Please help me get $2,500!! Vote a 5 on my design so that it will get printed by Threadless! I would really appreciate your vote! Threadless is a great website for graphic tees made by the public! Check out my design and their website by following this link!
It is Spring Break… Someone please tell me how we got here so quickly? The last two months have passed so quickly, I can’t even really remember what I did… What I do know is that I have officially been sucking at this blog thing… I’m pretty sure my last one dates back to my Winter break?
But on a better note, things have been going well lately. I have been keeping up with my running! In fact, today I ran 5 miles! This coming weekend, I plan on running in a 5-mile race!
I have been keeping up with my photography as you can see from this photo. I found this passing by an old building and it is so perfect, it almost looks staged! I loved the colors and the composition! I hope to run into these more often!
In addition to all of that, I have even been working on art FOR FUN! Can you believe this? Since school started at the beginning of this year, I have done absolutely NO art except for what I have to do in my classes because I have been so busy, but now I am getting to do something for fun! I hope it turns out well!
And on a completely random thought, does anyone watch The Voice on NBC? I am addicted to that show! It is excellent! And it also makes me shameful of my singing abilities, but if you don’t watch it, you should! You won’t regret it!
Anyway, at the rate I am going on my blog posts, this might be it for a while… I hope not, but we will see! I hope you enjoy the photo, and my ramblings about absolutely nothing!
The Winter weather has come back with a bang! Literally! I thought this photo was very fitting for how the weather feels right now! I took it a couple weeks ago during a mini cold-spell. But that was nothing compared to the harsh winter weather that arrived today!
Last night, I woke up from extreme winds, thunder, and tons of lightning! Sirens even began whaling! And it was for a tornado warning!
It is in the middle of January! Now I know the midwest is notorious for the crazy weather shifts, but seriously!?! It is Winter time!
With that crazy storm, the biting cold Winter weather has officially arrived. It is now a whopping 18 degrees, compared to yesterday’s mid-50s.
Not only has the winter weather arrived with a bang, I am back to school for another semester! I’m hoping this semester goes well! But I was definitely not happy walking to my first day of classes in the FREEZING, windy weather! lol Let’s hope this semester is not as crazy as this weather! I’m REALLY starting to wonder why I did not pick a school in a warmer climate!
I hope everyone else is staying warm!
Photography has always been really interesting to me. I remember, as a little kid, taking numerous photos with my handy toy Kodak Camera that had 101 Dalmations print all over it! (I wish I still had it! I would definitely find a way to continue using it if I had it!) A unique thing about my generation is that they have lived through the transition of film photography into the digital world, but it has happened so fast, film seems almost as if it is already a dead and strikingly unfamiliar art.
Recently, I have been doing a lot of photographic work, which is not my normal method of working. I usually enjoy other kinds of art such as drawing, and mixed media. I guess that my new obsession might be due to the fact that I have recently gotten a Canon Rebel T3I, and it is a gift from the Gods! I swear it takes images that are clearer than a hawk’s vision! And it seems that photography has consumed most of my blog post subjects thus far as a result.
Not only have I fallen in love with this camera, but the entire subject of photography has just recently been really appealing to me. I have been researching film photography a little bit, and I’ve also been considering doing some film photography work.
Over the years, I have been a small collector of antique film cameras, looking in places from local thrift stores, to shifty antique stores where the second floor was on the verge of collapsing into the first. One camera even became my companion on an 18 hour car ride back from a trip to the beach! I don’t know anything about them, or if they even work, but they are so artfully designed and visually appealing, I have fallen in love with them! I have used them as inspiration in my artwork!
I digress. Anyway, in doing this research of film photography, I have come to discover that out of all of these cameras, each completely unique with their own unknown story, are completely useless in today’s world! Every one of them requires a unique type of film and unique processing procedures, all of which are completely foreign to the majority of our society (unfortunately including myself…).
But also in my research, I have come to find how rich film photography truly is! Each camera can produce a distinguishing effect that is completely unique to the individual unit. Each type of film can also produce a certain style. And the list goes on!
One of the most appealing ideas of a film camera is how delicately planned and executed each photograph was. With digital cameras, we don’t hesitate to capture anything and everything we desire. But with film, when the number of exposures per role is confined to a specific number, the photographer becomes much more aware and careful to achieve perfection in every shot.
And the mystery of not knowing how your shot turned out until it is developed!
The list can continue on forever, and I’m sure I could also argue as to why Digital photography might be the better method.
With all of this in mind, I have just been feeling a lot of sympathy for my old film cameras, and film photography in general. Now, I’m not even sure where or if it is possible to buy the right types of film, and I have absolutely no idea where I would go to get the photos developed!
So I’m hoping that in the near future, I will be able to learn a lot more about film photography. Maybe I can take a photography class next semester in college. And maybe I will be able to get my hands on a few roles of the right film, and learn how to set up my own makeshift darkroom! I think it might be fun to try something new for a change!
And that way, these old, dead cameras can possibly have some new life again!
Ok, so normally I’m not really one for motivational speaking, writing or anything of the sorts, but I really liked this post that I saw on someone else’s blog, and I can’t help but keep thinking about how relatable and true it is! (Maybe minus the job part…It might be a little too risky to quit your job simply because you hate it. lol I think the unemployment problem would be quite a bit bigger if we all lived by this idea!)
Anyway, I believe the main idea behind this poster is that people need to quit making excuses, and they shouldn’t hesitate doing something they really want to do or love to do.
I saw a link on my college’s website a while back about a summer study abroad trip to Argentina. I’ve been debating back and forth about whether or not I should do it. And I think some of the things that is making me hesitate the most is… actually, now that I think about it, I don’t even really know. I do know this is something that I’ve always talked about wanting to do. But now the opportunity has come, and I feel hesitant.
As much as I like this inspirational manifesto poster, I think it is often a lot easier said than done… Sometimes doing the things you really want to do involve a lot of sacrifices, risks, and more.
But, I guess it all boils down to whether or not we are willing to take on the adventure and learn to love our decisions. Or, we can talk ourselves out of doing things that are important to us because it involves stepping out of our comfort zone.
So, I think I am leaning toward the side of going on the trip. Because I know it is something I want to do. And when am I EVER going to get an opportunity as great as this one!?
Hopefully, I can grow from the new experiences it will provide, rather than staying home, wondering what it might have been.
Because it feels like I am here! ^^^
This is a picture taken of a spillway where my family goes camping during the summer each year.
I live in the midwest and normally, it is snowing around this time of year. Today, I drove home from work wearing a short-sleeved shirt with the windows rolled down. It was awesome! I am loving this weather! Today was 66 degrees and tomorrow will be 61!
I also went for a run today and it was perfect!
Now, if we can just get by the rest of this winter without any cold weather! (Wishful thinking!)
This is a picture from last year’s winter around this time of year ^^^
I hope the weather is just as good wherever you are! And I hope it is not like this!
This is the only good graffiti art in my hometown, and I love passing by it! I snapped a picture on my camera phone a while back so that I could document it in case it ever got ruined or covered up by a bunch of amateur graffiti artists, like the other wall that this one is facing. Eventually, I’d like to take my Canon and snap some quality pictures of this. I think this is a really inspiring piece of art, and it makes me want to go out and do some graffiti-ing of my own! I really wish I knew who the artist was, and I wish I could say that I was cool enough to have done this! (That is the best compliment I think one can give an artist).
I also really love how it has become distressed and parts are chipping away because it adds to the character and uniqueness of the piece. It also shows that there is also a lot of history within it. It is painted on some part of the trolley system that used to run through my town where a regular road now runs. This forgotten piece of history has evolved into a modern piece of art! Although it isn’t recognized much as a prominent part of our little town, and many probably see it as somewhat of an eye-sore, I think it is an important and interesting characteristic of our town’s past and present.
Anyway, I just thought I would share this because I like it so much! Maybe it will be inspiring for others as well!
This coming year, I have decided to start doing a lot more photography. I said yesterday that I was going to take some new photos today, and here is the result!
I am really interested in textures and the detailed portrayals of them through a photograph, so I have decided to explore that.
I have also recently taken an interest in portrait photography and I want to continue exploring that through this new year. We’ll see how it goes!
I was quite content with the results of my photography today! I hope things continue to go well this year! I’ll keep my fingers crossed and continue to work hard!
I’m trying start this new year off with a bang! Happy New Year!
Winter break has been… interesting and a little crazy so far. I’ve had so many intentions of doing great things with my month off school, but it has been so busy with work, family get-togethers, and other things that I feel like I am not getting to do the things I really wanted to do.
However lately, I’ve been making a project of looking through some previous photographs on my computer and doing a little photoshopping. I have done about one or two photos each day. I think it is really exciting to look back through the photos and do something new to them, but I wish I were a little more photoshop-savvy! I think I’ll try to check out some tutorials to get some new ideas.
This is what I was working on tonight:
I took this picture on my friend’s camera, and I am super jealous of the bokeh in the background! I wish my camera had that pentagon shape! My has lame circles… But I really like the way this picture turned out!
I have been really anxious to go to some new places and take some new pictures! Maybe I’ll try to start tackling that 30-day photo challenge!
The idea of film photography has also really been intriguing to me. I have been researching lomography cameras and I’m thinking about buying one to start experimenting.
http://www.amazon.com/Holga-135BC-Plastic-35mm-Camera/dp/B001E791FS/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&qid=1325311286&sr=8-8
There are so many things that I want to do! And at the same time, all I feel like doing is being really lazy and start watching episodes of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia! Ahaha! Where does one find the time to get it all done?
I don’t know about anyone else, but one great thing about digital photography is finding old photos you forgot you took hidden somewhere in a file on your computer. And the great part is it is that you can simply load it into photoshop and do whatever you way without worrying about destroying the original.
I took this picture a while back because I thought the colors were really interesting. I just played with it a little bit on photoshop today and this is the result. I’m thinking it will be an interesting subject for a painting sometime soon! I’m glad to find it again!
