Filed under: photography by ramune

Plaid – Eyen

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Here I am . . . at the end of the road. When the tide is low enough, there is a sandbar (is it really a sandbar if it’s all rocks? rockbar?) that connects Charles Island to mainland Connecticut. I’m not sure how far I walked, but I got as close to Charles Island as I could without having to take my shoes and socks off and wade through the water. If it was warmer out I probably would have done it, however there is something I like about the unattainable (as a friend says “It’s better to want than to have”).

There are stories of people who went out to Charles Island during low tide and were stuck there until the sandbar resurfaced half a day later. I would not be opposed to being stranded for twelve hours. I wonder if that’s enough time to figure out the meaning of life.

Filed under: photography by ramune

Deastro – Wind Powered

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More from my walk during sunrise over the Long Island Sound.

P.S. I corrected the song file at 4:53 pm, Oct 20. It was mislabeled and I didn’t have the correct song on hand, so here is a different tune that is slightly more upbeat than what I intended for an early morning shot.

Filed under: photography by ramune

Tycho -  Past is Prologue

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I woke up early the day after the reception and walked to the beach to the see the sunrise. It was just what I needed: some time alone with nature. I only came across four people during my two hours wandering around (quirky Chinese fisher-woman, photographer who offered me his lens to test out, another fisherman and a runner). I could get used to living on a beach, especially one that isn’t touristy. It’s so incredibly peaceful and brings me back to simplicity.

Filed under: doodle, enamel, favorites, jewelry, process by ramune

Song of the Week: Benoît Pioulard – Loupe

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I just realized that my two year anniversary is coming up in two weeks and well, that means I should be at around project 103 by now. Oops. Where did those missing 13 go? Spooky. Since I have two weeks to catch up, I am going to post a project every day until October 31st. I am not promising any Michelangelo here, and my commentary might be lacking, but I will do it . . . dammit.

In the meantime, here is something I am very excited about . . . PNP paper! I have been taking the same enamels class for two years now and (for the most part) do my own thing. Occasionally I ask my teacher for help/advice, but there hasn’t been much new in the way of techniques learned. A few weeks ago however, she taught the new students how to use PNP transfer paper. With PNP you can photocopy any black/white design to the paper and then transfer that to copper as a resist. We did not have great luck with PNP when we tried it two years ago, but after experimenting with some different techniques, my teacher figured out a way to successfully get the paper to adhere to the copper. I was pleasantly surprised with how well the details transferred and how well the PNP held up in the etch.

Below are some photos of the PNP paper after I had successfully transferred my designs. In some areas the PNP didn’t transfer, but it was pretty easy to touch up using asphaltum. It isn’t a huge deal, but I forgot to reverse the images before printing, so all of my designs are flipped. It bothers me slightly that everything is facing the wrong way. At least I didn’t have any words anywhere.

I was hoping to post some nice photos of my shiny new etched pieces, but I am having a hard time getting the PNP paper off of the copper. I thought I could use mineral spirits, since that’s what I use to take off asphaltum, but I think I need to use paint thinner. Instead of buying a large container for a few uses, I will just wait for class this week.

You may recognize this fish and this guy.

Luckily the touch-ups I had to do with the asphaltum were pretty minor. Here are the copper discs ready to be etched. The piece on the top right is my halftone test. It was also the first one I placed on the PNP, so the pattern is off a bit. My next mission is to find some photos I’ve taken that might work well on copper and transfer those.

Here are my original designs.

Filed under: friends, photography, silliness by ramune

You might be wondering why I call this blog “every.seven” when it’s more like “every.whenever I get around to it” but I do have good intentions and hope to get better about posting when I say I am going to post. Have faith in me.

Anyway . . . the other weekend I went up to Connecticut for my friend’s wedding v2.0. Her husband’s family wanted to have a second reception so they could include more family/friends. We have now decided to take this show on the road and will be coming to a city near you.

After the reception, while hanging out outside the restaurant when the sun went down, I introduced my friends to a little game that has no name yet, so I just call it “1 . . . 2 . . . 3 . . . POSE!” Years back when I was living in Louisiana, a friend taught a group of us this game and it has been a big hit ever since (Thanks Julie!). The idea is very simple: you get a group (or just one other person) ready, setup your camera, say “1 . . . 2 . . . 3 . . . ” and shout an animal (popular ones tend to be alligator, bear, shark . . .), then the group poses quickly and you take the photo. It’s a lot of fun and people get really into it (I don’t care for the term “ice breaker,” but it works well as one). We continued the game into the night and took well over 100 photos that ranged from animals (alligator, octopus, toucan . . .) to people and actions like superhero, lead guitarist, blind ballerina and giving birth. Good times were had by all.

I did a search on my computer for songs titled “Alligator” and found this little ditty by Grizzly Bear . . . enjoy.

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Filed under: music, photography by ramune

Last month I took photos at the Clark show and really liked how they turned out. It’s been a while since I brought my camera to a concert because I am usually worried that either I won’t be allowed to bring it in or it will just weigh me down when I have to stand for hours on end. After seeing how the Clark shots came out though, I knew I had to bring my camera to the Fever Ray concert I went to at Webster Hall a week ago. The show was fantastic and contained a lovely mix of lasers, fog, pulsating lamps, five band members in costumes that looked like some sort of mythical Scandinavian/Eastern European creatures and wonderful wonderful bass that is meant to be heard and felt live. It was one of those shows I could see over and over again. It also makes me wish I had an amazing sound system.

My sister and I got there a bit on the early side and managed to get to the front of the balcony section, which made for a really nice view of the entire stage. Here are some of my favorite photos I took at the show.

There are no videos for my two favorite Fever Ray songs, so I am posting these two instead. The second one shows the costumes that are in the live show and it also shows the pulsating lamps in action.