Self Promotion: Men's Fashion

For digital class we had to work with a graphic design student to produce images in a series of work that showcased what we want to do as a profession. I really want to take Men's Fashion photography so I thought of producing 3 images of 3 different fashionable looks. Ultimately these are the images that we came up with.

 I am very happy and proud of the images.

Digital to Black and White

The assignment was to take a photo and turn it into a black and white photo using Photoshop techniques, trying to make it look like a silver gelatin print shot and developed in a darkroom. Here is mine:

In a perfect world...

If you could make your perfect world, what would be in it? Truthfully I don't know what my answer would be. But there are certain aspects that I know would be there.
Water, lots of water.
Snow.
Rain.
Seems like a cold place no? Well I love the idea. So for our last digital photo assignment, we had to combine 4 different photos to make our own perfect world.

It's supposed to be a type of Nirvana or Samadi, so don't call it a trampoline in the water. >_>
There are actually a lot of problems with my editing but luckily my teacher said that the image was really interesting.
I think that if I redo it though, I'll listen to lots and lots of Enya and grab inspiration from her lyrics cause, I love them so much and I think she has perfect music that can inspire a perfect world! :D

Self Portrait with Texture

Gentlemen's Quarterly and Colorblindness

For our last photo assignment, we were given the task to re/create a magazine cover of our choice. Actually, our photo teacher didn't tell us what we would be doing, he just asked us our favorite magazine or the magazine we would like to shoot for.
I said GQ instinctively because it's men's fashion, and I like shooting guys and fashion. That's when he dropped the assignment on us, and immediately I was scared that I wouldn't be able to deliver a good image.
One of my friends is a pretty good looking guy so I decided to ask him to pose for me, and since he's an acting major I thought it would be good to get him some nice images. But I didn't know what to dress him in or how to take the shot. My good friend Jess let me borrow her studio lights and I had my flashes and umbrellas. And then my lovely friend Moana let me use her front room as a studio.
But most of all, Becky Leung helped me with art direction, hair styling, and costuming on the actual shoot. That girl knows her stuff and what looks good. She stayed the whole shoot which I believe was 2 hours + and didn't not complain.
After taking the shots I began to look through all of the images that were worth editing. Luckily there were quite a few but ultimately I decided on one. As I began to edit the image I felt quite confident about it and was done pretty quickly. Until I asked about skin tones. Becky told me my skin tones were very red. So I changed them up. Then when I asked again, she said they were green! Something was wrong cause I didn't see it. So then the TA, overhearing our conversation, had me take a colorblindness test. And it turns out that I'm slightly red/green colorblind. D: This just a little disconcerting because I want to shoot people for my career.
Anyway, after staring at the picture long enough and figuring out other things to edit, I was able to produce a great image. And here it is:

MIP

For digital imaging we have to take a picture of the most important person in our lives. Well I don't have a girlfriend or boyfriends or spouse like the other students in my class, so I decided to shoot numero uno, myself. The objective was to achieve normal skin tones while using artificial lighting. I luckily have some umbrella lights (thank you parents) and my friend Moana was willing to help me take the photos. She is an illustrator and loves photography so she delivered some great images. I have three that I like a lot but I'm only going to pick one. Hope you like them.

Pretty straightforward.

A little more personable

This is the one I'm going to choose.

I like the last one because it's a lot more fun and personable than the other two. I think it's natural looking and I worked on the skin tones a lot. Hopefully they look good and not too yellow.
In other news, I'm sick. Hopefully it won't last long. It's too bad I can't always be happy and full of laughs like in these photos.

Things that have been on my mind lately...

1. My application to go to Japan this spring is totally finished. I guess I'll just find out soon if I am accepted.

2. I realize that if I AM accepted, I'm going to have to refine my concept for a photographic essay.

3. My photo classes this semester are a little expensive. Film, paper, and prints. It all racks up the $$$.

4. My East Asian History class is wonderful. Lots of reading but great. Japanese is a blast!

5. I miss my family. But for some reason in a sad kind of way.

6. I really hope I get the job in the library that I'm applying for. It's going to be more Darkroom work.

7. Why is opposition so necessary ALL the time? Why can't some things be easy to have or do?

8. A certain someone.

9. I'm grateful for loving friends. And my wonderful family.

10. Sleep. Zzzz.....

Here I am on a Friday night...

Just getting ready for some Torchwood: Miracle Day!
For those of you who haven't watched Torchwood, I highly suggest you give it a try. Well, that is if you like supernatural sci-fi shows.

Lately I've just been wanting to get back to school. Strange, I know. I think it's because I want to do more photography! I love summer vacation and I really like being with my family, but for some reason this summer I have really been sapped of my creative streaks. I just haven't come up with many ideas or executed the ones I have. Major boo!
So luckily, with new classes, I believe that my creative bounds will be tested. Sort of like reality TV shows. Well namely one that I've been watching lately. Project Runway.

Once again, if you haven't seen it, go watch an episode or two. Google it. I love this show because it challenges people to stretch their creativity. Finding ways to make clothes using inspirations like cities, pieces of art, and other crazy stuff. Or they have to make a garment using only fruit or things you would find in a pet store. I think it's amazing!
Another great TV show is the Amazing Race!

The other day we played a game in my singles ward. It was based off of the Amazing Race. In teams we had to complete several challenges like walking with a cup of water on our heads or decyphering a code with words in a cemetery. It was really cool. I got really competitive, I always get competitive in games like that. Haha, anyway, we were the white team and the last ones to leve from the first 3 challenges. Luckily in the cemetery we caught up and worked our way to first place. We kept our winning pace until the very last clue and area, and there I lost the whole competition for my friends and teammates! DX It was horrible! The last clue said to run up to the top of the baseball bleachers at North Ogden Park but I didn't hear the "top of the bleachers" part. So the black team caught up right behind us and they immediately ran to the top of the bleachers as my teammates did as well. Only I stayed at the bottom thinking that there was nothing else to do! So thanks to me the whole team lost first place and came into an oh-so-close second place. D:
Haha, I really don't care. But my other teammates made a big deal of it. It sort of stinks when others ostracize you just cause you lose something. That's one reason why I don't like playing sports. But all the same, I think that we did a good job coming up from the bottom all the way to the top.
I'm so excited to go to school! Woot woot! Even though grades aren't that fun to think about, at least I have 2 Photo classes, 1 Framemaking class, 1 Asian Studies class, and an Art History class!  There's also going to some free time. Except for Wednesdays. :P
This semester is going to rock!

Dear Nicki Minaj

Sometime after I got home from my mission I got your album Pink Friday.

Yes, there you are, with your crazy looking Barbie leg. I didn't really listen to any of the music seeing as I'm not really into rap. I thought that your rap would be like everyone elses. But oh, how I was wrong. Well, wrong and right. Your rap is, in a way, like everyone elses because you sing/talk really fast and use some not so wholesome language at times. I'm not proud of it. But you're different in your ability to catch me and keep me reeled in. Mostly with your song Super Bass.
Super Bass is awesome. It's beyond awesome! It's BE-AWESOME! Catchy, fun, and great to sing. It's my goal to memorize the whole song by the time I get back to Provo. But one thing I love about you Nicki, is that you dress up and get funky without all the campiness of Lady Gaga. With you it's just 100% cool. Here are some snaps from Super Bass the music video to prove my point.

I really want to try and do a photo shoot using black lights. Like this. ^^^^^^
Anyway, thanks for the music Nicki. Keep doing what you do. But hopefully with less profanity. You are too beautiful to use it. :D
Love always,
Spencer

I am so bad at blogging. Summer update.

I am so lame! I don't ever update my blog. Even though lots of cool stuff happens in my life. Well... sort of cool... Okay not that cool. But stuff does happen!
Anyway, here's the update for summer. I've been at home and I've been able to get some cool stuff done around here. The main highlight of the summer so far has been my training to become a yoga teacher.

Yes, I'm going to do this one day. And I'll be that thin.

 I am learning from my friend Jo at Yoga Jo's here in North Ogden. (yogajos.com FREE classes, come see me teach one day) It's a lot of fun and I'm learning a ton of different things about the body, the mind, and even meditation. All good things.
On top of these teacher training classes and my own personal yoga practice, I've been out running/jogging/walking everyday in order to help my workout. It's been sort of killer. I've been either jogging for 1.5 to 3 miles or I've been walking/jogging for two hours on and off on the Ogden River trail. Good stuff. I feel a lot healthier than I did coming home from Provo, and I have learned to discipline myself to go out and do something to get my heart pumping.
In past news, my family and I went to Yellowstone National Park about 2-3 weeks ago and we had a great time. It was my first time back since after my mission. I love YNP and we were able to explore the park more, without bear attacks. I even exercised my Nature Photo skills and knowledge to make cool images. Here is one.

Lower Falls, Yellowstone National Park

Now, there is a badly edited part in the sky, but come on, I was just learning. :) Anyway, so I got some pretty good stuff out of it! And rest and relaxation is always a +. If you haven't been to Yellowstone, please go soon. It's a wonderful place. Also Grand Teton National Park. Example:

The Grand Tetons at Oxbow Bend

But now I'm back in the city of Ogden. We came back from Yellowstone on July 4th in the morning and were here in time to celebrate Independence Day with our neighbors and with fireworks. Just stay at home fireworks, not my annual Weber High football field fireworks. Cause I didn't have anyone to go with. :( Anyway, we still had a great time and I was able to get to sleep even with all the booms and crashes going on outside.
So now that all that stuff is done and over with, I'm just looking forward to finishing yoga teacher training, which actually won't happen for a while and also it's good to know that Pioneers Day is coming up, which is always a fun celebration. More fireworks! :D
Oh! I almost forgot the most important part! I've been practicing the art of editing my photos. Well, of people. The photos of nature seem a little easier to edit, but with people you have to worry about editing skin, eyes, lips, blemishes, and many other small details. So I was looking to take some simple portraits and I got my friend Sam to help me. As much as I think I'm a "creative" artist (cause all artists are creative), I did pretty cookie-cutter portraits that look like studio shots or maybe even senior portraits. Nice, simple, good looking, just not all that innovative and crazy. But it turned out for the better. They were easier to edit and I think I did well. Here they are.

Pretty good work, right? At least I hope so. I know that when I get back to school in Fall I will have a specific class about editing and in Winter a specific Portrait class. But for now, I think that I did pretty well. And what's really nice is that a lot of my friends actually said that they want me to do photos for them now! In conclusion, I might start a small little business of portraits and see where I can go from there. It was just good to actually do a photo project in the summer since I've been vegging around the house.
And that brings me to my final comments. I have new photo ideas!! *applause* This next semester I'll be taking a class with 4x5 cameras.

Vintage no?

And I already have my photos somewhat planned. I want to make images that can be used in a series so for each assignment I want to link the image to a Fairytale. It's mostly been spawned by my new-found love of the musical Into the Woods. (Go watch it on Netflix! Now!) But yeah, I am going to do photoshoots based on fairytales and hopefully all will turn out great.
Okay, this is actually a long post with all the photos and everything.

The Happiest Place on Earth

For the past week and a half I've been in San Juan Capistrano, California. I came with some family friends to see their sons graduation and to just plain relax. Luckily there as something else planned as well. DISNEYLAND!

Retro no?

 Now, I have had fun this whole week. I love this family and we have made jokes and played games and gotten along so well, but for some reason, yesterday seemed to be the pinnacle of this trip. I was even planning on not going because I didn't want to spend the money! ($105 for a 1 day park hopper) But I'm so happy that I did. I went to the family that I live with in Provo and we started off the day by getting tickets to a show called World of Color, which I shall come back to soon enough. This was in California adventure so we decided to hang around for a while in there. We went to the new Little Mermaid ride, which is like the Peter Pan ride and the Snow White ride, you don't really do anything but sit down in a giant clam and watch as the movies plot unravels in front of you. Then we rode some rockets that are like giant multi person swings. Then we decided to go to the California Screamin, one of the best rides in the park.

Just a small part of the ride. Photo by Wikipedia

This ride is awesome! From the beginning it goes from 0-60 mph in 3 seconds or something like that. Really fast, really exhilarating. And not only that, it as at this ride where I found out what Single Rider passes are. When someone is riding along they can move basically to the front of the line and be added on to the ride if there is a space empty. Basically the normal 30 minute wait to get into the ride was cut down to 2 minute wait, it was fantastic! After that we went to the Ferris Wheel and had a good time relaxing and enjoying the breeze high up in the air.
Later, and after an incident where I wasn't able to push a stroller through a gate, we had a lunch break and then moved on to Disneyland. Sadly Space Mountain was closed, our first ride destination, so we started our way to other rides including The Pirates of the Caribbean (fully decked out with Captain Jack Sparrow, Captain Barbosa, and Black Beard), The Haunted Mansion, The Matterhorn, The Safari Boat Ride, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, the Indiana Jones Adventure, and Splash Mountain.
We ate Dole Whip from the Tiki Tiki Room.

This horrible photo is not mine, but I used it cause it shows the Whip and the Float

And I bought pins for myself and for my friends! (So expensive but so worth it.) I even got some good ol' Disney cell phone covers! One of Donald Duck and one of Steamboat Willie.
Really there was so much going on that the day flew by, but there was one thing left, the water show World of Color. I've been to Fantasmic, and I really like that water show. I think it's probably changed since I've last seen it, but I thought it was cool how villains were incorporated and I was expecting the same type of show in World of Color. But boy was I wrong!
World of Color started of phenomenally which fountains shooting out water and lights illuminating different colors. If you don't know what I'm talking about, check out the photo.

But these fountains shot to great heights, even rivaling the Ferris wheel. Then the awesome music came on singing "The world is a carousel of color!" and we all were enchanted by swirling fountains and stuff.
THEN, the link ins began. I had a feeling they would start off the show with the Little Mermaid, it's sort of tradition or something, and plus since the new ride opened they had to showcase it somehow. Here's the weird thing and a sort of confession, I love the Little Mermaid. I know it's weird for a guy to like a show as girly as this, but I can't help myself. So when I heard the iconic words come out from the blue water saying "I wanna be, where the people are", and as I saw a projected image of Ariel swimming, I got really sort of sentimental.

These water projections were awesome!

Little did I know that this was the beginning of a sentimental rollercoaster. Part of Your World finished and in came Under the Sea, then Finding Nemo, then another sentimental and beautiful scene from Wall-E where Wall-E and Eve dance in outer space. It was wonderful. Next Toy Story and Up. Then another sentimental part when Aladdin and Jasmine began to sing A Whole New World, and the magic carpet flew across the watery screen. But for some reason, I became really emotional when, during a transition, some of my favorite lyrics were sang during a very ethereal montage. "What I love most about rivers is..." and then Pocahontas dove off a waterfall and then began a big scene of Pocahontas music and epicness, inspiring wet eyes.

The waterfall

Then came other pieces like Pirates, and even the scary Night on Bald Mountain. Towards the end, they had a beautiful montage of parenting moments in Disney, like Mufasa and Simba, Bambi, and Dumbo. They showed the scene where Belle confesses her love for the Beast and his transformation and then they transitioned into the Princes and Princesses, with Flynn Ryder and Rapunzel, Tiana and Prince Naveen, Snow White and the Prince, and of course Aurora and Prince Philip. After this kiss fest, (haha blush) they culminated everything into a great relapse of all the characters seen (once again, wet eyes), and ended strongly with the World of Colors theme song and Mickey as the Sorcerers Apprentice projected on a wall of water controlling the whole magical scene.
In few words, it was the greatest water show I've ever seen and I was very sad to see it end. However it was the end to an extraordinary day at Disneyland and at California Adventure. Sure, we didn't get to ride Space Mountain. Sure, they didn't have Mulan or Hercules or Nightmare Before Christmas in the water show. But it was just too great to even care about the small stuff.
It was one of the best days I've had since I've been back off my mission. But alas, I know that I need to return to the real world now. And that's alright, I think the magic that happens at Disneyland and in the World of Disney can stay with us throughout our time away. I have goals of going back regularly and I would love to do an internship there, which are often on posters at BYU. I think that even though Disney is totally unrelated to the Gospel and to the Church, there are many similarities. Good will always win. There is a light inside of all of us that we should let shine. Look for the good and light in the world and not for the evil and darkness.

So I feel like I learned something at Disneyland yesterday and it was wonderful to remember all of those great moments.
PS, I didn't take ANY photos on my Canon. I know, it's crazy! But I was so caught up in the moment, I didn't even think about taking time to take photos.

Going Viral

So for the past 2 weeks I've been feeling pretty sick. I have headaches in the front and back of my head, sharp and dull respectively. I've had the chills even when the sun is out and I've overheated at night and gotten hot flashes. I feel really light headed and dizzy every once in a while. All in all I didn't even know what was going on. It all started when I got back from my nature photo camping trip (the photos will be dispersed throughout this post) and I was thinking that I was just dehydrated and so I drank a lot of water for 2 weeks. But when I didn't get better I got scared.

I called my parents and they told me to go to the clinic. My mom thought that I most likely had Mono, which is possible ONLY because I share bottles every once in a while. But I realized that my bottle sharing hasn't happened for a while. My cousin, however, reminding me that Mono takes 6 weeks to manifest or whatever and so maybe it's been growing for a while.

Anyway I went to the doctor and had them examine me. It was fairly easy, not even a real physical. They drew blood and I had to wait as they tested it. The doctor also suspected that it was Mono but he said that the blood test would help confirm it. When he came back into my room, he stood by the counter and cryptically said, I have good news and bad news. The good news was that I didn't have Mono and that my white blood cell count is normal. However the bad news was that the Lymphocytes in my blood were low, and that meant that I definitely had a viral infection or disease. Also, they didn't know what I had. The doctor said that their Mono test isn't that reliable (I don't know why, don't you think all clinics or hospitals should at least have up to date, more reliable tests like that?). So he said he was going to send my blood to another clinic or blood place and have them check it there. Then we would be able to know for sure what I have. So he gave me some medicine to take for a sort of sore throat I've been having due to allergies and something for the light head. Sadly the sore throat stuff makes me drowsy, not very good with my already problematic fatigue.

Today I took the medicine at 1 and then I clonked out until 6. Craziness.
Anyway, the point is peeps, you may have to stay away from me for a little while. And I you sadly. I don't know what I'm going to do about school.

Well, at least I got the photos. I don't know what they have to do with my virus.

And goodness knows, we know what goodness is...

This is a Wicked blog post. I can't believe that I actually am making one. Cause I don't really like when people make Wicked references about their lives or anything. Not that I'm going to do that, I'm just going to point out some things I've been thinking about lately.
First of all, if by some unearthly and impossible chance you have not seen, heard of, listened to, or sang Wicked, I tell you that I'll be giving some spoilers... At least I think so. And also, go listen to it ASAP.

Elphaba and Glinda

Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West is a book written by Gregory Maguire which tells the story of or favorite green villain of Oz, The Wicked Witch of the West. Of course that title wasn't always part of her entity, she was first known as Elphaba. And she was a normal person, other than the whole green skin part. She went to school and excelled in magic, well sort of, sometimes her spells would malfunction.
Anyway, she met someone very important to the Oz story, Galinda, later made Glinda. Galinda was a spoiled brat when she met Elphaba and they did not get along very well, all the same they had to live together and make due. Both had the goal of meeting The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Eventually this does happen and there is a falling out between the Wizard and Elphaba, he wanting to use her magical powers to help him basically rule over Oz without opposition or rebellion.
Needless to say, because she refuses, the Wizard uses his power and influence to make her Public Enemy Number One of Oz and she must go into hiding. All of the munchkins and other people in Oz think she's evil, or wicked.
Anyway to make the long story short, Elphaba eventually realizes that she cannot stop the Wizard and calls on her friend Glinda to do so. Elphaba has a bucket of water thrown onto her and she "melts" therefore giving Oz peace of mind and good news. Glinda, sad at the loss of her friend must go on as "Glinda the Good" banishing the Wizard and restoring hope to Oz, but in the finale, and opening, the munchkinlanders sing, "No one mourns the wicked". Stating that Elphaba deserved what came to her. Glinda listens and tearfully remembers Elphaba, who actually faked her own death and ran off with the Scarecrow.
I gave a really bad summary of this story and technically I don't know everything about it cause I haven't seen the musical. I have read the book though.
My whole point in writing this post is to focus of the munchkinlanders song "No one mourns the wicked."
There is an acute ignorance in this song. The munchkins sing "No one mourns the wicked. No one cries they won't return. No one lays a lily on their grave.... And goodness knows, we know what goodness is, goodness knows the wicked die alone, nothing grows for the wicked they reap only what they sow." I don't know why this has gotten to me lately. I mean, I don't feel alienated or attacked, nor do I feel wicked. But isn't it sad that the munchkins don't know better. They think that one of the best witches and kindest people was a monster who threatened their safety. And Glinda couldn't say anything to the contrary, lest they should turn on her.
Mainly what gets me is "goodness knows we know what goodness is". It is scary when someone claims they know that something is good when they really are in total ignorance. Can we truly say what is good and what is wickedness? Obviously yes, especially in the LDS church, which is great. But what about the more grey areas. If I may say, this is where some members of my church, and really any religious sect, falter and are too quick to judge. Just because someone is different or has other customs people can write them off as wicked. Of course not many people go to this extreme. I'm just saying that we often think "we know what goodness is" when we are in the same danger of being harshly judged or ostracized. What we think might be goodness actually might hurt others.
I invite all of us to look past the our own noses and admit that we don't really know what goodness is. There is only one who knows and can judge. So stop attacking the Wicked Witch of the West unless you're really willing to live in ignorance.
Sorry for the random rant, I've just been thinking about it. I'm not feeling attacked I just think that people should be brought to the truth and should not be left in their blindness.

The Tender Mercies of the Lord

I've always loved the talk by the Apostle David A. Bednar about The Tender Mercies of the Lord.

There are so many things that God gives us. Sometimes we feel undeserving or humble or sometimes we expect things to happen and they do. I've always believed that God loves his children and therefore will give them blessings at all times, regardless of who they are.

This week I got two unexpected temporal "Tender Mercies". I received two half tuition scholarships from the university. This may seem like something expected and that if I was prepared of course it was going to happen! But no. In fact last December I received an email from the University saying that I had not made the cut for a scholarship. I felt really sort of down trodden. My family isn't in the best economic status right now. We're not starving and we can go out and buy new clothes and play things but still tuition is a giant chunk out of the family budget and with my sister coming to school next fall I was worried about what my poor parents were going to do.

So when I looked on my financial account for school and saw an unread message telling me about my scholarships I flipped! I haven't mentioned that I have about half tuition for spring and summer terms as well on part of my photography. But for fall and winter?! That was just the cherry on top of the sundae.

I feel very grateful to so many people. To the university, to my family, and to a certain Father in Heaven who, I believe, has His hand in all and sometimes likes to surprise his children.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints

I'm not one to publicly write about my religious views and thoughts but I have decided that today is one of those days where I do something different.

This weekend is the weekend of General Conference, a weekend where all of the members throughout the church look toward Salt Lake for council and uplifting. I love this time of Conference because I do feel uplifted as well as united. It's a lot of fun to see the people in Salt Lake and hear the talks.

My favorite General Authority, if I can have one, is President Dieter F. Uchtdorf, second counselor in the Church Presidency. In his talk this Sunday morning he asked the members to use modern technology to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

I just want to say that I know and feel that the Church of Jesus Christ is led by Jesus Christ himself, and by God our Heavenly Father. I know that they live and love us. They love everyone, members of the church and non-members. They love sinners and thieves. They love straights, gays, bi's, and everything in between.

Sometimes we as a church receive a lot of guff for what certain individuals say, but I know that God is merciful and loving unlike we imperfect human beings. I can assure ANYONE that by living the principles that are taught in the church, they can be happy and feel good. I have felt the change and the brightness in my life. 

I encourage everyone to look into the church and really study what it is about. Forget about past mishaps and problems, look at what is happening now. The goodness and service and the love.

I know it's true and that Jesus Christ and God love us and will help us at all times.

The Spiral Jetty

Sorry it's taken me a while to post about The Spiral Jetty trip that we took as a photo class! It was a blast! We started off by driving for 3 hours in a van! John Telford, photographer extraordinaire was our pilot and we all talked about how we were excited to be taking classes from him in the spring.
Basically we walked around the great Salt Lake after that, looking for photo ops and trying to master the mud. I took many shots, but I'm not sure how many came out well. However I did get one. :D

So this was my best shot I think. And luckily it was done with minimal editing in Photoshop. Yay. :D
So I guess that I'll be able to survive my upcoming Nature Photography class with John. That is if I get at least one shot like this for each assignment. :)

Success and happiness abound!

Last night I said that I was going to take some photos, and boy did I take some photos! They aren't the best, of course. But they are something. :D
I decided to go out at 1:00 and I asked my photo friend, Chelsea, to accompany me. We travelled to Utah Lake in order to take some photos for my Multiple Negative piece and then we went exploring. Along the way we found a Paintball field/obstacle course and there were tons of unbroken paintballs lying around. So  we just started popping them and getting messes everywhere.
All in all, it was a good photo day and here are the images I shot.

And the Piece de Resistance is:

I am super happy with how these images turned out. I feel like I was able to pull some good stuff and make them work.
I think I'll just have to give myself the goal to take photos everyday. Or have certain outcomes that I want to achieve. Anyways, enjoy!

Creativity Block

Truthfully this blog post isn't about a block that I'm currently facing. Luckily my creative juices are flowing and I'm finding ways to execute my images. Just this past week I was able to experiment with double exposures. I learned how to correctly expose the same frame of film to two different subject matters and get a coherent image. It was all by luck, I'm not going to lie, but my professor said that my image was well done and that it was hard to tell that it was a Double Exposure piece rather than a Double Negative. I was SO FREAKING HAPPY!! My image was sweet too. It was a guy with his back toward the camera and then a skeleton shot into his back. I will put up the image once I get it back. :) To add more icing onto the cake, I was blessed to get 2 photos up onto the wall. Okay okay, this wall is in the basement of the Fine Arts Building, and not a lot of people see the photos or pay attention to them, but still it's a great feeling knowing that I was lucky enough to produce a good image and have it placed there.
So what's up with the Creativity block? Well I can't seem to find stuff to do with digital media. I think that by doing so much in black and white film I have been sort of numbed to digital pictures. I don't really know what to shoot or why. Usually I have an assignment or concept I that I feel like shooting but nothing has really presented itself as of late.
Next fall, my classes are going to be all digital. Will I be ready? I know that when I get assignments I'm a little more prone to exercising my creative muscles so I hope that when those classes come I'll be able to hit the ground running with ideas and concepts.
Another crazy thing that's going to happen. Spring term I will be taking Nature Photography with John Telford. For those of who know my photographic style, or who just look through this blog, you should know that I don't really take nature or landscape photos. I just don't find them to be my cup of tea. Nevertheless I didn't want to waste the opportunity of learning from John, because he'll be retiring soon. I'm excited to be able to go out and camp and get awesome, or not so awesome, nature photos.
I just want to become a well rounded photographer who can do everything. I don't have to do everything perfectly, but I want to know how to do each style and genre with my own voice and class.

This is not my photo. Photo taken by night-fate-stock on Deviantart.com

And finally, a great field trip is coming up! On the 24th, we're going to the Spiral Jetty. I've never been, but I'm super excited. I'm going to try and do photos with both film and digital. It's going to be awesome.
Okay so some highlights and goings on -
- Spiral Jetty on the 24th
- Nature Photography with John Telford in the spring
- Two photos on the wall and surely one more going up next time
- Double Negative Assignment in which I plan to recreate this scene from Hayao Miyazaki's Spirited Away

Only mine will be better than this.

- Oh and did I mention, I GOT A SCHOLARSHIP FOR PHOTOGRAPHY HERE AT BYU!!!!!!
I forgot to mention it, but it's definitely the highlight of the week! I feel so honored and blessed to get a scholarship and I cannot wait to use it to further my education.
Okay, tomorrow I'm going to go take some photos and hopefully I'll get out of my digital funk. Photos will be posted. :D

The Big Bad Media Monster

So lately in Psychology we've been talking about perception and influence on people. We first started talking about eating disorders which I find very interesting, sad but interesting. Did you know that officially getting diagnosed with Anorexia has NOTHING to do with how much one eats? It has to do with their weight! They could be eating an elephants portion but are the size of a toothpick an that can be anorexia.

Sorry, I got off on a tangent. But hey, you learn something new everyday right?

Well then we got onto the subject of Media influencing the image of people and their comfort in their bodies. Okay, here's the thing, we all know that people are affected by the media but for some reason we all seem to group every visual aspects of an advertisement into the word "media" and then it becomes a raging monster that everyone knows. I heard so many comment about how images are fake and edited and that no one can be like the models in ads and that we should have more life like images.

My teacher also showed us the video above. And how we all are fooled by the "media".

I understand that it's true. I understand that maybe we rely too much on the perfection of the body that we will never attain. And I'm a firm believer that it's not just women, it's also men. I mean I would kill to have a body like a movie star. I would like to have defined muscles and the eye of everyone on me.

And that's how media is supposed to work! Advertisements offer us products in order to better our lives and improve us. But there's the argument whether we should keep ads as they are or not.

I just wonder, how would our world change if we didn't have editing and Photoshop. Would women buy facial cream judging by a label alone or if the picture on the bottle was a women with a blemished complexion? Would we even buy magazines or even watch television shows without make-up? And then there's music, even beats and rhythms are psychologically stimulating and tempos inspire emotions.

The point is, we are so deep into the "Media Monster" that we cannot get out. We're six feet under plus 12 more. So if you ask me, I think it's sort of futile to think that we can change it and make it more "real". Yeah I'm biased, cause this is the kind of work I'm going into!

But really people?? Come on!

Thanks for listening to my rant. I don't know why it came up but it did.

And the Oscar goes to...

The other day I watched the Oscars. I loved them. I wish that I had watched all of the films that won awards. I had watched The Socials Network, Inception, and Alice In Wonderland, but I really want to see the Kings Speech. Best Picture, you know.
Well I cannot wait for next years Academy Awards. I'm sure the films will be fantastic!

Contemporary issues

My last assignment for Photography was really interesting. We were asked to pick a contemporary issue, take a stance on it, and shoots images that showed our thoughts about it. I immediately thought about gay bullying. I don't know why exactly. I really would have thought mostly about gay rights, but for some reason bullying seemed a little more poignant so I decided that it would be that way. My original idea was to have 3 models. One would be a gay guy, one would be a jock, and the last would be a religious person. The jock was going to be covering the mouth of the gay kid while the religious person would be looking away, not really paying attention. It's an alright concept. But I didn't think it would really communicate the issue of gay bullying.
So then I came up with the idea of suicide caused by gay bullying. This was a big ordeal this past October. I remember hearing about young kids who killed themselves all because of horrible comments and misunderstandings from other people. It was a big issue in the Church as well with the talk by Elder Boyd K Packer about identity.
The fact of the matter is, being gay/lesbian is not a reason to end ones life. There is NO reason to end ones life. But those poor kids who did so were simply not understood. So I want to show in my photographs that really these acts were real. They were real people who loved and felt emotions and they were loved by others.
My photos are particularly gruesome, but it is to show how I am extremely against suicide and I feel pain for those who resort to it. This is the image I produced for class.

I don't have any gay readers, at least I don't think I do. I do have a lesbian reader. But the point is, as all of the celebrities say it on YouTube, It Gets Better. Life DOES get better and there is no reason to feel like you need to change. You are lovely sons and daughters of God, who loves you, and I love you.

Delightful Delicacies

Here is a photo that I took at a cooking class by Jenny Johnson (delightfuldelicacies.blogspot.com) and Melissa Chappell (rawmelissa.com).

I HIGHLY SUGGEST ANY OF THEIR CLASSES.
It was for Valentines Day and they highlighted Chocolate, Hazelnut Sandwich Cookies, and Red Fruit Parfaits, also crepes.
I wish I could have gotten a better photo, but this one has to do. :) 

A Month and a Day Later

Right after my last post about not posting frequently, I decide with more fervor to blog and to be active in the blogging world. :D
Well I just wanted to say that everything is going well. Especially the photo program. I LOVE all of the other students and we are getting along better than peas in pods! But as for current events.

Gong hai fat choi!!! Y'all!!!! I am celebrating Chinese New Year with my dearest friend Becky,  who is also in the photo program. Here dad is from China and he makes some of the best chinese food I've every had, especially potstickers and licorice beef.
Last night she held a party and it turned out fantastically with food, karaoke, and Shaolin Soccer (hilarious movie).

Now I'm here with Becky in Magna with her wonderful family. Getting ready to eat and watching Despicable Me, Knight and Day, and Easy A. And hopefully some more chinese movies. :D
I'll be posting more from now on!!