you live.you learn

Osama bin Laden was killed last weekend. Just about everyone knows this. I, however, did not know this--that is, until I went down to the second floor that night. I was having one of those quiet nights watching a movie alone in my room when I was spontaneously told to come downstairs and have some cake. My best friend, Katy, lives on the International Living and Learning Community floor so I've had the opportunity to meet a lot of the great people that live there. Last Sunday, it was the birthday of one of the floor members. I came downstairs to find their whole floor in the kitchen, watching the news. They quickly filled me in and continued their discussion of what this means for America, Afghanistan, Obama, and the rest of the world.

This is the reason I love hanging out on the ILLC floor. It truly is a community--a place where people with similar concerns and interests can experience college and life together. I've found that joining clubs is a crucial part of college and LLCs are like clubs on steroids! You're not just meeting with your friends once or twice a week, you're actually living with them. You get to sit and talk about politics, classes, and whatever else interests you until the wee hours of the night; go on retreats, meet guest speakers, do community service...

Plus, the cake tastes pretty good too. :)

spring.time

One downfall to DU is that Spring Quarter lasts until the beginning of June. All of my friends at other schools love to rub the fact that they're all on summer break in my face. But, you know what, it's okay because I am loving the changing of the seasons here at DU. Watching all the different trees bloom (in order to build DU back in 1864, the founder had to agree to plant something like 200 new trees on campus) and smelling the freshly cut grass on my way to class...admittedly, my allergies are not enjoying it as much as I am. :)

DU Swim Meet

On Friday, I was fortunate enough to shoot the DU vs. Air Force vs. UNLV swim/dive meet for the DU newspaper, the Clarion. Guess my portfolio did some good. Here are some of my favorite shots.

Journalism Photography Portfolio

.2011.

Despite the fact that these last 4 months have not been my greatest, in this last week alone, I have remembered what I am blessed to have:

F a m i l y.

Tori is fond of taking solo showers now. Yes, the shots I took were of a naked child in a shower. But the pictures I took are among my favorites I've taken with my new camera because they range from images of purity (a small, innocent child playing in water), to silly shots that remind me how hilarious my sister can be, to ones that feel like deja vu, because they look so strikingly like pictures my mom took of me. 

If Sally Mann can do it, so can I.

F r i e n d s.

I was this close to not being with my best friends on New Years. I was going to let my fear and stubbornness get in the way of being in the company of people I treasure. But as I pack to return to DU tomorrow, I'm reminded of how much I missed these friends and how much every moment I can steal with them nowadays must be cherished.

I have faith and every confidence that the New Year will bring me the same magic that 2010's New Year brought me. I have faith that what everyone says is true: second semester of freshman year is infinitely better than the first. I have faith that I can turn this thing around. 

Because if we don't have family, friends, and faith, what else do we have?

a.xmas.story

The bad news: I am a blog failure.

The good news: I am no longer under the restraints of my FSEM class, so I can do whatever my heart desires with this blog...but it will probably just continue to be a photo blog.

On the off-chance that people are still actually following my blog, I apologize that I am about the worst updater ever. Yes, I have been on break for 5 weeks, having had nothing to do for 3 of those weeks. I am ashamed. BUT a gift was sent from the gods (or Amazon.com) today: a brand new Canon Rebel XS DSLR camera. My adoration for photography is renewed. And on top of that, my whole extended family went up to my grandma's house in Nederland for Christmas dinner. We started out the day with a hike; my stepdad's family owns tons of the surrounding land, complete with an old mine. I got to put my new best friend to use.

This year, there was a mini-crisis with the roast beef. Much dispute was had over what temperature to cook it at and for how long. It was 3 hours before we got to eat, and it was still under-done. Luckily, Aunt Lori saved the day by stir-frying it. Not your typical Christmas dinner, but I guess it's better than having duck at a Chinese restaurant, "A Christmas Story" style.

Sophie, my 7-year old sister who loves to show-off for the camera.

Tori, my 5-year old sister who refuses to take a normal picture.

henri.cartier-bresson

It's hard to imagine what it would be like to experience a life like Henri Cartier-Bresson. What would it be like to be the original photojournalist, covering King Henry VI's coronation and Ghandi's funeral; China's fall to communism and Indonesia's rise from Dutch control; taking portraits of Marilyn Monroe and Martin Luther King Jr? As a journalism major and a bit of a photography nut, photojournalism was a dream job of mine at one point. That profession wouldn't even exist if it weren't for Cartier-Bresson. 

In a sense, I adamantly feel that photojournalism is the greatest style of photography there is. Photojournalists capture real life--no perfect models, no makeup or styling, no special effects or equipment--just them, the subject, and the camera. All those things are able to so easily ruin what a photograph should truly be: a slice of time (real time) frozen forever. With a journalistic approach, it's ethically impossible to elaborate 

a photo, 

life, 

truth.

Henri understood the power of photography, saying that "photography could fix eternity in an instant." I believe this is essentially why he gave it up. Shortly after his divorce from his wife of 30 years, he retired from his photography career and returned to drawing and painting. I think he found life too bleak and photography too honest. In drawing and painting, the artist is able to mould reality any way they desire. In photography, the moment is captured forever, with no way to alter it.

"The simultaneous recognition, in a fraction of a second, of the significance of an event as well as the precise organization of forms which gives that event its proper expression... . In photography, the smallest thing can be a great subject. The little human detail can become a leitmotif."

—Henri Cartier-Bresson