It's Finally Break and I Can Update!

Hey everyone. Sorry I haven't had time to update Shutterclick, but with all my classes coming to an end and then studying for finals, I couldn't find time to update. But thank you to those who continued to check. I think I did really well on my Art History exam, and I hope I did well on my Lively Arts exam. That one was especially hard because we had to watch performances and then write about them to a set of questions within two hours.

For Christmas, my family and I hosted our annual family Christmas party. It went really well and I got to see some friends that I haven't seen in a while. I'm just glad it's over because it was so hectic trying to get everything done.

I have recently found myself telling a lot of people that they should be starting their own blogs. There are just so many things people could be writing about and reading their perspective on life would be very interesting.

I'm really excited about seeing all of my friends over the break. My school gives us a really long break, so I have a lot of time to see everyone and visit them at college.

One of my editors really wants me to work on little assignments over break, so I try when ever I can to take photos.

I stayed up a few nights ago and went through some of my old photos that I took on assignment this year and was surprised by some that I found. I'm glad that I'm able to go back and really look at photos that I have taken with a better eye. I was unable to get Adobe Photoshop for Christmas, which is fine because I got an external hard drive out of it, but it just means that I have to edit all my photos at the collegian and save my money to buy it myself. I just hope that I can sell more prints next semester for more money. I'm one of those people who likes showing off their work and not really asking people to pay for it. But I have to stop that because the paper costs mucho money as does the ink, and there is stuff I really need this money for.

I've been debating with myself on how personal I'm going to make this blog. I have another blog that I used to write about such things, however, I feel that this is the one I really want to concentrate on now. So, you might just see some posts that will not include photos, but I'll try my best to upload one every time that I post.

I was reading an article today from Boston.com about a BU student and her battle with Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia and wrote a blog about it. I have been reading her blog for the last 2 hours and I think I just might read right through it. She has a really funny sense of humor for all of the pain she is going through and it kinda reminds me of one of my own friends. She is also a photojournalism student which totally earns her points. You can find the article from Boston.com here and read her blog here. I have found some other really great photo essays and reports on Boston.com and the Washingtonpost.com. Some really inspiring stuff.

I'm trying to get people to come with my for First Night, but it appears to be harder than first thought. Either people are away or they are going to be at parties. I really want to go and shoot some photos for the Collegian and also to experience it for the first time. I hope that it doesn't rain, but I'll probably have to make a camera condom just in case.

And being a photo blog, I'm going to post some recent and past photos. Enjoy!

Most recently, I took photos of the worst storm we had last semester. They canceled classes half way through the day and I had to end my lunch short because I got a call from editor M to go out and shoot the traffic jam that was happening. Of course, I stupidly left my camera in my room, so I had to run up the hill in thick snow, grab it, and then run back down.






Snow ball fight


Classic bike photo


Kid following his father

I really like this the most


Kinda reminds me of the cover to "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe."


This made the cover of the tabloid.

The Republican Club invited Jonah Goldberg to speak recently with a program called "Give War a Chance." Now, the last time I did a shoot of a speaker for the Republican Club, there were protesters outside, one guy got carried out, and pretty much everyone hated her. And having to listen to her while I shoot, I can understand why. I am posting photos of that speaker later in this post. Anyway, they again had police, even a K-9 unit. So, needless to say, the atmosphere was tense. Thankfully, Goldberg was pretty amazing and really broke down some people's perceptions of what a conservative is like (and someone said this). One of my favorite things he said was "Now, if anyone was thinking of running the stage, you might as well do it now and get it over with." That received a good laugh (and I know I'm suppose to be biased, but it was great) and pretty much stated a known fact about conservative speakers at colleges today. Luckily, no one rushed the stage or acted like an ass. And I got some good shots out of it.





I like this angle, but I wish I got him with his eyes open.





Laying it out.



Ahhhh... I have a question.... Lol. I really love this shot. It's classic.



This was the one that got published, but I really don't think it should have been picked in my opinion. I just think the blur is way too much. Although, I did get a nice e-mail from someone from the Republican Club saying thanks for taking the photo and it was nice to have it for Goldberg when he caught his plane. Hopefully he liked it more than I do. Without blur, I would really like it, but I just think there is too much in this one...



Awesome sunset. I swear, we have some of the nicest sunsets here and this one was incredible. The pink was just this deep, deep, hot pink, and sadly I could not catch the color. I tried, but failed. This is the best I have.



Last photo I took when leaving for Christmas break. Shot through the car windshield, I just thought it must be kinda cool to be that high up.



I really like this photo, but they never used it when they were suppose to. Instead, they used another one with freaking geese. Kinda upset, but at least I have it to show.

Ok, now getting to some old, old pics. The Jena 6 walk out was my first assignment, and I probably took some of the best pictures this year then.









My editors liked this one a lot and I am also really proud of it. It's a really sweet shot.



Another one of my favs. Just the reaction to an action in the photo is a good example of context and the story of the march.







Another one of my favs



"I'm fired up. I can't take no more!" And I'm telling you, this kid was FIRED UP.



Supporters









This is the one that got published and was my first front page. It is also one of my bests. The man featured with the megaphone also used this photo on his website. Guess he liked it also ^_^.







This is one of the photos that I went back and just fell in love with. The younger woman was telling the boys about what the protest was about and explaining what lynching was. That was a very moving moment for me.

The woman I was referring to earlier in the post that spoke for the Republican Club was Phyllis Schlafly, an anti-feminist who spoke about feminism vs. conservatism. Needless to say, I don't think she has ever attended a Women Studies class and should think about doing so.





I really like the Republican Club president coming out of the dark. Looks really cool.





This is the one that got published and I got to pick it. I think her face pretty much sums up the evening. It was a reaction to a man saying that he was a feminist. The audience's face was pretty much the same the entire evening while listening to her.

And finally, the Code Pink protesters came to our campus. I really find them annoying, especially when they demonstrated in from of a Marine recruitment table. That's their job, give them a break.











Ahhh, an anti-protester. Pretty much went on about how he doesn't understand why they are doing this display, yada yada.




So, there is my wicked long photo post. I'm sorry it is so long, but I've been meaning to post this photos for a long time, and now I finally am done. Enjoy New Years!