An old post revived

Apparently I wrote this sometime last year and never posted it. Enjoy.

Yesterday I took photos for a fashion article that the student newspaper is doing on current trends, like Ray Ban looking sunglasses. So I took a little trip to Zoe's. This nice lady was working there and kindly modeled some sunglasses for me.

And now I'm in love with the lighting in Zoe's. They have these great open windows and the sunshine was just crawling in and making lovely portrait lighting. And the I love the vintage apron and the colors in the background. The End.

A couple of weeks ago I went to a Turkish marble art exhibit at UAB. Mine Calik, who moved to Arizona from Turkey with her husband, demonstrated the delicate art of marbling, or Ebru. Marble art begins by mixing seaweed and water in a pan. The artist then drops paint, which has been mixed with oxgall (an animal substance that helps it to expand), into the seaweed mixture. While the paint floats atop the jelly-like substance, the artist carefully creates a design in it. When the design is complete, the artist lays a piece of acid-free paper onto the paint to transfer the picture.


Mine explained to me that the preparation for this art is much harder than creating the design. If the mixture has too much or too little of any ingredient, then it won't work correctly. Mine also told me that Ebru art is connected to the Sufi tradition, a part of Islam that focuses on the mystical realm of spirituality. She said that the art is an example of destiny, you can make plans for how you want it to turn out, but you never really know what the end product will look like.



I played around with this photo, and it's kind of nifty I think.

enchanted bride

The best part about my computer at work is that it has photoshop, so I can play with photos when I coughdon'tfeellikeworkingcough. But hey, I'm the photo editor at work, so shouldn't I be enhancing my photo skills at every chance I get? Yep. ;) Here is a picture that I took of one of my dear friends who was recently married:


She's beautiful, right? And the setting was just lovely, red bridges just scream take my picture! This one is located at the Botanical Gardens in Birmingham, AL. But I decided that this picture could use a little more enchantment, so I've been messing around for the last hour and here is what I finally came up with:




I would tell you exactly how I did it, but I changed my mind so many times that I don't quite remember. But, it did involve cropping, desaturating, sepia tenting, lighting effects, gaussian blur, and messing with the opacity of different levels a lot. It was fun, and I think it's pretty enchanting. :D

Eye jest lurned haw to do this raight hur.

Wisconsin light:

Ay-und, it ex-ited meh so mutch that i had'ta talk lak a cuntry bumkin' fer a minit. 

Ok, I'm good now.

I went to the Moss Rock festival on Sunday and I met a photographer named Amy Wilburn.

She was a darling sweet lady and she gave me her card which beheld a website, which beheld a link, that beheld a link, that beheld a link to this. And that's how I learned to use the polar coordinates effect in photoshop to produce planet photos. It looks intimidating at first, but it's actually very simple, the hardest part is finding the right photo to use. 

So now I have to go take pictures just for this polar coordinating stuff. And I want to incorporate people, any volunteers? It'll be fun. 

Texas bloom:

The St. George Middle Eastern Festival at the St. George Melkite Catholic Church...

...whew, that's a mouthful. Anywho, mom and I went to the festival on Thursday and it was a big basket full of cultural fun. We had $18 between both of us--which is not much considering the prices they usually charge at festivals--so we strapped on our frugal pants and entered the church lobby, which was brimming with mediterranean wraps and sandwiches and pastries and coffee and and and... We tightened our frugal belts and walked to the back and ordered a single wrap for $7. We split it, and it was plenty for our bellies. Besides, we also had two pastries ($3 each) and,  I had a cup of Arabic coffee for $1, whoa that stuff is good. It's sweet and smooth and not bitter at all. Outside they had a large white tent with tables and a dance floor in the middle. Two belly dancers performed, as well as a group of high schoolers in traditional middle eastern clothing. 

Next we ventured to the front of the church and entered the sanctuary where they were giving tours. The lady who gave us a tour was sweet and soft spoken and she told her stories of the church with pride. She said that her family was from just outside of Jerusalem and that most of the people who attend the church are Lebanese or Palestinian. We walked along the walls of the church as she told us the stories of each saint pictured on the walls, an apostle, a prostitute, a martyr, the mother of God. Each picture was packed with symbolism, each told a different story. The lighting in the church was warm and friendly, but low, so it was a little bit tough to get clear pictures. Too bad I can't fit a tripod in my back pocket.

We left with happy bellies, and another story in the grand tapestry of life that is made up of all of these beautiful stories, woven together. And $4 leftover in our frugal pants pockets. Heck, we even had enough leftover to purchase a candle. But we didn't. 

super duper

It never fails. I always become most inspired the night before an english paper is due. Inspired to do anything other than write the paper that is. I always begin with good intentions...intentions of sitting down with a good supply of caffeine and nothing but the materials I need to write the paper before me in an attempt to knock it out in a couple of hours. But as soon as I start brainstorming about the concepts, themes, and characters that I'm going to write about, my brain screams, "Do something creative! Write something! Paint something! Take a picture of something!" I have a four page paper comparing the themes of Hawthorne's The Birthmark and Marlowe's The Tragical History of Dr. Faustus that's due tomorrow and I've written about a page. And I'm pretty excited about it. No jest, I like writing papers like that. But seriously, it does something to my brain, it's like there's this mental block that won't leave until my brain throws up something somewhat creative. Tonight I did some photoshopping magic to cure the ailment. I told you I've been inspired by this lady lately. She's pretty much my hero. And she home teaches her kids. :) Anywho, she taught me this:

And I named this post "super duper" because that's what I think of what I learned. You can see what the photo originally looked like on the previous post. The only sad part is that the way-cool spectating man in the background is blurred out now. But I still think it's pretty super duper. Thanks lady. Now I can write my paper. :)

bubble

I took this at the Rothbury Festival in Michigan over the summer. During the lazy afternoon part of the day when everyone was flocking to the shade and soft ground of the Sherwood Forest, a couple of people set up and started blowing these -huge- bubbles. I like how the pretty lady in this picture is curled up under the bubble as it passes over her. And I like the man in background that's watching. The bubble was floating towards me and I kept taking pictures until it almost popped on my camera...but I pulled it out of the way just in time. :]