| the ground |
[07 Jul 2009|02:29am] |
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(after taking this photo, i realized i had some sort of reaction to some strange LAian plant and it had cut me. cut me like a bitch. on my arms and my back. goddamn. this place is serious.)
I'm sorry lj. I always forget about you these days. I update my tumblr account everyday, but always forget about lj! I'm sorry. :/
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| Alone Time |
[07 Jul 2009|02:28am] |
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Before this trip, I spent all day, every day by myself. I’m a person who really values their alone time. I got to movies by myself, out for dinner by myself, etc. etc.
So, after spending four days without having ANY alone time, I was about to lose my mind. I was irritable and moody. Luckily Jon (who I’m staying with), understood, and so I spent today wandering around on my own. Not talking to anyone. Listening to my iPod, exploring San Francisco. It was really fantastic. But then I ended up doing things like this, up there. Taking pictures of myself with the remote in historic forts. Nerd.
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| Jenna |
[18 Jun 2009|02:27am] |
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This is Jenna. She is Tuesday’s best friend.
The first time I met Jenna, I was drunk in Windsor and she drove me to some bar. Apparently we bonded in the car over poetry. However, as I was drunk at the time, I did not remember this at all. It took us awhile to get back to that once-shared familiarity, and now, 3 years later, we’re almost there.
Today I took pictures of Jenna and Tuesday. I would like to take pictures of Jenna again, because I don’t think I caught her yet, and I also think she’s capable of being a kick-ass model.
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| Dirty |
[16 Jun 2009|01:57am] |
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But what do you keep of me?
The memory of my bones flying
up into your hands.
-- Anne Sexton
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| Backyard |
[15 Jun 2009|12:43pm] |
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In the backyard at 2 am, lit by the moon.
NOTE: My book's more than 1/3rd sold out. They're going faster than expected. Thanks to everyone who bought one so far!
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| Basement |
[12 Jun 2009|03:15pm] |
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In my grandparents basement. The light was really nice, but I could't seem to do anything interesting with it. So yeah. That's all really. :)
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| Practical Tokens of Affection |
[11 Jun 2009|11:01pm] |
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News: I have a new book.
Practical Tokens of Affection is my second book. Unlike my last collection, Low Self-Esteem, this new book includes writing along with my self-portraits. The stories deal with sex, love, and relationships; the feelings, the desires, the mistakes. All the stories are based on real people, except when they're not. But even then, they may as well be. This book means more to me than the last one did, I hope you like it as much as I do.
Also all the money from these sales will be going to fund my West Coast Road Trip. On June 28th I am flying out to San Francisco for one week. Then I'm flying to Los Angeles for another 3 weeks. Then I'm going to San Diego.
That's in less than 3 weeks. I've been working on this book for a long while now and it took me longer than I had anticipated. So the time crunch is really on. So, if you are planning to buy the book, um, sooner rather than later would be most beneficial to my cause of Awesome Photo Taking that will include shoots with Lou Noble, Chad Michael Ward, Zoetica Ebb, Laura Taylor, possibly Richard Kadrey and whomever else I come upon in my travels. :)
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| Funeral |
[11 Jun 2009|03:09am] |
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At my grandfathers funeral, I may have been the height of funeral fashion. This was due largely to my beret.
It was a lovely service. I cried when my dad spoke. About the measure of a man. My dad’s kind of really amazing.
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| The almost. |
[10 Jun 2009|07:48pm] |
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I almost like this photo. Almost. But not quite.
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| Different |
[08 Jun 2009|02:32am] |
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The other day I lost the remote for my camera. And then last night I finally found it. At 2 am. And then felt the need to take pictures.
So here is a picture I took last night at around 3 am. My new thing, is no photoshop. Not on this one, or the last one. Oh, well, I made this image semi-square. I'm such a fucking liar, eh? :)
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| Red |
[07 Jun 2009|08:37pm] |
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| Tumblr |
[03 Jun 2009|05:20pm] |
Can you please all get Tumblr accounts and move there? It is my favourite blog site and the most fun to use and super versatile. You will love it too. Just try it out. Do it for me. And then tell me what your tumblr site is so I can follow you (but ONLY if I like you.)
REBLOG! HEY-O!
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| A Picture and An Announcement |
[01 Jun 2009|03:06pm] |
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Awhile ago Warren Ellis had posted an idea on his site called ROTOR - essentially a rotation of artists generating content for free online. We liked this idea, specifically this part: "tumblr version of same: one writer, one illustrator, one photographer, one musician, one video/filmmaker = five slots." So we decided to make it happen.
The 5Lights Project tells stories. One story a week, told five different ways, in five different mediums, by five different artists. The emphasis is on the creation of the stories; the push to try something new and different each week.
For the month of June our five artists are:
Sam: writing
Traci Matlock: video
Mark Sarmel: illustration
Kay Pettigrew: music
Lou Noble: photographs
Thanks Warren for the idea, and we hope the rest of you like it,
Lou Noble and Katie West
GO NOW!
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| the fear is |
[28 May 2009|12:32am] |
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the fear is, even after we leave them, we'll still feel them inside us. taking up too much space.
(or maybe the fear is we'll never want to let them out. we'll let them take up all the space they want, for as long as they want, and never even charge rent.)
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| my favourite |
[26 May 2009|06:29pm] |
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This is my favourite photo from yesterday. Because we have no pants on. And I can’t remember what was going on, but it looks like fun!
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| Elana |
[26 May 2009|01:41pm] |
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Yesterday I took photos of a stranger from the internet.
Well, actually, I met her at TCAF and she said “Hey, I follow you on Twitter!” And then we were instant friends! Or if we weren’t then, we are now.
Elana has an honours with distinction from U of T in archaeology and philosophy. She can speak Hebrew and sort of Japanese. She’s Jewanese, you see. She can also sing. She sings in the Varsity Jews, a Jewish a capella group. She also manages a comic book shop. She also has a lot of sex with her boyfriend. She also provides strange women from the internet (me) with alcohol at 1 pm on a Monday afternoon and then gets nearly naked for them.
So, yeah, you could say she is kinda awesome.
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| Connect |
[20 May 2009|05:09pm] |
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“But ever since the dawn of civilization, people have not been content to see events as unconnected and inexplicable. They have craved an understanding of the underlying order in the world.”
- from A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking
ALSO: I don't know if any of you have Tumblr, but I update there a lot more often than I do here. So you can follow me if you'd like. :)
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| obey the law |
[20 May 2009|05:08pm] |
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I am very good at staring. It’s just something I’ve always had a natural talent for. That, and pointing. And being conspicuous.
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| Window |
[18 May 2009|09:25pm] |
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Oh! hello boys across the street. *wave* What’s that? Why am I standing here in my underwear? Oh, I don’t know, why not? Yeah, I’m glad you have no problem with it. Because NEITHER DO I! BFF!!! YAY!!!
What?
No, you can’t come up.
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| An Update |
[27 Apr 2009|12:44pm] |
So, I know I've been saying for a long time now that I would give an update on what is going on in my life. I've been avoiding it, because it's all really personal, and I've liked to keep certain things private on the internet. But either I go on telling no one, as I've been doing, or I may as well tell everyone.
Matt (my husband) and I separated in February. He's moving out on May 1st. Which means I have to pay the full rent for May 1st, which, seeing as I'm now only on-call at my work and getting about one or two days a week, I'm very stressed about. (If you'd care to help pay my rent, you are more than welcome to do so - right here)
It wasn't a bad break-up, it was, it is a sad one. And there are many reasons for it, but none of them I feel like getting into.
I'm staying here until the end of June, and then I'm moving out too. And then I'm going to the west coast. For I'm not sure how long.
So yeah. The culmination of end of marriage + no hours at work + where am I going to live + how am I going to pay rent + other unmentioned things = one stressed, worried Katie West.
And that's an update. A very detached, sparing update.
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| something |
[19 Apr 2009|08:50pm] |
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There is something to be said for taking naked pictures in the woods.
You can be pretty sure no one is around, but you don’t know if someone might show up, walking their dog, riding their bike, you don’t know. You don’t have a tripod, you put your camera on a rotten stump. You notice there’s broken glass everywhere, think this is probably a bad idea, but then remember that you’re Dangerous anyway. You know you should be wearing a dress, because these jeans, and socks, and tank top and t-shirt and sweatshirt - it’s all taking too long to get off, and it’ll take longer to put back on. And then, to top it all off, you have your glasses on and have to throw them away, through the mine fields of broken beer bottles, somewhere towards your shoes, you hope. You aren’t sure where the camera is pointing, or exactly what the light is looking like. You feel you don’t have time to get the perfect shot, only to get the shot you get.
All of this making shooting in the woods, an experience you’ve come to Enjoy.
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| My days (and yesterday) |
[18 Apr 2009|05:31pm] |
I have a car, sort of. It's my mothers car, or it was. But it's still in her name, and it's still registered to her. The plates on the car have been expired since December and she doesn't want to pay her fines from the toll road to get them renewed. So the car sits parked on my street.
But life without the car has been good. I walk more now. And I take my camera with me and take more random pictures. I look at things more. I walked around the neighbourhood I grew up in yesterday, because I didn't have a car to get back downtown so had to wait for my dad to come home from work and give me a ride to the bus stop. I felt like I hadn't really looked at my neighbourhood for a long time. And it made me kinda sad; everything seemed to be falling apart or moving on. Though in the spring, everything does look kind of blah, I guess.
I also went for a bike ride yesterday, with my brother. To get pizza. And he made me go up hill both ways! He's a bit of a jerk. It took me awhile to convince him to go with me, because he's the laziest human being on Earth, but eventually he gave in to my logic. My logic that consisted solely of, "Come ooooonnnnnnn. Don't be so lazy! Pleeeeeease? Just come!"
( Here are some pictures from our excursion. )
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| Trek Gangsta |
[14 Apr 2009|06:47pm] |
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So, when Mel and I shot on Friday, we had NO idea what we wanted to do. We had no wardrobe, no real location ideas, no theme, no make-up ideas. So we decided to just do whatever we wanted. This was originally supposed to be some sort of tribal thing that turned all gangsta, if only because my attitude made it so.
I know, that is an awesome shirt with a hawk on it, you don't have to tell me, I bought it!
I am wearing a lot of bling, for I am TREK GANGSTA and I am first officer on the USS SNOOP DOGGY DOGG.
And, uh, no, I don't know why my pants are undone.
Oh wait, yes I do...it's cuz I got bitches in the living room gettin' it on and, they ain't leavin til six in the mornin'.
So what you wanna do, sheeeit, I got a pocket full of rubbers and my homeboys do too.
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| i am no one you know. |
[13 Apr 2009|11:55pm] |
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"In love there are two things - bodies and words. "
- Joyce Carol Oates is probably my favourite author.
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| Not much. |
[12 Apr 2009|11:41am] |
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There's not really any one around the internet this weekend, is there?
I went to bed at 5 am last night and woke up at 8. I don't know what's wrong with me. I'm feeling okay (so far). I'm sure around 5 or so tonight I'll want to die. But until then, I will continue wishing that when I see my mom today, she has brought me chocolate. For what the fuck is Easter for if not to consume wee bunnies made of chocolate?
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| Mel and I at a very delicious diner about to eat bacon and eggs. |
[12 Apr 2009|04:20am] |
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I mentioned this diner in the last post, remember? Here it is. I am a little upset that I've lived here for 10 months and Mel only told me about this place on Friday.
It is 24 hours. Nothing is better than a 24 hour diner.
A random piece of information - my mom uses exclamation marks far too often.
Also, I made a new mix over at 8tracks.com. For People Who Can't Sleep, Eight random songs I'm listening to in an attempt to sleep. It's not working. 8tracks.com/mixes/19612
Yep.
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| Waiting |
[11 Apr 2009|05:34pm] |
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Yesterday I shot for six hours with make-up artist Melissa Nicholl. We had so much fun and then went to a delicious diner at 1 am, after we'd finished, for bacon and eggs. It was a good day.
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| Hi |
[09 Apr 2009|12:48pm] |
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Lou said if he was a creepy stalker, this would be his desktop. I guess that means I did a good job of totally stealing his style.
Hi. Today is Thursday. It is beautiful and sunny outside. I feel like I should do something today, but what? It's supposed to be semi-warm today. Maybe I will just wander around and get lost. I don't know if I can get lost in this city, but I can always try.
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| Backyard |
[02 Apr 2009|04:25pm] |
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Lately I'm wearing clothes a lot. "Obey the law." That's what my hoodie says. And on the back it says Odin's Lawyers with a skull and cross bones. (Though the cross bones are actually crossed croquet mallets - Odin's Lawyers were a croquet club that Matt and his friends started in Windsor. And then Brendan made shirts for it, because he makes shirts for everything.) I am sick today. But even sick people appreciate fresh air on warm days.
p.s. I'm actually wearing my pajamas under that hoodie. Though I forgot until just now. I am still wearing my pajamas. I want to curl up in bed and be sick, and I am very tired since I was up at 3 this morning all pukey. But I have things to do. Or something.
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