CHECK IT!!

http://365daysofdeeds.blogspot.com/

I have a new blog going for this year. You should check it out! I'm working toward one good deed every day this year. It's going to be quite a ride, that's for sure! =)

Fun!

I learned how to do this yesterday in one of my editing programs. It's not perfect, but I am basically still learning. It's a lot of fun though!

This is the first image I did:
[I took this photo in November 2009, but I did the editing yesterday.]



This is the second image:
[I took this photo the other day, but edited it this morning.]

Just wanted to share since it's been a while.

Major Change.

I may no longer be a photography major within the next few weeks. If you want to know the entire story, then go ahead and read this entire post. If you do not want to know, then this is where you will want to exit this post. LOL.

Back in 2005, when I was a senior in high school, I was accepted into Kent State University's architecture program for Interior Design. Kent State was the only school I applied to because of how great their entire design program was [and still is] and because my parents both went there [that's where they met - awwwww]. Well, if you know me or anything about my life, you know that I didn't get to go to college because of an unexpected pregnancy at the very end of my senior year in high school. It sucked not being able to go to school, but I had new priorities in my life and I wouldn't change any of it for the world. However, part of my heart has always been with design, just like it has been photography. The thing is though, design was my original plan.

I am not taking any classes this session of the quarter at school, so I have had some time to think about school. I have thought about photography, just dropping out of school for a while to reflect on other stuff, changing my major, design, and other things that aren't art/school related. During all of this time and going over options, dropping out of school for a while just isn't an option that I want to take. These 5.5 weeks of not having classes is more of a break than I'd like, honestly. So I got out my catalog/handbook from the school and began looking at the other programs they offer. They offer Interior Design. The program has the same amount of credit hours as Photography, but not all of my credit hours/classes would transfer from Photography to Interior Design, so I would have to take a lot more classes. Right now, I do not want to take a lot more classes. As I was going through the catalog/handbook some more, I saw that they offer another design program - Kitchen & Bath Design - that I would not have to take a lot more classes. I got online and started reading more into the program and comparing it with what I have left to do in Photography and comparing it to the Interior Design program. The Kitchen & Bath Design program is an associate's degree, but I could always take more classes down the road to turn it into a bachelor's degree in the same field, Interior Design, or some other form of design.

After thinking about it by myself, I brought up the possibility of a major change to Mark. He's okay with it and knows that I have always loved design. We discussed it a little bit, and then I brought it up to my mom. We talked about it for a few minutes on the phone before I had to go because of the boys. [Yes, I still ask my parents for their opinions about some stuff. I love my parents will be asking them for their advice even after we all pass away.] I even talked to Mark's mom about it because she had called me to see how things are going for us. [She calls every weekend to check in with us since we live so far from home.] After talking to Mark, my mom, and briefly to Mark's mom about changing my major, I was comfortable with the decision to change my major. I was so comfortable that I e-mailed my academic counselor and requested to change my major from Photography to Kitchen & Bath Design.

Don't get me wrong, I love photography! I always have loved it. But I want to go down the original path I had for myself, which is design. If you know me, you know that I take every little detail into consideration when I am doing even the simplest task around the house, and even many people have asked for my personal opinion about their house. I am very creative.

I really hope that my academic counselor approves my request! I really want to go into design! I will focus on "green" design, which is incredibly important to me. I have already found some "green" design/construction companies down in Florida where I can do my two internships and then potentially work at when I get my degree.

Man, I really hope that this plan goes through for me.

Painting

You know, I used to paint a lot when I was in high school. I would paint on paper, canvas, stuff I made in my ceramics classes, and other stuff. I once did a project with a few friends my senior year in high school that was for a Ralph Lauren perfume thing. I also worked on the backdrop for my senior prom's pictures with a few other art students. I used to paint because I loved it so much. Now you'll only ever catch me painting the walls in a house. Don't get me wrong, I love painting walls very much! But I miss sitting in a chair or standing in front of a piece of canvas and just freely painting. I don't have any of my old paintings, which is sad. The only painting that I've ever worked on that I have a picture of is the senior prom backdrop, and it's not even the whole backdrop.

I have painting on my mind lately because two weekends ago, we went to Wilmington and I saw this couple walk out of a store with a large painting. I saw the price tag on it - $129!!!!!! Let me tell you, it was not worth even half of that! It was one of the simplest paintings I have ever seen in my life - something one of my boys could paint. I sat there and thought for a little while about how we don't have any paintings in our house - just photographs, posters, and vinyls/records in frames, and some other pieces of artwork. No paintings though. I want paintings in my house. But I want to paint those paintings. I want to sit around, or stand around, and paint something that I am proud to hang on my walls. I want to be even prouder when someone asks, "Where did you get that? I really like it," and be able to say that I did it.

Not only do I want to paint more, but I want to draw more. I want to put all of my artistic abilities to use because I feel like they are being wasted right now. What's the point of having any talent at something and not even utilizing those talents?

I'm done for the quarter.

The quarter doesn't end till late September [the quarters are split into two sessions], but I am done for the quarter. There were some problems with what the school had scheduled for me, money, and other stuff, so I just decided that I would take the second session of the quarter off so that I can focus on closing things up here before we move at the end of September. I wasn't upset when all of this came up about two weeks ago. Honestly, I was quite relieved because this is going to be a huge move for us. We're leaving NC and moving to FL. I know I've packed things up here in NC before and went back to OH, but that was only for 5-6 months and I put almost everything of ours in storage down here. This move consists of us packing everything and moving to a different state - a state where we will be living for 2-3 years. Also, we're moving everything ourselves. We aren't having a moving company or TMO do anything for us. So with the kids and having to take care of absolutely everything here by the end of September, I'm glad that I don't have to add any another distraction [school] to the mix. I love school, but moving is more important right now.

The two classes that ended today have gone really well the last five and a half weeks! I took Composition and Language and Fundamentals of the Internet. As of all of the assignments that have been graded thus far, I have an A in each class!! I simply owned the Composition and Language class. The Fundamentals class took me about a week to get into because it was all about HTML and CSS. The only HTML I knew before the class was what I remembered from my MySpace days when everyone would leave comments with bold-faced lettering, underline words, create hearts and other symbols, etc. Basically, I only knew the simple, childish stuff. HA! But I learned a lot in the Fundamentals class and even created my own Web site from scratch!!!! It's still a work-in-progress [I will continue to work on it even though the course is over], but I am very proud of myself for creating a Web site from scratch!

SCHOOL'S OUT FOR SUMMER!!

Well, more like "School's out till July 12th"!

Saturday was the last day of my first year of school! I can't fully comprehend it just yet. It's so weird to think that in a few weeks, I'll be in my second year of photography school. I've completed 12 regular classes and two short courses. It took me until the last two quarters of this school year to really get into my classes, and I got a lot more involved in my classes this last quarter.

The first two quarters of the school year were kind of still a transitional period for me. The first quarter back was my first time back in any kind of school since February 2007, and my first time back to taking regular classes since I was in high school.
The second quarter was a bit hectic because I was trying to find a place for us to move to down to in North Carolina, moving to North Carolina, Mark coming home from deployment, and traveling back up to Ohio for a few weeks.
The third quarter was a bit rough since Mark ended up having to go to Haiti for a few months and I was traveling back and forth between North Carolina and Ohio, but I had gone through traveling and keeping up with school before, so I kind of knew how to handle it.
Once the fourth quarter came around, I was very comfortable with school and knew how to go about my classes with my daily schedule full of my life, Mark's life, and the kids lives. Even when I had surgery in May, I knew how I was going to handle the end of two classes and picking up another class. You can really tell in my grades that I was much more comfortable the fourth quarter because I got As in my classes; not even an A-, all As!! I was not going to settle for anything but As, even though I was a bit worried I was going to get an A- in that last class. I tend to "sell myself short" on assignments and figure I do worse on them than I actually did.

In just one year of school, I have learned so much!! I learned about art history, photo history, how to use multiple software programs for photo editing, some interesting things about cameras, and a bunch of other stuff. It amazes me how much I learned in one year! I am so excited to see what and how much I learn these next few years!!

I look forward to next school year! I really like school! Of course there are times where I just want to rip my hair out and give up on an assignment, but I push through it. I know that at the end of all of this, I will have a Bachelor of Science degree in photography, my degree will be from a top notch art school, and I will have so much knowledge, along with my talent, that I will become one hell of a photographer! I look forward to what lies ahead!! I want to say "I can't wait", but the truth is, I can wait because I want to be able to learn as much as possible and fully appreciate every moment until I get my degree and become the amazing photographer I know I can and will be!!

Three Images Made Into One

So I had to do this assignment for my DII class. I'm not that great with Photoshop [I'm pretty sure I've mentioned that a million times throughout my blog already], but I was really excited that I actually remembered how to do this one task! I learned how to do it back in the Fall during the Photoshop short course I took, and I never used it outside of that course. I was just really proud of myself for remembering how to do it.

Now this is kind of rough, I'll admit. However, I'm happy with the outcome.

[Click on images to enlarge.]
Image One:


Image Two:


Image Three:



Final Image:


Again, I know it's rough. But I'm so excited that I know how to do this still and I plan on using it more often just for fun!

My Town

For a recent assignment for my Digital Image Illustration class, I had to do a project called "My Town". The assignment called for me to go out in the area in which I live, and try to portray the town the best way I could. Being that we live right outside Camp Lejeune [it takes less than five minutes from our house to the closest gate], I decided to go with the military theme [naturally]. I went around Camp Lejeune and Jacksonville, and photographed as many military-related things as possible - buildings, signs, memorials, etc. It was a lot of fun because I had never even seen some of the places and things before I had to do this assignment.

Here are some of the images I submitted in the assignment.

[Click images to enlarge.]

School has been...

...GREAT! I am almost finished with my first calendar year of school, and I am really excited about that! I have been working so hard the last year to do my absolute best in all of my classes. There have been a few classes that I absolutely disliked [one even close to hating], and there have been classes that I did not want to end because I loved them so much!! I love going to school for photography! I like learning things that just any random person on the street doesn't know, unless they did some serious "digging" and research on. I used to think I knew a lot about my camera, how a camera works, editing photos, etc. But I have learned that it doesn't matter how long and how many times you've read the manual of your camera, you aren't going to really know a whole lot about it; it doesn't matter how many hours you've spent editing photos and making photos look "good" because you have to learn what looks and is right; it doesn't matter what kind of camera you have if you don't know how to use it properly and continue shooting in AUTO; and there are so many other things that I have learned. I'm happy that I'm not just another person that went to the store, bought a camera, and call myself a photographer. If you know me, you know that I don't call myself a photographer now, even though I know a whole lot more than the people that have just picked up a camera and call themselves photographers when they have no photography experience at all - I am just a photography student right now. And you know what, I feel better by calling myself a photography student because I know that there is still more for me to learn before I can call myself a photographer. Yeah, I take photos for people, but I have yet to accept any money because it's all just a learning experience for me right now. Maybe in a little while I'll start accepting money, but I want to learn more before I start charging people.

Right now, I am currently taking a math class and Digital Image Illustration. Math is super easy because it's Algebra and I rock at Algebra! The Digital Image Illustration class is pretty cool! I'm learning a whole lot about Photoshop, and it's making me more comfortable with the program [but I still prefer to use Adobe Lightroom when editing because it's a FANTASTIC program and much quicker to use]. I have a certificate saying I passed a Photoshop course [simple tasks in the program, really], but even after taking that class, I wasn't very comfortable with Photoshop. I like to learn the more advanced stuff in programs, and this Digital Image Illustration class is teaching some advanced tasks. I love it! Here's just one example of something I learned to do in the class:

Photo One:

Photo Two:

And this is what I came up with in the end:


It was a bit tricky, and a little tough and frustrating at times, to get my ending image. But in the end, I'm happy with the results and I love that I now know how to do that! I honestly couldn't explain it to someone if my life depended on it, but I can whip out an image like that without any problems now. For the more advanced stuff, I like Photoshop; but for the routine editing, I prefer Lightroom because it's much quicker for me to edit photos.

I am now going to have to go through some of my past assignments and random photo outings of mine, and pick out with photos I would like to post in another blog entry.

Another Drawing

Okay, so I have three drawing assignments each week for Drawing, and the fourth assignment is to critique four other students' drawings. Easy, I tell you. E-A-S-Y!! Well, I do all of my drawings at the beginning of the week or the week before so I don't have to worry so much, and then I can focus on my Photography assignments for the week. My mom saw a drawing I did for this week, and she was completely shocked when she saw it. But first, let me take you back to my freshman year in high school.

As a freshman at Brunswick High School, I took the very basic, introduction art class. Without this class, you can't take any other kind of art class in high school. I just took this class as one of those always lovable easy classes. [You know, just to get that "easy A" and help out your GPA. HA.] Man, I was so wrong about it being an "easy A", let me tell you. I had the toughest art teacher at the high school! Some of the assignments I did really well on, while others were horrible. Let me tell you, I couldn't draw if my life depended on it. I remember one of the very first drawings we had to do in that class was draw a horse from memory. O-M-G! My "horse" looked like a fat freakin' blob! It was HIDEOUS!! And, of course, the teacher put that drawing on display one day. HA. [Thanks, Mrs. K!] I was such a horrible "artist", and I swore I would NEVER take another art class while in high school. HAHAHA.

Fast forward about a year and a half to two years later. I had to spend some time in the hospital - about a week, maybe. During this time in the hospital, I started drawing to clear my mind. I remember drawing a picture with the world in my hands. After that drawing, things changed. I then realized that I wasn't as bad at drawing like I was my freshman year. When I came home from the hospital, my mom and I went to the one store and I got a drawing pad, pencils, markers, crayons, oil pastels, etc. It was too late to sign up to take art classes my junior year of high school. So I just had to stick with drawing at home that year. Once it came time to sign up for classes my senior year, my schedule was FILLED with art classes. During my senior year, my art skills really improved and I had art work on display in the halls of the school and at local hospitals and elsewhere. It was really cool and very humbling.

I haven't done a whole lot of drawing since high school, but I draw every once in a while. But now that I am taking a Drawing class, I draw three different things a week. I love it! Drawing is a lot of fun and it relaxes me.

My mom saw the drawing below, and she thought it was really good. She was on the phone with someone, and she said, "I remember years ago when she couldn't draw for shit. Now I just can't get over a lot of the drawings she does now. They are really good." I think the drawing is okay, nothing great. Plus, it's not even really finished, if you ask me. I still want to work on the shading some and add a background to it. But it was really nice to hear my mom say something like that about my drawings. Trust me, I used to be the most God awful drawer before - it was ridiculous! [And I'm not saying I'm spectacular now, but I definitely am nowhere near as bad as I used to be!!]


Bowl of fruit. Drawing done with charcoal.

Photographic Narrative

You're given one week to come up with no less than three ideas for a photographic narrative. Of the no less than three ideas you've chosen, you have to choose one. Over the span of 5.5 weeks, you will have to post 36 photos you've taken for a total of five assignments relating to that one idea you've chosen. Not only do you have to post 36 images each week for the assignment, you have to write at least one paragraph.

Let me tell you, I had one hell of a time coming up with three ideas for the a photographic narrative. I submitted three ideas, but I didn't feel that any of them were very strong. Then at the beginning of the week, I suddenly thought of an idea, something very personal, that I could use as my photographic narrative project. I e-mailed my instructor to see if it was okay that I switched my topic, and luckily he's really cool and easy going, and he said that it sounded good to him and to "go for it". I was so happy to be able to switch my topic because this one is, like I said before, personal. Also, it will give me something to look back on and really appreciate.

This first week's sequence of photos weren't as strong as I'd like, but I only had a few days to work with, rather than a whole week. But now I have some ideas "brewing" for the sequences in upcoming weeks, and I hope that I can pull them off! I am just going to have a hard time, I'm sure, for some things because I don't know how stores are going to feel when I bust out a camera and possibly a tripod. HA! But I am planning on going to stores on weekdays, during the day, so that the stores aren't too crowded and I'm not freaking people out and managers could possibly be a little bit more understanding about it. At least I hope that the managers will be more understanding. If not, oh well, call the cops because I've got a project to work on that's major! LOL.

I have kind of planned each week to be another "chapter" in this story, and it's a bit interesting. The one week, though, might be a bit difficult because of something that should be happening to me. Hopefully I will be able to pull through and handle it.

If you had to do a photographic narrative, what would you choose as your topic?!

Drawing

So in my last post, I said that maybe I would post some of my drawings. Here are three drawing that I have done so far. I know they aren't great, but I am proud of them.


These are the tomatoes I was drawing in my current Blogger and Facebook picture.


This was a simple still life I had to do this week.


This was a more complex still life I had to do this week.

In one of my drawing classes in high school, there was this one project we had to do. It was really cool and I was so impressed with how well mine turned out!! I have decided recently that I am going to do a few of those drawings again, and I can't wait to see the finished products! Once I have completed them [although I don't know when that will be], I will post them on here for you all to see.

I am LOVING Quarter 2, Session 1!!

At the Art Institute, they run on quarters, and then they split their quarters up in to two sessions. So, like the title says, I am in my second quarter, first session. And let me tell you, I REALLY DO LOVE IT!!

Drawing has been amazing! I feel like I'm right back in my drawing classes in HS, and I did pretty effing awesome in those classes!! I find it incredibly relaxing to just sit down with a sketch pad and drawing utensils, and just draw for an hour or so. I love it! I'm already finished with this three of week's assignments and have two of them turned in, once of which is turned in a bit early. I am waiting another day to turn in assignment three [even though it'll be turned in well in advance], but I can't turn in the forth assignment because I have to wait for others to turn in their assignments so I can start critiquing. [Critiquing others assignments is the forth assignment for each week.]

Principles of Digital Photography has been great! This one assignment that I have to do for that class spans the whole 5.5 weeks. I had a really hard time coming up with my idea, but I have a pretty solid idea. This assignment isn't as simple as just picking up your camera and taking photographs. Oh no, you have to really THINK about it - and then you have to WRITE about it! I think that I am going to head out to the next town so that I can photograph for the big project! One thing I don't like about this class is that we have to shoot assignments using certain modes, and seriously, I can't shoot in AUTO. I have stayed so far away from AUTO since April that I literally get sick when I think about shooting in AUTO. ::gag:: [My thing is, I have a nice DSLR camera, and I shouldn't be shooting in AUTO. I don't find the point in having a DSLR camera and shooting in AUTO. If you want to shoot in AUTO, use a point-and-shoot camera. That's just me though....] But anyway, back to school and my assignments. The assignments are a lot of fun. I like that I get to go outside at this time of the year and photograph. Fall is so beautiful here! The colors are so vivid, and some are really bright. I love it! It's absolutely amazing!

Maybe some time within the next week or so, I will post some of my drawings on here to show you all. I am not some great artists, but I like some of my drawings. Plus, I put photos I've taken on here, why not show some of my other art work?!

Cameras, cameras, cameras!

Today, while at Borders [when I was getting my copy of The Body Issue], I picked up a Buyer's Guide for 2010 about DSLR cameras. I swore that I was not going to be looking for another DSLR camera for a long while, but you can obviously see that idea has fallen through. HA. I want something that's more "powerful" than what I have now. I know I don't need a new DSLR camera, but I think I should have something more "powerful". Mark and I discussed me getting a new camera a while back, he said I could, but I then decided that I wouldn't get it. But now that I'm in school and learning more, I think maybe I should get something more "powerful" and better than what I have. Mark hasn't said anything about me not being able to get a new camera [because I have brought it up to him recently], but I just don't want to assume that he doesn't care if I get one, go out and get one, then Mark freak out. You know?! But this Buyer's Guide is pretty nice! I like it better than searching on a store's website or on the manufacturer's website.

Well, I recently just bought a new point-and-shoot camera though. I can't always lug around my DSLR, so I got a Canon PowerShot. It's so small! I'm not used to using small cameras these days! LOL. But it's nice to have because I can take it anywhere and it doesn't take up a lot of space and I don't need to carry around a large backpack. Also, toward the beginning of the year, I got Mark one of those flip video cameras. He loves it! So about a month or two ago, I got one for myself. LOVE IT! I didn't get the newer one, just the original. But still, it's pretty bad ass! I take that with me to a lot of places.

I swear, if it's some sort of camera, I want it! LOL. I've got a Sony Handycam, a flip, a Canon PowerShot, and Sony a300 DSLR camera. Crap, let's face it, I just love all technological devices! Along with my cameras, I love my BlackBerry and my iPod! Technology is my best friend!

ESPN Magazine: The Body Issue

Today was a day I have been counting down to for about a week or two now! ESPN magazine came out with The Body Issue. This afternoon, I got ready and went out to Border's and got my tiny hands on one of them! The issue is hot, hot, HOT!! I'm not going to lie, there were quite a few HOT bodies in that magazine!!


But the main reason I got it, is because of my favorite athlete, Ryan Lochte!! YES, his body was featured in the issue!! I got to see the photo the other day, but having the magazine that contains that photo is even better!! If you're a Ryan Lochte fan, you have a GREAT LOVE for that white Speedo he's wearing!! I definitely love that white Speedo!! I know I'm a married woman and have two children, but you can't deny that Ryan Lochte is HOT! But let me tell you something, he's even HOTTER in person!! ::fans self:: WOOO! HA.

But something that's really cool is that a swimmer was in this issue! I honestly think ESPN would've been beyond stupid to not include a swimmer. I mean, HELLO, they have amazing bodies!! Plus, it's not Michael Phelps that's in the magazine, it's RYAN LOCHTE!! [Yeah, Phelps is a great swimmer, there's no denying that. But I am just so happy to see someone other than Phelps. And since it's Ryan, all the better!]

Also featured in The Body Issue is Dwight Howard, Serena Williams, Carl Edwards, Lolo Jones, and just a bunch of other athletes from other sports. I highly recommend getting this issue of the magazine! It's not expensive at all [I think I paid $5 for it, maybe]. So go get one...NOW!

Here's a link to a video about the issue: http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=4536943

Fall

Yesterday, I walked a little bit around town with my camera, camera bag, and tripod. [Yeah, I'm sure I looked like a freakin' weirdo, but oh well.] It was nice to walk around and take photos. I went out for a photography assignment and had a fun time. I don't like that it gets cooler [I am such a summer girl], but I absolutely love the colors of fall!!

Here are some photos I took while I was out walking around.