Moving On

A few days ago I had to decide to leave my position at UCA's newspaper. It was a really tough decision, but I think it's the best one for me right now. The paper took up too much time and I was not able to partake in all the freshman things that I really feel like are a big part of college. It was also interfering with finding a church/campus ministry and my studies. So for my last assignment I went to our football game against UA-Pine Bluff at War Memorial. It was a good note to end on.

Don't be alarmed; I will still regularly take photos, but not for the newspaper.

'Twas A Busy Day

Thursday was a very busy day in the news world here in little Conway. I received a call early in the morning informing me that the UCA president, Lu Hardin was holding a meeting with the board and I NEEDED to be there. So I rolled out and got there to find out Hardin resigned as president stating his cancerous tumors behind one of his eyes were forcing him to resign. This was such a shame. Lu Hardin was the main reason I chose to attend Central Arkansas. So I'm at a crossroads now with this situation. He later addressed the faculty about his resigning. He has yet to address the students. I wish I could tell him that he is the reason I'm here and now he's leaving. Tom Courtway is taking over for the time being, and we'll see how that goes.

Also this same day was UCA's season opening football game against Henderson State. We stomped Henderson. Nathan Brown, the quarterback is expected to go to the NFL after this season. He is really quite impressive.

Soccer.

I've never taken pictures of soccer before. But I liked it. One of my best friends is playing at the collegiate level here so I wanted to check out the team. And I was assigned to do this; so I had to be there. No complaints. Lots of fun.

The Echo (The UCA Paper) downloaded Photoshop CS2 on my computer for free! So I've had fun trying to figure that out. But it's a whole different way of editing than my Photoshop Elements. For some reason, these pictures look a little dull and a overexposed when I open them, even though when I save them they don't look like so. Boo technology. I like darkrooms. And film. I would still do everything that way if I could. I like having complete control over my film and watching it all come to life.

P.S. - Photoshop apparently inverted all the colors on my photos when I posted them. So I reverted back to good 'ol iPhoto for blogging editing.

College. So far.

I've been at college for precisely eight days now, and so far so good. I love my spanish class even though it's going to kick my butt. I also started taking pictures for the UCA paper the other day with my new lens. 80-200 2.8 (that's for you, Andy). And the paper bought Photoshop CS2 for me! Sweetness!! But here are a couple photos from UCA's football practice I took today.


P.S. - How do I get my text to show up above my photos? This current way of doing things irritates me.

South Central Region Water Ski Championships.

So last weekend I was hired to be the tournament photographer for this water ski tournament. It was a big deal, a bunch of pro skiers. And this was a qualifier for the national championship for next weekend in Florida. Made some moolah and got a lot more experience both in the business and artistic side of photography.

La Casa Pollo

La Casa Pollo Climbing Gym

México

So I just realized I never posted anything from my Mexico trip. So here they are.

Some old film

So this is an old photo from last year I did with film. I like it a lot, but I don't think the colors are as good as they were when I developed it. But I still like it. Too bad she completely beefed her shot.

Stage Race

So I haven't posted in a while. Here are some bicycling photos.

Commissioner's Box Baby...

So last weekend I went up to St. Louis to see the my beloved Cubbies play the dreaded Cardinals. It was a perfect weekend for baseball. And I had seats in the Commissioner's Box, which is adjacent to the Cardinal's dugout and basically on the field. I even talked to some of the players while they were taking infield before the game. I brought my camera, and over the two days, shot 440 pictures. All of which were amazing. As always. Actually, thats false. But I did have a lot of really good ones. Here's a few of the best of the best from the weekend.

Is there a way to get my text to be first and then have the pictures appear? Because it's really annoying to have text at the bottom.

ASPA

So last week I went to this journalism conference called ASPA, Arkansas Scholastic Press Association if you must know. Anyways, me being the great sports photojournalist that I am, I had one of my photos up for an award. The Yearbook Sports Photograph. You can either get Honorable Mention, Excellent, or Superior, with Superior being the highest rating. I found out I got excellent and was pretty mad. Actually, really mad. But when they gave me my photo and their ratings and comments, the judges had actually circled Superior. So I may have gotten the highest award for this, and that would make me really happy. So here it is.

AMBIII

Goat Farm

I went out to this place west of Fayetteville called Goat Farm. It was a few weeks ago, and absolutely freezing and hard winds. But I wanted to see if I could shoot rock climbing/bouldering well on my first try, and came up with this as my best. Elliot Grissom here, it trying to climb up to the top of this rock, about 15-18 feet up from the ground. It didn't happen though. As you can see, it's pretty much a flat piece of rock with no holds sticking out.

AMBIII

I did write something, but its under all of this.

So yesterday I went out to Pinnacle Country Club hoping to get some pictures for my senior photo portfolio. I thought they would just let me on, but I was wrong. I got up to the security gate, and told him what I was doing, flashed my press pass and everything. So he called the clubhouse and talked to like a hundred people. They finally let me up to the clubhouse to talk to the pro. So I'm thinking this is pretty ridiculous, being a golf fanatic and all I don't see the problem with me doing this. I get up there and tell him I am a member of every golf association I'm eligible for, I have worked on golf courses, played in the LPGA Pro-Am last year, and my uncle is a PGA certified pro. And on top of this, I am the number one sports photojournalist in the school and up for awards for my sports photography in the state. Finally this guy understands how awesome I am, and gives me a cart and the whole shebang. And good thing, because I took some of the best photos of my life there. I think these would compete with any Shupe photo from the course. Thats' right Shupe, I just did that.

Viaje a Mexico

In precisely 29 hours, I will depart to Mexico for a mission trip.  I plan on taking a couple hundred pictures, hoping I get something good that shows the essence of the poverty there.  I really look forward to it; but the only thing I keep thinking about is getting really cool pictures of the kids and whatnot.  I guess I just really want to remember this year, as it may be my last.  Wish me luck or pray for me if you do that kind of thing.

AMBIII

I'm an aboriginal

 So I have decided to make a didgeridoo. It will be quite amazing. Hopefully I can learn to somewhat make a noise out of it.  Anybody know where I can get natural beeswax?  I need it to finish my instrument. 

Hopefully I can be like this guy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9g592I-p-dc

AMBIII

P.S.--I FOUND THE BEESWAX!!! Now I have 3 days and 9 hours to construct and learn to play it.

Oh How I Miss Colorado

Oh how I miss Colorado.  I think this is definitely one of the top 5 pictures I have ever taken. I really really like it.  I was eating at this restaurant on top of the mountain and I looked outside and saw the snow cannons firing up.  They made a cool fog look so I took a picture of it.  Turns out, the mountains, the sun, the one person skiing, and the girl right in front of me made the picture look really awesome.  Its really cool and really frustrating to think that the pictures that you never expect to be good turn out to be the best ones.  And the ones you spend like forever trying to get just right end up sucking.

Razorback Baseball needs to start ASAP!!!!

A Sweet-Awesome Picture. And some insights

So I went to a track meet last Saturday to take some pictures, and after going through eighty-something crappy ones, i came across this one. I really like the sand in this one.  I don't know, it just has some kind of cool texture and pattern to it.  I really like taking pictures, but I just have a hard time being creative with my angles and whatnot.  But I guess the more I do this, the better I'll get.  But back to this picture.  Andy Shupe, the NWA Times photographer let me use his huge lens so I could get some of these sweet pictures.  He's one of the coolest guys I know, and I look up to him and respect him more than almost anyone.  He's a true, genuine person, and that's what I admire about him.  You should talk to him sometime.  It's worth speaking to a real person.

But on to my next subject of writing: college.  Its been stressing me out so much these last few months, but I finally think I found out where God wants me to go; or I really hope this is where He wants me at.  If its not, the next four years are gonna suck.  But I have decided to attend the University of Central Arkansas.  It's in Conway.  It's really cool and I can get a lot of money from them.  But to be honest, I'm terrified to leave Fayetteville.  Its the first town I've lived in for more than a couple years, and I don't want to leave.  I have awesome friends, and an even better church.  

Leaving my church will be the hardest for me.  Its the one place I can go to when my parents fail me (which happens too much), my friends fail me (which doesn't happen as much), or when I feel like I'm failing myself (a lot).  I was on one of the boards of directors for this new student ministries building that costs 8 million dollars, and now I don't even get to use it.  I'm pissed about that.  I'm mad I invested so much time into this, and now I don't get to use it even for one day.  I guess I'm being selfish, but I really don't care right now.  

I really hope I make some really good friends at UCA, because that's the one thing that scares me most.  I don't want to spend four years of my life mad that I didn't go to JBU or Arkansas, where I have friends I know attending.  I know a whole 3 people at UCA.  And I probably won't get to hang out with any of them.  And I'm really scared I won't find a church I love as much as Central.  I won't be able to deal with a small church.  I need a big church.  They just feel right for me.  I think God speaks to me through big groups, so a 50 person congregation won't cut it.  But I'm just gonna have to deal with it and let God handle this for me.  But its so hard to do.  

Starting Something New

I have seen other people with these types of blogs, and thought the idea was pretty cool.  So I decided to make one of my own.  Here I will tell the reader my innermost thoughts, feelings, and attitudes, all while showing him some of my sweet photography skills.  And maybe something about this Jesus guy everyone should know.  He's pretty awesome.

Please enjoy.