Monday, December 31, 2007

Rosanna and I in her Volvo.

These are all of the photos I took on my trip.
Sometimes I love coming back from trips with less than 10 photos because it means I had a real vacation.

we looked at the stars
took meandering drives through the countryside
ate indian food
shopped
slept in
watched a lame movie
watched an adorable movie
baked!
drank lots of coffee
and went to bed early.

it was perfect.

here's my shining star of a friend.
both of our families love Volvos.
here we are in hers.
i love this one of us!we get to be roommates this semester!

happy new year to all,
i'm going to DISNEYLAND
with 70thousandotherpeople!
love, shan

Friday, December 28, 2007

Reading Material while I'm out and about.

I'm on vacation right now!
In San Luis Obispo, visiting my friend Rosanna.
She lives in a museum/art gallery house which I'm excited to show you in a few days.

For now though, I thought it would be fun to reminisce.
Most of you probably haven't read my blog since day one, so here are some of my favorite posts from my archives. Just peruse, pick ones that look interesting, or if none of them look interesting, look at LittleOtsu.com because they always have enchanting things for sale.



i noticed i write a lot on the subject of time.
a fun surprise in the parkinglot.

an observation as i brisked through the getty

a day where i felt like the world was collapsing.



and here are some of my all time favorite photos and art projects
this one's entitled: small fluctuations found within the grand scheme of the world

my dad and I went to New York! photos from our trip. they are all yellow and grey.

one of my favorite art projects, made from things i found at home depot and vintage shops

what i learned from photographing a broken chair



a few posts about... me.
8 secret facts about myself

book journals that i love. this is one of my most looked at posts!

a self portrait drawing



photgraphy milestones
my first photos ever-- taken in Africa

my first wedding!

photo tips for new photographers (not a milestone, but whatever.)



i noticed i also write about birds a lot,
a bird that i made out of paper and glue

one of my favorite photo projects I've done. slide film that I burned, layered, wrecked, and made new.

a graphic design project about sparrows. it liberated me.




and that's it!
happy reading. enjoy your day, you life, your world-
shannon

Thursday, December 27, 2007

Black Holes

--this is a little graphic design journey. read what i write. it will help you understand.--

I really like this laundromat.

For my graphic design class, we had to choose a location to host an imaginary conference. The conference had to have a topic that dealt with something fantastical--out of the ordinary--bizarre... and so I chose to do mine at the laundromat on the topic of black holes. My inspiration for the black holes topic was this 25 cent bouncy ball machine.i bought three bouncy balls, scanned them, and found out that scanned bouncy balls look like planets, and are kind of creepy. creepy in a good way.
ahh! i didn't know what was happening with the scanned bouncy balls, and somehow it led me to think of black holes, and there stood my topic. my conference was going to be held at the laundromat, and would be a panel discussion on the nature of black holes.
We had to choose 3 speakers for the conference. Mine were an astronaut, a bottle of bleach, and a grandmother. It's easy figure out how I came up with the first two, but the third one was inspired by all of the paraphernalia like this that I found in the midst of the washers and dryers:
We had to collect colors and shapes and ideas from our place, so here are some photos I took:
this is 5 of about...200 that exist of my laundry spinning.
i love nuances. and i love watching laundry spin and photographing it and then examining it afterward. so much fun!
i know. i know.
//////////////////////////////////////////
and here's my first attempt at my advertising poster.
essentially, its pretty bad.
The poster is made to be 30x30 inches, so click to see the small type...
I'm experiencing the importance of pushing through ideas-- making and making and making in order to come out with your best work-- so I used a new photo, redid the type, reNAMED it, and made a constellation out of this: here's try number two-- which is a lot better, but not quite there yet. I actually thought I was done at this point, but my professor (hi Mark!) thought that it needed something more on the edges, and reminded me I hadn't included any grandma clues.
Perfect time to add roses!Here's the finished one!
click on it if you want to see it in its glory state.

translation:
Where did all the socks go?
A panel discussion on the nature of black holes
Tuesday January 15th, 10am
at Laundry Coin Op Laundry
(on the right, swirling with the whiteness) Featuring an Astronaut, a Grandmother, and a Bottle of Bleach



secret: the S of Socks is REALLY IN THE LAUNDRY!! the cuff of my green sweater magically miraculously fatefully amazingly was the shape of an S.
and this is why you try try try again and again and again and take 200 pictures of laundry spinning.

Tuesday, December 25, 2007

Funniest (worst) Gift Ever

before I show you my gift, we need to look at how cute Brianne is.
she is no doubt about it the cutest little grey pet ever
I would now like to become a pet photographer.
Now its Bad Gift time.

My mom got us pajamas.

When I opened mine, I burst out laughing and then had TEARS come because of how NOT me these things were. The pants are black with neon stars on them, and the shirt has a tinkerbell on the front. I couldn't hold it in. MOM THESE ARE HIDEOUS!!!!!!!

My mom is cool enough that she also burst into laughter and told me that we'd exchange them asap. The precious part is that she meant well. "But you really like the stars and you like Disney!!" "But mom. I like the REAL stars, and I like DisneyLAND." (by the way! i now have a PASS!!!!)

My sister had a similar experience when opening hers. Light pink with monkeys? Did you forget she's in high school???

LOVE YA MOM!!
Another funny gift was this jacket, which is the exact same fabric as my Shootsac (my camera bag). I hate matching. So, Heather has already inherited the jacket so that I don't embarrass myself. Back to Brianne :)
She was just basking in the sun this afternoon with my mom
I think I took 100 photos of this moment, and about... 20? of the rest of the dayshe was our Christmas joy.
make fun of me. think I'm tacky. gag.
but seriously.
ahh! mm!!

anyone care to share your funny gifts???

Happy Boxing Day Eve
thank you Donny Hoover for reminding me of the real title of today.
- shannon

Monday, December 24, 2007

hello hello!

Merry Christmas, all :)
this is my friend Rachel's sweet Grandma.


thanks for stopping by to look at my photos on here.
i appreciate your support, your comments, your ideas, your encouragement...
and have the best, Christmas, ever.
love, shan!

Sunday, December 23, 2007

Hollie and Eli in Pasadena

I got to photograph one of my dearest friends, Hollie :)
This engagement session was such a delight, because her fiance has been in Africa for the past 6 months, and he's BACK!!!

Hollie was my roommate this semester, and I basically only knew Eli through their phone conversations and letters... and it was so good to hang out with him in person. He's so perfect for my friend. I fully fully fully approve. I'm so excited for them!!

I don't get to shoot their April wedding because I get to be the maid-of-honor instead!! I've never been IN a wedding before. Not even as the flower girl! It's going to be such a blast being on the other side of a wedding. I'm looking forward to it.

So, we went to Pasadena for their photos. I loved it.

I want to start out with my favorite one.
a little yellow patch
what I love about this session is that they just rocked out whatever suggestions I gave them. i love when people trust my quirky ideas. because then we get fun images like this >
a nice mom portrait
smile
when I told them to 'go over by that hideous purple wall', they-
This was one of the cutest engagement session moments I've seen. Hollie does Karate, and Eli is a dancer. I know. I know. We passed by a dance studio, and Eli took her in there and taught her the rumba!!!!!!!!!! I think it was the rumba (?).
Why does every business in Pasadena uses the typeface Brush Script?secret
adorablehilARIOUS!!!!and another one of my favorites. :)
glowing.
Pasadena is setting up for the Rose Parade-- so we utilized the bleachers!
aww :)

hollie and eli, your relationship is beautiful and I can't wait for the rollerskating party... the barn dance... everything.

love you two :)
- shan