countessian

LA misses me

admin — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 13:21:43 +0000

It’s true. They do. And I miss them too.

It’s weird moving around a lot. You leave massive bits of your life on different continents.

I miss my rubbish little flat with the window that was about to fall out the wall in Echo Park, and the grey cat that used to hang out on the steps and play with us when we got home, and I sometimes almost even miss taking the stupid #4 bus all the way across the city (instead of the stupid District Line, although at least now I get to read Metro.)

I miss sunshine, but I love the lack of it here. I miss shooting for LAist! I really miss walking down Sunset for brunch.

occupy LA portrait project

admin — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 16:35:32 +0000

Some photographers I really like took some great portraits at Occupy LA. I wish I’d been in town to shoot with them.

Here’s some info from Melissa: “I went to undergrad at UC Berkeley, and one of my non-science required courses was in protest movements. We had to protest something peacefully as part of our grade, and it taught me the importance of a) giving a shit and b) how when enough people do, great things can happen.

“A few months back, when the Occupy movement started to take shape outside of Wall Street and women and men began to join forces and hands to question the practices of our local and national government, I wanted to better understand how people were making their way despite the general doomsday outlook that was prevalent in the media’s retelling of the financial and political situation.

“I found that the de facto forum of dissent, We Are the 99 Percent, had an underlying tone of community uprising and fellowship that, to me at least, had been previously overlooked. College grads were moving back in with their parents and helping pay the mortgage and their student loans; single mothers were trading babysitting duties; those who had a little bit more were helping those with a little bit less. This was the story I was interested in and the one I wanted to learn more about.

“I asked two friends who I’ve photographed alongside in the LA music scene – Joey Maloney and Matt Draper – to embark on a one day portrait project in the heart of the Occupy LA movement, on City Hall in Downtown Los Angeles. With the help of a generous grant from When You Wish, we were able to set up a little studio to take portraits of the protesters and observers, while engaging them in dialogue about the movement, their life, their community, and how they were making do with less.

“I realized that the time of narcissism and small-mindedness (if there ever was a time) is certainly over. This project and the reports of people across the country standing linked in peaceful protest reminded me of those old days at Berkeley and the strength that comes from helping each other in small, meaningful ways.

“I hope you find something interesting in the photos and stories of the Occupy LA Portrait Project. If you do, please pass it along.”

eyelashes on a train

admin — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 10:17:20 +0000

Essex is a strange place. It’s close enough to London for the particularly ambitious to consider it glamour-adjacent, but it’s far enough away that trying much too hard is always really tempting, as though the effort somehow evaporates during the 45 minutes on the C2C to Fenchurch Street. Occasionally the end results are just brilliant.

winter in england

admin — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 14:43:12 +0000

Here are some of my favourite things about being at home for my first English Christmas for… seven years? Eight years? Maths is hard.

1) There’s something really brilliant about being indoors in the warm in a cold-ish country, with Christmas dinner cooking and the windows all steaming up.

2) Teaching Americans to pull Christmas crackers and wear the paper crowns: such fun!

3) It gets legitimately chilly here while remaining really sunny. I like that. Much as strolling the streets of Echo Park in my $5 Havaianas between Christmas and New Year was lovely, it wasn’t very Xmassy. The winter-sun+crazy-clouds combo is one of my favourite things to photograph.

4) My dad is a really good cook.

5) We have really good fireworks here now. (The view from my parents’ living room was excellent.)

Happy New Year, kiddos.

rooftop vigilantes at echo curio

admin — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 16:58:38 +0000

Hey, look Rooftop Vigilantes.

I don’t know how I ended up shooting this, but it was fun.

And they have a blog, and I like bands that have blogs.