The 23rd Year

I turned 23 on the 21st.

This year, my birthday was so special.

The other art teacher told one of her classes (Art II, who were the Art I kids from last year; I had them during student teaching) and my current Art I kids that it was my birthday. The Art II kids decided to throw me a little surprise party complete with flowers, food, AND my supervising teacher from last year. It was such a treat to get to visit with her again. She had decided to leave teaching to try and make a living as a professional artist. All in all it is going well for her. Of course things could be better; with the economy sinking, some of her jobs were canceled or just postponed. Her and I have some similar philosophies on life, so it was wonderful to be able to share ideas and experiences again.

THEN, my Art Survey kids surprised me with a hand-made birthday hat and card.

All day long people were wishing me happy birthday. I felt so special.

The evening consisted of Yellowfin dinner (my favorite sushi place in town) and dessert at Strawberry Fields (a really awesome health foods grocery store).

The 22nd year was full of excitement with graduating college and starting my very first teaching job. I am sure that my 23rd year will be even more exciting with pursuing my art at a professional level and possibly teaching abroad :0!!

Things are rolling...

Finally...new business cards are in, images are here, frames are bought and being painted and I have meetings with three cafes/restaurants this week to possibly hang my work in.

I chose 23 images to print and hang; however, I might have to eliminate some. We'll see.

I'm going to try to sell my work. I really hope they sell!

ALSO, I'm working with a local interior designer to do some shooting for her spaces, one of them being a newly remolded bar.

Things are rolling...

Sometimes I'm tired...

Although at the end of every work day I'm exhausted, I always love heading to school the next day.

I don't think of going to school as work...for me it's so enjoyable. I love my students. Interacting with them is incredibly meaningful. I get "Hey Miss Metka!" in the hallway all the time and respect in the classroom.

I really believe that in order to be an effective teacher, you need to help the students feel like they aren't at school. Make learning fun, interesting...enticing.

Although much of my teaching strategies will change over the next couple years, I really believe the foundation is simple...Learn to captivate children.

Business Cards

I made a new business card. I really needed to update the previous one to fit my style. The card is white and a 2" x 2" square with information and images on the front and back. What do you think?

Hardcore living...

It's 8:11 pm right now and the temperature feels like -1 degrees. The wind is moving anywhere from 14 mph to 19 mph. It's definitely not warm. And about 4 1/2 hours ago it wasn't much better. None the less, I ventured out into the Champaign tundra to shoot the winter sunset. I absolutely favor winter sunsets over snow to summer sunsets. I think there's something about the cold, bright white scenery that magnifies the colors in the sky to be bigger and better than the summer heat can offer.

My expedition began by driving South on 57 to get near the wide open spaces the corn fields offer in the winter time. I spotted groups of small leave-less trees set in front of the horizon. I couldn't pass it up so I pulled over, put my hazards on, trekked down the steep ditch. I was wearing my thick, warm mid-calf Merrel boots; however, with each step I sunk well past the top of the boots. I was in my element shooting cat tails, tall grasses and skinny trees in front of the sunset. After about 10 minutes I looked back at my car only to see a white sedan with red and blue flashing lights. Immediately I'm worried because I couldn't remember if it's been a year since my first speeding ticket (I got a second one sometime in September so if I got a third within a year, I'd loose my license). Anyways, I ran up to the cop car and asked what the problem was. He said he thought the car was abandoned and asked me what I was doing. When I explained to him that I was shooting the sunset because I drove by and couldn't pass up it's beauty, he said that was fine and he understands that it's important. He let me go but told me it's illegal to park on the side of the interstate.

After that I left feeling a little uneasy because I don't usually meet empathetic cops; hence the two speeding tickets in one year. I exited at Curtis Road and traveled deeper into the country. The images I'm going to post were taken at this stop. I found patterns and wrinkles in the snow caused by the wind which were absolutely beautiful. I hope that are just as magnificent in a picture.

Moral of the story...my life motto: You ain't hardcore unless you LIVE hardcore.

Christmas Cards

Over the holidays, I took pictures for two families Christmas cards. One family was my aunt, uncle and two little cousins. They wanted to recreate a scene from the movie Elf...and it went so well. I absolutely loved setting up a scene and having a 'real' photo shoot.

Taking pictures of little ones is not an easy task. Sometimes they don't want to participate so you have to bribe them; other times you have to pause all shooting because one of them is puking.

This shoot was quite the experience but it really didn't take long to get the perfect shot.

With the other family, I just let the kids play and followed them around and took pictures. It was challenging because I couldn't choose the background and situations. So, my challenge for the next time I shoot kids in their home: I definitely need at least two hours, and I have to come up with some creative ways to frame shots and capture kids playing. Shallow depth of field is one...what's another?

Snow Days

I have thoroughly enjoyed my Thursday and Friday snow days. Went out shooting in the snow.

BMR Photography Aesthetic

Working on an aesthetic and initial advertising images for BMR Photography. What do you think? This particular shoot may be a little too 'high fashion' but what I love about this is that it represents who I am. I would like my photo business to be a reflection of my style, however, I think it's important to capture my clients style when shooting him/her/them/whoever. But then again, people pick a photographer based off the photographers 'look'. I'm a firm believer in developing an aesthetic right off the bat. Although it may change...you still need something that is YOU.

One of my Favorites

Photo taken in New York City summer of 2009.

You can also see this photo published in the University of Illinois' Literary and Arts Journal called Montage.

A New Endeavor

Hi & Welcome.

It's common for me to begin projects, pause for a while, come back to it, pause again and never come back. For me, this blog is yet another project. It is one that, in my mind, will last but then again, who knows because all of my projects begin that way.

I was never interested in keeping a blog. With so many out there, why would anyone read mine? Do I even have anything to say that is worthy of other people's time and energy? So, why am I doing this? I am doing it to challenge myself. I am also doing it to promote myself. A self-serving blog. Why not? Although, if anyone does end up reading this, I hope that this blog could be influential for you. I was born to teach. So, I hope that others can learn from the experiences I record in this blog. I plan on including many things in this blog from photography to other art work, teaching materials and stories, travels and life happenings.

Anyways. Happy 2010. Enjoy.