travel

Still Here…

admin September 28, 2016

I recently had the opportunity to go to Nashville for a conference. It was a great experience where I met a few people and felt inspired by the things I saw. I might share a bit more about it, another time.

One of the added bonuses included taking a break from the everyday. I tend to let other things take control of my life and so it was great to spend a few days surrounded by things that I love…and, of course, a camera in hand. Vancouver is beautiful but has become a little cliché. Because I don’t take pictures of people, Vancouver is too perfectly beautiful. Being in a new city is great to find inspiration.

I didn’t take a lot of pictures. Nashville, while it’s an older city, has been re-developed a lot. After a rainy Saturday, I was walking behind Capitol Hill. I took the normal shots but then noticed the reflections in the ground.

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In my photography, there are certain themes that will come out. One of those themes is reflections. Maybe it’s the idea of the imperfect view that I like.

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Ghost signs are another theme. Nashville had a lot of old faded signs on buildings. I think that’s mainly because they had a lot of brick buildings, without windows, next to parking lots. It’s as though before the parking lot there was once a building, long forgotten.

Went to Harvard

admin May 6, 2016

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I’m one of those people that always takes a picture from the plane, of a (typically) unidentifiable piece of land. It has always surprised me that aerial views really look like that!

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I’ll admit, I had a very different expectation of Boston. I thought it was an unsafe, rough and tough place. It isn’t that at all or maybe I was in the wrong areas. It was cold…I was right about that. After having one of the warmest April on record, in Vancouver, it was an adjustment to be in 3-15 degree Boston. Luckily, I packed smart and was dressed for the weather!

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While in my last relationship, I truly began to realize that I regularly needed to have alone time which was the time I took for creativity. Usually it involved either taking photographs or cooking. In June of last year, I was worried about getting enough hours in two part-time jobs to help finance a budding freelance career. Instead, I found myself with a full-time job and a part-time job where, for the first few months, I didn’t have a day off. There were some days I worked both jobs in one day.

 

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I let a couple opportunities slip because of this. By February, I stopped working two jobs in one day but then picked up a project, which I just finished. Working on this project made me realize that I can’t work a full-time job, a part-time job, and freelance…giving my clients the time and attention they deserve. So now it’s design full-time, part-time job, and side projects. It’s going to be a struggle but it has to be done.

Getting back to the things I love. One of those things, photography. My heart skipped a few beats while scrolling through my old photos. I knew it was time to go at it again.

 

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Going back to my thoughts on Boston…physically Boston is old America. It’s a blend of European inspired architecture and the New World. A lot of brick and narrow roads. But the people of Boston are quite young and academic. With over 80 universities and colleges, it has a diverse population that is (I’m guessing) more upper middle class. You would have to be, to afford school, rent, and overall living costs.

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Someone asked if I could see myself living there. Probably not for a long length of time. Although there are some schools known for their design programs, I find it to be too academic and less artistic. I wouldn’t mind spending more time there. It’s an interesting window into American-ness.

 

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