and altered the colour of my mind

1. Love this Emily Bronte quote my friend Alicia shared earlier tonight : "I have dreamt in my life dreams that have stayed with me even after, and changed my ideas; they've gone through and through me, like wine through water, and altered the colour of my mind" (Emily Bronte)."

2. Today came some of the final images of the pinhole project. When I have more time I'd like to fiddle around with my camera a little more. Mostly I just took little pictures of skeleton keys and miniature London buses (because I'm the kind of girl who keeps these things like, in the trunk of my car.) ... then Friday brings the processing of that and my large format project. I'd like to supplement some of these works with some digital / 35 mm film stuff though, too. Hmm. Just need to find the time. 

3. Reading "Johnny Got His Gun" by Dalton Trumbo for book club, and it's amazingly well written. It's the kind of nitty gritty awfulness that gets right under your skin and breaks your heart. Not a feel gooder, so I'm struggling getting through it ... super excited for our theme pick this October though, which is a Halloween themed book. Not sure what nominee I'm going to drop into the hat, but I do know that even though it's not all that spooky, every fall makes me want to break out Nina Kiriki Hoffman's "A Fistful of Sky". 


4. Still working on those Photo Booth pictures, but they'll be sent out soon! 


5. Check out Andrea Zittel, probably one of my favourite artists. Her small living spaces make me happy. 


6. A picture from my balcony tonight ... love how sunshiney it's been these last few days! 

Dictaphone Parcel

Dictaphone Parcel from Lauri Warsta on Vimeo.

Interiors to just darn love to pieces.

Jamie and I are still in the process of beautifying our tiny one bedroom apartment, and this autumn I am determined to finally cover our walls with some pictures. At the moment we are sporting a few big prints, mostly the posters that I have carted everywhere with me since my first wee years of university, studying medieval literature and swooning over Japan posters and old Cigarillo Ads from Paris.

Our walls are a very light brown-beige colour with white trim, and we've got lovely hardwood flooring that I scrub somewhat obsessively with Method's wooden floor cleaner. We have one big window that overlooks onto our balcony, where Jamie is growing little orange lantern plants and a host of other autumn friendly flora, along with a little pepper plant in a glass vase. Things are starting to get chilly, and I cannot even begin to describe to you my crazed excitement at starting up our fireplace for the first time. I intend to do so some extra cold night, with a mug full of apple cider and the greatest television show of all time playing in the background. (And that T.V. show would be Jim Henson's the Storyteller. It's like John Hurt is like a big woolly blanket full of awesome and it's the most comforting thing ever, I kid you not.)

Whenever I start to really get into attacking the walls with prints and polishing up my interior design skillz, I like to thumb through some other fantastic interiors for inspiration. Here are a few of my favourites!

Things to Love :

- Really want to try these High Hat Cupcakes via Bakerella. They look pretty freaking awesome!

- Tonight for dinner, I am making Jamie and I this Pot Roast with Rosemary and Garlic.

- I have finally decided on my tattoo, which I will be getting oh, eventually, along my forearm. Now just comes the task of illustrating it!

- Today Carolyn and I lugged the seemingly heaviest large format camera ever around campus in order to take some fantastic landscapes. I loved wearing the black photographer's cape best of all, as it felt so old fashioned and debonair. Let me tell you, between lugging giant bags of clay and 50 pound tripods, I am going to be RIPPED by the end of this semester! Also, side note, I made Carolyn go barefoot for much of our photographing as she modeled here in there in unison with the landscapes and she was an awesome sport about it. I'm now in the process of developing a digital accompaniment to my large format film series on the same subject -- Exciting!

- Can we pause for a moment and just enjoy the fact that there is a blog out there dedicated to all things owl? Check out My Owl Barn!

I'm still plugging away diligently at the Book Man Anniversary pictures! They are on their way soon! And more photo shoots in the works as well...

Hello Autumn!

Last Saturday I ran the free photo booth at The Book Man's 20th Anniversary Celebration and had so much fun! With my tiny collection of props ranging from pirate hooks, flags, and a wide variety of strange hats, I had a blast meeting the fantastic people who took their turn in the photo booth chair! (Which incidentally, was also Nietzsche's chair ... he took all available opportunities in between shots to sneak in and take brief cat naps on it.) I'm putting some of the finishing touches on these photos, so if you're waiting for your shot you should be getting it in the next little while!

I'm back at university these days for my third year in Fine Arts and things are crazy, hectic, paint-filled, and awesome. I'm in the process of sculpting my head for a casting project, I've made my very own pinhole camera out of an antique tin (Pictures to come!), and am taking my very first fashion course. To those of you that know me and the amount of time I spend scouring fashion sites and magazines for ideas for costumes for shoots, you know I heart Fashion so it's very exciting. This course covers fashion and clothing from Antiquity until now -- so fascinating! I'm so lucky I know someone as talented as Macey Faulkner, who reinterprets my rough sketches and piles of pictures and ramblings into these amazing, surprising, beautiful garments.

The Carnival shoot is still in the process of being edited and is my most ambitious shoot to date. As such, I'm planning on taking some extra shots of it in different locales. Further shooting will be happening throughout the fall, so keep your eyes peeled for crazy becostumed people posing it up around town... and wave!

I leave you all with the cutest stop motion ever. I love stop motion! I can't wait to start my next one.

Nokia 'Dot' from Sumo Science on Vimeo.

So love this.

Agate necklace from Stone & Honey.

Love.

I am about to head off to take some pictures of the fall fair, but in the meantime, here are some things I'm loving:


1. These amazing wallpapers by Minakani. Especially the one below :

2. Red Fox from PingShop. LOVE. 

3. Last night Jamie and I picked up a copy of The Green Kitchen. I can't wait to start working away on the recipes! We got fresh salmon last weekend and cut them into steaks, so I'm going to break those out for one of the first recipes in the book.

4. I'm doing a bit of a reshoot this weekend on Sunday -- although I'm wondering if it really is a reshoot. I think mainly what it is is a chance to spend more time on some great models and make some more fantastic pictures from amazing costumes in a new location. I'll be photographing the Ticket Taker, the Magician, a human translation of a Bag of Popcorn and the Lion and Spirit of the Circus parts again. If you see awesome people in crazy costume meandering the streets tomorrow, give us a wave! 

On throwing carnivals...

Last weekend, just before the onslaught of back to school craziness (this semester I will be building my very own fancy schmancy pinhole camera! Out of ... something.) I threw a little carnival, with the help of a whole host of very awesome models and friends (thank you : Sheri, Amber, Emily, Melissa, Nadine, Jamie, Celeste, Kaila, Matt, Justin, Chelsea, MacKenzie, Emily 2, Michelle, Lacy and to Hannah! And thank you Chilliwack Arts Centre, and my parents who are awesome.) , and the fantastic Macey Faulkner, of costume building fame, and the grand Crystal McHargue, who puts up with my incessant artist demands on a regular basis.

There are still a few more to take, and lesson learned, 17 separate characters in one day is a little bit steep, but here are some that I've managed to get together thus far. In some cases these aren't the final final ones, so they are subject to change. I'm still in the process, as you can see, of settling on a colour tone.

Back to school week is quite hectic, but should slow down once I'm in the swing of things. On September 18th, if you're around the Chilliwack area, you should head on over to the Book Man's 20th Anniversary where there will be a Sarah Sovereign Photography photo booth set up in store just for the occasion. Have your portrait taken by me for FREE! And it comes equipped with some fun props and high fives as well.