Jan 31st

Today is the last day of Jan... I think that means the year is officially underway. I could be wrong though since I also thought there was supposed to be snow on the ground... :)  Either way though, I'm happy for the sunshine, it puts me in a great mood; which is a good thing, because sometimes in the winter I probably seem like this turtle.  "are you seriously going to take my picture? buzz off or I'll bite you."  
I wouldn't be to happy about winter if I had to sit outside under a leafless bush either though, so I'll cut him some slack.

Jan 30th

I know I'm kind of cheating by posting two photos of the day... but once again, I make the rules around here.  (ya hear that cold? go away!) ... Anyways, this is our pheasant, he lives in some trees behind our backyard and visits the house once in a while. Usually he's pretty shy, but with the glass of the basement window between us he let me get really close, like... 6 or 7ft away!  He's a beautiful bird up close, as you can probably tell.  The second photo I was just proud of because he's moving and I did a fair job of panning with him... well, enjoy Sat. everyone! 

Jan 29th

Okay, i'm really sick today, so I'm not going to talk about my picture that much. But be proud, it was actually taken today. :)  We have all kinds of treasures that are out there, it almost reminded me of springtime because that's when all these treasures are usually uncovered... 

Jan 28th

I considered simply posting this without any text because I really just want to go lay down... in the end I obviously decided to write something, so here it goes.  Perhaps my thought of not writing was from my photography class discussion today, while analyzing a French photography, Sophie Calle, we discussed the necessity of text with a photo.  In the end I think we decided that text is necessary but why is that with photography?  If you think of any great piece of art... Leonardo, Michelangelo, or Raphael... no text accompanies those or for the most part any other painting or sculpture or anything really, except photography.  I'm not sure what the class decided but my personal conclusion was that a photograph can stand alone, and people will still appreciate it and see it as art, but they will not see what the artist was trying to say with the work. Instead, in the absence of explanation. the viewer will create his own interpretation and meaning based on their own life experience.  

Many of my photos aren't really meant to have a ton of meaning I guess... I enjoy capturing beauty and delving into creativity, but once in a while I get a picture that strikes a cord. Those are my favorite ones. 

FYI

Hey everyone, as you may have noticed, someone has been having too much fun with customizing his blog... so, let me explain the new additions.  first off there is these neat little boxes that you can just click on as many as you want without taking the time to comment. Though it really doesn't take long to comment, so you should anyways. :)  Second we have this nifty little counter which I'm nervous about because I might just see it go up by one every time I log on... I'll probably cry if that happens, and then make a post about disappointments.  So... come by often, just for the heck of so I don't feel sad.  :)  
I guess thats all, I'll leave them up for a few posts and see what I think... till then though, what do you guys think?  Do you like them, or should I just leave my blog Plain-Jane and about the pictures?  

Photo of the Day Jan 27th

This was actually taken yesterday...  but thats okay, it's my blog, so I guess I can make up the  rules right? So... I'll try not to say too much about each picture, but what I like most about this one is how the focus and the light on the hand draw the eye... with just one finger on the keys I think it's fair to say he's a beginner, but aren't we all in this game of life?

Picture of the Day Jan 26th

Alright... So while I've been doing this project for my photography class, I've had to carry around my camera a lot (surprise, surprise). But I've come to realize that you look at things differently if you have a camera... whether or not its out, I find I'm even more likely to see things I wish I could take a picture of... So after many deep and profound brain things inside my head, I've decided I'm going to take my camera everywhere I go and take at least one picture everyday, and you lucky folks get to see them... everyday. :)  I'll keep up my other posts as well when I have the time to take a trip, as well as my senses posts... So here is day one's picture.

Reflection

Since it was Sunday when I started this I thought I'd post a little post about reflection... Sunday's that I have the opportunity to go to a friends mission farewell always put me into a more reflective mood than usual. Even though I didn't know Robert White that well his farewell was no exception.  One thing he said stuck out to me clearly because its a way that I try hard to live my life.  He was talking about the power of the priesthood and said something about how it really makes you take a look at your life and see how you're doing.  I try to do that as often as I can by writing in my journal, thinking about it, and talking about where I'm headed in life... but its a unique opportunity we have to do that. No other life on this planet can look back at itself and ask, How have I changed, or Where am I going?  Just us...  So I encourage us all to take that chance, the picture above reminds me of that chance we have because there's tons of opportunities to look off to the side and gauge yourself.

Its kind of funny that a picture with just slightly point of view doesn't have the same possible meaning... it wouldn't make much sense from the side of the road... but I do love the color and the focus in this picture. The way the pebbles each stand out on their own makes me happy, so do the parallel lines of the road...   anyways, that's all I really had to say about those pictures, but I thought they were worth putting up.  :)

  

Touch

I've come up with a briliant plan! I'm going to do a series of posts all about the human senses, taste, touch, smell, sight, and sound.  This is the first... Touch. At its simplest, the feeling of touch happens when a sensory neuron is triggered by some stimulus and sends information to the brain which interprets the feeling for us. Eileen could probably tell us all about it. ;) The stimulus can be anything really but I'm going to look at texture. Texture.... what does something feel like? the amazing thing about the English language is that there is a gigatrillion ways to answer this question... The first picture feels soft to me, there isn't much contrast, it's white and blown out, all on purpose. It looks like something I could brush my cheek with or slide against the palm of my hand.

The picture of the paint peeling feels fragile to me. It feels weathered, whatever that feels like.
Like butter spread over too much bread. :)  (Name the movie and you can download a picture for free! Actually anyone can download any for free... so go ahead if you want. :) )  I think what I like most is the red color. That reminds me of a time I was in the honors reading room and some grown-ups came in, arguing that the new tables didn't match the old red color.  The old man was like, "Of course they don't, these are new, and that old red only comes from sitting in the sun and aging"  Some things you can only get by waiting. 

 

 These rocks are pretty much the exact opposite of the first picture, there's no way I'd be brushing these on my cheek! :)  They definitely have texture though, in fact it's full of tons of different textures. Each rock has its very own color, shape, and texture... each is unique no matter how similar they might seem at first glance.  
I like this yellow picture because it feels yellow.  I guess colors don't really "feel" like anything, at least there would be no way to distinguish them using touch alone... but when you add the human element and emotion, colors can totally change how something feels... don't you think?
All in all, I'm pretty thankful for touch, if one of the reasons we were put on Earth is so we can experience being human, I can't imagine doing it without touch. Can you imagine living life as if you were numb...? like right after the dentist! There is way too many things to touch! like feathers, rocks, hands, water, cookie dough... everything.

Fun Stuff... aka: Photoshop Gimmicks :)

One the one hand, I am really proud of the original picture (sorry, the plane isn't real)... I actually took the picture solely because it looked like a tourist shot i just had to take to get out of my system... So I took it and walked on... but wow! look at the dynamic range! usually you have to take two or three pictures and put them together to get this... anyways... Usually I'm not a big fan of photoshop tricks, sure they are fun, and they look cool so its a great way to show off... but they're so fake!  But photoshop is my favorite toy, so I do like playing with it. :)
So yea, I added the plane later, it was lots of fun and took like... five minutes...

 

These two I actually really like even though they're fake... the first was from the trip I took with Eileen and the original, black and white, and color, were pretty lame... put together they are kind of fun and even seem to tell a little bit of a story.  The second picture is kind of fun as well... its just kind of unexpected I guess...  and of course, last but not least; Photoshop has lots of filters.  This particular filter turns your picture into a fresco painting... 
Anyways, moral of the post, Alex gets bored. ;)  but more importantly; if you have never played with the Photoshop filters or brushes its time to try it out.  If you just put a few pictures on a flash drive you can head over to the BYU library and use the multimedia labs Photoshop to your hearts content.  :)  Happy Gimmicking! :) 

Help Wanted Ad

Hey everybody!  First off, I'm sorry there is no new pictures... I'm a slacker... I'm sure you're all so bummed... But on the bright side, you can all help me take some pictures by being my next subject!  Interested?  Here's the thing, for my cultural values photography class we are doing a photo essay based on "small trades". My assignment is to create an essay using only pictures that says something about "small trades"... So, I'm thinking that I want to say something about the "tools" that we use... like for me I would take a picture of me with my camera... or a spatula if I were photographing a chef... So, for all of you who have jobs, feel free to volunteer your services... :) Just let me know if you'd like to help!  Otherwise I suppose I can just hunt you all down at work... its not like you could run away... :)  mhahahaha... Hope to see you soon! :)  

Hope

So... Sadly, I have not been able to get out to take pictures yet this weekend... (or at least haven't, "unable to" might be a slight exaggeration)  However, I was looking through old pictures, and I came across these fall pictures...  its kind of fun to look back; at the the time, I had no idea really why I wanted to go take pictures, in retrospect, I could probably say I was running away from a few things. It was nice to be able to drive up a canyon and enjoy nature, away from everybody else. I probably figured that since I had a camera I should use it... and then I fell in love with it, and it turned into more than just an escape; it became a hobby, and then a passion.  

 

Its fun to see how I experimented... I shot a lot of pictures for yearbook, but that's a totally different kind of photography and doesn't really (to me) have anything to do with expressing yourself. In my high school photography class, it was always hard to experiment because we were using film... But when I could run away, I could pretty much try whatever I wanted, and if it didn't work, that was okay, but I loved that I could try.

I do love black and white, but this time of year, (especially with this awful inversion) everything seems black and white... So I thought I'd post a few things with some happy colors. :)   I love the picture above for its strong foreground, but even the background is kind of fun to look at; anybody want to count how many leaves you can see in the background?  Whoever gets the right number gets a prize! :)

I think this last picture is one of my favorites from fall... there is so much texture, especially if you click on it (hint, hint...)  the rock and the leaf both, and I love the shadows playing in the background...  most of all I guess it just has a cool perspective.  So, keep smiling everyone, and enjoy the colors that are still around! :)

Embodiment of Black & White

As you may have noticed... There have been like... 4 posts today. :)  Kind of because I'm bored, but mostly because I am super, super excited about this post... I saved the best pictures (in my opinion) from my lucky trip for last. Of all the pictures i took, this picture is like... the crowing jewel, my Arc de' Triumph! (sorry Professor, I'm not a French major. :) )   But anyways, I just Love the fine art feel that this photo has to it, its all about the lines, the texture, I love the rebar ridges. Notice how both those corners have dark in them, its a perfect vertical line across the page...  the three different bars form a lot of depth even though there is on real focus... in fact, that was kind of what i was going for in these photos, I wanted lines, and I wanted focus, but by accident I got this look while correcting the exposure in photoshop and loved it... 

Anyways, whereas the first picture is all about lines, and shadows... the second picture is really all about texture, when I look at it I can practically feel the cold rebar... Also, even though it is slightly blown out (maybe a lot) in the top corner, I think it clashes really well with the dark corner opposite it.  As a side note, I loved the color and the black & white versions of these photos... but the black & white fit my fine art feel, and shows of the texture. However, I've uploaded the color versions to my album in Picasa, so if you just click on my little slideshow, you can dig them all up. :)  

I love this picture for all of the reasons stated above, as well as its totally unique line that my eye follows as it goes down... I especially like Eileen's interpretation of this one. Eileen compared this rod to life, the way only a tiny part of it is in focus; sometimes we can't really see the big picture, its blurry ahead of us, and we can't quite see how the past relates at the moment... in the end it all makes sense, and if I can add just a little to that, maybe its a good thing we can't see the whole picture, because if we could, we'd see how bent, and spiraling our road is, and the jagged rocks at the bottom...  :)

The last two are fun as well, they fit right in with the others... So, what does everyone like or dislike about these?  Do you like the color or black & white?  I expect comments now, because thanks to great advertising agents and caring acquaintances.. I officially have 18 followers.. :)  

Reaching for Storms

It is entirely possible that I spend way too much time down in the depths of the library reading fine-art photography magazines... but if I do say so myself, I think I captured that feel with these photos. I'm so excited about these... They totally tell a story in my mind... out of this pile of rubble these viper-like wires are all that survived, reaching to the sky... I was so proud of the bell-shaped histogram too... and the strong diagonal line... if I had to change anything, it might be the sky... its not totally boring... but I think it could be more exciting, I'll probably go back and see if it is later...
Anyways, I'm curious what everybody thinks about these ones, they are different for sure, its not just the pretty nature shots I usually take, but this is the photography that I love to look at as an artist. But what does everybody else think? And which is your favorite?

Simple Beauty, Bokeh

 

It was a beautiful sunrise Eileen and I got to see that day, it didn't last very long, but for a minute or two the world was painted with gold. Like I said, it didn't last very long, but it lasted long enough for me to capture these beautifully back-lit grasses. I think what I like most about these two pictures is how simple they are. Beauty can be very simple, just some light behind a piece of grass and a blurred background... speaking of blur, I learned a new word in my photography class.  "Bokeh" its Japanese for blur, I guess photographers use the term to describe how pretty a certain blur is... like this, "dude! that snapshots got great bokeh!"   hahaha... :)  

I think this photo has great Bokeh. :)  (thats my new favorite word.)  When I take pictures early, I have a little remote so I don't have to touch the camera when I take the picture (otherwise I get bad bokeh. :)  anyways, I think I actually pressed the button while I was walking, and this is the picture, but I really like it.... call it serendipitous I guess...

  

Living Water

Water is hands down the most common substance on planet earth, which turns out to be a really wonderful thing, since 70% of our body is water, our kidneys filter almost 400 gallons/day, and 40 trillion gallons of water are carried across the united states each day, 40% of which will fall as precipitation the next day...  simply put, water is very much a necessity to human life, yet "Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: “But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life” (John 4:13–14). 

As I've mentioned before, one my of favorite subjects is the beauty of the world that God has given to us, I'm a big fan of trying to see "Christ" in the everyday world we live in. It's fairly easy to see Christ in water, he way it gives us life, eases our pain and thirst, and gives wherever it goes. Water has always been one of my favorite subjects; rivers, lakes, waves, rain...  (its a good thing my camera is supposedly water-proof. ;) )  But I'd never really photographed ice before... how can you help it when you run into ice that has such cool shapes as this though!  and the colors!  I was pretty excited...  I love the rubble and debris scene for its feel, like a mess, but still so solid and clean...  To me the snow reminds me of life (haha, doesn't everything?)  but for all I knew, this crack reached all the way across the lake, I only photographed a tiny portion of it, similar to this life in comparison to the eternities.  The last picture I love for its plane of focus, its a great angle, the ice is sharp right where i wanted it to be, and the faded blue color is totally unique!  

Reflection

There's a lot that I like about this picture, most of all I have to wonder why in the world the shed is in the pond... :)  Was the pond an unexpected addition later on? I also really wonder why the ladder is in the water; just in case someone falls in and needs a way out I guess.

I love looking at reflections, I love the symmetry, repetition, and the train of personal thought that inevitably follows. However, I'm not a big fan of perfect symmetry, I really like it where there is something on one side or the other that breaks it up and adds an extra subject to the picture.  The difference in this reflection is pretty subtle, but still profound in my opinion. I like the ice and flora growing in the middle, that separates them, but last time I checked,trees were supposed to grow up. :)  Like this. 

Cool huh!?  Although not exactly true to life, this version does seem to have a bit more story to it... :)  like how life is kind of blurry and we don't get it until we die. Then after we're buried it's mostly the same, but so much clearer... haha, I guess the same story would work up above with a more uplifting point of view, as we climb the ladder out of the blurry, messed up world eventually things get clearer... :)  
Thats my take on my photo, any other factions running around out there?  Also, don't be afraid to shoot me list from a few posts ago, I'm still desperate for input about which pictures to use in my admissions portfolio. :)  

Luck?

For me, a lot of my photography has been about being in the right place at the right time... in other words, it helps when you get lucky.  :)  Of course, as my good friend Edna Mode put it "Luck favors the prepared..." Sometimes however, you're driving up Provo Canyon when the sun breaks miles away and immerses the nearest peak in its fire. That's when you pull over in an viewpoint even though there's a big sign saying "Avalanche Zone: No Stopping"  and cross your fingers that highway patrolman doesn't turn around. :)

But being in the right place at the right time doesn't just apply to my photography. I can think of many times when I've been say... running, and happened past an old woman in need of help, or maybe going to the Temple and knowing, without a doubt, that that was were I was supposed to be. Or today, I had a few minutes before meeting Eileen for lunch, so I visited the "Education in Zion" exhibit.  I remember my first time in the exhibit, I was with my new student orientation group, but the Spirit was also present and testified that BYU was were I was supposed to be. Wandering the empty exhibit again, I knew that it wasn't by chance or luck that I was at BYU, it is were I am supposed to be; for whatever reason.  

A mission for my mysterious readers...

Okay... Honestly I have no new pictures to post... however, feel free to watch my nifty slideshow for as long as you want, it has all the images I've ever put up on my blog randomly... 
Speaking of all my images, I need your help.  As I've mentioned, I'll be applying for the college of visual arts at BYU soonish (if they ever post their application...)  I think they start making an application when people start emailing them wondering where it is... :)  anyways, I know that as part of the application I will need a portfolio, 10 of my very best pictures; so, I need ya'll to actually comment!  Or I shall be forced to believe that Breanna is the only one that actually reads this... :)  Here is the information they give me. 
"Submit your best work from high school and college courses, outside work, etc. in digital form only for the freshman review and print work only for the transfer and BFA review. Sequencing, variety, themes, subject choice, black and white versus color, are all less important than the overall feeling or content of your body of work. It is your handling of the subject matter that is the most important criteria in our evaluation, not the subject matter itself. Content...ideas, creativity and originality, are our priority. General design, technique, lighting, and presentation are expected and are also very important, but of a secondary nature to content. Your ability to stand out in a crowd in terms of personal ideas, expression and vision (content) are normally what really separate you, granting you access to the program. We do not need to see drawings, paintings and other creative work. Trust your own feelings with regard to selection, as everyone has their own opinions."
So thats what they tell me, I want everyone to comment suggesting the pictures they feel most tell a story. oh, and forget everything I have said about my pictures, I want the ones you like.
anyways, good luck, thank you everyone, and I wish you all the best of luck with your classes this semester,