Photo date with Vanessa

Posted on January 20, 2009 by nicoles

droppin some parkour knowledge, originally uploaded by *takeitez*.

So this Saturday, I got together with Vanessa to work on my photography. I haven’t quite gotten to figuring out if any of my shots worked out so well, but I am in love with this portrait that Vanessa took of me! I felt like being particularly colorful, since I was to be hanging around with actual photographers, and imagined that I might be modeling as well as taking photos. Glad I did!

We started out at the mall in downtown San Francisco, which is where this crazy lighted floor lives. My back, which has been pretty sore from a fall during last week’s parkour class, was in good enough shape for me to do some QM (quadrapedal movement) across the floor. It makes for a good prowling body shape, don’t you think?

New shirt.woot random shirts!

Posted on January 13, 2009 by nicoles

New shirt.woot random shirts!, originally uploaded by nicoletbn.

You all know about shirt.woot, right? One day, one shirt, one future?

Well, occasionally they have random shirt days, where shirts are cheap and unknown. I was in for three, and curious to see what would show. The results came in just a few days ago! This is now the second time I’ve tried this game, and I’m thrilled with what I received.

Shirt the first is a dark grey with a bomb of some sort making impact with ground in a caution triangle.

Shirt the second is binder paper and scribbley cute things, with the words ‘draw more’

The third shirt is entirely covered in weird creatures. One has a knife! One’s a jellyfish! One says BRB! Fun for hours. Seriously!

Anyway, sharing is caring, so I’ve taken some pictures and put them up on flickr. Enjoy~

Over 6 Years

Posted on January 10, 2009 by nicoles

d - 824

I used to draw pixel by pixel, back in 2002. I occasionally go back to these, and wish that I had the time or drive to do so again. It took me ages, and I just don’t seem to have the sequential hours necessary to do so anymore. I can’t really believe that it’s been six years though! I really liked the end result at the time.

One more.

drink! - 776

Starting some kind of wordpress blog

Posted on January 7, 2009 by nicoles

So, there was some sort of drama/layoff thing over at LiveJournal, and it got me thinking about backing up my journal. I guess I’ve had it since 2002, and though I haven’t posted a lot, the bits I posted, I’d like to keep. Once I got the backup done, I started thinking… what if I had my own blog? Would I be encouraged to post more, or less? And how hard would it be to just drop my livejournal in wholesale?

Turns out, not hard at all. And theoretically, this will even post right back into my livejournal! Woo.

So what do I hope to accomplish, now that I’ve got a real blog thing? I’d like to post clips and bits of art that I’m working on, and it seems like a wordpress blog might be the right place for it. I hope to feel more encouraged to get screengrabs of quartz compositions, take strange photos of interesting places, and craft small mixes of my favorite tracks. And I hope to post them all here.

If you look at the blog itself, prepare to be underwhelmed! I have no clue how to make a wordpress theme, or what basic pages to make, or any of that. Figuring it out as I go. Don’t do this very much. So, if you have any tips, please comment!

I’m gonna end this ramble here, with some german guys covering Michael Jackson’s Stranger in Moscow.

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About to fall down on me

Posted on January 2, 2009 by nicoles

About to fall down on me, originally uploaded by nicoletbn.

A few years ago, I decided that I wanted to get involved in pyrotechnics. I’d occasionally ask around and see if anybody knew anyone involved, but this summer I made it a point to find a way in. I met Jeremy at a party, professional, licensed pyrotechnician involved in the fire art scene. Said he’d give me a call when they needed some help. Finally I get a call in September, but it’s for while I’m in Japan! Drat. He mentions that they may need some help for New Years Eve. I keep following up, and find myself on a barge, tuesday morning, building racks, loading shells, wiring up modules. Wednesday I’m back doing more of the same, getting to know the various operators involved, explaining my work with propane. Wednesday night a tug takes our barge out into the bay, underneath the bay bridge, and out in front of pier 14, and I’m directly underneath one of the biggest fireworks shows I think I have ever seen!

I figured I’d bring a camera, but I wasn’t quite prepared for the task of shooting photos while simultaneously avoiding the smoke, falling bits of fire, and other related shrapnel. I managed to get one or two shots worth seeing, but luckily I’ll have a chance to try my hand at it again… I got called back on the first with thanks for working so hard, and that I’ll be called to work on another show soon!

Hopefully I figure out a way to do this regularly, as it’s completely fun. A good start to my 2009, don’t you think?

Yuki with painting

Posted on December 30, 2008 by nicoles

Yuki with painting, originally uploaded by nicoletbn.

I was mostly shooting for HDRs while I was in Japan. Some of them worked out. The ones I posted a while ago, for example. However, this last batch were ones that I initially rejected since they failed as HDR composites, but taken individually and fucking with the color, I find myself liking them even more. In this one I took the most over exposed out of the three I shot, blew it out even a bit more, and reduced the saturation for each color Yuki had on her till she was greyscale, which left this nice bit of sparkly wall to her side. Yay!

Toys, Glitter

Posted on December 29, 2008 by nicoles

Toys, Glitter, originally uploaded by nicoletbn.

While visiting japan, I ended up at the Yokohama Triennale with Mella and Yuki. I found it to be somewhat all over the place as far as my impressions of the various pieces, but I suppose that’s to be expected. I loved this room though. The walls were covered with glittery paintings, and it extended down to the floor, where these toys were. Really adorable.

Mella at the National Art Center

Posted on December 29, 2008 by nicoles

Mella at the National Art Center, originally uploaded by nicoletbn.

Generally in Japan I was shooting for HDR’s. While a few of them came out okay, most of them did not. This was initially disappointing, however, last night I decided to just start fucking with the colors of the individual shots in Aperture, and managed to get a few to turn out how I wanted!

I’m pretty happy with this one, especially large.

Jewella PuriKura 1

Posted on October 27, 2008 by nicoles

Jewella PuriKura 1, originally uploaded by nicoletbn.

Man, PuriKura is fucking ridiculous.

Also awesome. That is all.

This cat made me walk into a water feature.

Posted on October 25, 2008 by nicoles

This cat made me walk into a water feature., originally uploaded by nicoletbn.

So I was walking from the National Art Center in Roppongi towards 21_21 Design Sight, with mella. We stop by this sculpture and I get out the map. Walking along through this garden-esque grounds area, I’m trying to find my bearings. Rotating the map and such. Out of the corner of my eye, I see the most adorable cat! And promptly walk and trip into a water feature. Luckily none of my things were damaged, but I was pretty much entirely soaked from the waist down. I couldn’t believe it. I thought that sort of thing only happens in sitcoms.

rt48

So me it hurts.