Singing Raven Portraits?

Singing Raven doesn't get a whole lot of opportunity to shoot portraits, but I did shoot a fun, snowy little session with my Mister, Kenneth over Christmas break.

The best shot to come out of that would have to be this one:

He looks so grumpy, but it's just such a striking image. 

Singing Raven Photography

Have I mentioned I take photographs?  Of course I have.  I've beat to death the notion that I am the photographer who doesn't photograph, that there are so MANY reasons why I can't just bugger off and do as I please. 

There really aren't that many reasons.  The biggest one is probably actually depression, which can be significant, but I've been good for a bit, so work's been getting done. 

I take photographs.  Live performances, mostly.  I'd like to shoot bands, but I also do some theater and burlesque work as the need arises.  Comes with the territory of being a burlesque-dancing photographer, whose day job just happens to be for a theater. 

You can check out my photos at www.facebook.com/singingravenphotography

Nifty, yes?

December??

Evidently, it's been awhile.  But I noticed that I had 21 posts this year, which was exactly the number of posts I had last year, and I thought "To hell with that, let's show improvement."


So I'm posting now. 

Also, I made a pattern blog

www.ravenspatterns.blogspot.com

It's Ravens Big Damn Patterns Blog, and in it, I will be sharing hilarious bits from my massive vintage pattern collection, as well as occasionally putting up legit reviews and finished projects (Assuming I ever *finish* a project)

Most of the patterns I lovingly ridicule are available on my Etsy. 

So... it's been awhile.

I had been on a roll here, I think.  If I remember May correctly.  It doesn't seem that long ago, but yet...

I came back and was too starstruck.  I didn't want to drool all over my blog about sexy Germans.
And then I got busy.
And then I got comfortable.


And then I got fired.  So here I am.

I have one more week at work (really, I got laid off, not "pack your stuff" fired.) and I've been trying to put together some sort of plan for my imminent future.

Just what, exactly, am I going to do with myself?

I've been listing the myriad of vintage patterns I've picked up lately on Etsy.  You can check them out at www.etsy.com/shop/ravenwcatz, if you're curious.  Mostly stuff from the 70's and 80's for the time being, but once I've inventoried the lot, there might be some older goodies popping up here or there.

I'm thinking about starting a blog.  Ha ha, you say.  You already have one.  You're writing on it right now.

Let me be more clear.

I'm thinking about blogging.  Having a burlesque blog, one for my photography, and one for these infernal patterns, as I work through and catalog them all.  I think it might be fun to comment on them.  Everything from the evolutionary dead-ends of fashion to finished projects, if I'm so inclined.

I have to remember to apply for unemployment.

I have to remember to register to vote.

Did I mention my birthday is in two weeks?  Yep.

There's a lot going on here, and I hope it doesn't slow down.  Even if I don't have a job in October, it looks like I'll have several gigs lined up that should carry me partway.

Mostly, I can't wait for this week to be over.  Because after that, I won't be obligated to care anymore. 

I'm not dead. I promise!

Things have gotten very busy here for me, and by that I mean:
~I had a bunch of performances all in a row for which I was crazy behind in finishing costumes/choreography/what-have-you.
~THEN it was almost time for me to go on my mini-tour seeing Rammstein.
~THEN I saw them.  In Chicago.  And Detroit.  On the rail.
~THEN (well, not really THEN, more like WHILE I WAS DOING THAT...) I got into the coveted afterparty in Chicago, a surprisingly chill deal wherein I did a little dancing, got Richard Z K to sign my ticket, was TWO FEET from Paul Landers, but all I had in me to say was a lame hello, and generally behaved like a socially inept dweeb.  BUT I GOT IN.  Baby steps. Schneider was also there, but he was pretty preoccupied with some other chick, and since I was busy being awkward turtle I figured I'd just avoid that whole situation.  (not like "PREOCCUPIED" preoccupied.  But he was talking to her, and I was just sort of orbiting them all like some sort of awkward-feeling asteroid (Or Pluto, perhaps?  It has to be awkward not really being a planet anymore.), so.  Yeah.)
~and NOW I'm staring down the barrel of four performances in the next two weeks, four in June, and four in July, not to mention the start of rehearsals for Lebowski (BECAUSE WE'RE DOING THAT AGAIN THIS YEAR.  WHEE!), plus PUDDLE and the Windy City Burlesque Fest, and all the prep work that I have to do for THOSE things, and... Urgh.

So... Busy.  busybusybusy.  But it's good busy. 

P.S.  Paul Landers is wonderful.  I have such a crush it's shameful.  I couldn't say a damn thing to him because I was afraid of sounding like a weirdo.  It was like being in high school all over again, except we're grown adults and there's no reason I should feel that way around ANYONE anymore, particularly someone I might never see again. 

P.P.S

See?

Sometimes life gets in the way

Sometimes life gets in the way, and sometimes you just get so bogged down looking at the teeny, insignificant little details, that you can't possibly see anything other than minutae and blur.  I've been having one of those moments. 

An update:  The costume for my Live Band burlesque act is coming together.  I still have bunches to do, but it's mostly cosmetic work now, making everything sparklier and prettier, and more custom-looking.  I have until next Saturday to have the final touches on everything, but I'd still like to get the brunt of it all done this weekend. 

Another update:  I have been bad.  I have been bad because I am so used to being bad that it is more second nature to me than being good.  I have wanted to take photographs, and told myself, of all things, maybe later. 

There is no maybe later in life.  I am slowly re-learning the art of living on impulse, of giving myself permission to do things. 

I am also starting to save some money for a new lens for my camera.  I'm debating between the 50mm f1.8 or the 50mm f1.4.  the 1.4 is about three hundred dollars more expensive, which means I won't have it until my birthday, at least, unless some things start looking up for me, but it's a much better quality lens.  I'm torn between instant (well, more instant) gratification, and my unbending will to have only the nicest things. 

I'll probably go for the 1.4, for the record.  If I play my cards right, I'll have fifty dollars toward it by the end of the month, which means $350 left to go.  ^_^  The way I figure it, if I buy nicer lenses from the outset, I won't have to upgrade EVERYTHING when that magical day comes when I can afford a real, professional-level digital camera body. 

And now for something completely different.

I realize, academically, that The Other Side of Life is not terribly much more than 80's pop garbage, but goddamn it, I was born in 1986, and I will love it no matter how awful people say it was.  Even the really horrible synth and poorly-written lyrics.  Even this:

I'm listening to this track as we speak, actually.



And, just to keep this somewhat on a topic that kind of fits the theme of this blog, I've been tossing around the idea of maybe eventually putting together a burlesque act to "Sunset/Twilight Time" from Days of Future Past.  I love the eastern-y sound, and am tossing around either the concept of being an Indian deity, or Ra, since it is all about the sun...