BLACK & WHITE FILM

I'm sure none of you get tired with me always prefacing my posts with something about how I'm sorry for not posting in a while, so I'll just skip that and say that I've had a crazy last few weeks. The semester is finally over, yay!! My summer class starts in two weeks, but in the mean time, I've been reading like crazy and enjoying my time off and will continue doing so.

I bought this C-41 process black and white film from Four Corner Store a few months ago but never really got around to using it until just recently. My friend wanted to take some candid photos of me for her photography class so we went to a nearby cemetery to do some shooting. I don't think there could have been a more perfect location to try out this film than a creepy old graveyard! I really love how my photos turned out. I used some old Kodak camera from Goodwill for this roll so I'll be excited to see how my Holga does with it. This film has such a gorgeous turn out, so this will probably be my new go-to film. I love black and white images but capturing them in color and then converting them to b&w always looks slightly off. I'm just so excited with how wonderful this stuff is! You'll definitely be seeing more greyscale images from me in the near future!

Seeing Trust for the second time! They were even better this time around; they played a new song, which sounded great, and the crowd was much more into it. And for some reason there was a weird line through all of my photos on this strip of negatives :(

This was the end of the roll but I thought it looked interesting.

21 BEFORE 21

Last summer I decided that I should compile a list of goals in order for me to achieve. I didn't finish this list until fairly recently but now that I have it made, I feel I will be more compelled to finish everything now that I have it written in my journal and now that I have it posted on my blog. So why 21? I thought that achieving 21 goals before I turn 21 is very doable. I just turned twenty this week, which leaves me with less than a year, but there's a good deal that I've already accomplished! I won't tell you which ones I have or haven't finished yet; instead I'll do a post in a few months updating you on my progess. Here's the list!

1. Get a job. 
2. Lift 100lbs in the free weight room.
3. Visible stomach muscles.
4. Read 21 books.
5. Comfortably walk in tall heels.
6. Find a boyfriend (one that I really like).
7. Create a work of art that I'm proud of.
8. Go to Seattle.
9. Participate in an athletic competition (CrossFit or Powerlifting).
10. Deadlift 150lbs.
11. Create an art installation. 
12. Completely fill a journal.
13. Go on an art tour of the area.
14. Lower my body fat percentage to 20%.
15. Run a continuous mile.
16. Go to 21 concerts.
17. Avoid getting pulled over by the cops.
18. Donate blood.
19. Get another tattoo.
20. Start a photo series.
21. Do one pull-up on my own. No boxes or bands.

Did I forget to mention that I'm a weightlifter? Well, now you know! Now you all can hold this against me and make sure I complete as much as I can! What are some of your goals? xx

SEATTLE AQUARIUM

Here are some photos from the Seattle Aquarium! Sorry I'm getting around to posting these kind of late, but when I have a busy week at school I notice myself not wanting to pick up my laptop to use it for free time at all. Any-who.. I went to the aquarium on my last day in Washington. I didn't have much time to spend there because I had to check out of the hotel and get to the airport. I would have liked to spend more time looking at all the animals and such, but I'm glad I went. I was not expecting the aquarium to have so much stuff! There was an octopus feeding, a scuba diver swimming around in a tank, an area to touch starfish and sea anemones, and a giant archway that lit up with jellyfish inside. I hope that sometime I'll be able to go back and spend as much time as I want there. I was unable to scope out everything and had to rush through. Aquatic life is just so fascinating to me. I'll get around to posting more from my trip; maybe not this week since it's a busy one, but sometime soon!

MANEKI-NEKO

I've been getting a little impatient about trying not to reveal my tattoo until it's completely healed, but I just couldn't contain myself any longer. Here's my new thigh piece! I think it''l be healed in another week; it's just a still a little bit ashy right now!

That's my cat, Bones, in the form of a Japanese lucky cat done by the wonderful Rick Ilcken. The folktale behind the maneki-neko is that a woman invited her sword-hunter friend to her house, who scared her cat causing it to start clawing at the woman. Thinking that the cat was trying to attack her, the hunter cuts the cat's head off. Obviously this lady is really upset that someone killed her cat; the hunter feels so guilty that he goes to a wood carver and has him make a statue of the cat. After giving the woman the statue, she's overjoyed and goes happily goes about her life again. The end. So I thought, what better way to have a maneki-neko made of Bones than one that will permanently be on my person? She truly is one of my best friends and I couldn't have asked for a cooler cat in need of a home to follow me inside my house one day.

I gave Rick a lot of artistic freedom with this piece. His specialty is Japanese and traditional styled work, so this was right up his alley. Whenever I went to my consultation all I knew was that I wanted cherry blossoms and the coin to say best friend in Japanese. Basically everything else was his idea. I love the pink and green bits of color on the cat; I think the black would have been a bit much without it. And I can't forget to mention that Rick made this painful time as pleasant as possible with his wonderful personality and great sense of humor. I would love to be tattooed by him again in the future!

And here's a picture of the real Bones!

I'M IN SEATTLE!

Yesterday I arrived in Washington around 10am and had plenty of time to explore Seattle. I stayed in my hotel room for a little bit before going out in the city, but check out this awesome view from the balcony! The hotel in which I'm staying is conveniently located in the downtown area and everything is a short walk or bus ride away. My mom is here with me and we've done a lot so far. We spent a ton of time in the Pike Place Market, ate cupcakes at Cupcake Royale, found a Lush close by our hotel and, of course, went there, ate dinner at one of Tom Douglass' restaurants called Serious Pie, and did lots of walking around. I'm still sort of taking everything all in here, but I love the atmosphere of this city. The people here are so laid back and friendly. Very eco and vegetarian friendly, too! It's pretty much the complete opposite of St. Louis. I don't want to spend too much time on the Internet while I'm here, so I'll wait to to share with you all more photos and stories when I get home. Talk to you all soon!

HOLGA 2

I've been really busy with school lately and will admit that I've been really lazy with taking photos. I'm still getting used to shooting with the Holga 135 and it's a bit tricky. The biggest problem I'm having with it is that the viewfinder is extremely off center. I have to do a lot of guess work with where I should position the camera, and I think that showed in this roll. Loading the film is also a bit difficult. I messed up the previous roll I shot with and once it was developed all my photos were blank. I was bummed about that since I took some really cool photos at some art museums.Graffiti in St. LouisEmily and our friend Ellie's pet rat.Ellie got fancy cupcakes for her birthday!Emma's new Marco Mazzoni tattoo.How the smoke alarm was covered so we could smoke hookah inside.Anna and EllieHannah and BK, the two of the most photogenic people ever to exist.

This was also the first roll of film that I scanned on my own! It's quite apparent that I need to brush my negatives off before scanning them. I'm really happy with how the photos look though. The colors look awesome!

BLACKBERRY

I was excited to try out the blackberry bath bomb since I had been eyeballing it for a while, but it ended up being a huge let down. The first con was the smell while using it. Blackerry smells like blackberries, bergamot, and frankinsence but when dropped in bath water the aroma completely disappears. Being able to smell my bath bombs while I'm in the tub is a big deal to me. It's what makes the whole experience so much more relaxing. It wasn't fun to watch while fizzing either. Watching the fizzing process gets me so much more excited to bathe! Overall, this was not a great bath bomb for the price. Basically the only thing that happened was the water turned a shimmery purple and had a little "fortune" inside. Space girl does that same exact thing, minus the paper, and you can smell that while bathing. Plus space girl is cheaper! I'd advise you try that one because they're pretty similar.