The Jewelry Hanger

I took a couple different shots of this things from different angles. I'll post them gradually, interspersed with other pictures. Let me know which one(s) you like best*!

*That goes for the rest of my pics too, which ones are your favorites? Put the link to it in the comments. =)

Perspective

Tree bark has such an awesome texture!

Someday, I want to take one of those really awesome pictures like you see in magazines where the person is in the woods and looking up and all the trees are leaning in towards the center of the picture.

That was a really long sentence. I apologize.

It's kind of cool how when you're really close up to something, you can't tell what it might be but when you zoom out a little bit, you're suddenly like "oh duh, it's an Oreo cookie dunked in milk!"

(That actually happened today... one of my photographer friends posted a really-super-close-up picture of an Oreo on Facebook, and my mom and I thought it was mud... my seven year-old brother took one look at it and said IT'S AN OREO COOKIE MOM. I was kind of ashamed of myself...)

Anybody seen the movie Soul Surfer? The youth leader (Carrie Underwood) talks about this at one point, and although it was a rather cheesy part of the movie (I thought so anyway), it does have some truth to it. Sometimes you need to take a step back from a bad situation so you can find the good in the whole picture. Get some perspective.

I hope that made a smidgeon of sense to some people.
Please feel free to leave your thoughts/questions in the comments.

Have an awesome day everyone!

Christmas Berries!!

Okay, I don't usually use punctuation in my titles, but I did this time. Why? Because CHRISTMAS!!! I started listening to Christmas music back in the middle of October. I get so overly enthusiastic about things... 'tswhat makes me a nerd, I guess! haha

Speaking of nerds, John Green has become my all time favorite nerd. If you don't know who he is, you need to know who he is. Go look him up. Or read The Fault in Our Stars. WHICH THEY'RE MAKING INTO A MOVIE!! AAAHHHHH

Yeah, see? Over-enthusiastic.

But back to Christmas. I like to start getting into the 'Christmas Spirit' before everyone else does. Not entirely sure why, I just do. Maybe it's because it seems so much more personal to me when I can snuggle up with a blanket and hot cocoa before Christmas sales commercials start showing up everywhere? Or maybe it's just the nostalgia when my dad finally starts our pellet stove, the noise it makes sends me back to past winters and Christmases.

Whatever it is, I love Christmas. But my favorite things about Christmas? hmmm...

1)Family and Friends and companionship in general
2)Food, I mean, who doesn't love food? If you don't love food, you have a problem.
3)Hot Cocoa (or chocolate, whichever you prefer)
4)Books and stuffed animals
5)My family's noisy pellet stove that my mom complains about but I love because it's noisy and I can't handle silence.

I could add way more, but that number is divisible by five, so I'll stop there. EXCEPT to add my top two favorite things:

1)It's the time we celebrate the coming of Jesus Christ which has profound meaning to, well, everything. (note how I didn't say it's Jesus' birthday... cuz it wasn't actually his birthday...)
2)CHRISTMAS MUSIC!!!

Merry Early Christmas everyone!

Adventures in Photography

Fall is most definitely my favorite time of year. Thank you God, for fall colors and friends who let me borrow expensive cameras. =D

Tree Bark

Another Canon 60D picture. =D I love having control over exactly where the lens is focusing...

Fall and Friends and Colleges

I recently had the opportunity to play around with a Canon 60D, which was AWESOME. (I'll explain the circumstances in a minute.) Seriously, I kinda want one... Oh well. Maybe someday. I was able to take somewhere around 20 pictures with it, so I'll post some here over the next couple days.

As to the circumstances of how such an amazing piece of machinery fell into my hands, I went on my FIRST COLLEGE VISIT. This just got real, folks.

I went to visit Valley Forge Christian College, which happens to be the school my best friend (EVER) goes to. (Hi, MRJ!) The event was called Breakaway (no idea why, though), a 24 hour stay on campus. I got to stay with MRJ overnight and visit a few of her classes the next day. I went to some by myself though. Which was incredibly nerve-wracking to this particular introvert. But I did enjoy it, all the same. :)

One of the classes I sat in on was Intro to Video Production, which I found very interesting. The class was working on group projects, so the professor mostly focused on answering Breakaway-er's questions about the Digital Media Studies program. He explained that there were several different branches of the studies program, one of them being Photography. =D He asked who might be interested in what majors, but when he got to Photography I was the only one who raised my hand... *awkward*. So much for blending in in my little corner at the back of the room... haha.

Anyways, after classes were done MRJ and I headed back to her dorm so she could pack (and spend the weekend with us!! =D), but before that... we headed to the Dig. Media Center and rented a Canon 60D for an hour.

!!!!

While she packed some things to take to my house, I ran around campus like a crazy person taking pictures of anything and everything. I had a very limited amount of time though, since mom was itching to leave (she had things to do for co-op classes on Monday), and we had to get the pictures off of the camera and the camera back to where it belonged.

I have yet to schedule more college visits, but I am planning on visiting more. Milligan College, Taylor University, and John Brown University are pretty high on the list. I'm mainly looking for a school that offers both a good science and art program so I can have a good range of majors to choose from. For that reason, I'm not really considering Valley Forge as a serious option, because they don't really have any science majors (like chem) that I'd be interested in. It's mostly a digital media school, from what I observed.

Anyway.

I have college on the brain.

Scary thoughts.

AP Drawing Woes

Someone help me. I'm seriously beginning to think that this art class is going to bring about my early demise...

Anyway, this is an unfinished prep sketch I did for a project I'm still working on, on top of another seven prep sketches that are due tonight by midnight.

Yeah.

Someone shoot me now.

Seriously, what was I thinking?

On a slightly different note, I wish I had a British accent. Life would be so much more interesting.

Spotlight

Football Season

It's that time of year again! Personally, I can't understand why grown men will tackle each other over a piece of inflated animal skin... and further why other grown men will sit and watch them.

Last Bits of Summer

August is here! And so the Autumn harvest begins, starting with peaches and sour baking apples. Soon pumpkins will be ripening, trees will be changing, corn mazes opening, and hayrides beginning. I love this time of the year, though I enjoy Spring even more.

Apologies

Sorry. I haven't been able to post anything all summer, because my camera was dead. =P Apparently the battery was a cheap knock-off brand, and we needed a real Canon battery, so I finally got one a couple weeks ago. But then I didn't have anything to take pictures of. Until recently. So hopefully this makes up for everything. I'm going to be taking an AP art class online starting next Monday, so expect to be seeing some artwork in the near future. =)

Light and Trees

Trees need light to grow. So do humans, but not necessarily in the same way.

Spring

I think it's here??

Dew Drops and Sunshine

I think Spring might finally be here. :)

Blue and Yellow

We were sittin', we were sittin' in the Strawberry swing,

Every moment was so precious.

~Strawberry Swing, by Coldplay

My, What big Teeth You Have

An American Alligator in the Jungle Gardens, Sarasota, Florida.

Ruins of an Ancient Land

Okay just kidding, it's the ruins of a sugar plantation in Florida.

Fluffy Flamingoes

I Wish I had a Creative Title, but I'm Listening to Beecake...

I was going to re-title this "Sunset in Paradise," but I think Beecake is awesome enough to stay.

Adventures: Part 2

February 17th, Sunday 2013

Well, we've had several more adventures today, and we're finally here!

This morning we got up, checked out, and were on the road by 8:30. In about a half-hour we crossed the Georgia-Florida state line. After driving for a couple of hours, we happened upon a state-park thing that we could drive around. It was the remains of a sugar plantation, Bulowville. After that, we drove into Daytona to take a look at the beach, since it happened to be along out route. We drove past the raceway next, (boogedy boogedy boogedy, let's go racin' boys! Go #48!) and we could here Tony Stuart running his qualification laps. We stopped afterwards for lunch at Subway, but we were able to get in and out without any emergency personnel showing up.

February 18th, Monday 2013

We got to take a tour of an orange orchard today. Florida grows oranges like Pennsylvania grows corn! Blue skies, cool breezes, and orange groves make me happy. :)

 

 

Adventures: Part 1

February 16, Saturday 2013

Wow. The past two days have been quite the adventure. Our family is currently hunkered down for the night at a Quality Inn somewhere in Georgia. Instead of leaving this morning, as previously planned, we left Friday evening and drove through the night. 

We started driving around 11:00 PM, and stopped at 2:00 AM. Then we drove until 5:30 and then stopped again. And we've been on the road pretty much from then until now. So basically, I've been in a car for... a little less than 12 hours. We're all pretty exhausted, but there have been some pretty cool (and scary) adventures along the way:

1. Stopping in a gas station somewhere in Virginia and hearing a Christian radio station playing

2. Going to Cracker Barrel for breakfast in North Carolina, and being greeted and waited on by sweet Southern-accented ladies.

3. Stopping at the EdVenture hands-on museum in South Carolina to look around and get some lunch. Most of the exhibits were for younger children, but I managed to sneak in and spell out the names of some elements on a magnetic letter board. And there was a huge (slightly creepy) statue of a kid holding a dragonfly that kids could climb around inside. It was set up like a series of slides, tubes, and ladders all forming various systems of the body. You could even hear the 500 lb heart pumping! 

4. Getting supper at Subway in Georgia. That was the most recent and most major adventure so far. Whenever our family goes anywhere to eat, it takes about fifteen minutes to figure out what to order, and at places like Subway, it takes even longer to actually order.

Finally, after joking around about the above (awkward) situation with the nice older couple waiting behind us, everyone was sitting down ready to divy up the spoils. Er, subs. We had to go through the ritual of finding everyone's sub, and then getting napkins and water. At last the chaos died down and everyone was happily eating. Other customers came and went.

Suddenly, just as everyone had about finished their meal, the young man who had served us popped around the corner and shouted something unintelligible. Dad understood him (thank goodness!). He had asked someone to call 911. What followed was both awkward and scary.

Dad called 911 as requested, and told them that one of the employees was having a seizure. (There were only two people working in the restaurant at the time, the young man and a senior employee). That was the scary bit. Then dad was asked to give a location to the dispatcher, so they could send an ambulance. That was the awkward bit. We had no idea where we were! Thankfully the young man was able to give us an address, and the paramedics were dispatched.

While waiting, dad was debating what to do. He didn't take long to decide, though, and went to help. The girl had collapsed against the door to the back, so dad had to jump the counter.

In no time, the paramedics were there and dad helped show them in to where the woman was. They were eventually able to get her moved so that a stretcher could be wheeled in. 

She was okay, but dad told us that she had had two more seizures after he had gone back to help.

That was quite an adventure.

There were a few other minor adventures that were interesting during the car ride.

5. Shortly after we crossed the South Carolina/Georgia border, a rainbow came out. It wasn't a weak one that you had to really look for either. It was bright and bold, and you could see both ends.

6. Seeing trees covered with Spanish Moss. 

Tomorrow the adventure continues at 7:30 AM. I'd better get some sleep.

Spanish Moss

It was everywhere down there! It was really cool though. It made the trees look like giant dust-bunnies.

Hello, Blue Skies

Finally crossed the border after traveling for two days. Look at that sky!

Sunny Florida

Taken at Lido Beach, in south western Florida. This is an example of  a happy accident. As I was taking a picture of the leaf, the wave washed in and this^ happened. :) Photography is all about being in the right place at the right time, with God's guidance. Over the next few days, I'll explain more about what I was doing in the Sunshine State, and maybe even add a few entries from my journal about my adventures.

Life in Death

Winter's Chill

"When Aslan bears his teeth,

Winter meets its death

And when he shakes his mane,

We shall have spring again."  

~The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe

After the Frost Leaves

Water droplets on my window glisten in the sunlight, like so many crystal rainbows.

Life

Life is tangled. Life is blurry. Life has weird little blobs of who-knows-what hanging on to the edges. But you know what? Life is good.

(FYI this is a tree in the woods down behind my house. :D)

Work in Progress

This is an example of my art studio/room/music studio. It's also an example of my life. I'm just a work in progress, and I'm still a mess to look at. There's still plenty of room for improvement.

Christmas Stockings

Old Barns

In The Bleak Midwinter

More frost. :)

A Mossy Trunk

Hidden Beauty

Beauty can be hidden in the most obvious places. You just have to start looking.

The Delicacy of Nature

I love frost. It demonstrates the intricacy, thoughtfulness, and originality the Creator put into His creation. :)

Winter's Light

The winter may be heartless, but it has not won out. There is still a spot of sunshine seen by the hopeful.

Happy Accident

I actually kinda didn't mean for this picture to turn out the way it did, but... It's actually kinda cool, if I do say so myself. :)

"Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep." ~Scott Adams

Contrast

Light and Dark

As Christians, we are called to be shining lights in a dark and desperate world. Is your light burning bright for God?

Treble Clef

From the Inside Out

I'm looking at life from the inside out. The world is comfortable from here, but comfort is not why I'm on the earth. Bringing glory to my Jesus is not comfortable. I have to learn to step outside my comfort zone and become what God wants me to be.

Lasair

I finally named my violin! 'Lasair' means 'Flame' in Irish Gaelic.

I like to think of music as a flame that God created to run through our lives, adding light, color, and passion for what we love. 

Out of Focus

Sometimes we just have to realize that even blurry images of life hold beautiful secrets.

Don't Just Look

 

 "The question is not what you look at but what you see." ~Henry David Thoreau

In this composition, I saw a mix of textures. I saw a mix of colors. What I saw was visually pleasing. 

What I was looking at was sticks, moss, an old rope, and a scarf that someone had left lay out in the rain. (ew). Probably not so pleasing. But it all depends on what you see.

As an artist, I try to teach people how to see the world differently. In doing so, I have to teach myself to find a new perspective.

Christmas Plastic

The Beauty of Snow and Old Farm Equipment

Happy New Year!

I got a new camera for Christmas! My old one was starting to act really wacky--it would hardly turn on. :( The new one is awesome though! I'm hoping to take more pictures and do more with my blog this year. We'll take it one day at a time.