diptych of the week: typical morning

(click for bigger version)

[left]: Berkeley, CA

[right]: Mumbai, India
At the music school, we have class with our guru every morning. He's a big deal, the head honcho. When he arrives on the floor, everyone frenetically moves to open the door, turn on the lights, make him comfortable, and then settle into class quickly. We never really know when he's going to come though. It could be 9:30 AM, 10:00, 10:15 or anywhere in between. Since my bedroom door is exactly opposite the classroom door (pictured here), most mornings I am peeking out my door every 3 minutes to make sure I haven't missed his arrival. The tell-tale sign is if his slippers are on the mat...in which case you better get your butt inside because he's waiting. (I should add that he's one of the gentlest people I've ever ever come in contact with. Out of respect and humility, the tradition is to keep the guru from waiting on his students.)

bike at rest

jasmine incense

Living by the beach is fabulous in many ways, but the intense humidity is one downside. I don't feel very uncomfortable, actually, since I grew up in Atlanta. In my book, if you don't have at least a few days where you are walking down the street but feel like you're sitting in one of those saunas at the gym, then you haven't experienced a decent summer. One unfortunate side effect, however is that all the rooms in the dorms here have a stale, musty smell. My solution is jasmine-scented incense. It's only halfway covering up the stank, but this remedy will have to do for the rest of the monsoon season.

trying to learn

I'm learning how to read and write Hindi. I can read, but it's pretty slow. I'm still sounding out words and probably sound like a 1st grader trying to read out loud so I spare myself the embarrassment and generally try not to do this in public. When I'm writing out assignments, even though it takes 10 times longer, I've been pushing myself to do so in Hindi. A page from my notebook:

i am not trying to start a food blog, but

Lately I've been obsessed with tomatoes like Shelley's been obsessed with Juhu Beach. This is amazing only because I used to feel about raw tomato the way someone might feel about, say, raw bacon- like maaaaybe I'd eat it if it were mixed in with a whole bunch of other stuff and slathered in Ranch dressing and you could guarantee to me that I wouldn't die afterward, but really now, why not cook it first? Then I discovered that good tomatoes actually taste good. So in loving tribute, I made some pasta with raw tomato last night (out of this cookbook).


It was pretty bomb. And now I swear I'll stop being one of those people who make food and then take photos of their food. Unless I make something like this, in which case I will be taking LOTS of photos of my food.

farmer's market bounty


I finished reading Barbara Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle a little while ago. Haven't read Michael Pollan yet, but he's next on my reading list. I'm re-reminded of why it feels important to me to support local farmers and sustainable food sources. Kingsolver does a super job of addressing a lot of the myths associated with eating locally, such as that it's more expensive (it's not), that buying imported produce somehow helps poor farmers (instead of, say, Dole Corp.), or that it just doesn't matter.

If anything, I'm busy enough that Safeway can kinda have its appeal--not to mention that I get to sample the gummy bears out of the candy bins... shhhh--but when I can make it to the farmers market, it's a total pleasure to sort through 8712 different varieties of locally grown fruits. And the samples of organic peaches are ACTUALLY free, not just... you know, "free."

"so fresh and so clean, clean"

In India, it's common for people to have their laundry done, and I'm amazed that when my laundry comes back that it's so fresh, so perfectly folded and pressed, and without a single crease out of place. it needed to be captured. also, i'm reminded of outkast all the way in mumbai. strange.

about.

String Fever is a collaborative, transcontinental photo blog.

How it started.
In May of 2009, Bonnie approached Shelley about working on an online photo project together. Not having a clue what she was getting into, but feeling sure that it would be awesome, Shelley agreed and thus began String Fever. In the spirit of collaboration, String Fever is now a thriving international collective of two.

Why 'String Fever'?
The name is about making choices, which is a perpetual challenge to our Selves. In our conversations with each other, we often reference the sensation of holding dozens of different strings that all lead to different possibilities in life and feeling paralyzed by the inability to let go of any of them. String Fever is in honor and recognition of choosing, moving forward, and most of all, letting go.

What it's about.
Approximately once a week, one of us posts a "theme of the week," and the following week, the other posts a diptych -- of one of Bonnie's photos alongside one of Shelley's -- which is inspired by the theme.

Throughout the week, we also both post some of our favorite pictures that we've taken.

Sometimes we have personal reflections about crucial, timely topics ranging from world politics to gummy bears. But mostly we just take photos.

We also welcome the participation of our friends and other photographers to join in our dialogue about photography, representation, imagery, life, and everything in between.

About the bloggers.
bonnie | currently living learning reading breakfasting working therapizing cooking loving biking writing photographing and talking about her feelings in Berkeley, CA.

shelley | currently singing; spending too much time taking pictures at the beach; and obsessing over postsecret.com, snail mail, references to the End Times, futureme.org, the color red, and the sources of putrid smells in Mumbai, India. Mostly shooting with (La Femme) Nikita, her Nikon D40X and sometimes a Lomo Fisheye, or one of these, and hopefully soon one of these.

How to get involved.
• Check the site every Sunday for the diptych and the new theme!
• Post comments and link to your own photos
• "Follow" our blog, subscribe to our feed, sign up for email updates
• Share with your friends
• Send us love and e-mails.


rock on,
bonnie & shelley
a.k.a. the string fever collective

an embarrassing photo. it was Inauguration night 2009 in Washington, DC. we were understandably on our way towards getting plastered.