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