First Time Lapse Test

I am so excited to post my first time lapse test my brother and dad helped me with over the weekend. We set up Eric's camera on the D Street steps in Encinitas, and with the help of the intervalometer I bought, it actually wasn't too difficult a process. So now I just have to pick out what shots of my site I want to take (which should be fun as I still am on the fence a bit about that) and get ready to sit on the beach for several hours. I can't wait to capture sunrise and sunset, too - well besides the getting up when it's still dark outside part. And when I'm done shooting the stills, I'm hoping to insert some surf video into the project as well - I have an ambitious week ahead of me, that's for sure!

Well, can't figure out how to upload to Blogger with higher resolution, so view it small and not full screen, but it gets the point across...

Time Lapse Inspiration

Eddie gave me a tutorial tonight on iMovie so I can start attempting to put together my time lapse idea for thesis. Of course this led to online searching for examples of what I'm hoping to create, and I came across this video. Definitely way out of my league, but super cool!

Site Searching

Yesterday my brother Eric and his girlfriend guided me down the San Diego coast looking for potential thesis sites. We started in Encinitas, and headed south through Del Mar, Torrey Pines and La Jolla. We stopped at some of the big surf areas, and I was able to convince them we should stop at the Salk Institute (neither had ever been). We had lunch in La Jolla, Eric pointed out where our parents lived in college (both went to UCSD), and he took me by my grandparents' old house - which to our surprise is still boarded up and deserted. It was a beautiful day in San Diego, and I have to admit, it just didn't feel like that much "work" to scout the coast for a site.

Home + Architecture

After spending an amazing few weeks in Nepal, I returned to the hot/humid weather that defines summer in DC and thought to myself, "you're crazy, go home!" - which is exactly what I decided to do for the month of July. A last minute flight and a few days later, I'm settling in to the California lifestyle, which so far has consisted of moving in with my brother in Encinitas, reading a book for pleasure (crazy I know!), going to the beach, and a daily run or bike ride. Not too rough...

I am also really glad I took a definitive break from school, because now that I'm back in California and feeling refreshed, thesis is actually starting to become something I'm excited about. I haven't officially begun looking for a site yet, but over the weekend I walked along the coast for a while, and the ideas definitely started forming.

In addition to the bumming around SoCal for the month, I'm also excited to find out there are some cool exhibits, etc. happening this summer while I'm home. Somehow I usually miss things I'm interested in being on the wrong coast at the time (like Dwell on Design that was the weekend before I decided to come home). However, just got an email from LA Forum, and I'm really looking forward to the

Lewis.Tsuramaki.Lewis exhibit at the end of the month - 4 Projects: 4 Scales. The firm is out of New York, and our CBDS undergrad group permanently carried around their book last semester which I came to know and love. Excited to see some of their work first-hand.

Missing Magazines

It's been another hectic week with school, and unfortunately, it looks like my weekend will be about the same. Although, plans to see Biutiful tonight with friends is motivating me to be productive today. Saturday mornings are my luxury, though. It has become ritual to lounge around in my pj's until a little too late, drink lots of coffee, and pour over some online inspiration. I miss the days of magazines though. I think now that Margaret Russell has gone over to Architectural Digest, it might be worth another look (I've read online the revamped mag is pretty good). Although, my morning's school project will probably fill the void - I am going to make "sensory boards" - the old way, too, by photocopying odds and ends and pinning them up, not designing a board in InDesign. The prospect of it makes me feel a little nostalgic for my Design360 days. But, I'm hoping like those boards, it inspires some thesis direction - because I feel a little lost right now.

My other quick note is that I've realized it's not the cold that bugs me here (it has actually not been that bad minus a little snow one night this week). It is the fact I don't get to see the sun as often as I should - you know, to get enough Vitamin D. Yesterday the sun peaked out for a while in the morning and it felt wonderful. Here's hoping a few more sun-drenched days are on their way, like this one below.

Image via At Home At Home.

Collecting Stories

This week has been crazy busy as we have a 50% Design Development presentation Monday for CBDS. Even though that's been taking up a lot of my physical time, my mind keeps wandering back to thesis. (As it should be, the 80% draft document is due shortly after spring break is over!) I sent out an unofficial survey to friends, classmates, and family asking about spaces that have made either a positive or negative impression on them. I do not want to publish any of the results yet, as I don't want to influence what others may still write, but I am really enjoying compiling the responses. Definitely varied but rich with detail and personal narrative. I feel with each response I read, I am invited to connect with the writer a little bit more. Thanks to all who have responded so far; I can't wait to read more.

Photo courtesy of Eric Warner (I'm hoping he doesn't mind).

Thesisizing

Research is just beginning, but I love how the wold all comes together and makes sense. As in, everything happens for a reason? In 2007 I was in San Francisco for a long weekend for work, and I went to the SFMOMA and saw Olafur Elliasson's first U.S. exhibit. It left a big impression on me, and now that I'm beginning to research perception and multi-sensory experiences, his work perfectly demonstrates the experiential qualities I'm hoping to evoke. Kind of vague in this post, but I'm super excited to see where this takes me. Now I just have to start my abstract...

Image of Olafur Eliasson's TheWeather Project (2003) at the Tate Modern in London.