So I know I just posted last night, but I'm sitting here at work and it just hit me how incredibly blessed I am. I love traveling, and just thinking about all I'll have done in this year alone is crazy! By the end of 2008, here are the things I will have done as far as traveling goes (that I know of so far):
*Several trips to Atlanta, GA to visit Caroline
*Mission trip to the Dominican Republic with 514 (my church)
*Cross-country trip from Greensboro, NC to Los Angeles, CA
*Cross-country trip to Greensboro, NC from Los Angeles, CA - a different route (Let's just think about how many different places I'll hit in these two trips alone!!)
*Beach trip with my family
*7-day Western Caribbean Cruise for graduation
Plus, hopefully I'll make it down to San Diego and up to San Francisco while I'm out here! And Jill will be living in Boston after August, and I'm definitely going to try to make it up there too!
That's all just in 2008...I'm so blown away. I am sooooo blessed!
Friday, May 30, 2008
Thursday, May 29, 2008
What's been going on...
Well, I'm still working on the final blog regarding my trip across the country goes. I just haven't finished editing those pictures yet. But I decided I better try to catch you guys up on what's been going on for me in California these past couple weeks.
My internship is great! I'm interning with Julia Dean - or the Julia Dean Photo Workshops. Some of the work is somewhat boring, the data entry stuff, but they've also given me a really awesome assignment! I've been photographing Venice Beach for the past week and a half, and they're going to choose one of my images to go on the back cover of the next catalog!! Also, since I'm working there 40 hours a week and am therefore basically an employee, I get to attend any workshop for free! So I'm taking the Photography for Social Impact class with Jim Hubbard, which focuses on how to link with non-profits in order to document their mission...that class meets every Thursday night. Next week I'll add another workshop to that - each Wednesday night I'll attend Julia Dean's Mastering Your Flash workshop, which will do exactly what the title says...teach me how to master a portable flash. I learned some at RCC about this, but I still don't know what all the buttons are for on a portable flash and how to use them in the ways I might want.
I expected to get pretty lonely out here, honestly, but it really hasn't gotten that bad! I have 3 roommates...and even though two of them aren't around much, my roommate, Casey, and I get along well so it's been nice having her here to talk to when I get home. We went to see Prince Caspian together on Saturday, and that was fun. I loved the movie! I also have Alexa here. She lives about 45 minutes from me, and she had to shoot weddings every day last weekend, but we got to spend all day Monday together! She invited me up to Westlake Village, where she lives, to hang out with her and her family all day. We went to lunch and to see the new Indiana Jones movie, and then we played the Wii and got in the hot tub! It was so much fun!
Sunday I tried out a church in downtown Los Angeles, called Mosaic, and it was so great! I was really worried that I'd leave without meeting anyone and be really discouraged. I walked in about 20 minutes early, and kind of stood off to the side. There were people standing behind information tables around me, and a guy, Ben, who was standing behind the men's ministry table, asked me if it was my first time there. I told him yes, and that I'd just moved out here for a couple months to do a photography internship, and that I'd only been here for a week. He was so nice! He wanted to introduce me to this girl, Jess, who's a photographer, right away, but he couldn't find her so he introduced me to Gabriel - the guy standing behind the Artisans (artist ministry) table - he also introduced me to Miranda, the girl behind the she (women's ministry) table, and to Kim McManus (the pastor, Erwin McManus's wife). Kim was sooo cute and talked to me for a few minutes about what I'm doing out here and then asked if I had anyone to sit in the service with. I told her I didn't, and Miranda offered to sit with me. After the servie, I talked for probably 45 minutes to Miranda and Jess (the photographer Ben wanted me to meet) and they're both great girls! We had great conversations, and I left Mosaic having exchanged phone numbers and e-mail addresses with both of them. :-) What an answer to prayer!
I've been seeing the Lord's hand all over my life recently and it is so encouraging and humbling! Before I even ask for help, He's putting things into place for me and I just step back and say "wow!" (And thank you!!)
Even though things are going so well out here, I really do miss all of you back in North Carolina. It's beautiful out here, but I'm realizing that I'm not sure I could stick it out if this was a permanent move. I'm glad to know that I'll be going home in a couple months. I could live somewhere else if I had to, but right now I like that North Carolina is my home...it's where my family is.
Of course, I know as soon as I get home I'll miss it here. :-) I'm still missing the Dominican Republic, and I was only there for a week!
Love you guys! Leave me comments if you read this, because I'd love to hear from you! I'll try to get the post with the rest of the photos from my trip out here up soon, but for now I'll give you some images of California!
Images from Redondo Beach - Less than one mile from my house!
Yes, that's a seal on the beach...don't worry, it's not dead! Only sunbathing...a lifeguard said it happens all the time and if there weren't people on the beach it'd be covered with seals!
Images from Santa Monica, taken when David and Jonathan were still here...the day after we arrived (or Sunday, May 18th):
Images from Venice Beach, where I work:
This street is Abbott Kinney...it's so cute and there's all kinds of local shops and restaurants along here! I drive down this road every day to work.
My internship is great! I'm interning with Julia Dean - or the Julia Dean Photo Workshops. Some of the work is somewhat boring, the data entry stuff, but they've also given me a really awesome assignment! I've been photographing Venice Beach for the past week and a half, and they're going to choose one of my images to go on the back cover of the next catalog!! Also, since I'm working there 40 hours a week and am therefore basically an employee, I get to attend any workshop for free! So I'm taking the Photography for Social Impact class with Jim Hubbard, which focuses on how to link with non-profits in order to document their mission...that class meets every Thursday night. Next week I'll add another workshop to that - each Wednesday night I'll attend Julia Dean's Mastering Your Flash workshop, which will do exactly what the title says...teach me how to master a portable flash. I learned some at RCC about this, but I still don't know what all the buttons are for on a portable flash and how to use them in the ways I might want.
I expected to get pretty lonely out here, honestly, but it really hasn't gotten that bad! I have 3 roommates...and even though two of them aren't around much, my roommate, Casey, and I get along well so it's been nice having her here to talk to when I get home. We went to see Prince Caspian together on Saturday, and that was fun. I loved the movie! I also have Alexa here. She lives about 45 minutes from me, and she had to shoot weddings every day last weekend, but we got to spend all day Monday together! She invited me up to Westlake Village, where she lives, to hang out with her and her family all day. We went to lunch and to see the new Indiana Jones movie, and then we played the Wii and got in the hot tub! It was so much fun!
Sunday I tried out a church in downtown Los Angeles, called Mosaic, and it was so great! I was really worried that I'd leave without meeting anyone and be really discouraged. I walked in about 20 minutes early, and kind of stood off to the side. There were people standing behind information tables around me, and a guy, Ben, who was standing behind the men's ministry table, asked me if it was my first time there. I told him yes, and that I'd just moved out here for a couple months to do a photography internship, and that I'd only been here for a week. He was so nice! He wanted to introduce me to this girl, Jess, who's a photographer, right away, but he couldn't find her so he introduced me to Gabriel - the guy standing behind the Artisans (artist ministry) table - he also introduced me to Miranda, the girl behind the she (women's ministry) table, and to Kim McManus (the pastor, Erwin McManus's wife). Kim was sooo cute and talked to me for a few minutes about what I'm doing out here and then asked if I had anyone to sit in the service with. I told her I didn't, and Miranda offered to sit with me. After the servie, I talked for probably 45 minutes to Miranda and Jess (the photographer Ben wanted me to meet) and they're both great girls! We had great conversations, and I left Mosaic having exchanged phone numbers and e-mail addresses with both of them. :-) What an answer to prayer!
I've been seeing the Lord's hand all over my life recently and it is so encouraging and humbling! Before I even ask for help, He's putting things into place for me and I just step back and say "wow!" (And thank you!!)
Even though things are going so well out here, I really do miss all of you back in North Carolina. It's beautiful out here, but I'm realizing that I'm not sure I could stick it out if this was a permanent move. I'm glad to know that I'll be going home in a couple months. I could live somewhere else if I had to, but right now I like that North Carolina is my home...it's where my family is.
Of course, I know as soon as I get home I'll miss it here. :-) I'm still missing the Dominican Republic, and I was only there for a week!
Love you guys! Leave me comments if you read this, because I'd love to hear from you! I'll try to get the post with the rest of the photos from my trip out here up soon, but for now I'll give you some images of California!
Images from Redondo Beach - Less than one mile from my house!
Yes, that's a seal on the beach...don't worry, it's not dead! Only sunbathing...a lifeguard said it happens all the time and if there weren't people on the beach it'd be covered with seals!
Images from Santa Monica, taken when David and Jonathan were still here...the day after we arrived (or Sunday, May 18th):
Images from Venice Beach, where I work:
This street is Abbott Kinney...it's so cute and there's all kinds of local shops and restaurants along here! I drive down this road every day to work.
Sunday, May 18, 2008
The beginning of my cross country journey
I wish I'd had time to update this on a day to day basis, but we were driving so much I only had time to mapquest directions each morning. So, I will try to remember as many details as possible about my trek across the country.
Monday was the beginning, I met up with David and Jonathan a little later than I wanted because I had to repack things into a smaller suitcase. We quickly realized that we wouldn't be able to use Jonathan's GPS like we planned, because my car charger doesn't work. Since we were already on the road at that point, headed to KY, I called my great friend Austin Duke to help me with directions. He has memorized that route because of the many trips from Raleigh to Lexington, KY to visit his girlfriend (now fiance!) Amanda. So, we got to my friend Jamie's house in Lexington around 8:30pm, and she took us to Wal-Mart so David could buy a wall charger for his phone. Then we went downtown and took pictures for a while. Here are a few photos from downtown Lexington:
That's Jamie sitting on the wall...I think the motion blur is cool!
The next morning Jaime offered to take us to Magee's Bakery and buy us breakfast! (Thanks again, Jaime!!) It was great. Then we went and took a few more pictures before heading to MO. We stopped in Louisville, KY for a picnic lunch by the river and took some pictures there. Then we stopped again in St. Louis and took pictures of the Arch and the river. It started raining soon after that and we were off again. We arrived at the KOA campground in Missouri close to 10pm and set up our tent (well, David set it up). Then we ate a late dinner of PB&J and watched Transformers before going to sleep. Here are some images from Tuesday:
©Jonathan Andrews (Jonathan took this picture, but some people specifically requested to see some photos of me on here, and so I'm putting this up. Thanks Jonathan!)
David and Jonathan eating lunch in Louisville, KY.
Above is Louisville, KY...Images below are St. Louis, MO.
Wednesday morning we woke up and headed out around 10:45am for our drive through Kansas and into Colorado. We drove through Kansas City, and I think that was about the most interesting thing on that drive. Once we got to the KOA we were staying at in Strasburg, CO we went around the town (which was very small) and took pictures. David and Jonathan did more than me, I think they were a bit more inspired by it than I was. Oh, and also because it was freezing cold and I had a hat on, plus my hoodie, and a big blanket wrapped around me too. (I didn't really prepare for cold weather because I was moving to Los Angeles, you know?) So after the picture taking we ate dinner and then watched The Others on my laptop, and then went to bed. Here are some of Wednesdays images:
Thursday morning we woke up and showered and headed west about 30 miles to Denver, just to see it since we were so close, and then started our drive south into New Mexico and then west again into Arizona. That was our long day of driving, almost 10 hours. It was my favorite driving day because we saw such crazy changes in the landscape and the weather (just look at the photos)! Colorado was pretty flat until we saw the Rockies, and then as we went south it was cloudy and pretty flat again until we got closer to New Mexico and then large rocks and small mountains would appear every once in a while. It was so cool. And we saw the sun set in Arizona during our drive before we arrived at the KOA in Holbrook near the Petrified Forest. The people who worked there were SO friendly, I really loved them. Once we arrived there we checked out the campground and then walked up the street to the Burger King for dinner. After that we set up our tent and watched a few episodes of The Office (Season Two) before going to bed. Here are some images from Thursday in order:
Well, that's all for now! I figured I should go ahead and post this so you guys would have a little update while I start writing about the rest of the trip and editing those pictures. Hope you've enjoyed reading this! Coming up - The Grand Canyon, The Hoover Dam, Las Vegas, and my neighborhood!
Monday was the beginning, I met up with David and Jonathan a little later than I wanted because I had to repack things into a smaller suitcase. We quickly realized that we wouldn't be able to use Jonathan's GPS like we planned, because my car charger doesn't work. Since we were already on the road at that point, headed to KY, I called my great friend Austin Duke to help me with directions. He has memorized that route because of the many trips from Raleigh to Lexington, KY to visit his girlfriend (now fiance!) Amanda. So, we got to my friend Jamie's house in Lexington around 8:30pm, and she took us to Wal-Mart so David could buy a wall charger for his phone. Then we went downtown and took pictures for a while. Here are a few photos from downtown Lexington:
That's Jamie sitting on the wall...I think the motion blur is cool!
The next morning Jaime offered to take us to Magee's Bakery and buy us breakfast! (Thanks again, Jaime!!) It was great. Then we went and took a few more pictures before heading to MO. We stopped in Louisville, KY for a picnic lunch by the river and took some pictures there. Then we stopped again in St. Louis and took pictures of the Arch and the river. It started raining soon after that and we were off again. We arrived at the KOA campground in Missouri close to 10pm and set up our tent (well, David set it up). Then we ate a late dinner of PB&J and watched Transformers before going to sleep. Here are some images from Tuesday:
©Jonathan Andrews (Jonathan took this picture, but some people specifically requested to see some photos of me on here, and so I'm putting this up. Thanks Jonathan!)
David and Jonathan eating lunch in Louisville, KY.
Above is Louisville, KY...Images below are St. Louis, MO.
Wednesday morning we woke up and headed out around 10:45am for our drive through Kansas and into Colorado. We drove through Kansas City, and I think that was about the most interesting thing on that drive. Once we got to the KOA we were staying at in Strasburg, CO we went around the town (which was very small) and took pictures. David and Jonathan did more than me, I think they were a bit more inspired by it than I was. Oh, and also because it was freezing cold and I had a hat on, plus my hoodie, and a big blanket wrapped around me too. (I didn't really prepare for cold weather because I was moving to Los Angeles, you know?) So after the picture taking we ate dinner and then watched The Others on my laptop, and then went to bed. Here are some of Wednesdays images:
Thursday morning we woke up and showered and headed west about 30 miles to Denver, just to see it since we were so close, and then started our drive south into New Mexico and then west again into Arizona. That was our long day of driving, almost 10 hours. It was my favorite driving day because we saw such crazy changes in the landscape and the weather (just look at the photos)! Colorado was pretty flat until we saw the Rockies, and then as we went south it was cloudy and pretty flat again until we got closer to New Mexico and then large rocks and small mountains would appear every once in a while. It was so cool. And we saw the sun set in Arizona during our drive before we arrived at the KOA in Holbrook near the Petrified Forest. The people who worked there were SO friendly, I really loved them. Once we arrived there we checked out the campground and then walked up the street to the Burger King for dinner. After that we set up our tent and watched a few episodes of The Office (Season Two) before going to bed. Here are some images from Thursday in order:
Well, that's all for now! I figured I should go ahead and post this so you guys would have a little update while I start writing about the rest of the trip and editing those pictures. Hope you've enjoyed reading this! Coming up - The Grand Canyon, The Hoover Dam, Las Vegas, and my neighborhood!
Sunday, May 4, 2008
More about the trip
Well, I figured I'd write a little more on here about my road trip to Los Angeles! Two of my friends from school are riding out with me, Jonathan and David, and they are both interning at Viewpoint with me right now. Our last day is Tuesday, by the way! They are in the commercial photography concentration at RCC.
So what I know so far is we're leaving in one week, on Monday the 12th, and heading to Lexington, KY to stay with my friend Amanda. From there we'll drive through a bit of Indiana and Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Colorado, some of Utah (where we'll stay with my friend Sean in Moab), then southwest to the Grand Canyon in AZ, west to Las Vegas, and then southwest to Los Angeles. It's going to be amazing, for sure! We're going to camp most of the time, except when we stay with friends. We're going to stop a lot, hopefully, and take tons of pictures! I will definitely post them on here!
Once in Los Angeles, we'll have a day to hang out before my internship starts on Monday the 19th, and Jonathan and David will hang out more Monday I guess before I take them to the airport and they fly back to NC Monday night.
Julia Dean's studio, where I'll be doing my internship, is right on the Venice boardwalk. I will be able to see the ocean from work everyday! And the house where I'm living in Redondo Beach is 0.7 miles from the beach! How awesome! I'll be living with 3 other girls, who are all teachers and around 23/24 years old. I can't wait to experience all this exciting stuff!
So what I know so far is we're leaving in one week, on Monday the 12th, and heading to Lexington, KY to stay with my friend Amanda. From there we'll drive through a bit of Indiana and Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Colorado, some of Utah (where we'll stay with my friend Sean in Moab), then southwest to the Grand Canyon in AZ, west to Las Vegas, and then southwest to Los Angeles. It's going to be amazing, for sure! We're going to camp most of the time, except when we stay with friends. We're going to stop a lot, hopefully, and take tons of pictures! I will definitely post them on here!
Once in Los Angeles, we'll have a day to hang out before my internship starts on Monday the 19th, and Jonathan and David will hang out more Monday I guess before I take them to the airport and they fly back to NC Monday night.
Julia Dean's studio, where I'll be doing my internship, is right on the Venice boardwalk. I will be able to see the ocean from work everyday! And the house where I'm living in Redondo Beach is 0.7 miles from the beach! How awesome! I'll be living with 3 other girls, who are all teachers and around 23/24 years old. I can't wait to experience all this exciting stuff!
Saturday, May 3, 2008
A new beginning!
About 8 days from now I will embark on my first ever, week long, cross-country road trip! I will leave my hometown of Greensboro, North Carolina to head to Los Angeles, California for a two month photography internship with Julia Dean! I decided now was a great time to start a new blog. I've had my old blog on xanga for four years now, since my senior year of high school, and I've changed a lot since then. I have a photography blog on here for school, and I plan on keeping up with it, so I figured why not start a personal blog as well?
So about my blog title...one of my best friends, Alyse, told me to explain the meaning. (She is the one who helped me come up with it.) Everchangingeyes is me, because first of all I have eyes that appear either bluish or greenish, depending on what I wear. I never really know what color they are on any given day, because I haven't taken the time to figure out what colors make them look more blue versus green. The other reason it describes me is because as a photographer, a person, a woman, a Christian...my views of this world are constantly changing the more I see, learn, and grow. I thought I would try to include you in my journey.
So about my blog title...one of my best friends, Alyse, told me to explain the meaning. (She is the one who helped me come up with it.) Everchangingeyes is me, because first of all I have eyes that appear either bluish or greenish, depending on what I wear. I never really know what color they are on any given day, because I haven't taken the time to figure out what colors make them look more blue versus green. The other reason it describes me is because as a photographer, a person, a woman, a Christian...my views of this world are constantly changing the more I see, learn, and grow. I thought I would try to include you in my journey.
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