A Girl and Her Room

I was fortunate enough to be introduced to Rania Matar, at one of those goofy travel team soccer try-outs for 7th and 8th grade girls that we have in Brookline.  Among the hubbub of pre-teen nerves, squeals, and soccer balls, she was a true delight. We chatted briefly, she showed me some of her work on her iphone and then I checked out her website.

Oh. My. Goodness.

I was so moved by the way she captures her subjects.  All that quiet, thoughtful angst, self-absorption, reflection, uncertainty, fear, and confidence collected in one incredible picture.

See what I mean?

image | rania matar

image | rania matar

image | rania matar

image | rania matar

image | rania matar

image | rania matar

image | rania matar

image | rania matar

From her website:

This project is about teenage girls and young women at a transitional time of their lives, alone in the privacy of their own personal space and surroundings: their bedroom, a womb within the outside world.

"As a mother of a teenage daughter I watch her passage from girlhood into adulthood, fascinated with the transformation taking place, the adult personality shaping up and a self-consciousness now replacing the carefree world she had known and lived in so far. I started photographing her and her girlfriends, and quickly realized that they were very aware of each other's presence, and that their being in a group affected very much whom they were portraying to the world. From there, emerged the idea of photographing each girl alone in her personal space.

I spend time with each girl, so she is comfortable with me and eventually the photography session becomes a beautiful and intimate collaboration. I was discovering a person on the cusp on becoming an adult, but desperately holding on to the child she barely outgrew, a person on the edge between two worlds, trying to come to terms with this transitional time in her life and adjust to the person she is turning into. Posters of rock stars, political leaders or top models were displayed above a bed covered with stuffed animals; mirrors were an important part of the room, a reflection of the girls' image to the world; personal objects, photos, clothes everywhere, chaotic jumbles of pink and black make-up and just stuff, seemed to give a sense of security and warmth to the room like a womb within the outside world.

I initially started this work focusing on teenage girls in the United States and eventually expanded the project to include girls from the two worlds I am most familiar with, the two worlds I experienced myself as a teen and a young twenty year old: the United States and the Middle East. This is how this project became very personal to me. I became fascinated with the similar issues girls at that age face, regardless of culture, religion and background, as they learn to deal with all the pressures that arise as they become consciously aware of the surrounding world wherever this may be.

Being with those young women in the privacy of their world gave me a unique peek into their private lives and their real selves. They sense that I am not judging them and become an active part of the project. I just follow their lead. I thank every one of them for their trust and precious collaboration."

                                                                                                                                      -Rania Matar

The [t]Ides of March

all images by my hand | Maine and Rhode Island

Meaningless Beauty with Fred Herzog

"After immigrating to Canada in the 1950s, Fred Herzog (*1930 in Bad Friedrichshall) devoted himself to what was, at the time, an unusual medium: color photography. In this way he broke through the established perceptions and theoretical opinions, most of which accorded to black-and-white photography the status of art. As a pioneer in the field of color photography, Herzog perfected his eye for the supposedly insignificant. His motifs are the streets of Vancouver, supermarkets, gas stations, bars, urban scenery, landscapes, and, again and again, man in his environment–the heights and depths of the North American dream. He tested the potential of color photography as a medium for great objectivity and great artistry alike, and his critical viewpoint allows us to the banal, the ephemeral, and the apparently meaningless. Above all, however, color lends his photographs a unique atmosphere and power, and is ultimately what makes them seem authentic.

Fred Herzog Photographs, Edited by Felix Hoffmann, C/O Berlin, Published by Hatje Cantz, German/English, 2010. 192 pp., 98 ills., 92 in color, 19.80 x 21.60 cm, ISBN 9783775728119"
(via daily icon)

It's the color that I find so striking.  The perspective and the sharp contrasts that are so very compelling.  For a whole lotta boring and obvious, I find this photography breathtakingly beautiful. 

Found *here*.

Shut In

Mostly I just wanted to test out an old camera -but it seemed like more than just me wanted to get out.

all super close images are by my hand

gnome life

More brilliance @ Gnome Life (found via swissmiss).

Fantôme d'hiver

from visual brussels

I keep going back to look at this image. It's taken in an open field (in the Molenbeek neighborhood) with Brussels in the background.

I'm not really sure why I find it so compelling.  If you double click and take a really good look at this structure you see how nice it must have been at one point.  Second floor windows and two sides with a decent porch.  The roof is pretty amazing, too.

And yet just a little bit too sad.  Except for maybe the rapscallions that love this spot -for all their ne'er-do-wellin'.

Oh Sugars

from Arkadia & co, via swissmiss

Awesome collection of old sugar packs from around Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Denmark, and who knows where else - with even more awesome typography.


But typeface aside, I'm partial to the penguin.  You?

Now,That's Ranunculus!

 

 

 

 

Where my mind tends to go on these snowy days.  All images and other floral magic can be found by visiting SAIPUA.

My Big Blue Sky

Recently posted on JHill Design were some stunning photography from Jim Richardson, a professional camera dude for National Geographic and TRAVELER mags.

He's a Kansan.  Lindsborg, Kansas, to be exact.  And he's mighty adapt at finding the simple beauty in the big, wide, open spaces of the heartland.

I, for one, couldn't stop staring at his work.  As someone having grown up in Kansas, I find such comfort in the big, blue overhead and the ever-expanse of land.  It also makes sense why I love staring at the ocean, both vistas have that endless horizon that offers such a wonderful perspective to me.

  Konza Prairie | Jim Richardson

Flint Hills, KS | Jim Richardson

Flint Hills, KS | Jim Richardson

Flint Hills, KS | Jim Richardson

Photograph by Jim Richardson

Please read more about Jim and his work on his blog.