beach in february!

so, february is almost over... and we still don't have THAT much snow. it's been more like an early maine spring.... maybe we'll get snow on my birthday, who knows, it's happened before! :]

mmm, the candy i got for valentine's day :] it didn't take too long for me to eat them all ;p


this past weekend, on my day off.... my family stopped at the biddeford pool public beach for a short walk and to just take in the nice day. i got a remote shutter button for my camera for christmas, and apparently the battery life isn't very long, because it wouldn't work. :[ i had to use the self timer, and dash to the rock without hurting myself, which is pretty hard since i'm a klutz!



it was so pretty there that day! a little chilly from the wind, but the sun was wonderful :] still i little early to go swimming, but i think the best time of year to just enjoy the beach scenery is the middle of the winter, there aren't any tourists ^_^.

a visit

A friend of mine who now lives in New York came to visit home for a couple days. i met up with her at a local restaurant, the peppermill. it was my first time going to their new location, and for lunch! it was delicious! especially their homemade potato chips. yum!



that's her in the pink, she looooves pink, and her friend that came along to Maine for the first time.


went back to her parents house, where we had tea, talked, and played some garbage rummy. i loooove this teacup!


we went to shuffle the deck, and when it was split down the middle, there were the two jokers, isn't that funny?? and yes, that's santa... it's a holiday themed coca cola deck :]



it was definitely i fun day, besides the slightly messy snow filled morning. we got quite a bit of reminiscing done, which is always fun.

weekend of fun

i researched what i would need to finish my quilt... which calls for a trip to joann fabric, as well as maaaahdens ;] lol. so in until i get there, i will do some of my jewelry making.


after a sunday morning of my favorite things, chocolate chip pancakes, and a new episode of the sunday morning show, i put my ideas to work, and come out with a pair of earrings, and the start of a pin. i need a piece of leather like material or something to put behind the little flower thing... it just needs a little bit of stability. (the brown flower pin to the left of the image below)


after i was out of ideas for a bit, went to spend time with my boyfriend, watched some 'finding bigfoot' episodes (definitely some funny stuff), the brand new episode of Once Upon a Time (AMAZING), and reheated some delicious lasagna rolls that i made the previous night. yum.


we were hoping to go to the beach today after i got out of work, but it's still windy, causing the temperature to be not beach worthy. another day. :]

what's new!

i actually have the whole weekend off from work, soooo, i'm trying to keep myself busy and not just sitting around. i had a stack, more like a pile, of shirts that no longer fit, but are too special to me to just give away of to throw out. so, i decided to cut them up, and keep the front designs and sew them together to make a quilt!
this was the pile i had to start off with :]



this is actually an iron on transfer from my artificial lighting class, it's an example of our process of creating an image for one of our assignments. the image on the left is some of my classmates setting up the 4x5 camera, making sure all the settings are correct, and the image on the right is the actual final image. pretty cool.


and this image is a portion of the squares that i have to work with to create my quilt. :] i have to get some more fabric for the backing and such, which will have to be another day. tomorrow i get to focus a little more on something else i have decided to take up in my spare time.... jewelry making... i've already made 2 keychains, and a pin. moooore to come! :] hopefully i can actually sell this jewelry along with some photographs at a local craft fair this summer/holiday time. i've been planning on doing something like that for the last 2 years, but haven't gotten things together in time to do so. hoping this year will be the year! lol! i need to get myself out in the world and get recognized a little more than i am at this moment. :]

i'm going to try my best to post on here every couple days. my post history is a little lonely. ;p

lets go!

i need to get my butt in gear and take some photographs!!! i'm slacking.... not good.


going to start bringing my camera with me when i go places... don't really like doing that because it gets so cold outside... but i needs to be done!! because i need to actually start using this blog. :]

hello winter....

day before thanksgiving, a good 5-7 inches.

goodbye fall...

forgot...

oops. i was so busy with getting thesis out of the way while i was in school, i forgot to post photos from the event i volunteered for!!


there's one of my photographs, on the right side of Vicki's bio :]

and, oh look! there's me talking to the president of MECA at the time, about my photos :]

and here's a link with a press-release about one of the stops of the traveling show, and this one includes another one of photos i took.

http://mainebusiness.mainetoday.com/newsdirect/release.html?id=7992

*yay* for being recognized in the community! :]

welcome to "the new world"

so, life after college is nice.
except for the whole loan repayment part. guh.

i'm thankful for my second job at the picture people, that has been helping me out sooooo much. financially and professionally. over-time during the holidays is CRAZY. soooo many people come in to get photos done before christmas.....wow. but! now that the holidays are over, yikes...i'm running a little short on loan payment money :/ great.

i'm trying to keep myself occupied and busy, but there's not much to do in this economy and this time of the year....

there's NO WAY i'm getting a third job. no way. two is hard enough to keep straight. i'll just have to start selling my old books from school online or something...and hope that will help some.

i got a new camera for christmas! which i bought with money that i got from selling my old one! yay! upgrade! :D here's some photos from my new camera.

let's fall into fall! :)

so.

haven't been that good at updating this over the summer. been bored out of my mind for most of it, and struggling to find a new part-time job.

well...that's all over now.

got hired at the Picture People in the mall...yay! that's definitely been keeping me busy. especially when it's combined with my other job at hannaford. :)

been working on taking some senior pictures as well. already done 2 girls, friends of my sister. and just finished photographing my sister, she just needs to choose ones she likes out of the pile i took :)

here's my favorites. :D

rain rain go away.

stuck on the inside, looking at the rain falling for the past 3 days....i'm starting to loose it a little. work hasn't been giving me very many hours, so i'm trying to look online for something else. that's not going too well.

so, to relieve my boredom a little bit, i'll post some pictures i've taken since i graduated :)


walked the breakwater lighthouse in rockland, maine


went to my friend's wedding, in waldoboro, maine


took pictures of my sister and her friends before their junior prom. she's in the blue.

thesis show

so, it's the END of the semester...*YES*. and that means my thesis work is hanging on a wall in a hallway at maine college of art. go see it, it looks great :D

thesis paper is printed, signed, and passed in. YAY. no need for a 3rd draft, that means i did a great job :) i hope.

final crit has happened, and went VERY WELL. as did my review :D *yay* i have burst out of my shell of struggling through senior year as a photo major, and have come out with a great body of work that can be identified by others outside of my majors group. i have sucessfully succeeded in creating a body of work that can be enjoyed for the look and the content. WHOOOOO! hahaha.

donated a print to a friend who let me inside one of the buildings i photographed, and it is now hanging in my hometown's little "museum", the taylor house, which makes me SUPER EXCITED!!!!

here's what my spot in the school's thesis show looks like, with all of my work :)
(and yes, i have a corner and a doorway in my spot, which i am happy for, due to my work's size. it helped with the organizing problems i was worried about concerning a long area of wall space.)

breathe?

classes are officially OVER! *dance*

two more weeks, and it's time for graduation!!!!

going to portland everyday this week, to get things done, and wrapped up, and clean my studio out.
can't wait!!

tomorrow is "hanging" day for me and a couple of my fellow photo peeps. i hope it'll be done and over with quickly and painless. it's supposed to be such a nice day that i don't want to be inside all day, again.

heres a literal inside peek of my thesis work. i was able to actually get inside one of the buildings i was photographing...ok, i was let in. i ended up knowing the guy who lived on the property this old mill is located.

i'll be sure to save all of my thesis work onto my flashdrive so i can post it here this week.

buried

i feel like i'm slowly getting left behind. especially with the growing amounts of homework and other paperwork that i have to get done. spring break is officially over, but was basically non-existent for me. i think i had one 'fun' day the whole week. i spent the last two days at school, all day, working. that's not a vacation. can i have a redo? please?

spent the whole time reading(a 300 pg book, and other readings for research and essays), writing essays(which is what most of the readings were for, and which were late, because i had to time to work on them before now), and taking pictures for my thesis work, which i had to slightly change....FOR THE THIRD TIIIIME! :(

i feel emotionally and physically exhausted, and it's not even the end of the semester yet. so that means...yes, it's going to get worse. yay.

i finished my ICA piece at 8pm yesterday....i just wanted to get out of that basement. 9 hours in front of a computer screen is not good, for anyone. so, one thing down, 100 million more to do! wooohoooo

sorry, don't have any pictures today, i switched to completely shooting in RAW format, and my computer doesn't recognize RAW files :( *rawr*

breaking ice

another week done.
and it's already time to be thinking about the thesis show, o goody.

my description for my single piece that i am hanging in the ICA for the "index show" needs to be turned in by this friday. i only have 3 pieces that are complete at the moment. plus need to redo another one...something happened to the file...it's all fuzzy and major pixelated.

had to brainstorm an idea that would be cheaper than framing a piece, cuz i'm broke. framing a picture that is 16x130 inches wudn't be fun, i can tell you that now...buh.

planning on rusting some nails and eyelets....attaching the eyelets to the corners of my printed picture, and yea...u get the idea. weeeellll....the nails i happened to get are too big to fit thru the eyelets....AND of course, i have happened to misplace the reciept in order to return the nails. GUH. just great. and it's only been TWO days...i have no idea how i did it. it seems that when i get stressed out, i happen to loose my short term memory. which is amazing....not.

5 page paper due on friday...have about 4 pages done at the moment...but it's mostly quotes and supporting facts about my work and the historical ties. but, of course, my mind is elesewhere, so getting my thoughts on paper at the moment isn't really the best thing to be doing. especially when it would probably be profanities left and right expressing my anger right now. GUh.

no classes today because of presidents day...meaning it shud be more of a relaxation day...or to get homework done, but of course i'm going every which way in my mind, that it is SUPER had to concentrate on one particular thing. which is why i sit here still in my pj's (im showered, but still in pjs). LOL. nice, huh?

i guess it's time to rumage thru the stack of books i checked out from the library, see if there's anything that i've missed. or to just get more inspiration to keep moving through this, there's only a couple more months to this, i'm hoping i'll get there.
picture...my favorite, cemetaries :)

trudging along thru the snow

two months into the semester...and only three more to go. i believe it is about time to start freaking out. o wait, i have.
deadlines are quickly approaching, and i really need to catch up on my work.
at least i am doing something that is now appealing to an audience. i had to make a minor adjustment, but i believe it is going very well.
i have two buildings completely photographed that are waiting to be pieced back together on the computer, and one that needs to be printed. hopefully going to photograph another building today, and another tomorrow.
by the way, i am now photographing abandoned buildings in my hometown, if i haven't mentioned that already. i can't remember if i have, my brain is scattered to so many different things at the moment that it's hard to remember simple things.
but, yeah. definitely struggling to keep everything together.
here's some pictures i took yesterday. went snowshoeing with my sister out to the house i was photographing.

let the semester begin!

so, the semester has started again with a sneeze. yes, i said sneeze. it's only the third day back, and i'm pretty sure i'm coming down with something. and i know exactly who i got it from too.

this semester looks like it's going to be challenging, and i can't wait for it!! not really. it's taken me 3 days, and 3 tries to put together one of my panoramas for my new thesis plan. finally finished the first one just minutes ago, but sorry...not posting it on here. at least not yet. planning on working on the second one tomorrow.

i'm hoping that i'll be able to get over this stupid runny nose soon, i dont enjoy carrying around a roll of toliet paper. :P but, hey it works! and to get more hours from work, i'm getting low on school supply money. the year seemed to be starting pretty good, but i'm not so sure about it now.

must keep those fingers crossed until everything has come and gone. hope makes the world go round, i guess.

here's a sneak peek of the second panorama i have going. this is just an extra shot i took of the doorway because of the animal prints that went across the bottom step.

the clock ticks on

so, classes start this coming up monday. and i really haven't taken any pictures that have any relation to my thesis since the semester ended. woops. i've really been mulling it over in my head over the past month, and i think i might have an idea that should work very well. if not, then i'm in some deep trouble. now all i have to do is get my self motivated in the next 4 days to shoot some really good photos, that will hopefully and finally show what i'm trying to say about my hometown. i only have a limited amount of time to pull this idea off, so i hope it all works out.
yay. it's the new year, so hopefully things will work out a lot better than they have been, mostly school related. :)
i still don't have any new photos that are related to my thesis at the moment, but i can share a photo that i took on christmas, that shows one of my obsessions. food photography, sometimes not as pretty as it should look, like in cooking magazines and such. it's my own insight of it i guess.

frustrated

ok, so i know i haven't posted in a while. i've just had a lot on my mind.
final crit went horribly well. in no way well, in all ways horrible.
it made me feel like a failure at life, and that i have completed nothing so far this semester. even though i spent almost every spare moment working on my thesis project. i have hit a enormous road block, that doesn't seem to be moving anytime soon. oh goody.
so, again, i must start from scratch, and think of a "new" idea for my thesis. which i'm supposed to be working on during my vacation. but so far, i have only brainstormed in my head. i haven't gotten the chance to actually try anything out because of the lovely weather in maine at the moment. ice storm, and now snow every other day. and my little car doesn't like to be driven in the snow that much. i need a good jeep or something. i'm hoping i'll get something done in the next week or so.
i'm dreading that lovely envelope in the mail with my grades, which should be arriving any day now. i know i've said it before, but i cannot wait for this school year to be over over over!!!
sorry i dont have a photo to post today, but i'll definitely have one later on. they are all on my thumbdrive...buried within my school things.
merry xmas :)

almost

the semester is ALMOST over, and i cannot wait. i have been concentrating on everything else school related for the past week and a half, that i have seemed to have forgotten to keep up with my thesis work. i hope i'll get over that in a couple days. i should go out today and shoot a bit, but i have to finish other stuff for this week, and hopefully i'll be able to go out and about on wednesday. my "free" day of the week. i have two presentations to do this week, one tuesday and one friday. one is 8 minutes, the other only 3. i think i'll be able to handle it. i'm horrible at talking about my work, i'm never able to completely voice what i'm trying to do, i always seem to leave something out. i'll keep my fingers crossed, and hope for the very best. which reminds me, i still need to scan my old work from high school and freshman year. yay.
at least i have something figured out, i know, kind of, where i'm going with my thesis. and hopefully i'll be able to continue this through out the winter months. i had problems last year with the snow getting in the way of what i really wanted to capture in my photos.
ugh, snow. not looking forward to that white stuff, i'm just hoping that it will hold off for another week or two, i hate driving in it.
here's a pretty spring-y picture, to get my mind off of the snow. :) it was taken near my friends house, while we were walking her dogs.