Withdrawal!

Hope everyone had a good Memorial Day!

I spent an awesome weekend at a beautiful house on a vast patch of land surrounded by trees and a river (a 20 minute walk away!).  It rained the first night we were there, but it cleared up and we had a super sunny weekend!  Being in a confined windowless cubicle area on most days make me feel trapped.  Hence, I’ve grown much more appreciative of the time that I get to spend outside.  And whenever my outdoor adventure ends, it is always kind of sad.  But enough with the negativity, just have to remember that it was a wonderful trip!  ICM, thanks for taking me along!!!

Without further ado, here are a couple of photos to brighten up my day (and maybe yours) from being back to the land of artificial light...

 Even though the boat sort of broke down, we spent a beautiful afternoon on the lake!

 We also made a short visit to see the New River Gorge Bridge.  View of the New River from the visitor center.

My most favorite part of the weekend (aside from spending it with awesome people and being amazed by the self-made mud monster) was hanging out by the Meadow(?) River, playing in the water, and watching the two dogs fetch sticks.  

Later, Gator.

Crazy few days!

Yeap, after a crazy but rewarding few days, I am finally winding down and getting ready for the Memorial Day weekend!!! 

Before I leave to hang out by the river and drinking Ketel One (crossing my fingers), here are some photos from a while back when I was home in Los Angeles and visiting the LA Flower Mark.  I really wish we have something like that here...maybe there is but I just don't know...because it is awesome to be able to visit a flower wholesale and pick up beautiful flowers at a low cost.  Jen was such a trooper that day because we had gone somewhere that morning that was pretty disappointing (photography-wise) in Fullerton.  On a whim, I wanted to go to the flower mart in downtown LA to make myself feel better and on a whim, she drove me all the way there.  And yeap, more photos of flowers,  posting these are making me happier because I haven't had any luck finding pretty peonies to put in my apartment :(

Thanks for driving me to the Flower Mart and shooting with me!

 

Mutant flowers - I swear that's the exact color, I did not photoshop it!

All right, got to go.  Bye bye!

Holga + Film

Jen, this post is dedicated to you!!!  Congratulations on the Catalina internship, I am so so so proud of you!!  I admire your love for art and it makes me so happy to see you growing more and more and working harder and harder, both as a person and as an artist.  We both know that this road isn't the easiest but hey, you know what, who cares?!  It's worth it because it's what you love :)  *Add oil!!!*

Last night, I made my first print in the darkroom!!!  I developed my 3 rolls of film last week and with one whole week of crazy anticipation to see what they'll look like, it was so neat to finally see the image surface and darken as the photo paper is immersed in the developing chemical.  I felt like a little kid oo'ing and aah'ing and got even more excited realizing that ohhh, so that's how it really works.

I have to say that my experience in the Holga Photography class has been humbling.  Sure, I was aware that film photography existed prior to the onset of digital cameras, printers, and photoshop...I had a film camera all throughout grade school and highschool.  But I've never really thought about the extent upon which our digital world was built using the foundation set by film photography.   Dodge and burn, to me, was only a function in photoshop.  Well, it actually came from film printing...how ignorant I was! 

I've really enjoyed this class because it made me think about how images are captured and the scientific processes (i.e. light projected from a negative onto a piece of light sensitive photographic paper to create an image, developing chemicals make the image appear, etc) that are going on when you're taking a photo and printing!  The most valuable thing I've learned though is that you can't be sloppy with your lighting, especially with film.  It's definitely not as easy to fix as its digital counterparts.  It was also really interesting learning that film printing is an iterative process...printing a test strip (that you see above), figuring out which contrast filter you think is best and how long to expose the film.  It's trial and error, it's a scientific process, it's not instant gratification and it was nice having that change...tiring at 10 pm but still nice.  

On top all of this learning, there is something relaxing, soothing, fulfilling, and rewarding about working in the darkroom...about being in your own space, your own little world counting 1 minutes developer, 10 seconds stop bath, 30 seconds fixer, and 2 minutes wash and watching your very own vision come alive.

A relaxing weekend and apple rhubarb crisp!

HELLO! This weekend's weather has been kind of cloudy, gloomy, and rainy.  Naturally, all I want to do is sleep.  And I did plenty of that and lounging around.  But luckily for me, I didn't waste my entire weekend away because there are no better pick me ups than a beautiful bouquet of peonies, an awesome roller derby match, and a delicious apple rhubarb crisp.  By now, you might notice my obsession for peonies, and I won't and probably can't deny it.  After finding the light pink ones at Whole Foods, I opportunistically returned on Friday night to get the dark pinkish purple ones!  :) 

When I brought the flowers out to photograph with some natural light, I noticed the weird little lingerie store (that I've never shopped at) that is about to close...

Anyways, a relaxing weekend would not be possible without some kind of awesome food.  ICM came up with the good idea of making an apple rhubarb pie.  I got this Apple Rhubarb Crisp Recipe on line and I will share it here with you!

*Credit of this recipe goes to:  www.dailyunadventuresincooking.com*

APPLE RHUBARB CRISP RECIPE

1. 1 orange, zested and juiced (remember to remove the seeds)
2. 4 large apples and diced into cubes (about 6 cups) - you can peel or not peel the apples
3. 3 cups diced rhubarb - about 3 "spears"
4. For mixing with apples and rhubarb:
1. 4 tablespoons flour
2. 2 teaspoons cinnamon
   
5. For the delicious crumbly & crispy topping:
1. 1 cup of flour
2. 1 cup of oatmeal
3. 1/2 cup of brown sugar
4. 1/2 teaspoon salt
5. 1 cup of cold butter, diced into small cubes. 

 Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400F.
2. In a big bowl, combine apples, rhubarb, orange zest and juice.  Sprinkle the flour and cinnamon on top and mix evenly.  Pour this into your baking dish.  We used a 9x9 brownie pan and it worked perfectly.  
3. In a big bowl, combine flour, oatmeal, brown sugar, salt.  Mix and add cubes of butter.  Use your fingers and mix butter evenly with the dry mix until there are no big chunks left.  
4. Evenly distribute it over the fruit in the baking dish and press gently.
5. Place in oven for 30-40 minutes or until it is nice and golden brown on top.
6. Cool just for a little bit and bon appetit!!!

NOTE:  If rhubarb is unavailable, just substitute in 3 cups of apples and have yourself an Apple Crisp :)

 ***

Signing off now, I hope you're having a wonderful weekend like me :) !

Found them!

Starting a few years ago....whenever May comes around, my brain automatically thinks "I must buy peonies."  This year, much to my dismay, the farmers' market flower stand has disappeared, thus removing my easy access to peonies whenever they are in season.  So since then, I've called florists, grocery stores looking for the perfect bunch.  After 2 grocery stores and 4 calls to different florists, I found them at Whole Foods! 

Can't wait till they open up so I can take photos of them, eekkkkkkkk, so excited.  Here's a quick photo of them, edited via Instagram.

:)

New Orleans Jazz Fest!

Awesome music, awesome food, awesome company AND gorgeous weather (i.e. not humid!)
Can't ask for much more!!!

Too sleepy to write a post today, so here are some photos :)

My own beer coozy!  Thanks, Lee!

Cochon de Lait Po' Boy - one of the best food at Jazz Fest!

 Pretty sure this is ICM's photo.  Love it!  The crowd at the Mumford & Sons show!

The music and fun did not end after Jazz Fest closed its stages for the day!

Good night for now!

Have a great weekend!

Yup, it is Thursday morning and I am preparing for an awesome weekend already.  Jazz Fest, here we come!!!

Leaving you with one photo I took of the beautiful trees I had blooming along my block.  Are they cherry trees?  If these trees teach you anything, then it'd be that beauty is fleeting because all of its beautiful flowers fell off within a week, so enjoy everything while it lasts, feel grateful even if you only had it momentarily, make the best of it, and cherish those moments forever :)

Happy Earth Day :)

Yup, today is Earth Day!  Usually I am really excited about Earth Day, but unfortunately, this year, I am feeling rather "blah" about it.  It has almost been 5 whole years since I graduated from Bren and 11 years since I first heard of and learned about the discipline "environmental science."  But when I think about the progress we've made the last couple of years with respect to environmental policy, I can't believe how little we've done even though we've learned so much scientifically.  A couple of years ago, I heard with my own years from a policy maker on the Hill who said, "well, why should I care about climate change? I don't have children, so I definitely won't have grandchildren...why should I sacrifice myself to protect the environment and the resources that I can't enjoy because I'll be dead by the time this really affects anyone?"
Yeap, WOW, what a jerk!!!

Apologies for the pessimism, but the great news is that there are tons of people who continue to work hard toward the advancement of science and many relentless souls who continue to fight the battles!!!  FIGHT ON!!!

This Earth Day weekend will be a gloomy one because of the rainy weather we are supposed to get here.  Thank goodness I spent a glorious afternoon outdoors last Sunday.  The sun was out and the weather was the best!!!  Taking advantage of the opportunity, I got to go to the National Arboretum!!  In addition to the beautiful plants that are now sprouting and in bloom, a visit was made to the Bonsai tree exhibit.  I loved the setting of the exhibit...bonsai trees were positioned nicely and I can just imagine that if there weren't that many people around, it could be such a tranquil and peaceful place to walk around.  Without further ado, here are photos from the National Arboretum.

See, I am super fair.  As you can see, photos with the {I.C.M.} watermark indicates that it was taken by I.C.M.  That's right, photo credits are muy importante!

In addition to the bonsai exhibit, there was a special Japanese Ikebana flower arrangement exhibit...here are 2 of my favorites:

Now it is Bonsai time!!!

And lastly, here is my most favorite photo from that day...

Happy Earth Day, everyone!!!  We should actually be thinking about our environment everyday and appreciate the resources its given us...but on this particular day, take a little longer and reflect on the impacts you've made on Mother Earth and the things we could do and do better to be a better person on this Earth..you've heard that speech so I am not going to keep going, so just do it!!