Ojai

Daisy decided to drive us to Ojai one afternoon…

all images © Ava Alamshah     

new friends in magical places

thank you, Daisy + Jamie

portraits of me taken by Daisy Noemi - all with my 35mm pentax / kodak gold, 200 ASA

xo

xo

© Ava Alamshah

time travel

I've been going through some archives. Some from my last trip to Portland. Some from an excursion to a childhood favorite - The Huntington Library, and some from my last shoot with the lovely Ema. I want to use these photos in some way eventually. Maybe some mini zines, or up on my site as "extras", but they are more than just random shots. They are a way for me to time travel. Wander back into a beautiful memory. 

All photos © Ava Alamshah / all rights reserved 

your friend, 

ava 

Far, yet not forgotten

  I have some friends who I don't see as often because they live in Portland, or San Francisco, or Seattle…

Though, every time I do see them, it's like time hasn't passed at all. My last trip to Portland was very precious to me. My initial reason for going was to see Al and his show at Blue Sky. Here is the link to that beautiful exhibit. He will live on through his work, and through the people who knew and loved him. He was such a personality that I won't forget. In class, he would get so frustrated with us. He was a master black and white printer and took his craft very seriously. We were all young, and irresponsible twenty somethings who wanted to do things our way and shelve out work as quick and easy as possible (speaking for myself, and maybe a handful of others). I'm glad he was hard on us. It means he actually cared. He cared about his students. He snapped at me once when I introduced him as my former teacher. He wanted to be introduced as my friend. That made my day.

© Ava Alamshah / all rights reserved 

The portraits of Josephine are up on with you, today! This time, I decided to shoot film for this project. 35mm. I stayed with her and Dave in downtown Portland. Here is a photo I shot of her last year, in September. It was so lovely seeing them again. I got to see another side of Portland that I didn't the first time. We walked a lot. Went to the Willamette river, ate great food (oyster omelets are a thing of dreams), ( uh oh…NSFW warning coming up) Mary's……oh, let me tell you about Mary's. The murals depicting merchant seamen are spectacular and remind me of Tom of Finland.

"Painted with paint that glows in blacklight, the murals depict scenes that Roy thought the regular crowd would enjoy. There's a tropical scene with sailors loading a ship with bananas while an island beauty watches, a Cleopatra-like figure lounging with the Pyramids in the distance, a ship docked in a Portland-like harbor with Merchant Seamen working in the foreground, an exotic Priestess performing a sacrifice with a volcano behind her, and this scene depicting the Orient."

I also got to see this handsome devil again.

© Ava Alamshah / all rights reserved

Cherish the time you have with others. Always hug your friends, and tell them you love them (even if it gets super awkward). Time is strange and bittersweet. 

your friend,

ava

…coming back from a long weekend

My experience at this year's LA Zine Fest was extremely amazing. I want to write about it and all the wonderful people I met, but I need to decompress for a day or two (I am exhausted). To all my friends & family who showed their support, I want to thank you. I feel very lucky to have such beautiful, talented, and kind people in my life. True gems. 

Until my next entry, I thought I'd share some photos I took of my neighborhood, Historic Filipino Town & Echo Park proper. x

all images © Ava Alamshah

your friend,

ava

It's Matty!

©Ava Alamshah

This portrait I took of my friend, Matt, makes me really happy. I think I managed to capture his personality in a nutshell. Sweetly sassy, and one of the funniest people on the planet. He made me laugh so much the two days I got to spend with him in Portland. Everything is so green there and I felt so lucky to capture our time together, in between rain spells. 

I miss my friend, but so happy for him that he gets to pursue his illustration dreams. If you get a moment, please check out his rad website! Beautiful work. I am so proud. 

More portraits of Matt, here.

Here we are on the left in 2004. Rio found this old cellphone image of us! I did some quick photoshop cut & paste & added our current (& better quality) cellphone image! Nerds. 

The image on the left reeks of early 20s angst.

The framed photo that Beth holds up here, is an image I took ten years ago. Matt & her are frightened by a dark, shadowy figure. Must be an alien. It was during my time studying studio lighting. I wanted to make B-movie era film stills. We've all known each other since high school. I don't know where the time has gone.  

your friend,

ava

Minami

I'm very excited and a little overwhelmed with all the portraits I've been taking lately. This morning, I had the pleasure of shooting Minami & her long locks. She'll be chopping off ten inches tomorrow. Soon, I'll have more images of Minami, Matt, & the pacific north west!

x

©Ava Alamshah

your friend,

ava

Mateo

C O M I N G    S O O N

©Ava Alamshah

www.withyoutoday.com

Beth

©Ava Alamshah

The last time I shot some serious portraits of Bethany, we were both still in college. The image she is holding up has to be about ten years old. I can't believe it myself. Time has gone by, and suddenly we are in our 30s. We met in high school, and I remember seeing her from a distance and totally girl crushing.

She use to wear creepers and had this little pixie haircut with baby bangs, and I thought she was SO COOL and I wanted her to be my friend really, really badly. Well, as it turns out, my wish came true. One day, I saw her hanging out by the steps with Mateo (they had a class together), and we started chatting about our mutual love/lust for David Bowie & Michael J. Fox films. 

We have been friends ever since. 

Beth and I have gone through a lot together. First loves/crushes, first loss...

our first cars, with after school trips to hollywood blvd. & shopping on melrose because only cool kids go to melrose, right? We thought we were being "alternative". For Beth's 18th birthday, I smoked my first clove cigarette wrong, and we had dinner at Ed Debevic's. Remember that place?! 

To see more of Beth, click here.

your friend,

ava

Oh, Bethany...

C O M I N G    S O O N

©Ava Alamshah

www.withyoutoday.com

Amber

It's been a while since I've worked on my portrait site, but today, I felt inspired. It was also a good excuse to avoid doing laundry. Here are the images of Amber, pre Gillian. 

From her marriage to Daniel, and now the arrival of their newborn, life has been blowing my mind.

I had to share these images of her, taken with my Yashica Mat-124 G. I'm going to get that camera repaired very soon. Marek, at General Camera, told me that my camera is the last model, made in the 80s. That's a 30 year old camera! Vintage.

all images © Ava Alamshah

your friend,

ava

31

Just a few things...

©Ava Alamshah

these flowers while hiking

©Ava Alamshah

this tree

these women

Taken earlier this morning at Cliff's Edge in Silverlake, celebrating my 31 years of being alive. I am now officially in the midst of my 30s and there is no turning back. It is crazy to think about all that has happened in an entire year. This time last year Amber and I were here. A lot has happened since then... some good things, some sad things, and I am so grateful to have these women in my life. They have seen me at my worst, and at my happiest, and I truly felt the L O V E today. Thank you, my lovelies! xx

your friend,

ava

Brian

C O M I N G    S O O N

©Ava Alamshah 

www.withyoutoday.com

Raclette Party

Last night, I went to Angie & Will's Silverlake bungalow for an intimate dinner party.  It was a raclette party to be exact.  I had no idea what raclette was until I arrived and saw the grill captured in the image below.

It's also a delicious cheese!  So basically, it's a type of grill and a cheese indigenous to Switzerland.  A further description here.  It was really fun and reminded me a bit of Shabu Shabu.  For our raclette feast, marinated mushrooms, asparagus, and onions cooked on the grill.  Directly underneath, in those little trays, we melted different types of cheese (gruyere, raclette...) onto bread and sliced potatoes.  Oh man, it was SO GOOD. 

Oh, hey dudes...

 Oh, hey ladies...

 <3

 Meet Roxy & Lucky!

Good friends = pure happiness

your friend,

ava