So today I was featured by the awesome folks at Photoavent – a digital advent calendar of photographers (as the name may imply).  Folks were to use a photo that was particularly important to them and provide details on the process of how they got the shot.  Here’s my entry.

The Background:

I wouldn’t say my photo taking has much of a process. I’m constantly on the hunt for new and adventurous situations, and I have a tendency to observe interesting details in what may seem mundane to others. Once I find the situation, I just document it.
I have been taking photos as long as I can remember. I was the girl in gradeschool who everyone always counted on to have a camera on her at football games or birthday parties. I took lots and lots of pictures. Fairly bad pictures, but pictures nonetheless. I simply found the process of documenting and sharing exciting moments as exciting, if not more exciting, than the moment itself.

In the years that followed, I quickly learned that I had a taste for adventure and a need to document it. I traveled on a whim whenever possible, toured the country a few times, and tirelessly explored my city, documenting every bit. I started my hobby of photography and storytelling, first via email list, then later via queenofthepavement.com, and continue to do so to this day.

I’m settled into San Francisco now, and not traveling like I used to, but I’ve realized that if you treat everything like an adventure, whether it be a spontaneous road trip or pretending to be a tourist in your own town or just wandering around your neighborhood, you’ll find your life far more exciting and worthy of documenting.

The Shot:

Prep was minimal, other than spontaneously buying a plane ticket from North Carolina to San Francisco, renting a car, driving to Sausalito, jumping in the air, and shooting a self-portrait, mid-air, in a storefront reflection. Reflections fascinate me – they’re a sort of living distortion of reality, and I find myself observing and photographing my environments through them often.

I’ve probably taken (technically) better shots, for sure, but I always come back to this shot when browsing for favorites. I’ve always felt this photo best captured the excitement I associate with my new discoveries and experiences. That’s really what photography’s about for me – being able to revisit a photo or story and feel the excitement and novelty I felt in that moment, and hopefully being able to share a bit of that feeling with others as well.

Tech Specs:
Camera: Canon EOS 50D
Focal Length: 18mm
Aperture: f/3.5
Shutter Speed: 1/200 sec
ISO: 200
Mild level adjustments in Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom

Go check out the calendar to find some new photogs around the country. Glad I could be a part!

END!

The drive to Chicago was… scenic. We were kindly warned by the state of Illinois that upcoming road work would have us in traffic that would make our remaining 80 mile drive take approximately three hours. So we took a little detour through… well we’re not really sure. But it got us to Chicago. We stopped at Target on the way, because I had a $25 gift card. We felt it was appropriate to spend it on things that would be necessary for tour, such as:

- Animal crackers
- Jolly Rancher gummies
- Four packs of grow capsules (in assorted shapes including aquatic animals, farm animals, and dinosaurs)
- Phase 10 deck
- Lisa Frank sticker set.

All of these will be put to use very soon.

After some more driving and about 90 wrong turns (I was driving), we made it to Chicago.

First stop: Sultan’s Market. Tim had been ranting about this place the entire way into the city. Apparently they have the best falafel sandwiches on the planet.

And that they did. Two spicy falafel sandwiches stuffed with cucumber + yogurt + hummus + spicy spice with curry rice to top it off. Good way to start the night.

We spent the next few hours wandering the streets of Wicker Park, and eventually found ourselves in a bar called the Crocodile, that happened to be serving $4 Blue Moon, $4 Dewars, and $4 Jim Beam, all of which comes with FREE PIZZA. We were sold. We ate more food and drank more drinks and wrote more obscenely long to-do lists. Nothing can take us completely away from all of our tour work… not even bourbon and beer and free pizza.

Around midnight, we headed to friend and gracious host Angus’ house, aka “The Whiskey Chest,” for some hangtime. We had full intentions of going out and exploring the city, but next thing I know, we look at the clock and it’s 3:15. I think it’s time to rest.

Day 2.

Angus insisted that we start off our second day in Chicago with a proper meal. So we took a quick walk to the Cornerstone Cafe, a cute little spot nestled in the middle of a gargantuan 5-way intersection. I somehow championed a smoked salmon omelette the size of a football. I was comatose by the time I got back to the abode.

Tim and I split ways for the afternoon, and I wandered around with Angus and Adam until evening, when we all met back up at the bean. Oh, that bean. It really is more marvelous than I could have ever imagined.

We said our goodbyes to Adam and Angus for the evening so we could get some shooting done. We quickly found ourselves distracted by really nice grass in the park, sandwiches, and a free concert at the pavilion at Millennium Park.

Cellos, violins, MacBooks, and beatboxing. The music was absolutely wonderful and I found myself unable to really function other than laying on the grass and letting all of this soak in. People actually live in this place. This type of afternoon is normal and accessible for them. They can do this whenever they want (minus the winter months). I’m still processing it.

So yeah, I’m completely enamored with Chicago. Glad that’s settled. Now moving on in hopes of falling in love with the next city.

The past year’s biggest issue for me is sleeping in. Not like the pre-planned intentional kind of sleep in. I have been sleeping through alarms, calls, texts, sirens, parades… see my last blog post for next-to-most-recent example.

Most recent example: I was supposed to take my car to the shop at 8:00 this morning (for story behind this, refer to one of my previous posts). Totally doable. I made sure to get to bed early last night, and was in bed by 11, asleep by midnight. Set my alarm for 7:30.

I awake to a phone call from a random 919 number. I answer.

“Hi, this is (insert name here) from Coat’s auto body.”
“Good morning! Everything still on for today?”
“Yes, well… you were supposed to have your car here by 8:00 this morning…”
“Is it not before 8:00? I mean.. is it after 8:00? Am I late? Did I sleep in? Oh my god. Did I sleep in again?”
“Yes, it is 9:30… just wanted to check in and see if everything was okay…”
“I am an idiot. I will be there in 10.”

10 minutes later, I’m at the shop. Car is handed over. The lady at the desk asks me how I’m getting home.

Well, I didn’t really think about that. I think I still may be asleep. Maybe this is all a dream…

Nope. I am definitely at an auto shop on a Tuesday morning with no way home. Reality fail.

The owner of the shop ended up driving me home. We discussed a variety of topics on the way… mostly concerning nuclear power plants and zucchinis. It was a nice time.

Allstate offered me a rental car while my car is being repaired. I declined, thinking it is silly to need a car that isn’t my own when I live downtown and can easily walk or bike anywhere I need to go.

Until I get home, and it is torrentially downpouring outside. Looks like I’m staying in today.

[Insert 10-hour apartment cleaning/organizing session here. Nothing better to do than roll around on my rug with my cleaning supplies and take window portraits.]

I finally leave my apartment at 8:00 pm, when friend Hollis picks me up to head to Carrboro. We are meeting up with other friend Jaclyn to see Peaches at Cat’s Cradle.

Peaches. Crazy hipster queen who raps. Basically what I turn into after a few cocktails. Except Peaches raps about dicks and tits, and I usually end up rapping about my camera or my cat’s respiratory problems. She also has an amazing leotard and cape collection… and I don’t.

I insisted that we stop at Carrburritos prior to the show, as I needed one last taste of that place before I leave NC. I have had many a burrito around the country, and this place still remains my favorite. We stuffed our face with guacburritos and ceviche and salsa frutas and margaritas and salt, then went on our way in search of ice cream (logical follow-up).

Weaver Street Market and Maple View both closed at 9. We arrive at 9:24. Not sure where to go from here.

Around this time we realize that Jackie is not with us. We call her to find that she has wandered to Open Eye Cafe down the street, so we walk a bit until we find her. I ended up with an exceptional iced mocha and giant piece of chocolate cake (I don’t even like cake, but it made sense at the time) served to me by Kate of The Love Language. I think the ice cream replacement worked out.

And then the show. Peaches was everything I dreamed her to be. Fluffy sleeves, sweaty leotards, shiny capes, crimped blonde mullet and caked-on makeup. She radiates sex even before she starts demanding for you to “shake your dick.” There were also light sabers and crotch-strobe-lights involved. If you are looking up to spice up your set on tour, learn a trick or two from this broad.

haaaaaaaaaay ellen erin!

Then we jumped around for a bit, then called it a night.

hay for peaches.

tit grabs for peaches.

ass grabs for peaches.

ALSO:

Fun things to check out for today:

So there’s this guy Simon. He’s a photographer based in Jersey City, NJ. [Check out his portfolio here.]

[photocred: simon biswas]

Simon is planning on driving across the United States on a phototour this summer. He is planning on leaving the same freaking time I am planning to leave. We basically planned the same exact trip without having any knowledge of each other’s existence.

A mutual friend of ours, Adrienne [read her lovely foodblog here], noticed this, and referred him to me. So he emailed me. It went directly into my spam folder. I never check my spam. I probably haven’t in half a year. And I happened to check it for the first time FOUR HOURS after he sent me his email. Fancy that.

So we’ve been exchanging information and plans and advice regarding our separate phototours via email… obviously we are going to have to plan some epic crossing of paths somewhere along our separate routes, because all of this is too crazy not to do something like that. We’ll see what happens.

Check out Simon’s blog here.

Also:

The NY Times visited the Triangle recently… they spent their time very wisely, actually. Damn good job fellas. Father & Son, Raleigh Times, The Pit… among other places I live by and frequent and love.

Read where they spent their 36 hours here.

Also:

[photocred: julia baum]

I just like this blog: A Rare Breed. It’s a portrait collection of redheads. I have always been partial to the ginger folk, so this is fun to look at. I want all of my red-headed friends to go to NY and shoot for this.

Also:

My friend Peter flies in from Detroit tomorrow! He is spending the week in town, so I am going to try to give him the most epic tour of Raleigh and the coast he’s ever seen. Not that he’s ever seen it before or will see it again. It will be epic nonetheless.

Also:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SARAH FULLER!  holla!

Ok, that’s all for now. END!

Hello all!

This has been a very productive week for me so far. I have some important updates to share with all of you. I will explain further below.

But first, here some photos from the past week’s adventures:

A few days ago, I went over to help friend Mark work on his particularly large project of renovating his abode. He is currently building a rather large addition to the back of his home, and I, wanting to pacify my need for being around architecture and construction, offered to help. However, my homebuilding/welding knowledge and physical strength is limited, so I offered to make sandwiches and take pictures instead.

So I did.

How to open a can of Dew with a nail gun. By Mark.

My valuable contribution to the project (other than sandwiches).

While you’re at it, check out Mark’s loverly band, The Bowerbirds. You will be pleased.

Yesterday I spent some time running around both downtown Durham and downtown Raleigh. Stop 1 was a trip to see the Durham Bulls play for friend Eric’s birthday. Hot and schweaty and fun.

Durham tracks jump.

Then back to Blue Martini for a staff jump.

And so began our hike around town to climb and jump on everything possible.

This immediately led to Todd’s plight from the trash can to the pavement resorting in ACL problems for the remainder of the day.

Todd remained on the ground whenever possible.

We had quite an audience for this shot. A few angry cars as well. Oh well. We do what we want.

Ok, now for the important stuff.

First of all, my work has been selected for display at the Busy Bee for First Friday!!! This is a huge deal to me, and I am so excited to be an official part of the First Friday arts scene for my last month in North Carolina.

(photocred: New Raleigh)

Second, I have acquired a second travelmate for my trip across the country.

(photocred: Tim Lytvinenko)

His name is Tim Lytvinenko, a photographer based out of Raleigh. I remember seeing his photos and reading great things about him long before I met him. (His track record includes being touring photographer for The Rosebuds. Lucky bastard. Read what they have to say about him here.) I eventually met him and let him write about Ukranian beer in my Moleskine book before I ever knew he was THE “photographer Tim.” I pieced it all together eventually. He gave me some great advice when I was putting together my grad school portfolio, and I still owe him about 800 beers for it. And now, he will officially be part of my gigantic cross-country photo/blog/video adventureproject. With me+Logan+Tim together for an entire month on the road, I can’t even begin to fathom what we’re getting into. It’s going to be absolutely ridiculous.

That said, I have decided to make Friday’s photos a collaborative project with work from all three of us, in order to help build a buzz around our upcoming project and give people an idea of what we’re all about and what adventures we’ve managed to get ourselves into in the past.

The photos will go on display this Friday (June 5th), and we’ll be present for a casual reception of sorts beginning at 6 p.m. This will give you plenty of time to come by, meet us, take jumping photos with us, get some grub (either at the Busy Bee or one of the other 10 great restaurants around the block), and continue on with your First Friday plans. Regardless, take a minute and pencil in a time to come visit us that night.

Check our our First Friday Facebook event HERE.

Read what OkayGreat.com has to say about our show HERE.

If you haven’t had the chance to read about my cross-country project that will commence in approximately one month, read about it in my previous blog post here.

That’s all for now! Stay tuned for more updates to come.

hp

I took a trip to Durham on Thursday with my friend Danny. It’s about that time where I have to plan elaborate lunch adventures to celebrate the last time I see my friends for a very long time. An especially long time in Danny’s case, as not only am I moving to California, but he is moving to Eastern Europe in a week to join the Peace Corps. It will be at least two years until we see each other again, so I’d be damned if we weren’t going to have something good as our last meal.

I decided on the Federal. Mostly because I love the structure, and the food… and everywhere else I wanted to try wasn’t open for lunch. I had curry corn chowder + bread + butter + half of a grilled cheese piled with roasted tomatoes, cucumber, avocado, and balsamic on grilled focaccia. ALL FOR FIVE DOLLARS. Best lunch special ever?

Conveniently, it also happened to be Danny’s birthday. It was officially on Friday, but he was born in Korea, so according to Korea time, his birthday commenced while we were having lunch.

So we celebrated.

Birthday jump.

Danny actually fell on his face approximately 0.5 seconds after this photo was taken. Maybe he’ll practice his jumping while in Europe.

We had some time to kill, so we asked waitress where we should head next. She advised us to either check out a graveyard down the street (we checked it out for 2 seconds. uninspiring.), or go over to the Duke Gardens. We ended up choosing the latter.

New friend.

Accidental outtake. Turned out halfway interesting.

END!

Just another day of jumping around Raleigh.

I noticed this little gem on the way back from the Bain Project. Never knew it existed. I fell in love with it immediately.

So I brought back witnesses to jump in front of it with me.

Jumpfail 1.

Jumpfail 2.

Jumpfail 3. Seb is winner.

Then off to the graveyard.

Jumpfail 4.

SUCCESS!!!! I really need to get a remote, so I don’t have to deal with this timer hassle anymore.

And then we rest.

I finally graduated from college. I say “finally” as if it took me longer than expected, but I finished in four years. I’ve just been ready to graduate for about 3.5 years now.

Graduation jump.

The day eventually progressed into what became a night of drinks and debauchery with an eclectic group of folks, including my mother.

State Capitol grounds post-beverages jump.

A night to remember.

So I started this habit of jumping recently. I suppose it happened after having the epiphany that I have a lot of good photos of things that thousands of other people have also taken good photos of. The sudden feeling that my photos lacked any sort of novelty led me to the decision to begin jumping. You may have a photo of (insert cliche monument here), but I have a photo of myself jumping in front of it, and, therefore, mine is better. Holler.

Pier 7 jump.

Pier 39 ninja jump.

Crissy Fields jump.

Mini-van rental jump.

Rest stop jump.

Pacific Ocean cliff jump.

Half Moon Bay jump.

Marin Headlands jump.

Sausalito jump.

Redwood forest jump.

Wine country jump.

Landmark Vineyard courtyard jump.

Juanita Juanita taco shack jump.

Random sheep hill found above race track jump.

Land’s End jump.

Full House jump.

On the way back into town to finish up the last of our San Fran projects before plane boarding time.

Project #1: go to Land’s End.

It’s a strange process getting out here. You go to the golf course behind the Legion of Honor, wander until you find a dirt road blocked off by a rusted gate going straight into the woods. Jump the gate. Continue down the dirt road until you find a staircase going further downward into the woods. Take the staircase.

Continue walking down until you are standing on the edge of a cliff. Stop walking.

The wind was out of control. Maybe not that big of a deal. Unless you are standing on double-sided cliffs and could easily fall a hundred-something-feet or so.

Sitting down seemed like the most practical way to take photos. Lessened the risk of falling to our death.

I look like a muppet.

We tried and tried and tried to come up with a good way to do a jumping photo, but we couldn’t come up with a way that eliminated the chance of our cameras and/or us falling off the cliff. So we gave up and decided to climb down to the beach instead.

Land’s end jumping photo sort-of-accomplished.

I had never climbed down to the beach before. Not much sand going on. Mostly unstable rocks ranging between about half a foot and ten feet in diameter.

one of the cliffs we failed to take a jumping photo on.

Next stop: Ocean Beach.

We were running out of time and, frankly, feeling lazy, so we took some photos from the top of the ledge and went on our way.

Next stop: ALAMO SQUAAARE.

(insert Full House theme song here)

Dogs running around everywhere. I want to have a dog. In San Francisco.

LAST JUMPING PHOTO!

Alamo Square Full House jumping photo accomplished. Sort of.

We stumbled upon a shoe garden while searching for a bathroom.

The final meal of the trip was spent back at Tartine. We met up with Dakota for some paninis and baked goods, and sat outside on 18th and made some last-minute friends before it was time to leave.

feeling dirty and tired. saved the best photos for last, obviously.

THE END! More SF photos to come once I’m living there in August!

We head northward to find Calistoga, a tiny town nestled within the Sonoma Valley. Out mapquest directions don’t seem to suffice, so we decide to rely on the navigation service on my phone. We end up on Petrified Forest Road, winding at about five mph to keep from driving off the side of the mountain.

My phone is dying. I have no car charger. The GPS cannot locate us properly and keeps giving us bogus directions. We keep driving on this Petrified Forest Road (a comforting name) while I frantically write down directions from the phone, not sure if they are even correct or not. Thank god for excellent 90′s tunes lightening the mood for the trek.

The phone survived. We made it to the Calistoga Inn. Just in time to head to the bar on the bottom floor. It was DJ REGGAE NIGHT. YES.

We spent a few hours at the bar, eyeing the beautiful Calistoga man sitting alone at the barstool beside us, and bonding with bartender Danny. We promised him we’d come visit again. I’m sure he’ll be there, as he’s been working there for ten years already.

We awake from a good sleep to find complimentary breakfast waiting for us on the bottom floor. We seem to be the only people in the entire hotel. So we obviously feel obligated to eat an obscene amount of food to prevent waste. And we do so.

West coast brunch is different than east coast brunch. West coast has no meat. It’s all granola and fruit and fresh baked goods and fresh orange juice and dank coffee. East coast is usually composed of fat, egg, bacon, fat, ham, fried, chicken biscuit. Which I do enjoy from time to time, I’m not gonna lie. Anyway. West coast rules.

So then we explore Calistoga.

Today’s first project was exploring some wineries around Sonoma Valley. Not Napa. Sonoma is less commercial, it’s quieter, and less expensive. In other words, Sonoma = superior.

First stop: Kaz vineyard.

Kaz vineyard consisted of an odd little gated off house where the owner resides, a tasting barn, and and some patches of vines surrounding the property. They do.. 60 barrels a year? I think?

We kind of felt like we were intruding on such a quaint little piece of property. Especially considering it seemed like we were the only people actually on the property. We decided to explore anyway.

We wandered into a dark barn door and found a cashier’s counter with a sharp, super tan, super raspy old woman staring at us. We say hello. The wine tasting begins.

We go through twelve red wines, and jam out to the Rolling Stones with the raspy one for a while.

We wander outside into the backyard. A clusterfuck of old rusted bits and pieces of everything you can imagine. And lots of old plants. And a cat named Molly, who I hung out with for a while.

The raspy one showed us the Kaz fish pond, with the biggest fish I have ever seen in my life. This puppy was easily as big as Raphael (my mammoth cat, for those of you who don’t know). Apparently they had been abandoned at a foreclosed property, so the Kaz folk adopted them. They were fun.

Kaz winery photo jumping montage. There were too many awesome ones to pick just one.

We said our goodbyes to Molly and Raspy and the fish and headed next door to vineyard #2.

Next stop was Landmark Vineyards, a snazzy little piece of property not two mailboxes down from Kaz.

Once arrived, we met new friend Ryan, who poured wine generously and talked with us about anything and everything while we consumed it.

Jumping attempt #1: Jump off the ledge for superheight. Extremely painful and nearly impossible. We gave up quickly.

Preparing for jump plan B.

Luxury vineyard courtyard jumping photo accomplished.

New friend Ryan ended up really enjoying our company. He didn’t charge us for any of the wine, and put together a map of things to do and see before we left Sonoma. We said our goodbyes and headed onward to finish exploring before heading back to SF to catch our plane home.

First stop: Juanita Juanita.

Seemingly shady little taco shack on an old, slightly obscure Sonoma highway. Ryan said it would be a well-worthy place to grab a bite before we headed back to the city. We complied.

We decided to share a jerk chicken dish of sorts. We were presented with what looked like a rather round burrito. Perhaps because there was an ENTIRE chicken nestled inside of it. Yes, bones and all.. the whole thing. It was AMAZING. Well done, Juanita Juanita.

It only made sense to involve finger mustaches in a taco shack jumping photo.

Juanita Juanita washroom.

So continued our trek through the offroads of Sonoma Valley.

We noticed a gigantic hill in the distance (not this one…. the one of mention was too way big to fit into my camera lens). Nestled at the bottom was a… raceway? We were intrigued. Couldn’t think of a reason not to try and get on the property. So we headed to the gate.

A security guard was waiting for us. We didn’t have much of a plan set up.. so we simply explained that we noticed this hill and racetrack and wanted to know if she’d let us on the property to take pictures. We also mentioned we were from the South at some point, thinking that would somehow logically function as grounds for admission to a raceway. She actually complied. We headed onward and began our trek up the hill.

We arrive close to the top. As far as they’ll allow us to go at least. And what greater thing to be waiting for us than…. a giant hill COVERED IN SHEEP. Glorious.

High-altitude sheep covered hill jumping photo accomplished.

And then it was back to San Francisco for some last minute projects before plane-boarding time.

[to be continued...]