roses are red...

Roses on Valentine's Day are nice, aren't they?  It's a toss up whether I like the roses, the chocolate, or the champagne best.  It was a pleasant treat to have all three this year, thanks to a great group of guys who got together and made a lovely dinner for the ladies!
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My iTunes: You Belong to Me by Carla Bruni

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!
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My iTunes: Early in the Mornin' by David Baker

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...
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My iTunes: Wehe! Weh! Schwester, ach Schwester! from Wagner's Die Walküre

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.
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My iTunes: In Quali Eccessi, O Numi from Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro

bridal bouquet

Bridal Bouquet
November 2008

My iTunes: Erlkonig by Bryn Terfel

I apologize for the continued lapses in posting! Life has just been a bit too full for the past week. The good news is my paper is nearly done -- I have to pull together a conclusion and edit a few appendices, but the end is in sight!

Since my time has been so consumed with paper writing, I haven't had as much time as I would have liked to work on editing the wedding shots. I was finally able to spend a good part of today editing, though. This is one of the shots I edited -- I like the unusual angle.

Hopefully I'll get back to more regular posting soon, but no promises yet... I do hope to set up some senior portrait sessions soon, so we'll see what happens!

flower in the abstract

Flower in the Abstract
October 2008

My iTunes: Tel jour, telle nuit: I. Bonne journée by Dalton Baldwin & Nicolai Gedda

This is a shot I grabbed while on one of my photoshoots this past weekend. And believe it or not, there's been no editing done to it. It's probably one of the 5 or so pictures I've ever posted without editing.

This weekend is the closing weekend for Aida. I'll miss hearing the amazing singers, but won't miss all the time spent taking off the body paint!

I have a new thing added to my to-do list: find a floor length black dress to wear for my choir solos. We had auditions yesterday afternoon for choir solos, and I was given three different parts. It should be fun!

pictures at the coffee house

Pictures at the Coffee House
September 2008

My iTunes: Je suis une enfant by Carla Bruni

Here they are -- I've just ordered 11x14 prints of each of these. I'll pick them up later today (because it's almost 2:00 a.m. on Saturday) and take them over to the coffee shop. I was there last night and the owners were really excited. I'll try to remember to take my camera with me and share a shot of the line up.

Now, time for bed!

look for joy

Look for Joy

May 2008

My iTunes: Steal Me, Sweet Thief by Gian Carlo Menotti

Today is a long day, and I'm reminding myself to look for joy in the midst of how busy I am. I had my piano final and my voice jury this morning, several meetings this afternoon, read a book that one of my exams tomorrow will be based on, officially declared my third major, signed up to take a voice lesson for credit, and moved half my stuff out of my house.

Tomorrow, I have to pack the rest, study for my last two exams tomorrow, finish writing the massive paper, go to physical therapy for my back, and drop of transcripts. BUT as a reward for finishing all of that (and the semester), I am going to see Elektra at the Washington National Opera tomorrow night! My voice teacher had two tickets, so I'm bringing my friend Catherine. I'm very excited, but am losing my motivation to do work... I'm going out for coffee tonight and will be talking with my future land-lord/friend about logistics of moving in and such. Hopefully the caffeine will help.

be cheerful

Be Cheerful

May 2008

My iTunes: Welcome to the 60's from Hairspray: Original Broadway Cast

Today was a good day. I woke up to find some encouraging posts on my last blog post: I am now one of Lacey Lichi's "photography blogger buddies" (her pictures of people, especially children, are some of the best I've ever seen!) and Robert mentioned me as one of his favorite blog sites (his macro shots are stunning, and I love seeing pictures of his beautiful daughter, Lily). It made up for having to take an exam today, which ended up being much easier than I had anticipated (which is good because I couldn't actually motivate myself to study very much).

I started packing today. I probably should have started sooner considering I have to be completely out of the house by 1:30 on Friday, but with my back issues I needed to wait until friends could come help me. The most difficult part is deciding what goes into storage for 2 months and what goes with me for the next two months.

Tomorrow I have my voice jury. Most music students hate them, but I really look forward to them and am sad when they're done. I get to perform three pieces before a panel of professors, including my own voice teacher, and will be accompanied by a professional pianist. During my voice lessons, my teacher accompanies me, and I look forward to juries when she can watch me perform and not have to look at music. I really look forward to seeing how much I've progressed between each jury. Last time I made quite the jump, but I'm not sure how I'll do this time given that I was hardly able to sing for almost 3 months because of my back issues. I'll be quite sad when my juries are over. Because I will be out of town for four of the next six weeks and my teacher will be on a cruise the following two weeks, I may only have one voice lesson between now and mid-July :( I think I may go into withdraw...

cascading flowers

Cascading Flowers

April 2008

My iTunes: Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun by Debussy

I suppose even though Project Green is over and done with, it doesn't hurt to have some green in this next image. I didn't want to use it for Project Green because it's not all about the color green. But now I can use it!

I like how the flowers fall gracefully out of the flower-box, almost cascading down the side. I think the purple and green look nice together, and I like the duality between the background and foreground -- the background is brown and flat and the interest lies mostly in its texture, but the flowers are delicate and three-dimensional, and the reason your eye sees them is their color.

I think this music is quite fitting for the image -- very relaxed. I recommend Debussy to anyone interested in piano music.

Now that I've surfaced for a post, I must return to the dungeon of the to-do-list... let me just say it's rather challenging playing catch up when you've been functioning at half-speed or less, were out for a week, and not are still not fully back to your usual self.

guinness and green

Guinness and Green

April 2008

My iTunes: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling

Well, I guess my attempt at not posting after midnight is failed today... But I've been up late working on papers and research, listening to Harry Potter a bit, and thought that I'd take a break and post this.

This is the last post for Project Green. This is another image from the archives, from when I lived in London. (I'm not a particular fan of beer, but having beer from a tap in London make us some fond memories of mine!)

No, Guinness beer is not green! This cup served as a make-shift vase (which I love!) for some flowers at my friends' house. I think most people tend to look at the flowers themselves and don't pay attention to the vase, and certainly not to the stems. I really liked this view, though -- I thought it had a lot of character. Now looking at the image, I like how the blues and purples of the background bring out the yellow-green of the stems.

Well, I should head to bed now. I have a lot to accomplish tomorrow -- practice piano, mail thank you notes, run to the library, work on finances, research apocalyptic imagery on medieval tympana, write a paper on a reliquary of the True Cross said to once belong to Pope Innocent V, write a paper on Paradise of the Blind by Duong Thu Huong, meet with my professor to lay out plans for the third course of study I'm attempting, stage the second half of the scene from Copland's The Tender Land with my partner, have rehearsal for Opera/Musical Theater Workshop, meet with my group about a medieval art presentation on Tuesday, lead Bible study, and stage the aria portion of Copland's The Tender Land. Whew... I'll definitely be needing tonight's beauty sleep!

daffodils in D.C.

Daffodils in D.C.

April 2008

My iTunes: Bianca e Falliero: Cielo, Il Mio Labbra Ispira

I made it down to D.C. and back safely yesterday! I was definitely in pain by the end, but it was totally worth it. I took my grandmother down with me -- she hadn't been to an opera since she and my grandfather were dating in 1941! After driving to D.C. and living in London, I felt completely comfortable (mentally, at least) getting down there -- it's funny what you can get used to; I know some people wouldn't have gone just because the transportation aspect would scare them. But me, I'm such an opera lover that I won't let anything stop me, even extreme pain from a severely herniated disc!

Before the show, my grandmother and I had some time to kill, so I snapped some pictures of the yellow things that caught my eye, then we sat in the Starbucks down the street. A lot of the cast came in and got coffees before the show. Now that I'm "in the opera scene," I recognized a lot of them. A good portion of them were in the opera that I was just in. The funniest part was that one lady walked in whose face look very familiar and I thought she might be my teacher's mother. Turns out, I was right.

The show was amazing -- the cast was just phenomenal! Vivica Genoux played a stellar Falliero and her coloratura was stunning; Anna Christy was quite the rising star as Bianca and sang her full range effortlessly -- I even heard one woman refer to her as the new Kathleen Battle (quite the compliment if you know opera); Daniel Mobbs was a great hit as Capellio and his baritone voice was superbly cast for the part. I know I'm slightly biased, but my favorite was Kyle Engler (my teacher) -- had the part of Costanza had a good aria or two to give her a chance to show off her voice, I think she totally would have stolen the show = ) Sung with ease and finesse, her mezzo-soprano tones were rich and warm and seemed to fill the whole auditorium. Overall, it was an amazing performance!

As I mentioned in the last post, this one will have two pictures -- I can't resist sticking in the picture of Kyle and I from after the show = )

flower bucket

Flower Bucket
April 2008

My iTunes: Waters of the Earth by The Ravel Trio and Kyle Engler

Another installment for Project: Yellow. It took this shot the same day that I took the one I posted yesterday. A friend and I went to a sunflower farm with her 3-year-old daughter. It was quite fun, and I got a lot of good shots. Some of them have appeared earlier, and now they are resurfacing again as springtime weather tries to emerge in Maryland.

As if this week couldn't get too much worse: I now find that as of now I am homeless for next year. Guess I should get working on looking for somewhere to live.

yellow sunflower

Yellow Sunflower

April 2008

My iTunes: Birds in Flight by The Ravel Trio and Kyle Engler

A friend of mine has a photo blog that I frequent and has been doing "Project: Yellow" as a theme for her pictures for the past few days. Unfortunately because I have been dealing with health issues with my back, I haven't been able to join her in posting for the past few days. But, I'm finally jumping on the bandwagon and posting this.

The latest on my herniated disc: I have an appointment with the orthopedic surgeon on Thursday and will most likely be scheduling surgery.

The song I'm listening to was performed yesterday by The Ravel Trio and Kyle Engler. Kyle is my voice teacher and she occasionally joins the trio, of which her husband, Daniel Lau, is the pianist, as an accompanying vocalist. The group mostly performs classical music, but some jazz as well. They recently have been performing a series of songs by women composers. They commissioned Dotti Anita Taylor to write this song specifically for them. This woman is quite musically talented and is a pianist, flautist, vocalist, composer, and poet. And she is a math professor. I've really enjoyed what I've heard from The Ravel Trio, and I always jump at the chance to hear my voice teacher sing. Check out their website: http://www.raveltrio.com/

wishful thinking

Wishful Thinking
January 2008

My iTunes: C by Poulenc

The weather outside is frightful -- a chilling 20 degrees Farenheit. I've put on my warm socks, wrapped myself up in my robe, and am curled up under an afghan listening to a collection of music by Poulenc, Faure, Debussy. If I close my eyes I can almost imagine looking up and seeing the sun through the blossoms and feel its warmth on my face. But that is wishful thinking...

flower pot

Flower Pot
December 2007

My iTunes: "La Cenerentola" by Rossini

I really liked these flowers when I saw them. They decorated the entrance to a bridge in Bath, England. The weather was beautiful the two days I was there, as you can see a little bit from the blue sky behind the flower pot. Unfortunately, much of my time in Bath was spent in meetings so I didn't get to sight see as much as I had hoped to. Perhaps one day I'll be able to go back and see a little more of the city. I did, however, get to see the Roman baths -- definitely a highlight of my trip because I am an avid scholar of Roman art!

red daisy

Red Daisy
November 2007

My iTunes: Giovinette Che Fate All'Amore in Mozart's Don Giovanni

I'm taking a brief break from writing a 14 page paper this evening to post a picture that makes me happy. Why? Because it is red. And I'm tired of this paper. It's proven to be an interesting topic, or at least I think it is interesting. I'm writing about Plotinic aesthetic theory: it's place in philosophical history, its influences on art, and its responses to contemporary events. Really, any time I get to write about Roman art or art in general, it makes me happy. I just wish I didn't have 11 pages left to write... and that it wasn't due in less than 24 hours...

find the bug

Find the Bug
October 2007

My iTunes:

Can you find the bug in this picture? I didn't even see him squirming around when I framed the shot, but when it was up on my computer screen -- pop! there he was. I like the shapes and textures in this shot the most.

My question today: why do I have 5 meetings on my schedule today (6 if you count church as a meeting, in that you are required to be in a specific place at a specific time with specific people)? I thought Sundays were supposed to be a day of rest? Guess not...

out the window

Out the Window
September 2007

My iTunes: Lazy River by Prudence Johnson

The weather is just gorgeous today! I'm enjoying it while I can, before the temperature drops and it gets too cold. I could do this kind of weather forever -- cool enough for jeans and the occasional long sleeve shirt, maybe a sweater in the late evening, but warm enough for a short sleeve shirt and flip flops. This picture reminds me of this kind of weather!

dandelion

Dandelion
September 2007

My iTunes: La Stella by Francesco Russo

They may be weeds, but they sure do look pretty. I like how when dandelions are in seed, they have an almost translucent effect. I got this picture when my class took a field trip to a farm owned by the college.

I'm actually off to spend the day in New York City (my first time!), so I'm planning to get some good pictures -- keep checking back!