on the street in paris

 Most of these photos were taken in the St. Germain area of Paris.. one of my favourite neighbourhoods for walking around in. Paris is a very walkable city.. especially when the weather was as nice as it was a few weeks ago. It was great to browse the shops in the area and of course I had to stop at Ladurée [I did twice while we were in Paris actually..haha]. I took a picture almost exactly like the fourth photo last time I was in Paris.. interesting to see how small things have changed.

Feeling a bit better now about the state of things here in NL.. we had a bit of a studio crisis as our P4 presentation date was moved a week earlier than we expected, but after a bit of pressure we’ve convinced our tutor to move it back.. so we’ve actually gained a much needed extra 2 weeks. Still things are going to be busy.. I’m trying to work on job applications and my online portfolio/website on top of studio work. At least I’ll feel comfortable devoting a day or two to that this weekend now that we know we’ve got some extra time.

Anyways, hope you’re enjoying spring!

five/twenty five

 I turned 25 today.. which feels really weird. I think I feel like this every year, but I don’t really feel like I should be this age yet. In some ways, this Jens Lekman song sums up some of my feelings towards birthdays. But, I think when it comes down to it, mostly I’m just super grateful for all the experiences I’ve been able to have in the past few years.. and I definitely wouldn’t trade them for anything. Birthdays for me are also usually a pretty family oriented time of the year and it’s a little weird being far from home and having to suffice with skype [better than nothing I suppose]. Today was pretty nice, was able to relax during the day,  went to my darkroom course and then had a nice home made sushi dinner.

Anyways, Paris was fabulous and I’ll share some new photos next week. Hope April is treating you well!

urban condition

Hong Kong is a fast city. One thing I’ve learned from visiting and researching the city is that things change at a pretty rapid pace in Hong Kong.. and the area that I’ve chosen to study is no exception. Most of the neighbourhood is comprised of post-war tong lau, 6-7 storey walk ups with commercial space on the bottom. Wing Lee street, where most of these photos were taken, is one of the rare spots in the city where older tong lau still exist. The area was slighted for demolition but the decision was reversed after a movie filmed at the site won an award at the Berlin Film Festival. Some of the nearby housing blocks are still under threat and luxury towers have begun to pop up around the area. While it’s easy to overly romanticize the worn and lived-in nature of these areas, there is something to be said about preserving the tong lau typologies as an alternative to the massive housing towers which are both out of scale and out of touch with their surroundings.

Hopefully I’ll be able to address some of these issues with my design project. Anyway, Hong Kong has turned out to be a fascinating and complex place to study.. super glad I chose this studio!

I’m heading home on Sunday.. can’t wait to be back in Vancouver for a few weeks

columbia road market

Sunday [our last day in London] was definitely one of my favourites. It was market day! First we headed to the Columbia Road market in Shoreditch. It’s mainly a flower and plant market, but there are lots of cute shops and second-hand stores that are part of it as well. I found these amazing chairs [photo 6] that I wanted to buy so bad, but they would have been pretty impossible to bring home. I have a nerdy obsession with maps, and they were basically covered in maps from different parts of London.. how cool is that? My lovely friend [and London hostess] Bev bought some bright orange flowers for her place, and although it was kind of a grey day and drizzly day none of us seemed to really mind.. there was so much to see around the markets, we forgot all about the bad weather.

On a side note, I’m totally excited to be heading to Berlin in about 3 weeks time! Going to do a bit of research for my architectural history thesis and general exploring. And of course lots of photos. : )

ancient rome

Off to Rome! I love loooved the Roman Forum. After touring the Colosseum [which was also quite amazing] we headed to the Forum. We had this awesome Scottish tour guide, Richard, who knew so much and had so many interesting and funny stories about ancient Rome. It was really hot though.. around 36 celsius [97 F] and after the tour I opted to sit and sketch in the shade with my sister vs climb up to the Palatine Hill with my parents. Probably the best decision I made all day. This was also the day I slipped on the steps by Piazza del Campidoglio and broke my kit lens.. argh.

The weather has been awesome this past week [unfortunately I had to spend most of it in an office], but I went to Stanley Park yesterday which was great and I’m looking forward to spending more time outside this long weekend. Hope everyone else is having a great one!

PS – I decided it was time to change my header

sunday at home

I spent the day today at home relaxing and helping my mom outside [and taking a few pictures.. with my digital camera this time]. It was really nice spending some time in the yard, I’m going to miss it for sure when I leave for school in August. And I’m glad I got outside today because I think the rain is going to return by tomorrow.

Hope everyone had a nice weekend and hopefully got the chance to enjoy some time outdoors!