travel video / new york girls trip

this may i went to new york with my mother-in-law and sister-in-law. we had the best time! we pretty much walked the entire island of manhattan every day, or so it felt. luckily it hadn't gotten too hot yet so we weren't dying. we went to some awesome exhibits at the met (which will be covered in another post), ate amazing food non-stop, and saw some awesome shows.

macbeth was probably my favorite, alan cumming did a solo act. as in he played every single character on stage. as in he acted for 2 hours straight and had all of the shakespeare lines memorized. the play was set in a mental hospital and shows macbeth as a madman. it was absolutely brilliant. we also went to a comedy show that was a bit racy, but ended up being hilarious. 

anyways... for this trip i decided i wanted to try my hand at videography. getting used to video-ing with my dslr is taking time, especially trying to figure out how to change the focus as i video. i was inspired by designlovefest's paris video, which is probably the cutest thing i have ever seen. hopefully some day i will get to that level. 

this video shows just how much fun our trip was, i'm so glad that i got invited! and it's true, a little party never killed nobody! (oh! we got to go to the gatsby opening night while were there, that was really something else!) 

Uploaded by Brittany Carpenter on 2013-08-10.

hangable art / clyfford still

for this column i want to show art that would actually look good in your home. while the raft of the medusa is super important, i don't think it is practical to have it hanging above your couch. personally, i prefer modern art for the bigger pieces in my house. right now i have two large canvases that are abstracted and modern, but i can tell you nothing about their authors. they are of the anonymous home-goods brand (when my father-in-law walked in to my house he immediately said they were not real art, i half agree with him. though i doubt that he would think the modern art that i do really like is 'real art'). someday i hope to have real copies of my favorite modern artists in my house. i think i will start with clyfford still. 

still was part of the abstract expressionist movement, and specifically was a color field painter (which means exactly what it sounds like). he believed that his works had no deep connections or associations. they were not meaningful or mythical. rather, they were just about the colors on the canvas. and he really did use the greatest colors. most of his works are centered on large forms of black and white, but many also incorporate oranges and reds.

his works are massive! the collection that i saw at the met and the lacma were twice as tall as me. i wouldn't want my copy to be quite that big, but i would love for it to take up almost an entire wall. it will sit on the ground and lean up against a wall, preferably in my living room. unfortunately, art.com only has one clyfford still print available for order. the lacma website allows you to order my favorite still that i have seen yet (the one at the very bottom). this website allows you to order reproduction paintings which aren't too expensive and they have tons of stills. oh, and if you ever happen to be in denver there is a clyfford still museum there! check it out!

Clyfford Still: Untitled, 1946-47, on view at the Metropolitan Museum, NY.

close up of the image above.

Clyfford Still: 1947-48-W No. 1, 1947-48, on view at the Metropolitan Museum, NY.

Clyfford Still: 1955-H, 1955, on view at the LA County Museum of Art, available to order on the LACMA website.

from my camera / bonfire

we move away from provo in about week and a half, and i couldn't be more excited. i have been here way too long. last night we partook in a classic provo activity: having  bonfire up the canyon. kira and her boyfriend found an awesome spot that over looked the (ugly) valley. at night and from a distance provo doesn't look too bad. here are some pictures i took around the campfire. which edit do you like better? the bluish one or the brownish one? i like them both for different reasons. 

cute couple #1- kira and devan

cute couple #2- dee and kelley

we had a great view of the gorgeous sunset! and there was a small lightning storm off in the distance. 

check out that grid system (get me out of here)

a perfect day in... / london pt. 1

my cousin is going to paris for a semester on a study abroad, and i couldn't be more jealous. she asked me what she should do in london if she were to spend a weekend there. this is a hard task, but i'm going to try it. i'm going to split london up in to 3 days, a friday, saturday and sunday (the specific day is important because of the markets which are only open on certain days). mind you, my favorite things are not typical first-time-in-london suggestions, they are what i found to be my favorite things while i lived there. (also, i did not take any of these pictures, click on them to see where they came from)

on a friday...

i will first take you to my very favorite museum in london. the art historian in me could send you to galleries all day long, but i won't. because i know you might get sick of it after a while just as jarman does (he is great for the first hour a day of museums, but then it hits the fan). the courtauld gallery is a small museum located on the banks of the thames. it is an enchanting place that has amazing impressionist and post-impressionist works. i am a major fan of small museums because they are so do-able. the museum opens at 10, so leave your hotel at 9, get some breakfast, and make your way over (i'm not an early morning person, so i won't force anything crazy on you. if you would like to get up early, this would be a good time to do the london eye, make sure you get reservations). be sure to see the bar at the folies bergere, it is the main attraction of the museum and arguably the most important work of art, ever. 

from the courtauld, talk a walk along the thames and cross the london bridge (preferably singing fergie, you just have to). from the london bridge check out the more glamorous tower bridge, and see the tower of london (which is not worth your time nor money, unless you sneak a seat in queen elizabeth 1's chair, which the guards will yell at you for).  

from the london bridge head to heaven, namely, the borough market. you guys, you don't even know how happy you can be until to go there. it is an outdoor food market that has the most delicious food in the whole world. i recommend the chorizo+rocket sandwich, the ostrich burger, and the caprese+fruit salad, but take your time walking around and finding what's best for you. please eat as much as you can. once you have your food head to the church nearby, southwark cathedral and eat it on the grass, hopefully the bells will be playing. 

at this point, you should probably do some touristy stuff. which is the greatest touristy stuff ever, so you'll survive the hoards of people who are doing these things with you. take the tube to the westminster abbey stop (you can walk if you're brave). head to the houses of parliament, get a good pic of big ben, visit westminster abbey, etc. these are all great things that you really do have to see

from here, head down whitehall st. towards trafalgar square. if you need a break, there is a great little bookstore on one of the corners- london bookstores are the greatest. take in trafalgar square and then head in to the national gallery. the national gallery is massive and overwhelming. it took me probably 7 days to get through the whole thing, and i forced myself to do it. some of the highlights are: jan van eyck's the arnolfini portrait, van gogh's sunflowers, and hans holbein's the ambassadors (be sure to look from the right hand side). luckily for you, the gallery is open until 9 pm on friday nights. you can spend as long or as little as you'd like there.

you have a few options for your friday night. plan ahead if you want to see a show because getting tickets the day of may be a bit risky. it's usually worth a try though. if you have an international student card you can get last minute tickets for super cheap, just go to the box office about an hour early to see if there are any left. piccadilly circus is always fun to walk around at night, but it always seemed to me that the shops closed too early. you could also visit kings cross and get a picture at platform 9 3/4, i know some of you are harry potter nerds and this is a good time to get that out of the way. the one thing you must do is find a nandos and eat there. you just have to.

from this list you should have a fairly full day, but i think i have given you enough time to enjoy everything rather than rushing from event to event. make sure you take lots of pictures! enjoy your first day in london! part two will be posted next week! 

currently obsessed / jamesb lightroom presets

considering that i am still in the 'trial period' for lightroom 5 (meaning i have had it less than 30 days), i have tons to learn about the program. i hardly know where to begin. i have been watching tutorials and such online, and have learned a few tricks of the trade, but still can't seem to get my pictures to pop. i purchased the jamesb lightroom preset package and have been using it non-stop. i know this is cheating, but cut me some slack, i'll learn more as i go. i used his presets while editing pictures from my family's vacation in park city last week, and they really gave them the looks that i wanted.  i highly recommend purchasing the set.

Provo River Falls: edited using the JamesB 'Summer at the Lake' lightroom preset

Farah: edited using the JamesB 'Summer Vacation' lightroom preset-- this is the preset that I have used the most thus far

Audrey: edited using the JamesB 'kinda vintage' preset

Cousins: edited using the JamesB 'Rome' preset- i'm not sure why they have the white outlines around them, i just love how this made the sky look

Kira at the Piano: edited using the JamesB 'vacation snapshot enhancer- strong'

Farah (you might get sick of her, i have thousands of pictures of her): edited using the JamesB 'sepia split toned film grain' lightroom preset

Kira's handstand at the provo river falls: edited using the jamesb 'vintage summer' lightroom preset