Summer skin

The end of summer always makes me sad. Although the weather will still be warm for another month, the end of my favorite season signifies to me the end of a youthful time, and the beginning of more responsibility. I actually wrote a poem about this feeling, somewhat inspired by Death Cab for Cutie's song "Summer Skin". This summer is especially sad for me because some of my friends who are a year older than I am are going away to college, which reminds me that I'll be doing the same in only a year.


photo credits: we heart it, ihatemondays.com, rosie hardy on flickr.

Saturday morning

I've mentioned her before, but one of my favorite photographers to browse on flickr is the girl who tamed the tiger. Here are some of her new photographs.

Makes me feel smart.

I kind of have this irrational love for National Geographic magazine. My friend gets it so I always like to borrow it, especially for the photography aspect of it, but the science-y articles are interesting too. I'm not a science buff by any means, I'm more of the artsy type. But I like reading the articles, they're pretty interesting and they make me feel smarter. I'm actually contemplating waiting until my subscription of Teen Vogue runs out, and then subscribing to NG. But anyways, I found these photos online from a previous issue that I loved. They're called "green roofs", and they are supposed to increase energy efficiency of buildings, not to mention they look so great in a city landscape. These photos are by Diane Cook and Len Jenshel.




I've seen these two sights in person! Both in San Francisco. The first is the roof of the California Academy of Sciences, which I didn't go into, but I saw the green roof from outside. It looks so cool, like rolling hills or something. And the next one is just the top of a bus stop, I think it's the only one in the city and it's to bring awareness about green roofs.

Wanderlust

I just recently saw The Darjeeling Limited - such a great movie, the actors are so funny, but the plot is really interesting too. I'm kind of in love with Adrien Brody. Anyways, watching this film has made me really want to visit India. After Spain, India is probably the foreign country I'd like to visit the most. These photos are just a few from flickr user tripowski's India photo set, but there are so many great sets from all over the world, and they are all equally stunning. I highly recommend that you check them out.






I've been really busy lately, but it's good. I finally have a job (two, actually...), and I've been doing a lot of college-related stuff. But I'm enjoying summer, and I hope everyone else is too!

I want to ride my bicycle...

Somehow a bike seems to make everyone look more stylish. Photos from The Sartorialist.

Dressed in innocence

Lily Cole photographed by Carter Smith for Vogue Nippon, sometime in 2006

source: faking fashion

Manipulation

I've been experimenting with some cool photo-manipulation sites like TiltShiftMaker and Holganizer.



This one I did on Holganizer, I took it in Chinatown in San Francisco.

 

 

These two I did on TiltShiftMaker. The first is the Bixby Canyon Bridge near Carmel, CA and the second is a marina in Monterey Bay, CA. They're supposed to look miniature, using blurring and focus techniques on the site, but I'm not completely convinced with what I did :) I like these ones from the TiltShiftMaker flickr group better (these are not taken by me).







P.S. I found this photo on The Sartorialist yesterday. Wow...this is the epitome of a great summer look. The red lips, torn jeans and quirky necklace are perfect. Usually I'm not too fond of fedoras (I'm pretty sure that's what this one looks like...) but it really completes this look for me.



The Sartorialist

"We're all laughing with God"

I absolutely loved this photo spread of Emma Watson in Teen Vogue! For a while I was really not liking TV; their cover girls were all Disney stars and the editorials were seemed tired and uninspiring, but this was a good issue and I loved these photos. The clothes are so pretty, I'm definitely planning on doing a toned-down version of this look for fall. Personally I love Emma and think she's a great actress...from what I've heard other people say, she's one of those people you either hate or love.

Regina Spektor's new CD is out! I haven't picked it up yet but I'm really excited to hear the rest of her new music, so far I have been thrilled with the little bit of "Blue Lips" that I heard on iTunes, and I've been watching this video for "Laughing With" a lot lately. I love this song, it's still her usual sound but the lyrics seem more contemplative than her other albums, which is a good thing in my mind.



If any of my readers have other good music reccomendations, please let me know, I'm always looking for new music to hear and I like knowing what other people are into.

Clean space

These photos from The Selby make me happy. And I need all the happiness I can get right now, becase a) my math final is tomorrow, and b) I just started reading The Bell Jar and it is really depressing. Photos of Lucy Chadwick and Duffy's space in London. I love how clean and bright their home is, and the plants make it seem so alive. Seems to be a very refreshing place to live, which is so nice especially in the summertime.








My mom just found her old film camera that is actually about 22 years old, but still in really great condition, and I've been using it for the past couple of days. I'm not sure of the make of it but it seems to work fine. I'm excited to see prints of the photos I've been taking as I've never used film before, so we'll see how they turn out!

Some things you can't explain away

Two more Flickr pages I have been loving recently...the first set is from the girl who tamed the tiger. I love her polaroids and photos of polaroids. Her use of gentle lighting is so sensual and her subjects fascinate me.







The other user is Alison Scarpulla. I love her powerful photographs, they are a bit sad and each seems to evoke loneliness in its own way.





I also got tagged by Icon, so here it is. [The Rules: Answer the following questions on your blog, replace one question that you dislike with a question of your own invention and add one more question of your own.] If you're reading this and would like to fill it out, consider yourself tagged!


What is your current obsession? I have been a little obsessed with fmylife.com lately...it's sort of an addiction. If you haven't checked it out, you really should.


What are you wearing now? I'm wearing a pair of brown linen shorts and a dark green flowy top.

What is on your desk? A lamp, my record player, 2 dictionaries, a thesaurus, a couple pages of sheet music, my SAT review book, and a lot of messy papers that probably don't belong there.


What would you like to learn to do? Speak French.


Name a song you are currently obsessing over: I wouldn't say obsessing, but the Clash's "Train in Vain" has been stuck in my head since London Calling has been playing in my car for a few weeks straight. But I'm not complaining, I love that song.

What was the last thing you bought? Ice cream, to celebrate finishing the SAT.

What one item are you currently wanting? A tie die maxi dress from Forever 21.


What languages can you speak? English and Spanish, to some extent.


What is the last book you have read? The last book I have finished is The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. But right now I'm reading The DaVinci Code.


What do you want to be when you grow up? I really don't know anymore. I used to know, but it's so hard to decide. I know when I go to college next year I want to minor in music, and probably major in international affairs, anthropology or journalism.

What are your favourite websites? Fmylife.com, as I previously mentioned, countless fashion, photography and art blogs, Facebook, and Flickr.


If you were to pick up a pen right now, what would be the first thing you'd write? Probably a list of the books I need to order from the library to read this summer.


If you you could be anywhere in the world at any point in time, where would you be? Right now I want to be somewhere very warm and sunny, because it's not here now and that bothers me.

If you could be an animal, what would you be? Definitely a bird. I would love to be able to fly and see everything.


What are you looking forward to in the near future? College. I know it's a year away and it's really stressful preparing for it, but I'm very excited to leave home and have new experiences.