The Holidays

Dear Readers,

As I write this my hands are coated with the contents of a box of markers- a memento of the hour or two I spent coloring tongue depressors for my mother's kindergarten students and bonding with my family. Tis the season, but of what? I have noticed over the years that we now say "Happy Holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas," and this change I do not entirely mind, however it does make me wonder what it is that the Holidays truly celebrate. I don't think it matters whether you are religious or not, the Holidays are important. They are a time to focus on those who care for you, who have helped shape your everyday life and been a part of your everyday joys. This does not mean exclusively the family created through shared DNA, but also those who have become family through bonds of friendship; through late night phone calls and stories that are always more amusing in retrospect. It is a chance to gather together and create deeper bonds; to create an atmosphere of love and compassion, of respect for the similarities and the differences within us all.

With these thoughts in mind, I have looked back and decided to share with you all images of a very dear friend of mine from Itasca State Park. This was a day of laughter and adventure; of lonely highways and clear fall skies. This was a day of family and of friendship, and I am happy to share it with you all.

Happy Holidays, my wonderful readers, may you find joy throughout this chilly season.

<3 AK

Hello

Hello my wonderful readers,

How are you? I hope that you are all doing well and that you have enjoyed your fall! I know that I most certainly did! Now the snow has fallen and stayed in my hometown and I find myself looking eagerly ahead for the joys of winter.

For those of you who don't know, winter is my favorite season! I see winter as a season to pull closer to those you care about, fortifying yourself against the cold of the season with the warmth created by close friendships. It is a season of hockey, or sledding and snowballs and skiing trips. Of hot chocolate and fresh baked cookies, of Christmas carols and twinkling lights. Winter is full of its own sort of magic, one that makes us search within ourselves as well as pull closer to others.

Bundle up lovelies,

AK

Meet Polly

She isn't a parrot, and she won't fit in your pocket- what she does is even better! Polly is the name of my Polaroid 600 camera which my dad brought home from work. He saved her from the trash bin when his work was doing some spring cleaning, and apparently she was never used! It is so amazing to be able to work with such a wonderful and fun camera! Below I've posted some of my favorites from the first cartridge of film I ran through her :), all shots are straight out of camera (minus, of course, being scanned into the computer to be shared with you all) and were shot on PX 600 Silver Shade Cool film purchase from the Impossible Project. 

I hope that you all enjoy the images, and- as always- that you are having a lovely fall (despite the abysmal weather we have been having)!  

 

Till next time!

-AK

 

Electric Twist Part 2: America

Well hello lovely readers,

I feel like I haven't written to you in so long, and for that I apologize. I have been incredibly busy working at my new job (as a librarian! I'm so excited!), setting up and working shoots (fun, fun, fun), traveling, and starting my Senior year in College. For all of these things I am incredibly grateful, but I must admit I've kinda missed sharing my work with you all! :) In lieu of that, here is the second installment of my last editorial shoot with the lovely Brianna!

The grass was tall, it tickled our legs and hid us from the nosy world. The fields were deceptively empty, promising a solitude that wasn't really there- but we excepted its promise and we played and laughed and frolicked beneath the trees, pretending that the silence would last forever and that the sun would never set.

<3 AK

Electric Twist Pt. 1

We ran across fields filled with grass in our underwear, just because it was too hot to keep on the sticky clothes and we wanted to feel the caress of the air against our skin. We swapped bras and danced in silly circles. We slipped traveling down to a small lagoon and squealed at the thought of ticks being found after we returned to the confines of the city. We climbed piles of dirt, and pretended that we were creatures of the wild. Like little children we leaped and spun and covered our feet in a fine layer of dirt. We talked about life and laughed about everything, and through it all we felt the pure and utter joy of being young and healthy and happy. 

May I present to you, my dear readers, part one of the series Electric Twist:

 -AK

Stick Twist Bread

Hello my fellow dreamers :)

Happy Wednesday to you all!! As always, I hope this post finds you happy, healthy, and enjoying every moment of your summer! I am currently writing to you from a comfortable home in a peaceful section of a small Minnesotan town. The trees are presenting a shadow dance with their leaves upon the wall, and the Olympic games are playing quietly in the background. A small Italian woman full of much love for her children is in the next room with the hair dryer, carefully preparing for her workday. On my left, in a matching armchair to the one in which I am currently reclining, is a dear friend of mine. He is currently focusing on his computer, there is some issue about increasing desktop or disc space for his apple's virtual computer system. The air is laced with the smell of my friend's morning coffee intermixed with the scent of cinnamon and freshly baked bread. This whole place speaks of peace for me, it speaks of sun kissed skin, of the cool embrace of lake-water, of warm summer evenings drifting into slightly cooler nights. It is the smell of the fire and the sound of feet in the sand. This is a beautiful place, one which I am always sorry to leave. I hope that you, my wonderful readers, have a place such as this and that you have had the opportunity to enjoy that place this summer.

While you are out hanging with your friends this summer, you might want to consider trying a new recipe called "Stick-Twist Bread." I found this recipe in the wonderful Kinfolk Magazine Volume 4, which if you haven't read before, I would seriously suggest checking out. This was my first time making the bread, but I have to say I was very pleased with it and even found an alternate use for the dough. The basic idea is that you make a very simple eggless dough (the recipe that I used can be found in Kinfolk) and you wrap said dough around a clean branch/stick and cook it for about 5 min over the coals of a fire. I was really pleased with the way in which this recipe worked and found that the leftover dough can be rolled and made into pretzels! :) 

Photo journey capturing the making of Stick Twist Bread:

Oh hai everyone :)

<3 AK

"Let your heart skip like a pebble on water"

Happy Hump Day to all of you lovely readers,

As always, I hope this post finds you well. I have been spending that last few months experimenting with film, so I found  it only fair to share some of my favorite images from a trip I took this past week to a beautiful little town in Minnesota. All images are unedited (unless otherwise noted) and were taken either with Yoshi (a Yashica Fx-2) on a 50mm f/1.8 or with a Asahi Pentax K1000 on a 40mm f/2.8 (both cameras were using 400 speed Kodak film). My favorite part about shooting with these cameras is the fact that their light meters currently do not work, so shooting with them required me to truly test my knowledge and understanding of light and how to properly expose my film using manual controls, my past experiences, and gut instinct. I'm incredibly happy with how the images turned out, and can not believe how far they show I have come as a photographer. I doubt that I would have been able to properly expose this film at this time last year. Thank you all for supporting me and continuing to encourage me as I grow as a photographer. I appreciate you all so much, and I am so excited to see where this next year takes us all. :)

Photo was flipped in the center, but otherwise there was no editing done.

Editing: Words only

Edits: Words added over an unedited film image

This was shot on 800 speed film

Shot using 800 speed film

Hope you all finish your weeks with a smile :)
-AK

P.S. The quote that is the title of this post is from 16 hours magazine :)