The Final Weeks

Ok so I had  been working on this book about this property I had found. The more I had been working on it the more I found it just wasn't working right and I needed to stop forcing it to be one. There had been just too many photographs of different things and I was trying to force them to work together. I had went to some open studios in Somerville and had been fascinated with what an artist was doing there.

When coming back to my work I realized that I should be working on the images I have as separate images instead a group of images needing to work together. I wanted to have images that stood well on their own. I had then realized that I had been doing all my work and color for awhile and decided I wanted to go back to black and white like I used to do. Below are a few of the images I have been working on.

11760 Downes Station Rd

So as you guys would have read in my last post I was down in Maryland for my spring break which turned out to not be so much of a break but I did get a quite a bit of shooting done while I was down there.

First I would like to start off by telling you guys that my my last book, Maryland Abandoned, I made for my show, Handmade in Heaven, has arrived and looks great. You guys can see the whole book at my show which goes up this Saturday and opens on Monday 25th.

After my show comes down I will start working on a new book for the last two months before the end of the semester. The image below is what the book will be titled. I found this place while bring my car in to get the breaks looked at that in the end needed to be replaced. But I guess turned out to be a positive thing because I now have the materials for the second book I will be creating.

I will give you guys a preview of some of the images I took while out there shooting. Below are three images from the property in which I shot. I spent quite some time there because there was just so much to the property. There where about six buildings on the property. I took about seven hundred images and would have shot more if I had not been on a time limit. You guy can look for update on the process of the book over the next two months. 

Updates from the past month

Ok so I haven't updated in awhile cause I have been getting ready for my show. Below is the post card for my upcoming Senior Thesis Show in the 301 Gallery entitled Handmade in Heaven.

Okay so that out of the way what I've been working on for my show. From last post you can see I had begun working on a book for my senior year. That book has now been completed and sent out to be made. 

Below on the left is the image of the cover of this book and the image on the right is the first image in the book. This book is including in my show along with a couple large prints from this series.

So what's next for me you may be wondering? Well first off I am going to finish getting things together for my show cause thats coming up quick and then it looks like I will be starting another book to work on for the rest of my senior semester. I am currently in Maryland for my spring break and plan to do some more shooting while I am here to gather new material to work with to create a different book. I am thinking that I will want to focus on a differnt aspect but I am not sure yet. I am going to see what images come out of this trip and then go from there.

With this book I plan to take my time with it and try not to rush it. This first book I had to rush in order to get it printed before my show. So I want to take my time and get this book perfect. Will update with photo I take while I am here if not during the time I am here when I get back to Beverly.

It's Been Awhile

So I haven't really posted anything on here in awhile. I had come up with this whole project but I'm just not feeling it any more so I'm breaking off from that a bit and starting with a project going off of what I was doing.

Right now I'm working on a book of photographs entitled "Abandoned Maryland." Here is a few sample pages from the book

In Terms of my Photo Work

So in regards to what i've been doing with my photography for seminar. I've recently did a shoot in the studio of myself. I was just exploring shooting myself and figuring out what I was comfortable with because knowing what I was comfortable with helps in understanding who I am. Below is my favorite photograph from the shoot. I feel that this photo shows the part of me that is comfortable with who I am. I beginning to realize that I am accepting myself for who I am and becoming comfortable in my own skin. This is a girl that is accepting of her natural beauty and not afraid to show it.

Another thing I had been experimenting with while I was down in Maryland was shooting landscape out the window of the car while on route to where ever we were headed. I choose to not let the driver pull over the car because I wanted to see what I could shoot while in motion, which in turn gave me a view of Maryland that I could only get in that way as if I was trying to get to know the area and but didn't have time to stop. I watched the landscape for composition as we drove and shot when I saw something of interest taking many photos of the same thing hoping for a good shot. 

I was very interested in shooting the landscape down in Maryland. There is so much beauty to be captured and I look forward to being able to capture more of it. I look forward to being able to call this place my home in June. I shot the landscapes in terms of thinking about my senior seminar project because I have mostly been doing work in terms of emotions or specifics to me. I wanted to be able to capture the environment in which my life is taking place. These landscapes are part of me, they are part of what my life is.

Paintings thus far

So I've been working on a couple of paintings. Each of these paintings concerning a different part of who I am. The first one deals with my struggle of figuring out who I am and the confusion that comes with it. The red one is a painting i am doing that deals with me accepting the feminine part of me and this beauty that I have. Its all about beauty. Its me accepting my body as it is and being okay with it. It's me accepting that I am beautiful and knowing that I am.

The one that has two panels to create one piece started out as a completely different piece. It had a much more lighter, softer feel about it and just wasn't getting a crossed what i wanted to have come across. Then again I suppose I didn't really know what I wanted from the piece at first and that was the problem i was doing this one thing and my intuition was wanting me to do something else. The painting had just looked wrong to me so i forgot about ruining the piece, figured out what i wanted to come across in it, and just went at it. I decided that I  wanted the piece to have this sexual, kinkiness to it. These panels i am using to express a part of me that no one really knows about. A side that no one gets to see ever except when it tends to come out during my work and of course my significant other gets to see this. But even more so with him because no one but him, not any other guy, knows this part of me.  

To explain this other painting I have to tell you that I have recently decided to go to culinary school. How I came about the decision of needing to go was while I was sitting in my Senior Seminar class we had a visiting artist in talking to us about what happens after we get out of school. This then made me wonder why on earth I didn't go to culinary school instead. I have been wondering this for the four years i've been at this school. So with the support of people I looked into schools and have found one to go to. I have now felt the need to explore this part of me and explore baking through my art especially since i've been struggling with the idea of being here any more, because i want nothing more then to run off to Maryland and go to culinary school. In this one piece I used flour to create this. I plan to explore more over my time here mixing baking with art. Exploring making editable art as well as making art that appears to be editable though none of it is. I think this is a way for me to deal with my struggle of wanting to be in culinary school now as well as getting me through my senior year. 

My Studio

This is my studio where I create my paintings. I am working a couple of paintings and also have some new photo work also I shot while down in Maryland. I have one painting started thats about the emotions of sadness i've been going through over the stress in life. Another painting started is turning into a diptych about my relationship with my new boyfriend. I will post pictures of those when i get a chance to take some pictures of them at their current state.


This is one of the photos I took while in Maryland playing with shooting myself in the environment I am in to create context and give a personality to the people in the photograph. Unlike before where i shot them on a black background giving the viewer no idea anything about these people, essentially the people not having an identity.

This is another photo I took while in Maryland taking the advice of my adviser in experimenting with telling more about something by showing less then showing everything. He wanted me to try telling me more about someone but just showing maybe like hands. That would be more sensual then full blown sexual almost pornographic image.