new haven: part 2

I spent last weekend back down in Baltimore, and it was wonderful to be "home" again. I've missed the people who became family to me over the past few years, and it was really nice to see some of them. It was a whirlwind weekend, though, and sleep has not been a big part of my life for the past week or so. Last week was the big crunch to get everything done before the weekend, and when I was in Baltimore, the days were absolutely crammed with visiting people. Dinner with parents, grandparents, and my youngest brother, hair cut, opera night with Brittney, stopped by to see Rachel, breakfast with Kelley, visiting Betsy, coffee with Julie... Non stop fun! Plus doing some errands since I don't have my car with me in CT. I now have warm clothes (hooray for sweaters!) and shoes that will not make my feet blister and bleed every time I walk to class. Perhaps the best part was my voice lesson and then hanging out with the best three-year-old ever.

New Haven is starting to feel like home, too. Getting back to my apartment after a busy weekend was really nice, and I was glad that I had a home-made frozen pizza ready to pop in the oven before retiring to my wonderful mattress (which I missed when I was in Baltimore). Although it was "a dark and stormy night" by the time I arrived on this corner, this is "my corner." Thought it would be a nice shot to share.

Fall has officially arrived, and it's in the low 50's today. I'm curious to see how quickly it gets really cold and if it will be noticeably different than what I'm used to...

And now, back to the grind...
--
My iTunes: Cara Sposa, Amante Cara from Handel's Rinaldo

new haven: part 1

I know it's long overdue, but I finally got to walk around my new town a bit and take pictures. Three weeks into the semester, my brain finally told me I needed a break. Instead of the short breaks I've been taking each day, I decided to give myself the whole day off from any sort of brain work. Well, a whole day split between two -- I took off Friday evening until Saturday evening.

After getting back from my last class on Friday, I make some comfort food, played a little (okay, a lot of) piano, then curled up and watched about six episodes of Bones, then hit the sack. Saturday I slept in, watched more Bones, played more piano, then went on my photo adventure. (Yes, I think I am now addicted to the show...) This was one of my favorite spots to photograph -- they're the stairs to the University Chapel, and I love how the steps are bowed with age. Convenient that the chapel is free for Yale students to use for weddings. Now all I have to do is locate a groom, right?

Well, since I was lazy for most of the weekend thus far, it's back to the grind for me. Finished Ives reading earlier, almost done with Schenker, still have to pull together a presentation for tomorrow, then start on Nazis. Time for more coffee...
--
My iTunes: Welche wonne, welche lust from Mozart's Die Entführung aus dem Serail

my favorite 3-year-old

Meet C. My favorite 3-year-old and one of my favorite people ever! I miss her very much since I moved away. She apparently asks for me all the time, and her new obsession is "Rice Christy Treats."

Sorry for my tardiness in posting -- what with moving and everything I've been short on time. And internet -- it's taken almost 3 weeks, 21 customer representatives, 2 installers, 1 non-showing-up installer, 3 dropped calls, 2 hours on hold, 2 more hours talking on the phone, and 1 official complaint before getting the internet working. Ridiculous...

Anyway, postings may be fewer and farther between now. I'm anticipating the work load for this graduate program to be pretty hefty, and am hoping to pick up a choir job that I'll hear back about soon. Plus after moving, I lost my client base, so there will be less opportunity for lucrative photography. I'll still put forth and effort to post, however!

See you around the internet!
--
My iTunes: Nessun Dorma by Luciano Pavarotti
(My neighbor's iTunes: The Electric Slide)

my new shootsac

Had to take a quick detour from senior photos to share some shots of my lovely new shootsac! Check them out here, and make sure to stop by their designer's wonderful blog-site!

Is it strange that I feel more like a "real photographer" when I include more than one photo in a post? :)
--
My iTunes: Beethoven 9

photoshoot: emily 2010: take 1

The latest of my photoshoots this summer was with Emily. Emily is my friend Brittney's younger sister, and we did a senior photoshoot (or actually, a series of two, thanks to the weather and sudden lack of light) this past week. She wanted pictures with the horse that she has ridden for the past 5 years, and I was excited to work with her. She was a ton of fun to work with, and she, her sister, and I went to Pizza Hut for dinner after out last installment. Yum, yum!

Sorry for my lack of posting lately -- life has been busy with working, photoshoots, voice and piano lessons (BEST part of the summer, naturally), and preparing to move, I've not spent much time blogging. I will try to share more photos before the move, and of course once I get to CT!
--
My iTunes: At the River by Charles Ives

photoshoot: kiddie winkies: take 2

This is R, G's big sister from yesterday. This is one of my favorite portraits of her from our shoot. She has this great curly hair that looks like an angel halo with the light. She looks so much like her mom, B, and her Aunt K!

Well, short post tonight -- today was an insanely stressful day at work, so I'm going to take a while and unwind...
--
My iTunes: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling, read by Jim Dale

photoshoot: kiddie winkies: take 1

I had another great photoshoot with some really cute kids yesterday. This is G, and he and his older sister R are just too cute for words. This is one of my favorites of G -- I just love the goofy smile, and the sparkle in his eyes.
--
My iTunes: El amor y la muerte by Daniel Lau

fourth of july

Here is my somewhat belated Fourth of July post! There were over 7000 people there, and it was a veritable sea of red, white, and blue! The music was fantastic -- the BSO played various pieces throughout the evening, including the ever-popular 1812 Overture. My favorites were the Ives pieces, though. I took hardly any pictures because I was just enjoying the music so much, so here are my two favorite shots of the day.


--
My iTunes: Mahler: Rückertlieder - Blicke Mir Nicht In Die Lieder by Lorraine Hunt Lieberson

bright summer days

I meant to get some fun firework pictures for the 4th of July, but alas my view was blocked by trees and power lines rather unexpectedly. But it was a great 4th nonetheless! I went to the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra's special 4th of July performance, where they played at an outdoor theatre and the end of the concert was accompanied by fireworks. It was basically the perfect way to celebrate -- picnic in the park with friends, the orchestra playing the 1812 Overture and some patriotic pieces arranged by Charles Ives (whose Alma Mater is where I will be attending graduate school, incidentally) in the background, and closing with fireworks and accompanying music.

Being a musician, I was naturally most excited about the music, so it was really fun to be there with my friends Julie and Chris, both of whom are tuba players and fellow music-junkies. I guess we don't look like the kind of people who love classical music though, because an older gentleman who was one of the event volunteers jokingly said to us as we boarded the bus to the park, "And I'm sure you're all going for the music and not the fireworks." Little did he know how right he actually was :)

I did snap a few shots of the crowd -- 7000 people! But I haven't loaded them onto my mac yet, so I'll have to wait to show them for another day. I thought this shot was sufficiently summer-y, though. I love how forsythia is so bright and cheery!
--
My iTunes: Early in the Mornin' by David Baker

photoshoot: three brothers: take 5

"Cheese!" Just too cute.

Currently enjoying a quiet evening to myself -- listening to a little Charles Ives on my new clock-ipod-radio contraption (the last clock I had was so bright that it kept me up at night, even on the dim setting), sipping my new favorite summer drink, and slowly working on a little more deep cleaning and organizing. Thought I would take a break to put up a quick post.
--
My iTunes: Circus Band by Charles Ives

photoshoot: three brothers: take 4

Here is one of my favorite shots of S. He had the cutest little pouting face, and this is probably the most still he was for the whole shoot. I really love this shot, and so did his mama!
--
My iTunes: Salut marin by Carla Bruni

photoshoot: three brothers: take 3

We did the photoshoot on a football field -- fitting for three brothers, don't you think? S was a real mover, and didn't stay still too long. I managed to snap this shot as he was playing by the practice net down by one of the end zones. Two seconds later, he was just a blur, running as fast as he could toward the other end of the field.
--
My iTunes: George by William Bolcom

photoshoot: three brothers: take 2

Isn't this little guy just too cute for words?

At work again... back to the grind (literally, because I work in a coffee shop...)
--
My iTunes: L'Amoureuse by Carla Bruni

photoshoot: three brothers

I am resurfacing after a blogging hiatus! I did a quick shoot yesterday for a friend of mine who wanted some pictures of her boys for Father's Day. They turned out really well, and you really see the different personalities of her three boys. T is the oldest and definitely has the older brother mentality. E is the middle boy and my friend says that no one else in the world can make her laugh harder. S is the youngest and he marches to his own beat, and will be a little heart breaker one day. It was quite a fun shoot, and my friend was happy with the pictures. I'll probably put up a few more here soon, but this will be it for now!
--
My iTunes: Istanbul (Not Constantinople) by the Trevor Horn Orchestra

musical art: part 3

And here is the third and final installment. I'm excited to see them printed and put up on the wall. Actually, I'm just excited to see the walls in person!

I've been on the look-out for a bedding set for my apartment as well. Since I'm renting a studio apartment, the bed will be a significant fixture, so I wanted to be sure that I like the duvet cover I get. I saw one online that caught my eye, but wanted to see it in person. When I got to the store, they didn't have the one I was looking for, but I found one I liked better that was on clearance! And, thanks to some coupons I had, I got an additional 20% off. Score!

musical art: part 2

Part two of my three-part musical art series.
--
My iTunes: Beethoven's 5th Symphony

musical art: part 1

In lieu of purchasing art to decorate my apartment this fall, I'm planning on decorating it with some of my own works. I want something a bit more abstract, but still involving photography. Since I'm slightly obsessed with music, I thought I'd try my hand at creating a series based on images of music. This is the first of the three I've created so far.
--
My iTunes: Beethoven's Ninth Symphony

graduation

I did it! Graduation was yesterday afternoon. I graduated with lots of pretentious honors: Summa Cum Laude, 4.0 GPA, two departmental honors, six honors societies, 183.5 credits, the United States History Award, not to mention three majors and a minor. The program had an insert with blurbs about some of the graduates with exceptional accomplishments and/or plans, and I was included. All in all, I feel rather proud of my accomplishments!

One of the coolest things about the graduation was that I was the very last person in the entire graduation to receive their diploma. First, all the graduate students received their diploma in alphabetically order by last name, then the undergraduates without Latin honors, then Cum, Magna, and Summa, and I was alphabetically last for Summa. I think it's the perfect spot to be -- everyone cheers for you and there is no anti-climactic wait afterward for 300 more people to receive their degrees.

So now that I've graduated, my summer begins. I will spend some of this week unpacking and consolidating all the ridiculous stuff I've accumulated over the last four years, and I'll go right back to work on Monday. My summer class starts this week -- I'm taking an acting class for fun and to help my performance skills as a singer. And I'm hoping to get right back to my voice and piano lessons!
--
My iTunes: Procession of the Nobles by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (this was our processional music!)

photoshoot: friends: take 10

Today is graduation day -- fun, fun, fun!

photoshoot: friends: take 9

At the close.

Oh, so retro...

photoshoot: friends: take 7

Getting ready for the close up...

photoshoot: friends: take 6

On the steps of the library.

photoshoot: friends: take 5

...jump!

photoshoot: friends: take 4

Ready, set...

photoshoot: friends: take 3

Thus commences my week of pre-posting while I am away! Enjoy!

photoshoot: friends: take 2

Another shot from my most recent photoshoot. And much as I would love to write more, I have a lot of packing to do before 8:00 tomorrow morning, and a final to finish studying for. Ugh.
--
My iTunes: Dippermouth Blues by King Oliver's Creole Band

photoshoot: friends: take 1

I had a quick photoshoot yesterday. Some friends of mine were raising some money for a silent auction to provide scholarship money for people to go to the retreat next week, and I donated a 30-minute shoot for them to auction. The girl who got it decided to ask her friends who were graduating to do the shoot with her. It was a great idea and I think everyone had fun getting to know each other better, because they weren't all from the same core group of friends.

I'll probably share more of these over the next week or so. Since I won't have internet access while I'm away, I'll most likely put together some pre-posts and use the lovely post-ahead feature in blogger :)
--
My iTunes: Gente, Gente. All'Armi from Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro

photoshoot: the station: take 4

One good shot of syrup deserves another I suppose. I am officially done with my undergraduate course work. I actually skipped my last class on Friday to spend time with a three-year old. It was a day well spent. I finished my last paper yesterday, and all I have left is polishing off my senior seminar paper and taking two exams. Since I'll be away the week after finals, I'm trying to work a bunch of extra hours this week. Then a few days after graduation, my summer class starts. Just for fun, I'm taking an acting class -- I'm very excited. Other than an acting class, I'll be taking voice and piano lessons. And hopefully watching my favorite three-year-old a lot. And working.

photoshoot: the station: take 3

No one has correctly guessed what the last picture was, but it was from the same shoot as this shot -- at work. Since I'm leaving for work in about 40 minutes, I thought I'd continue in that vein and post another shot from there. Yesterday's shot was a close-up of the coffee collars (or sleeves) that we put the disposable cups in when serving things to-go. We keep them about 12 inches from where these bottles of syrup are. Now that I know how to make all sorts of "fancy" drinks, I tend to describe very specific creations when I order elsewhere, like "skinny vanilla-almond soy chai, dirty, no foam, no whip" or "skinny raspberry tiramisu mocha, half-caff, extra whip." I wonder what I'll make myself tonight...
--
My iTunes: God Bless the Child by Billie Holiday

photoshoot: the station: take 2

Can you tell what this is?

Now back to editing my MIDI project...
--
My iTunes: Non so piu, cosa son cosa faccio from Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro

"photobooth"

I put this together from pictures I took on my cell phone, so the photo quality is somewhat less than desirable, but they were so cute I just had to share them. This little girl is one of my favorite people to be around. We had a ball together last week and I'm quite excited to see her again on Friday. For some odd reason, she loves the movie The Nightmare Before Christmas -- I'd never seen it until last week, and now I have her rendition of "This is Halloween / This is Halloween / Everybody scream" stuck in my head. I must say, the music in that movie is fantastic, but I would have been quite scared of it as a child. She's amazing though and it doesn't phase her.
--
My iTunes: Violin Concerto in F by Vivaldo, Autumn from Four Seasons

photoshoot: the station

I switched to edit my other photoshoot from this weekend. Work was really slow on Saturday, and since I had my camera, I had a mini-session. I'm really happy with how a lot of the shots turned out. The shoots on Saturday were very different -- the morning shoot was filled with lots of little girls, which means lots of pink and lots of action, while the afternoon shoot was mostly still life and macro shots.

Today was a non-stop day for me. Lots of "graduation-y" things, including an honors convocation and induction ceremony. Can you say l-o-n-g and b-o-r-i-n-g? I didn't realize how long it would be, and in retrospect I felt bad for picking my voice teacher as my faculty member to be in attendance. I should have picked someone I didn't like and made them waste an afternoon... She was very gracious about it, though. It meant a lot that she was so willing to be there for me, especially with her busy schedule -- if there is anyone who is busier than I am, and who works harder, it's her. How ironic that of all the voice teachers in all the world, I'd have her!

So, after the graduation-y events and tonight's opera performance (which went very well -- I quite enjoyed performing the Handel and the Mozart), I treated myself to an evening of watching Alias, without working on papers, but couldn't justify only watching, so I multi-tasked with editing. Now that it's nearly 1:00 a.m. and I still have paper-tweaking to do, I realize that I probably should have just kept my nose to the grindstone. No rest for the weary...
--
My iTunes: Nur Stille, Stille, Stille! - Die Strahlen Der Sonne Vertreiben Die Nacht from Mozart's Die Zauberflöte

photoshoot: birthday party

This was the first of the images I edited of the birthday party I shot yesterday. It was a very fun party, every five-year-old girl's dream party. Lots of pink and princess. XiXi had a blast and by the end completely crashed. I've just started editing, and I'll share more photos as I go, but I loved this one and had to share it right away.

Lots of graduation-y events today. I'm listening to the traffic outside and it sounds like it's raining... that should put an interesting spin on the events. But I'm wearing my fabulous new pair of shoes -- super comfortable turquoise wedges. I'm pretty excited!
--
My iTunes: Beethoven's Ninth Symphony

photoshoot: A

This is one of my favorite shots from the most recent senior shoot I did. A and I have known each other since second grade, although we lost touch between elementary school and college. It's funny that we both ended up at the same small liberal arts college. I don't get to see her terribly often because we spend time in different parts of campus -- she's a science major looking at a career in medicine, and I've set foot in the science building twice in my college career. (I took my science courses at a community college during semester breaks, otherwise I would've had classes in there.) She has an interest in photography and was really excited to learn about it, so it was fun to talk about what I was doing during the shoot and then explain some of the editing process. I can't give away all my secrets, though...

Today I'm shooting my friend's daughter, XiXi's, 5-year-old birthday party. I've posted pictures of XiXi before, and it should be fun to do some shooting today.

I also donated a 30-minute shoot to a silent auction recently, so I should have another shoot coming up within the next two weeks, and a few other people have mentioned that they'd be interested. We'll see how it all pans out!

And if I can figure out how to get the pictures off my camera phone and onto my computer, I have some adorable (but very poor quality -- nowhere near the shots my Nikon turns out...) shots of me and my favorite three-year-old...
--
My iTunes: Gallatry a Soap Opera by Douglas Moore

flowers

'Tis the season for me getting flowers! I've gotten an unusual number of flowers lately, so I've had fun taking pictures of a few of them when I think of it. These were leftover from a party my parents had, and since they left town the day after the party, I brought these back with me to enjoy them. I love the velvety look of them.

Coming down the home-stretch -- I have 2.5 weeks left of classes. I should be good and go work on homework, but I might catch up on House instead...
--
My iTunes: Wehe! Weh! Schwester, ach Schwester! from Wagner's Die Walküre

photoshoot: L: take 2

Not such a "posed" picture, but for some reason I really like this one. L has such a fun-loving, vivacious, enthusiastic personality (and a great sense of humor -- she always has a big smile on her face and you can pick her laugh out from a crowd), and I think this shot does a decent job of capturing it. Kind of a quirky-action shot.

Got out of work in record time tonight (a.k.a. this morning), so thought I'd put up another quick post before hitting the sack
--
My iTunes: Injurious Hermia from Benjamin Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream

photoshoot: L

This is one of my favorite shots from another senior photoshoot I did recently, only L is a college friend of mine. I'll share a color shot from our session later so you can see how amazingly blue her eyes are, but I like the texture of this shot a lot.

Quick post for the moment -- I have to leave for work in a minute and work the late shift. At least there will be caffeine involved...
--
My iTunes: Ein Mädchen Oder Weibchen from Mozart's Die Zauberflöte

steps

Another shot from my trip to Annapolis.

I'll try to post again soon -- the end of the semester means my schedule is cram-packed...
--
My iTunes: Injurious Hermia from Benjamin Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream based on the play Shakespeare.

my baby

I love my macbook. I have no idea how I survived for so long without it, especially given the state of my old computers... I was showing my friend, Anna, how to work my macro lens and snapped this shot.

I'm currently taking a history of jazz class and my current project involves listening to vocalese pieces (a.k.a. pieces based on instrumental improvisations with texts inserted over lead instrumental sections). Given my affinity to opera, it's no surprise that I was drawn to this type of jazz subconsciously, because one source I was reading described a set of recordings as a "crazy jazz opera." Here is a link to a recording on YouTube of a piece that I enjoyed watching -- isn't Annie Ross's vocal range and flexibility astonishing?
--
My iTunes: Everyday I Have the Blues by Lambert, Hendricks, and Ross

yellow rose

One of the roses from one of the beautiful bouquets I received after my concert on Saturday. It went fantastically. I almost wish it weren't over. Now all that's left is a massive paper. Joy.

Work at 5:00 a.m. tomorrow. It think it's perfectly horrible.
--
My iTunes: In Quali Eccessi, O Numi from Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro

the color version

The color version, because I felt the need to post, but was at a loss for finding a picture. I like it for different reasons than the black and white. I love the classic-ness of the black and white, though.

True story: I fell asleep on my books last night at 9:30 (thankfully I was studying in bed, not at my desk), woke up with my alarm at 8:00 and somehow turned it off and woke up again at 9:00. Must have needed the sleep, although it didn't help much with today's "pop" quiz... It definitely helped with my voice, though. I like sleep.
--
My iTunes: Popolo di Pekino from Puccini's Turandot

self-portrait

You'd think that being a photographer, I'd have tons of photos of myself laying around. Quite the contrary -- it's rather challenging to take a good self-portrait -- but thanks to my friend Anna, I now have one more to add to my "collection" of self-portraits. Thought I'd share it.

The first rough draft (emphasis on ROUGH) has been handed in, and for the rest of the week I'll be focuses on getting ready for my recital on Saturday. Should be a good performance!

Last week was full of opera -- Wednesday evening I saw my teacher in Don Giovanni and Thursday I saw her in Peter Grimes. Both were fantastic, and I wish I could see two such excellent performances every week! Grimes has been stuck in my head all day. The Interludes are especially gorgeous!
--
My iTunes: Interlude #2: Storm from Benjamin Britten's Peter Grimes