The caffeine isn't helping...

Sorry that I missed posting last night. I went to see "The Glass Menagerie" at the Citadel and then crashed at my parents' house and didn't have my computer with me. So here is what I had planned to post yesterday. I'll probably still put something up tonight. On a related note: "The Glass Menagerie" is probably one of my all-time favorite plays and the rendition at the Citadel right now is beautifully acted and uses music in a truly wonderful way. Despite the fact that I was completely exhausted, it was a lovely evening.

This picture pretty much sums up how I (and most people I know) have been feeling the past few days and how I'm probably going to feel for quite a while given the fact that those of us in the school world have had papers, final projects, and the looming prospect of exams descend on us. I took it on choir tour my first year at King's. It was a rainy/snowy afternoon in Jasper so a few of us decided to hole up in an internet cafe for a while and enjoy some chai lattes. We were pretty tired though so sitting down in a warm place made us a bit sleepy. That day in Jasper is one of my fondest memories of university.

After 17 pages I have a rough draft...

Welcome to my life this week. I just finished a rough draft of final paper 2 of 5 and it is 17 pages long. My brain is shot. Unfortunately I need to edit it still (and if you know me then you know that editing is not a quick, throw-away kind of process) and then I get to start on the paper that is due on Thursday. Such is the life of an English major. Particularly one who is as bad for procrastinating as I am. It's the Easter long weekend this weekend though so even if I still have copious amounts of reading and research to do I at least get to go home and don't have to go to classes.

So this is a bit of a photo essay of sorts, all images taken during late night paper writing sessions over my university career. First up we have a lovely paper in the process of being edited. I'm pretty sure this one was on the depiction of Natives in early Canadian literature. I find it rather amusing that the part of the paper that is in focus uses words such as 'cannibalism' and 'killing' multiple times. Somehow that seems very appropriate for the mood that I hit around 3 in the morning. Next up is a stack of paper writing essentials: Oxford English Dictionary, a good Thesaurus, and an anthology. Swap the anthology with my Canadian Writers' Reference Guide and you would have the three books that I must have within easy reach during any paper writing session. I have no idea what anthology that is though. I do know the picture is from last year some time. And last up we have a stack of library books (that is a pretty baby stack actually...given that I have more books than that out for my Shakespeare paper right now...) coupled with my giant Art History textbook and huge literary theory textbook. I'm willing to bet that those books weren't all related to the same paper but somehow ended up piled on my desk. Picture is from sometime in the insanity of last semester.

All right. There you have it. A slice of what is eating my life this week (and the weeks to come). I better get back to my Victorian Lit paper.

Picture Perfect Ending

Today was warm out but overcast, which was okay since I was inside writing papers all day and wouldn't have gotten to enjoy the sun even if it had been out. The clouds started to thin just in time for sunset though and the sky was full of wispy purple and blue clouds and the world was washed in a golden light. It was actually quite gorgeous. I took this picture from the window in front of my desk. I looked up from my paper and the sun was hitting the brick on the corner of the building so perfectly that I had to grab my camera and document it. There is something so peaceful and soothing about the golden light of sunset.

Sunshine on My Shoulders

Today actually felt like spring, which was absolutely lovely after the snow of the past week. The sun came out and I even walked across to the school in just my tshirt without freezing. It was one of those that puts the song "Sunshine on My Shoulders" in my head, a smile on my face, and a sense of hope in my heart. Normally I wax poetic about fall and am rather disparaging about spring, but there is something about spring this year that just feels like such a relief. Does anyone else feel that way? It is as if some giant burden has been lifted off my chest every time the sun decides to show its face.

This picture is from last summer and evokes lazy days of hanging out with friends, eating picnics, and lounging on the grass. Ah, how I wish I was doing that instead of working like a mad woman on the papers that are due in the next few days. It's supposed to be lovely this week and I think that will make the copious amounts of homework I have quite a bit more bearable.

Wine and "Chess"

No, I did not spend my evening playing chess. Although I wouldn't put it past myself to do so. Instead, I was hanging out with my best friend, drinking wine and watching "Chess In Concert", which is so incredible that I am not sure there are words in the English language to describe it. It is, as Erin so rightly pointed out, everything that a musical ought to be. Plus, the all-star cast of Josh Groban (who is just plain phenomenal and has the ability to cause me to feel like I'm melting), Idina Menzel (who is pretty much my musical idol), and Adam Pascal (who's rock and roll edge is incredibly sexy) is pretty much my dream cast. Thank you Erin for a FABULOUS night!

This picture isn't actually from tonight since both Erin and I are white wine people. These are actually a couple of the worst martinis I have ever tasted. Seriously. Anyway, they at least looked pretty. I tend to be fascinated by light and the way that it was shining through the drinks onto the table cloth was to beautiful not to take a picture of it.

Luggage or Baggage?

I love to travel. Part of the wonderfulness of traveling is living out of a suitcase. Now I don't enjoy the actual packing part because it stresses me out. I am what I call a "mood dresser" so I typically can't even pick out an outfit the night before. This makes the concept of picking out outfits for an extended period of time that use a limited number of pieces incredibly daunting for me. However, once I actually get the packing done, I love living out of a suitcase. It makes me feel like I'm on an adventure even if I'm just going to my parents' for the weekend. Plus I end up saving so much time in the morning since I don't have to figure out what to wear. Vintage luggage is great. I think the idea of packing in trunks and hatboxes is simply charming and if it was at all practical I would go out and invest in a great steamer trunk. In reality this is a horrible idea. Can you imagine trying to check a trunk on a plane? Yikes. Anyway, all of that is why I originally took this photo at Fort Edmonton last fall. Yesterday I was scrolling through pictures trying to decide what to post and came across this one and considered it in a whole new context. I spent Tuesday night hanging out with my friend Steph and we were talking about the excitement of new beginnings. One of the great things about moving somewhere that people don't know you is the ability to hang out with people who don't see you through the lens of your personal or relational baggage. They don't look at you and see the thirteen year old who was having a rough go of it, or the sixteen year old who bounced from guy to guy, or the person that once said that really mean thing to them because you were hurt and angry. Starting over with a fresh slate can be phenomenal. This isn't to say that I don't love having friends who have known me for a long time. Sometimes it's great to have people around you just get you, who have seen it all and aren't weirded out by your little quirks. I think it takes a special type of relationship to last for a really long time though. I don't know exactly what quality it is, but it has to do with the ability to not hang on to baggage or view people through past difficulties. Lasting relationships are ones where the past isn't forgotten, but you are allowed to grow and change. I'm definitely not perfect at this; I don't think anyone is. But that's the difference between luggage, the stuff you need to carry with you, and baggage, the stuff that needs to be let go. Sometimes telling the difference is hard. Sometimes the only way to get away from baggage is to literally get away.

Art

The new Art Gallery of Alberta (www.youraga.ca) building opened at the end of January and since I am a bit of an art nut I was pretty excited to go and check it out. I finally made it out this afternoon with a bunch of people from my literary theory class. And it was DEFINITELY worth it. The building itself has caused a bit of controversy and I'm not really sure I like how it looks. Sometimes I think it's cool and other times I just think it's weird. But, from the inside it is pretty sweet. The stairs between level are inside the swoopy (very technical term) bits of the building so it looks pretty sweet inside. They don't have their permanent collections out yet, but the current exhibits are pretty awesome: Degas (his "Two Dancers" is probably my favorite piece of artwork), Goya, Karsh (who must have had an incredible life since he met so many famous people through his work as a portrait photographer), and a couple of installation pieces by Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller ("Storm Room" and "The Murder of Crows", both of which are really cool but thouroughly creeped me out). All in all it was an absolutely lovely way to spend an afternoon.

So, since I'm thinking about art I was trying to find a picture that related to this somehow and I remembered these posters that were in a coffee shop in Toronto. Now, this is a pretty amazing coffee shop in the Distillery District of Toronto (which, by the way, is probably my dream address should I ever move to Toronto). They have all of these really old ads for coffee companies that are pretty awesome. I spent forever just staring at them. This particular image is of the wall and most of the poster that was just above the table I was sitting at the first time I went there. The space just lent itself to sepia tone photography. I love the industrial feeling of the exposed brick and metal light fixtures and (although you can't see it in this picture) exposed duct work in the ceiling. Anyway, I think that these posters qualify as art. The idea of what constitutes art intrigues me because I think it is really difficult to define. I'll spare you my ramblings on this subject for now. I'm always up for a good conversation about such topics though.

Spring Snow

Since I live in Edmonton, I had the privilege of waking up this morning to a world that looked more like it was Christmas time than anything. Actually, this phenomenon started last night so I got to go to bed AND wake up feeling like it should be December (although it is markedly warmer than December typically is). Sadly the forecast for the next week has more snow and little likelyhood that the white layer on the ground will disappear any time soon. Since it is officially spring now I figured that closeups of white flowers was slightly more appropriate while still conveying the general colour scheme of my current world. First up is a close up of one of my mom's peonies. Peonies look pretty but I discovered a couple years ago that tiny little black bugs like to hide out in them and this has kind of put me off of either bringing them into the house (which is a shame because they also smell nice) or getting very close to them (which is a shame because they smell nice and it makes photographing them more difficult). I think this summer I'll have to go and take some more pictures of them and just brave the possibility of nearly invisible bugs hitching a ride on my clothing. Second, is a close up of a flower that one of my roommates had last year. Third, is another picture from the Muttart on Canada Day. I believe these are hydrangea flowers, but I'm really not a plant expert so I could be way off. I just thought they were pretty. I really like this version of spring snow a lot more than what is hanging around outside right now.

Fields

As I've been wandering through the blogosphere (did I really just use that word?) this week it is clear that spring has sprung and all over the place people are starting to dream of long walks through grassy fields. The number of pictures around this week that featured fields was pretty incredible. It makes sense though. After all, what makes a person more wisful for warm spring days than images of strolling through or lounging in sunlit fields. Personally I can't really think of anything.

The past couple of years over Easter break I've headed home with one of my roommates. She's from a small town in southern Alberta called Champion and her family owns a bison farm. Now, I'm a city girl, but I enjoy spending time down there. It's just so relaxed and we've been lucky enough to get some absolutely gorgeous weather, blue prairie skies, golden fields stretching into the distance where you can see the Rocky Mountains. Just glorious. I took this picture the first time we went down there. I'm actually pretty impressed because we were sitting in the back of a moving truck at the time and I only had to crop the image slightly. This is what spring looks like in Alberta. At least, this is what spring looks like in Alberta on a nice sunny day. And we have fields to spare.

To See Heaven in a Wild Flower

To see the world in a grain of sand,

And heaven in a wild flower,

To hold infinity in the palm of your hand,

And eternity in an hour.

- from "Augeries of Innocence" by William Blake

Welcome to spring! Spring officially began at 11:34am today. While this doesn't actually guarantee nice weather (there's still snow in the forecast for Edmonton), it does bring with it a sense of hope. Winter must end eventually and we have crosed the line into the "sooner" rather than "later" category. Plus, there is now more and more daylight and that always brightens my spirits.

I took this picture in the Muttart Conservatory on Canada Day last summer. I thought it was an appropriate first day of spring picture. The promise of new life in the buds, the flowery-ness, the pretty color...I really enjoy this picture.

As for the poem that I've titled the post after, the first stanza of Blake's "Augeries of Innocence" is beautiful and seems so appropriate for this image. In some sense, I feel like this stanza also captrues one of the things that fascinates me the most about photography: the ability to look at things closely and in new ways and through this to see beauty and significance in the smallest things and moments.

She the Ocean

She the Ocean
by: The Barra MacNeils

He had a way with children
They'd all gather round
To play silly games
He gave from the heart
Sharing their lives he knew so well

She had to paint the seagulls
Watch their feathers
Ruffle in the wind
She was obsessed with motion
Or was it the notion of living by the sea

He loved the prairie
She the ocean where they married
By the tide she would stay
He in a wheat field
Cutting the hay

He lived from the land
Reaping the gifts
He sowed by hand
She stayed the sea
Caressed by the breeze and the touch of the sand

There came a day that he would travel
To his lover
On the shore
She would see her children
On the prairie they'd live no more

He loved the prairie
She the ocean where they married
By the tide she would stay
He in a wheat field
Cutting the hay

He loved the prairie
She the ocean where they married
By the tide she would stay
He in a wheat field
Cutting the hay

Now he loves the seagulls
Watch their movements
On the ocean
She loves her children
Kiss them softly into sleep

For the past week I have been listening to The Barra MacNeils pretty much non-stop. Also, The Rankin Family, Great Big Sea, and Darrell Keigan, none of which are really much of a departure. "She the Ocean" is probably one of my all time favorite songs by The Barra MacNeils. I couldn't explain to you why, since I am not someone from the ocean, nor am I really a beach person, nor do I like seagulls (in fact, they, like all birds, terrify me). Regardless of this fact, something about this song sucks me in every time. It's mostly the second verse (She had to paint the seagulls / Watch their feathers / Ruffle in the wind / She was obsessed with motion / Or was it the notion of living by the sea) that randomly will pop into my head. And it made me think of this picture that I took of a seagull sitting on a windy beach. This picture is actually on a beach outside of LA. I was sitting there, minding my own business, and this seagull decided I would be a good person to hang out with. I disagreed, but grabbed my camera anyway. It was really (and I do mean REALLY) windy on the beach, and actually fairly chilly, but that is kind of the way I prefer my beaches. I'm weird, I know.

Spring in Edmonton

It snowed today.

While this didn't really surprise me since I live in Edmonton and March is kind of really early for spring, it did depress me somewhat. It had been so lovely for so long and then suddenly this morning I looked out the window and it was white again. Lame. It seemed to fit the day though. Today was one of those days where by noon you are pretty convinced that you would have been better off if you had never gotten out of bed. By mid-afternoon all I wanted to do was crawl back into bed and try again. Sadly life doesn't work like that so I had to tough it through my "feeling gross, there is snow on the ground in March, I can't focus and have to finish a paper and a presentation for tomorrow" day. On the bright side it is not yet 10:00pm and I am already editing my paper. This is practically a record for me. And the presentation is as ready as it is going to get (if you know me, you know I despise public speaking so class presentations are never a fun experience and I am never ready for them).

So this picture isn't actually from today. It wasn't cold enough for frost. I took this one on Christmas Day. It was a beautifully clear and frosty morning and I loved this little frost covered leaf hanging onto the branch for dear life. I figured if I needed to do something snowy then at least I could do something that made me smile.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Happy St. Patrick's Day! I figured that in honor of today it would be appropriate to share a photo from Ireland. I took this one looking out from one of the towers of Blarney Castle (and yes I have kissed the Blarney stone). It rained pretty much the whole time we were in Ireland (big shock, I know), but man was it a beautiful country. Definitely on my list of places that I must go back to.

It was actually kind of grey and rainy (well okay, it was more misty than rainy), which seemed incredibly appropriate for St. Patrick's Day. For all the waxing poetic about sunshine that I do, I actually really enjoy grey, rainy days sometimes. It smelled wonderful this morning and the air felt crisp and clean. Plus, when the weather is like this I like to imagine that I'm somewhere like Nova Scotia or Ireland. Perhaps that is weird, but it keeps me sane so I'm okay with it. Unfortunately, my St. Patrick's Day celebrations consist of paper writing. Since I'm not really one for crowds, beer, or drunk people this is mostly okay with me except for the fact that I am totally experiencing some major writer's block (although this blog entry seems to be coming together just fine). Oh well. Back to it!

I often thought how proud I'd be in a boat like Gideon Brown*

I mentioned a few days ago that I really love taking pictures of boats despite not having the best working relationship with them when I am actually on them. This is a collection of black and whites that I took the last time I was in Halifax (yes, I am still on my Nova Scotia/maritimes kick...). My mom and I went for a wander around the harbor and naturally I took about a gazillion photos. The day was overcast and so the lighting was actually quite ideal for black and white shots. Plus, boats tend to have good strong contrasting colors. I had never noticed how many little interesting details there are on boats. Personally, I think my favorite shots in this grouping are the one with the ship on an angle in the frame and the close up on the Roman numerals down the front of one of the ships. I have no idea how those numbers function, but they sure look cool!
*The title of this post comes from the lyrics of "A Boat Like Gideon Brown" - Great Big Sea

The Barra MacNeils

I just returned from the Barra MacNeils concert. There is seriously nothing like that music. It makes me happy every single time. The only downside is that everytime I go to one of their concerts I leave with an incredible desire to move to Cape Breton. Now in general this is not a problem, but it does make the whole focusing on school work thing a bit of an issue. Oh well. I'm all smiles because of it so I guess I can put up with some daydreaming.

In the summer of 2008 I was lucky enough to spend some time in Cape Breton with my family. I positively fell in love with the place. I know that a couple days ago I said that I am very much a city girl, but I think Cape Breton would be an exception to that rule. I could quite happily move there. This picture is from Fortress Louisbourg. It was misty and cold the day we went out there which was unpleasant for walking around but made for some stunning photos. I should probably warn you all that this Barra MacNeils high might not wear off for a while so there might be a bit of a maritimes theme to my posts for the next unspecified period of time.

Daydreams of Sunshine

As the weather gets nicer the frequency of my summer-related daydreams increases. Unfortunately this also coincides with an increase in my homework load and daydreaming is not a particularly productive use of my time. Oh well. It happens every year and I always manage to push through to the end of term. So, this picture just screams "SUMMER" to me. I took it at Fort Edmonton a couple years ago. Actually, these flowers grow sort of facing the ground and so I just stuck my camera under them and hoped for the best because my other option was to lie down in the dirt and given that there were other people wandering around I figured that might look a bit odd. However, I think it is kind of a cool picture. The sun and the brightness of the flowers complement each other nicely and I love how blue the sky is. Yup, this is pretty much the essence of summer. I just wish it was here already.

Where It All Began

This is the picture that started my obsession with photography. On spring break in grade 12 I went on a trip to Europe and suddenly found that I wanted to document every second. I started playing around with colors and light and macro mode and such. When I took this picture I loved it and just knew that there was something special about photography.

The Siren Song of the City

I've been feeling very "city" lately. I am not sure if that means anything to any of you, although I am sure a couple of you can relate. There is just an ambiance in big cities that I love. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate the countryside, but at heart I am a city girl.The picture I have in my head of my future self definitely involves living in some city or other. That's probably why I've been feeling the city vibe lately. I've been thinking a lot about who I want to be and where I want to go and so this picture is slowly coming into focus in my brain and the city factor looms pretty large. Also, I've been down to Whyte Ave twice this week and that is one of the few places in Edmonton that I really feel city-ish.

I took this picture in Toronto last February and then fiddled around with it a bit to give it a grainy, black and white qulaity. I went to visit a good friend and absolutely fell in love with the city. I am determined to live there at some point.

Inspiration in Black and White

One of the things I love most about my parent's house is the fact that the next door neighbours have these beautiful trees lining the fence between our backyard and their's. Granted, the crab apples falling all over our driveway gets kind of annoying, but otherwise I love them. In the winter they are covered with frost, in the spring they get beautiful flowers on them (one is white, one is light pink, and one is dark pink), in the summer they are leafy and lovely, and in the fall they have lovely leaves. Anyway, I took this picture of them just as the sun was setting one day near the end of autumn a couple years ago. I love it so much. Light fascinates me and so I enjoy trying to capture it and its effects on film.

In his "Biographia Literaria", Samuel Taylor Coleridge explains that "the sudden Charm, which accidents of light and shade, which moon-light or sun-set diffused over a known and familiar landscape...are the poetry of nature." For him nature produces its own sort of poetry and his task as a poet is to capture this crystaline moments and put them into words. Well, I too think that this is the poetry of nature, I just prefer to try to capture it in photos.

Ever have one of those days where you feel profoundly artsy? How about one of those days where you finally feel validated in something you've been working at for a long time? Or where you finally feel like you are making progress in something? That was today for me. First, I had a good friend tell me that she loves my blog. Which was pretty awesome, since I never really know if anyone is going to read these things when I start them. So, a profound and heartfelt thank you to those of you who do read this. I am really enjoying it. I love the opportunity to share my photos with you guys. I also love getting feedback, so feel free to comment on stuff, whether positive or negative (constructively so, of course). Second, I got back this assignment for school today for which I had to write three poems. It's just a pass/fail grade so I wasn't too worried about it, but the comments on the poems were so encouraging. I almost never share my poetry or songs with people because they somehow feel too personal, like I'm letting someone read my diary, so to finally put a few of my babies out there and have them well recieved (both in my poetry and photography) was incredibly encouraging. I have been forming this idea of who I want to be in my head and things are finally starting to fall into place for it to come true. Sorry about the novel-esque length of today's post and the effusions about how well things are going, but I can't seem to keep from gushing about it.

Live, Laugh, Love

And today's platitude is: Live, Laugh, Love.

In all seriousness though, I kind of love that phrase. Also, if you know me then you know I have a serious obsession with words and books (the giant Webster's dictionary from 1934 that came to me courtesy of my Gram and now resides under my parents coffee table and the fact that I bought a copy of the Oxford English Dictionary as soon as I got into university attest to this fact). It seemed natural for me to combine my passion for words and my passion for photography in some way. I have a lot of fun picking out words in my OED and taking pictures of them. Come to think of it I should take my SLR home with me and take some pictures of my new (well, actually very old) dictionary! Perhaps you will see some pictures from that soon.

Sunset on the Harbour

Can it just be summer already? It hasn't been that long since reading week, but I am so ready to be done this semester. It's not even that I'm not interested in my classes...okay, so many days I could pass on lit theory and my Shakespeare class isn't exactly peachy all the time, but in general I'm at least interested in what I'm learning about. I'm just...tired. It's mid-semester burnout is what it is. I would really like it to be summer, and I would really like to be somewhere on vacation. Toronto, Nova Scotia, Victoria...I keep scrolling through past vacation photos and have this ridiculous urge to be on a sunny bench somewhere, reading a book and drinking some iced tea. That would be lovely.

Anyway, on to the picture. I took this one in Victoria this past June. Sorry about the strange faint wavy line in the sky. My camera decided that vacation was a good time to act up. I don't think it's noticable enough to ruin the picture though. I would love to be strolling along the harbour in Victoria at sunset. Despite the fact that I really don't get along with boats I love to take pictures of them. They are just so beautiful. Also, I think my favorite vacations have all involved going to a coast of some kind, although it is never the hot, sandy, sunny "vacation spots". I'm not a beach person, but I am a coast person. Does that make sense?

Discovery of Tea

Today's exciting event: there is a new tea place open in West Edmonton Mall. It's called DAVIDsTEA (http://www.davidstea.com/) and it is AMAZING. I seriously could not stop smiling for about an hour after we left. It's just a really great atmosphere and the girl who was helping us out was so excited about her job...so great. My mom and I each got a tea. I tried the Mint Chocolate Rooibos and it was actually quite tasty. Mom had the Creme Brulee tea and the sip I had was quite divine. She's not a big tea drinker so was kind of indifferent about it but I found it had a nice warm, buttery flavor to it. I also bought 100g of the "Forever Nuts" tea, which I am currently drinking a mug of as I sit here. The girl in the store was super enthused about it and she has every right to be. Aside from turning bright pink when you steep it (which just makes me plain old happy), it also tastes exactly like an old-fashioned doughnut. Mmmmmmmm. I will definitely be returning there in the near future to try some more flavors and stock up on a variety of teas.

I took this picture in the summer of 2008 at my friend's birthday dinner. I like the simplicity of the mugs and how there's some sort of disorderly repetition going on.

Sunshine

It was beeeeeeeeeeautiful today! Spring is in the air and it is making me very happy. This is very suprising actually because I generally hate spring. Normally spring in Edmonton is kind of like living in a giant bowl of slush and it is disgusting, but this year it has been so much nicer. Much less of the crazy, freezing then thawing then freezing then thawing, can't-make-up-its mind weather and more of the genuine, what-spring-should-be weather. Spring always makes me want to travel (I think it is something triggered by the sunlight). The combination of wanderlust and nice weather is making it nearly impossible for me to focus on homework, instead I spend all of my time daydreaming or just doing things I enjoy. Oh well. I'm willing to put up with some restlessness as long as the weather stays nice. This picture captures my sunshine-y mood today. Taken in Jasper in fall 2009. I absolutely love how the sun reflects off the water. So lovely.

Art History

I just finished my Art History midterm. As in I have been back at the apartment for approximately 15 minutes. It actually went suprisingly well, which is very good because it balances out my absolutely horrible midterm I wrote in my Women's Writing class a week and a half ago. Also, the sun was back today which made me quite happy. Since I've been studying my brains out for Art History I've been thinking about art (duh) and since it was sunny I was getting some spring fever and dreaming about traveling, so this picture seemed like an appropriate one to post today. This is a close-up of Cupid and Psyche in the Louvre. Probably my favorite statue there. It's not the best picture ever since it's a bit washed out, but this was taken on my Europe trip in grade 12, the same trip that I discovered how much I love photography, so I guess that is some excuse for the deficiencies. Funnily enough, when I took this picture I thought I was being all unique and different by getting a close up...then we went to the gift shop and there were postcards with the exact same picture on them. Oh well. I still love it.

Lost in the Fog

I woke up this morning fully expecting another lovely, sunny, spring-like day. Instead it was foggy and cold-looking. Even though it warmed up this afternoon and the fog dissipated it stayed grey and dreary all day long. At least it is still spring temperatures, and I really don't mind the occasional grey day, so I'm not complaining too much. It was just a shock to the system so early in the morning. In fact, the grey fogginess of the day actually matches my mood quite exquisitely today (there is totally a word to describe the phenomenon when nature reflects the mental state of a person, I just can not remember it for the life of me). I'm studying for my Art History midterm which is tomorrow night right now so my brian actually feels quite foggy and confusing. I'm also listening to Rajaton, this fantastic acapella group from Finland who have a very etheral sound to them and seem to suit grey days excellently. Perhaps it is becaue they are Finnish. I'm guessing that Finland doesn't tend to be the sunniest of places. Anyway, this picture, which I took in Halifax in July, 2006, suits both the weather and my mental state perfectly.

Fresh Perspective

Here it is, my first post! I'm going to try to upload a new photo daily, so make sure you check back often (or subscribe!). I apologize if this doesn't always work out though. I'm a university student so there are occasions where papers and exams eat me alive and I am lucky if I have time to sleep and eat, never mind do anything fun.

On to the photo, this picture was taken about a month ago, around the beginning of February. One of my roomates had some tulips sitting out on our kitchen counter in order to bring a little bit of spring into the apartment in the midst of the grey and blah month that February tend to be. I was looking at them one day and decided to bring out my camera and see if I couldn't get some interesting shots and lo and behold, I did! In fact, you might see some of the other photos from this shoot show up on the site later. I like this photos simply because it isn't the normal way to look at a flower and yet it is still beautiful and interesting. I tend to take a lot of photos of flowers so I am always excited to find a new way to look at them. I thought this would be an appropriate photo to start off with because it fits so well with the title of the blog. The title actually comes from a song called "Turn Back Around" by Lucy Schwartz, which can be found on the Postgrad Soundtrack. The song starts out "Show me the world in the shape of your looking glass / Beautifully bold when the colors unfold". These lines are so applicable to photography. It's all about perspective, how you look at the world.