Can't wait for Summer!!

Things I am looking forward to:

JUNE
-Selling prints on Getty Images
-Secret 311 Concert :)
-The release of 311's new album Uplifter.
-311 hosting LOVELINE radio on Tuesday June 2nd
-Spending three days in Coronado with my friend Margot and her family
-Going to see The Wallflowers at House of Blues with Rick
-Midnight showing of Almost Famous with Adam
-Victoria's Secret Semi-Annual Sale... yes, it's actually something I look forward to, haha.
-Chilling with my friend Kevin who will be in CA with his girlfriend

JULY
-A week down the Jersey Shore (feat. Rick on the East Coast!!)
-Being a part of APW Gallery's "Something Different" Group Exhibition in Long Island, NY. Opening night is July 17th!!
-KKP weekend full of antique/thrift shopping and Thai food
-Photoshoots, photoshoots, lots of photoshoots!!
-Taking my grandmother to an Elvis impersonator concert
-Making scrabble tile pendant necklaces with my grandmother
-Beating my mother at scrabble
-Helping Lindsay decorate her new apartment
-Seeing Justin's new apartment

AUGUST & SEPTEMBER
-South of the Border roadtrip with my Mother
-What About Bob Trip with my best friend Andrea
-Hanging out and making silly videos with KKP at Princeton
-Spending my 25th birthday with family and friends back home
-Beach day trips with Lindsay
-Baking a 14-layer cake with Andrea
-Statue of Liberty field trip with my mom, Justin and Andrea (possibly Zac and Jess too!!)
-Spending as much time with family and friends as possible!! :)

UPDATES

I currently have 28 images up for sale (for commercial and editorial usage) on Getty Images AND 24 more images will be added!! You can see my collection for Getty Images here.

I was interviewed by fellow photographer Aaron Feaver. You can read the interview here and you can view Aaron's work here.

I was also interviewed by Amelie Foley. You can read her article (en Français!!) and the interview (in English) on her blog.

And as always, you can follow me on twitter. :)

Keep Me In Your Locket

Stumbled across these vintage photos that are too good to keep to myself:




Enjoy the weekend!! XOXO

Outfit For Under $40

Excited about a recent purchase, I decided to create a silent film. You can watch it here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGLRlVS9iUo ENJOY!!

Music: Plucky Daisy by Kevin MacLeod.

Feeling Good

My work was posted on {Frolic!} AND decor8 yesterday, woo woo!! I'm glad everyone loves the Summer Love Collection.

AND *drumroll* my work is for sale at Getty Images now!! I'm really excited about that.

Expect some updates at jenaardell.com in the very near future... or next 20 min.

Spotlight on: Photographer Bill Wood

I felt like I hit the jackpot when I recently discovered Photographer Bill Wood's expansive collection of 1950s and 1960s Americana!!

Wood spent nearly 40 years photographing local businesses, showrooms and product displays in Fort Worth, Texas where he owned and operated the Bill Wood Photo Company. His photographs were not meant to be artistic in composition or style, but Wood's authentic -- borderline deadpan -- portraits predate a style emulated by today's photographers.

After his death in 1973, Wood's family decided to sell the negatives of his work. Wood's collection would have not reached mainstream media had actress, and avid photo collector, Diane Keaton not purchased 20,000 of his negatives. Keaton kept the negatives in storage and would occasionally make contact sheets, each time finding hundreds of images she loved. With the help of freind Marvin Heiferman, Keaton turned the archive into an exhibition and book project.

"Some of us can just never get enough imagery, never enough staring at stills. It's a hunger. It's a real hunger, it's a starvation. You need more and more, there's never enough looking. Ever," Keaton has said of the project.

In May 2008, Keaton and Heiferman curated an exhibition titled "Bill Wood's Business" at the International Center of Photography in New York City. You can find a copy of the book containing Wood's work here.

HAPPY EASTER/PASSOVER EVERYONE!!!!

Here are some Easter photos from my flickr photostream:

even the easter bunny picks his nose
Originally uploaded by jena ardell.

Easter Best
Originally uploaded by jena ardell.

Me and Thumper
Originally uploaded by jena ardell.

Edible Penguins

Check out these adorable penguins I made for Liz's Passover Dinner!! Next year, I'm adding yamikas. They are sooo easy (yet time consuming) to create. All you need: two cans of unpitted olives, carrots, cream cheese and toothpicks. Your guests will be thrilled.

Here's how to make them:

1. First, either using baby carrots or regular carrots, create your penguin feet by slicing carrot rounds. If you're using regular carrots and small olives, stick with the tapered half of the carrot so the feet will be smaller/proportional to the penguin body. Slice as many carrot rounds as you would like penguins for. Starting in the center of each round, carefully cut small outward V's (to make the carrot look more like penguin feet). Be sure to save the V's you cut out for the beaks!!

2. Prep olives by holding them vertically and slicing one side from top to bottom. I did not have an pastry bag when I made my penguins but if you have one, your prep time will be cut in half!! Fill your pastry bag with cream cheese and pipe cream cheese into the sliced olives. This gives the penguins their white bellies. If you do not have an pastry bag, you have to fill the olives using a knife or your fingers and cream cheese will get all over the olives and then you will need to wipe them off... so invest in an pastry bag!! Set the filled olives aside, they are the penguin bodies.

3. It's time to make the heads so grab some more olives!! DISCLAIMER: If you get frustrated easily or are impatient, I recommend you pipe cream cheese into the center of each olive. This will hold the heads together while you are trying to shove a carrot nose into a small incision. If you think you have the patience or do not have an pastry bag, leave the olives plain. Take your leftover carrot V's and slice them vertically once or twice. Holding your olive horizontally, make a small X incision in the center of the olive. Stick the carrot noses into the incision and VIOLA, penguin heads!!

4. Now it's time to construct. Using a small dab of cream cheese, stick your penguin feet to a platter or dish. This is your base. Keeping your penguin heads horizontal, stick a toothpick down the center. You only need to bring the olive head 3/4 up the toothpick. When you have your head in place, slide an olive body onto the toothpick. Keep the bodies vertical and heads horizontal. Once you have a toothpick with both a head and body, stick the end of the toothpick into one of the carrot feet. You should have a penguin!!

5. TIP: Keep the platter chilled until your guests arrive, otherwise the cream cheese will melt and your penguins will slide all over the place. If you need to store them overnight, carefully place wet paper towels and/or Seran Wrap over the penguins. This will prevent the carrots and olives from drying out. ENJOY!!