Some high school basketball

Last night I shot a game between Odessa High and Mansfield Summit High for the Odessa American last night at Moody Colliseum on campus. I really hadn't every shot any high school b-ball, but since the game was in a familiar venue I was used to the lighting and such. Here are a couple of the photos from the game:













Overall, I think I did ok, but I know that I can shoot much better photos at a basketball game. I had the same problem this past weekend when I shot two games for the university, I feel like my work was just good enough, but not excellent. I really need to step it up next time. I don't want to keep feeling this way after assignments. I'll see if I can post some from another assignment I shot this weekend for the university.

Expanding my mind...

Lately I have been feeling the urge to learn about graphic design (and design in general). I have also been experimenting with Adobe Illustrator for designing my new business cards and letterhead and such, which would probably explain my newfound desire. I have always admired graphic designers and other digital artists so this recent interest in learning more is not surprising to me. I bought a few books on Amazon to help spark my creativity and to educate myself about color and type. One of the books, the one I am currently reading, is really causing me to think. It's titled Thinking with Type , and it's really interesting material.

Like most ACU journalism students I thought Dr. Marler was a little crazy when he spent 3 weeks talking about typography during the Publication Design class, but now that I have a few years more life experience and a much different outlook on life I think the topic is fascinating. Not only is typography interesting but how the designer places the text and positions it, sizes and colors it all go into creating a great layout. Coming from a school newspaper background I know that the body, or text, on a page is an element much as the art or photographs are and not just linear text, but somehow the author of the book presents this idea in way that is new and refreshing to me. I'm not saying I am going to switch to page design or try to become a graphic designer, but I do feel that dabbling in these fields is beneficial to me, the same way learning to record audio or shooting and editing video are skills that improve my creativity and story telling skills. As I write this I am reminded of a time when I heard David Leeson tell a group of photographers that he wanted to live an artful life, and I can understand that. It's more than just being a good photographer, in fact if I only do that with my life I will be a failure in my own eyes. I would like to understand and appreciate the art that is all around me, from subtle beauty of nature and God's design for it, to the buildings I work, live and play in and even the objects/devices/tools I use in my everday life, everything around me has been designed to fulfill a purpose or to elicit an emotion or feeling. Realizing this, and tapping into it, might just be the greatest thing I can do as an artist.

Time flies

It's been awhile since I posted here, mainly because I haven't made much time for it. Another reason I have stayed away from the blog is that I feel like I might have gotten off track with it. In the beginning, this was supposed to be a photo blog where I showcased some of my more recent photos and blogged about them or the circumstances behind them. This was for a class. Then I started the internship in Odessa, TX and this blog became a way for me to share my experiences and work but ever since I came back from that experience I seem to have quit posting photos almost altogether, with the few exceptions being photos of my family. Part of the reason is that at times I was busy shooting events and such that payed the bills but did not always produce work I deemed original enough to post here. Lately, however I have not been shooting much at all, I seem to have hit a dry spot in my personal creativity as well as my freelance opportunities. While I have no doubt that I will overcome both of these problems (this isn't going to be another whining post) I just haven't had much to put here. I have had about a billion thoughts in my head that I could of posted, but I am still unsure of where I want to take this blog.

The thing about it is that I find blogging my thoughts to be helpful and enjoyable. Often while I type out a question or describe a problem I begin to realize the answer before I am finished. So I guess the whole point of this post is to let anyone who actually reads this know that there will be more photos in the future, but there will be more "photo-less" posts as well (and probably some more whining for good measure).