Friends

     Hey there everyone! It's May already! YEAH! (one more month till summer!) I'll get to blog a lot on those hot, summer days when there's absolutely NOTHING to do. Let's talk about friends. Shall we? This week has been kind of tiring and emotional (school drama), and the only people in this world that will actually listen to my rambling and complaining are my friends. Aren't they wonderful? They are always there when you need them. They support and respect you. In honor to commemorate friendship, here are some pictures I found on Favim. Sit back, relax, scroll the page, and just enjoy them. Maybe they'll remind you of the times you had with your friends :)

Okay, now this picture above was just awesome, so I couldn't help but post it. 

HOPE YOU ENJOYED THE PICTURES! 

-Aria

Gloomy Spring?

It's spring, but it's been sooo gloomy lately.. we're coming towards the end of the school year, so I my whole week is like: STUDY, test, STUDY, test, test. The only joy I have during the day is when I get to come home and  BLOG. I think I'm converting myself into those people who can't live without the Internet. There's just so much to do, you know.
Yesterday I watched a movie called "The Face on the Milk Carton" on abc family. It's about this girl who discovers a milk carton that has a picture of her on the back (you know, for missing people), SO she finds out that she was missing and that the family she's been living with is not actually her real family. *SPOILER ALERT* The person that kidnapped her (Hannah) was a cult member, so she took the child to her parents house. Hanna's parents thought it was her daughter, so they took care of her. Hannah just disappeared. I can't tell you what happens next :3 You'll have to watch the movie.

 

To change the subject, I've been looking around for VINTAGE <3 items  lately. Here's a collection of some vintage items and photos I like:

                                                                        

The bright red saddle shoes were hand painted by Elsie. She has really nice tutorials on her blog on how to make cute things. Here's the link to her site: Abeautifulmess 

I don't have a lot of vintage clothing because I can't afford them right now. That's why I asked my grandma if she still had some of her old clothes. She said that they are in her storage, so if she gets a chance, she'll bring them to me the next time she comes. How exciting! It's like opening up a treasure box  :)

Well, that's all for today! Thanks for reading!

-Aria

Interview with Lara Zankoul; photographer

Have you ever wanted to step into a fairy tale? A magical world with enchanting colors and lights? Well you can. That is what Lebanese photographer, Lara Zankoul, creates with her beautiful photographs. Her stunning works take you to a breathtaking new world where dreams are born.

Lara Zankoul was born in 1987 and is definitely one of my favorite photographers. 

She generously answered all of my questions for this interview. 

 How old were you when you started photography?

I was 20.

What inspired you? 

Flickr website inspired me to buy my own camera and try out photography.

 

How do you come up with the ideas for your photographs? 

They usually come to me spontaneously. But when I'm not really inspired I try to get photos ideas from feelings, emotions and situations of life.

  

What camera do you use?

 I started with the Sony Alpha 200 but now shifted to the Canon 5d mark ii.

 How did you develop the style you have in your photographs?

 I worked on shaping my preferences in composition, color schemes and light, and it lead to this current style I have.

Who are some of your favorite artists?

Contemporary artists: Brooke SHaden, Tim Burton, Annie Leibovitz
I also like surreal artists like Dali.

What would you like to say to the young photographers out there?

I would say don't be afraid to try new things in photography and be creative.

8) What is your favorite song?

My favorite song this week is "Telling stories" for Tracy Chapman.

Lara Zankoul is an amazing and inspiring photographer that all young photographers can look up to. You can tell that she puts in a lot of time and care into her work. Lara captures dreams, imaginations and puts them into a single photograph. That's what so magical about art. 

Here is a link to her website: http://larazankoul.com/

I hope you guys enjoyed this interview! Special thanks to Lara Zankoul taking the time to answer the questions!

-Aria

Alice Look

Alice in Wonderland has always been one of my favorite stories. Not just because of it's fun, outlandish characters like the Mad Hatter (who is my personal favorite), but also because of how it was created. Mr. Lewis Carroll was asked one day, by a little girl, to tell a story. Well, Carroll told and created a story. A story that has become one of the most famous children's books of all time! Many people claim that Alice in Wonderland is just a childish book full of nonsense, but others believe that Mr. Carroll used his intelligence and logic to put hidden meanings behind the story. He was a mathematician, so who knows? He probably did!
Alice became very popular, and many artists look into the story for inspiration.

I wanted to create an Alice inspired look, so I looked for things in my closet and quickly got to work.

(all pictures were taken by my wonderful grandmother and edited by me)

The striped tights are from an Alice costume I got last year for Halloween. It also came with some kind of tights for the arms with the same pattern, but I sadly couldn't find them..

The shirt was made by me because I couldn't find any top that would match the outfit. I used transfer paper to transfer on an original drawing from the book. Alice is holding the "drink me" bottle. I am actually also holding a "drink me" bottle in my hand if you were wondering what it was (next time, I should hold a rabbit to be clearer...). The shoes are sketchers. I chose them because they match the shoes Alice is wearing on my shirt.

The headband was added for more blue color, and to represent the flowers from the story.

I was looking through Etsy the other day, and saw these Alice shoes. They are handmade by Kristen Cleghorn. I love <3 the detail she put into them.

(the back is amazing)

Here is the link to her store: https://www.etsy.com/people/ASquaredSharpieShoes 

Have a wonderful rest of the week everyone!

- Aria

To the Circus!

     Hey guys! Today I went to the circus for the first time in 2 years. It was exciting to see those acrobats, animals, and clowns again! The show was great, and it gave me a chance to use my 300 mm camera lens (finally!). The clowns were funny, the dances were great, but what amazed me the most was this sorta hoop thingy with pointy swords on the inside with fire. It also rotated. They blindfolded the performer (putting a black sack on his head) and he jumped through the hoop while it was still spinning. It was terrifying, yet amazing. I love the circus. It's a nice place to have a laugh and enjoy everything it has to offer.

 My favorite clown of all time.

 INCREDIBLE

Wouldn't you love to join that?

cuuuuuuttttteeee

WOW

I just couldn't leave him out!

All the photos were taken with the Nikon 5100. They were not edited in any way.

 - Aria

Twiggy

I read about Twiggy, the 60's style icon, for the first time in Elle magazine. Elle mentioned her in a section about anorexia. It said that she was so skinny, that every girl wanted to be like her at the time (she wasn't anorexic I think. She probably just had a VERY high metabolism). Twiggy became the first super model, and was also named the face of 1966. I recently picked up a Time magazine from a few weeks ago, and it turns out that she is still one of the most influential people in the world! So, I asked my grandmother what she thought of her. She told me that she had never seen someone that skinny, and that seeing a girl that skinny with such short hair amazed everyone (I absolutely love the hair). As my aunt once said, "long hair is beautiful, but short hair is elegant", which is very true. 





How did she become famous? I asked myself. Well, it turns out that Twiggy had pictures taken of her for a hair salon. Later, the owner posted the pictures on the walls of the salon. One wonderful day, a man that worked for Daily Express saw the photographs and was amazed. He wrote an article about her, and BABAM! Twiggy became a worldwide sensation. The audience and camera loved her!

                                                    

She is so photogenic! Twiggy is definitely my favorite model of all time! (how would I look with that hair...)

-Aria