Paints and Pencils

Still without my Canon camera, I've had time to express myself in other mediums.

Drawing and painting of myself. Click on photo to read commentary.

Date with light paint

I love me some MJ (as most of you know), so the concept in these next set of photos shouldn't come as a surprise. Michael Jackson's estate released the much anticipated un-released song "This Is It" in preparation for the movie coming out next week. So to celebrate The Late Great Michael Jackson and the beauty of this new song (Mike actually recorded this around "Thriller". FYI), I decided to create these pictures using the same technique I did on the photos I shot last year here with the ones you see below. The blurs on the face are nice to a degree, but after staring at them for a while, I'm ready to see clear facial features.

The following night I re-shot and got this.


"Blooper" Images from the night before-





Take a listen to "This Is It"

HAPPY 48th BIRTHDAY PRESIDENT OBAMA

Proud to Be American!

Sending my prayers and love your way on this special day, your birthday! With God's help, you will continue making the right decisions for our country and bringing it back to greatness. I love you and support you to the end.

"Dumb Mees"

Latest Selfie. Click here to read commentary and comments from other flickr members. Feel free to add your own thoughts!

Escaping The Swine Flu!

According to CNN, there is a confirmed number of global swine flu cases of 367 (and counting!) 

I couldn't resist this self portrait when I woke up yesterday morning feeling sick.  I really do love doing these.  I have a lot of fun shooting them and it's always interesting to see the final outcome.  The quality here is crapful, so just head over to my official online gallery to read my full commentary and comments left by other flickr members HERE.

Don't let the swine get you!

~Nastassia

New Selfies (for the love of it!)

My depression has subsided just for a moment because of these new selfies!  

A Night's Walk

In the hotel room

For better quality, see my flickr page - http://www.flickr.com/aarika

Thanks for stopping by!

Untitled

...

"Not Like Them"

Latest self portrait. Playing with the idea of "individuality". More like this to follow...

"Let's roll up our sleeves and get back to work for our country." - Obama

Been registered to vote since 18 years old, but never have I felt this much excitement from any political campaign. And Barack Obama? Well, he's such a wonderful man, a true inspiration and so fitting for our country right now. I have great respect for him, his beautiful family and background. So glad to be alive experiencing these great moments in time. "Yes we can" see that this country gets back on track again! America, there's much to be done!

The change starts with us.

VOTE!

(Image inspired by Norman Rockwell's "Rosie the Riveter")

Single Ladies (Put a Ring on it)

The more I hear the song, the more I love it. Beyonce's back!
Single Ladies



WORK Sasha Fierce.

The Main Event

I LOVE ice cream, but who doesn't really? Well, "The Main Event" is thee spot for all our ice cream needs where I live. We got in the car and drove a good fifteen minutes to find that the expected long line of 8-10 people was only down to 1 person! So running to the window like a kid in a candy store, I eagerly ordered my medium "mixed cone" - no sprinkles. And, my oh my, was it delightful. If only I could share some with you, then is when you'd truly understand.

Self portrait inspired by the "mixed cone" at The Main Event ice cream parlor in Pleasantville, NJ.

(This will probably be re-done, but it's all I have for now =)

Kaput goes the lens!

A couple days ago, a very unfortunate thing happened. I was in the midst of creating more self portraits, but decided I needed a quick snack - so off to the fridge I go. Right as I'm taking a mouth full of ma's leftover spaghetti (which was BANGING might I add), I hear a loud *THUNK upstairs. Hmm. Just assuming my sis had a nasty fall or something, I didn't think much of it. Well, she sure did and it was right on my bloody camera! When I returned upstairs to find my 30D turned upside-down on the carpet, I quickly grabbed it and began snapping away to see if any serious damage had been done. "Great." I thought. My baby was making blurry pictures on the auto-focus setting one after the other and there's was nothing I could do about it. Frustrated and broke -both literally and emotionally - I just sat there wondering where do I go from here...I'm still weighing out my options. This is certainly the last thing I need right now*sigh* ... as he always does, I trust God will make a way somehow.

Fast-forward to the following day, I'm cleaning up our kitchen and have this sudden urge to document it of course. Although one lens goes kaput, there is another one I have which is wider and actually works better for this particular project.

So here I be -



lol.

Now back to figuring out what to do about lens numero uno...

Alright, signing off. First day on the new part-time job tomorrow morn.

Lata gatas!

New Selfies!

For the newcomers, I started my "digital photography" taking self portraits in my college dorm bathroom. Yeah, I know. Sounds kinda funky, but trust me - the lighting is almost always perfect! (Ah! Just thinking about it brings tears to my eyes.) Well anyway, here are my latest creations. Slightly different from what I've done in the past, and that's why I'm really pleased to say the least! It's all the same photo edited differently for the exception of the last two.











So what do you think? Hm?

In a min, I'll be uploading these pics and more from this session on my flickr. More commentary on these images will be included.

Thanks for looking!

"Away at Youth Councils"

From my latest...this weekend I went with my Salvation Army Fam to Youth Councils. During a break, this was done back at my hotel room. More pieces from this session can be found on my FLICKR.

Natalie (1969)

My camera is the only anachronism. :p

A 3 yr old self portrait, revised. (Surreal)

Taken with my fuji finepix digital camera. Edited in CS2.