Eurotrip2012!

For about the next 2 months I will be traveling in Europe! I am traveling part myself, part with a tour and part with friends. 🙂

I will attempt to keep a running travel blog during this time, but I am realistic that I will not always be near a computer. I will update whenever possible.

What does this mean for my daily projects you might ask? It would be tricky to do an art project everyday while traveling, so instead I am going to do a photo-a-day (dailyshoot) while I am away. This will be super easy to do as I am expecting to take a million pictures during my trip. 🙂

See you on the other side of the Atlantic!

 

365 Days Worth of Photos

Last Monday I finished my yearlong Dailyshoot challenge! For my final dailyshoot I took Sibling1 along and headed out west. I took photos in two different locations (abandoned house & empty field) before deciding how I want my final shoot to end. The result:

Victory!

Let me tell you, it was really hard taking a (good) photo everyday! Some days, especially when I was traveling, I would take so many good photos it was hard to decide which photo to choose as my dailyshoot. Other days, I had to scramble around just to find something to photograph.

It also was a lot easier to take photos when Dailyshoot.com was running. Once it became defunct in the beginning of October 2011, it took a lot more motivation to go out there and photograph something each day. It also was a lot harder to keep track of which dailyshoot assignment number I was on since I generally didn’t post the photos the day I took them. This lead to double posting assignments for one day and also not having my dailyshoot assignment #’s in the correct sequence.

Still, I had an absolute blast with the project!

Out of all the photos I posted for my dailyshoots, about 2/3 of them are pictures of inanimate objects, landscapes, & plants. The remaining 1/3 is mostly pictures of friends/family, animals and random strangers.

My thanks go out to all my lovely amigos who helped me with my project including: Megan Mc, Elena, Laura, Gina, Karen, Colleen, Marieke, KKY, Rose,  Kayla, Army, Aitak, James, Dan G, Quacclynn, Raven, Sabine, Mario Lopez, Tito, Steph, Ashley, Natalie, Aliyah, Jess C, Z. Efron, Clare, Isaac, Charlotte, Meghan, Jackson & Nikki, George, & last but not least, Jim Groom. (If I forgot anyone, let me know!)

Also, I am extremely indebted to DS106 as whole because it inspired me to start this project and to continue on with it for an entire year.

I used over 10 cameras to take these photos. During the course of the year I managed to kill two cameras  (my 1st camera died of old age (4 years old) :/ and its replacement later fell victim to accidental drowning >.< )

My favorite photos from the year are as follows:

Favorite Photo Shoot: The final Rainbow Brite Shoot  where I managed to get 7 friends plus Jim Groom to dress up in  crazy outfits and take silly pictures.

Favorite Model(s): All my models were truly fabulous! But definitely big kudos to Megan Mc, Elena, & Karen because they were the ones who volunteered to model in a lot of my photos.

Megan, Elena, Karen

 Favorite Photo of a person: I like how this photo is really focused on the dandelion and yet, it’s also all about the person in the background (Elena).

 

Favorite inanimate object photo: Love the image of the flame leaping into the balloon.

 

Favorite altered photo:  I like the extreme color contrast here.

Favorite Animal Photo: Bentley jumping into the lake. Great frozen motion shot.

 

Favorite photo of me: I ended up using a few photos of me for my dailyshoots and this by far is my favorite because it captured such a unique experience.

I was going to start year 2 of 365 photo a day project, but decided that with all the effort I am putting into “366 Creativity Journal project” I don’t really have time to do both properly. So year 2 of photos is going to have to wait a little while, but I definitely plan on coming back to it one day.

Something beautiful

Yesterday’s Daily Shoot was: Find something beautiful and make a photo. Don’t over think it.

What I find interesting is the response to this dailyshoot was. Okay, so there is a lot of flower/ plant photos. And there’s a fair few photos of people and animals.

How cute is this?

But people have also posted photos of sprinkles, shadows on a tissue box, paperback books,and a bank deposit receipt.

 

Wish this was mine, haha! 😀

I have to say, I like these photos more than other totally gorgeous photos.

Why? Because they actually stick out in my mind. These images resonate more because they aren’t something that on first glance I would really consider beautiful. But once you shift your perspective, then you can see the beauty in simple things like sprinkles or  shadows on a tissue box.

As for my daily shoot, it was an idea born from several hours on tumblr combined with a loooooong car drive home and a dead camera battery. I borrowed my Mom’s really nice Nikon (so want to steal it!)  and took this photo fairly quickly.

love.

Why do I find this beautiful?

Well, even though many of my good friends are thousands of miles away, across seas and on different continents, they still make an effort to keep in touch with me.  They send me cute letters, postcards, emails and even packages filled with things they saw and bought for me just because they knew I would like it. This photo goes out to all my beautiful friends who remind me constantly how lucky I am to have them in my life. <3

Can't wait for instantaneous travel!! Flying gets OLD after a while!

 

Rainbow Brite: A New Legend Begins

Once Upon a time there lived an ordinary girl named Megan. Oh, she was unique enough in her own ways, she possessed high levels of strength and was a giant Star Wars nerd among other things, but she would never possess any supernatural abilities.

Or so she thought, until one day an unusual being appeared to her as she was walking to her digital storytelling class:

Orin, the wise one.

 

 

The strange creature was a Sprite named Orin. He came from the magical planet Spectra, a planet of pure diamond that all the light in the universe has to pass through before it can reach Earth.

Unfortunately, as Orin explained to Megan over a cup of coffee at Hyperion Cafe, Spectra had been taken over by “The Dark Princess.”

 

 

 

 

pure evil

 

 

The Dark Princess was determined to keep all the light and color in the universe to herself.  If she was to succeed, all the life in the universe would die!

A girl named Rainbow Brite, a girl in charge of creating all the colors for Earth, attempted to stop The Dark Princess. But The Dark Princess proved to be too strong of a match for Rainbow Brite. She stripped Rainbow Brite of all her powers, turning her back into the human child named Wisp, and locked her away in a high-security Dungeon.

Hearing this news, Rainbow Brite’s friends, the Color Kids, attempted to free Wisp.

 

 

However, the Color Kids’ haste and overall lack of strategy lead to their undoing. They too were captured,  vested of their powers, and imprisoned.

With Rainbow Brite and the Color Kids out of the way, The Dark Princess relished the impending demise of life as we know it.

But what the Dark Princess didn’t know is that Orin had managed to steal the crystal containing the powers of Rainbow Brite and the Color Kids. Unable to free the kids from the dungeon without great risk to himself, Orin instead chose to flee to Earth to select a  new and stronger Rainbow Brite, along with her friends, the Color Kids.

The reason he had chosen Megan, Orin said, was not because she was the first blonde girl he had stumbled across, but rather he had heard of her superb athleticism  as a rugby player. With these skills, she would be able to kick the ass of the wannabe Princess and restore everything back to way it used to be; A color filled world, although Earth would still be plagued by little things like wars, pestilence, and poverty.

“So,” Orin asked once he finished his tragic tale, his little paws clutching Megan’s hands in supplication, “will you become the next Rainbow Brite and save the world from imminent doom?”

Before Megan could respond, the crowd of people at Hyperion who had been observing this whole scene with blatant interest (seriously, how often do people get the chance to observe a Sprite in real life?), shouted “DO IT, MEGAN!” “Save the Universe!” “RAINBOW BRITE, RAINBOW BRITE!”

Surrounded by this cacophony, Megan blushingly agreed. It was then that she was transformed from an ordinary College student into *** SHAZAMMM! ***

Rainbow Brite!

Now that this matter was settled, the next thing to be done was to select the Color Kids who would accompany Rainbow on her ass kicking mission.

Hundreds of people threw themselves at Rainbow, exclaiming that they would be the best for the job, but Orin and Rainbow already had the perfect crack team in mind.

Thus, the new Color Kids were chosen:

Steph transformed into Lemon Drop, with power over the color Yellow. Lemon Drop possesses a cheery disposition, able to brighten people's days even in the darkest gloom. When she smiles, you get this warm feeling inside you that makes you want to be friends and do what you can to keep her smiling.

Gigi became in charge of the color Pink and was renamed Cereja Blossom. Cereja is the wild child of the team. She is headstrong, but immensely playful. She distracts the competition with her fast talking and sweet exterior, and then packs them a punch of rainbow awesome. All the while they wonder why she wears a onesie with a belly dancing skirt.

Elena was dubbed Naranja Mango. She was to protect the color orange. Naranja is fiery and passionate. She is the instigator, the one with all the plans. Cereja may be a big partier, but Naranja makes the party. She is Rainbow's lead strategist for the mission.

Colleen became Aquamarine de la Greene, controlling the fate of the color green. She is the most considerate of the team, the one who holds all the Bright Colors in check. Aquamarine is laid-back and down to earth, all of which is reflected in her eco-concious style.

Jess, chosen as protector of the color Blue, was called Cobalt Pacific. Cobalt is the most sophisticated Color Kid, but at times she is just as silly as Cereja. She is the best actress on the crew and the best gymnast, able to perform stealthy maneuvers without drawing attention to herself.

Lastly, Karen transformed into the ferocious Red Dawn. She bites, but underneath this bite is a fierce loyalty and rapier wit. Red Dawn is Rainbow Brite's chief wingwoman, protector, and organizer of supplies.

Rainbow Brite and her friends were about to start planning their mission to stop the Dark Princess when they were interrupted by the legendary Jim Groom.

Now Jim Groom was not only the teacher of Digital Storytelling DS106,  the class Megan skipped in order to talk with Orin, but he was also the number #1 fan of the original Rainbow Brite. With her out of commission, Jim Groom wanted to do everything in his power to enact revenge on The Dark Princess.

While the group debated whether or not Jim Groom should join forces with the current Rainbow Brite as a Color Kid, Groom won everyone over for three reasons:

Reason #1- They needed a headquarters on Earth. Groom offered Dupont Hall to become the temporary Color Castle.

Reason #2- So far, the Color Kids were females only.  That was hardly gender equality right there!

Reason #3- Megan skipped THE-MOST-IMPORTANT-DS106-CLASS-EVERRRRR. She needed to do something big to make up for this absence or else she would #faiiil

Thus, Jim Groom became the final Color Kid, his gender proportionally represented in the group much like the proportion of males to females on the UMW campus:

Jim Groom transformed into The Peculiar Purple Pie Man. As the oldest member of the crew, P-man's experiences and friendship with people all over the universe is a tactical advantage. He is made of win and awesome and represents the most bamf color in the rainbow. P-Man has great faith in the talents of his teammates and is always encouraging them to give 300% to the mission.

Finally, with Rainbow Brite and her team assembled in their entirety, it was time for them to save the universe from destruction by The Dark Princess!

 

Coming to theatres in your area soon!

This post would not have been possible without the help of Ms. Colleen Trachy (former DS106ser) who aided me in character description for the color kids! Also, holla at Wikipedia for all the useful info about  the original Rainbow Brite TV show and the various internet sources I used  for the photos of the original Rainbow Brite characters.

 

Tour of Wanderlust: Photo Sesh 2

I’ve finally caught up on all my dailyshoot  photos for the past few weeks!  For the most part it hasn’t been that big of a deal to take a photo everyday, but posting them up on Flickr has been difficult. I’ve been traveling all over the place with my Australian friend and haven’t always had a computer with me or internet access. But now that she is gone, I theoretically have more time to pursue photo shoots and/or actually post my photos daily.

 

 

 

 

My top 3 favorite photos from this collection are as follows:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I love going off on spontaneous adventures. For this photo my sister and I chased a lightning storm out by Dulles Airport where we spent some time watching the storm and trying to snap a good shot. It was a challenge to set the right shutter speed and also to take the photo at precisely the right moment to capture the quick strike of lightning.

I love this photo because every time I see it, I laugh. The pairing of the two, with the goat’s head and Rose’s face and lobster hat, is definitely unusual. It’s not one of my most artistic photos, but I think it’s a contender for the funniest photo I’ve taken for dailyshoot!

I rarely turn my photos into sepia tone, but for this one I felt it was appropriate; I also needed a monochrome photo. I like how the roof line draws the viewer’s eyes across the photo. I also like the contrast of the sky with the water barrels.

 

My Final Project(s)

So for my final project, I’ve actually decided to do two projects! Before every student in the class starts hating on me for doing two projects let me explain why I am doing this.

My first project is continuing on with the Daily Shoot assignments. As I have mentioned before, I am a photography nut and really enjoy the challenge of the Daily Shoot assignments. Sometimes I think I come up with really great stuff, like “The Masks” set, and other time I capture just an okay photo. But I’ve decided that it’s a personal challenge of mine to make this my #365 day project and take a Daily Shoot photo everyday for a year.

I feel like this might be a little tough for me to keep up with since I tend to get distracted easily, although so far I’ve lasted 32 days!

I keep meaning to post about this experience of taking the photos, but have been swamped so far by other  class assignments. However, I promise that this week I will def have some reflection posts up!

Now for project #2: Postcards.

Last Spring Semester I studied abroad in Townsville, Australia and experienced some of the most  crazy/awesome/intense/amazing experiences of my life. It was really hard for me to leave Australia and last fall semester I was really sad to be back at UMW for various reasons. Now that I’ve been back over a year from Australia, I think it would be an interesting study to parallel my life week by week over in Ozland versus my life week by week here.

I decided the best way to do this would be by creating my own postcards, because in real life I am a postcard/letter writing fan and each week I send numerous postcards and letters to my besties. I was also inspired by the awesome postcards from LOTR created last semester.

I’ve made a couple of postcards for my US life the past few weeks and have just started working on the ones from Ozland. I plan on posting them sometime this week, so look forward to that!

Love Story (of sorts)

This all started with today’s assignment for the Daily Shoot:

“Power plugs are ubiquitous. Can you make a creative photo of such a common thing?  #ds448”

It took me pretty much all day to figure out what I wanted to take a photo of because power plugs are so ordinary, I couldn’t think of any idea that wouldn’t look really trite. However, after looking a few photos that were already up I got an idea:

What if I took a photo of an Australian Plug trying to fit into an American outlet? American outlets always look so sad, so if I took a photo of something that couldn’t fit in the outlet, it would be even more sad.

Luckily I was at home for the Superbowl and was able to find my phone and charger that I used when I was studying abroad in Australia last year (funny note: my phone which has been off since mid-July still has a 1/2 battery life!)

I took a lot of photos of putting the Aussie plug into the American outlet, but this is the photo I liked the best.

Irreconcilable Differences

Then I was trying to think of something cool I could do with all the photos that I had left over from the shoot since some of them were kind of cool. Originally I was just going to do a complied screen shot, but then I noticed that all the image titles were numbers like: 2156.

I decided it would be funny if I made a song playlist poem for the photos, similar to what Colleen has done.

The poem turned out a tad more weird/creepy(?) than I thought it would be, but it was fun to have a different twist on the assignment!

Here is my masterpiece in all it’s glory (also check it out on my flickr gallery if you want)