f/1.4 ♡ my new tattoo

I recently got my 3rd tattoo and I'm in love with it! It's of the aperture setting f/1.4 and a cute heart. I do a lot of work with wide open apertures because I love the look, obviously I love it enough to get it permanently put onto my body haha. It was done at Iron Works Tattoo in Portsmouth, NH by Jeremiah Loui. I definitely recommend that shop, especially if you, like my friend Jackie, are looking to get traditional work done. It's a clean and very professional shop with great artists that are super nice. Next up is probably going to be my arm tattoo! Tattoos are such an addiction haha. xo

Favorite product - deodorant removing sponge

I'm sure all you have had this problem, you put on that little black dress or cute dark colored top and while checking out how great it looks, you see it, The dreaded deodorant mark! If you are anything like me you first tried getting them off with water and some kind of washcloth. That does absolutely nothing. I struggled with this problem for a long time. I have always worn a lot of black and dark colored clothing and I, unfortunately, have a bit of a sweating problem so I wear a good amount of deodorant or antiperspirant. So, I would either be forced to change to a lighter color or go out with white streaks all over my top.
But, one day I was in CVS and I stumbled upon some products in bright pink packaging (So obviously I was attracted to it.) This pink packaging contained all kinds of neat things from a company called Hollywood Fashion Secrets. As I was looking at the items, I saw one that said Deodorant Removing Sponge. I thought, "wow, that's awesome" but was a bit skeptical because any product can claim they do great things, and end up, well... sucking. I decided to give it a shot though. I purchased the sponge and went on my way.
One of the next few days from my visit to CVS, I was getting dressed and I saw the white streaks. I remembered that purchase I made the other day and went to get it. I read the directions, which said; "Briskly rub residue from your clothing with Hollywood Deodorant Removing Sponge. No need to use water." I then proceeded to quickly rub my shirt and I immediately noticed the white lightening! After a few more moments, it was virtually gone.
The sponge is reusable so I continued to use it every time I saw deodorant marks. You have to be able to rub the sponge relatively fast to get the residue off your clothing, but once you do it a few times it becomes a piece of cake! The sponge itself becomes yellowed after a while due to the deodorant on it so you might want to replace it when it starts looking pretty dingy.
This is a product I swear by, it definitely did what it said it would! If you suffer from those unsightly white marks on your dark clothing, go to your neighborhood drugstore and pick one of these up. You won't regret it. xo

What's in my bag

I thought I'd do one of the what's in your bag posts. So, here it is. I don't carry much in my purse as you can see, but I do occasionally add different items I might need like a marker, tissues, film, or other small things. What is seen here is what is most often in my bag as a constant. First, I have my wallet, given to my by my aunt, I'm not sure if it's real or not but it's still a great little wallet to hold my money (currently lacking), ID, gift cards, CharlieCard for when I go into Boston, and a few business cards. Next I have makeup (in and next to the VS bag.) I always carry makeup with me because I never know when I'm going to need to fix it up a bit. I'm planning on making a post about a few of my favorite products in the future so I'm not going to go too deep into the makeup bag. Then I have a 35mm film camera. I'm either going to have a Canon AE-1 Program or an Olympus OM10, which is seen here, with me. I don't usually use my 7D as a walk-around camera just because it's so big and heavy, so I use film cameras and my phone (Instagram addict here!) Sunglasses are a must. Protecting eyes is crucial, especially when you are a photographer. I think you kind of need working eyes to take photos, I don't know, maybe that's just me haha. Lastly I have my cute little leopard print house key. I've finally gotten into a habit of having my house key with me, much to my mother and sister's relief.
I've decided I'm going to be making posts on here much more often. So, feel free to check back, follow, and comment on any of my posts in the future! I'd love to hear what you think! xo

My first visit to The Garment District

A few of my friends had mentioned a store in Cambridge called the Garment District in the past. We had planned to go a couple of times but it seemed that something always came up so I was unable to make the trip. Luckily, the other day my friend Gabby asked if I wanted to go on a day that I was free so we went. The Garment District is a huge vintage and contemporary clothing and accessory thrift store in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The store doubles as an awesome costume shop called Boston Costume.

After Gabby and I got off the train we walked a few blocks (which wasn't very fun because I'm very out of shape haha) and finally arrived at a neat building with pink siding on the bottom portion of it. We walked in and immediately went to the buying desk because both her and I had brought some unwanted clothing to sell to the store. The people at the desk told us the wait to find out what they wanted to buy was going to be about 2 hours. That wasn't really a problem because the store is really big and it would definitely take us some time to look around.

When we walked up the stairs to where the clothing was I really excited to look around because there was just so much. I wandered around almost overwhelmed for a bit but then I started browsing. We spent a good hour walking thru the store. I saw a lot of neat things but nothing I really wanted to spend my money on, that was until I walked into the military and work section. I looked on one of the racks and saw a men's Levi's jacket. I loved it, I had been looking for a nice denim jacket for some time, I just didn't want to spend $80+ on a new one. I got really excited when I looked at the price tag, this great, worn-in, authentic Levi's jacket was only $15!! Immediately I grabbed it off of the rack.

After walking around the store for a little while longer, Gabby and I decided we were going to check if the buying desk had gone thru our clothes yet. It turned out we still had a little while longer, so we had the guy and the register hold what we were going to buy then we went out for a walk. While on our walk, it started to rain, hard. So, we ran back into the store and looked at the costume stuff until it was time to go back to the buying desk. At around 2:00, they had gone thru the stuff we had brought. When the store buys something you bring in, you can either get 30% of the resale value in cash or 60% in store credit. Since we were already planning on buying something from the store, we both chose the store credit option. I received a gift card with about $20 on it. I then purchased the jacket and a new shirt (what I was wearing got drenched when walking in the rain.) 

The Garment District is a great store, they have so many different things all the time and it's really inexpensive which is great when you're on a budget. If you find yourself in the Cambridge area, I definitely recommend checking out the Garment District! You may just find a gem. xo

Tea time!

I currently have two tattoos. I have a quote/song lyrics on my forearm and a teacup (seen on left) on the side of my thigh. Both of my tattoos have special meanings to them. For me personally, I would have a difficult time getting a tattoo that didn't mean something to me, just because I'd probably end up regretting it due to my ever-changing mind and interests. I went to get a tattoo on Friday the 13th of April because they were $31 for specific tattoos. I wasn't sure how many choices there would be but I decided to go and check it out. To my surprise, they had loads of tattoos to choose from! I was absolutely ecstatic when I saw a teacup as one of the many choices. I had been wanting a teacup to represent the Disney tea party ride, which I feel is something special to my mother and me. So after a very long wait, I got my tattoo. I love this little teacup so much! I have a few other tattoos planned out for the future. Once you get a tattoo, it seems like you just can't get enough of them! xo

Expired 35mm photography

 I absolutely love the look of film photographs and film cameras. Something about the vintage-ness of it all really appeals to me. I have two 35mm film cameras, a Canon AE-1 Program and an Olympus OM10. The OM10 was actually my grandfather's, given to me by my uncle recently. It's an adorable little camera and I really wanted to shoot with it, the only problem was that it's an aperture-priority camera so you can't select your shutter speed, the camera does that itself. I didn't like the though of that at all, but I did some research and found you can buy a manual adapter for the camera that allows you to choose the shutter speed in addition to the aperture. I immediately went to ebay and bought one. It arrived a few days later and I was so excited to use it, I just needed some more film because I had put my last roll into my AE-1. I was talking to my boyfriend, Connor, about having to go buy some film and he agreed to go with me. A few minutes later I got a text from him saying his dad found some old film in his office and he was wondering if I wanted it. It was expired but honestly, that made me even more excited to use it. So, I said I'd love to have it and he said he'd bring it over later that day. How lucky was that? Connor's dad just happend to find a box of 7 rolls of film when I needed some! Well that same day, I put my first roll thru the camera. I then had to wait to go get it developed, which was torture! haha I grew up with digital cameras where you can see what shots you got immediately, so this was a big change. Finally, I got to CVS and had them develop the roll. I wasn't sure how the photos were going to turn out due to the fact the film had been expired since 2005. To my surprise they turned out great! The film was still in really good condition. I now have 6 more rolls of expired film and 5 rolls of new film to go through. I'm really loving shooting film and will be doing a lot of it lately. Here are some of the photos from the first roll I put thru the OM10!

Vanna portraits

I had the opportunity to do a shoot with the band, Vanna at a photography seminar hosted by Jeremy Saffer. I quite like how my photos turned out! All three were shot with a Canon EOS-1Ds Mark II and 24-70mm f/2.8 lens.
My 60D didn't have the PC connection required for the flash so I had to use Jeremy's camera, which I had no complaints about, other than the weight! Haha I'm definitely not used to shooting with a camera that heavy.
 

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Wisdom teeth and fashion photography

I go my wisdom teeth removed yesterday and I'm definitely feeling the pain today. I have been taking the pain meds they prescribed me though, they help a lot. My boyfriend, Connor, came over and spent some time with me after he got out of class. Having him with me made me feel a lot better, even though all we did was sit on the couch and watch Adventure Time! He really is the best boyfriend anyone could ask for.

This Sunday, A friend of mine who is a designer is hosting a charity fashion show called "Finding Hope With Fashion." I'm shooting the show along with a couple of other photographers, and I'm wicked excited about it. I've never shot a fashion show before so it's something completely new and different. I figured out the gear I'm bringing already. I'm bringing my 60D, my Speedlite 430EX II, a softbox for the Speedlite, my 35mm f/1.4, and my 24-105 f/4. Hopefully I get some really cool photos!

So my weekend is going to consist of trying to feel better, cleaning, and then getting ready/shooting the show. Hope you have a nice weekend! xo