My Booky Wook

I finally found time to read this past weekend and began my venture into the mind of comedian Russell Brand in his bio "My Booky Wook." Silly title, reallllyyy good book so far! I marked some pages that contained segments that I particulary enjoyed. I love his way with words.

"We all have an essential self, but if you spend every day chopping up meat on a slab, and selling it by the pound, soon you'll find you've become a butcher. And if you don't want to be a butcher (and why would you?), you're going to have to cut right through to the bare bones of your own character in the hope of finding out who you really are. Which bloody hurts."

"For me happiness occurs arbitrarily: a moment of eye contact on a bus, where all at once you fall in love; or a frozen second in a park where it's enough that there are trees in the world."

I was a connoisseur of the Penguin[chocolate bars], which came in yellow, green, blue and red wrappers. I was a particular devotee of the blue variety, even though all Penguins are the same below the surface, which I think is a perfect analogy as we're likely to get for the futility of racism."

Those are the parts that most popped out to me so far. Doubt I'll have any time to read it again for awhile due to school projects/tests.

Alec Soth

ok here are some of the photographs I was trying to upload last night. These are some of the most interesting/inspiring photos I saw during his lecture.

Recap

Ok so ALOT of things to go over from last night to today.

1. Went to a mandatory lecture for Photo Foundations II. The speaker was a photographer named Alex Soth. I must admit I wasn't too thrilled to be going but it turned out to be very interesting. He touched on a very important question that I, myself have asked myself: "Why take photographs?" He talked about how a struggle for him was pretty much being motivated to continue doing what he does as a photographer when any amateur with a cell phone camera can document an event and have it be displayed in magazines/news etc. He showed us his collections of works and I was amazed by his descriptions of his process. I was inspired by him tremendously especially when he talked about his shyness in college; how he was the kid in class that never wanted to be called on & how when he needed to ask people (strangers) to model for him he would be very uncomfortable. It reminded me of myself because I am extremely shy and it made me think that if he could get over it then I can do the same. I could go on and on about it. To sum it all up it was just a really inspiring lecture. I WAS gonna post some of his photographs BUT for some reason my 'add image' button ISNT cooperating.

2. I flippin FKED my car up today on the way to my drawingII mid-term conference. I was making the turn right outside my apt. complex and accelerating [not a good idea] when i tried to move my dog off my lap and into the passenger seat. I looked away for what seemed like a 1/234567 of a second lol andddd i ended up BASHING into the curb. My front wheel is all messed up and my alignment might be as well. So I missed my meeting and i caused, what will probably be, EXPENSIVE damage to my car. fml right ??

3. I watched Zeitgeist for the first time today. I had heard about it before but never knew what it was about. But wow. It sure does make you think. I believe in God don't get me wrong, but the discussion of Jesus and the bible's thievery from Egyptian mythology was mind-boggling. For a long time I have questioned the bible's content but being a born and raised Catholic my mind is always conflicting with my heart and what I have grown to believe as fact. BUT other than the religious segment the parts on 9/11 as well as the banks made total sense to me. Overall a veryyyy good documentary one I would put up there w/ the Michael Moore films I've watched.

Mk well I wanted to add some images BUT since its not working I suppose I'm done for now.

Panaramic

Okk so today I put together my very first panorama. I've known WHAT they are and HOW to compose them but I had yet to create my own. So for Photo II we were assigned to just take photographs of anything, really, and make a panoramic picture from it. Mine is the pretty pool in my apt. complex at night. OO this was also my FIRST real nighttime shot =]

I also played around with it in Lightroom and came up with this blueish tinted version. I mean, who doesn't automatically think BLUE when they look at a pool or any body of water lol. So yea I liked this version as well.

Money makes the world go 'round

It is nearly summertime and since my original plans for break are probably not going to happen I must resort to plan B lol which is GETTING A JOB!

I hate the fact that my parents have to spend so much money on me. For Zae I understand but for school as well as my rent I think I should be doing more to help. I mean there's no WAY I could EVER pay my tuition but getting a partial scholarship would help along with the assistance I'm already recieving. All I have to do is maintain a 3.0 to apply for the scholarship right now im just under with, I believe a 2.6? 2.8? blehh. But as long as I ONLY get A's and B's this quarter I should be fine. Photography and Drawing II I'm sure I can pull it off. Art History II--yeee not so sure. BUT I did get an 84% on our first exam so I'm off to a pretty good start. So yea IF I can get that extra help with tuition all i'll really worry about is RENT but all that means is I get a job this summer. I kind of miss working anyway although I'd NEVER in my LIFE work as a cashier at a grocery store again haha.

But yea thats my rant. I need money. It's that simple.

who said..

point-and-shoot cameras couldn't take 'good' pictures? These were taken with my little cannon MONTHS ago. I just realized I had uploaded =)

"While I'm Gone"

My first project for photo foundations II. The end result was OK there are a couple I love others are just ehhhhhh...

Narrative

So in my photographic foundations II class our first project is a photo narrative. I have two ideas for how to go about this assignment:

1. "When I'm Gone" - pretty much documenting what goes on when I'm out at class and my boyfriend is home taking care of Zae. The notion behind this is that it is always said that it's harder for males to get used to taking care of a baby and find it harder than a mother. And through personal experience I can attest to the truth of that (I do seem to have more patience in dealing with my son than my boyfriend lol.)

2. "A Family Gathering" - just photographing some of my family this weekend for Easter; the shopping, the cooking, the celebration, etc...There is NEVER a dull moment at a Chamorro gathering so that would also be interesting.

Both of those are pretty simple concepts its just the executing of the ideas that will be challenging but that comes with any shoot.

This week I was also introduced to an AMAZING photographer named Duane Michals. We watched a short film on his work with commentary from him and I love his explanation for his work. He talked about how most people's perception of photography is just to show you what's there. But he likes to contradict people's perception of things. I also like how his work can be particularly dark. NE ways heres some of his work I particularly like..

The Most Faithful of Companions

So I just watched Marley & Me last night after trying hard to avoid it ( I had heard the ending was sad and the only way a movie about a dog could be sad is if that dog died.) I've always been a suckker for animals and I literally break down when movies that feature then end badly.
So anywayyyysss I finally gave in and decided to watch it and it was such a cute movie but OF COURSE the ending was sad as HELL! But I do love Owen Wilson's last line in the film...

"A dog has no use for fancy cars, big homes, or designer clothes. A water log stick will do just fine. A dog doesn't care if your rich or poor, clever or dull, smart or dumb. Give him your heart and he'll give you his. How many people can you say that about? How many people can make you feel rare and pure and special? How many people can make you feel extraordinary? "

Now I've owned about 8 or 9 dogs my whole life and have met hundreds of human beings. I can honestly say that all of my 8 or 9 dogs have left a profound impact in my life but out of all the people I've ever met, there is even LESS of them that have done the same thing(not including family.)

So big up to the companion God created for those who truely treasure the simple things in life; big up to my doggies =]

My Motivation

My little man. Nothing means more to me in this world. I used to think all parents just HAVE to say that about their children. But after becoming a parent myself, I can honestly say it's true. There isn't a more spectacular, pure bond in all the world than that of a mother and her child.

I must admit there are times I look at my friends and classmates facebook/myspace pages and feel a little depressed. It seems as if everyone else is having a 'normal' college experience complete with alcohol, parties, and sexayy outfits. (lol But seriously I can't remember the last time I felt 'sexy') Sometimes I think about how life would be if I hadn't been pregnant this first half of my freshman year. I would have lived in a dorm maybe? Have met more people and be doing the things my friends are. I wonder about a lot of things but in the end, I look at my son and realize that even if I COULD go back...I wouldn't change a thing....