.

dread baby dread

2009-12-23T03:28:15Z

So if you remember back in the day I was seriously contemplating dreading up my hair. I can't say I'm still not completely opposed on the idea, but I've decided to at least wait until I give modeling a good solid effort. If that doesn't happen then I'm dreading it up shortly afterwards.

In the meantime a month or two ago I had a friend start a dread in my hair. It's starting to get super solid and look beautiful. I love how perfect the texture of my hair is for dreads. The little secret on my dread progression is the fact that only half of it is actually attached to my head. Intrigued? You should be.

For anyone with some dreads who is impatient for it to grow, here's a little trick. As a girl when I give my hair a good solid combing/brushing I collect a lot of hair in my comb. You take the hair that collects, roll it up in your palms and you have an instant dread extension. Take the extension and simply sew it on to you existing dread.

Magic!

growtrees @ 2009-12-22T17:40:00

2009-12-22T22:40:41Z

Getting together my 2009 picture post so get pumped! This is one of my favorite moments of the year.

growtrees @ 2009-12-20T14:21:00

2009-12-20T19:21:59Z

So every year around December time I compile a mix of the best songs I listened to throughout that year. These are the songs I listened to on repeat for 12 months and they never ceased to get old. Certain songs take me back to different points in the year that made it what it was; cruising with friends in the summertime, the beginning of the school year, along with the regrets and the accomplishments.

1. Bob Marley & The Wailers - Midnight Ravers
2. Gregory Isaacs - Lets Dance
3. Modest Mouse - Night On The Sun
4. Billie Holiday - Summertime (Organica Remix)
5. Augustus Pablo - Memories Of The Ghetto
6. The Flaming Lips - Powerless
7. Dennis Brown - Concentration (Ver. 3)
8. Sublime - Thanx Dub
9. Black Uhuru - Boof N' Baff N' Biff (Thievery Corporation Remix)
10. Earl Cunningham - Words II
11. Nightmares On Wax - Soul Purpose
12. Slightly Stoopid - Anywhere I Go
13. Dennis Brown - Let Love In Dub
14. Sonic Youth - Shadow Of A Doubt
15. Flying Lotus - Testament
16. Sofa Surfers - Can I Get A Witness
17. King Tubby - Lambs Bread Herb
18. Junior Delagado - She's Gonna Marry Me
19. Anita O'Day - Tenderly (Mocky Remix)

- Download

growtrees @ 2009-08-19T19:39:00

2009-08-19T23:40:12Z

i miss you livejournal

growtrees @ 2009-08-03T16:10:00

2009-08-03T20:12:43Z

So I entered this runway/modeling contest in my city for the fun of it. If I win I get $500 and a makeover amongst other things. Vote for me once a day until this Saturday if you want to help a poor girl out!

Do it here!

growtrees @ 2009-06-19T17:39:00

2009-06-19T21:47:11Z

I'm selling my clothes because my closet is overflowing and I no longer have room for the abundance of clothing I've collected over the years. There's some really good stuff I'm not sure why I'm selling but I am. Get it before it's gone!!

Check it out!

growtrees @ 2009-05-21T00:10:00

2009-05-21T04:12:21Z

I completely redid my blog. I'm using it now permanently. I might still use my livejournal on the rare occasion and for communities but that's about it. Check me out there.

http://11.acesaura.com

- There's still a few blips here and there. If anyone is pretty skilled with textpattern they should definitely help me out.

growtrees @ 2009-04-13T12:49:00

2009-04-13T16:50:15Z

i'm blogging again btw.
http://dublarking.blogspot.com/

growtrees @ 2009-03-19T02:05:00

2009-03-19T06:06:13Z

I did a complete revamp of my website. There's still a lot to be done but after working on this non-stop all day I think I deserve a break.

Check it out: http://acesaura.com

growtrees @ 2009-02-14T23:34:00

2009-02-15T04:48:53Z

Feb 14th

I've been doing a little personal project of my own of daily mirror shots. I know its lame but I take them anyways so I might as well show them and make it official. I'll backtrack photos from the past couple of days later.

This Valentine's Day I actually have a valentine, first time since probably the 4th grade. Nothing serious but I'll admit I have the biggest crush. I couldn't help getting sucked into the Valentine's Day spirit and bought cards and wore purple lipstick for the day.

growtrees @ 2009-02-07T19:35:00

2009-02-08T00:35:13Z

When the cows come home

2009-01-29T05:33:07Z

When the cows come home
Originally uploaded by Peculiarprick

growtrees @ 2010-01-25T02:31:00

2009-01-25T07:32:38Z

If you can't see this entry you've been removed from my friends list.

Comment here to be put back on it.

growtrees @ 2009-01-23T18:49:00

2009-01-23T23:50:32Z

one last reminder about the friends cut
sometime this weekend I'm going to start deleting

growtrees @ 2009-01-21T15:25:00

2009-01-21T20:25:53Z

a friendly reminder about my friends cut.
stake your place!

growtrees @ 2009-01-20T15:46:00

2009-01-20T20:51:47Z

Ok this is it.
I'm doing a friends cut.

I have 700+ friends on this journal, half of which are inactive and I just don't know about it.
I'm starting over. A clean slate. It's a new year and all that jazz. Time for some cleaning.

Comment here to be kept otherwise in a few days you'll lose access to my friends only entries.

growtrees @ 2009-01-18T23:57:00

2009-01-19T04:57:27Z

I'm getting really addicted to Tumblr

growtrees @ 2009-01-15T10:41:00

2009-01-15T15:42:18Z

On my way to work today it was -15 degrees...

growtrees @ 2009-01-13T16:35:00

2009-01-13T21:38:21Z

So apparently there is this new feature on Flickr where they partner with Gettyimages and Gettyimages selects photos that they would be interested in having sold commercially on their site. Gettyimages picked 11 photos of mine that they invited me to sell.

Commerical photography is completely foreign to me. Is this something I want to do?
I know I have to get model release forms and all that jazz for photos with people but idk. What claim do they have over my photos? Can I still use the photos freely as I choose?

Any help would be appreciated.

growtrees @ 2009-01-13T08:37:00

2009-01-13T13:39:30Z

Remember when I got interviewed for that magazine in China?
Well here it is. So exciting

This is big for me.

edit I added the actual interview since you can't read that.

1.Could you introduce youself ?

My name is Crystal Wood and I'm currently 18 years old and loving
it. As far as my nationality goes, both of my parents are African
American and on my mother's side there runs a mix of Cherokee Indian.
I'm currently employed as an accountant's assistant and sit in a small
office day in and day out typing numbers and outstanding debts into a
computer. On the other side I'm a bit of an self-employeed
photographer and take photos here and there to make some extra money
and just because its something I love to do.

2.Could you tell me your expierence and background ?

My experience in my field hasn't been that abundant so far. I
suffer from a complete lack of professional instruction in photography
and much of what I've learned about it has been credited to books and
the internet. Photography started out as just a random hobby that
started from doing a school project involving 35mm film and from then
on I was hooked to taking photos. The only professional experience I
currently have under my belt is a summer internship at photography
studio here in town. I'm thankful for the opportunity because it
taught me a lot about the technique of lighting and tips and tricks to
achieve different lighting effects.

3.Please describe your daily life recently

Daily life this summer has been full of basically nothing
important. It's the summer after graduating from high school and I've
been valuing the free time I've been given before I head off to
college. My days this summer usually consist of working for a few
hours in the morning and then venturing out on the town with a friend
to attempt to try and satisfy our boredom. I've been doing an immense
amount of thrifting/shopping this summer and I finally found myself a
boy who enjoys coming with me.

4.Could you talk about the city where you live?

I live in the average city of Toledo, OH in the USA. It's been said
to be one of top 10 best places to raise a family in the state of
Ohio, but I'm constantly wondering how that happened. The city isn't
anything impressive and there isn't really much to do except eat. I'm
proud to say we probably have at least one of every type of restaurant
and then some spread out over the city. I live on the border of two
states and I'm provided with a little bit of both worlds. I have the
countryside along with the city life of Toledo and surrounding cities
to explore and satisfy my wanderings.

5.Which camera are u using?how is it?

I recently just bought myself a Canon 20D after years of strictly
using 35mm. I still favor film over digital, and with that in mind the
film cameras I use are a Minolta XG-1 and a Canon K2. I figured it was
about time to switch over to digital and see what all the hype is
about.

6.What's your opinion about the diffrence between digital and film? Will you stick to using film??

Through and through I'm a lover of film and my all time favorite
camera is an old Minolta 35mm SLR that I received at the age of
fourteen. It was my first piece of equipment and I am still a big fan
of the colors and look it produces, yet mantainingg the expense of
constant film development prevents me from using film more than I
already do. I always thought film had more ability to mantain and
capture the true mood or magic of a moment. There is something of a
finality and satisfaction that accompanies shooting with film that
digital never could produce for me. I recently just bought for myself
a DSLR and it's taking me some adjusting to become familiar with the
whole ease of the digital trend and the different type of images
digital produces. Film will always be my first love and credited for
the style of photography I do today though.

7.If you have the freedom to choose any city to live,what's
your choice?

I unfortunately at this point in my life haven't had the benefits
of much travel in my life. It's a big world out there and my view of
it so far has been horribly narrow to the point that I know I'm
missing out on something amazing, somewhere. If given the freedom to
choose any city to live in, my answer wouldn't come easily. Personally
I would love to live outside of the States someday and for some
reason I've always been drawn to the country of Spain and its culture.
I'm not sure what city I would live in to be exact but the culture,
the architecture, and even the language of Spain has some sort of hold
over me.

8.Which subject of photography are you interested in?

My favorite subject to photography without a doubt are people. Each
person has an endless supply of expressions and looks that once
photographed can say a lot about a person and it's my desire to
capture them. I tend to favor candid portraits more than any other
type of portrait. There is just something alive and real in a candid
portrait that makes for a good photo almost everytime.

9.What's your brand preference?

I haven't really had a hands-on experience with several different
brands of cameras. I started out with Canon and I just seem to have
stuck with it. After using my Canon Powershot for years, when I bought
a DSLR the Canon menus and set-up seemed familiar to me, so I just
never bothered to change. I love my Canon.

10.What's your opnion about China?

I unfortunatey haven't had the opportunity to visit China or leave
the US for that matter, but China definitely seems like a good place
to visit at some point in my life. I love a country with decades of
history and China is rich through and through in a history and a past.
I'd love to just travel to China with camera in hand and just go crazy
taking photos, knowing that'd be the case. I'd love to experience a
different culture and scenery for a while, so maybe someday I'll make
the trip over to China and see what it's all about.

growtrees @ 2009-01-07T16:10:00

2009-01-07T21:11:01Z

Originally uploaded by BIFRÖST

growtrees @ 2009-01-03T23:50:00

2009-01-04T04:51:20Z

Hey look I have 30,000 views on my flickr! Score for me. Now I just need a pro account so I can upload more photos.

growtrees @ 2009-01-03T02:39:00

2009-01-03T07:50:26Z

Download

Here it is. My masterpiece. I present to you the 18 or songs of the year that kept me sane through the good times and the bad. Music is my #1 so I worked hard on this. I hope you enjoy. Give it a chance.

1. MGMT - Electric Feel
2. B.B King - The Thrill Is Gone Now
3. Kaki King - Montreal
4. The Black Keys - Psychotic Girl
5. The Pixies - Hey
6. Bedouin Soundclash - Jealousy and the Get Free
7. Bob Marley - Soul Rebel
8. Bukaddor and Fishbeck - Decade
9. Boxcutter - Windfall
10. Bob Marley - Sun Is Shining
11. Horace Andy - Dub Larking
12. Horace Andy - Zion Dub
13. Led Zeppelin - Dazed and Confused
14. Lee Scratch Perry and Augustus Pablo - Vibrate On
15. Lee Scratch Perry and The Upsetters - Black Panta
16. Ross Goland and Moldhead - Statistical Anomnaly
17. Theivery Corporation - This Is Not A Love Song
18. Thievery Corporation - Who Needs Forever
19. Bedouin Soundclash - 12:59 Lullaby

Let me know if you like any of it!

My 2008 picture post in case you missed it. I went all out.

growtrees @ 2008-12-31T14:55:00

2008-12-31T21:03:06Z

2008 was an interesting year
This year started out completely awful but then began to slowly improve only to end the year on a bad note again. Oh well. The highs were definitely highs and the lows were most certainly lows.

2008 in photos

Adios. You've been good. Who knows what kind of surprises 09 will hold...

January

This month I smoked a lot of pot with the people photographed above, got depressed, lost lots of weight, tried to kill myself, played a character from candy land, and I pursued a life long crush only to be met with failure

February

This month I was depressed, drank a lot, smoked a lot, got sick, my livejournal turned 2, and I went to weddings. I didn't take many photos this month.

March

This month I got accepted into schools, fell in love with goodwill, had a sucky spring break, went to steak n shake religiously, partied and that was about it...

April

stoned + grand theft auto = me acting like a fool

This month I went to Washinton DC, Baltimore and Philadelphia, had adventures everyday after school, got high in an empty parking garage daily, went to fancy chinese restaurants for fancy birthday dinners, turned into a zombie, got stoned and played grand theft auto.

May

This month I went to school high a lot, went to school formals, camped out with friends at school before my last day of HS, turned high school into a joke, graduated from high school, started to embrace my natural hair, formed a crush, had sex, had fun, and got jealous

June

This month I turned 18, met a boy, fell hopelessly in "love", got my smiley pierced, sang jazz at a lot of bars, bought a DSLR, took loads of photos and enjoyed life.

July

This month I went for a lot of solitary walks, got in a lot of fights with my parents, smoked pot with the members of a band I adore, slept on a roof downtown, shot shit tons of photos, shot my first wedding, went to a rooftop party, my smiley rejected and I smoked lots of good pot.

August

the contents of my closet

This month I began hating relationships, had a weird experience concerning British accents, organized my closet which was a huge task, saw The Black Keys live, sang at more bars, started drinking a lot, got interviewed for Lookbook, got my smiley repierced, shot friends senior photos and went to college.

September

This month I began my freshman year of school, got a mac book pro, cried a lot, hated college, had pot/alcohol withdrawals, locked myself in my room a lot, got sick of boyfriends, hung out with my sister everyday and had an overall bad month except for the mac. I didn't take many pictures.

October

This month I became fond of Vicodin, broke up with the boy, became homesick, got a kick ass job, discovered RAW, met a boy, starting messing around with boy, had dreams about bongs, contemplated dreads, got completely stoned and wasted at my school's homecoming dance, stopped taking life so seriously and eventually started having fun.

November

This month I took lots of photos for work, went on road trips, missed my best friend a lot, got drunk and high with new friends at school and had the best night of my life, became indifferent, starting being happy, experienced disappointments after disappointment, came home and hated it.

December

This month I drew a lot, got lonely, listened to a lot of Billie Holiday, had the worst day of the year, made a new best friend at school, hung out with cool upper class men, went clubbing and had the time of my life, lost my new best friend, came home for break, got high, realized my friends have changed, got yelled at a lot by my parents, sang at a really nice bar downtown, spent all my money on drugs and cigarettes, had a good Christmas and became a red head.

Best of 2008 mix on the way!

growtrees @ 2008-12-30T21:58:00

2008-12-31T03:58:47Z

I'm a redhead again and I've never felt better. It's almost a new year which calls for changes and my hair seemed like a reasonable place to begin.

King Tubby - Gold Dub
Listen to this song on a pair of good headphones or on a system with good bass and I promise your mind will be blown. It has such a heavy beat.