Rain

In September, as my black and white photo class was ending it rained a few days. I realized how beautiful the rain really is and how great it would be to capture it on film in black and white. I have been waiting (rather impatiently, to be honest) for the winter rain to hit Portland and this month it really has hit full force. Part of this project is to capture the actual physical phenomenon of rain but I also want to capture some of the moods that rain and winter in Portland brings about. I want to do some portrait work for this eventually, but the opportunity hasn't arisen. I want these to all be photos from my everyday life, things that I am actually experiencing and seeing. All the water I have to endure as well as the cozy interiors I retreat to when it's too wet to be outside. 

These are shots from the first roll of film I've shot for this. I really wanted to develop and print the film myself but I don't have access to a darkroom right now and honestly, I don't have time. Eventually though I do plan on printing my favorites of the series myself. 

On a more practical note, this project has made me hate the rain a little less. But I'm still more excited about snow... which may be coming to Portland soon (and if it does it totally counts as being part of Portland in the winter, right?). 

Let me know what you think of this project. There are more photos from this roll on my flickr.

This is a sneak peak of a project I've been working on lately. I'll show you more soon.

Endless

I am so disappointed in myself right now. I was finally not procrastinating anything for school for the first two-thirds of this summer term (I am never taking summer classes again! Not that I was planning to anyway, but I have come to that decision in case there is some future situation I'm not seeing right now). But these last couple of weeks I've been working even more and forgetting about schoolwork and well, just being lazy and procrastinating (cue profanity coming out of my mouth and being directed at myself). Considering I am getting pretty close to pulling an all-nighter (something I haven't actually done since last spring when I had a really really strange sleep schedule and it's not that I haven't stayed up through the night since then, it's that I've always gone to bed oh, sometime around now or in the next hour or so) and probably will pull an all-nighter I just can't help but being upset with myself. Especially because what I'm working on isn't difficult, it doesn't even really require much critical thinking, it is just ridiculously time-consuming. But it should turn out to be a pretty cool project once it's done. I'll post some pictures or something, because I don't really have anything else going on in my life and, well I feel bad just letting this blog sit here with nothing new on it. 

I have to say that if you made it through that without being completely confused by the side-tracks my mind takes or the way that I write them out... well, then you are amazing! 

My To Do List

Here's a better explanation of Elliott's project (see my last post) as well as my contribution to it. First, you simply create a To Do List, it can be artistic or just jotted down on a piece of paper. Optionally: include the url to the project, to show the strangers that will encounter your list what it's all about. Then leave your list in a public space to be found by these strangers, and hopefully they will participate in the project as well. Make sure you take a photo of your project and send them to Elliott at thetodolistproject@gmail.com, when you send it, make sure to mark it as either created or found. Of course you don't have to, but it's always great to include a little bit about who you are and where you left/found the list. Please don't use this to promote your own political agenda, it's meant to be a fun project!

Alright, now about my list (as seen in the horrible pictures above). It is a list that really, in my view, encompasses me as a person in general. I'm not going to tell you exactly where I put it but I will give you a hint... I climbed a tree on the PSU campus, bordering the park blocks... go look for it! I hope to make this kind of a monthly way for me to reflect on my life, I think it's a brilliant idea and I really hope that other people take part in it. If anyone else decides to make a list, you should let me know!

If you want more information, once again, go here.

To Do Lists

I love lists, so when my friend Elliott announced this project I was really excited to create my own list and share the idea with other people. Basically the idea is to create a To Do List and then place or leave it in a public place. Find out more through the link below. In addition to coming up with this project Elliott and his friend Monique run a blog which is mostly full of comic books, creative writing, and the things they hate. I encourage everyone to participate in this, it should be tons of fun.

Check it out: their blog, The "To Do List" Project

Honestly Part 2

Oops! I forgot to say a few things in my original post, so I thought I would mention them now. Some of the things are more just things I regret not saying at some specific point in my life, things that I can't say now, but others are just random general things. Also, you can find a few more photos from the series on my flickr.

Honestly

I started a project recently called honestly. I'm not sure it's the most original idea, but here are some of the first pictures to come out of it. Basically it's just things that I don't normally tell people. Eventually I hope to involve other people and have them share something about themselves. Let me know what you think.