Christmas

This Christmas was strange. Maybe its the fact that everyone is broke, it was at a different house and my Grandfather is gone (even though this was a fact last year and just no one acknowledged it). Either way it wasn't bad, being with family is always good and I am happy to be able to celebrate with them, it was just different.
I had grand plans of taking tons of photos on Christmas Eve and giving some to my sister and having these great documents of memories with my family to look back on and cherish. But then everyone cancelled even though i had been cooking all day. So Andy and I just drank beer and champagne in front of the fire instead and I didn't take any photos. Its ok, this isn't a Christmas that I really need to remember, lots of strange emotions. Either way I took one photo that I liked on Christmas Day.I wish that I had taken more the window light was really pretty, you almost forget that it was freezing out.

Denver...finally

So… funny story. I went to Denver to cover the Democratic National Convention the last week of August and now it is December. I meant to post about it but I was busy and lazy and then I couldn’t post about anything else because I hate when things are out of order. So, in order to make up for my negligence I will be updating about the semester throughout winter break because school is over and my roommate left and now I have an excess of time.


Denver is absolutely beautiful, the trip was not so beautiful. It was probably the most stressful experience of my entire life. I have lots of stories but ill sum it up with the fact that I lost about 10 pounds from running around with heavy gear and being too stressed out to eat and running on little sleep everyday. The twisted things is that I wouldn’t trade it for the world because it was an awesome experience. And, did I mention that it was so pretty?


On the first day there I met a man who legitimately dresses like Abraham Lincoln on a regular basis. He doesn’t think that he is Abraham Lincoln so he is not insane but he does look a hell of a whole lot like him. His name is Everett Stadig and he does it to spread his pro-life message to the people that he meets.



The actual convention stuff was just so full of people. People everywhere. I shot future vice president Joe Biden’s speech at the Pepsi Center and I got there kinda early and thought that I had the perfect spot in a handicapped section because I could see really well and I had a little bit of wiggle room and very little obstructions. Then, I got kicked out of my seat. I missed Bill Clinton’s speech and had to wander around the Pepsi Center for like an hour trying to fight my way into a spot where I could get a photo of Joe Biden. It was terrible because they oversold the speech like whoa so there were frankly just not enough seats for everyone. This was the lady sitting next to me when I actually did have a seat.



This (below) is probably one of my favorite photos although I don’t know why. It’s a little hot, and its super busy but I love it so don’t judge. I was taking photos of the line waiting to see Obama’s speech and some guy asked me if I had a ticket. I told him that we had another photographer inside and I was just taking photos outside. And he said “do you want one” and then handed me a ticket to go see Barack Obama speak at the Democratic National Convention! For free! I took it and then realized that I had all of my camera gear and they would never let me in with it without a press pass and so I couldn’t use it. I ended up giving it to Omar and I am pretty sure that he still owes me even though I got to see Obama 2 more times after Denver.

Taylor Lucas, 7, of Denver holds a flag while waiting in line to see Sen. Barack Obama speak at Invesco Field at Mile High in Denver on Thursday.

I have so many more stories about some of the fabulous people that I met but you will just have to talk to me in person about them some time.
I promise that there is more to come from Fall semester, including my adventures in sports and portraits. Either way I promise that I will do better next semester.

Rainbows

Britt and I went to coffee on Sunday and on the way we saw the most perfect rainbow. It was coming out of KFC (yes ryan made jokes about their golden chicken breading) and going into the high school parking lot. Thankfully I have been carrying my new camera bag like a purse because i am a dork and I had my camera on me. I think that it was a sign... sometimes it is good to be home even if I am exhausted and totally stressed out...at least sometimes there are rainbows.

Goodbye Summer

Its been a long summer filled with lots of work, but overall i think that it was good. I wish that I would have done more (which would have meant sleeping and sitting around alot less) I have so much stuff to do before Colorado and very little time to do it in. Oh how time flies... I wish that I could get some of it back.
(yes i know that this pic is super grainy but i like it so there)

Rock for a Cause

I shot rock for a cause about a week ago and I feel like I've been holding onto these photos forever, the article got pushed back like 3 times...crazy. The article was about a new class for managing and promoting rock bands and the students had to organize a show for charity which i think is really cool. I want to take the class myself.

Anyway. This is was happy accident. I wish that I could get light like this when I try but unfortunately i can only get it when i mess up... go figure. I should really work on that. This is the lead singer of a Lansing band Know Lyfe, Alfonso Civile. They weren't half bad, Ryan would have really like them.



This one isn't very good but i thought that it was cool anyway. Sometimes I just get bored at photo shoots and take pictures of things that I like but i know will never end up in the paper.



I went to the fair today... more to come.

Crayfish

Today I met people that are probably going to need a tetanus shot in the near future. However, they were pretty cool, their family was visiting Michigan for the first time from Mexico and they were all really nice, which i appreciate. Oh feature, how you toy with my emotions.



Kevin Wille, 15, of East Lansing stands in the Red Cedar River on Thursday while his uncle Juan Martinez holds up a crayfish that Wille caught in the river. Martinez said that in Mexico they eat crayfish with a little lemon and salt.

Trash Can Style

Despite my recent plague, I shot SN Style on Sunday and it was actually a lot of fun. I think that maybe I should complain as much as I did for this assignment for all of my assignments because the ones that I dread often turn out pretty alright. This photo didn't show off enough of his outfit but anyone that is willing to climb into a trash can for me is definitely alright in my book.


Journalism senior Zach McCune says that his clothing reflects his personality because of its exuberance. He bought his entire outfit at Volunteers of America, except for his shoes which he bought at Scavenger Hunt on Grand River Ave.

Independence Day

I finished my living city last night, it’s not the best but I worked really hard on it so you should check it out. The other day I started to add up the amount of time that one spends on a living city that hardly anyone watches and it made me feel a tiny bit discouraged. Shooting time alone was over 24 hours I think and it doesn’t help that it takes me forever to edit. Its worth it somehow though but I don’t want to think about it any more.
The moral is that now I finally have time to blog about the vacation weekend. Ryan and I went up north for his birthday. I love up north… I think it is such a uniquely Michigan thing. I don’t think that people in other states have an area that covers half the state and still qualifies as a single place. I think that I will have to do a survey.
On the drive up I was looking out the window, smushing my head against the window to try to see the sky (Ryan needs a moonroof) and I realized a very silly thing about myself… I forgot how many stars there were. You can see so many of them, thousands in a single glance. When you go up north you can always see the stars, it’s one of my favorite things. It makes me want to drive way up north to the top of the U.P., park the car, and get out and just lay down and look at the stars for hours. The only things that are stopping me are ridiculous gas prices, lack of time, and my fear of crazed woodsmen, serial killers and that whole “no one can hear you scream thing”. Maybe one day… after I buy a tazer.

Ryan tried to light his little sister on fire after blowing out his birthday candles... he is a little frightening sometimes.




I also discovered that I really like boats. This is Harbor Springs before the fireworks. Across the bay is Petoskey and those houses in the middle are all owned by insanely rich people. One of them belongs to the Kodak family.


This is the barge that they shot the fireworks off from. I think that it would be so cool to be able to hang out on it while they were shooting them off. I thought that the light was pretty too.


Barge in action.


I think that fireworks are almost as pretty as the stars.

My Love/Hate Relationship with Feature

This isn't the best of my pictures but I really like it and there wasn't enough face for the paper so I thought that I would subject you all to it.




First year human medicine students Madonna Lee, left, and Amrik Singh sit on the dock and dip their feet into the Red Cedar River by the canoe livery on Thursday. They said that they were out enjoying the weather.

Grandparents University

Lia Baldori,9, of Okemos places her hand in Tania Etter's,7, of Flint while dancing a traditional Israeli folk dance called "Nigun Atik", translated Ancient Melody, on Wednesday. The Israeli folk dancing class was a part of MSU Grandparents University held June 25 through June 27.

Sheep

Kaleb Bickel of Howell pulls on his sheep's neck to get it into showing position at the B & B Sheep Show at the MSU Pavilion on Sunday. The Bickel family has been raising sheep for five years and this is the second time they have competed at MSU.

Stormy Weather

I love storms except when my power goes out for 10 hours.

First Blog Post

Sam made me create a blog so here is my first post to see how it works. Welcome to how i will be spending my time this summer.