Ahem, i’m back

To me, these nascent fern fronds--emerging from the sharp, dead, foliage of the past--whisper of new beginnings and possibilities.

I thought a little bit about starting this post by telling you a joke about how I meant that I’d be updating the blog in October of 2011, not October 2009, as I implied in my post back in May of 2009. But then I realized it wasn't really that funny.

You see, I’m feeling a bit sheepish for having gone AWOL here. There are reasons of course; I was burned out for one. I started a job that I didn’t know how to blog around. And then I was in a creative black hole for about the past 15 months. Some of it I’ll blog about moving forward. The rest of it, I’ll leave to the void of stuff best left unsaid.

Suffice it to say, this all you really need to know in order to have a little closure:

I moved to Southern California, moved to Washington DC to become a Government Drone (go! paper-pushers!), moved to Haiti, survived Haiti (barely), and am now in Vienna, Austria.

While I was in Haiti (for 15 months) I didn’t blog, I didn’t write, I took some photos, but couldn’t bring myself to work on them. It was a difficult place to be. If you would have asked me my thoughts about muses before I moved to Haiti, I would have told you that people extolling the virtues of muses were full of bull-caca. Now? Yes, I’m a full believer in it.

Not so much of having/not having inspiration, but more in the creative space kind. If there is enough negative energy swirling around you in life, it sucks all the creative energy out of you. (At least in my experience.)

Moving forward, I've combined my blogs, and am ditching the i-m-bitter and BITTER photography monikers. Expect to see me continue to tinker with the blog. Layout, design, etc. The rest of my grand plans (if I can remember them), I’ll tell you about when I get around to working on them.

And lastly, Happy Thanksgiving to you all! I hope you have grand plans for the day.

Best,
Melissa

IAQ: infrequently asked questions

What’s your favorite jazz tune?
Autumn Leaves, pretty . . . much . . . any . . . version . . . I . . . can . . . find. Oh, and I just found this version which I just love!

What groups do you like?
I’ve been listening to Phoenix recently, oh, and Duncan Sheik. Mmmmm good stuff. :)

What’s your favorite ice cream?
Edy’s Rocky Road. (not the slow churned kind)

Prius or Civic Hybrid?
Neither. Mass transit all the way. Or perhaps an Air Car, cause they sound cool! (That's, if, I leave the City.)

About: me

Who am I?

I’m a NYC documentary / fashion photographer who loves making beautiful pictures and preserving defining moments in life.

I’m a West Coast transplant who enjoyed living on the East Coast for the past 7 years, and just relocated back to the LA/OC area.

I’m based in LA.

I’m a classically trained musician who loves art and architecture.

I’m a retired desk-jockey (Executive Assistant to the insert favorite three letter acronym here).

I’m fun.

I’m tall.

I blog at I-M-Bitter.com.

Hi, remember me?

It’s crazy how it can be absolutely freezing outside one day and then warm & balmy the next isn’t it? I guess that’s Spring for you. Happy day.

The past few weeks have sped by at an unusually fast pace and a lot of things have happened. Here’s a quick run-down:

The Ankle
Verdict: I’ve hobbled all over town and can thoroughly vouch that NYC is not crutch friendly. For example, have you ever noticed that the subway steps are slanted slightly downhill? Yeah, I didn’t notice either, until I was crawling up the steps the other day.

Good news: The sight of my aluminum appendages engendered sympathy, a personal bubble of space, and a bit of kindness from my fellow jaded New Yorkers. I suppose that since I was hobbling along slightly faster than molasses on a cold day helped facilitate that bubble of space, but on the whole, New Yorkers have been kind. (oh, and i’m sans crutches now)

Side note: I’m now the proud owner of a prescription for physical therapy and now wonder if it’s possible to get hypothermia or frost bite from sticking one’s foot into an icy cold whirlpool of water. Four to six more weeks and I’ll be as good as new.

_______

The New Zealand Wedding
Yay: I’ve managed to wrestle a certain slideshow program into submission and have uploaded the presentation online. :) You can find the link to the New Zealand wedding pictures in the next blog post.

_______

The Day-Job
Finally: Yes I saved the best for last, I’ve given notice at work and will be leaving the day job in tow weeks. (No this is not an April Fool’s joke.)

You may send your felicitations or condolences to not-so-bitter [at] i-m-bitter.com.

At long last, I’ll have enough time to implement the exciting blog changes that’ve been percolating for the better part of a year. A recipe section, a free stuff page where I’ll give away free stuff, and a section where I can sell the stuff that’s not free.

Since I’ll soon be out of the steady income paying my rent and would prefer not to beg for pennies on street corners, if you hear of anyone who needs a photographer, please keep me in mind.

-Bitter

Bag of Frozen Corn, i knew it would come in handy for something

I tripped down the subway steps as I ran to catch a train this morning.

Note to self: don't run in the subway.

After spending 4 1/2 hours in the ER, I now am the proud owner of some crutches, an ace bandage and stuff that looks like batting for a quilt, a Velcro boot to wrap around the injured foot, and a prescription for an air cast.

Here's to severe sprains and my aching left foot/arch which is not used to doing double duty.

I'm wondering about my daily commute to work and how I'm going to manage the stairs... I'm thinking that NYC isn't too crutch friendly.

-Bitter

See You, in two

A Stiff One., originally uploaded by jk5854.

Yeah, I've pretty much checked out of the office already. I was going to leave you all with a really long, nice blog post to ponder in the coming days, but yeah, life happened. The only thing I'm going to do tonight is laundry, pack, sleep in, then catch a plane. :)

70 degree weather here I come. See you in two weeks, don't do anything that i wouldn't do while I'm gone, and enjoy the slushy sleet for me, okay? *grin*

-Bitter

Ahhhhhhh, vacation

Air New Zealand, originally uploaded by Beard Papa.

Anyone care to take a guess where I'll be for the next two weeks?

.

.

.

All I can say is bliss awaits, oh, and sand between my toes, and good food, and more photos for stock photography, and . . . incidentally, I'll be shooting a wedding on Feb. 29th. Pictures to come.

-Bitter

Me, week seven

I did a new self portrait over the weekend to submit to contest running in one of the Flickr groups I belong to. I kept debating between the black and white version and the color. I finally decided to go with the color.

What do you think? Should I have gone with the B&W?





-Bitter

Skiing, at age two-and-three-quarters

I've been tagged by Kitty over at NY Portraits, and instead of doing the meme, this time I'll post a picture from my childhood. :)

This is my family when I was little. Yes, that's me in the green.

Yes, I started skiing when I was just a few months shy of my third birthday.



Here's the original



I have fond memories of piling into the family car with my dad and sisters, heading up the mountain to hit the slopes, with Neil Diamond's "Coming to America" blasting from the car stereo. We lived on the benches of the Wasatch Mountains and were just 15-20 minutes away from a handful of major ski resorts. Solitude, Alta, and Snowbird. Needless to say, we went skiing often. We learned the basics on the bunny hill at Snowbird, then graduated to the more difficult runs dotted up and down Little Cottonwood Canyon.

While in elementary school we mostly haunted the slopes at Solitude. They were closest and the least expensive of the resorts up the canyon. I have many fond memories going through the tree runs off to the side of Sesame Street (one of their most popular green runs).

I once got stuck under a gigantic pine tree after spectacularly crashing while skiing through the Sesame Street tree runs. I landed with a thwack against the snowy ground then slid down toward a tree trunk. My body slanting down, head toward the trunk, with skis up toward the trail, I wasn't injured, but was stuck. Immobolized, I thought I was going to die a cold and lonely death before anyone ever found me (most likely during the spring thaw). I cried for what seemed like hours, and no one answered my pleas for help.

Here' a fine work of art that I labored over for hours, that might help you visualize my predicament.

After realizing neither my sisters nor some good Samaritan was going to save me, and that I probably wasn't going to die right away, I managed to pull myself out from the pit and skied on to find my sisters waiting at the end of the run. They weren't too concerned about my near brush with death, and so after a few brief moments of making sure I wasn't bleeding anywhere, we were off to the next run.

As I grew older, we frequented Alta (my favorite, challenging trails and no snow boarders) and Park City Mountain Resort.

Things I love about skiing: the crunch of snow beneath your boots or skis, crisp air, brisk breezes; the smell of grilled hamburgers and fries as you ski past the restaurants perched half-way up the mountain; the wind as it rushes past your face as you fly down the mountain and the rushing sound that fills your ears; the solitude and pervasive peace that claims you as you carve your way down a wide slope or narrow cat track, and how silence presses in when there are not many people on the slopes; the feeling of freedom; the fun camaraderie of friends and family as you try new tricks or trails; the accomplishment I feel when I'm practicing proper technique; or the happiness I feel when I get over my jitteryness from the first run of the season and finally feel comfortable flying down the slopes, knees bending, snow shushing, and muscle memory returning.

But before I get carried away, let me say that I'm a scaredie cat (spelling?) at heart, that I'd rather take a nice blue run over a couple of black diamonds any day. That I almost passed out (complete with tunnel vision, dizziness, and tears) while peering off a drop-off in a snow storm so bad you couldn't see 15 feet in front of you. What did I do? Why I sat down and scooted my way half-way down the hill on my rear-end (much to the chagrin of my brother who won't ever let me live that moment down). You see, I ruined the fresh powder for all those who came after me...

So there you have it, me and the slopes. Fond memories and good times, too bad childhood doesn't last forever.

Do you ski?

-Bitter

Me, week three

Well here it is, the photo you've all been waiting for with bated breath. My third attempt at a self-portrait. This week I decided to go yellow in honor of Halloween.



-Bitter

Aaaaack! how embarrassing

Have you ever arrived home after a long day, looked into the mirror and promptly slithered to the floor in embarrassment?

Well that was me yesterday. The mascara smudges circling my eyes were bad enough to rival those featured on Seinfeld. (For you Seinfeld fans out there, you’ll know the episode I’m referring to.)

I’m going to chuck the Estee Lauder trial sample I’ve been using for the past week, and trek down to mid-town to the nearest Bobbi Brown counter to resupply myself with my usual no-smudge mascara ASAP.

My apologies to those of you who saw me at my worst, I’m hoping you’ll be able to expunge the freakish sight from your memories…soon.

-Bitter

Me, week one

Yep, that's me. *smirk*

I've decided to start doing a weekly self-portrait. This is week one. The only catch, I didn't take the picture, Sherri did...so it looks like I'm off to a bad start. lol

That is unless I loosely use the term "self-portrait", because well, it is myself, and it's a portrait...right?

Next week, I promise to have been the one behind and in front of the lens. :) Everyone okay with that?

-Bitter

Self Portrait, at the beach

Here I am at the beach a few short weeks ago. The tang of the sea permeated the air, the roar of waves crashed along the shore, and the soft sand underfoot was soothing. This shot was taken at San Clemete, one of my favorite Southern California beaches. Why does it rank among my favorites? Well, because you can go out into the ocean 30 feet and still only have water reach your waist. It's perfect for boogie boarding.

I played family photog at this occasion, so this is all you're going to see of me in the near future. :)

A few days ago Kitty over at NY Portraits tagged me to tell you eight random things about me. Since most of you don't even know me, this should be fairly easy! lol

1. I fell out of a two-story window when I was 2 1/2, landed on my head, got to wear a cast on my head reminiscent of a football helmet and lived to tell the tale (obviously). I'll see if I can dig up some old footage to show you how I looked when I came home from the hospital.

2. I'm 5' 10" and started to regularly wear heals for the first time when I graduated from high school (really), because I was afraid to be taller than all the guys I knew. Fortunately it didn't take me long after graduating to realize that I was already taller than most the guys I knew and that not wearing heals wasn't going to make any difference. I said, "Skip it", and have had a blast ever since.

3. Je parles francais. Vraiment. Mais, je ne suis pas les cours de francais depuis long temps, donc, toutes de ma grammaire sucks dirt.

4. I started snow skiing when I was 3 1/2, and have the photos to prove it.

5. I'm listening to Gravel Lines by Amy Seeley right now. She's a new favorite as of two days ago.

6. I'm a dreamer.

7. I'm a fix-it girl, hand me a screw-driver and a wrench I can fix anything. Well not really, but I did help lay and grout a travertine floor, made my own picture frames, and was the go to handy-woman in my family while growing up.

8. My two favorite books of all time are The Blues Sword and Beauty by Robin McKinley. I found them when I was around 10 years old and have read them so many times I've lost track. Yes, I still read them, especially when I'm in the mood to cozy up with an old friend.

Here's the part where I'm supposed to tag eight other people . . . but you know my thoughts on that. Instead I'll tag just a few. Feel free to respond or not, I'll still like you anyway. lol

1. Mother of Boys @ Lem n' Em, sorry for those of you who can't access her blog.

2. Merebuff @ Clifford Goes to Town

3. Camsavwin @ Plenipotentiary

4. Donna Boucher @ Quiet Life

Feel free to heckle my lack of French skills in the comments section.
-Bitter