Posts tagged photography

PHOTO SHOOT FOR PRESS RELEASE 

What do you think of my official photoshoot photos for the Kit for Uptight White People. Now Proudly stocked by Metropolis Books, Brunswick Bound, and Brunswick Street Bookstore. (see links below) for $16 a copy. 

To be honest with you, its always stressful peddling your creations. You should be proud that you have come so far, and done something that is actually pretty good. Its up there. But no, that feeling of humility never does leave and you always feel slightly ridiculous. But you have to push on. Yesterday was an exhausting.. I bundled up my books in a bag, and drove around to six places with my books. One shop was closed, and another shop (Heidelberg Gallery, known for being very stuffy and difficult to deal with on many recounts) of course were too busy to see me. Another major bookseller Reading’s buyer Daniel was so busy, but still made a bit of time, and said he loved it but was so drowning in books to put out on the shelves, that it would get lost in his pile. Could I please return in the New Year. So that’s great.

The owner/buyer at Metropolis books http://www.metropolisbookshop.com.au/ is called Molly, and she is a lovely lady with a soft kind gentle face. One of those rare people who takes the time to listen carefully. I am really stoked that the Kit is in this shop, as it is the most beautiful bookshop ever. Full of really interesting titles. 

Brunswick Bound http://www.brunswickbound.com.au/is a pretty awesome shop too, as is Brunswick Books: http://www.brunswickstreetbookstore.com/. If you ever come to Melbourne, I would say these 3 shops plus Readings and Perimeter Books are the ones to visit!

So I should be pleased really. 

Then I emailed our famous blog here in Melbourne with the above photos included, and others that you are probably all familiar with. I posted a hard copy off to a magazine you might have heard of called Frankie.. will I hear back from them.. ? tick tick tick tick goes the minutes, days…… I hate this. But you have to do it. 

If you would like to read the kit you can do so here: 

http://issuu.com/veronicagrow/docs/kitforuptightwhitepeople

For those ignorant of Honour
The Look in the Mirror Experiment. 

(From the What the Hell is your Problem Kit -  A Kit for Uptight White People)

colour preview here: http://issuu.com/veronicagrow/docs/kitforuptightwhitepeople

purchase here: http://www.blurb.com/my/book/detail/2597718

Take a full length mirror, and look in it. What do you see? What are you wearing? How do you stand? What sort of expression do you have? 

Linda Grant’s book, called “The Thoughtful Dresser” sees not caring about the way we look, as being “a sign of depression, madness or resignation to our imminent death.” That might sound quite drastic, but, making an effort in how you dress, no matter how small, is the first step in learning about honour, because you are honouring yourself, and others. When you honour yourself, you feel happy and generous. This gives you the energy to make a small difference by conducting small acts of kindess for others too. 

Who best to illustrate this philosophy of honour, than my amazing friend Jasmine. Jasmine understands honour due to her background. She is half persian, and half irish american. Her mother Alison and Jasmine honour life to the full with their love of dress and artistic living. Everyday is a fun and fully artistic adventure to team the right colour, with the right accessory, and colour shoe and lipstick, so that an incredibly unique and beautiful vision emerges. They always both look incredible, and people always stare in wonder. Seriously. 

Long ago, back in the seventies, Jasmine’s mother Alison, married a handsome and intelligent persian man with piercing eyes,  when it was not really the done thing for a bostonian catholic girl to do. But she went for it. And so the legacy of honour has been passed on from mother and father to daughter. They all  treasure and honour life itself with their every breathing moment. 

One of the lovely persian  traditions of honouring life is that of always having a beautiful display of fresh fruit and nuts on the table in gorgeous containers, to help guests feel honoured, and also to enhance the very gift of life itself. I am sure that this was a tradition that the dutch picked up on in the 17th century, with their love of the still life and memento mori and of course tulips which originate in modern Iraq. So I have included a photo of Alison’s stunning crystal used to beautifully present fruit. (sorry there was no fruit when i took the pic, but you get the idea)

I have also included a picture of the incredible interior of Alison’s apartment,  and also Jasmine’s balcony in Aman with its dreamlike  atmosphere. Jasmine created this with cheap furniture from a market, but just look at it. I think her collection of fabrics speaks volumes about her excuisit eye for the unusual and beautiful. Both Alison and Jasmine are also natural born storytellers and wordsmiths. 

After marrying her Persian man in the seventies, Alison lived in Tehran.  After the revolution, Jasmine was born, andthey worked in Saudi Arabia, where Jasmine learned Arabic as a baby. Then they lived and worked in Kuwait for approximately the next twenty years, with Jasmine being educated at Yale. She is fluent in Arabic, Persian and English, and is now a full bright student at the Royal University of Jordan in Aman, where she is creating intricate and sensitive Arabic script, tiles, and art. She has also curated important pan arabic art exhibitions for Yale. So honourable in her relations is she with others, that she accumulates an incredibly large and colourful array of friends from USA and the middle east. 

stay tuned!  Although hectically busy, between  flights between Boston, and Aman Jordan, Jasmine is going to do her best to do a post on her notion of “Honour”.    She is a incredibly creative and magical storyteller, and it will be a captivating screed. Good luck Jasmine and I send to you my honour you and Alison are very inspiring people to many!! 

TAKE CONTROL OF YOUR OWN FRESH FOOD SUPPLY! 

“Food gardening is the most intellignet adult endeavour on earth”, says Lolo Hobein, in her book called One Magic Square.(see link below). The whole premise of the book, is, even if you have never grown a radish, the best and cheapest food  is the food you grow in your own earth, on a single metre. Even though you may well be busy, a metre is a sinch to tend. ANYONE can do it. go for it!

Anyway, here is my magic metre. I love gardening. Not just for the tasty food, but also for the sensory delight i get from observing the constantly changing patterns of texture and colour. I believe, that if EVERYONE had a small patch, there would seriously be a lot less mental illness in the world. It keeps you balanced! have a good day!

http://www.wakefieldpress.com.au/product.php?productid=593

SUCH A CUTE LITTLE ARSE (part 2)

SUCH A CUTE LITTLE ARSE. 

Of course I may be biased when i say that my little dog Gertie has a cute little arse, but i am sure that you will have to agree. Here she is flaunting it and herself, on this morning’s daily constitutional (yes, that is correct - walk) 

TEXTURES FOR KIT - TRIALS

Textures are always nice, i think. Here are a few that I am playing around with for the redesign of my kit. The idea is that they are inpenatrable surfaces, much like the unpenatrable surfaces of “Uptight White People” that exclude and shut out. 

And at the end of a long and busy week, remember to stop, and just “breath”