Kalista

I've been working on some portraiture and was doing film photo yesterday but ended up doing some digital as well, and this is how they turned out. I'm thrilled with the results :)

First Snowfall of the Winter = Fun with Friends

We began by shoveling snow in order to have a huge pile available.

Ben and Shalyn packing snow and they even made a little flag.

Both of our snow castles. They built a temple within their walls and we... well... we just did whatever. It was awesome!

And then here's all four of us when we were done playing in the snow. This night was way too fun! :) Snow is amazing :)

Reasons to Blog

• Sharing Stories
• I love sharing the most random stories. They make me laugh and I like to think that they make others smile too. For instance, today after I got off work and went to the store and stuff I went to the last part of mutual just to visit and make an appearance. (I needed it. It was fun.) And then mostly everyone had gone and Amber was taking my sister and I, as well as my neighbor's home and she was chatting with Carla. I asked if I could have an apple, (Actually, my exact words were, "I don't want to seem like a mooch, but can I have an apple?") and she said yes, so she pulled one out of the bowl and I noticed that there was an unusual looking stem on the apple. The stem started to move and before I realize it, I'm screaming like a little girl and jumping away into the other room as fast as I can. There was a spider... on the apple. It was scary. I'm sorry, but apple stems don't normally move. I'm sure you can understand right? Well, we certainly got a good laugh out of that.

• Sharing Pictures 
• What I love about pictures is that they're fun and vibrant and add some snazz to the blog. They contrast the simple layout too. Haha :) They also normally come with a story and some quotes. Anyways, here's an example:

This picture was drawn by Agnes in tech this morning when we were talking about lighting and costumes. It was interesting to find out that when you put a green light on a magenta dress, it will turn black. Interesting huh? Well, this picture is Abby! Haha, Agnes said, "I'm not good at drawing pelvic thrusts!" This is Abby "being the diva she is". I don't know. I guess you might not think it funny unless you were there, but let me tell you, if you were there, it was hilarious!

• Sharing Inspiration
• I'm not quite sure I have a current example of this one, but I love sharing all kinds of stories (obviously), but some of my favorite are those that have the capability of having a more personal connection to others. I shared this scripture on Facebook the other day:

‎2 Nephi 10:23 - "Therefore, cheer up your hearts and remember that ye are free to act for yourselves -- to choose the way of everlasting death or the way of eternal life."

I read that a few nights ago, and it's stuck with me ever since. I'm glad I have it posted everywhere because I've had a really rough day. I can act however I want and I can choose to be whatever, so why wouldn't I choose to be happy? Why should I let others get in the way of my happiness. Next time I'm going to shove them over and walk on past (metaphorically of course). I shared it on Facebook and then my good friend, Kiara Pratt, posted this as her status (which made me really happy):

"So I have been having a challenging couple of weeks with school and all and it's not fun when you're grades down but I read this [scripture] on my dear friend Savanna Skinner's page...Thank you for helping me remember to stay positive my friend! You are amazing!"

Kiara, thanks for letting me be inspiring. It helped me a lot to boost your mood, even for just one day. I love you and thank you for your kind words.

• To VENT
• Sometimes these aren't as enjoyable for me to read, but I know that some people don't mind reading them, so every once in a while I'll share a personal upset feeling or two. But due to my need to remain positive, I don't feel it appropriate to talk about negative things right now. I'm trying to stay positive.

• To Procrastinate and/or Cure Boredom
• Let's be honest, of course there's something better I could be doing with my time (e.g. sleeping). HA, of course, but am I? Nope. In fact, I'm slowing dwindling to unconscienceness as I'm typing and slowly convincing myself that I'm too lazy to go and jump in the shower right now. Well, I had better go and take care of that so that I can go to sleep.

What are some of the reasons you blog? 

Been Feeling Crafty

I was feeling crafty tonight.
I'm pretty freaking proud of myself.
Just so you know :)

Just in case you aren't aware of what's going on, this is a picture frame with some cute scrapbook paper in it. Then you just take some dry-erase markers and have at it. I decided to make it a to-do list! Let me know what you think!

Displaying Photos: Here's Some Ideas

I love it when I find new ways to display photos. It's creative, exciting and SOOO EASY! I absolutely love pinterest just for the spark of ideas. :)

I love pinterest. It sparks so many lovely and creative ideas :) I think I will be going and purchasing some clothes pins in bulk now, just so I have them for the future. :) 

Just in case you didn't know...

I LOVE photography.

I love photographing people:

• Families

• Couples e.g. engagements, married people, friends (even though I haven't had the opportunity yet, I'm sure I will)

• Seniors (or any individual for that matter)

• Children (harder, yet doable)

• Brides

• Dance Groups (date dances, dancing groups, singing groups, groups, I love working with a large amount of people)

To be perfectly honest, it's just flat out the best time of my life.

I've even started considering University of Utah.

If I read correctly (and I'm not being fed false information),

then they offer a Masters Degree in Photography.

Which is EXACTLY what I want.

Now don't start hating me if you're a die-hard BYU fan.

The Y is in my options too.

Just need to do a bit more researching.

It's only a matter of time when I'll have to finally decide where I'm going to go to school for the next 4-6 years. No big deal or anything.

I love what I do and I love capturing moments,

faces,

life.

It's kind of like capturing life as you know it and then watching yourself change by comparing yourself to that moment.

I don't know about you, but either way, it fascinates me.

Anyways, if you need your pictures taken, let's have a photo shoot. :)

Crazy: Any Ideas?

Sometimes, this is how I feel (refer to picture below). 



Photo taken by: Cecile Thomas

And to be perfectly honest, it's not ideal. Have you ever felt like ripping your hair out, screaming at the world and telling them to just get the heck away from you and you might not say it so nicely. Sometimes I feel like that, so I find ways to cope with it (obviously) and be happy no matter what. I've learned (or shall I say relearned) that you are the only one that make yourself happy. Not God, not your friends, not anything or anyone but yourself. So the key, I've decided, is to make time in your crazy high school life to do things that you enjoy doing. It's a lot easier than you might think. First do a self-assessment: Are you comfortable with your life right now? Are you currently trying to work through a trial or problem with either yourself or a friend, or even an acquaintance that you may not be too fond of?

Well, to be perfectly honest there are only certain things that you can do to help yourself sometimes. And one of my calm yourself and just chill out tactics is editing photos. Being creative somehow stimulates my mind into feeling better. Sometimes I need ideas to get my thought process going though. So any ideas to add to my going insane picture? I'll be doing stuff with it in my photo class (which is totally ridiculous by the way) but I wanted to know if anyone had any clever ideas to do with this. I've got a few, but who knows what I'll come up with. Especially since I am able to let my train of thoughts wander else where. What's your I refuse to go insane tactic? How do you keep from going crazy from all the stress of every day life?

Please. Enlighten me.