Last night was “date night Friday”. We walked up to Stark Street to the Academy Theater and watched Julie & Julia. Good flick. It made me hungry.
Or shall I say, it made me want to gorge my eyes out with pizza from the original Flying Pie Pizza. The Presto pizza is so good!
Hence, the photo I captured here.
But really, I began to think that maybe I’ll be famous one day writing this blog and posting my daily photos. Although, Julia Childs was Julie Powell’s mentor / idol / “invisible friend” and I don’t yet have one. I don’t have a famous photographer who is my all time idol. Maybe I should research Ansel Adams? Is he still alive? I don’t even know this.
I’ve definitely got some homework to do.
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Tags: academy theater, blog, date night, flying pie pizza, idol, invisible friend, julia childs, julie & julia, julie powell, movies, oregon, photography, pizza, portland, stark street
Yep, I had to do it. I had to get political on my blog. Is that the purpose of doing this daily photo blog, you ask? No. The purpose of doing a daily photo blog is to showcase my daily experiences in life in hopes that you may have a similar experience or feeling.
However, my thoughts, feelings and emotions are quite raw today. After hearing about the election results in Maine not passing a same-sex marriage law, I keep reflecting on this same day last year. Although I was ecstatic that the first black President was elected into that WHITE(man) house, I was so torn up inside because California voters placed a ban on same-sex marriage (a.k.a. Prop h8te). “I must break you.”
Last year, at this time I was living in Charlotte, North Carolina. I felt so helpless living so far away from a place where I felt I should be on NorCal street corners protesting h8te until November 15, 2008 came along. I was finally able to join in on a day for the nationwide protest against Prop h8te. I felt a lot of relief having this golden opportunity to express myself.
The ultimate relief will be when all people have the civil right to wed their partner.
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Tags: black president, california, charlotte, civil rights, elections, flag, gay blog, gay rights, lesbian blog, lesbian photo blog, maine, marriage equality, nationwide protest, november 15, photography, pride, prop 8, prop h8te, proposition 8, protesting, same sex marriage, separate, voters
All I can say about this shot is, “pure joy.” I love to see children experience excitement and joy like this. It brings joy to my heart. And the best part is that she was playing with her momma at this moment. THE best.
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Tags: autumn, children, excitement, fall, joy, kids, smiles
I had so much fun yesterday at FairyTaleTown with Junet and her daughters Lily and Kaylyn. Maybe it’s because I know those girls, but I definitely am putting my foot in my mouth. I thought that I wouldn’t enjoy clicking children’s photos. I thought I would rather stick with a daily experience, abstract, nature girl kind of style.
After yesterday’s shoot, I definitely know now that I enjoy doing shoots with children. Plus, I get to get my kid fix in at the same time. Life is good.
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Tags: abstract, children, daily experience, daughters, fariytaletown, girls, junet, kaylyn, kid fix, lily, nature girl, perspective, photography, sacramento, shoots
The weather in Portland has finally turned. I think. This week it’s been rainy one day and overcast the next. I realized how quickly I’ve already acclimated to being a duck in the northwest when I arrived at the Sacramento Airport yesterday. I think I about melted as I waited outside on the curb for my mom to pick me up. Wow that Sacramento Fall sunshine is warm.
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Tags: airplane, airport, autumn, duck, fall, flights, flying, melted, mom, overcast, plane, portland, rain, rainy, sacramento, southwest airlines, sun, travel
There is nothing like seeing the excitement in a child’s eyes over something as simple as a pumpkin. I got to experience that feeling this weekend after spending the weekend with my sister and her family out at the Oregon coast. On Sunday, we caravanned back to Portland to spend another night together. I had the best time playing with my nephew and experiencing the newness of life and words with him. It made me chuckle each time he’d run over to the pumpkinand worty gourds displayed in my living room and say, “PUMPkinssssssss!” I’d respond to him, “Yes, boo…that’s a pumpkin.” He’d smile big showing me all his new teeth and then run off into the living room to find more new things to play with.
My cup runneth over.
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Tags: autumn, caravanned, child, coast, eyes, fall, family, gourds, halloween, house, living room, oregon, patch, portland, pumpkins, sister, warty
Sprina amazes me. She never stops. This look I was able to capture is what I think the essence of Sprina. Determination. This year alone, Sprina planned and organized her own wedding, she is currently going through Grad school, she’s working for a local designer in the northwest, she is the current board president of Step It Up, Inc., and she is involved with her family & local community. Every time I talk with her Sprina has a new project up her sleeve. She never stops.
I enjoy witnessing the fire inside of her that drives her to achieve her goals and dreams.
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Tags: board president, community, designer, determination, determined, dreams, enjoy, family, golas, grad school, inc., involved, local, northwest, oregon, photography, photos, portland, portraits, sleeve, sprina, Step It Up
I had my first event photo shoot last night. The event was for a non profit that I’ve been volunteering for called Step It Up, Inc. It was held at Elephant’s Deli on 23rd and NW Burnside.
Capturing the faces and event was a bit challenging because of the night time, indoor, low lighting. I think I was able to grab a few.
It’s funny how I once was a ham in front of the camera, now I’m a geek behind the camera. Love it!
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Tags: burnside, camera, capture, elephant's deli, event, geek, ham, indoor, low lighting, night time, nw, oregon, photography, portland, step it up inc
Wish me luck. Cuz I need it. I am baking acorn squash for tonight’s dinner. It’s actually pretty easy to make. I used a hefty knife to cut that mother in half. I gutted the seeds and goop. I scored the bottom of each mouth. I sprinkled brown sugar inside each of the mouths. It called for butter, but I don’t have butter in my fridge. I know. My mom would be so disappointed about this. I decided to squeeze some honey inside each mouth to add to the sweetness of them. I’m not sure how this will taste. I poured water in the bottom of the glass pan and heated the oven to 400degrees.
And there you have it. Acorn Squash. I’ll let you know how it turns out.
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Tags: 400, acorn, acorn squash, autumn, baking, butter, cook, degrees, dinner, disappointed, fall, food, fridge, glass, goop, honey, knife, luck, mother, mouth, pan, poured, seeds, squash, squeeze, sweetness, taste, water
In September, while touring my mom throughout Portland we stumbled upon two monks from the Mangyal Monastery (home of the Dalai Lama) – who were creating a Compassion sand mandala for 2 days at a store in the pearl district called Cargo. The Venerable Ngawang Chojor (on the left), is a senior monk who apparently was in Seven Years In Tibet with Brad Pitt. What I found most amazing is that once this mandala was finished, there was going to be a dismantling ceremony as a metaphor for impermanence of all things. It is believed that witnessing the creation of a mandala develops ties within the people in attendance and that it also strengthens community.
Have you ever witnessed a mandala being created?
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Tags: autumn, brad pitt, cargo, cargoinc.com, ceremony, color, community, compassion, creat, dalai lama, develop, dismantling, fall, impermanence, mandala, mangyal monastery, metaphor, mom, monk, monks, ngawang chojor, oregon, pearl, photography, portland, sand, sand mandala, senior, seven years in tibet, strengthens, things, witnessing
I went to the pumpkin patch on Sauvie Island in search of the perfect pumpkin. Okay, maybe two pumpkin patches. One just wasn’t enough. The day turned out to be the most spectacular Northwest Fall afternoon. The sky was perfectly blue. It had Portland-swooshing clouds. And, the color palate of the farms was incredible from juicy orange to foliage green to sunshine yellows. Yum. I had another sensation today of wanting to eat it all up in one captured moment.
When are you going to find your perfect pumpkin?
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Tags: cinderella, cinderella pumpkins, farm, gourds, green, kruger farm market, lush, orange, pumpkins, sauvie island, suavie island
Last weekend was the opening for my sister’s summer public art project in Seattle. She was hired by the City of Seattle’s Arts and Cultural Affairs office to be a resident artist on the Fremont Bridge. The requirement was that she had all summer to create an art piece that would be temporarily displayed on the bridge. During her summer residency, one of the bridge operator towers was converted into her art studio where she integrated a “sound” art piece as the display. It was quite an incredible experience to participate as a volunteer or an Ambassadors of the Fremont Bridge Talks Back project. You see, the art piece that she developed was a sound piece that integrated and orchestrated all of the day-to-day sounds one would hear while crossing the bridge. For the next eight months (until April 2010), anytime the bridge opens for ships to pass through you will be able to hear the sound piece that she created. You can also call a toll free number to listen to this sound and a few heart felt stories from people who called in earlier this summer and spoke about their feelings or memories about the bridge (1-800-761-9941).
During the event on Saturday, Kristen recruited 100 volunteers to come out for 3 hours to participate as ambassadors of the bridge. Each volunteer wore an event t-shirt, an orange handkerchief, and processioned on one of 4 corners of the bridge while holding a sign. The bridge was decorated with colorful flags to incorporate all of the colors that the bridge had once been painted. Each time the bridge would open, horn players would come out of each tower to toot toot toot, the sound piece would play along the bridge, and all the volunteers would procession in a celebratory manner. One volunteer who I enjoyed getting to know during the 3-hour celebration was Mrs. Noble. She was very proud to explain to me that she was a member of the Fremont Neighborhood Council and was participating that day as a representative. She told me that she was disappointed that no other members came out to participate, but that despite her age she was determined to procession for the entire event. I quickly decided for myself that she was going to be one of those types of volunteers that I would have to handle with kid gloves. Throughout the event, I would always be sure to say hello to Mrs. Noble when I passed her and to ask how she was doing. She would simply say, “I’m fine. Doing fine.” as she would almost look away as a gesture to scurry me off.
As the day came to a close, I joined several other volunteers to help remove the flags that were hung along the sides of the bridge. I again stumbled upon Mrs. Noble standing along one side of the bridge with a proud look on her face that read, “I did it!” She stopped me in my tracks and said, “I didn’t know you were Kristen’s sister?!! That’s so wonderful that you and your family came up to help Kristen.” We continued to talk about the fun experience we all had celebrating the history of the bridge. Before I hustled off to remove some of the last strings of flags, I asked Mrs. Noble if I could take her picture. I wasn’t sure if she’d be offended by my request, but she allowed me to go ahead and click click click. As I stood up to review the photo that I captured, I showed it to her and became concerned from hearing her huge GASP! I said, “Oh no! You don’t like it!?” She answered with huge emotion, “I love it! It’s wonderful! Can I get a copy of that?” My day was complete.
One of the best parts of that day, was when my family went to a local McMeniman’s pub all dressed in our tshirts and kerchiefs with huge smiles on our sunkissed faces hungry for burgers, fries, and of course a few pitchers of frosty beers. I was tickled as I walked inside the pub and passed the bar to find Mrs. Noble sitting by herself at the bar enjoying a huge burger and a pint of beer. I thought, “Now that’s my kind of lady!”
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Tags: arts and cultural affairs office, bridge talks back, flags, fremont bridge, fremont neighborhood council, mrs noble, procession, sailboat, seattle, ships, signs, volunteers
