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“When one door of happiness closes, another opens; but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one which has been opened for us.” . . . In Frame: @awkerd_me 📷#c_birdsongphoto Sony A7RIII 85mm 1.4 1/1600, f1.4 iso 100 Basic Edit by me with @captureonepro . . I appreciate the likes and comments, especially features. Be sure to follow! . . . . . . . . . #blackandwhitephoto #insta_bw #monochrome #portraits_ig #pursuitofportraits #portraitoftheday #postthepeople #photographyislifee #postmoreportraits #portraitsmag #quietthechaos #people #discoverportrait #tpos #sacramenti365 #Bnw_rose #Portrait.slayerz #Portraitgames #Bnw_workers #Dopeports #Bnwsouls #Bnw_artstyle #anothermagazine #malviemagazine #hazelmag #goodinc #igerssac #connectandcreate #supposedmedia (at BNW) https://www.instagram.com/p/CHkO2aADiLP/?igshid=v4ci512voxn0

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BLOOD MOON - DEVANI WEAVER

2015 was the year of the blood moon. Look forward to more magic on HazelMag.com this year- 2016>

[cbirdsongphoto]

The biggest adventure you can take is to live the life of your dreams. . In Frame: @awkerd_me 📷#c_birdsongphoto Sony A7RIII 85mm 1.4 1/1600, f1.4 iso 100 Basic Edit by me with @captureonepro . . I appreciate the likes and comments, especially features. Be sure to follow! . . . . . . . . . #blackandwhitephoto #insta_bw #monochrome #portraits_ig #pursuitofportraits #portraitoftheday #postthepeople #photographyislifee #postmoreportraits #portraitsmag #quietthechaos #people #discoverportrait #tpos #sacramenti365 #Bnw_rose #Portrait.slayerz #Portraitgames #Bnw_workers #Dopeports #Bnwsouls #Bnw_artstyle #anothermagazine #malviemagazine #hazelmag #goodinc #igerssac #connectandcreate #supposedmedia (at Black and white) https://www.instagram.com/p/CHkOJKGj5kA/?igshid=25u30ngoe72w

[cbirdsongphoto]

Wherever life plants you, bloom with grace. . . In Frame: @awkerd_me 📷#c_birdsongphoto Sony A7RIII 85mm 1.4 1/1600, f1.4 iso 100 . . I appreciate the likes and comments, especially features. Be sure to follow! . . . . . . . . . #blackandwhitephoto #insta_bw #monochrome #portraits_ig #pursuitofportraits #portraitoftheday #postthepeople #photographyislifee #postmoreportraits #portraitsmag #quietthechaos #people #discoverportrait #bestoftheday #people #photoinspiration #Bnw_rose #Portrait.slayerz #Portraitgames #Bnw_workers #Dopeports #Bnwsouls #Bnw_artstyle #anothermagazine #malviemagazine #hazelmag #goodinc #igerssac #connectandcreate #supposedmedia (at Life) https://www.instagram.com/p/CHkNiweDTSo/?igshid=u115imls0h30

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ESTELLE SPIRIG

Estelle is a Swiss photographer based in Los Angeles, California.

What first inspired you to become a photographer? My dad. Photography was his hobby since before I was born and it still is. I would always borrow his cameras and shoot random stuff in black and white and then we would develop the film in the dark room at my grandparents.

Who inspires you?

Fashion and music inspire me more than people, but if I have to pick someone, Guy Bourdin for photography and Olaf Breuning for awesomeness.

What’s a hobby that you can’t live without? Cooking! I love it. Everyday I have to make something; food is fun. One of my life goals is to publish my recipe book with really yummy meals.

Do you have a secret you’d like to share with hazel girls? I really love Easycheese.

What’s your favourite keepsake and why? I have a million keepsakes, but maybe my favorite one is a stuffed dinosaur that one of my best friends back in Switzerland made when he was five and gave to me before I left for my big trip in 2012 to North America.

What do you like most about living in LA? This question is a hard one because I’m still trying to figure out if I like this city or not… But so far I feel like the energy here pushes you to do things – like working out, going out even if it’s just for a walk, making things, creating things… It’s probably the power of the sun and it’s good.

Do you have any advice for aspiring artists? Don’t look too much around you, so you won’t be too influenced. At least not until you feel like you’re doing something that is true and makes sense to yourself. I mean, don’t try to make pretty things just because that’s what people like.

Interview and photo: Audrey Bagley / HazelMag

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VANESSA WINTER

Vanessa Winter has always been a fan of fright. In 2009, she and her husband Joseph started It’s Only A Movie, an annual festival celebrating Halloween and local homegrown horror films. The festival has grown exponentially in the past five years, from a bunch of friends at college to this year’s showing in a Megaplex theater. But Vanessa isn’t just in charge of the festival— she’s a filmmaker in her own right, with a distinct visual style that references her background in art history. In honor of the spookiest month of the year, meet scream queen Vanessa Winter!

q: How did your interest in horror come about?

a: As a small child, Halloween was my favorite holiday and my favorite cartoon was “Beetlejuice.” I would refuse to wear Halloween costumes that weren’t scary. When I was four, I announced to my mom that I was going to make my own Halloween costume. So I constructed a Frankenstein head out of a paper bag (my mom helped) and I wore that. When I was in first grade, we had to take home shoe boxes and make them into mail boxes for Valentine’s Day. I decided I wanted to make mine into a snake where you had to stick your hand into the snake’s mouth to leave a valentine. My mom helped me make it and then asked if I at least wanted to put hearts down its back. I said no. It is now clear to me why I had trouble making friends that year. BUT the “snake valentine mailbox thing” turned out awesome. It was about 4 ft long.

So I guess the short answer is that I’ve always been drawn to creepy things and liked scary movies, but I didn’t really delve into the “horror film genre” until college.

q: What makes a good scary movie for you?

a: I love crazy and bizarre concepts. One of the coolest things about the horror genre is that you can take ridiculous concepts such as a live finger peeking out of someone’s bathroom sink drain and somehow it’s still scary. I also enjoy “art horror” or films that focus on abstract or beautiful imagery to evoke horror. I also absolutely love sci-fi horror.

q: Are you easily scared? Do you enjoy that feeling?

a. I wouldn’t say easily scared, but I definitely still get scared while watching movies! I think it’s fun to feel scared when you are in a safe place. I especially think it’s fun to get scared in a group. It’s funny to think that even while sitting with a crowd of people in a movie theater, people can still get scared enough to audibly gasp or scream.

q: What are you working on now?

a: Right now I’ve been working on our short films for It’s Only a Movie. Some of my favorite projects have been stuff we have done for the festival. You can check them out http://www.itsonlyamoviefest.com.

Interview and photos by Becky Barnes / HazelMag

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VICTORIA HYDE

When did you decide you wanted to do illustration?

I’ve always been drawing. Drawing was my favorite thing to do as a kid. In elementary school I was determined to win every drawing contest. It was in elementary school that I decided to be an artist. In college I started out doing graphic design because in high school I was taught that graphic design was the only art career that paid up. However, after two agonizing semesters in taking graphic design classes, I remembered I used to draw! So I picked it back up and I rediscovered my love for illustrating.

You have such great style! When did you get into fashion?

I’ve always loved fashion. In high school dressing up was my thing, but I never though of pursuing a career in fashion. When I was a sophomore, I had a professor that saw I had potential in fashion. That’s when I took a clothing construction class. Once I learned that sewing wasn’t working out, I did more research in fashion and art jobs and discovered the amazing career of fashion illustrator! I was hooked ever since.

What makes you want to draw a particular photo, outfit, or subject?

I have hundreds of pages in my Vogues dog-eared and hundreds of fashion photos saved on my computer. I can’t tell one particular element that makes me love drawing clothes. But what makes a fashion photo stand out to me is the overall mood: the model’s pose, shape and texture of the garment, and the color palette. It all matters!

What’s inspiring you right now?

I’m obsessed with the menswear inspired clothes right now. The shape of these clothes on a female is so interesting and fun to draw because they’re opposites and I love seeing how the two come together. I’m also digging a lot of geometric patterns and color blocks!  ​In Vogue this February I died when I laid my eyes on the Burberry top Lena Dunham was wearing on the cover. And then you open it up to “What to Wear Where” featuring the Spring’s menswear-inspired shirts and I died again! I’m obsessed with menswear!

Who are some of your favorite designers to draw?

I love drawing Chanel! Every season I’m always excited to see what Karl Lagerfeld has to offer and he never fails!  ​Dior is another favorite and I just discovered my love for Honor. ​

Do you remember the first art you made as a little girl? What was it?

My earliest memory of drawing is at age three. My stick figures were pretty hilarious. In first grade I drew a lot of animals in their habitats. My favorite subject at the time was science so I loved drawing dinosaurs and volcanoes or sea animals in the ocean. Occasionally I drew a princess or two.

Featuring: Victoria Hyde

Check out more of her lovely work over at her website.

Q’s and Photos: Becky Barnes (Source: hazelmag.com)

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KATINKA LINCOLN

You just won two gold medals at the Los Angeles Showcase Competition! Amazing! How do you feel?

It was the best competition weekend I’ve ever had, and Showcase is my favorite one, so it feels pretty great.  I shared the podium with a lot of my closest skating friends.  Getting first also meant that I got to reskate my favorite program to compete for a higher prize.  I took home the third place trophy in that event, which really rounded off the whole experience.

You were so graceful and gorgeous out there! How long have you been figure skating and what inspired you to go for the gold?

My grandpa got me into figure skating as a kid, but I wasn’t a very good athlete at that age I’m afraid.  I always missed it though and in college I got a lot more into fitness, and knew that as soon as I had the means, I’d go back to the ice.  I’ve been skating seriously for about five years now.

I had a new coach this season, and he’s made me into such a better skater.  Earlier in the year, a friend told me about her first competition, “I just don’t want to disappoint my coach,” and that was the first time it hit me, that I don’t want to disappoint mine either.   It’s extremely rewarding to make him proud.

I hear you even make your own outfits? Your crystal collar is amazing!!

Thank you!  Sewing might be my favorite thing behind skating.  I love details and embellishments, which makes skating dresses particularly fun.  The shopping trips are a good time too, spending a whole day in the fashion district downtown, buying trims and rhinestones.  As a bonus, the scraps left over from making skating dresses, are the perfect material to make myself swimsuits and cute underwear.  Let nothing go to waste!  Haha.

What was your 12 year old self like? How have you changed? What’s stayed the same?

Age twelve was a big transitioning period for me, as I’m sure it is for many girls.  At twelve I was coming to the realization that it was socially less acceptable for me to act like a kid.  It was increasingly difficult to find friends who would play “make believe” with me, and I didn’t have an easy time with that.  The good news is, that in adulthood, I can look back at those moments and realize that my youthfulness shaped me, and that I still possess it, in no short supply.  

What gives you the greatest joy in life? What advice do you have for others to achieve happiness as a girl in the modern age?

Accessing happiness and joy is all about a sense of peace for me, and nothing gives me a greater sense of peace than stepping on to the ice. I can’t help but smile.  If I have something to cry about, I cry about it on the way to the rink, because I know that everything’s about to get better.  I love the sensation of flying, I love the speed, I love that everyone there knows me and it feels good to be physical, and have goals to strive for.

I believe that small habits of self-care can do a lot for a person’s soul.  I’m talking about the things that you slow down for in a fast world, pleasures like sunshine, baths and reading.  Enjoy dozing off in a cheap hammock that you hang at the park.  Light a couple of candles at the table even when you eat alone.  You’re worth all of it.

What’s your favourite keepsake and why?

My childhood stuffed animal, a duck, is still tucked into my bed, behind all the pillows.  He’s a great neck pillow, and he smells like childhood (which is to say he smells gross, but in a good way).

I also have my grandmother’s class ring from 1935 and wear it almost daily.

What inspires you most and why?

It’s almost difficult for me to navigate my daily life without shattering into a billion little pieces from inspiration overload.  My brainpad really can’t keep up with the input that earth has to offer and I can’t even look up at the rest of the universe without a crushing sense of existential dread.  Choosing which tidbit of inspiration to prioritize is much more difficult than finding it.  In the end though, I realize that a lot of my work is informed by the dreams I have at night, the people I’ve known, and the places I’ve traveled.

Do you have a secret that you want to spill with us Hazelgirls?

I talk to the hummingbirds that frequent my balcony, and I know them all individually.  The little girl is the bravest, and I swear she’ll land on me one day when I’m sunbathing.  I even know the different frequencies that their wings hum at.  I can tell which one is coming.

What advice would you give other girls trying to perform the magic you do?

Make sure that you’re always still finding a way to please your imagination.  Nurture it.  It can be hard to save some of that juice for yourself when you put so much of it into school or work, but keeping some of it for your own creative use is the most essential form of self-love.  Don’t forget who you are and what you have to say amid all the noise of the world.

Feature: Katinka Lincoln

Article Q’s & Photos: Audrey Bagley