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 9 of 365.

Is it just me or do I look a little plastic in this photo? I don’t think of myself as someone who wears a lot of make up, but I guess I do on occasion. It’s just so much fun, I can’t image not waking up and putting it on every day.

Also, unfortunate side effect of using strobes - hello see through shirt! Whoops!

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?

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! :)

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. :)

The other thing about Bree and I? We’re complete opposites in a lot of ways. I think it’s one of the best things about our friendship. She makes me more calm, more free and less self-conscious. I think I help her feet hit the ground more often. She’s definitely got a warmer personality and can put a whole room at ease. I can much colder and quieter, a bit more introspective. 

The details from today. I’m in her shirt and rope belt, she’s in my Old Navy tank top. :)

Bree and I have been friends for a while now and I’m so happy she agreed to be on the blog with me. We met when we worked at the Oregon Zoo together and bonded over our love of photography and animals and our hatred for the hideous uniforms we had to wear. I don’t like the word “soul mate,” but for Bree I’m willing to make an exception.

She’s like the photography soul mate I always wanted to find. She and I get inspired together, shoot together, edit together and rinse and repeat quite regularly. I’m not sure what I’d do if I didn’t have her in my life. I’d definitely have less of a photographic spark, that’s for sure.

She’s also about my same size, which makes the whole friendship a million times more wonderful. Today, I thought we’d top-swap! Details to come soon!