It has been a hectic few weeks with finals and the holiday break approaching. This winter has been a bit more brisk than I remember it being in the past few years, so Ive been staying indoors a bit more lately. After having a nice 2 mile walk home from school yesterday (not dressed for the weather I night add), it got me back in the mood to walk regularly again. Of course, winter is the most lethargic time, but another inspiration has gotten me going today; Midnight in Paris. I am a Romantic, yes, with a capital R. I fantasize about the 1950's post-WW2/depression era; the classic diners, neon signs, classy pinup girls, cheesy advertisements, and airbrushed everything. Thus creeps my interest in visiting NYC and re-creating the iconic 50s life with photography. Going back further, I have always wanted to give up this life and pursue the life of a Native American or become a pioneer crossing the plains and following the Oregon trail to California (hopefully not with the Donner party). I believe this is one of the reasons why in a year and a half (so soon!!), I will be moving to Washington State. I can soak in and draw, paint, depict the vast mountains and the coursing rivers, and one has never truly seen the color green until they visit this Evergreen State. In between these two periods, the Roaring Twenties lurks in the part of me that feeds my interest in literature as well as the arts combined. Today, the floodgates of my creativity and drive to fully get back in to the arts has been opened after months of it trickling from the cracks of my being, thanks to Midnight in Paris. Watching Gil, the protagonist, live the past, albeit in denial of the dissatisfaction he has with life, and explore Paris with an entourage of the masters of the early 20th century arts reaffirmed that I NEED to do something more than just doodle in my sketchbook. I was left in a daydream all day, not sure of what I wanted to do to start off my quest led by my right brain. Maybe it is the dreary, yet somehow dreamy, drizzly weather that sparked it, but my intuition told me that I should bring my camera along with me today. I didnt quite know what I was looking for, but I thought it would be nice to start small. I got home around 4 pm and was on a quest to find food when I decided to take a photo walk around my neighborhood before it got too dark to capture some of the homely holiday decorations and lights. I walked for almost 2 hours (sadly it got took dark and rainy), and I took a few fun little shots of the seasonal cheer, plus lots of bokeh. These are the least I could narrow down as my best shots:
Now, THIS house is THE holiday house of the neighborhood. All 360 degrees of their house is covered in lights and decorations, and it is very hard to just capture the pure volume of Christmas cheer that exudes from it. These five photos only exhibit about 20% of the entire madness, plus they have a never-ending loop of holiday music playing out front.
I spent a good 10 minutes trying to take pictures of the Christmas tree downtown on Murphy Street. The white balance was a tricky one here on top of lack of light, and made it a bit frustrating to shoot.
Yes, a festive Holiday Ladder. Made me chuckle. Ill be trying to get a better photo of it sometime soon.
This is one of my favorite houses in the neighborhood.
They go all out for both Halloween and Christmas, but that werewolf on their porch is there all year long.
A pleasant way to kick-start my creative binge and the holidays :)
On that note, I bid you a Happy Saturday,
Parisa
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