i went to reno last weekend.
i saw my friends that i never get to see.
we recorded music.
i climbed a snowy hill.
i fell into the snow. purposefully.
i was in arizona for a few hours.
i think i cried at some point. i probably won't see them again for a while.
love you guys.
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it's hard to believe i'm an adult now.
i can sign my own papers, take a flight by myself, vote.
i am my own person now. legally.
that's such a strange thing, and another addition to the growing whirlwind of growing-up-stuff i'm driving into.
i am not ready to go quite yet – i still have a whole year ahead of me.
i will make the most out of what i have. i will make the most out of what i am given. i will make the most out of who i am. i will make the most out of eighteen.
i am eighteen now.
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dear seniors,
hello.
it's a weird feeling isn't it? being back? we're entering this new realm of teenagedom and it feels strange. it feels like we're almost adults – we are almost adults – but there still exists this surreal barrier that we have to break through to get there.
i won't be surprised if we spend our days writing away our life stories in the next few months, trying to explain our identities in only a limited number of words and numbers.
two days in, it's already stressful. i want the best for all of you, even if i don't say it to you all the time. we're all going to get there, to adulthood or whatever that means. this will be hard, i know. but we'll get there.
there's going to be a lot of stuff to look forward to.
i'm excited for it all, and to spend our last months together with you guys.
cheers to us,
izzy
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hi,
it's been a good long while.
i've been traveling around the u.s. and abroad for various reasons... mostly preparing myself for the year ahead as i take on applying to college.
yeah, i'm applying to college this year.
i don't really believe it either.
i'm slowly realizing how much i'm growing up. not completely, but a little more fast that i'd like.
i think i'm going to be ready though. i'm ready for a new push into life and a slow close of what i think is adolescence.
i've been writing a lot, just not here obviously – supplements and essays and drafts about me and who i am. that's a bit weird... a quite large portfolio of autobiographical writing.
i went out today with my friend and took photos for the first time in a long time. i've never actually done street photography before. this was my first shot at it. i kind of love it.
summer's halfway over. i'm just a little ways there.
love,
izzy
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for the past 3 days or so, henry and i have been traveling new york city. i've been taking video and shots and everything nice and stuff, so be on the lookout for that sort of thing in a bit.
here was our itinerary:
and we're off.
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dear you,
we got our first christmas tree with jenny (our dog) today.
it was snowing and foggy and eerie and empty and beautiful.
jenny, who was born in the cayman islands, is obsessed with the snow.
she's like us: beach-born, energetic, and overall kind of crazy. it was no doubt she'd love the snow as much as q and i do.
we got a twelve-foot tree. it was so big the guys who owned the little tree farm had to use a tractor to drag it to our car. it smelled like christmas all the way home.
it smells like christmas in our house now.
i hope i got good pictures.
happy holidays.
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i am thankful for life
i am thankful for opportunity
i am thankful for people and family and friends and love
i am eternally thankful for everything
enjoy your holidays
be thankful for everything that you have
love,
izzy
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i made a video a week ago about my grandparents' neighborhood.
i went to jazz camp for a week.
i met really cool people.
i discovered new music.
i took a break.
i spent time with my family.
i'm good. i'm home. let's go.
i miss them.
happy monday
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what's goin' on guys? i've come here to say that we have T-minus 2 days left until the end of the school year. do you know how good that feels? that feels pretty great.
i've been taking some weird photos lately. like cool weird? alex says that they're cool weird. that means that they really are cool weird. that's good. i love flash now. to kinda celebrate these photographs, i made some weird collages.
and because it's been awhile, here are some links that i've found from the last 12 days.
happy hump day, everyone
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fresh pasta with carbonara
garbanzo soup with raspberry salt
apple with shaved macadamia
glass shrimp with kohlrabi
sweet potato chips with buttermilk
agnolotti with lapsang souchong tea
sunchoke and cardamom cake with cacao
fresh stracciatella with asparagus
where i sleep and throw my clothes and sometimes watch a movie
i killed my plants
where i make stuff
where i keep the messy stuff
where R2D2 lives
where the only pictures i have with my friends are
where i keep a picture of them
where projects die and are born
where clips that don't actually work are #aesthetic
where i keep artwork from first grade
there's just a random donut on my desk
people always ask me what my workspace is like.
it's my room.
it's my creative space #PEACHYS
i live here, i work here, i sleep here. it's my space. there's a lot of art and design magazines and stuff. my mom printed out some of my own photographs so i could, you know, get some inspiration from myself or something. i look back on my 2006 self (aka that painting from the first grade) for sources of creativity. real casual.
my room is a balance of myself. there's a lot of graphic prints and minimalist stuff, but there's also an R2D2 on my pillow, a tardis on my desk, and pictures of planets in my closet. i'm very discreet with my inner nerd, but there are hints of it everywhere.
there are usually more plants in my space. i killed most of them. what a shame.
there are cracks on my wall. some are new, some are old. our building is shifting and the wall closest to my bed looks like it's about to fall apart. it adds character. yeah.
i have a whole turntable space on my credenza. the flash didn't really reflect well on it, so i deleted all the pictures. it's there though.
i think comfort fuels my creativity + motivation + productivity.
this is common comfort...
too much?
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i'm home. the past few days of spring break have been the most relaxed. there was a moment when i actually thought that it was summertime.
i'm happy. i'm so happy, and being so is one of the most askdfklj feelings. it's hard to explain, but i'm sure you've felt this way before. when i'm happy, i get creative. i've made so many little things (including a 'california' video!!!) in the past week alone.
i even made a little playlist about it. cool.
enjoy your spring everyone. i'll hear from you soon. promise.
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(images by me + awesome video on windows/light/shadows that i adore)
i'd forgotten to write here. i'd forgotten i have this space.
i've been so busy with school and the given exhaustion that comes with it that i'd forgotten to write + share. i wanted to let you know that i am well. i feel good. i am happy amidst the chaos that is exams and tests. i don't know how it came to be this way because i certainly wasn't like this last year.
i still care. i'm just more carefree. i've been thinking about it a lot: how happy i am now because i've cut this limit that has restrained me for so long. this tense, hard-on-myself mindset that kind of just itches at the back of your head. i don't know how i did it– how i learned to disregard it, but i don't think i've ever been so sunny during such a "stressful" time.
other than that, life is good. i've been reevaluating my perspective on things as a whole, which is good i guess. i don't really know how to explain. i'm growing up? i feel like i've grown up already, but maybe this is just my last bit of maturity kicking in.
casey neistat retweeted me. that was cool.
we saw troye sivan last tuesday. less cool but still A+
it's okay.
tgif
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1. 30+ inches of snow in the city
2. i went out at 9pm on friday to explore
3. i took pictures + made a video
4. i froze both my cameras + almost cried
5. a guy danced for my video
6. we didn't have a snow day today, and i'm incredibly upset
7. i've been away from home for 7 days and on 2 trips in the past week
8. it's now the final stretch until spring break
happy monday
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hello izzy's fans, its Hal here - her super cool english friend from a little rural corner of an already little country - she has asked me to write a blog post for her which ofc i said i would because i love her work aaaand shes super rad. it won't be easy however sticking to her consistent format of inconsistent punctuation but i'll give it a shot.
so yeah i'm an englishmen living and working in england amongst fields and trees and sheep etc etc which sounds pretty boring i know and.. well it is frequently uneventful but i find ways to pass the time. for example i post to instagram a lottt (@hal_ellis_davis) and because i'm super cool i usually have art and photography projects lined up to fill up my time. (to give you an idea just how cool, i am currently wearing a herschel cap backwards and drinking black tea and listening to red velvet so .. can you even deal).
i'm a freelance photographer but recently i've been keeping my commissions to a minimum as i have just started university *pokey out tongue emoji* which is very exciting - last week i made an post modernist installation of defaced frank lloyd write books and fabric vegetables - university is what you make of it right?!
anyway the maaaaain subject of my post is that i am finally leaving the confines of europe in two weeks, something i haven't actually done before! and i'm not just going anywhere i'm coming to N Y C !!! superrrr pumped of course. not just because new york and the steam system but also i am spending the whole day with miss rael and also also it's halloween! so below are some examples of what i hope to see and do whilst in the concrete jungle (where dreams are made of) with some inspo photos i've swooned over these past few years.
photo from google images
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photo by chris ozer
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photos from google images
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photo from gabriel flores
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images via trotter mag / stefan karlstrom
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photo by chris ozer
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photo from google image
and then number 8 was a photo of central park in autumn but it was taking years to upload and also my mum wanted to use the computer and also also it wasn't my favourite photo of the leaves anyway. ANYWAY i can't wait to get to new york and see izzy and see all this cool stuff and take photos of it.
peace out, Hal
x
a wonderful night spent chatting away with the VSCO team, eating avocado sandwiches and watching people explore and be fascinated by this year's photoville. this week(end) will be great.
have a great day, everyone.
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moderna museet in stockholm, sweden
skogskyrkogården in stockholm, sweden
the cabin at the treehotel, northern sweden
the morning of our departure from northern sweden
moderna museet in stockholm, sweden
"stop smiling!"
a live art piece. good thing they had clothes on...
a wall in helsinki, finland
i didn't really realize how far behind i am on my summer school work. it's okay i guess– i can figure it out, but i'm trying to enjoy the summer as much as i possibly can. quite easy for me to do at the moment.
we've been in scandinavia for about a week now with one week left in copenhagen and stockholm (again). it's been a pretty amazing experience. my mom, q and i have found such cool things just walking around these tremendously beautiful cities. i did not want to bombard you, reader, with so many photographs at once; however, i have uploaded all of my favorites to my portfolio:
for those who live in these areas or who are thinking of traveling to scandanavia, i compiled a list of places that we went (that i hope you can check out + enjoy) (list will be updated when we visit copenhagen!):
happy summer, everyone.
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the past couple of days have been spent relaxing in los angeles. emphasis on the relaxing. i've been enjoying it tremendously. we're home for about 31 hours before we make our connecting flight to london and then to stockholm early in the morning. there are no words to describe how much i'm looking forward to our scandinavia trip; however, i'm a little tired.
it's always worth it though. traveling.
this was a small check-in before things start picking up again. you'll hear from me next in europe!
have a great thursday, everyone.
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unfortunately, i didn't take many pictures at campus, so you're going to have to deal with more portland photographs (disgusting, i know...)
i was pretty weary of going to camp; but, what's new? i'm pretty weary about doing anything.
so that small worry that started on monday grew like an epidemic until wednesday and most likely caused all of the innumerable health issues i had this week.
i don't even know what i was worrying about. probably stuff i shouldn't be worrying about... like always.
but despite the fact that this flaw pretty much f*cked up most of my week, i learned some things too.
and trust me, camp was in so many ways more awesome than it was stressful (as i believed i've accidentally implied above).
i've learned that (music-wise + life-wise)
...practicing for 15 minutes every day can get you places (even if that is all you can fit into your terrible high school schedule)
...worrying = terrible thing to put yourself through. don't do it.
...at the end of day (literally at the end of the day for campers), you just have to let go and some of your best sounds and music will become of it. (reiterating the "stress = bad" logic)
...the people that you meet now could be the people you'll encounter (probably in new york city) later (and you'll probably have to host some of them. i'm getting ready now!!)
...listening to depressing music at dinner can make you feel like crap for a few long minutes, but can actually urge you to play better throughout the night (who knew?!)
...talking to new people = fantastic
while all of these things pretty much apply to me and jazz camp, if you take them out of context, they are relevant to every-day-social-life-things-you-should-be-doing-anyway qualities. so this applies to everyone.
so to wrap this all up, i'm going to share my favorite albums and selective songs from the slowly rising jazz world for all of my new camp followers out there (and to my already existing ones, of course). au revoir for now.
favorite songs/ mitch better have my bunny, percussion shuffle, creol
have a great week, everyone!
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i am currently in portland, oregon for two weeks to visit my grandparents and go to jazz camp! to celebrate this absolutely wonderful summer weather, my grandmother, grandfather, aunt and i went to sauvie island farm to pick (a TON) of berries. i, out of nature, was tempted to film little details of the farm, so i did and i made a video out of them.
so yeah. berry picking + good music + sounds of the farm = bliss.
enjoy.
have a marvelous week everyone!
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