new things

Well, I'd be lying if I said that things got quieter around here after school was done.

Jason has been golfing a ton, as well as working at odd jobs for some of the English professors.



I have continued to babysit for Libby while her mom writes a book. I also still work at Mainstreet on the weekends.

I finished a quilt that I will have to post pictures of later.



I got a hiking backpack, finally.



Jason got a hiking hammock that is very easy to transport and super comfy.

I also started summer school on Monday. But today is the last day of the first week. So, only 5 weeks left. I can't complain about that.

In other not so good news, Jason and I having a really rough week. We had to bring Maggs back the humane society because he bit the neighbor kid on Sunday night. When Jason brought him in on Monday they told him that they would keep him in seclusion for 10 days while he was re-evaluated by a dog behaviorist. Then they would decide if he could be adopted again.

I think that is the hardest part right now. Knowing that he is just sitting in a cage at the humane society while he could be at our house. But we also know that no matter how sad we are, or how bad we want to go and pick him up, we know we can't. We can't run the risk of having a dog who bites, and one who bites for no apparent reason.

It's been a very sad week. There are still dog hairs everywhere. Random toys and treats yet to be found. And the silence. The silence is killing us. No tags clinking, no nails clicking against the hard wood floor, and no happy greeting when you come in the house. We're sorry Maggs, we really miss you.

Dad's 50th in Cedarville

Easter Sunday with alot of family

You've got to be kidding me!

I HAD to post this picture. I found this on a website and thought it was hilarious.

One of the dogs names is Cindy Loo Hoo.

And the picture, it's very reminicent of a grade school picture I had taken.

I'll post Easter pictures later.

studio shoot with a 4x5 camera

waiting...

Yesterday I spotted four purple flowers along with some crab grass pushing up through the matted down dirty grass in our yard.

The deck chairs are already out.

The new grill has been purchased and used many times.

The bikes have already been ridden.

The seeds are ready to planted.

Yet, we wait.

Multiple pairs of boots litter the entrance to the house and hinder opening and shutting the door.

Hats, gloves, and scarves still sit in their bin beckoning to be put on.

The snow pants and heavy coats still hang on the hooks on the door, taunting about the elusive spring that has yet to come.

The dirty snow piles are still sitting in corners.

Frigid wind, cloudy days, and still...we wait.

Individual Art Review

I PASSED!

For those of you who do not know. I am a considered a junior at Northern. As a junior I was required to create a body of work. Create a statement of intent explaining my work. And then finally show my series to a panel of faculty. The faculty then decides if I pass or fail. If I would have failed I would have had to retake this class and it would have postponed my graduation date. And that is something that would not have made me happy.

I am going to put my statement of intent below and then below that will be a link to my flickr page where you can view the images in a slide show.

Thank you to everyone who was a willing participant. I couldn't have done it without you.
Statement of Intent

My photographs address the issue of privacy and surveillance. In 1791 Jeremy Bentham designed the Panopticon, which can be viewed as a metaphor to contemporary surveillance issues. The Panopticon was a prison building with a guard that was able to observe the inmates without them knowing they were being watched. Michel Foucault adopted the notion in his book Discipline & Punishment: The Birth of the Prison, suggesting that groups or classes of people were watched at all times. The observer would then have the potential for unlimited power.  In contemporary society, the camera is used in partner with the idea of control. We are photographed almost everywhere we go. There are cameras at the ATMs, tollbooths, traffic lights, hotels, and places of employment. We are constantly surveyed, watched, and monitored.

Since the invention of photography in 1839, personal privacy has increasingly dissolved.  My photographs show an invasion into someone’s privacy. I was able to observe my subjects without their knowledge from outside their homes as I photographed from the street. I held the power, and had the ability to observe without being observed. My photographs underscore the idea that we are always being watched. We have an expectation of privacy that is constantly broken.

The close proximity to the subjects makes the viewer feel as if they are looking at something they shouldn’t, at an event that shouldn’t be seen. The primary figures in my images are partially blocked by either a curtain or blinds. These barriers execute the idea that the viewer is outside looking in. The shift in the light balance acts as a second kind of curtain or barrier, and heightens the awareness of being outside in the dark looking in.


SLIDE SHOW OF IMAGES