off the map

Grand Bend

2009-07-25T08:49:00.000-07:00

Midland and prom

2009-05-09T16:26:00.001-07:00

Silhouette

2009-04-08T17:03:00.000-07:00

Sky

2009-04-08T13:38:00.000-07:00

Detroit celebrations

2009-04-05T12:38:00.001-07:00

I got to spend Saturday walking around downtown Detroit shooting fans who didn't go to the game and hanging out at an NCAA viewing party, Detroit was full of Spartan fans and everyone was extremely excited when we won. The streets were packed but there was nothing even resembling a riot, people were just too happy to be violent.

Final Four

2009-04-02T18:26:00.000-07:00

The men's basketball team is going to the Final Four. I'm headed to Detroit Saturday to cover the fans' reactions there, and I'm pretty excited. Here's a frame from the welcome back celebration at Breslin when the team won and one from right after the game when people ran outside in the rain to yell "Go Green, Go White."

Welcome week

2009-03-19T11:11:00.000-07:00

We were talking about doing assignments that involve drunk people the other day and I decided to show Josh pictures from my first State News assignment ever, a welcome week party with jello wrestling. Found this in my take, thought it was pretty funny.

Dave's show (for Cathy?)

2009-03-06T17:47:00.000-08:00

Meesh's baby and Dave looking awkward.

This kid is the owner of the studio's daughter. She is the cutest thing ever. When her dad left her alone with Dave for a minute he said "Don't kill Dave okay?" and she cackled.

She is about as cute as Elorie, except 20 years older.

Meeting the parents.

(Dear Cathy,

I am not sure that I believe that you read my blog. But in case you do here are pictures of Dave's show. In case you don't, everyone else who reads my blog can see them.)

The women's basketball team lost their first game and are out of the tournament, it's a little bit disappointing because I honestly wasn't expecting them to lose and I was counting on a full weekend of working. I suppose I shouldn't be complaining that I get to relax and rest for a couple more days rather than rush around shooting basketball, but I would much rather be working every day of spring break than doing nothing, which is what I will be doing. I'm trying to figure out what I want to do with my life, or my career, or at least with my college life at the moment, and I'm being pulled in so many different directions I'm not sure who to listen to. The people who's opinions I trust the most tell me I need to figure things out for myself. I talked with Lorenna tonight about it and she said "Do what makes you happy and do something no one else is doing, create something that people would miss." She works with clay, and she and Dave have the starving artist thing down pretty well. They love what they do and they would do it without the shows and the money. They're good people to learn from.

I feel like I've strayed a bit from my days as an artist, but I need to find ways to make my photography an art the way I do with my writing. I've found that when I'm taking pictures for myself, or of something I enjoy shooting, I do my best work because I'm not working, I'm just shooting. The debate between photo and writing will never end, and I'll never be satisfied as long as those in authority are making me choose one or the other. In a perfect world I could do both, but I guess I need to decide between them, and it's not easy and it's kind of messy.

Last game

2009-03-04T15:21:00.001-08:00

I think last night's basketball game was fitting as my last men's basketball game that I shot this season (maybe ever?). We became the Big Ten Champions, the game took place at Assembly Hall, which was strange because I grew up as an Indiana fan. Raymar had the most incredible dunk I've ever seen and even though I didn't get it in focus, I did get to see it from roughly five or six feet away. The boys I traveled with were fun to be with, even though they did make me sleep on the floor. I am basically in love with every member of the men's basketball team at this point (especially Suton, I wanted to cry when I was sitting feet away from a slew of people shouting "Suton sucks!"). I am extremely happy they're Big Ten Champs, and I've learned through this season that I actually enjoy following certain sports (namely, MSU men's basketball).

The trip so far has been fun and I was happy with last night for the most part. I'm looking forward to shooting the women's tournament and finishing up my final days of shooting basketball (again, probably ever, but that's a whole different blog post). I'm relaxing and enjoying real food at my Grandma's house, and excited to get to be here for Dave's art show. I feel so good I think I'm going to go running tomorrow, after I sleep in a huge comfortable bed for however long I want. I get a week of this and then it's back to not eating, sleeping or really functioning beyond work and school, so I'm going to try to enjoy it and work hard the next few days before I'm officially on break. Go State.

Band portraits

2009-02-18T15:33:00.001-08:00

I love love love shooting Flavor of the Week. Musicians are so interesting. These are outtakes from a shoot with Suburban Euphoria.

Valentines weekend

2009-02-15T11:49:00.000-08:00

Friday night was ridiculous and amazing all at once, note the Dazed and Confused poster behind us that summarizes the night perfectly.

Chris making weird faces, this is what I get when I take pictures of people all the time. Saturday night was lovely, we went to a hockey game (and they won!) and dinner and it was nice.

Wizard of Oz

2009-02-12T11:41:00.000-08:00

My sister who's in eighth grade was the scarecrow in the school production of the Wizard of Oz. I think she wanted Dorothy but she did a good job and naturally my mom roped me into helping out somehow and I took pictures for them.

Beautiful day

2009-02-10T12:46:00.000-08:00

It is warm and beautiful and I was shooting a business profile, thought these little dolls were cute though. I have one more class today and I'm so tempted to not go, it's too good of a day to sit inside and listen to a lecture for two hours.

Old concert photo

2009-01-26T13:15:00.000-08:00

I was always pretty fond of this.

Kid birthday parties

2009-01-23T17:32:00.000-08:00

I took an inexplicable last minute trip home and stumbled into my little sister's 14th birthday party, where the girls were all dressing up strangely and were eager to pose for a photo shoot.

Basketball

2009-01-19T13:04:00.001-08:00

Things I've gathered from shooting men's basketball:
1) The Izzone is insane and loud and always has their hands up.
2) Suton ALWAYS looks confused. However, he is a great basketball player.
3) I end up with a lot of shots of the backs of people's heads or just their backs in general, and most of the time they are not even in focus. These shots make up about half of my take.

My backyard

2009-01-18T17:12:00.000-08:00

Hey Robert

2009-01-17T18:31:00.000-08:00

More from Jasper

2009-01-14T17:28:00.000-08:00

I miss this place and this day.

Theme song

2009-01-14T17:14:00.001-08:00

Out of focus shots from Angie's car

2009-01-13T12:03:00.000-08:00

Faces

2009-01-13T11:59:00.000-08:00

Jasper

2008-12-27T17:06:00.001-08:00

Went down to the farm today, 70 degrees, windy and beautiful.

Christmas in Indy

2008-12-26T19:09:00.000-08:00

Some pictures I took from our trip downtown tonight.

Snowman

2008-12-19T11:29:00.000-08:00

Dad and Emma were building a snowman and playing in the snow and I took a few pictures before my camera battery died. I played with a couple different croppings of similar photos, I wasn't sure which I liked better.

It's late

2008-12-16T23:16:00.000-08:00

I was very eager to get out of Midland in the summer and I wasn't excited to go back last Friday and now I'm back in East Lansing and very happy. Ironically Angie is going to Midland this Friday right after I go back myself for a reunion of my high school journalism staff. I loved those kids a lot but I think I've moved on from my high school paper and it's going to be strange to see everyone again, because college changes people. I can't imagine what it will be like four years from now, but even a semester away from Midland can offer a world of change. The four days I spent at home ended up being a lot nicer than I expected but seeing people that still live in Midland and are just very naive as a result of living at their parents houses in a small white conservative town and going to community college made me remember why I was so desperate to get away from home. At the same time going back and going around town on my own I did remember that I appreciate it, it was a good place to grow up but the people will get to you after a while.

Tonight was a good night, watching Almost Famous which is always good no matter how many times you watch it and shooting hockey (we lost the game which apparently has become a pattern) and just being back in East Lansing. I've gotten really attached to here and I'm glad I'll be here for the next four or five or however many years it takes me to graduate. I love the people here. It's snowing a lot right now and I'm sitting in Angie's living room thinking about going to sleep but thinking about a lot of other things that will keep me from falling asleep for a while. My first semester at college went well and I love it here but there's a lot of things I need to do differently and I think it just takes time to learn about myself and living on my own and what my priorities need to be. I did some stupid things but a good friend told me at the beginning of the year to have no regrets and I'm not going to regret things, just learn from them.

Home

2008-12-15T07:36:00.000-08:00

Walking

2008-12-07T16:10:00.001-08:00

I've yet to find a better way to clear my head and properly sort my priorities than just going for a walk. People walk with a purpose too often. They walk to go somewhere or to get exercise but walking without caring where you're going can be really healing. I think I'm finally ready to go home, I need to to salvage old friendships that I neglected and let time heal some new ones. I watched the greatest movie I've ever seen today. The Go Getter. I highly recommend it.

Last day

2008-12-05T07:13:00.000-08:00

I'm getting ready to go shopping with Krystle for the gala tonight, preparing myself for all the craziness that surely will go on, and am completely stunned that this semester is actually over. Even though I've been called crazy by a significant amount of people for starting as a first semester freshman, I can't imagine my college experience going any other way, and I'm glad I won't have to kiss the wall for another four or five years. I'm happy to say the State News takes over my entire life, and it's going to be incredibly weird to not be walking into work every day for a month. It's going to be more weird not to see everyone I'm used to seeing daily.

It's even weirder to know that I've been in college for a whole semester. These few months went really, really fast, and I'm worried the next four years are going to fly by before I know what to do with myself. I'm going home in a week, which will be the strangest part of this whole end of the semester experience, but at least I'll get to see Mag every day. My life at home and my life here are entirely different, so I'm interested to what it's going to be like going back and settling back into my high school life for a month. Sure it will be nice to see people, but part of me just wants to move on and leave it behind. I guess I should stop trying to grow up so fast, because if things keep moving as quickly as they have been, they'll be gone before I have a chance to appreciate them. Cheesy, but true I suppose.

Natalie is just waking up and we're playing Meet Virginia and being silly and I'm also pretty bummed that just now that we're getting along wonderfully we're leaving each other for a month. It took this long to get settled in and now I'm leaving, and I'm sad about it. I guess spring semester will just be that much better.

Snow and cats

2008-12-02T10:52:00.001-08:00

Took the picture of the cats today while shooting a lady painting watercolors- she was lovely and her cats sat with her while she painted and it was really wonderful. The lady with the hood was waiting for the bus in the snow yesterday, I just thought it was pretty.

Dear Dave,

2008-11-28T14:52:00.000-08:00

Untitled from Gabrielle Moore on Vimeo.

Thank you for being awesome.

Thankful

2008-11-27T09:31:00.000-08:00

This guy works and lives at the mission. We talked about college and how he never got to go, and my aspirations of being a journalist. "Don't give up, look up," he said. I'm not much for religion, but he's right. Sometimes people like him are a lot wiser than people who have been to college for years. You can learn a lot from talking to people.

Heyy grandma.

I have a thing for feet, and Emma has cute shoes.

Even people in Indiana get to rely on the Lions to lose every year at Thanksgiving. Every year we go to the mission, every year the guys are watching the Lions, and every year they lose.

Not the best quality picture, but to me it's about capturing the moment.

Paparazzi shot?

The one thing I will always remember from volunteering at the mission is the purple door. My dad saw this shot and goes "oh nice doorknob picture!" but to me it's a symbol of the last however many years (I think we figured out it was 15?) going to the mission. How awesome is a purple door to a kid?

In the spirit of Thanksgiving, a chronological list of what I'm thankful for today:
__ my mom can cut hair! Not that the lady from Douglas J didn't do a good job, but my mom always knows how to fix a slightly botched haircut, just in time for Thanksgiving pictures.
__ Mario Party! Along with watching football, my family has huge, intense, excessively skilled Mario Party tournaments where Dave generally gets first and I generally get last.
__ hearing from friends at school and home. It's nice to know I'm not forgotten when I'm in Indianapolis and they're still calling or sending text messages.
__ football. I'm learning to love football, or at least be able to tolerate/understand it, and now I'm able to join in with my dad/grandpa/uncles/cousins on the annual watching football on Thanksgiving tradition.
__ the mission. It's amazing to spend time with all the homeless guys there, to hear their stories and get a chance to serve them Thanksgiving dinner. It's a little sad to see some of the guys year after year, but you know, most of them are happier than I am. They know how to live.
__ my family. Of course I have to say this, but even though I think they're crazy and I generally look forward to going back to school when I'm with them, I love them and I think it's awesome we get to spend our holidays with everyone.
__ the piano man. I love our tradition of driving home from the mission, Dave and I and sometimes the others serenading everyone with a very awful version of "Piano Man." Music makes things beautiful, even when it's not very good.

Christmas lights

2008-11-26T16:18:00.000-08:00

Natalie and I redecorated the dorm room- put up multi colored Christmas lights and the whole room glows and looks beautiful. It looks like Christmas and there's no other way to describe it. It's not Thanksgiving yet but this can be expected, Christmas showing up before the weather is even dropping below freezing. Well the weather is cold now and it's snowing out, and I suppose turkey day is close enough that Christmas songs and Christmas lights are now okay.

I've been sick for days, a terrible stomachache and chills, haven't been able to eat or sleep. Chris is sweet enough to spend time with me at night when I'm alone in the room feeling sick, last night he stayed until about midnight, laying with me until I fell asleep. It's nice to have somebody taking care of me like that. He was always really fascinated by the Christmas lights and kept playing with them last night- the reflections of the lights in his eyes would have made a really cool picture but he wouldn't let me take one.

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving and everyone is thinking about what they are thankful for- I think that right now I am thankful for growing up, living on my own and finding freedom. Of course I love my family, especially Dave, and seeing him is always the highlight of family vacations. He made a jack o' lantern this year that looks like a werewolf and burned me the new Of Montreal CD that he warned me not to listen to in front of my mother. He understands. She's his sister, after all. I'm thankful for him, for sticking up for me when my family gets on be about swinging liberal, and supporting things like gay marriage, abortion and Barack Obama. Tomorrow we will go to the mission and feed Thanksgiving dinner to the homeless people, and I will take pictures like I always do and meet awesome guys who will sit and listen to me brag about my stuffed elephant Peanut for hours (this happened when I was 7, okay?) and feel incredibly blessed not only to be as well off as I am but to get the chance to know these incredible people. I like that about photography, getting out there and sharing the stories of the common people who have amazing stories. Maybe I will bring along a video camera and make a little film about Thanksgiving at the mission.

This is beautiful

2008-11-21T21:31:00.000-08:00

Traveling

2008-11-15T17:16:00.001-08:00

My parents were the types that wanted their kids to see the world, and we did. It got kind of frustrating as a kid to never be around on weekends and breaks when all my friends were, but I was extremelly lucky to be able to travel as much as I did. I've seen so many places and a lot of it is what inspired me to write and take pictures and some of it, even, to be a journalist. I want to travel around the world, to be a journalist in third world, war torn countries and bring attention to the plight of those who need help. Sometimes you have to seperate being a good journalist and being a good person, but it doesn't mean you can't do good things as a journalist. I went on a mission trip once and realized that, due to my own lack of faith and confusion when it comes to God and things like that, I would never make a good missionary. My sisters will someday travel the world bringing the word of God to third world countries, but I've realized now that I'm going to travel the world bringing the stories of those people in the third world countries to the people that can do something to help. Because that's what journalism is all about, right? Storytelling.

There was a multimedia meeting the other day that made me think of that, and the topic of traveling comes up in that I'm going to Notre Dame tomorrow with the two soccer reporters to cover a woman's game. There's a chili cookoff for MPPA tomorrow and I'm bummed I'll miss my first MPPA thing, but the love of travel has been bred into me, even if it's just a day trip to Notre Dame. I'll enjoy it, I'm sure.

On another note, the quest to find myself is coming along slowly, but surely enough. Nights cooking chicken and pasta with good friends and riding bikes in the rain doesn't hurt. It's good for the soul. Everyone tells me I work too much, and I know it's true. I get so used to working constantly, to driving myself into the ground that these last few weeks, not being able to work has driven me crazy. I'm starting to work again and I like feeling needed, but I think in the time off I might have learned that spending a little time for fun and my mental health is never a bad idea.

The best mustache

2008-11-10T20:03:00.000-08:00

The other day, I got to work about 30 minutes before a shoot I had of the guy who supposedly had an awesome mustache. I got there intending to set up lights and such before he got there, but instead, I arrive to Hannah and Krystle talking in the photo room. Turns out, the mustache guy was already here waiting for me in the studio. Turns out that this guy has the best mustache in North America, and he's going to Germany to compete in the European mustache competition. I was a little worried about shooting a guy who's only attribute was his mustache in the studio, but it turned out great. He was a totally interesting person and he had all sorts of awesome stories about his mustache.

He got inspired to grow it in India, and once it grew out everyone would compare him to the Indian freedom fighter Bhagat Singh. Once at a bar in Indianapolis (which is awesome, because I have a lot of family there, so we talked about Indianapolis for a while) a guy asked to take a picture with him and bought him a beer. He told me he thought it was the first time a guy bought someone a beer and didn't want to get into their pants.

Fake blood

2008-11-10T09:46:00.000-08:00

Once in high school, a science teacher of mine told us that a new way to take blood, without needles, had been developed. Being one of those people who becomes queasy at the mention of blood and has to lay down in order to have blood taken at the doctor's office because I consistently pass out, I was interested. He proceeded to show us a clear substance that supposedly would draw the blood from your hand without any pain. I'm a natural skeptic, but I wanted to believe him, so I kept watching as he took his hand from the liquid after a minute then put it against a piece of paper that immediately turned bright red where his hand had been. I almost passed out before he started laughing. Of course it was all a joke using some variety of chemical reaction with the liquid and the paper.

I saw an advertisement for giving blood today and it made me think of that. I really wish I could give blood because I know how much good it does, but I have a hard enough time simply getting blood tests, so I can't imagine having to lay with a needle in my arm for several minutes. I feel like I should try to conquer my fear and do it anyway, but I'm no good to anyone if I pass out.