finally!

I've been so busy lately, my blogging has been neglected! But this semester has been so much fun, here's a brief synopsis. Mostly in pictures. I'm sad to say though, I have been really bad about pictures this semester :\ Hopefully that will change soon, but there aren't a lot to share...

First, over the long weekend I went to Preston and went snowmobiling with my friend Cody. Sadly, I don't have any pictures of me and Cody together, or even me on a snowmobile! I was pretty bad about taking pictures this weekend, and my little camera was dying so I only got one picture with it (of Cody right after he launched us into a tree :) The rest are from the big camera, which was fun to have but a hassle to dig out.

Anyway, snowmobiling was a blast! I think I could do it every weekend and be alright

all the gang! Cody, Tyler, Terry, Mark, Burt

cody in a tree

it was super foggy on the first day!

cody. being cool.

beautiful views on the second day!

(I had an un-edited copy of this picture, but again, I'm too lazy to load it to photobucket then here. Sorry. Kinda)

Second, in our apartment we play copious amounts of the wii game "just dance." It's consumed our lives! But it's way fun :) I feel like I already put all of the good just dance pictures on my facebook. They're all pretty much the same so you can go check them out there if you feel so inclined :) Sorry, I'm just lazy

Yesterday, my photography lab ended two hours early, so I just sat and talked with my teacher and he gave me almost like a private tutoring session on my cameras! It was seriously great. I learned some really basic things that are already making shooting so much more fun! And my pictures beautiful. I was having lunch after class and wanted to test some things out, so my friends got to be my models. And by friends, I mean Stacey and Jake for a little bit, but mostly Taylor :)

Tay with my Olympus VI, which is ALMOST ready to be developed! Hallelujah!

Oh, speaking of Olympus VI...I love this camera :) It was my grandpa's in the Korean War, and now I'm using it! Love love love

Tay, working it like the rent is due tomorrow

Ps: that aesthetically pleasing blurriness in the background is called bokeh and i FINALLY know how to make it!! Not that it's hard, I just couldn't get my camera to do it before. Or so I thought.

smile! You're on candid camera

Last night we all went on a HUGE group date to play laser tag, icecream at Sammy's, and then Cool Runnings at our house. I think I got maybe one picture, so it will be up later.

Also, hopefully I'll have a fun post in the next few days regarding a new camera I might be acquiring today! Keep your fingers crossed!

there will be an answer

when the sky is cloudy, there is still a light that shines on me. shine until tomorrow

let it be

*photo pirated from one of the best photographers i've ever seen, Devin Graham

a different blog

Hey yo.

For one of my classes this semester I have to keep a blog. 

But my teacher really wants outside opinions on the things I write about, so if you would please PLEASE pop over there every once in a while and leave a little comment, that would be much appreciated. 

You will receive blessings in heaven.

And as an added reward, it's a really interesting class and I promise to keep the things I post about interesting. And then if you leave fun comments, it will be even more interesting!

You can get to it by clicking here. 

 Or by following the little linky to the right side of this page.

Thank you! 

picturing

I went out picturing for a little bit today, first with Stacey, then just by myself. 

It's good to have supportive friends, but it's also good to have downtime doing something that I love. 

I was doing a lot of thinking while I was out alone and came to another realization. Are you ready for it?

I'm a control freak.

A BIG TIME control freak.

I think that's why shooting with film scares me so much, because I can't see the results right away.

I can't delete it if it isn't perfect.

People will see the imperfect ones and that scares. me. 

I actually came to this realization while...well, cheating, basically. The assignment was to have one roll of black and white film ready to develop for the lab tomorrow. 

Me, thinking I'm sneaky and not wanting to waste any exposures, would take a picture with the old trusty digital, then adjust the settings on my film camera and snap the same picture. Cheating.

Despite having just changed the battery, my digital died before I could really even start. I think Heavenly Father a) knew I was cheating and didn't approve, and b) thought I needed a break from being able to control everything.

Despite a minor freak out, picturing was good today.

Two great things happened:

1) I was by a fabrication shop and saw an older mexican man welding something. During a break, I approached him and asked if I could take his picture. The following conversation ensued:

Me: Hello! My name is Hailee. Can I take your picture?

Him: Why?

Me: Because I think you are visually interesting

Him: No

Me: Um...okay! Thanks anyway!

So I walked around and pictured a little bit, and then tried to leave, but not quite having mastered driving a manual transmission, got stuck.
All of a sudden, there he was! He offered to push me out, I thanked him profusely, and left. 

2) I was about to head home and still had about 10 exposures left. I decided to just drive along the highway and ended up at an old "antique" shop. Outside it was like a junkyard, in my head I kept comparing it to the island of misfit toys. Piles of bicycles and exercise equipment and stoves and lawnmowers shoved between old travel trailers and file cabinets. 

It was beautiful. 

So after tromping around, snapping pictures of rusty metal and peeling paint and other things I think are beautiful but that no one else probably cares about, my roll was finally finished!

So I went inside and decided to acquaint myself with the shop owner. He was a scary looking guy but he had a warm (albeit toothless) smile and helped me search the dusty piles of old electronics, bottles, and instruments for cameras. When there were none to be found, we chatted a little and I left. But I told him to expect me back often, looking for cameras.

Today has been long, and a little sad. It's cold and a little depressing here, but I'm glad for the opportunity I get to meet kind-hearted, even gruff looking, people.

And I get to see my family tomorrow.

Life is good.

a sad realization

I think somewhere in my first year of college, I learned in a class, "the more you learn, the more you are aware of what you don't know" or something to that effect.

The more I learn about photography, the more I realize...I am not even half as good as I used to think I was.

I KNOW "that just means you have room to improve"

but sometimes when I'm looking at pictures that are so beautiful they make my heart hurt (like my latest find, pictures by Devin Graham)

I feel like I will never be that good.

I made the resolution that I would take ten pictures a day--but in Rexburg in the winter, you just run out of things to take pictures of REALLY FAST

A tree with snow

a train with snow

a car with snow

the temple with snow

snow

snow

snow

that pretty much covers it.

I want it to be spring

and warm

and green.

I'm tired of Rexburg

and snow

and being inside all the time

the last thing in Rexburg that is even remotely visually interesting

a confession

 

Sometimes, like right now, I get sad that I didn't get to go to Russia 

I hope I get to go someday! 

no time to say hello, goodbye, I'm late, I'm late, I'm late

School is giving me NO time to blog, even though there's lots I want to blog about. For now I will leave you with this little quote I just read and loved in the talk "Things as they really are" by Neal A. Maxwell

"Satan is very apt at using any momentum he has in order to make it look as though he has already prevailed. No wonder obvious exceptions irritate him so! Though he postures as a nonconformist, my, how the adversary likes his lemmings to line up and march--toward self-destruction--to the most conforming cadence caller of them all!"

I think I liked it so much because he used the word "lemming" :)

Resolutions

I have a lot of new year's resolutions because, as I told one of my friends last night, I have a lot of things to work on.

So here they are, (sort of) in order of importance:

1. Scripture study and prayer, morning and night

2. Be more grateful, find opportunities to show gratitude

3. Look for opportunities to serve others every day

4. Better study habits. Homework done by 7. No homework/studying on sundays. 

5. Be more selective about the people I choose to date. Have higher standards.

6. In bed by midnight

7. Get in shape. Look good in yoga pants.

8. less facebook!

9. take at least ten pictures a day, no matter what

So there you have it! We'll see how i do!

What are YOUR new year's resolutions?