A few weeks prior to semi-formal I went home with Emily for the first time and stayed with her and her family. I wanted to practice my photography skills so she took me to Old Salem. She was amazing and let me take pictures of her. This was by far my favorite of the day. She climbed in a tree and I handed her Bible to her and told her to open it and read. This was the picture that came out and I love it.
This picture was taken with a Minolta 35 mm film camera using black and white film. I love the anticipation of waiting to have my film developed to see how the images turn out. Hopefully after Christmas, I'll have a digital SLR and I can see my images after I take them! So excited!!I've been doing a lot of driving this semester going back and forth from Lexington, Raleigh, and home. I catch my self looking at old pack houses and tobacco farms and just wishing I had a digital camera to pull over and take some pictures and I'm really looking forward to that. I'm not real sure what sparked my interest in photography. I think it would be the fact that after having many discussion with Alex about his passion for hunting and being outdoors, I realized that I didn't have anything like that. My dad was a photographer when he was younger and has been teaching me some about film photography and letting me have his old Minoltas, which have been tons of fun to learn on. Since my dad is my favorite person ever, I figured this is something I could get into. I plan on using his old neck strap from when he did photography. It makes me so happy to think I get to use the same thing my dad used and have the same passion my dad had.
For Thanksgiving this year I spent time with both sides of the family. I had lunch with my mom's side of the family and then I spent the afternoon and evening with my dad's side of the family. It was great to see family that I haven't seen in a few months and spend some time catching up and enjoying the Holiday.
Now, for the interesting title. My boyfriend is absolutely amazing and over the past eight months (WOW! I can't believe it's been 8 months) he has taught me so much about life and myself. Alex just has something about him. He's always so positive. Surprisingly this created some interesting conversations when we first started hanging out, he had this "Utopia World" where everything is perfect and nothing is ever wrong. He is constantly encouraging me and sees the best in everything. He has taught me that there is no need to constantly worry about life and the future; what happens happens. Ce la vie. He has also taught me some tangible things. About a month ago he took me hunting for the first time. Now I know that was difficult for him because I know I was loud and yes, bored (sorry babe!). It makes me so happy when he teaches me stuff and I know I'm not the easiest person to teach things to. Last time I went to his house he took me out in the back yard and taught me how to shoot a 22. I did pretty good for my first time. Hopefully I can move up to something a bit bigger next time. Also, Alex taught me how to drive his truck which is a stick shift. I definitely stalled out the very first time, but I kept trying and eventually got the hang of it! I have to say driving up a hill is rather difficult. We were able to share quite a few laughs during our time together and I'm going to miss him this week while he is in Florida.
