what lurks in the night

day 293

I can't stay and chat for long, because I'm currently in a giant fort with my friends and we are all watching disney movies. It's been a good friday night.

far off hope

day 292

This is my friend Dane. I had set up a photoshoot in my dorm room and Dane came in and wanted to model so of course I let him. It's so much easier to have people model for me than having myself model, especially with photos like this where I have to manual focus. So if anyone who goes to my college wants to model for me, let me know!

Today was our school's carnival, which was actually just one inflatable ride and a couple games. I stood in line forever to get a henna tattoo that didn't even transfer very well, and Dane got a batman tramp stamp. It was super hilarious! All my other friends were other places so they missed out on the henna goodness. I've been thinking a lot about getting a tattoo and even though I'm terrified of needles, I really want to do it. I'll probably still wait a long time to make sure I actually want it, so never fear people. :)

autumn leaves

day 291

Model is Allie.

It's officially fall. Tomorrow there is a fall festival at our school and all the leaves are changing colors and it makes me so happy because I haven't really experienced a real fall in a while. Alaska has about a week of the trees changing color and then winter rolls around, but here beautifully colored leaves practically cover the entire ground. It's amazing.

hung up to dry

day 290

Today I had only one class (my other was canceled) so I got homework done early, cleaned my room, and caught up on sleep. Now my friends and I was watching Sherlock and I am absolutely hooked.

observations

day 289

I think the thing that frustrates me most about my 365 is that I force myself to take a photo every day and because of that I will take photos that I'm not proud of. And I know I can take better photos. Some photographers do a 365, but it ends up being stretched over longer than a year because they want 365 images and not necessarily 365 diary entries. I'm stuck in that hole of wanting the entries and also wanting the quality images, but the fact of the matter is I won't always get those. And people just have to remind me that it's okay. Tomorrow will be another day.

Other than a photo flop, today has been great. It rained today and it felt awesome. I have a couple tests this week which means we are getting even closer to break, which always makes me happy because I'll be able to see Matt and his family. And then Christmas break when I get to see my family, and then summer and all the adventures it will hold, and the world spins on and on, et cetera. I could go on forever about how awesome life is, but I'm tired and my bed is oh so comfy right now.

parenthesize

day 288

Hey, at least I'm getting more creative with my lazy day photos. Today it rained and I danced around in it because it felt so amazing. I love Oregon rain. I love Oregon. I just love everything right now and I am so happy I am overflowing. I just got the opportunity to travel to Maine or New Hampshire for a flickr photo gathering at the end of this upcoming summer and I am saving up money to go. This world is so big, it's a shame for humans to stay in one place. Plus after spending the day with some of my biggest inspirations, I just have to meet more people and learn their stories and create art with them. That's all I want to do in life: travel and hear people's stories and create art. And I am just so happy I'm able to finally do that.

beyond the folded woods

day 287

For this photo I used a method called freelensing, which I actually do a lot for photos but never have talked about it. It's basically where you take the lens off the camera and shoot with it slightly tilted away at one side. It adds a really nice effect to photos.

Not free-lensed:


Free-lensed:


It's super fun to do, but it does take a bit of getting used to. I've really been thinking a lot about my personal photographic style and I really love the soft feel that freelensing gives. But at the same time, I don't want to be tied down to doing one certain style because so many different types of photography are amazing.

Today was pretty fast paced considering it was our lazy day. My friends and I went to coffee after brunch to do homework, and then we ran back home for about half an hour to wait for Tabatha to come home. While we waited Ivy and I took a walk and she modeled for me. There's a giant wood chip pile chilling beside one of the roads around campus, so of course I had to utilize it for my own selfish photographic purposes. Then when Tabatha came home we all headed out to watch Hotel Transylvania (a seriously precious movie) and then to dinner at a Vietnamese restaurant. And now we are finishing up watching old episodes of Say Yes to the Dress. I seriously love weekends with my friends.

at the crossroads

+ abandoned building



day 286







Today we sleuthed around and discovered an abandoned train station from the 1800s. Nowadays the area around it is used to store construction equipment, but the building itself has remained somewhat intact. I really love exploring old buildings, even though this one wasn't very big. It's so interesting to think that at one point people actually used it, and that no one has bothered to tear it down yet.







Personally, I am glad it and many other abandoned buildings are still standing, because it makes for awesome photo (and cinematic) opportunities. My friend Jenna is working on a film project that involved Ivy dancing, so we headed to the gym for her to warm up and then we followed the ever trusty google maps out to the station. Today was also the first day of hard rain in Oregon. I didn't wear the right shoes and got soaking wet when I stopped caring about putting my rain jacket hood over my head, but it was an awesome day nonetheless.






While we were heading back, Taylor saw some people feeding llamas and chickens and goats and horses, and she made us pull into the random people's driveway to go pet the animals. I can only imagine what Jim (I think that's what his name was) and his little girls thought when they saw four stranger girls running in the rain towards them. But we got to feed all the animals and they even gave us fresh eggs! It was a glorious (and hilarious) end to an awesome day.

speak up

day 285

view here.

Today I woke up to the most beautiful fog, so after fitness class (at 7:40 am ... don't ever take a class that early) I ran to the track field and took this picture. It was definitely outside my comfort zone because there were people walking everywhere and there was me running around in a white dress flipping my hair in front of a camera. But hey, I got a good picture out of it and I was done with my 365 photo before 9 in the morning! The rest of the day was incredibly lazy. My roommate Annette and I have spent the majority of our evening playing nertz with new friends and I think we are going to watch some movies in a little bit. Needless to say, I love college life.

illuminata

day 284

I don't really like this. I know I can do a lot better with my photos but something isn't clicking right and I am making no progress. But hopefully this weekend I can actually schedule 365 photoshoots and get all the ideas that I sketch down in front of a camera.

Other than that, today was great. I got to go to the ceramics lab and work on a plate that I'm making for myself. I really hope it turns out nicely because I actually like the direction it's going. I can't wait to show you guys!

look how they shine for you

day 283





This is my friend Taylor. :) We were going to do a different concept for today, but it ended up being too dark before I finished with the prop, so we opted to try some night photos. I've never really done night shots before and still don't really know if I succeeded, but it was still a fun learning experience.

they say I made the moon

day 282

Hooray finally a conceptual photo again! I've had this idea in my head for at least a year, and finally the ever talented Ben agreed to model for me! Inspired by this song.

It's been a pretty awesome Monday, filled with friends and laughter and happy tears and me thinking over and over how infinitely amazing college is.

sailor's call

day 280

This was actually taken last week, but I've spent four hours editing it and am making it today's 365 photo because it's my project and I can do what I want. :)

I'm slowly editing photos from that weekend and they always bring back fond memories. I can't wait to be able to take more trips like that and hang out with amazing people.

photo dump

day 276



day 277



day 278



day 279

Here are the 365 photos from the past few days. I've been trying to finish homework first before uploading, so the blog has been put on the backburner a bit. I'm thinking of double majoring as well so mentally I am busy trying to figure out how to balance everything. But college is still the greatest thing ever and I love it so much. I hope you guys have a great day!

meadowlark

day 275








I'm glad I have such gorgeous friends who are willing to model for me!

simple math

day 274

Still trying to recover from the awesomeness that was yesterday, so I spent the day sleeping, sitting around, doing homework, and thinking up awesome photo concepts.

awaiting the night

+ Cannon Beach



day 273




The first thing I thought when I woke up this morning was, "Did yesterday really just happen?" I'm still trying to process all that occured. On Friday my friend Ben Holtrop asked me if I wanted to hang out with him and a couple other photographers all day Saturday. Of course I said yes (and might have possibly teared up and jumped around everywhere) because not only was I going to be able to hang out with Ben, but also my friend Jenna, Dominique Berho, Shane Black, and Sarah Ann Loreth! They are all extremely talented people and some of my biggest inspirations when it comes to photography and all around awesomeness.




Ben, Jenna, Dom, and I all drove to Portland to meet up with Shane and Sarah for sushi. After eating delicious food, running to REI, (and Jenna and me getting lost--I mean, going sight seeing), we headed out to the gorgeous Cannon Beach. My pictures of the beach definitely do not do it justice. The smells, the sounds of the waves, the driving wind, the numb toes, and the mist fading the mountains into the sky--well let's just suffice to say that I could have easilly lived there for the rest of my life.



Sarah aka the coolest person in the world.



The super awesome Ben.



We went exploring along the beach and after being dumbfounded by how breathtaking everything was, we got to work taking photos (and by work I mean having the time of our lives). I took pictures, other people took pictures of me, man, I was in heaven. We talked about how photography is so awesome because it really brings people together. If I hadn't have gotten into photography, I would have never even known of these amazing people, much less actually had the opportunity to meet them. I think that's my favorite thing about photography, getting to meet truly incredible people. Just being around them really inspired me to work even harder with my photography and to put forth every single bit of my energy into doing what I love.



Sarah taking a photo of me! (I might have been freaking out just a little bit inside at this point.)



Ben taking a photo of Shane, the ultimate master of landscape photography.




After we watched the sunset (Alaska doesn't have great sunsets so I was totally blown away by all the beautiful colors), we drove a couple miles to a hole-in-the-wall restaurant and ate more yummy food. Then it was time for the two hour drive back to the real world. Gosh, even thinking about everything doesn't make it seem real. I'm sad because I know I'll get off this high soon and get back into the swing of school and real life, but for now I'm going to channel all this excitement and stretch it out for the rest of the 365 project.



Dapper Dominique with his infinite film camera knowledge (also thanks for helping me with my film camera!).



I can't believe that within the first two months of living in Oregon I have been able to hang out with such insanely brilliant people. I can't wait to see what the next four years hold!

When I edit the rest of my photos, I'll make another post for you guys, so stay tuned for that!