Unraveled

This morning I found that the white ranunculus in my lovely Polux bouquet had toppled over (basically decapitated) and there were peony petals all over the table. Perfect time to take apart the bouquet and do some floral still life studies. And perfect time to play with some off-camera flash. And now it's 2pm and this is all I've accomplished today. Hah, if only every day could begin like this. (Since I've gotten a few questions about my tripod, I thought I'd link it here - it's a Gitzo Explorer.)

Autumn dishes at Gwynnett St.

Beautifully plated dishes are always a pleasure to shoot. If you're in the area and haven't eaten at Gwynnett St. yet, I highly recommend it.

And a few behind the (precarious) scenes snapshots. I had to get on top of the bar with my tripod. Then I ate all the desserts.

Denims and khakis

This beautiful Sunday afternoon felt appropriate for another 'style' post, if you will.

I've been wearing this jacket to shreds this season. I love that I can put everything I need to easily reach in the big pockets without worrying anything will fall out.

I am so so so due for a haircut.

Jacket - Zara. // Shirt - Madewell. // Jeans - J.Crew. // Shoes - J.Crew. // Bag - Proenza Schouler. // Necklace - Lacoli & Mcallister. // Bracelets - Hermès, J.Crew.

Kinfolk Vol. 5 and Outtakes (2 of 2)

For Vol. 5 of Kinfolk, I also had the opportunity to photograph Jennifer Causey for an interview feature. Jen is a veteran blogger (blogging way before it was cool) and has quite the prolific photography portfolio (i, ii). It's always a huge pleasure to shoot other photographers (they know what works with light and how to set a great scene), but the experience is still a bit tinged with intimidation for me (What will they think of how I work? Am I doing it wrong? Can they do it better? We photographers can be critical people! These are all the silly worries that live in the back of my head.).

It was very much an honor to shoot Jen and her space - she effortlessly created a beautiful scene. Shoots like this one hardly feel like work to me. Below are some outtakes (almost all shot on Contax 645 and Portra 160).

At the New Amsterdam Market

A Sunday ritual.

Grateful

In the midst of a hectic and stressful month, I wanted to note how grateful I am to be busy doing what I love. Sometimes (rather, all the time) I still can't believe it. When I quit my day job in June of last year, I had absolutely no idea what lay ahead or if I'd be hunting for a corporate job again in a year or so. I have so much to learn still, so many goals to accomplish still, and that all greatly excites and terrifies me.

One area that ends up suffering is my personal work and all the fun stuff that began Lingered Upon. I used to be inseparable from my camera on the weekends, documenting all the details of my jaunts around the city. I hope I can pick that up again. I'm grateful to all you readers who have stuck around through it all.



These weather changes are not being kind to my body. I'm at that point of being on the edge of sickness and feeling slightly disconnected from everything that's going on. I'm hoping all the shooting I'll be doing soon will be a welcome distraction.

For now, dahlias.

Kinfolk Vol. 5 and Outtakes (1 of 2)

Volume 5 of Kinfolk magazine is out and it is quite the sight for sore eyes. There is a ton of beautiful work in it, the kind that leaves me scratching my head over how my work can stand up to the others in it. Now now, I'm not trying to be sickeningly modest, this is the truth! Anyway, you must pick one up and see for yourself (it's great to see it's available in so many stores now).

For now, I wanted to share some outtakes from one of the two stories I shot. Erin's sister wrote a lovely piece on being sisters, growing up and then motherhood. The six of us wedged ourselves in a booth at Peels for this shoot and had a wild time. Sugary pastries and three young boys? Wild, all right. :P

P.S. Have you seen the fun cameo I got on the West Elm website? Thanks to Kinfolk for having me for this dinner party/shoot.

Meet Ricoh

I never thought I'd want a dummy point and shoot film camera (like the ones my parents used when I was growing up), but after enjoying my Fuji x100 so much, and becoming less and less of a fan of lugging my heavier film cameras around on my days off from shooting, I decided to look into my best options for this category. J pointed out the Ricoh GR1 to me, saying that it was the classic, sort of analogous to what a Hasselblad is for the 6x6 category.

I was instantly sold because it had a nice 28mm f2.8 fixed lens; i.e., it's like my iPhone on film! Just a teensy bit slower than my iPhone lens. And now that I'm so used to "seeing" things in 28mm, I thought this would be perfect. I scoured eBay for a few days, missing a few good deals, and then finally making an offer on one that was listed in auction style. (On a side note, I almost always offer a Buy It Now price when I want something and the seller has listed it as an auction. It usually works!)

When I received the camera, my first thought was, "DANG this thing is tiny!" It weighs almost nothing and I was wondering how the film even fits in it hah. See the first photo for scale. I shot a test roll on it and got it developed at Walgreens with pretty crappy prints. Overall I am pretty pleased with this little guy. Of course, there's still the parallax issue (so it's not quite as easy to compose with) but the viewfinder has a guidance line that shows you where the top of your photo actually starts.


So cute and tiny! Can't wait to put some black and white film in this.

iPhone shot of a few of the crappy quality prints (you can't tell from this distance but trust me). I didn't get scans so this is all I've got to show for now.

Hope to share more soon!