weeks I have been trying to come up with ideas for this project. Honestly, it was quite difficult. I feel this whole project isn't going to be easy; which is good. I enjoy it when things push me to think or to attempt to do things differently.

This is my first entry, so let me explain a little bit why I even chose shoes in the first place. For a quite a while (longer then three years, maybe even 5) I have been shooting photographs with themes in them. Before three years ago, I didn't even notice they were themes, but when looking back, its apparent that all the photos of a certain time usually centered around something.

Well, here we are. Its Sunday Feb. 27th, 2011. I am a Junior in Paier College of Art, and I am working on this project for a class. So far, like I mentioned earlier, this project has been off to a tough start. Shoes have been done before, quite alot actually. So I want to try and stay away from the more normal looking shots. This will be a even bigger problem in the future, but for now its still in the back of my mind. The first few pictures I took were boring. I actually didn't like them at all, but I kept them just in case.

I'm glad I took those awful pictures though, they made me realize that I need to work harder then to just place and take. It has to be more about a plan and understanding of the environment I want to take a photograph of.

Also, just a side view, I hate the snow. I really do. Most pictures I first thought of for this project involve grass and wild life...all of which are gone at the moment due to the lovely snow outside. I even attempted to a take a photograph of one with the snow...that failed.

Okay, here's the first 3 photos of the project, hope you like them :)

First picture for project.

 Okay, so this is my first picture (above). Its sad, I feel this picture is still cliche, but I don't have the heart to get rid of it quite just yet. I'm not quite sure if it will always be part of the project or not, but for now, it is. The red of the shoes are very vibrate against the gray fence. I love the color contrast. Also, I love the shoes, and the fence. The shoes were the first pair Jackie bought me, and the fence has been part of my life since I was 9; so I'm kind of connected to it. There's been times where it fell on me, or I've gotten hit in the face with poison ivy right in front of it. I have had to repair it quite a few times, and in all honesty, its worth it. Its an old fence that really fits the house it surrounds.

I enjoyed the sort of strange cropping.

 Second picture: This is the first one that took longer than 5 minutes to take. I played with this concept for quite a while. At first, the blurry feet were not part of the composition, but as I progressed I realized there was something missing. So, as I was taking the picture, I purposely stood in the arrangement. I found I liked it a lot better.

Favorite So far... :)

Third Picture: This was the first picture that was completely premeditated. This is also the first picture my mom has helped me with in quite a while. She is the blurry figure, and everything in the photo is hers. So in theory, this is a portrait of her. I enjoy the color scheme and the motion added to it.

What two out of the three photos above helped me understand is that shoes and motion blur go together quite well. Perhaps its because we relate the two to one another. Who knows, but in any case, for the first three photos, I think I'm off to a good start. It might be difficult, but at least I'll get something out of it, a grade. :)