So the other day my buddy Vlad asks me to take his band photos for “Yeni Nostalji”. I was totally down. I loved their music, which if you haven’t given them a listen PLEASE DO. Its turkish pop and the instrumentals plus vocals are just so lovely. Once I got there I was a bit nervous. I hadn’t shot a band in a while, but luckily they were all easy to work with. I tend to be very bossy and weird when I photograph and they worked well with my energy. This isn’t always the case (getting creative control). Usually I have to do what the client wants, and match the clients vision. Which I don’t mind doing, it just takes the fun out of it sometimes. But I digress. Working with Yeni Nostalji was so fun, and the space we shot in was so cool!! Plants everywhere, so much natural light and bright colored walls. It was a dream. After I shot the band, I got to hang out with Christina and Ray, and take even more photos. All in all it was a great time, and my photos are going to appear in Richmond Times Dispatch!! Here are some extras along with images of Christina.

Listen to Yeni Nostalji here: https://soundcloud.com/yeni-nostalji/sets/yeni-nostalji

Radiant inside and out, this woman has made sure my life is worth living. Spiritually, emotionally,
mentally connected. We are parallel. I am a reflection of my mother in all the most beautiful ways. 
I aspire to be her as each day goes by. 

Some people are brought into your life because you need them. I think Eric was brought into my life because we needed each other. I don’t where we would be without each other. I saved him. He saved me. He saved me. I saved him. I don’t trust anyone like I trust Eric. A ten year bond is REAL. Next year it will be 11 years. This is how he looks in my eyes. I’m surprised I was even able to capture it. Eric is my brother. That will never change. As we grow, and move on to bigger and beautiful things we will never forget to push each other in the right direction. What more could you ask for?

I just got back in to town, i had been at home for about a month. I wasn’t ready to get back into the RICHMOND LIFESTYLE. if you are from this hipstery town you would know this city can get exhausting. As i checked my facebook for things to do, I saw this listing online. As there always is a band playing somewhere in richmond LOL. Anyhow, I was like lemme give it a listen, Kississippi was the first one I listened to. My breath was taken away, all my thoughts about coming back to the overwhelming city washed away. I was like OKAY YOU COLD AFRICAN WOMAN. THIS IS A SIGN. I’ve also been a music journalist for five years so getting a feeling like that is so so so important. 

I head over to CIRCLE THRIFT RVA (performance space/thrift store/awesomeness) Probably the most emotional and expressive show i’ve been too in a minute. Zoe, the lead vocalist layed on the ground creating a serious, yet intimate scene. As the bassist and guitarist were in their OWN zone of expression. It was breathtaking, on top of just having a great record. I was thoroughly impressed. I stopped them afterwards, and hit it off with them instantaneously. We all know bands that are great but the actual people in the band….suck. That was not the case here. As down to earth as the words they spoke, I felt like I just connected with the sweetest/genuine individuals. We all know how hard that is to come by. Alas, not hype them too hard, I felt a connection musically and in my own soul. You connect to what you connect to. This was one of those moments. Thats coming from the biggest music snob around. Keep up with them. I’m pretty sure their going to be at SXSW. 

Check them out: http://softspeakrecords.bandcamp.com/album/we-have-no-future-were-all-doomed

also, these images are unedited. laziness purposes only. but also. bands photographed in black and white is cool.

I look through these photos and my heart aches. I almost wanted to leave this here without a caption, just because there aren’t words that describe these individuals.

Context:  My whole life has been a series of encounters with shitty people who are one way, cannot be open minded or just PUSH the ideas that have been set for us. I can say now that I have great group of people that inspire me, and are good to me.  But this was different, nothing like I’ve ever experienced. Its tough going through life not having genuine individuals who push the depth of your constraints as well as hear what you have to say. As a 20 year old, its hard to be taken seriously or even have your thought/ideas considered, challenged OR EVEN agreed with! Its one thing to have your ideas questioned online but there is a lot that people don’t want to talk about that our outside the realms of what we SHOULD be talking about.

I walked into DC9 April 9th, 2015 doing what I usually do. Interview a band, receive vague opinions about their music and I write an article. But instead I had four intuitive and open minded individuals create a conversation outside their music, comfort zones and discuss the harsh reality that is being human in this day and age. I have never in my entire life felt connected this strongly with people who weren’t afraid to be real and genuine. What was said was heart breaking, valid, crushing yet leaving a glimmer of hope. A part of me is with The Bright Light Social Hour now. I could go on but theres just not enough time. Lets call it cosmic? Do yourself a solid and listen to their music.

Be on the look out with Into The Crowd Magazine for my full interview feature.

Richmond Va.

The Tontons - April 9th 2015 - DC9

Hannah Mairead aka Minilov

Richmond Va

March 30, 2015

if you can’t tell…this is way beyond what I do visually.
these photos were created by the use of a house that purple twinkly lights
as well as shining my iphone light into my lens. I am pretty happy with it. I need to do weird
things like this more often.

This semester has been pretty weird for me. I’ve been extremely mentally checked out of my studies. I feel like caring so little is actually worse than caring a lot about something that you think is important. It scares me how quickly I can lose interest in things. So many things have been bothering me…my hopes, my dreams….just
wondering if i even want to do what I’ve been going to school for 3 years for. I haven’t been questioning myself this hard since…I was 16. Lately all that seems to be on my mind is making music. Its not something i thought I would ever try, but I’ve been shooting/previewing shows for 4 years. This semester I’ve been hanging around people that have created their own sound…and I can’t lie that shit is INSPIRING. The past couple weeks I have been writing a lot, and its soooo therapeutic GAH. Below are some photos of my good friend MOSS. He has been performing a lot this semester, and this was by far the most visually beautiful performance I’ve seen in RVA.

A few shots of an old friend of mine. I had just gotten my 50 1.8 after breaking the focus ring on my f.14 50 mm. I was like “Nina!! we have to have a shoot!”, and just saying that felt uber nostalgic. I was going through my flickr tonight and I couldn’t help notice how many times Nina had let me photograph her. She was one of the first people that ever pushed me to photograph as often as I did. Its nice knowing that even though time has passed and I can always call her up for a random shoot like I did when I was 16.