through my eyes

sunrise

2010-04-18T16:19:00.000-04:00

sarah

2010-04-18T16:17:00.000-04:00

holiday spirits

2010-01-10T20:14:00.004-05:00

I am extremely frustrated with photobucket and flickr and everything. I don't know what to use to upload photos now. My Flickr account is full and I dont want to have ugly white squares all over my blog because I uploaded too many pictures. Photobucket is always weird. It doesn't upload my photos in bulk, or even one of my photos at a time, usually. I didnt have time to edit these or even bother with photo sites, but these are some black and white film photos that I'm really excited about :] I love them but they look a lot cooler bigger and up close... haha

update again :]

2009-12-11T17:17:00.003-05:00

My photography teacher told me about the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards which is basically a big art/writing contest, and suggested I enter some of my work in it. This week, with his help, I put together a senior portfolio which consists of eight images on a disk, an Artist's Statement, and some forms.

So if anyones interested in seeing my portfolio you can go to this link and check it out:

(yay click me)

Let me know what you think

I'm pretty excited :] I dont know how its gonna go and I've never entered a real contest like this before so even if nothing happens, I'm sure it'll be a cool experience.

Also, my goal is to post a photo at least once a week, since I've been slacking, haha. Then I'll work up from there.

picnic in the middle of nowhere

2009-12-09T19:05:00.001-05:00

last days of fall

2009-11-30T19:41:00.000-05:00

update

2009-11-25T20:53:00.002-05:00

im still alive xD
why have i not posted anything on my blog?
good question.

I have plenty of things to post xD
1. i took photos at my high school football games and have some good ones
2. i have some film photos i developed that i scanned and will post.
3. we moved and now have a beautiful house and yard and park across the street so im going to be taking more pictures soon :D

so if anyone still checks my blog
expect great things.
haha

Go Redskins!

2009-09-30T21:57:00.001-04:00

Film!

2009-09-30T21:55:00.000-04:00

I took these with film and developed them myself :D
Im really excited about my photography class - it is sooo cool. Ive never developed my own film, so its an awesome experience
and my teacher is really awesome too. :]
So, I finally have some good stuff to share, haha.
My next assignment is landscapes so i'll definitely try and get some by next week too :D
I just need to work on keeping my film clean, haha. ive had a lot of trouble with spots and gross stuff

woah, a flower :]

2009-06-24T23:01:00.002-04:00

Things have been pretty much a fail on the photography front lately.
My 18-55mm lens is a $150-ish paperweight now, and my flash is broken.
I don't know how much it costs to fix flashes but a guy on Yahoo Answers said it might end up to be around $200. Add that to the $360 for the lens I wanted and I'm starting to get the feeling it would be easier (and maybe possibly cheaper) to just buy a new camera. I'm not 100% sure yet, but the idea is starting to look appealing xD My camera isn't totally useless, I am aware of this. But maybe I need a break. I just feel so frustrated. Photographers can take breaks right? :]

In other news, I bought a point and shoot last week and I have discovered that I was rather disappointed in it. Especially since i paid $200 for it, and am now broke. So I'm debating whether or not I'm just being weird because I'm so used to my Nikon or if i should just take it back and... i don't know what comes after that. Id like to have a point and shoot but if the decent ones are all out of my price range its not going to work out and I'm just going to get more annoyed with this whole thing.

So thats that xD And now I'm going to bed

Project 365; Day 163

2009-06-18T21:27:00.002-04:00

I got a new camera today,
My plan is:
Get a job
Buy a lens
get my flash fixed (oh because its broken -_-)
And then I'll have this smaller camera to take with me places where my SLR is rather inconvenient to lug around, haha
Plus Im going to a youth conference in a month and i dont have time to make enough money to buy a new lens, and i didnt want to buy the same cheap lens again
So yeah,

Im still getting used to it and testing it out and stuff,
hopefully it'll be great and i wont have to return it :D

or not...

2009-06-13T20:14:00.002-04:00

I was at my cousins graduation party and I was playing volleyball with some kids
And so I asked my brother to set my camera on the table with my dad
only I guess someone ran by and
yeah, i think you can see where this is going,
I dont know if theres anything wrong with the camera. By this point there probably is! But right now the lens is really messed up good this time.
I only have $200 so I dont have money to buy a better lens thats different, like an 18-200mm or something. Something nice that covers different ranges...
But I can only afford to buy the exact same thing.
I was reading that its so cheap because its made of plastic and cheap material,
well thats great
but its all i can afford :[
And I kind of need a new lens. And a job.
So i dont know what Im gonna do right now except sulk in the basement and watch Bones by myself.
Sorry for the emo post, but Im kinda mad about it. Its been one of those weeks where its just one thing after the other, so yeah, >_<

project 365; Day 162

2009-06-13T15:01:00.000-04:00

yay im caught up :]
ill actually post pictures from *today* later

Project 365; Day 161

2009-06-13T15:00:00.000-04:00

Project 365; Day 160

2009-06-13T14:59:00.002-04:00

My friend caught an itsy bitsy little fish xDD

Project 365; Day 159

2009-06-13T14:57:00.002-04:00

Now that everyone thinks Im insane, I'll post some normal photos I took at the park yesterday xD

Project 365; Day 158

2009-06-12T14:41:00.002-04:00

all dolled up !

These ones turned out surprisingly well xD
I was pretty shocked because i dont look like myself xD
And ive never put make up on before so i was pretty pleased. haha,

Project 365; Day 157

2009-06-12T14:37:00.003-04:00

WHY SO SERIOUS?

Hahaha, xD this was fun,
my mom had left over make up samples that she gave to me
even though i dont wear make up xD
so i was bored
and i decided to mess around with them and this is what happened,
they look kinda gross,
im having a ~~bad~~ worse skin day, but it kinda goes with the theme xDD

Project 365; Day 156

2009-06-10T21:38:00.001-04:00

They look pixely to me =/
Maybe im seeing things again,
but its annoying me,

Project 365; Day 155

2009-06-09T19:01:00.001-04:00

Project 365; Day 154

2009-06-09T19:00:00.000-04:00

Project 365; Day 153

2009-06-09T18:58:00.002-04:00

Was the unsharp mask a little much?
I absolutely looove this little girl's blue eyes,

Project 365; Day 152

2009-06-05T18:50:00.001-04:00

Wow, flowers again?
Wow, Im behind again?
xD

Project 365; Day 151

2009-06-03T21:43:00.002-04:00

I got my temporary license today :]
So i can start driving again,
Still kind of in that photography block funk thing D:
it sucks, haha

Project 365; Day 150

2009-06-02T22:38:00.002-04:00

today was my sisters rehearsal for her ballet recital
this is not my sister.
but the other pictures i messed up and they looked crappy when i uploaded them >.>
I just thought this was a really cute picture of this girl xD

Project 365; Day 149

2009-05-31T23:28:00.002-04:00

plants :]

2009-05-29T20:19:00.003-04:00

Project 365; Day 148

2009-05-29T20:19:00.001-04:00

Project 365; Day 147

2009-05-28T17:13:00.003-04:00

They taped over your mouth
Scribbled out the truth with their lies
-crushcrushcrush by Paramore

I finally got out my lights again xD
And I look like some kind of murderer buuuut
thats
not what im supposed to be, lol

word to the wise - i do not recomend putting duct tape on your face...

Project 365; Day 146

2009-05-27T22:11:00.003-04:00

Sorry for the lazy last minute pictures xD
I feel like I have writer's block, only with a camera.
Soo. Photographer's block? haha,
I get that a lot >.<
I want to go to new places and see new things to take photos of
Hopefully over the summer that can happen

One more final and im done for the semester :]
And I think eventually Im going to change my layout to something lighter, im tired of this dark stuff, haha

Project 365; Day 145

2009-05-25T21:56:00.000-04:00

Happy Memorial Day :]

Project 365; Day 144

2009-05-25T21:51:00.003-04:00

Peonies are strange
They start out all bulbous and awkward
and then ants crawl all over them xD
And they erupt into these large, beautiful flowers

do i dazzle you?

2009-05-23T21:37:00.001-04:00

I dont know if you've ever noticed this
But some flowers sparkle when the sun hits them just right... :]

sunshine

2009-05-23T21:36:00.000-04:00

fenced in

2009-05-23T21:35:00.003-04:00

chains

2009-05-23T21:35:00.002-04:00

mini-blossoms

2009-05-23T21:34:00.000-04:00

Project 365; Day 143

2009-05-23T21:32:00.002-04:00

Project 365; Day 142

2009-05-23T11:30:00.004-04:00

Well Brian tagged me for this, and I kind of cheated xD But I saw it in the morning, right after I woke up
And no one wants to see that. xD

Anyways, this is my task:

As soon as you learn you have been tagged to play, you take a photo right away, no cleaning up, no primping, no preening. Just grab the camera and shoot. No cleaning up the photo in post either.

I wanted to post this one (before i edited it) just to be a smarty pants.

But I decided not to xD and I picked this one. I also learned I am extremely picky about self portraits.

Thats the ~~easy~~ part.
THEN I need to talk about:

At least 1 favorite photographer in the field of photography in which you plan to pursue.

and

At least 1 favorite photographer who mainly used film.

This is the hard(er) part because I know very little about other photographers. xD
And I just typed out like a lot of stuff and It erased almost everything -_- SO I have to write it all over again. yay.

I am not sure what field I want to go in. I like a little bit of everything, music, fashion, abstract, nature, etc. But the first person who came to mind was Annie Leibovitz. I saw something on PBS about her a while back, when I was first really getting into photography and her photos blew me away. They're absolutely amazing. I couldn't find a link to a website specifically for her but if you google her, you'll find stuff. xD She's one of the most famous celebrity photographers, but unfortunately she went bankrupt I guess and had to sell the rights to her life's work of photographs. That kinda sucks. o_o;

As for the second question, I saw this documentary once about a photographer and it was called War Photographer. The man's name is James Nachtwey and he travels the world going to places and photographs what he sees, like wars and diseases etc. He's got some really powerful photos. He gets right up in the middle of things, putting himself in danger, for the sake of sharing what he's seen with the world. Once he got some illness from somewhere and almost died and gave his family a nice scare but he recovered and went right back out there. So, he's also pretty amazing. I dont think I could ever do what he does.

So thats that. xD
Well most of the photographers I know of who read my blog have already been tagged :P
Except for Naomi/Gracen Black. So I'm tagging her :]

This was fun xD thanks for tagging me Brian :D

Project 365; Day 141

2009-05-21T22:36:00.002-04:00

I finished a really good book today. I always feel contemplative and... full when i finish a really good, satisfying book. But also like a small piece of me is gone xD But its ok because I got the next two books in the series :P

I didnt originally plan on posting this but I was editing it and decided it looked kinda neat and i had nothing else to post so here it is xD

Project 365; Day 140

2009-05-20T22:17:00.001-04:00

Project 365; Day 139

2009-05-19T17:18:00.000-04:00

Project 365; Day 138

2009-05-18T18:55:00.001-04:00

Project 365; Day 137

2009-05-18T18:53:00.002-04:00

Project 365; Day 136

2009-05-18T18:53:00.001-04:00

Project 365; Day 135

2009-05-18T18:48:00.000-04:00

Project 365; Day 134

2009-05-14T15:28:00.002-04:00

So this is Cleveland.
The ship is actually a museum now, its called the William G Mather.
And the last pictures is the side/back of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame :]
And of course Lake Erie

Today i went on a field trip with my school to the Great Lakes Science Center. It was okay, they basically told us to sign in, when to eat and then we were on our own. It was fun but we didnt really do things with the school. Though I did meet my math teacher... Im not sure if he remembered my name or not, he didnt seem to xD and I met my advisor person... we said "hi nice to meet you" and that was about it. The teacher who talked to me the most wasnt even my teacher, haha.

Who doesnt love these things? xD theyre awesome

I also got a Venus Flytrap, its pretty cool. I looked up Greek gods on wikipedia and decided that i am going to name it Thanatos after the god of mortality and death. I thought it was fitting for a plant that eats flies :P

Also, I have this rediculous sensor/dust problem.
Is there a secret to keeping a clean sensor? :/ Whenever I switch lenses I manage to get a ton of dust and stuff on it and its really obnoxious >_< I try to always keep the camera facing downwards but apparently im doing something wrong :P

Project 365; Day 133

2009-05-14T15:26:00.001-04:00

Last night it was raining (WOAH. imagine that.) so i ran outside when it slowed down and took some pictures of these daisies :] i love daisies. haha

Project 365; Day 132

2009-05-13T19:22:00.002-04:00

This book is called Silent Spring.
I have to read it for English class.
Its the most boring book on the planet.
So i took pictures of it instead because thats a lot more exciting xD

I think Im still a day behind in my 365, haha
So tomorrow I'll get on it.

I think May got confused. I thought April showers were supposed to bring the May flowers?
Its done nothing but rain in May so far, haha :P

Project 365; Day 131

2009-05-12T20:04:00.002-04:00

Some days are just better self portrait days than others :P its weird

You know what would be the coolest thing? Photographing a kitchen.
We went to Champps for Mother's Day and I could kind of see the kitchen from where I was sitting. They had this huge glass wall separating it from the eating area and every once in a while one of the chef's had a huge pillar of fire going on at his section xD it was pretty sweet. So that was just a random thought, haha. but it would be fun, to get to photograph a busy kitchen.

Project 365; Day 130

2009-05-11T19:37:00.002-04:00

I think I want to try something like this again later with a bigger flower and somewhere brighter. I remembered last minute and ran outside really quick xD the sun wasnt too cooperative :P

also if you could check out this link that would be awesome :]

make a wish

2009-05-10T21:54:00.001-04:00

Project 365; Day 129

2009-05-10T21:53:00.000-04:00

Happy Mother's Day :D

doing the dishes

2009-05-08T20:23:00.001-04:00

Project 365; Day 128

2009-05-08T20:20:00.002-04:00

I was looking at some amazing portraits on flickr.
does anyone else get overwhelmed when they come across someone who gets stunning photo after stunning photo? haha...

silver lining

2009-05-07T19:27:00.005-04:00

April flowers apparently bring May showers because its been raining a lot in the past two weeks.
I was taking pictures of that tulip and i turned around just as the sun started shining through these clouds
I darkened them with a curves setting i have saved and was surprised at how dramatic the clouds ended up :]

reach for the sky

2009-05-07T19:27:00.002-04:00

the bad thing about these cute little blossoms is that they never last long... the ones on this branch were already turning brown on the edges :[

after the rain

2009-05-07T19:26:00.001-04:00

Project 365; Day 127

2009-05-07T19:24:00.001-04:00

Look familiar? haha
last year i took pictures of the same flower,

Project 365; Day 126

2009-05-07T18:10:00.000-04:00

Project 365; Day 125

2009-05-06T20:48:00.003-04:00

Today I was trying to figure out what to take photos of
And I couldnt come up with anything I was even remotely thrilled with
So i crumpled up a piece of paper and took a picture of that instead, haha
Im just struggling with my creativity right now, I guess :P
I cant wait until school is over and done with! three more weeks -ish, whoo! :]
it certainly isnt helping my creativity problem, lol
its mostly just math though, it stresses me out and i get brain dead. My other subjects are okay. Boring, but ok.

So yeah xD rant of the day over, if you'll excuse me I need to play my five trillionth game of spider solitaire.

Project 365; Day 124

2009-05-04T14:00:00.002-04:00

I looove cherry blossoms :]
at least thats what i think these are. xD haha, oh well.
ANYWAYS.
I love them. But i wanted to do something a little different than the usual straightforward blossom shot, so i incorporated the sunshine and got an awesome lens flare thnks to my polarizing filter that i never took off xD
so im pretty happy with these :]

Project 365; Day 123

2009-05-04T13:58:00.003-04:00

I love this xD I took a bunch of these and none of them turned out, so I was kind of bummed
then I boosted the contrast and BAM, instant awesome. xD

Ive been trying to do minimal editing to my photos lately,
I usually stick to adding a bit of contrast and a little sharpening...

Project 365; Day 122

2009-05-04T13:56:00.001-04:00

I like to use the unsharp mask in gimp on clouds, it makes them a lot less flat, in my opinion. clouds should look fluffy, not thin and flat, lol

Project 365; Day 121

2009-05-04T13:52:00.002-04:00

I've been trying to go outside more,
especially with how beautiful the weather has been lately :]

Project 365; Day 120

2009-04-30T18:19:00.001-04:00

flash went off on this last one, i kinda like what it did to the color of the flower,

Project 365; Day 119

2009-04-29T22:00:00.002-04:00

I took this about fifteen minutes ago, haha
I got lazy today. Except that isn't true. x3 I just didnt use my camera
I played soccer with my siblings, enjoyed the weather, and rode bikes and watched a movie.

Plus I've been posting like a madwoman lately so I guess you'll have to forgive me. :]

Project 365; Day 118

2009-04-28T14:58:00.000-04:00

It rained today. :]

sunshine = ♥

2009-04-27T19:30:00.003-04:00

and whaaaaaaat in the world happened here? xD
it looks like the sun ripped a hole in my picture...
but i was wondering if there was a more technical term... :P
just curious

more tulips

2009-04-27T19:28:00.000-04:00

obligatory dog shot

2009-04-27T19:27:00.003-04:00

Rascal gets very upset if he suddenly realizes the world does not revolve around him. :P
I wasnt very far away from him but i was taking pictures of him and not playing so he wouldnt stop barking at me. Until the wind blew, then he took a second to enjoy it before barking at me again.

Project 365; Day 117

2009-04-27T19:25:00.000-04:00

converse

2009-04-26T22:52:00.001-04:00

a strange obsession

2009-04-26T22:51:00.001-04:00

funny angles and legs/feet xD
not weird at all...

polarize me

2009-04-26T22:50:00.001-04:00

polarizing filter tiiiime x3

what spring time is all about

2009-04-26T22:45:00.001-04:00

green grass and bare feet :]

Project 365; Day 116

2009-04-26T22:34:00.003-04:00

The beeaauutiful weather continues to be awesome. xD
I had kind of a hippie day and went without shoes most of today x3
and i got some sun :] yay

Project 365; Day 115

2009-04-25T19:29:00.001-04:00

It was sooooo nice out today :]
Just so you know.
And Rascal, my dog, was hamming it up today also.
But instead I chose the dark, dramatic and mysterious photo to post today :P

Project 365; Day 114

2009-04-24T19:41:00.002-04:00

I got a soccer ball today, because i really like to play soccer :]
I played a lot with my friends in Wisconsin and that made me remember how much I miss it
So yeah, I got a ball, and I'm teaching my little siblings the basics because I have no one else to play with xD
AND. Heres the tricky part - i have to keep it away from my dog :P he eats soccer balls for breakfast.

Project 365; Day 113

2009-04-23T20:02:00.001-04:00

JOSHUA by mechanical euphoria on Zooomr

Yeah. He's covered in mud. :P

Project 365; Day 112

2009-04-23T20:00:00.002-04:00

TULIP by mechanical euphoria on Zooomr

So I was kinda siked about this one :] I love the light and colors,
I did mess with the contrast a little bit so the background was black but other than that, this is pretty much straight out of the camera

Project 365; Day 111

2009-04-23T19:49:00.000-04:00

GRASS by mechanical euphoria on Zooomr

Today it was so nice outside. :]
IM EXCITED FOR SPRING.

Project 365; Day 110

2009-04-23T19:48:00.000-04:00

BLEEDINGHEARTS2 by mechanical euphoria on Zooomr

BLEEDINGHEARTS by mechanical euphoria on Zooomr

Project 365; Day 109

2009-04-23T19:47:00.003-04:00

SUNNY by mechanical euphoria on Zooomr

SUNNY2 by mechanical euphoria on Zooomr

POLARIZING FILTER ALERT,
haha, i finally put it on!

Mixed feelings about these xD But I thought they looked kinda neat. kinda polaroid-y and...
i dont know. x3

Project 365; Day 108

2009-04-23T19:26:00.002-04:00

SUNSET by mechanical euphoria on Zooomr

Last Wisconsin picture? oh em gee :O
I didnt take a ton of artsy photos xD
i was kinda busy having an AWESOME TIME. lol

Project 365; Day 107

2009-04-23T19:08:00.002-04:00

WOODS2 by mechanical euphoria on Zooomr

WOODS by mechanical euphoria on Zooomr

WOODS5 by mechanical euphoria on Zooomr

WOODS4 by mechanical euphoria on Zooomr

WOODSb&w by mechanical euphoria on Zooomr

Isnt this beautiful?
I wish i lived here xD

Project 365; Day 106

2009-04-23T18:52:00.003-04:00

GOOSE2 by mechanical euphoria on Zooomr

GOOSE3 by mechanical euphoria on Zooomr

GOOSE4 by mechanical euphoria on Zooomr

I think today is supposed to be day 113.
ugh.
haha.
So random and temporary break from Wisconsin pictures
I'm just going to cheat my way through 7 more posts, haha

I did very little editing to these, I thought they came out kinda nice

Project 365; Day 105

2009-04-20T23:03:00.002-04:00

MINTE by mechanical euphoria on Zooomr

MINTEB&W by mechanical euphoria on Zooomr

This is my best friend :]
Her name is Minte
she's pretty much made of awesome.

Project 365; day 104

2009-04-20T22:45:00.000-04:00

WATER by mechanical euphoria on Zooomr

Also taken at Port Washington
I think today is supposed to be 110 right?

Project 365; Day 103

2009-04-20T22:37:00.001-04:00

SUN by mechanical euphoria on Zooomr

we played soccer in this lot thing across the street from their house
it was a lot of fun :]
i miss soccer :[

Project 365; Day 102

2009-04-20T22:36:00.001-04:00

GRAFTON by mechanical euphoria on Zooomr

This is where i went :D

Project 365; Day 101

2009-04-20T22:35:00.000-04:00

CHURCH by mechanical euphoria on Zooomr

This is a church in Port Washington, Wisconsin

Project 365; Day 100

2009-04-20T22:24:00.000-04:00

TEM by mechanical euphoria on Zooomr

Project 365; Day 99

2009-04-20T22:19:00.000-04:00

Z by mechanical euphoria on Zooomr

i played scrabble in real life for the first time xD

Project 365; day 98

2009-04-20T21:35:00.000-04:00

RIVER by mechanical euphoria on Zooomr

whoo, im behiiindd xD
but i was in Wisconsin all week
so
yeah :P

Project 365; Day 97

2009-04-12T20:27:00.001-04:00

wine by mechanical euphoria on Zooomr

My dad made leg of lamb for dinner, it was yummy :]

Project 365; Day 96

2009-04-11T22:49:00.001-04:00

honey by mechanical euphoria on Zooomr

Didn't take pictures at the Vigil today,
i wanted to but I was afraid I'd be disrupting,
My shutter is kinda loud and sooo I didnt want to make a scene lol
It was cool though,

I also signed up for Zooomr, thanks to Brian's suggestion :]

Timmy's First Communion

2009-04-10T13:24:00.002-04:00

Ive officially used up all of my flickr space. I would rather not have giant white boxes instead of pictures saying that flickr was holding them hostage so I tried photobucket today to see how it would work.
More of a hassle. but i dont know what else to do...

Project 365; Day 95

2009-04-09T22:56:00.002-04:00

Today my brother had his first communion :] I have some more pictures I'll post later but right now its getting late.

We have church services on Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday and of course Easter.
The Saturday service is new, and we're gonna have candles and stuff. Im hoping I wont have too much trouble getting some good candle photos, because i think that could be pretty cool if i can get them to turn out. Maybeee i should practice. :] theres a thought, haha.

Iiim still behind with my 365 I guess. Im not sure how many days but I'll worry about that laterrr :]

Project 365; Day 94

2009-04-08T16:23:00.002-04:00

SURPRISE.
I'm back. :]
I went back to the camera store yesterday and talked to a different person. He told me different things than the lady had told me on Saturday sooo that was a little weird.
He said there was a problem with my camera body AND my lens and I was freaking out again xD
So he kept it for a few hours and called me back and said that he fixed it. No sending it away, no cost, nothing, he just figured it out on his own.
AND I got my sensor cleaned. For cheaper than the lady said. o_O
YES.
So... I was happy with that, lol.
And it took less than a day. Awesome.

Anyways, these are some pictures I took of my brother today. I took him outside and he jumped in puddles and stuff. (because the snow is melting :] )

For this second one I wasnt happy with the tree sticking out of his head...
So I gaussian blurred the top half of the picture and erased where my brother was.
It looks kinda... eh. You can tell its fake I think...
Any suggestions how to convincingly blur the background out?