Inspiration- Something You Drew

For this post, I am using something that I drew.  It's funny, a photo blog on a drawing, but whatever.  The word "drew" is in past tense so I went way back.  

I think that I drew this when I was in fourth grade.  I remember it pretty clearly, I just got a new pack of gel pens and I had also just found out about the song "One eyed, one horned, flying purple people eater" (top, left).  This drawing actually brought back a bunch of memories about a general time in my life.  I'm pretty sure that I was a huge tomboy and I really liked Star Trek: Next Generation.  Yeah, I know, I was awesome.  As you can see, this depicts the apocalypse (which might actually be happening right now outside of my window, I'll keep and eye out for the bright orange meteor).  Looking at this from an objective standpoint, the colors that I used are phenomenal, and I retain my love for pink and purple together.  This is a dark idea that didn't come from a dark place in my ten year old head.  I was looking for a way to use all of my gel pens and this is what came of it.

Inspiration- People

People inspire me all the time.  Miley Cyrus inspires me (because she is the perfect human being), my family inspires me, great presidents and athletes inspire me, but most of all I am inspired by the people with whom I spend the majority of my day...my friends.  I pride myself on being a very self-aware person.  I am self-aware that as a teenager my priorities are probably not in the correct order (friends, gossip girl, boys, food, sports, family...........school), but I like that order for now so why not focus on that instead of pretending that everything I do is to be just like my mom (I love you, Mom).

Priya; you made that face, let me take a picture of it and now its on the internet...deal. :*

 My friends are weird and we do weird things together.  Whether this may be hanging all of my bras from my ceiling fan or walking in a huge group to Lehigh Pizza on Southside...while I'm wearing an Elmo onesie, they inspire me to do weird stuff.  Additionally, they have probably been the most integral people in shaping who I am.  I came to this school as a shy second grader from Georgia.  I had zero friends and was a huge tomboy.  Fast forward nine years and I have developed an actual personality.  I've made new friends, I've broken up with friends that I knew weren't good for me and I've stayed friends with some of those girls from second grade.  Without these people I might be a lonely genius who sits around and studies all day, but gets a full ride to Harvard.  Or I could be an anorexic party girl who is popular, but doesn't really have any friends.  My friends keep me grounded.

Okay, I get it...puns are never funny.

They actually keep me really grounded.  The call me out on my crap...a lot.  They tell me when I'm being stupid or mean.  They often tell me that I am not funny and that they aren't sure why I actually have friends.  As friends, we can be real with each other.  I am definitely a big believer in not being best friends with someone unless you insult them constantly.  What kind of fun would a friendship be if you had to walk around on eggshells with them.  I get into intense debates with my especially bright friends on topics such as "lesser" being a word (it is, I win), or if the movie Titanic actually happened (it did not, Rose and Jack are fictional characters, there was no piece of wood that they both had to fit on...duh I win).  In the end we can glare at each other for a lunch period, but by the next day we will have forgotten about it and I'll be asking for a sip of their iced coffee before class.  In conclusion, my friends rock, they are hilarious and smart and make me the best person that I can be.  

Holga

Holga-ing has been a huge challenge for me.  I was not completely stable on physically using the camera and I wasn't really sure what Holga pictures were supposed to look like.  Also, I was thrown off by the lack of actual things on the camera- there was no focus other that this little dial you turned depending how far something was away from you, and then there was the "take picture" switch.
     Nonetheless, I tried my hardest.  The pictures that appeared after a grueling developing process (spending an entire 40 minutes in a dark closet can evoke some deep emotions) were not anything like these, but it's a learning process.

I like this picture for a lot of reasons. I like the angle that it was taken from.  It gives the feeling of laying down in a field of dandelions.  I also like the vignetting and the reflections of light in the lens.  This picture has some imperfections which, to me, makes it all the more perfect.  Imperfections are embraced in the world of Holga photography, and if there's one thing in photography that I'm good at it would be imperfection.

This picture is the epitome of a multiple exposure photograph.  Although it looks like the artist just stood under a bunch of electrical wires and spun in a circle (which is completely possible), the fact that this was exposed so many times and is still not too bright is an amazing accomplishment.  I also love that this very average situation was turned into a unique piece of art.  This is truly an artist making something ordinary into something extraordinary.

I think that this picture is really appropriate to end my Holga saga.  For the previous two photos, anyone would look at them and this "wow, this is beautiful".  But, this picture does not present its beauty up front like the other two.  It is what I would describe as situational art.  This artists has gone to a place, and in one photograph captured its entire essence.  In this photo, we see a bunch of greasy youngsters dancing the night away to the music of some underground band that has decided to situate itself directly in the middle of the floor.  The crowd is decked out in glasses, tattoos, beards and ironic trucker hats and in the corner we see a pair of grungy converse flailing around in the air.  This artist has captured a feeling and while the picture itself might not be beautiful, that feeling is.

Inspiration- In Memory Of...

Fred

This is a post dedicated to my deceased, furry companion.  I have included his eulogy:

Prince Frederick Von Bock Helvie

Born in a village in Transylvania, Frederick was raised by a small commune of hamsters.  He later used his wit and charm to secure passage on ship destined for the majestic land of Atlanta, Georgia.  There, Fred met a wonderful dog breeder who promptly auctioned him off to the highest bidder: a lucky three person family that resided in Eastern Pennsylvania.  Often called the "favorite child" by his mother, Frederick was cherished by his entire family.  He passed peacefully in the vet's office this summer from complications with an intestinal disease common in small dogs.  He is survived by a dog and two human siblings and his devastated mother.

Fred was my first pet (and the most photogenic) so I have a lot of pictures of him.  He was a simple little thing; all he knew how to do was give kisses and bark at anything that moved too fast.  This made him an ideal pet.  He was most peaceful when he was tired and this is a picture of him in his relaxed state.

Almost all of Fred's time was spent sleeping and in this picture I seem to have awoken him from a midday slumber.  Fred was an inspiration to me because of the joy that he got out of the occasional walk or a piece of ground beef that someone dropped on the floor.  I miss him everyday and hope that he is enjoying himself frolicking around in doggy heaven. 

Installation Blog

For my installation project I have decided to take pictures of people's faces, cut out their faces and insert them to holes on the sides of carefully and artfully selected trees on campus.  As the due date of this project (and all of these blog posts) nears I have kicked my work ethic into turbo gear.  As of yet I have nothing to show for my installation project, but here are a few that are exceptionally inspirational to me.

This is a piece of installation art created by French artist Guillaume Reymond.  This picture is end result of a piece called "TRANSFORMERS".  In this piece the cars and trucks move together to create this ragin' cool robot. I highly suggest watching the video because it is awesome. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=epEjByo2G-M&feature=player_embedded#!

In this piece, an artist (Benjamin Verdonck) built a nest that protrudes from an office building just chilled in it for awhile.  I like this piece of art because it is practical in addition to being aesthetically pleasing.  If I was having a stressful day at the office and just need a place to blow off steam, a giant bird nest is probably the number one place that I would want to go chill. 

This is the best installation piece that I have seen so far.  It wasn't created by an artist with the intent to evoke emotions, it was created by an advertiser with the intent of selling a product.  Nonetheless this evoked many emotions from me and it evokes many emotions from passersby, namely shock, disgust, fear and an incredible urge to potty train a jungle cat.