(for study) film friday: beyond

Varanasi, India: "Beyond" from Cale Glendening on Vimeo.

If you don't do anything else this week, please watch this beautiful film about India's holy men. Though I do not identify myself with their religion, there are still many beautiful truths to take from what they believe.

First of all, there is the idea of disregarding consumerism and materialism. Though I myself don't feel it necessary to distance myself from this materialistic world, nor do I believe I am called to do that as an individual, it still is an important idea to not get caught up in all of the rush of technology and products. Not only is it true that new products will quickly become old and the current technology become obsolete, but it is also true that the earth and the natural world has been around for a while and will remain for a while yet. I would rather immerse myself in things that will last longer than things that are fleeting.

And second of all, they continually talk about being a light to the world. There is so much darkness and it does no good to continue to harbor hurtful or selfish concepts. It is so much better to spread joy and kindness to others, everyone, even those who do not deserve it. Especially those who do not deserve it. I want nothing more in life than to be a light to those around me, to spread understanding and comfort and knowledge, and to help those who need it. And really, everyone needs help. We are all broken people in need of companionship and I want to bring that companionship as best I know how.

So I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

(for study) film friday: lightspin

LightSpin Documentary Film from Eric Pare on Vimeo.

I haven't done a film friday in three months, but this video makes me want to bring the feature back. These photographs reminded me immediately of my own experiments with light in dark, though not even close to as amazing as Pare's work. (I can only imagine how emotional and unbelievably exciting it would have been to create this project!)

In my Philosophy of the Arts class, we are constantly debating about art, what makes art art, what it means, and how it affects people. It's one of my favorite classes because I love higher thinking and don't always get to talk about or listen to it, and it's higher thinking about art, no less. A couple days ago we talked about whether photography is art or not, and read one philosopher who was adamant about it not being art. His main argument was that where paintings are all about representation of the general (ie a painting of a woman is seen as a painting of Venus), a photograph is only a photograph of a representation (ie a photograph of a woman is seen as a photograph of a woman representing Venus). Since the photograph depicts a specific woman, and since there is no way for the photographer to generalize her appearance to become the representation, rather than just represent it, then photography is not art.

Of course, he is absolutely wrong, and the entire class agreed, and I think this film is an excellent example of how a photographer is really not limited in the things he can achieve. He is not limited to a specific person or a specific place, or even a specific way of looking at the world (scientifically, we cannot see at night). He is not limited to reality, as the philosopher in question would say that photographers are limited to. Where a painter paints with colors, photographers paint in light.

As my own photography professor would say over and over again, "It's all about the light." And each day I learn more about how that statement is true. I love light. I love studying the way light filters through tree leaves, how rays are formed from the tops of buildings, how even a laptop light can illuminate the face. And I'm fascinated by internal light. Those things that make us content and joyful. The reason for our existence. It really is all about the light.

winter blues

A couple weekends ago, Oregon received several solid inches of snow. School was canceled and laundry baskets, cardboard boxes, anything with a slippery surface to sled down the slightly inclined roads were taken out. It was so funny watching the boys slide down hills while inside our warm apartment! The extent of my snow playing was taking photos, but is that really so surprising? Anyways, I particularly enjoyed this outfit with my new skirt. One day I caved and got it because it was basic and on sale and I could picture myself wearing it with many things. It's funny though, now that I'm too busy to blog outfits on a regular basis, I've been pretty relaxed with my clothing choices. It doesn't help that I have ceramics in the middle of the day three times a week, so I usually opt for pants anyways. Maybe once the yearbook is sent off to the printers I'll have a spare moment to take some outfit photos myself. Wouldn't that be crazy?

I hope you all have a wonderful Monday!

Life Update

Here is a little life update for you all, as I haven't posted too much about my personal life in a while. Things are busy, but good. If it wasn't required for class, I would probably take a blog hiatus due to all the things going on. The biggest thing is our school's yearbook, which is being transformed this year by myself and a team of amazing, creative people. I have been so blessed by getting to work on this project, and with the print deadline coming up very quickly, I am barely swimming above water to get everything done. Contacting businesses and teams, gathering instagram photos, taking photos, interviewing, and writing articles, it has been and will be a hectic couple of weeks! But the wonderful thing is, everyone on our team is very invested and we won't rest (literally. We have scheduled a couple all nighters to work on the book) until it is amazing. If you want to watch a cool video about the yearbook, you should look here.

Another big thing is getting my university's Art and Design Blog underway. It's slowed down a bit due to technicalities in getting it set up, but I am very excited about it. Hand-in-hand with that is a design agency that we are trying to found, but that is still in the pre-production stage.

Then, and I am very excited to announce this, I got an internship! A couple weeks ago I mentioned going for an interview on instagram, but didn't say anything else about it because I wasn't sure I would get it. But I did, so here we are. It's during this school year, for a wedding photographer, and I'll be doing stock photography for him--keywording things, setting up photoshoots, making money, all that jazz. I am very excited for this opportunity and can't wait to start it in the next few weeks!


Other random things in my life:

1. Matt and I celebrated our three year anniversary yesterday, and I love him more every single day.
2. For my photography class, I have to take pictures of strangers, and it's been stretching me in the best way. (Doesn't make it any less terrifying!)
3. Today I got to hold a sugar glider! Now I have to figure out a way to get one for myself.


Other than that, it's the daily grind of schoolwork, photography work, and trying to get a nap in any time I can. But life is good. And I am happy.