High School Dream

This is something very different from me.

      I've been thinking a lot recently about being more intentional with what I create, especially when it comes to my photographs. I want my work to revolve more around an ideas and concepts and plans than simply being spontaneous; I feel I've reached a point where my spontaneity just produces the same result every time, with little variation or improvement. I want my pictures to be worth more than that.

       The first photos I've taken in this mindset were something out of my comfort zone. I brought my camera to the homecoming football game with the idea of capturing part of a quintessential experience as a high schooler from my point of view, and my feelings for the project continued to become stronger as the overwhelming night wore on.

        Initially, I wanted to leave. I was cold and tired. This was my third high school football game (I only go to the homecoming games and this is my third year of high school), but my first where everyone in my circles was hammered out of their mind. I'm not a drinker, and while I leave the decision up to other people as to whether they want to do it themselves, being around hordes of intoxicated people makes me uncomfortable. I can never tell exactly what's going on or whether they're serious or not. It's overwhelming, and I'm just not used to it. But I stayed, for god knows what reason, and it was a rollercoaster.

        I had a strange experience in the bathroom. I had a short conversation with a group of drunk, popular (so to speak) girls who were comforting a crying friend. As the group left, one of the girls, who I'd barely spoken to before, stayed behind and started talking to me as she stood in the doorway of the cement bathroom. 

         She told me that she'd otherwise never tell me this, but wanted to say then that I should be proud of myself, proud of myself for my photography and for my instagram. Not even because of how many followers I have, because followers don't really matter in the end, she said, but because I just put myself out there and do what I want to. And despite the fact she was probably drunk off her ass, that was a strange, profound moment for me that elicited some tears in my eyes. It felt like the kind of thing that happens in books, like some weird metaphor. (ok, sue me for being cliché/cheesy/whatever). 

        I found people I could be with, some friends I really felt like myself around, and I'm so happy to have spent the evening with them. But boyfriend issues also managed to cast a shadow over the whole night and render me ill-tempered and worn down. I took to using photography as a release, and finished my objective of chronicling this overwhelming high school dream.

(Everything is alright now, and I'm elated I figured out how to do double exposures on my d7000!)

A Love Letter To Winthrop, Mass.

At the end of the trip, we stayed in a little town called Winthrop, a little ways out of Boston. I really liked it, and I don't quite know why. There's not much there, some might say it's a tad gritty, the beach isn't superb and it's kind of a hike from the city. But for some reason I just liked it. A lot.

• We stayed at a great little hotel called the Inn at Crystal Cove, which I would totally recommend if you're cool with being outside of the city. It's recently remodeled and the view is great!
• I liked the general -brace yourself for the most overused word of 2015- aesthetic of the town. It has a really cool view of the Boston skyline and it's full of tall, colorful old houses that aren't in perfect shape, which are my favorite kind of houses. 
• Almost all of the restaurants are Italian restaurants. And when it comes to restaurants, that's all I need.
• Except there's also this little breakfast place called High-Tide where everything is really cheap and has a super small coastal town diner vibe. The food isn't life-changing, but it's sure worth the money. 
• You can get into downtown Boston in about 30 minutes taking the bus and the T!
• Lastly, the people there are wonderful. This place puts "Minnesota Nice" which is really just passive-aggressively saying 'that's interesting' about something you don't like to shame. Cars always stopped for pedestrians and waved and smiled. Almost everyone we passed on the sidewalk would say hello. When my family was out on a walk a local guy asked if we needed help finding anything and even recommended a place for dinner (that turned out to be really good!) 

So, enjoy a few snaps of this town that turned out to be just my cup of tea.

Boston, Mass.

I've spent the past few days exploring Boston with my family. We stayed at a hotel right on Copley square which was a wonderful decision since it's within walking distance of lots of shopping and food, as well as Boston Public Garden, which I loved. The area was surprisingly reminiscent of Europe! 

We spent most of our time walking, pointing out cool old brownstones and we took the T up to Cambridge and the North End. My sister and I did a little shopping on Newbury Street, and I made a conscious effort to dress cute every day. (I even walked three miles in heels!) 

Just a Life Update

So tomorrow, I depart on a Grand Transatlantic Voyage. Just kidding, I'm going to Boston. But I'm really looking forward to it! And I'm bringing the laptop along, so maybe I'll be able to update you along the way!

I've also got some photos from other recent excursions of mine, since I have some time ahead of me on airplanes and in cars to write posts.

Here's a nice interesting list of stuff I've been up to:

• taught myself to play guitar
• went to an instagram meetup
• did a ballet intensive where I got to do pointe work again!
• bought some cute clothes
• read Me and Earl and the Dying Girl
• started reading Americanah
• went to my cabin with friends
• listened to Bad Bad Hats and Two Door Cinema Club
• ate a lot of peaches and peanut butter toast

And now hopefully, I will blog about some of those things as well as my upcoming voyage! I hope you are all having a very nice summer/winter/life!

No. 12 Cider House

         Apologies for the absence! Photography among other things has been on the backburner lately as I've been doing quite a bit of ballet and taught myself how to play the guitar. But I have lots of interesting things coming up! 

        The parents of my longtime best friend are some of the brains behind a new cider operation just outside of the cities. They had a small tasting event last weekend at their orchard in a beautifully decorated barn and although I'm not  of drinking age, when my family was invited I jumped not only at the chance to see my friend but to do a little portfolio-building work in food photography. Here's the result!

Beach Baby

         I got a few new things last week, two of them being a remote for my camera (finally!) and a new bikini from American Apparel. I spent the weekend at my cabin again for the fourth of july, and figured it would be a good opportunity to test both of them out at once! So far I'm really liking the remote (it's really nice to have my face in sharp focus for once!) and seriously, never underestimate the power of high waisted swimwear and the color black. Never. This bathing suit is basically my dream suit. Plus, my cousin brought me a big old bag of thrift store clothes I'm pretty excited about! (That's where the white shirt is from). So, enjoy a few self-portraits and snapshots of my weekend!