A few weeks ago, Ellington and I took our cameras for a walk around our neighborhood. Along the way, we brainstormed art projects, got caught in the rain, and made our final stop at an Indian restaurant where we ordered enough food for a party of five. I haven’t finished my roll of film yet, but here are some of her pictures.
I love swings. I was on this one until I thought I was going to be sick. On a happier note, can you tell from these photographs that Ellington’s a filmmaker? I think her images are so cinematic.
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 Hello, I'm Yujean. I live in Philadelphia and like books, foxes, and espresso.       |
I highly recommend the movie Dogtooth if you haven’t seen it. The entire film is beautiful & provocative, coming from someone who doesn’t last through movies in their entirety all that often. More specifically, I tend to leave the room (for good) within the first 5 minutes. Kathryn & I put this on last night while eating homemade pizza, and I was completely mesmerized. After it was over, we talked about it for a long time, googled its reviews and read them outloud.
If you’re interested, here is a spoiler-free synopsis. I came across photographer Jane Tam’s portfolio yesterday. According to her website, Most of her photographic work explores the weaving of Chinese and American cultures and how it defines many offspring of working class immigrants. About three images in, I knew I’d come across something special & deserving of more than a bookmark. Let’s be real, my bookmarks folder is about as bottomless as it gets, but that’s a story for another time. What I mean is that it isn’t often that my instinct responds this positively to photographers. When it does, it signifies the beginning of a long-term admiration. Not only will I remember the photographer’s name & some of their pieces, but the nuances as well. I’ll always be curious about their new work. Of course, aesthetic resolve is essential. But nothing cements that kind of fan-ship, if you will, as work with intelligent, complicated narratives. And, I’m also really into badass Asian/American ladies successfully producing these kinds of texts. Photographs below by the talented Jane Tam, plucked from three of her series. Of Everyday Life finally got an updated look after over a year and a half. As you can tell, it’s nothing drastic; it looks much more “bloggy” and I’ve lightened the content some. I also fiiinally uploaded an avatar that reflects the blonde hair I’ve had for, oh, two months now. I’m most excited about the ability to post larger images, which I’ve been wanting for awhile. I designed the previous layout at a time when I was quite zealous about grids because of the structure and order they provide. After about a year, though, I tired of its seemingly increasing rigidity and wanted something that flowed better. There may be continuous tweaks here and there as I let my neuroses weigh in. Nevertheless, onwards! Like I promised earlier, here are some more pictures from our lake getaway two weekends ago. Thank you to Chris for sending me these! Hi, I hope you all enjoyed your 4th of July weekend if you celebrated! As for me, my birthday was yesterday and I had a blast being surrounded with friends the entire weekend, including a very special bunch that came from out of town. I also received some really wonderfully thoughtful presents. I wasn’t expecting any at all, and have to confess that I’m still surprised at how well my friends know me because I love, love, love all of these.
I am the luckiest person in the world! Our friend Shavana is going to Peru for a month, and last night was her going away party. One side effect of living in a city, even if you love it, is the accumulation of tension that you hold in your shoulders, your brows, your temperament. So my friends and I found ourselves in mutual excitement over the prospect of ditching Philly for a day. We jumped in a car on Sunday and headed to a pond in New Jersey with the ambiguous driving directions of: Get off the turnpike at WaWa. (First, we accidentally crashed a Puerto Rican pride celebration while trying to get out of the city.) Several miracles, WaWas and U-turns later, we found ourselves at our serendipitous destination. We snacked and gossiped in the breaks between swimming. All four of us had cameras, so once the others get their prints/scans I’ll try to finagle some of them here. I took my dusty 35mm SLR, which I haven’t shot with in at least a year. Threw in a roll of drugstore brand film, underexposed it, and accidentally caused some light leaks. This is what came of our day:
We vowed to return a handful of times before summer ends.
Yesterday continued my search for a birthday dress. Whereas I left empty-handed, my shopping partner Ellington couldn’t help but find magical pieces in each shop we visited. The synapses between stores included a trip to the flamingo dessert house and the animal shelter, where I immediately became attached to a sweet pit named Ellie Mae. We found our friends-post brunch and then went to eat some more. Sunday was a perfect summer day. After sleeping in – an event that happens once every couple of months – I pumped air into my bicycle tires and rode to meet some friends for brunch. Brunch club started late last summer when a coworker and I both realized we had guests in town one weekend, and rounded everybody up over a long table of omelets, scrambles, french toast and mimosas. It worked out well because each person was with familiar faces, but also met new people in a friendly & relaxing atmosphere. We try to get together and visit new places as often as our schedules allow. It’s something I always look forward to! Ellington and I went for a long bike ride in the evening. Surprisingly, I’d never been to Fairmount Park, which is a huge park that hugs both sides of the Schuylkill (the river that divides West Philly from Center City). It has something like 215+ miles of trails, and we rode next to the river for two and a half hours. I can’t wait to go down some of the other paths and see what else awaits; it feels SO GOOD to be back on my bike after not riding for six months. |
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Mushroom in the sand.
Fox necklace from Tazri
Camera lens mug from Francesca & Tommy
Just Kids by Patti Smith from Amina (
Woke up on my birthday and found this package in the living room. It was from my roommate, and inside were:
An arctic fox toy
The hilariously cute & optimistic All My Friends Are Dead
…and a double ring she made me from a silver doll’s tray!
Alice & Zachary gave me this trophy at my birthday party.
Necklace from Zoe
This beautiful, beautiful book from Georgia.
My friends installed a porch swing in their loft right before everybody arrived.
Then a very special guest arrived. Her name is Mouse.
Mouse fell asleep in my arms.
