Lies Feminists Tell

“Lies Feminists Tell” is a tour held by Students for Life President Kristan Hawkins. Hawkins travels around the country talking about the the negativity of abortion and the misconceptions of feminism. She had the opportunity to visit the University of Wyoming a few weeks ago.

I really enjoyed going to this event. An event like this is something that I typically would not have attended. While I completely agreed with everything that Kristan Hawkins had to say, I normally don’t attend any controversial events like this.

If I am going to be completely honest, making the actual video was probably the hardest part of this experience. Adobe Premiere was a new experience for me and it was a bit of a struggle to learn the ins and outs of the software. There were quite a few ups and downs that had created a few set backs.  But after we actually got rolling, it didn’t take long to get the project finished.

What surprised me the most was that there was such a large audience on campus that are on both sides of the subject that was talked about during Hawkins speech. I had never actually experienced up close what protesters really do when they truly believe in something. During the question and answer portion of the speech, people on both sides of the topic got a little heated and came off as very passionate about what they believe in.

I wish the video making process could have gone a little smoother. It probably would have helped if we did some research and watched some Youtube videos before we got started so we could familiarize ourselves with Adobe Premiere.

I’m honestly struggling to see how I could use video in my future career.  I wasn’t a big fan of Adobe Premiere, but I am sure that is due to the fact that I have never used it before. I would like to become more familiar with the software so I can broaden my skills.

 

Instagram

Instagram is probably one of my favorite forms of social media. As a avid photographer, Instagram has allowed me to easily show off my photos without having to think to much about it. I found this as the perfect opportunity to make my professional Instagram account. I am always seeing all of these fancy ads and pictures on Instagram that users use to promote their business or an event, and I could not for the life of me figure out how they were doing it. And that is when I learned about Canva. I now want to use it all the time, even if I’m not promoting anything.

I have a more relaxed style when I am posting on social media. I am a big fan of posting pictures of what I am a part of during my day to day life, whether it be walking around campus, being outside, or enjoying time with family. When I am creating a visual and adding a caption, I want to carry on that relaxed style.

Since I am new to Canva, I had a hard time finding the best way to promote on Instagram. I figured the wonderful music festivals that Wyoming has to offer could use all of the promotion they could get.

I haven’t had a lot of experience posting in a more professional light on Instagram. I have always posted on my personal account of my personal life and the stuff that I do. I knew this would be the perfect time to create my professional account and get to work on promoting my work. I was excited to get some practice in and get feedback from my followers.

My professional Instagram is still in the beginning stages of becoming a well developed, successful account

With Instagram being the perfect place to promote photos, I look forward to promoting my photography and sharing with a larger audience. Hopefully I will be able to build my audience in followers and broaden my horizons with whom I share my work with.

AAU Volleyball

I had the opportunity to attend a club volleyball tournament to watch my sister in Salt Lake City, Utah a few weekends ago.  My sister is part of a volleyball team through AAU (Wyoming AAU Volleyball). At these tournaments there are roughly 15-25 teams playing to place first. Before anyone is able to make it to tournament, each team has to play three games in their age bracket, also known as pool play, before they make it to tournament. This allows the teams to see where they stand coming into the tournament. Luckily, during this tournament, my sisters’ team made it to the gold bracket tournament.  The team had a great last tournament and definitely went out with a bang. I was able to document the whole day. Check it out at AAU Volleyball.

A public relations approach almost came naturally to me. It is easy to get straight to the point and tell everyone what is going on at an event. Twitter is also a form of social media that I don’t use a whole lot, so I didn’t especially feel comfortable using a more personal approach when I made a tweet. Since I am still new to Twitter, I was afraid to make my first few tweets, but I quickly grew fond of it once I got my feet wet. I felt like I wasn’t going to have a lot to tweet about going into this tournament. But after almost 12 hours of non stop volleyball, I had more than enough to tweet about. I have only been to a few of these tournaments, so for next time, I will do a little more research on the tournament because I have noticed that every tournament is a little different depending on where it is at.

Something that I struggle with sometimes is right to much. Twitter really helped me with getting straight to the point and keeping things simple.  Now that I have used it and tweeted multiple times, I might use Twitter more often now that I know how it runs and what kind of audience I can reach.

Music Festivals in Wyoming

Summertime is the best time to be outside as much as possible. And what better way to spend that time than at a music festival? There are quite a few music festivals happening this summer in Wyoming, but lets talk about just a few of them (and one of my favorites!)  I even mapped them out so they would be easy to find for you guys. You can go check that out at

The line up for the Bluegrass in Evanston that will be held this summer.

The Evanston Bluegrass Festival, which is a one day event that will be held on June 22, will have performances from regional and national musicians. The types of music that these artists will be performing include Bluegrass, Roots, Rockabilly and Folk. Here is the link to the Facebook Page- Evanston Bluegrass.

Cheyenne Frontier Days is one of the biggest rodeos and concert celebrations in Wyoming.

One of the events that Wyoming is known for is Cheyenne Frontier Days. This year, Cheyenne Frontier Days will take place from July 19 -28.  Cheyenne Frontier Days is ultimately known for its rodeos, giving the event the nickname “Daddy of ’em All” . Marissa Palm, who lives here in Laramie, has gone to a few of the concerts at Cheyenne Frontier Days. “I love that there is such a huge and popular concert venue so close to home. There is always big names performing and it is always great to get out of town for a day and enjoy some good music.  Another event that is held during Cheyenne Frontier Days is the concerts. People come from all over to enjoy the big names in the music industry. Go check out Cheyenne Frontier Days to learn more about the concert line up and all of the other events that will be going on.

Oyster Ridge Music Festival is one of the more well known blue grass festivals in the state.

Personally, my favorite music festival to go to is Oyster Ridge Music Festival in my hometown of Kemmerer. Oyster Ridge will take place on July 26-28. Some of the music that will be performed includes Americana, Cajun/Zydeco, Blues, Bluegrass, Roots, Reggae, Rock, Folk and Variety.  Oyster Ridge Music Festival is a festival that is free to the public. My younger brother Konner explains that Oyster Ridge Music Festival is one of his favorite things to do over the summer. “I try my hardest to make sure there isn’t anything else going on that weekend. It is definitely on of the highlights of my summer. It is able to remain free because of fundraisers like the Commissioner’s License Raffle. You can check out Oyster Ridge Music to get more information. This year is also the 25th anniversary for Oyster Ridge Music Festival (ORMF 25th Anniversary).

WHAT Fest is a good time for everybody to come together and enjoy some good music and even some camping.

The WHAT Festival in Centennial takes place from July 26-27. This grassroots music festival was founded in 2003.   You can enjoy the festival for $20 a day or $30 for the whole weekend. It is encouraged for everyone to spend $10 and come camp while they enjoy music. There will be a huge variety of genres being performed throughout the weekend, including Swing, Alternative, Top Forty/Pop, Jazz, DJ/Dance/Techno, Ragtime, Cajun/Zydeco, Blues, Bluegrass, Country, World, Roots, Funk, R & B/Soul, Reggae, Rap/Hip-hop, Rock, Folk, Latin and Variety. If you want to know when tickets go on sale or how the festival got started go check out WHAT Fest.

The Big Horn Basin Folk Festival is the perfect combination of folk music and a showcase for local artists.

The Big Horn Basin Folk Festival in Thermopolis will be taking place on the 3rd and 4th of August. One of the perks of this festival is that Thermopolis is in the middle of Hot Springs State Park. There will be all kinds of music playing, including Americana, Ethnic, Blues, Bluegrass, Country, Old-time, Roots, Folk, Gospel, Spoken Word and Children’s. Go check out Big Horn Basin Folk Festival for more information.

Now that you have a solid list of amazing festivals to go check out this summer, you can now make a whole new set of memories with your friends and family. Hopefully these festivals will take you to a new place and allow you to see the beauty that this wonderful state has to offer. Wyoming Music Festivals 2019 will give you an even bigger list of music festivals if you are looking for even more music and fun this summer.

Konner and Alaska

(Raw File)

(Edited File)

My younger brother Konner.

While I have done quite a few interviews, this would be the first time I have done an interview using an audio recorder. Personally, using an audio recorder almost makes me feel more self aware of what I am saying, how I am saying, how fast I am talking and if I am saying all of the right stuff.

Having a time limit was definitely a struggle. My brother is known to talk a lot and once you get him going on something he was really passionate about, it is hard to get him to stop talking.

Actually getting started with the editing process was a bit of a struggle. I have never actually edited any type of audio file before, so this was a whole new experience for me. Once I actually got going and kind of knew what I was doing, it was pretty easy from then on.

Going from five minutes to two minutes is a lot more time consuming than I thought. At first, I was not really looking forward to this project, but once I figured out that I could easily figure out the process, I was glad that I gained this skill.

It was surprising how labor intensive this was. Even though I had to do the interview a couple times, it was definitely the easiest part of the process. The editing process was very time consuming and took a lot of intensive concentration.

I think I could have chosen a different location for the actual interview. I figured my brothers’ bedroom would have been fine, but there was a lot of background noise from the rest of my family walking around the house.

In the future, I will probably use audio on my own personal blog. Once I get established out in the world and know what I am doing, I would like to be able to interview other journalists, photographers and other people and share what I learn with others.

 

Why Nutrition and Exercise Workout Together

You are what you eat.

What you eat and how much you eat of it can really start to take a toll on your body and how you feel.   According to the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS), approximately one-third, or 33.8% of adults in the United States, as well almost 17% of children and young adults from the ages of two-19 are obese. Poor health habits that form during childhood can carry over into adulthood, making it even more important to teach children at a young age the benefits of a healthy lifestyle.

Programs to Help 

“Combining a healthy diet and exercise basically balances the energy brought in to your body and the energy you let out. If you feed your body healthy food, you will have the energy to exercise,” says Centsible Nutrition Director Mindy Meuli.

The Centsible Nutrition Program is mainly geared to lower income families in order to help them budget groceries and how to cook healthy meals. Lower income families are able to use this program for free, due to the fact that the program receives USDA founding.

They work people of all ages from school aged children to their parents. Adults can take part in an eight lesson series that includes classes on cooking, physical activity and shopping. Through this series, Meuli says they are able to receive cooking utensils and a cook book for completing the series.

Downfall of an Unhealthy Lifestyle

People can be at a healthy weight, but still at risk for health issues if they have a poor diet. The risks of a poor diet includes heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, osteoporosis, and even some types of cancer.

“The importance of incorporating both physical activity as well as a healthy diet is to create a balanced approach. By implementing both at the same time, one can better reach and maintain a healthy weight, it will aid in reducing risk of chronic diseases such as heart disease and cancer, as well as promote your overall health” explains Tristan, the Training and Outreach Coordinator at the Wellness Center.

The gym on campus, Half Acre offers classes, intramural and club sports, and much more. Membership is included in students’ tuition.

Meuli explains that when incorporating a healthy diet and exercise into your day to day life, one can sometimes be harder than the other.  For some who like to eat out or often see food as a type of reward, healthy eating might be a bit of a struggle.

Others may have no problem eating healthy, but are held back by not working out. For those who struggle with working out, they may not have the time to workout because of their job or their job requires them to be sitting all day.

Incorporating Physical Activity

“The best way to incorporate physical activity into someone’s life when they aren’t regularly active is to start small! Even ten minutes of exercise a day can make a difference in someone’s health when they are starting off,” explains Tristan.

He goes on to explain that simple things like taking the stairs instead of the elevator, parking farther away in the parking lot and moving around at least once every hour can start to make a difference in ones’ life.

It doesn’t matter how much snow is on the ground, you can always find students riding their bikes around Prexy’s Pasture or parking their bike to go inside for class.

Not only does physical activity improve your lifestyle, but the HHS says that exercise can improve test scores and grades, increase self-confidences and self-esteem as well as reduce anxiety and stress. It is recommended for kids of the ages 6-17 participate in some form of physical exercise for an hour a day.

“If you need to, don’t jump in both feet at once. Start out with a short walk. Do something small and gradually do more. Do your research and find out what works for you” explains Megan McGuffey Skinner, Director of Didactic Program in Nutrition and Dietetics when talking about exercising for beginners.

Tristan explains that on average, an adult should aim for at least 150 minutes of moderate aerobic activity or 75 minutes of vigorous aerobic activity in the span of a week.

Once activity that most people don’t view as exercise (but perfectly fits the bill!) is dancing. According to Time, a half hour of dancing can burn up to 300 calories. This is equivalent to going for a run or a swim. A popular at home dance program is Body Groove. You may not be covering a lot of ground, but with all of the twists and turns can really add up the burned calories.

 

 

 

Photography in the Real World

Oh Baby! This young man, who goes by the name of Kolten, is enjoying spending time with a friends’ baby. 

While I was at the 1A/2A Regional Basketball Tournament in Riverton over the weekend, I sat near this young man who happened to be entertained by this baby.  I found this as an amazing non-sports feature moment while in the midst of sports haven. He was clearly enjoying the baby and I had to snap a picture quickly, because it wasn’t too long after I took this picture that the baby started crying.  I was glad to see this because it seems that when guys are in their teens and twenties, they tend to come off as tough guys and like to give the impression that they have a hard outer shell.  I hadn’t planned on using any creative devices when I initially took this picture. But after I got to looking at it, each person on either side of Kolten almost creates a frame around him.

Team Huddle- This coach talks with his team during a quick timeout at the Regional Basketball Tournament 

While I was at the 1A/2A West Regional Basketball Tournament in Riverton over the weekend, I saw all kinds of opportunities to capture some sports action. The game before my sisters’ game was running late and I saw that as an opportunity to capture some pictures. Unfortunately, they left before I could get some names and find out where they are from. This sports- feature shows the coach talking to his team during a quick time out. This team was winning at the time and it sounded like the coach was telling his team to keep up what they were doing and pointing out a few things they could improve on. If I remember correctly, this was only a 30 second time out, so I had just a short time to snap this picture.  The players and what must be the assistant coach forms a frame around the head coach as he talks to the players. With some of the players standing and some sitting, as well as the coach squatting in the middle, some depth is formed.

Sidelines- The players on the bench watched as the game was happening on the other end of the court.

While I was awaiting for the game previous to my sisters’ to conclude, I saw the opportunity to snatch multiple photos. Sitting behind this team was a perfect spot. I found an opportunity to shoot just the players on the bench and thought it would make a good photo. I knew I didn’t have very long before the  the game would make its way back to this side of the court. This photo is a good example of the rule of thirds. The players make up on third, the court is the middle third and the bleachers make up the top third.

Taking One for the Team- This player goes up for a shot while the other team tries to keep the shot from becoming successful

This is the same game prior to my sisters’ game. Pictured is a player who is going up for a shot while the other team tries to keep her from making a basket. This photo creates depth with the players spread out throughout the picture.  It was taken towards the end of the game and the score was close, which meant the crowd was cheering quite loudly and the coaches were trying everything they could to make sure the score of the game turned out in their favor. Even as somebody who wasn’t cheering for either team, I could feel the intensity from the game.

What’s Going to Happen? Both teams wait to see if the ball makes it into the basket

At this point, there were just seconds in the game and the away team had pulled ahead just enough, that they were guaranteed the win. While they weren’t to worried about the other team getting ahead, they did everything the could to make sure the other team kept their successful shots to a minimum.  This photo contains patterns. There are lines on the basketball and  lines formed from the bleachers going in the same direction while the lines from the wall in the back left corner are going in the opposite direction.

This assignment was very fun. Having a sports photo be part of the assignment was a big learning point for me. I have been working on becoming proficient in sports photography and this was very helpful. With it being the weekend that I went to watch my sister at her regional tournament (http://www.whsaa.org/stateevents/basketball/regionals/2AWest/bracketg.asp ), I was able to get in a lot of practice.

Viewing Photos at Every Angle

 Studying Away; Creative element: Cropping

The creative element of this photo is cropping. Part of the notebook, textbook, and pencil are framed into the picture, hence the cropping element. This photo is cropped in the fashion that it is so that any outside distractions are kept out of the photo and the viewer can focus on the main message of the photo. There is also the element of background. The picture focuses primarily on the pencil at the bottom of the page and fades away as the picture moves up the notebook and to the textbook.

Ambitious College Student; Creative Element: Texture

The main creative element for this photo is texture. Between the two notebooks, highlighter, coffee, and all of the objects in the background, there is a lot to look at. There is also the element of thirds. The planner in the middle third, the highlighter and coffee in the left middle third, the notebook in the middle and middle right third, and the table and background in the top third. The photo is intended to display a day in the life of a college student who is trying to stay on top of their school work, as well as stay caffeinated to get through the day.

All About that Bean! Creative Element: Background

In this photo, the creative element is background. The photo focuses primarily on the coffee and notebook in the front of the picture, while the TV and stairway to the lower level of the Union fades away in the background.  The photo also shows a little bit of color. While it is a generally neutral colored photo, the color of the TV presents a pop of color and brings the focus back to the coffee. The photo is intended to display the importance of coffee to college students who are trying to get back into the swing of a new semester and get off to a great start.

Snow Day; Creative Element: Leading Lines

The creative element in this photo is leading lines. The tire tracks lead out through the willows and leads the viewer out to the frozen lake before they finally fade out.  This photo also creates depth. The ground towards the front of the picture leads out over the lake and to the hills in the background, where they meet the sky. The intention of this picture is to show the viewer that even though it was chilly over the weekend, you can still find beauty in nature.

Afternoon Sun; Creative Element: Creates Depth

The main creative element in this photo is creating depth. There are the willows and bushes on the close side of the lake, as well as the hills on the far side of the lake, creating almost a wall around the lake. There is also some texture in the snow towards the bottom of the picture. The shadows created from the afternoon sun over the weekend shows how uneven the snow is and gives some texture to the photo.

OVERALL ANALYSIS
Before this assignment, I had never really thought about all of the different types of creative elements. I had known about the rule of thirds from a photography class that I took at my previous college.

I had always tried to focus on one subject and blur out the background or put more emphasis on the one subject, but I didn’t realize that there were so many different ways to do it.

During this project, I looked at taking photos a little differently, even if it was just with my phone. I often found myself asking, “What if I take a photo from this angle, or from this angle?”

Before this assignment, I thought I looked at things a little differently while taking photos, but this project clearly proved me wrong.