Pure Elegance

“A girl should be two things: classy and fabulous.”― Coco Chanel

Soundcloud Audio Post Format

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Day One of Many More :-) 1/365

I'm starting a 365 day project. I have always wanted to and now I am. I think there will be many more 365 day projects to come. Everyday I am committed to ask at least one person for their picture. The point of this project is that my most favorite thing about photography is people, but I don't take enough pictures of people because I am afraid to ask them for their picture. After 365 days, at the very least I will have met many new people and taken many their picture and overcome my fears. I can't let fears of rejection overtake me. That just won't do!I am reading through Proverbs this month, and I came upon this verse.Proverbs 21:5The plans of the diligent lead surely to abundance, but everyone who is hasty comes only to poverty.This will be my verse of the year, perhaps life. It reminds me to be patient with myself and God, and to do a little bit a day, because going quickly only brings poverty, but diligence and consistency is what brings success.Have a lovely day~

Spanish Sunlight #29

"Fear is the lengthened shadow of ignorance."Arnold H. Glasow 

Man in the Garden #23

A Day in the Kitchen Sink #22

Here are a few images from my photo shoot with Sarah Vied, traveller and writer of the travel blog. Check out her work at http://uncagedtraveler.com .... She is currently in the Czech Republic, but soon she'll be in moving down the road to Taiwan... Don't you just love her green eyes??

Girlhood Frolicks ~ Fashion Shoot ~ Part Two

Part 2 of the Summer fashion shoot from Gyahaha's summer clothing line designed by the brilliant clothing designer Hyeon-ja of Gyahaha and help from business partner Hyunmi. Doesn't this just make you want to go on summer picnics, play dress-up, run barefoot, and eat so much watermelon that it dribbles down your chin and makes your hands impossibly sticky from the fruity goodness, or is that just me? 

Summer's Anticipation! ~ Fashion Shoot ~ Part One

Do you remember a couple of months back or rather almost 11 months ago?  In April 2011, I had a 5-month challenge for myself ?Remember challenges two and three?2) Collaborate with another artist (fashion designer, make-up artist, etc.) on a Photography Shoot3) Do a Fashion Shoot in SeoulSo I didn't quite do a fashion shoot in Seoul, but rather in the most beautiful countryside of Gangwon-do in East Korea! Which was about a million times better than photographing in Seoul. And I got to do some serious collaboration too!I paired with the brilliant clothing designer Hyeon-ja of Gyahaha and business partner Hyunmi for a crazy Saturday of pretty clothes, 3 am wake up calls, lots of hard work and the most tasty beef barbeque in all of Korea. We didn't finish until the next day at 6 am! It was worth the sleeplessness. We produced this shoot for their summer clothing line which is absolutely stunning! I am finally posting Part 1 for the internet world to see. Part 2 to come! :) If you're in Seoul, be sure to visit Gyahaha near Ewha and Hongdae University! It's a girl's clothes Heaven!In honor of warm weather and good melodies, take a gander at my new favorite song from Avalanche City ~ Love, Love, Love .. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWzzbuJJYQc&feature=BFa&list=PL7F6FD55BE8CCC5A5&lf=results_main   

Blissful Immaturity #10

Since the age of 4 or 5, I've been somewhat of an adult in a child's body, responsible, mature, dependable, blah, blah = a boring and worried little soul.. But I'm realizing that I missed out on the beautiful lightness of being a child and now I'm setting my soul free and throwing off the weights of the ridiculous worries of the 'grown-up' life. I am learning to be carefree and be worried for nothing, and it is so very freeing. Oh, I just love being immature! I can sleep in, puddle jump, sing in the rain, have bed head, never brush my hair, and really, who needs tangle-free hair anyways? I should have shed my adultness much sooner :)Clothes by: GyahahaTeddy Bear: My dear friend Katrina. I'll bring Mr. Teddy home to you again soon!And Mandy's Awesome Self Portrait #10 is here.. or if it isn't there right now it will be there soon. She promised me :)

Whispers of the Past ~ #9

I've always thought with my hair that I should have grown up in the 18th Century or during the 1980s, but unfortunately my parents missed the 18th century by a long shot. Lame guys! and then I only lasted for 2 years and 2 months in the 80s, equally lame. Though my 2 year old bedhead hair was fabulous, it just wasn't to the maturity of my current wig.  So since my birth didn't come in either of those time periods, now I am stuck with recreating what could have been. Me, as one of Jane Austen's Characters. I would have been awesome!. Though I may not have been as cool as Elizabeth Bennet in Pride and Prejudice, I would have been close. ;) hehehe Happy Tuesday, ya'll. And check out Mandolyn's Amazingness this week. ^^Clothes by: Gyahaha Clothing Store, Seoul, South Korea.

Dancing Queen #8

There are not many things in this beautiful world that I love more than sleep. I guard my sleep more than Pooh protects his honey or a Black Widow watches her poor, recently deceased husband., I like naps, I like going to bed at 9pm. I think sleep is one of the most essential things to a good life. I could be a spokesperson for shut-eye. I love, love sleep, nothing can get in the way of my sleep... well almost nothing BUT dancing. Oh my! Now dancing, this is a different kind of love. Sleep is my practical sweetheart, but dancing, why, he is the boyfriend who you'll sneak out of a 3-story window for; the one who makes your heart go flip and flop, puts butterflies in your stomach and then gives your spirit wings. Ahhhh Dancing, how I do love thee! And in the name of love, I decided to stand-up Mr. Sleep, and spend all Saturday night in Seoul dancing to the beats of Salsa, Bachata, and Merengue with my dear friend, Farah (the real dancing queen).We danced till 5 in the morning! And then we went to meet my 2nd love, Mr. Food, for a good post-dancing breakfast. Then we spent Sunday morning drinking coffee and discussing how whoever we marry must love to dance, and dance well. We are very serious, even if we meet a wonderful guy who meets all the other husband requirements, if he can't dance, he just will not do! Ah, it was a lovely way to spend a weekend.The Clothes: The super beautiful Japanese hat and dress in the picture are from Gyahaha. They are launching a new website in the next few days. I can't wait!View Mandolyn's beautiful #8 portrait here! Can you believe we've lasted 2 months in self-portrait land?!? I'm so proud of us :)view my portfolio here

#6 Feelin......

I was feeling a bit savage today, and I felt like I needed to embrace it. So I ate raw meat from the bone, beat my hands against my chest, swung from vines, and ate snails with my toes. A fabulous day!This one is for my sister Constanzia. I love you lady, and I miss you! My top is from the my favorite store ever, ever Gyahaha in Hongdae.Have a lovely Tuesday and please be just a little barbaric today :)And check out Mandolyn's #6. It makes you feel all warm and fuzzy inside ^^

The Self-Portrait Madness Escalates! #5

Wow! Is all I have to say. Wow!

This is only portrait #5 and I can't believe how many things have started to come my way since my friend Mandolyn and I have started this challenge. Let me explain, or try to. This story may be a wee bit difficult to understand, and long! I had trouble believing myself, but bear with me if you have the energy or brew some coffee! Brew it extra strong with some delicious milk to obtain the maximum focus ;)I had probably the craziest, most unexpected Saturday in quite some time. Like I said last week, I had no clue where my next self-portrait would come from, but then it just fell into my lap! So you see remember that fear challenge list I made? The one about the different things I wanted to do before saying goodbye to Korealand? Yes that one! Well on that list I wrote that I wanted to do a fashion shoot and collaborate on the photography shoot with another artist (fashion designer, make-up artist, etc).This past weekend that goal was accomplished! After I made the list, I decided to go meet and to talk to the owner of my absolutely favorite clothing store in all of Korealand in Hongdae called Gyahaha . I wanted to how she felt about  collaborating on a fashion shoot together.This store is amazing! It is full of beautiful colorful clothes, designed or bought by the owner Yeon Ja. She travels all over the world selecting clothes, fabrics and Jewelry for Gyahaha (Ladies in Korea let me know if you need directions because they carry some Western sizes and jewelry) .So about 3 or 4 weeks ago we met, Yeon Ja, Hyun Mi, and myself, had a lovely chat and decided that we wanted to work together! They told me that it was actually the perfect timing for a shoot because Gyahaha is about to launch their new summer line and they were looking for a photographer to do a fashion shoot, and I walk in their door. I like their style of clothes and they liked my style of photography. Ah-sah! I just love when the stars align!So we planned for a photo shoot for this past weekend and then we all started planning the shoot's concepts and looking for models, foreign and Korean. All was going well, and I couldn't be more happy to work with them.., but on Tuesday this tale took an unexpected twist. I get an email from Hyun Mi last Tuesday discussing the logistics of the weekend, our concepts, the timing, the models, and then she casually mentions that ever since they met me that they though I would be perfect to model their clothes. And they hoped that I would be one of the models for the shoot... Ha? What?!? ::at this point in the email, I spit out 1/2 of my morning juice dousing my computer my desk with orange juice while I simultaneously choked on the other 1/2 of my juice and it went down all sorts of wrong pipes that I didn't even know I had. It was a mess:: But you see, ladies that... I'm the photographer.. yes?? uhhh.. how? mmm. errr.  And then the idea came to me. Like a light from Heaven, the voice of God most probably.  ;)  You know what?!? You can do this. I've been doing self-portraits for the past month, why not? Weird, but doable.. So I pitched this idea to them, and they agreed! Wow.. Crazy right? Model and Photographer for a fashion shoot. Really, is that even possible? But wait there is more craziness to ensue, yes I know, how? You will believe it when you see it!So Saturday day morning the Gyahaha team, and I set out in the wee hours of the morning about 3am to go to a piece of farmland about 3 hours east from here, but not before grabbing some delicious Soon Dubu to fill our bellies. Off we went in search of perfect farmland. It took more time then expect, and people kept telling us that we couldn't take pictures here or there, but then we finally found a beautiful location free from all those pesky rule-following people. And so the shoot began. And yes I did model and photograph, I must say it was an experience switching from photographer to model and then back again. It's a little rough having to try to switch from model face to creative brain and then back again, but a good challenge. I would set up the tripod, arranged the scene, then the ever so lovely Hyun Mi would click the shutter for me or tell me when my face looked dumb. She was an amazing help! So I guess these may not be a purest of self portraits but.... It was pretty close :) Here's one of the semi-self portraits from Saturday...Well we shot all day! But the weather was amazing, and we an awesome time! About 4pm we packed up all the clothes and props and headed home, well almost, we first decided that all of our hard work deserved good food so we ate. I just love how Koreans never let you go hungry. They are my kind of people.After filling our tummies with Korean BBQ and marinated raw beef&pears, yum!, we had to rush back to Seoul because they had another in fashion shoot in the studio at 7pm. As soon as we jumped into the van, we all passed out from exhaustion. It was about 6pm.,  and we were on the way to my house, and the studio called Yeon Ja, by the tone of conversation, I knew something was wrong. I heard my name spoken in the conversation a few times, but everything was in Korean. I could only pick up a few words. She gets off the phone and then there was just silence in the car for about 10 minutes..No translation was provided. hmmmm... now I was curious.  What was going on?So being the noisy, annoying American that I am, I started to poke about the studio shoot, and I asked if I could go and watch it.. Then Hyun Mi tells that was the studio on the phone, their model was very sick, and that the studio stylist saw my self-portraits and asked Yeon Ja if I would be interested in modeling for the shoot?. ::at this point if I had had been drinking any sort of liquid, i would have spewed it all of over the car and its inhabitants:: hahaha! Really? Are you serious? Not twice in a day when I've never modeled a day in my life. You guys must be super confused.. I'm supposed to be on the OTHER side of the camera.. you know the PHOTOGRAPHER!, remember?But Yeon Ja hadn't mentioned it to me because she knew I had already worked all day and thought I was probably exhausted, and this would be asking too much. After thinking about it for hmm... 5 sec I decided the sure, I was tired, but how could I pass up the opportunity? I mean I had already wanted to go to the studio to watch the madness and now I could join it! Ah-sah! I wonder what they would make me do?.. hmmm...Come to find out, they didn't make me do much, but they sure did a whole lot to me.. A few times they had to give me electric shock therap so that I didn't fall asleep on them, and by the look of my hair you can tell. It looked like I stuck my finger in the socket. Look at the pictures! It was sheer madness. So much so that the shoot lasted for about 9 hours. I got home at 6 the next morning.The Photographer Kim Suk Jun, Hair & Make-up by Ji Hye, and the set stylist who was super cool with such a personality, name: Hyun Na! And thanks to Hyun Mi and Yeon Ja for keeping me company and feeding me kimbap and juice so I wouldn't fall asleep in drool all over their pretty clothes ^^Such a crazy Saturday, and I know the lunacy will continue. I can't wait! I am a truly blessed  :)

'Timely Fashion' ~ Self Portrait #4

As a journalist, I felt the need, the call, my duty, the deep, deep responsibility to incorporate my journalistic background into the next self-portrait challenge, with a little fashion twist, of course. What fashion could really be more current than the daily paper? Not even Paris designers can top the freshness of the morning news! Just call me at 1-800-fresh-fashion for your very own chance to wear the latest, greatest fashion!And I wanted to give a big shout-out to all the years of sleepless, shower-less, coffee-filled nights in the photo labs with my bestest and super gifted, artsy friends.... Mandolyn McConaha, Libby Isenhower, Nathan Morgan 2.0, Elizabeth Lauer, Joy Lewis, Drew Thompson, oh, oh and Becky Fluke too, but she was a rebel in the group and left us early to escape the sleepless blues of school life.. They are all very talented and beautiful, beautiful people, currently all over the planet doing all sorts of crazy things! But hopefully one day soon we can all catch up together, eat good food, drink delicious coffee, and chat about all the photo geeky things we can think of! I miss you guys! #4 finished! #5??? We'll have to wait and see, but currently, I have noooooo idea., but it will be an adventure, like life :) view my portfolio