time

"When you love something,
you have time,
you have lots of time."
-Gustavo Dudemel

i find i do love. i just need to make time.

Hippie Cowboy

yep, don't really know how to describe the guy I did headshots for a couple weeks ago. He's a musician, kindof cowboy rock or something I think. I found it challenging but good. It was out of my comfort zone as I usually shoot kids, or engagements, or pretty boys in bands. But this guy wanted really raw pictures, no touchup, shoot him how he is. Was funny, the biggest challenge was that he talked non-stop and was quite goofy so to get a real shot took some effort. But overall. I am happy with the shoot and I think I gave him some good options for headshots.

this was one of the first I took. I wasn't crazy with the really light shirt so I had him change pretty quickly but I think the expression is good and this would also work as a tighter headshot if he wanted.
Figured you should see his boots so here they are. I don't like the placement of his left arm but I couldn't pose him much.
This one is my favorite. The focus is on his eyes. It's tight and his expression is comfortable.

Opinions

I have been thinking some lately about opinions and my friends. I have a few friends who voice really strong opinions about things that really don't change the world. Things like "I won't visit the Cupcake place b/c they are copying the Happy Crepe place." And then get all loud about it. I know they are not all THAT serious but they present themselves like its a black and white issue. Honestly, can't we enjoy both cupcakes and crepes. Or they say, "I hate American Idol and always have b/c of the name." Now I guess they have a right to not like something, but "Hate" - is that really neccessary? I think I take peoples words too seriously. I also find myself agreeing and going along with the strong opinions of my good friends. "Tom Waits is awesome." Now I have learned to appreciate him but for a while I just liked him b/c someone else liked him. I really hadn't formed my own opinion. I just accepted theirs. And when they start going off about something, whether I agree or not, I just sit quietly by and smile. I think alot of the time I don't really have a strong opinion one way or another so I just go with whatever they want. But on other things I do really have an opinion. Those usually get shared in one way or another, even if its passively. And my stronger opinions rarely get shared in a large group. One-on-one, sure, if you ask me I'll tell you what I think. I guess in a group I feel my opinion might not be fully heard and then could either be discounted, misunderstood, misinterpreted, made fun of, not taken seriously, or any other not so cool result. I put a lot of thoughts into my thoughts so I feel the need to be heard when I express them. That's all I have to say about that.

Valentine's Day

Well, it's February 14th and I am doing fine. I'd like to think Valentine's day is no big deal and totally not care about it and being single and all that. It seem irrational to care. But I care. I like pink and flowers and chocolate and hearts and all that. I don't like dorky stuffed bears or animals though. Today has been good. I don't have any plans tonight but am looking forward to just fiddling around at home and maybe watching some TV or something. My parents sent flowers. They are REALLY spring-y. I like the colors. Only one other person on my floor at work received flowers so I feel extra special. AND Elida brought me an extra fancy chocolate covered strawberry that was oh so yummy. So yep, I am fine. I am cool. Will be fun if one day I have someone special to celebrate it with but I am cool with this singlehood thing. Next year Valentine's day is on a Saturday. I think I'll try to gather a group of friends and go out to a fancy restraunt. They have special menu's on Valentine's day ya know.

my spring-y happy flowers

Check out this awesome strawberry - real and unedited. I do have a few photo skills up my sleeve. :0) Check out the depth of field.

Kelly Sighting on Campus

Just reporting I spotted Kelly Liao on campus this week in the very building I work in AND the very training room I straighten daily. He was over in the HR building taking a training class on Employment Verification Forms - also known around work as the I-9 class. Hope he survived it. It is as you might have guessed, REALLY dry material. I offered to make coffee for the class but no one wanted it. They probably should have taken me up on my offer. And you'll be happy to know that Kelly pushed in his chair and didn't leave trash around his table. That made my clean up job easier. :0)~

Color

you are mediumauqamarine #66CDAA

Your dominant hues are cyan and green. Although you definately strive to be logical you care about people and know there's a time and place for thinking emotionally. Your head rules most things but your heart rules others, and getting them to meet in the middle takes a lot of your energy some days. Your saturation level is medium - You're not the most decisive go-getter, but you can get a job done when it's required of you. You probably don't think the world can change for you and don't want to spend too much effort trying to force it. Your outlook on life is brighter than most people's. You like the idea of influencing things for the better and find hope in situations where others might give up. You're not exactly a bouncy sunshine but things in your world generally look up.

the spacefem.com html color quiz

interesting considering this week. eh, rudy.

I Had My Reasons

I've been listening to this song alot lately. The CD is in my car so I've heard it a billion times it seems the last couple weeks. On the way home I replayed this song until I had to stop. First I connected to the chorus. Then I grasped what the verses were really saying. I sometimes don't picture Jesus so real. Real enough to care. Real enough to hurt. So, here it is. It's "I Had My Reasons" by The Great Upset.

Seven days and seven nights I worked
I had my reasons
Forty days and forty nights I walked
I had my reasons
I thought nothing of the place I left
I had my reasons
Spurned the haughty for the blind and deaf
I had my reasons

Hold on
You don’t understand
I hurt
More than any man I knew
It was coming

I kneeled down upon the grass and wept
I had my reasons
Crushed beneath the sons of man and slept
I had my reasons

Hold on
You don’t understand
I hurt
More than any man I knew
It was coming

Felt the fire rushing through my chest
I had my reasons
There is no body where I lay to rest
I had my reasons

Hold on
You don’t understand
I hurt
More than any man I knew
It was coming

Quotes & Friends

"I'm not friends with you DESPITE the quirks. I'm friends with you, and there are quirks."

hey, what can I say, I am a quirky friend. It's good to be loved.

"Hey, don't eat the cookies. Did they offer you any?"

ah, loved again. My friend was looking out for me and steered me clear of the pot-filled cookies. They did look quite good though. But getting stoned on a weekday night might not have been so cool with work the next day.

My confidence has been shot this week but I am feeling a little better.

G-funk and sports cars

And how do you get a smile like this out of CT? Just get him talking about sports cars. :0)~ Blanca and Chris were talking about sports cars while I was playing around with a point and shoot camera. The boy was sure "full teeth smiley." Fun stuff. It's fun being around someone like CT who gets so excited about certain things. Makes me appreciate the small joys in life. Oh and I am way excited about B's new car. I want a matching blue one. :0)

LLcoffeehouse

Went to the LL coffeehouse start of the semester thing last night. Good stuff. Enjoyed hearing everyone play. Cecilia was great as always. That girl just needs to realize she is good and get some confidence. But I guess thats the emo rockstar thing to be. She's going to kill me for calling her emo - esp since she's not really emo at all but has that sad feel to her music - there is some hope in it somewhere. I do really like it. Nathan did a couple songs which was groovy. I liked his song choices. He did the song "Lover" by Derek Webb. Good stuff. Then Ashlyn played and that was cool. I really liked the lyrics to her songs. Well written. She was playing an electric guitar and I felt vocally she needed to unleash more. Groovy though. And then Tank finished up the night. He is really good solo but he too doesn't realize how good he is and doesn't like doing solo gigs. So that sucks for us. He seems so comfortable in front of people its hard to comprehend that he doesn't enjoy it. Or maybe he enjoys it but would rather have a band. I don't know. Rockstars. They are hard to figure out. He played a fun set though. He played Casmir Pulaski Day at my request which was groovy. He introduced it which was a little different as he usually just plays it and lets people figure it out. It is a pretty sad song but I love it. Has a lot of feeling in it. Was a cool evening. I had the camera out for a few shots. I just used my 50mm 1.8 lens to play with light and no flash and all. Its my new "rockstar" lens. Not that its "new" or "rockstar" - it cost like $80 and I've had it a few years, but I've started using it more to shot bands. It has a shallow depth of field at 1.8 so I have to set my focus point carefully. But it's great for low light.

i love feet shots. they seem to have character.
notice the depth of field. :0)
not a great picture but I thought it was fun.
liked the angle and expression.
Mr. Smiles doing a little banter.

He looks like he's having fun, eh.Another feet shot. Good color jeans and I liked the roll-up. Another one playing with depth of field and angle. Groovy.