Day 13 of 365

I got the opportunity to photograph part of the Portland Old-Time Music Gathering this Friday and it was pretty amazing. I’ll post photos from the event soon (and the Scottish Rite Center, where it was held), but here is my outfit from the night.

Dress: T Tahari Cleo Dress

Stockings (not pictured): Nordstrom Back Seam Stockings

Necklace: Fuego

Earrings: H&M

Lip Pencil: Belle de Jour by Nars Cosmetics

Blush & Bronzer: Orgasm/Laguna by Nars Cosmetics

Side note: I got stood up on Friday night and planned on staying in with a bottle of gin and a season of How I Met Your Mother. After an hour of wallowing in my own bullshit, I put on this new dress, made up my hair and went out to photograph this Music Gathering. Then I went out with two of my best Portland friends (whom I worked with back in college) and we spent the rest of the night having a wonderful time. 

One thing I’ve learned since 2012 has started? Always have a back-up plan - sometimes, they’re even better than the night you actually had planned!

Day 6 of my 365 days project.

This is my future Outfit of the Day for tomorrow night! 

I’m going on a friend-date tomorrow with my girlfriend of 10+ years, Kendra. For Christmas this year she’s taking me to see Cavalia (I KNOW, YOU ARE JEALOUS) and beforehand we’ll be grabbing a nice, sit down dinner. She and I have a pretty interesting (and completely insane) history, but she’s one of those friends who isn’t going anywhere. It’s one of the million reasons I love her.

Every so often, we go on “friend dates” - we dress up, make ourselves up, put on the sexy heels and go out on the town. We’ve had some crazy nights together, just us two, so tomorrow won’t be an exception. I’m so excited, I can barely breathe! Here are the details:

First dress (underneath coat in first photo): Thrifted, originally from The Limited

Second dress: Thrifted at Savvy Plus

Coat: Thrifted at Savvy Plus, originally from Nordstrom

Shoes: Thrifted at Savvy Plus, originally from Torrid

Hat: Torrid

I still haven’t figured out which dress I’m going to wear - any thoughts, oh Tumblr gods/goddesses?

Outfit of the day for a lazy Sunday - 

Sweater: Forever 21

Necklace: Forever 21

Glasses: Thrifted

Cat: Jasper, my lil’ man

Working on photos today, so I’m going to posting a few “lost” outfits that I never blogged. 

More photos from the other day - shooting with Sam and Cam (man, I love me some rhyming names) out in the woods of Oregon. 

On a personal note:

I’ve had a hard few weeks and my personal and professional lives are a bit messy at the moment. Yesterday afternoon was the kind of therapeutic day out I needed - I have so many wonderful people in my life and I have a bad tendency to forget that I can rely on them in times of need. We went shooting, spent hours acting like morons out in the damp forests of Oregon (I won the fast-draw competition, by the way), wandered through Beaverton in search of good food, had great conversation and then preceded to watch the first two installments of The Mummy franchise. They did nothing except act like themselves and that was all I needed in the moment. And it was the first time I ENJOYED taking photos in what feels like a very long time.

I’m in a rut. A big, fat, horrible rut. My photos haven’t been great lately, my heart hasn’t been in making art and I haven’t had many original thoughts on photography lately.

One thing they don’t tell you about graduating is that the months following can be some of the hardest artistically. My mind is constantly trying to balance my professional and personal lives, which leads to little time spent thinking about how I want my photographic life to go. This project is the first thing I’ve been interested in for a while, and even though I have no idea where it might go, I’m completely hooked.

I know that it’s not December 31st and therefore not time for resolutions, but I’m ready to start making mine. Number one on my list - find the time to follow my passion again. Yesterday, I realized how much I miss spending time photographing people, especially while they’re doing the things they love.

The photo bitch is back and she’s learned a lot this year.

Portrait of myself from yesterday, complete with my favorite handgun (a .38 special).

Side note: My friend Cam is a pretty good photographer! :)

I have to leave soon, but this is my hair/make up for this benefit I’m going to tonight. A friend of mine is an opera singer and is preforming, so it’s bound to be an outstanding evening. 

:)

GPOY!

My Tuesday afternoon - escaping to the middle of the woods and shooting off lots of guns with three awesome dudes. 

GPOY.

On a personal note: I have a few jobs around town to make ends meet and save my cash for a new camera and/or car. At the moment, I’m the assistant of photographer Duncan Davidson, who may qualify as the coolest boss ever. Yesterday, I spent about four hours working on a scanning project for a friend of his and we ended up going to the Daily for lunch. 

Normally, I’m not a fan of allowing others to take photos of me, but I thought this one was a keeper. :)

From a series I did back in college (I love that I can say that now). They are thusly named: Drugged, Shocked, Hysterical and Distressed.

Self Portraits by Elizabeth LePage