My head hurts. It's been two weeks, and it just won't stop. I've been to urgent care, the hospital, and my regular doctor. Now, I've got a referral to a neurologist and an appointment with a new endocrinologist to sort out the source of this pain. It's not a normal headache--I don't know how to describe it. It's a whole other sort of head pain. It's coming from deep inside. Of course, having a tumor hanging out at the bottom of my hypothalamus means I try to be extra-aware of things going on in and with my head. To give you an idea of how close together it all is in there, here's a diagram:

And if pondering the inside of your head wasn't enough to weird you out, here's something that definitely will: a view of the inside of my head from my latest CT scan.




What's funny is, when I saw the CT scan image above, the first thing I thought was "Wow, you can even see how big my nose is on an effing x-ray. Sweeeet."

I guess we've all got our insecurities. Ha.

Now, I know that I haven't posted on here in quite awhile, but don't worry--I haven't abandoned this blog! Not at all. I've just been busy planning a wedding (yes! yay!!) and trying to keep all the other parts of my life running too. I'll get this head thing figured out one way or the other. To end the post on a lighter note, below is a photo of Festivus, one of my family's dalmatians. This photo is of one of his spots, and I promise it wasn't photoshopped at all--he really does have a spot in the shape of a heart. That's enough to cheer just about anyone up. :-)




Happy Thursday to all, and to all a good night.
--Velvet--

From what I've heard, shooting weddings at the LDS Temple in Salt Lake City is a dangerous business for photographers these days. I've heard that thieves have now taken to following photographers home from the temple and stealing their cameras and equipment out of their cars once they park and leave their vehicle. That is scary, considering the number of weddings that happen there everyday. I believe I've heard it is around 50 weddings per day, and I read online that the Salt Lake Temple has 14 sealing rooms, so that number makes sense. That's a whole lot of wedding photos, and a whole lot of wedding photographers who could be victimized. Sad. But my reason for visiting the Church's Temple Square in Salt Lake last Spring wasn't sad, and it wasn't to shoot a wedding. Alex and I were there visiting John and his wife Amanda, and they were kind enough to show us around. You may not know much about Mormonism, you may be confused by it, or you may even be scared of it, but you can count on one thing: they know how to build some pretty freaking cool buildings.

Deseret is an LDS book publisher, and these buildings are located across the street from Temple Square.


The Church Conference Center was an amazing building. There are 7,677 pipes in this organ:



The auditorium of the place is large enough to hold a Boeing 747 inside. I didn't get many good shots of the interior, but check out Alex's blog post for some great ones.















After we toured the Conference Center, we headed over to the top of the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. (We ate at "The Garden." Yeah, slowest service ever, btw.) This is a view of the top of the Temple from the top of the Joseph Smith building:





I am off to be in a wedding this weekend, and then we're on the road, so I probably won't be posting much for a while. I hope everyone is happy and well.

Happy Thursday to all, and to all a good night.
--Velvet--

Butchart Gardens, like everywhere else in Victoria, British Columbia, is an expensive place to visit. Very. Summer tickets will run you $28.15 per person, and no, there aren't any discounts available (we asked). The admission for two, plus tax, ran us just under $65, which was almost enough to prohibit us from making the trek out there. We took a ferry over from America to Victoria, so we were sans car. Butchart is about 15 miles North of the city of Victoria, and most of the private coach transportation is about $16 each. That would bring the total for transportation and tickets for two to just under $100. We figured that there weren't many flowers worth seeing for $100, so we decided to make it an adventure and ride the city bus instead. I misread the Victoria city map, so we ended up running a couple of extra blocks in the wrong direction, but we finally made it onto our bus.

So did this kid. I'm pretty sure he also injured the vertebrae in his neck during his nap.

Anyway, we were able to get round trip transportation to and from downtown Victoria to Butchart for just $5 each. Scoooore. :-) It was also neat because we got to tour the Vancouver Island backroads a little bit on the slightly winding route the public bus takes out there. I got a few cool shots at the Gardens, enough to make me realllly wish I had a macro lens. I am putting it on my wish list, for sure.








Here is Alex, waiting on a bench for me to take yet another photo.


A little bit of purple split tone.


This is by far my favorite shot from the day. All of the leaves on this flower were black/bluish-black. I think this one would look great big, on canvas, don't you? ;-)

So...I didn't write this post. It's ABOUT me, but not BY me. My good friend Aaron insisted on writing this. He's not the first friend to write a blog post in my honor (Doug did it back in 2008), but I'm still not totally comfortable hearing all the nice things he has to say. Haha. Anyway, Aaron's got some things to say, and, well, he's a much better writer than me, so I'll step aside and let him do the talking:

Hey, my name is Aaron. I write, I read, I listen and I love to explore. Today, I'll be presenting you with an honest dissertation of one of the greatest people I've ever had the privilege and blessing of meeting, Velvet.

Let me be very clear here: I actually had to persuade her to let me write this blog. This was entirely unsolicited.

Have you realized that rock and roll music is basically dead? Sure, once in a while an album will come out that defies that statement, and during that time I'm ecstatic. It's something I listen to constantly, and try to find some sort of answer to a question I'm not even sure was ever asked in the first place.

A few years ago I bought a limited first pressing of the Gaslight Anthem's now undoubtedly classic debut album, Sink or Swim (2007). And to me, with nods to bands like Nothington (Roads, Bridges and Ruins) The Menzingers (their stunningly perfect 2010 album, Chamberlain Waits is not to be missed) as well as Against Me's!, "White Crosses" (also released this year. Sometimes lightning strikes twice) there have been very few triumphant rock and roll albums. Granted all these bands tend to garner some reverence in the "punk" community, but these albums aren't your prototypical 1-2 beat, 3 chords, generic punk. It's music that transcends all of that.

But beside all those albums I mentioned, and there are others I'm missing, Sink or Swim stands high above the aforementioned albums because it captures a feeling that's so distinct...almost too distinct to place. It cascades the mind to memories, places and faces buried deeply in the past.

But it's also so brutally honest. It's an accomplishment on all levels, and is completely flawless. However, what I like most is that it's just a rock album. Tinges of influence from soul, r'n'b, punk, blues...it's there. But it's so honest. It's the top of honesty and integrity that makes something that isn't necessarily an outwardly aggressive body of work dangerous because of the emotions it inspires.

And I've noticed that so many artists try so hard to be edgy, hip and unseen, underground gods of a scene so pretentious, that to even actually earnestly enjoy a body of work is taboo. It's hip to hate everything.

Then there's someone like Velvet, who, by her own rights is what so many photographers want to be, "rock and roll."

To be, in my eyes, an actually gifted artist, you have to be able to express your voice, but be able to do so in different languages. What I mean by that, is that you have to be able to have flexibility. To be diverse. To be a jack of all trades. To just at least try and accomplish something outside of your normal realm.

And Velvet, whether she notices it or not, easily transcends different languages as far as photography is concerned.

You have some of the more gritty photos. What she captures in the fight club shoots is something not even UFC could hope to inspire: It's a perfect capsule, the visualization to the ideas presented in the book that spawned the term, "Fight Club," at least to a more mainstream audience. But she captures that longing in actual bloodied and bruised faces, the story of youth wanting to feel something. Senses so dulled by buying shit, working, getting sucked into bullshit that is just not important. Eventually waking up from the dreams of yesteryear.

And it's such an odd concept to visualize mentally. I mean, unless you've ever actually been to one of these backyard bloody revivals, it's damned difficult to imagine: People disillusioned with the atmosphere around them, dying to feel something that's tangible, real. Some affliction earned by someone they most likely consider a brother, that anyone can see. Because everything is polished, and glossy...but life isn't like that.

Her photos document something important. While it's a subculture that's demonized, she sheds a much more humane light on the subject.



And it's weird, to think about humanity while testosterone-driven youth beat the holy hell out of each other willingly.

But I don't want to give the impression that all she does is get gritty. This woman can do it all. Wedding shots, pet shots, some of the most amazing nature shots I've honestly ever seen.

I've been so lucky to be able to watch the whole process. From taking a picture, to her spending hours painstakingly messing with a shot until it breaths a new life right before you on the screen. A few times I've sat on the floor in her
room listening to rap music and drinking Coors Light, thinking to myself how I would've been satisfied with the image three variations prior. But it's a sight I wouldn't trade the world for. To be allowed into the actual entire process of a
talented artist is so...great. I hope every one can experience something of that magnitude someday.

One of my favorite memories of Velvet, which I doubt she remembers too well, was way back when she came in October of 2008, right before her birthday. Her, Jeremy and I went out to the Casa Grande Mountain, which wasn't too far from where I lived
at the time. I'd bought her champagne and some glasses and a book for her birthday. Also beer.

I remember we were in this PT Cruiser, which I've never been a fan of. But I remember her fuming over it, and it cracked me up. She's used to rolling with style, not this odd looking box...thing, that's deceptively small, mind you. Awful car.

We took pictures, made monkey faces in the dark. And then, in the distance the sounds of either someone meeting a grisly end at the hands of a shovel, or some serious desert sex was happening. God bless the mystique of a small town. Sure, there might be some of that good old-fashioned down-home appeal...but bet you your bottom dollar the kids are screwing in the desert.

We drank, and played with flashlights in the dark desert, while Velvet stood steadfast behind the lens creating something out of her imagination that would rival any great painters, and she created some amazing photos with a cactus, and illumination. From something as simple as a flash light.




Some photographers who do wedding shoots, you can tell most of them are jaded with their profession because they aren't taking those prize winning pictures. The commonality then sets in, staged, posed photos where it really doesn't bring to life the spirit of the union.

But again, this is an area where she's a cut of a different cloth. She cares about her subjects. The photos encapsulate, in a way, the near defiance in the eyes of those about to be wed. It is a defiant step to take, forsaking all others and
putting your name in the corner of your partner, conceivably, til death do you part. And she captures that, and in the wedding photos you get a richer sense of what's unfolding. Real memories of a time and place that shouldn't be put into photo albums and then stored into closets collecting dust. Rather, they are the type of photos you proudly display. Seek to view daily.













There's a lot to know about Velvet, honestly. She loves baseball, she loves to read, she loves to travel. She's doing great things with both her real job, and photography. She has an awesome turtle named Yertle, who once had a minnow he was supposed to eat, but wound up becoming friends with. His name was Barry Minnolow.

Yertle eventually ate Barry. All who knew him would agree he had a good run.




She's got the meanest right hook...I should know. She's hit me in the face many times.

She's tenacious, yet passionate. Intelligent, but curious. And it bleeds out into the images she captures.

For example, I live in the desert. All deserts look the same to me, and I think they are ugly. A few weeks after her trip to Arizona, she went off the grid for her birthday, and went to Death Valley. She was so excited about it, too. Not being able to be bothered by humanity, disconnected from everything. All to photograph the desert and...some...rocks? I couldn't get past that. Rocks. There are rocks everywhere, Velvet.

But that's what she wanted for her birthday. A bunch of rocks that move on their own slowly.

Needless to say I was skeptical. This girl has traveled all over the place. I'm somewhat convinced she has Vegas on speed dial.




But rocks...in a desert, where her phone didn't work. Surely, some sort of angry desert creature would eat her. Or she might have a heart attack from all the excitement only two rocks in the middle of nowhere could bring.

But when she showed me the pictures, I immediately felt foolish.








She's a lot smarter than I am.

The first time I ever saw her house, I was blown away by her book collection. Many, many amazing books.

Her humor is out of this world.

The day they discovered she had this tumor in her brain, I believe the size of a chick-pea, I was stunned. How do you marginalize some one's mortality when they honestly are this huge essence of life, in all its facets? She'd always been such a positive tour de force. The thought of those first few days, how I wanted to somehow fell the invisible to the naked eye transgressor.

But she kept moving forward. Something that would honestly shake the character out of the pores of most people, and rightfully so, because to be presented with the idea of mortality at such a young age is criminal. But she acknowledged her fears...and then she did the unthinkable: she continued to live her life the way she wanted. Fuck you, tumor.

"Have tumor, will travel."

Without skipping a beat, she remained the same but began to deal with the issue in a fashion that's been extremely inspirational to me.

I know there's a lot to take in here, about someone who takes some very captivating pictures. Truth be told, especially with photographers that catch my eye, I always want to know their story.

With her, I've been lucky to be there in its early stages. From her humble beginnings, I knew that, and still believe this with all of my heart, that her work is something that deserves to be on a large-scale. She is someone that the photographic community, and artistic community as a whole for that matter, need to take notice of. She has untapped potential, and the growth she's had in such a short amount of time is astonishing. It'd be like learning how to walk, and then figuring out how to drive a car within the next week. It's spectacular.

Her father is a tremendously talented individual behind the lens as well. Definitely worth exploring. And in this case, the apple doesn't far from the tree.

One of the aspects of her photography that I've always appreciated, are the photos of her heritage. She is Native American, and it's a side of her photography that I feel doesn't quite get as much attention as it truly deserves.

About a year ago I got to accompany her to a shoot she did, once again in Casa Grande at the O'Odham Tash pow wow. It rained so lightly that day. But I wish I had a camera then. Watching her carefully snapping shots, it was a different persona. This was something she took a whole different loving approach to.







I got to see that.

It's like a touchdown at the Super Bowl...not many people get to experience that.

I met Velvet a little over three years ago. She had a friend who had a mutual friend that I had at a time. His name is Alex, and he would eventually become her beau. To his own right, Alex is also a multi-talented individual who is no slouch behind the camera as well. I'm also assured he can cut a mean rug.

She'd broken I think her foot, or maybe it was her tail bone. I can never remember. Her friend Jeremy was staying with her in San Clemente, California. He'd showed her one of my little ranting blogs on MySpace, and she left a comment.

Since that one comment my life has not been the same.

For example, I can't count how many times I've been subjected to random nude male anatomy because of her.

See, her photos are rock and roll. They encompass many genres, but the cohesion at the end is one that's simply honest, and very, very dangerous in a way. It's dangerous in the way it can inspire the longing to travel, or the desire to create as well.

No one captures the night like she does.




Absolutely.




No.




One.




Does.




And what she does with her nature shots is jaw-dropping.
















And even when the world is ending in embers all around her, she comes up with this.




Velvet herself is a cumulative of rock and roll, and all the best beat writers with perfect vision.

Her photos hit me the same way that Sink or Swim hits me. It evokes memories from fading time frames. It inspires.

Do yourself a favor and buy some of her pictures. Your alternatives are bleak. What, are you gonna go get yet another rehashed version of Starry Night? If Van Gogh saw his work being displayed so cheaply now, he'd cut off his ear all over again.

And I mean, come on...art work from Target? Don't you want something striking? Something defining? An original work from an up and comer? Think of the appreciation value this time next year in a purchase with her. Get it now while it's still totally affordable. Everyone loves being on the ground floor of something big.

Refer her to friends. Leave her encouraging comments. Get excited, cause it's been a while since something was worth the adrenaline.

Or just stick with another Anne Geddes photo. Get a big enough frame to replace your dignity, though.


Brushed silver is good for that.



Adieu.



P.S: I think it goes without saying that all the photos are hers.

This is just a quick post to show y'all some photos from an engagement session Alex and I did for Kerry and Mark. Kerry is a very good friend of mine, and I'm excited to be a bridesmaid in their upcoming wedding! We shot these photos at/around the train station at San Juan Capistrano, the Mission at San Juan Capistrano, Calafia State Beach in San Clemente, and at the beach near the Ocean Institute in Dana Point. It was a lot of stops...the day was part e-session, part marathon! Haha. Anyway, as you can see this is a very happy couple--they couldn't stop kissing! They were a whole lot of fun to shoot. :-) Enjoy the photos!

Happy Friday to all, and to all a good night.
--Velvet--