Me, Bee, and my Spectra SE...flash powers!

I am in awe of this ability to take instant self-portraits with a flash...I think with better lighting in the background these could have been way better. I have to say-I'm not afraid of using the flash, and I kinda like this film's tones with it.  Although, it's no question that natural light is the best. There's very bad light in my house in general, so it's a compromise.

The newest edition to my Polaroid collection is the fantastic Polaroid Spectra SE. The film this camera uses is *giant* !!  It seems much bigger than SX-70 film.  I am in love with it. This is the newest Colorshade film for the Spectra system, Impossible's PZ680.  I have yet to venture outdoors to take a shot in the sunshine.  Maybe tomorrow.

3rd time's the charm.

Saturday Mail

I had an intensely stressful week.  I'm exhausted, and having a very hard time trying to get used to surviving on less than 5 hours of sleep per night again.  That is, after a full summer season of waking up with the sun next to my little Bee.  She is having a really hard time adjusting too, poor girl. 

I'm sure the semester will go by really fast, because for the majority of it I will be preparing my BFA solo student show.  It will be October 27th-November 4th.  It's kind-of a scary thing...for a rather shy girl like me.  I will be working on the 3-dimensional focal point for the next few months.  My drawings will come to life in white cotton muslin, pale blue thread, and steel wire, in the handmade forms of a cage, baptismal gown, and several pairs of vintage-style kid gloves.


Bee will be spending time in New Mexico with my parents on weekends, to give me time to work on everything.  It will take some getting used to-I already miss her.  At least I got a nice surprise in the mail!  A darling new dress from Liza Rietz, and Vogue's September issue.

Of course I tried the dress on immediately-and had a small moment with September Vogue, too.

The dress needs to be steamed, but still looks amazing right out of the package.  Thank you so much, Liza.

Always with the dopey/tired look these days.  I need some black booties and silk knee highs for this dress.  These lacy gray tights and Gianni Bini shoes don't do it justice.  Yes, I did play roller derby in these tights at one time.

I love the way this dress feels.  Soft and feminine, but not in a frilly way.  Liza's designs have a nice edge, and careful tailoring.  The back is really lovely. 

I have more dresses that I need to document. Once I get the right shoes for this one, I'll take better pictures, in a better location. Part of the fun of wearing a new dress is deciding how to wear it. Hair, make-up, shoes, accessories, it's all fun times for me. I always loved playing dress-up.

I picked up this wonderful lipstick the other day-it's the red I've been searching for all my life-. Lancome's Sensational Effects Lipcolor in Red Haute It's actually the best lipstick in the world. Not too dry, not too moist, and it really doesn't feather, so a lip liner isn't needed.

It's going to be an Indian Summer...

If I didn't photograph myself, it is a fact that there would be very few photographs of me.  I don't like asking anyone to take my picture, including those closest to me.  It's much easier to take it upon myself and always be willing to take a little time every now and then to set up the tripod and go for it.  I need to learn how to take better self-portraits with a Polaroid.  I have these ensembles that deserve to be documented-it's a good a reason as any to get dolled up. 

Last night I fell asleep on the couch again, so I'm looking really tired.  I know it's very easy to see that in these shots, but that's okay, because this is how I will probably be looking for the next few months.  A tired face does not disqualify anyone from being photographed at any given time.

I should start using my 35mm Pentax ME Super, too.  I would like for Bee to have something to remember me by.  I have this tendency to think that I could go at any time.  You just never know when you're existence on earth in solid form will come to and end.

Shot with my SX-70 Alpha 1, Model 2 + PX70 Colorshade Impossible film.

Our Amazing, Notorious, Unforgettable Vegas Vacation

American Airlines got us there.

I'm still trying to adjust to "normal" life after spending a really great, long weekend in Las Vegas with my partner-in-crime and long-time beau.  After such a hectic flying experience with layovers in Los Angeles from our old El Paso, we finally touched ground very late last Thursday night, and arrived at the front doors of the beautiful Venetian Resort Hotel.

Hotel lobby.

Hotel lobby.

We were in major awe and had to hold our jaws up so they wouldn't hit the floor, as neither of us has ever stayed at such a luxurious hotel.  The streets were brimming with happy people, and the vibe was all about letting loose and making a memories.

The shops at our hotel + statue guy.

Unforgettable, eventful moments from our trip (excluding the moments that I left behind, because what happens in Vegas, really must stay in Vegas-it's such a fantasy world...wink wink*):

1.  Walking into Dior, admiring, but being afraid to touch the beautiful clothes, then an associate asking me if I wanted to try some things on...I said YES, of course I want to try some things on!

Such nice salespeople at Dior.  I know they work on commission, still it was fab of the guy to bring me shoes to match.  I really wish I could have photographed the backs of both of these-because they were amazing, just stunning!  My back piece tattoo has never been so well-framed!

From Dior's amazing 2011 Ready-to-Wear Fall collection. I did step out of the dressing room to dream in front of the giant mirror.  I may have drooled, I'm not really sure.  (Hopefully not on the dress.)
I really thought I was in Heaven.

Here is a link to a spread where Ms. Reese Witherspoon appeared in this beautiful black and nude dress.  Seeing how it fits her makes me think I needed to go one size smaller, but alas-they only had size 4 in everything.

As pictured in Vogue, May 2011

Was I so happy I almost died when it fit me?  -YES.  As with the former, it was just a tad too big, but hey.

So my eyes are all crazy here, but I still wanted to show you something closer-up.  I was fairly nervous about taking pictures in the dressing room.  This dress rocked, totally rocked, it was luxurious, feminine, and intricately detailed.

Okay, calm down, Mia, let's move on...

2.  Settling on purchasing a few pretty dresses at Banana Republic and Kenneth Cole as consolation for not being able to afford the $7,000 Diors.  I will definitely be photographing the two dresses I did buy sometime soon, they're both sweet, and I wore them both during our stay.

3.  Eating beautiful food every single day, including a gorgeous sashimi salad, salmon tacos, and smoked salmon omelettes for breakfast-room service!  (I am a pescatarian-for what that term is worth-no I think I am a Flexetarian-ha)

Lunch by the Tao Beach pool...part of The Venetian.

4, Sitting on Steven's (my beau!) lap while he played slots, and generally always being super-close to him...we don't get to spend as much time together IRL as we would like.)

5.  Seeing The Beatles Love Cirque du Soleil  show at The Mirage-and having perfect seats...ohhhhhh, man!  It was UN real and fabulous in every way.

6.  Since my little brother works in Vegas, and knows "people," we were able to VIP it right through super-long lines Tao Nightclub at The Venetian, as well as the Wynn's XS Nightclub.

Truly regrettable things from our trip that I am allowing myself to mention:

1.  Leaving my phone somewhere in the hotel...ahem.

2.  Taking naps that were a little bit too long...nice but I think I could have cut the time spent sleeping in half.

3.  Going to The Phantom of the Opera show at our hotel and dozing off...it was nice, but...not hype enough for us-because we were in super-hype mode.  We left in the middle of the show.  It wasn't very nice of us, slaps on the wrist, ect, ect...)

4.  Trudging along from hotel to hotel, in the sun and without sunscreen, in sandals without decent support, just because I was too stubborn and absolutely refused to wear sneakers at all. 

5.  Not leaving myself extra room in my bags for shopping acquisitions.  My bags were so full they barely closed on the way back.  Stuffing two new dresses and a lovely little light alpaca/wool sweater in my suitcase was fairly traumatic.

6.  Feeling too weighed down to take a camera with me everywhere.  I did not want to be hauling along a bag bigger than my head anywhere.  I wish I hadn't been so on-the-go that I forgot to even take a point-and-shoot so many places.  So, we don't have many photos from the trip, especially now that I don't have my cell phone pics either! *Sob

We will be heading back to the notorious Sin City sooner than later, I hope.  I highly recommend a Vegas vacation for anyone.  It was totally romantic and so much fun.  Even for me.  & I'm not much of a gambler-I'm more of a shopper!  I saw things in-person that I would never imagine seeing-it's all about fashion and art, such a culmination of exquisite design and elegance...the best qualities anything could ever have in my humble opinion.

A tiny abstract painting/drawing.

I've been meaning to work on my sewing lately, but haven't been able to motivate myself to get going on cutting the fabric-which I hate doing-so instead I've been working on this. I think I call my paintings on paper drawings just because they are on paper, but in this case I only used Golden Fluid Acrylics, so maybe I will call it a painting. I have the urge to go into it with some colored pencil at this point, but am trying to resist because I want to try doing things differently.

I've never felt confident enough with a brush to call myself a painter. I only like painting on a small scale, so it really feels more like drawing...the eternal debate in my mind. I know it doesn't matter what I call a piece, or what I call myself, whether it be artist, painter, photographer, I am all of these things, so I suppose I should clear this dialogue from my mind.

These are in descending order. I think this could be finished, but I'll have to take another look in a few days with fresh eyes to be sure. As with most of the pieces I do, I hope to create a series of these. I love working with color and layers. This has between 8-10 layers and has taken about 4-6 hours of my time. I should keep track of the time it takes me to complete things. I need to keep a log, especially if I want to start selling original work. It would help me to price things. This measures 5 13/16 x 5 1/2". I know in the pictures it looks like the border is uneven, but it's not, I just need to photograph things on the wall with a tripod (the right way) instead of on a table top with a hand-held camera.

As far as documenting drawings and paintings, I know with pieces this small, it's easiest to just scan them, but it always comes out too harsh, even without any image sharpening.  It's about time to set up a space specifically for photographing my work.  I'm putting together a portfolio that will be seperate from my photography.  I've been putting it off...

*detail-my obsession with balance gets me every time.  I need to work on loosening it up some.

Maybe just a few more touch-ups...but it could be finished at this point.

I think I could have stopped here.  The cloudy pink is nice.  *Mental note*

Took care of that "black".

I don't use black, but got out-of-control and now it got too heavy, and right in the center-not good.

Dropping my SX-70 baby + self-portraits.

Yesterday I was attempting to shoot some self-portraits with my SX-70 Alpha 1 mounted to my tripod, when I kind-of tripped over it in somewhat of a creative frenzy (where I lose control of my limbs, apparently) as I was maneuvering around my crowded little studio.  It was flung off the mount and fell hard on the tile floor is what happened.  When I picked it up, I was grateful that nothing appeared to be cracked, but knew it could be another story on the inside.  The first thing that came to mind was a dislodged mirror, and check.  Mirror dislodged.  Also dislodged was the film cartridge somehow, and the last shot came out with goo...(bad sign)

The only coping skills I possess are retained for situations such as this.  I stayed calm, didn't cry, even took another pack of film out of the fridge to play doctor with...my poor little SX-70.

This is what happened-now I have these light leaks-so, I guess I have to take a closer look at the rollers, the inside of the camera, ect...not sure what will come of this, as the leaky light streaks are inconsistent.

(Shot with my SX-70 + PX70 Colorshade Impossible film-the film is great...)