Week 28

After being familiar with his work for months, I had the pleasure of meeting Nick Scarpinato this past weekend. We recently started talking more, and after realizing just how many very close mutual friends we have in the flickr world, we managed to get our schedules to line up well enough to meet and spend a day together.

Mantas and I woke up early and took the metro from Glenmont to Vienna where Nick picked us up. We killed a bit of time wandering around Fairfax until his friend, Jess, was ready for us. We headed over to her house and ate a delicious lunch with her and her parents. We talked about photography and art and had a really nice time at her house.

After homemade cookie ice cream sandwiches, we headed out. Our first stop was a park but the weather was so unbearably hot and humid that we almost immediately decided to get back in the car and head to Tyson's Corner to kill some time until Hannah and Scott were ready to meet up with us.

We headed over to Lake Fairfax where we met Hannah and Scott, and we spent a couple of hours there taking photos and hiking through the woods. We headed back, split with Hannah and Scott, went to Starbucks, dropped Jess off at home and then got dropped off back at the Vienna metro station. By the end of the day, we were all exhausted and feeling very fulfilled.

Nick is one of the nicest people I've ever met. He's down to earth, easy to talk to, and so incredibly passionate about not only his own art, but that of other people. He told me all about his shooting and processing techniques that were so original, I have a great deal of respect for him and his multimedia artwork, especially after meeting him and finding out firsthand how fun he is to be around.

This weekend, Evan Walsh and James Evans will be visiting me for a few days. Nick is planning on meeting up with us before they leave, so expect to see more from Nick and me very soon.

Nick taking photos of Jess in a fallen tree

Mantas and I moved ahead while Nick was taking photos of Jess in the tree and this section of tree roots caught my eye. It looked like a hand to me.

Jess, Nick, Scott and Mantas! Oh and Hannah's arm is over there too

Typical Mantas face

Mantas took a couple quick Instagram photos for me before we left. After the top photo, Mantas told us that we didn't look like we liked each other, so we took the second one, in which Nick looks even less enthused haha. I promise, we got along quite well. You can also follow my Instagram account, @stevensites!

This week's film:

• 1 roll of 35mm Lomography X-Pro 100 slides
• Shot on a Canon EOS 630 with a Canon 50mm f/1.2L
• Hand developed in Arista E-6, scanned with Epson Perfection V500

Week 27

I spent the first week of July in Texas visiting Therese and Ryan McCoy. I attended their wedding on the 7th and had one of the best weeks of my life.

I arrived in Houston, Texas on July 2nd and spent the day with Tess, Holly Henry and Raegan Bird. I had been friends with both Holly and Raegan for about two and a half years and finally getting to meet them was completely surreal.

The week was full of shenanigans and I made sure to take a few snapshots with everyone there, even if just on my computer.

Me, Raegan and Holly. This about sums up the entire trip, really.

Me, Holly, Raegan, Tess and Chris

Me, Tess and Ryan

Me, Tess and Bryan

The bride and groom :)

Fabian looking hella stylish as usual

Holly striking a pose with her tea haha

Rae!

Juulia. She, Holly, Raegan and I sat up on Tess and Ryan's balcony making little commentaries about all the people in the pool. We came up with stories for everyone and watched all the drunkenness unfold.

Out at dinner with Rae and Holly. Rae isn't sure why she looked so upset haha

It hadn't even crossed my mind that staying with the bride and groom the week of their wedding was going to have us busy at every moment, but I could not be happier with my experience. Between preparing wedding favors filled with candy and folding ceremony programs, we still managed to go out every single day and do a lot of really fun stuff.

I went shopping in a boot store

Shot a gun for the first time and managed to time this one of Fabian pretty dang well :P

Tess and Ryan's "couples target"

Julia at the grocery store. "U mad at me bro?"

Tess had just graduated from Texas A&M University and showed us around the campus a bit since we were in the area.

Fabian, Juulia, me, Ryan and Julie

Juulia, Fabian, Tess, Ryan and Julie

The day before the wedding, we all attended the rehearsal and Holly, Raegan and I stuck around after the practice was over to use the resort for photographs.

Film

Film

And we got a few goofy ones too :P

The wedding was incredibly beautiful and I may have teared up a few times, MAYBE. The food was excellent, everyone had such a great time and I am so, so glad that I was able to attend. I didn't shoot the wedding, but Holly and Raegan did, and they did an incredible job. Here are a couple photos they took, as well as links to their work.

Photo taken by Holly Henry

Photos taken by Raegan Bird

The day after the wedding, I got to go out and shoot with Holly and Raegan again before my flight back home. We went exploring around a couple of areas, including a neighborhood development where some of the houses hadn't been finished yet. The remainder of the photos in the post were either taken on my phone or on film.

Raegan behind one of the houses

We then moved on to a park with a pond. We didn't have much time here as it started raining within just a few minutes of us arriving, so I didn't get to take any photos.

We ate lunch together and headed over to Raegan's house where Holly dropped us off. I sat around talking with Rae and her mom for a few hours before they drove me to the airport and I headed back home.

I, unfortunately, missed the Indiana flickr meetup in exchange for this trip to Texas and while they had a fantastic time in Indiana, I wouldn't trade my trip for anything. I flew across the country alone for the first time to meet longtime friends, make new ones, attend a wedding, shoot a gun, and have an incredible time with some very, very good people.

The day after I came home, I was so anxious to see the film I shot, I finished the roll of 35mm with Jayson in the back yard, so you get to see those as well.

This week's film:

• 1 roll of 120 Fujichrome Astia 100 shot on a Mamiya C220F with an 85mm f/2.8
• 1 roll of 35mm Lomography 100 speed slides shot on a Canon EOS 630 with a Canon 50mm f/1.2L
• Both hand developed in Arista E-6, scanned with Epson Perfection V500