Words and Pictures

    For my Final project in photo 111, my teacher gave us the assignment of making 2 images and to capture the sense or feel of the two words she would give us. Both images had to be strong enough to stand on their own, and yet cohesive as a duo.

      The words were, of course, of opposing meanings so visual unity was not a simple accomplishment.

                                                   See if you can guess what the words were.

The words she gave us were Chaos and Tranquility.

Sense of Place

I was recently asked to consider how people do or do not impact the feeling of a place. Does the lack of people create the space, or the energy of the people within the space.

Corbin broke his arm and 2 days later, for his x-rays and casting at Children's Hospital in Seattle, I took my camera just in case a few places looked interesting. Here are my two favorite shots.

 

 

 

This Moment 3-09 2012

No More {this Moment} rules, since I have broken them every time,
and now, for my twins.....No More Training Wheels

Like a Slide Show

     In October my most serene friend filled my head with dreams of henna. Well, she actually covered my head in henna. I was then told to take a few pictures of the resulting awesomeness. So, in order to do it, I set up an off camera flash and tripod situation in my hallway. Let's call it an impromptu studio. I, then, had Corbin and Barrett stand in my place to get the settings right, and I took a few pictures of me. By now all the children had gathered, so I sent them off in search of costumes, we turned off all the surrounding lights and played in the dark with the flash firing every few seconds to capture the insanity. There's just something fun about not knowing when the flash would fire and what the camera would capture.

                  Just pure fun

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

Click to below all of them. 

Like a Slide Show

A Much Taller Little Brother

     I guess it doesn't matter how much they grow, or how grown up they act, because your little brother will always be your little brother. Mine, in fact, is quite tall, strong and grown up. Calling him my little brother seems silly, yet, it's the best way to describe the joy I feel when I am around him. He's special to me, he is just amazing really, I simultaneously adore him and look up to him. My heart is always wanting to hug him, while my brain wants to have deep conversations and hear all about his ideas and dreams. With a guitar in his hands, he can't help but create beauty. He is simply awesome.
     He is also quite lucky, lucky of course to have found a wonderful girl. A girl who's spirit matches his own. Beautiful inside and out, kind and loving. Together they are like the wind, restless and free, you can not help but find yourself irresistibly drawn to them and their love for life.

I am a.........Photographer???

When does it happen? That magical moment when you know you have become what you always wanted to be? What if you never knew what you wanted to be, but have found yourself headed towards a goal you didn’t even know existed, or that one day it would appear in front of you.

Did you really feel like a Mom when you first held your baby, or did you feel like an imposter put in charge of something very special and unsure if you were up for the job. I did. How about a few weeks later as you deftly changed diapers at midnight, without a single light, or found clean clothes for yourself and the little one without a bit of sleep. How about a few weeks after that, when you realized it had been at least a few weeks since the last time you showered, or maybe it’s when you realize it’s been a few years since you were able to go potty by yourself. When did you officially realized you are a “Mom” now.

Some jobs seem easier to define, while others are a bit harder. When does a Nurse become a Nurse, is it when she passes that all important Test (I know it has a name, but I don’t know what it is, because, well, I’m obviously NOT a nurse)  and gets to officially put that “RN” behind her name, or is it the first time she watches one of her patients die. Or maybe it’s the first time she saves one.

Is a Teacher one, because she has a degree, is it when one of her students pass a test, or not until all of them do? Maybe it’s when she sees a student’s eyes light up in understanding, as she explains something new.

What makes a person a writer, poet, artist, singer or photographer? Talent can give a person an edge, but without training, it can go to waste. Going to school can add skills but does not make a person talented. Talent and school can bring a person to the brink of a career, but without a head for business, even then they may fail. But is a Career the goal? Is Making $$ the measure of “making it.” What about the cliché ideology that “An Artist is never appreciated untill they are dead.” Would you consider Picasso a failure? But didn’t he die penniless? Hemmingway?

When I filled out my google+ profile, it asked for my profession. I typed, deleted and re-typed photographer 4 times. I felt like a fraud, but I left it. What makes ME a photographer??? Is it because I’ve taken around a million photos? Or is because I have a DSLR camera? Maybe it’s because I don’t use “Auto” mode anymore, or possibly because I’ve read my camera manual. Is it because I was born with an “artist’s eye” and I’m a bit analytical.  Is it because I’ve taken photographs of sunsets, sunrises, flowers, families, weddings, baby bumps, childbirth, newborns, toddles, teenagers, engaged couples and puppies? Or was it when I received my first twenty dollars afterwards?

I don’t think it’s any of those things. I think it’s when you fall in love. Remember when you first fell in love with your man, and everything you talked about came back around to him, no matter how hard your friends tried to talk about something else. That’s it. It’s when you have a few moments alone, and find yourself wondering what the light must look like outside, or you open another book on photography. It’s when you drive somewhere and you catch yourself saying out loud; “Look at that light” even though you are alone. And when you’re with someone, the conversation keeps turning in that direction. It’s when you ponder white balance and ISO during church, or forget to pray because you are trying to catch the moment when everyone else is. Or like this morning, at 2:54 am, I woke up and couldn’t sleep, so I went outside and took 64 photographs in the dark, and then wrote this blog..

It’s when you know that no matter what happens, bad experiences or big mistakes, and that if you never make a dime, that you will never stop. That’s how you know.

At least that’s what I keep telling myself.

Ghost Luna.