On Island Living

I've been really intrigued with island life since my second week at SALT. I came to Peaks for my neighborhood assignment. I had felt isolated, lost, and alone then. I've been back many times since. Exploring the island one little piece at a time...of course, it doesn't really take all that long to explore a small island, but there is just something about it. It's just so methodical here. You have to plan out grocery trips (if you don't want to shop at the only grocery store in town), and social trips since the ferry can be limited (although there are more ferries coming and going from Peaks than the others).

I've been daydreaming about what it would be like to live on an island...so you can imagine my excitement when Mira, SALT's writing instructor, posted that she may need a dog sitter for the week. I volunteered as fast as I could. First and foremost, Mira and her family were gracious enough to bring me into their home on my first exploratory mission to Peaks. She noticed that I didn't have the proper footwear for all of the slow I was about to trek on...so she offered here's to me. Her and her husband also offered me a map of the island and pointed me towards the right direction. Of course, I volunteered largely because I wanted to pretend to be an islander for a few days, but I also wanted to thank Mira for her kindness.

I decided, with Nelson's blessing, not to go to Worcester this weekend. To be frank, my pockets cannot afford the short trip every week...but I have been stretching it and "making it work." So I've been on the island on and off since Wednesday. My head feels clearer here. It's quiet and the dogs have been keeping me company. We explored the dirt roads together and took a nice hike on the beach during sunset. I've been getting a lot of reading done. It has always been a bad habit of mine to pick up a book, read a couple of chapters, and never finishing it. So my mission was to have a bit of a 'staycation' and try to chip away at this book I brought from home ("Her" by Christa Paravanni - a photographer who lost her twin). It's been quite therapeutic...all of it.

I'm also re-cutting my multimedia piece. The audio and B-roll rough cut is due today. I've learned that the difficulty with telling someone else's story is some how, you almost always suck at it. So basically, I'm trying not to suck. I've literally been cutting on and off since Wednesday.

I'm also working on re-sequencing my photo story, since I will not have any photos to critique on Monday (my very first time since the beginning of the semester and I feel weird about that). My goal today is to write a focus statement for the photo story and see if things become more apparent...fingers crossed...don't worry, I just learned what a 'focus statement' was yesterday...

Last night I hemmed and hawed over which photograph from my project I was going to submit for a show postcard. Everyone gets to submit just one photo, and I almost didn't, because I know my classmate's photo would win. Everyone, including myself, has been swooning over it and as of last night, there was only five submissions out of seventeen. I guess we will find out.

It's been raining all morning and I'm feeling sad about leaving Peaks.

Oh Yes

For the past couple of days I've done nothing but walked. I explored Peaks Island for two days on foot with improper snow shoes (only one of the two days) and I walked to some unfamiliar areas of Portland during the snow storm. 

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Before I talk about what I found during my exploratory missions, let me be honest, our "neighborhood' assignment this week really kicked my ass. I don't know if I mentioned this the other day, but I felt like Nelson (my instructor), set the bar pretty damn high. To be even more honest with you, I didn't feel good about photography since day one of class. I felt like maybe I've been "doing it wrong." I never had any formal training, most things I know is self taught. I learn the business side from the ground up, much like the technical side of photography. I am not well versed in the who's who of photography. Basically, I felt discouraged. But I am excited to learn, eager really. I'm also excited about finding myself again as a photographer. 

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Day 1 on Peaks was pretty great. I got some help from Mira and her family (Mira is the Writing Instructor at Salt) after I met them at the ferry station. They were so kind to give me proper snow shoes and pointed me in the right direction (as far as where to find certain things on the island). I walked until I got exhausted. I was alone for the most part so my journey felt lonely. I originally wanted to walk and cover the whole island on one day but I was defeated. 

When I got back on the main land, I met one of my classmate and told her what I was doing. When she told me she thought it was pretty ambitious, I started to feel paranoid. I didn't want to be ambitious and miss the point of the assignment...but I didn't want to play it safe. So threw my plans of going back to Peaks to finish exploring out the window and began to doubt myself. 

The next day I went to my favorite coffee shop and looked around. I thought about the word neighborhood and thought that maybe I could profile the shop. I felt pretty confused so I emailed Nelson. He mentioned that a coffee shop is not quite a neighborhood and said that he was sorry I didn't like Peaks. But it wasn't that I didn't like Peaks, I was afraid to get the assignment wrong...but why? It's the first freaking assignment for goodness sakes! Like I said, I have been questioning my photography since I arrived so it was easy for me to get discouraged. So I decided to go back and revisit. This time exploring the other side of the island. To my surprise, the second day really solidified my choice of choosing the island. I took a lot of photos...A LOT. I will have to narrow it down to 20 for my critic tonight. Here are some photos that I took with my iPhone whilst exploring. 

found my motto for my time in Portland

exploring during the storm

asked a local about hidden gems, he pointed me to the fish market

found a hidden gem in a alley way

Portland is full of graffiti 

beautiful light on Peaks Island

this here is actually a frozen pond from ice skating

Peaks Island was beautiful

lunch break on the coast

a view from the shore of Peaks

swamp grases are tall!

narrow snow covered boardwalk

Battery Steel built during WWII

can you tell why I'm in love?

What I've learned in the past couple of days is to really trust my instinct. If I wanted to profile Peaks as a neighborhood, why not? Say yes. I really need to believe in myself, my abilities, and judgement as a photographer. At the same time, be open to new methods, critics, and experiences because after all, I'm here to learn.

Week 1

We've been thrown in to the water and learning how to swim for the first time. I'm pretty sure one of the track professors referenced that, but I can't remember whom. That's basically how this week has felt. We've gone over our syllabi, assignments, expectations, partners, and lectures. We've been thrown onto the street to strike up conversations with strangers and to record sounds.

I never thought the day would come for me to attend school, so walking into Salt on Monday was a pretty big deal. Shane was right, it finally hit me. It was a mixture of nerves and excitement. Sitting in the sacred photo cave gave me a sense how intense this experience is going to be. There's an importance of hard work and dedication just floating around.

What I love about Salt is that our instructors are extremely knowledgable in their field. They are all working professionals. Nelson, my photography instructor, is a talented photographer and is basically a photography genius. He's like the dictionary of photography. I'm so excited that he will be teaching us photo literacy, because I have no idea who the forefathers are. Names never stuck with me so I'm trying really hard to absorb.

After our multimedia labs today I started exploring. The sky is dumping snow on us and I'm pretty sure its been snowing for 12 straight hours. I thought it would make for some great neighborhood photographs. I struggled to find courage to photograph today. I only snapped about five frames. I'm not sure if I'm just not seeing what I'm interested in, or if Nelson's is and isn't is making me rethink photography. Not that I wasn't methodical before, but I'm just a bit more careful about what a landscape photograph looks like now.

Today was our last day of class for the week so I am taking the ferry to the islands to explore a bit more. I've got some leads on a project story, but my brain is still pulling me in five different directions. Hopefully being in open water will give me a sense of clarity.

a party for a very special baby

this evening i attended a very lovely little baby shower like non i had attended before. this one was outdoors and had assigned tables, quirky games, and even a popcorn machine!

my friends Ashley and Rocky are expecting their first child and they have chosen me as the designated photographer. i was there with them at their first sonogram when they found out that they were having a boy.



so i was even more honored to have been invited as a guest to their baby shower. the weather couldn't have been more perfect...well, it was a wee bit cold...and the lighting, ugh, the lighting, it was perfect too.







i can't wait to meet this lucky little boy. there was so much love and thought put into this little party. love you guys!

let me tell you about my day...

on the last day of July, i got to shoot paintballs for the first time in my life!!! my new friends Eli and Coral welcomed us into their homes and supplied us with compressed air filled guns to shoot each other with. i walked away with a few bruises but others weren't so lucky.









when it got too dark to see, the boys decided to shoot each other...it was CRAZY. what a great day it was. thanks friends!

birthday extravaganza!

Remy's birthday has been full of activities. i took her for some healthy breakfast at Mellow Moods where she got to sit on the table and nosh on a bowl of fruit. she ran around for a bit after ingesting all that sugar and came home for a cat nap. then we took her to the river for a refreshing swim on a hot day where she ran around some more and even sunbathed with the girls!















what can i say? i'm just a dog lady and she's just so dang cute!

Happy Birthday

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY FAVORITE GIRL, REMY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



i hope you all are having a great summer! if you haven't noticed my hiatus, i decided to step away from posting for a bit. but it seems like the itch is back so i will be catching you all up on my adventures very soon! have a great Sunday!

getting ready

doing lots of last minute stuff around here in Pretty Little Fings world. i got some new business cards for Sunday and they look adorable! thank goodness for Instagram and square business card makers everywhere!

sorry for the crappy photo. i didn't notice that it was blurry. oh well, you get the feel of it, right? i love them!

inspiration

the farmer's market is in season and since Handmade Mart is coming up, i want to show you where some of my inspiration comes from. enjoy!

it's wild!

as of last week, i had my very first Morrel. it was so darn delish! my boss sauteed it with butter, salt, and pepper...yum!

today, i was lucky enough to have been given Morrels and wild asperagus too! so after a long day, i decided to destress with a simple recipe.

1 1/2 pounds fresh asparagus, trimmed and cut into 1 inch pieces

8 oz of veggie broth

1/2 pound sliced Morrels

8 ounces linguini

1 tablespoon olive oil  

1/4 tsp of garlic salt/powder

1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan

cook pasta. heat the olive oil in a nonstick skillet. saute asparagus in the pan over medium heat for about 3 minutes. add sea salt and ground pepper to taste. add veggie broth and mushroom slices; cook 3 minutes more. since i used 8 oz of broth, the sauce will be super runny, so you could reduce it some more or use as is...i used it as is cause i like a lot of sauce.

toss the drained pasta with asparagus mixture; sprinkle with Parmesan and voila!

Ladie's Tea on Easter

this Easter, Lacey held a Ladie's Tea for a few of us girls. she planned out a vegan menu in which we could pick an item to make and all got together in her back porch for some tea time. we got dolled up...


Lacey went all out and made several of the dishes on the menu, which were all SUPER delish and i made an easy quinoa salad and vegan red velvet cupcakes using beets to dye the cake red.



the table looked amazing. the spread was all delicious!


no dainty tea time plate for me, i ate a whole lot of food!


we had dessert...


i had a few things on my plate...




 this was Lacey's last week before her big move to Alexandria and it was such a special time and we all had a blast. thanks Lacey. here's to a great Easter.


ps - more 'real' photos to come!