unique la footage

Unique LA - Holiday 2010 from Chris Laughter + The Video Mouse on Vimeo.

unique la recap

Oh man.. Unique LA was soooo much fun. Kinda wish it happened more than twice a year! Here's my booth set-up.
Totally lucked out and was placed next to two AMAZING vendors. Chime Designs makes jewelry out of DRUM CYMBALS. Such cool stuff. This is Leslie, the owner. Her husband's a drummer, so it kinda works out.And this is Eva, her business partner. Really great girls..Sheswai Lacquer is owned by the lovely Debbie. She makes nail polish that's less toxic (no formaldehyde).AND all the caps are made from wood instead of plastic.So yeah.. it was a great weekend! I think my clutches were my top sellers. Here's a little before/after of one I made from a dress:

time out

I’ve been doing an excessive amount of paper writing the last several days. Took a left-brain time-out this afternoon. Here are some of the images that I found most inspiring. Thank you internet.

william cordovabarry mcgeebarry mcgeesame piece, just closephoto credit steve rhodes

unique la holiday show

If you’re going to shop for Christmas presents, Unique LA is the place to do it… Why? So many reasons! Here are some that may be of interest to you…

a) You will have the selection of one-of-a-kind, handmade, artistic goods instead of the generic products you normally find in your average mall or chain store. There’s an entire section of eco-friendly products (that’s where VintageRemade will be, so come say hello!) You can meet the designers and hear their stories.b) AND you can feel good knowing that the goods you are buying are sweatshop free! There really is such a sad and dark underbelly to the mass-produced garment and retail industry. According to Behind the Label, companies like Gap, J Crew, Abercrombie, Ann Taylor are guilty of gross violations related to worker pay and safety conditions. Some Chinese factory workers for Ann Taylor make $0.14/hour and work 96 hours/week. Crazy.

c) Buying locally is better for the environment. In the past 30 years, there’s been an exponential increase in the global use of fossil fuel. A huge culprit of that rise is the increase in trucks used to transport goods. Just to paint that picture a little more clearly… in 1965 there were 787,000 combination trucks (meaning semis used to transport goods) registered in the United States, and these vehicles consumed 6.7 billion gallons of fuel. In 2008, there were 2,215,856 combination trucks registered consuming almost 27 billion gallons of fuel. That’s a lot of fuel. The burning of these (non-renewable!) fossil fuels, of course, releases gases (i.e. carbon dioxide) into the atmosphere. Not good. When you buy locally, you reduce excessive fuel use.

d) DJs spinning all day and free drinks.

e) It costs $10 to get in, but if you would like to get in free, comment below, and I can put you on VintageRemade’s guest list.

edit: **the guest list is full**

cardboard piano

My grandma plays the piano beautifully. When she was little, her parents didn’t have enough money to afford a piano, so she drew a full size keyboard on a piece of cardboard and that’s how she learned-- on drawn black and white keys. She spent hours with her cardboard piano memorizing the notes and chords.

I heard that story for the first time this weekend and kind of loved it.

This is her as a teenager... with a real piano.

All in all I had a pretty amazing time in Houston visiting friends and family for the holiday and did not one but THREE shoots while I was home.

First up was my gorgeous little sister.

Then, I did a shoot with my beautiful cousin, Robyn. I only get to see her a couple times a year, so it was SO great to spend time with her!

And last but not least, my dearest friend Nicole, her husband Matt and their dog, Piper. Nicole and I have been friends since elementary school. She is basically family.

perry

This is Perry. He’s a friend from Arizona who now lives in Pasadena. I tend to laugh a lot when I’m around him, and our photo shoot was no different. Thanks for letting me take pictures of you, Perry!

breathing

This week I worked on a piece for a student show at Fuller that’s coming up in December. I’m pretty close to completing it, but will wait to post a picture. This is the blank panel board, though. It’s big.

When I start a new piece I have this wonderful feeling of terror that comes over me where I think, “Maybe this is going to be awful. Maybe this will be so bad that I won’t even be able to finish it.” My first stroke on the canvas I literally envision as jumping off a cliff.

I really have those thoughts.

Maybe that’s normal?

After I got going on this one and things were coming together, I had a couple of ideas that seized me where I felt like, “YES! let’s do that!” I went thrift store scavenging and found so many amazing materials.

But then I found myself battling more fear thoughts. Those thoughts went something like, “Maybe you should just save that idea because what if you never have a good idea like that again?? Maybe you shouldn’t really go for it and just keep that one for later.” And as small as those fear-thoughts are, they're something that I have to recognize and refuse.

I remember years and years ago coming to a place of conviction about not being afraid to let “good” ideas be realized. It seems kind of backwards, but there really is something scary about giving an idea you’re excited about a chance to be.

A few weeks ago when I did Sarah’s photo shoot, Sarah was talking about exhaling being an act of trust because you're releasing every bit of oxygen you have, and you would literally die if your body didn’t kick in and inhale again. All day long we go about doing our thing while our bodies calmly act out this profound picture of trust.

So all of that to say, I think creating is a little like exhaling. In every act of creation there is an act of trust in letting it go..in giving it out. We let those ideas have a place in the world and trust that more will come….

Today I am going to do a shoot with a guy. It’s my first man photo shoot. I’m excited.

portraits: andi, april & sarah

My friend Andi, who I love and adore, was willing to model for my first ever portrait shoot. It was so much fun.. like I was surprised how much fun I had taking these and was pretty pleased with how they turned out. I feel like they captured (or at least alluded to) the earthiness and beauty that is Andi.





My goal is to do a shoot a week. Last week I did a shoot with Sarah...



And today I did another shoot with my dear friend April. Here are some of my favorites...