The Plastiscines

Can I just say that I want to be them?

How to make fun-shaped bokeh!

Ever looked at a photo like the one above and thought "how did they do that?". No, it's not photoshop or any special effects. Believe it or not, the only materials you need to create this fun-shaped bokeh are construction paper of your choice and some tape.

This "filter" works best with large aperture lenses (I used a Canon 50mm F1.8)

1) Cut out a fake lens hood from the paper. Make sure it fits nice and tight around the lens.

2) Punch out or cut out the shape of your choice (ex. Heart) into the center of the filter.

OR

You can try this (it's a bit complicated but it's a little something I created):

Instead of cutting or punching out a shape, cut out a circle that is about an inch in diameter in the center of the filter. Then cut out two thin strips of paper about an inch and a half long each. Tape these two pieces on either side of the hole. It looks like this:




Then, cut out thicker strips of paper that are about 3 inches long, but make the ends not as thick so that they will be able to fit through the strips you just taped to the filter. In the center of the strips, cut out or punch out shapes of your choice. This way, you can have interchangeable shapes for your lens filter! The strips should look like this (I've cut out a heart and a snowflake):



You would attach the shape strips by sliding the ends under the taped strips on your filter. Make sure that the box containing the shape covers the entire circle cut out on your filter as to not let excess light in and possibly distort your shape. It should look like this when attached:




3) Then set your camera to the lowest aperture value...and shoot!

Enjoy!

Here are a few more images I've taken using this technique:

Si J'etais un Arbre-an old poem of mine

My legs are buried,
I am stagnant.
My feet and toes soiled.
I feel the grains of soft, brown, moist substance over my skin.
Sometimes small shiny creatures tickle my feet.
They carry many legs and their eyes are of black obsidian.

My skin appears quite dry, but it's merely just a shell.
A piece of armor to protect me from the elements.
From the howling wind and the battering rain.
It's my woolen sweater, my rubber slicker.

My arms are always outstretched.
They do not tire, for they praise the warmth of the sun.
And they reach out to the clouds for their precious rain.
They embrace the small furry long-tailed and the blue-winged.

Out of my fingertips sprout fresh, green and feathery foliage.
And in my hands I hold verdant buds which hide treasure inside.
The treasure in early spring is untouched by the air.
As the months pass, they bloom into streams of color.

In autumn i begin to tire and prepare for rest.
In winter I sleep, although it may seem I am dead.
Then spring will arrive and I thrive and bloom.
In summer I enjoy the sun and the peaceful moon.

New Items!

More mushroom necklaces and cupcake necklaces!

Early Morning

Oh Hallo mornin'. I've missed you since I've been nocturnal.

Things that are unusual are beautiful. Sickly things are beautiful. People who look like spiders with their bony figures are beautiful. I like how the light dances on their bones and webs of skin when it's black and white. Lively, sunshiney things are beautiful. Golds and yellows but not like mcdonald's yellow. Budding greens and fresh cut fields. I forget what it feels like to drift off into sleep without force.

This lady bug needs to calm down. He's in love with the light in my room.

I want a cottage in the woods surrounded by wildflowers. I'd wake up and have morning tea with the sunshine and the sparrows.

I remember the truth...a warm December with you.

Whenever winter comes around..I always listen to this song by Joshua Radin. It's lovely:

An old Autumn poem of mine

Footsteps down a path of burnt grass,
From the fires that spread from the trees all ablaze.
Sometimes I wonder,
Beyond all the oranges, yellows, and reds,
It it might, by chance,
Catch a glimpse of white or blue.
But it's cold, yet crisp,
Crunchy and thick and deep.
Wool sweaters and leather boots,
Push away rainbow ashes.
It's visually burning but cold and fresh.
They say it's all dying.
I think it's beautiful.
It's like everything is getting ready for a costume party.
All the foliage are cloaking themselves in colors,
Perhaps just reflecting or absorbing different parts of the spectrum.
They dress up their xylem and phloem with carotenoids.
And then spritz a bit of cinnamon and musk.
Then, when the breeze comes to take them all away,
They take wing, and dance.




This is a tiny woodland frog I found last year.

Oh what a beautiful view, if you were never aware of what was around you.

I realized there were no videos on youtube which featured "Marching Bands of Manhattan" by The String Quartet Tribute to Death Cab for Cutie: Ghost..and I feel like it's such a lovely song..so I decided to make one using my photos.

Aside from the song itself being really peaceful and emotional, the strings add to the tranquility of it.



This song always makes me tear up. I have such an emotional attachment to it.

But I find it beautiful.

Leonid's Meteor Shower 2009

Leonids are named after the constellation Leo, the point at which they originate from. Meteors are formed from the streams of comets. They are ejected as the comet's frozen gases evaporate under the heat of the sun. These glowing particles are no larger than a speck of dust. This particular meteor shower is known to be one of the most magnificent. I had to see it!

I waited outside from midnight until about 3am on my porch swing, as the frigid air nipped my nose and froze my fingers, curled up in a polar bear blanket (darn..I should have gotten a snuggie!), patiently waiting for the meteors to fall from the sky.

Maybe it was fatigue, but my weary eyes did not see the star curtain that I had expected. But I took a few snapshots with my camera at about 3am. This is what it picked up:



I don't know..maybe they're just blurry stars?




A burning red sky. It was a bit cloudy though.




They kind of look like flying sperm?

The Love Tree

Last year, my friend and I had an idea to cut out paper hearts and duct tape them to various trees around campus. We stuck about 6 hearts on random trees. There was also this pine tree that was hidden in a grassy circle in the woods which we decorated with wildflowers and taped a "Love Tree" heart at the tippy top.



Various "Love trees"




Me with THE"Love tree!
Isn't that rainbow awesome? It was a complete accident!

New Etsy site!

I created a new etsy site! It has the same items..it's just a different name.

Check it out!

Hearts of Trees

I painted my laptop today. I decided to do a human heart design with a tree sprouting from the aorta and the superior vena cava. An then I added ranbow glitter paint over the entire painting. I finished it off by spraying it with clear glossy fixative.

Parcel and Presents

I love to give presents. And in return I love to receive presents. But I think I like giving presents and making things for people more than the latter. Sadly I usually don't get anything back whenever I send a package or a letter..sometimes I get a promise of something in return but it's never kept. I don't blame that person. We all have busy lives.

I would like to give the first 4 people who comment on this a present. If you leave your address I will mail it to you. I guess you can call this a bit of early holiday cheer.

Also, check out Minus the Bear. I have just started getting into them and I have fallen in love:

Trail of Trees

Today I took out my mountain bike to the nearby bike trail. It's one of my favorite places. I love going every season to see the changing leaves or the spring flowers blooming along the trailway. My dad used to take my siblings and I every weekend. One time he showed us a black cherry tree. He peeled away the bark on one of the branches to reveal what was called indian gum. It was minty and chewy. I wish I knew what to look for so I could find it again.

I like to go in the direction towards Yorktown. Despite the numerous road crossings, I still think it's the most beautiful way to go. You pass a few parks and still get a decent amount of woodsy trailways. But hands down my favorite part of going that direction is crossing over the croton bridge. When you ride over the wooden boards it's all bumpy and rickety. When I was little I used to go "aaaaaaa" so that it made a silly sound from all the bumpiness. And who can say I still don't do it sometimes? Haha.

This past summer, I saw a few girls cliff diving down below the bridge. That looked like the best idea. One girl was on the edge of the bridge and her friends were yelling at her to jump. Thank god she didn't. The bridge is ridiculously high and she would have definitely gotten hurt.

The bridge is best when it's completely empty though. It's nice and quiet and peaceful and you can sit and look out on the water. Sometimes I see an old man in a rowboat with his rod in the water. Things like that just make me smile.

All Hallow's Eve 2009

I had never been to the village parade in NYC, so I decided to go this year just to get it out of the way and such.

I met up with a friend who goes to the Fashion Institute of Technology and we marched in the pouring rain in an overcrowded parade. It was interesting to see all the costumes and floats, but I don't know if I'd ever do it again.

I was dressed up as the season of Autumn:

I made the dress out of an old flowy skirt and sewed faux leaves on it.

Vote for my photo!!!

I entered my landscape photo for a local calendar contest and I would really really love it if it got into the calendar! So if you could please vote for it I would dearly appreciate it and love you forever!

It's the 36th row down. In the Autumn category. And it's the center photo in the row. It looks like this:

This is the link to vote: http://www.nypennysaver.com/doSomething/calendarphotocontest/votePhoto.aspx

Thank you soo much darlings!!!

Kate McGill

I think I was searching for covers of songs by the weepies...and that's how I found this musician.

She doesn't even realize how good she is. I love her voice and her guitar playing and everything. I hope she can someday get herself on a record because I would definitely get myself a copy!

Check out her cover of "Kids"...this is probably my favorite..mostly because of the acoustic guitar:

Buttercups...

Have you ever decided to collect something? Maybe it was a few pet rocks when you were a kid, maybe it was baseball cards? I've always been a collector. Ever since I was little I could never walk past something "shiny" or "bright" without picking it up. I actually have a bunch of ziplock baggies full of little treasures I used to pick up on the playgrounds during recess. They were full of literally anything, I think I even have like...tiny doll heads or random pieces of pink plastic in them.

Anyways, recently I've started collecting teacups and teasets. I figured since I want to travel in the future, I could take home a teacup from whereever I decide to go.

This is the teacup I got from Ireland. It's a thin porcelain one with a golden orange hue and handpainted teeny flowers. It was only 7 euro. So how could I resist?

I dated it and wrote the place of origin on the saucer.

I like to make things too..

Check out my etsy!

It's full of handmade, handpainted, and ABSOLUTELY ADORABLE creations I made with tons and tons of love!

Chinese Blooming Tea

I just recently stumbled upon these very interesting little clusters that are plopped into hot water to make tea. The fascinating part is that as they steep, they bloom! Check it out:

By the way, I'm not trying to advertise for whatever company posted this video..it was just the best one I could find that demonstrates the blooms.

Bon Iver- Woods

Although I just recently calmed my excitement about the arrival of Autumn (the best season ever..by the way), I was listening to some Bon Iver and it got me all wishing for winter.

I often overlook this song and go for more popular favorites like "Skinny Love" and "For Emma", but it's different than his other songs, so it's beautiful with its auto-tunes:

Doesn't it just get you craving icicles and frostbit noses?

All the Trees of the field will clap their hands..

On a chilly Sunday afternoon, October the 4th, I saw Sufjan Stevens.

He was in the Bowery Ballroom and the show started quite later than I had expected, when the ticket said 7:30 yet he was on stage around 9...after Cryptacize opened for him.

He is just about as wonderful as I had imagined him to be. He has these gorgeous eyes and this heavenly voice and who could resist the banjo?

He played a bunch of his new stuff from the BQE, which had more electronica and rock sounds compared to his older tunes. But I was glad he alternated with what he called "real songs", which were a few of his oldies, including Chicago, The Dress Looks Nice on You, To Be Alone with You, Enjoy Your Rabbit, Casimir Pulaski Day and Jacksonville. After a massive applause he performed an encore #1 of one of my personal favorites, "John Wayne Gacy Jr.". And after leaving the stage for a second time, the applause refused to cease, so he performed a cover of the Innocence Misson's "Lakes of Canada".

I was extremely excited that he chose "Lakes of Canada", because it had been introduced to me by a friend a few years ago as a "secret" cover Sufjan sometimes did. And then later on that same day in Boston, we passed by a guitarist on the sidewalk who played it for us when we requested Sufjan songs.

Anyways, the concert was fantastic and I'll dearly miss Sufjan's beautiful face and forever hold it in my heart. Awww.

Now here's some pictures I snapped of him:

There's plenty more of that deliciousness at my flickr.

Also, here's a video someone else took so you can get a taste of it:

An uncommon tree in the forest

About 5 months ago, for five months, I lived in Ireland. I went to school at the University College Cork, and to say the least it was one of the most liberating and wonderful experiences I've had. It's funny, because my decision to study there was a bit impulsive. I hadn't really had any special desire to go to Ireland in particular. I wasn't Irish, I didn't know much about the culture, and I think I was just looking for a quick escape from the life I was living at the moment. But I filled out the paperwork, got accepted to the school, and soon enough I was on the plane to Cork.

Almost every day, on my walk into the city, I would pass this gorgeous park right by the river Lee. It had a lovely pond in the center, colorful gardens, a playground, and plenty of places to sit and ponder. One part that I found particularly fascinating was this giant tree covered in tiny square-cut mirror pieces. It was interesting how it was randomly placed in the park, with no explanation. I'm sure it was just a piece of local artwork or something..but to see something so whimsical and out of the ordinary was lovely:

If you'd like to see some of the pictures I took from my adventures in Ireland, you should check out: http://itsallsmilesintheemeraldisle.shutterfly.com/1145

The rain longed to be snow...

Welcome to the forest! Hopefully soon I'll be posting photos and thoughts, I just have to fine-tune a few things around here. I hope you find what you were looking for in my blog.

Today, the rain reminded me of a swaying silky curtain. It fell so light and thin, and it was falling on an angle. It was autumn rain, because I know that if it was colder, it would have fallen like snow.

Here's a lovely song by Regina Spektor that I always think of when it rains: