Boston Fashion Week: Carla Fernandez

Saving the best for last, witnessing the Carla Fernandez Spring/Summer 2015 show at the Isabella Stewart Gardener Museum was a breath of fresh air and the highlight of Boston Fashion Week for me! I felt so fortunate to be able to see her in Boston in such an intimate and artistic setting. It was also my first time at the Museum and admission was complimentary with the ticket so I wandered around after the show as well. If you are ever in Boston or live in Boston, this museum is stunning and a must see simply for the architecture alone. It was modeled after a 15th century Venetian palazzo and it's walls and art spoke of another time and place.

Seemed liked the ideal atmosphere for Carla's designs to walk through. "The Barefoot Designer", Carla, is a Mexican designer that works with artisans in Mexico to bring back indigenous textile techniques while simultaneously supporting the artisans socially and economically. When reading more about her I was struck by her methods of creating together with the artists, buying their work but also their artistic integrity in design. Carla also utilizes sustainable techniques using squares and rectangles to reduce waste. This also lends to the geometric quality you see in the pieces.

This was the first time the Gardener Museum had an in house fashion exhibit/show. The show was actually inspired by the Museum, titled Gardener, and featured animals/creatures/designs taken from 17th century Mexican church tiles that are on display on the walls of the Spanish cloister. The talented Dynasty models walked with their feet painted in white, into the center of the room where they stood on a white tiled square turning into each direction of the room then walking back out. Effortless and fresh makeup was done by the amazing Mariolga of DB cosmetics. I can't recall who did hair (bad memory and I can't find it online! Please fill me in if you're reading this and you know.) and I believe her son was DJ.

Just as the walls spoke of another time and place, the presentation of the pieces as they entered also transported you to a new space in your mind. It was just beautiful and refreshing to see. I will stop blabbing now and hopefully you can feel this for yourself through the images. These were some of my favorite looks from the night :)

Amazing right?!
Enjoy the fall festivities and weekend!

Vintage Cameras in the Sun

Confession time! I'm a photographer that has never taken a picture with a film camera! I know..very sad. In college I took a photography course but we actually learned on digital. It is on my list of things to do and I was given a film camera and a bunch of lenses by an old coworker who was moving so I don't have much of an excuse. I just have to buy some film and use it!

So how did I get a hold of these beauties?! Well I recently missed a session for my mentoring project and had to attend what my teacher calls a "boot camp" makeup class. This entailed me helping her clean out her garage (no joke! she doesn't mess around) and while cleaning she showed me some old film slides and cameras that one of her neighbors gave her. She held up the slides to the light and they were hilarious. They were from the 70's so there was retro furniture and clothing galore! The cameras were so fascinating and each one had its own flair. I was surprised by how interested I was in the cameras. I have to admit I've been put off by film in the past by the hipster scene making it "cool". I like vintage but I don't want to BE vintage because I'm...well not. I hope that makes sense? It was a different feeling once I had them in my hands. You could feel the history and intricacy in how they were made. I can see how you could easily get obsessed and who knows maybe one day I'll get obsessed and look back and laugh at myself!

Part of the boot camp was to bring my camera and do a small project so when I saw these I was like ding! After we finished cleaning I spent a few minutes in her BEAUTIFUL and blooming garden taking these. It was fun to combine the blossoms of spring with these old tools. I used VSCO Film to edit these which is what I often use to edit my photos to give that vintage feel to my images but in a modern way because I can still use current technology to tweak it to my liking. I like the feeling of combining old and new and vsco is a beautiful tool for that.

Hope you enjoyed these as much I did. Have a bright weekend :)
Feda

Branches. Reaching. Releasing.

 

Hazy Landscapes Part II

“Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it.”
― Rumi

Hazy Landscapes Part I

“Be empty of worrying.
Think of who created thought!

Why do you stay in prison
When the door is so wide open?”
― Rumi

We went up to the Vermont/Newhampshire area for the weekend to ski and enjoy the scenery. Winter is beautiful up there. I have such a love hate relationship with winter ever since I experienced winter up north. The snow covered mountains just take my breath away!

I didn't take too many photos on this trip. I took a lot on my phone and posted on instagram if you want to check those out. I mostly wanted to take it all in and relax but we did a whole lot of driving back and forth so I decided to experiment a bit with the camera while in motion. I let the shutter speed drag a bit and because we were already moving it created a hazy/moody feeling. I wanted to capture an emotion and not necessarily a perfect image. I've been in an imperfect state of mind lately. Letting things flow and be as they are. I loved taking these! It was a good release. I had fun exploring the colors in the sky and the shapes of the trees and mountains. SO SURREAL! For REAL!

XO
Feda

P.S. I will now be uploading posts every Monday and Thursday!!! I've tried the whole do as you feel thing and I feel like I need some structure to help me continually create and work. The old way wasn't working so I'll try this out and see how it goes. When something isn't working you have to change something! Change is good. It keeps you moving.  I'm really excited to see what I can come up with. If there's anything you would like to see or if there's certain posts you want more of, please do let me know. I appreciate any feedback :)

Reflection on Project Life 365 2013

Around this time last year I randomly decided to do a 365 photo journey. I had no idea what I was getting into. I just did it. I took a picture and uploaded it on January 1st and started this photo a day journey. What I didn't realize was how much this project would help me grow as an artist and human.

I started the project to hone my photography skills and document daily life. I was feeling down about the last few years and I needed something to change. I had so much creative energy but I just never knew how to use any of it. Project life gave me the opportunity to explore the world within me and the world around me in a spiritual and creative way.

Now that I look back I'm not sure what got into me. I was just really excited to create and that energy propelled me forward. Even though I was forced to put msyelf out there everyday, I just didn't care. Sort of like those kids that ski past you on the hill. They have this fearlessness that is just so amazing. This is actually a good time for me to write this to remind myself to be more fearless this year :)

I think the coolest thing this project taught me was how to just keep going. Sometimes the picture would be complete crap but I still had to put it up. Not everyday was perfect but I was learning consistency. Now this didn't mean I never missed a day. I went through quite a few breakdowns here and there where I just didn't want to post. Life would get in the way, and excuses would creep there way in. Something would always compel me to keep going and I'm glad that I did. Looking back I'm happy I had those moments of weakness because it taught me how to fall and get right back up again. Isn't that how we all learned how to walk anyways!?! Failing is not nearly as scary to me anymore. I feel like if you're not failing, you're not doing. I think sometimes we give up too soon. If I had given up on project life at any of those moments, I would never have created some of my favorite images of project life.

I also really loved connecting with nature and my surroundings. It really made me feel blessed to be a part of such a beautiful world. I felt like for the first time I really LIVED through each season. I captured landscapes, flowers, trees, sunsets, skies and creatures. I was able to capture the emotion I felt in those moments through a photo. It was a way for me to explore the stages of life, of birth and decay.

Being a part of project life also helped me know what it was like to be a part of a supportive, creative, community. I found project life through a photographer I follow Elizabeth Messina (she's amazing). I would see her tag images as #projectlife365 and it got me curious. I started using the projectlife365 hashtag and all these people started liking my images on instagram. I then realized that people all over the world were doing their own project life journey through an organization called Project Life 365. It was organized into themes each day where you would tag the images and share. Each day project life would feature a few images based on the theme. I didn't always follow the theme but I enjoyed the challenge and did it often. I was featured five times by project life which was amazing, but it was really just icing on the cake for me. The thing I appreciated most was all the loving feedback and support from everyone who liked and commented on my images through both facebook, and instagram. It meant so much to me. It helped me keep going, it helped me be better and I felt like I was a part of something much greater than me. That's one reason I'm thankful for the world wide web! It brings people from different walks of life, with a common interest, together.

Finally, it helped me grow as an artist. I got to use all those stored up ideas in my head. It would force me to get out there and JUST DO IT! I didn't know how the picture would turn out but I had to show up and create. It forced me to think outside the box with certain themes. It forced me to carry my camera everywhere and take pictures all the time. I took sooo many pictures. I got used to using my camera quickly, experimented more with lenses, and with light and colors. I also took a whole lot of self-portraits!! Those were my favorite because I could express myself through color, makeup, fashion and my moods. I ended up creating an ongoing exploration of self through self-portraits called Project Introspection. You can check that out on my website here. Looking back, it's amazing to see how much I've grown as a photographer.

I would like to say to anyone out there that feels discouraged by life and it's hardships, you don't need the next diet or new dress to make you feel better. All you need is to look within. Have the strength to see the things you would like to change and take steps towards changing them. Don't be hard on yourself, habits take time to form. There is nothing you're not capable of learning to do. Don't let fear or failure stop you from being the best version of yourself. There is so much beauty out there and in YOU waiting to be discovered <3

"Don't be fooled by your emptiness..there's so much more room for happiness." Kaskade

These were some of my favorites from the year in a short clip. Music: Room for Happiness (Kaskade's ICE Mix) [feat. Skylar Grey]

So what's next??... A world of possibilities awaits....and I welcome the beauty, the breakdowns, and every lesson learned in between.

All my love,
Feda

P.S. I totally recommend any type of 30 day challenge or yearly challenge to anyone wanting to try something new. Pushing yourself with small projects is fun and rewarding. If you're interested in doing a photo a day 365 project I would check out @my_365 on instagram. Unfortunately project life 365 has retired and stopped doing the prompts :(