New Observations

a favorite bridge/view at Ocean Beach

With the end of my 10 year posts yesterday, it's time to talk about something new, namely, my new home in San Francisco. I've been doing a lot of walking--exploring new places, revisiting old favorites, and just wandering around my neighborhood. Here are some observations gathered in my first month:

agave and morning light in my neighborhood

abandoned building in Dogpatch

colorful alley in North Beach

lichen on shingles in my neighborhood

See more on Flickr.

Thanks for reading.

Thinking About Bark

Every morning I take a walk around San Jose where I'm temporarily living until I head to San Francisco and every morning it seems, I spot a plant or tree I've never seen before. When it comes to trees I often notice the bark first, which is more textured, layered, and complex than any trees I've lived around before. I started collecting pictures of bark on my first walk and have been adding to the collection over the past couple of weeks. My observations got me thinking about what bark is, what its purpose is, and what it can symbolize. Bark serves as a form of protection from other living things, from weather, and all sorts of outside forces. It helps get nutrients to the rest of the tree, keeps moisture in, and out, and insulates from cold and heat. It's also constantly renewing itself. I see it, first and foremost, as a protection mechanism, and have been contemplating all the ways we humans protect ourselves from physical, mental, and emotional dangers, all the mechanisms we use, or try to use. I'm also thinking about renewal... 

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Where?!

view from my studio 11:04am today

Yesterday I posted a map of Iceland on Facebook to show everyone where exactly I am. Blönduós is located in Northwest Iceland, population 881. It is not far from where I lived the first time I came to Iceland, Skagaströnd, which is about 9 miles farther north. Blönduós is situated on either side of the Blanda river which flows into the sea. Right now, the horizon starts glowing around 9:30 or 10 as the sun begins to rise. It appears around 10:30 and rises just a little and then starts to set, maybe around 2.  It's dark by 4. It's much brighter during this time than I thought and often everything appears to be bathed in blue. The weather changes frequently, and quickly, and within the span of an hour there might be gale-force winds, stillness, a near white-out, pink clouds, bright sun, and a complex blend of periwinkle, slate gray, lavender, and robin's egg blue in the sky. Sometimes the sea is lighter than the sky, while other times it has an orangey-pink tint, reflecting the sunset above. I've been lucky to see the Northern Lights a few times already, too. I walk every day despite the cold and wind, just wearing extra layers as needed and maybe walking not as far due to strong gusts. I cannot imagine not being outside every day so I will continue to venture out as much as I can.

Blanda river and snowy mountains at 12:20 today

blue light at 3:02 a few days ago

sea and sky and some of that orangey-pink tone 

around 1:30 on my first day

Thanks for reading.

Road Trip No. 2

Kirkjufell mountain on the Snæfellsnes Peninsula

Just this past weekend I celebrated my 40th birthday with another road trip, this time visiting places around the Reykjanes and Snæfellsnes Peninsulas… steam, hot springs and bubbling mud, unreal mountains, miles of lava rocks, basalt column cliffs, sleepy towns, a shipwreck, opalescent water, the most wonderful natural hot pot and a sunset, a singing cave with graffiti from the 1700s, dramatic cloudscapes… again, a mix of adventure and beautifully quiet moments. There couldn't have been a better way to spend such an important birthday.

Please visit my Flickr to see more photos from the trip!

Krýsuvík geothermal area

Blue Lagoon

Gerðuberg basalt column cliff

Stykkishólmur

Grimsby fishing trawler Epine, wrecked March 13, 1948 at Djúpalónssandur

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Thinking About Abandoned Spaces

I've been curious about abandoned spaces for as long as I can remember. My grandparents lived about 20 minutes away and every time we drove to their house I would stare out the window in anticipation of falling down farm houses and derelict barns along the way. I had memorized where they were located and would take in as much as I could from the car window as we sped past. I collect images of abandoned spaces now and like to get as close to them as I can, perhaps because years ago I could not. I find such beauty and life in places like this...

All of the images here replaces located in Richfield Springs, NY

More images on Flickr and Facebook.

Thanks for reading.

Thinking About Atmosphere

When I was still in Asheville, I started paying close attention to what I call "atmosphere." I have continued to try to create this in my photos here in Richfield Springs, through night time photos, macro lens shots of snow and hazy images through curtains. I'm trying to create and capture a feeling through these pictures, while training my eye to see better. 

I just added lots of new images to Facebook.

Thanks for reading.

P.S. There is no filter on any of these photographs. The hazy effects are created via condensation on my lens or on the window I'm shooting through, while other effects happen just by the angle of my camera. 

Looking In

a hidden space 

I'm still walking around town as much as I can and I'm spending a lot of time thinking. I'm remembering things I did here, places I liked to visit, how I felt… I often have these flashes of memory: a vision of a moment or a feeling, appearing suddenly in my mind, one that could only happen because I am physically in this place. As I walk and look, I see things that trigger memories, some clear and some rather hazy. I notice things I've seen a million times and other things I have never seen before. I recall sounds and smells and music I listened to. On one of my first walks I simultaneously felt as though I knew the whole town perfectly and like I had never been here before. It was a strange feeling. I realize now just how little I actually know of individual streets and where they lead. This is interesting to me. I feel as if I am an outsider looking in on a place I have only read about.

my parents lived here when they first moved to town…I was not born yet

the dime store where my brother and I used to buy candy

the facade of a metal building on a street I walked down for the first time recently

...and I never noticed these until last winter. They are on Main Street. 

A field down a road that leads to a lake. This road seemed magical to me as a child. 

I've added lots of photos to Flickr and to Facebook.

Thanks for reading.

Beyond Fashion Week Part 2

So what's going on in my studio at Beyond Fashion? I'm working on two groups of pieces with thoughts of a third in the back of my mind. The first group focuses on observations which I've been collecting visually and then documenting with photographs whenever I can. (Occasionally, I observe something from the window of the bus and there just isn't time to snap a picture. These I try to commit to memory or sketch in my notebook immediately. See last two images.) The pictures and notes I take represent not only the observation but also a moment/memory from my life as I live in this new place. Here are a few images of some of the pieces so far paired with their observation:

More images on Flickr.

Thanks for reading.