Sia concert

I went to see Sia at Webster Hall when she came to NYC on March 8th. It was a great show. Here is a video I took of her performing the song Lentil. Enjoy! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aF2MInJ5nBo

3 Years later...She BLOGS

HELLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Astoria! As Willard Scott would say. Well, it's been a while. I know. Please forgive me, but LIFE happend. I'm actually writing you from my condo in Fort Lee, NJ. But I left my heart in a greek restaraunt somewhere on Broadway in Astoria so it's okay. I'll always be there. Besides, everyone knows NJ is for yuppies and I'm not a yuppy. I just moved here because I got a new BF with a MUCH nicer pad than mine!
Okay, down to business. Now the last time I blogged, I was about 260lbs heavier. I lost 175 of those pounds when I dumped my ex-BF. (DA-DUMP-BUMP!!) The other 85 came off though diet and exercise. I feel like a different person. I am a different person. I have been hired and fired from several jobs, a few of which I left on my own.
I am still a photographer. I am pursuing ownership of my own portrait studio/business.
I shoot for pleasure whenever possible.

Okay, well, I hope I can remember to keep up with this. I'll post some recent stuff soon, or if you just can't wait, here is my personal website: www.kristenfrank.com

Stay classy San Diego, and thanks for stoppin' by.

Mother and child

Me recently.

Let's Get Holy!!

Okay. Well it that time of year again. The time on the lunar calendar that we all eagerly await with giddy anticipation....yes, my people, I'm talking about Ramadan. Now, if you are living your life in accordance with the teachings of the Koran, than rest assured you have nothing to worry about and can sleep soundly. But if you are one of the many muslims out there, smoking, drinking, eating pork, having premarital sex, not praying 5 times a day, not visiting the mosque on Fridays at all, cursing, looking at porn ...etc. AND THEN Ramadan comes and you want to be good for 1 month? I have a slight issue with that. In my religion, there is no such thing as a 1 month grace period. I believe God wishes to be worshiped a particular way 24/7 and we may not choose a month to be more worshipful than usual. He can see directly into the heart he gave you. You may WANT to be a better person this month but who cares if your thinking you can go back to doing what you did last month in a few weeks?? I don't GET this religion! If seems if it were not for the appealing social aspect of Ramadan, breaking fast with family and friends, eating until the break of dawn, there would be no other reason to celebrate for a month.Muslims believe that during the month of Ramadan, Allah revealed the first verses of the Qur'an, the holy book of Islam, to Muhammad. My point is that is you are going to follow any religion, do so 100%. I don't mean to offend anyone, I just want to put this on the table. This has a lot to do with the fact that I am involved with a muslim man and I see the hypocrasy first hand. I was also raised in a very religious household. Anyway, Im just expressin'...as usual...signing off :-)

I just created this one, I shot the Triborogh from the Astoria BLVD subway stop....aaah, stunning.

Link 2 My Space

Check me out!

My Space

Check me out!

My Space

http://www.myspace.com/blondie6000

Hi Peeps. This is basically a test to see if this link works...you see my sister invited me to join this site called My space which is a place for friends to post comments and silly messages about each other and also pictures and images...its a way to waste time..okay well Ta-ta, for now.

I love this one, it turned out perfect. Jimmy, my baby nephew, has huge blue eyes...perfect for a B&W hand color. shot w/20D

Here is Maximus, hand colored/B&W shot with the 20D. I love that munchkin!

This is Nancy, a friend of the family, hangin' in the family kitchen. Sepia w/hand coloring

The Cameras I Use

Hi everyone...lately I've been asked what type of camera I use and thats a good question. Actually I apologize for not saying something about it sooner. All the images on this site come from several different cameras. Some of the better ones...seen shortly following this post came from 2 particular SLR cameras. The first few shots of Gantry park I took with the Canon 20D with a 28-75mm 2.8 lens. I love that camera since its autofocus it so fast and precise I dont neede to strain my eyes anymore. Plus it has so many great features at this point in my career I already know how to expose properly, I just wanted a camera with the brains to do it for me so I could concentrate on the subject and capture the moment. The other camera I used for the shots of my family is a film cam. I've had since I was 12, the Ricoh KR5 Super II..do a Google search on it. I've taken literally thousands of photos with this and I can always depend on it to produce beautiful images. It's fully manual and very similar to the old Pentax K-mount SLRs. Its a little newer with more plastic parts and thats bad because it fell off my bed once and onto the hotshoe and a crack formed in the plastic surrounding that area and now it shorts when I try to use a flash. So I just use available light which is what I prefer, as you can see, anyway. So thats my story. Anymore questions, just post a comment and i'll try to reply by way of a new post. Thanks for reading and enjoy!!

SORRRYYEEE

Hello everyone!
I apologize for not updating the blog since May but you know," ya lose your job ya lose your blog...interest in updating", right?? So I knew you'd all understand if I came back full effect and posted some great photography..beautiful portraits I've been taking over the summer of my family. Yes, I know they aren't YOUR family and you don't know them but the LEAST you could do is enjoy them, right?....yes, thats right. I promise to come back and update with some wacked out stories, guarenteed to entertain.

PS: Thanks to all the commentors who shared their voices, keep that coming, its mega-awsome!

There are 2 sets of Gantries in gantry Park...this is the first..its quite stunning as far as I'm concerned.

The view from the fishing pier across the east river looking to Midtown Manhattan-Gantry park, LIC, QUEENS.

Gantry Plaza--My favortie place to be at night.

Max on a summer drive though the meadow!!

The beauty of sunshine through a single, captured drop!

Cooling of by the birdbath, Maximus takes a seat to pose for me..so cute at age 4!

My youngest sis Sarah, the best waitress there ever was!

Jimmy, my newest nephew..so sweet!

wow

oooh!

Fireworks!! PPP-POW-Blam!

Tug-O'-War on July 4th.

Grampa and Maximus checkin' out the Model-T.

A nice cold drink of coke on a hot 4th of July for Dad @ Reis Park.

My beautiful Mother.

Maximus and Mommy - two blue eyed blondies.

My sister Tina and my aunt, chillin' @ the family picnic. Watch out there, Tina, your riding the Britney Spears/Redneck fence and your about to fall off!

Assaulted in Duane Reade

Hello All! Sorry I havent updated in a while. I do have something new to tell you about. I was assaulted! Never in my life has this happened to me. It happend in the Duane Reade on Broadway, downtown Manhattan, in front of City Hall. I was trying to buy a little bottle of soda before going into the subway, right outside, and the line was very long with only 2 cashiers--you know, its happend to all of up before! And we just wait it out until the next cashier calls the next person on the line!!
Anyway, this 5'9" loud black woman comes charging in and starts yelling,"Oh no, dont TELL me this is the line! 2 cashiers and THIS is the line?" And Im thinking "yeah, deal with it and wait like everyone else and shut up."
So she stomps to the front of the line of about 10-12 people and up to the registers and says, "EXCUSE me, but I come in hear all the time and there aint never a line like this with 2 cashiers, is there 1 or 2 lines?" And the stupid guy behind the counter, that barley speaks english, tells her there are 2 lines so she thanks him and cuts everyone and jumps behind the person being rang up and cuts the 12 people that are really next!
Well this one man in the line who is 2nd to the front speaks up and says, "EXCUSE ME miss but YOU made a mistake, THIS is the line." and she says, " uh, I dont think so, IF YOU had asked the same question I did you would be standing where I am." And they continued to fight back and forth and the argument escalated because she was a bossy, incomsiderate BITCH.
So I said to the man, "Hey, LOOK, just let her go! She doesnt care about anybody but herself and you know how that goes, she didnt care about any of us in this line, so just let her go and she'll be gone, and she's obviously a BITCH." Well ALL HELL broke loose and she started yelling, "excuse me? did you just call me a bitch? DID YOU CALL ME A BITCH!?"and she flew over to where I was standing about 8th in line, and started pushing back and screaming ing my face that she was going to punch my face, and then she DID PUNCH the left side of my face with her right fist. It happend so fast I couldnt believe it was happening, and I didnt know what to do. I didnt want to punch her back because I though she would be in more trouble if I held back but I was LIVID!! Also, I am not a good fighter so I didnt know if I would wind up injured because she was obviously out of her freakin' mind so I was scared.
Then I remebered seeing a security guard standing at the entrance who I knew had to be watching the entire thing, so I called out to him, "Security!! She Assualted me! Help me, do something!" And he did nothing, he told ME to calm down, he was smiling like it was funny and she was still yelling and screaming at me and threatening me like she was going to hit me again. I almost think that they knew each other.
Finally, some of the other customers started to help me and told me to call 911 and also a police car pulled up but just in time for her to be able to walk right out and into the subway. I really dont know what to do. Duane Reade was completely neglegent. They could have restrained her until the police came. She would have been arrested they said. I flag the cop car down off the street. I just walk out and saw the cops. It all happend so fast. Im so mad that that BITCH got away with assault infront of all those witnesses. If you have any serious advise, I'd like to hear it.

This is a product shot I did for a tea set. Thats a flower from home :-)

I shot this in the studio and used my BF as a model for the shoot..Then I retouched some of his wrinkels out of his face..hee-hee!

This is cool. A vendor selling these red/blue flashing paperweights across from rockafeller center at Christmas.

A moment of solitude. It was a busy Saturday @ noon when all of a sudden the train was empty for one stop. I pulled out my camera and snapped!

Job Searchin'

I hate looking for a job. I especially hate grovelling in a cover letter to an employer I havent met saying things like how "excited I am" and "thank you for your time and consideration" like they are looking down at me in the gutter as they pass me by in a big white limo and I think they're like a celebrity or whatever. I hate all the brown nosing I have to do. Then when one of them FINALLY give me an interview that I more than deserve, they flash all the other resumes in my face as they're "looking" for mine, as if it's intimidating me...."oh, you arent my only choice" then they ask me if I have a copy anyway!! The easiest interview I've gotten so far was for a job I don't want but need for right now so I can pay some bills---a hostess, and that is because I pasted my photo(see my profile) in the body of the email right at the begining!! Turns out the boss is a single man, all flirty, and offers me the job 2 hours later, wants me to start the next day at 12 noon, but gets pissy when I ask to come the day after because I already have another interview schedualed that day! So even though I accepted, he semi-retracted...NOT FAIR. Any comments? what did I do wrong. What am I doing wrong. Im pissed and I need some advice :-(

Remember the Gates? What a wonderously stupid use of shower curtain material. Here I am, sad that I didnt think of it first.

" La Cucaracha" (ROACH) and THE GATES!!

Why did God invent the roach?? To punish dirty people? I'm not dirty. They are so sick!! They scurry..no, they SCUTTLE across any surface and they stop and move their antenna around and smell your perfume, and look up your night gown....eewwwww!!!NASTY. When I moved in this apartment, my boyfriend's brother had lived here before me and he was a total pig. He never cleaned anything anywhere and all the cabinets where he kept food had dead roaches in a double layer trapped in old grease and on one shelf, a knocked over bottle of honey!!! The roach eggs were sprayed everywhere and just when I thought I'd cleaned it all, I'd open something or move something and there were more! When I would come to visit, before I moved in, I saw a few, and my boyfriend called them, "the babies" or "your friends". Yeah RIGHT!!

Anyway, on a lighter note--roaches suck, if you have any roach horror stories, I'd like to be freaked out by them!

Okay well here is a pic of me at the stupid gates--what was all the big deal about, c'mon..I know you were thinking the same thing. The only people who were like, "Oh my God- ART!" were people from another state or upper Westchester county, or...the upper East side. Everyone else, the cool people, were like, "what the hell, get the Hell out of our Park tourists and take a few orange shower curtains with you."
Well, thats all for now..ta-ta.

Black POPE

Okay..if you are easily offended stop right here. Skip this and read the next or go elsewhere cause this is POPE-related, okay??

I was just watching TV the other day and, like everyone else, saw the live feed from Vatican City announcing the appointment of the new Pope.
Now, I'm sure I'm not the only one out there who was rooting for the cardinal from Africa to be picked for the next Pope, and I'll admit, I was bummed out when it wasnt him...I'm ready for some real change in the church. (I SHOULD mention..I'm not Catholic, OR religious).
AANyway, I can only imagine the exact moment right before the news broke in the secret chambers of the Vatican..all the cardinals gathered, huddled around a huge, polished round table, wearing their cardinal hats, cardinal birds in cages singing softly in the corner...African cardinal sweating nervously,"this is it-it's me yo, its all me"he's thinking. All of a sudden, like, an alter boy comes in with the counted votes and one of the cardinals reads the results..."German POPE, thank you". And you just know African cardinal stands up all pissed and shocked and he's like, "Damn Dawg, I thought you ALL had my back, yo that is WACK! I swear to God--I am NOT going to smile when we are out on that balconey later, for REAL!!" and he didn't as the entire country and world observed, the cardinal from Africa did not smile--true to his promise. And now we know why. He was pissed.

Moments later, the tables are turned and joy turns to tears as my nephew Maximus makes himself a Silly Putty pillow and glues his head to the carpet!! Mommy(as the horsey) must use the clippers to remove the gooey mess--remember when you were 3??

MacArthur Park

You know what song is really weird? MacArthur Park sang by Donna Summer, written by some acid trippin' freak who must have passed out on a park bench in the rain, after eating some cake with sweet green icing.
I really cant say I know what is the true meaning behind those lyrics. Except maybe that its about love lost. Thats as far as I'm willing to venture. Anyone have any ideas??
Well at least Carrie Underwood, that blonde American Idol, sang it the right way. She's pretty awsome, and I think it gonna be her or Constintine. We will see!!

Standing at Queensborogh Plaza Platform yesterday, the sunset was very pretty over the Manhattan skyline as trhe 7 train approached.

A Spring weekend in Astoria Park--the train tressel and Triborogh Bridge as a scenic backdrop.

A beautiful rainbow speedboat.

"Thank you, yes of course I'll have a slice!" This is my BF sharing.

Slave to Ebay

Oh my God, my aching lower back! I have to blame it on Ebay. Im a slave to checking if my auctions are selling or not every hour and also looking all over my apartment for any piece of junk with a shred of value to it. Its horrible and Im a big, fat, horrible loser sitting in front of my computer at night while my boyfriend is tucked away in bed and Im setting up an auction for some old perfume I dont like anymore..well my punishment is a sore butt and an aching back...any others out in Astoria or the world like me?...I think so!

Man Problems

When will my man realize that a girl can give a guy her number just to be nice and to get rid of him???? I guess thats a concept thats beyond the grasp of my man. We just had a fight :-(

Astoria Park and the white fluffy Bear

I love Astoria Park. I like to watch the barges go by that are being pushed by tug boats. Today I saw a man in his late 50's? not that crazy looking, gazing thoughtfully out over the churning water below the Triborogh bridge. Then, as he turned and glanced over to his side, he reached his arm out over to the trash basket beside him, pulled out a white, plush, stuffed bear holding a heart, brushed it off, kissed its fluffy head, and started talking to it! He laughed and frowned, bounced it on the railing in front of him like a child, ripped the heart from between its furry, little paws and tugged off the red bow tied around its neck. Oh but the joy in his crazy, crazy eyes upon this treasure of his discovery! A sweet old man, I reckon if Ill ever forget him! AAh, Astoria Park. Magnet for young, old, families, singles and the very, very disturbed.

pic posts

Just so everyone realizes, Im posting the pics at the same time Im posting this--1:12 am april 15, 2005. I just cant figure out how to set the time on the pic posting---retardation.

--K

CREEPY ACCORDIAN MAN

Why am I scared of that blind man with the accordian on the N and W trains?? He freaks me out. Its like he's gonna fall on me with his massive accordian and he'll have to put his hands on me to get up and maybe open his eyes (which he never has since he's blind) and behind those darkend eyelids will probably be either eyeballs that resemble two solid white marbles or even more horrific, two sunken black orbs of darkness---yikes!! I am, at 27 years old, just as immature as I was at 21 when it comes to scary looking people and creepy looking dudes. I will cut a path strait for the other side of the room or street or platform should I deem it necessary. Am i alone in my phobic nature? I swear, I have deep, hardcore ISSUES.

Hello! This is the first posting for my blog.
Okay well if you live in NYC you can relate to frustration. This is the reson I am starting to do this--as a venting outlet. So, I might say anything on here...and the spelling and grammar may not be perfect but hey--Im blonde after all!!
So I live in Astoria and I have to take the N or W to work or where ever, you can just imagine all the great comic material right there!! Okay well feel free to sound off on whatever you'd like and interject on anything that may be up for discussion. Nothing is off limits. I love to discuss!!
--K

Oh come ON!! No, you're so cute! No...YOU'RE so cute!!

AAHhhhhhAAhh!!! Oh stop! You are embarrassing me!!

I love a good laugh! It cleanses the soul, I also love taking pictures of myself! Its so funny!

HHmmmm...should I go a little blonder??

30 ave. N and W trains end to end as far as the eye can see!!

Who's the hottie?? Oh thats me in the summer.

Self Portrait--Im a photographer in case you havent noticed. All those are mine on the wall.

Me and Sarah my youngest sis.

The NYC skyline @ sunset from the platform of Queensborogh Plaza Station. Always keep a camera in your bag!!

You must be in Astoria if...you can see the Citigroup building from any point in a 10 mile radius.

Ah the days in State Prison--and the nights!! I love that shirt.

The Good Ol' N train @ 30 ave, a peaceful Saturday resting on the express track.