Politically Correct

[Link]

Landscape at Creuse in Spring

Landscape at Creuse in Spring by Armand Guillaumin

Poplars in Spring

Poplars in Spring by Henri-Jean Guillaume Martin

Spring

Spring by Giuseppe Arcimboldo

Inspiration

We Need Feminism Because...

This Gif

Lawn = Mown.

Fake Science

[from Fake Science]

Think of the Weekend

Think of the Weekend by Jacek Yerka.

Matchy Matchy

After last week's spot-on color matching of shoes to dress, I began to wonder what other items I own that might coordinate so perfectly. It turns out I have a lot of inexplicably, perfectly matching clothing items. How? Why? It can't be that clothing/shoe/accessory manufacturers all collude to favor a given palette each season/year (despite what Pantone would have you believe) – many of these items were purchased several years apart. Is it simply that *I* favor particular colors? No way. That can't be. I'm, like, a complex and ever-evolving woman whose tastes are informed by and are a reflection upon the zeitgeist... YEAH!Or, I just really like blue.[Vince Camuto dress, Bagatelle leather & tweed jacket, Baggu clutch, Donald J. Pliner platform sandals, vintage belt purchased on Etsy.]

Friday I

Friday I by Auguste Herbin

Ash Wednesday

Ash Wednesday by Carl Spitzweg

Can Fatty Wear Horizontal Stripes?

stripes_edit

keystonekapers

Yeah, I think I can! I am not usually a fan of stripes. There's something sort of juvenile about them to me. Juvenile or prison-y. Stripes belong on children and old-timey, keystone kapers inmates. This dress gets a pass, though, because the stripes are not true stripes – they're all stylized and wiggley. Maybe all this busy busy is what's helping me get away with the look. That, and the blazer to streamline my more troublesome areas. Overall, I'd say it works out.Bonus: Shoes I've never worn are being put too good use! It's bizarre how perfectly they match the dress. [Wearing: H&M blazer, Vince Camuto dress, Patrizia Motta shoes]

I Got This: Patrizia Motta Platform Sandals

Remember how I said I was going to take the time to fish out all my unworn and/or forgotten purchases and show them a little love? Boom. I am doing that shit. First entry!I got these sandals for some kind of crazy bargain on Yoox. I haven't worn them yet. I was going to make excuses, but decided against it. I am going to wear these suckers... tomorrow.Take that, me!

Buying Stuff & Thinking About Buying Stuff

packed closet

You know what always sounds like a really fun time? Buying stuff. You know what's almost better than buying stuff? Thinking about buying stuff. I can spend hours just poring over shopping sites, flash sale sites, even just plain fucking Amazon. (I love you, Prime!) Well, that's got to stop. I have too much stuff. No one needs this much stuff. It's ridiculous.I've already begun working on it. Over the last few months, I've sold, given away, or thrown away dozens of giant bags of shoes and clothing. In fact, in a single week, I sold 17 pairs of shoes, the majority of which I had never even worn. That is completely absurd.Culling my closet is the first step. Additionally, I'll be making an effort not only to curb my purchase behaviors, but to reduce the time I spend simply looking at stuff and thinking about buying it. This will likely free up a good two hours of my day, every single day. Isn't that kind of horrifying? Fuck.

To reinforce these efforts, I'll also be starting yet another picture project—a sort of "item appreciation day" series of posts. There's a familiar saying: "Out of sight, out of mind." Well, if I put things in plain sight, will they become top of mind? If I make an effort to sort through all those items sitting unworn and forgotten in my closet, take pictures of them, and post those pics to this blog, my awareness of them will certainly increase dramatically. And then, perhaps I'll be more likely to make use of them. And then, perhaps I'll be less likely to feel the need to purchase new stuff.It's just so crazy it has to work! And, it starts right now.

Hooray, Technology! Focus 2 and FX Photo Studio Pro Desktop Apps

My home does not provide ideal lighting conditions for shooting self-portraits. This is only compounded by the fact that I am shooting at different times of day, whenever I have a free moment, usually in some state of rushed and unprepared. The resulting raw images are therefore, unsurprisingly, deeply in need of some sprucing up.While I can stumble my way through some Photoshop, Instagram has spoiled me. I much prefer the ease and simplicity of Instagram's Tools – with their cute little icons and their uncomplicated little sliders and their real-time preview. At last, Technology is making life easier and not an even more baffling ordeal!Unfortunately, Instagram's Tools are exclusive to their mobile app, and, for the purposes of my picture project, I need tools I can use on my computer. For the first few weeks, I did what I could with Photoshop. It wasn't great and I wasn't pleased. Then, after a spirited round of googling and downloading and googling some more, I discovered two little apps that were just what I needed: Focus 2 and FX Photo Studio.Focus 2 covers the Instagram Tools I use most frequently: Adjust, Vignette, Tilt Shift, and Sharpen. FX Photo Studio offers a slew of filters (far more than those offered by Instagram), as well as the equivalent adjustments for Instagram's Brightness, Contrast, Warmth, Saturation, Highlights, and Shadows Tools. Because both apps are developed by Macphun, working with images across the two is pretty much seamless. Another point for you, Technology!Anywho, to illustrate just how easy this shit is and how much better my whole experience has been for it, I thought I'd do a little walkthrough/tutorial of my photo-editing process. 

Step One: Open Your Photo in the Focus 2 App

Start by taking the image you want to edit (here I'm using an outtake that had already been cropped in iPhoto) and dragging it into Focus 2.

STEP TWO: Select a Focus Preset and Adjust

There are several presets to choose from, but since this image is a portrait, I'm using the PORTRAIT preset, which overlays two adjustable circles onto the image. The inner circle should encompass the area you'd like to keep in focus. The outer circle allows you to adjust the distance between in-focus and completely blurred. These constructs are more or less true for any of the presets offered. So, certainly, you should feel free to play around. In fact, you can even go CUSTOM and manually mask out an area of focus using a brush tool:At any rate, once you've adjusted the areas of focus and blur to suit your image, fiddle a bit with the APERTURE and VIGNETTE sliders until you've got it to your liking.PROTIP: You can toggle between your original and edited images at any time by pressing the spacebar.

STEP Three: TURn Auto Enhancement On (Optional)

This was a major discovery for me. The first few times I used these apps together, I saved all my color, contrast, etc., adjustments to do manually in FX Photo Studio, which honestly offers a great and user-friendly interface. However, one day, out of curiosity, I clicked the AUTO ENHANCEMENT button and... heyo!... it was pretty terrific! Admittedly, though, this is a matter of personal taste. Use it if you like. If not, I recommend skipping this step and moving on to the next.

STEP Four: Share to FX Photo Studio

Remember how I said these apps work really well together? In fact, you can share the image you've been working on in Focus 2 directly to FX Photo Studio without even saving. Just click the SHARE button in the bottom right-hand corner of the window and select the FX Photo Studio icon under the "Open In" section. It will do exactly that.

STEP Five: Make Additional Adjustments and/or Add a Filter or a Frame

Now we're in FX Photo Studio! If you skipped the Auto Enhancement step, or just think the image could use some extra attention, click the ADJUST tab in the upper right-hand corner of the FX Photo Studio window and adjust those sliders to your heart's content. When you've finished, don't forget to click APPLY. Otherwise, all your changes will be lost!I like to add a little frame to my images. To do this, start by clicking the FX EFFECTS tab at the top right. This will bring up one of those little tray thingies at the bottom of your window where you can select between EFFECTS, FRAMES, and PRESETS tabs.EFFECTS are essentially the sorts of filters you've seen in Instagram and the like, but far more numerous and sometimes really trippy or oddly specific. I tend to skip these and go straight to FRAMES. Since I've used the app before, I already have a favorite frame under FRAMES > FAVORITES, but, just like with EFFECTS, there are many, many to chose from. Anywho, if frames are your thing, once you've selected one, you can adjust it manually with the little slider on the right.

STEP Six: Save or Share

This is usually where I tap out. I just click the SAVE button in the top, left-hand corner of the window and save my image as a Jpeg to do with as I will. However, you can also export your finished image directly to a number of social networking sites (Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr) by clicking the SHARE button right next to SAVE.

STEP SEVEN: REVEL IN YOUR AWESOMENESS

The only thing left to do now is enjoy your awesomely enhanced new image and your awesome mastery of technology. Savor it!

Have a Blessed Day

Whatcha Realizing, Jerk?

whatcharealizinjerk

So, it's been exactly a month since I (re)started my self-portraits project. I thought I'd share a few high-level observations from the experience.

Observation 1: Mirrors Are Lying Liars That Tell Lies

Prior to this project, my standard morning ritual involved at least a cursory glance in the mirror before heading out the door, but no extended dawdling. During this project, however, I've been spending a great deal more time consulting the mirror, who has told me things like:

"Ehh, not bad."

"Indeed, those colors work well together."

"You are so totally pulling this off. What an off-puller, you!"

clueless_polaroids

Well, guess what: those were all horrible, horrible lies. But, it took being confronted with the photographic evidence for me to realize it. More accurate statements would have been: Actually, yes, bad. In fact, those colors work badly together and you should feel badly. The only thing you're really pulling is my eyes... from my head... because omg the pain. I can't necessarily blame the mirror, though. Lying is in his very nature. The fault is mine. This is a lesson I should have learned long ago from Clueless...  I will grant that cameras can be just as fallible and variable as mirrors, but, given the age we live in – with all its selfies, belfies (NSFW), and "Pics or it didn't happen," – photos are the rule and not the exception. I should have known the mirror was irrelevant. This whole project is about getting comfortable with being in pictures, not just looking in the mirror and calling it a day. It's just that I had expected the mirror to give at least a hint of how a finished pic might look. Turns out the only real way to find out how something will look in a photograph is by putting it in a photograph. Who'd a thunk?

Observation 2: Covering Up My body Isn't Helping

homemade ghost costume

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7QSNulqPgM]Since our expulsion from the garden of eden, humankind has known instinctively to hide its shame. But what do you do when you're ashamed of your whole body?Just like my fat-ass spectral friend here, I have taken to covering up fairly extensively – long sleeves, long skirts, tall boots, high necklines. Now, none of these things is bad per se and, in fact, they can be pretty and even quite stylish. But, what I've found is that the combination of all of them, used consistently over many repeated outfits, only seems to call attention to the fact that I'm trying to hide – to make more noticeable my discomfort with my own body. This is exactly what I'm hoping to avoid.You've probably heard some fashion-y quote like, "Outfits are the armor you wear to face the day." There's something to that, for sure. Clothes really can impact your attitude, comportment, confidence, and the perceptions of others. But, for me, my outfits have crossed that fine line between confidence booster and giant, swaddling, full-body security blanket. This is not to say that from here on out it's all pasties and hot pants. I'll probably simply try pairing my more conservative staples with less conservative ones – maybe show a little knee or elbow now and again, perhaps even a glimpse of collarbone (I think I still have those). Baby steps.But, wait. Was your knee-jerk response to this observation "You have nothing to be ashamed of! Just don't feel ashamed"? Well, that brings me to observation number 3...

Observation 3: It doesn't matter what other people think (If what they think is Positive)

For the Simpsons-impaired: Link

criticism

I don't mean this as some sort of Pinterest-y, quotation-over-landscape, soft-focus palliative. I believe the "I'm-just-gonna-keep-doing-me-and-if-other-people-have-a-problem-with-it-that's-on-them" attitude can be incredibly problematic and, when taken to it's furthest extent, just plain stupid...You know what? Maybe some folks should question themselves and what they're up to more often. Isn't it more infuriating when some asshole never doubts for a moment how forthright and just is his cause? Self-doubt and nagging internal recriminations have plagued some of the best and smartest folks I know. It's part of what makes them so great, and allows them to become even better.What I mean by saying that it doesn't matter what others think is that, ultimately, the opinions of others can do very little to bolster my feelings of self-worth or my own opinions of my abilities, appearance, etc. If all it took for me to feel happy with my appearance were the compliments of others, my boyfriend alone would have me thinking I'm the most beautiful woman in the world. While I respect his opinions (eh, more or less...), and such sweet/kind words fill me with warm/fuzzy feelings, and I'm grateful that he thinks so highly of me, none of it changes the way I feel about myself.Consider the familiar examples of models with body-image issues, or pretty much every successful person who's experienced imposter syndrome. The world is telling these folks in no uncertain terms that whatever they're doing, they're do it right, but the praise/accolades are just background noise (albeit, fairly pleasant background noise) to the much stronger signal of self-criticism.The same is not true for the negative opinions of others, though. Those seem only to reinforce whatever ill opinions one may already possess. To continue with the sound analogy above, external criticism only amplifies the internal signal, just like constructive interference, but, hey, let's give it the more charitable name of "Constructive Criticism."See? This illustration has waves, mathematical symbols, and graph paper...  That's science! You have to believe science! But, really, think about your own experiences (provided you're not an asshole). When someone says something positive to you, do you not just pass it off as kindness or flattery? But, if that same person says something negative, doesn't it simply confirm your worst fears? I'm not sure why we have such double standards for the opinions of others, but we do and it sucks.All this said, my hope is that by recognizing and calling out the above issues, I position myself to address and maybe even overcome them. Or, not. Who knows? Either way, the project continues and I will, no doubt, have more to share soon. Thanks for reading.

Rousseau's Tigers

...all by Henri Rousseau...

Tiger

You know, I was really excited to wear this outfit and thought it was going to be so rad (TIGER PRINT!), but, as soon as I saw the pictures... ehhhhh. I think what's bothering me is that it's a much shorter dress than I would normally wear (I am scandalized by the appearance of my own knees!), and the white jacket just looks a lot boxier than it did in the mirror (oh, those filthy, lying mirrors!) Also, It looks like I'm flexing my big toes. I should probably paint those suckers, too.I was really hoping I'd be better at this by now. :(But, hey, I've managed four straight weeks of outfit posts! That's gotta be a new record for me![Wearing: Julie Brown dress, Eliza J jacket, Taryn Rose sandals, Hobo wristlet.]