Signs of the Times

I really loved all the old signs, storefronts, and architecture in Richmond, so I put this little photo essay together. However instead of trying to put a written essay with it, I'm just going to put titles or little stories from my trip.

Our hotel was actually an old department store, Miller and Rhoads, that they renovated and restored. They kept the original sign on the building. When the hotel was finished they had an old employee who had written the history of the hotel come stay in one of their suites, which happened to be his old office.

Coca-Cola

The American Wholesale Barber-Beauty Supply.

Wise words from Jim.

Amazing pancakes. And biscuits.

This saying was on a small plaque that was sort of hidden on the wall of a doorway of a small fabric shop. The shop was closed when we walked by, but we peeked in the window and it looked like they still lived by their motto of quality.

Currently: sightseeing. I visited the Jefferson Memorial today.

Quiet Moment

There is usually a moment somewhere in my day where I am alone.





My ipod is dead, or forgotten at home. Any friend I was with had to go somewhere or take a different train. I have somehow turned off part of my brain. I think without planning or organizing. I listen and watch without goals or an agenda.

These little tiny gaps somehow pop in between the everyday back and forth, the to-do list items, and the oh-so-necessary errands that need to be done right away. I get to step outside of myself and blend in with the rush of people overtaking crowded sidewalks or simply look around as the unknown observer. It’s like listening to the pulse of the city.





The city itself is no longer a carefully constructed map of roads, monuments, tunnels, buildings and bridges. It’s distracted shoes tripping over cobblestone streets, drivers honking horns and making way for police sirens, the quick brush of someone’s jacket as they rush past, vendors calling out to potential customers,damp crunchy leaves,people talking loudly while absorbed in private cell phone conversations, or the staticy music from someone else's headphones.





Then something reminds me of what I was really supposed to be doing, so I snap out of it, stop all that silly spacing out, and go on with my day.

This is my final photography assignment. Hopefully it's not too sappy or anything like that. I can't believe my time in Paris is almost done! Oh, I also just finished my "after" blog post for the BYU Paris blog (We wrote a before post on something we wanted to do in Paris, and then later we had to do an after post on whether it met our expectations or not).

Currently: BUSY and tired; hence the no non photography posts right now. But they will happen, I promise.

Influenced by Horizons Collection

This week we had to do an essay based on an exhibit that inspired us during the previous week. I choose the Antoine Gonine (Hopefully all the names of photographers are spelled correctly in this; it was hard to decipher my notes!) Exhibit from the exhibit at the Maison Européene de la Photographie. I had originally wanted to do a series of portraits in the style of Jehsong Beck, or possibly street scenes like Marc Ribould's photos, but at the end of the day I came back to the Horizons collection. I guess it was just meant to be.

Currently: Crazy busy

Decisive Moment Part 2

Ok so since I didn't have to take photos for class last week, I decided to keep looking for a "decisive moment." I took this photo of my friend at Chartes and it was my favorite shot of the week.

Currently: excited for Italy

Decisive Moment

So I was really excited for the last photography project. It was all about capturing the "decisive moment." Sadly, I never really felt like I got that moment! I ended up using this picture which I actually took a while ago and don't like that much(There was only one I really liked from this week and it didn't really seem to fit the theme). But this week we aren't taking photos (going to photo exhibit instead) so I think I'll continue this theme on my own for another week. Who knows maybe I'll find that perfect shot!

Currently: Excited for Normandy

Clinical trial 1A: Results: Bittersweet

Paris to me has been a magical place of meringue, savory fillings, and whipped cream. But what is it that makes a pastry so irresistible? Does everyone hear the siren call of dark chocolate? I realized that this question could not be explained by my usual photography frivolity. This called for something more serious. At first I was intimidated by the magnitude of my task, but if Bill Nye taught me anything it is that everything can be explained with science. So I began designing my experiment. I came up with a plan to capture the average person's reaction to the delectable thing we call dessert.



I would take a Lenotre pastry and strategically place it in a public place for anyone to encounter and secretly watch from the side lines. Would they be horrified at its abandonment? Would they worry about where it came from or would they just take it and stuff it in their mouth without a second thought? There were risks to be sure. But it had to be done. My assistant helped me set the stage. Pretending to be absorbed in a phone call she walked away from a bench leaving behind the pastry in a box.



A few heads turned as they walked past, but no one was bold enough to go up to it. Finally a family sat down on the bench. I was slightly dismayed when the woman pushed the box to the end of the bench and nibbled on an inferior Mars bar instead. But I didn’t let it detour me from my scientific observation. Surely no one could resist the pastry for long or think that it had evil intentions.



Sadly the experiment took a tragic turn when the woman, in an attempt to position herself on the bench for a photo, callously thrust the innocent pastry off the edge. I was in shock. I know I am supposed to be an impartial scientific observer, but this was too much.



After this catastrophic turn of events the experiment was promptly terminated and all other test groups abandoned. The remaining subjects were disposed of through proper channels.





This was my photography assignment for the topic food. I had so much fun doing this little experiment! My roommate Haidy is my partner in crime, or assistant :), in case you are wondering.

Currently: excited that my French seems to be improving (slowly, but surely lol)

Progression

From a sleepy countryside village...



To a quaint little town...



Which is traded for something that is more city chic...



And then replaced with something refreshingly modern...



Slowly transforming into uniquely urban...



Followed by lovely potential that is soon to be remodeled....



Quickly becoming a bit neglected...



Or all together forgotten.

So that was my photo assignment for last week. I got way more into this one. The theme was architecture. I'm super excited for this week's theme: Food.

Currently: happy that I talked myself into buying my new scarf

My! People come and go so quickly here!

My photo assignment for this last week.

Sometimes I wake up and for a moment I’m home. I am Dorothy opening her eyes to find she’s left the strange and wonderful world of Technicolor. The stop and go of the metro was really four lane freeways and traffic jams, the noise of late night traffic drifting in from my apartment window becomes the steady hum of Texas air conditioning in late October, and the river Seine transforms into a stretch of muddy bayou. Then my eyes adjust to the dim morning light; the moment passes and I remember where I really am. But despite any coincidental eerie similarity, often I just can’t shake how utterly different and out of the ordinary it all feels. A tiny corner of my mind rebels and wants to go back to the familiar, everyday land of black and white, where I know Auntie Em and the rest of the gang will be waiting. But just as that little thought creeps into my head, something happens.



I see that trees are still trees, whether they line garden paths or suburban streets,



And sunlight is still sunlight, whether it reflects off a countryside stream or the backyard kiddie pool,



And rain is still rain, whether it comes in handfuls or buckets,




And leaves are still leaves, whether they pile up on scenic hillsides or cement driveways,



And sky is still sky, wherever I am standing.

Eventually I remember that I can always find my way back home… no ruby slippers required.

Well that's it. The theme was a combination of nature and nostalgia. The nature photo thing was hard for me, but I did the best I could. For some reason this week I also had a hard time pairing the photo with text. I think I occasionally get obsessed with one part of the project and need to consider the whole more. Anyways it was fun to try something different with the essay this week. Hopefully I'll find something really amazing for this week's theme: Architecture.

Currently: Excited for my weekend get away!

Inside Looking Out

Photography Assignment (Explanation at the end):

Life inside the musicbox ain't easy
The mallets hit
The gears are always turning

And everyone inside the mechanism
Is yearning to get out

And sing another melody completely
So different from the one they're always singing

I close my eyes and think that I have found me
But then I feel mortality surround me
I want to sing another melody
So different from the one I always sing

-Music Box, Regina Spektor

This is my photography blog post for the week. Our theme for the week was storefronts or professions. We were also challenged to be more creative with our essay, and try to stay away from the personal narrative which most of us have being doing so far.

I obviously choose storefronts as my subject. It's a little odd, but I decided to show the life of a mannequin. If mannequins were conscious they would be stuck and forced to live day in and day out in the same poses. It kind of goes back to the whole "I wonder if my toys come alive after I go to sleep?" thing that we all wondered when we were little kids. Or those movies where kids get sneak in a department store after hours and have some crazy fun adventure. Having personally been stuck in a mall after hours, I can attest to you it is not fun, you do not have wonderful adventures. You get hot, frustrated, and bored pretty fast, hence my sympathy for the mannequins, lol.

For the text, I paired the photos with the song Music Box by Regina Spektor ( I wish I could provide a link here so you could listen instead of just reading some of the lyrics) where she talks about being stuck inside a music box forced to repeat the same song over and over. Hopefully people get it... if not at least they get introduced to a great Regina Spektor song, lol.

Currently listening to: La Ballade of Lady and Bird, and Maurane

Religion Photos

I just finished my photo blog post for the week. This week we had to do a series of pictures on religion or transformation. I choose religion. This one seemed harder when it came to photos (I have to go from one good photo to four? lol) but the writing seemed a little more natural when you were working with a series of photos. At least, that's how it seems to me.Anyways here it is:



When I step into a cathedral in Paris the first thing I notice is often the overwhelming beauty. So many of these churches and cathedrals have gorgeous stain glass windows, or carefully crafted sculptures surrounded by candle light. It’s breathtaking. However I hate to admit that often instead of this leading to a moment of quiet reflection, it leads to me going into full tourist mode. I take pictures from multiple sides and angles, of course, flash, then no flash, horizontal, vertical, then I throw a picture of myself in myspace style (look mom it’s half of stained glass window, my face, and a chunk of my arm)… until beep beep my memory card is full. And I’m not the only one. Usually the majority of the people walking in ignore the pamphlets on when Mass is, or what the church’s message is and pick up the paper on the historical significance of the building.



Of course there is nothing wrong with enjoying these buildings and appreciating all the time and work that went into them, but sometimes it seems like people would rather treat them as an attraction than acknowledge the reason they were created in the first place. It’s a little disheartening to see various couples declaring their love by etching their names onto the column of a church that was designed to be a house of reverence and worship.





However just before I become a skeptic and think that religion is under constant attack from modernization and commercialism; I’ll stumble across something unexpected. I’ll find a broken down, seemingly abandoned grave in a tiny little cemetery that has a brand new cross placed on it. Or I’ll accidentally pass by a family all crowding around a couple as they walk to their wedding. It is those kinds of moments that remind me that there are still billions of people who look to God in their daily lives.



Currently: In awe of Monet's gardens