Eyes full of rose, she tips on her toes.

The summer is winding down, but I'm finding myself busier than ever! That always seems to happen around this time of year, but this year exceptionally so. My brother is getting married this weekend, my little niece and nephew have been staying with my family, and yesterday, I finally moved to my new house! It's in a lovely neighborhood in the artsy part of the city. My room is called the "Treehouse Room"; it's small, but it has lots of windows and looks out over the wild, overgrown backyard. I adore it.

1970's maxi dress - coming soon!

I don't yet have internet at my new house, but since I'm now within walking distance of my favorite coffee shop, it's not really much of a problem. It may be a little while before I can do new photos, since I currently have to rely on other people's cameras, but today I realized that I never shared the rest of the Owl Eyes pictures from our trip to Petoskey. Silly me. All of the dresses in these photos are either currently for sale in the Owl Eyes shop, or soon will be!

1970's halter mini dress


1980's mini dress - coming soon!






vintage polka dot dress & 1960's checkered dress - coming soon!





vintage 1950's candy shop dress - coming soon!

I hope you all are having a nice, relaxing end to your summer!

And in the half light, we run.

dress(es): ModCloth | belt: vintage | socks: the Icing | shoes: thrifted

Well, I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm getting quite ready for cooler weather! I know, it's definitely a case of "the grass is always greener..." It doesn't seem that long ago that I was aching for summer. Unfortunately, this summer has been unusually hot and humid, making it kind of difficult to enjoy to the fullest. Plus, my swimsuit broke, and I'm still on the hunt for the perfect one...suggestions, anyone?

Shelby (flickr, tumblr) and I were finally able to get together for our first collaboration! Her camera started acting up towards the end, but in true Shelby fashion, she got some really lovely shots. These pictures were taken on the long bike trail near my house; it's been a favorite photo location of mine for years now. We got absolutely eaten alive by mosquitoes (over 40 bites apiece!) but had a wonderful time. Since it was close to sunset, the light through the trees was gorgeous - almost otherworldly in places, honestly - and there was a delightful soft breeze. We talked about life and silly things and future plans and it was just what I needed. We weren't without our battle scars, but really, it was a perfect summer evening.

I'll have a lot more items to add to the shop soon, and any summery items will soon be put on sale! I'll keep you posted. I hope your summer is winding down splendidly!

With a little help from my friends

I've been excited to do this post for a long time! Ironically enough, instead of making me write faster, though, my excitement has just slowed me down. It was nearly impossible for me to pick out which photos to post. (They are all so lovely!)

Shelby is a dear friend of mine who I've known since high school. The girl is incredibly talented, both musically and artistically; she probably has more talent in her pinky finger than I have in my whole body. She has been looking to expand her photography portfolio, and I've been looking for someone to take pictures for this blog, so it works out perfectly! She and I will be collaborating whenever possible, through the rest of the summer and hopefully when we're both on breaks from school.

We have yet to do our first shoot, but until then, I present you with some of her photography, and a little interview. You can also follow her on Flickr and Tumblr. Enjoy!

How long have you been working on photography?
I started taking of adventures with my best friend in 7th grade. Then I got into the whole myspace thing and was like "I reaaaaaally need to have good pictures so no one will think I'm a noob and I will be accepted in high school aaaaaah!!" Then I actually grew to view it as an art form, a perspective. So to actually answer your question, six years.
What do you love about it?
Photos, writing, music- art allows me to show what I actually feel. I'm terrible when it comes to talking about emotions-- mine, at least. And one things I'm absolutely terrible at is drawing- expressing myself two-dimensionally. And photography in a way helps me do that. I also love photography because I have so many memories wrapped up in my photographs, as well as projections of where I want to go, what I want to do.

What inspires you most, and what do you seek to portray in your photos?
I am most inspired by history and nature. Things that catch my eye are things that look like they have stories. Like the Crazy Horse monument- that's a story worth telling. Like the notes my uncle leaves behind in books of poetry. Nature is the major subject of my photography simple because I love it. I love to be outside. I love its simplicity, the ecological and historical aspects of it, and how activity in nature can parallel our lives.

Your house is about to burn down and you can only take one camera with you. Which do you choose, and why? Is it film or digital?
I would take my Honeywell Pentax, no doubt. It's a film camera, produced between 1964 and 1972. Its lens is pristine, its focus phenomenal. And it was given to me by my friend Reilly, who drives me absolutely mad but is absolutely the most unique person I've ever met.

Why is photography important to you?
Photography is a perspective; it allows me to say things that I can't say. It says things broadly, with room for interpretation on the viewer's part. Photography is the merging of my perspective and your perspective, and I think that union is something we should try to achieve in every aspect of our lives. Not to surrender our viewpoint, but to accept others.

This is just a very small selection of her photos. Do check out her work - I think you'll be as enchanted as I am!

Une ballerine, voilá!

The final result of my grandmama's spectacular sewing skills, a bit of taffeta & tulle, and a major headache.

Despite actually arming myself with a camera, I forgot to take any pictures at the wedding; Caleb & I seem to have an unconscious opposition to cute photos documenting our lives. So I grabbed dear sweet Rose and had her take some today.

It's been nothing but gorgeous weather over here; wherever you are, I hope the sun is shining.

Kisses,
Essie

Silver shoots & tender leaves.

Silent film stars and the soft, feminine look of early 1920's postcards inspired this shoot; the day was perfect, warm and bright. In my humble opinion, Laura owns this look... between her flowy yellow dress and wild red hair, she is porcelain perfection.

And we all mutually lament that we don't live "back then".










I hope the day finds you beautiful.

Kisses,
Essie

Hope is a blindfold, hope is a solace

Well, in good news: I've been working a temp job for these past few days. It's the same job I was working about two weeks ago; they called this week and wanted us to come back for a week or two. It's good timing, because I really need the money. However, it also comes just as I'm sitting on over 500 pictures I need to sift through and edit from our trip to Petoskey. Yikes! So, things have been kind of slow on that front. Most of the pictures are for Somewhere in Time (for any new readers out there, that is the vintage bridal business my mom is trying to get started - check it out!) but I also have some pictures for Owl Eyes that I simply can't wait to share.

Anyway, I got to work today and was there for only half an hour before they sent us all home because they didn't have any work for us today. I could have used the money, but I'm not complaining! This gives me the chance to catch up a little...

dress & hat: vintage | shoes: ...I honestly don't remember, I've had them for ages!

So, since I have a little bit of time, I thought I'd share a few photos from our Petoskey trip. If you've never been, I highly recommend it! It's touristy, but not in that annoying way. It's picturesque, but again, not cheesily so. There were four of us on the trip - my mom, Esther, my sister Vera, and me. It was about a three hour drive from Grand Rapids, and the drive was ridiculously gorgeous. It rained for a little bit, but as we got further north, the sun broke through and reflected off the rain, and everything came alive. When we arrived, there was mist over the water - like something out of a dream. I feel like I'm doing it a disservice by this cheesy description, but trust me, it was so, so lovely. I'm fairly certain I kept babbling about how beautiful everything was for the entire evening!

After a brief photoshoot of some Owl Eyes dresses and a few wedding dresses, we headed into town to grab a bite to eat (hungry models = not a good thing; we were starting to get grumpy, haha!). We had to drive around for a little while before we finally found the City Park Grill. From the name, I wasn't expecting much, but it was so gorgeous inside - honestly, it was my every decorating dream. Apparently, Ernest Hemingway used to eat there regularly, and was inspired to write his short story "Killers" there. Now, I've always been much more of a Fitzgerald girl, but that gave me chills.

Of course, it wasn't all literary seriousness:

All in all, a perfect evening. I'll have many more photos to share once I get them edited!