Instagram Weekend

Foggy afternoon over the Hudson.

I have over 6000 photos and videos on my iPhone. Yes, 6000. This is a problem. I started to delete some since they're all saved on iCloud but it makes me irrationally sad not to have these memories with me all the time. Last night I was rolling through my photos and I saw the first one I ever took, a picture of my belly when I was five months pregnant, the beach in East Hampton (many, many times), my favorite places in the city...the list of events and random days goes on and on.  Even with all my fun apps and everything I read online, looking through old photos is my favorite activity on my phone.

Do you agree? Do you have as many photos as I do or more?

Here's my weekend in Instagram.








I went to visit friends in Long Island and decided to take the train instead of our car.



And, ps--in case you're curious, head over to my Facebook page where you can see pictures from PhotoLA, MPLS Photo Center and the Bari Studio where my photos have been featured lately. And give it a "like" if you please...we're almost to 1000 "likes" and I will host a giveaway when we reach that milestone!





Pin It

Fridays

Last night in Tribeca.

It's another rainy day in New York .  Perfect for staying in and being lazy and nursing a slight hangover from last night's festivities.   But I don't think I will be doing much relaxing today with my baby who lately doesn't want to nap and way too much to do besides running after my toddler.

Last night was fantastic and I'm so thankful to all the wonderful people who came out to support me.  For some reason it always pours whenever I have a show and still it was very busy and very fun last night.  If you want to check out  the works, you can visit The Bari Studio until March 15th to see them. 

Here are a few links from around the web to get your weekend started right!

Addicted to Pinterest.

This is so inspiring...a birth from an infertile womb.  And here's my story too.

Instagram pillows!

Portraits of Swedish men.

You can hear the quiet in this portrait of winter.

Vintage finds.

Amazon's top 10 picture books of 2011.

Four things to say to a friend after a bad break-up.

Vintage mini-bars.

There have been so many great posts this week recapping Altitude Design Summit.  Like this one, this one, this one and this one.


Pin It

This is happening

My show is opening tonight and I am equal parts completely excited and totally nervous.  These are the usual competing feelings that I have whenever I have something "big" on the horizon and so I've learned to just acknowledge them and move on.

I've always been very much of a "Next!" kind of person -- always looking to the next thing, what is on the "list" that I have to check off, did I accomplish what I set out to do and if I did, let's get to what follows.  However, lately I'm really working hard at trying not to move so fast.  I want to be in the moment that is happening right here and now and also really take the time to look back and remember the ones that have already passed.  This has to do not just with my little family and the fact that this week my baby, who is now a full-fledged toddler, had her 19-month birthday, but professionally too.

When I sat down to write this post the focus was on my work and how much has happened in the four-plus years since I decided to kick the corporate bucket and dropout of my life as a corporate lawyer to follow my dream.  At the time I wasn't really sure what my dream was and I can honestly say with certainty that while the concept is much clearer today it is constantly evolving as I add more and more to my list of things that I want to accomplish.  Either way I am extremely cognizant of what is happening now and what has happened so far.  Instead of feeling like I want to "check" something off and move quickly to the next item, I'm allowing myself to linger in the moment, enjoy and be aware of Time.  Yes, Time with a capital T- it goes by too quickly and I never seem to have enough of it.

What about you?  Do you make that Time for yourself?  How important is it for you?

So tonight I'm going to have so much fun.  If you're around I hope you'll join me for some wine and photography...an awesome combination...I speak from experience!

Here are some photos that you will not see at the exhibit tonight if you decide to come because they are out-takes of one photo that IS in the exhibit.

The other day, in an effort to get my creative juices flowing, I was searching my own archives for some inspiration and I found these before-now unprocessed images.  There they were in a folder titled "Fifth Ave. Rush and Shadows" and that's exactly what they are.  On the afternoon that I took them I was on assignment doing some freelance work and I was in such a rush I couldn't move quickly enough.  I was about to put my camera away when I looked up and saw all these people coming toward me.  In a second I went from being completely focused to getting home and getting to work to staying out and working some more...but this time for myself.  Isn't that why I left my job as a lawyer to begin with?  So I stayed outside, skipped the subway and walked against the tide and mad rush of people.  These were the results.  I'm feeling proud because the photo* that I decided to feature in the show tonight has won all sorts of awards and it's been in a few shows online and on a few actual physical walls.  I have even sold a couple prints to collectors.  It's all very exciting and particularly motivating for me considering that all of these photos almost didn't happen if I hadn't had the good sense to just let myself BE in the moment and take the pictures that I always wanted to take.

I think I'm having an epiphany.  Yep, #thisishappening.






*












Pin It

The Constant Buzz

By Costas Masseras

One of things I love most about blogging is discovering new people and things.   I spend A LOT of time pointing, clicking, reading, skimming and studying photographs, and, once in a while I'm lucky enough to come upon a site where every single thing that I see gives me the goosebumps.  Such was the case when I found The Constant Buzz, a beautifully and meticulously curated Tumblr blog.  Needless to say, two hours later I wondered where my afternoon had gone and didn't the baby just fall asleep, how is she up already? 

I blame Pinterest but I also blame my passion for always wanting and needing to seek inspiration and finding other artists who move me and make me want to be better.


By Signe Vilstrup


By Paul Wolff


By Bill Brandt


By Clarence Sinclair Bull


By Dorothea Lange


By Bernhard Springer


By K. L. Haenchen


By Alfred Eisenstaedt


By Alfred Eisenstaedt


By Bernhard Springer

All images via The Constant Buzz.


Pin It

Instagram Weekend

This weekend was the perfect medicine: non-stop relax. After several crazy weeks and a lot of coming and going, we stayed in, went out to see snow for the "first time" (not technically but last year the baby was so small there was no enjoying it), popped open a new box of crayons, ate way too much and watched too much football. Well that last part was mostly my husband but I could definitely hear it from the other room!

This week is going to be fantastic and not least of all because I have a big show here in New York.  Won't you join me?


I was dying to put her in this get-up for weeks and finally it snowed!  She didn't protest too much.

Here's our weekend via Instagram.  And you?


New Yorkers will go for a run no matter what...even this tiny New Yorker!




Being silly.  Wearing fuzzy hats and boots.





 

Seeking Inspiration (aka Are you on Pinterest?)

So yes, I'm a little late to the party.  This week I finally relented and jumped on the Pinterest train.  What is wrong with me?  Now I know what I've been missing.



One of the things that I am passionate about and that doesn't always (ever) make it on to this blog is my love of home design.  Obsession is more like it.  My husband catches me sitting on the couch in silence just staring into  space and he calls me out.  He says I'm secretly (or not-so-secretly) planning in my head how I'm going to "move that there, move this here" and it is so true.  I can never walk into a room and not think about how I would change it or what I would do to make it "different" - not necessarily "better" but there is ALWAYS something that can be different.

Case in point: my current work space.  Before we had the baby, and back in our old apartment (that I still miss every day even though yes, I love our new home), I had my own office/studio.  It got lots of fabulous light, it was quite large and my view was TDF.  Now my work space is a little corner in our new bedroom.  You'd be surprised just how much I can get done in this small space but it is tiny and shared nonetheless.  Before we moved to our new place we had a no TV, no radio, no computers, blackberries, iPads, iPhones, etc. rule in our bedroom.  In fact, the only thing we had that needed power, aside from light, was an alarm clock.  Now our bedroom is our work space, our lounge space, our everything space and since we got here I've been working to make it one of the best rooms I've ever lived in. 

To that end, I've been trolling around the internet looking for inspiration for small home offices and gallery walls and well, what can I say, my drug of choice is Pinterest.  I've been having a lot of fun searching and pinning and spying different boards and I have to wonder why on earth I didn't do this sooner!  I've found so many new sites that I love from photos that were pinned that I just know this will be my new favorite place to hang out online.

I'm still working on my wall, getting frames, making prints, la-di-da, but as soon as I'm done I'm going to feature it here and give a how-to on making gallery walls since I really, really love them and I've been doing them forever and I think I've finally figured out the easiest way that works for me.  In the meantime, here are a few photos that I'm using for inspiration.

What do you think?  And, are you on Pinterest?  Let's connect over there!



Also, here is a sneak peek at one of the walls in my bedroom... 



And here is a tiny look at my kitchen and Lucia's gallery wall.





 All photos (except the Instagram of my wall) via Pinterest.