Losang Samten's Mandala

I'm pretty sure that all of my posts on this blog are completely out of order chronologically, but oh well! A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to visit the Philadelphia Folklore Project with a class to see Tibetan artist & monk, Losang Samten, create a mandala. A mandala  is a form of sand painting where every color and design is intentional and represents something to the artist.

In the following two images, they placed a bright light at the left side to show the depth of the sand:

As you can see in the pictures below, Losang holds two metal "sticks" - one filled with sand, and one to create vibrations on the other. He carefully distributes the different colors with these tools. We gave it a try, and it's incredibly difficult. It takes Losang about a week to create this size of a mandala, and at the end of the week he destroys and demantles it to symbolize the fleeting aspects of life.

While Losang is creating the mandala, he's constantly praying with God. He said that not everybody has the stillness of mind to just sit and meditate, so this is a beautiful way of being in communication with God through action. Even though the two of us come from different religions, that sentiment was something I appreciated a lot - I don't think I have ever successfully gotten through a prayer in my mind without thinking about something unrelated or falling asleep. Instead, I have to journal as a means of collecting all of my thoughts into coherent sentences, and that's how I pray.

Live colorfully, live wonderfully

Short post with just photos! Holi is an awesome Indian festival where everybody throws colored powder at each other. My friends and I have been trying to go for all four years at Penn, now, and somehow have missed it every single year! Finally, I was able to check another item off my Penn bucket list. And the best part about it? That underwater camera case protected my point-and-shoot camera perfectly well. Whether I'm sliding down waterfalls or in a colored cloud, it can handle it all! Too bad I don't have a giant version for my DSLR!

Here are some of my favorite images from today:

One of the coolest parts about Holi was how we all looked like one race of people by the end. I'm extremely impressed by the massive amounts of diversity in both these group photos too hahaha:

Immediately after, I headed over to Chi O Color Wars, our spring philanthropy to benefit the Make-A-Wish foundation! Since we didn't know the date Holi was this year, we had planned for a colored powder fight at the end too - but who will ever say no to more color?

Live colorfully, friends.

You have to be pretty strange to photograph strangers

One of the other categories for our Portrait assignment is photographing strangers. It could be a friend of a friend, someone you see on the street, someone you ask to photograph, etc. This was by far the MOST awkward assignment yet. First off, it's pretty obvious when you're taking a photograph of someone when you're holding an enormous DSLR camera. I got a range of reactions from people, and it was really interesting how my role changed so much just because I was holding a camera. My favorite image was also the most interesting story. I had just set out to walk around on the streets surrounding campus and didn't have a clue what I was going to do. I didn't even have my camera up ready for photos, it was just hanging around my neck when all of a sudden the man below started throwing funny poses at me. I started laughing and said, "Well sure!" and grabbed a few pictures. Interestingly enough, when I actually brought the camera to my face, he posed much more serenely. But somehow his wide-leg-stance, his gaze, his barely there smile, and everything about him sends such waves of confidence (in a good way). I was so upset later on that in the spur of the moment, I cut off his other foot. I was thinking of cropping/zooming in more in post-production so that both of his feet weren't in the shot, but somehow that took away from the power of it all. Hilariously enough, he said, "Well let me take a photo of you!" and whipped out his camera phone. Of course, my first reaction was total panic/uhh this is creepy, but then I recognized how that was pretty hypocritical of me considering I just took a photo of HIM! So I threw a few funny poses back at him, and then he said, "Let me take a video!" That got a little weird hahah. We then introduced ourselves to one another, and he asked if he could get my number to take me out to dinner. I politely declined with a thank you, and we went our own ways! What an experience

These are the fruit cart owners on the corner of 34th & Walnut. I asked them if I could take their photograph, to which they said yes, but did not move or smile. It was interesting how many people I asked would say yes and go right back to what they were doing (reading a book, looking at their phone, etc.).

On the other hand, many people were much more willing to smile and pose for me. I love the lighting of the photo and the way it hits both of their hair! 

This guy was extremely surprised that I wanted a photo of him! He thought it was hilarious and very different, but he kindly let me take his photo as well! I think in this photo he actually wasn't posing for the camera, it was more of a smile and a laugh that I was taking his photo while looking up at the same time. I love it!

I tried to also take some photos of strangers while I was in the Dominican Republic, but this actually made me feel very conflicted. The area that we were in was impoverished, and I felt extremely uncomfortable coming in as a tourist staying at a resort with my fancy shmancy camera taking pictures of people who did not have as much as me. I wanted to explain, "It's for a class! I'm taking pictures of strangers in general! I'm not taking a picture of you because I think X or see you as Y," but of course I couldn't. It really made me think about the role of a photographer, and the implications that goes along with holding a camera. I felt awkward taking pictures of people in Philly and on campus, but somehow it felt wrong in the DR. So wrong, in fact, that I only took 3 or 4 photos of strangers before I stopped. Then, there's the question - is it wrong to be acting differently in the DR compared to back home? Is putting my camera away pointing to an incorrect attitude I have? Am I trying to be politically correct? Am I being respectful? Honestly, I don't know! I just know that I felt very conflicted.

This photograph is powerful to me, but it might be because of the experience behind it. Her gaze and expression pierces me - it makes me question what she's thinking about me and my camera, throwing back everything I feel.

What are your thoughts on photographing strangers? I was surprised by the wide array of responses that I got from everyone!

The Best Type of Portraits

Some photographers are inspired by nature. Others by fascinating people. Others by injustice that they feel needs to be documented. Now, I'm not sure I am even close enough in talent to dub myself a "photographer," but my journey starts with a friend. My freshman year in college I met an incredible sophomore named Natalie Franke. Even though she was only one year older than me, she had already mastered an artistic talent with photography that blew all our minds away. Starting as just a high school student, Natalie had begun to grow a portrait and lifestyle company, Natalie Franke Photography, for everything from weddings to engagement sessions to newborns to senior portraits. Luckily for us Chi Omega girls, that meant gorgeous photos at all of our events and all our eyes opened up to the world of portraiture. Now, I've never admitted this to anyone before (Natalie, get ready), but on my 19th birthday I had heard through the grapevine that some of the girls in my pledge class were going to do a photoshoot with Natalie. I was so excited but wasn't technically a part of the original group. I think I texted Aida with a casual "Sooo...what are you doing today? It's my birthday!" and of course she filled me in. Score! Sure, it's a little embarrassing how badly I needed to be in this photoshoot, but I had never done one before and hey, it was my birthday! The pictures turned out phenomenal. I don't think I'll ever stop treasuring these photos and the memories from that beautiful day. Even Chi Omega nationals reached out to Natalie to use it for marketing purposes! I always laugh at this photo because coincidentally it's quite diverse and almost looks like a college brochure. Guess we're now part of the Chi O brochure!

My 19th birthday Courtesy of Natalie Franke Photography

Fast forward to senior year: after much lamenting over the tacky and ridiculously overpriced senior photographs taken by Penn, my friend Maddie contacted Natalie again this year to see if she would be willing to come back to Penn (she's an alum, now) to take some senior portraits for us. She graciously said yes and even donated a portion of our sessions to the Make-A-Wish Foundation. In a weird coincidence, though, the day Maddie picked also happened to be...my birthday! The photographs that she took were absolutely beautiful and captured me in a way I couldn't image.

My 22nd birthday, just last week! Courtesy of Natalie Franke Photography (Click here for her full blog post)

In our photography class, our professor has been pushing us to think about the role of the photographer. But one that I feel often gets ignored is the role that Natalie and so many other professional photographers play: the role of bringing happiness to others in the form of images. Being able to capture moments - from the huge landmark moments like weddings and births down to the small moments like both my 19th and 22nd birthday - are significant. As I looked through the full set of photos Natalie sent me, my heart soared. I looked beautiful. I saw myself and felt beautiful. Natalie has an amazing ability to capture each person's individual beauty and present it as a gift. While some might view it as vain, especially in the world of selfies and Facebook, I think that these are mementos we need in our lives, if only to remember.

So, in my own little step of my journey, for my "Choice" component of my Portrait assignment, I decided to do a photoshoot for my wonderful friend Kareli. Kareli is vivacious, hilarious, fun, and lively in the most amazing ways. Not to mention, she was doing me a huge favor by sacrificing her time for me to shoot her in ridiculous poses! After just one hour photographing her in the Quad, I could see why Natalie loved her job so much. I was already so excited to give Kareli what I hoped would be images that captured her beauty. Without further ado:

Kareli, you are a gorgeous girl! I am blown away by your beauty, and your hair is amazing beyond words. I hope that I was able to capture even a fraction of it all! Thank you so much for all of your help.

Natalie, thank you for being a constant inspiration to me and so many others out there. You're spreading so much happiness and joy through your work - I hope you never stop!

And please, to everybody else, check out Natalie's wonderful work at www.nataliefranke.com!