Because I am totally broke this year, I will not be buying Christmas presents for people. I have instead decided to put together photobooks and let people order them if they want. Think of it as a discount.  While I was out with the family today, I saw people already doing their Christmas shopping.  The consumerism around holidays has always driven me crazy. This year, I want my holidays to be calm and enjoyable.  No holiday bustle for me.

On another note, have I ever mentioned in this blog how much I love black and white photography. Well I do.  For the next week, I am going to only take black and white photography.  Let’s see what happens.

Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love going through all of my photographs on the computer, and post-processing can be a blast. I really wish it didn’t take 10 hours every time I did it.  I don’t know how I am going to take a photograph and post it every day for a year.  It just takes me so long to go through them all. I did finish the photographs from the photo-walk.  It turns out there were not too many of those.  However, I do have this one of my brother. I also have a ton of photographs I took yesterday.  Since it is Friday, I am going to post two photographs today.  So here is my favorite from yesterday.

How’s that for popular art. Yes, I have painted leaves in my yard.  The cable guys decided it would be a good idea to run spray paint lines through our yard.  They just happened to make me some colorful leaves and excellent photography subjects. I just could not get enough of these. So, expect more rainbow leaves.

With Thanksgiving and Christmas coming up, I will be awfully busy. I will also have tons of opportunities to take new photographs. I always get excited at this time of year.  The world of photography is just as exciting around the holidays as the real world is.

With a new year approaching quickly I want to make plans for my photography.  I will be moving to Athens and hoping to get a job.  I am really praying that God provides me with the opportunity to be a photographer’s assistant or to work in a photography studio.  I will also be starting a photography challenge of my own at the beginning of the year.  I want to embark on the 365 project.  This will be extremely difficult for me, because I hate to be in pictures. I prefer to be behind the camera, not in front of it.  Hopefully this will push my photography to a new level.  I also want to take a still-life that goes along with the self-portrait each day. Until then, I will just keep practicing and get in the habit of taking photographs every day.

The photograph is not from the photo-walk I went on with my brother. I am going to be uploading those today. Here goes about 10 hours of work.

So I am often confused about the consensus on camera flare. Some of my favorite photographs, like this one, include camera flare. However, I always read that photographers are trying to reduce flair.  Then I remembered that photography is an art and not a science.  Just like noise in a photograph can be an artistic element or a deterrence, so can flair from the light.

So if you are trying for that perfect flair that complements your photograph instead of distracting from it, how do you get it? Because this one was caused by accident, I can only guess how it was achieved.  This photograph was taken in the late morning near 11:00 am.  The sun was actually behind the tree, but high enough to not cause a silhouette.

I am just glad that I was fortunate to have such a great photograph.

I did go on a photography-walk with my little brother today.  Unfortunately here in rainforest, GA it was of course not very dry outside.  I am so uptight about my camera, that I did have a hard time taking it out on the walk.  Hopefully I will be posting one of those photographs tomorrow.

I decided to go out to my side yard and take photographs yesterday. I put on an old pair of jeans and sweatshirt.  I got down on the ground and shot away.  I ended up spending about 2 hours outside that felt like 20 minutes.  It went way too quickly.

Some things I learned about backyard photography:

• get down on the ground – I haven’t been that close to the ground since I was a baby learning to crawl.  It is amazing how much of a whole different world is out there.
• turn around – I started out on the edge of a patch of woods.  However, when I turned around and looked the yard covered with leaves behind me, I got some of my favorite shots.
• move a leaf – There are some plants and animals that will not grow out in the open. By simply moving a leaf, I was able to find all new subjects that were quite interesting and aren’t seen by the everyday eye.
• look up – Once I was on the ground, I took a moment to lay back and look up at the trees.  It was a beautiful view underneath the leaves.
• use a flash – Because I was in a shaded area at man points, the the details of many subjects were brought out more by adding a light flash.
• or don’t – The silhouettes created by not using a flash made for some extremely interesting shots with the leaves and flowers.
• dress comfortably – When I first went out, I was not comfortable with getting down on the ground and rolling around because I was not wearing clothes that I felt could get dirty.  After changing clothes, I could get closer to some interesting subjects with no reservations.

This shot was taken while riding down the highway at 80 mph.

While on a 12-hour round-trip to Tennessee, I was understandably bored.  Of course I took my camera though. This shot is one my favorite from the day and was taken while riding down the road at 80 mph through a dirty car window.  It may not be the most crisp or perfectly composed photograph, but it sure makes me smile.  Sometimes photography ideas seem crazy, but I have learned to take risks.  After all, with digital, I have an unlimited amount chances.

So, I am trying to find my way. Photography is so much more to me than just clicking the button on a camera.  It’s crazy how I feel about my photography.  I am definitely going for that walk tomorrow. I need to get ready for the new year. I want to do a photography project for 2010.  I need to be prepared.

If anyone has any ideas, let me know.

Do you ever just get tired of being nice to everyone when you really just want to tell them to shut up?  I am definitely in that mood today. Crabby pants Lauren.

So much for eating healthy. I am definitely eating pizza and cheese puffs for breakfast while listening to Serj Tankian. Well Serj isn’t really that unhealthy.

Autumn is my favorite season for many reasons. One of them of course being leaves.  This was taken with my 70-300mm Tamron lens. I love the lens for it’s great macro shots and easy bokeh.  It also is incredibly sharp even when handheld. I really hope to get more leaf pictures before it get’s too cold.

Trying to get all of my sites updated is a task that I am actually making great progress on. Cleaning my room is a whole different matter.

Ah, today is a good day.

I am working on my myspace today and getting my photography up and going again.  I get so weird about my photography. It’s like bipolar.  I am feeling great about it today though.  I guess I just got inspired by all the self-portraits I took the other day.

You should be looking forward to more regular posting now.

I never did go on all of the photography walks that I talked about doing.  It is not too late though. Maybe I will take a walk tomorrow.

I have also figured out that I love to the Music Choice Rock channel while editing and sorting my photography.

The most upsetting part about all of this is I still have no idea where I want my photography to take me. Well, for now, it’s just me and my Canon.

Make sure to check out my new myspace: just search for lojodani.

I am way too lazy to ever get a photography business up and running. I have had 3 months of doing nothing and still have not worked on my photography very much.  Well, I am once again going to say that I will try to get more organized with it.

A lot has changed in the past few weeks.  My sister lives with us now.  I need to get an apartment. Oxford finances still suck.  I got a myspace. I have completely rebooted my laptop and got new photoshop cross-processing actions. I celebrated Halloween.  I changed my nose ring! I have become really eager to eventually get a tattoo.

Hopefully I will get back into posting all the time.

I really want to learn more about photography. I just want to learn more.  I really want to take my photography to the next level.

I am so bored. I have nothing to do really.

I am so tired of being home. I just want to go back to school.

Anyways, this is what I have spent all of my time doing lately.

a rose barely clothed by lojodani featuring Calypso

I have found a new website: polyvore.  This site is not really a photography site, but it is incredibly inspirational and fun.

With a new roommate, things are kind of crazy.  I still want to take that outside adventure.

Wow! So much has happened in the past 2 days.  My younger sister who is now 16 will be moving in with us.  Our biological mother has once again abandoned one of her children.  I am so happy for Victoria to live here.  It will be so much better for her, but I hate that she has to leave her friends behind once again.  I also dread her having to move in the middle of a school-year during her Junior year when she is already having problems catching up.

However, I truly feel that God will watch over her and help her through all of this transitioning.  She is so much stronger than her other two sisters that I feel she will be just fine.

On another note, I am going learn Chinese.

When everyday is so disconnected, life seems a little weird.  I feel a little detached from reality.

I serve an amazing God.  He answers prayers before I make them.  He calms the storm with swiftness.

Cleaning the house is a new task that I will be undertaking during my enormous amount of spare time.

I am also going on a roadtrip tomorrow to pick up my younger sister who lives in a town I haven’t seen in 4 years.  This will be weird. Waverly here I come.

It is absolutely freezing outside.  No going outside today. Hopefully it will warm up enough tomorrow for that adventure that I have been craving.

Now that Georgia has decided to become flood central, rain has once again ruined my photography plans.  After about 10 minutes at the pumpkin patch, it started to rain.  Therefore I did not get many pictures.  It is getting very colorful however now that the leaves are changing colors.  Maybe this week I will go for a walk.

What I need to do is figure what I want photography to be in my future.  Just a hobby like it is now…a source of income…a connection to the art world…a career…a side job.  I guess if I want my photography to grow, I must figure out why I want it to grow.

The family is going to a pumpkin patch tomorrow.  Should be lots of fun with tons of photographs.

I have really got try something new with my photography blog.  This is just not working out how I wanted it to.  I have got to change my photography somehow.  I’m not worried about my actual pictures.  I just have to get them out there.  I am so tired of being the only person to see my photography.

Being stuck at home all day every day can be mighty depressing for someone as social as I am.  However, I cannot complain for it is my fault that I am here.  If I had my license like a 19-year-old should, I wouldn’t be in this situation.  Well I am, and I have to learn to deal with it.  I am going to have to get up and take care of myself. I have learned that I have to take care of myself for me not for everyone around me. It’s weird but yesterday was a really good day.  Taking a candlelight bath is always relaxing and soothing.  Today, I am getting out of the house and going to a concert with the family. Hopefully Third Day will be just as soothing for me.

I FINALLY have my laptop charger so I can actually get on my laptop now.  I am planning on really getting back into my photography again. I just can’t stay away from it.  I just went through 1,300 pictures that I have taken since my charger first went on the fritz.  It is going to take me a bit to get through all of those, but so far it is going real well.

On another note, Drake has been announced as #3 hottest MC in the game by MTV.  I am of course pleased because I have recently become obsessed with him.  However, I can understand how people would be upset.  He hasn’t really been in the game that long.  It’s just a little odd for him to get #3. Oh well!

I have also become recently obsessed with my 70-300 mm lens.  Therefore: look forward to some bokeh and macro.

I have been watching an enormous amount of National Geographic lately.  It’s way too exciting.  The documentaries on the Ancient Egypt and other cultures and scenarios which we hypothesize so much about are extremely intriguing.  When it comes down to it, the stories we tell could be completely wrong.  They are still wonderfully gripping stories that should be told.

Speaking of wonderful stories that should be told: the Ardipithecus ramidus which so much information was released about yesterday is an interesting story to hear.  I noticed just by reading two articles that the brilliant scientists and historians who are studying this skeleton are just as lost as those who conjecture wild stories about Stonehenge or the truth behind Beowulf.  I am glad that they come up with so many theories though. This need to explain and discover is what I find beautiful about the human experiences.  It is the media’s need to dumb down such ideas to the crazy notion that Humans evolved from monkeys which angers me. This is not at all the true concept behind the scientific theory of evolution.  Are we biologically and genetically similar to Chimpanzees? Yes! However, the media’s idiotic and elementary understanding of genetics and history is extremely annoying and disappointing.

As a Christian who believes deeply in the need for scientific exploration, the popular news source coverage of “Ardi” will not help in encouraging this same belief among other spiritual individuals.

A crazy idea that I want to throw out there is what if all the scientific studies which we carry out that lead toward evolution are just the empirical evidence that can be gathered of Creation.

This rant had to be said.

Anyways, I am still waiting on my Macbook charger.

I was having so much fun taking photos outside today, that I had a hard time stopping when Joshua got ant bites.

I am so tired of waiting for my Macbook cord to get here.  I am angry that the company sent me a damaged one to begin with.  I have over 500 pictures I need to go through but need my laptop to do so.  I hate money.

While trying to register for housing for the spring, I ran into some problems.  Sometimes I hate civilization. I am registered now. So, hopefully I get a dorm room, or I am going to have to find an apartment.

Actually an apartment doesn’t sound that bad.

I took this back in July.  It just feels kind of cold to me though. I thought it was suitable due to how cold it has become here all of a sudden.

I have decided to try and pick up my camera and take a photograph everyday.  Hopefully I can post a photograph on here everyday too.  However, I don’t think it will be from each individual day.  I won’t be able to post any new photographs until I get my new Mac cord.

The photo storage site that I use, Fotki, is having all kinds of specials. They are absolutely amazing, and there is not a site with cheaper prices for such great prints. Click here if you want to sign up now. They actually have a trial membership if your not ready to pay.

I am trying to get through this whole trial.   I can only do it one day at a time.  I am losing contact with my friends. This was to be expected so it is not too upsetting. I need to pick my photography back up so that I can stay occupied.

I just can’t wait to go to UGA in the spring.

Just when I was going to try and start updating my photography again, the charger to my laptop dies.  I have ordered another one, but for now I am using the desktop computer in the living room.  Not so fun.

I did get accepted into UGA today!! I am so excited about that.  I can’t wait for January now. I feel so much better knowing that I will definitely be going back to school for the Spring semester.

I am supposed to visit Oxford this weekend.  We will see how that works out.

I need something to get me started. Getting started is always the hardest.