Not Polyurethane

I finally got my leather jacket this past Friday :) It was pretty amazing because it was literally the first store we went into and the first jacket I saw in the window display It was also the first one I tried on, size xxxs because I’m tiny like that! It was a great deal, since nice looking pleather (or polyurethane, whatever that is) jackets are already about 100 dollars, I didn’t mind paying twice that for genuine leather. Let’s just hope it lasts forever lol

I do love the detailing on the inside of the jacket, especially the golden folds, very cute design to counter the “manliness” of leather. (when I think leather jackets I always see biker dudes on harleys)

I also received a letter in the mail from the government, telling me they are going to start deducting money from my bank account :( no more buying clothes for a while.

I’m Shy

I am really not looking forward to the next few days… I have a photo work-in-progress critique, a presentation on an artist (30 minutes long), a proposal presentation and a class discussion coming up. I absolutely abhor speaking in front of the class unless it’s something short like a quick opinion or short answer, but these ones coming up are in-depth discussions and I’m the only one talking for most of them (it’s not so bad when it’s group work). Public speaking was always really brutal for me, even back in elementary school when we did 5 minute memorized speeches. I’ve always received C’s or C+ for my speeches, one time was so bad I’ll never forget it for the rest of my life because I didn’t bother to memorize my speech and basically stood in front of the class for 30 seconds like an idiot and started saying things that didn’t make sense.

Hope I have enough time to write down all the things I’m going to say about Andrea Fraser (the artist I picked to present) and hopefully I can just read from my paper. At least it will be the last of these artists presentations I’ve had to do, the past two years weren’t too horrible (my mouth just got really dry during the middle, how do some professors talk so much for lectures???) so hopefully this last year will be just as easy. Despite the fact that I’ve done it twice already, I still get quite nervous in front of a crowd :(

Blank Roll

probably one of the worst things about photography is the blank roll… after shooting in freezing cold water for an hour and a half, all of our hardwork (me taking photos and my brother’s girlfriend posing for me) the roll came out blank! i think something was wrong with the disposable underwater camera or the machine in the lab because i didn’t even get the entire strip for the negative, it was maybe about a quarter of the entire length.

however i got my fisheye roll developed, and only a few of the photos i took to finish off the roll today worked out. I will have to re-shoot my project tomorrow and remember to use the flash for my fisheye… because most of the photos from the fisheye roll turned out too dark. lesson learned. argh.

Argyle Oddity

For today’s sculpture class we went to look at the artwork done by the professors… I’ve always wanted to see one of my professor’s works up close, and had a chance to do that today because she was showing 2 of her pieces in the library gallery. I love the size of the prints.. when you look up close, you can see that it’s actually photos of pantyhose stretched to look like a canvas. I’ve always loved Christine’s work, it was a pleasure to have been taught by her last year.

After class Lok and I came back to Richmond, and had a long lunch at Oscar’s. Then Oscar dropped me off at the thrift store and I looked around for stuffed animals to decapitate for my next project. But I was too distracted by the other things in the store and didn’t end up buying anything at all. There was a pair of black equestrian-style boots that were just perfect but one size too small for my feet :( I was so bummed, because I really want a pair of high black boots.

Last night I was picturing this cool outfit in my head when I went to bed (I usually have something in mind so when I wake up I can just grab what I want, but this usually fails because I cannot find what I was imagining), and what I was really missing this time were long boots! The brown boots only go half way up my calf and it looked silly with the skin showing (the white leggings end a little below the knee) and I ended up wearing these long socks… Which turned out pretty weird too, but by the time I got them on I had 10 minutes left to eat. This is how I end up wearing some of the strange items in my closet, because I run out of time and don’t want to be cold haha…

Tomorrow we are having a gallery-hopping class downtown, and Lok and I have plans to do some major shopping afterward because we’re whores like that Definitely still looking for a leather jacket. and equestrian boots! Grr.

Colour Positive

Played with toys today. I have to admit I didn’t work very hard this week on developing my ideas for this term’s upcoming projects. I just can’t seem to think of much to do with mirrors, aside from wanting to take underwater photos. I chose Elena Kalis for my artist presentation, because my mind was blown into complete bits by her underwater photography:

the alice in wonderland photos just made me love it more, maybe I will try some sort of childhood theme along with the water stuff too. The hardest part of this is probably finding models… and I will be spending quite a bit on disposable cameras… Not prepared to bring expensive equipment into water especially since I am pretty broke this year. am excited to see what I can do with film!

Edit an exhibition of stills from underwater filming.

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