This is Levi before the Fear Before the March of Flames and I am the Ocean show on Monday night. I shot my little Canon ring light hand held out in front of him at full power. I wish we had done this about 20 minutes earlier because the magic hour light in this place was incredible.
I'm sick finally. The past few days of no sleep, loud music, and networking till 5am did me in. Vanessa had to cancel today because of the fires getting close to her family's house. I'm supposed to photograph Will from Straylight Run tonight, but he really doesn't seem into it, and they are super busy so I might just tell him to hit me up next time. I'm driving to Anaheim to see Levi and all the Fear Before and Ocean guys one more time, and hopefully get to show them their promos. I'm not as happy with Fear's as I would like, but they wanted to shoot in the snow in Montana when we cross paths in a couple weeks again. I love those guys!
Ok off to chug about 7 packets of emergency.
YUCK.

Midnight photoshoot with From Aphony in my parking lot. I love my lights!

Ok here's a few pictures from the festivities last night after Dan from Lorene Drive suggested I bring in my camera and gear and take some "Super sick pictures of everyone chilling" Best idea EVER. I now have a million studio lit photos of my new friends. They are ridiculous.

I haven't slept yet. Just got back from wherever the heck the show was last night. Such an amazing time! I got to do promos for Fear Before the March of Flames. ACK! Great guys, and they're hooking me up with the Lorene Drive guys. I can't add thoughts into a sentence now. Sleep. Shooting From Aphony in like two hours, then marathon shooting with Vanessa. Holy mother I'm exhausted.

Doot dah doot

Eli again...
Here's Eli in another Betsey Johnson. Just found out she's submitting these to Betsey Johnson for something. Cool. I'd love to shoot for Betsey in my dreams.

This is Eli. I want all of her Betsey Johnson dresses! Her clothing collection only furthered the idea that I need to make lots of money to afford designer clothing like hers. UGH I love Betsey Johnson! We shot her in at least 4 different wardrobe and makeup changes. This is the first one I shopped, more to come tomorrow of her as a disgruntled housewife... with fire.

Full house today.
Kevin Connoly is crashing here till Monday and I've got another living room shoot with a model named Elli. I need to talk to Vanessa about being on time. We were supposed to shoot at 9. I got a text at 10 till to tell me that they were starting hair and makeup at 9 and she'd "text me when they were on their way" now it's 10am and I reeeeally could have used that extra hour of sleep. I think I'm going to go run some errands or something in the mean time.
I'm excited for the shoot today. Elli has about a million Betsy Johnson dresses that we're using, and I'm totally in love with Betsy Johnson's work. It's going to be fun!

I'll bet you five dollars that Chris Anthony thinks I'm weird.
Be that as it may, meeting him kicked so much ass! I just want to work work work now which is great. Ugh! His apartment is amazing, it looks like he lives him one of his photographs. I want to be half that cool when I'm his age. I barely even remember what we talked about. But he did give me some good marketing advice, so woo hoo to that! I got to see some of the costumes from past shoots and it made my life! Everyone should get to meet their hero at least once in their life. Seriously.

I get to meet Chris Anthony tomorrow! Wheeee!

The shoot today was so much fun! I love the twins, they are a blast to work with. We're shooting again next week for my personal portfolio. This is from the "Gossip Girl" themed shoot today. I've done so much stuff out here for people who want to be on that show I think I should download it or something for research. I've never seen it, but it's getting me a lot of work. Hm.

I figured out how I'm going to send out my self promotional pack for magazines. I found a website where you can self publish if they select you and I asked and got the go ahead. So now I'm spending all my free time in Photoshop making fake ads, and writing articles about the bands that are in there. It's fun! I think it will be a cool way of promoting my work. But just choosing a cover is making me crazy!
Making the fake ads is weird. I don't know what sort of companies to put in. Amy, wanna help me out?

Just found out that From Aphony's gonna be here next week. I need to do new Hide and Seek promos with them, and I think they are crashing here for a night... and Kevin Connoly's here as well. Aaaaand then Levi's crashing for a night on his way through with I am the Ocean and Fear Before the March of Flames. Wooo! Free tickets!

The new issue of Alternative Press makes me want to curl up and die! I swear all the good photographers in there are gone. Now everyone in that mag is 18 years old, and shoots for cost. UGH!!!!! I HATE IT! It's so easy to shoot for cost and call yourself a photographer when you live at home and your parents buy you every piece of camera equipment that your heart desires. Bite me. If you put a 4x5 in front of these kids they wouldn't know what the hell it even was! They don't know f-stops, they don't know lens speeds, they don't know when their images look cyan or even what it means when they do. I love the fact that I went to MSU. I know so much more than the digital brats coming out now. If the world lost all digital technology we would still be able to make art. So for that reason we kick ass. Don't let anyone ever tell you any different.

Here are a few behind the scenes photos from yesterdays shoot with Goodnight Sunrise.

First ever photoshoot at a pool for me.
Dangerous. Bassett was my rockstar lighting assistant. He basically ignored the warning labels on the strobes and made sure that they didn't fall into the water, but got juuuust close enough.I'm stoked with the results, the band is stoked with the results, and the two clothing lines we shot for are REALLY stoked with the results.
It was a good day. But it did start raining pretty hard at the end there. Boo. The sky was soooo dark. We did the shoot at around 3pm. Yeah.

So I know a bit more about the PDN competition. I'm going to be in the November PDN in the PixDigital competition. I won something in the Student Emerging talent category. I'm pretty stoked! Last year's competition only had 8 winners in that category, so I feel pretty good about my work. I finally got all of my images to upload to the site, and I'll be featured in the gallery for the contest till the end of time... or end of the internet or end of PDN whatever. The issue must be going to print really soon, I figured it would have to be the December issue at the very earliest. There's a huge gala party in New York for the competition and I really really want to go. But it's on the 24th of October so I'll have to be there in spirit. Maybe I'll give my invite to Eileen and she can wear a sign that says "in spirit of Megan E Thompson". Then people will think I'm dead and buy my art for thousands of dollars mwuahahaha!

Goodnight Sunrise is here! They are playing a show tonight then tomorrow we shoot for their promos, Hide and Seek Clothing, and Rocket Clothing. Big day. We're shooting at a pool! I'm stoked.

I had a meeting with Vanessa over the "really huge" thing she wanted to talk about. Apparently she likes my work so much she wants me to reshoot pretty much her entire makeup book that's being published through Harper Collins. So this book that's going to print 20,000 copies minimum and be sold all over the world is going to have not just a couple photos by me, but about 90% will be me. That's not the half of it. She wants to contract me to do it through royalties and give me 20% of the revenue from the book. This week has been really insanely weird.
I also met the twins I'm shooting on Tuesday. They are the sweetest girls I've ever met. I'm really excited to work with them. We spent a good chunk of last night casting the male models for the background of the shoot. There were some really er... interesting submissions. There are a lot of weirdos in LA. Never underestimate that.
Even more exciting is that I finally got my pod back!!! I have a bed, and I'm not sleeping on the floor tonight! Boo ya! Goodnight Sunrise is on their way to LA right now. I got their package of Hide and Seek shirts in the mail today so I have two shoots to do in the next two days. I like being busy. I really really like being busy. It gives me less time to linger over how poor I am. Tomorrow we get internet! So that will pay for itself in saved revenue from buying the mandatory cup of coffee every time I need to check my e-mail. Good times.

Here's this week's Cinespace picture. It's my favorite so far I think. Rian is drinking Newcastle out of a wine glass. He's apparently classy.
So I entered Critical Mass: Check
But I can't for the freaking life of me get my hi-res images uploaded to PDN! It's driving me nuts so I already e-mailed them being all like... "Dude. Why won't this work?!" We'll see what happens.
I bought a desk at Ikea for $60. It was a good day.

My luck is bi-polar.... SERIOUSLY
I just got an e-mail from PDN...
I won in Pix Digital....
I'M GOING TO BE IN PDN!!!!!!!

I GET TO GO MEET CHRIS ANTHONY THIS WEEK!!!!! AGHHHHHHH! He's my freaking hero!So so so so so so SO excited! I'm a 15 year old girl apparently.



In other happy news, I got a check for a print yesterday, so now I just have to order and ship it to her, and I did my first paid shoot for the lady above. Her name is Madeline and she's a Countess of Austria... or something. She's freaking hilarious and super fun to work with. It was a great shoot. I took this one on the mini balcony of my new house.
Tomorrow my storage pod is supposed to arrive, I have a meeting with Vanessa the woman who books my shoots, Thursday I'm photographing the Norwegian twins in a pool, Goodnight Sunrise is coming to crash at my house, aaaand I'm going to Chris Anthony's studio. It's an insane week that's for sure!
Vanessa tells me that she has a huge offer looming for me. I don't know what that means, but hey that's really exciting. Anything that means I can afford rent and my car payment is exciting right now.

It's done. I'm moved into my new house, sleeping on the floor, and trying to find fun and new ways to eat food without utensils. We don't have internet yet though. This might quell my addiction which is good. I'm staked out at my new favorite coffee shop, which is 3 blocks from my house. They have the most amazing espresso! Of course anything would taste like heaven after living off of Starbucks for 3 weeks. I actually applied for a job here, so we'll see what happens.
I have a busy week ahead of me. Tomorrow I'm photographing a Countess of Austria, and Tuesday is Norwegian twins at the pool day. Tomorrow might turn into a duel shoot with a male model too which would be cool. More money less problems! Wednesday my pod comes and I will no longer have to sleep on the floor! Despite being floor bound I slept a solid 11 hours last night. I never sleep that much, it was amazing. I'm rereading Invisible Monsters because seeing Choke made me want to literally choke whoever destroyed the book with that screenplay. If you haven't read the book, see the movie. If you have... avoid it until you've forgotten what you've read or it will just make you angry. Lyle and I were upset, everyone else loved it.
My friend Mike gets back today from his 3 week journey to Boston and the drive back. I'm excited just to have someone else to hang out with. I refuse to fall into the trap of not making new friends here. So far I'm winning.
Oh next to this coffee shop there's a wine and cheese shop that has the most insane fresh baked bread. It's awesome and I can't wait to have enough money to actually buy something there!
Also LA is funny in the fact that there are as many American Apparel stores here as there are Starbucks or so it seems. Every borough has one. There's one or two in Hollywood, one in Little Tokyo, one in Silverlake, and we have ours in Sunset Junction. It makes me laugh. I do like how small this city can feel. You can basically make it whatever you want. Our neighborhood is really safe and walking distance to everything. It's nice. Once I have my bike back I'm going to spend a good two days just exploring the town on the metro. It's awesome that you can bring your bike on with you. My goal is to not have to drive unless I'm feeling super lazy. Mike doesn't have a car, so I'm going to have him show me the ropes.
This is turning into a really long post. But I have nothing else to do today until Cinespace tonight. I should see if that's within walking distance...

I get to photograph Tim Pagnotta from Sugarcult! Eeeeep! I'm totally going to turn into a 17 year old girl and throw up on him or something. No, not really. But if I was a Freshman in college again I totally would.

There are 8 cartons of eggs of various sizes in the fridge. This is somehow seen as a solution to not eating people's eggs. I guess it works, but it still doesn't stop Matt from getting drunk and eating the contents of the refrigerator. You're eggs might be safe because you wrote your name on them, but god help your Thai food leftovers from Jitlada. Such is life when crashing in a house with 7 other people.
The thing I'm looking forward to more than anything about our new house is being within walking distance of coffee. Right now the two closest places are both Starbucks, and they both have terrible beans, and they both don't know how to make iced coffee. In just a few days I'll be 2 blocks from Sunset Junction, two blocks from Intellegista, and three blocks from Casbah Coffee. WOOT! Wednesday my storage cube arrives and I will finally once again get to sleep in the worlds most comfortable bed. I get my bike too! That cube is going to be like Christmas. I honestly can't wait.
This coffee is disgusting.
I have a shoot next week with a set of Norwegian twin models. I think that's out of a comedy or something. Anyway they look exactly like Reese Witherspoon and it's crazy. I hope they speak English.
I'm flying to Montana on the 23rd of October!

Quote from the other room...
"Let's face it, if you're missing a tooth, you look ridiculous! This is the 21st century, get it fixed."

I'm bored. So I keep making myspace images for my profile. I need a hobby.
I finally got an e-mail back from Glen Wexler. He's too busy at the moment to meet with me, and doesn't need an assistant but he said my work was "very good." So that's pretty cool. The grandaddy of digital manipulation things I'm good. Kickass.

The Devil's Orchestra ladies and gentlemen...

I spend Sunday nights with these rascals, and The Devil's Orchestra. The best thing about LA is that if you forget your camera there are about 20 people taking pictures of you anyway. You just need to remember their card. I lost one, and I am sad.

Leica just released a DSLR... 35 megapixels. HOLY SHIT! It's $15,000. So who loves me?

Life is slowly coming around and not sucking so much.
Like...
1. We get to move into our house this weekend! YAYAYAY!
2. I sold a print! $270 cash money in my pocket soon... ok like $220 because I need to print and ship it to her and all that jazz. Still I'll be able to feed myself!
3. I think I may have found a sick gig working with a hair and make up artist/ model wrangler. She books the models, makes them pretty, and I'll just have to light and shoot them. Awesome. I hope it's legit.
4. My friend Rian wants to buy my laptop... I might want to sell it if I can get a MacBook Air out of the deal. Anyone know anything about them? I don't want to get a useless laptop, but my MacBook Pro is basically a glorified six pound internet machine, so I don't need all it's bells and whistles. Plus I have my lovely and wonderful 24" iMac which I love and use for EVERYTHING. If I could throw PhotoShop on the Air and just go bonkers with it at photoshoots I'd be happy.
Decisions suck.

Tonight I'm shooting The Devil's Orchestra again, and they are playing with Danny Harrison, George Harrison's son. So it should be a good time.

I made this tonight to post all over myspace in a futile try at getting some bands in Montana to actually pay me to photograph them the week I'm there. Ugh. I hate being this poor.

WOO HOO WE GOT A HOUSE!

This is so frustrating. I'm still homeless, jobless, and no one in this city returns e-mails or phone calls. UGH! My sister said it really well last night that no one is in as big a hurry as we are.

We applied for that house Sunday, called Tuesday, and still haven't heard a peep out of this guy. I figure a really good scam would be to pretend you were renting out a house and just keep "running credit checks" on the applicants. $30 a pop would be a good way to make some change.

Britt Moody gets here today!!! I'm picking her up at 4 and I am so effing excited! I feel like if I don't socialize with a girl soon my head is going to crumble in upon itself. Not to be dramatic or anything.

Still haven't heard back from the PhotoTherapists. Susan said they were doing my portfolio yesterday so I hope to god that means they call me today. It's been a week. Meh. I need coffee...

Do Want Do Want Do Want!

I can't stop listening to Kevin Devine's rewrite of Phil Ochs' "Love me I'm a Liberal" It's fantastic!
Here's the lyrics...

I cried on September 11th
Tears they ran down my spine
And I cry for each murdered Iraqi
As though I've lost a neighbor of mine
But Afghanistan got what was coming
It was the right thing to do at the time
So love me, love me, love me, I'm a liberal

And I go to the anti-war rallies
Curse George and the whole G.O.P.
And I can't get enough of Obama
Oh his message of change speaks to me
But sure Nader's right about most things
But he cost Gore that election, you see
So love me, love me, love me, I'm a liberal

And I've bristled the rage through Katrina
The response make me sick to my heart
I'm sure FEMA would've come running
Had it flooded rich whites in Cape Cod
But don't talk about revolution
Cause that's going just a little bit too far
So love me, love me, love me, I'm a liberal

Yes I vote for the Democratic Party
I figure soon enough they'll come along
And I attended those vote for change concerts
And they sure got me singing those songs
And I'm bothered about corporate government
But I do want our brand to trade strong
So love me, love me, love me I'm a liberal

Yes I read the New Yorker and Nation
And I've learned to take every view
And I idolized Frankin and Stewart
Hell I feel like I'm almost a Jew
But when it comes down to globalized markets
Well there's no one more red, white, and blue
So love me, love me, love me, I'm a liberal

And sure once I was young and impulsive
I wore every conceivable pin
Even went to some socialist meetings
Yeah I learned all the old union hymns
But oh I've grown older and wiser
and that's why I'm turning you in
So love me, love me, love me, I'm a liberal.

LA is awesome. Yesterday I managed a haircut for $20 and comedy for $1. Jeff Garlin is back from doing all sorts of Curb Your Enthusiasm stuff so he started up the Combo Platter at the Upright Citizens Brigade again. Last night it was Hugh Moore and my personal favorite Tom Poppa. It was so damn funny. Sunday seems to be a good day for free stuff in the town. If you go down to Cinnispace on Hollywood between 9:30 and 10:30 you can get in without a cover and drink vodka drinks for free for an hour. It's pretty awesome, and the music is amazing. It's a hard pick between UCB and that.

Wow I'm poor. I feel like I haven't been spending any money, yet it keeps draining out of my checking account. I second we're in a house I will feel so much better. We applied to a house in Sunset Junction today. It was brand new and I really hope we get it. I'm so sick of being homeless. If I have a house I can at least know where to look for a shitty coffee shop job to pay the bills. I need some sort of income, any kind. It would just be a huge plus if it came from a place the siphons off so much of my money anyway. Yay free caffeine!

Despite being broke I do need a haircut like whoa. I found a place by googling the best hair salons in LA. It's called Trim and it's in Venice in a super chill area. The best part is that newbies get a haircut for $20. So woo hoo Megan the bargain hunter! Bye bye split ends! I'll feel so much better by about 5:00. Then I can just dye the heck out of it myself like old times and not worry about giving myself an afro of damaged hair.

Still haven't heard back from the PhotoTherapists. I'm guessing best case scenario they got my portfolio yesterday. Worst they get it tomorrow. Either way I doubt I'll hear from them until Wednesday. GAH I hate waiting!

I need to have Byron and Allie book my ticket for October's Hide and Seek shoot. I have little money to speak of so I can't book it myself. LAME. I need a job like now.

I'm slowly getting over my cloud nine high from yesterday and reality is setting back in. Unfortunately this means that even if the PhotoTherapists think I'm the bomb, I'm still homeless, jobless, and unsure of what to do. I'm becoming an expert at making a 98 cent pack of spaghetti last a week, and potatoes are our new friends.

I sat in my new favorite coffee shop Swork for a couple hours today e-mailing potential employers on Craigslist, and photographers that the PhotoTherapists want me to be like. I e-mailed on some houses last night but still haven't heard anything from those. I got an e-mail from Rocko of The Devil's Orchestra and he loves the images I shot on Sunday and I'm invited back to shoot whenever I care to. Nice, but it doesn't pay the bills.

I did also get another e-mail from Susan Baraz about how excited they are about me. I mailed her all my images today for her and Rhoni to play with and edit for me. Hopefully we meet again ASAP so I can get work. I'm feeling very poor.

Speaking of bills Critical Mass starts up next week. I'm entering of course. I might take up donating plasma or something... I hear that pays kinda well.

AHHHHHH! Oh MY GOD today has been totally awesome! I had my meeting with the PhotoThearapists... I'm still in complete shock over how much they liked my work. Ronnie said "You're going to be fine. You have no idea how much work you're going to get." AND "You're going to be famous." They want to sign me to AtEdge in the next go around of photographers after I'm getting enough work to afford it. I'm in so damn much shock. When I was leaving Susan asked if I had entered into the International Photography Awards. I said that I had but didn't think I won anything. She told me to double check the site when I got home, and it turns out I got THREE honorable mentions in the competition! GAHHHHH! I'm in so much shock... I'm flipping out.

We may have just found a house in Santa Monica 10 blocks from the beach... for $1,150 a month... for three people. The woman got a job in London for three years and had to leave already. She didn't have time to put it on the market. We e-mailed her about it and she's gung ho ready to get someone in there. We're kind of thinking this has to be too good to be true, but damn son. The beach? Killer.

LA is awesome.
Last night I got to go to a club to photograph an AMAZING band called The Devil's Orchestra. Check them out. The show was a complete trip! While they played a graffiti artist painted a mural next to the stage, there was a dance DJ in the next room, and the third room contained a trio of guys mixing beats while one played a harp! It was so much fun! Here are some photos of The Devil's Orchestra that I really enjoy...




Funny small world story... Elmo, the drummer from The Devil's Orchestra, used to drum for a band called Never Heard of It. They were on Warped Tour in 2003 when I met them for the first time. That fall I went back to school in Missouri and had a radio show with my friend Leah. She and I went to see and interview Bowling for Soup, and NHOI was opening. I went up to Elmo and he remembered me from the Bozeman Warped Tour. He was really surprised to see me in St Louis, and we interviewed a bunch of the guys for our show. Three days later I broke my ankle in a riding accident and came to MSU. That spring break I went to Seattle to visit my sister and NHOI were playing a show so I went. They flipped out that I was now in Washington, and I had to explain why I was all over the country. I hung out with them for a good portion of the evening before having to leave. Fast forward to a month ago. I e-mailed Elmo to let him know I was moving down to LA, and he told me about his new band and wanted me to photograph them. So last night I finally got to. Just goes to show you how small the world can be sometimes.
Here's a really old one of me with NHOI in Seattle. Elmo's the drunk one on the left.

LA is weird. This is from my first shoot in LA with a complete stranger named Kei Ko. He's from New York and just moved to LA to model or something. I didn't really get the gist of why. He was really cool, but his sidekick annoyed the living crap out of me asking me to do promos for his "musical project". I did this shoot for free to expand my portfolio. I really don't need to be photographing "musical projects" for free. Ugh. I have a feeling Kei Ko's friend isn't going to go away. Boo.

Bloggity bloggity blog. Nothing too new to report. Today I did a dry run out to Santa Monica to see how long it would take for my trip out next week to meet with the PhotoTherapists. It took about 45 minutes to get there... and over 2 hours to get back. It was scary coming back. I programed my Garmin Nuvi thing to avoid highways and it sent me up the steepest street in LA. My new car is a stick and I'm really not too used to it yet. I was freaking out! There was a new Mercedes behind me riding my tail the whole time just begging me to stall my car and roll backwards into him. I stalled like three times just because I was SO nervous. Then I peeled out twice just avoiding rolling backwards. I got stared at. Luckily no honking though.

That pretty much sums up my day. I made plans with the crazy little Japanese model I'm shooting tomorrow in Little Tokyo. I'm doubtful it will be worth setting up my strobes. I'm going to get a bunch of batteries for my ring flash and call it good. That thing is surprisingly efficient in "I'm not getting paid enough to care" situations. I used it for bunch of the Curtain Factory Mizzwho? shirt photos.

It's officially weird to not be in Bozeman now that school has started. I'm not used to the time changes between myself and my friends either. Claire is now 3 hours later, and Sam is in Denver, and everyone else is still on Mountain time too. Hm. I need to call people.

Anyone read this? How's Bozeman?

It's still 77 and sunny here pretty much every day...

Plans for this weekend...

Saturday I booked a shoot with a random model from ModelMayhem.com in Little Tokyo. His idea for the shoot seemed pretty sweet, so we're arranging a time for prints deal, and he's bringing a makeup artist and whatnot. I have three other shoots booked from that site to build up my portfolio.

I'm meeting with Susan Baraz next Wednesday to work on whatever. I'm really really excited for it. She keeps telling me to move to Santa Monica in her e-mails... who knows what that's about.

In October Hide and Seek is flying me up to Montana, so hopefully I'll make it East to Bozeman to see people! I'll miss fall in Bozeman a lot. I love fall. Yay Hide and Seek for flying in at the last minute and making my day!

That's the news for now. Homeless and jobless in LA is still better than employment and a studio in Bozeman so far!

This is my modelmayhem avatar that seems to be getting all the attention.

I think we might have all agreed on a place to live. SHOCKING! I like the place a ton, and I think that Bassett and Matt are on board too, but who knows. It's frustrating, I just want to move into a place.

Still waiting on an e-mail from Susan Baraz to set up the time for our meeting. I've been editing my portfolio like crazy to prepare for it. When a ball isn't rolling I get so antsy and just want to work on something. I've been testing out making post cards and mailers just to feel like I'm doing something.

I'm in LA, homeless, and unemployed. It's liberating. Trying to set up a game plan on how to start my career is probably the most daunting task I have ever had to face. I don't want to be a grown up! I'm living on a friend's couch in a house full of anywhere from 5-6 boys. I'm so excited to get a house, but I'm already so discouraged from looking. Every place that I find there is something wrong with it. Bad neighborhood, only one bathroom, one person gets screwed with the tiny room, ect. It's really frustrating.

Sometime in the next week or so I'm going to meet with Susan Baraz from AtEdge. AtEdge is a really exclusive agency that connects clients like AT&T and Nike with edgy new photographers for ad campaigns. She loved my Lovejoy series from Critical Mass and was pretty much the only person on my contact list coming down here. Luckily she remembered me from my e-mail and images right away and is meeting with me to set up a game plan for finding me work. She also heads up a business called PhotoTherapy which works with you to streamline your portfolio for the work you want to get. She's giving me a discounted rate which is awesome.

Off to look at another house... adios!

So I should be in LA right now. My car however had other plans and blew a piston. Which according to my father hasn't happened to a car since 1978. I'm stranded in Salt Lake while I await the $3,500 repair bill from the lovely gentlemen at Ken Garf Saab.

It's looking more and more like I'm never going to get to LA. I spent most of today walking between the Salt Lake Public Library and some odd outdoor mall a mile away. I just wanted to see Tropic Thunder and I really didn't think that "Up two blocks and over a bit" could be that far. I got hopelessly lost and had to ask directions twice but I arrived at the theater five minutes before the 2:35 showing of the movie. It took up a nice 2 hour chunk of my time wasting. However walking the 2 miles with my laptop and 30 pound backpack made me want to punch the dude who stopped me to say "Smile it could be worse". I suppose my car could have destroyed itself by bursting into flames and taking all of my photo and computer gear with it while simultaneously getting me pregnant, and spreading a rumor that I have herpes. That would have been worse I guess. I still wanted to punch that haggard old hippie in his three teeth though.

I'm back at the library where it's air conditioned, waiting for Michael Brown to get off work so I can go and live off of his family's amazing charity some more. Thank god for them. Without them I'd probably have to mooch off of some Morman family who would try to brain wash me into a pair of chinos.

LA OR BUST...

That was my motto, but I busted. I'm stranded in Salt Lake City because my trusty little Saab 9-3 blew a piston. "That doesn't even happen anymore! That happened to cars 30 years ago!" so said my father.

I was flown down to St Louis to photograph a band and this clothing line called "The Curtain Factory". It was 105 degrees, and a record day. I was miserable and have now decided I do not like humidity all that much. Eww. I looked like a big sweaty psychopath, but my models looked cool and pretty the whole time!

Ugh, I'm brilliant.
Last night a large group of us were walking back to my friend's house, and my friend Chris and I were running and jumping in puddles. Well in a move of sheer intelligence and grace, I was trying to splash down in a puddle with each footfall by running and jumping as hard as possible. For some reason it did not occur to me that the reason puddles exist is because of uneven ground beneath them. I splashed down with my right ankle into a jagged pot hole posing as an innocent puddle, and I believe I have sprained my ankle. Go me. The worst part is that my car is still at Sam's house, and I can't so much walk anywhere to get an ankle brace. I'm not even going to get into how I have to work in the morning, and do a huge shoot for my senior. This sucks so crazy bad.

I may find this more abhorrent because I'm a vegetarian, and strongly believe in Animal Rights, but seriously... come on. The below images are C-Prints by artist Nathalia Edenmont from the Former Soviet Union. She kills and dismembers mice, rabbits, house cats, and chickens for the sake of her art. I can enjoy the formal beauty of her images but simply can't get over the fact that it's the shock value that she depends on to make here photographs noteworthy. Organizations like PETA have broken into the only gallery which will showcase her work, and destroyed exhibits.




Another artist that I have been reading about recently is Damien Hirst. He is being canonized as the UK's most famous living artist. He has been in the media lately because of his work "For the Love of God" in which he bedazzled a human skull with over 1,100 karats in diamonds set in platinum. It is in negotiations to be sold for $100,000,000, making it the highest selling piece of art in history. (I don't think he saw Blood Diamond). Anyway, the work of Hirst is often controversial. Second to his bling skull he is most famous for taking livestock, fish, and sharks and suspending them in formaldehyde, and plastic. His work reminds me of Bodyworlds which we've discussed a lot in past classes. But Bodyworlds isn't touted as and art exhibit, it is seen as scientific. What is so artistic about someone who takes a chainsaw to a calf and sticks it in a tank to compliment it's bisected mother? The strangest part is that there is far less controversy over Hirst's art than Edenmond. I believe this is because Hirst is not the killer of his subjects. It also goes to show you that the smaller and cuter the animal being disemboweled the greater the outrage.





I am left to wonder if Edenmont had turned a calf's head into a hand puppet, would she have been left alone? Or had she plasticized her pet cat instead of putting it's head on a floral pedestal would the public have cared?

Go forth and stick your dog in a tank of formaldehyde! It is art after all.

After changing my senior thesis idea about three times I've settled on this. I am creating a family by photographing, and subsequentialy photoshopping subjects to a point where they look related. The final images will be printed as four color lithographs using the Pronto Plate technique. This is the first image from the series. I'm naming her Dorthea Lovejoy, and she will have a twin named Clarissa Lovejoy. This is actually my best friend Claire. I've enlarged her head and eyes to make her look oddly childlike. I'm a huge fan or Loretta Lux and she's becoming a huge influence on this project.

I wish someone would tell me which fork to take. I can't make up my mind whether I want to move to Nashville and strike out as a commercial photographer and specialize in editorial rock photography, or take the starving artist path. I wish I felt like I could do both. I have more fun doing rock photography, I like meeting new people and developing that way as an artist. Meh. Hopefully I figure it out soon. I'm looking forward to traveling this winter for my second senior which is sort of a combining of those two passions I can't decide between.

We'll see... convex bubble glass and oval frames are really expensive.

Bozeman. I feel so stuck here. One more of my closest friends just moved away after graduating last December. He moved to California. This was okay though because his girlfriend (another close friend of mine) was staying here, and it was just a 5-6 month internship chasing around sea birds. Well his girlfriend just informed me that she's moving to California as well... so there's no ties for either of them to come back here for. It's very likely that I won't ever see them again unless I have the money to go to southern California for a visit.

Losing friends has been the basic theme this semester. My best friend went abroad, and isn't coming back for good until next fall. I haven't been away from him for this long in the three years I've known him. I've always been the type of person who relates better with guy friends and this semester nearly all of my closest ones have left. It makes it difficult. They were so easy to be friends with, friendships with my lady friends is much more time consuming. Time is the one thing I don't feel like I have.

I've met so many people from bands out on the road this semester, but they always leave, it's inevitable. I was so looking forward to 10 days away to not think of anything and just be with my best friend Claire in Boston. But I have the flu, couldn't go, and I'm basically stuck in bed, alone. Being sick is the pits. Being sick with no one to take care of you is hell.

For my self portrait series I'm thinking about doing spy photography of myself. I've been putting my camera on a timer and setting it in closets, and cabinets. In photoshop I'm adding status reports and information. Kind of like the government is spying on me. I'm having lots of fun taking them, I'm also setting all the date and time stamps one year in the future, because it's scary how close our current administration is to employing such techniques.

Worky worky worky worky....

I survived it. The first week of school is over and done with and now I can breathe again. It was one big clusterfuck of stress to be perfectly honest. It left me wondering if I'm over doing it this semester. Actually I know I'm over doing it but I'm moving forward anyway. Being insanely busy just makes the year fly by which isn't really a bad thing. I have two more years left in this place, which really means only two more years left with my friends. Then we're all moving to different places. That last part is the part that scares the crap out of me really. I can't honestly bear the thought of moving somewhere where I know no one, and all of my friends being thousands of miles away. It makes me cringe. I'll get a test of that next spring when Sam and Andy both go abroad. Until then I guess I just need to squeeze in as much time with my friends as I can afford. This semester is going to kill me.