important words

What’s your advice for photographers?
To try to connect the questions you asked—the question of too many photographs is interesting; the only way that I think people can really make a statement or do anything that’s of any value today is just to not lose their personality. That’s what I think is happening. I see in photojournalism, you look at all these websites, even the agencies, and I don’t know about you, but I can’t tell one photographer’s work from the other. It’s just a flood of people who been influenced by the generation that came before or whatever it is, and they look the same. So, the only thing for me is to look for people who have maintained their personality. It’s not so easy to do because people don’t want you to. But in my life, you are who you are and you keep going on it.

- eugene richards

spoon lickin' good

So, I, uhm, did something fun for my self-directed project...









-hc

"no. 1 rule: always photograph head coach"

You wanna know what's weird? Standing on the sidelines of a football practice field wearing a band tee, a thrifted (and below-knee length) vividly patterned skirt and deteriorating Keds is weird. Feeling like an "artsy outcast" and staring at sweaty, muscular men is weird. Listening to Butch Jones shout in a secret language which is projected across the field is weird. It's all very, very weird, but I loved it.

So, here's evidence that I one) have no idea what I'm doing and two) forgot a fundamental practice. My lovely pal Dargan rolled his eyes in disbelief when I smiled and said "Oh, uh, no. I did not take a picture of Butch." Let's hope that I get better. xoxo//hc








wwiw?

Today was the first day of my last year of school *woooo* It's been 20 days since I came home/moved back to Knoxville, and I'm starting to miss Europe more and more. Here are some, some of you can put two and two together and guess the country, but the challenge is the city. xoxo//hc











selfie sunday

 I yawned mid-selfie, which seemed too appropriate to retake. Also, my yawns look aggressive..?

So, it's not even Sunday anymore. Does that give you an inkling of the day/week I've had? Time slipped away, and at 11:55, I realized this post had yet to be written. Here it is now, hopefully you pardon the tardiness.

The five:
1. Information overload, encouraging words, excited peers.
2. This cozy box-shaped room that's now home. 
3. Friday nights with friends - new and old.
4. Compliments on craftiness.
5. Vocabulary and conversational speed returning.

These two open-faced sandwiches were eaten in Budapest. A little shop stood next to the hostel and sold a wide variety of the petite bites. I definitely stopped by for multiple breakfasts after devouring these two delicious things my first morning. On the left is what the lady explained simply as "aubergine." As a fan of eggplant, I went with it. The other one was an obvious choice: smoked salmon with dill. They both tasted fresh and thoughtfully put together with balanced, bold flavors. 


















And the song of the week is one of alt-j's new tunes. There's no backstory. It's just groovy as hell:


xoxo//hc

selfie sunday

So, I've been back in America for about 80 hours now, and it feels real weird. My brain's a bit dead, so I'm going to launch right into this week's bits. Oh! and I had an idea: to add a food snapshot to these posts. Maybe this doesn't make sense outside of my brain, but I was thinking if I have a selfie, a list, a food and a song, that makes "s.l.f.s." which basically translates to "selfie s(unday)." ...right? Let's go with it. 

A bird's eye view of my lap during the fire ceremony at Camp Rocky Top.

This week I'm glad I've got:
1. My family and Mexican restaurants. 
2. Friends to hug me and text me and to help me pack my car and repot a cactus. 
3. Rezlife, RA training and the smell of Massey.
4. Kickass coworkers. 
5. The opportunity to drive a car with the windows down and the music blasting. 

The last fries I ate in Utrecht on my final European evening. 

The uplifting/optimistic vibe of the end of this song coincided perfectly with the arrival of my plane in Nashville. I'm glad it was the last tune of my travels.

xoxo//hc

selfie sunday

Emotion overload. Millions of thoughts at a million miles a minute. Budapest impressed me in the first two hours and has yet to let me down. Staying here for four days was a good decision (that I made a month ago, haha.) The weirdest part, what I'm trying to stifle in order to appreciate what's going on around me, is the fact that I come home IN FOUR SLEEPS. DO YOU HEAR ME PEOPLE!? FOUR. My life will be Tennessean and American and Knoxvillian and college and RA and Daily Beacon and old friends and new friends again. It's overwhelming in the best way possible. But yea, here's a selfie, a list and a song for you:


These boots carried me through 13 countries, this dress was snagged at a Finnish flea market, the bracelets and bag are mementos from different cities and I'm holding a piece of kürtoskalács, a Hungarian pastry. The only thing that's missing from this ensemble of things that describe me right now is the watch my best friend gave me (I forgot to put it back on after the Turkish bath.)

My appreciated five:
1. Comfortable beds after a sleeping on a ferry floor and (on another occasion) a seven-hour night bus ride. I wouldn't call either of those nights restful in any way, but hey, sometimes you gotta get where you're going and it ain't easy.
2. The opportunity to see Auschwitz. This is a place that I have imagined visiting since I first started learning about the Holocaust. It was as surreal as I expected it to be. 
3. Hostel comrades.
4. A promise to have a pen pal and to see her again in less than five years. I'm still not really okay with the idea of Henni living in Finland aka really far away.
5. The irony of "plutonic" describing a relationship better than "platonic". Still laughing at that awkward evening. 

Some of you know that I used to listen to the album For Emma, Forever Ago every night in my bedroom as a teenager. While it's no longer an every night occurrence, I turn to Bon Iver when I need comfort in an unfamiliar dark room or when I want to block out the sounds around me in hopes of catching some sleep. The ferry and the night bus definitely called for this man's voice, but the weirdest thing happened: I kept waking up half way through this song which is the last one on the album. Typically I play the album once and sleep washes over me before I even hear this song, but on those nights, I restarted the album multiple times. And the line "there's a black crow sitting across from me/his wiry legs are crossed/he is dangling me keys, he even fakes a toss" made me feel helpless. It was the strangest sensation.




And now you all know me a bit more than you were really bargaining for. Sorry about that. 
xoxo//hc

selfie sunday

Well, I'm not dead. A cold has got me sniffling and sneezing, but dead I am not. The extended internet silence comes from a desire to enjoy the company of my people and sunny weather. Can you blame me? The Netherlands, Ireland, England and even Finland shined sunshine on my cheeks. Nobody wants to squint at a computer when they could be squinting in the sun (something I've gotten pretty good at; all my sunnies are broken, and I haven't replaced 'em.) I'll surely be playing catch-up with images/thoughts from Europe for the rest of forever, but that just means the memories will keep on giving. And maybe the "post-Erasmus" feelings will never sink in. With all that said, I present this week's selfie sunday and a half-assed promise to deliver one again in seven days.



Sitting in the "garden" of the Utrecht house - a home I already miss. 


The appreciated five:

1. The ladies who have shared their homes with me and showered me with compassion and kind words. Emily, Kait and Henni - I'm lookin' at you three. 

2. The opportunity to spend four weeks traveling. Need I say more?

3. Summer produce or at least the idea that my Tennessean comrades are stuffing their faces with all the freshest fruits and vegetables they can find. 

4. Medicine because this cold is SO ANNOYING.

5. Grandmama's life. My paternal grandmother passed last week, so I wrote some haiku (that Dad read at the burial) which touched on the compassionate way she loved everyone around her. I'll treasure her bright smile for the rest of my life, and I'll do my best to channel her patient servitude. 







I am absolutely diggin' Lord Huron. Their album has been on repeat during most of my travel time; it's catchy and folksy and the lyrics pique my curiosity  This track gets stuck in my head, but oh-ho, I can only remember five words. 



over and out.
xoxo//hc

Perhaps an unnecessary apology

I've been wondering if anyone out there misses my blog posts. Do I need to apologize for my laziness? Well, not so much laziness as a matter of preoccupation. Take one part summer time and one part exchange ending and you've got a Hannah who wants to spend more time with her friends than on the internet. 

There are eight days left, and then I travel for four weeks. Things should pick up around here soon. So, I apologize to any of you who are reading this and wishing it was a photo post instead.
xoxo//hc

narbonne food market pt. 2

The past four days I've been galavanting in the sunshine and ignoring the internet. There wasn't a "selfie sunday" for just that reason, but I don't feel guilty. Our skies have been blue and our smiles have been persistent. Summer arrived before school ended - ooops. 

Here are some images from Narbonne's food market that I took back in May. A link to another batch sits at the end of the post. 


 The awkward moment when a photograph looks posed but isn't. 



I don't think many of you have seen the first batch of these images, so you should check 'em out here
xoxo//hc

where was i wednesday?

Oh, hey. How's it going? Did you know - it's June. HOW DID IT GET TO BE JUNE!? I'm trying to remain calm, cool and collected, but really, I'm a bit overwhelmed that five months of the year already disappeared. Poof. Just like that. The housemates and I are tip-toeing around our approaching departures, doing our best not to discuss it. Siiiiigh. 

Last week, I shared some images from Venice. Here are some pictures from my latest adventure. You probably already know I went to Istanbul (and if you want to read about that, here's a post I wrote for the Beacon.) Can any of you guess exactly where in the city these images depict? 












Slowly but surely planning my month of July - four weeks of adventure. 
xoxo//hc

selfie sunday

Istanbul, Turkey


This week, a delightful seven days of adventure, laughs and surprises, put smiles on my face constantly. This post comes to you from Turkey, and here's my list of things for which I thanked the universe. 

1. Meandering adventures, surprise adventures, delayed and exasperated adventures. 
2. Days of rest. 
3. Unexpected complimentary proclamations. 
4. Like-minded companions searching for foreign foods. 
5. Conversations that open eyes (and maybe change minds.)

I made a new June playlist thanks to Spotify's suggestions, and I'm really digging it. Also, I'm blogging from my phone and the mobile versions of websites have stumped me. Maybe next week I'll share two songs, but in the mean time, find my June Spotify playlist and hit shuffle. 

xoxo//hc



where was i wednesday?

Well, I've been home for a week. While it's nice to not be constantly on the move, I miss the feeling of regular adventure and awe. It's rainy and cold here in Utrecht, and I'm dreaming of the warm sunshine. These are from my travels - I've been rather stationary after returning (can you blame me?) Last week I was in Bern, Switzerland. As I mentioned, Mom lived there when she was a young adult. It was such a pleasant surprise to realize that my hostel was within walking distance of her old apartment. Maybe some of you will recognize the rustic hues and cobbled streets, but I avoided images that would give anything away - I'll share those later.








xoxo//hc
PS: I leave for Istanbul on Friday! Wut.