Becky for LE

Becky for LE
Originally uploaded by fisher arsenal

Last weekend Kris and I took photos for LE in Indian at the Brown Bear and along the Seward highway. I took 3 rolls are was happy with about 90% of the photos, so a lot to post I guess. Brought the Diana+ out, she hasnt gotten a lot of action since the Rollei came along, but I thought it'd be fitting for the Brown Bear and for LE's style. I hope she likes them! Diana+ photos are already on flickr, more rollei to come.
Sorry for neglecting my blog. Jweb, you are hard to keep up with.

interwebs.

i would like to condense my use of the interweb into less pages, but alas, i made a photo portfolio - for what reason? i dont know. maybe because i love narwhals so much, and narwhals and rolleiflexs just look hot together. check it out all the same.
http://leahfisher.paradepro.com/

Margot and the Nuclear So & So's

Margot and the Nuclear So & So's
Originally uploaded by fisher arsenal

A few photos are up on flickr from the show and from the trip in general. Much more to come. Half finished rolls sitting sadly in the three cameras at home.

Margot

Seattle was sweet. 75 and sunny. Red Sox lost which was the only bummer.
Margot and the Nuclear So & So's were so fun. Best band I've seen live in years. The dude was playing a Suitcase! a Suitcase! as a drum. Check out this video of them.

Margot & the Nuclear So and Sos on Conan O'Brien from Marshall J. Baumgartner on Vimeo.

I also loved seeing all the wheatpasting all around the city of show posters. "Embrace the Lemon" was everywhere, props to Worktank agency in Seattle - Impossible not to notice that campaign.

Snowy Mountains

arctic spring
Originally uploaded by fisher arsenal

While they're beautiful, I'm sick of looking at snow. Headed down the Seattle today to see old friends, current friends, margot + the nuclear so & so's, and mainly: the Red Sox. Yesssssss.

Cameras packed:
Rolleiflex
Canon QL17 G-III
Vivitar Ultra wide + slim point n shoot
Diana+ with the ring flash b/c i hear it gets dark there

bike

fisher
Originally uploaded by brian_adams

i heart brian adams hard for taking this photo of my bike and i the other weekend. this was about an hour before she betrayed me by tipping over and dumping me into the street. also prior to basket installation. when i talked to some guys at the bike shop they assured me the bike wasnt too big for me, i dont even have the seat all the way down. they told me i just needed to learn to embrace and appreciate the older design, and in a word, be tough. heart you, bike.

Summer?

Here's what I've been up to. Beach, chalk, bike, work. No big surprises. Headed to Seattle next weekend though to go to a Red Sox game and get outta AK for a few days. Couldn't come sooner.

Designers come up with some pretty crazy ideas. I'm constantly wondering what I want to do when I move on from advertising, and I'm wondering how this guy {Peter Buchanan-Smith} turned the somewhat mundane life as a designer into a company that makes axes. Gotta hand it to him, they're one of a kind (and made in maine!).

four square

four square
Originally uploaded by fisher arsenal

On Saturday i went to the boys and girls club to shoot Oscar. Oscar helps the kids build bikes, and teaches them bike maintenance. it was hectic and terrifying at first, and the kids kept sticking their fingers in my cameras. but it the end, it was great, and there are many many more photos to come. favorite quote of the day: Oscar, "awww Leah could be a mother." This comment came as a surprise to both of us.
This was my second time at this particular boys and girls club, both for photo reasons, but this one was far more fun, even if i was mainly creepy around in the background. it was a beautiful day, and the first time i've gotten to wear flip flops this spring. (can it technically be "spring" if there's snow on the ground?)
anyway, great experience, first time i've taken a stab at shooting something in a more journalistic kind of way. i can see why people love autofocus so much now, but in all actuality i had a harder time hitting the shutter before a bike rolled off or the kids walked away then keeping things in focus the whole time.
thank you oscar.

can someone pinch me?

bobby apres snowshred duex
Originally uploaded by fisher arsenal

I love this camera. i love love love it. And I love that the sun is back up here in the arctic north, so we can go back to our little condos in the mountains after a day of skiing and sit down, and have this beautiful beautiful light warm on our faces.
this would have been stronger in color, thanks to brenda's cabin being so darn cute with it's little wood table and turquoise cabinets. And the sun being that golden orange it gets before setting, but I only had b/w film with me. Next time.

lens reflect

lens reflect
Originally uploaded by fisher arsenal

mmhmm. that's right. hello alaska.

Oh sweet, sweet film.

ice cave
Originally uploaded by fisher arsenal

I picked up 3 rolls today, 84 frames and 39 ended up in the good pile. That's my best batting average yet. And if it wasnt for brian's sticky shutter on the leica i would have been money. Or maybe if i didnt live in a climate where one must worry about such things.
Got out last weekend with brendan and ryan to the ice caves at the glacier on placer river. beautiful sunny, somehwhat warm day.
schooled some suckers on the pool table with bobby.
brought out the two planks to take it easy on the knee and did some sweet hockey stops with kswanson. not a bad week i'd say.
painted a mannequin green for the website, and off to gwood for more skiing and to see the 11:20s at maxines. (album is so so so close to being done.)
there's a lot going on in anchorage lately, fur rondy, and ididerod, shoots with Ba, family dinners with new members, i'd hate to say it but i may have underestimated this town, and i'm nothing but glad that i stuck around for year 2. but that's it.

deadlines.

today marks the completion of one of the hardest deadlines i've had to meet in the last year and a half at this job. sans creative director, sans real direction at all, i was faced with a massive website with completely non traditional navigation and aimed at 15-20 year old alaskan native youth about sexual health. Once the the navigation and concept were nailed down (4 days) I had 5 days to complete the site. i've been working longggg days/night all week, and have gotten to know the cleaning people here all too well. i've also found if you need a little inspiratation late night at the office, download a banging 90s hip hop mix. wont disapoint. back when diddy was puff daddy. images shown are place holders, ba photo and fish photo.
in the midst of the we're doing photoshoots for content and i'm looking forward to getting out to the alaska native heritage center today.
my film is sitting idle in it's cameras, sad and somewhat neglected, but i managed to get a few shots off yesterday with the leica out at westchester lagoon when i allowed myself a 10 minute break. so monday. off to kellers and the gym. tomorrow. getting outside with my shred stick. and today.... please no snafoos. please please. and then i need to unwind and eat something because i'm pretty sure i've lost 5 lbs this week.

fin.

fin.
Originally uploaded by fisher arsenal

this week the things i miss are my dog, and being able to land on the ground. i got to play with two really cool dogs this week, ferdinand and dozer. they were both so small and cute and cuddly. awwww. finally wasn't so smal and cute and cuddly, more kind of a spaz that you had to get really worn out in order to be cuddly. hopefully the oscar/ferdinand photos come out....silly rollei. silly me.
i've been snowboarding what feels like a lot lately and it's been super awesome for the first hour or so, then struggling to ignore the pain the second hour. followed by a few hours of stiffening pain and swelling. all the little mini natural airs at aly are the equivalent of dropping 20ft cliffs in stead of two feet, because my leg just cant take the compression. and i fould some weird little lumps in there yesterday that i hope have nothing to do with anything...ew.... even just bouldering, dropping down from the top of the wall... eventually it will come back. eventually. and eventually i will get a dog of my own and stop being creepy and preying on others... eventually.

how often can a person get sick?

kswanson
Originally uploaded by fisher arsenal

pretty often it seems. *cough cough*
I picked this photo today since kswanson in starring all dejectedly at his feet. which is what i'd be doing today if i weren't starring at this silly screen all day. he was probably just thinking gee what's taking her so long to focus.
aside from that moment of self-pity, i got film back from the canon canonet QL17 GIII. Kind of a mouth full for such a small simple camera, but i'm loving her in black and white, and i have two more rolls to drop off today. mostly people sitting in restaurants, or people eating things. I'm pretty sure it's time for me to pick a focus unrelated to convenience.
The Zoe Strauss lecture was cool. She's a super rad person, and I enjoyed her first friday portrait session. Funnnny.

how it works.

ba + marian
Originally uploaded by fisher arsenal

thanks to ba, marian and colin for letting me tag along on the shoot the other weekend. sorry i wasn't a very good light stand, i was distracted by taking photos as well. whoops. here's what came of it.
it's been so great to be surrounded by others with cameras and i'm completely obsessed. my first roll from the canon was sweet. though i have a feeling i may need to hang out with more people, so i dont have 1,000 photos of kris and brian. :(
for those interested, no, the volcano has not erupted. but i wish it would. people + ash + snow = great photos. flipping great. tonight i'm going to see Zoe Strauss speak at the museum. should be really cool. too bad patrick's car battery couldn't take the fairbanks cold to come down for it. would have been neat.

here's a comparison for funsies. brian took both pictures, top - his hasselblad with portra 400 NC film, bottom, my rolleiflex with portra 400 VC film.... interesting. i think my camera wins, he thinks he does. guess that's why we use different film.

She's steaming! And it's snowing!

"Seismic intensity from Redoubt volcano picked up strongly around midday today, and scientists are keeping a close eye on the mountain southwest of Anchorage." - ADN

Webcam. Alyeska. going riding tomorrow (hopefully) for the first time since I got all the hardware removed from my battered little knee.

peaceful walk.

peacefull walk.
Originally uploaded by fisher arsenal

I'd like you to notice two things Not going on in this photo: It's not snowing, and there isn't a volcano threatening to erupt.
Couldn't post an Anchorage photo with that description. I miss San Diego.
Maybe all this volcanic activity has something to do with the Earthquake that shook me awake Saturday morning on my birthday. That was actaully kind of cool though, and no one was hurt, it just felt like getting a little sloshed in a fishbowl. But this volcano business... please? Where are we? Buy extra air filters for your cars, cover electronics, take out your contacts, wear a mask, because volcanic ash is essentially small bits of glass.
My favorite part so far has been all the company wide emails instructing us what to do.
What I'D like to do is go back to San Diego - go on this walk again, and stick a person in this shot. Any volunteers?

gnarwal spotting

gnarwal spotting
Originally uploaded by brian_adams

whoops.
thanks brian.
a month late.

be serious!

be serious!
Originally uploaded by fisher arsenal

i thought this was pretty hilarious. triple threat.
looking forward to a quiet weekend in girdwood coming up. pray to your god of choice for snow, strength, sunshine.

birthday

leah's birthday & welcome home colin and marian!
Originally uploaded by brian_adams

i had this slow sensation waking up this morning and realized i have incredible friends in anchorage. thank you especially to brian + ro for hosting a fun times party saturday night. it was so fun to finally meet marian after hearing about her. and kris with his homemade chocolate shot glasses that were crazy cool, even though it made my fingers sticky. and all the help with the cupcakes that were a funny hit. and the power singing/dancing. who would have thought total eclipse of the heart would still be fun on round 4. and even being completely thrown down in the kitchen, and picked up and dropped a few more times then my knee would have liked. brendan, you were missed.
i heart the adam brothers, here's to my mini anchorage family, and please please please let's keep sunday dinner alive.

tat?

tat?
Originally uploaded by fisher arsenal

please provide input on my flickr. :( (though i pretty much already know what i'm gonna do.)

Test, test.

Test, test.
Originally uploaded by fisher arsenal

had a gorgeous weekend in anchorage, a few days ago. well, at least one gorgeous day of sunshine and 40 degree weather. but we're in desperate need of snow. I'm reminded of a new england winter. If it's gonig to be cold, and it's going to be dark, then give us some damn snow to play in. that's why i LEFT the northeast. dont test me, ak. in the mean time, scheming, taking photos, reading up on rangefinders, and wishing i could take a vacation to the 50s. Year, not temp.

gnar-no.

board: rejected.

well. not the right audience i'd say. so here's the revision, for my next board.

GNAR-Board.

Hopefully this goes through. Cross your fingers, say please.

It's been 6 years today.

1969.
Originally uploaded by fisher arsenal

I already buried my father,
I’ll chisel a shovel from his headstone
If it will stop this amputation of me.
I’ll make him a new one,
From the feathers of birds dislodged in flight.

film. is done!

newport longboarders
Originally uploaded by fisher arsenal

so it's -18 and i'm hungry and it's 1:20. i dont want to go get lunch.... because it's too damn cold! But film is done and i posted a bunch to flickr, so check her out, take in the sunshine of san diego through your computer monitors, and send some warmth my way.

The end of the world: According to Brenda.

Brenda's thoughts on the end of the world and Alaskan survival:
Due to the fact that it has been in the -20's lately, and I'm in the middle of reading Stephenie Meyer's book "The Host", thoughts of the end of the world have been frequenting my mind lately. Street signs covered in hoarfrost, my car not starting, and iced over buildings have made me think about what it would be like if the end of the world came, like tomorrow... and I was stuck in this hell hole of a freezing state. And I've decided contrary to popular belief (leah's)... we would actually be far better off up here in the north. Think about it.... We're far less populated than down in "the states"... so there would be more shiz to go around. Less fighting till the death over leftover twinkies at walmart. Our stores up here, are already fully loaded with winter survival shit. Boots, Parkas, GUNS... and we're already slightly acclimated to what a nuclear winter would be like. so!
I think it would be just fine. We could band together with the natives and hunt moose. Wrap ourselves in sealskin blankets.
and just think about how many fucking trees are around us. Everyone in the lower 48 would be good and dead before we could get through all the trees up here.
Furthermore, I know how to make a survival snow mound.
Do you?

i miss jack.

jack
Originally uploaded by fisher arsenal

Jen told me he slept outside my california door last night, and this morning in anchorage when i woke up i reached down to pet him and just found the floor. Sad. I think it's about dog time for me.
Dropped off four rolls today... so that should be pretty exciting in a couple days. hopefully?
It's really cold back here in Alaska, but for some reason i was chipper all the same when i woke up this morning, bounced around my car scraping it in the -10 weather, and it was kinda nice..... ask me how i feel about it in a week though. ha.