through instagram photos.
This past weekend I got to hang out with 60+ crazy art people along the coast of Oregon. Especially since I've been too busy with school to shoot anything creative, I was extremely excited for the break to produce some new artwork. Despite getting sick with that nasty cold/throat thing that always happens around this time of year, I was still able to hang out on the beach literally from sunrise to sunset on Saturday, shooting concepts, assisting on photoshoots, and hanging out with people. On Sunday we went gallery and antique store hopping, which, even though I was too sick to fully enjoy, was still neat to look at art and dig through piles of antiques to find a couple treasures.
the morning beach // lunch at a local diner
endless photo adventures // antique store treasures // photographing dead things and lighthouses // viewing the coast
My love and connection to the ocean only grows and grows, and my desire to submerge myself into nature and creating and being surrounded by the beauty of the world grows as well. I've been thinking a lot about myself, who I am, and what I want to do with my life. For me and any other creatives out there, the desire to travel and create is very great, and I'm constantly wanting to be rid of extra things that distract me. Of course, actually getting rid of those distractions is a different story, so I'm thankful for weekends such as this one to eliminate anything that would hinder my desires, at least for a little bit of time.
pretty models and photographers // beach bits
But now I'm back in the real world. I skipped classes yesterday because of being sick, so it was a nice way to vacation from my vacation (funny how that works). Some of the images I got I'm really excited about, and I can't wait to work on them and release them when the proper time comes. After going to the beach, I realized how needed it actually was. There's just something about being surrounded by the ocean and creative people that's rejuvenating, and it's also nice to know that I can feel completely comfortable around people that I barely know, and just after a weekend call them my friends.
treasures collected from the trip // one last look at the beach
It is good to be back home though (where there is soup and medicine and a bed with minimal sand in it), and I am so thankful the ocean is close and my beautiful Oregon family is even closer.
"Margaery of the Reach"
Model: Felicity
Assistant: Heather
This is the only photo I worked on in September. It was shot during the tail end of August on the same day as this photo and over the course of September, in between my schoolwork, I finished this piece. It's just a little different from my usual style in that I added in a lot more elements during processing, like the castle and sword, but I personally love how it turned out.
For the rest of the year though, I'll have a ton of images to work on because I just got back from my school's weekend art retreat to the beach. It was such a great weekend, but I'll talk about it more in a different post.
january/february // march // april // may // june // july // august
shirt: thrifted // skirt/cardigan: borrowed // necklace: c/o jewelissima // tights: forever 21 // shoes: target
Hey everyone! Whew, today was my stressful day, as I had science work, a paper to turn in, and a huge art history test to take. But I'm happy to report that I survived (barely) and am now ready for the weekend! Tomorrow I just have drawing in the morning, and then I can relax to my heart's content ... until Sunday night rolls around, and then it will be back to work for me. Thankfully though, it's stopped raining every single second of the day, so I finally got some outfit photos in.
This outfit I created around the skirt that my roommate owns. I love the cute floral print and tried to match it will little pink elements, such as the pink in my shoes and the pink necklace. Then it was just adding a lot of neutrals--tan, navy, and gray, and a typical bow, and I was good to go! This is a perfect comfortable outfit that still looks like I spent more than two minutes thinking about. Seriously, slouchy cardigans are the best.
Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!
collared shirt: c/o sugarlips // shirt: borrowed // belt/shoes: target // shorts: modcloth
(remind me to never do expansions on photos when I'm really tired ... ouch.)
Pretty sure that I'm the worst "personal style" blogger out there. It seems to me that most bloggers to one extent or another love fashion, follow the trends and upcoming collections, know about different fashion time periods, can distinguish different fits and flares and fabrics of pieces, and so on and so forth. But Lauren over here, I don't have a clue about anything in the fashion world. I couldn't tell you anything about 60's fashion or what collar is on a dress. It's probably worse that I don't particularly care about knowing it. Not saying that it's bad to know it, because I have good friends studying fashion and I know it's an important part of society, but it's just something I've never been particularly passionate about. I guess that's where I kind of get to cheat as a personal style blogger, because what I wear is my own personal style and not necessarily popular fashion from a different era. Since growing up in a constant strict dress code, I never really had a huge opportunity to explore different things. I do remember once in junior high, buying my very first blazer and really loving it, but being too embarrassed about "dressing up" to wear it to school, so that embarrassment of dressing differently didn't help matters either. It wasn't really until senior year, and mostly freshman year of college that I got to explore what I liked and what I didn't like. My friends in college are my biggest style influences, not only because I can see how fashionably they dress, but also because I can then borrow the pieces that they style and work them into my own wardrobe.
Just take this red and blue shirt, for example. It's my beautiful roommate's shirt (hey girl hey. I know you're creeping on me right now.), she totally rocks this shirt every time she wears it, and often wears it over dresses. So I took her guidance and did it as well in this outfit. This time around, I tried to do my own thing and be super matchy with my shorts, and it turned out being one of my favorite outfits to date! It's important to be inspired by other people's styles, but it's even more important to incorporate it into your own style. I love being able to wear my friends' clothes to see what works well with my body and what I feel confident in. Also I decided not to switch out my shoes just for outfit photos, because I basically wear these shoes all the time. Even though they don't really "go" with the outfit, it's what I wore all day and it's just a very "Lauren" thing of me to do. Always have your style be very you. It doesn't matter if it's the latest trend, or if it's a perfect representation of 60's or 70's styles, as long as you are confident in what you're wearing, then that's all that matters.
Have a beautiful day!
p.s. one of my style inspirations just posted an outfit similar to this, and it made me really excited that I achieved her level of awesomeness. (But for the record, I've had this post sitting in blogger for a couple days, so it was totally coincidence that we have similar outfits.)
