Doug graduates

I don't have the words for this post so I'm not even going to try. I'll just caption each photo and leave it at that.


'Professional' portraits before he went backstage.



A proud father-son moment.


The moment before he walked across the stage.

His academic adviser, Dr. Harrawood, presenting him with his medallion.


Post graduation roommate swing time.


I'm so proud of him.

little moments

I haven't been taking a lot of pictures recently because my heart medicine has been wrecking havoc on my nerves in my left hand and arm. There, I said it. Once again, my heart is keeping me from doing what I want to be doing. While the doctors and I are working on fixing things so I can get back to being a Photoshop-addicted shutterbug, things are slowing down on the blog. At the moment, I am having a rather difficult time as I am reducing the dosage of my medicine to get my arm back to useful again. What's a girl to do to battle the difficulties and take advantage of her arm while ignoring the pain? Obviously, I decided to toss my telephoto lens on my 50D (the heavier of my DSLRs and my favorite) and go for a walk. I looked up and down and all around and just tried to appreciate the little details.

I found a crayon and I smiled. And then I smiled some more when I got back to my computer and realized the angle I took the shots gave me a pretend tilt shift depth of field.

I twirled in the golden afternoon sunlight reflecting off the paving stones and soaked in every ray and lens flare I could.

I marveled over how strange it is that Abacoa wants to be this perfect place when the beauty is in the imperfections.


I enjoyed the details that were just perfect in that moment as I took the shot, knowing that this moment was mine and mine alone.



I befriended some birds and worked on my tree faces project some more.



I wish there were photos of me swinging on the swings. I managed to hold onto the chain and swing really high. It was amazing and I felt like I was flying. It was the first time in a long time I could do that and I don't know when I'll be able to again.
On the walk home, I caught a gorgeous sunset over my beloved B sign.

It's moments like these that remind me how beautiful the world is, even when I think it sucks sometimes.

life's a drag sometimes

Believe it or not, I've been shooting a lot. I just haven't been blogging. I missed project 52 last week (and am currently on a crash course with missing it again this week too) because my recent projects have been for people who haven't given me permission to blog them. That, and my health is getting in the way. But I don't want to look back on this and see how much the pain held me back; I only want to see what I did that was so amazing. So now that I've given the obligatory mention of the heart suck, I can move on to what makes my heart shine.
Under things I'm not allowed to share are a Bar Mitzvah, a Girl Scout event, and chasing a toddler around a bookstore. In other words, the fun shoots have to stay top secret.


The good news is that the most off-the-wall shoot I have is completely open to sharing. There was a drag show on campus Wednesday night to kick off the Day of Silence a day early (because of the honors symposium today). I had a great time and I feel like it was beneficial to opening up some difficult dialogue.



















I think the highlight of everyone's night was the question-and-answer session. The emcee was expecting the typical "what's your favorite color?" style questions while the HC audience was asking about proper pronoun use ('she' and 'her') and performing arts training.



[Pictures hosted on Facebook because I didn't want to have my flickr photostream labeled as 'adult content']

save a horse, ride a cowboy [52:13]

While country music isn't really my cup of tea, sometimes it provides for the best jokes. At the gender bender hoedown last night, "Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy" came on and I got the best idea ever: I had one of the 'lovely ladies' ride my 'cowboy' roommate so I could take a picture. Actually, I had two different guys 'riding' Rachael for photos because the Honors College is full of awesome.



It's ridiculous, I know. But this week's theme for project 52 is "just for fun!" and it was the funniest thing I could think of. Plus, this is my 200th post. I figure I'll either drive in more readership or scare off everyone except my mom. (Hi, mom!)

I have permission from all parties involved to post this. It isn't an April Fools' Day prank. And I still cannot stop laughing.

slice of life [I heart faces]

The theme over at is slice of life. It's both the most open-ended theme and a restriction at the same time.

This image I chose is a leap of faith for me. It is not perfect at all. I had my fisheye adapter on my lens so I could see everyone as we stood around the grill. We were making s'mores last night during Earth Hour and I decided I wanted to take pictures. There was no way I could pose anyone; I could barely keep them from moving in the time it took to trip the shutter. The light was uneven because it was mostly flickering flames with some ambient light from the streetlights (which I wish they had turned off). No flash, on-camera or off. Not even a tripod. But it was perfect. I was laughing with my friends as we set marshmallows on fire.

hope on wings [52:11]

I felt much better when I posted about spring break. Now I feel kind of cruddy, but life goes on and so must I.

I got this butterfly as part of a bouquet my father brought me when I was in the hospital. When the sun shines through my window and lands on it, I feel hopeful that I'll feel better soon. It heals my (metaphorical) heart, which gives me the patience to let my (physical) heart heal.

heart [I heart faces]

This week's theme over at is hearts. That is perfect, since I spent Thursday and Friday working on a Valentine's Day card for my roommate, Rachael.


Consider this a teaser of what the final card looks like. This was taken while she was drawing the chalk art for the final card.

this counts as homework

This semester, I am taking a digital art class. Between that, I Heart Faces, and my project 52, there may be 3 posts a week. That's an ambitious posting schedule while I'm working on thesis, but I'm trying.

My assignment for this weekend is to take 100 photos. Of course, we took 60 in class. Professor Lemeh turned us loose for half an hour and expected 30 pictures when we returned. Then, she did it again with a 20 minute period. It's rather interesting to see what new perspectives on the campus I can discover when I have a time constraint and a need to be 'creative.' (The images I am turning in are straight out of camera, no editing allowed! I decided to play with a few in Photoshop and post them here because it's relaxing.)


I was having a minor obsession moment with the texture of Dori's hair and the pattern of her shirt.



I have a weird sense of humor.


Yesterday's photo excursion seemed to hinge on a desire to capture texture and form. I get the feeling this is going to carry over into next week's assignment.