When Nature Does Stuff and You're Happy You Brought A Camera

Don't Fret The Future Worrisome Wendy

 Recently I was going through my room and found one of my first "real" cameras (It's and old silver Kodak with a busted screen.) There was a little 64mb SD card in it. Curious, I went ahead and put it in my laptop. I expected some old pictures of my dog Othello from when he was just a puppy or some pictures from high school.
That was  exactly what I found, but I found more than that. I found memories and moments from so long ago, some of the greatest of my life, and I had forgotten they'd ever happened. I realized I'm so worried about the  future that I forget about my past and what "fun" was to me at 16. I'm so preoccupied with what I'm going to do tomorrow I forget what I'm going to to now.
The first picture I saw was of me making the" I love you" sign to the camera.

It's from 2010 (that feels like centuries ago.)  and I don't even remember takingit or where I was. (Probably in school goofing off during lunch)
There were more of my friends and my dog

And one of me that struck me more than it probably should have. (Brace yourselves)

It was a silly picture (obviously) of myself that I had taken in my bathroom. (I was going through a wierd makeup phase. Don't judge.) But I was so carefree. I was totally fine with posting it to myspace (I know what you're thinking. Mywhat?) But it made me realize that I don't do that anymore. I don't look into camera's totally uncaring of what I look like or how my face is or if I'm wearing makeup. Nowadays I look at camera's and cringe because I'm so unprepared for them. So worried about myself that I forget to smile. I worry too much in general really.

Seeing these pictures made me realize that I'm becoming boring, and crawling into a shell that frets the future. I want to do my best to revert back to the girl in that picture with the lessons I've learned over the past two years. I want to be someone who knows when to worry, not one who worries all the time. 

Life is too long to not be cautious but life is much too short to focus on our faces.

Lighting Photography: Discovering New Settings

So on the way to pick my mom up from the airport, I decided to mess around with my camera and see if I could get some cool looking pictures of traffic lights. I was hoping to figure out how to take a proper "bokeh" image of the city lights at night.
("In photography, bokeh  is the blur or the aesthetic quality of the blur in out-of-focus areas of an image. Bokeh has been defined as "the way the lens renders out-of-focus points of light". However, differences in lens aberrations and aperture shape cause some lens designs to blur the image in a way that is pleasing to the eye, while others produce blurring that is unpleasant or distracting—"good" and "bad" bokeh, respectively. Bokeh occurs for parts of the scene that lie outside the depth of field. Photographers sometimes deliberately use a shallow focus technique to create images with prominent out-of-focus regions.

Bokeh is often most visible around small background highlights, such as specular reflections and light sources, which is why it is often associated with such areas. However, bokeh is not limited to highlights; blur occurs in all out-of-focus regions of the image.)

Those were the only two decent ones I could get. Next I messed around with the settings, testing out filters and what-not. I finally found a preset called Firework. The firework setting was supposed to be for exactly what it sounds like its for. It takes continual images in order to catch the light display in it's full glory. This setting was obviously meant for steady hands or a tripod. (I have neither.) But the result was something more amazing than the Bokeh i was after.

How Music Effects Video: A Personal Observation

The weekend before last, my mother and I took a trip up to Indiana to visit the Hill-Rom hospital bed factory. On the way there I decided to put my new camera to use and film the airplane taking off. It was something I've always wanted to do but never had the courage. Not with the flight attendants checking the aisles to make sure all electronics were indeed off. (I'm such a rebel, I know.) I was listening to Ephixa's "Lost Woods Dubstep Remix" and managed to time it just so, so that when the bass dropped, the plane lifted. I did my best to recreate this scenario in video form. Please enjoy. (Even if you're not one for dubstep, it's cool to see how the feeling and mood of the music changes the way the film effects you.)

The Human Centipede(First Sequence)

        Allright. I will admit. I should have listened to my mom on this one. I didn't however, and now I write to you from the viewpoint of a mentally scarred young woman. I decided to watch "The Human Centipede (First Sequence)" with my friend Megan (I highly suggest watching this with a friend so you can both squeal like idiots and hide under a blanket until the "Needle Scene" is over). The Human Centipede is a horror film written and directed by Tom Six. The part of the main character, Dr. Heiter, is played by German actor Deiter Laser (Who in my opinion looks like a mix of Christopher Walken, Madeline Albright and Jason Statham in all the odd ways.) The two young women he captures are played by Ashley C. Williams, as  Lindsay, and Ashlyn Yennie, as Jenny. His third victim, Katsuro, is played by Akihiro Katamura.

       In this film, two girls, American tourists Lindsay and Jenny, get lost on their way to a night club.Their rental car breaks down in the middle of the forest in Germany (Which brings me to my main point. If you are in a foreign land where you don't speak the language, GET AN EFFING CAB OKAY. Don't rent a car. Please. Just don't.). After first encountering a disgusting old man who offers them a ride to his home because he's sure he saw them in a porno together and after they stop all attempts at communication and roll the windows up as fast as possible causing the man to give up and leave, they decide to hoof it, abandoning their lemon of a car to try their luck at finding help in the dark foggy forest. They make it to Dr. Heiter's home, asking him for help. He lets them in and gets them a glass of water (with a hint of Rohypnol...for zest.) Needless to say when they wake up the next morning strapped to hospital beds in the good Doctor's basement they know that they may have picked the wrong place to vacation. The rest of the movie is chock full of horror and gore and emotional trauma as Dr. Heiter strives to reach his goal to become "God" and sew three people together, arse to mouth to create what he calls the Human Centipede. Lovely.

        The best character portrayed by an actor in the movie was Katsuro. Although he spoke in Japanese for the entirety of the film, what he was saying could have been understood, by a person who does not speak the language,without subtitles. His actions and vocalizations portrayed his anger and panic to a tee. His female co-stars however, over-acted at times. (In a way so annoying I was almost glad when they were sewn together so they could shut up.) Their argumentative conversation didn't flow quite as well in the beginning. However, towards the end and once they had been sewn together, their body language portrayed their emotions better than their speaking parts did. Dieter Laser was perfection all the way through. One was almost convinced that he is Dr. Heiter.

 The music was that of many horror movies, suspenseful and creepy. It highlighted the moments of true panic in the film, like early on when Lindsay is running from Dr. Heiter just after she has been captured. One is given brief hope that she will escape and find help. But obviously not. The camera work was well done. There weren't many close up shots, only on the more...gruesome moments. The dark lighting and blue tint of the movie gives one the feeling of sadness, and foreboding. It lets you know that these young adults are about to meet their fate at the hands of an insane man.

      For anyone squeamish or easily scared, why on earth would you even consider watching this film? Go! Run away!!  For anyone looking for a great gross out scare I highly suggest this film. It's all about the shock value  and gore. If you are looking for a horror film with great acting and in depth plot, might I suggest ANYTHING ELSE. This movie is also a great substitute for ipecac!