Bowling

To continue the feature on Ted Calcagni, lead guitarist of the band The Fifth Business, here's a lovely little number of him in my hat when we were out bowling early Friday night. Creepy, eh?

 

Ted and the cats

Ted does enjoy a good cat fondle.

Happy cows come from Vermont

So tonight I went to the monthly Green Drinks event as the face of Burlington City Arts and the Firehouse Gallery where I moonlight as an event coordinator. I love going to mixers, since new people are all just friends I don't know quite so well yet. Plus I'll talk to anyone who will listen, about anything. Ran into the ever-lovely photographer Monica Donovan of Eve Event photography, who I met at a similar event last week with her partner in crime Judd. So nice, I loved talked to them! Starting to see some familiar faces at these parties makes me glad.

In light of the environmentally-themed mixer I just returned from, here something a little pastoral from a little backroads trip Mike and I took last Friday through backcountry Vermont. 

Take that, California. We have happy cows in Vermont too.

Marina Abramovic

Two weekends ago when I was in New York City with Jesse Hawk, we stopped by the MoMA to see the new installation The Artist is Present. Acclaimed performance artist Marina Abramovic is sitting across from strangers for hours every day. It makes a frenzy of New Yorkers be still for a moment as they watch, a feat in itself. One of the New York Times bloggers also featured her installation here. We spent the better part of twenty or thirty minutes watching her and the people around her, and I haven't been able to get it out of my head. Her stillness was awe-inspiring.

People's reactions vary. As you can see from the MoMA's Flickr, which features portraits of every person who sits with the artist, some people react really emotionally. When we were there a few broke down in tears, and that's pretty typical. She doesn't speak, doesn't actively make facial expressions; all communication is completely nonverbal between the two seated figures. Yvan Rodic
of The Facehunter features photographs of her exhibit as well.

Art just means connecting with other human beings. Whatever that means to you.

Magnificent Specimen

From Chelsea Market, NYC.

The Duchess was pleased; finally her magnificent specimen could rival the Duke's. It was time.

BCA

Hey! I'm actually blogging from work at Burlington City Arts, where I work as an Event Assistant. We have a great space with AMAZING natural light...so pumped to be here. I'm going to be working on some interesting Photography and Marketing things here hopefully; stay tuned.

Caged ginger

Here's some weirdness from Barcelona.

Wendy had been a naughty girl; a very naughty girl indeed.

Pick your hotel room at the Tamarack

Please proceed to the front desk to get your room key and the schedule for tonight's events. I believe The Who is performing in the ballroom. Enjoy the plush carpets and decadent bed linens here at the Tamarack. 

This photo of the mildewing beds with a moss-carpeted floor is one of my favorites. The floor in that room was really soft, so we couldn't stay and take too many pictures. The photo after that is right across the hall, and in nearly perfect condition. Interesting stuff. 

The pool is full of alphabet soup

In the pool at the Tamarack Lodge. I'd dive to the bottom to retrieve these, wouldn't you?

Cling

 

More shots from the Borscht Belt shoot; in the pool, in a family bungalow, at a roadside ice cream stand. Just so fun. I'm about to get only 4 hours of sleep. The worst. Almost weekend.

Cubicle: Executive Intern

I wonder what the executives I work for would think if my model just sprawled out next to my cubicle and waited for people to walk by to go to a meeting?

Complete redesign pending...resenting blog until then. Getting existential help from my amusing German friend/photographer Roberto until then. 

Welcome to the Tamarack Lodge

I'm sorry I took so long to post the pictures from our expedition last week; I went to New York to stay with the exemplary photographer Jesse Hawk. Based in Brooklyn, we had a great time that involved him shooting me...needless to say I didn't get many pictures in the process. If photos ever emerge from our shoot, I'll be sure to link them here. It was a pleasure working with him! 

Without further ado, I present four shots from my trip with photographer and friend Ryan Hutton to the Borscht Belt region of the Catskills. I clued you in to my fateful tryst with the friendly horses of Norwegian Wood Ranch; after that we managed to stumble upon the mother load of all abandoned resorts, The Tamarack Lodge. We respectfully explored the premises for several hours, taking pictures and imaging the lives of the thousands of gusts who stayed at the resort that hosted acts like Janis Joplin and The Who in its heyday. In editing the photos I purposefully left them a little dingy to reflect the mood of the location.

More to come, though slowly because of the insane work I'm doing with implementing the health care reform bill. Oh yes, day job. That. 

Catskills I

Went on a roadtrip yesterday to spend the day lost in the Borsht Belt of the Catskills, with a few side stops that yielded great pictures for a little time commitment. Since I'm strapped to academia for a few days, here just one shot from our day...the rest will come. This was taken at the Norwegian Wood Horse Farm in Ellenville, NY, which we delicately visited. The horses were more than friendly as I popped over the fence to visit them up close and personal; they got so close I couldn't take their photos! I would back away to get a shot, and like loyal pups they're trot right back up to me, nudging my face with their velvet noses. So nice! 

Until I returned to the car after 15 minutes of shooting to discover I'd had a horrible allergic reaction to the horses; my face was covered in hives. Luckily my partner in crime, photographer Ryan Hutton, came to the rescue by quickly procurring some Benadryl that brought the swelling down. Exciting stuff! We continued on our journey, and found the holy grail of abandoned Borsht Belt resorts...which I will tell you about later (sorry for the tease!). 

I'm spending the weekend couch surfing NYC with photographers and friends from Barcelona, so lots of photos will be had! Can't wait to share them with you...keep checking back.

Today I almost bought a ticket to go to Puerto Plata, DR

JetBlue was selling tickets at $10 for their ten-year anniversary, so I almost skipped out on every one of my remaining finals to go lie on the beach in the Dominican for five days. I would have too, if taxes hadn't tripled the total ticket price to nearly $300. 

Next time, mark my words. 

However! Tomorrow is impending and immediate adventure. I'm setting off into the wilds of the Catskills to dig out abandoned family resorts to photograph, urbex-style. Also going to a Kazoo factory and getting impossibly lost on rural backroads in between. It's going to be a good day folks.

More wildness to come this weekend...I'm Couch Surfing photographers in NYC and meeting up with my old friends from Barcelona. 

These bits

are missable.

Design Aesthetic

Great sofa in the entryway of the Barrett Art Center...don't you just love how the bolster fits right in there under the curved arm? Beautiful details.

Yesterday I did this with these people

It was great. 

I know I don't include too many self portraits but here are two, as shot by Andrew Ludington.

If Alice in Wonderland was a Fiesty Redhead

Kiwi rewards

Kiwi's remind me of Monica and afternoons in Barcelona, when we used to work on photos for hours on end, just roaming around our piso pequeña in the city center after a long trip somewhere in Europe. Since I'm avoiding grocery shopping for the next week, I saved my last kiwi for today. Though some would consider it a slight reward, I know better. So glorious. 

Plus these first pictures look like I'm shooting the kiwi with a laser and it's pretty entertaining.

I awoke to the rain

and then it stopped. It's been one of those beautiful weeks when it rains at night and the morning starts smelling more like summer every day. 

Here's an old image I captured three years ago that I just love.

The dance teacher's house

Having grown up in the same dance company for 13 years, I thought it would be nice to go back when I was in the area back in March. My aging teacher lives in this rambling Victorian mansion that seemed to be a dust-filled maze of dark hallways and creaky floors when I was younger. Sequined leotards and errant dance shoes of all sizes seemed to litter the house that smelled of spicy rotting wood and velvet. The rumored presence of a secret passageway made it all the more exciting at the tender age of 5.

Grassy Bits

Here are a few shots from the sunny bits of the weekend. As an attempt to recover from the wildness of Friday and Saturday nights, I took my photographer cousin Chris and his friends to watch the sun set at the Vanderbilt mansion. After a relaxing afternoon at the Third Eye Blind concert and smoking nargile for 3 hours, we needed activities. I pilfered some of Chris' excellent lenses, so I'll have some wild fisheye shots coming up soon. It was nice to have a little bit of Turkey in my weekend. We also went to the highly romanticized drive-in movies, which was a great way to close a beginning-of-summer kind of weekend. 

Now I'm being good and doing a lot of work, at least until I go on my next big adventure this coming weekend. I'm getting a blast from my past in Spain kind of visitor for the weekend, and we'll be doing lots of exciting things. Sorry to be a tease, but I can't say any more. Keep reading, and enjoy the photos.

Nothing like last minute

So last night we got a call around 8pm that the aforementioned cousin had spare Girl Talk tickets...so obviously we made the necessary arrangements, packed a bag (with water and Wheat Thins - only the essentials) and headed upstate. We caught the last 15 minutes of the show (weak), and were generally disappointed by the unenthusiastic crowd at RPI. Determined to salvage the night, Kelsea and I set off into the ghetto of Albany to find a scene. With the help of her roommate giving directions over the phone, we made it through the sketchy bits of the city to the other side, where we were greeted by a myriad of fantastic bars. We popped right into The Bayou, which was packed and had a live band. We proceeded to have a blast dancing, making friends all over the place. Typical and fantastic. Rolled up and crashed at my brother's, so it was great to see him too. Another ridiculous adventure...no surprise! 

Mama Kelsea