...with a childish grin, and a camera.

a room with a view

Issha Marie — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 05:02:47 +0000

I have been documenting the view from my balcony for as long as we have been in our apartment. My boyfriend pays close attention to the way I observe the shifting light and the skies; he even wakes me up [in the early morning] whenever he notices some interesting light and cloud formations during the sunrise.

I wish I had kept a diary for the lot of them; the changes and the interesting natural phenomena vary depending on the hour of the day.

I had taken these a few hours ago, just after the sun set – around 5 pm.

This is a series-in-progress.

News

Issha Marie — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 18:50:06 +0000

I have not been updating this blog much, have I? There are reasons for this.

For most of the last few weeks of December and a good portion of January, I have been working on my grad school applications for the MFA and MAA programs in Concordia University, University of British Columbia, and Emily Carr University of Art and Design. Some other things happened after all of that – mostly full-time work, a boatload of doctor’s appointments, an MRI… the latter, all health-related issues from the near-fatal car accident a year ago.

The craziness is not about to die off soon, at least, not yet. Sadly, even my art-making has been put to a halt. I rely on instant networking sites like Instagram to get my creative fixes; I would have probably gone off the deep-end otherwise. To quell my anxiety over my lack of creating, I have been reading up on artists like Frida Kahlo, who, only just recently, entered my realm of fancy (even after having been exposed to her work years ago). I have also been reading up on Hiroshi Sugimoto, Jeff Wall, Michael Wesely, and Robert Hughes’ Shock of the New in hopes that these will all break my temporary artistic ‘block’, but alas, life gets in the way. Buy this car to drive to work, drive to work to pay for this car – that sort of thing.

In the risk of sounding a bit too depressing, I shall end here, with a friendly, “Hello! I’m still alive!” sort of nod to send some of my non-existent viewers off.

I took these self-portraits yesterday – a quick little exercise to see if I still have the ability to take photographs. It may not be much, but it is a start.

And why yes, I like to dress like an old grandpa once in a while… although someone actually said I look like a cowgirl more than anything. Pfft, what do they know? Sometimes, I like to dress like I am from a different time… I feel like I had been born in the wrong era. I really should have spent my 20′s in the 60′s… but that’s another tale for another time.

Sarah Slean (11.23.11)

Issha Marie — Fri, 25 Nov 2011 17:28:49 +0000

Not since seeing Emily Haines and The Soft Skeleton did I shed tears (read: bawl my eyes out) during a show.

A truly stunning performance by Sarah Slean at The Rio Theatre this Wednesday. I was allowed to shoot only the first three songs, and was about to leave the venue (my heart sank after I realized the gig was over) when it occurred to me to ask the security guard [who showed me in] if I could stay and watch the rest of the show. “I’ll even buy a ticket,” I said. He shook his head, gave me a friendly smile, and said, “Of course you can watch the entire show! Just don’t shoot any longer…”

I could have hugged him. :-)

After checking in my cameras, I caught the middle of I Am A Light and immediately got goosebumps.

She played mostly from her Land album, some favourites from The Baroness… and oh, would you like to know the song that caused me to drip tears onto my trench coat in the darkest corner of The Rio Theatre?

My Eyes and Your Eyes. (from the Sea portion of her new album)

Yes, I am a sap.