2017 Year In Review

I was just reading a fellow photographer’s year in review posts and was inspired to create my own. My version will be a list of favorites. Here goes…

January

Favorite Art Therapy

That time we painted a zen tangle on my living room ceiling. #cooplife #stillinprogress

February

Favorite Small Town

Amesville, Ohio.

I spent several months here in the Spring documenting life and culture and portraits of place. I discovered I really like to take portraits of place (i.e. pictures of a scene with no people in them). I also discovered that Amesville is a really cool community.

Favorite Mashup

 

A mashup up some of my favorite self portraits. #withoutdisguise

March

Favorite Exhibit

The time Pete Souza came to town and I got to frame all his photos. Including this one. #rolemodel #photography #heinspiredmetocometogradschool

April

Favorite Self Portrait

Out Of The Box

May

Favorite Adventure

Hanging out with these two on a cross country road trip. #bestmodels

Hiking a short trail down into the Grand Canyon to get this view. #nationalparks

June

Favorite Compliment

“You made god smile.”

July

Favorite Award

Winning First Place in the Dith Pran Photo shootout Competition for this picture at the AAJA National Convention in Philly.

This was my other photo from the rally that I submitted for the contest.  I actually like this one better because I have a thing for portraits.

 

September

Favorite Conference

There are so many to choose from. But I think the NLGJA National Convention in Philly was my favorite. I got to be part of the Connect: Student Journalism Training Project, and make some awesome friends and mentors in the process.

Favorite Story I Wrote

Created in God’s Image is the story I reported on as part of Connect. I got to spend some time with Rabbi Ari Lev who is genderqueer and trans and leads a reconstructionist congregation in West Philly. What a cool person.

 

October

Favorite Portrait

This is Trio, who I got to interview and photograph for a story about the new law allowing people in California to select a nonbinary gender marker on their IDs and birth certificates. Pronoun is a qtpoc zine I wrote, photographed, designed, and edited.

Favorite Profile

I was photographed by one of my favorite undergrad photographers for a Student Spotlight profile in my department.

Favorite Mentorship Program

I was honored to be be selected as a mentee in the Inaugural Women Photograph Mentorship Program. @womenphotograph is an awesome organization sheding light on gender disparities in the photojournalism industry and promoting incredibly talented female, nonbinary, and transgender photographers.

My favorite twitter thread is their Week In Pictures Gender Breakdown.  Every Monday they report data on the break up of male vs. non-male photographers highlighted in different publications’ week in picture slideshows. *Spoiler* they are usually heavily male dominated.

December

Favorite Class Project

Did a project eliciting microagressions from people on post-it notes. Got a lot of good responses and it was very therapeutic. #arttherapy

 

 

 

 

Your Golden Opportunity Is Coming Shortly

Last Summer, I attended a conference in Philedelphia and got to spend some time with one of my favorite people, K. On Sunday, ate some delicious food at this Malaysian restaurant in China Town.

Afterwards we both opened our fortune cookies (which neither of us could eat because we are both sensitive to gluten.) But we read the fortunes anyway. Mine was quite optimistic and a very apt fortune to receive at the end of a very positive and successfully network heavy conference.

Your Golden Opportunity Is Coming Shortly.

From being selected to attend multiple conferences and workshops to being selected for an awesome mentorship opportunity with Women Photograph, I feel like I’ve been lucky enough to receive multiple golden opportunities over the course of the last few months!

At the beginning of Finals week, I even had an interview for an internship program this summer, so fingers crossed that it becomes another thing on the list of golden opportunities this year!

Wish me luck!

10 Day Breaks

I’ve discovered a tactic to be more balanced this year: Take week long breaks, at least once every month.

I’ve been lucky enough to attend several conferences this semester which have allowed me to travel outside of Athens quite frequently. It’s definitely nice to take mini vacations from school outside of just the major holidays.

Here are some of the awesome opportunities I’ve been able to enjoy so far:

August
AAJA National Convention, Philadelphia

September
NLGJA National Convention, Philadelphia
Women Photograph Workshop at Photoville, NYC

October
10 Day Magazine shoot, California

November
Atlanta Photojournalism Conference, Atlanta
Thanksgiving Break, Chicago

It’s definitely been a lot of travel. But it’s always nice to get a chance to stuff myself with Malaysian food and gluten free sandwiches, catch up with old friends, and get lots of awesome networking time and inspiration from cool photo speakers.

I’m hoping to keep this trend up for next semester and already have out of town conferences lined up for February and April. With spring break in March, I’ve got all my months covered!

Summer Road Trip #CaliforniaBound

Staying at Thayer’s Parent’s House in Iowa. #friendsparentsarethebest

We are too cool for school #roadtrip #somewhereintheUSA

Most well dressed hikers I ever saw #ontopofarock #somewhereintheUSA

Detour for documentation #mountains #somewhereintheUSA

Sometimes depression hits at the most unexpected places #documentingdepression

Hanging out on the biggest trees in the world #sequoianationalpark

Climbing things #themeofourtrip #somewhereintheUSA #wherethebigtreesare

More Mashups! #experimentalart #expressionism

Mashups are so fun! Great trip with great friends. And my car survived the 3,000 miles. 

 

 

 

A Year in Selfies (Part 2)

 

Semester 2 began with a fun non-literal photo project. #stilldepressedtho

Some days were harder than others. #documentingdepression

What the button says. #newpronouns #theythem #pronounsmatter

Started working on a new documentary art project. #gonnabemymastersproject

Carrying around all the photo equipment #forthenewproject #foundmyniche

Went to Chicago for an LGBTQ College Conference. #queer #outandproud

#documentingdepression

That time Pete Souza came to town and I got to frame all his photos. #photorolemodel

First time on a tractor! #thatmudtho

#documentingdepression

Did I mention about my new pronouns? #theythem

Fresh haircut #arttherapy #shadowselfie

Having fun at a photo shoot. #newdocumentaryartproject #masterprojectinprogress

A photo of me taking a photo of a photo of someone’s door, hanging on their door. #meta #inception

That time I flew home for a weekend wedding, when I thought I might be failing out of school #ididn’tfailtho

Best wedding ever! #highschoolreunion

Walk with Dad and the Dog #newfoundappriciationformydogafterhunting

Another shadow selfie #arttherapy

That time I came out of a meeting determining my future at school. #stressful

One of my favorite photos from the semester when I started to experiment with mashups.

Birthday Mashup

That time I bonded with my room mate by running down the street barefoot to catch the sunset. #cooplife #friendshiphump

That time school was almost over but I wasn’t quite done yet. #doesiteverend

A view of the awesome zen tangle mural on my living room ceiling. #arttherapy #cooplife

That time someone smashed my car but my housemates were there for moral support. #selfiesmakeeverythingbetter

Final Mashup of the semester. One step closer to living my dreams. #arttherapy

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Year in Selfies (Part 1)

Started Grad School in Ohio

Golden Hour selfie with the cohort buddies

Road trip to Geek Fest in D.C. #gradschoolisaboutthecarrides

Lived in a co-op

Went to A’s wedding in D.C.! #kindergartenfriends #madeitjustintime

Favorite Fancy Shoes

#Bowtiesarecool

Bought a bike before I bought a car. #ofcourseidid

Rest Stop on the way home from Thanksgiving Break with S. and K. on the East Coast. #friends

Started anti-depressants. #documentingdepression

Spent a lot of time being depressed because #gradschool so decided to start taking pictures of the experience. #documentingdepression

Finally Bought a car. Walk home after taking it to the shop for repairs. #arttherapy

End of Semester 1 with a day at the art museum #designtherapy

Winterbreak in S.F. with the Dad. #Ileftmyheartinuniqlo

Why is Rumi just soooo good?

Throw away the passion, envy, and grudges from the heart. Change your bad behavior and bad thoughts. Denying everything harms you, deny little. Affirmation is, on the other hand, useful. Increase your affirmation.

~Rumi

Why is it that often Eastern and Middle Eastern texts are just so much easier to read than Western texts? I’m talking about Rumi. I’m talking about Thich Nhat Hanh. Their words are just so simple and concise. Their words pierce my soul and vibrate like piano strings in my heart.

Sometimes western texts are just too wordy. It’s ironic because in the west we are raised on the western texts. We are raised on white authors, white philosophers, and white theologians. But sometimes their words bore me and I just can’t get through the stuff.

But give me a Rumi poem. I could read it over and over and over again. And never stop smiling. There’s a reason his words get memed all over Facebook with pretty pictures. His stuff sticks.

I’ve recently begun this path of minimalism. And I have a theory that the reason the non-western guys are so good with words is because they’ve got the minimalism thing down. Less is more.

I think there’s also another element. Sometimes I feel like they’ve connected with their heart more. There’s a feeling that comes through their words that is often lacking in the western texts. It’s like in the west everyone is too wrapped up in their heads to really feel with their heart. And poetry isn’t an intellectual exercise. #halfthoughts

New Year, New Semester

It’s the start of a new semester in Ohio. I’m taking a more manageable load this semester, so that I can really focus on my most intense photo class and still have time to breathe. Here are some other changes I’ve implemented to help myself have a fresh start:

-I moved rooms in my co-op.

-I rented a locker in the gym.

-I don’t have any classes that start before 10:30am.

-We are painting a giant zen tangle art therapy mural on the living room ceiling.

-Oh, and I finally took a self portrait today. I haven’t taken one in a while.

Alternate Path. Self Portrait. #withoutdisguise

Everything is Fixable

This week, I finally began taking antidepressants. I’d been thinking of starting them for the last 6 months, but it took a while to get an appointment with the psychiatrist.

I also kept going back and forth on committing to starting. I would have a few weeks where I felt fine-ish and think, maybe I’m getting better? But then I’d dip again or have a panic attack and think, nope I was wrong.

I waffled back and forth like this for  several weeks after returning to the states, before I finally committed to making that first psychiatrist appointment. And then when I finally made a decision, it took another month before my doctor had an opening.

They say that it usually takes several weeks for antidepressants to kick in and up to a few months to figure out the right dose and find the medication that works for you. Some people claim they start working from day one. I’m convinced I’m one of those people.

The first few days after starting I felt somewhat lighter. I caught myself smiling more throughout the day and during conversations. I found myself saying hello to my roommates and classmates just a tad perkier than usual.

But I know depression doesn’t go away completely with one pill. And I still have days where I sleep most of the day, or am unmotivated to do work, or have bouts of crying for seemingly mundane reasons.

On the first day I got my prescription, I had an anxiety attack in class, noticeable enough that my professor checked on me after class to ask if I was ok. The first thing she said to me was, “Everything is fixable.”

I had a chat with her in her office and revealed that I’d been struggling with depression. And she was very supportive. She said not to worry about classes and deadlines. I can always finish assignments later, even if it has to be after the semester is over.

It’s good to know that I won’t fail. That’s one less thing to worry about.

Transition

It’s been a while since I posted on here. Since I last wrote, I moved out of my apartment in Korea, mailed 9 boxes to the states by boat, moved back to America, and then moved across the country to start grad school.  Now, I’m already 5 weeks into my first semester!

Grad school is exciting. I’m meeting awesome people, I have classes with awesome faculty, and I’m being challenged regularly.

But I still don’t feel settled. I keep having to remind myself that I didn’t just move states, I moved countries. On top of that, I’ve implemented several life style changes recently.

I’m still getting used to everything and it’s simply going to take me awhile until I feel like I’ve fully transitioned my life to being here.

I’m still in the process of purchasing possessions like a car, auto insurance, new camera equipment, furniture, bedding, and SPICES. I don’t think I’ll feel fully at home until my pantry is complete. Looking forward to that day. One bottle of tumeric at a time. #intransition