Digital Portraits

I’ve been resistant lately to digital photography. My focus has been solely on film, and even that has slowed down in recent months. Part of this is because I recently moved and have been busy with other things. Another part of this is the lack of adventures and day-trips. But I always have a camera on me, whether it’s a regular day of going to work or I’m traveling to a new city.

My recent indifference to digital photography was born out of this idea that film is so much better. But one is not better than the other. They are both creative endeavors. There is so much about digital photography that I have yet to learn, as well as with film. I’m learning to appreciate both mediums and to challenge myself and enjoy myself with both.

Self Portraits

Just a couple recent 35mm self portraits I’m diggin.

Four Wheels

Over the last couple months I’ve watched several coming-of-age movies about skaters. The first was Skate Kitchen, which follows Camille, an 18 year old skater from Long Island as she navigates adolescence and finds new friends and connections through an all-girls skateboard collective in the city.

Most recently I watched The Land and the story of a group of boys from Cleveland as they struggle to make ends meet, to break into the sponsored skateboarding world, and find themselves way in over their heads in the end.

What I love about these movies is learning about a new culture. The skateboarding culture feels gritty, loose, and free. From the way they dress to the way they move on their boards, I’m mesmerized by it all. I regularly find myself jealous of people who pour themselves into their craft. Musicians who practice their instruments for hours every day, the teens from these two movies practicing tricks and skills for hours a day. The dedication to their craft and focus is beyond anything I can see myself doing.

Last month I was out for a walk in my new neighborhood when I saw a young man practicing tricks on his board in a parking lot. I’ve been working on building up the courage and confidence to ask strangers I feel drawn to if I can take their portrait. And this guy was gracious enough to let me practice. Thanks, Tony.

Montmartre

I Left My Heart in Paris

Paris was my last stop in my November 2018 travels. It was the only city I was truly nervous about. I had tried learning a little bit of French through an app, or watching a couple French films. But it definitely felt the most foreign to me of places I’d visited. That language barrier was the main source of nerves. I remember thinking on the train from London to Paris that perhaps I had made a mistake in adding on Paris to my trip. I was tired and worn out. My body felt off from the change in my usual diet.

From the moment I stepped out of Gare du Nord and saw the streets of Paris I knew I was in love. The nerves were still there, but even more powerful were the butterflies of excitement. Upon my return from my trip friends and family asked which city was the best, and I truly couldn’t pick one. But I have decided that Paris was the most mesmerizing. Because it is so different than anywhere else I’d traveled, I marveled the most at everything from the architecture to the brasseries to the people moving about around me. I loved it all.

xxo