photography

Photo shoot with Leah Breeze Photography

I've been meaning to post these photos for a while! I got sick then have been on vacation/traveling for work for the past few weeks. 

When I was back in my hometown Gilbert, AZ I had a mini-photoshoot with one of my best friends, Leah, who is an amazing photographer. I am so so so happy with these photos and I thought I'd share! You'll see them peppered throughout the site and as my bio photos on social. 

I should've done a change of outfits, but I was super nervous and didn't want to complicate things. Gilbert is a small town (population 229,972) and we already got stares just for having DSLR cameras.  

I love these photos for three reasons:

  1. my best friend took them

  2. they were taken in the newly re-developed downtown area of my home town

  3. I look like myself

Thanks Leah for these great shots! I can't wait to do it again (and next time, I'll photograph you ;)

xx, 

Stephanie

Photo by Leah Breeze Photography

Photo by Leah Breeze Photography

Photo by Leah Breeze Photography

Photo by Leah Breeze Photography

Photo by Leah Breeze Photography

Photo by Leah Breeze Photography

Photo by Leah Breeze Photography

Photo by Leah Breeze Photography

Photo by Leah Breeze Photography

Photo by Leah Breeze Photography

Photo by Leah Breeze Photography

Photo by Leah Breeze Photography

Love-themed Desktop Backgrounds

Yup, Valentine's Day is next week. Good advice from my cousin - if you are dating someone and actually want something for Valentine's Day at some point in your relationship, don't make a big deal about how Valentine's Day isn't a big deal, because then you probably won't get anything. And yeah, chocolates can be cheesy now, but in three years you might want to take a romantic trip somewhere and not have him be like 'but I thought you don't care about Valentine's day?'.

If you aren't dating anyone, here are two desktop backgrounds to remind you how awesome it is to be single. 

LOVE YOURSELF

While Valentine's Day is totally a commercial holiday, it is a good reminder to love - yourself. And being without a partner means no lines, no fuss and no (relationship) commitments. Use your time doing whatever you want! By yourself or with a friend! There are many ways to practice self love. Usually people talk about the pamper-kind, but I think creating is just as soothing. Here are some ideas:

  • paint your nails
  • read a book
  • wash your hair and then style it your favorite way
  • take a bath
  • write 
  • make something (I'll probably be in the studio making patterns)
  • call your mom, she probably wants to hear from you
  • take yourself out to brunch
  • practice the language you've been wanting to learn

WE NEED TO TALK 

This photograph is from my trip to Copenhagen. I love this sculpture because it looks like the woman is having one of those conversations with her partner (or friend, who knows). It's a good reminder of the part of being in a relationship that isn't always fun. So, while those hard talks are a great way to grow and learn about yourself--ain't it great you don't have to have one today? Yeah!

My friend at K.Mala Studio inspired this post - she made some amazing watercolor desktop backgrounds for February!  Check them out here: Fun February Desktop Art.

xoxo, 

Stephanie

TO DOWNLOAD BACKGROUNDS: click the button, then right click and choose 'Save As'

Exposed DC: 49 images from local photographers + opening reception, after party

Metro by Russell Brammer from Exposed DC Photography Show Since 2006, Exposed DC has been working hard at getting local photographers' exposure and resources through meet-ups, a blog and an annual exhibition. This year, the Exposed DC Photography Show will have 49 photographs on view shot by local hobbyists and professionals alike. Opening night is Wednesday, March 19th and a $15 entry fee gets you access to a local's view (and taste) of DC with favorites like Bluejacket Brewery, Boxwood Vinery, Founding Farmers + Farmers Fishers Bakers providing food and drinks.

Here are some of our favorite shots:

Pool Party by Betsy Law from Exposed DC Photography Show

1+1 by Armando Gallardo from Exposed DC Photography Show

Chinatown King by Veeresh Inginshetty from Exposed DC Photography Show

Carnival Giraffe by Erika Nizborski from Exposed DC Photography Show

You can view all the winning images in the Flickr Group 2014 Exposed DC Winners.

Opening Reception Wednesday, March 15th $15 ($20 at the door) Long View Gallery 1234 9th Street NW, Washington DC 6pm - 10pm

After party at The Passenger 1021 7th Street NW Washington, DC 8pm - close

Exposed DC Photography Show On view at Long View Gallery until April 6th, 2014 Wednesday-Saturday 11-6, Sunday 12-5

Art for your walls: Inge Morath

inge-morath_ConsumerGirl I love this piece by Inge Morath. You can get a signed and numbered limited edition print from the Corcoran gallery. It's from the documentary about Inge's life as a photographer by German filmmaker .

Born in Austria in 1923 to two scientists, Morath grew up in Germany and studied language at Berlin University, speaking French, English, Romanian and German (and according to her foundation later Spanish, Italian, Russian, and Chinese) -- amazing! Towards the end of WWII, she escaped to Austria and worked as a journalist and translator. In post-war Vienna she met photographer Ernst Haas and started writing articles to accompany his photographs.

During a visit to Venice in 1951, she started taking photographs.

 “It was instantly clear to me that from now on I would be a photographer,” she wrote. “As I continued to photograph I became quite joyous. I knew that I could express the things I wanted to say by giving them form through my eyes.”

Morath got an apprenticeship, used the pseudonym Egni Tharom to sell her first photographs and soon moved to Paris. She started as a photographer capturing small assignments and by 1955 was a full member of Magnum Photos Agency traveling the world.

She also worked as a still photographer on movie sets, where she was able to capture famous stars in film, including The Misfits, where she presumably met Arthur Miller and Marilyn Monroe. And, of course, in 1962 Morath married playwright Arthur Miller (who had divorced Marilyn Monroe the year before) and relocated to the USA. Morath and Miller worked together, raised a family together, and were married until she died. She has worked on many, many projects and with amazing writers, artists, filmmakers, movie starts, etc. etc. Check out Magnum Photos and the Inge Morath foundation for more ...

über pop + surrealism + lo que sea: Lluís Barba

Finally going through one of the magazines I picked up in Rio de Janeiro, I stumbled upon the work of Lluís Barba y lo me encanta.

Lluís Barba, based in Barcelona, recently had a show in New York featuring his Self Portrait series of famous artists in art history and just finished up a show in Istanbul. His work references art history, pop culture, surrealism, contemporary photojournalism and paparraz-ism. Barba's overt works become more and more intricate as you spot out the references and therein lies the fun. A critique on society and the problems it creates, be it the gallery world, the artists themselves, or the commodity of culture, is the root of his work. He brings well-known and little-known artists of the past back into the present, with a fresh twist on that which is contemporary. An über-pop dreamscape and a reminder that the world works in mysterious ways, with strange coincidences and outlandish happenings, that is if you are living it right.

"While the classics seek perfection from perfection, contemporaries seek perfection from imperfection. The classics define the work as artistic craftsmanship, and the contemporary mechanization and seriation socializes an important part of art." --Lluís Barba, from his 'about' page

the selfie...

stephanie.march 2013. los angeles. christina and kenneth's wedding. Los Angeles. March. 2013.

I'm still throwing up inside my mouth because I actually typed that word. If you don't know to what I am referring, you either also have not been on the internet, do not have kids, or are in denial. I am currently pondering how this photo happened, and all the things behind the idea of a self-portrait taken on a mobile device and instantly uploaded for public consumption.

The facts:

I was at wedding.

I made my dress and I had not gotten a photo of it. So this seemed necessary.

I texted this photo to a guy that I (think) I am dating. He did not immediately respond.

Mitigating circumstances:

It was an open bar. They made stellar manhattans.

There was no one else in the bathroom at the time of (multiple, I'm sure) photographs.

I stood somewhere out of site while I picked the best filter and waited for successful upload as to not be antisocial or rude.

This was the only photo (I think) that I took of myself alone.

I later saw many selfies of other wedding guests on various social networks.

Everyone, and it does not matter who you are or what you look like or how old you are, wants an awesome photo of his or her self and there is no shame in that, but it is strange how prevalent the practice seems to be. My younger sister does it. My boss does it. My grandpa is probably doing it right now. The desire to photograph oneself seems to be universal, regardless of one's self-confidence, vanity, exhibitionism, or lack thereof. Why we think that we can take it ourselves is nuts, but we try and try and our efforts, for better or worse, make it on the internet for public view due to our own actions. It's like we want to be our own paparazzi. I don't really get it, but I also totally get it. I hate it and I love it and I think that it's actually a central part of being human. We are tapping into the very root of our primal being -  our need to carry on, our dream to last forever, if only in pixel form on the interwebs (because I highly doubt anyone has ever printed out his/her own selfie).

I wonder what future generations will be like with this ability capture one's own image, edit it, and proliferate it all from a small device in seconds. Will this speed up self-awareness? Will this encourage self-love? Will this practice increase or decrease vanity? Does it make us feel better about ourselves or worse? Does it depend of how we already feel? If we only take self-portraits when we feel awesome (or drunk), shouldn't that make us feel more awesome and isn't that a good thing? Is this just the evolution of centuries of ego-centric human behavior?