bitter. sweet.

So, we had a BBQ. And the next day we graduated.

It was bittersweet, very bittersweet.

This past week has been full of more laughter and tears than I could of ever imagined. I have a new family, and in a few months they will live all over the United States, England, and India. They have changed my life forever. Each and every one of them. And I will miss them so, so, so much. This is a tribute to them. : )

Shadows, for Mel.

The Three Amigos.

She took my picture, I took hers.

"V" for... Victory!... Oh and Leadership!

I like how no matter how many pictures I took of Angie, she made this face. haha

Meat, meat, meat wrapped in bacon, and more meat. : )

Beer, and a box of Kleenex. And yes, we used both. Like I said, it was bittersweet.

re-uniting with loved ones.

laughter.

lots, and lots of champagne. Lots. : )

As photographers, we learn to multi task. I still haven't gotten good at it, but Claire seems to be doing a superb job. Beer. Champagne. Cell phone. Need I say more?

The chicas.

The silly boys.

The aftermath.

Sorry to any of you who follow my blog. I realize I've been a bit bleak on posting. It's been a crazy few weeks. Summer Intensive was coming to an end and that meant Finals were due, late nights were prevalent, and lots of last minute classes were squeezed in before it was all said and done. Then came the parties, and the sleeping. The much needed sleeping. I have two weeks off until my next class starts (Wedding photography!), so I plan during that time to post more often, and finally show everyone what I've been working on so hard. I promise! I miss you all. Especially you Okies back home. : )

unconnected, connected.

The blog's been pretty bleak lately. Unlike the ironic comparison to my life which has been a roller coaster ride. And a rough one at that. The only sanity and calm I can find is in my photographs, and at times even that has been tough. I'm thankful though, to finally know what to do when my life feels chaotic and unconnected. Before SI I would take a long drive with my windows down, a hot shower, play my music really loud, cook, go for a run, or write. And although these things still work, I find solace in the idea that my camera alone can provide the same effect, if not be even more rewarding. And that's so comforting, especially right now.


Before you go thinking I'm vain, just know the next two pictures were purely for fun, and a challenge at that. This has unintentionally been a week of a lot of self portraits for me. My good friend Kimber is extremely photogenic, so i was excited when she agreed to do this. We had a blast in "open studio" taking these beauty shots together. After finding fans that weren't broken, barricading ourselves with reflectors, taping up our strapless clothes so the "girls" stayed in place, and working to angle our bodies just the right way to hide our horrific tan lines... we finally managed to get some good shots. I think we should turn them into Dove. What do you think? : )


Ok, so now we go from "so fresh and so clean", to "so dirty and discusting."
Oh, but so fun.
Me and two other guys in my group, Hal and Howie, were assigned to do a photojournalism assignment together. The topic was completely up to us. It was assigned way over a month ago but with our slide show and a million other projects all being due first, we put it to the wayside for quite a while. Hal lives in Missoula and after we all threw around a bunch of ideas, he suggested we cover a local taxidermy business he had used a year ago when he took up hunting. The twist? The "Beetle Guy" who runs the business, Big Sky Beetleworks, uses beetles to eat away flesh and meat and leave noting but the bone. It obviously wasn't my cup of tea, but the unsureness and oddity of the story kept intriguing me to do it. In the end it was a lot of fun, and truly challenged me to do something I wouldn't have done on my own choosing. I really like how it turned out. Pictured here are just three shots, from the hundreds I took. I kept you all in mind and left the grossest shots out. But, I encourage you to give the story a look, captions and all. It's on Hal's website:

http://halvortweto.deluxe.livebooksedu.com

Just click on portfolios and then the tab that says Photo J. If you run your mouse over the "Title Info" at the bottom of each image, it will allow you to see the captions. Keep in mind we all three took the pictures. Most of the closeups are mine. I was using a macro lens for half of the visit.

Ok, I've been forced to actually use my external flash lately. I say forced because I feel very uncomfortable with such a new piece of equipment and we've had a couple of assignments. As storm clouds rolled in last night, our class went outside to practice using multiple flashes on each other. Casey, my beautiful model, was perfect for it. Thanks Case. :)

And, of course my final. How could I not mention it? It's been the heaviest on my mind lately. I've been working on it slowly but surely and I'm happy with it so far, but have a lot of work to do during this long weekend. The good part is I feel very connected to what I'm doing. And I think that's important.

chipping away.

I decided what I'm going to do for my final today.
Whew.
It feels weird to say that. For a lot of reasons.
And now that I know, I have a LOT of work to do in 3 weeks...

I've realized lately that I have a problem. But that it's a problem I hope never goes away. My mind is always on a massive creative overload. The ideas I have are so plentiful, and so varied in subject matter that I have a really hard time bringing myself back down to earth. I want to do them all! And I will, over a lifetime. I'm making a promise to myself today that I will work on all of the projects in my head eventually. Whether anyone sees them or not. It's important that I complete them, for me.

A guy in my class said something to me that really hit home the other night.

"Some sculpture carver once said,'I just chip away the marble surrounding the image I already see in the stone' and from talking with you I feel that's somewhat your process. Don't let the technical babble get in the way of chipping away the noise to free the image you already see."

Thanks Mel, and thanks to everyone else out there that "gets me" and supports me.

Hailey
Definition: Photographer.
:)