Late Night Youtube Watching

I heard about The Books a little bit over a year ago from Joey. I'm not a huge fan of them but they do have some pretty awesome stuff.

This song is my favorite.

Enjoy!

Early Reflection

City Skating

Toronto, Ontario

1.8.07

I have been spending some time looking back into my past and reflecting. It is very clear to me that we are coming to an end of a cycle. We are at the end of a decade and things are very different from what they were 5 years ago -- let alone ten. I took this picture back in early January of 2007. I didn't have my nice camera or my nice lens. It was just a point and shoot that I had gotten for my 18th birthday. I loved that camera. It taught me how to look at the world differently. I didn't know it then but it was the beginning of a beautiful relationship with the world of photography.

I have been blessed in so many ways. I have a great family, great friends and all though we all have our battles we have to face and fight alone, I at least know I have a soft place to fall when times get rough. We're all fighting the good fight and that's all anyone could be asked to do.

I hope Christmas was nice for everyone this year. It's definitely been a different one than in the past, but change can be good. With change comes newness, and with newness comes the unique opportunity to choose a different path then the ones you've seen and experienced before.

I am trying my best to stick to my guns and do a pic of the day this month. I'm on day three...I need to shoot something tonight. I will post the December pic of the day hopefully in early January.

Enjoy the last week of the decade for what it is. Things will be different in 2011. There's no doubt about it.

=)

Pic of the Week: Georgia Trees

I am in love with this forest. Back in August, Joey and I visited my friend Summer in Athens, Georgia. As we were headed out, we stopped and took a walk through this forest. It was definitely a beautiful side journey.

I plan on posting some more pictures of our road trip over the next few months. I have so much work to go through. Exciting!

Zen Walk 2010

At UT, I took a photo class with Eli Reed. One of our assignments was to go on a zen walk and take photos of whatever we wanted. I decided, for my sanity, I needed to do it again this year.

Christof and I went out on and adventure through the neighborhood. We decided to walk over to my friend Jackie's house.

She wasn't there so we kept walking and I kept taking photos.

I swear this was the only day it's been like winter. It wasn't event that cold. I am missing the coldness. I want hot chocolate and hoodies!

Enjoy the rest of the photos. The colors were beautiful out and everything seemed crisp and clear.

Drunk Puppy

"Damn, even the dogs party hard here."

- Jillian Weiss

Food Party!

One of my really good friends, Brad Pike, made me watch an absolutely disturbing movie this weekend called Enter the Void.

We watched the first 25 minutes of it until I made him turn it off and put Food Party on to counter act the overwhelming anxiety and depression caused by that movie.

I'm all about the balance.

So, here for your enjoyment and the hopes of making your day bright and sunny, I give to you the first video of the first episode of Food Party.

Pic of the Week: A Cold Front Sunrise

While everyone was still in bed sleeping, I was making the drive from Dallas to Austin. I sort of went on an early morning adventure and ventured onto the side roads to get a picture of the sunrise. It was incredible this morning.

Lucky Lounge

So, last Thursday night, my good friend Tyler and I went out to Lucky Lounge to see a few bands play.

JM Dobies is the one who suggested we go. I met him at my new job. You can subscribe to his podcasts for free on the itunes store. He features bands from Texas that were big in the past on his show The Texas Tyme Machine.

He's a pretty awesome guy. Just make sure you catch him before he has too many IPAs...haha!

The band playing here is called The Ugly Beats. I recommend them. They have a solid old school 1960s vibe. Plus, the keyboardist was wearing a badass dress, which, for some reason, I did not take a picture of...Fail.

Oh well. I did however, get a picture of the pool table. I thought it looked awesome and inspiring.

Tata for now!

Pic of the Week: Missin' Rongo

I am missing Rongo tonight. Wish we were all there together again!

For Kile

Porch

Austin, TX

12.6.10

I don't know if I've mentioned this, but I have some of the best neighbors in the world. This is the view we share from our porch.

Christmas Brownies!

Jill made some deliciously delectable brownies with orange zest and Christmas sprinkles!

Yum. Yum. Yummm.

Stevie Ray Vaughan

Jill's mom asked me to go out and shoot some pictures of the Stevie Ray Vaughan statue out at Auditorium Shores for her as a Christmas present for one of her friends.

These are a few of the better frames I got:

Let me tell ya...shooting a statue...not the most interesting subject in the world, but I did enjoy the challenge. It forced me to have to look at the statue in a different way.

I also went to the UT NPPA fall showing at Pump Project Satellite. There was some definite good work to be seen. I have a post brewing in the back of my mind about the event...I might write about it -- I might not. We will see.

Pic of the week: PALMS!

So my pic of the week is quickly becoming my pic of every two weeks...hah. Time simply goes to fast. I hate it. There are never enough hours.

Anywho...this was taken out in Santa Monica this past summer right before Jill and I took off to New Zealand.

I like palms...they always have such attitude.

Army

Santa Monica, CA

6.6.10

Happy Saturday!

I hope everyone is having a great day! The weather is insanely beautiful right now. Go out and enjoy it!

Little Monsters

Austin, TX

5.4.10

Deep Cleaning

There is something incredible about deep cleaning. It feels so amazing after you're finished and you know that there is nothing left lurking in the corners.

Last night, I tackled the cabinet underneath the kitchen sink. Holy shit. It was bad...this picture was taken after I had already cleaned half of it.

For the past year, I had been putting plastic grocery bags in there on top of everything -- there seriously had to have been about 100 or so in there. That alone isn't too bad...but we have a leak. Wet, plastic, grocery bags...so gross and slimy. But they're gone now and it looks all nice and pretty.

Janeffer was hanging out with me but left as soon as I started making her help...haha. That's a lie...she had to go home to sleep, but Marley stayed around and gave me company while I finished the project I had started.

Honestly, it wasn't that hard to clean everything. I just had to bite the bullet and commit to getting it clean. This little piece gets the award for the grossest thing in there. I think it's kind of pretty though...Old, moldy dixie cups. It's a shame I had to throw them out...good for jello-shots.

After that, Jill came home and baked some sugar cookies from scratch. It's hard to see put she put red and green sprinkles on top of them for Christmas. Her nickname isn't Sprinkles for no reason. They were (and continue to be) delicious.

Speaking of Christmas, we are going to decorate soon! I can't wait...I'm thinking we should get a real tree this year. Wouldn't it be nice?

Jill and I got to hang out for a little bit...it's really nice to live with your best friends, especially when they're busy. You have the advantage of getting to see them on what little down time they might have.

I wouldn't trade it for the world.

I spent the rest of the night cleaning. I'm not nearly done cleaning. I still have the laundry room, bathroom and my room to finish. Plus, I need to really clean up myself...haha...especially now that no-shave november is over...

(TMI?)

No. Never.

There's never too much information. Ever.

So...I've been having successful days this week. I have to go shoot Christmas pictures of the boys (and girl!) for Khaki's mom. I will post them soon!

Miss Marley

Miss Marley

Austin, TX

11.30.10

I've been doing a little personal project with Jill and Marley where I basically recreate the same photo but in a different season....

Winter

Austin, TX

2.4.10

(part of Seasons Series)

Fortunately for me, Marley has finally forgiven me for the day we shot Winter. She did not enjoy the freezing rain at all. I am convinced she punished me by refusing to let me take her photo. We're finally passed it now and I am more than happy to be on good terms with her.

It feels good to write again. I feel rusty...it's almost like it's a dream from a long time ago -- familiar, yet not fluid. I used to write a ton. I would spend hours on end tweaking my words. I've been writing this post for about two hours now and this is how far I've gone. I'm slow and out of practice but I promise it will get better.

I am finally starting to feel like I have a proper photo blog. I hope everyone has liked the changes I've made. I definitely plan on still playing around with the design of it. I'm starting to realize I really enjoy design work. I love to make things look clean and simple.

I've been cleaning my house all night (hence why I've been writing since 2). I'm on a deep cleaning kick right now...it is insane. I've been digging deep into the depths of our house and scrubbing all of that energy clean. It's time for our house to rise to it's full potential...I'll be posting some before and after pictures soon.

Since I have graduated college, I feel like I'm finally back to being myself. It feels like it's been forever since I've been able to just chill out and take care of the most important things in life. UT really sucked the life out of me -- not in a bad way, but in an intense I'm-going-to-jump-you-rip-your-heart-out-eat-you-alive-make-you-pick-yourself-up-and-then-do-it-all-again-to-you-but-this-time-it's-worse-because-it's-time-for-finals sort of way.

To be honest with you, I miss the stress of it a little bit. I miss having a reason to have to get shit done. School taught me discipline and now I finally have time to apply this skill into all aspects of my life. Jill told me to chill after I graduated and it was the best advice anyone could have given me.

Discipline is a skill I am curious about learning. I think secretly I've wanted discipline in my life but I was too lazy and apathetic to work to achieve it which of course explains why I had no discipline.

To quote Jules Winnfield from Pulp Fiction, "...I'm tryin', Ringo. I'm trying real hard to be the shepherd."

POD November: Sunday: 11/22/10

Welcome to my first pic-of-the-day week! I am really excited about having the time to be able to work on this project. I am hoping to be able to do a POD at least once a month. It also explains where I've been for the past 10 days...

Enjoy!

Pic of the Day:

11/22/10-11/27/10

Wildfires

Texas Panhandle, TX

11.22.10

Well, my dad and I got off to an exciting adventure to Colorado this Thanksgiving break. We were only a few hours into our road trip when we literally drove into wildfires. This was taken on our impromptu detour after we got a little too close to the fires.

Monday: 11/22/10

Garden of the Gods

Garden of the Gods, CO

11.22.10

On our first full day in Colorado, my dad and I popped over the the Garden of the Gods. My uncle and aunt live about 5 minutes away from it. The last time I saw these, I had just bought my camera. It was nice to revisit and spend some time shooting here.

Tuesday: 11/23/10

Untitled

Denver, CO

11.23.10

On Tuesday, we took a day trip up to Denver to see the King Tut exhibit at the Denver Art Museum. It was nice to be able to spend some time thinking about art. Art is infinitely important -- especially when it comes to mental health. You should make some soon.

:O

Wednesday: 11/24/10

The Patron Saint of Cooking

Colorado Springs, CO

11.24.10

My Auntie Katie took the time to teach me some Greek recipes. She tells me, "Look Jillie, all Greek cooking is basically using anything you can find."

Thursday: 11/25/10

Thanksgiving

Colorado Springs, CO

11.25.10

Before we ate Thanksgiving dinner, my dad and I went and walked a trail by Auntie's house. There's nothing better than being reminded about how truly lucky we are.

Friday: 11/26/10

mmm...ice cream

Auntie's House, CO

11.26.10

The day after Thanksgiving was a day of relaxation and watching a marathon of The Deadliest Catch. Pretty awesome show if you asked me. Auntie, Dad and I were good and ate low fat ice cream sandwiches.

Saturday: 11/27/10

Morning.

Somewhere on 1-25 South, CO

11.27.10

This was taken at the beginning of the end of our trip home. We left Auntie's house at 5:30 am and had the priviledge of watching the sun rise.

The road home is never a lonely one.

Hope your upcoming holidays treat you well.

=)

Colorado Dogs

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!

I have been off roadtripping with my dad across the country to Colorado to stay with my great aunt and uncle. It was a great trip and a much needed vacation.

I'll be working on posts all night tonight so keep an eye out for them...

Here's one to keep me motivated:

Colorado Dogs

Colorado Springs, CO

11.22.10

Iphone

Pic of the Week: Comfy Bed

Karamea, New Zealand

Louis' Bed

A Video!

I don't usually become attached to youtube videos, but I am a fan of this one.

My friend Khaki showed me this and I much appreciate it. It's been awhile since I've spent so much time with myself. It's been nice and this video expresses that perspective in a beautiful and creative way.

Enjoy.

A Video by Andrea Dorfman

Written and Performed by Tanya Davis

NYC

So this summer I got a chance to go into the city. I hadn't been back there since 2001 and it felt so good to be in there. Unfortuantely, I didn't take too many pictures....and the ones I did take were of birds and trees -- haha, figures.

Anyway...enjoy! The first three were taken on the Empire State Building and the last three were taken in Central Park.

Faith & Kareem

Faith and Kareem were the best house guests ever.

Miss you guys already.