Back in my USC days, I was christened Lady of the Lake by a few fine Sigma Nu gentlemen and an undoubtedly cheap bottle of champagne. As such, it seems almost blasphemous that I have lived in Los Angeles for this many years without ever visiting my namesake. Ms. Lady of the Lake's statue at Echo Park Lake was restored just last year as part of the area's massive rehabilitation project. You won't find her in any of these pics because...well...there's only room for one LotL in a single frame.
Originally built as a reservoir for drinking water in the 1860's, the lake found itself neglected over the years to the point of almost no return. It was deemed an impaired body of water in 2006. In 2011, the veritable cesspool was closed for rehabilitation, drained and then refilled with 26 million gallons of water. It felt pretty clean to me? Just kidding. This was totally staged. There was no way I was touching that water in a white dress.
Behold: Dystopia!
I made friends with this family of geese. LOOK AT THOSE GAWKY LITTLE FLUFFNUGS! I don't think it was so much that they thought I was one of them, as it was that they thought that I thought that I was one of them. And then they felt sorry for me.
We also did our best to creep out this little guy as he paraded across the lily pads. And watched this duck catch a snail. Lose a snail. Search for a snail. Catch a snail. Lose a snail. And then give up. Which I'm pretty sure serves as proof that persistence doesn't always pay off.
The Outfit: Zara lace dress. Shoemint boots. The jacket is a brand called Charles & Victoria - one of the first test shoots I did in NY was for the designers. They're awesome. So are their designs.
The Book: Brave New World by Aldous Huxley