August 2011 Pt 1

RM racing minds magazine

Vol. 2 | Issue 3 | Aug.2011

Dear Readers,

Summer is a time that I absolutely love. It’s just so freeing, knowing that there isn’t any school, that the weather will be nice 75% of the time - at least, here in New England. Its a time for imagination and inspiration, a time for creating.

I hope you all will take advantage of this summer and create to your heart’s content.

Sinerely, Sarah

RM racing minds magazine

Staff Editor-in-Chief Sarah Nieman

Layout Designer Sarah Nieman

Photographers Caiti Borruso Lauren R W

Editors

Leah Augustine Kayla Deines Rachael Hyde Maria Kaffa Elizabeth Turner

issuu // issuu.com/racingminds magcloud // racingminds.magcloud.com tumblr // racingminds.tumblr.com facebook // facebook.com/racingminds flickr // flickr.com/groups/racingminds email // racingminds@yahoo.com

contents 006- Silent Summer 014- Spotlights 020- Unknown Artist 028- Amanda Pham 034- Pauline Franque 040- Natalia Swarz 044- Emily Walsh 046- Christa Watkins 048- Elena Jasic 054- Emily Callahan 060- Amy Geliebter 064- Sand and Sea 072- Gema Gonzalez 074- Rachel Culbertson

080- Phoebe R A Jones 084- Erica Lucy 090- Fabian Checo 094- Of The Sea 102- Heather McCutcheon 108- Laura Tuttle 114- Amir Kuckovic 120- Hope Roselle 122- Matt Hill 128- Lara Zankoul 130- On The Street 136- Dennis Finocchiaro 138- Coralie Villain

pg 94

pg 48

silent summer

photography // sarah nieman model // kaitlin l necklace // shore side jewelry co.

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1 Jodie Simms | 2 Julienne Felker | 3 Katelyn Downs 4 Emily Cain | 5 Danielle Pearce | 6 Kathryn Pearcy 7 Jade Hewitt | 8 Bree Rockbrand | 9 Tessa Yoder 10 Ayana Campbell | 11 Leah Mancl | 12 Kristi Boazman 13 Savanna Eosso | 14 Rachiel C | 15 Elisa Nelissen 16 Maggie Ann Re | 17 Miranda Martin | 18 Nic Fornario 19 Kelsey Hannah | 20 Anais Nannini | 21 Victoria Wright 22 Melissa Miller | 23 Saige Rowe | 24 Kayleigh Jones 25 Gracie Cannell | 26 Jess Ball

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Andreea Iuliana Sticlea h t t p : / / w w w. f l i c k r . c o m / p h oto s / 2 7 6 9 1 8 2 8 @ N 0 8 /

RM: Tell us a little about yourself, like your

name, age, and location, and whatever else you wish to say.

AP: My name is Andreea Iuliana Sticlea, I’m from Romania.

RM: What first made you pick up a camera and

start photographing?

AP: It’s hard to remember the exact moment or the first photograph I have ever taken. I did it at first because it was fun, and I’ve never taken myself too seriously. If you do that, you start sounding pretentious, and nobody likes that.

RM: What do you think is the most important

quality in an artist?

AP: Not being afraid of mistakes, and sharing as much as you can. I know artists who like to keep their work to themselves, but that’s wrong. You make art because you feel the need to show whatever it is you have in your mind and because it’s important.

RM: Who inspires you the most?

AP: Painters, photographers, filmmakers.. but

there’s never been a specific person, it’s always the relationships I have with people, even strangers. I’ve always had the feeling that the moment I photograph someone, a connection is made between the two of us.

RM: What are three things you couldn’t go a day without?

AP: Talking, laughing, eating chocolate.

RM: What is your least favorite thing to photograph?

AP: I don’t like photographing at events, like weddings.

RM: What types of places – or even a single

place – do you find the most inspiration?

AP: Ruins, abandoned buildings and forests, although I haven’t really had the chance to take photographs in the woods.

RM: What is your favorite thing to do that’s not related to photography?

AP: I make small films, I paint, I talk.

RM: Describe yourself in five words.

AP: Emotional, scared, seeker, nostalgic and weird.

RM: Do you have a favorite photograph that

you have taken?

AP: Not really, they’re all important, because if you think about it, they tell the story of my life.

RM: How would you define photography?

AP: I can’t really do that, because I’ve never really seen myself as a photographer.. I use photgraphy as an instrument to capture fleeting moments, because I’m afraid of forgetting. The past is important to me, sometimes even more important than the present. I sort of combine photojournalism with fantasy and conceptual work. I’ve never really tried to setle on a particular style, because I’d get bored!

RM: Tell us about a recent dream.

AP: I rarely remember dreams I have at night,

but I did daydream about a girl and a boy, and they were both sleepwalkers, and they fell in love.. it was weird, I’d like to dreamday about it again.

RM: Why is photography important to you?

How does it draw you in?

AP: All visual arts represent me. There’s nothing more important to me than „seeing”. And of course it’s not always about what the eye can see, it’s about images that come from your mind. Photography is important to me because it allows me to express what I see with eyes, and what I see with the mind.

RM: Who is your favorite photographer?

AP: Tim Walker , Steve Mcurry, and so many others..

RM: What’s your favorite word?

AP: Petrichor, which means the smell of earth after rain.

RM: What’s your favorite concept to portray?

AP: Loss of innocence.

RM: What is something that no one knows about you?

AP: I can’t keep my own secrets!

RM: How do you think you’ve grown since you started?

AP: Photography has helped me understand that there is more to life than I can see with my eyes, as paradox as that seems.

RM: What’s your favorite memory?

AP: There are lots of them, from my childhood. We used to live in a tall build-

ing, and we had a balcony, and whenever it rained or there was a storm, I’d sit on the balcony and watch the thunderbolts descend into buildings. I’ve always loved thunderstorms and bad weather and rain and the smell of wet earth.

Amanda P h a m RM: When did you start designing and why?

AP: My interest in designing started when I was

about 9. Before that, I would watch my grandma sew clothes for my barbies and that really sparked my interest in sewing. I started design because it was hard to find clothes that I liked and fit me (I was a chubby kid). I also liked being creative and cutting old t-shirts and making them into something new to wear.

RM: What type of pieces do you design?

AP: I really love dresses and skirts. I don’t really

have a distinct style of design yet since I just started, but I’d like to experiment with designing different types of things.

RM: What is the process you have for designing

different pieces?

AP: First, I made a mood board which includes anything that I find inspiring and want to incorporate into the design. I then sketch out 2-3 designs, each of them being a little different from the other. After that, I choose the one I like the best and find a pattern that fit’s the design’s construction. (usually for harder pieces) And then after that, I cut the fabric and sew!

RM: How would you describe your fashion style?

AP: Hm, I would say that my style is pretty easy going, young, with a little bit of vintage. I love layering, leggings, scarves, and my favorite, blazers!

RM: Which is your favorite piece that you’ve

created so far?

AP: It’s a close one between the Blue Cowl Neck dress and the Purple Floral dress in my Spring 2011 Mini Collection. I really love the blue dress because I feel like the inspiration showed very well in the finished garment, and I dyed the fabric myself. The purple dress is also one of my favorites because I really love the print and the colors.

RM: What would be your dream project?

AP: Oh goodness, dream project..I would love to

be able to create a garment out of unconventional materials like they do on Project Runway. It would be so much fun to think outside the box and be creative with it.

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Natalia

Swarz

My name is Natalia Swarz and I am 18 years old. I was born and raised in Cali Colombia, a place you’ve probably never heard of. Drawing has been my life long passion. I can’t say when I began to draw but as long as I have been able to hold a pencil in my hand, I have been creating imaginary worlds, where reality subsides to the endless dimensions of my imagination. It’s my way out from this ludicrous world where reality is at the mercy of my brush, my pencil, my crayon my mind. http://www.flickr.com/photos/41810516@N03/

Emily Walsh

Caught somewhere between the left and right lobe, I bounce around my own skull. I crunch facts and figures littering the street like leaves, flinching with each satisfying, crisp, step. as I tread i hear anxieties whispering as they rush through the gutter like water from rain. I close my eyes and hum, but no rhythm comes, only a broken melody of a half remembered tune.

Ducking my head as cold winter winds blow through my hair, they send a chill down my vertebrae that stirs goosebumps deeper than the flesh. Holding tears hostage as fiercely as I am boring my incisors into my chapped lips, nails digging into palms, breathing ragged, difficult, dragging oxygen in and out against its will. It is hard to find a meaning here, a feeling here, an underlying message here. this is a purgatory; this is where you can stay so lost, this endless street, these unrelenting winds. this is where i merely exist, not live; exist.

I think i’m giving up on my words. I think i’m letting go of a lot of the life i used to cling to. I think i’m settling for being less than ordinary. I’m realizing exactly how unimportant I am, and how, no matter how hard i try, I can’t fit myself into a mold of an inspired being. A photographer, a writer, an artist. I am none of these things, nor will I ever be. And I am more than a little disappointed, but it is what it is. I am an average, dull, pointless, expendable, redundant human. I’m nothing special. I never was. I can’t believe I ever let myself believe i could mean something. amount to something beautiful. No. I am but an insect.

I’m a terrific liar, you know. I think and spin away from myself and twirl backwards, falling and twisting through the air. A fraudulent ballet as I create these twisted perceptions. I don’t mean to, but I do, and accidental predetermination to dismiss, to laugh, to imitate. Copy of a copy of a copy. I didn’t mean it, I swear. My body language betrays me, and everything is always so different, the gap between my head and my hands grows and grows and grows. You’re not the person I want you to be, you never will be, just like I will never be the person I want me to be either. But I just want to mean something. Is that so bad to wish for? There are so many little things that make me ordinary, mundane, nothing.

I am composed mainly of dust. Ashes to dirt to dust and back, we are all the bones of each other and the universe, and we are one being, as humans so conveniently forget. Remember who you are, and where we shall return to. Sooner than you’d think.

Christa Watkins My name is Christa Watkins and I’m a fifteen year old in a very dusty city in southern California. However, I travel abroad quite a bit, and that’s where the majority of my photos are taken. f l i c k r . c o m / p h o t o s / s e e g r a c i e

Elena Jasic

E m i ly Callahan My name is Emily Jorden Callahan I am currently 18 years old I reside in Austin, Texas

Often time’s people say they have a big hole in their heart due to a failed relationship with their significant other or rather for having no relationship at all. For me, that big, gaping hole in my heart forms when I’m not creating. A big part of me is taking photos; I’m constantly brainstorming and am constantly getting inspired. I know it’s really cliché to say, but it’s my outlet, my way of showing what’s inside of my brain for anyone that cares to see. And even if nobody does care to see, it’s always significant to me. Creating is what I like to do, and more importantly it’s what makes me feel good. That feeling after you’ve taken a photo that you’re so incredibly happy with and proud of is one of my favorite feelings in the whole world. Simply put, I like to photograph everything. I want the viewer to create something as well, I want them to leave with any little amount of thought, emotion or perspective in their brain after viewing my photos.

Creating is what I love to do and I plan on continuing to do just that for as long as I possibly can.

16 | Philadelphia, PA | amygeliebter.carbonmade.com

Amy Geliebter

I don’t just create because it gives me a way to express myself, I create because it gives me a way to capture the beauty in the world. I genuinely think that people are just so beautiful and interesting, which is really why I’m so drawn to portraits. Basically, I take pictures to remind myself that for every horrible, terrible thing out there, there’s something just as beautiful waiting to be captured on camera.

Photography // Caiti Borruso Model // Taylor Noe

sand and sea

G e m a Gonzรกlez

Rachel

Culbertson Twenty

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Chicago

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http://www.flickr.com/photos/45031354@N02/

Phoebe Jones http://www.flickr.com/photos/52338314@N07/

Erica Lucy 23

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Philadelphia,

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http://www.flickr.com/photos/47546533@N02/ I was born and raised in Mississippi so the south and it’s strange customs have often been a source of inspiration for me. When I was little I would use old point and shoot cameras and photograph everything I could see- so its gradually grown into an obsession of mine. Recently, I’ve been turning the camera on myself. No matter what I photograph the most important thing to me is to have an emotional connection with my work. I have to feel invested in the photograph otherwise i could never see it as a success. It can often be a very soul search process, and even a little painful, but thats also how I evolve. I’m learning about myself.

Fabian Checo 22

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Philadelphia,

PA

Photography found me through the interest to have a decent quality photo camera.

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http://www.flickr.com/photos/28254098@N06/

I call self I met eyes with my monsters , feelings I’ve resented, hate for my own existence, hate for loving and receiving a blank soul in return. Continuously, Originally I’m a skateboard videographer , who venMy self portraits derived from my own core, the skin tured daily through the forgotten ghetto communities I thought was ugly shed and uncovered a truth I knew infested by high drug and crime . Sometimes i found not of. My Beauty , My significance, and life. Shootmyself in bustling inner city districts, on proximate ing self portraits is my therapy, Immediately after the universities of my current home Philadelphia,pa. relief comes like a prescribed pain pill . Its essential In the coarse of my day to day walk I define proclaim that I express myself and not close myself in for too myself, I’m a documenter of my worlds surroundlong , I live a very lonesome life so communicating ing me. As a result of Living in a city such as philly through my art is a must. I Know that not many really I captured many random occurrences such as fights, do understand who or what I am but I hope that my shady activity, unique strangers, and lively souls so self portraits will explain what I am, My legacy, my transitioning to shooting still photography was bound life. Its easy to shoot a bare picture of yourself but its for me. difficult to deliver all of yourself composed in 1 frame.

I try habitually to be as vulnerable as my thoughts but The world is vast, I exist within it but most importantly sometimes I can’t always produce what I envision so I I believe that I am a world. I’m a soul caught adrift with improvise and most times produce something greater life’s ever unpredictable tide shifts. One day I woke than originally thought of. In the end I found solace and I was struck with the urge to document someone and I suggest to everyone who breaths thick air to just who often is difficult to be understood. Someone who express themselves and worry not of the rejection that would be undocumented , someone who felt invisible follows. My actions have been objected by many but at to fleshly eyes. This someone was myself! It began with the end of the day I have my comfort because I did not simplicity but as time carries on in progression I found create a façade, I told the truth and that will ever stand myself drowning , in the deep where the common in history. man dares not to find themselves lost in. In this space

of the sea

Photography // Morgan-Elaine Forrest

Heather McCutcheon 16

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London,

England

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cargocollective.com/heathermccutcheon

Laura Tuttle 21 | Toronto Ontario Canada flickr.com/photos/30813701@N02/

i really got into photography when my grandpa died, he left me a couple cameras, and i really felt like i would want to pursue it. so i decided to go to university for photography, and i’ve loved every second of it. i love portraits and taking beautiful images. i just love seeing breathtaking photos, and love contributing to it.

Amir Kuc 22 | Spain | amirkuckovic.com

ckovic

Hope Roselle I write about living. I write about places. And things. And

130 anna dame of a rose tears of a loss far greater than oneself. cries of a fever dream lost underneath the surface that’s just slightly out of reach. she can see your face jagged cut by the liquid light she’ll love you vigilantly until you need it 162 a weight is not lifted from my shoulders, but the back of my brain. my thoughts are shoelaces tied together in neat lines, no longer a marriage of paranoia and your face. a sigh filled with the cool blue of relief because it is quite difficult to think correctly when a dark incubus pushes its thumbs into your mind.

188 everything is gray again. maybe it’s just the snow. maybe it’s just the sound of her voice. but my soul is black and white and my thoughts only proceed in one direction, my movements monochromatic. it’s january again and it’s cold

about people. And I write all other sorts of nouns.

194 once again my thoughts are the mess of seaweed that entangles itself on your leg in the summertime in a desperate last attempt to escape its murky world of abandoned fishhooks, children’s toys, and drowning. “please, get me out of here, please. take me to the surface, where sunbeams sparkle through the water or just lay me out in the sun. toss me and feed me to a gull. anything anything to leave that cold place where everyone just forgets about you. where i am screaming, but no one can ever hear me. no one knows any better. please i am so tired of falling to the bottom i am so tired of being trapped again after working so hard i am so tired but no one can ever hear me”

247 i’m sorry. i didn’t mean to intrude. but it was so nice to see inside of you. and a little scary. i think you’re very similar and i’d like to talk to you. ask you questions. know how the word “beautiful” feels on your tongue. and show you. “feel that? that is beauty. that is the world fucking holding you up. that is beautiful!” maybe you’d laugh. “no. say it. say it over and over again. beautiful, beautiful, beautiful. yes. see. now doesn’t that feel nice. that is God. we are God.” i want to arrange your hands. i want to tell you tell you, “yes, see? feel that. that is beautiful.” and I want to show you how to take in every last detail and store each one in your eyes and in your hands. “just take everything with you.” “just listen.” i know i’m a little strange and i know i’m a little tired. i know i’m a little young and i know i’m a little stupid. i know that i’m crying, but i know that i’m not broken. i’m so fucking happy. take it. take it. show yourself what living is like.

254 it’s just semantics. a dirty little chloroform cover of all the hearts you broke last night. last year. of course you wouldn’t, darling. of course not. you hid it too well.

260 we call each other collect and waste our best smiles on the telephone receiver. our voices conjure up little images of the dirty sidewalk and open windows and make us want to listen even more closely, our hands, eyes, hearts, and waists open.

261 let’s sing nice quiet words about death and other sad things and listen to each other’s voices and laugh at how this reality is actually reality. let’s say nice quiet things to one another. let’s listen to how fucking ridiculous we are and these nice quiet things are and realize how much we don’t need them. how much we don’t mean them how they’re just little fillers because you feel like you should at least say something. like you’re obligated. but you’re not. not at all. you know nothing, and neither does she, so what’s the difference? dancing around in circles is productive in my world.

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Trawsfynydd,

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http://www.flickr.com/photos/57228703@N00/

Matt Hill

Well, to be honest there isn’t a great deal to say about [my art]. Generally speaking it is what it is. I enjoy taking all kinds of photos.

Landscapes for their scale and beauty and portraits because I just like the human form. My portraiture, generally speaking, is just photos of me which is kind of unfortunate.

I’m no model. But it just came about because I live on a farm miles away from any real civilization so in order to practise my portraiture I had to take photos of myself. My landscapes are shot around my farm - most of them just a short walk away from my house. Fortunately I live in such a scenic area.

I just get a feel of satisfaction when I take a photo through it’s stages: the initial taking of it and then the editing. My favourite stage is definitely the editing. I love how much you can change a photo these days. Most of the time I just change the colour and such - photo manipulation isn’t really for me. But yeah, the whole thing is just kind of therapeutic I guess.

I’m not sure I intentionally portray any kind of emotion. I like to show them all. But I think - certainly in landscape - I work better with the more moody and bleak scenes.

As for subjects, my favourite thing to do is to mix landscape with portraiture. I think I do it a lot with my images. Shooting at wide angle in order to capture the person and their surroundings. People and places you know :)

Lara Zankoul larazankoul.com

on the street Photography: Monique Maginnty

Dennis Finocchiaro

Dennis Finocchiaro is the author of Capturing a Moment, a collection of flash fiction on photography published by Wrags Ink and available on Amazon. He also wrote flash fiction occurring during a zombie apocalypse called The Z Word (also on Amazon). He resides in Philadelphia, PA and spends a lot of time in thrift shops, flea markets and behind his computer writing. He can be followed online at w w w . d e n w r i t e s . c o m

a a t

Coralie Villain