Tripping on Asphalt
The Big Day is quickly approaching. As we were preparing our save-the-dates, a friend who got hitched last month said to me, “Oh! The save-the-dates. Exciting. You’d better hold on from here on in!” And all of a sudden, that’s what it feels like. An autobahn ride from here to late September.
I couldn’t be having more fun, taking pictures, designing stationary, picking clothing, and planning our honeymoon. It’s strange, because I didn’t take well to all this in the beginning. But I think the excitement is over-taking any of my party-planning misgivings. Mostly… Or maybe it’s the tequila.
Are we concerned that cemeteries and abandoned buildings talk to me? I’m not, so don’t worry your pretty head. Just enjoy my favorite shot of the day.
It’s incredible what the iPhone can do. Not just the iPhone I suppose. I don’t even carry a point-and-shoot any more. Seems silly.
This isn’t the most inspiring picture for me. But I can’t get over that this guy fought in the Revolutionary War and to this day, is still recognized by the living, as a Son of the American Revolution. Somebody put that flag there way before Memorial Day.
This next one is another favorite, and my apologies if you’ve already seen it on Facebook. If you haven’t, maybe you’ll consider hitting the ‘like’ button on my Facebook page. {*cough* shameless plug *cough} There’s a handy link. Over there. On the left. And up a ways.
I’ve just read the Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman. I highly recommend it. As my mind and I wandered, Nobody Owens and those who reared him were definitely lurking around corners.
One of the benefits of living and working in Connecticut, is living and working in Connecticut. New England is beautiful. And architecturally, it’s history is rich with simple charm and functional beauty.
This spring has been cold and dreary so far. And it’s all starting to wear on me. So much that I’ve taken to carrying my camera around the house. You know, just in case any moments pop up. Bring on spring! If only to save DUG the anxiety of being my subject.
I really thought I’d move on from the Zombie thing by now. {If I’d had my head screwed on straight I would have planned for a month or two of this, or even just changed the blog’s theme, because, let’s face it, this is what I love, and, well, I have hundreds, maybe thousands, of photos – and they’re not going away any time soon. Hi, my name is Michele and I’m an obsessive collector of Zombie photos.}
I swear, I have all these great, shiny photos I’d love to show you of interiors and kids. Yes, folks, I said kids. Tons of great kid pictures, and they’ll surely be grown before you see them. And a few more Stand-ins laying around.
But here we are. The universe of Zombies keeps dragging me back in. Leigh for sure wants to address the Zombie movie front, so I have to hit up the Netflix. I’ve been hearing about what they’re calling Zombie mortgages. And I’m reading a book where they are currently drinking Pink Zombie vodka cocktails – which I am desperately trying to find with the Google to no avail because that just sounds awesome.
So here you go. Here are some of my Abandoned Relics. I chose these because they look like they’re coming for you. Like the Zombies.
Here are a few more shots of the bathroom featured in yesterday’s Which One? I am completely backlogged in blogland. I have a ton of stuff I’m bursting to share with you. More abandoned places, plenty of architecture, and even some people (well, kids and babies mostly). And then there are the gnomes. But I digress. I’ve been busy shooting and planning a wedding, so I absolutely cannot complain. Hopefully we’ll get more regular very soon. I hear ‘more regular’ is good.
Oh! Speaking of backlogged! Let’s discuss TheKnot.com, wedding bible to the masses. I hate The Knot. Do you know that they sent me an email yesterday? Of course you don’t. I’m telling you now. They sent me an email to remind me that it’s 6 months to the day of my wedding. And they politely implied that’s some sort of crazy milestone and I am supposed to all sorts of freak out because of the thousand things I still have left to do. Well, you know what Knot? Shame on you. Shame on you for making people think they have to spend a gazillion dollars on useless things to have a fun and memorable wedding. (No judgment if you spent a gazillion dollars on your wedding as long as you don’t judge me for trying to keep it simple.) Knot, I dumped you back at ’330 days until your wedding’ when you told me I had to get: a trainer, my teeth professionally whitened, go on a diet, and hire my wedding planner. {And even though, I hate you, Knot, since then I have begged someone to train me starting next week, bought a new box of Crest white strips but not opened them, and started at least 30 different mornings on a diet. But I draw the line at a wedding planner. Though I not so secretly wish someone else would just make this whole deal happen and tell me where to show up. Damn you, Knot.}
Whoo. Bet you didn’t think this was going to be a wedding post with that pretty bathroom sitting up there. I mean, seriously. Have you seen that bathroom?! I should get married in there.
So when you filled in the blank up top, the one you’ve forgotten about because I’ve rambled on so long, was it busy bee or busy beaver? Just wondering…
There are very few behind the scenes photos of me because I’m generally the only one with a camera. I have to admit, I think it would be really cool to have quality photos of myself working. This particular image definitely does not qualify as a “quality photo of me working.” But here it is. Proof that I would be a horrible lighting assistant. So not subtle. To my defense, trying to get a shot of a room that’s 3′ x 5′ is a little rough. Then remember it’s a toilet closet. A room whose sole purpose is to house a toilet. And the client is all, ‘try not to focus on the toilet.’ Seriously, folks.
This animal print fiasco is what happens when I try to be my own assistant.
I am in love with jewel box of a bath and it was so much fun to shoot it during my birthday week. It is so incredibly luxurious that it felt like a present. And you just know that someone else cleans it. Which in and of itself is just, oh, beyond words.
Can we talk about the chandelier just dripping into the humongo bath? I just imaging sitting in that bath under the sparkle of those crystals, gazing out into the stars of the night sky.
So clearly I’ve given away my answer, which I don’t like to do, because I feel like it sways people. But I’m just a no curtain kind of girl. Surprise!
When nature takes over and starts to reclaim a building is when things get really interesting. Found objects get sucked back into the earth and colors like you might find deep sea diving emerge out of no where.
You know, I had no idea that Abandoned Factory Week here at Sequined Asphault Studio was going to turn into Zombie Week. But the truth is, now that I’ve got Zombies on the brain (oops), I don’t know how I never saw it before!
So I’m just going to go with it. Right now, I’m listening to Glee’s “Thriller/Heads will Roll” mash-up. A seriously fantastic performance – sorry I couldn’t find the video to go along with the audio. Hi, my name is Michele and I can’t get enough Glee. Never. Enough. Glee. And apparently Zombies.
Now that we’ve hit a few of my favorite things and how they relate to Zombies, Zombie habitat photography and Glee, we might as well round this post out with another big favorite Zombie pastime, knitting. Just kidding. You can’t knit for Zombies. That’s absurd! Reading. Here are some of the best Zombie books I’ve read (and I’m always looking for something new to read so feel free to help me add to this list):
Cell Stephen King
Pride, Prejudice and Zombies Seth Grahame-Smith
The Zombie Survival Guide Max Brooks
World War Z Max Brooks
And Miz Hines, who is completely knackered from jet lag, but is pretty much the biggest Zombie literature aficionado around, was kind enough to add her expertise to my meager list:
(World War Z ‘is one of the best books ever’ – although this was on my list already and I nixed a couple of other repeats from above I felt I needed to re-list this one because of her heartfelt commentary – the girl reads A LOT of books, so if she says ‘best book ever’ I wouldn’t take that lightly)
The Walking Dead comic book series
Home Delivery a short story by Stephen King
The Living Dead 2 anthology
Your turn. {brains… brains… brains… brains…}
