markets

i've been enjoying the beautiful colors of all this summer produce, the vibrancy is so inspiring. we got purple carrots this week, with a deep purple color on the outside and orange inside. they are some sort of opposing color heaven.

i'm happy to be back with some holga shots, too. it's been awhile. these were the first three on my roll, before everything got really foggy and out of focus. maybe there is a reason i don't shoot with my holga as much...

i'm off for a long weekend. see you on tuesday!

the art of the book

 

"what if the book with all its wiles and daring were only mad resistance against the emptiness of the last page?" -edmond jabes

a few months ago i decided to treat myself to a letterpress printing class, which starts this weekend! i cannot tell you how excited i am to arrange type, to spread ink, to create text with a hand spun machine and paper. the simplicity and antiquity of it makes me giddy. i know a basic level of book binding and my dream is to one day create a book--text and all--by hand. how magical would that be?

in the spirit of my class, i will be back later this weekend to share some letterpress inspiration!

mlk day

"The hope of a secure and livable world lies with disciplined nonconformists who are dedicated to justice, peace and brotherhood." -Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Here's to celebrating the power of non-violence and love.

october 30

i'm so happy it is friday! the other night i made caramel apples with a friend. we stirred up a deep, dark caramel and dipped the apples in them. once the caramel was set, we decorated the apples with anything and everything from dark chocolate, toasted almonds, coconut, chocolate nibs, white chocolate, more caramel, cocoa nibs, milk chocolate shavings, sea salt and orange sprinkles (for that halloween flare). delicious.

i have no big plans for the weekend, but if i do end up celebrating halloween i think i will be her. i do, however, have big plans for next week and updated news on my photo shop. until then, or before if i feel the inspiration...

a list for the evening

hello there. i don't feel like i have much to say recently. i hope that's okay. instead, maybe i'll make a list.

1. wendell berry has a new book of poems out, called leavings. i have yet to open it, but i'm quite excited.

2. i'm reading this right now and having a hard time with it. while i'd rather disagree with the new york times' bad review and more agree with the stranger's view, i still can't seem to sit through the book. at any rate, i'm hosting an author event with jonathan lethem at the sunset tavern and can't wait. who cares if i don't like the book, he's still an american literary fiction icon.

3. i would put this up in my house.

4. i may have started tweeting...maybe...you can find out here. yikes.

5. listening to a conversation on the state of publishing.

hope you are well

the little shocks of good

"the simple things come back to us. they rest for a moment by our ribcages then suddenly reach in and twist our hearts a notch backward."
-colum mccann, let the great world spin

i think today is a good day to talk about this amazing book.
the night before i left for new york this summer, we hosted colum mccann with the washington state center for the book at the seattle public library. he told the audience that this book was an intentionally creative response to 9/11. instead of all the anger and fear and revenge that sprouted from that tragedy, mccann instead was intent on the human aspect of healing. inspired by little pieces of beauty that flutter around us in tragedy, colum mccann wrote an allegory. he uses the story of phillipe petit, the tightrope walker who commited "the artistic crime of the century" by walking between the twin towers on a tightrope as they were just erected in the 1970's. and from that story, mccann creates a multitude of other stories of new yorkers directly or indirectly effected by phillipe petit. there is war and pain and death and beauty and so much thought. it is a masterpiece.

today is for you, new york. for your ability to heal and to keep on going.

"it (the city) accepted whatever came its way, the crime and the violence and the little shocks of good that crawled out from underneath the everyday. "

-let the great world spin

******

responses to september 10:
ida: thank you, quebec city was so european, i loved it. and, yes, there is always more and more inspiration on etsy.
trinsch: thank you. the real world can be a good thing, right? :)
hiki: i love that time of day, too. somehow that was when i got my best photos in quebec city.
polly: van gogh! oh my, thank you! it was, indeed a canon, if you can accept that. :)

responses to end of the road:
montague, marion, alexandria: thank you!
jane and lecia: sigh, fall is inevitable and i'm sure soon i will remember why i love it so much. but not yet.

september 1

is it really september already?
and i haven't even gotten to show you my photos from quebec city. or my farm photos! or my beach photos! i've been a little slow. in my idealism i like to do things seasonally, but i'm learning that with film, time gets rearranged; slows down and stops and starts. i kind of like it.
but will you be okay if i show you beach shots once the weather starts getting cool and the evenings are darker? how will you feel about fields of fresh farm food when the tomatoes and summer greens start to disappear? do you have patience to sit through the last leg of my canada trip into the beautiful, european looking city of quebec? and really, how will i feel posting all my summer shots when leaves are crunching under my feet? i hope it will be an important re-living and looking backwards. i've always processed my experiences on the slow side, taking time for them to sink in. this will be no different. i hope you are along for the ride.

happy september

**********
comments on comments:
rahel: thank you for finding me and stopping by my blog! i'm excited to get to know yours better.
jane: welcome back, i has a lot of fun seeing your daily questions. i hope there will be more giveaways.
trinsch: thank you thank you. you have a great week too.

inspiration to get you through

some great inspiring links that have kept my wheels turning all day.

*brian ferry's newest project. i think it is ingenious! he pushes the envelope of scrapbooking and photo collecting with this simple, elegant and well put together book.

*on choice via nectar & light. you may all know about my faithfulness and passion in supporting independent bookstores. well, this post reminds us of the importance of being locally or independently minded when it comes to any type retailer. i love this quote "A company that is making enormous profits in a recession doesn't need me. That's all. That's my choice. I won't judge you for yours." i have to agree that when it comes to choosing where and who i give my money to, i'd like to choose wisely.

one more day to the weekend! any end of summer plans you'd like to share?

***
comments to last posts' comments:
julia: i love holgas! and i emailed you more description of my experience with them
polly: thank you! i didn't even consider the vintage look of the first shot, but i'm glad you mentioned it.
brian: thanks! those bagels were soooo good.
ida: it took me awhile to get to know my holga. i'm still learning. just wait, i know it will warm up to you soon.
alexandria: thank you so much! i'm glad that you can get the feel of my trip from these photos.
des: nice to meet you and thank you :)

montreal + holga

oh my, i didn't realize how many many more pictures i have left from my trip. well, i will just inundate you with them now, paying no particular attention to theme except for that these are all from montreal and taken with my holga. enjoy!










yes, you get to see the famous bagels up there. and shot number 3 is a market we went to in little italy. street art, mcgill college, statues at a park along ave des pins.

and the winner is...

thank you all for your great feedback and encouragement on my 100th post giveaway! i was so touched by all of your support and i hope to continue to have such a great community into my blog's 200th post. with help from random.org, i have chosen the winner...

congratulations to:
at swim-two-birds!
i will send you an email for shipping information.

***

and because of your great feedback, i am excited to announce the unveiling of my shop! it is called sweet potato anna and it will contain some of my favorite film photographs, both from the vintage yashica electro and from my holga. i've started off with prints of the photos shown in the 100th post giveaway, but i will soon add more items, including postcards, large prints and hopefully notebooks down the road. i do hope you will stop by and maybe even tell your friends. if there is any more feedback or suggestions you have, please let me know. i am open to learning as much as i can.

and, as a bonus, for my opening week i am having a sale. choose any two photos in my shop and get the second one half off!

thanks again to all of you out there in the big world who come here and say hello. you make me excited to be on the internet.

new york public library to times square

the new york public library to times square.
there are sections of the streets in times square that have recently been closed off to traffic. they are now open to...lawn chairs! and the goal for the end of the summer is for them to have real couches. we relaxed in pink ad blue lawn chairs for a bit of our third and last day in new york.
unfortunately, we didn't bring newspapers like the couple in the second to last photo.

***
don't forget about the giveaway...

il y'a longtemps que je t'aime.

"and if i cared about god, i would be tempted to think that remembering was sinful. for what else could it be, what could remembering all those gorgeous moments when this world was fully present at your fingertips be but a beautiful sin?"
-aleksander hemon, the lazarus project

i just finished that book, the lazarus project. it was beautiful and sad and thoughtful. it was an absolute masterpiece about a bosnian-american immigrant, brik, researching a jewish-ukranian immigrant, lazarus, who was killed 100 years earlier. in his research and journey across eastern europe, brik and lazarus' life meld together. and brik tells us about life and death, love, loss, memory, religion and history.

after finishing the book, i watched il y'a longtemps que je t'aime (i have loved you so long). have you seen it? this movie also contemplated life and loss, as well as memory, love, growth and forgiveness.

neither are really what you would call light summery picks, are they? no matter, they were both amazing and have found me very contemplative.

i forgot to share this link, too: one love photo. very unique and stunning wedding photography. (don't worry mom and dad, i'm not myself planning a wedding! i just like these photos).

in the face of a fleeing reality

"to take photographs is to hold one's breath when all
faculties converge in the face of fleeing reality."
-henri cartier-bresson

i was keeping up with my french, reading le monde online newspaper when i noticed an article about henri cartier-bresson. to celebrate 100 years after his birth, two of paris' museums are featuring bresson's work-the house of european photography and the modern museum of art in paris. i wish i could go and see them. after i read that article, my dad dug up his bresson books for me. this quote above was one of the many beautiful things he said in a small introduction to a collection of his photographs. i love it.

the peace of wild things

the farmer's market provides great inspiration for photos.

saturday, i had good friends over for breakfast and we all walked down to the fremont solstice parade. it was so joyful and colorful and lovely that i took two rolls of 120 film on my holga! i can't wait to get those developed and show you the parade. one friend brought homemade ginger vanilla sugar that she broiled on top of sliced grapefruit. wow!

i also, for later in the day, made two batches of ice cream and a pasta salad with basil from my garden. yum.

***
just an fyi, the photo on my last post was a double exposure with my holga. one shot right side up, the other upside down. of course, inspired by tifanie. it was actually a really bright day but something in the two shots on top of each other made the photo look foggy and almost black and white. thanks for enjoying it!

***

i have been looking at this lady's blog recently for her stunning shots of life in korea. she just shared a wendell berry poem that stuck with me. i had to pass it along:

The Peace of Wild Things
by Wendell Berry

When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time,
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.

i'm having a hard start to my monday (maybe because i feel like i should be on summer vacation but i'm now a working stiff and don't get summer breaks), but this poem gives me a little light to give the day a push.

i hope it helps your monday, as well...

have a great weekend

it is seattle...

some pictures of places i don't habitually go in seattle:
1. downtown
2. by the boats, on the montlake cut.

i made my first batch of ice cream this weekend! well, it was actually frozen yogurt, but does it really matter? it was coffee frozen yogurt. when i tasted it, i was a bit worried about the sour yogurt mixed with the coffee, but people seemed to really love it. today i'm daydreaming about david lebovitz' cheesecake ice cream with a blueberry syrup swirl in it. or maybe these.

well, instead of sitting here listening to the birds and thinking about ice cream, i guess i better go daydream about ice cream at work....
have a great monday!

peonies nod in the breeze

here is a beautiful bouquet i got last weekend at the fremont market. the peonies remind me of my college graduation (which was a year ago yesterday) because i put a bouquet of pink peonies on my cap. that was such a fun day and i'm a little sad for it to be a year away now.

the top shot is with the holga and the bottom is with that expired film i told you about. i really love the texture in the expired film one. i also got my most recent roll of film from the holga back and it is the best yet! i am so excited to share.

***
and now i have an...

announcement!
my last post was number 80 here and i've decided that when i get to 100 i'm going to have a fun giveaway! it will include photos, free things and your feedback. so, keep checking in and in 20 more posts, there will be a special surprise!

thanks to everyone who has been stopping by and saying hi. i love meeting you all!

the summer night's air

it's official. summer is here.
well, maybe not official official, because the summer solstice is two weeks off. but, it's official in the hot nights, full bloom and barbecues sense of official. the top shot is from my holga. and the bottom two are digital, on capitol hill. from yet another hot night of walking around.

i'm not very motivated this monday morning. i hope i can get back into the swing of work days. but, just to hang onto the weekend a little longer, i'll share some highlights.

-jon and i made salted caramel popsicles in our ice tray! yum.
-i got (two years later) david lebovitz' ice cream book the perfect scoop. dreaming of vietnamese espresso and pear pecorino ice cream...
-heard neko case's smashing voice at her seattle concert! (by the way, i love how her site says "available everywhere, especially at your local record store").
-harvested the rest of my arugula and made a salad with pickings from the garden: chives and chive blossoms, basil, arugula, sweet pea leaves, violas and oregano.
-flowers from the fremont market
-had a picnic in the park
-saw friends from out of town

...oh there was much more! but i'll stop there...

have a great monday!

hot hot days

it has been so hot here. it's 80 degrees! in june! in seattle! but, i like that it's new. it forces me to be creative about what i wear, it forces my plants out of their shell and into full bloom. it forces me to hang out with a lot of people and walk around in the evenings and sit outside for dinner. those are pretty good things.

for lack of much else to talk about, i've made a list.

right now, here is what is inspiring me:

sweet pea vines growing tall
reading a novela by my coworker
eating outside
iced coffee
sharing food
sandals
early morning birdsongs
sun tea (i make a batch every weekend with a new combination of tea bags)
recipes for popsicles and ice cream
waking up early and starting the day early
meeting this acclaimed man
daily choosing which camera to put into my bag
picture frames

***

i hope this list keeps expanding

hope your weekend has been wonderful and long. i wanted to post this photo because i love love love it. these daisies were just calling to be photographed and i am so happy with the way it turned out. this is the last of my holga shots for a while and i will be back on tuesday for a new inspired photo and some photos from yet another new camera. i can't wait to share, there are so many inspiring things going on!