I call it INSTAGRAMification because everyone looks happy, lives well, eats well and plays well.
Life can be so Idyllic! #nofilters #lifeisgood #readytopicnic photo: d. king
The popular phone app gives us leeway to play with our photos using different filters to brighten or diffuse and colour our world a whole lot brighter (but make sure to use hashtag #no filters if not using any, so it appears even better). Our world can actually be falling apart but you’d never know it by the photos we choose to post. We’re always busy, popular, travelling to exotic locales or at least eating in exotic restaurants and we want you to see what we’re having for dinner….again! Yeah I know, I’m guilty of this too.
I drank champagne and ate oysters all summer long #nofiltersThe wine I drink comes with cute labels. I won’t drink it otherwise. #bigfatlie
If you think about it for a moment why would we want anyone to see us at our worst? Why not create a fantasy world of perfection?
I wonder if it would make us feel happier or depressed to look at other people’s photos of really plain food (is there such a thing?), waking up first thing in the morning (unless you’re Angelina Jolie who I’m sure never has a bad looking day), sick in bed or just getting in your car to go to work (boooring!).
I only swim in salt water pools...a lot by the way #wishIusedafilter #havingwaytoomuchfun
Maybe we should try it?
Okay, you go first! Nahhh…forget it. Let’s keep up the fantasies, the world is a tough enough place as it is (for most of us). Let’s keep up appearances and show everyone the best of our little world! XO
While I get ready for a bubble bath…with bubbly in hand. Wait a sec…that’s not even me – it’s my dog! #bigmistake
My therapist has fur and four legs and all I have to do is feed him.
Four dogs, Three nights, Two locations, One great little adventure!
Jack (jack russell), Jia Jia (sheltie) & Max (blue heeler) on Piers Island Photo: d kingTaylor (1 1/2 yr. old Border Collie) & Jia Jia – at Prospect Lake just getting to know each otherDogs enjoying the freedom to run around – Piers Island. It’s always an enjoyable time with these fellows. Photo: Mel d’SouzaJack enjoys the view from his living room – waiting for the boat to arrive with more goodies. Now he’s just getting over being stung on his behind by a wasp, poor thing. He might have sat on it. Photo: d kingMy posse & me at the dog park which is basically the whole island. Max blends in with the rocks so well that we can only tell it’s him when he sticks out his tongue. Photo: Mel d’Souza
It’s a Ruff Life
“I hope Jack can’t swim” Photo: d king
Have a great weekend with your posse!
A look at Jack & Jia Jiaon Pinterest:
Link to dog park picnic with Didi (almost one year ago):
Remember the controversial ad campaigns for Benetton?
Children don’t know hate – they are taught it
They captured our attention with amazing imagery that had nothing to do with their clothes. The ads grabbed our attention because it was hard to escape many of the disturbing images which came with a message. They were meant to get stuck in our brain. I can’t remember all the sweaters I bought from Benetton but I do remember the ads.
I stumbled across this article which examines fashion’s new lifestyle approach to advertising through the lens of Jamie Hawkesworth’s India campaign for Trademark. Fascinating!Fashion advertising is an arena that, over the past few years, has evolved into an artistic entity of its own. As brands seek to consolidate and communicate a message that extends beyond the clothes they are putting onto the rails, those at the top of their game have eschewed traditional handbag shots and replaced them with montages that speak to a broader picture of lifestyle luxury – and Jamie Hawkesworth is often the man responsible.
In a market saturated with disposable imagery, it seems as though sustained success is coming from advertising with aesthetic longevity. Earlier this week in The Washington Post, Sarah Halzack noted that, in spite of an ever-expanding post-recession luxury market, flashy, logo-heavy glamour is no longer in *Vogue – a trend that is seeing profits fall for megabrands like Prada, Gucci and Louis Vuitton while those of their smaller counterparts (like Loewe and Miu Miu, also featuring Hawkesworth-shot campaigns) rise. “These are [brands] that really control the supply, and therefore they manipulate the market and the desire for their products,” explains luxury marketer Thomai Serdari – and, with the release of Gucci’s new campaign video and imagery this week, which has Glen Luchford documenting a softly intimate, Wes Anderson-style shoot and short film, it is clear that the big brands are paying attention.
One of the labels that is tapping into this idea of editorial-style lifestyle messaging is new American brand Trademark, whose S/S15 campaign was shot by Jamie Hawkesworth on a trip to India. “We were always fans of Jamie’s early work, particularly his series taken at a bus station in Preston,” explained founders Pookie and Louise Burch. “The images felt like documentary photography which was something we were both drawn to. We wanted to shoot the images for Trademark in the same vein so it felt natural.”
Sending Hawkesworth off with a suitcase of clothing resulted in a series of images that look as much like someone’s (brilliant) holiday photographs as clothing advertisements, just as his shots for Loewe’s accessories collaboration with John Allen are like family snapshots or his A/W15 Miu Miu campaign like an insight into a (very chic) schoolgirl’s life. In this new spirit of lifestyle shots, brands are paying to place advertising in magazines, and some of the pages that they buy don’t even end up featuring clothes.
John Allen x Loewe Photography by Jamie Hawkesworth
When a new label like Trademark makes a statement like, “The focus wasn’t on the clothing” about a (presumably fairly high-budget) campaign, it is clear that there is a shift in direction for those with the savvy to really listen to consumers: and consumers are buying into more than just ostentatiously trend-led pieces, but into an entire aesthetic. Jamie Hawkesworth presents relatable yet aspirational scenarios – an artfully-arranged pencil pot, a beautiful statue observed on holiday in India – and the occasional garment or bag just fits alongside. This is the new era of brand identity – one that extends beyond seasonal pieces – and it is one that seems to be selling.
I still love glamorous imagery in ads but I have great appreciation for where this Trademark direction is taking us.
Because I’m not a painter this is the best I could come up with to make somewhat of an impression – this week. It seems that unintentionally I was on a little bit of a theme.
I’ve always loved Water lilies.
Wall Waterfall Selfie
“The difference between writers and readers is similar to the difference between expressionism and impressionism. Writers want to express themselves and readers want to be impressed.” – Claire AmberI want both!
Mast Reflections
Yes, No? It doesn’t matter – it’s just nice to capture images in general. AND it’s Friday so nothing else really matters now except for more wine & wine water. Enjoy your weekend.
Picture this! I’m playing with a new app that popped up on Instagram to turn personal photos into crazy collages. As if posting regular photos wasn’t enough!
Kaleidoscope of flowers – taken from a friends garden.
It doesn’t take much to amuse me. I’m sure you can do so much more with these, be quite creative but what you see here are my very first attempts to locate various photos taken on my phone and multiply them.
I’m pleased with how they turned out but I’ll have to figure out more ways to make them look more interesting.
My dog Jia Jia – part #1 – he hit the jackpot allrightJia Jia the Wonderdog – Part #2 (out of 346,000 other amazing photos)
Guess it’s healthier than other addictions!
Oh; one more tiny important tidbit…….#nofilterneeded
It’s here! A remarkable Spring that’s more like a slightly cooler version of Summer….
Some random photos taken with my camera phone on a walk and a bike ride.
“When spring came, even the false spring, there were no problems except where to be happiest. The only thing that could spoil a day was people and if you could keep from making engagements, each day had no limits. People were always the limiters of happiness except for the very few that were as good as spring itself.” – Ernest Hemingway, A Moveable Feast.
“Spring is the time of plans and projects.” – Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karnina
I have plenty of plans and projects to keep me occupied. How about you?
I crown this Save a Pitbull Day!What can be more uplifting than these Instagramphotos…just be a CAUSEAs a way to find shelter pitbulls happy homes, New York City photographer Sophie Gamand takes ethereal shots of them wearing adorable homemade flower crowns.
“I volunteer at animal shelters a lot, but I always tense around pit bulls because of things I’d heard in the media. I wanted to confront my apprehensions.” “After researching, I found out that more than one million pit bulls are euthanized each year in the US,” she said. “Then the project started feeling more important to me.”“Shoots can take one minute, or thirty minutes,” says the photographer. “It completely depends on the dog.” Gamand makes a unique flower crown for each pup.Now try to top hat that?? www.sophiegamand.com @sophiegamand
I deserve to live
Won’t it make you feel good to save a dog (not just a pittbull, but any dog) from being euthanized?
The next time someone tells you to go fly a kite “does anyone still say that?”
d. king – Kits Point
just do it!
“A kite is a victim you are sure of.
You love it because it pulls
gentle enough to call you master,
strong enough to call you fool;
because it lives
like a desperate trained falcon
in the high sweet air,
and you can always haul it down
to tame it in your drawer.
A kite is a fish you have already caught
in a pool where no fish come,
so you play him carefully and long,
and hope he won’t give up,
or the wind die down.
A kite is the last poem you’ve written
so you give it to the wind,
but you don’t let it go
until someone finds you
something else to do.” – Leonard Cohen, The Spice Box of Earth
Speaking about flying high & feeling good:
It’s nearly time to raise a glass at the ever popular California Wine Fair featuring award-winning vintners , happening at the Vancouver Convention Centre on Monday, April 27. The fair is presented in partnership with California Wine, an organization not only committed to showcasing the fine wines of the Golden State, but also giving back to the communities. Meet you there!
Girl Who Would be KING on Life, Style and INSPIRATION. 
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