Portraits, Words, and Places

I said two posts ago that I was working on some portraits because I tend to take too many pictures of things and not people. I promised and now I'm going to deliver. Here is my latest work in the workshop and with the camera.

The first subject is my girlfriend, Angie. She's so lovely and fun to photograph, but I love the natural bond and intimacy that she shares with her best friend Hannah, the second subject. They're love and care for each other is immediately obvious and a joy to capture in these images. These were taken on my new Nikon Coolpix 840. It's a very nice gift from my sister. We are going to be shooting a wedding together soon and if the bride and groom allow it, I'd like to share those photos with you all as well.

On top of trying out my new camera, I recently finished a project that I'd wanted to get done for some time. It's my simple and fun book binding project. The pages are just copy paper, but they've been cut down. The edges ended up with this cool weathered look because the blade on the paper cutter was dull. The pages were sewn and glued together, then glued to the leather cover. Before adding the cover, I added four copper corners for the aesthetic. I thought I was done, but I really wanted some sort of closing mechanism, so I added in the clasp after the book was "done." Here's my finished result.

It won't fit in my pocket but it's definitely petite. It's probably about as big as my hand. The clasp has a bit of wiggle room in it, perfect for holding a pen in place for travel. This is destined to become my adventure log. I'm going to recap my adventures to take pictures with Angie and Hannah and then plan out more trips and take accounts of them here.

This actually my second completed journal. The first is my everyday user that I've had for about a year and a half now. The poor things falling apart in places, chipped, worn, and dirty, but it is well loved and used. Surprisingly, the whole thing is holding together and has held up to the rigors of my bookbag, unlike most professionally made books. The binding is holding up remarkably well. I've got two more in the works, one with plywood covers installed, like this one, but I'll just leave this one here for now.

Still working on the dragon, updates to come.