More Photo Journals

Good news. First the story.

I have a camera. It only likes to work when it is eating the juice of these rechargable kodak batteries. Not any other batteries. The charger is really cool because instead of just having the electrical plug things stuck on it, they're removable and it has a bunch of other plug things so that when you travel to different countries with different kinds of plugs, you can still charge your batteries without getting an electric shock. However, I lost the plug for America. Hm. Howe convenient. I couldn't find it for about two weeks. It's been a long time of not taking pictures.

But yesterday I found it! I was overjoyed. My little brother Jeff was talking to my boyfriend Ian on the phone and I was screaming and dancing around as I plugged in the charger for the first time in weeks. I'm excited to start taking pictures again!

My piano teacher lives out in the country, and each week as I drive out there in the light, I think, "I should really come out sometime with my camera." It's gorgeous. There are horses everywhere, and there is this rock that is split in two. Then on the way home, since the dark is eeking further into the night, the sky was in transition from medium blue to dark blue, with streaky clouds in the sky. Mmmmm. I wish the whole world could sit for a moment and enjoy. Unfortunately, I didn't have my camera with me. It's at school.

I find that I am always thinking of things in terms of photos. Once again, I draw an example from my drive to piano lessons today. I could hardly stay on the road because there were so many people going about the streets and parks I drove by in the neighborhood part of my drive, and as I said, there were horses out for the first time since fall and there is a little pond with the cutest wooden fence. I wanted to slow down, take pictures. There was a baseball game going on; Couples walking down the street holding hands; families at DQ.

I've learned something from all this. Two things actually.

First - Always have your camera with you. Always. Just don't leave it places. You miss out. The bit of extra weight and thought is worth it.

Second - If you think you should take a picture, you should. For instance, you drive by a beautiful scene. You have your camera with you because you've learned your first lesson, but you say, "I might be late. I don't really think stopping would really be a good idea. Plus, it's cold out." Then by the time you almost have it in you to stop, the sky has changed anyway. What's the point now? But, if you had stopped the first time, you can always stop again when it's changed and equally beautiful. I've said to myself a dozen times, "I'll never forget this sunset." I forget it the next day. Not to say that pixels are superior to man, because we all know they are not, but they definitely do have a better memory.

Photoshoot

I had my first job taking pictures this past week. I mean, I'm in yearbook, so I guess that's sort of an unpaid job, so I should say my first PAID job taking pictures. A teacher at my school runs a tutoring program after school. He wanted me to take photos for "promotional purposes." Yes, it really was not super-duper exciting, but I learned alot and it was a good experience. I've become pretty decent at taking photos of THINGS - trees, landscapes (sortof), buildings, objects. But not so much of people or actions. This was good to help me develop that skill.

For my spring break, I went to visit my sister in Georgia. One of her friends, Garrett, let me borrow this fantastic book called The Poetry of Photography. I didn't get to read the whole thing, but one part I came across said that when we take a photo, we often forget to look around the edges. We only look at the middle part and don't realize something significant is being cut out - or included - in the photo that we don't want. That book made me realize I take some crappy photos! people's heads or arms cut off, strange things happening/being there when you don't want them to be. And even with digital cameras, we sometimes still can't pick it up till we're looking at a computer.

I also learned about people. Some people are obnoxious. Let me rephrase that. All people are obnoxious. Some people are less so, and everybody is in different ways. The people who don't seem obnoxious to us probably are to someone else, or they've matured enough to disguise it to most people. I love us, but we're obnoxious. Anyway, middle school is the most obnoxious point in all of our lives. Taking pictures of middle schoolers is the worst. most of them avoid being caputred at all costs. They just make the job difficult.

There's this one boy, Kameron, who was the opposite. I love him, but I'm sure to others he is obnoxious. I just think he's cute :). anyway. He LOVES to be in pictures. Loves it. He told me. He said (talking about this kid who kept one eye on me the whole time to make sure I wasn't pointing at him), "Hunter hates being in pictures. I don't. I love it. Then I snapped this photo:




This is the book he was reading. He said "It's so sad. The girl is so sad because someone stole her horse, and it makes me so sad!" That's all. :)