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Another Instagramed View of Durham.

21 Apr

The other weekend my husband and I got away for a much-needed trip to Durham, North Carolina. We went for his law school reunion, but we really enjoy the town, so we spent time visiting places we love and enjoying the awesome weather. Last summer we took a similar long-weekend, during which I took a lot of pictures with Instagram. So I decided to carry on the tradition for this trip as well.

The town is filled with lots of old (mostly tobacco) warehouses which have been converted into any number of new uses: housing, communal art space, restaurants, and other creative adaptive-reuses. Here’s the side of one of the old buildings, featuring one of my favorite combinations: candy and soda.

Durham 2013

Another old building, this one a showroom for Organic Transit, which sells what I like to describe as a space-aged green golf cart. They were parked out front one of the days we were there, but I didn’t snap a picture that day. I adore the signage.

Durham 2013

 

 

An old building in the middle of downtown. Loving the green…

Durham 2013

 

 

…and you know I’m not lying. Look at my pants:

Durham 2013

 

 

Not all of the architecture is so hipster-y. The Carolina Theater at night is pretty classic.

Durham 2013

 

 

And the new Cupcake Bar and The Parlour, and ice cream shop, are pretty cute. Here’s a shot of the exterior of the cupcake shop – prime real estate on a prominent corner, plus a very “apple store” aesthetic – and a shot of the neat art inside The Parlour.

Durham 2013

Durham 2013

 

 

Of course I can’t resist a photo of a dilapidated public health building. This is what Instagram was made for.  Not sure why, I just think it’s beautiful.

Durham 2013

 

 

But all else aside, you can’t go to Durham and not go to Parker and Otis. Because candy. That’s why.

Durham 2013

 

 

Can’t wait to return again!

 

Design consultations for all styles and budgets: JGB Interiors.

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A Quick Trip to Durham…

24 Jul

Last week my husband and I went to North Carolina for a quick trip and we spent a lot of time in Durham. We’ve been there a number of times together, and my husband knows it very well after being there for three years in law school. It’s changed a lot…he tells me (because I didn’t know him in law school, I’ll have to take his word for this). On our first evening after dinner we spent a lot of time driving around both the more vibrant and revitalized area of the city, as well as the, well, not so revitalized part (of course, we were headed to an auto parts store to find some obscure air filter for our a/c). I ended up downloading Instagram for my iPhone that evening, and I got some really fun pictures. In fact, I didn’t take any photos of people on our trip, just a few places. I love the way these turned out. Here are some of the photos I took that I really like.

 
I downloaded Instagram in the parking lot of this store we love visiting while in Durham; it’s called Parker and Otis, and if you know me and have been there, you know that I love it mostly for its selection of candy. This is in that parking lot right at the end of a huge rainstorm; luckily, we were under a covered roof.

 

The porch at this store has a ton of reclaimed/industrial materials. This is the case with a lot of downtown venues, as the area was once chock-full of tobacco warehouses and southern industry. Now, it’s just mostly southern charm and re-furbished lofts. Here’s the porch: I have to assume this was a fan.

 

While it was still drizzling, we set off on a drive. Here we are at a stoplight looking toward the stadium area. (In case you’re wondering, yes, there are a lot of railroad tracks downtown.)

 

I took this at another traffic light. The restaurant isn’t necessarily somewhere I’d want to eat – oxtails, anyone? – but the moment the red Cadillac pulled up I wanted to take a picture. Great color!

 

I may have made my husband circle back to capture this rundown building. The graffiti! The horizontal graphic black and white stripes! I really like it, purely in terms of gritty aesthetic.

 

What a cool green door. There were two of them. So neat.

 

This was actually taken on another day, but it’s a food truck that sells ice cream. On a school bus. My son would be in heaven. My limited understanding of the food truck culture in the Triangle is that they’re fairly new, people like them, and they’re still struggling with how to regulate them. Durham clearly has the most friendly food truck climate of Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill, and given my numerous encounters with black-framed glasses and waxed mustaches during our time there, it has the biggest hipster culture as well. In fact, lots of food “trucks” are actually bike carts. We went to the Saturday morning farmer’s market and it, too, was a food truck gathering spot.

 

And finally, this is entirely irrelevant to the vintage/gritty vibe I’ve been harping on here, but DID YOU KNOW THAT IN THE SOUTH THEY HAVE A SNACK WAGON FOR KIDS AT WHOLE FOODS WITH FREE SNACKS? I almost passed out. They also have towers of PBR…in Whole Foods.

 

Hope you enjoyed my very limited photo tour as much as I enjoyed capturing it all! I wish I’d taken more pictures!

 

Design consultations for all styles and budgets: JGB Interiors.

Fantastically Indulgent Art for a Monday…

11 Apr

A friend of mine flagged this photography series in Google Buzz this weekend (by the way, who else besides me and four other people actually use this feature?) and I was floored.

The Excess Series by Rebekka Guðleifsdóttir (images via Rebekka Guðleifsdóttir Photography)

 

The artist’s name is Rebekka Guðleifsdóttir, and she’s a young photographer from Iceland. Apparently she was recognized as “the web’s top photographer” by the Wall Street Journal a few years back, but sadly her photography is new to me. Now that I’ve found her I’m happy to say that I’ll continue to follow her innovative and powerful work. This is my favorite image of hers from her “Excess” series:

(image via Rebekka Guðleifsdóttir Photography)

 

This series is apparently her personal favorite work, and focuses on bringing to light the inequitable division of world resources and the complacency that surrounds that injustice. She says, clearly and simply: “We take what we have for granted.  Most people, even those who aren’t rich or living some charmed life have access to more food than our ancestors could have imagined in their wildest dreams.  There’s an overabundance of material wealth surrounding a large percentage of the worlds population, and yet those fortunate enough to experience that, are usually the ones constantly complaining about ridiculously inconsequential little ‘problems.’ “

Obviously, I have a thing for writing Monday morning blog posts about artists whose work focuses on over consumption.

On a lighter note, in each of the five images the photographer made virtually all of the props, from the huge “slice” of cake to the grotesquely over-sized drinking glass (which was a vase that she had cut to a proportional height at a glass cutting shop) to the huge mock Cheerios and foot-in-diameter burger bun. Love it: a cook AND an artist! She even had her brother craft huge metal utensils for this project. You can see all five photos from the “Excess” series, or read more about it on Pixiq here. These are the utensils I was mentioning…

(image via Rebekka Guðleifsdóttir Photography)

 

You can purchase your own prints here at the photographer’s online store.  A 12×12 cm is $105, a 20×20 cm is $220, and a 30×30 cm is $415. Note the centimeters, because you don’t want to anticipate a 20×20 inch print and wind up with a smaller-than-8” square.  I’d love to have a 4×4 foot print of this on my walls for sure!


Design consultations for all styles and budgets: JGB Interiors.

Snow Blind: Matthias Heiderich

25 Jan

I came across a profile of Matthias Heiderich, a Berlin-based artist, this weekend.  I am so glad I did.

A lone, cold tree. (image via http://www.matthias-heiderich.de)

His “Snow Blind” series features photographs of powder-covered urban landscapes.  For me, the images inspire an overpowering sense of calm.  Not only do they capture the way that the city just seems to stop suddenly under a freshly fallen blanket of snow, but they beautifully document the way that snow changes the color of everything: what was brown in the harsh sunlight is suddenly a rich mustard color, and what was a simple shot of dingy blue or rusty orange becomes a burst of tropical brightness amidst the stark white.

Pretty service doors. (image via http://www.matthias-heiderich.de)

I remember being a little kid and noticing how all of the houses in my neighborhood totally changed color after a new snowfall: these images are just as captivating as the magical transformation of my environment was as a nine year old. The injection of the subtlest of colors into a white background is unlike most scenes I see in my urban environment, and the way that Heiderich frames his landscapes is energetic yet understated. Another artist to add to my “When I Get Rich List” — and this time, my husband agrees with me!  Hooray!!

Bolder colors, but still effective. (image via http://www.matthias-heiderich.de)

I can see these photographs shining in a very neutral space — lots of cream, beige, brown, textured woods and metals, and THESE.  I think that kind of environment would highlight the subtlety of his use of color even more.  …Ok, maybe throw in an orange or blue upholstered piece for good measure.

So many "whites" -- and they don't look white at all. (image via http://www.matthias-heiderich.de)

You can see more of the “Snow Blind” series here at the artist’s website and here at his Flickr page (there are some bonus photos here!).  Heiderich is represented by the Spot Galerie in Berlin.

Design consultations for all styles and budgets: JGB Interiors.

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