Ok. Here are some photos of my apartment for next semester. It looks pretty exciting to me.

Yep. Taken just yesterday. As she lives and breathes. Pretty amazing.

Yep… That’s really me with a snorkeling mask and flipper fins. It really is the Aegean too. The water really is THAT clear. It was beautiful.

A photo of a friend and I on the road.

Here’s a long awaited photo of my dear husband with me on a trip to Naxos. Note the temple in the background.

There have been a lot of incredible things happening recently. I haven’t really made a lot of time to get them posted because the semester is fast coming to an end, and I am in the throes of preparing for the end of semester exhibition. It seems as though my hard work has now started to pay off because I have very few things left to do and a full week to do them. Sadly, at the end of that week, I must return home back to my real life for the summer. The Fall holds a lot including a 22 day tour of Italy and some more advanced studies of photography with the amazing John Pack and Liz Carson. Not to mention the Art History things coming my way by the brilliant Jeffrey Carson.

Jared has come and gone now. We had quite a blast though. It’s great that he got to come and hang out with us and our group. He got some good Greek sun and even got a four wheeling tour around the island, which he enjoyed very much. We did a little island hopping together, and we got to explore some art stuff on the nearest neighbor to Paros, Naxos.

Naxos was amazing. We got to go to many of the major sites there including the three korui, the marble quarries, the Temple of Dionysus, the Temple of Demeter, The Tower of Aiya, etc. I got some great photographs that are going to go into the show here. I intend to display them in Portland as well, which I am looking forward to in a big way. I loved Naxos in a big way because I was able to explore and island that you think would be so similar to Paros. It is complete different though. It is so huge, etc. There are a lot of stories about that island including the idea that Zeus was born there and stayed in hiding there in a cave until he was old enough to overthrow his father. He was, of course, taken care of by and eagle. Another story is that Dionysus planted the first grape vine there, and thus the island is the father of wine making. The island is still very agricultural, and I was able to see many more donkeys (Jared thinks I have donkey radar) and I even took some photographs of an old man on his donkey.

I have also been taking four wheeling adventures on the island. I drove up behind the famous quarries of Marathi here and went up to a very high point on the island to take photographs. I have found some interesting things. These adventures involve things like finding oregano growing, finding sea salt in the rocks by the sea, swimming, trying to explore deserted monasteries, driving through towns we’ve never been to, taking photos of things like cows in poppy fields, taking pictures of pretty flowers, finding churches that are immaculately kept but not used by anyone, driving the four wheeler a little “off road” on a crazy adventure to Naoussa, going through the channels of the marble quarries, etc. Watching the sunset and then getting up to see the sunrise, etc. My good friend Brie and I have been having a blast.

Most of these trips have been for photography purposes, and it has worked out very well.

It has been getting very hot here, and swimming is a great way to cool off. I have also been spending a lot of time in the cool darkroom getting everything ready for next Friday. It is going to be a blast.

So…. That’s what I’ve been up to. I’m not ignoring the blog, just getting pretty busy. Stay tuned for more.

It’s been a little crazy around here lately. We have an exhibition coming up very soon, and that means that we all have to get ready. I have a bunch of work ready, but I still need to get more done. Even though I am only going to have a few works of art in the show, I will be leaving for home the next day, so it will be important for me to have everyhing wrapped up before the show. I say the least, I have about 55 photos that need to be completed both digitally and in the darkroom. I think I am currently about half way there. That means that in the next two weeks I have to do more than the two months before.

The computer lab has been really crowded these days and so has the darkroom. I decided to try working during off times and see what happened. After my night class, I tried going to the darkroom. I went in at about 8:00 PM and I didn’t arrive again until 1 AM. That was very good. I got two whole photos developed, and I was thrilled with them.

Then it was off to the digital lab. I was expecting it to be empty, but it still had people in it. I settled down and started to work. At around 3:00, I asked if my friend was going home, and she was uncertain. I agreed with her. I still had a lot of work to do, and I wasn’t really tired yet. We agreed to pull an all-nighter so that we could have the lab and the printers to ourselves. It was quite amazing. We went out to get supplies–coffee and french fries. When we went to the coffee shop/bar, she had just cleaned the coffee machine, so we weren’t able to get any. She offered, as a replacement a shot of tequilla and Sprite. She said that it would energize for the night. It sure did. Once we got our french fries and ate them, we worked happily on.

Eventually, I looked out the window and the sun was rising. We went out on top of the roof in the cool air and watched as dawn spread out her finger tips of rose. It was beautiful. We are not back to work–actually she is. I’ve printed 5 photos today, which is many more than I have ever printed in a day, so I’m calling it a good quits.

We’re just waiting for one more comuter thing to happen and then it’s off to walk on the beach with the sun rising. I’m looking forward to that.

My prints look amazing and the all-nighter has officially been accomplished. It was quite refreshing.

After the beach walk, I’m off to change my clothes and get some food before heading back to the darkroom for more fun printing time.

I’ll post photos of the roof sunrise. It is amaing.

Chris

Ok.

I know I haven’t been writing a lot lately. Most of that is due to the fact that I am very hot and heavy trying to get things done here before the end of the semester. I came a month late (after it had started), so I am really behind. Not a whole lot of adventures going on for me other than the fact that I’m taking a trip to Naxos. My tan is fading away slowly as I spend all of my days inside working even though the beautiful sun is outside. For example, I was in the darkroom from 8AM until 2PM today. After that, I was in the digital lab from 2PM until my 6PM class. After that, I get a chance to watch the sun set before heading back to the world of digital printing. I know–it’s a whole process

Here is a sneak peak photo from my latest project. I am really enjoying it. I have a whole direction that my portfolio is taking here and Greece, and it’s quite different than I thought it would be. I think it will tie in to the things that I am going to need to do next semester (I have an idea for then too). As an artist, the inspiration to communicate about certain things come and go, but the important part for me is to hold on to the things that do come to me and wring them of life so that they can be recreated in my own fashion. It’s quite a process. I’m becoming a better and better printer every day. The darkroom has taken ahold of me and won’t let go. I really am addicted

Anyway, I only put rejected photos up here online for you to see, so here is one that has been rejected from my recent project. Enjoy it and look for more clues as to what this project could possibly be.