How to Make a Micro-Mini Zine

I'm going to be doing a zine reading tonight at an event called Meet Me at the Race Riot: Women of Color in Zines from 1990 to Today (which, if you're in the NYC area, you should come to - check out the Facebook event for more information).

As I was folding my zines for the event, I got extremely excited! So excited, in fact, that I thought I'd make a video in celebration - so for all you folding wizards/witches out there, here is my tutorial on how to make a micro-mini zine (a 16-page mini-booklet made out of just 1 sheet of 8.5x11):

You can access the micro-mini zine layout on my Archive.org page. And check out some of my zines, including The Bearniverse, there too!

DIY Interlude: La Photographie? Pas Moi!

I think that a lot of people find photography intimidating or feel that they don't have a good enough camera/supplies. Well, I'm here to tell you it's all in your head (as does this blog, this blog, and even this blog).
As point-and-shoot cameras are becoming more and more sophisticated, they can be used in a variety of ways to produce great creative shots. I'm not going to tell you that they are the exact same as the DSLRs out there, but if you can manipulate your camera settings and learn on the fly, you can use your point and shoot just as creatively! Also, if you're worried about megapixels, I'll let you in on a little secret: my point and shoot has more megapixels than my DSLR! Kooky, right?
Anyway, I think there are many blogs that can tell you how to do photography tips and tricks, so I am just going to outline some of the things I find really helpful to improve your skills:

1. Make a goal and stick to it!
   - My goal for all of September through December was to take 1 photograph of what I wore per day at minimum. Were all those photographs good? No. Did they help me learn how to position things and work with inadequate lighting/color issues? Yes!
2. Explore your surroundings.
   - Whether that means that you are hitting the pavement in suburban Bellevue or are strutting your stuff on the streets of Dhaka, Bangladesh, you should definitely have your camera on you at all times.
3. Take pictures of small things first.
   - This teaches you how to make a composition and work with limited space and lighting.
4. Look back at your old photographs and look for patterns.
   - If you see that most of your shots are landscapes (like mine were when I started out), start thinking of ways to branch out. My outfits photography session was very much about being able to capture people, and it involved my most reliable subject: me!
5. Engage with the photography community.
   - This is where DeviantArt, Photojojo, and other photography websites come in - through seeing how other people do their work, you can learn more about how to do your own!

I can come up with many many more tips, but I think that those are the top five for me. Check out some of my photography or shoot me an email if you want a little bit more.

Yippee!

It was late, the night was young... my head was filled with grand ideas and my veins were pumped with caffeine. I set down the glossy-covered book with Bill Richardson's smiling chubby face and began to type - slowly, at first, but then more frantically. Soon, a whirlwind of words were pouring out of me, the pages filled at an alarming rate. Sweat gathered in my underarms, but I was too focused to care; when my father yelled 'Go to bed!' I promptly ignored him and stuck my nose between the pages, desperate to find one last quote. And then - it was done.
That is the story of my almost all-nighter. I was all set to be writing my JFK scholarship essay today, but instead I just stayed up a few extra hours and praised Bill Richardson until 2am. Then I crashed, tired and happy, until this morning. It was so great to be able to wake up, laze about, and not have to worry about essays, homework, or anything else [although I probably should be doing some line memorization or something... ah well] So today I basically compiled all the loose ends that needed tying up and did them really fast, then went and did my own thing.
And today, my own thing meant making... a light box.
I had grown increasingly fed up with trying to get good natural light and/or the flash for my DSLR to come out well, so finally I just grabbed a box and cut holes in it as per the tutorial on Photojojo [hooray!] Now I have a functioning light box, complete with lamp - my main problem is that I now have to find a way to evenly light it.
The picture above is of a mirror that I decoupaged [accent aigu over the 'e'] for my Italian penpal as a New Year's gift [I hope you like it, Chiara!] I took lots of other pictures today because I took some "me time" but this was my favorite.

Check out some more posts featuring my photography.