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

desert babies

all images © Ava Alamshah

Girls on Film

Thank you to Girls on Film for featuring my work. You can see more photos from this series by clicking here…

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

The Huntington Library

Recently, my Mom and I spent time at one of our favorite places. This is my childhood. As long as I can remember, she's been bringing me here. This place is full of dreams. I remember rolling down the grassy hills near the cacti garden. Giant palm trees surrounding me. The same statue of a sea horse resides by the lily pond.

all images © Ava Alamshah / all rights reserved 

Two years ago we took some polaroids here!

I couldn't wait to share these photographs. I've been feeling a bit sad to be honest, and I know the reason why. I have this passion and I feel like I'm not doing enough with it. Zinefest was amazing and I got this natural high from creating. Making little books you could hold on to. This outlet has been great, but I have been craving the old school way of creating. I've started shooting a lot more with film again, and I love it. Now what to do with all this film? I want to produce books. Zines, and maybe eventually coffee table books. The portraits of Ema are a work in progress. There is so much more I want to do with those. I have a look book idea in the works for someone I truly admire, and I hope to get that started next month. I'm being awfully candid about my feelings. I'm glad I'm shooting a lot more. I suppose that's what counts. As long as I have the ability to do that, I'm happy. 

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

Transitions

My friend, GC Erenberg, is in the middle of moving to her new home. Not too long ago, I was immersed in that very thing. I was living a bit like a gypsy for a month, in between my parent's houses and feeling less than stellar.  During this period, I decided that I wanted to have new experiences, and try things that I wouldn't have tried years ago.  All this to create a more positive state of mind and to move forward. GC is working on a documentary about a healer named Sharelle Roth, and was asking for volunteers to participate. She had asked me once before, and I put it off, and I'm not sure why at first. Most likely because I was pretty skeptical and was worried I wouldn't commit to her project and become a flaky mcflakerson. 

During this transitional time, I finally bit the bullet and thought, "Why not?".

So I sat with a spiritual energy healer, and looking back on it, I really needed her during my transitional state. She helped me put some things into perspective. You can find some of my thoughts about it here. Just scroll down a little and you will see me, looking relaxed. 

And below, a photograph of my pal, GC.  Shot on the same day I was healed (a little spiritual humor). I see the light now....

well, I see a soft light beside her in this photograph, and I like to think it's a spirit watching over her. Maybe Sam, or maybe Kitties. 

Remember GC? I photographed her for my series. I was ecstatic with how they turned out. Dream shoot, for real. 

images ©Ava Alamshah

your friend,

ava

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

With You, Today / Brian

My portraits of Brian on With You, Today

©Ava Alamshah

withyoutoday.com

I'm very happy with how these turned out.  I particularly love the blue tint from Brian's 1904 (?) home. On top of that, the weather was really warm in Pasadena (almost like a summer day). I just wanted to relax in the tall grass and sip on some iced tea.  We had iced green tea with a hint of brown rice (indoors to avoid the sun).  I've written about Brian before, and you can see that here.

your friend,

ava

Brian

C O M I N G    S O O N

©Ava Alamshah 

www.withyoutoday.com

Eva

I'm collaborating on an awesome project with my friend, Eva {with an E} ! x

C O M I N G   S O O N

photographs ©Ava Alamshah

your friend,

ava