I used to do a “Things I Love Thursday”, except I guess I called it ohJoy…and it wasn’t usually on a thursday.
It was just a list of things I loved about life, when things were really bringing me down. Unfortunetly, it would take me so much time to think up enough things to love about life, that it was a rarely done.
This year, I’m going to try to make a goal of just being able to write down and take photos of more positive things, more often.
Heres a list of things I’ve loved about 2011, thus far.
fish cakes in my ramen
letting my hair grow
waking up next to a cuddly dog
real friends who dress like imaginary friends
having my hair done on an otherwise average day.
fresh challah bread from the bakery to make french toast (with nutella)
bubbles in my coffee
finding interior in inspiration in unlikely places. (my future bathroom will soon look like the locker room from Shutter Island)
food wrapped like presents.
weekly family dinner nights
Seeing this guy who is obviously from the abortion ad on the train, stand around with his girlfriend, uncomfortably.
having the first meal of the new year, with some of my favorite people.
This song because it’s beautiful.
“He always sounded like he was drinking champagne on a train and wise to the ways of the world.”
-Tom Waits talking about Teddy Edwards. (Also beautiful.)
other honorable mentions:
strangers saying “happy new year” in passing, all over New York
snowball fights
when friends from different parts of my life, end up becoming friends
extra olives in martinis
japanese eraser toys
Putting Annie Hall on repeat while I’m sick in bed. I’ll pass out and wake up to something that makes me smile, no matter what part of the movie is playing.
being reminded that I’m missed
Pushing Daisies or any program that involves narrative story telling, for that matter. Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, lemony snicket’s a series of unfortunate events, ect…
I can’t believe how much I’ve shot since I got my new camera, last year. I can’t wait to do this again next year. I plan on getting many more action shots and a lot less voyeuristic ones. 2011 is going to the year I get real bold. It’s also going to be the year where I get a WordPress theme that allows me to post larger photos.
Anyway, eres a wrap up of 2010 through my favorite photos that I’ve taken within the past 12 months.
To counteract the unrelenting hatred I have for cats, I love dogs. I watch a lot of The Dog Whisperer. I used to recite the dialogue from All Dogs Go To Heaven. I’ve even eaten dog food and not totally hated it….I mean…what….
Here’s list of some random dog facts and dog photos I’ve taken!
Dogs have three eyelids. The third lid, called a nictitating membrane or “haw,” keeps the eye lubricated and protected
The Basenji is the world’s only barkless dog.
In Ventura County, California, cats and dogs are not allowed to have sex without a permit.
Different smells in the a dog’s urine can tell other dogs whether the dog leaving the message is female or male, old or young, sick or healthy, happy or angry
Scholars have argued over the metaphysical interpretation of Dorothy’s pooch, Toto, in the Wizard of Oz. One theory postulates that Toto represents Anubis, the dog-headed Egyptian god of death, because Toto consistently keeps Dorothy from safely returning home.
Dogs have a wet nose to collect more of the tiny droplets of smelling chemicals in the air
Small quantities of grapes and raisins can cause renal failure in dogs
Ancient Egyptians revered their dogs. When a pet dog would die, the owners shaved off their eyebrows, smeared mud in their hair, and mourned aloud for days
The average dog can run about 19 mph
A dog’s shoulder blades are unattached to the rest of the skeleton to allow greater flexibility for running
Apple and pear seeds contain arsenic, which may be deadly to dogs.
A puppy is born blind, deaf, and toothless
The term “dog days of summer” was coined by the ancient Greeks and Romans to describe the hottest days of summer that coincided with the rising of the Dog Star, Sirius
A dog most likely interprets a smiling person as baring their teeth, which is an act of aggression
Dachshunds were bred to fight badgers in their dens.
Petting dogs is proven to lower blood pressure of dog owners.
The name of the dog on the Cracker Jacks box is Bingo.
The Taco Bell Chihuahua is a rescued dog named Gidget.
The phrase “raining cats and dogs” originated in seventeenth-century England. During heavy rainstorms, many homeless animals would drown and float down the streets, giving the appearance that it had actually rained cats and dogs
The most intelligent dogs are reportedly the Border Collie and the Poodle, while the least intelligent dogs are the Afghan Hound and the Basenji
Dogs have sweat glands in between their paws
French poodles originated in Germany. Not France
During the Middle Ages, mixed breeds of peasants’ dogs were required to wear blocks around their necks to keep them from breeding with noble hunting dogs. Purebred dogs were very expensive and hunting became the province of the rich
My Sundays have recently been falling into a bit of a pattern. The alcohol thats still in my system, wakes me up at the ungodly hour of 9 a.m. I go out to the living room to recollect my actions of Saturday, with my room mate James. It always calls for coffee.
My neighborhood doesn’t have too many sit down restaurant options. Its fine because I could eat at the only one we do have pretty much everyday if I had the choice.
Northeast Kingdom is dimly lit and looks like a lodge in Vermont. The coffee is good. The food is decently priced. Their waiting area plays Looney Toons by a fireplace. The servers are always somehow familiar and comforting. And best of all, its pretty much right downstairs from me.
James and I go there almost every Sunday. Sometimes its just us staring at the bar in silence, and sometimes we take our out of town visitors to show them that although our neighborhood still looks pretty sketchy, we have the redeeming factor of a classy looking place like Northeast!
This Sunday was a bit of treat since our other room mate, Naomi, was around. Along with an old friend of James’ from Texas. Speaking of treats, I find it interesting to add in the fact that Naomi had taken a couple of special cookies before we headed down for breakfast.
I decided to document it because Naomi is moving out shortly, and although all three of us are friends, we’ve never all gone out for a meal before.
So this was the first and last room mate brunch in this chapter of my life.
Spitting off historical cartoon facts when asked to talk about something I love for a seamless 60 seconds.
wearing socks into dive bars
Who You Gonna Call? (especially the guy 0:55 seconds into the video) I believe I was walking down the street with Krysti when we passed them on their way to film this. Oh, if only we had followed them.
Watching a random episode of Lost while having someone try to fill me in, as it goes. It was a bit like having a personal Mystery Science Theater 3000.
Dancing in the middle of my office when I start getting tired, mid day
This Gorillaz commercial. Hey Damon, What with the cute outfit choice and why isn’t Hewlett wearing it?
Having someone who can sense when I’m down and surprise me with a dozen Krispy Kreme doughnuts, black coffee, and a collectors edition Takashi Miike film, when I wake up
“…and I have learned to live, as it were, with the idea that I will never find peace and happiness, either. But as long as I know there’s a pretty good chance I can get my hands on either one of them every once in a while, I do the best I can between high spots.”
Hunter S. Thompson
Growing a gardenia plant on my balcony
Having a very caring friend send me my favorite coffee from New York
this photo I took of Randi
I like this song…maybe I don’t. I haven’t been able to tell for the three weeks its been stuck in my head. Here are some musical gems that I am positive that my ears find appealing:
Roy:[humming] We don’t need no education. Moss:Yes you do, you’ve just used a double negative.
I recently took a trip to Ellicott City, MD to visit Ghost Town Tattoo and a friend that some call Machine Gun Vince. A man who welds guns from scratch, smokes more than he breathes, will skin a dear an sample the meat BEFORE sticking it into the oven, and sells furniture that he’s found in houses where people were murdered and has it sold as “vintage furniture” in boutique shops for 1000′s of dollars.
I was interested in shooting new guns, trying new….cuisine, and live in someone else’s Italian leather shoes for a few days. After the food poisoning from eating a seared steak left my system, i had quite an interesting time seeing how people in such a small town find day to day happiness. I was on a photo hunt to find beauty in something that may seem dreary to city folk, like myself.
I ended up shooting a slew of guns, exploring very metal basements, seeing where the props from The Wire ended up, hunting abandoned homes, and finding abandoned grave yards along the way.
A while back, I promised to transport a pile of treats to a friend for his birthday. Now, if I were meeting up with someone for a cup of tea or a visit to grandmas I would bring something like biscuits or scones. But for a celebration you need icing!!! Unfortunately, getting anything frosted from point A to point B in mint condition is nearly impossible unless I plan on lugging some oddly shaped piece of Tupperware back home….a chore I am not fond of.
So I went on a hunt for a tasty transportable treat and stumbled upon this recipe for homemade Oreos! I’m not a huge fan of Oreos, but these cookies have changed my mind. They were so fun, quick, and easy to make that I want to bake them all of the time.
I feel like my friends are all so amazing, creative, and funny that its a shame to not have a damn good photo of each and every one of them in my life. Here, I’ve taken a collection of shots from the people I have spent some quality time with in the past month and linked them together. Although aesthetically pleasing, the solid colored walls probably create a very impersonal photograph to you. For me though, I can remember every situation in which I ended up conveniently place near each saturated setting. What we laughed about, what the weather was like, what we ate, ect.
This series a little bookmark to remember my adventures of the month. I hope to continue it, through out the next couple of months. Eventually having a place to display them all at their proper size.
There are few things I miss more about childhood than being in class with a vague project idea, a thick stack of white paper, and buckets of colorful pens and pencils. It really made me use my imagination.
The other day, I was shooting a project at the MOMA that involved some lucky teenagers and my most loved childhood atmosphere.
I think that over the next month or so, I’m going to set a day of the week where I set my house up like a 5th grade art class and have my adult friends over for some childlike fun.
This is Krysti. She came up to visit me this week, and I don’t remember the last time I have laughed until I cried so often.
When we were about 13 years old, I was speaking to her on the phone while my mom was yelling at me for some reason or another and wanted me to get off. As if Krysti couldn’t hear this woman, I told her I had to go because I was in trouble. Krysti refused to let me get off the phone. Not until I made a monster noise.
I spent nearly 5 minutes hiding in my room, whispering over the phone that my mom was reeeeeally pissed and I couldn’t do that, only to have her cut me off and demand a monster noise!
By this point, my mother was livid, I was trying to hold back my laughs sooo hard that i was tearing up, and everyone in Krysti’s household was laughing loudly and anticipating what would happen next.
I let out a dinosaur-like peeping sound hoping to make my friend happy, but not to agitate my mom anymore by hearing me not take her seriously.
“NO! CHLOE, MAKE A MONSTER NOISE AT HER! NOOOWW!”
So I did! I made some piercingly loud, utterly ridiculous sound to counteract my mothers babble and cursing in the next room….then my mom dropped a dish, came over, and everything kind of went black.
I don’t think there was a time that I hung out with Krysti and didn’t return home to getting my ass kicked. A consequence that was always worth the adventure.
To this day, Krysti breaks up an unfortunate scenario by making a monster noise or playing dead.
Her personality has remained as animated as it was when we met, roughly 13 years ago. Its so difficult to meet people who are able to hold such a bright and carefree outlook on life, while still remaining intelligent and level headed.
She heads home today and I’m not NOT slightly bummed.
I’m pretty bummed on life but sulking has never made anything better in 23 years, so I doubt it will start at this point in my life.
I may be a Clobot, but I’m still mainly human. Going through human emotions that I am learning that everyone seems to go through, as unbelievable as they feel.
Yesterday I bought a hobo hat from Marc Jacobs.
Just doing my part in supporting my fellow New Yorks coke addicted fashion designers with AIDS.
This morning I drank far too much coffee and tea.
I still cry at night. I still am forcing an appetite upon myself when I wake up. I’m still avoiding looking at photos of my past, so that I don’t sulk over my ignorance and idiocy, through that period of life.
Something tells me that the snow is finally gone for good. This deserves a mix!
Studying painting in his youth, makes the minimal composition of his photographs unique.
He did not collect his works or make any attempt to preserve them.
Bourdin wanted all of his work destroyed after his death, in 1991
Unfortunately for him, and fortunate for this post, the fact that he did not collect all of his work make it difficult to destroy, in the end.
Bourdin was a close friend of Man Ray, who wrote the introduction for the catalogue of his first show in the late 1950′s.
Bourdin, along with Helmut Newton, is considered to be one of the most revolutionary fashion photographers of the second half of the 20th century.
I feel like Bourdin is the Ying to Helmut Newtons Yang. Although his work is much more saturated and action based, it is also obvious to see that he was much more morbid and serious than Newton
He worked with French Vouge for nearly 30 years, yet not much of his work was published.
He is well known for his timeless photographs advertising Charles Jourdans shoe collections in the 70′s.
Last night Blender sent on a mission to shoot a few men who have preached about hating their genitals.
Although I do really like a few albums, I was never a die hard Cursive fan, but seeing them live made me reconsider.
I typically don’t connect with live music, too often. But this show was pretty amazing.
I left Cursive feeling like I would have totally seen them again.
Even decided that (due to the economy and not cause I’m stingy, of course) I would even pay 10 bucks to do so!
The set was beautifully diverse
The band went nuts and really enjoyed themselves
The crowd was friendly and accommodating (with the exception of the girl who didn’t want me standing near her at the front, even when the show hadn’t started yet)
I got to use my flash against Tims picnic shirt
I didn’t even notice they had played 20 songs starting at 11pm
I even forgot I was tired!
If you listen to Cursive, you’ll be able to tell that the vocals are distinctly different from your average semi screaming indie band. I feel like this photo is interesting because it illustrates how that sound got achieved.
Instead of screaming directly into the mic, he kept screaming into his cupped hand, that was tilted into the mic.
Such a small musical idea that is a major layer in the creativity of this band.
I used to do a “Things I Love Thursday”, except I guess I called it ohJoy…and it wasn’t usually on a thursday.
fish cakes in my ramen
letting my hair grow
waking up next to a cuddly dog
real friends who dress like imaginary friends
having my hair done on an otherwise average day.
fresh challah bread from the bakery to make french toast (with nutella)
bubbles in my coffee
finding interior in inspiration in unlikely places. (my future bathroom will soon look like the locker room from Shutter Island)
food wrapped like presents.
weekly family dinner nights
Seeing this guy who is obviously from the abortion ad on the train, stand around with his girlfriend, uncomfortably.
having the first meal of the new year, with some of my favorite people.
two cute
creative ways to create cause awareness. Like this one for 
this photo I took of Randi
There are few things I miss more about childhood than being in class with a vague project idea, a thick stack of white paper, and buckets of colorful pens and pencils. It really made me use my imagination.
She heads home today and I’m not NOT slightly bummed.
