Liberation

Photo by Anastasiia Sapon


Being on the road was good for me. I needed it. Everything going on with my mom and grandmother kept getting to me.. and I'm glad I was able to spend 5 days with great amazing people who I call my friends.

It felt nice to not worry about washing my hair every night... not having to put on makeup every morning and just enjoying the sun.

I missed this weather. I missed grey skies. I love the sun, really... but I also missed that cold crisp air that hits your face after being cooped up in a warm house.

I need to go to Wells Fargo and open a new bank account. And eat!

Day 3

Can I just say.... I HATE LA. I hate the traffic, I hate the snobbery, I hate everyones attitude.. LA just isn't for me. God forbid later down the road for some reason I have to move there.. I know I will be highly medicated 80% of the time.

So many mishaps... we called about 45 different motels.. and tried finding about 4 or 5 driving in circles in hollywood and somehow ending up in the TL of Los Angeles...

We slept in the car at an AM/PM which must have been one of my worst nights sleep ever... everyone was tired and irritated and the vibes were not good. I don't like sleeping with such negative energy inside me but it was just a bad night.

After that we just headed down to San Diego... after this point I refused to use my digital camera and I told myself I want to see my images once I'm in the dark room... And I got all the free film I didn't want it to go to waste.

San Diego was great... a new change of pace and such good vibes! We went to Ocean Beach and felt like home with all the hippies. After we went to Pacific Beach and it felt soo nice to just be able to relax and not as stressed.

Once I scan all my film in I'll post it immediately.

Day two, Part two

So after Santa Barbara we drove a ways and came to Santa Monica. I really wanted to take everyone to Venice Beach and show them the city. It took us a while to find parking and venice. We drove to the boardwalk first then drove around downtown for a good hour. We finally found a spot and got out and enjoyed the sun.



Drum circle


Brittany freakin' Boyer and I sat on the beach for a while and right when the sun was setting, we heard a ton of drums so we walked over and found a drum circle. Everyone was dancing and we saw tons of little cuties. Every one and their mom had dogs on venice and they were all pitbull's and some other mean looking dog. I was so surprised how fit everyone was too- so many bikes and joggers. Afterwards we ran into muscle man again...



And I found a cute little model



We all found eachother and drove to this nice little mexican place. We left to find a starbucks and get something warm to drink. While on the way there Anastasiia couldn't find her camera! We went back to the mexican place and luckily they had it. She came back into the car and said "I love mexicans" it was sweet.
Then we went to Riverside to find a place to sleep. Victor and Luis' mom was so nice and took us in at midnight. She was the cutest thing ever and I fell in love with his family. I wish I spoke better spanish- his mom kept speaking to me and I understood what she said but I couldn't say anything back I felt so bad.

We made a fire and tried drinking but we found out instead of getting vodka we got smirnoff Ice.... which was just like soda. Note to self- dont get vodka when you're stoned.

We left that next afternoon and said goodbye to the boys and then it was just the 5 of us.


In the boys backyard.

Day two of road trip Part 1

On our way to explore the beaches of Santa Barbara


So after we checked out we went to the beach by sea cliff and explored and I found some beach treasures






Anastasiia found a cute surfer- I think he fancied her too ;)



After the beach we headed down to Santa Monica and went to Venice Beach for the day. Anastasiia and I danced in a drum circle, Lindsey and Anastasiia got some henna and the boys skated all day. it was a good day. Afterwards we crashed at Victor and Luis' house. I have to go though before we have to check out of this hotel. Love you all!

DUST Road Trip

So it's day 4 of our road trip. Sorry I've been late on updating, we ran into some difficulties in terms of wifi areas and sleeping arrangements (Thank you AM/PM on Knott's in LA).

The morning of leaving the city was cursed- I'm still not sure what was going on downtown but all of market was blocked off and there was a four car pile up on Van Ness... so it took us about an hour to figure out how to leave and get to San Jose.






On our way from San Jose to our first destination at Paso Robles


We headed out about 2 hours late and around 5 PM we ended up in Solvang and Paso Robles. We found a great abandoned truck stop and then visited the famous Madonna Inn.

We ended up in Santa Barbara our first night and stayed at this cheap little motel called The Sandyshore Inn. After some night photography (which will be uploaded shortly) we sat and hung out in the room for the night and enjoyed an actual shower!



Laying around enjoying the bed before a long day on the road


After Santa Barbara we headed off to Venice. I'll update on Day 2 in a bit- now we're off to get some food in our tummies and off to shoot some silly drunks celebrating st. patty's day!
Have a safe one!

Armenian Wedding

February, 28th, 2009


In Rancho Cordova, a city in Sacramento country, 22 year old Aleena R. was getting for her big day. With the population of the city being primarily Armenian, I had the pleasure to photograph and attend my first Armenian wedding. There are many special traditions that are not practiced in other western weddings.


A few traditions I found interesting were the "basket dancing" at the Brides house. The family has three or four big baskets and a lot of traditional dancing (which I encountered throughout the day) begins. In the baskets contain the brides shoes, jewelry and presents.


Another tradition was the "apple" tradition which symbolizes virginity... It is rarely ever practiced anymore but the best man has a sword with red apples pierced through it. It is offered to the bride at her place on the day of the wedding. The next day, if the sheet of the nuptual bed shows blood (which is apparently shown in public), the red apple is given to the bride's family by the groom's side as a token of "appreciation" that they gave away a good girl who was still a virgin. I think the apples were shown just to follow old tradition, since many modern marriages do not follow through with the bed sheets being shown in public.


At the brides house, in a room of just women, Aleena was dressed by her brides maids and accompanied by her mother and future mother in law.


While the Grooms party meets at the Brides house, the brides brother puts on her shoes, and the family gives their daughter away to her new husband and his family. And of course- a lot more dancing ensued.