MissKels

A few weeks ago I went to the Griffith Observatory with some people who live in my hallway, I finally got to break out my tripod and get some night city shots! I spent most of my time wandering around outside taking pictures so I didn’t even see much of the museum, but the show we saw was pretty fascinating, I can’t wait to go back. These are the first photos I’ve taken in awhile that I really like. I’m going through that point in the cycle where I hate almost everything I take, but I think everyone has gone through it.

I just got back from visiting the family in Arizona, and unfortunately I didn’t get much time to shoot :/ It was actually kind of pretty there though, usually I hate the scenery because its brown, ugly and monotonous, but it was a bit green this time and the weather was not scorching :]

my dorm peeps ^^

jumpp

Read the rest of this entry »

So it’s been two months since I last posted. Er…wow. Thats awhile…

But I finally got to go out this week and shoot! My life has been so crazy that my camera has collected dust under my bed *tear*. My break for thanksgiving starts wednesday but of course all the teachers cram their assignments into the last week. So here are some shots from around campus and some self portraits, just getting to know my camera again. I’ll definitely be posting more this week, and hopefully I’ll be able to keep shooting!

The one above is another version of one I have up on flickr (here), I’ve been playing with different crops and photoshop experiments. After I saw twilight I edited it again like this one to look more vampire-y haha. I put them after the jump for comparison, because I’m still not sure which one I like best.

Read the rest of this entry »

It has been 19 days since my last post, almost two months since I posted consistently (which used to be daily / 4 times a week for me), and it has been longer since I have truly gone out to shoot photos, or taken my camera with me everywhere.

What happened?

I’m not really sure, and then again I am more sure than ever. I don’t know how to explain what is going on in my life so I apologize for the mystical cliches, but everything is changing for me, my self included (space intentional). This past year has pretty much sucked, things got pretty bad and I could never get control over my life, it was frustrating and depressing. I went through a lot of doubt over my intended career and what I wanted with my life and as a person…I guess your run of the mill “finding yourself” phase, but you never feel like one of many that go through it, you feel alone.

But here, now, I have rediscovered my love and passion in life tenfold, I am so confident and yet unfailingly unsure. A friend asking me to Harvest festival lead to a spark that reignited my Christianity, and I’ve been changing ever since. This is not a conversion attempt, just me trying to explain what’s going on. I’m excited to see where my life is going, and terrified too…because I have no idea right now where I’m going or what I’m doing!

But I’m back to keep shooting, blogging, discovering, exploring, loving :]

I never got around to posting the rest of my OC fair photos! Basically this week has been my first week back at school, last week was spent trying to get ready to move in, it’s been a bit crazy! I haven’t taken any shots, I have barely been online (it doesn’t help that the wifi in my new dorm doesn’t quite work yet). Here are some that I can post right now, I’ll post the rest when I can :] I still have some performers, animals and night shots haha.

If you don’t feel that you are possibly on the edge of humiliating yourself, of losing control of the whole thing, then probably what you are doing isn’t very vital.

-John Irving

Ever have one of those times where you just don’t want to be online? This past week I just haven’t really felt like going online, my life is changing and I’m trying to embrace it as much as I can, which hasn’t left much time for the internet. I need to spend more time playing music, photographing and reading books I love, instead of coding html and reading articles online constantly, not that there is anything wrong with that! Sometimes we all forget what we love most and get distracted. Instead of getting out into the world I’m reading about it, so I’m going to go exploring :]

I have always been the first to say I would never, ever get a tattoo. Too painful. Too permanent. I wouldn’t want to get something stupid. Not to mention I am deathly afraid of needles. Seriously, the lady who gives me shots is the one who gives shots to babies. Then I saw this photo…

I ran in to this on the internet and thought I saved it, but when I went to go retrieve it I couldn’t find it anywhere! So I dug through my history for the past few weeks and finally lucked upon it after I had given up.

Too often I see tattoos that are cheap looking, tacky, or just plain ugly. This one is beautiful, it’s something I wouldn’t mind having etched into my skin for the rest of my life (well, you know). It’s such a graceful design, and it seems very fitting for the woman in the portrait. Another tattoo I love is one my friends sister has, it’s birds flying up her arm, kind of like the bats on the shoulder below.

But I’m still at the point where it’s just a nice idea. It’d be cool, but right now, no way. That won’t stop me from looking at pretty pictures though :]

I don’t really know what to write. My life is changing in so many ways, and I can’t even put it into words…what do you say when your entire life is changing direction?? I used to know exactly what I wanted, and now all of my expectations have changed and what I want from life has changed. I guess I can attempt to explain this somehow…

Last week wasn’t the greatest week for me, as seen in my last post. I guess we all go through up and downs. I didn’t want to photograph, or practice music, or do anything really. Then friday night I had to go to a rehearsal, the first rehearsal I have had since June I think, and we were playing some very difficult music. I was a bit scared, I didn’t know how it would be after a summer of being apathetic about music. To my surprise, I loved it! I got so excited about music again, it was exactly the motivation I needed. All summer I have been without a flute teacher and without fellow musicians, and when you are questioning your future you really need support.

Besides that, I went to the Harvest Crusade, and then yesterday I went to church and bowling with friends. I know not everyone is religious, but religion has always been a big part of my life until this last year, but after this weekend I feel so excited and joyful again!

All I can say is that I don’t know where my life is going, I have no expectations, and I’ve never been more excited.

An in addition to all of this change in my life, there’s a boy. Nothing ever happens when you find it most convenient, does it?

I’m know this post hasn’t been necessarily useful but I just feel like I need to release some excitement! It could be because I am quite hyper right now, due to the fact that the main ingredient in excedrin is caffine and I had a fantastic headache this morning…

I haven’t exactly been having the greatest week. It started out fantastic and sort of went downhill starting wednesday. You know when you keep making mistakes and doing things wrong, and you don’t know how to fix it? Yeah, I’m having one of those weeks. I feel unmotivated, uninspired, annoyed and tired.

But life goes on and we have to keep going, so I turned to what makes me happy. Here’s what made me happier this week :]

My Happy List:
1. Reading Harry Potter
I lose myself in books, suddenly the world and it’s problems don’t exist <3 HP makes me happy, it’s funny how fast you can get wrapped up in it’s world once you start reading them again.

2. Seeing HP Half-Blood Prince in IMAX
Oh. My. Goodness. This movie was fantastic. I don’t know why people are complaining, I honestly thought it was quite amazing and beautiful! The soundtrack was brilliant, you can really see the music evolving along with the stories and the characters, and I loved the motif’s used. In this movie everything started getting more real too, if that doesn’t sound too cheesy. It isn’t magical Harry Potter having fun like in the first year, but people are dying, and the way they showed the state of the world made it much more accessible. And the visuals, I could easily take many stills from the movie and present them as photographs, stunning!

3. Disneyland
Yes, I love Disneyland. I went on Monday with some friends and their relatives visiting from Egypt. We got the last car on space mountain. We laughed till we cried. We saw Fantasmic and I did interpretive dance to it, since of course I have it memorized hehe. What can I say, I have a musical memory.

4. Retail Shopping
Okay this was not the greatest thing, I spent some money I don’t exactly have yet, but I got some great buys from target that I’m in love with. A thick leather braided watch, a draped black jersey dress, some leather boots, a graphic tee, basic jean skirt, and a leather vest. Wow leather times three, I guess I’m trying to balance out the girly-ness of my wardrobe.

5. Music
I made a playlist of songs that make me happy. It made me happy.

I’m getting there…

Oh my, the food of the fair. I miss it already D: Here we have some chocolate dipped apples (yummm), dipped frozen twinkies (ah-mazing) and some juicy kabobs, but for those of you whose taste is less refined, there is some nice rope and hay to chew on :]

Photos after jump

Well the OC fair is officially over! I went three times, once for a flickr meetup, once with friends, and once with my mom to take photos on the last day. Unfortunately the day I went to take photos didn’t work out as well as I had hoped; first the tripod I had bought that day for the fair at night was broken when I opened it, and then my camera ran out of batteries. I have a lot of photos to edit and post, but I’ll spread them out.

Overall, the best things at the fair are the food, the entertainment, and the people. I have seriously gone to the fair for the food only: caramel apples, brisket sandwiches, frozen twinkies, funnel cakes, I could go on forever! Then there are the gross things, like deep fried oreos and chocolate covered bacon. Barf.

As for the entertainment, the fair always has some great concerts at their Pacific Amphitheatre with a great variety of artists. My dad would work backstage for a fun job during the summers so he could get me backstage during the shows and introduce me to the artists, it was pretty awesome! My first real concert was the Scorpions, which was pretty amazing. I brought several friends of mine with me and all these middle-aged drunk men were hitting on us, it was pretty hilarious. When we tried to stand in an area to see better a security guard asked what we were doing so I told him my dad worked backstage, and he thought I said my dad was in the band! It was pretty amazing xD  I’ve also seen Plain White T’s, All American Rejects, Fab Five, and a few others :]

And the people. Ahh the people of the fair. The fair seriously is a representation of the diversity in the US, and not just ethnically. You have your families, regular teens, hipsters, awkward preteens, TONs of couples gay and straight, guys and girls trying to pick up and flirt, artsy types, sporty types, geeks, tourists, photographers, people watchers, creepers, older folks, etc etc. There are also the people who work at the fair: the fast talking game host, the down to earth people who own the livestock on display, ride operators, clowns and street performers, agriculture specialists, cooks, pirate store owner that looks like a pirate, and everything else. Besides all that, I like to look at what people wear. It is pretty interesting…and kind of scary.

But the highlight of the fair for me was the hypnotist comedian, I nearly peed my pants! He told two girls that their butts were falling off and rolling around the stage, so whenever he touched his forehead they would go running off to get their butts! Then he changed it to they can’t find their butts so they have to steal someone else’s xD There was a guy who would howl at the moon, a world class air guitarist,  a guy who would smack his butt, another guy who would slap the first guys butt, and a girl who was a human safety belt for the guy next to her. When he was almost done he sent them offstage, but with trigger words that would make them do certain things and jump out of the audience. He had them do Beyonce and Pussy Cat Dolls impressions, butt shaking contests, a woman kissed her husband passionately, and by far the best, the chippendales. For the finale he started playing music which would trigger the guys who participated to run on stage, dance sexy and start stripping! I was dying of laughter, especially when he stopped the music and they all looked around and didn’t know what to do because their shirts were all off, and in some cases, in the audience.

I have officially eaten enough fried food for one summer, but I’m still looking forward to next year :]

Jumpp>> to see the rest!
Read the rest of this entry »