My Own: Weekend Shots

From the city to the suburbs, that's the spanse of my life here in Chicago. When I'm not at my house in the burbs, I'm at my sister's house in the city. I have to say, I am definitely a city girl- that's where I prefer to spend my time, but then sometimes, "there's no place like home". Sometimes....

My bedroom at home is a wonderful east facing room, with a row of three large windows. Each morning, through my pink and purple sheers, I get the beautiful, blinding sun, shining in my face. Despite the sometimes annoying 4:30am "peek-a-boo" over the horizon, I love my view and often take pictures of it.
In a few months, I may have the opportunity to have more space in the room across the hall (which would be nice, considering it's many functions; bedroom, classroom, chat room, office)but I won't likely take it. I have become too attached. There are so many memories here.

My sister's condo in the South Loop looks out over the entire south side, including US Cellular Field (formerly known as Comiskey Park) and parts of Indiana(on clear days). Talk about a view! I love to walk out on the balcony, and just take it all in.

Anyway, here are some shots I took this weekend-

First, sunset in the city on a cloudy Saturday night.

Then a snowy Sunday morning shot, out my window.
There are more pictures in this set here at my now unlimited, again (thanks, dad!), Fotki account.

Ps. I probably will not be posting too frequently in the coming weeks. My birthday is coming up and soon after (hopefully, Inshallah) a Morocco trip, so I am working furiously to get as much work possible done before the big 18 and the end of the month.

Brilliant Eye: Mandolux- Darkness/Palm

*Photo Link- Darkness/Palm

I can't seem to get my mind off the exotic, the exotic Maroc, that is. Lately all I can think about is being there. I found this photo, "Darkness/Palm", at Mandolux.com. It reminded me of something you might see while roaming around on a warm summer night in Marrakech. I can definitely use the warmth(or at least the warm thoughts), being that it's -6˚C here.

My brother Ben told me about Mando's awesome photos. Mando Gomez is a desktopgrapher who specializes in desktop photos for multi-panelled monitors(something that Ben has) which are rare. It's fun to use his desktops for many different things.

You can also find Mando on Flickr at http://www.flickr.com/photos/mandolux/

**Based on a recent comment about needing permission to use Mando's photos in a blog, which I had no idea about, I have removed the photo from this post, but you can see it by clicking the link.

My Own: Secret Stash

Okay, I'm still in the mood of Moroccan love, and I think this photo pretty much sums up what my life has been about for a few months- love and chaos. The funny thing is that even tho it's been chaos it all interrelates and somehow when one thing gets sorted out ten others follow.

This set is called "Secret Stash". It took a couple hours to get it right, and I'm still not all that satisfied. But it has been somewhat of a revelation to me in that, things that matter to you are going to take time to develop, so stay true, have patience and keep on keepin' on.

Ps. I forgot that my trial of Fotki unlimited is now over. So, until I decide I want to pay for the account, I won't be posting my sets :( It sucks, but what can a girl with no job do?

Country Of My Heart- Morocco

I am posting twice today because I have really been feeling love for my wonderful country of Morocco. When I say "my country", I mean the country of my heart, or where my heart takes residence. Morocco has been that place for about 2 years now and what started it all was the promise of a visit to Fes. Well, that promise has not yet come to fruition, but I am eagerly awaiting it's reality( and changing the destination to Marrakesh). In the meantime, I have grown to love everything Moroccan- the country, the culture, the people, the architecture, the design, the food, the caftan(oohhh the caftan! I can only wait to get married in such a beautiful work of art because I know I have to), and of course my wonderful Moroccan man *blushing*.

Such wonderful things bring me to my obsession with gathering as much as possible that reminds me of this lovely country- the beautiful photography of wonderful photographers who have been all over the country; converting my once Asian inspired bedroom to Moroccan inspired; finding as many Moroccan restaurants in Chicago as I can; and starting a collection of Moroccan lanterns.

I've seen things from the desert to the souks, the only thing I lack is to experience it first hand. Soon I will make the trip, inshallah. Until then I gaze on these pictures hoping somehow they will transport me to my "home". I hope you will enjoy them as much as I.

Casablanca

Marrakesh

Souks

Fes

Desert


not sure(I'll have to ask, my labels are messed up)

Caftan- I want something like that white one when I get married.

I find many photos of Morocco, at these sights:

http://www.trekearth.com/gallery/Africa/Morocco/

http://www.smallfamilies.co.uk/album/morocco/slides/morocco_01.html

http://www.hansrossel.com/photos/morocco-pictures-images/index.htm

http://www.stokely.org/europe.html

http://www.femmesdumaroc.com/Caftan/Edition2006

http://community.webshots.com/album/178763321TiPBfL

http://www.maion.com/photography/morocco/index.html

These are my favorite Moroccan Restaurants in Chicago:

http://www.andalous.com/Home.asp

http://www.taginemorocco.com/index.php

My Own: Photoshop CS and the Wet Collection

So I've been kind of bad today- playing with Photoshop CS instead of writing a book report, but it's just so much more fun...I took these pictures for this express purpose, actually. Ok, so I know I should still be writing my report, so I am going to, right after I post.

These are what I've been playing with..

Photo 1: Neon Glow White
Photo 2: Invert
Photo 3: Neon Glow White w/ Deep Red Filter
Photo 4: Desaturate
Photo 5: Diffuse Glow
Photo 6: Neon Glow -1
Photo 7: Diffuse Glow, Neon Glow -1, Neon Glow -23

I don't think that it's all that hard to figure out what these are of- wet hair, but I do love how I can play with them. All from- the Wet collection

And also I'm happy today because there's only 29 days until I turn eighteen . Yippee!

My Own: God's Promise

Due to low memory space ( less than 5%) I've been forced to go though all the photos on my hard drive and delete those not worthy of being posted on fotki (ok, between you and me, I may have saved a few more than that.) I admit, I AM a picture pack-rat, I have a NO DELETE clause, and I save pictures I find on the web and it probably doesn't help that I also download music, like crazy, in full albums. So yes, I have low memory, REALLY low memory, and I'm patiently awaiting an upgrade( Oh, Benny, please!! :) Anyway, my point in tell you all of this is that I went through my pics and low and behold, I found this-

Ok, so there is a rainbow right? Look closer, not only is there one, there are two rainbows. The rest of the picture really doesn't matter all that much, although it isn't a bad view of my street, and the sun has made awesome lighting on the trees. There are two of my brother's houses and then a basketball hoop that's in my driveway.

Here is the other end of that same rainbow- now, keep in mind I'm only standing on my back porch, I have only turned, I didn't have to go to another view point or anything.

Although, there isn't the tail to the second rainbow, it ws pretty amazing to see the beginning and the end of "God's Covenant". I have never again seen anything like that.

Up-in-coming photographers: Charity and Faith

My twin sisters have recently been my little apprentices. They really do pretty well, for 6yr olds, and I enjoy teaching them. They really retain everything I tell them, and remind eachother when one forgets. Charity does a lot of abstract and Faith has done a few portraits.

Here is one from each of them:

Charity's

~Flour for our snowballs

Faith's

Funny, that's Charity>

My Ambitions and Goals

Maryam of My Marrakesh presented an interesting question, about Dizzying Qualities, to me last night. She asked, "darling girl, why do you think that a pile of curtains represents you, I wonder?" That type of question I knew I'd get someday from a professor with something to prove, but I definitely wasn't expecting it now. I didn't feel I was going to able to answer it.

So, Maryam, you had me thinking for quite sometime. Then I realized that when I changed majors, from fashion designer to photographer, I carried with me my ambitions and goals as an artist.

~ Find beauty in that which isn't beautiful, find extraordinary in the ordinary. ~

I've had the ability to do this in the past and I wasn't sure how exactly to express that with out sounding vain, until Pink Mohair came in and said what she said, confirming my ability. That is when I realized that this has been my goal not only in art, but in life as well.

I have taken a risk to show that there is beauty in a culture that maybe thought, by the politically minded American, as rubbish; to show that there is something wonderful about it's people; to ask that they be given a chance. I'm not a rebel, but a reformer. And that is what La Vie Par Mes Yeux is all about- a chance for me to show the beauty I see, to others.

Here you can see the rest of that series of experimentation with my curtains. I will attempt to show more extraordinarily ordinary photos in the future as well.

Abstract: Dizzying Qualities

I was playing with the settings of my camera on Friday night, trying to come up with a new myspace layout. The product of such playing was this-

A photo of curtains piled on my knee. But it's weird isn't it? I mean that's not what you'd think it'd look like. It's all twisted and dizzy, I don't even really know what it looks like. I guess it's kind of cool, Cool enough to post anyway.

This was the layout I came up with-

A 50 pixel black border, a dark grey mat, and a pile of curtains in the middle. All text is dark grey, with the acception of the emphasized text which is in bright purple.

Brilliant Photographers and Brilliant Minds

Look what I stumbled upon this morning while looking through design dna (which I stumbled upon 2 days ago, by the way)!

3191

I'm oh SO ecstatic right now.

This is one of the most AWESOME concepts I've seen in a long time. Not only is it visualblogging.com, which is awesome in itself (considering I never knew it existed), it's 2 friends staying in touch, by picture, while 3191 miles apart.

When I saw this, I immediately thought, this is an amazing concept! I absolutely love it, and would love to do it. I immediately sent the link to my older sister, Hope, and told her about it. We're inseparable, so much so that we've been thought of as twins(separated by ten years). At present, her camera doesn't work, so she will be getting a new one, because there will be a time when she and I may not live in the same continent *tear* and this concept may help us get through that.

Thanks Stephanie and Mav, keep up the brilliance!

My Own: Sequence and Lighting together

Ok, not mouch of a sequence , but I think the only other photo sequences I have are of myself. How vain would that be, "This picture is really great because of....blah blah blah" and it's of myself? So anyway, my wonderful model(or ham as we like to call her) is my littlest sister, Joy. This was her 5th birthday in April. I thought it would be special for her to have a little birthday "photo shoot", since she loves being in front of the camera.

The above are for Sequence purposes, but the below are for Lighting (just a tad bit overcast with bursts of sun here and there). I love how green the grass turned out. I think the third one has a "golf" filter in it, not sure.

My Own: More on Sequence

These were taken in April of 2005, before I was an aspiring photographer, at a Cubs vs. Pirates game. The quality isn't the best, but I still think these are quite awesome. If the third was a bit more in focus and others a bit more centered I think it'd be the perfect trio. But again, this is before I was as into photography as I am now.

My Own: Light + Sequence

If you haven't noticed by now, in this blog, my flickr, or my fotki sites, I'm ABOUT lighting.. That is one of my most favorite things to play with on my camera. Why? I'm not sure. It's like, "flash or no flash? slow shutter speed or fast?" It's nuts! But something else I'm all about is sequence shots. It actually drives me up a tree sometimes (and I'm sure some other people too), seeing the same picture like 5-6 times, all the same thing, just moved, ever so slightly.

I haven't really shown any of that yet, but I think I'll play with that a little this week. So, here is the first of my "Light + Sequence" series. These were taken early September in Minnesota on the way back from Rochester.

Riad Enija

I realize that I have been somewhat sappy in my blogging lately, but sadly that is just who I am. A total romantic. Anyway, all that aside, I wanted to yet again be kind of sappy and share one of my favorite photos of Maroc, EVER!

I found it in a book that my sister bought about a year ago called Morocco Style, and was taken by Nicholas Bruant. A shot of one of the two the courtyard in the oh SO beautiful Riad Enija from an upper balcony, I suspect. When I saw it, something capured me and wrote a free verse "poem" to describe how much I saw in it. It's called- Wast Ad-dar- The Inner Courtyard and you can read it below. Little did I know, Riad Enija is in Marrakech......Mhmm...Funny how that works, isn't it?

*Update* Since the link I had was broken I decided to post the poem here.

I walked through a setwan into wast ad dar, an alluring tropical garden. I look around and expect to meet a handsome, dark haired, brown eyed, sun kissed beau. To my dismay no such meeting occurs. Four pathways carefully tiled, blue and white jelige, leading to a petal strewn sahr îdj. Two golden lanturns on either side illuminate the darkness cast by canopies of orange trees, which invigorate my senses. I am encased by the exotic Arabian night, I'd stay here forever. I look up at the green ceiling and wonder what intrigues me, a "city girl." Is it the lightness of the air, the happiness, the love, the embrace of the people, the life I get from the continuous kiss of welcome, or the way the light of the moon shines around the towering manara. I walk around the sahr îdj, looking at each and every detail in testir, wondering who had the patience to lay the tiles and how long it took- I'd never know. Was this what Eden looked like, felt like, it seemed so. Dark red hybiscus, towering palms, and fragrant banana trees are all a part of the allure. A place so perfect, so beautiful, yet it is aged and in it's age is it's beauty. I feel his presence behind me, he puts his arms around my waist and kisses me lightly on the neck- could this moment be anymore magnificent? Then I knew he had created this scene of beauty, each petal dropped by his hand, the lanturns lit by his request. He had picked the perfect place, time of season, hour for me to be there, moment for him to walk in. So much thought was poured into this time of embrace. He is by far the most thoughtful person I know. But why me? Why do this for my pleasure? I will find out soon enough, until then let this moment last as long as inshallah.

setwan-
entrance corridor leading to the courtyard of a house

wast ad dar-

the center courtyard of a house

sahr îdj- Fountian
jelige-

mosaic of tiles

manara-

minaret or prayer tower- where the call to prayer is given.

testir-

geometric design radiating out from a central star

inshallah-

God wills it

One of My Own: Mystic Forest

Who would think that these photos were taken from a condo window at the Chula Vista Resort in Wisconsin Dells? Not me, although I did take them.
I was absolutly adoring the view out that window. How could I not? It was so placid and picturesque, perfect for day dreaming of sitting next to the fire, cuddled up to your sweetheart, in the mountians somewhere. Not worried about anything or anyone other than the person sitting next to you. Can you tell where my head has been?

Anyway, I couldn't post just one, so hopefully you are enjoying them as much as I am.

Happy New Year!

This is my first pic of the new year..... What does this tell me about 2007? Well firstly that it will be tons of fun, and secondly that it will be shared with good friends...

Now this is my first really good picture of 2007 -

Is it not the cutest thing?!?! How sweet an romantic is that, David and Lavi slow dancing in the hot tub. It's so sweet, is it not?

My New Year's resolutions are- Firstly, to finish high school on time; Secondly, to keep my relationship with my wonderful habibi as strong as it has been for the past 5 months and make it even stronger; Third, meet his mom; Fourth, finish my 50hrs of permit time and get my license; Fifth, to live life less selfishly; and Sixth, get a job and start saving money for the life that lies ahead.

Happy New Year to everyone! I hope it is a peaceful, love-filled, unselfish, and prosperous one for us all. Cheers!