(messy games)
day 192
The second day (to me, I missed the first day because of our weekend vacation.) of the day camp, I stayed at base camp to take photos of the messy games. And they definitely were messy. Food flying everywhere, cold water on a cold day, kids eating food off the ground ... (okay, maybe I might have done that maybe possibly I don't know.)
The first game was marshmallow wars, with marshmallows flying everywhere and people running and screaming.
Then there was a giant sling shot. I got to shoot it a couple of times and it really was quite exciting.
This station was called "Play with your Food," and that's probably the best description of it ever. The victims wore shaving cream on their heads while their partners threw cheesy puffs at them. The goal was to be the team to get the most cheesy puffs stuck to the shaving cream, but everyone was having so much fun that they didn't pay attention to the results.
There was also a food eating game where you had to eat pieces of candy as fast as possible, as well as an egg toss.
Then there was my personal favorite, the water gun fight. I snapped a few photos before being asked to join, and since I had been pretty bored the whole day walking around taking photos of other people having fun, I happily obliged. There's a saying that goes kind of like this: No one looks stupid when they're having fun. I had so much fun, I didn't care about what I looked like (I only hoped I had a ton of paint on my face!). Not caring meant maximum fun and I think I had the most fun I've had all summer.
(botanical garden)
day 191
All this week I am taking photos for my church, of our yearly day camp for the neighborhood kids. It's nice to actually get out of the house and explore Alaska while spending zero money and taking photos of people. Today I followed some kids to the botanical garden. The weather was perfect and everything just had a magical feel about it.
Our guide was so excited about the plants. (It reminded me of my brother because he too loves plants and at one point wanted to be a botanist.) He was even taking photos of the plants. Even though he's been through the garden millions of times, it was so sweet to watch him do that and hear him talk about all the things he wants to do with the garden. I'm sure he's seen the plants many times before and yet he still loves to take pictures of them. How can one person be so passionate about something? He really just loves learning. He told us that if he didn't know something, he just had to learn and discover everything about it.
I also made a little photographer friend. Her name was Shelby, I think. I showed her how to take macro shots with her kit lens. I probably won't ever see her after this week and it's so interesting to me how people come into our lives for just a moment and then are gone forever. I wonder how many times I have been just a moment to someone else? I don't ever want to fade from someone's memory, but how can that even be done?
It's amazing to think that humans have their whole lives weighing on their shoulders. I often think of this when I see old people and children, like our guide who was showing the kids the different types of plants. How did he get to be where he was today? What kind of kid was he like? Is this what he wanted to do with his life? And just think of how many days he's lived, how many little smiling and crying moments he's gone through to shape every wrinkle in his face. The same goes for the kids. Just think of everything they are still naive to, their innocence hanging by a thread. I wonder what those kids want to be when they grow up and if they're going to achieve it.
Aaah yes, what a deep blog post. On a lighter note, I received a pretty skirt in the mail today and the letter saying that I passed my AP English exam. Time to party!
I'm taking photos of kids for the rest of this week, so plan on that taking up the majority of the blog. But hey, I love taking photos. At one point today my camera ran out of battery and my mom had to bring me another one, and for the fifteen minutes that I couldn't take photos I felt so useless. Funny to think that three years ago that wouldn't have mattered, but today taking photos means the world to me. I must do my job and capture and preserve memories. I don't know, I just like piecing people together to give them a timeline of their life, so they can see those little moments that lead them to today.
