New Blog!

If you’re still reading this blog… well stop!

I completely forgot to say that I have a new blog, and will no longer be updating this one. 

Go check it out here! It is much nicer and prettier than this blog. :)

Instax

I am aware that I haven’t posted anything in a while. I’ve been pretty busy, getting back into the swing of school, reconnecting with friends, getting behind on homework- I’m sure most of you know the drill. 

I can honestly say that I have been busy in the absolute best kind of way. Last weekend I went to a winter retreat with some of my best friends in the entire world. I know that’s kind of a cliche thing to say- but they really are. It’s great seeing them- but in a way it kind of sucks because I realize how boring my life can be without them sometimes. Not to say I don’t fully love my friends nearby, but it’s exceedingly nice being around people who know me, and love me, and for the most part just think I’m great. It’s true. At Tall Oaks (the place I went on that retreat) it’s impossible to count the number of people I love, and who love me. It is such an awesome, open and caring environment. I wish I could live with those guys year round. I totally feel like I can be myself, and hardly anyone gives me a hard time for it. :) I will share a few pictures from last weekend:

These girls are beautiful and hilarious. Love them so so much.

A lot of people don’t know this about me, but I love dressing up. And I love anyone who will go all out with  me. We had an 80s dance and I think we worked it out.

This picture is silly and unflattering, but boy do I look happy. Pretty much my expression all weekend. :)

Another thing I have been having fun with lately is my new camera- a Fuji Instax Mini. It takes little credit card sized photos, which are so much fun!! I’m really bad about printing pictures, so it has been great having instant, tangible photos around. Mostly I’ve just been taking goofy pictures with my friends, but I think I’ll start experimenting with it more soon. It might make some appearances in my upcoming sessions!!

Me and Andrew :)

Raven and Kurt

Some girls in my drawing class

I thought a retro bike would go well with a retro camera

My fridge- which will soon become even more covered with these shots :)

I know these are silly- but I’m really loving having candid shots of my friends. I think someday I’ll really enjoy having these to look back on.

Until next time,
Brooke

365

So, for the past week or so I’ve been reading the “Best of 2009″ posts on a lot of photographers blogs. I thought about doing that, but then I realized that I don’t have enough “bests” to fill up a whole post. I’m not saying that I haven’t done some stuff I’ve really loved this year, I have- but I don’t think I’ve done what I’m capable of.  My goal this year is to work towards having a really rocking Best of 2010 post come 2011. 

One way I plan on stretching my mind creatively is by doing a 365 days project. This means that every day in 2010, I’ll take at least one good (hopefully) photo. I am a week into this project- and already I’ve got some shots that are really different for me. I’ll share my first seven days for now. I might do this every week, but I’m not quite sure yet.

I plan on doing some theme weeks to get me started- this week’s theme was “Freelensing.” I’m open for suggestions for the rest of the year. If you suggest something interesting, I’ll most likely do it. And it could be any type of theme, a color, an object, a song- whatever. Just throw out your ideas.

Here’s week one.

Philip and Jessica

Yesterday my friend Philip from college and his girlfriend Jessica came down for a little session in downtown Kearney- which is basically just the one street you see below. Lately I have had some troopers when it comes to weather- it was so cold yesterday that they canceled school just from the temperature. Yet somehow Philip and Jessica still managed to look good! Especially Jessica- you have got to give props to a girl in a short dress and stilettos who will pose in the snow!! I think despite the cold we still had a great time, and I’ll be looking forward to hanging out with Jessica again when she visits Philip at school :)

Chelsay

Because it’s winter and everything, I haven’t gotten to take any senior pictures lately. While it has been nice having some time to relax and catch up on other things, I’ve really missed taking senior pictures! I really do love my job and I was beyond stoked that I got to go out and take Chelsay’s pictures yesterday.

You might not be able to tell from these photos because Chelsay was seriously a champ- but it was cooooold yesterday. I have no idea how she managed to look warm and comfortable in all of these! But somehow she worked through the cold and I think we came out with some awesome shots. Not only was she great at not looking cold, but really rocked the whole “serious face” thing. Some people can’t stop giggling when I ask them to be serious- which is totally fine!- but Chelsay could go from smiling to serious in a second. It was awesome! Also- her eyes are like, beyond the perfect color for these wintery pictures. I had a lot of fun taking these! Anyway I’ll stop blabbering and let you look at her pictures!

Wintertime

We had a little blizzard here for Christmas- and while that made it pretty difficult to go anywhere for a while, the roads cleared enough yesterday for me to get out a little. My friends and I took advantage of the snow to build a snow fort which was pretty awesome! Unfortunately Andrew had to work and couldn’t join us, but I’ll share some fun shots of Molly and Brady :)

Brady took this of me and Molly :)

Merry belated Christmas everyone :)

The Fulton’s

I promise I won’t write much on this one because I’ve been writing so much lately!
The Fulton’s have been friends of my family for a long time, ever since my sister played soccer with their daughter. It was great getting to see them again, because they are really great, fun people. This session was really fun and they were pretty good at dealing with my inexperience with families! Anyway, here’s the pictures:

And here is Jennifer getting hit with a snowball :)

Home

Came home last night for Christmas break. I plan on spending a lot of time sleeping- my parents plan on my spending a lot of time cleaning. Eh.
Hopefully I’ll also be spending lots of time taking pictures. These past few weeks have been crazy busy for me and I haven’t been shooting nearly as much as I’ve wanted to. And I know the two people who read this are probably bored to death by now of posts about my life.
I have a family session scheduled for tomorrow so I will be back to posting pictures like normal soon!!

Until then, here’s one of me from this morning

End of a Year, Beginning of a Friendship {Ugly Sweaters}

I have not written in a while. I got very used to just blogging when I had a session- but I was trying to force myself to blog other times as well. Obviously that didn’t work! I’ve been busy with finals (three down- three to go!) and I haven’t been shooting, but I have been spending some great time with friends.

I have already mentioned my friend Raven before- and by the way hello to you cause I know you’re reading this! :)- but I guess I will mention her again. I am typically a very closed off person- and that is something I’ve been trying to change. My 3D design class knows that now, because I recently did a piece for that class that I was very emotionally attached to, and I had to explain to everyone the meaning behind it. That was difficult for me, and I let them know. I was extremely nervous letting a group of people know something so few people did, but it felt GREAT. Not only did I feel closer to everyone in the room, but I think they also understood my piece more and were able to give more constructive criticism- which I loved. 

Anyway, I think Raven has been a pretty big influence on me in that way- being open and everything. From the very beginning she was easy to share about herself, even when I wasn’t. But I do feel that I’m starting to be more willing to share, because now I’ve seen that most people won’t judge me for it- it will actually make them understand me just a bit more. I’m just really thankful to have a friend that I can talk to, or not talk to if that’s how I feel. Here’s to girl talk and musicals and letting friends crash on your floor. :)

On another note, last Saturday night we threw an ugly sweater party in the basement of my dorm- and I think it was a great success! I loved having all of my friends- and my friends’ friends- all in one place, dancing and laughing and just having a good time. I am so thankful for having friends that will dance and be weird and not care at all! I needed a night to just have fun and be me, and this was definitely it. I’ll share some pictures because I hate posting without them!

I think this sums up the night- awkwardness, musical instruments, ugly sweaters, and bro time.

My superior baking skills (aka…Andrew has big pockets and there were a lot of these cookies at the dining hall. They were calling out to be taken!)

Intense game of Cranium

Which unfortunately Andrew’s team won :(

This is just a taste of all of the dancing that went on. 

This is probably a really unflattering picture of me- but I never like candids of myself and for some reason I really love this shot. I think it just captured how relaxed and fun the whole evening was. Also I like the little peek of my newly dyed blue hair :) Thanks for taking this one Raven!

And here’s the group! Love you guys- thanks for a great night :)

-Brooke

Me by Andrew

Before  heading home today, Andrew took a very rare and quick step behind the camera to take some pictures of me because the light was just too good. I don’t particularly love myself in front of the camera- but I really like to see Andrew’s results so I modeled for him a bit. I get frustrated with modeling sometimes because I feel like Andrew isn’t doing what I would do if I was taking the picture- but I guess that’s why there are different photographers. I shouldn’t get frustrated though, because I always end up really loving what he shoots. I wish he would spend more time shooting with me- I think he’d be great at it. Maybe I’m biased? Lemme know what you guys think of his stuff. I’ll post just a couple of my favorites.

btw- my freckles are insane in this one!

I had to sneak just one shot of him in here too :)