Into February

It is already the 10th of February-we have officially been back to school for an entire month.
Snow is Rare here this winter ( :D ) and the temperatures have been beautiful-mainly around the 40's.


So I have found two Michigan farms I will be photographing for my documentary project! One is a pig farm, and the other is a dairy farm. The animals are so great, and the people are great too-very family oriented folks around here. I'm looking forward to continuing. The dairy farmer told me that his next cow will be giving birth in march, I hope it will be at an hour that I can come and photograph that!
Already I have shot both options, and here are some of the examples below:

Pig Farm:







Dairy Farm:








We also had to work on another mini project in documentary class. The project was to photograph anything, anywhere you want, but to bring back a signature photo (the photo that explains it all basically-the opening), an interaction photo, a sequence photo, and a clincher photo (the end photo). So I decided to try and shoot underwater in Andrews University pool (I had just learned how to go underwater Without plugging my nose!!-I have not been able to do that for YEARS!!) The camera though was a very slow camera to use - Very delayed, so the signature photo was not the greatest, so I left that one out.








In Advance Studio, we are already working on our 'midterm check point' projects. I cannot believe we are a few weeks away into midterm already.
For our 'Active Framing' assignment (where the subject matter has to be coming off of the frame/out of the photo), I thought it would be a great idea to photograph some of the buildings in Michigan around here.
However I don't think that was Gods plan.
We came back with Nothing good, and I was so bummed spending 3 hours driving around to come home with depressing looking photos. I prayed and prayed for some idea to hit me, and honestly it was not until I was in chapel that it finally hit me-Hair. I swear it was God who impressed me to do Hair. And so I did, and thank God it turned out to be a Big hit. I have a poem to go with it, and the titles are the phrases they (the models) gave me when I asked them to explain their hair.

Isaiah 55:9-""As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts."

And thank God for that!^ I think it is easy to see (from thousand of years of history) the kind of trouble man kind gets into when he regards his own reasoning higher than Gods, and disregards the creator of Reasoning all together.


Don't You Ever Dare To Steal My Hair!
“Deep down we wonder if our men
like it straight and blowing in the wind,
and then after feeling its awesome texture,
we fall in love with that glorious natural;
yet when we stand against the world,
the eyes of society don’t often see
our natural halo as beauty.

And then we rush back to the straight
hoping that this will dictate
that we must compete in a competitive world;

but blackness is a state of mind–
the color or length or texture of our hair
really cannot be defined;

the decision is ours–
we might plague it for hours,
for in the end what should really matter
is the genuine love we have
for our God-given hair.”

-Carolyn Hopkins



Like a Maze



Full & Thick



They Call Her Diana



Wild & Smooth



Wire on my Head



Then this is my project for the midterm check point (for the midterm final I will have 5 more to show). I was Really worried my teacher was not going to be okay with it. Once again, I tried something that I was so excited was going to work, and it turned out to be a failure. So I sat in my room on my floor praying and begging God for some sort of idea again, since I had felt like I had writers block for the artist. Finally I looked up, and I saw my bed in the reflection of my light. And thats, once again, what did it!:)


A New Day Will Soon Dawn

If life seems at its lowest ebb,
Because a day's gone wrong.
Let not your heart be troubled,
For a new day will soon dawn

As it penetrates the darkness,
With its soft and tranquil beams.
It calms even the most restless soul,
And brings new hopes and dreams

So when a days been troubled,
And the night is dark and long.
Lift up your fallen spirits to Jesus,
For a new day will soon dawn

-Anonymous








Now for my next assignment in Advanced Photography, is to create a Diptych. And once again, I tried what I thought would work, and we went outside for it, and found a field to photograph in, and low and behold, it got so cold that it lightly started to snow. And although the pictures are not 'bad', they will definitely work, I want to see if we can accomplish better. So Im going to grab a studio today, and thank goodness I have my beautiful models who are always willing to help me, and I guess we will see how all goes, right?




I have Much more to talk about, I want to express some issues that have been arising with nudity in the art department here, questions students have been struggling with, and I myself. But I have class soon, and I need to start getting ready shortly. So I suppose that will have to happen a little later.


Either way, I hope all who are reading this can look to God today and say 'Thank You' for the life He has gave you.

God is a gentleman, He might be able to break down doors, But He will not intrude where He is not invited. You have to open the door for Him first (theres where the free will comes in).
Otherwise, if you only give Him a teaspoon of your life, He will only be able to work with a Teaspoon. You cannot expect life changing results with a teaspoon amount.

Trust in the Lord:

1 Peter 5:6-7 - 'Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.'