Track 45: Blog? What blog?

It has come to my attention that I haven't posted anything here in a long time. C'mon! It was July! That was, like, yesterday!

I fear I never have anything interesting to say unless I'm on some great adventure. But I guess life is an adventure, isn't it? And love, as I'm learning. To say love is an adventure is an understatement.

So, should I write about life and love? Hasn't that been done a thousand times, and a million bad ways? Am I even qualified? Well, I'm living and I'm in love, but that doesn't mean that people are interested in reading about it.

So, I'll keep the mushy stuff out of here for now. Instead, I issue a challenge: what are some interesting/fun/wacky/clever ways to photograph vintage aprons? I have an accessories assignment for my fashion photography class. Please post your suggestions...

Track 43: In Praise of Naps

I love naps. I love outdoor naps, in a park, next to a series of trickling pools, on a blanket with someone to cuddle up to. And a book.

People of the world need more naps. Why can't this country adopt the practice of the siesta, where everything shuts down for a few hours in the afternoon and people have leisurely lunches with their friends and loved ones and then they all go home and take big fat naps and wake up refreshed and ready to continue their day? That's what I want. Think how productive we would be! And happy! There would be no need for undereye cream to get rid of dark circles!

I think we, the American people, should discard the idea that naps are a luxury. That they denote laziness. Naps should be a part of daily life; something as natural as breathing. Offices should have nap rooms. People should carry sleep masks in their pockets and purses, so the daylight doesn't disturb their dreaming.

Hear me now: I'm going to take more naps from now on. Preferably in a park, but I live in Minnesota. In the winter, I'll have to settle for a patch of warm sunlight streaming through a window, or a warm bed and that same someone to cuddle up to.














Naptime: Tuesday, July 8, Lowry Hill

Track 42: Hail

While we were enjoying warm, sunny weather at the Landscape Arboretum in Chanhassen yesterday afternoon, Minneapolis got hammered with a storm that produced this much hail:

It was insane! There were big piles of it in the streets, along with tons of shredded leaves and, of course, downed trees. I guess Mother Nature was concerned that we hadn't seen any white stuff on the ground in a while and might start to miss it. Sheesh.

Anyway, sorry for the lack of posts. Nothing really noteworthy to post about (like I said, I don't want to turn this into a diary and blog about what I had for breakfast). I've been posting a bunch of pictures over on Flickr. If you want to see what I've been up to, go here: www.flickr.com/photos/digitalmixtape. A very talented photographer is teaching me all sorts of Photoshop tips and tricks, so you may notice a new look, which I'm liking a lot.

Cape May countdown: 27 days...

Track 41: Spring, You Are My Hero

Even the plastic bugs are enjoying the weather. I've been busy, busy, busy. School's done, so why not fill those hours with work? Sigh. But I'm also filling the time with more enjoyable things. And I'm itching to get out and take pictures not for homework, but for myself. And cards! I promise to get the Happy Cards and blog underway soon.  Patience is a virtue, people. Don't we learn that in kindergarden?

Track 40: Happy Earth Day

Today was beautifully warm and sunny. To celebrate (and because it was way past due), I spent the morning and evening in my garden plot. Thanks to Joshua, the garden had spent all winter under a nice layer of straw, so I was greeted with minimal weeds and nice, dark soil. I added some compost, forked it in a bit, added water, and breathed a sigh of relief. Tomorrow night: planting seeds.

Track 39: Prom Night

The fourth (and final) Kirchgessner Prom was held this past Saturday. Senior Prom! And seriously, it was way more fun than my actual senior prom. We unanimously decided that proms are so much better when there's alcohol involved. And I wasn't even drinking.

I took my camera gear along for two reasons: to shoot a homework assignment, and to get some nice pictures for the Kirchgessners as a thank-you for holding the Event of the Year for the past four years. Not only do they bring friends and family together to have a good time, they raised around $44,000 for a scholarship in memory of Anne (almost twice their goal).

I was a little nervous at first, and it took me a while to get warmed up and shooting, but I think I got some good shots (enough for my homework assignment, at least). Here are a few of my favorites:

Debbie and Jake toast their awesome costumes

A little "slash and flash" action

Note the fantastic wigs in the foreground

About 10 seconds later, Steve fell on top of his dancing partner

More slash and flash. Probably my favorite shot of the night.

Track 38: What's Yin without Yang?

Why, yes, I DID pass my T'ai Chi Chih teacher certification class. Thank you for asking! Look for upcoming classes at a community center near you.

Track 37: Little Known Facts

From "Tooth Talk", the newsletter my dentist sends out:

Little Known Facts

• The average hamster, if provided a wheel, will run up to eight miles per night
• October 9 is "Moldy Cheese Day"
• The banana is the world's largest herb [?]
• Every square inch of the human body has an average of 32 million bacteria on it [?!]
• "Arachibutyrophobia" is the fear of peanut butter getting stuck to the roof of your mouth [?!?]
• Twelve cows make a flink [who comes UP with this stuff?]

Track 36: Remembering

"Above all, be true to yourself, and if you cannot

put your heart in it, take yourself out of it."

- Hardy D. Jackson

I was thinking about where I was a year ago, and how I wish I would have heeded this advice sooner. I don't regret my years at my old job, but I regret that I felt so stuck for so long, you know? I kind of want those years back. But I'm so grateful that certain people at that old job saw something in me and pushed me to follow my bliss. I needed that push, and here I am, a year later and a billion times happier.

Track 35: Reluctant Inspiration

Okay, fine. Snow is pretty.

Track 34: !@#$%&

Are you KIDDING me?!?!?!?!

Track 33: Happy Saturday

A pretty flower, just for you.

Track 32: My Dream Job

Today I got my second issue of NEED Magazine. For all you fellow do-gooders out there, NEED is published right here in Minneapolis, and their tagline is, "We are not out to save the world, but to tell the stories of those who are." If they don't have some kind of photography internship presently, you can bet I'm going to approach them about creating one when I'm at that point in my course work. I look at the list of contributors and visualize my picture and bio right there with the others. Listen to this guy's write-up: "Brown is currently self-employed as a freelance photographer in the field of human rights and social justice. His main goal is to educate and motivate the public to become involved in the issues that face us all, whether in our homes and communities or the planet earth, as our global community." Hello? Replace his name with mine, and there you have it. He inadvertently helped me define my goal.

Speaking of human rights and social justice, has anyone seen The Last King of Scotland? I'll be honest, I rented that movie partly because I have a huge crush on James McAvoy (the other, do-gooder part of me was actually really interested in the story of Idi Amin), but seeing him hang from the ceiling with huge hooks through his skin kind of dampened my amorous feelings. Temporarily, of course. He's still the best thing about Atonement.

Track 31: Fickleness

Yes, I change my mind a lot. How could you tell?

I am now obsessed with Polaroid cameras, thanks to this girl's blog. I think I may give up digital and go back to film. I just got back my first roll of film shot with my roommate's Minolta Autocord twin lens reflex camera. I feel like a Serious Photographer as I hold the camera at waist-level and compose the shot through the top (image in reverse, no less). In contrast, they now make a Holga for 35mm film. I'm sure I'll have one within the next month, because I'm a sucker for a cheap plastic camera.

Track 30: Wherefore Art Thou, Spring?

I seem to be on a once-a-month kick, huh? When your dad suggests that you use your spring break to update your blog, you know that it's been too long. 

The last three weeks have been a blur of work and school. There were definitely moments of exhaustion when I wondered what I'd gotten myself into. But, thankfully, the knowledge that spring break was just around the corner kept me going. Homework got done, I didn't miss a shift at either job (I did miss some t'ai chi chih practices, but some things just had to fall to the bottom of the priority list), and here I am, caught up on sleep (well, almost) and looking forward to having some free time this week.

As a bonus, tonight I met with my book club. If you've never belonged to a book club, I highly recommend it. Almost four years ago, a group of women with whom I worked at Habitat decided to start one. I seriously remember the discussion in the lunch room, but I don't remember how we came to call ourselves the Minnesota Mafia. Anyway, all but one of the ten or so women have now moved on to other jobs, but I love getting together with them every month to catch up, gossip about Habitat news (it's a hard habit to break), and talk about books. Tonight's gathering was especially goofy, culminating in a discussion about eating a frozen pizza that may or may not have been covered in the glass from an exploded toaster oven window. I guess you had to be there.

As a result of all this busy-ness, my note card project got put on hold. But it'll happen! I promise! It's too cool of an idea not to pursue. Here's the gist: people e-mail me things that make them happy (i.e., a cup of Earl Gray tea, or daisies, or puppies...you get the idea), I make a photograph illustrating the Happy Thing, I post them to a blog that I've already set up, and I turn the whole thing into a line of note cards. I'm calling it the Happy List Project. On the blog and on the back of the cards, I'll give a shout-out to the person (first name and last initial only) to the person who sent in the suggestion. I'll also put the e-mail address on the back of the card, so that whoever buys or receives the card can send me their own suggestions. The idea is that I get people to think more about the things that make them happy, therefore (hopefully) brightening their day and helping them to appreciate the little things in life that make us smile. Pretty cool, no? I'm really excited to get going, but it's going to take some time. Hopefully, I'll send out a "call for entries" soon, and then I'll be off and running with my camera.

First, though, I'm working on setting up a simple website for my photography. I've got a Flickr page, but I'd like something more professional. It's going to be REALLY basic to start out with -- probably a template from iWeb or something, but it's better than nothing. 

Other news:

1. The old iBook blew up (not literally), so now I'm working on a shiny new MacBook Pro. I think my favorite thing about it is Photo Booth, where I can take pictures of myself like this:

2. This photo of mine, taken last fall in upstate NY when I was visiting the Stevens clan, was chosen to be part of a show of student and assistant work:

And I got a certificate to prove it! Witness:

Track 29: It's Not You, It's Me

Wow. It's been over a month, hasn't it? I just...I don't know where the time went. Honestly, it's not that I don't enjoy spending time with you. I've just been really busy. I mean, with school and homework and jobs and stuff, I just haven't has as much time to spend with you, Blog. Please don't take it personally.

What I've been spending my time on:

1. Procrastination. And subsequent late-night homework sessions.

2. Surfing the internet. Check out the following sites:
www.sleeveface.com
Brilliant.
www.mattstuart.com
How does he GET these photos?
www.boingboing.net
Lots of interesting (but ultimately useless) information to fill up your brain!

3. Going to t'ai chi chih practices. I went to a "teacher training preparation" workshop yesterday and was told that I'm ready for certification in April! It's a week-long accreditation course (yikes), so I'll have to miss my classes at MCTC that week, but I can't pass up the chance to take the course here in St. Paul instead of somewhere far far away.

4. Random happenings at the MN Center for Photography. They have a Camera Workers Group that meets monthly to discuss each others' work, bring in guest speakers, and just network and hang out.

5. Did I mention homework?

6. Freezing my a** off. Hey, winter. Go away. I'm sick of you.

7. Many, many other little things that add up to this wonderful thing we call life.

Keep an eye out for an upcoming Call For Entries that I'll be placing to help me launch my line of cards. That's right -- it's audience participation! Aren't you dying to know??

P.S. I just finished reading Tales of the City, by Armistead Maupin. It was fabulous! I highly recommend it for a quick, fun read.

Track 28: i like you

Yes, I really do! But I'm not just being cute with my lack of capitalization. i like you is a store in Minneapolis that is filled with handmade crafts and gifts, including local art on consignment (the store keeps a percentage of the sale, and the rest goes back to the artist). It's the first place I'm going when I finish making the photo notecards that I'm going to sell in shops around the Twin Cities. There are so many little boutique stores and cafes in this area. I'm really excited about the prospect of making some money from a project that I can do at home at any time. What have I got to lose? I like my photos, so chances are good that other people will too. And buying a notecard is less serious than buying a print or a framed photograph. Eventually I'd love to sell larger prints, but notecards seem more manageable right now. I'm really excited about it, and I've learned that you've gotta follow your excitement. When you do that, things inevitably go your way. I was in a gift shop near my house, checking out their card inventory and asking about their buying policy, and I found a journal with the word "Passion" on the cover, and down in the corner, "every day." I opened it up to a page with this quote:

"You only lose energy when life becomes dull in your mind. You don't have to be tired and bored. Get interested in something. Get absolutely enthralled in something. Throw yourself into it with abandon." - Norman Vincent Peale

I turned a few pages and found this one:

"At last I've discovered the secret: Do whatever your heart leads you to do -- but do it!" - Truman X. Jones

I put the journal back, because heaven knows that I don't need another journal. But after looking around a little more, I went back to the journal and opened it one more time to this quote:

"When you do not tire within but seek the sweet satisfaction of your life and your work, you are doing what you were meant to be doing." - Gary Zukav

With the goosebumps slowly disappearing from my arms, I took the journal to the cash register and bought it. It's going to be the special journal where I write all the ideas that make me excited.

I'm sorry if all of my feel-good inspirational quotes seem a little hokey to you, but I am telling you, people, that it is an amazing feeling to be excited about life again. I didn't know how drained of joy my life had been until I broke free and went to California. Nowadays, even a good cup of freshly-pressed coffee in the morning makes me so damn happy I could burst, and I don't think it's the caffeine. So I am here to tell you: STOP DOING WHAT MAKES YOU FEEL BAD. Think about what makes you feel good and do it. Don't think about the negative consequences, because that's only going to make them happen. Think about how great it feels to do what you love. Don't sit there and dream about a better life. Go out and MAKE it better.

*Whew* Stay tuned for more pep talks in future posts.

Oh, and I got the job at the clothing store. See, what did I tell you? It's magic.

Track 27: Good Intentions

The title refers to my intention -- ill-fulfilled, thus far -- of keeping this blog up-to-date. I now have Blog Guilt, where "Update Blog" is always on my to-do list, but it always gets put off, and I feel like I'm letting my readers (all 3 of you) down.

I thought it would be fun and good practice to take a picture a day and post them here. My goal was to start January 1. Unfortunately, as you know (unless you live under a rock), today is January 8. Hm. Maybe I should post a weekly photo instead. Temperatures have been hovering around 40 degrees (January thaw! January thaw!), so I should take the opportunity to walk around my new neighborhood and see what jumps in front of my camera.

Here are some updates on things I mentioned in my last post:

- I start school next week! I really couldn't be more excited. I'll be taking four classes; they're all held during the day on Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays.

- I've been doing a little photo assisting. A local photographer I met a couple years ago has kindly been paying me to help him. It's been mostly clerical work and a couple of small shoots, but it's his slow time and he's promised me that things will pick up in the spring. I feel so incredibly lucky that I've lined up this assisting job without even having gone to school yet. It's going to provide me with great experience that you can't get in a classroom.

- I got an internship at the MN Center for Photography. Starting in April, I'll be assisting MCP with their McKnight Fellowship program. It's four $25,000 grants from the McKnight Foundation given to four photographers. I'll be helping to spread the word about the grants, holding information sessions for photographers who are interested in applying, witnessing the panel reviews and hearing the reasons photographers get chosen, offering support to the grantees, and helping with the final exhibition of the grantees' work. One of the MCP staffers I'll be working with told me it's a primo internship because of all the connections I can make and because I get a first-hand view of the whole process. Whee! We had a "welcome, interns" meeting last night (there are around a dozen of us, all doing different jobs), and I can tell I'm going to fit right in. The MCP staffers are cuh-razy and goofy and fun.

- Keep your fingers crossed, everyone, because I'm waiting to hear if I got a part-time job at my favorite little clothing store that's about a mile from my house. They sell organic cotton and other sustainable and environmentally-friendly clothing and accessories that are also fairly traded and sweatshop-free. Visit the website here. I really really want to work there! I believe it was meant to be, because right after I went in to inquire about a job, one of their employees announced she was leaving. Um, hello? Could the planets BE more aligned?

Since I don't have a new photo yet to post here, I'll post one from the end of my trip to California. As I was driving on I-35 North through southern Minnesota (hardly believing that I was going home, but anxious to get there), the sky behind me started to turn the most beautiful shades of pink and orange. Frustrated that I couldn't see it without turning around to look behind me (not a good idea, obviously, when you're driving 70 miles an hour), I exited the highway and got this photo: