Just Relax

Close your eyes. Lay completely still. Breathe. And listen.

Who Knew Star Wars Could Change Your Life

Within the past week I have watched every Star Wars movie.

I watched them all in order for the first time (and by in order, I mean by order of the story, not order of how they were made). Weird thing is, I have come to some very life changing conclusions because of this. In Star Wars, Yoda says that Anakin has a lot of fear in him, and fear leads to anger, which leads to the dark side. I never thought about it that way. I mean, obviously fear and anger lead you to do bad things. If you give in to your fear and anger you move further away from what's good and closer to what's bad. Solution: when you get angry, try and figure out what you're afraid of, since all anger stems from some kind of fear. If you figure out what you're afraid of, you can try and work on not being afraid, which will help you find peace. 

2 Timothy 1:7 says: "For God has not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind."

 I also found a quote by Gandhi on my friend's facebook page that says, “There is nothing that wastes the body like worry, and one who has any faith in God should be ashamed to worry about anything whatsoever."

Worries are just fears, so it's the same principle. If you're worried or afraid, you just need to trust in God more. He knows what he's doing. I have trust issues like nobodies business, but you can always trust God. He has your best interest in mind and knows what's best for you. There is one surefire way to make God laugh, and that is to make life plans. He will think it's hilarious, and then lead you to the life you're supposed to have. That is a fact. 

Another thing I learned from Star Wars was to focus on life in the moment. Yoda tells Luke that one of his weaknesses was always looking for a future time of when he would be happy. Once he got off Tatooine he would be happy. Once he got out of where he was and started  a life somewhere else, THEN he would be happy. I have the same problem. Once I graduate, I will be happy. Once I move out of Utah, I'll be happy. Once I get a career I will be happy. Once I get married, have kids, and a cute little house with a white picket fence I will be happy. Weirdly enough, Star Wars has made me realize that you really need to just focus on living in the moment instead of wasting time thinking about a future time to fix all your sadness and/or anger. Make the most of every moment because you're lucky to have every moment you get. Life is too short to waste it wallowing in what you hate about your life. 

I read this quote on this girl's blog I follow that says, "Don’t just hang in there, enjoy yourselves. Travel, learn new skills, serve, do something that challenges you, work on making yourself a better person, and don’t worry about the rest…don’t worry about what you can’t change, but do worry about (and do something about) what you can. And be happy now…don’t wait for some event to make you happy…happiness is not some goal to be reached or destination…it’s a way of life!"

My goal is to learn and do lots of new things. For example, I'm learning how to draw those 3D chalk drawings people do on the sidewalk. I wanna take a pottery class. I wanna go fishing in a row boat on the lake. I want to hike up Timp FINALLY. I'm getting in shape. I'm saving up to move out. I will eventually get a motorcycle :) And the list goes on and on. I started a bucket list a long time ago so I will start trying to accomplish the things on my list. The future is as bright as you want to make it, and I plan on making my future a good one :) 

A Glimpse of the Past

Guess what. I love black and white photography. Obviously I like color photography as well, but I love old black and white photos. Old photos are like time machines that allow us to see what life was like back then, which I am fascinated by. Removing color turns the attention to the lighting, shapes,and composition which are sometimes overlooked when there are colors involved. Here are some of my favorite photographs in one of my photo books called The Photographers Eye by John Szarkowski. These photos are examples of why I am so passionate about photography. 

JACQUES HENRI LARTIGUE: Beach at Villerville, 1908

(My favorite part about this is the boat on the left)

WILLIAM SMITH: View across Chain Bridge, Washington, D.C., c. 1863. The Library of Congress

CLARENCE JOHN LAUGHLIN: The Fierce-Eyed Building, 1938

HARRY CALLAHAN: Detroit, 1943

MATTHEW B. BRADY or staff: Conspirator Payne, 1865. The Library of Congress

BILL BRANDT: No. 43 from Perspective of Nudes, 1957

MANUEL ALVAREZ BRAVO: Eating Place, c. 1940

GARRY WINOGRAND: Untitled, 1963

"There is a terrible truthfulness about photography. The ordinary academician gets hold of a pretty model, paints her as well as he can, calls her Juliet, and puts a nice verse from Shakespeare underneath, and the picture is admired beyond measure. The photographer finds the same pretty girl, he dresses her up and photographs her, and calls her Juliet, but somehow it is no good--it is still Miss Wilkins, the model. It is too true to be Juliet."

                                                            -George Bernard Shaw

MAX BURCHARTZ: Eye of Lotte, 1930. Otto Steinert, Essen, Germany

RICHARD AVEDON: Ezra Pound, 1958. Made for Harper's Bazaar

ROBERT FRANK: Parade, Hoboken, New Jersey, 1955, from The Americans

CHARLES NEGRE: Henry Le Secq at Notre Dame Cathedral, Paris, 1851. Calotype. 

ELLIOT ERWITT: Fontainebleau Hotel, Miami Beach, 1962

HENRI CARTIER-BRESSON: Children Playing in Ruins, Seville, Spain, 1933

JACQUES HENRI LARTIGUE: Glider Constructed by Maurice Lartigue, Chateau Rouzat, 1909

EDWARD STEICHEN: Sunday Papers: West 86th Street, New York, c. 1922

Take Me Out to the Ball Game

I am in LOVE with Spanish Fork. After growing up there for 9 years, I can't wait for more. I spent about 4 hours there today and loved it. My sister Tara played her softball game and I took a bunch of pictures while I watched the game with Britt and her adorable baby. Then we went and ate at Barry's, which was a super cute little restaurant. Then Tara and I went down memory lane and went to all the places we used to go to all the time when we lived there. It was awesome. I love it there. I took about 250 pictures and put them all on Facebook, but here are some of my favorites. I accidentally had the time stamp setting on when I took a bunch of these and didn't realize it until halfway through the day so some of these have stupid time and date stamps, but I was able to crop some of them out. 

The Day I Got My Tripod

I am a little obsessed with night photography. Ok not a little. A lot. I have never been able to try it myself before because I didn't have a tripod, and tripods are kinda necessary for night photos. So, guess what I did. That's right Captain Obvious, I bought a tripod. It is already in my top five favorite as well as most useful purchases. Here are a bunch of pics I took, all in my backyard. Some of them were taken before today, but only these first few. All these pictures were shot using a Nikon D3000. 

Ready....set.....front flip!!!

This is my FAVORITE!

I kept having problems with the pictures turning out reddish...as I'm sure you noticed. I kept adjusting the white balance and it didn't seem to do anything....hopefully I can figure out how to fix it with the camera settings so I don't have to fix all of them later in photoshop. Also the lights all look like bursts. Kinda cool but hopefully I can figure out how to fix that too. Anyway, first attempt at night photography almost a success :)