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

Five Books

My friend Melissa wrote a blog about five of her favorite books, and it got me thinking about all the books I love.  Sooo, I thought I would share :)

1.  Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
The Best Book Ever.  Seriously.  Scarlet O'Hara is such a jerk but for some reason, I relate to her a lot.  Ever since reading this book, I have found myself saying "I'll think about it tomorrow" a whole lot more.  Scarlet is such a strong character who secretly loves Rhett Butler but is to prideful to say it.  Rhett Butler is another strong character who secretly loves Scarlett but is to prideful to say it.  Even when they are married they cannot admit their love for eachother.  It drives me crazy so much that I just can't stop talking about it sometimes.  Just ask my husband, I can relate anything back to this O'Hara/Butler relationship.

2.  To Destroy You Is No Loss - JoAn D. Criddle
The next best book ever.  Seriously.  But it will make you cry, and cringe, and be so grateful for this country we live in.  It follows the true escape of a upper-class family from communist Cambodia.  They do everything to keep themselves safe including playing dumb and swallowing jewels.  I have read this book over and over and it never gets boring!

3.  Watership Down - Richard Adams
I'll admit, I haven't read this book in years, but it was my favorite book all through high school.  I loved reading it when I needed a good cry because it is really emotional.  It's about rabbits...yup, rabbits...who find out that everyone in their little rabbit home is going to get killed if they don't leave right away!  Their adventure to find a new home is really suspensful actually.  There is superstition and plotting.  It might seem a little childish, but it's not at all.

4.  Poisonwood Bible - Barbara Kingsolver
Such a good book.  I read it twice in a row when I had foot surgery.  It's about a radical baptist minister who drags his family into the heart of Africa to convert the Africans to christianity.  The story is narrated by his four daughters and occasionally his wife.

5.  Dancing Skeletons: Life and Death in West Africa - Katherine Dettwyler
This is actually a documentary about Dettwyler herself.  She is an anthropologist working in Mali, Africa studying malnutrition in children and mothers.  The book explains her studies and interesting things that she discovers about people's eating habits and traditions.  This book has made me realize how grateful I am to live in a country where we have basic sanitary options, a variety of nutritional foods, and vaccinations against deadly diseases.  Mothers in Africa are used to losing many children to Malaria, malnutrition, polio, and so many other diseases that we consider to be extremely rare.  This book has opened my eyes, but beware, some parts can be pretty graphic when describing cultural traditions or symptoms of disease.

So there you have it...my five books.  Enjoy :)

Ummm, I just feel like posting something to avoid homework. This week has gone by so fast. Which is absolutly fine with me. I cannot wait for the three day weekend. I need this time to relax and rejuvinate myself. These past few weeks have been really hard. I've been dizzy almost everyday. I don't know how I lived before Ben. I remember days last semester when I would walk myself home while I was dizzy and would just pray that I wouldn't slip or accidently walk into the street. Ben is my hero. He takes me home, sets up the tv next to the bed, and tucks me in so that I'm nice and cozy. He brings me his laptop and glasses of water. I am so grateful for him.

While in the temple today, I read this scripture:

2 Nephi 2:2 "...thou knowest the greatness of God; and he shall consecrate thine afflictions for thy gain."

I know that the Lord has given me my trials for a reason and that somehow, they are actually a blessing. They have been consecrated for my gain. So, instead of being angry and dissapointed in myself when I get sick, I have decided to spend my time counting my blessings and thanking God for the strengths I have been given through this trial. I think that's a much more productive way to spend my time :)

<3 Rachel Betts p.s. Stevie Wonder is amazing!

Documentary Photography!

11:00am - Breakfast - Strawberries and Tea

This semester I am working on a documentary project for my wonderful documentary class! We will be working on our projects all semester and then publishing a book of our work. I love the class, but I never realized how hard it was to work on a documentary. I have kinda been put in charge of my group's project. There is so much involved like scheduling appointments, making sure everyone is doing their part, getting people to agree to getting their picture taken, and designing the graphics for our book, and making sure everyone's pictures look unified but not too similar.
Our project is on eating habits. We are photographing what people eat, where they eat, and when they eat. Our book will be in the form of a timeline with all the images placed in chronological order...hopefully it turns out good!
So what kinds of wierd things have you been caught eating? Is there a certain place you just love to eat? What time do you usually eat breakfast? Lunch? Dinner? The other day, I found Ben eating dinner at 9:00pm. He was eating meatballs on a hot dog bun covered in cheddar cheese. Wierd.

Married Life...

Sooo, life in the past month has been really good. After our wonderfully full month of December, Ben and I headed back to our little home in Rexburg, ID. Getting here was a little scary with all the snow storms and ice that just happened to hit on the weekend we were travelling back. But that just made getting home that much better!

Mom and the boys visited us for a few days while they were dropping off Julia at school. It was so much fun! It was fun to finally have my family as visitors at my house instead of vice versa haha. I miss my little brothers! They should come up here more often...hint hint. Having Julia here at school is really great. We have so much fun watching movies, shopping, and writing thank-you-cards together. Plus she lives with my old roommates so Ben and I have a good excuse to go visit our old apartment complex a lot. I spied Jules walking with a boy on campus yesterday...that was really freaky.

Being married is the awesomest thing ever just FYI. If you are not married and reading this...I highly recomend it. It's so fun to just hang out with my best friend everyday. We have been playing a lot of games like Rumikub (Thanks Aunt Sarah!) and Nertz. Ben is getting really good at Nertz so watch out Jensen Family. He might just woop us all at the upcoming family reunion. Plus, since my social life lives with me, I get a lot more homework done haha.

Ever since getting married, I have been way more of a clean freak then ever before. Like, maybe it's just because now I'm living in my own home and half of the mess is mine, but I love to have a clean apartment. Cleaning isn't a chore or anything anymore, it's fun because I know that in the end, I will have a spottless kitchen or living room to hang out in. Yessss.

Anyway...that's all for now. Ben and I got a Flip for Christmas so maybe I should post some of those videos someday. adios.

6 Days...

I can't wait to start my happily ever after...