Light In Our Darkess

With only two hours left in the day, I was finally able to reach my computer to post an image. However, it has been a hectic day, so let me explain just a bit. Photography is not something I consider myself to be overly passionate about, but it is something I care a great deal about. I always took photos of everything growing up, but they weren't good (although, like any kid, I thought I was a genius at the time). However, a community service trip to Tanzania the summer after my sophomore year of high school changed things. I began to concentrate on photography as a serious hobby, going to every website I could to get tips on aperture, shutter speed, photoshoot ideas, and photoshop shortcuts. However, I also began to concentrate heavily on film, it was what really got me excited (and still does), so I underestimated my love for photography for a while and got bored.

Senior year came around and I became good friends with a guy who loved music, film, and photography, as did I.... his amazingly artistic interest in photography re-sparked my interest. No matter how much I knew, he always challenged my knowledge and knew 10 times more than me. He encouraged me to see photography as I saw film: a lens through which to view the world outside of normality. I began to use photography to cope with my emotions surrounding common high school occurrences: issues with friends, feeling different, "the great college search", etc. Little did I know that the photography my friend got me re-interested in would be one of the devices I used (then and now) to cope with my despair after his death in May 2007. He had challenged me to challenge myself when I got bored of what I loved. His birthday also happened to be on December 10th. Instead of celebration, it's been a day of tears, yet I have confidence his artistic talents, rare and pure kindness, as well as his bare hugs live on in the lives he touched.

He is continually missed and loved.

"Goodnight Sweet Prince"

Splat

My internet was not cooperating yesterday, so I was unable to upload an image. I don't think today's image is anything special, but I decided to post it because it makes me happy. Last Thursday, I decided to celebrate with some friends because it had been last day of classes. One of those friends was Andrew, who is an amazing artist. He uses ink, nail polish, and straws to create beautiful works of art and he decided to teach Angel and me how to do it. As you can see, we got off to messy start. I never quite mastered the technique, but I plan to keep trying and incorporating it into my photography project that I started last winter break and continued through this summer while at home in South Carolina. It was a bittersweet night though because I was looking forward to finally being able to have some time to relax and catch up on work, but I was also sad that there was a limited amount of time left to hang out with these amazing people in this environment. However, what can you do but keep moving forward? I have confidence we won't lose contact with one another - after all, I do get block breaks once a month at CC.

Spring Up

I apologize for not updating this past week. It has been a hard week for me, there has been a ton of work to do for class because this is the last week of class before exams and I found out some not quite so good news from home. As classes wind down, it's a bittersweet time. I am so happy to not have as much work now, but I actually loved some of my classes. I'm also excited to get back home to South Carolina and to uni in Colorado; I miss my friends, making films, and, as shallow as this may sound, my American brands (what's a vegetarian supposed to do without Amy's or Annie's?). However, part of me wants to throw everything out the window and move to this brilliant country and hang out with my kiwi friends till I graduate from uni (after all, I could call up Peter Jackson and maybe he'll let me make some films with him...). Well, I haven't been responding to anything anyone has sent me this week, but I've finally decided not to let my conflicting emotions drag down my last month or so in New Zealand - that would be pointless, let alone not so much fun. At any rate, I vented my frustrations by getting obsessed with a new TV show, writing a webseries, watching youtube, dancing the night away, and going around Albert Park to take a few photos - this is one of those photos. I liked it because you can see the Skytower, the landmark of Auckland, in the background but it's not the main focus. Anyway, tomorrow is my last day of classes - yikes!

To make up for my lack of updating, here are a few links to cool things I've found:
The New Civil Rights Movement - intersting article, I'd love to hear what you think about it.
World Animal Day Photos - great animal pictures, I'm really jealous of #30, that's never happened to me paddle boarding!
Alice - absolutely amazing editing, trust me, the 2:44 is worth it. (If you like it as much as me, check out this remix)
And finally, a friend of mine from CC has recorded an album and it's now avalible to download. It's really good and I'm not just saying that because Will's my friend. Several Girls Galore

Cheers

The internet was out all day today and yesterday I went on a day trip back to the Coromandel Peninsula. Anyway, here is the photo for today. I am sad to say I don't know exactly where I took it. I just know that I took it out of the window of the Stray bus on our way from Makarora to Queenstown (closer to Queenstown) while on spring break.

Choice

I know I have barely posted any photos of my spring break yet. However, I had to take a break from sorting through them to show you a photo from this weekend. I took this out of the car window while driving through Taupo on the way back from our IFSA-Butler adventure weekend. In the background you can spot Mt. Ruapehu and Mt. Ngauruhoe (left to right).

We left Friday night to head down to the Tongariro National Park region for our adventures. On Saturday we were supposed to do the Tongariro Crossing; however, the weather had other plans for us. Instead we did a less intense tramp, but it was still fun (however, I don't have many photos from the tramp due to clouds & very numb hands). After the tramp we went caving, which had to be one of the coolest experiences I've had in NZ so far. We split up into small groups and headed into a cave with a guide. We had to use our own flashlights and we got to see glowworms without other tourists breathing down our necks (like Waitomo). However, the best part was when our guide left my group in the cave, telling us to find our own way back (by following the water). We had to crawl through minuscule openings and extremely cold water. Gratification was ours when we managed to climb up a waterfall in the dark and through the smallest opening I think I've ever gotten my body through and saw light. We ended the day with a soak in some hot pools (as we do after every event), some homemade pizzas, and great conversations. As for Sunday, I'll write about that tomorrow.

PS: You may remember my other posts from skiing at Whakapapa: Blessed, Look Directly Into It, Break Time, Perfect, An Ad, Drama, and Watch Out.

The Elements

Just got back to Auckland after spending two wonderful weeks exploring the South Island. This is just a taste of photos to come. I took this while exploring caves on Wharariki Beach, easily the most spectacular beach I have ever seen in my life. The elements were in full force: the wind was pushing us off of our feet as the rain played stop-and-go with us while we ventured into different areas of the beach. In the photo is Ben, who I spent the first week of my spring break with. However, now I have to go to laundry and start working on the papers I have to write in the next two weeks, so you will have to wait for more information about how incredible the South Island is.

Standing Up

President Obama's words on the passing of Sen. Ted Kennedy: here.

Stripes

Lots of work to do before break!

Long Road

I did not upload a photograph from New Zealand today; instead, I uploaded one I took in Vietnam. I decided to do so upon hearing the news that an officer who conducted the My Lai massacre has finally apologized. I guess now is better than never, but it has been a long time coming. As most of you know, I spent 5 weeks doing community service in Vietnam between Junior and Senior years of high school. The area I worked in was My Lai (it is really just a village in a whole area that got massacred, but that is what they chose to call the incident because it was the biggest one in the area at that time). We were told we were the first group of Americans to come to the area since the war; whether or not that was true, I hope we left better memories with the village of Tinh Hoa than the ones they had of Americans before. To see the actual dirt roads, ditches, and trees that the infamous photographs of the My Lai victims show was a spiritual expierence that only those who were with me understand. However, what inspired me to try to live a thoughtful life was not the location, but the people. As hard (or even as simple) as it may seem, the Vietnamese people do not teach hate to their children. Though the government may promote a vengeful view towards the US, the Vietnamese people welcomed us with open arms. They knew we had no control over what other people from our country did and they did not judge us based on their actions. They also seemed to have that attitude towards each other, it was amazing and refreshing. I did not realize how ingrained hate was into our society until I came back from Tinh Hoa. I cannot even explain it; it is not a big fight or war that turns us against each other, but it ends up being all of the little actions, words, and quick assumptions/judgments that do so. I didn't pick this photo for any particular reason, it's not even one of my best ones from the trip; I was just scrolling through the images and opened it. For some reason, it seemed like I was seeing if for the very first time and I smiled.

If you were born in September (or any other month of the year...that should be everyone), click here and get inspired (if this doesn't do it, I don't know what will).

Incident

I wanted to get a shot of this sign, but then a woman walked right in front of me. Turns out she wanted to get a photo of it too. In the end, I got a photo of just the sign as well as this one. Oddly enough, I like this one better.

Watch Out For ... What?

Sadly, the weather did not break and there has been a monsoon outside of my window for the better part of the day. That means no night photography to share, unfortunately. However, I do have a uniquely Kiwi image to share with you today (pun majorly intended). The driver of the bus on my ski trip last weekend said that the area has a comparatively healthy kiwi bird population - then he said to look for signs on the side of the road. As you can probably guess, I got out my camera hoping to get a shot of one of the signs and this is it.

Do you have a September birthday? Click Here & Watch.
Also, August 19th, 2009 is World Humanitarian Day

Birds (Not The Movie)

So, in between Wai-o-Tapu and rolling down a hill in a plastic ball (aka Zorbing), we had lunch at a cafe and strolled along the shore of Lake Rotorua. There were tons of people chilling and eating food.... which meant there were a ton of birds hoping to steal some of it. I heard a high pitched squeaking noise behind me and turned around to snap this photo before the train plowed through the birds (no feathers were ruffled). I think this photo represents the atmosphere of that afternoon well - just playful, no worries (well... except for maybe the seagulls, but they were getting fed by small children, so I think they were fine after this...).

New photos posted on Facebook (mainly photos of my group and random tramps).
Check this story of an amazing woman: Lubna Hussein

Old Wood

I am slowly getting used to being in a big city, I know I'll probably love it by the time it is time to leave. Today I took a ferry with three friends to Devonport, an old suburb of Auckland. It was beautiful and I fell in love with all of the houses. We hiked to the top of the two volcanic cones to get amazing views of Auckland and the harbor, later in the afternoon we went to the Royal New Zealand Navy Museum. We also walked along the beach and collected some of the best shells I have ever seen. I took this photo along a rocky section of the beach where a tree had fallen from the hill above. I love the mixing of different elements of nature. I am off to do some more exploring this weekend, so I won't be able to make updates, but please come back next week and I'll begin updating regularly again. Thanks for being patient.

They're still fighting, are you still listening? Thousands Protest...

Against The Grain

Though it's not an amazing photo, I really like the simplicity of this photograph and all of the different textures - rough rock against smooth skin. I took this in Garden of the Gods, Colorado Springs a year ago.


While you prepare for celebrations on the 4th, don't forget about those still fighting for their freedom in Iran: Iran Cartoon

Every Day

It could be because I am going to a new place soon, yet it could also be for other reasons; no matter what though, I am very nostalgic at the moment for my time spent in Tanzania and Vietnam. The times I spent helping and getting to know the people in the small villages of I'llkadinga (TZ) and Tinh Hoa (VN) were some of the happiest times of my life. It is hard for newer experiences to even compete with those memories. As I continue to explore the world, I hope I keep in mind the lessons I learned in Tanzania and Vietnam - the only way to learn is to listen with an open and curious mind. Just because someone lives a different life, doesn't mean it is better or worse, it just means it is different than yours and you can always learn from it.

I took this photograph while we were riding our bikes after a downpour one evening in Tinh Hoa,Vietnam.

"Peace Begins With A Smile" ~ Mother Teresa

Innocence

I saw a beautiful movie last night, named Water. It is set in India in 1938 and is about the lives of widows, three of whom stand out the most: an eight year old, a young woman, and an older woman. The acting is astounding, the cinematography is gorgeous, and the editing ties it all together perfectly. The director (Deepa Mehta)'s vision is amazing and the ending is a beautiful blend of sorrow and hope.

The importance of water to the community in the film reminded me of my time in Vietnam. I also thought of this image, though the girl in the film and the girl in this image are of different nationalities, they are both just little girls and have so much life yet to live.

Peeking

I took this in a student theater at CC. Do you remember the light graffiti image I posted awhile ago (here)? I took this image the same night while we were setting up for the light image. I had picked out my color of gel and was waiting for others to pick out their colors. I saw the light coming out of the door and the obstacles in the way... so I decided to practice shutter speeds and apertures, this is what I came up with.

Mountain Mist

I don't know what to say about this photograph. However, I can at least tell you that I took it on a road trip through the Great Sand Dunes National Park (two other posts: here and here). After being in Colorado for two years, I love watching the mountains the weather that surrounds them. It can change through out the day and can be completely different than the weather below or it can be used to predict the weather that is about to come your way. I guess this is an attempt to capture that magic.

Colorless Bloom

I took this photograph in high school when I was going through a "black and white flower" phase. I love to take photos of flowers as a stress reliever, but I rarely go back and look at the photographs because I find them boring (for me, flowers are a bit too perfect to be interesting). However, occasionally I go back and find a photo that intrigues me.

Friendly Neighbor

I took this in Georgetown, SC at Independent Sea Food. While my mom was inside, I stayed outside so that I could photograph all of the birds hoping to get lucky (on this particular day there were two pelicans and three herons). This one was the bravest, he actually tried to walk in the door of the place.