photography:. chase.

chase and i go back to roughly the third day of sixth grade. roughly.
actually, i have no idea. my first memory of chase was that he ran fast, and then in seventh grade i think we had science class together and he still ran fast and won the middle school’s thanksgiving celebration they liked to call a ‘turkey trot’, which was really a super short run around the neighborhood who’s winner was awarded a frozen turkey. and i was secretly jealous of his trotting skills.
this is a true story.

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then one day i decided to join the cross country team in high school, and chase was also on that team. we ended up as co-captains of the varsity team our senior year, and we had a little clique thing going on, and chase could still beat me in the turkey trot. and i was still secretly jealous.

on a more serious note however, i think there is a really unique thing about co-ed sports that the other sports don’t have. maybe not even track & field has this because that team is so large, but cross country holds something different and creates it’s own sort of sustainable community around itself. and within that sort of a setting, you get to see the best and worst of people. and i’ve got to say, through what i saw in those shared experiences of early morning bus rides and drama and exhausting competition and leadership, chase is an upstanding guy. he’s the real deal. he is legit. and he has an incredible heart.

chase is graduating this year from college and is headed out to grad school to work on civil and environmental engineering while pursuing research in ground water remediation, advanced oxidation processes, & aquatic chem. basically, chase is good people. chase is people i’m excited for. and chase is still really good at trotting quickly.

here are his first set of senior photos. more to come. :)

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photography:. fo’fun!

so i played some and i shot some and then i played with processing some and TA DA! photos. model is drew. and brian.

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photography:. michael & cristina.

you’ve seen these cats before.
not only have there been photos of these two on my old blog, but they were also the ones who put together the song for the ‘it’s the hopeful‘ video. yeah, they’re talented. if you pay me $20 i might let you be friends with them for ten minutes sometime.

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michael and cristina are some of the best friends a person could ask for. i realize this is a semi-cliche blanket statement, but it’s a pretty honest one. we all met ‘randomly’ in australia in 2006 as we each were on individual treks seeking adventure. we soon discovered ourselves in the midst of adventure and quite wanting out of it! sometimes, adventure is an r-rated word. but, as we all know, trauma makes the heart grow fonder, and so we bonded – without maybe really knowing it.

after an amazing 7 months abroad, michael and i came back stateside and cristina stayed a little while longer in australia. and by a little while, i mean a year.
the two of them maintained a long-distance friendship, and would talk on the phone and catch up on each others lives. after awhile, cristina started to realize that she might have feelings for this guy, and as her feelings grew, he started to mention another girl. and then he started to mention her more, and soon cristina noticed he really liked this other girl. now any woman knows that that’s pretty much the last straw – when you like a guy and your friendship growth makes you ever hopeful until the point where he’s telling you about the girl he likes – and she’s obviously not you. not only that, but he makes* a birthday cake for this crush of his but he forgets your birthday altogether. that can be a pretty fatal blow, believe you me! but cristina valued their friendship and so though it hurt, she didn’t bail. and low and behold, things changed and they decided to see if this relationship between them might actually work. cristina moved back from australia and they visited each other, her in arizona and him in washington. and they realized that it really, just might work. she soon moved to colorado and he flew down to help her get there.

i ended up making a trip to colorado in january just as cristina was getting back from some time with michael’s family in mexico, and she hesitatingly began to admit that she felt it might be time to bring up the whole ‘how about i move to you so we’re in physical proximity of one another’ thing with him. eventually she managed to spit the words out and he fully agreed. and so, after a few months more, michael flew back down to help her move up to washington and they became neighbors.

this past fall, at a youth group rodeo ho-down, michael popped the question.

i was lucky enough to be there at the beginning of their friendship, and feel so honored to be a part of their lives and document some of the amazingness they are destined for!
michael and cristina, you two excite and encourage me like no one else. your relationship with each other has set the bar for me within my own future relationship, and your love and devotion to god is breath-taking and inspiring. i am so so so stoked for what is to come for you. i also really appreciate that you don’t hesitate to make out in front of my camera. thanks for that. :)

*michael would like it noted that someone asked him to make the cake. noted michael, noted.

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for our friends who understand what’s happening in this photo: this one’s for you. :)

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personal:. post22 skateboarding flick.

factoid: i’m a sucker for some good boarding.

post22.com

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photography:. marian jordan.

referencing two posts ago, author/speaker marian jordan did two events a few weeks ago at the university of idaho and washington state university campuses. author of three books, she tours the country and is an inspirational speaker to sorority girls.

after the second event, she asked if we could get some photos so we definitely went for it. it ended up being late at night and so we set up where we could – which meant a friends small apartment bedroom where the bed takes up the majority of the room. we snagged some shots before marian headed back out to houston a few hours later.

it was great to hear her speak and get to spend a little time with her! you can check out her ministry website here.

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food:. ravioli and veggie soup.

my back hurts.

… so, i just wrote that my back hurts, right there, just above. because that was the first thing that came to mind when i thought “how do i open this?” and it might hurt because of the standing i did in making dinner tonight.

talk about veggie overload. yyyiikkkeesss. good for me? tasted kinda great? not really that difficult? something for everyone to love? yes. all of those things. but still. then my mom tossed in a salad and ooof, overload baby.

i’ve realized, and i think i’ve said so before, that recipes are more like a rough outline for me. it’s not that i’m such a good cook that i can improvise, it’s just that i at one point realized i was making all this food incorrectly because i simply don’t read and comprehend the directions simultaneously, and therefore just kinda do it. and i mean, in my defense, sometimes this happens because i need to make more than the recipe provides for, and sometimes i have to substitute things which just translates into “GO KAARIN, GO!” and run run run run with it. so… i give in without so much as a hesitation. because that’s kinda my personality.

all that to say, while the sara lee apple pie bakes in the oven, i’m going to give you this soup recipe as well as attempt to tell you what i changed in my own dish. but let me just say it now, i’m not sure if i even remember, and i made this little diddy a whole hour and a half ago… geeze kaarin.

i don’t really know what watercress is, except for the picture showed some green leafy things and so i figured that’s what it was. i called my mom, she confirmed, and i headed to the store to get some watercress, a zucchini and ravioli. i went for the watercress first, and found it in the ’specialty’ produce section of the grocery store, i.e. the ‘i’m going to destroy your pocket of cash’ section. i weighed my options and started looking for other leafy green things. as said, i don’t know what watercress is, therefore i don’t know what it tastes like, but i’m assuming it tastes something like dirt, and i know that spinach tastes like dirt, so i went with an organic bunch of spinach instead because it was cheaper.

when i got home, i also didn’t have any fresh ginger so i defaulted to the spice rack instead and grabbed some ginger powder, but used 1/4 less than it called for, just because i felt like that was a good idea. i also wasn’t about to buy a can of broth when i had chicken bouillon at home, so i made my own.

keeping in mind that i was feeding three, i scoured the kitchen for other things to beef it up a bit, (what horrible word choice on a food blog… yuck. beef it up? really?) and added sweet snap peas and more carrot and broth than required. i broiled some garlic-butter-parmesan whole wheat bread in the oven (and forgot by a few minutes thereby overcooking it… dang you broil, dang you.). and… happy dinner?

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out of good housekeepings “step by step cookbook”.

ravioli in broth with vegetables
(creative name good housekeeping, keep up the good work.)
prep: 10 min
cook: 20 min
makes: 3 main-dish servings

1 package (13oz) frozen jumbo cheese ravioli
1 can (13 3/4 to 14 1/2oz) reduced-sodium chicken or beef broth
1 medium carrot, cut into matchstick-thin strips
1 small zucchini (~6oz) diced
2 teaspoons grated, peeled fresh ginger
1/4 bunch watercress, tough stems removed

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+ prepare ravioli as label directs; drain. cover to keep warm.

+ meanwhile, in 3-quart saucepan, heat broth and carrot strips to boiling over high heat. reduce heat to low; cover and simmer 5 minutes.

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+ stir in diced zucchini and grated ginger; heat to boiling over high heat. reduce heat to low; cover and simmer 5 minutes longer, or just until vegetables are tender.

+ to serve,  place watercress sprigs in 3 shallow bowls. place ravioli in bowls with watercress. spoon broth with vegetables over ravioli.

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photography:. girls night out.

last week resonate church held two events on two college campuses. on wednesday night they held it at the university of idaho, and the following night at washington state university. they brought in speaker/author marian jordan and had the events approved through the greek systems on each campus, and aimed it at sororities. musician jourdan burks played covers before marian spoke, and some of her own tunes after.

marian speaks from her own life experiences and the lifestyle she found herself in during her college years while she was in the greek system, and rounds back around to the biblical story in john 8, of the woman at the well whom was about to be stoned for adultery when jesus stepped in:

The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him.

But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.” Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.

At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”

“No one, sir,” she said.
“Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”

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design:. kaarins in space.

i’m in space for the next few days, please leave all messages with my assistant misha.

in other news, i’m not a graphic designer… eeeee!! :S

(you can find this tutorial HERE!!)

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films:. it’s kristina standing.

ack! it’s been a busy week!
here’s the follow up to the previous post. the video version.

kristina was in town and we were hanging out when i suggested we make a stop-motion video. i didn’t have any ideas as to what to do though. so i thought “oh, how about you just stand places!!”

and that was the best idea we came up with.

and so, i present to you — ‘it’s kristina standing’.
voice by kristina, music/editing/filming/whatever by me.

let me just disclaim the audio however – we set my iphone onto the voice memo app and sat it on my piano, and gave ourselves one take to “do it right”. knowing how ridiculous of a request that is to make, cause i didn’t even know what i was going to play. but it fit the feel. so. uhh…. yeah. that was that. we made the whole thing in roughly seven hours.

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photography:. free lensing.

okay so let’s be honest. i don’t really know what free lensing is.
i just saw it done, looked it up, got a slight idea of what to do, and wanted to try it. basically it messes with your depth of field (dof).

but! yesterday my good friend kristina asked what i was up to, to which my reply was “well… nothing?” to which she replied “come pick me up.” to which i replied with obedience. because you don’t question kristina. (yeah right! i question anyone i want! so there!… but i picked her up.)

we went to lunch, discussed theology and doctrine and death, and then i wondered if we should make a stop motion. so per usual, without a full idea of what we were doing, we drove around and took photos of her, uhm… standing places.

but that video comes next.
for NOW, what comes is some random photos of her and some free lensing shots. you should be able to tell the differences. the ones where half her face is blurry? free lensing. the ones where you’re going “wait… is this free lensing?” …mmm, no.

HIYAH!

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so i’m not really used to being larger than.. well, anyone. but i snuck into a few frames of this stop motion madness, and well… yesterday, i came to realize that i am a giant.

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i hope you all have large days.

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