Ignorance...

I had no idea that a margarita had alcohol in it. I work as a caterer for one of my jobs, and asked the bartender, if the drink he was giving to me was a virgin margarita. He laughed and said yes, but to drink it quickly before this anal lady i work with saw me. My friend took one too, so I thought it was a safe drink. As I am rushing out the doors to the back, I tell me friend to quickly drink it because Mary would be here soon, and I took a sip, then I heard the word "Don't drink, that has alcohol in it" by my friend. The moment she said it, i had already swallowed once, was bending over a trash can spitting out the rest, and trying to get the rest up. It felt like my throat was on fire.
Moral of the story:
Don't trust a bartender...

Conference Weekend

I am sad to say that my conference weekend did not go as planned. It was probably the worst trip up to Utah I have ever taken in my life. I went up to Utah with a bunch of Young adults from my singles branch here in california. There were 12 people in my group, including myself. The plan was to rent a 15 passenger van, and then split the gas on that vehicle. But the rental place didn't have one of those vans available, so instead they gave us a Dodge minivan, and a PT Cruiser was thrown in for free. I still not sure why we all just didn't take our own cars when we didn't get the vehicle that we had wanted. I think it would have been less expensive, and more comfortable.
They had been planning this trip for awhile now, and I had already commited in going with them. I told them though, that i could only afford a trip within 100 dollars, i couldn't go outside of that price range. My friend assured me that it would be 32 for the rental, and about 40 for the gas going up and down, and then the rest I could use on food. So I agreed on going up. Lucky to say that the day we left, I received a paycheck for 180 dollars, and would be able to afford to go. So I made sleeping arrangements with my Uncle Bruce, for me and the girls in my group to stay at his house. If i would have known it was going to cost me over 100 dollars for this trip, then I wouldn't have gone. But I didn't know that I ended up spending 40 on car rental and insurance, and due to the crappy gas mileage on the PT Cruiser, I ended up spending 90 on gas. And about 50 on food. I can't believe how often we ate out, and the food wasn't even that great in most places.Ridiculous!
Now let me tell you how much I hate PT Cruisers...
At first I just thought they were ugly cars, and had no idea why anyone would want to buy one. And now that I have driven one to and from Utah, I still wonder why anyone would buy one. 1. The car had no cruise control! How could they do such a thing? A long distance trip without cruise control is murder on ones foot, leg, and back. 2. the window controllers were on the dash and middle console of the car, not on the doors. LAme! 3. You have to completely park, and turn off the car to pop the trunk. That is stupid, there wasn't even a button, or latch to pop it open. 4. The odometer features read the weather outside in Celcius, and would tell you how many KM left until you were on empty. Where was this car made?! 5. Although it had plenty of head and leg room, the seats felt like you were sitting on rocks after an hour of riding in it. 6. The trunk was way too small. 7. The cup holders were really low. 8. Out of all the bad in the car, there was one thing good: The sound system was amazing. But I would rather have a standard system in a car, if there could have been better features elsewhere. So in conclusion, I wish I just drove my Carolla up instead!
Day 1:
No cruise control... We planned on leaving california at 4, but didn't leave until 8:30 and arrived in Orem at 7 am. Uncle Bruce was really sweet. He made us all breakfast. Onion bagel with cheese toasted on, with egg in between. So delicious! We slept for about 4 hours, and then went to Applebees for Lunch. The food really sucked. I wish I would never have to say that about Applebees, because it is one of my most favorite restaurants! After we went to Target because one of the guys needed a collared shirt for the dance that night. We spent about 3 hours in the shopping center. I got a cute jean pencil skirt at Old navy, and cute tops. Probably the only thing worthwhile in the whole day. We then stopped by Sonics, so the girls could get some drinks, and they ended up messing up the order, so instead of two drinks, we were given four. YUm! My free drink was so yummy, and we gave the other one to my two cousins. We then went back to Uncle Dougs to get ready for the dance. I thought it was only going to be 5 bucks. but when we got there I learned it was 15, and if i texted a msg to a number i could get 5 off. But still it was 10. Only because it was 3 dance floors, a bull riding thing, and air bouncer, and wall climber. No food, and I was so hungry that my stomach hurt most of the time being there, and I couldn't enjoy myself at all. Near the end, I had to older men hit on me that I wasn't interested in, and couldn't escape, and had no wingman to save me. The first looked like he was 36, and said that we should connect like tuperware. Strange... I told him I was engaged and left... The second was sweet, but I wasn't attracted to him. And my group was leaving so I told him I had a bf, and had to leave. Both of which were not true, and I feel bad for misleading them, but had to get away. Once we left, the group really wanted to go to IHOP for dinner. We got there around 1, and didn't get our food until 2:30, it was pretty bad. We all ate in mostly silence, paid the bill, and didn't get back to the house until 3 something.
Day 2:
We got up around 9, and got ready to go up to temple square to get some tickets for the second saturday session of conference. We all hopped out of the car and started asking people for tickets, while Mercy and Brandon parked the car. We got more than enough tickets for the second session, and ended up giving away 5 tickets. Some of the group had gotten up earlier that morning, and got into the first saturday morning session. They decided to look around temple square, and go to the museums instead of going into the second session. The rest of us, went to get lunch. I wasn't very hungry, so I asked for directions to where the car was parked so I could go retrieve my cell phone. I was planning on meeting up with my friend Alissa after the second session, and that was the only way to get ahold of her. I never ended up finding the car, and the second session was about to start. I was so upset, and was crying when I realized that I could not find my group. Since we all had received different tickets, we were all entering into the conference center in different doors. I did end up making it into the conference center for the first time ever, but since I was seperated from my group, lost, and really upset, I wasn't able to enjoy the beauty and experience of being inside for the first time. The first talk was given by Elder Wirthlin, He spoke about how we should find humor in things, instead of getting so angry all the time. He said that to laugh about something will give you a greater memory instead of being angry about it. That lightened my heart, and helped strengthen my courage and faith that all would be well. When the second session ended, I tried to find my friends by staying in the center of all the people leaving the building. I had no luck finding them inside, and so went wandering outside searching for people in my group. I said a prayer and asked my Father in Heaven to guide me to finding them, or to guide them to find me. Shortly after, I saw my friend Shasha and her husband. I told them of my situation, and they told me I should stay with them. I walked with them to where the rest of their family was, and I was pondering ways of how I can be reunited with my friends. I have now been seperated from them for four hours. But I was feeling more optimistic as time passed by. I then thought of two ways that could solve my problem. One was to look in all the parking lots, and the other would be to call my dad, have him look in my brothers phone, get a number that could either be one of the people in my group, or call someone that had one of their numbers. So I used Sasha's brother in'laws phone, and called dad, who gave me numbers off of jasons phone ( which was annoying because jason only put first names in his phone, so I went through multiple numbers before I found someone that had Brandon's phone number). It worked, I called Brandon, found out where they were, and found out that they were all having dinner. I am amazed that they weren't looking for me. That made me feel loved... After dinner, Mercy took me to the car to get to my cell phone, only to find out the Alissa wasn't in Salt Lake City at all. I felt so exhausted over my adventure, and it was all for nothing. Throughout the day it had been raining, and was pretty cold. My shoes got so soaked, that they were sloshing with each step i took from the inside out. I don't think I will be able to wear those for awhile. The hunt is on, for good black church shoes... During Priesthood session, the girls and I wandered in the Joseph Smith Building, and then went to Deseret Books, for the RS sale. I got Chronicles of Narnia on CD for 10 bucks, and a new set of scriptures at Distribution price for 50 bucks after my points help subtract some of the cost as well. It was a long and exhausting day!
Day 3:
We got up early to make it to temple square for the first sunday session. We got tickets, but didn't make it into the conference center, we ended up going to the Conference Center's theater instead. But I wasn't complaining, it was out of the rain, in comfy theater seats, great sound, and a big screen. And, I wasn't alone this time. It would have been cool to make it into the conference center again, and enjoy myself, but there is always April...We packed all our things before the session, and I said my goodbyes to my Aunt and Uncle. After the session let out, we picked up a guy that was heading back to CA with us, then we had lunner at Brandon's Mom's house, and then hit the road. Elizabeth forgot her phone charger at my Uncles, so we went back for that, and the two cars were not at the same pace, but sooner or later when we hit Vegas, we met up again. Some of the group wanted to stay in vegas, but some of us just wanted to get back as soon as possible. I was starting up a job the next day as my first, and I didn't want to be too exhausted. We got into California around 12, and I got to bed around 2, and it was too bad, but I was extremely exhausted for work the next day.

Pfmagazine Photo Contest Entries...

So my good friend Alissa told me of a photo contest in the PFMagaize. If you go to pfmagazine.com, you can enter either black and white, or color images for $4.00 a piece per entry, before October, and after that it goes up in price. The prizes are really good! So go check it out if you would like. These are the photos I entered...In the previous blog, i entered the hands image i did, and the man with 10 fingers.
These are others I am considering. Let me know what you think, and if I should enter in any other photos!
Thanks for your time, support, and opinions. I really appreciate them all.
Love,
Kari

Reminiscing

I thought that I would refer back to my days as a photographer. Back in school when I had all access to all of the equipment that I could dream of having now, but dont. The full access to the dark rooms, the studio, equipment I could check out, and the lenses i could use. The Camera bodies I could try, and the iMac/and printers I could edit on. Those were the days, and here is some of my work from those days that show how much I loved those days, and the resources. Sometimes I wonder why I majored in photography. One look at these images and I remember why. I just have to keep it up, and keep practicing so I don't loose the skills I have set in stone. I hope you enjoy my work, and feel free to comment on the photos.
Before: (left)
These are the materials I had worked with, and this was the final image before I touched it up, and changed colors in Photoshop. As you can see in the before image, the background is Brown, and the Napkin comes up slightly. I also emphasized the browns in the cup as well in the final image

After: (right)
As you can see here, I changed the background to green, emphasized the intensity on the cup, and the contents inside, and also fixed the napkin.

Question:
Which one do you like more? What could I have done differently to make the image better? Do you want a special Hot Chocolate made by me now?
This Hot Chocolate was probably the best I have ever made in my life. The first attempt in photographing it was with real hot cocoa, but it turns out, that it was so hot, that it melted the whipped topping, and cookies before I could capture it. So I poured it into a seperate cup and gave it to a girl in my class. She really enjoyed it. Says it was the best she has had in a long time. Yum! So you may wonder what I did to fix this little problem? I just filled the cup to the top with the whipped cream, and added the syrups, cookies, and mints to it afterwards. This gave me plenty of time to fix what I wanted in the image, and take the picture at multiple angles. Lucky huh!

Camera:	Canon EOS 30D
Exposure:	0.008 sec (1/125)
Aperture:	f/10
Focal Length:	38 mm
ISO Speed:	100

This is a piece of work that inspired me to do another kind of like it. This photo is done by a man named Jerry Uelsman. He is one of my most favorite Black and White Photographers. Jerry would do all of his imaging in the Dark Room, before all of the photo editing on computers began. I can't say that my work inspired by him is the same, the difference is, that mine were images shot seperately, and then layered digitally instead of being layered in the dark room. Amazing isn't it. To check out some of his work go to: http://www.uelsmann.net

In this image, there are actually 4 images layered upon one another. There is the image of the hands, which I bumped up the contrast on, and then the texture of the cracked dirt that I had placed on top of the hands, masking it to the shape of the hands themselves. Then I added the texture of the pond, and molded that to the shape of the hands and made sure the transparency was just right. After that, I added the waterfall, which was not one of my images, since I couldn'te find any waterfalls in Rexburg Idaho, in walking distance. So I found this one off of google. I believe it was a picture of someone's waterfall of their backyard pond :) Then this is what the final image turned out like. This was one of my final digital prints for my Digital Photography class with one of my most admired photography teachers at BYU Idaho: Brian Atkinson. I have him to thank in helping me learn about masking, and for the cracked dirt image that he let me use. He taught me to start keeping a photo library of just textures, so in the future when I have an image that I may want to mask in an image, then I will have a library full of my own photos to use as textures.

This next image was also done for my final project before I graduated with my Bachelors of Arts in Photography Fall 2007. This photo was inspired by a movie called Gataca with Ethan Hawke, and Uma Therman. In the movie the roles that this actor and actress portrayed, go to a piano concert where the Pianoist has five fingers and a thumb on each hand. So I thought I would create an image refering to the idea of what it would be like to be so different, with the ability to have that extra finger on each hand. My model is my friend Shawn, he was a great model, and was also the hands for the above image. I titled this image: Different

More to come soon...

Prop 8

WHAT WILL HAPPEN IF PROP 8 DOES NOT PASS

1. Children in public schools will be taught that both traditional marriage and same-sex marriage are okay.

The California Education Code already requires that health education classes instruct children about marriage. (§51890)

Therefore, if the definition of marriage is changed, children will be taught that marriage is a relation between any two adults. There will be serious clashes between the secular school system and the right of parents to teach their children their own values and beliefs.

2. Churches will be sued if they refuse to allow same-sex marriage ceremonies in their religious buildings that are open to the public. Ask whether your pastor, priest, minister, bishop, or rabbi is ready to perform such marriages in your chapels and sanctuaries.

3. Religious adoption agencies will be challenged by government agencies to give up their long-held right to place children only in homes with both a mother and a father. Catholic Charities in Boston has already closed its doors because of the legalization of same-sex marriage in Massachusetts.

4. Religions that sponsor private schools and which provide housing for married students will be required to provide housing for same-sex couples, even if it runs counter to church doctrine, or lose tax exemptions and benefits.

5. Ministers who preach against same-sex marriages will be sued for hate speech and could be fined by the government. It has already happened in Canada, one of six countries that have legalized gay marriage.

6. It will cost you money. A change in the definition of marriage will bring a cascade of lawsuits. Even if courts eventually find in favor of a defender of traditional marriage (highly improbable given today's activist judges), think of the money – your money, your church contributions – that will have to be spent on legal fees.

And think of all the unintended consequences that we cannot even foresee at this time. Where will it end?

It's your children, your grandchildren, your money, and your liberties.

Job Hunting

For all of you that may know, I recently graduated with my Bachelors Degree in Arts, Emphasis in Photography and my minor in Theater. This was back in December, and since then I have been trying to find my way in life after college. Who would have thought that things would be so hard to adjust to, and the change in atmosphere would have been so different. Since Graduation, I feel I haven't accomplished much, and I am almost about to hit my year mark. What I have done is, Read a lot, watch a lot of TV online, and move around a lot. I started working for my Grandma and Grandpa Johnson, just working in their yard, and fixing up some things. They are so good to me, and pay me $10 an hour, and include lunch. So this year, I have painted their gate, pillars, and center drive circle thing. Not really sure what it is called, but it looks a lot better. I also go by and do weekly house cleaning chores for them. Other than that, I couldn't really find any work. I did find a lady that seemed really into my work, and I felt it was the perfect job opportunity for me. Although, sad to say, I didn't receive the job, because I hadn't received any Graphic Design experience. So that was my strike one. Who would have thought that a photography major needed to take Graphic Design classes before graduating. I wish I would have known, so I could be working in that studio right now. But I guess that that is not what the Lord had in store for me. So the next step was to continue looking for work. I am not a wedding photographer, I do have to say that is the hardest and most nerve racking part/job of being a photographer. I tried to help Jason Lanier's photo company out, and be a second photographer for him. But the lens that was given to me was new to me, and i had no tripod, so I had no idea of how to really control it, since I hadn't had prior experience with such a long lens. And I am extremely shaky. Not sure why really, but I am, so a tripod would have really helped me out. Anyways, I took the worst photos ever, and I am sure that was a great big step out of the door instead of in.
To Be Continued....