Contact

Presenting the lovely Ms. Cara in Uncut and Unedited

I was rummaging around in my photos and decided to make a digital contact sheet of this shoot I took of my good friend Cara. It is very raw and shows every flaw of the negatives but still beautiful put together. I love looking at raw images that show flaws before the edit. Every time I look at this shoot I shot I can't help but laugh. It was so funny!

Untitled.

........Maybe I should get back into my own water. aka. Birmingham.

It's a hard knock life.....

I'm sure for everyone starting out in life on your own is never easy.

I have found myself feeling like a drowning victim, cast out into the sea to sinking down to the bottom scrounging the floor for whatever I can get. Yes, it could be worse. There are people out there that have it a lot worse and I am definitely thankful for what I do have, yet it doesn't keep me from feeling that knot in my stomach every time I don't know how I'm going to make ends meet every month, every week, or even everyday.

There has been so much internal emotion bottled up in myself from things not turning out how I thought they would or things changing from keeping me feeling secure in that everything is going to be okay. When in all reality sometimes things aren't okay. Sometimes our lives take different turns in which we are forced to adapt to. This is when I have to realize that my life will never be as how I plan it to be. Is there anyone out there that has even planned out their life and it turn out to be exactly what we want it to be?

Over the past few months my life has had multiple twists and turns, hurts, growths, ruts, achievements, disappointments, deaths, and weddings. Coming to Charleston I was set to conquer the city and the adventure of life by achieving a job that pays well with the ability to tag an internship on the side. Achieving the internship was the easy part, job? not so much. I went walking down the streets of king street and all other main downtown streets walking in every store possible asking if they were hiring. no, no, no no no. "we are always accepting applications." people looking me up and down. "do you have any experience?"(in what ever area applying for). blah blah blah..... you get the point. to make this long story short the internship is not anything what I expected and my hopes quickly deflated about it after finding out how much it was not going to help me out in where I want to go in my career. With that being said, the job I finally ended up with couldn't make ends meet and left me with searching for a third job.

While all of this is going on my brother with whom I am staying with decides to put his house on the market as he leaves for an entire month to Hong Kong leaving us to deal with people coming over to look at the house. *side note: we didn't actually deal with the people but rather the fact that we had to worry about keeping the house spotless not knowing if people were going to come that day or not.

For awhile, I was mad that he put the house up for sale feeling it was just a whim kind of thing and not thought through (Which it wasn't, but it's turning out to be a decision he is happy with) and also for the fact that I have no idea where I would go live knowing that I am already not making enough to pay my own brother rent. Through all of this I have been hoping (selfishly hoping) that no one would be interested in the house. Well, that's not the case. He took the offer and we are looking for places to live that are affordable.

This past Thursday I have been blessed with another job at a fine dining steakhouse hostessing during some evenings. I am thankful beyond belief for this job knowing that I will be able to work at the running shop during the day and there during the evenings, yet somewhere in between I'm going to try to fit 20 hours of internship. I may end up having to quit the internship seeing how it is unpaid.

During all this I'm also trying to work on my own art to enter into a show so that I may sell it and get my name out there.

Today I had a talk with my brother and we were talking about how much rent would be if we lived in certain places which would end up being double what I am paying now. I don't know how I am going to do it, but I am trying to trust God in his plan for me even though I have my doubts like always.

The point of me explaining all of this is not to make you feel sorry for me. That is the last thing I need right now. I will be fine, my God is in control and will protect me. But it is to let you know in advance if you ever plan on having children, make sure you save money for them for when they are out on their own trying to make it in this big world. Show them the ropes before they are set out to make it on their own. Don't make them feel guilty for asking for money when it is your job to take care of them until they are on their feet.

It is also to let people know that life isn't easy and never what you plan it to be. We aren't in control of every plan in our life. Sometimes things don't go our way, and when they don't we are reminded of who is ultimately in control. We can't deny that. And through those times of in securities He is our backbone that makes us stand tall and strong.

So this is my prayer... May you not give me a life that is easy to walk through but rather give me a stronger backbone to carry me through the toughness in life so that I may grow closer to You my Lord! Amen

Leaves or Feathers....

Sneak Peek

I have a new project that I am working on in which I will not say the details until I know it's something that will happen and well on it's way of becoming something. But here is somewhat of a preview of what I am doing with my life right now.

Etsy

I found this website that sells Art. It's called Etsy. If you click on the buy section you can search throughout all the art that they sell. It's a great place for beginning artist to get their stuff out there to be seen. All of the art is at a reasonable price because nobody is that well known. It's high quality/very well made and the pictures below were selling for @ $15 for a print in which some are one print only. There are other types of art too besides photographs. They have collages, mixed media, drawings, paintings and ect.

To me it seems hard to find a picture that accurately displays the beauty of clouds and think that this is a pretty good picture of one. This person took the picture and developed the picture in a darkroom, which is rare for a color photo to be hand developed.

I saw this picture and loved it. Of course it's a cliche "vintage" picture and this style has been over done, but I really like it. I remember loving to go on the swings at the park and that butterfly feeling in my stomach it would give me. The dangling legs crack me up.

Love the stark contrast between the whites and blacks. I miss playing hop-scotch. There would be periods of time that me and my sisters would have hop-scotch marathons and then we would get sick of it. Then a few days later we would pick it back up again... haha.

I thought this was a cute picture. This is one strong kid if you really think about it. Look at all those fish compared to her size.

Pretty kitty!

The Mann

Night-blooming Cereus, 1988

Sally Mann

Love, Love, Love her work.....

BANKSY

This here is BANKSY. Talk amongst yourselves.....

http://www.banksy.co.uk/shop/index.html

Life as I know it

Realizing I haven't posted in awhile (and not really caring) and knowing I have to stay here at the house until my new mattress gets here (EXCITING!!) I figured I would let you all (all you billions of people that read this) know what all has happened since..... July 2nd? yes.

Well, I worked at a Christian camp called Pine Cove. Best summer ever. Yet hardest summer ever. I was one of the Health Assistants (are you supposed to capitalize job titles??) and it was a great job. Don't ask me how I got that job seeing how I'm not in anything medical, except the fact that I really enjoy eating healthy. There is so much that I learned there and just grew as a person spiritually that it is too much and too personal to put in a blog. The main thing I learned there was how important community is and who God puts in your life to benefit how you grow spiritually. We need to seek out people who help us grow as Christians and don't make us stumble. Although, sometimes it is we ourselves that make us stumble and that is why it is so important to have that community to help keep us on track.

Side note: I don't think it is wrong or bad to hangout with people who are not Christians or don't believe the same things as you do. In fact we are called to minister to those who don't know Him and to love people for who they are. Although, if that person is keeping you from knowing the God who created you and is actually making you go backwards in your walk with Him, THAT is when we as Christians need to check and delete who we hangout with.

Other things in the life of....

I live in Charleston now!! I have no money and I'm looking for a job. :)

After camp which was the 16th of August (Sunday) I came back "home" (Alabaster) stayed a night and then went down to visit my mom in Fairhope. She was a school teaching most of the day everyday so I went to the beach a couple of days by myself (good relax time) and also looked for a bed to order on the internet (which is sitting here now beautifully waiting on it's mattress as I type). Then that Friday drove to Tuscaloosa to visit friends and go to a wedding that Saturday. The wedding was beautiful and I met a handsome man that was easy to carry on a convo with. 

                This is me with the beautiful Mrs. John Randall. Congrats Meagan and John!

Then that Sunday I drove back to Alabaster where all my belongings were and sifted through my stuff to see what all I wanted to take with me or leave. Just the bare essentials ya know? All I took was what could fit in my car. Nothing else. Let's just say I couldn't see out on the sides of my car and changing lanes was a difficult process during a 7 hour drive. It was probably illegal how packed my car was, but oh well I arrived safe! Monday is when I drove to Charleston, SC. and I've been here a little over a week. I'm now in the process of finding a job and looking for apprenticeships, getting my driver's license and car tag all squared away. That has been a PAIN!! 

Now I'm sitting here waiting on my mattress to get here which is supposed to be here between 10am and 2pm. Then I'm going to walk the streets of downtown going into more places to apply for jobs. I'm also living off of Naked protein and juice drinks for the time being.

THIS is Life.

Knowin God.

I think that people who say they don't know much about God know more about Him than people who say they really know who God is.

Jacob Escobedo

This is the artwork of Jacob Escobedo. He has some amazing drawings that you can look at and even buy prints on this website that I have found called 20x200.com

Check it out! It's got some great stuff...and some eh stuff. Jacob Escobedo's work was some of my favorite that I saw. His home website is hunteddown.com

If your interested here is some of his bio that I copy and pasted from 20x200's website.

Jacob Escobedo grew up in Pioche, Nevada, a small desert town three hours North of Las Vegas, surrounded by his father's horded collections of oddities, old medical books, and encyclopedias. His childhood provided an amazing backdrop for creative experiments and interest in the outdoors.

His work, which combines organic elements with the psychedelic, recalls the complexity of Nineteenth Century etchings. He has shown in galleries in Atlanta, Las Vegas, and Shanghai. Jacob is the Creative Director for the Cartoon Network's adult-block of programming, Adult Swim. He has won numerous awards for his commercial design, including One Show and Communication Arts. Currently, he lives in Atlanta, GA with his wife of ten years, their three girls, two dogs and one mouse.

art fart.

So, I ran into this website that designs a bunch of stuff from CD covers to apparel. I felt inspired to attempt to make a CD cover from scratch. Here it is. 

I'm at that point where I really need to start building up a portfolio of my work and what I'm strong in. I just don't know what direction I want to go in. I don't know if I want to do more design type stuff or stick with photography, not that I can't do both. I just need to have a strong area of focus. I really need to start back again getting on Photoshop and InDesign to build up my portfolio. 

on other news....aahh!! I'm moving in two months how exciting!

Freez er Burn

I was just wondering....

which would be the worst way to go??

Burning to death? or... Freezing to death?

random. I know. but just wondering.

See, you die either way but which would be worse? I think possibly burning to death would be the better choice. maybe. When people burn to death it is much faster and you inhale the smoke before your whole body is burnt right? well, if you freeze to death it takes waaaaay longer and being cold is just painful, not that being burned to death isn't painful. I just really HATE being cold, so I think I'm gonna go with freezing to death would be worse.

Quote.

So, I am a huge Woody Allen fan. I think this guy is hilarious. I laugh just looking at him because I can alway picture him with those old man glasses fidgeting around going on and on on some rant. The man is a comedic genius. Anyways, I was watching this movie he did in the 70's called "Sleepers" in which I recommend. It's about this guy who goes in the hospital for some medical condition and they end up freezing him for 200 years before he is awaken again. It is hilarious. I heard this story he was telling Diane Keaton's character that I thought was funny and would share it with you all.

"I asked my mother where do babies come from. Well, she thought I said rabies and said they come from dog bites. The next week one of our neighbors had triplets and I thought she must have got bitten by a great dane."

-Woody Allen in Sleepers

Weekend Get Away

So this weekend I went on a beach trip to Perdido Key, FL. with some friends of mine who had a friend who graciously let us stay in their beach house. It was so relaxing and just what I needed. 

On Sunday some of the girls left early because they were there a couple of day earlier than us and where burnt so then they decided to leave earlier that day. So then it was just me and my two friends Julie and Ashley. We laid out on the beach to catch a few more sun rays before leaving later in the day. 

Well, we were laying there relaxing on the beach listening to the sea breeze and the crashing of the waves on the shore when I hear this girl yelling to one of her friends about some floats that these people let them borrow if they wanted to use them. This girl was so loud and it didn't make me mad or anything but gosh she was loud and seemed super enthusiastic about life, that's for sure. I watch this girl for a bit not knowing who she is and lay back down to talk to Ashley and Julie and say something to them like "Man! could you be any louder! She sure seems to be excited to be at the beach! Geez!" (wow, I sound so snobby) then I think I hear my name in casual conversation from a distance. Then I hear someone yelling my name out "Rachel!" I don't reply because I'm sure there is just another Rachel out there..... then "Rachel Justiss!" I lift my head up to recheck my ears and "Rachel Justiss!"  what?? what in the?? who in the?? who is calling my name?! It was the girl that I was just talking about that I thought was being extremely loud in public and suddenly recognized who it was!! 

Aahh haha, this would happen to me right after I make a derogatory comment on someone. It was my really good friend Ruth! I love this girl so much! She is such a dear friend of mine! I went to church and grew up with her. When I finally realize who it was I got up and ran over to her to give her a big hug knowing that Julie and Ashley were snickering behind me because of the comment I had just made and then it being a friend of mine. It was soooo weird! I hadn't seen her since Feb. when we went to Gatlinberg with a bunch of friends. It was so great seeing her and such a pleasant surprise. I am such a dufus!

Later while laying out again there were some sea gulls that started to swarm around the area and flying close to the ground and I remember Ashley saying "Those birds sure are flying close." and then I feel something plop right on my head splattering on my arm. Bird Poop. That's right. One of them pooped on me. I couldn't believe it! That was the first time I think I have ever been pooped on by a bird. I laughed of course and went in the ocean to wash it off. Julie of course was texting everybody I knew well that I got pooped on and my room mate Leigh wrote back "she probably deserved it." hahaha! And now that I think about it... I totally deserved it!

This is me and my friend Ruth! :)

Week 2 Orientation

By orientation week I think I got into the groove of Pine Cove and a bit more comfortable with where I was going to be working in July and August. The first two days of orientation were in conference form. All the camp's employees were gathered into this big auditorium. It looked like somewhere where you would go to see a play or something. 

To get you an idea of how many employees (all college students from all over the U.S.) Pine Cove has, there are about 1100 people in all who work at these camps. Yeah.

Anyways, it took basically two days to explain all the rules and what the camp is all about. The thing I loved most about these two days is that the guy (Opie-his real name is Kevin, his camp name is Opie) would have a story for every rule they had and explain why they have that rule. I think if I didn't have an explanation of all the different rules I would have come out of this orientation feeling a bit unexcited, because some of these employee rules sound a bit ridiculous and stupid until you hear the reasons behind them and understand where they are coming from. It was also great to see people from the other camps and people that I knew that were working from UA at different the different camps.

After the two big gathering days we all went to our separate camps to learn our different specific jobs. I work at the Ranch camp which is the 6th and 7th grade camp. I will be a health assistant which helps out the 24 hour nurse at the Ranch. Each camp has a nurse and then there is a doctors office at the Woods camp in which appointments can be made for campers and workers that need one. Yeah, this camp is so big it needs it's own doctors office and onsite nurses. So, I will be setting up appointments for kids and employees when needed, calling the nurse when situations arise, helping kids with broken bones, sick kids, kids that are home sick, and dispersing medication during meal times and bed times. I have no idea how I got this job but am excited that I am able to have it and be used in what ever way God will use me and also show himself to me during this time.

Week 1 trailblazing/training

Wow. 

A lot has gone one in the last few weeks of my life. I've been away for two weeks doing lifeguard training and then orientation for a Christian camp called Pine Cove that I will be working at in Tyler, TX. The first week I was there I felt so overwhelmed with all the new people that I had never met before learning camp cheers, other crazy camp things, and re-learning lifeguarding techniques, which brought to my attention how old I am getting. 

The last time I lifeguarded was my last summer in high school and it was my third year to do it, which is also the last year my certification was good for. Three years of high school and four years of college = SEVEN YEARS?!! since I was first certified. Most of the people in this class were 19ish and here I am almost 23 saying "yeah, the last time I got certified in this stuff was 7 years ago" I stopped myself in shock of how long ago that sounded to me and how much older it made me feel compared to these new LG students. 

With that said I think I have met some of the coolest people yet in those past two weeks and highly look forward to working and spending time with each and everyone of them July-August. It was also interesting on getting re-certified by two of the wives of two of the Pine Cove directors. Both are wives and both are mothers of three. Not interesting as in "oh, their moms so they'll be easy on us" more of interesting as in they taught from the view point of parents so they will emphasize more on the importance of child safety and situations that we will come into contact with. The camps of Pine Cove are overnight weekly camps that kids go to and also family camps. So we deal with parents with their kids and kids that don't have parents to watch them. I don't know if I am explaining this well or not but basically I'm just trying to say it was good to get their view point as parents because I feel as though they were able to teach the course better than someone that was just trained in this stuff and hadn't experience the feelings or emotions as a parent that have been in those situations.

It's sort or like an educated doctor with no family teaching students how to be a pediatrician compared to an educated doctor that is a parent teaching students how to be pediatricians. Get my drift?

Anyways, I really enjoyed being in such an encouraging environment with such caring and meaningful Christ centered women. They are so great and I love them dearly. 

At the beginning of the first week I was NOT feeling the environment and how happy everyone seemed all the time. That sounds so stupid now but it was definitely how I was feeling at the time. I would think to myself "If I have to smile or fake laugh one more time I am going to smack someone and tell them that not everything about life is so happy happy joy joy!" this was probably mainly due to the fact that I didn't know anyone very well and there for didn't feel like I was in my place yet. I always seem to do that when there are several hundred people I don't know and no one I do know (which I can only imagine is normal anyways) and then later find myself to open up after I've gone through the basic start up convo. 

I don't know how many times I heard someone say "oh! you go to _(name of school)_? do you know_(insert name)_?" "oh yeah I do! okay yeah! huh, that is so cool! that's so funny! so how do you know them?" I don't blame them. It's only natural, and I also acted in these conversations. I just find it interesting the process of start up conversations and in how people try to relate themselves to each other. It fascinates me actually and I also find it hysterical.

There is so much that I want to say that happened in the last two weeks but this post would end up way too long and my attention span is not long enough to write it all at once. So, I'll have to write more on it at a later time.

I do want to say however, that I have grown so much closer to Christ being in such a Christ centered community for just two weeks than I feel like I have in a long time and it just shows how important the type of people we surround ourselves with to keep our lives focused on God. I hope to give off that same feeling when someone spends time with me. That they will become more Christ like by God using me as an environment that they can surround themselves in to come closer to him.

Dave Kinsey

So I do a lot of looking around with different artists seeing what all there is out there and just get on the internet and search around. I look at artists I've already seen and look at their links page which then leads me to other artists. 

Well, I've recently befriended an artist on facebook that came in to talk to our class at the beginning of the semester about his own art. His name is Fahamu Pecou and deals with issues that are going on in today's african american culture and the obsession with celebrities and fame and how they influence today's people and today's black man. He has some great work going and you can go to his website Fahamu Pecou. It's pretty funny how he became well known which intertwines with his work. He basically got frustrated with art galleries not noticing or even looking at his work and finally just started posting stickers everywhere around town saying "Fahamu Pecou is the SHIT!" Well you better believe people started noticing him then and his work goes on from there. With him coming in to talk to the class has been a huge influence on a project that I plan on continuing to work on in the future dealing with the obsession of famous people or characters and how it starts at youth. 

Anyways, I see on my "news feed" that Fahamu "became a fan" of Dave Kinsey. I looked at Dave's work and he's got some awesome stuff. I get really excited when I see someone's stuff that I really like and go back to their websites to just stare at it. I love how he displays the lines in the subject faces (if there is a person) and it shows so much expression and emotion. You can look at his work here...... Dave Kinsey 

Here are a few of his works.

Meaningless

I was reading this morning in Ecclesiastes about enjoying where you are in life. Enjoy it while you're young. Enjoy it while you're old. 

In chapter 11 verses 8-10 it says: 

When people live to be very old, let them rejoice in every day of life. But let them also remember there will be many dark days. Everything still to come is meaningless.

Young people, it's wonderful to be young! Enjoy every minute of it. Do everything you want to do; take it all in. But remember that you must give an account to God for everything you do. So refuse to worry, and keep your body healthy. But remember that youth, with a whole life before you, is meaningless.

The "Everything still to come is meaningless" and "remember that youth.... is meaningless" is so true. 

Duh! It's in the Bible!

But one of my thoughts on this is...... I don't think we will ever truly know how meaningless it all really is until our bodies are buried and our souls are with him.

Your book the Bible.

Dear God,

I know your book, the Bible, is the best thing for anyone's soul to read and don't strike me down for saying this. BUT. Your book really sucks for those of us that HATE to read AND there are no pictures. There are some of us that need pictures YO! Yes, there are times that it does help me out as it should, and has all the information on everything I need to know to live my life. I know I' might be called a heretic for saying this but I HATE READING THE BIBLE! I hate to read your book. It is really boring to me. Hand over the Bible picture book please. Thank You.

Your frustrated little lamb,

Rachel 

P.S. I Love You and thank You for brazilian music, I love listening to it on Pandora.

Wall of Words

So, I found this website that just has a bunch of pictures of walls with graffiti on it. Some of them are really awesome and so creative and then there are some that are just gross and don't need to be displayed for the world to see. But all in all these are peoples thoughts and how they express them. Sometimes this is the best way they can do it.

This is the website.... http://www.picturesofwalls.com/

Photo Finale

Well, it's been a long project and I am finally done. I might keep going with it though if I find more people that wouldn't mind being photograph. That is was has been the most difficult part of the whole process, finding people to do it and then matching schedules. Now that I will be graduating in August I will have my own schedule to do whatever. It was kind of sad to day today having my last art critique in college. It's just weird. I can do whatever project I want to now, not that I couldn't anyways because I did. But the fact that I don't have someone guiding me telling me what things to fix or ideas to do things differently or add to is what is a little sad. Life is an adventure and I am about to step into the next level. I have learned though that when I start to work I definitely want to keep on using film and developing the negatives, but instead of developing the pictures in the darkroom I would rather scan the negatives into the computer and then edit them that way. The pictures below are a few of my favorites that I took in this project. I just love humor in art.

On a random note....
I was thinking today....actually last night, about accents. Southerners are known for their southern draw and Northerners are known for their .....whatever you call it. But what I was wondering was the extremes. When I hear someone that has a SUPER southern accent, I hear it. Then I think "woah! they are SOUUUUTHERN!" and kinda laugh inside. What I want to know is... do people up North think the same thing when someone has a super Northern accent? Do they think "Woah! they are SO northern!" ??
Just a thought.

Fighter Pilot

This project has been fun to do and hilarious to watch while behind the camera. These are a couple of more pics that I have done this semester.

SIRA's 2009

These are a glimpse of some photos that I took for the rowing team while traveling up with them to Oak Ridge TN for the SIRA 2009 regatta.

This picture is so nerve racking to me. At the starts to each race everyone is lined up with someone holding your boat in place so that everyone is lined up perfectly. All the rowers are perfectly still while listening to the announcer countdown..... 3 minutes......2 minutes.....then they name each crew and then say... Attention!... Go! They always seem to drag it out making your nerves worse. Watching them at the starts made me so nervous knowing what they are going through and remembering when I use to row.

Those are my girls!

Tune it up

Great music and Unique voices.

Ray LaMontagne

Asa

Bob Marley

Jack Johnson- coolest dude alive

Caleb Followill of Kings of Leon- most unique voice 

Ben Harper

Mason Jennings

Rufus Wainwright 

Magnet - this guy's voice sounds like smooth butter.

Lil Wayne- this guy has a really cool voice but he needs to get over himself and needs Jesus real bad.

Adele

Dave Matthews Band- best band ever

Michael Franti

G. Love

Kanye West

Bon Iver

Rachael Yamagata

Yo-Yo Ma

Miles Davis

Louis Prima