Have you ever seen the indecision of a man while he's standing by the fire...

  

Blog Post: Week of  November 26th

Photo # 6

Photo from literally 6 months ago. I haven't taken photos in so long, my goodness! This is with my first 18-55mm lens. Now, I am getting a new one!

My dilemma is what lens to choose for Christmas seeing as, no matter the cost, I will have to go months without any allowance. So, in the end, the price shouldn't matter too much, right? 

I am choosing between FOUR LENSES, and I have to decide by the end of this weekend. Quite the mission. Currently I only have the 35mm and the 18-55. The 35mm is essentially the most basic lens and quite honestly, it bores me and is somewhat difficult to work with in a variety of different situations. My sister owns the 30mm, 50mm, and the 70-200mm (which she rarely lets me use). The lenses I am choosing from are the 40mm, 50mm, 55-300mm, and the 70-300mm.

The 40mm is a Macro Nikon lens, so it's made to shoot up-close, with a small depth of field, and in stunning quality. The 40 has great reviews and it is a lens that neither me nor my sister owns. I imagine that I would ideally take this on nature walks, hikes, and antiquing (my favorite activity other than eating)! But the lens seems useful in a variety of situations, so I would love love love to have it! Definitely one of my favorites out of the four.

The 50mm (which my sister owns, but I love it, so I want my own) is ideal for portraits, from my experience. Seeing as my favorite subjects are people. People tell stories, and in turn, the photos tell stories- and that’s what photography is about to me. I personally love the 50mm already, so it is definitely a contender.

The 55-300mm is a beautiful zoom lens and I want it badly! A friend recommended it to me, and all of the reviews are good too. So far, I have barely any zoom capabilities at all and I need a zoom lens if I want to pursue anything other than portraits. Zoom lenses are great for animal life shots and candids. I NEED A ZOOM LENS, CASE AND POINT.

The final lens is the 70-300mm. It is by far the cheapest option. There are flaws in it that I do not feel like going into, and the reviews are not ALL positive; however the price is almost irresistible!

Right now, I am leaning mostly toward the 40mm and the 55-300mm. I cannot decided if I need a Macro lens or a zoom lens. If someone would like to help me choose, I am welcoming ANY SORT OF AID to choose. I am literally the most indecisive person I know.

Sing to me...

Blog Post: Week of November 12th
Video # 2

My Capture the Fall video!

I filmed the most part of it at the farm that I went to for my friend Sophie's birthday (discussed earlier).

My action adventure dream...

Blog Post: Week of November 5th
Video # 1

We all know the assignment- Dystopian Trailers. I made mine with Amy, Andrea and Molly and I'm relatively proud of it. I personally chose the music and edited most of it with Andrea. For our level of experience, I think it looks very professional.

I think that the trailer could have used a few more shots and maybe more consistency between each different voice-over, but I think that the music is great, the editing is pretty professional and the plot-line is well thought out. I regret not having made a clear criticism of anything in today's society. We tried to criticize the level of pollution (which forced humans to recede to the Underground), as well as the instability and power-seeking tendencies of American government; however, after watching the trailer, I am unsure of how clear our message came across.

To make the trailer, my whole group first journeyed all the way to Olney to film. Molly was the main protagonist, while Amy was the catalyst for Chrinn's (Molly's character) rebellion. We all shared filming depending on who was in each different scene. We even filmed in tunnels/sewers near Amy's house! Our group spent each day in CAP film production to edit the trailer. Andrea and I came in every lunch time to continue editing it.

Altogether, I like it a lot and despite my regrets for what could have been done, I am glad that we finished it and it looks the way it does.

The arc light on the hillside and the market in the hay...

Blog Post: Week of October 29th
Photo # 3

I took that photo during my friend Sophie's birthday party. It was in a corn maze...obviously.

The party began at Bethesda Chevy Chase High School, which is a lot cleaner and prettier than Montgomery Blair. We all boarded the Party Bus and drove for about an hour to get the farm. There, we got into groups of six and started our journey in a corn maze. We were supposed to find eight mailboxes and get stamps at each one to complete a map that would lead us out of the maze, but my group and I ended up finding the exit before finding even two mailboxes. No other group had found the exit yet, so my group and I relaxed atop a tall hay stack formation.

Photo # 4

Once everyone had found their way out of the maze, whole party group congregated and explored the farm. Some stayed on the haystacks, some went straight to the slide as we waited for our hayride vehicle to come. When it did, we call got on and got pumpkins!

Photo # 5

Finally, we all sat down and ate pizza, salad, and cake as we sipped Hershey hot chocolate (the type that comes in the little bags). I must say, it was an altogether relaxing and satisfying day for me.

Another plus, while at my friend's party, I not only took a ton of photos, I also took a lot of footage for my Capture the Fall video!

Please Say You'll Stay, Sandy

Blog Post: Week of October 22nd
Photo # 2

Hurricane Sandy is abrewin' and the birds can tell. Nothing special, old lens, grainy photo, but I thought it worthwhile to post.

Sandy came at just the right time! I was close to panicking about how much work that needed to be finished. Which brings me to the topic of this blog post- public education in Maryland and the United States as a whole.

Firstly, there are these standards and expectations that put a mental and emotional strain on students. This is understandable, of course, the drive that pushes us students forward in our educational careers is, after all, the stress. But to add onto the stress of needing to finish schoolwork to have acceptable grades in the present, there is a not-so-unspoken idea that students need to go to college, need to know exactly what they want to do with their lives as they enter the eleventh grade if they want to have an acceptable life in the future.

I know that my own parents remind me every single day that I need to get exceptional grades, I need to get a scholarship, I need to get into a great college, and I need to find a career that pays enough to somehow pay for their retirement. A lot to put onto a 15 year old girl's shoulders, I think.

Secondly, and probably more statistically backed, and I think that teachers can agree with me on this one, standardized tests and Bush's No Child Left Behind Act create a deathly circuit. The tests implemented in schools make for an unhealthy impact on students' understand of what's really important. It links students' intelligence to the inaccurate results of the test. It then links this false representation of the students' intelligence to the quality of the teachers. The circuit ends and restarts with a decision that could make or break a school- how much federal funding the school will get based on the unreliable, untrue tests scores.

Now, we all know what this leads to- teachers teaching to the test, students cheating on the test, etc. To me, this just leads to a lack of motivation, and overall negative impacts on the schooling system. I'm in no way blaming my parents, the teachers or the school for any sort of petty disinterest I feel regarding school. No, I am making my commentary on what I think is leading to the unheard of drop out rates. I mean, 1 million students drop out every year, 6,000 students every day, and one student every 26 seconds. There's got to be a reason, right?

The first thing that most adults seem to tell me is to find a career that I am in interested in, something that I will enjoy doing every day, hence the drive that pushes us students forward in our educational careers should be motivation and excitement to follow a certain path. Yet, recently, I find that the nature of the education system is rushing me to pick a path before I can develop interest in one. I shouldn't want to go to college simply because of the threatened imminent failure and poverty that will come to those who choose not to. Furthermore, my intelligence shouldn't be scored based on tests that really show no evidence of such.

Please don't take this blogpost as an uneducated little girl complaining about the school system. My mother is a teacher and I simply thought that it would be healthy for me to let out my own opinion on my education seeing as I hear about my mom's opinion night and day. I obviously don't know everything about public education in the United States, but I know that the path that the government is taken now can't be the best direction for the future.

No Light in your Bright Blue Eyes...

I never knew that daylight could be so violent.

Blog Post: Week of October the 8th
Photo #1

I took this photo of Andrea a while ago, last year, to be honest- before I got my new camera and before I got Photoshop.  It's pretty mediocre, but for lack of anything else, I figured I might as well post it.

I am interested in photography, though I do not think it will become anything more than a hobby for me.  So, for my weekly blog posts, I decided that I will post a photo per week.  I've always wanted to do the 365-Day Photo Challenge, but I know me, and I simply cannot rely on myself to do anything every single day.  This blog will give me somewhere to post my photos weekly where very few people can see them.

I really enjoy capturing moments of my life that I otherwise would forget.  Before I die, most likely when we all meet the Apocalypse, I would like to remember all of those little moments that made me smile.  Cheesy, I know, you guys are probably chortling to yourselves.  But when I'm looking at all of the photos I've taken as my end draws near and most people struggle to remember all the little things they took for granted, well, we'll see who's laughing. I'm sorry, that was rude and morbid, forgive me.

I suppose I became interested in photography right around when my sister began her college career, around two years ago.  As she was leaving, I found myself feeling a bit lonely and unmotivated.  At right about the right time, my sister said that I could take her old camera, and thus began a beautiful relationship.  I found photography to be quite enjoyable and even freeing in a way.  After entering middle school, I found that my motivation to be creative and the possibility to be creative greatly diminished.  My opinions on the school system is a blog post for another time, however.

In addition to digital photography, I do enjoy film photography.  My sister first became passionate about film photography at camp, as did I.  At our camp, there are photo programs in which the camp lets campers take their own film photos and use the camp dark room, otherwise known as "The Apteryx."  It is a lot harder, however, to pursue as film costs so much and access to a dark room seems almost impossible.  I do not have the time or money to enjoy film photography as much as I would like.  One of my goals for this year is to put my film camera to good use.  I wonder if I could use Blair's dark room...

In any case, I hope to continue photography as I grow older, and I suspect I will.  Whether I make a career about it is if-y, but it is an important aspect of my life that keeps me sane, so I plan on holding onto it for as long as possible.

Stay tuned for more photos and blog posts!

Bears. Beets. Battlestar Galactica.

City Chase by Royalty Free Kings

Condition one by wilsonfrontier

Fleet Assault by constaneum

04 - Storming New Caprica by wilsonfrontier

At this point, after spending so much time zoning out in front of a computer screen looking for music in archives that are larger than Earth itself...I'm not even sure if any of those are relevant to our trailer. But, from what I can tell, they're all pretty climactic and dramatic and intense. We could use clips of these throughout the trailer as our trailer is aimed to be suspenseful and fast-paced.

For the first track, specifically, it could be used as suspenseful and exciting music for our chase scene...it is, after all, called Chase.
For the second track, (Condition One, beeping) it could be background to the main music to add suspense and urgency.
The other two are basically just intense, exciting Battlestar Galactica Tracks. I. Regret. Nothing.