It's a Work in Progress....

I added a link to my new photography blog!

It's on the side under "Allison Kay Photography"

I will be adding photos......

yeah.

Basketball, Groundhogs, and Other Things

This is the "basketball" portion:

Our friends Porter and Dan coach a basketball team on campus. This is my apartment supporting their team.

Our favorite coach Daniel Scott Johnson

Our favorite basketball player Christopher Douglas Veazey

Our favorite assistant coach Porter

We got to keep stats at one of the games. This is Kandace and Cherise hard at work on homework during a break in the game. We were good stats keepers :)

Kandace and me keeping stats

The guy next to me who is cut out was keeping for the other team. He was nice and kept track of my sheet most of the time too. I couldn't have done it without him!

This is the "groundhog" portion:

Jessica and I decided to celebrate Groundhogs Day by making groundhog cupcakes....

We even made our own frosting!

They're so cute! I even gave them little personalities!

Maybe a little creepy....

This is the "other things" portion:

I have found my perfect man. I thought I should let you know.

Went to the cabin with mom and dad last weekend and fed the deer!

These are from ice fishing, but I thought they were fun  :)

Ice Fishing

Drilling the hole

This is actually the police man coming to get us in trouble. He yelled at me to stop taking pictures. He asked Porter for his fishing license, which he had, and the rest of us said we were just taking pictures. Then he asked Porter what the rules were, which he knew. The police man couldn't have gotten us in trouble anyway because we hadn't actually started fishing yet. 

I had fun taking pictures

Setting the pole up

Preparing the line.

My favorite picture from the trip

Playing Fox and Geese

Our stunned little fish

We caught three fish throughout the trip! This one swallowed the hook so we weren't able to let it go.

We named him Jasper.

He was still alive when we got him home and flipped all around our apartment and in our sink. He was not ready to die! Poor guy. Now he's in our freezer

Art vs Communications

Warning: I am about to vent, so you will probably find this uninteresting and I do not expect you to read it. Thank you.

Communications classes are so easy! This semester I am taking a Photojournalism class, which falls under the Communications department. It’s a Photography class with Communications standards, which means I am soo bored in this class all the time! Today I lost it and actually left in the middle of class to just walk around for 15min to try to keep my sanity. It was very refreshing and I think I may do this more often. I also bring a granola bar to snack on that I don’t allow myself to eat until an hour into class (it’s a 3 hour class!) Today I decided to compare and contrast Art and Communications classes to keep myself entertained. This is what I came up with:

One reason I was going crazy today was because our teacher kept saying things like, “this picture looks like this because your CAMERA reads…..” This translates into your camera being on automatic. In Art your picture looks like this because YOU CHOSE…….” What is the point of having a nice camera if you’re going to put it on automatic? Answer: there is no point!

Another thing I kept hearing in class today was how to know what works. In Art you know what you need and the question is how do I make it work? I tell you, the first thing you do is take your camera off automatic….

Communications are LONG-WINDED. I have a really hard time with long-winded people. How long can you beat a dead horse!?? Apparently, quite a while I’m discovering. I was actually talking to my Printmaking teacher today (Art) and she said that she was taught that you shouldn’t lecture students longer than 20min or their attention span is gone. It’s about hands on, not lecture.

In Communications classes you will hear, “This is the correct exposure.” Or “this is what your picture should look like.” Everything is right or wrong. In Art it’s a question of what you were going for and did you get your message across. There is no right or wrong. Everything is subjective, and if you can back yourself up, it’s good.    

I took my first Communications class last semester and I was so excited for our first critique because I wanted to know how I would do from a Communications aspect rather than Art. Well, I was very disappointed to say the least. The “critique” went like this: We all hung our work up and the teacher said, “These all look pretty nice, don’t you think?” The class agreed. End of critique! WHAT!?? In Photojournalism class he puts all our photos in a slide show and he clicks through them. I don’t even know what the point of that is! In Art I have actually had whole classes where we just learn how to critique. I have had classes where we spend the whole day critiquing. It is vital to improvement and I depend on it!

My teacher is always saying, “you can never get tired of the sunset.” or “the Temple never gets old.” In Art the teachers say, “I will not accept a picture of a sunset.” or “please don’t make me look at another boring picture of the Temple.” The focus is on setting yourself apart. Yes, I have really had teachers say this. And yes, you can hand those pictures in still, but it has to be unique and have a purpose.

My teacher put up an example picture of a studio portrait and it was so bad! There was no light pattern, and no separation. He had used a huge soft box that was as big as her whole body and he was doing a head shot! All that does is flatten her out! I could take a better picture than that easy! And this isn’t even bragging because it’s not hard if you know photography, which the teacher should.

Ok, I’m done. Class really got me thinking today.  It has actually been really interesting to be learning the same things, but from a completely new perspective. Interesting, but sometimes exasperating.

I handed these pictures in today, so I thought I would post them here too. The assignment was Motion.

Gotta Love It

Activities Meeting

I love serving in church callings! I was called to the Activities Chair about two years ago at the same time as our amazing bishopric was put in. We were all learning together and the leadership of the ward got pretty close and it hooked me to organizing events and being front and center and in charge of situations. I love it!

London

When I came back from Europe I was never given a calling because it was awkward timing. Because I was used to running everything (Activities was a HUGE job in our ward), I didn't like sitting around, so I gave myself self-proclaimed callings. I was the un-official substitute chorister and I discovered Indexing! I love Indexing!

Now I am called to the Ward Bulletin and as of today I am now officially a Ward Indexer. I seriously have the best callings! I feel like I have become the "filler calling" person. Today in Ward Counsel I was asked to be the Ward Photographer until someone else was called. Last week I was told to get a list from the Executive Secretaries of all the callings that have been made so I could keep track of them for the bishopric. Isn't that what the Executive Secretaries are for? But, whatever!

Preparing food for a Ward Activity

Over the semesters I haven't really lost my callings 100% they more just decrease in priority, but are still there. For example, they just got new Activities Chair people, so I helped out a lot with the Ward Game Night we had. And when the Activities went up to Green Canyon early to set up, Brother Kerbs put me in charge of making sure everyone had a ride up. It's not my calling anymore, but I still love doing it.

I counted the "callings" that I have done this week and I came up with:

- Ward Bulletin
- Indexing
- Chorister

- Calling person

- Photographer
- Activities

Just today I fulfilled the first 4 listed. And what do I get from this? Today I got chicken, pasta salad, cookies and good company during Relief Society.

Gotta love it  :)