Meawathon!

     The air was crisp and the sky ablaze with morning light as I drove up to the front of MCA school doors, seven forty-five in the morning on Saturday, the 18th of November. I parked my car and waited for my crew to show up. Today was the Meawathon five-k and I had happily offered to photograph MCA's running group, The Swiftness, as they participated in the run! The morning was cold though, I was in desperate need of hot coffee, and I was using a camera that I borrowed from a friend, of which I wasn't totally comfortable with using. (I knew very well the curse of trying out new recipes with house guests). I also knew that I currently wasn't given any other choice, being that my own machinery was asleep at home, half an hour away.  Slowly but surely members of the team made their presence known at the steps of the school and we trotted down, with cold hands, to the festivities that lay in the heart of Overton Park. 

    It was a cheerful environment, the silent auction and raffle had commenced earlier at seven- thirty, and the sound system set up for announcements  was playing a dandy set of epic music to get everyone in that "running" mood. This varied set soon turned into a perpetual replay of "We Are the Champions" later on during the award ceremony. The Swiftness began their rounds of jumping jacks and stretches which inevitably helped everyone spirit wise And before I knew it, I began to hear excitement from voices that were previously cold and tired. It was time to run! 

    The entire crowd of participants made their way to the starting line and in seconds of the horn blowing,  I was fumbling with the camera and it's foreign triggers and pulleys, trying to keep my cool and pretend to look the part. The running course looped around the park twice and so I had a couple tries to find MCA's star athletes with my lens. And everyone did very well!  To those who ran, I salute: Natalie Schuh, Cris Simmons, Emily Stewart, Nicholous Darmstaedter, George Brooks, and Ashley Homeyer. This group has proved time and time again that exercise and art do mix, and they mix very well. So here is my cry out to MCA...there is always room for more Swift members! 

    The Meawathon is a race dedicated to a feline agency called House of Mews. This agency started in 1994, and throughout the past few years, it has thrived and grown greatly. The house is fully funded non-profit organization that runs off of volunteers and big hearts. This race and the festivities that went with it, was to support what they do; to help protect and care for the feline race! More information can be found at:   http://www.houseofmews.com/ 

Photoshop

     I am not good with computers. I am not a fan of photoshop. I signed up for Digital Foundations, beginning of last semester and dropped it after one day (5 hours) of class. I fearfully fled the scene. I am not good with computers.
    But it was inevitable this semester, and so I signed up again in January. I have survived not because I know what the teacher is saying and doing, but because I can cover things up pretty darn well. My mom would always tell when in college, she passed music theory because she faked it ... well i'm doing the same with this class.  I have found that if I stare really hard at Mr. Zark when he is speaking, and then stare really hard at the projection screen, instead of my own computer, I tend not too look too much like a fool.
I'm not a fan of Photoshop... working with it physically or for it's morals.

    But I do find attraction in intentional photo collaging, or like the good old days, photomontage!!

Paper cuts

     Well instead of heading to the lighting studio this afternoon,like I planned, I decided to work outdoors. It made more sense to take the paper girls to the woods rather than trying to stage everything in the school. . . dirt, time,  too much superficiality..
   I headed outside later than I should have though, and by the time I made it to the park, the light was already fading away. So I left campus a little disappointed. But driving on my way home, I thought, "Why not continue still? I have a plethora of lights that I can always work with!" So I stopped at the local Kroger, and set up a camp next to the stop lights. Slowing down my shutter speed still gave me enough to work with, along and the sun setting gracefully as the cars zoomed on by.

      I was careful not to make eye contact with the drivers. I could feel their gazes heavily on my bent back.

     Ideas are forming! I want to now find lighted advertisements  that I might use as a backdrop for the next photo shoot.

Ideas...

I don't brain storm well. I tend to think really hard without success and then give up. It's only at that moment when I let my mind relax that I seem to spring upon an idea to work on. We are supposed to submit to two paid curated shows for photo class before the semester ends, and I am really struggling with what to work show. I have done quite a bit of experimentation of paper cutouts, but there really is no concept behind my actions or the photos. Why do I take pictures of dress pattern dolls?? The question has been in the back of my mind for quite a few months.
     Then I remembered yesterday of some photos I took during spring break. They played around with the idea of putting odd organic materials, such as sod, into dish-ware. I wanted to make dirt look good enough to eat.

   Well, why not put these fake cut out girls, (the image of the unattainable) in something that is indeed quite real and messy... As if to show the silliness of  "perfection" in advertisements. And hasn't it always been this way? Since the days that photos (photomontage) have been cut up and pieced together, perfection has always been easily viewed but never found. 

So tomorrow, I think I will head to the lighting studio armed and prepared for amazingness.

Stroll in the Woods

I have found myself struggling more than usual the past couple of days. I tend to beat myself up if I don't "feel" like I am pursuing my photography/art passionately or unable to find myself stable and decisive about my life. I do not know what I really what to be... a curse since my youth. Some days I think I have too many dreams, and some days I think I have too many fears. Both worlds push me into a space of uncertainty and confusion.


So I took to the woods this Saturday afternoon to calm my nerves and try to capture some light with the camera.