Book Worms

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So I am co-president of book club and when Potter found out I was put in charge of documenting all book club meetings. This time we met at McAllister's and discussed The Perks of Being a Wallflower. I was quite fun. There wasn't a lot going on so I shot the best I could. I just got a few shots of people discussing the book and wide shot of everyone there (minus me). I couldn't shoot the whole time, cause ya know, I'm President. So, I had to participate. 

JEA Wooh!

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     So, I wasn't in town on the 16th because I was at JEA so that's what I'm going to blog about. The pictures above are what I entered in the Write-Off. They may have possibly won a Superior Award and I may have gotten a cool little medal. It was quite exciting. I've never been the ideal "sports photographer," I struck a chord with swim last year but any other sport I've shot I just got decent shots broken up with the occasional "that's pretty good!" shot. So this year I accepted that and realized there's  so much more that happens at a football game than the football game, I wish I would have realized this a year ago, but oh well! Anyway, I stopped focusing on getting the ideal action shot and started trying to get the shots that haven't been seen, the shots that you have to get your butt dirty to get. And thus the first two pictures were born. 

     I was really kinda nervous when I entered these. I mean a year ago if you would have asked me if I thought I was going to 1st Place in Advanced Sports Photography and a Superior rating in JEA Yearbook Sports I would have laughed in your face. When we went to the photographers group critique my pictures were in the group that was shown in front of everyone and the judges held nothing back. This gave me quite a bit of hope. Most of the comments were on the middle picture. They loved the perspective of it. They said I had done my job of taking the viewer somewhere they couldn't go. One guy said he wished I had gotten Anthony's face in the first picture, but I feel like if I had done that I'd be going them the same view they get by watching a game. So after the critique I had to wait another two days. I thought I was going to die.

     Sunday at the awards thingy I was just praying to get an honorable mention. When they started announcing awards for my category when my name wasn't there for honorable mention I got the strange feeling that was a mix between hope and disappointment. The feeling only intensified when I didn't see my name for excellent. But then the superiors were put up there and lo and behold my name was there. Man I was excited. That's a national award bro! Im just hoping people don't get tired of seeing it before Josten's... *fingers crossed* 

Oh The Things I'll Do!

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These were the many stages of this pain in the butt picture. It was a last minute assignment and it sounded so cool I just couldn't pass it up. This picture was to illustrate the death of rock and roll, how awesome is that?! So during class I made a plan to have a light behind the tomb stone and a light in front to light the guitar. It was just my luck that the syncs were going bad and didn't want to work for me. So, the first three pictures are  Caroline and I trying to get the flashes to work. In the first one the flash just went off in the front and on the second one it went off on the front and back but the settings weren't right. All the while poor Caroline was lying on this grave holding the flash because the light stand was too tall. And Smith I knew what I was doing when I made my shutter speed 1/13 and didn't have a tripod, well once I got there anyway. While we were there Caroline taught  me that when your shutter speed gets kinda slow you can put it in high speed drive and hold down the shutter while you breathe out and one of the pictures should be in focus. So thats what I did and focus wasn't the problem. After about an hour we said "FORGET THE FLASHES!!" and we used cell phone lights. Innovation at its best. And thus was born the third picture. At this point it was 10:45 and my mother demanded I come home. So I walked away with my faith in editing. When I got to school the next day I started editing the pictures in Lightroom and thus was born the fourth picture. Then I called for back up: Smith. You helped me make it to where it could be put in the paper and not just be  black hole. The I was like "The Belcher gotta go!" So we went into photoshop and cloned over the name, cleaned up the back ground and stretched up the tomb stone. It looked pretty awesome and then I was like "Hey, can we put Rock & Roll on the tomb stone?" and you said yes! so we did so. and thus the sixth and final picture was born!!!

Swimmer Strip

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       So, Woodsies and I were sitting on the table at the front waiting for a computer and I was just looking around the room when I realized Smith had put up the TOP pictures from last year where the pictures from my freshman year were.  The pictures that I had been looking at for inspiration, the pictures that made me want to be a photographer, had been replaced by pictures that my best friends and myself had taken. After this realization I cried. Like a baby. This was the first time I had cried about something in publications because that was the first time I realized I'm not gonna be here forever. I can't continue to take refuge in Potter's room when the world becomes something I can't handle anymore. I can't continue to hold in everything just to let it all explode to my photography family. Publications had become such a significant part of my life that the thought of it not being there forever was just too preposterous to even consider. So, I cried. But, I also decided if I had to leave I was going to leave giving photography everything I got. Four year after I graduate I want freshman to look up at my pictures and think "Wow. I want to make pictures like that!" 

        Anyways... Now to talk about this picture. After my little break down Woodsies cheered me up the best way possible, she told me about an awesome photo opportunity. The swimmers decided to revive the tradition of painting their chests at the football games. I was actually quite impressed with how well they had planned everything. So we went and planned everything. At the game after I walked off the field and grabbed the $300 lens  (gasp!) and then I went and chilled with the swimmer until the kickoff (when the stripped happened). I waited to see if they were going to get in trouble, but they didn't. All in all twas wonderful!    

Senior Night!!

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So this was senior night and it was quite a bit of fun. I got to walk out on the field during pre-game along with all my other lovely senior photographers. I over came my fear of the Bigma and got a... FACE MASK PICTURE! I'm really super excited! I do wish there wasn't that guy in the background just chillin', but it's all good! That would be the top one. The second one is of Cluur. She danced so lovely and she just kinda broke down at the end, and I got it! Isn't she so pretty? The last one is on Mary Claire. Besides the Drill Team she was the only other one that cried, and man did she cry. I wish I would have had a 2.8 lens or maybe even a 1.8, so she would have popped off the page more. I saw my Juniors getting some pretty good shots, so it made me happy to know that I'm passing off the program to worthy hands. I hope so very much that they don't sustain our reputation but surpass it.

You Gotta Work With What You Got

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So, I was at the Halloween party, enjoying being a banana, when Madeleine and John David were like "hey seniors! we have to get the bonfire finished, lets go work on it." Then Madeleine told me that we would probably need some pictures for the yearbook and to go and take some. I was all gung-ho about it cause I knew I had my camera bag in my car and so I joined them. It was dark so two of the boys drove their trucks over there and we used their headlights to see. Once I started to get my gear together I realized, it's 8 o'clock at night and I don't have a flash! But did I let that stop me?? Absolutely not! I simply adapted, improvised and overcame! The first picture and the last picture I took with the pop up on my camera and was less than pleased. So I decided to play with the light from the trucks and silhouette the people. (I also should have mentioned that it wasn't exactly legal for us to be working on this at night with no faculty around, so silhouetting them also made them unidentifiable). And thus were the middle three. I liked these a lot more, except the third and fourth one are pretty muddy. The second picture came about when Madeleine suggested we get a group picture and I agreed and climbed as high as I could on the bonfire (It was fairly safe Smith) and took it. And now I'm stocked because were using that picture in TOP! :D