Your Crowning Glory

I was left feeling very inspired after seeing 'Where the Wild Things Are' movie- which i felt represented the perspective of an outsider and the difficulties of maintaining a relationship. A key motif of the film was the symbol of a crown used to enforce order and something that empowered the key protagonist, Max. It's interesting the kinds of crowns you get, Alice in Wonderland by Walt Disney features a small crown for the overbearing Red Queen while her husband had a large crown. I guess the choice was to mismatch them and make them look more as a couple and give a sense of unity to the wedded duo. Still, as you can see you can have tall or shallow crowns and all manner of spiked arrangements, even for the simple paper crown or crown crafted from cardboard.

One of the things I most like forward to about creating some space to take photographs is to find some cosy, fluffy grey jumpers or jumpsuits and do my own little 'Where the Wild Things Are' shoot and create a crown made of metallic gold cardboard. I'm sure if I did more searching I would find some toy scepters from the time in which I was into princesses and dress ups but it wouldn't be as much fun and wouldn't really suit the crown I would wear. Also, I am fairly certain in the movie there was no ruby gem in the middle of Max's sceptre.

Not only reserved for the most noble of bloodlines, crowns can also be worn by everyone's drunk and dorkiest uncle at Christmas day dinner after pulling apart a few bon bons and telling several bad jokes. The theory behind why bad jokes are told is that it turns everyone in the room against the joke in all its awfulness and that they are all joined together in their hatred against the corny pun. Therefore a sense of unity is created- so I have heard on intelligent quiz shows.

 

I am proud to be able to identify the runway show and season which this gob-smacking photograph came from. Emulating and imitating the classical Grecian/ Roman wales came many long and flowing dresses that were all red carpet worthy as well as gold tinted make up and props such as this crown used to mimic the life-giving sun. The collection was from Jean Paul Gaultier and was part of the Spring/ Summer collection in 2007. How do I know for sure? When first getting an interest in Vogue and magazines I borrowed a copy which contained a runway report of that season and neatly plucked it from it's bindings using a very sharp pair of scissors. It's the closest I've come to thievery and I proudly display my trophy above my bed using blue tack to keep it in prime position for when I sit up in the mornings. Mind you, I haven't had a lot of strength or motivation to sit up in bed, I do end up lying about for about an hour and a half or so though.

 

I leave you with Australian model Abbey Lee Kershaw in her earlier days minus the peroxide blond hair and sporting the iconic wolf costume and crown that Max from the popular children's picture book 'Where the Wild Things Are' is depicted wearing. If she ever did command I kingdom I would gladly join in an attempt to be adopted and taken under her wing.

Artistic make up

The more the fashion world expands and make up is continually done and redone, the more creative minds choose to push the envelope and expand their artistic boundaries by bringing to the world the new, the weird and the wonderful. These three photographs are the embodiment of that progression of ideas and the way designers are becoming visionaries, blurring the lines between what is art and what is fashion and melding the two ideas together into unison.

This mosaic mirror effect transforms the human face into what more closely resembles a disco ball and heightens the angular structure of the jaw line as well as nose bridge. The hipster hair cut that's half shaved off makes a bit of an odd contrast as well as the tan, naked half of the model but the plain white wall behind what looks to be a sad and morose figure seems fitting. I can't imagine any person in the world, let alone a man that would enjoy having glass glued to his face in the name of photography to look new and edgy.

The combination of pink nails, matching lipstick as well as the curious fringing effect makes my dying to redo my nails or better yet, get a proper manicure to take care of my nails. I have a box of nail stickers from Sally Hansen from my birthday in sparkly blue/ silver I've been waiting to break out but I have nothing really special coming up on the calender other than waiting for my pay check to come through.

Like the second photograph, the use of chain fringing mimics something you'd expect to see on a lampshade inside a spinster's apartment. I was originally trying to find photographs that looked like trailing beads off of lamps and then decided it was too hard. No- the main development in the fashion world beside the new structures and emerging materials from fresh new faces is also the presentation of models and growing important of make up used to make an impact on a crowd and really burn into their memories a fashion collection.

The Witching Hour

Halloween has come and gone and I live in a country where we hardly celebrate the occasion but still I'm in the mood to be dressed in garbs resembling a skeleton. But while I don't own any skeletal clothing myself, I'm making up for it by burning candles and playing with the wax as it dries as well as listening to Deftones 'Knife Party'. I'm in a bit of a purgatorial mood just hanging around waiting for first round offers for university as well as waiting to get called for work and to go out and see my beau. What better way to fill in the time by wrapping Christmas presents, writing in books and writing all over the Internet?

I was examining a middle aged woman's hair on the train and I think as soon as I see hints of grey in my hair I'll dye it all the same colour and save myself some trouble... although I may have strange dark regrowth. Aging seems to be such a problematic process and so does hair as well. At times I'm proud of my long, dark brown hair and wouldn't change it for the world and the next I want to dip dye it purple and pink or dye the whole thing silver and then dye that lilac. It's a complicated time to be a teenager.

I love these modified leggings with skeleton outlines teamed up with a pair of grey creepers. Although the photo quality is quite grainy I like the strange colours from the yellow hints on the wall to the deep burgundy carpet. If there was ever an occasion for me to dress as a skeleton then I may be tempted to try this for myself and make my own pair of bone leggings and buy some creepers. Just to mix things up, maybe curl my hair with a straightening iron and then put it up? To describe my current mood as mad and kooky mood doesn't really quite cover it entirely.

One of the things I'm most excited for now that I'm at the legal age and I can drink is being able to collect pretty bottles of vodka like this once pictured above which is a glass screaming skull. I'm not at all elated with joy at the fact I can destroy my liver and lungs with substance abuse but I have a fetish for glass bottles and small little liquor bottles. I'm not in my right mind and am a poor excuse for a teenager if there ever was one.

To improve upon the DIY Halloween costume maybe I would to better to find an all black jumpsuit or onesie and then cover it in metallic silver bones. I love this photograph, the contrast of the skeleton costumes and the floral curtains and the zombie like pose of the people. It almost makes me feel sad and lonely that Australia doesn't really celebrate Halloween other than parties and dressing up.

Party Animal

I'm in a bit of a mad and manic mood- there was a mishap of some sorts to do with work and I've missed out on getting to earn about $120 today. So I feel it is fitting that I get to vent my spleen on my blog and unleash my inner animal as best I can.

Or showcase people displaying their outer animal in fancy dress costumes on the street. Some of the photographs are to showcase the Diana F+ camera Hong Meow edition which comes in black and white and features a panda on the winding wheel.
The best reason I can think of my sudden attraction to animalistic behaviour and furry costumes is my longing to lash out and be properly angry but alas I keep composed and just a little bit ticked off instead.

The darkened corners of the photgraph and dreamy colours of the above photo is characteristic to the Diana cameras and was recrafted by Lomography in 2007 as the Diana +. The oriental and traditional characters of the sign above the person in the panda suit as well as the strong and vibrant red colours truly gives the photograph flair and an Asiatic flavour.

The graphics of the paper masks are in that 'Where the Wild Things Are' vain and I like that, although the fangs seem to be much more pointed and horrific and the eyes are beady, small and have bags underneath them. It just goes to show, there's a wild thing in all of us. Most notably in young children, but particularly in annoyed teenagers who have their mothers saying 'how dare they' and agitating the situation.
I'm in a bit of a wild mood myself, but there's nothing like giving the keyboard a good beating with my fingertips.

I like the use of sunglasses at night for these Halloween revelers dressed as a poise of bananas. At least they all had the good sense to all wear black long sleeved shirts and be uniform- that's how you snag the best goods and recognition from peers. Among my graduating class in high school, the most intelligent and brainy boy named Bobby Chen dressed as a banana in a metallic gold costume and it was hilarious due to the curved nature of the fruit. The bananas pictured above seem to be very straight and a bit more naturalistic, but that may just be the lighting of the photograph and use of flash photography in the dark.

I like the absurdly long pink ears of the bonnet that make up the rabbit hat combined with the posture: curled up in the foetal position wearing a filthy pair of velcro trainers and nursing a cigarette in hand. At the moment I almost wish I had that sort of full-blown anger and misery. I'm not sure if it is the influence of reading Dorian Gray and studying poetry by John Keats in my literature classes but this half blown anger and ticked off purgatorial state is draining me and making me feel sick. I may not fully believe in the aesthetic experience of emotion but there's nothing more miserable then self-pity, having the 'what if' complex and dwelling on the past and at the moment I am doing all three. Maybe I would feel better if I wore my own animal bonnet: a Simba the Lion costume as a part of my final celebration costume for the end of Year 12.

It's possibly two of the greatest costumes I've ever seen: a really stuffed and squishy looking hot dog and a squirrel which is bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. When I was searching at my local costume store they had some of the most flimsy and sad looking taco costumes I'd ever seen. Although, I did manage to score a Christmas pudding costume for Christmas in July and had spied a Pink Panther costume. The squirrel costume looks really good for cold days; those suits tend to heat up quickly and stay hot.

All the teeth are different in jagged and mainly triangular shapes, ranging from being slack-jawed, having them stick out at all sorts of angles or having the teeth comparable to a new grand piano. I like the smoke in the background as well as the straggly weeds and long grass in the foreground. Those two elements combined with the dark lighting of the photograph help to give a foreboding atmosphere to an already disturbing and costume head filled picture.

When not involved in comic skits on Sesame Street, muppets Bert and Ernie lead their alternate double life: both have fulfilling careers as DJs on the New York circuit. Balancing between their adult lives while teaching children how to read and count by day, the muppet duo are at all times inseparable. I must admit though, Ernie's head is looking a bit rough as if he's been in some brawls lately. Or it could be that there's a person inside him and his head is made of paper mache and that those are two of the sickest home-made costumes I've seen aimed for someone of my age. Must be the music set up and Ernie getting his dance on.

I've collected pictures of partying pandas the most from what's been curated in this post. All I can say is that the Asian in me muse be coming out and that people love pandas as much as I do. So much so, that they go out reveling during the night time dressed as the black and white mammal.
whether I took one or two snaps. The results will be interesting to say the least, I was using redscale film but it will give me a good indication on what to expect when photographing something with the two binary opposing shades: black and white.