i named a plant emmett

Hello blogging friendz!!!!! I have been on an absolute photography *kick* as of late, I have been taking my NikonD60 absolutely everywhere.  I think I have been taking photos every other day.  I took a photoshoot with my pal Mikaela who did some siiiick jumping shots and one with my friend Clarissa where we went tromping around a cute little city near us.

Lifeeee-wise.  I have been kind of at a standstill.  I haven't found much motivation besides my photography as of late.  Everything seems routine. 

In honor of Earth Day, my pal Kirsten and I visited a local gardening store and bought some succulents.  Of course, we gave them fun names.  Kirsten's plants are Profe Flug (named after a Spanish teacher at our school), Nachito and Gale.  I named my plants Marty and Emmett after characters from the movie Back to the Future (greatest movie of all time can we agree).

Kirsten is so excited about Earth Day that she wet her plants!!!!!! HAA HA punz.

   On Wednesday, I got the amazingingiging opportunity to shoot some photographs of a band at my church that plays at our youth group.  It's an eclectic little group of professional musicians and they play contemporary Christian songs from bands like Gungor and Hillsong which is pretty neat. They were so sweet, they told me I could sort of romp around stage and do what I wanted. Uh, cool, thanks???

This image is part of a series I'm working on for a photography portfolio called "the unforeseen series" where I focus on different people all with the same element, each of them has their eyes hidden in some way. It's sort of still in the works, but eeep I'm super pumped about it.

I got part of my head shaved yesterday, which is now a thing.  I've always been sort of fascinated by the sidecut look, but honestly I was a little worried about how it was going to turn out.  I didn't want half my head shaved off or something (also I never have had a razor come towards my head before which was slightly concerning). But I really like how it turned out.  Subtle.  

I will be uploading more photoz soon because I have been taking sooooo many photos.  

Music You Should Hit Up: My friendddd Andrew Bailey

Eeeep.  Our school has this thing called a "capstone project" where you basically choose a career path and then do an in-depth project based on your interests.  It's a decently-big deal.  Some people kinda waltz around the system by doing a project showcasing ceramic projects or something and some people go hardcore and cure a disease.

I came up with this idea to create a mini album-sampler-EP of sorts containing songs written by students at my high school.  I would help record them in a studio and create album art, lyrics sheets, etc.  I'm talking to my principal about it in a few days and I'm super excited (and nervous) about it, quite honestly.  Eeep.

One of my pals Andrew Bailey is really supportive of my idea.  He writes his own stuff and he's real good.  Reaaaaaallll good.  He's such an interesting guy that has a lot of ideas and is really good at articulating them.  He agreed to help partake in my lil sampler-EP capstone project, which makes me so happy.  So happy.  He has a honest, organic and engaging voice backed by some sunny acoustic strumming. You should give him a listen in the meantime.

https://soundcloud.com/warmwires/hello-original-song

I wish I could sport a man bun.

 

Hello friends. Contrary to popular belief, I did not fall of the face of the earth, I just was just experiencing an existential crisis of sorts.  It's that time of the year, I suppose.  Spring is sort of around the corner, but not quite here.  Everything is just sort of routine.  I'm not a huge fan of routine, I always have to be doing something different and on the go.  So, I took it upon myself to step out of my routine and try to reach out to some different people that I want to get to know better.  However, all my plans seemed to fall through.  I'm a chaser.  I always am looking for a new adventure to experience, but not many people ever seem to want to chase after me.  But that's not true. You just have to be patient.  I truly believe God has huge plans for me.  Yee.

 

My frin frand Maggie & our new Eskimo friendz

I decided that I'm going to start bringing my nikon everywhere.  I want to document everything & everyone.  Life is so cool, ya feel?  I'm gonna be the girl with the camera.  Yes. 

Rehearsing before our one act performance at the Guthrie

Cool kid hangz amirite

Oh, yes.  This photo was released the other day.  That's me, there, right behind Sean the lead singer of Smallpools.  *heavy breathing*

I've been listening to a lot of Childish Gambino and SNCKPCK recently which is a really odd combination of rap and sunny ukelele playing.  Completely different ends of the spectrum. But I like it that way.

Band to Know: Volcanoooooo Choir

Volcano Choir is the most familiar band you've probably never heard of.  Seriously.  Few have heard of this side project featuring Justin Vernon, the vocals of Bon Iver.  The band consists of Vernon and band members of Collections of Colonies of Bees, a band that greatly influenced Vernon to continue his passion.  Uhhh why is nobody talking about this??? With the mellow sophistication that came off the Bon Iver self-titled album, Volcano Choir slays.

Credit: Volcano Choir Webpage

The Wisconsin six-piece loosely formed in 2005, starting out as a collaboration which created the album Unmap in 2009.  I watched a documentary on these guys (being all intrigued about their music ho hum) and they said it was hard for them to make the first album because they all were individual artists, never really meeting in person.  Repave, which was released in 2013 is their second and most recent studio album was more of a group effort.  They say their success lies in their strong relationships with each other before starting the project. And a humble project, at that.  Volcano Choir proved with their Repave release, that they are much more than a "side-project". They are a bit under the radar, but not something to be overlooked.

My friends Evelyn and Darby encouraged me to give them a listen but with the warning: it's hella sad.  And they are right.  Soft piano and guitar playing to back Vernon's vocals really gets to your core in songs such as Byegone, Tiderays and, well.  The entire album. Which isn't a bad thing.  The lyrics are beautiful and organic. Nothing about Repave seems forced or unauthentic. Those who love the richness of Kodaline and Local Natives will love the sounds of Volcano Choir.  And banjo enthusiasts.  There's a lot of banjo.

Check them out yo:

Music Video: Tiderays - Volcano Choir

Mini Documentary: The Making of the "Repave" Album

Volcano Choir
Discography: Repave (2013), Unmap (2009)
Noteworthy songs: Acetate, Tiderays, uhhh the whole album???
www.volcanochoir.com

 

I went out on a study date with Evy and Darby, which is where they told me to listen to Volcano Choir.  While at ze coffee shop, I doodled a bit.  Yeee.

 

A few recent instant photos taken with my Instax Mini 7s.  From left to right........

1. Scattergories & chill board game night

2. This was taken with our very high class McDonalds dinner for our February school dance

3. I took this at the Hozier concert.  If you squint and lean your head the right way, you can see him.

4. Taken at the Smallpools concert last Saturday.

She's got two-tone everything.

My brother got married a little over a month ago and I have only just gotten around to looking at the photos from it.  Everyone is always asking if I think it is weird to have a married brother, but it really isn't.  My brother and his wife (okay i will admit that one is weird to tell people) had been engaged for two years already & they had an apartment together, so not much really has changed.  Some of my cousins flew in from Alaska to come visit & I got to see some family friends & get my nails done which was a first & see my brother happy, so I was too.

Cousinz ft. Tyler and his wife Rachel, pictured below two & three in from the left

I'm wearing a dress from Von Maur that I also wore to my school's fall dance with headbands that I thrifted & tights my mother bought me from our local-all-purpose store & frilly socks from the store Atmosphere in Ireland, which is pretty much the European equivalent of Forever21 here in the States.

Oh yes. Also.  When the band The 1975 came to my city, I was super bummed that I couldn't go to the concert because I was involved in the Addams Family at school & we had a show that night. The Mall of America conveniently announced that THE BOYS WERE COMING FOR A FREE ACOUSTIC GIG & ALBUM SIGNING THAT MORNING.  Convenient.  A lot of my friends that I knew that adored the band were going to the concert that night & were waiting out early, so I enlisted my willing friend Jasmine to meet them. We met up with some of my other band friends that I met at the Bastille concert & waited in line for about five hours.  They sang three acoustic songs and Matty's voice was notably more raspy than usual that day.  

*sighs*

What's on your current playlists? Follow my Spotify if you'd fancy it: mckenna.paige.ryan

Ken