tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-60840216444432899302024-02-20T08:52:02.506-06:00Ashley Lebedev | Bottle BellFine Art Portraiture | Conceptual PhotographyBottle Bell Photographyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10103938584234092344noreply@blogger.comBlogger94125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6084021644443289930.post-46654737184493817962013-06-24T16:17:00.000-05:002013-06-24T16:17:35.840-05:00Photogs & Creatives!<br />
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I just briefly wanted to announce that I am going to be releasing my first guided imagery (both led & written by myself) on 'finding the source of your own inspiration', meant to help those who are struggling with ideas or relaxing into themselves enough to get to their own pool of creative self, in a new meditation meant to spark your personal creativity, by going into your own mind & finding out just what it is offering you.
My plan is to release by the end of July.
I'm also going to be making a guided imagery more related to health & well being, for those that aren't necessarily a creative, but who are still wanting to look at themselves more lovingly, in depth & in kindness.
I've been meditating for over a decade & feel that I'm finally in a place where I understand its value & how to begin teaching that very simply & accessibly to other creatives.
I will be sure to post on here as well as all networks when it's up & available.<br />
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Many thanks,<br />
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Ashley x<br />
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<br />Bottle Bell Photographyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10103938584234092344noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6084021644443289930.post-32927105814634419962013-06-19T15:34:00.000-05:002013-06-19T15:34:25.785-05:00Announcements ~~ June, 2013<div style="text-align: center;">
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Well, just a few announcements ...</div>
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First & foremost, Dust Bowl is back to kicking up dust. ;)</div>
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<br />A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of photographing the strange & gorgeous creature, Annie Montgomery [of Muse Models, NYC] (she looks like an icelandic fairytale) out in the Big Apple. After meeting her in a Brooklyn cafe, I knew I wanted to put her into Dust Bowl so, so badly. So, a few days later, we did. </div>
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<br />Here's a teaser from that day on a fire escape in West Harlem. </div>
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The rest have not been edited <i>just</i> yet. </div>
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I will post all on my <a href="http://facebook.com/AshleyLebedev" target="_blank">facebook fan</a> when they are ready to go & I hope you enjoy.</div>
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Beyond that, I just wanted to mention that I have a 12 page feature coming out on 'Faerieland" in the June Issue of the Greek "Economist" Magazine, for all over there that might be able to see it. </div>
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This is the first piece of news about that collection, this year & I'm so excited to see it in print. :)</div>
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Lastly, I have some work coming out in Papercut Mag, also covering a new sequence in Faerieland & I'll be sure to post it here when that goes live. </div>
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Many thanks & have a beautiful week, </div>
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<a href="http://facebook.com/BottleBell" target="_blank">Ashley</a></div>
Bottle Bell Photographyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10103938584234092344noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6084021644443289930.post-85632093837982652682013-06-19T15:21:00.000-05:002013-06-19T15:24:53.896-05:00New Faerieland! Hello to all!<br />
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I felt it was time to touch base w/ some new work. (!)<br />
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2013 has been incredibly busy, not only creatively but also in terms of travel and the locations I've had the pleasure of shooting within. I've photographed thus far, everywhere from the Pacific Northwestern Rainforest of Oregon & Washington state (my favorite place on Earth) as well as in NYC and back in Minneapolis. So many new characters & so many yet to come.<br />
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The character synopsis' for each of them can be found on my <a href="http://facebook.com/AshleyLebedev" target="_blank">Facebook Fan</a> under the "Faerieland" folder/album, while my site is undergoing its new overhaul (which I'm very excited to launch)<br />
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Hope you enjoy these new pieces & thank you to all for the overwhelming amount of love & support this year, thus far, on every network.<br />
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I will try to post these all in chronological order and I am posting these in their entirety, but as many of you already know with Faerieland, there are often hidden faces & elements that cannot be found or seen unless you zoom in, so detail shots of those are also on my facebook fan. X<br />
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Lastly, while my site is in transition, for those who dig higher resolution, please view my <a href="http://500px.com/AshleyLebedev" target="_blank">500px</a> account to see them as sharp as they are intended.<br />
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<b>"Ephymn" | [Song of Transient Things]</b></div>
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<b>"Falcon" </b></div>
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<b>"Fawn(a)" </b></div>
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<b>"The Seer" </b></div>
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<b>"Vestige" </b></div>
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<b>"Birds of Passage" (Sequence, Image 1)</b></div>
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<b>Again, THANK ---> YOU.</b><br />
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<b>- <a href="http://facebook.com/bottlebell" target="_blank">Ash</a></b></div>
<!--3--><!--3-->Bottle Bell Photographyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10103938584234092344noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6084021644443289930.post-21052683672893744122013-04-30T13:31:00.001-05:002013-04-30T15:04:03.103-05:00The Constant State of MotionFriends, I saw this illustration/painting this AM and it prompted me to do what I haven't done in too long: just a little bit of writing about this career that keeps me in a perpetual state of motion, always going going, going.<br />
Thought I'd take a moment to touch on the personal and more honest, even bittersweet side of it all, in a blog dedicated to those of you who might also stir from somewhere deep inside when they see this which, for some, I know also hits very close to "home"<br />
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My writing below is for<br />
the lover<br />
the traveler<br />
the passionate<br />
the spirited heart<br />
creature people.<br />
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I saw this painting this morning and it brought tears to my eyes, as i am once again in the last few days of being in one place for very long. i do think there's an irreversible beauty that can come from nowhere else but in the experiences we find in traveling:<br />
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Those we meet and live and laugh with along the way but, as with all things, we become attached to places, people, animals and the things we keep to remember them, even love, because they kept us so heartily well and if they didn't keep us well, perhaps we are attached to the memory or the lessons they left instead.<br />
We are so humanly, honestly, vulnerably and beautifully attached to the way we know or remember feeling in certain moments.<br />
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In nostalgia, today i think of berlin subway adventures. italian accents and the men who wore them. the rainforests of the PNW, that i am soon going back to. i think of bands that started on trains heading westbound when two people met and had to do something with their perfectly harmonized voices, she from america, he from england. i think of the way my dog is sleeping right now, along my feet and breathing so softly that i know it will be impossible to say goodbye this coming thursday morning when i trade her beautiful spirit for an inanimate suitcase's weight and where I know in my absence, she will just look for me out the window. I think of how minnesota waited and waited and waited for the snow to melt and how when i first got here on the 18th of April after nearly three months away, i was the only person happy to arrive in such a blizzard, such a perfect signature for this flat land I grew up on.<br />
...And then... I think of the plane i was flying in last summer, as it landed in iceland, before I ever went to england or scotland, before i ever knew what was going to happen on that 2 month trip that turned into 5...... how that plane flew through a dawn and through a rainbow and through lightning bolts, over lava rocks and bobbling foggy boat harbors where icelandic men were pulling their nets through their clenched fists, half standing in ocean and their own pipe smoke.<br />
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I think about how i took that all into my permanent memory before the wheels ever touched the tarmac. and then i think of the cows in the alps that have giant bells like wreaths around their necks, that I got to know in 2011 and how they wander through city streets in the north of provence, completely stopping the traffic lanes. i think of the sunflower fields that roll along the swiss mountains' many spines and the gypsy white dress i wore my last day in geneva before it unraveled. i think of how pretty i felt in that dress and how i'd slip into photobooths to get a quick photo of the feeling of that whole day.<br />
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I think of how i left photoshoot prop dresses to lighten my load of too many suitcases back in west yorkshire and then another box in storage in edinburgh and finally, just to make weight and board a plane, another load in Berlin, 20 minutes before I left the continent, where I not only left my things, but also a solo girl, a friend, who was her Irish toughest in not crying in the international terminal of TXL (because I did) as I had to keep going and our fates were parted. How many months had I not slept alone, had we been in constant company to suddenly have to be parted - An example in hundreds, maybe even thousands like it. So many airport, train, bus, street corner hugs and goodbyes. I remember each and all of them.<br />
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I think of how many years it'll be, if ever, that i see any of those boxes again or any of the people that helped me fill them or...help me carry them, along footpaths, along holy wells, in and out of trains.<br />
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And in all of this introspection, especially in my last days of being 29 years old, i feel very quiet, contemplative, even old sometimes, like a tree that is half uprooted and think there's a certain yearning to find a home that can be longer than a week, a month, a year, perfectly/utterly mixed with the confusion in knowing the fact that i <i>love</i> to get onto a plane and ride through that light that rises & sets over people's <i>whole lives</i> or how much i love seeing the mountains from a sky, knowing that that span of land has never been settled, that it's always been wild. it's a raw peace and a bittersweet one as well and i know when I arrive back "home" in Portland, that i'll lay late into the night, after all of roommates lay asleep, after the city becomes silent, with my window cracked open and I'll listen for the midnight train calls that start so late and run through the night, burning their sounds out, knowing that I've been on them, many of them, seemingly being beckoned to get on yet another when noone is looking. And i hope for the all the travel i have yet to do, the loves i have yet to meet and know, the leaving that is still coming and the arriving that also has yet to happen and that will continue to happen again and again, as is life... in every shifting change or settling in,<br />
...all the solo sojourns, i simply hope to recognize the importance of staying grounded within it, while all else spins in perpetual motion, an adult merry-go-round I suppose.<br />
Again, I hope to continue to not only appreciate it but also to recognize that spin and how it affects the human spirit, a life, one whole identity, allowing it to always grow and ebb and flow and for me to stay <i>myself</i> within it, whatever I want for that to be.<br />
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To NYC, to PHX and Boston, keep this little filly safe and sound and rested and held while she goes through you in May. Especially you, New Yawk, you've got a reputation.<br />
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At any rate, as you can see, I thought that picture a touchingly beautiful illustration and wanted to share.<br />
My love to all of you, <a href="http://facebook.com/AshleyLebedev" target="_blank">ashley x</a>Bottle Bell Photographyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10103938584234092344noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6084021644443289930.post-59050954051359273632013-03-26T14:11:00.003-05:002013-03-26T14:14:54.573-05:00NEW INTERVIEW / FEATURE ON PHLEARN!<br />
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High fives all around. </div>
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This week I had the nerve-wracking honor & pleasure to sit down w/ the folks over at <a href="http://phlearn.com/" target="_blank">Phlearn</a> and give quite possibly, one of the most in depth interviews I've ever given, covering everything from my earliest work (which had me <i>cringing </i>to share, but i bit the bullet ;) to the sources and inspiration for my newer Dust Bowl and Faerieland imagery, to posting a Before & After of how I composited a popular Faerieland image and, lastly, a question that led to my finally speaking publicly and for the first time about what it is like working within the industry while also working within the confines of an illness and with a 12 year disability. </div>
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In addition, I chat about the imagery of Brooke Shaden & Erik Almas among other sources of great inspiration in History.</div>
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If you fancy a read, have a wander: <a href="http://phlearn.com/phlearn-interviews-bottle-bell">http://phlearn.com/phlearn-interviews-bottle-bell</a></div>
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I've another in depth interview also coming out within the week & will post that when it's up, covering another range of topics with questions that were so different and such a fun time to answer.</div>
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<a href="http://facebook.com/AshleyLebedev" target="_blank">Ashley, x</a></div>
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Bottle Bell Photographyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10103938584234092344noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6084021644443289930.post-84096864144290699192013-02-06T11:57:00.002-06:002013-02-06T12:37:16.300-06:00Moving Day! [Dreams] | Goodbye MINNESOTA!<br />
** FRIENDS/PHOTOGS/FAMILY/CREATURE PEOPLE!! **<br />
<br />
today i board a train upon which i will romanticize finishing a novel I started back in 2011 as it carries me over the long haul of 38 hours & 1,800 miles from the home i've known here in Minneapolis to a new home on the pacific northwestern coast- a place that i hope to begin the next chapter of my life in a manner that suits myself & my work with something of great beauty.<br />
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the last time i rode this route i remember riding through glacier national park at sundown as the amish aboard sang hymnals & a man whose name escapes me now, played a fiddle late into the night. there was whiskey & there was singing & there was laughter.<br />
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i look at my suitcase, my one lone ranger to this retro kitchen, packed to the gills with things i'm bringing of my life & it sits amidst a house of the things i inevitably have to leave behind: ...prop dresses, medieval buckets, headpieces, old favorite clothing, books, stuffed animals, my art along walls, cameras, a typewriter, blankets that lovers, friends & myself used to stay warm these years as they blow in and blow out of my life. | all of that so & so & such & such still resides here - an inventory of the who's who of my life has collected to this little second story flat on 2nd street.<br />
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and though i'm torn, i'm so ready.<br />
and i think this is what life is, this middle area of letting go & riding that 'go' where you direct the intention to take you. it's that fluid recognition of abiding by your heart, not only when it's beautiful and easy, but when it's scary and involves a whirlwind of change & pushing to the very very edge.<br />
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so, with a very bittersweet & incredibly open heart, i want to thank everyone in Minnesota that i have met, known, loved, shot with, traveled with, taught, been friends with personally or professionally. your support, love, friendships have meant the world to me at every point of my life & will continue to & will continue to and will continue to, forever, no matter my locale. ♥<br />
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i woke this morning to a soft blizzard & so the city sits quietly as i finish these last hours here, an apropos moment for what i've conceived the meaning of this to be for me.<br />
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how many great adventures begin this way?<br />
a perfect gradient in the western sky by nightfall, i'll hope.<br />
and just a girl with a suitcase, a passport, her pen & her camera.<br />
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all my love to you MPLS | thank you for growing me !<br />
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for those needing anything in the next 1 -2 weeks, please email: ashleylebedev@gmail.com & I will message back when i'm settled into my new place, as i will be unavailable in this interim for all practical purpose taking in a new air with deep breaths to eager lungs.<br />
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ash ♥<br />
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ps: no visuals today, but here's a bit of sound playing as I finish the pack:<br />
cut to 2:40 to feel what i'm feelin'<br />
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<br />Bottle Bell Photographyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10103938584234092344noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6084021644443289930.post-36676828325084095342012-07-30T12:37:00.002-05:002012-07-30T12:37:51.292-05:00"Beyond the Forest"As I sit here, in Devon, England, packing and awaiting my train to Scotland, I am sitting in an old library which has found me transfixed, this entire afternoon, specifically by the following book, images and words...<br />
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literally translated, Transylvania means "beyond the forest".<br />
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... passages taken from <i>beyond the forest</i>, a photographic book by <b>Claire Richardson<i> </i></b><i>'about a people believed to be the descendents of the children that were led out of hamelin' </i>...<br />
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the children that were led out of Hamlin are those that legend has it are the children who followed the <i>Pied Piper</i>.<br />
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'beyond the forest' </div>
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<i>he lives in a world of silence. a world of hard work & necessary patience; waiting on the weather and growth. they call him Mr. Pipe, a diabetic, water passes straight through him. his mother worries he shall never marry. he loved the butcher's daughter once, but her father sold the mountain.</i></div>
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<i>claiming the common ground, he felled the forest and sold the oak. a rich man now, his daughter should marry well, a businessman from the town, perhaps. </i></div>
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<i>spurned, the boy strung up a lifeless scarecrow in his own image, a reminder to the girl of her father's betrayal.</i></div>
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<i>the butcher's wife says the photographer is barren, and has come to buy children to operate her domestic machines. she welcomes the photographer, preparing a meal with the greatest of care and measure. </i></div>
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<i>the forest taken, the horizon restored. it offers no shelter now. an emptying landscape. as claims are made, fences erected and the horizon breached. only Mr. Pipe remains, the others have now gone, they spoke of a life beyond the forest...</i><br />
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<i>******</i><br />
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<i>(c) Claire Richardson: </i><br />
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<br /></div>Bottle Bell Photographyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10103938584234092344noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6084021644443289930.post-64257411036481933932012-07-16T12:07:00.000-05:002012-07-16T15:05:18.023-05:00New "Dust Bowl" Imagery!<br />
Friends,<br />
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As I pack my bags to leave for Europe tomorrow, thought it'd be nice to post, before I go, the latest imagery for "Dust Bowl".<br />
This collection is really and truly, slowly, becoming the most incredible brain child project. So many plans for it.<br />
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For now, hope you love the imagery. I've no doubt I'll be photographing more for this, overseas as well as some pretty amazing things for "Faerieland".<br />
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To refresh, for those who are new to this collection...<br />
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<b style="background-color: white;">"DUST BOWL" is a ::cinematic:: recreation/retelling of the Great Depression Era of American History, in people, places and things, not only recounting the destitution and poverty of the time, but also interweaving imagery of daily life that may have occurred before the events that led up to "Black Tuesday" and all that inevitably followed.</b><br />
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For last year's blog regarding the beginning of this collection, you can check it out, <a href="http://bottlebellphotography.blogspot.com/2011/08/welcome-to-dustbowl.html" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
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<b>New Imagery...</b><br />
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<b>Dasha Ermolenko:</b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNrftjWFuR_yTrP8nSFJhfCNkK4JXSHPnQACYki_UNkVMAYfFTY4WIIsz-Ngw4-IM4YwAmhMcHgKT-9BwObHzVOpe61aiZu1M4wC_Bz24zkgjVUhWXgWO0lbfDzOwBPVC2S2Bwjrc83c3I/s1600/Dasha-Close-up-gorgeous-FORWEB-WATERMARKED.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNrftjWFuR_yTrP8nSFJhfCNkK4JXSHPnQACYki_UNkVMAYfFTY4WIIsz-Ngw4-IM4YwAmhMcHgKT-9BwObHzVOpe61aiZu1M4wC_Bz24zkgjVUhWXgWO0lbfDzOwBPVC2S2Bwjrc83c3I/s320/Dasha-Close-up-gorgeous-FORWEB-WATERMARKED.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<b>David Mendolia:</b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiksu1nz2FM0JS3lDSqyKEm8W2EgMRSuWQ8mzV9dxdWJZqbodAkaQ7aqifX_4cCqsHr8JV7hJoBe1hUTdgS5On4sFNqKhtuomk0__Y-5ztGLwJJUOqoGHBc5fj9xdddGSDtid5kSdA6-vVG/s1600/David-Mendolia---For-Dustbowl---Resized-for-Web.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiksu1nz2FM0JS3lDSqyKEm8W2EgMRSuWQ8mzV9dxdWJZqbodAkaQ7aqifX_4cCqsHr8JV7hJoBe1hUTdgS5On4sFNqKhtuomk0__Y-5ztGLwJJUOqoGHBc5fj9xdddGSDtid5kSdA6-vVG/s320/David-Mendolia---For-Dustbowl---Resized-for-Web.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<b>My uber buddy and photographer, Brooke Shaden:</b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNHQ5lvSAgT1vzGJVdgoMh_63ZvJqRY0SgzPtf7MOc0uco3BjE1viBNZ5HhbdV3guyBSlv9ijeCaoiPKJL1VaJMtay7lDAHqDUXyH4ZIH5c42vn0tM0BtmARAMzHHyRIvaTDehYs3WJifR/s1600/Brooke-Shaden-for-Dust-Bowl--RESIZED-FOR-WEB-DARKER-OPTION.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNHQ5lvSAgT1vzGJVdgoMh_63ZvJqRY0SgzPtf7MOc0uco3BjE1viBNZ5HhbdV3guyBSlv9ijeCaoiPKJL1VaJMtay7lDAHqDUXyH4ZIH5c42vn0tM0BtmARAMzHHyRIvaTDehYs3WJifR/s320/Brooke-Shaden-for-Dust-Bowl--RESIZED-FOR-WEB-DARKER-OPTION.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<b>The incredibly wonderful photographer and my friend, Alex Stoddard:</b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkyBJqfigzPqXOr8vvA2eKN2_cSMdhxpfofBrvn0jj6XoeRftFZYBHHX3P9KjKMGpiB-Fr0MTKSaZJ3WkwpN0QEHcd1uUVMWMYe-CTAle_Kr5QHqbITYYnRMgiUtNMt4cEFaMVRcgG3mOe/s1600/Alex-Hauling-Woods---Horizontal-shot---Dust-Bowl-2012---FINAL---RESIZED-FOR-WEB.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkyBJqfigzPqXOr8vvA2eKN2_cSMdhxpfofBrvn0jj6XoeRftFZYBHHX3P9KjKMGpiB-Fr0MTKSaZJ3WkwpN0QEHcd1uUVMWMYe-CTAle_Kr5QHqbITYYnRMgiUtNMt4cEFaMVRcgG3mOe/s320/Alex-Hauling-Woods---Horizontal-shot---Dust-Bowl-2012---FINAL---RESIZED-FOR-WEB.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<b>The lovely Christopher John Hills:</b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYekrbH0QgC9gIXCF_wvSMQBqEKPfWw0i8RaypYzRyH6e-SOmQhOkT4jU9He5dvRZwrZsJ0oBgNnKMHwOK6S15qZ50JwzQlhyg9VR63TIk3NxiRqyWuSf70f8P9BJ7C3rs7ItmUCG1haBi/s1600/christopher+for+dust+bowl.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYekrbH0QgC9gIXCF_wvSMQBqEKPfWw0i8RaypYzRyH6e-SOmQhOkT4jU9He5dvRZwrZsJ0oBgNnKMHwOK6S15qZ50JwzQlhyg9VR63TIk3NxiRqyWuSf70f8P9BJ7C3rs7ItmUCG1haBi/s400/christopher+for+dust+bowl.jpg" width="275" /></a></div>
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more to come soon, including...the elderly and the children of Dust Bowl (!)</div>
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***</div>
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For this collection, in its entirety, please visit (while my site is undergoing a pretty massive overhaul & update) my facebook fan, at: <a href="http://facebook.com/AshleyLebedev">http://facebook.com/AshleyLebedev</a></div>
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Ash x</div>
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<b><br /></b></div>Bottle Bell Photographyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10103938584234092344noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6084021644443289930.post-91489720217563404102012-07-12T23:42:00.000-05:002012-07-12T23:42:51.182-05:00::PROJECT MUSE:: | my beautiful, precious, beloved course.<br />
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Location: Inspiration, Earth</div>
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Date: 7.12.12</div>
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As of this moment, these packages receiving postage, this project finally taking flight, I can now say, officially, that my heart beats outside of my chest as well as within it. </div>
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<b>Intro Week Booklets...</b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi45xP6RwdTSdW_QYw9r9_AkbMHKf_EjLuCKaxOnQgdLifeadJIdRrq_665OW_PzVJAx42vCmzWOVc5xp7PKxySDfBzekf6kJgWW4y0yNAPK9PJXC7v-qoR7rvgb1l8-Ka4uPxQ1AfhM4Qx/s1600/Project-Muse-Package---Photo5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi45xP6RwdTSdW_QYw9r9_AkbMHKf_EjLuCKaxOnQgdLifeadJIdRrq_665OW_PzVJAx42vCmzWOVc5xp7PKxySDfBzekf6kJgWW4y0yNAPK9PJXC7v-qoR7rvgb1l8-Ka4uPxQ1AfhM4Qx/s640/Project-Muse-Package---Photo5.jpg" width="420" /></a></div>
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<b>Enrollee Prints...</b></div>
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<b>Secret Things...</b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2IfsQEwJ1jcDD0NG2HEREIxrjMorMFEntEF3iRCbfFnrdiEC216XJlg-sLxgCz1-FDjWfIAGb8I5uWIHQVVKok7B_H3fNRzl0pbrdw8qaV8Sz8MLqKMzrKuJDScFhzN5UbXNpDhzw3RvP/s1600/Project-Muse-Package---Photo4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="263" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2IfsQEwJ1jcDD0NG2HEREIxrjMorMFEntEF3iRCbfFnrdiEC216XJlg-sLxgCz1-FDjWfIAGb8I5uWIHQVVKok7B_H3fNRzl0pbrdw8qaV8Sz8MLqKMzrKuJDScFhzN5UbXNpDhzw3RvP/s400/Project-Muse-Package---Photo4.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<b>"The Leaf Metaphor"</b></div>
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humbled.<br />
completely.<br />
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ash<br />
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<br /></div>Bottle Bell Photographyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10103938584234092344noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6084021644443289930.post-85246395929493900172012-07-05T02:24:00.000-05:002012-07-05T02:41:18.603-05:00American West & Europe | Countryside in Autumn | My long overdue Photo Journals of 2011Creature People!<br />
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Until I have the time to properly post these to the blog... between workshops, this new secret project (!!) just returning from 40 days of living on the road out west, mentoring session preparation and, finally, packing to leave for a summer alone, in the UK & Europe (leaving July 17 w/ a layover in Iceland!) I wanted to simply link you to my (now made public) Facebook albums (to which they are already posted) of the absolutely longest photo journal(s) (with more to come within them as time allows) that I've ever posted, covering Mid Spring of 2011, until early Autumn 2011, as well as a journal that covers my life behind the lens, in Autumn of 2011, spanning thousands of miles and over two continents and three countries. That's a mouthful.<br />
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<b>Click the links below to enter the album of choice w/ a little sampling below from each.</b><span style="background-color: black;">(***very important note on viewing: <i>You will likely have to be logged into a facebook, in some way, <i>to see either set</i>. If you aren't logged into facebook, it may say that they are unavailable or that you don't have permission, which isn't the case, so just LOG IN.</i>)</span><b style="background-color: black;"> </b><span style="background-color: black;">
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Please enjoy as I know so many waited so patiently, now over a year overdue for the America/Euro one. I've made the album(s) as public as possible, for quick viewing.<br />
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<a href="https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150915937597338.411373.505832337&type=3" target="_blank"><b>American West & Europe - Spring & Summer, 2011</b>:</a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjx4Cb-sOjrbD5bno2OG8BI_tBbEpBQ5Bt3yxSNenk7V28mIloMwk5kmi3iKSTEu1pFqjqkjWPfQN-7AvSM4ksRMfQYIO6EfRmLoKOl78OyN89u4qIokrsuNM039e7CO9YB8rlRr3MZzan7/s1600/a-favorite-moment-of-my-life.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="261" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjx4Cb-sOjrbD5bno2OG8BI_tBbEpBQ5Bt3yxSNenk7V28mIloMwk5kmi3iKSTEu1pFqjqkjWPfQN-7AvSM4ksRMfQYIO6EfRmLoKOl78OyN89u4qIokrsuNM039e7CO9YB8rlRr3MZzan7/s400/a-favorite-moment-of-my-life.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150916282482338.411418.505832337&type=3" target="_blank"><b>Home, stateside - Autumn, 2011</b></a>:</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmLaxE1EOKW-1LeMEaMGpdELQDv-wENGsfKCtqEGYtaIkjKOC0LOWRMyvo0qMFRhdPkENYwTMjwv4UDNas8u2LrkhY1is4yMb7YYZHldtyGVyencFSdo0P6JQAK16OMKPwWvZ_VldVgvPo/s1600/my+bed.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmLaxE1EOKW-1LeMEaMGpdELQDv-wENGsfKCtqEGYtaIkjKOC0LOWRMyvo0qMFRhdPkENYwTMjwv4UDNas8u2LrkhY1is4yMb7YYZHldtyGVyencFSdo0P6JQAK16OMKPwWvZ_VldVgvPo/s640/my+bed.JPG" width="422" /></a></div>
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Ashes, x<br />
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<br />Bottle Bell Photographyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10103938584234092344noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6084021644443289930.post-26285785362774668252012-06-22T10:57:00.001-05:002012-08-20T13:18:59.204-05:00***NOW OFFERING: MENTORING SESSIONS & PORTFOLIO CRITIQUES*** EDIT: Updated on August 20, 2012:<br />--->> Due to these becoming so popular, I've decided to make these an ongoing offering, at least through year's end, though keeping them incredibly limited, per month. Please email to book:<br />
ashleylebedev@gmail.com<br />
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Thus far, I have absolutely *loved* reviewing every image sent to me, from every corner of the globe and look forward to meeting with more of you & helping you in your endeavors!<br />
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Details below & payments preferred via paypal (though sending via post is alright as well, though not immediate)<br />
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Thanks!<br />
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ashes, x<br />
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<b>Original Post: </b><br />
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**PHOTOGS & Creatives!<br />
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<b>I have a new & *limited time* offering!</b><br />
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**At July's end, I will be offering 1 & 2 hour <b>ONLINE</b> <i><b>mentoring sessions</b></i>, so that they may be taken from anywhere in the world. All of my offerings are always & only, <i>one on one</i>.<br />
I will only be offering 12 of them, due to time constraints. They will be end of *July* only & very early August via chat or skype. I will also be offering portfolio critiques (also online).<br />
To keep this very simple, details are as follows:<br />
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<b>One hour session: = $60.00</b><br />
<b>Two hour session: = $100.00</b><br />
<b>Three hour session: = $170.00</b><br />
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<b>Portfolio critiques: *approx. 30-40 minutes: = $40.00</b><br />
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(All pricing in US dollars)<br />
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I am taking deposits *now* to hold spaces. Deposit will be *half* of full session fee (though you may also choose to pay in full) The other half will be due no later than one week before scheduled session. I will be accepting payments via PAYPAL.<br />
To break that down, deposit for one mentoring session would be $30.00, for two, $50.00 and for a full portfolio critique, $20.00.<br />
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Please EMAIL me to book, at: ashleylebedev@gmail.com<br />
I will return all emails within 48 hours and in the order they were received, until booked for that month.<br />
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<i>I anticipate these booking very quickly</i>, so don't sleep on it.<br />
Look forward to working with you & don't be shy. The format for these are very candid & in no way intimidating.<br />
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Ashes, x<br />
<br />Bottle Bell Photographyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10103938584234092344noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6084021644443289930.post-74436212205927936632012-06-19T14:22:00.001-05:002012-06-19T14:25:52.710-05:00Featured as one of the most inspirational photographers!Welp,<br />
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I was nothing short of mega, super, cartwheelingly, humbled & <i><b>honored</b></i> that the lovely people over at <a href="http://phlearn.com/" target="_blank">Phlearn</a> curated a list, by category, of the world's most inspirational photographers & somehow included me on it, within the fine art category. Sitting next to the likes of <b>Sally Mann, Erik Almas, Brooke Shaden, Cindy Sherman, Alex Stoddard and Walker Evans</b> is a good way to start any day. I was also happy that I am lucky enough to call about half of the people featured, my friends.<br />
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I really love this particular list (of the many thrown together each year) because it has such an incredible stock pile of newbies as well as veterans, chock full of inspiring imagery, without bias. If you fancy a fast heartbeat & visual symphony, head on over there.<br />
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The entire feature is <a href="http://phlearn.com/inspirational-photographers" target="_blank">here</a> with my particular spotlight, <a href="http://phlearn.com/photographers/ashley-lebedev" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
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Here's a quick screengrab of a piece of my feature.<br />
Talk soon,<br />
<a href="http://facebook.com/ashleylebedev" target="_blank">Ash</a> x<br />
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<br />Bottle Bell Photographyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10103938584234092344noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6084021644443289930.post-13979561092693907752012-06-13T11:33:00.000-05:002012-06-13T11:43:16.688-05:00"Fable Hill" | A new collection.Okay, crazy kids, so...here's how it started.<br />
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When i returned back from my trip from out west, i was inspired, i was creatively renewed, i was ready to shoot something and i was ready to shoot something different.<br />
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I found an old book (from 1880, to be exact) at the farm I grew up on. It was called "The Crown Jewels" and I brought it back to my apartment in Mpls, laying the book on an old cupboard of mine, where it would sit during the day. I was eyeing it. All I knew was that it was so phenomenally well preserved, 1000 pages of poetry, so many stories and every time I jumped to a new page, there was another mysterious little poem.<br />
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I stalked back & forth, fist to lips, scrunched eyebrows, in deep contemplation. Let's skip forward a few weeks. What should I do with this book? I just kept wondering. It was such a cool tome & had to be worthy of a great image. Or, rather, the image had to be worthy of that book and the amount of inspiration pulled from it.<br />
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Then, without ever coming to a conclusion, I left one afternoon, coming back into my upstairs little flat while the sun was setting through my windows.<br />
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The light, the book. Oh my.<br />
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I just knew what to do.<br />
The sun was screaming sideways through my window, the contrast of dreams.<br />
Photogs, I know you know what I'm talking about: that butter light, spooling across things, that you have for about 1 hour but, the best of it, only about 10 minutes.<br />
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I ran downstairs, flung the door open, ran to the side of the house to a giant group of monster sized dandelion or milkweed poofs in the garden, grabbed one & ran back upstairs. I had a hunch about the sun, that book, that poof and some amazing shadows. I laid the poof across the pages and a pattern was weaved by sunlight...<br />
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And that's when it happened: a collection was born, something worthy of this amazing book and the imagery I have shot since. Further, the imagery ideas I have cooking in my brain ever since.<br />
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And, with that...I want to introduce to you, "<i><b>Fable Hill</b></i>".<br />
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(please feel free to click image & make bigger (right click it and open link in a new tab to bypass the new preview screen) but please don't swipe)<br />
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<b>This new collection is about an old Victorian manor house (Fable Hill) weaving portraiture & still life together. It's going to be chock-full of little visual morsels, just like an old house.</b><br />
<b>It's going to be about the things that happen there.</b><br />
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<b>Think fog, think spooling fields, think old attics & rusty oddities.</b><br />
<b>Think quirky.</b><br />
<b>Think skeleton keys.</b><br />
<b>Think old world.</b><br />
<b>Think about a place like that, left vacant, left with all of its things, left to its own devices. Think of what could happen in a place like that, when no one was looking.</b><br />
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I am not sure how long this series will be but what I do know is that there might be more questions than answers. I want it to be one big mystery, unfolding through imagery.<br />
The rest? My lips are zipped.<br />
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Here are the first few sneaks and thank you for the beautifully warm reception about this new series on my <a href="http://facebook.com/ashleylebedev" target="_blank"><i><b>facebook</b></i></a> fan page.<br />
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I get excited about presenting work that inspires you.<br />
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<a href="http://facebook.com/bottlebell" target="_blank">-me</a><br />
<br />Bottle Bell Photographyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10103938584234092344noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6084021644443289930.post-11748516329142319172012-06-12T15:40:00.002-05:002012-06-12T15:56:57.359-05:00Excited to announce that I will be a part of this new book!Friends!<br />
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Long time no see. I know, I know...</div>
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I just returned a few weeks ago from 40 days on the road in which I re-visited the rainforests of the PNW as well as the vacant Pacific Coast Shores, hiking & camping along the empty rock beaches. I also made it into the Columbia River Gorge & down into Oregon.</div>
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Cities enveloped my imagination, especially Seattle (where I think I am moving to, in the not - too - distant future) | The whole of that trip was spent on trains, in the backs of cars, in hostels, on floors, on couches, new people, new ideas, tents, beaches, in the fog, the rain, the misting in-between. There was so much walking, so few proper nights of rest. It was all fluid, the movement of dreams. It was like a symphony, really.</div>
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Beyond that, I have been shooting, beginning a new collection & continuing my beloved: "faerieland" and "dust bowl" (will post details about new collection tomorrow) as well as writing writing, writing, even beginning a new secret blog experiment that I will post about within the year, once it's established & up and running. </div>
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Lastly, workshops begin on July 1 for "Project Muse" w/ completely sold out enrollment, this first time around.</div>
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I have 2 openings for anyone wanting to begin Project Muse in September (1) of this year.</div>
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But, for now, I simply wanted to post that I am very excited & honored to be a part of a new retouching book, available within a few weeks at both Barnes & Noble as well as on Amazon.</div>
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I will have a two page feature covering my work, my vision and my tip for new, burgeoning photographers & aritsts.</div>
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To read about that, simply<i><b> <a href="http://omahaimageproductions.com/blog/2012/05/digital-photo-retouching-book-coming-soon/" target="_blank">click here</a></b></i> & <i><b><a href="http://omahaimageproductions.com/blog/2012/06/amazing-ashley-lebedev-is-our-guest-artist-in-the-upcoming-book/" target="_blank">click here</a></b></i>. (the first of those covering not just my section, but the whole of the book and the intent for it. :)</div>
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Talk soon, </div>
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<a href="http://facebook.com/ashleylebedev" target="_blank">ashes</a>, x</div>
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<br /></div>Bottle Bell Photographyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10103938584234092344noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6084021644443289930.post-58462318908732903992011-12-15T22:49:00.023-06:002011-12-16T03:01:42.115-06:00You are not 'inferior' or 'superior' | If you read this, you WILL feel better. | A free helping/excerpt from "Project Muse" Masterclasses<div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">the constraints you have in your life, you have put on yourself, and that's the truth. so, let's talk this out, alright?</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">bear with me, because 'self' work can feel so heavy. the viewfinder can begin to show us this part of ourselves, but if you are being honest ... that's only the beginning.</div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div><span class="Apple-style-span">the most useful thing i've been reminded of these last weeks, is how important it is to lose your man-made facade. that's not your identity. your true self is something so sacred & lifts you up from within. it is no judgement and it tireless and completely endless. it is without rank. it's not screaming crowds or the lack there-of, or recognition, or lack of recognition or external affirmation that somehow keeps you afloat. that is such an ego trip (which is, btw, NOT you) and it's a never ending battle with yuck. yes, yuck.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">why use words like <i>yuck</i>, instead of more poignant words like <i>fuck</i>? because i'm speaking to the kid in you and, if you don't want me to speak to the kid in you (do you want me to speak to the adult?) then that word's really just no big deal. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">oh my gosh, ashley, sweetheart ash?! (the bottle bell?!) just swore.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">let's be honest, do you really think i got to be sweet and become an artist because my life was some innocent, easy, PG, cake walk? ::shrugs shoulders:: do i have a story for you. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">anyway, back to yuck and that inner youth in you.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">have you locked that kid away that i'm a'talkin to? did you turn them into some sort of bully? gosh, did you turn into a bully of yourself? how's that goin? i bet you're lacking that creative energy you once knew, yah?</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">or maybe it goes like this: "I reallllly want to create, but i'm just SO tired these days..."</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">oooh oooh ::Raises hand:: and how about this one:</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">"I suck at my job. I have no creativity or time for creativity."</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div>Then, there is this culprit:<br />"Noone liked that picture. (or song, or whatever, or STATUS, or whatever, etc) I'll change so that next time, they will."</div><div><br /></div><div>these 'inferior' / 'superior' thoughts you have and <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman'; font-size: medium; ">anything mentioned above are all transient, impermanent things. the true you is perhaps the reason you began this profession and this endeavor (whatever makes you just COME ALIVE, whatever profession you are in) but it's a good practice to ask yourself why you continued it, down the path you chose (was it because of external recognition? if it was, then your success is dependent on the continued approval of others and, god, what if they<i> fail</i> you? What if they fail you when you are already feeling so low, and what if they fail you once you are up at the 'top'?? | the goal all good artists should aspire to work towards is practicing how to create truest to yourSELF. (part of creating for yourself is in living a life behind that lens that honors that).</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman'; font-size: medium; "> If u do that, you're not only a better artist, but a better human being. do you know how simply FULFILLING to the core it is to feel like a good human being? NOT an important human being, or a FAMOUS human being, but a good ol' fashioned beautiful human being who was good to others and good to yourself? </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">i'm talking love, sex, life, kids, travel, career, money, stress, everything. these are not conquests, they are experiences, feelings, beliefs, etc.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">if you don't think they are one big circle, all related, think again. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">take yourself out of that place (that rank) that you find yourself placed at. the more successful you become (externally, to others, etc) the more of a tendency you have to scream how incredible you are or, sadly, live like you are above others, because it starts to wind it's way into your identity. do not let 'success' change you because, oh, IT WILL. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">and it will ONLY be able to do this to you if you let it or if you <i>need</i> it to. i don't recommend either, but i see it all the time. i have seen it in lovers, family, bestest friends forever. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">but don't let that be a low point, a point of no light... </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">let it be a bullet point. upward and onward.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"> the less successful you find yourself (and by that, i mean, publicly/monetarily/showmanship stuff - because that's really all 'success' is, for the most part) the more you find yourself adhering to kissin' ass or to the will of what other people, maybe the entire public, perceive you as. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">this is all just a dance you are having in your head.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">clear the ballroom.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">let's use photography as an example. let's take the camera out of their hand (imagine a person you feel inferior to, and then just.... take their talent out of their hand (in this case a camera, but it could be a musical artist, or hairstylist...anything).</span></div><div>would this STILL be a person you aspire to know or be like? is your desire to be 'like' them because they are liked or because they are good people? do you like the way they present themselves? do you like the way they talk? are they compassionate, inherently good? do you like the way they live? are they roll models? are they good to people, genuinely, or are they good at playing 'the game'. would you BE PROUD TO BRING THEM AROUND YOUR CHILDREN? would you let that person (or industry standard, there are many) watch your child while you took a nice long vacation? does that person inspire you?</div><div><br /></div><div>I mean, does the core of you say yes or no? learn from these lessons. sometimes it'll be a "yes, gosh, this person is amazing, i can't get enough" and then sometimes it's going to be "Oh, yah...<i>no</i>."</div><div><br /></div><div>when it's a no, walk away. (metaphorically or other)</div><div>wash your hands of it, and drop it. just get over it, however you have to, and as gently as possible.</div><div>the idea that things are hard is a MYTH and usually it's a myth taught to us by people we REALLY looked up to, people who couldn't possibly be wrong. maybe they were if they made it hard for you to move on.</div><div><br /></div><div>if you are rockstar enough to do it quickly, do it quickly. all limits are self imposed.</div><div>if it's a part of yourself you need to walk away from, don't look back. that's a trap.</div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">seriously, visualize them walking away. good riddance when / if you actually get to watch this person walk away, this metaphorical weight which feels so, so real if only because you made it so, so real. (i'm not saying it isn't real. fear is VERY real and so is pain.)</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">do you know the psychological reason we can't let things (ideas, people, thoughts, etc.) go?</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">it's so simple. it's because we think we need them. we somehow think they define our sense of identity or happiness or freedom or worth. now, if that thought is something like 'i'm a crappy photographer' and you can't let that thought GO, then you know something really profound. why are you thinking something so negative about yourself? and, why can't you let something so negative about yourself, just... go? that's where the REAL work comes in. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">so, take a deep breath. you earned it by reading this. this is not usually easy/breezy work.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">seriously DON'T KEEP READING LIKE YOU DON'T REALLY NEED THAT BREATH. Pause. breathe.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">1.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">2.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">3.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">exhale. okay.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">if you apply this to your love life, it will carry to your work. if you apply this to your work, it will carry to your love life, and so on and so on, forever. apply it to anything, watch that ripple. it can't help itself. that is the nature of it. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">you must create in a separate place from that voice that speaks "CREATE FOR THE CROWDS!" "LIVE FOR THE CROWDS!" "CREATE LIKE A SCREAMING VOICE SO THEY HEAR ME AND THEN I'LL BE WORTH IT" [or] you might say: "If they don't hear me or love me, I'm nothing, that creation, that endeavor wasn't as worth it or good." (notice how those sad thoughts are lower cased? - because that's how you feel when you have them -- you feel totally lower cased...)</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">Don't live for that egoic result. EEK. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">and some people catch this. if this speaks to you, you're farther than you think. kudos.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">and then, some people just don't, and they won't and it's not up to you (don't burden your beauty) to change them or let them hurt you or change you or tell you you aren't good enough. people have to know and find that for themselves and, let's just hope, in time, they do. and some don't (it's okay).</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"> that's like settling for a leaf, though, when a tree is what you want. a tree that blows in the wind and stands steadfast, knowing that it is fulfilling it's purpose. it has ZERO doubt because, i mean, what else would it do?</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">wouldn't that feel AMAZING??!! </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">let<i> those</i> leaves fall where they may because, metaphorically speaking, they're going to blow away with the next season. that's just what leaves do. they are not sustenance, but they are ever so dazzling. but, once they leave their solid base, they are lost. do you understand what i'm saying to you? </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">but you know what stays solid, through every season? the tree. it might not be as showy, but why do you NEED to be showy? ego. fear. the external search for validation.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">be the tree.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">oh pretty, pretty please be that pretty, pretty tree.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">be you. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">hell, even pick your kind. change it up, why add constraints?</span></div><div><br /></div><div>don't create with the intent of doing anything other than whole-heartedly pulling your spirit up by the boot straps (hey, dust it off if you need to) and saying 'heck yes, i'm sooooo doing this for ME from a place and for a place that is nurturing and constantly re-seeding my inner strength and total sustenance, like you are filling a pool of creative freedom which, by the way, lives in all of you.</div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">ALL OF YOU.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">when you fulfill your own freedom, which is often and most easily felt in things like art, creativity, love (love is so important you guys) (and you already know this if you've EVER created ANYTHING you enjoyed or truly loved).</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"> you are just ... you are so beautiful. you are really embodying all of you, not some false version chipped away over the years by convention, industry, debt, money, people who weren't (or AREN'T) good for you, and societal concensus. it's a nasty beast when it becomes you.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">it's especially hard on artists, these thoughts, because we became artists *usually* having already been people who felt <i>SO MUCH</i>, already being people so hard on themselves. Artists are MADE. I feel so passionately about the beauty (bittersweet though it is) in that.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">it's such a step backwards when people lose themselves to the industry abyss, which is almost ENTIRELY ego driven, money driven, soul chaos.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"> the sense of entitlement and rank is false identity, no matter how you cut it, no matter how real it seems. would you really choose to look up to people that are lost in a false identity and need for things like judgement and rank? (whatever industry ----> JUST FILL IN THE __________.) | i have seen / met, especially recently, so many incredible human beings (i'm talking at their very CORE = AMAZING) totalllllly lost in this recognition thing because it feeds this need for inner approval. in these cases i found myself surprisingly very quiet (2011 was a year in which i was determined to listen, even when i didn't want to) because in EVERYTHING they spoke to me, i was listening and thanking my lucky stars i saw outside of the blinders. these are people i give thanks for, because without them i'd have zero lessons to learn and no matter how hard the lesson, there's a chance for some real growth. it's the kind of growth that, if you master it, will put you to sleep with a smile on your face and, of that, i promise. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">you know what else is so good with realizing (after the fact) that you simply listened and didn't bite back? simply that you did just that. you broke a pattern that was terribly difficult to break out of. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">but, you can't feel that beautiful light if you don't live it. you have to live it. be the beacon. sometimes beacons are the minority, but beacons are gorgeous and much better places to visit.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">want the truth? guess what, you are already perfect. you are totally enough. TOTALLY.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">hey, feel that pressure dissipate a little? now, just when you feel like it might save your life, such a SIMPLE, KIND thought, you feel that doubt IMMEDIATELY creep in and it takes it away. if that just happened to you, at least you know that now. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">you want to hear something even more perverse?</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">you are beautiful, too. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">you don't even believe me, do you? it was just one sentence that threw you off. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">god, but what if you <i>did</i> believe it. because, you know what? I mean it. and you should live a life where you can FEEL beautiful in YOUR OWN BEING. take every SINGLE thing out of your life that doesn't feel beautiful or fulfilling and, if you can't, work towards it.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">let it breathe JUST A LITTLE LIFE into you, <i>today</i>. feel how much energy immediately comes back into you? </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">yah.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">of course you do. that is what it is to be human.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">::and, please, steal this, swipe it, share it, live it, use it, smile about it. this isn't *my* truth (though it is my truth, because it's everyone's and i'm a part of that pool, which is where we all connect)</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">taste it, find that deep breath you've been looking for, god why keep yourself without those deep breaths? how many years are you going to suffocate yourself? </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">how many moments, minutes, years are you going to be stifled by the limits that others put on you? (and that you allow them to put on you.)</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">find relief in it, LOVE it, and be effing proud of yourself! (by proud i don't mean beating your chest and screaming how awesome you are (again, that's ego parading itself as you) | by proud i simply mean sitting back and catching those stars, for once, smiling in honesty when you see yourself growing inside or walking by a mirror.) | so many people suffer from these same, repetitive, patterns, but noone really talks about it. life can be so daunting. (!!)</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">and a couple more of these: !!!!!!!</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">i am not saying something to you that i somehow missed out on, that i didn't go through or experience first hand. i crawled through the swamps of this stuff, you guys. i really, really did (underline, italicize, bold bold bold). </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">do you know what rules about you? about YOU, you unique creature who is the only one of YOU ever created in the history of <i>ever</i>? did i mention EVER?</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">how cool is THAT?</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">mull it over. there is ONLY ONE OF YOU, you know? live in that. live in you. it's what you have, why not USE it.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">what is that <i>one thing</i> you feel pretty amazing at? is there one thing that you like in yourself, right now, today?</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">if you know that ONE thing you kinda/sorta like if you let yourself breathe into it, others will follow when nurtured.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">if you don't yet know the answer to that, then seek to know it. seek to be true enough to yourself where that is a beautiful journey of sensual self discovery, a real no-holds-barred inquiry. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">cry if you need to. move if you need to. let it work itself through you, not bury itself IN you. you deserve to live a life in which you feel okay with what's happening in it.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">embody yourself. don't embody others. it's such a mess. don't let others embody you through judgement, money, rank, fill in the blank. if they do, good riddance, no need to raise your voice. that's precious energy and it's also not necessary. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><i>life is not a conquest, nor are people, or things.</i> you have nothing to defend. it is all an opinion. these are all false senses of identity and we seek them for REAL reasons. we seek them from fear or loss or habit or just not really <i>knowing</i>.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">let's play cause and effect with an example: </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><b><i>Sole Cause</i></b>: my parents never validated me, growing up, and i wish they had, even once.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><b><i>Ripple Effect</i></b>: i have an overactive tendency to validate myself, sometimes outwardly.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">(or perhaps we see this tendency in others and how they use it on us, our work, our very world or, god forbid, our vulnerable hearts...)</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">everything has a cause and effect.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">this industry, creatives especially, are just CHOCK FULL of cause and effect. ;)</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">usually in the ever-so-dramatic domino effect.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">we are dramatic creatures, the lot of us, with the need to <b><i>scream</i></b> with self expression.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">but do your best to channel it into your work, not your life or at people/events/possibilities in your life.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman'; font-size: medium; ">gosh, it feels so good to talk to yourself like this, doesn't it? really getting to the pulp of you.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman'; font-size: medium; ">maybe, kind of? yes.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman'; font-size: medium; ">you wanna know why? cuz it's feeding the REAL you.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">- A few pages from my "Project Muse" masterclass. Class group is <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/152785708075242/">here</a>.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><i>-ashes</i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><i>ps. extra credit if you just want to have a giant, awesome party to conclude reading this blog, to level the heavy whirlwind emotion a bit. </i></div><div><i>go put on your favorite piece of clothing, or spritz yourself in your fav.o.rite cologne/perfume and just have an impromptu dance party to a song you feel SO ashamed for liking. (hey, i do it too ;)</i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><i>oh, come on, go be a kid for a few minutes. noone's looking.</i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><i>and, by the way, there is no wrong way to dance.</i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><i><br /></i></div></div>Bottle Bell Photographyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10103938584234092344noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6084021644443289930.post-81937632353141128432011-12-03T04:14:00.027-06:002011-12-04T00:42:27.458-06:00Unwritable Girl ..<div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px; ">Can you all just tell my ambitious and beautiful Ashley she shouldn't leave her accounts signed in when she falls asleep, writing Workshops, if she doesn't want someone who loves her to post a blog of her angel face without permission?</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px; "><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px; ">Ash, I'm hijacking your blog to say I love you.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px; "><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px; ">This is what you get for </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px; "><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px; ">: </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px; "><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px; ">: Being BEAUTIFUL </span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px; ">: Being kind</span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px; "><span class="Apple-style-span"> : Never letting me photograph you when you're awake</span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px; "><span class="Apple-style-span">: Being so smart and awesome</span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px; "><span class="Apple-style-span">: looking like this when you sleep</span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px; "><span class="Apple-style-span">: Inspiring the hell outta me</span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px; "><span class="Apple-style-span">: Talking to me in inconceivable poems</span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px; "><span class="Apple-style-span">: Cooking for me at 6 am</span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px; "><span class="Apple-style-span">: That smile</span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px; "><span class="Apple-style-span">: Making me see the world in better ways, through your flutter-by eyes</span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px; "><span class="Apple-style-span">: Having cheeks that are even sharper than your eyes</span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px; "><span class="Apple-style-span">: Your voice</span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px; "><span class="Apple-style-span">: Always falling asleep too damn early.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px; "><span class="Apple-style-span">:</span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px; "><span class="Apple-style-span">;-)</span></span></div></div><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRPyosWuXL-cvtSSV8NKYsjZxL5n-0u4BFYh4_RqGURik3E17BuL82EH0MQomhBjNpW9xRLR2A6__YuKrYjELHJATLIvj-Cobp5vVqnRrAsAyvqPoPsBFyGUWvMfI3BtsB5IZzmHeoxJKl/s1600/IMG2446777.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRPyosWuXL-cvtSSV8NKYsjZxL5n-0u4BFYh4_RqGURik3E17BuL82EH0MQomhBjNpW9xRLR2A6__YuKrYjELHJATLIvj-Cobp5vVqnRrAsAyvqPoPsBFyGUWvMfI3BtsB5IZzmHeoxJKl/s400/IMG2446777.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5681846486411227490" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: center;">Here now, I'll sing this back to you, I'll try.</div><div style="text-align: center;">Heck, I'll scream it.</div><div style="text-align: center;">I'll even play the damn fiddle if you do that spin thing yer bound to do .. </div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">:</div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px; "><span class="Apple-style-span">"That full bellied moon, She's a'shinin' on me. </span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px; "><span class="Apple-style-span">She pulls on this heart like she pulls on the sea ..</span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px; "><span class="Apple-style-span">And you came on strong like some running wave."</span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px; "><span class="Apple-style-span">:</span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><3</span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px; "><span class="Apple-style-span">;-*</span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span></span></div>Bottle Bell Photographyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10103938584234092344noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6084021644443289930.post-16034194217605835952011-11-28T05:50:00.013-06:002011-11-28T06:51:56.503-06:00something recent. something imperfect. something simple.<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihJ7vgciW3xWYj29J8S9UU58s4Xbd_eRlYsToMHXnDUcDm-C126CaaXi1sfQCe4in_h99a0zZY5JhOL7fTAMlyGtDWJD3Plr2yyVjCRlVO8i2LiqBxfFo3TIDmSexO3VayMMzZmgdXFp77/s1600/Happy-Thanksgiving35mmf2.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 267px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihJ7vgciW3xWYj29J8S9UU58s4Xbd_eRlYsToMHXnDUcDm-C126CaaXi1sfQCe4in_h99a0zZY5JhOL7fTAMlyGtDWJD3Plr2yyVjCRlVO8i2LiqBxfFo3TIDmSexO3VayMMzZmgdXFp77/s400/Happy-Thanksgiving35mmf2.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5680015206692921042" /></a><br /><div>::self portraiture, no matter how imperfect, is an honest reflection into the moment, the person, and the message you chose not to pass up::</div><div><br /></div><div>kiddos,</div><div><br /></div><div>i had a moment, a few days ago, in which i had it out (snapshot style) with my camera, and only a few minutes between a busy schedule & a busy schedule. this photo (above) is that moment. this is what 28 year old ashley looks like in diffused, early morning, autumn light. it's also a good exercise in learning how faces aren't necessarily very symmetrical (freckles, eyebrows, cheekbones ;)</div><div>35 mm f2 & terrible compression/low quality internet what-have-you(s) (blogspot might have just beat facebook in her quality...) but it was a raw moment and an honest moment & i kinda have a thing for those. it's the holidays, call me sentimental. </div><div><br /></div><div>hope you all had a lovely thanksgiving. photo blog coming very soon of my Autumn behind the lens, & thank you for the psychotically awesome support both in my writing and imagery over the last 2 months. </div><div><br /></div><div>a couple of notes for those who aren't on facebook or twitter, etc... :</div><div><br /></div><div>** workshops *and* retreats are tentatively sold out, pending deposits. please drop a note if you'd like to be wait-listed.</div><div><br /></div><div>** i'll be hopping a train in the next few weeks and traveling west. nothing will feel more beautiful than writing the novel while looking out a window, new imagery in my catch-light's.</div><div><br /></div><div>** shooting for "Dust Bowl" will resume in Jan. after some much needed t-r-a-v-e-l. :)</div><div><br /></div><div>** meow.</div><div><br /></div><div>talk soon,</div><div>ash</div>Bottle Bell Photographyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10103938584234092344noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6084021644443289930.post-67312159982429439332011-11-21T11:33:00.004-06:002011-11-21T11:42:14.707-06:00Recently Featured in Dolce & Gabbana's "Swide" Magazine!<div style="text-align: center;">Friends!</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">I recently had the <i>honor</i> of doing a (very fun) interview w/ Dolce & Gabbana's "Swide" Magazine and definitely wanted to post the screenshots from that. A huge thanks to them & to my interviewer for making this, among many, a great time. </div><div style="text-align: center;"> :)</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">To read the article over there, <a href="http://www.swide.com/luxury-magazine/Faces/Artists/a-la-mode/2011/11/19">click here</a>.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">Otherwise, here are the screenshots:</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhykV6kvnTO7Z77n15mQU_nqDwS4UQjUOGQZ_RnnPcz3GbFyPwa1LQUDalGhZgvhMIf9B76BmEbH3I7Qz6rEZtLeW6YiYAhe-EyB-jMOZu8ADpIajGbAEnW0MWYv3E8NGJFRT8qE9vJDwiq/s1600/Featured+In+Dolce+%2526+Gabbana%2527s+Magaine+Swide+Front+Page.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 225px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhykV6kvnTO7Z77n15mQU_nqDwS4UQjUOGQZ_RnnPcz3GbFyPwa1LQUDalGhZgvhMIf9B76BmEbH3I7Qz6rEZtLeW6YiYAhe-EyB-jMOZu8ADpIajGbAEnW0MWYv3E8NGJFRT8qE9vJDwiq/s400/Featured+In+Dolce+%2526+Gabbana%2527s+Magaine+Swide+Front+Page.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5677505395618844818" /></a></div><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUnW0JMUOxeNh9CPp_Bp4XEyKwcINENbPu8RR7mdZEEPmfryXt-M7WyOleE-y9ZHG_5bs5JP9PKp663WB5ZgPKNS-vh1I6rkX3Zq-9X4y9riLmB-vMpaeuxCJB2JfXSiGDO6odRT4FlPJe/s1600/Featured+In+Dolce+%2526+Gabbana%2527s+Magaine+Swide+Front+Page2.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 225px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUnW0JMUOxeNh9CPp_Bp4XEyKwcINENbPu8RR7mdZEEPmfryXt-M7WyOleE-y9ZHG_5bs5JP9PKp663WB5ZgPKNS-vh1I6rkX3Zq-9X4y9riLmB-vMpaeuxCJB2JfXSiGDO6odRT4FlPJe/s400/Featured+In+Dolce+%2526+Gabbana%2527s+Magaine+Swide+Front+Page2.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5677505393897961234" /></a></div><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrbbrN_ZXpf7SjrpXK5UmizxEThYw_KedknHM87zL0YItmJqcCq6b0gVipZUzxwwRdQpUcQhW2hyphenhyphenbP1TVZGEIGoB1Q55XvboVthFmbUZMpkMAKgXh0-u2SufVZo08itD3FKHdKlB34RJW9/s1600/Featured+In+Dolce+%2526+Gabbana%2527s+Magaine+Swide+Front+Page3.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 225px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrbbrN_ZXpf7SjrpXK5UmizxEThYw_KedknHM87zL0YItmJqcCq6b0gVipZUzxwwRdQpUcQhW2hyphenhyphenbP1TVZGEIGoB1Q55XvboVthFmbUZMpkMAKgXh0-u2SufVZo08itD3FKHdKlB34RJW9/s400/Featured+In+Dolce+%2526+Gabbana%2527s+Magaine+Swide+Front+Page3.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5677505207133632498" /></a></div><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEJweeq52sDkvb_uOfcXNvT77pctW15yliI0-s5vMmrKP6rrh9RaUFG3T737rjnxRh2BeUrtOGr7R8z_4j1_0MIicaKmHXNF67lhkFrltRZ-_r-BDcG0fo6aS1Derfg7939hWe2mPt57Iv/s1600/Featured+In+Dolce+%2526+Gabbana%2527s+Magaine+Swide+Front+Page4.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 225px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEJweeq52sDkvb_uOfcXNvT77pctW15yliI0-s5vMmrKP6rrh9RaUFG3T737rjnxRh2BeUrtOGr7R8z_4j1_0MIicaKmHXNF67lhkFrltRZ-_r-BDcG0fo6aS1Derfg7939hWe2mPt57Iv/s400/Featured+In+Dolce+%2526+Gabbana%2527s+Magaine+Swide+Front+Page4.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5677505201143841666" /></a></div><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvU6svm_bsFAXZGmkvdLeK8iAAB5FVrosIVLhyphenhyphenmFP6Bgo6oIKNhkXRveT6HJPm1RzmyGoWtoLnzN9hS_i5V-X2XYOTXAdvOpRcupE-3wzGaSuuK2xDyEbULI8pqwHwWjZcZXmlzSyzTmrH/s1600/Featured+In+Dolce+%2526+Gabbana%2527s+Magaine+Swide+Front+Page5.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 225px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvU6svm_bsFAXZGmkvdLeK8iAAB5FVrosIVLhyphenhyphenmFP6Bgo6oIKNhkXRveT6HJPm1RzmyGoWtoLnzN9hS_i5V-X2XYOTXAdvOpRcupE-3wzGaSuuK2xDyEbULI8pqwHwWjZcZXmlzSyzTmrH/s400/Featured+In+Dolce+%2526+Gabbana%2527s+Magaine+Swide+Front+Page5.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5677505196565168194" /></a></div><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZN6QkjCSMjByzUATCZ4vXschP5IRAtHQ5zhPye4alQlks8i3Ca3HMujJFmgMQJzrO_sSjc_ljtwGdPyzWUFaxiFgqoQ9DDxUcIizu4ATyxkde6E8VEhYe8ehveyfQhPhQh40JKqC95pix/s1600/Featured+In+Dolce+%2526+Gabbana%2527s+Magaine+Swide+Front+Page6.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 225px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZN6QkjCSMjByzUATCZ4vXschP5IRAtHQ5zhPye4alQlks8i3Ca3HMujJFmgMQJzrO_sSjc_ljtwGdPyzWUFaxiFgqoQ9DDxUcIizu4ATyxkde6E8VEhYe8ehveyfQhPhQh40JKqC95pix/s400/Featured+In+Dolce+%2526+Gabbana%2527s+Magaine+Swide+Front+Page6.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5677505190858820690" /></a></div><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8W1u5Wev-M6eY3Av1hkUX55bHz5YzQQNduf74EGjWYhWkxr0XaRCsFG9fWX6aALftD3roDNiSAVfhoQ-Fnt6AEEoWgK3H-DWEAOptyV7nE6_GOKoe_YbosKx5Zzkoqe1I-bMNaY-R3FAt/s1600/Featured+In+Dolce+%2526+Gabbana%2527s+Magaine+Swide+Front+Page7.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 225px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8W1u5Wev-M6eY3Av1hkUX55bHz5YzQQNduf74EGjWYhWkxr0XaRCsFG9fWX6aALftD3roDNiSAVfhoQ-Fnt6AEEoWgK3H-DWEAOptyV7nE6_GOKoe_YbosKx5Zzkoqe1I-bMNaY-R3FAt/s400/Featured+In+Dolce+%2526+Gabbana%2527s+Magaine+Swide+Front+Page7.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5677505188961448066" /></a></div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">I hope you enjoy!</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">ashtree, x</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div>Bottle Bell Photographyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10103938584234092344noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6084021644443289930.post-70442094066237383542011-11-14T12:12:00.004-06:002011-11-14T12:32:30.492-06:00**NOW ACCEPTING HOLIDAY PRINT ORDERS**<div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">guys & dolls! <3</div><div style="text-align: center;">how's fall been treating you? here, it's been pretty much divine. i can say this much: much tea has been consumed, and many long walks during the blue hour with pens and journals. additionally, i'm sitting (currently novel writing) in a stack of 100 year old poem books and doing my best to write several pieces of each chapter, just for the fun of it, on my antique typewriter :)</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">just wanted to post a quick blog, as I get a lot of emails around the holiday season(s) regarding imagery, sizing, and what I offer.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">i'll keep it short & sweet!</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">sizing for prints are as follows (in inches)</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">8x12</div><div style="text-align: center;">10x15</div><div style="text-align: center;">12x18</div><div style="text-align: center;">16x24</div><div style="text-align: center;">20x30</div><div style="text-align: center;">**and so on**</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">:: when pieces are square format (a few in my port are) images are rounded to the nearest square offering, staying as close as possible to the above mentioned specs.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">my imagery comes on fine art archival papers, and I offer both limited and non limited editions.</div><div style="text-align: center;">everything comes hand signed (of course) and, if applicable, numbered.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">additionally, framing & matting are available w/ about a 2 week turnaround time (as of now) on top of about a 1 week for a simple print order. </div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">please find below a small sampling of my pieces created within the last year (or so), though I'm sure blogspot is just going to break my heart with her ever-so-low quality ;)</div><div style="text-align: center;">feel free to clickity click to make'er just a bit bigger.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYZ1M6IdyYFPghCvM1mJABwGHiASLOtC4Q6r09WtBJOTvj0Lx5BSmwVej0cdwzS-oO7qaYlgcUmpuWvyhXo91RlqqRTm_ggY7MKg0FW-CwTDJakYlIrAUJ4JNHSwLfRuM4Zx6Ne2drmaTX/s1600/Holiday-Prints.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 382px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYZ1M6IdyYFPghCvM1mJABwGHiASLOtC4Q6r09WtBJOTvj0Lx5BSmwVej0cdwzS-oO7qaYlgcUmpuWvyhXo91RlqqRTm_ggY7MKg0FW-CwTDJakYlIrAUJ4JNHSwLfRuM4Zx6Ne2drmaTX/s400/Holiday-Prints.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5674919782613487026" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">the entire roster of my work can be found on my <a href="http://www.bottlebellphotography.com">WEBSITE</a>, save for "Dust Bowl" which is (for now -sorry for the inconvenience) only viewable upon this blog as well as my <a href="http://500px.com/AshleyLebedev/">500 px</a>. (though, this blog is the only place in which it's posted in it's entirety).</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">feel free to email w/ questions or to place an order. buying art shouldn't be scary or daunting, but fun. ya here? ;)</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">email:</div><div style="text-align: center;">ashleylebedev@gmail.com</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">and that's all she wrote!</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">*smooch*</div><div style="text-align: center;">ashtree, x</div>Bottle Bell Photographyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10103938584234092344noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6084021644443289930.post-18252753574568153932011-10-24T13:45:00.008-05:002011-10-24T15:05:39.918-05:00Faerieland Outtake | October 2011<div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">Friends. </div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">Just a quick outtake from a recent Faerieland Shoot:</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhE9vQ9IOxyJUg7NJwFiYOfyO3hTScX_WkAl47570UKzo5iq6zMwY_KGTj8U0kbR1_S8Wyta1D9z2EOvpsFHfTeBkdiEss_trbWfdIreim4gXGlTvtE83TK0cg0tqBIc3I1FRVnXnRNV7PG/s1600/Olga-----Profile---FAERIELAND-IMAGE-2-FINAL---resized-FOR-WEB-USAGE.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 266px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhE9vQ9IOxyJUg7NJwFiYOfyO3hTScX_WkAl47570UKzo5iq6zMwY_KGTj8U0kbR1_S8Wyta1D9z2EOvpsFHfTeBkdiEss_trbWfdIreim4gXGlTvtE83TK0cg0tqBIc3I1FRVnXnRNV7PG/s400/Olga-----Profile---FAERIELAND-IMAGE-2-FINAL---resized-FOR-WEB-USAGE.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5667135839476812978" border="0" /></a>(Hooded Maiden - "Nairn" Sequence)<br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">There are so many of these that never leave the cutting room floor. My shooting season is winding down (writing season is about to kick into full swing!) and if time allows i will edit a few more of the outtakes from this saga and post here or on <a href="http://therenderingwell.blogspot.com/">The Rendering Well</a>, along with a <span style="font-style: italic;">ton </span>of new writing that is about to happen over the late Autumn and long Winter.<br /><br />There are several from the Dragon's Egg sequence that i'm still working on as well.<br /><br />I plan, as well, to leave many of these 'outtakes' for the book, exclusively, so that when you open it you will have unseen imagery to further bring these characters to life.<br /><br />Additionally, for those who haven't heard or read on <a href="http://facebook.com/ashleylebedev">facebook</a> or <a href="http://twitter.com/bottlebell">twitter</a>, I am writing a novel over the Winter. I've romanticized the entire notion to the max and cannot wait to get this story out of me. It's been building for 20+ years.<br /><br />**NOTE: Faerieland is almost done for the season (Autumn falls so quickly and before you know it, leaves are gone and the days are too cold to shoot within) but I anticipate shooting as long as possible and Dustbowl will likely continue into the colder months, as it's a lot grittier.<br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">Ashtree, x</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />PS: BIG news on the horizon, but I'm biting my tongue for now.;)<br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">**Model: Olga Ivanova</div><div style="text-align: center;">**MUA: Lacey O'Sullivan - L.Mae Artistry</div><div style="text-align: center;">Assistants: Karrah Kobus & Kristi Frazier </div><div style="text-align: center;">Photography | Editing: Myself</div><div style="text-align: center;">Designer: Joy Patterson</div><div style="text-align: center;">Flowers by: EARTH ;)</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div>Bottle Bell Photographyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10103938584234092344noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6084021644443289930.post-87502011609964589562011-10-06T11:29:00.003-05:002011-10-06T11:34:56.767-05:00X<div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">do not allow others to define your identity for you. do not allow them to write even a portion of it. they can be a mirror that shows *you* who you are, but they cannot tell you who you are. they will always, somehow, get it wrong. nothing & noone can write that part better than you. define *yourself* and believe in that. truly. you are unrepeatable, perfect, beautiful and so much closer to knowing that that you even know.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">"be yourself. everyone else is taken" -- oscar wilde</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">ashtree, x</div>Bottle Bell Photographyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10103938584234092344noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6084021644443289930.post-9755709367366049322011-09-15T03:04:00.009-05:002011-09-15T04:51:38.914-05:00Dustbowl Continues...<div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span">If you are new to this collection I cannot recommend highly enough to read <a href="http://bottlebellphotography.blogspot.com/2011/08/welcome-to-dustbowl.html">THIS POST</a> before you continue. (A description of what "Dustbowl" is as well as the first images, which are not included within this post.)</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span">Some collections can be appreciated for their visuals alone but, as mentioned before, this particular collection (truly) loses so much of the message and value without knowing my intention, vision and motivations to begin this series.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span">----</span></div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span">Alright then, back to "Dustbowl".</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span">A few little notes I wanted to touch on:</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span">This collection has really been an amazing endeavor, thus far. It's been a really fantastic balance in my life that I, though I was much looking forward to beginning it, never anticipated having it affect me so greatly. I truly never thought I'd say that about a contemporary photography collection.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span">To elaborate, through my entire career (thus far) I've made it such a habit to be sure to get 'the shot' and pick the most beautiful shot of the roll (the best eye contact, the best composition, the most visually splendid, otherworldy, out of time, etc...) but with dustbowl it's been a bit of a re-write in those habits. Unlike my other (very stylized and whimsical) collection "Faerieland", where everything is nothing short of a completely idyllic world of characters who live in beautiful abundance (heavy emphasis on scenery, bold colors, perfect beauty in every new character and sense of the word, perfect darkness in their symbolism, perfect light and perfect innocence, props, makeup, hair, etc...) "Dustbowl" is the exact opposite. It's been an interesting Summer creating for both of these (vastly different) collections, oftentimes shooting for each within the same week. One is a giant production (and I LOVE that) and one is (Dustbowl) a very purposeful effort to avoid a large production.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><br />This entire collection is, of course, also intended to be visually (I hope) arresting, but I want this collection to maintain<i style="font-weight: bold; "> complete </i>authenticity in recreating what those brave people (and that era) went through, and so I have consciously (before, during, after planning) every shoot, said to myself: "Ashley, <i>don't do the most beautiful. do the most authentic</i>". Beyond that, I have truly wanted Dustbowl to actually feel like one is looking at an old photo album, maybe something they found in their grandparent's attic, and much of the imagery during that time was a very 'snapshot' style. People weren't posing. Instead, they were being caught on film. In keeping with my desire to really honor that spirit, when I go into choosing selects from each shoot, after they wrap, I find myself having to pass over that really incredible, power beauty shot (which is soooooo hard, when I've trained myself to see it and edit<i> that one)</i> in favor of one that is a bit 'uglier' or grittier, and bit more spontaneous (eye contact, emotion, clothing, off center, etc...). I have very much tried to select and edit the pieces that are the lot less obviously 'beautiful' choice and possibly more haunting because of it. Mid gaze. Turning away. Unflattering poses. Overly simplified concepts. New (more contemporary) compositions. Less is more scenery. Lack lack lack. Experimental vantages. Breaking the 'beauty' rules, so to speak. Just... all around, more <i>real</i>. Almost like I'm shooting the entire thing by accident, or chance. And it's been <i>tough, </i>but such a fulfilling venture.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span">Lastly, I am just happy you guys support such different styles of my work. One day I'm talking about dragon's eggs (will post that shot verrry soon ;) and getting lost in faerieland and the next day I'm posting dirt poor portraits and talking about the 30s. ;)</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span">This collection will slowly build and become more and more intricate in the messages, and imagery. I'm so thrilled to continue as Fall begins to wake. There is much to come, a great deal of which is just a big heartbreaking surprise. I'm leaving it that way. This collection, above all else, is not just suppose to be pretty. And, so, it will continue to become less so. Of course I will always do my best to maintain my sort of photographic mantra: "light amidst the darkness".</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span">(And, since blogspot infamously mangles image quality, I will have an actual high res. gallery for Dustbowl, on my website, very soon. I've even chosen the new accompanying music! I'm so excited to share these there, with that audio. It took <i>forever</i> to find a suitable soundtrack. ;) </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span">For now, please enjoy this next sequence. </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"></div><div style="text-align: center;"></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOyhBoiDYmoS1nVZzNYxB85jSARDzih9wHtYBi_gYXBJnqC2w3dbto8ZT024GuWcWS5EbvS5cScLGjgGasmU-ec0jzcBu40YW-bNcR9NZLta7nw_Vtpqgu9yeNZcBNRrs8GKk1FRHVvnKy/s1600/AshleyLebedev-RaeFeetSpindals-Wendy-Dustbowl4-Resized-FOR-WEB.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 266px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOyhBoiDYmoS1nVZzNYxB85jSARDzih9wHtYBi_gYXBJnqC2w3dbto8ZT024GuWcWS5EbvS5cScLGjgGasmU-ec0jzcBu40YW-bNcR9NZLta7nw_Vtpqgu9yeNZcBNRrs8GKk1FRHVvnKy/s400/AshleyLebedev-RaeFeetSpindals-Wendy-Dustbowl4-Resized-FOR-WEB.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5652495729985903074" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgh9HH_prlWZ_1vWk4xySeiLgH7y4iCbirJ_dQ0he64ORsDBMksYAw3offbnk_tYtQT2b7hOvcgqn221Z2neWNpKvqK12GfzaZlxj6XxwYQMfyub7F9wOTfq1jg0Ia5eFoynPk10CwuDcVo/s1600/AshleyLebedev-RaeSeated-Wendy-Dustbowl2---Resized-FOR-WEB.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgh9HH_prlWZ_1vWk4xySeiLgH7y4iCbirJ_dQ0he64ORsDBMksYAw3offbnk_tYtQT2b7hOvcgqn221Z2neWNpKvqK12GfzaZlxj6XxwYQMfyub7F9wOTfq1jg0Ia5eFoynPk10CwuDcVo/s400/AshleyLebedev-RaeSeated-Wendy-Dustbowl2---Resized-FOR-WEB.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5652495726299655746" /></a><div style="text-align: center;">an example of playing with less emotion, opting for a more vacant moment:</div><div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTR7iz0sQEom2ak6OMMtsgLx7Gmj_QLdNq4OZnXeXzo84_XADc_E46e-3rYlAXco0GovvW_4hg_gS-2o6FawQercLy4FrzPPgXDSOao_Gfl9PQAys5K7ff9_95aCy27huzTkbNMApzevxf/s1600/AshleyLebedev-Rae-Wendy-Dustbowl1---Resized-FOR-WEB.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 266px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTR7iz0sQEom2ak6OMMtsgLx7Gmj_QLdNq4OZnXeXzo84_XADc_E46e-3rYlAXco0GovvW_4hg_gS-2o6FawQercLy4FrzPPgXDSOao_Gfl9PQAys5K7ff9_95aCy27huzTkbNMApzevxf/s400/AshleyLebedev-Rae-Wendy-Dustbowl1---Resized-FOR-WEB.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5652495722599337762" /></a><div style="text-align: center;">an example of trying to catch someone mid gaze, before the full emotion:</div><div><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXFsOs50o1DvIhPrJ4IBAUaYK6HD6L7T-2y5r8f1e6vcdNsxrfshOKYDmmdY-VhvP5g0CeWQMRMFOuPkPQkyYlBKUPLKsSBmKrQn5XySuJZB0sF6bLkd6WMJ3aEuaHkJQC2EWq2XwAmQIN/s1600/AshleyLebedev-Rae-Wendy-Dustbowl3---resized-FOR-WEB.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXFsOs50o1DvIhPrJ4IBAUaYK6HD6L7T-2y5r8f1e6vcdNsxrfshOKYDmmdY-VhvP5g0CeWQMRMFOuPkPQkyYlBKUPLKsSBmKrQn5XySuJZB0sF6bLkd6WMJ3aEuaHkJQC2EWq2XwAmQIN/s400/AshleyLebedev-Rae-Wendy-Dustbowl3---resized-FOR-WEB.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5652495220715878066" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBy1mcKykcmviYsESqfC_KpKpjnIQ0Htu_mEltpJrcUevDDrCvfURT89Pff_z2iRMWjG_2k1BWlGFhLBIcWFZXjDP_ixAZOSrNlXhADa77g9E3SDAv5jmZ4xRvgXKE6cEKIlvT1zVUqlfk/s1600/Dustbowl---Direct-Eye-Contact---Resized-For-Web-with-Horseshoe-WATERMARKED.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 267px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBy1mcKykcmviYsESqfC_KpKpjnIQ0Htu_mEltpJrcUevDDrCvfURT89Pff_z2iRMWjG_2k1BWlGFhLBIcWFZXjDP_ixAZOSrNlXhADa77g9E3SDAv5jmZ4xRvgXKE6cEKIlvT1zVUqlfk/s400/Dustbowl---Direct-Eye-Contact---Resized-For-Web-with-Horseshoe-WATERMARKED.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5652495175523272930" /></a><div style="text-align: center;">an example of experimenting with a new (more contemporary) vantage, and choosing just a slightly unflattering pose:</div><div><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRVlUwhCrF6WwS30dCngMcBOHmhVIQtThgfkrTq1Eo6zFr3JGtR3LG0Oa0zbE4lFOYC0y8X0J0l2MtZmDUS4hjE_8iyA0q-dJrtp4vmByFgXAALXAZVRQc_82RqumP5eLbgRfgQV9RemMV/s1600/Ray-Experimental-Dustbowl-Shoot--RESIZED-FOR-WEB-WATERMARKED.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 267px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRVlUwhCrF6WwS30dCngMcBOHmhVIQtThgfkrTq1Eo6zFr3JGtR3LG0Oa0zbE4lFOYC0y8X0J0l2MtZmDUS4hjE_8iyA0q-dJrtp4vmByFgXAALXAZVRQc_82RqumP5eLbgRfgQV9RemMV/s400/Ray-Experimental-Dustbowl-Shoot--RESIZED-FOR-WEB-WATERMARKED.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5652495168389420066" /></a><div style="text-align: center;">an example of an overly simplified photo:</div><div><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXIkADsu6Dk7F5d9Bj6isBkDlBphqpRLBs085YZ-bsm16mtfasCEqBuxwmqw8NJlz5HaQlFUDvD_LyidzpxroqpI5aZAbMqsKXs5ypIsrZIDIYVR03P4fU_G5BRtDb-VTjs1Pkq84HVkoG/s1600/The-Curtain-for-Beginning-of-Book-RESIZED-for-web-WATERMARKED.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 266px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXIkADsu6Dk7F5d9Bj6isBkDlBphqpRLBs085YZ-bsm16mtfasCEqBuxwmqw8NJlz5HaQlFUDvD_LyidzpxroqpI5aZAbMqsKXs5ypIsrZIDIYVR03P4fU_G5BRtDb-VTjs1Pkq84HVkoG/s400/The-Curtain-for-Beginning-of-Book-RESIZED-for-web-WATERMARKED.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5652495169685303202" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmEub8ZepwSrYvFEACP71FH6r5gZa2ktra4DjoOcJwb5f_mD0XIF8qhtOvro6YZ4FTUn6av9khlQNjr3gR7g0jRChyG30vncAgqu-J_aKyldlXZu6nU40ZXfGyNrWyAKwF02lzuQWK_tle/s1600/wistful-profile-alex---dustbowl-FINAL---resized-for-web-WATERMARKED.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 294px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmEub8ZepwSrYvFEACP71FH6r5gZa2ktra4DjoOcJwb5f_mD0XIF8qhtOvro6YZ4FTUn6av9khlQNjr3gR7g0jRChyG30vncAgqu-J_aKyldlXZu6nU40ZXfGyNrWyAKwF02lzuQWK_tle/s400/wistful-profile-alex---dustbowl-FINAL---resized-for-web-WATERMARKED.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5652495162950593730" /></a><br /><div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://twitter.com/bottlebell">twitter</a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://facebook.com/ashleylebedev">facebook</a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://flickr.com/photos/thebottlebellphotography">flickr</a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://500px.com/ashleylebedev">500 px</a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://bottlebellphotography.blogspot.com/2011/09/workshops-are-open-for-enrollment_09.html">"project muse" workshops </a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/152785708075242/?ref=ts">workshops group</a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2009/05/27/fashion/28skin.span.jpg">**smooch**</a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">Okay, kiddos, this little filly is off to bed. The farm is blanketed under the very first night of cold frost and a perfect silence. The kind of silence that you notice. I'm finishing this jar of tea and going to bed under warm quilts and soft piano. Ash x</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">ppps. THANK YOU FOR SELLING OUT "PROJECT MUSE" WORKSHOPS IN JUST OVER 24 HOURS! </div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">A note to my registrants: You are all so brave. If you maintain that courage, while experiencing the class, you will find yourself changed because of it. xo</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div></div></div></div></div></div>Bottle Bell Photographyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10103938584234092344noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6084021644443289930.post-16003232557964524282011-09-09T08:14:00.025-05:002012-07-03T20:07:06.678-05:00"Project Muse" Workshops are open for enrollment! | Finally.<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguaUXbavdlzPcz2U8l2xQAtzfwOq3SM0QHBeVW5AQrks9BMHRwXxLqeYRkD5mdidcWjWwzfGPZLmXU2tY7XlAaTAP2PWgl80rZhR5OX9qu2Siyrp1ii4J7IqCjNk4h7TWGc-uXoIGJObOC/s1600/project-muse-workshops+SOLD+OUT+-header.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5652097878759567250" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguaUXbavdlzPcz2U8l2xQAtzfwOq3SM0QHBeVW5AQrks9BMHRwXxLqeYRkD5mdidcWjWwzfGPZLmXU2tY7XlAaTAP2PWgl80rZhR5OX9qu2Siyrp1ii4J7IqCjNk4h7TWGc-uXoIGJObOC/s400/project-muse-workshops+SOLD+OUT+-header.jpg" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 267px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 400px;" /></a><br />
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<b>Update: Sold out through August 2012. Have a few spaces left for September/October enrollment. As of now, I believe there are *two*.</b><br />
<b>Please email to book:</b><br />
<b>ashleylebedev@gmail.com</b><br />
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<b>(Course Description)</b></div>
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<b>"Project Muse" | The Process of Inspiration and Awakening the Artist Within</b> is a one on one masterclass, able to be taken from anywhere in the world and, for the most part, at your convenience.</div>
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This course consists of several one on one online chat sessions with myself and is chalk full of surprises, which I believe are so important in the process of creating. It also includes a very extensive package, via mail, for you to learn from and follow along with, in your own time. The in-the-mail 'kit' comprises much of the masterclass. Our individualized chat sessions add to the extensive package sent, and are where we get to interact, one on one. The chat sessions will tackle any problems or issues (also any questions) that you may be having, offering help to you in your journey as an artist, both personally and professionally, at whatever level.</div>
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<b>Want to know more?</b></div>
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Project Muse is a course that explores (through my own life and work experiences, techniques, exercises, and approaches - the ones I've utilized over the last 6 years) how to find and then master yourself as an artist and person and how to continue to learn and grow. It's a course that shows you not only how to become inspired, but also fulfilled in your own creativity, whether you are a commercial photographer or fine artist, whatever your goals may be.</div>
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It's a very spirituality based and hands on approach to not only mastering your camera and becoming a better photographer, but also an immersion in who you are as a person and what that means for your vision and message and art. Further: how to apply that to your photography and get it back out of your camera and lenses.</div>
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<b>This is not an Fstop class. This is a life class for Photographers.</b></div>
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Simply put, <i>"Project Muse" is a journey back to yourself</i>, through so many new doors. It's focused around you and your camera, but it goes so much further. You could also consider it a photographically focused ‘life detox’.</div>
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*Beyond the process of inspiration, Project Muse will include my natural lighting techniques (I work 100% on location and in every condition possible) and further insights into getting the most from your shoots, from concept to your model. </div>
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*Lastly, Project Muse will also offer an intro into my processing techniques and recommendations. We will also venture into finding your own techniques.</div>
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<b>The rest is a surprise.</b></div>
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<i>This is not a class you've taken before and that's a very, very good thing.</i></div>
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<b>**OF NOTE</b>: I recommend anyone wanting to take this course to have already followed myself and my work for at least 3 months, so that you already have a basic understanding of how I work, in front of as well as behind the camera.</div>
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**<b>THINGS TO KNOW:</b></div>
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Q: Do I need a fancy schmancy camera to take this class?</div>
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A: I couldn't care less about the camera that you have. This isn't <i>that </i>class and, in fact, by the end of the course you aren't going to care, either.</div>
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Q: I notice some of your offerings have been women only. Is Project Muse something that a guy can take?<br />
A: You bet. </div>
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Q: What do I need to bring with or make sure I have before I sign up?<br />
A: Just bring your heart and own any sort of camera. Truly, that's all. We are getting back to basics. </div>
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Q: Is this a class that explores many areas of my life? </div>
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A: Yes.</div>
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Q: Is this class unconventional?<br />
A: Absolutely. </div>
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Enrollment for this class is very limited.</div>
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I will be taking deposits to hold places now. The other half being due after the 1st of January, 2012.</div>
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Project Muse will be offered (this year is already booked) in February/March 2012.</div>
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<i>For further questions or to book your space, please inquire within:</i></div>
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<b>ashleylebedev@gmail.com</b></div>
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- Ash</div>
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</div>Bottle Bell Photographyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10103938584234092344noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6084021644443289930.post-57919111382084633002011-08-24T01:15:00.011-05:002011-09-28T15:08:55.618-05:00Faerieland Resumes. | BTS & A TEENSY SNEAK PEEK. ;)<div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">Friends.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">In the midst of so much traveling (nearly solid since April) and struggling to find an internet connection nearly every day ... I assembled a team yesterday (in the middle of nowhere, as usual) and (drum roll please) "Faerieland" resumed.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">Tonight, I find myself in Air Conditioning and PJs and eating a sumptuous orange, glazed with lemon juice and honey (I know, right?!) And, I thought a quick blog post was in order.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeJqpVmhSpeAX3R-H-jad0Q4jAwVjCKDsuZcaPRHsBLzfqrT_KEcxPnZyjxWdJkyzIG7cGNyr88fZQBNkpyUHsfNBrLyk9sD8ISOIwQOh4NUTn452d3CoRS2PjIlTwtJaxgc_SjYjNs1cf/s1600/Faerieland-Resumes-Fall-2011----FOR-BLOG3.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 267px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeJqpVmhSpeAX3R-H-jad0Q4jAwVjCKDsuZcaPRHsBLzfqrT_KEcxPnZyjxWdJkyzIG7cGNyr88fZQBNkpyUHsfNBrLyk9sD8ISOIwQOh4NUTn452d3CoRS2PjIlTwtJaxgc_SjYjNs1cf/s400/Faerieland-Resumes-Fall-2011----FOR-BLOG3.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5644314493145203298" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">Anyway, It was a solid 11 hours of prep. to execution and I'm exhausted. But, I'm smiling in this night like the billion stars above me. I love what I do and I cannot wait to share these next characters. My imagination has been allowed to run wild. It continues to run ahead of me so often that I only ever hope I can keep up and jot the impossible idea down, before it disappears from my sight and goes back to the world from which it came. </div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrMB_nVEeAa0FEHNTsGtdcmkCji4zLoMZRyMNazvDsB2d5gcZ0IzAqU8oEaloGV8colROVHk0wD7qcQDiMDHANmjsDkZV9nfWU9C0SHKs4Y0v33o1prH1kyBWIL7VNy4Rl2MkW_wSH8M0S/s1600/Faerieland-Resumes-Fall-2011----FOR-BLOG1.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 267px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrMB_nVEeAa0FEHNTsGtdcmkCji4zLoMZRyMNazvDsB2d5gcZ0IzAqU8oEaloGV8colROVHk0wD7qcQDiMDHANmjsDkZV9nfWU9C0SHKs4Y0v33o1prH1kyBWIL7VNy4Rl2MkW_wSH8M0S/s400/Faerieland-Resumes-Fall-2011----FOR-BLOG1.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5644314977295850578" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">Of course this is just a tiny teaser BTS with a <i>realllly</i> tiny cropped cell phone screen shot at the very end, of one of the final images from this sequence of the fairytale. </div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMT2AHEx_AUVx_XKa2LrxhPSQHGELJVGQG_9P_6G6TTyc3mZrBEZin5OTiQCRv88OVSqUCV4Tb0vAalCESDDG2KohjOzxCbmIzfTsV7gnZqd_HmYq2cVaZq_xdkDw7sWplF24gjoPgWOTw/s1600/Faerieland-Resumes-Fall-2011----FOR-BLOG2.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 267px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMT2AHEx_AUVx_XKa2LrxhPSQHGELJVGQG_9P_6G6TTyc3mZrBEZin5OTiQCRv88OVSqUCV4Tb0vAalCESDDG2KohjOzxCbmIzfTsV7gnZqd_HmYq2cVaZq_xdkDw7sWplF24gjoPgWOTw/s400/Faerieland-Resumes-Fall-2011----FOR-BLOG2.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5644315641381974258" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1s1zh7iA1tz8muc-_bioxunwDtcFo8XsRh37kbYnXtQ3KrH3scATrGUDCprTl0jIZlld_aBLrMCCECNNF18HvX3-YoSUFd9lzgrjw7CJaZCxND2rnhFoAMyCCHQk6kxm7ZInKY5yWwFxL/s1600/Faerieland-Resumes-Fall-2011----FOR-BLOG4.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 267px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1s1zh7iA1tz8muc-_bioxunwDtcFo8XsRh37kbYnXtQ3KrH3scATrGUDCprTl0jIZlld_aBLrMCCECNNF18HvX3-YoSUFd9lzgrjw7CJaZCxND2rnhFoAMyCCHQk6kxm7ZInKY5yWwFxL/s400/Faerieland-Resumes-Fall-2011----FOR-BLOG4.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5644316014235120850" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;">[***side note & inside joke: tons of flowers were involved in this shoot, and flowers reminded us of hippie's, so the running joke on set was that we should have this character do a hippie peace sign and some protesters picketing in the background (while I shot) to really shake up faerieland.]</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">------</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">I have asked myself (and am very often asked) what I want (exactly) to do when I finish this collection. People ask if I want to exhibit the entire story, or? Honestly, I really feel that <i>this particular series</i> (not over by any means) will eventually be a very dark fine art tome for both children and adults, accompanied by music to accompany the visuals. Will the book be a limited edition? Likely, though I don't know for sure. </div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">That said, I have at least 11 more characters in drawn out storyboards, and so many unseen landscapes yet to come. So, hold tight. x</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">Sneak Peek from a super cropped cell phone screen shot of one of the final images from this particular sequence, just after I nabbed it from OOC:</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJ-b8DhLNQjE_y0VWjTo5Um4Kvt6xRKRdWL3aDlIgaa2W1g1xKVA1itDgN3wk1C06WmCN-fbO-Nc_wiigjnChv0NMwu61TKQl-gE8dYlw9_ORkNGcdm0qlXiLt2Gy1_c7rMqa2aMChVezt/s1600/Faerieland-Resumes-Fall-2011----FOR-BLOG----SNEAK-CROPPED-SCREENSHOT.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 290px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJ-b8DhLNQjE_y0VWjTo5Um4Kvt6xRKRdWL3aDlIgaa2W1g1xKVA1itDgN3wk1C06WmCN-fbO-Nc_wiigjnChv0NMwu61TKQl-gE8dYlw9_ORkNGcdm0qlXiLt2Gy1_c7rMqa2aMChVezt/s400/Faerieland-Resumes-Fall-2011----FOR-BLOG----SNEAK-CROPPED-SCREENSHOT.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5644316275337401186" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">And that's a wrap.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">A SPECIAL THANKS to:</div><div style="text-align: center;">MUA: Lacey O'Sullivan. I adore you.</div><div style="text-align: center;">MODEL: Olga Ivanova (what a wonderful model ;)<br />DESIGNER/SUEDE BONNETS: Joy Patterson (fantastic artist, to say the least!)</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://500px.com/AshleyLebedev">500px</a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://twitter.com/bottlebell">Twitter</a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://facebook.com/ashleylebedev">Bookface</a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://flickr.com/photos/thebottlebellphotography">Flickr</a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">ps. As long as I have you here, just wanted to offer a huge THANK YOU (underline it. bold it. italicize it.) to those of you that sent some of the most <b>astonishingly beautiful</b> messages I've ever read/received regarding my new endeavor, "<a href="http://bottlebellphotography.blogspot.com/2011/08/welcome-to-dustbowl.html">dustbowl</a>". I had the idea after years of being transfixed by that era of history and in reading books like 'the grapes of wrath' and even just traveling this country (so many times over), immersing myself in its rich history, with every failed boomtown and lost highway. There are so many. (Route 66, anyone? how about Appalachia?) | It just seemed like an idea that I had to take on. The next shoot for that collection is this Saturday, and it's quite the contrast to "faerieland". These two series' are a nice balance and keep me on my feet. ;)</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">Living out of a suitcase, </div><div style="text-align: center;">Ashes <a href="http://www.bottlebellphotography.com/">x</a></div><div style="text-align: center;"> </div>Bottle Bell Photographyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10103938584234092344noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6084021644443289930.post-11668051616377773222011-08-18T13:43:00.007-05:002011-08-18T20:57:31.064-05:00Welcome to "Dustbowl".<div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span">
<br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><b>::whispers:: </b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><b>
<br /></b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><b>"Black Blizzards are coming.</b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><b> And the bread lines.</b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><b>Poverty is everywhere, now.</b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><b>Shantytowns are a-springin' up...."
<br /></b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><b>
<br /></b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><b>::whispers::</b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><b>
<br /></b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;">Friends.</div><div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">You don't have to read all of this, and you can just skip to the imagery below...</div><div style="text-align: center;">BUT if you do that, there are two things I want to mention:</div><div style="text-align: center;">1.) You're heart won't begin to race with the stories that have gone into this.</div><div style="text-align: center;">2.) You'll never understand this collection.</div><div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">If nothing else, if you reallllllly aren't the reading type - at least read the 'facts' section.</div><div style="text-align: center;">This is one of those collection (truly) in which knowing the backstory to it, is actually knowing the whole story.</div><div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b>INTRO:</b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span">
<br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span">I have always loved history and the wildly beautiful, torn-up past. There's something (nothing short of) yearning & terribly haunting about things we cannot change, and something incredibly perfect about how photography can stir the memories of the past, like echoes; like it's rousing a symphony of ghosts. It's one of the only things (the only?) that can.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span">
<br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span">Enter Dustbowl.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span">
<br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><b>What is Dustbowl?</b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span">The term "dustbowl" refers to an area in the United States stretching across the great plains (think Oklahoma, Kansas, Texas and the surrounding plains states) that were known for their incredibly violent and massive duststorms and everlasting droughts, during a period of time (approx. 1930-1936) in which those massive storms interwove themselves against another heartwrenching occurrence: The Great Depression. (approx 1929 - 1941).</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span">
<br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span">The Great Depression (though a worldwide occurrence (also known as the: "Dirty Thirties") began in the USA, preceding WWII and was thrown into full motion when the stock market finally crashed on October 29, 1929. This date is forever known as: "Black Tuesday". </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span">
<br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span">It remains one of the most heartbreaking and trying periods of American History, to date.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span">
<br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><b>Facts:</b></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><b>
<br /></b></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><b> *Unemployment in the USA rose from 3% to 25% and over 13 million people lost their jobs.</b></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><b>
<br /></b></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><b>*Incomes, on average, were reduced by 40%.</b></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><b>
<br /></b></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><b>*2 million people became homeless.</b></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><b>
<br /></b></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><b>*Thousands of schools found themselves with reduced hours and help, or were closed down completely.</b></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><b>
<br /></b></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><b>*750,000 farms across the country were lost, due to bankruptcy.</b></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><b>
<br /></b></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><b>*People in the mountain regions of the country, during this time, were often reduced to eating diets of only dandelions and blackberries.</b></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><b>
<br /></b></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><b>*Many people became nomads, traveling across the country via highways and railroads. Many walked.</b></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><b>
<br /></b></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><b>*20% of children were hungry and without any clothing, and many went without warm clothes in Winter.</b></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><b>
<br /></b></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><b>*In coal mining regions, the % of malnourished children reached as high as 90%.</b></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><b>*40% of youth were neither in school or working.</b></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><b>
<br /></b></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><b>*People set up working camps from scrap metals and boxes. These camps typically were in poverty, without proper sanitation, which quickly (and often) led to outbreaks of malaria, typhoid, smallpox, and tuberculosis.</b></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span">
<br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><b><i>*THE GREAT PLAINS STATES (THE "DUSTBOWL" REGION) WAS HIT THE HARDEST, </i>due to it's violent windstorms that annihilated crops & homes. </b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><b>
<br /></b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><b>----</b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><b>
<br /></b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><b><i>Enter My Collection.</i></b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><i><b>
<br /></b></i></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span">Now, you know my work and how I like my bittersweet and terribly sad imagery. And, If you've been following my work, you also know how I love historical imagery. </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span">
<br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span">Earlier this year, I began to really fall in love with the human element in all things & The Great Depression is just such a skyscraper and testament to the human element.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span">
<br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span">I decided I wanted to begin a new collection - a storyboard, over time, that would be a nice contrast to my other work. </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span">
<br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span">Stark B&W portraits. places. things. Just them - no clutter. Just their stories.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span"> POIGNANT. HAUNTING. </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span">
<br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span">The Great Depression *is* a time of great struggle and sadness, but it's also a time of great strength (of human spirit) and great perseverance, showing what can be done (hard workers, migrants, nomads, homeless, illness, poverty, no money, no home, even. BUT, never giving up.)</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span">
<br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span">I had to make this collection. This time in history fascinates me.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span">
<br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span">So what is this collection?</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span">
<br />Simply this:</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span">
<br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span">In <b>"Dustbowl"</b>, I intend to recreate, image by image, the people, the courage, the stories, the untold moments, the strengths & weaknesses, and the REALITIES that existed during The Great Depression Era (Dustbowl Region) of American History.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span">
<br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span">This is a dirty, simple collection. It's not glitzy or stylized. And, It's nearly out of camera. It's purely the human element.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span">
<br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span">I thought it was the perfect time to begin B&W collection.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span">
<br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span">Don't look for pretty. Look for perseverance. People had to play roles.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span">Women were tough. Children were starving. Men were trying.
<br />Love existed.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"></div><div style="text-align: center;"></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span">
<br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span">And, as with all of my work, look for the beauty and that small glimmer of grace and balance, because even in times like the Dustbowl, it was there. </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span">
<br />It.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span">Was.
<br />There.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span">
<br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span">I present the first 4 images of MANY MANY MANY to come.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span">These do not have names. This is a full story and it's just beginning.
<br />Every image is untitled and I want all to be known simply as....</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span">
<br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><b>"Dustbowl"</b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><b>
<br /></b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span">(to see these larger and in high res, please <a href="http://500px.com/AshleyLebedev">visit my 500PX</a> account, for now)</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><b>
<br /></b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><b><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiWYl5bWeLA02GVwgjdETTPCYP2M_JHKEa2OhKhuynsIXCIqdun0Zxo60m24x8r_EneNmzx0Nbz8h_8UDvYveOPYs_G432lPawjyAbzQAVjBlKf94YJN7ahwAKz6dRYqOgbBE-58iJoi1V/s1600/dustbowl-4--greatdepressionhands-heirloom---FORFLICKRFACEBOOKBLOG.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiWYl5bWeLA02GVwgjdETTPCYP2M_JHKEa2OhKhuynsIXCIqdun0Zxo60m24x8r_EneNmzx0Nbz8h_8UDvYveOPYs_G432lPawjyAbzQAVjBlKf94YJN7ahwAKz6dRYqOgbBE-58iJoi1V/s400/dustbowl-4--greatdepressionhands-heirloom---FORFLICKRFACEBOOKBLOG.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5642287655572574386" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHfyyi6hHcWHPxsOMkSWRFloVEf4y48LGTn2zx59fEO6-xOkk9Fm6VO5J90WM08DNaUO8D4QrLOLx_k30bTXj8OKODzNWV-DHimgr5zUkeOvNVT_Z5DHgiqWHwW9Zes_ToiwzYEt_9iTcw/s1600/dustbowl-3--atthewindow---FORBLOGSFACEBOOKFLICKR.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 266px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHfyyi6hHcWHPxsOMkSWRFloVEf4y48LGTn2zx59fEO6-xOkk9Fm6VO5J90WM08DNaUO8D4QrLOLx_k30bTXj8OKODzNWV-DHimgr5zUkeOvNVT_Z5DHgiqWHwW9Zes_ToiwzYEt_9iTcw/s400/dustbowl-3--atthewindow---FORBLOGSFACEBOOKFLICKR.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5642287651711260146" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5DlAIawHTXtTZ0yYcSlvlSC52fTgSrYDt7Pr_y8Argb0QHJgao6j0fb9FtIxROIso0VGre3awOH4mgUpjcKLTpF0kw1-4wdZO2TFqwu_x8R-nEsod-kzg-JQd0ZR39xrC8HOyfjygShpX/s1600/dustbowl-3--thehotheat---FORBLOGSFACEBOOKFLICKR.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 266px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5DlAIawHTXtTZ0yYcSlvlSC52fTgSrYDt7Pr_y8Argb0QHJgao6j0fb9FtIxROIso0VGre3awOH4mgUpjcKLTpF0kw1-4wdZO2TFqwu_x8R-nEsod-kzg-JQd0ZR39xrC8HOyfjygShpX/s400/dustbowl-3--thehotheat---FORBLOGSFACEBOOKFLICKR.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5642287648411711122" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhINYT3EoSE_Ry-2AKT7cuN7nCS3HLgrNA85YLIPggWXWU7_7_q1-Bp5jbCEmG7RURpjjjMjZJoT8sfejRBZ-sWXwXi0tr-pvBU54c5gukAuCxVbZAdUsLhquPmKBLrSLELiHUYMRipl7_8/s1600/dustbowl-1-FORFLICKR-BLOG-FACEBOOK.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhINYT3EoSE_Ry-2AKT7cuN7nCS3HLgrNA85YLIPggWXWU7_7_q1-Bp5jbCEmG7RURpjjjMjZJoT8sfejRBZ-sWXwXi0tr-pvBU54c5gukAuCxVbZAdUsLhquPmKBLrSLELiHUYMRipl7_8/s400/dustbowl-1-FORFLICKR-BLOG-FACEBOOK.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5642287647127450466" /></a></div></b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div></span></div><div style="text-align: center;">I hope you are haunted. More to come.</div><div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">With much love & West Coast Bound,</div><div style="text-align: center;">
<br />Ash | x</div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span">
<br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span">
<br /></span></div>Bottle Bell Photographyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10103938584234092344noreply@blogger.com8