Ok, I'll admit it, I read Seriously, So Blessed! But can you really blame me?  It's hilarious...Anyway...She's doing a drawing for these adorable camera bags from Jo Totes and I want one!  This way I can carry around my camera stuff and my school stuff all at once...good plan right?

I Love My Pinhole Camera Part 2

Step One: Cover all your windows with black paper.  Make sure no light gets in!

Step Two:  Cut a small hole (Trace a nickle or something to make it round) Out of the black paper

Step Three: Turn off all the lights and enjoy watching the world around you, right on your living room walls!

The images are reversed and upside down...but it's still way cool.  It even looks 3D!

We had fun watching our neighbors walk around in the parking lot!

Ben, taking a nap under the trailer park.

Ben and I spent part of the afternoon "car" watching on our ceiling.

This was not projected on our walls...this is Julia.  My sister.  I took her picture with my new lens!  Beautiful? Yes.

I Love My Pinhole Camera

Here are the images with my pinhole camera.  I love how unpredictable they are :)

I built my first pinhole camera this past week and I think I have fallen in love all over again.  First of all, it's made out of an Ovaltine can...my favorite food ever.  Second, I missed being in the darkroom.  I spent about four hours in there on Saturday and I loved every minute.  It almost broke my heart when I had to leave.  I loved experimenting with different exposure times and finally discovering what worked.  Figuring out how to get the images focused was a problem at first, but in the end, the images are beautiful.  They are black and white of course, but who knew you could get such distinct values out of a little hole poked in the the bottom of a can.  I'm seriously considering doing this for my BFA...we'll see :)  Anyway, I have to scan the images later this week for a presentation...so you will see them soon.  Excited?

Having Julia up here with me at school has been one of the best things ever!  We had a Sister's Saturday this weekend and it was a blast.  We hung out, cut eachother's hair, had a photoshoot, and went to a play.  Here are some of Julia's pictures I took.  I had her dress up in a dance outfit and took her over to the auditorium.  She was so fun to photograph.

p.s...I hope these pictures look ok on here...they look great on Ben's computer but they look terrible on mine.

Sneek Peek

Here is a sneak peek at the book we have been working on this semester for our Documentary Photography class. The photos are organized chronologically starting with the earliest time of day to the latest.

Pretty much what I have come to realize from this project is that food controls our lives. We make money so that we can feed ourselves, we celebrate by eating food, we blame our problems on things that we eat. Even when we are trying to control our food intake, we still plan meals based on the rules that are set for us. How has food become such a significant part of our lives? Is it because it is so readily available? Is it because it's "fun"? How much food are we wasting by eating because we are bored? Do we take food for granted?

These are just a few of the many questions that have come up while doing this project. It's been a really great experience...but I'll be glad when my whole life doesn't revolve around watching people eat :)

Love,
Rachel Betts