Portraits of Tearsa

Tearsa is one of my best friends. I have known her since elementary school. When I got assigned in my portrait class to do an outdoor assignment Tearsa was one of my choices for a model.












She really enjoyed the shoot. And was excited to see the photos and the outcome of our photo shoot.


















I shot her in an urban environment and also in more of a nature setting. I think that both settings were very flattering and left me with a variety of shots that I am happy with.


















Overall it was a good photo shoot and I think that I have gotten some great images out of it and Tearsa had a great experience.

Portraits of Caroline

It was a nice day to do portraits. The thing that wasn't so nice was the splitting migraine I had, even so I proceeding to start my outdoor portrait project. I took two models with me. Caroline Hunton is one of those models. I did some landscape portraits as well as some urban.










I am pretty happy with the photos I had taken. Plus I had as much fun as a person with a migraine could possibly have.


















Although not all the photos fit the requirements of the portrait assignment, I decided to shot a few that I could possibly use for my portfolio.

















Overall I think that I capture Caroline. I feel that there were a variety of flattering shots of her and that it was a great shoot. I especially liked shooting the urban portraits.

Week 4 Quotes

“Look at the things around you, the immediate world around you,” he said. “If you are alive, it will mean something to you, and if you care enough about photography, and if you know how to use it, you will want to photograph that meaningness.”
-Paul Strand

First of all let me just say, Paul Strand is one of my favorite photographers. This quote shows how deep of an artist he was. For me this quote reminds me of appreciation (in the first part of the quote). Being that we are human things begin to establish meanings at a young age, as we get older and our critical thinking skills develop that are more meanings and deeper thinking upon that subject. Being a photographer, you try to capture that meaning attached to our life. I think that is essentially what one is doing; trying to capture meaning in photos. If that is done well and can affect even just one person, that makes me happy. Art is powerful and makes people happy, think, and appreciate. GREAT QUOTE!

-Rachel Austin



“Your photography is a record of your living--for anyone who really sees,” Strand said. “You may see and be affected by other people’s ways, you may even use them to find your own, but you will have to eventually free yourself from them.”
-Paul Strand

This quote reminds me of starting in the photo program. In 101 class you had to look at lots of examples of other great photographers work. This was incorporated through a lot of the classes. Once you look at what good photography is, you begin to "see" things. No, I don't mean hallucinate things; I mean see things through a cameras point of view in a composing way. After a while you will eventually free yourself from other people's ideas to explore your own. Then you begin to develop a style that is yours. This is truly a rewarding experience and self achievement.
-Rachel Austin

Fall is here!

Fall is here folks! And it waits for no one. I decided that I would take a nice walk around my apartment complex area which is located on the grounds of historic Fort George Wright.
















There were so many beautiful fall colors. I was happy in the moment enjoy the crisp weather, as well as looking at the leaves falling softly to the ground.












Halloween is a fun thing to look forward to in the fall. As I passed a near buy brick house, I saw that people were already thinking about that holiday. It made me smile to see people getting ready for Halloween, as it is one of my favorite holidays.



















Today was truly a beautiful fall day. Its nice to just slow down and go for a walk and enjoy how beautiful our world really can be.

Week 3 Quotes

QUOTES

"The great end of education is, to discipline rather than to furnish the mind;
to train it to the use of its own powers, rather than fill it with the accumulations of others.
"

Tryon Edwards


The quote reminded me of how important education really is. It is important to let the mind grow, learn, and think about new ideas or possibilities. Once you open your mind about a subject and start to learn more about it, you can then make your own judgments and opinions and most importantly, ideas, about that subject. There are infinite possibilities with education, and that is an exciting thought.


-Rachel Austin



"The foolish man seeks happiness in the distance;
The wise grows it under his feet.
"

James Oppenheim


This reminds me of Buddhist idealism. Live in the present, not the future. If you are worried about seeing happiness in the distance, you will not see what happiness could lie right in front of you at that moment.

~Rachel Austin

Week 2 Quotes

“I visualize a story as a beaded necklace – a pearl necklace- coiled up in the muck at the bottom of the sludge collected at the bottom of your subconscious. When you start yanking on the string, an old string that’s been rotting in the muck for years, the string breaks. But you’ve got one gorgeous pearl left in your hands, and you’re motivated to roll up your sleeves and stick your hand down into the muck to find the rest of the pearls you just barely glimpsed. And one by one you fetch them up. But without their string (the plot; the because-sequence is the string) they come up in a random order. In fact, some of the pearls may not even belong to this necklace.Eventually, when you’ve got them all, you can sit down and make the “outline” of the story. You look at the pearls and your sense of ART tells you which ones go with which – by color and shape and texture and size –and you arrange a set of pearls so the big one is in the middle and the small ones on the end (or however your Art says to do it). At that point, you know which pearls don’t belong on this necklace and set them aside.
-C.J. Cherryh

First of all I have to say this is a very GOOD quote. It makes you look at stories in a visual way. You then connect the visuals the quote introduces and add it to the critical thinking that happens when you read it. Basically it is saying that sometimes when you start writing or coming up with ideas to stories that you may also come up with other ideas for stories later on. You may take some of the ideas and use them or you may take some of them and use them later, even if it is used for a whole other story/concept. Writing and telling stories can be a process with many creative opportunities as an artist to tell your story in many ways. You can arrange (as the quote states) your “pearls” or ideas/concepts however you feel fit because you are the artist. I really enjoyed this quote!
-Rachel Austin

“The method I use now is to present ideas through impressions. Readers immersed in the gradually unfolding impressions will form their own ideas, which might or might not be in agreement with the author’s; that is fine either way. Ideas are like the string that turns the pearls into a necklace. The string is invisible, but it is not dispensable and cannot be broken.”
-A dialogue with MuXin

I agree, when you start to have a story that is being told where the plot or idea/concept is unfolding, the reader will then start creating their own ideas in their head. Many of the readers ideas may be based on their own life experiences or similar stories they have heard or seen through the media or other people. Interesting quote!

-Rachel Austin

Birthday Party Fun

My real birthday is October 6th, but who celebrates a party on a Monday?! No one. That is why I celebrated October 4th, which was a Saturday. Many decorations were put up at my apartment here in Spokane, Washington.

This egyptian chimes was given to me by my sister who was sweet enough to show up before the party to help decorate. As was a few other friends.

The night was full of great snacks and video games (the Wii) as well as just catching up with everyone. It was a pretty relaxed party with lots of laughter.

The cake was a chocolate ice cream with vanilla whipped frosting. It was very tasty! Three of my friends; Tearsa, Christine, and Jana all helped but a total of 22 candles on the cake.

Overall it was a great birthday party. We also finished the night off by going to a dance club and having some drinks.