I'll cry if I want to

I realize it's been a super long time since I've posted to this here blog. I admit, I've never been the best at social media. In fact, it annoys the hell out of me. I'd rather be cleaning the apartment, or taking a walk, or on the phone with a dear friend. The thought of posting something makes me anxious. I don't even think anyone uses blogger anymore, but that's just me being negative. Something positive has happened and I felt it would be a disservice to limit this news to only Facebook. So, dear beauties, some new work of mine will be up on the walls at Human Resources this time next week!

I should be hanging out at Human Resources more often. If you haven't been, it is an amazing event space in Chinatown. They throw all kinds of events, to interactive art, band performances, visual art, film, etc. Next week's show (wish it was more than one night) is a tribute show dedicated to girl groups from the 1950s & 60s! Curated by Daiana Feuer. Click here for more info. ps: My friend, Taylor, from The Windmills of Your Mind on KXLU will be djing!  

Before I found out about this show (thank you internet), I had this idea burning in my head about a rebel school girl project. I had shot this image of my friend, Rachel, of Movable Magazine. This was our first time hanging out in person after she had traveled cross country from Road Island to live in Los Angeles. 

© Ava Alamshah

I liked the idea of photographing her in a school yard, and I've been wanting to do a series again for some time. We talked about doing her hair up in a beehive and giving her some thick cat eye. The leather jacket, smokes…the whole thing. Sounds silly, but finding out about this show was serendipitous. It was the push I needed to get this series rolling. 

Lots of influences came to mind. Of course, girl groups like, The Shangri-Las & The Shirelles, but also shoegaze -lots of repeat listening to honey power (that outro… absolutely beautiful), John Water's Female Trouble, heart ache, longing, unrequited love, Scorpio Rising (surprised they have this so easy to watch -probably won't be for long, so…. ENJOY at your own risk!!!), total boredom, that idea of the little girl lost, tough broads with soft hearts…. 

Sneak peak: I was searching the web for inspiration before my shoot & came across this photograph. 

The source is unknown. Happy to post a credit if anyone knows who took this beauty! 

© Ava Alamshah

Our recreation. One of the many photographs that will be showcased. Come say "Hi" and shimmy with us! 

xo

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

Fever Dreams

It's been a little while since I've been on here. I needed a little break from this bright, glowing screen. I had a lot of time to think - plenty of hours to day dream. It's always nice to take some time to yourself. That is when I come up with project ideas. I'll go for walks and wander around in my own head. What do I want to photograph? I definitely wanted to photograph Ema again. She had recently dyed her hair a bright pink and looked so magical. 

Later this week, I embark on another trip to Portland. I hope to tell some lovely stories when I get back to beautiful Los Angeles, with it's golden rays & pink skies. 

All images © Ava Alamshah / all rights reserved

Model: Ema & Igor

Wardrobe: Model's own

Makeup: Ema & Ava

Location: City of Angels

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

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

Tumblr Open Arts

Hi Everyone! 

Just wanted to announce that my work has been featured on TUMBLR OPEN ARTS! Click here to see!

  It is a favorite from my series, With You, Today.

  Thanks for looking, and follow me on tumblr if you like what you see!  Follow me anyways.  Let's be friends. x

your friend,

ava

It's Here!

  Happy to announce the launch of my project site, With You, Today.  I had this vision of how it would look and I'm so happy with the way it turned out.  Everything I have dreamed of and more.  Thank you, Stefani Greenwood, for your constant support and your fancy graphic design for my title!  xx

A quick way to enter the site from my blog, is to click on With You, Today, just fyi. So excited! Hope you enjoy! x

your friend,

ava

With You, Today

C  O  M  I  N  G      S  O  O  N

Hi friends!  I apologize for my short absence.  I finally caught the bug that's been going around, and I am impressed with how long it has taken for my body to finally give out. Taking vitamin C every morning truly does help!  There is one good thing about this cold... that I've had lots of free time to work on my upcoming site, With You, Today. 

I am very proud of how it's coming together, and I cannot wait till it is ready to launch!  I will definitely make an announcement when that time comes. Until then, here is another work in progress that coincides with With You, Today. An extension of my future site, it will turn into a platform for subject interviews, favorite things, image outtakes, and inspirations. Feel free to follow me for updates on projects. xo

your friend,

ava

Ema Extras

These are some photographs of Ema that I have been meaning to show you all, dear readers and friends.  This was Ema's costume change for her portrait session that she took the time to select before I arrived at her cozy Echo Park apartment.  I love these images so much, but I felt that they didn't flow with the others.  I think they stand on their own, as their own series of images.  A narrative for that beautifully cloudy day. 

{click on the images for a larger view}

© Ava Alamshah  

your friend,


ava

The Last Sitting

A little while ago I wrote about the exciting Stanley Kubrick exhibit at LACMA (still showing until June!).  I am planning on going again.  There is just so much to see and I get so involved with every detail (obsessively so), that I really need to take at least three, maybe four hours of my day to enjoy the show.  Honestly, I could spend all day there!  Another exhibit I am dying to see is Robert Mapplethorpe's.  That is going on until March 24th!

I loved those Bert Stern images for Lolita, and I cannot wait to see them up close again.  One thing I touched upon are his photographs of Marilyn Monroe entitled, The Last Sitting.  It saddens me that Stern would then recreate these beautiful and timeless images for another "troubled" actress (she will remain nameless).  To me, Marilyn had much more depth to her character.  She was found dead six weeks after these images were taken.  As a child, I remember seeing some of these photographs in my mom's copy of Norman Mailer's biography entitled Marilyn. Now it sits on my shelf along with the Andre De Dienes book about her as well. Some of the most beautiful images of her that I've ever seen.  She has always fascinated me, since early on.  All this portrait work is really inspiring me to continue my series and take it to new and exciting territories.  More on that later.

your friend,

ava

Ari

C  O  M  I  N  G      S  O  O  N

© Ava Alamshah