everything and a cat

The theme is...Diptych.

2009-05-09T14:21:00.003-04:00

This month's SPC theme is diptych and beyond. I'm really excited about this one. There are so many possibilities. I immediately thought of David Hilliard when it was announced. He is one of my favorites and I set off to make a David Hilliard inspired triptych. He is a master at this style of photography and his images make it look much easier than it is. My first entry is okay. Nowhere near as good as a Hilliard, but I'm working on it.

SPC Low Key/High Key

2009-05-01T10:43:00.000-04:00

Joel Sternfeld

2009-04-23T23:28:00.008-04:00

Joel Sternfeld - McLean, Virginia, December 1978

I had the privilege of listening to Joel Sternfeld give a lecture at the Akron Art Museum tonight. I had never seen a picture of him before and in walks this man with this fantastically curly, dark, bushy hair. At first glance, he reminded me of Bob from That 70's Show. He has great character. He was funny, passionate, and very quirky. He talked about his work and inspirations such as Helen Levitt and Walker Evans. He was friends with Helen and he mentioned that she had passed away a few weeks ago. I had not heard. She was 95 years old. Amazing! Anyway, he said that Helen, who was friends with Walker, did not like to answer questions about him. Despite this, one day when he was out with her he decided to ask her what Walker was like. He said that she paused and said simply, "He was a genius".

At one point I was sitting there thinking that there is no other place I would rather be than right here, right now. Over the years, I have had the opportunity to see several famous photographers speak, because of the Akron Art Museum and the Mary Schiller Myers School of Art. For that, I am forever grateful.

Curtain

2009-03-10T22:22:00.005-04:00

The theme for March over at the Self Portrait Challenge is, "headless".

Random Fact #17

2009-03-01T22:20:00.013-05:00

There came a point, during my senior year of high school, when it was time to apply for college and pick a career. I ran through the list of possibilities. A veterinarian? No, that's eight years of school. A puppeteer or a clown, perhaps? They have clown school in Florida; that would be awesome! Maybe I could be a marine biologist with a minor in sharks...no, I would never make it through the math classes. It was during all of this life determining decision making, that I was taking my first photography class. I loved it! Can someone actually major in photography? Yes! It was decided. I was going to be a photographer when I grew up.

In the beginning I thought that I was going to be a photojournalist or a commercial photographer, but I was never really able to envision myself in either one of those roles. Then one day I was watching some sort of A&E or Court TV crime show where they were talking about forensic photography, and it clicked. This is it! This is what I want to do.

It's nine years later and I'm finally in that role. I am currently working an internship at a job that I have wanted to do for a very long time. It feels right. It fits. I still don't know if I will get to make a career out of it, but I am extremely grateful to have the opportunity to do it, if only for a little while.

SPC

Random Fact #26

2009-02-24T19:30:00.006-05:00

I have a blue and a partially green eye. I'm not really sure when this happened. I remember sitting in French class one day and a friend looked at me and said, "Dude, you have two different color eyes". I never noticed it. They were both bright blue when I was little. That was 19 years ago and the older I get, the more pronounced it becomes.

I'm finally back in the game! The Self Portrait Challenge is now over at flickr.

Nicknames, I has them

2008-01-15T22:32:00.000-05:00

Andrea has declared this week to be The Week of Lists. So many lists, where to begin? I got the idea for this one over at listography.
No one that I know has more nicknames than my cat. Oh yeah! How rude of me.

Meet Russia.

She is the Cat in the Everything and a ...
Anyway, as I was saying, she has been given a lot of nicknames over her 10 years. Most of them are utterly ridiculous. No, I am not responsible for all of them. This is what I can recall:

Rush
Russia Ann
Rush Ann
Wuss
Wussia Woo (my mom reserves this one)
Mouse
Moose
Boo Cat
Smoo
Smoof
Smoofy
Liddo
Lil' Bits
Pee Wheat
Foobitlits
White Breasted Grey Smoof
Baby Cat
Baby C
What are you doing Crazy Ass?

I Celebrate New Relationships

2008-01-14T21:59:00.000-05:00

I have been out of the dating scene for a long, long time. In the past few years, finishing my degree was my number one priority. I went back to school to finish what I had started 11 years earlier. I didn't have a lot of spare time. And, I couldn't be distracted from reaching my goal. I finally earned that degree 1 year ago . Free at last.

This past summer I attended a friend's art opening and was reintroduced to a few people that I had met several years before. He was one of those people. Back in November, I ran into him again at an artist lecture. Afterwards, a group of us went out to dinner. One question about music, a felt up hand, and a leftover mix up with some Skid Row thrown in brings us where we are today. It's strange, sometimes, how things come together. I really am in awe of it.

Get your celebration on over here.

Xmas Hugs

2008-01-11T05:39:00.000-05:00

This month's self portrait challenge is celebration. I went back home to celebrate the holiday with my family. Good times. This is my mom sharing the love with me on Christmas day.

Happy Birthday Nick

2008-01-10T02:40:00.000-05:00

I Wear Green Sweaters and a Crooked Smile

2007-11-12T19:13:00.000-05:00

"I don't know what life and all its wonder hold for me,
But I do know that whatever it is,
I will go at it
With open arms,
And my crooked smile."
My Crooked Smile by Elizabeth Creekmuir

Take a peek at more colorful attire over at SPC.

What I Wear When I'm Home

2007-11-08T03:26:00.001-05:00

These are my Ernie slippers. They are the first thing that I put on when I step through the door and the last thing that I take off before crawling into bed. The Ernies are super old. I have worn a hole where the ball of my foot sits on each one of them. I'm thinking about putting a few pieces of duct tape over the holes. I know that I will have to replace them someday, but I'm not ready to part with them yet.
See what other people are wearing over here.

Caturday!

2007-11-03T22:53:00.001-04:00

This is Sarah and Greg's cat, Tiny. I love lol cats. Some of them are hilarious. They are good for lifting the spirits up on a ho hum day. I have so many random pictures of cats. I should probably do something with them. This is my first lol creation. Pop on over to I Can Has Cheezburger to see more.

This is Halloween!

2007-10-31T23:58:00.000-04:00

Since this is kind of a transition week over at SPC between the new and the old themes, I have decided to post about my Halloween costume. I don't normally dress in the early 1900's Edwardian style, but I did wear this outfit to work today. I had planned on making an Andy Warhol Campbell's soup paper dress knockoff for my costume, but things went awry and there wasn't enough time. I was forced to move on to plan B. Oh, what to be, what to be. I did 1940's glamour last year, so that was out. I raked my brain and several "that's not happening" ideas later, I decided that I would try to dress up like some random character from an Edward Gorey story.

I found the cape, shirt, and dress all in one trip to the thrift store. I bought some fake flowers and a bird to decorate my old hat. The cat stole my black rose and I caught her trying to sneak attack the bird after I left the room to answer the phone. I stopped her just in time. No animals were harmed during the making of the hat. I was pleased with how it turned out. Other than a few people thinking that I was Mary Poppins, it was all good.

Tea, Me, and Sesame Street Makes Three

2007-10-10T02:45:00.002-04:00

I had breakfast with Sarah and Greg the morning after the wedding. It was a good time, but I drank just a little too much wine at the after reception party. The tea is fixing me up.

Look at more people with food over at the self portrait challenge.

AKRONography

2007-10-05T00:32:00.000-04:00

Five of my photos are in the latest show at Summit Artspace. The show is called AKRONography and and it is an all photography exhibition of images taken in and around the greater Akron area. I am very honored to be a part of this show. I have always wanted to add Summit Artspace to my resume. The list is slowly, but surely growing. A few of my old photography schoolmates and one of my former teachers, are also in the show. I had a chance to walk through the exhibit yesterday. There is some wonderful work in there. The opening reception is from 5-7 today. Unfortunately, I will not be able to attend. It's a bummer, because I do so love to schmooze and meet people at art shows. My very good friend is getting married today, and since Sarah is more important to me than the schmoozing, I will skip out, just this once, for her. Man, the sacrifices I make for my friends. Just kidding Sarah, I love you!

Congratulations Sarah and Greg! Congratulations Janice, Arnie, Andrew, Frances, Chris, John, and all of the others who made it in! Congratulations to me! Today is a day of celebration!

Bathroom Dance Party

2007-09-24T03:16:00.000-04:00

Friday was Janice's birthday and she invited me along for martini night at Bricco. So many yummy choices! Decisions, decisions. Two martinis and a shot later, we gathered ourselves up and headed on over to Thursday's for a little dancing and picture taking. Janice and I moved the dance party into the bathroom and...

even got a stranger to participate in this week's shoot.

View more bathroom fun here.

Rosie the Cleaner

2007-09-18T04:27:00.001-04:00

I had these grand plans to go out to one of the bars down the street for last weeks bathroom challenge, but it didn't happen. I was sitting around on Sunday, watching TV and avoiding real life, when I got the idea for this one. PBS was showing clips of a new seven part series about WWII, aptly titled The War, that will start airing on September 23. Listening to the women talk got me thinking about Rosie the Riveter and my affinity for everything 1940's. I was bored and still in denial about my real world chores, and well, all of that somehow led to this. Why do I need to clean when I can just take pictures of myself pretending to clean? Seriously.

Check out more bathroom antics here.

Rainy Day

2007-09-10T19:31:00.000-04:00

The rain came down hard and fast. It was the kind that is blinding. The kind that makes it difficult to drive in. It ended almost as quickly as it had started. I turned the corner and everything was illuminated by the eerie, but beautiful, golden glow of the sky. I didn't look through the viewfinder. It was just point and click. Sometimes, I get lucky.

Bathroom

2007-09-06T04:33:00.001-04:00

is the self portrait challenge of the month. My bathroom is very small, so this really was a challenge. It has a sink, toilet, and a tub with just enough room for a body to stand in the middle of it. I guess that's all I really need. However, there is not not enough room for a body and a camera mounted tripod, so I pointed the camera towards the mirror and snapped my reflection behind the shower curtain. This is the result.

May 21, 1928 - September 4, 2001

2007-09-05T00:01:00.001-04:00

Grams
Originally uploaded by Mona Syko

Here are a few of my favorite images of one of my favorite gals, Elsie Mae, my grandmother.

It was 6 years ago yesterday that my grams crossed over to the other side. Crazy, how time flies by. A few weeks ago she came to visit me in my dreams. I have only had a few dreams about her since she passed. This time it was different. We were sitting together talking about things and then something woke me up. I felt so happy. I fell asleep again and the dream continued on, but in a different place. I awoke sometime later with the same happy and loving feeling as before. It is rare when my dreams continue. This is only the second time that I have experienced a strong lingering sense of love and joy afterwards. It's quite amazing, really. This is how I know that it's real.

I love you Grams! I'll see ya soon.