Track School Assignments

Week 10: 

life-giving
adjective
sustaining or revitalizing life

What revitalizes you? Think about it for a little, ponder on it.  One of our school leaders suggested we make a list at the beginning of the quarter of things that give us LIFE. They can be as big or as small as you wish.. possibly swinging, or having coffee with a friend, or maybe its laying on your bed eyes closed mediating on your favorite tunes, or "kitchen parties" (sitting on the kitchen floor, cup of tea in hand, having life-giving deep talks). I know those are definitely a few of mine :) I think something else that is life-giving for sure is adventure. Discovering something new, new place new culture. Since being in Brazil "life-giving" is my new favorite term :) Many times i'll be doing something and stop and think.. yeah.. this is soo life-giving :) :) Our school leader then challenged us to make sure we do one of our life-giving things every week, its only healthy ;) So I then want to challenge you, readers, to think about those little things that provide you with life. Those things that make everything feel right with the world haha. Find those little joys in life and run with them. Call them out when you are in a moment that is just so life-giving, when everything feels so right, and thank the Lord. For he above all else is life-giving until the end. His love and grace and friendship provides life like non other. He delights in these moments, and so should you ;) Make a list.. live life intentionally, and let your days bring you life.. 

 
Week Nine: 

This past weekend was the infamous Brazilian Carnival. Its a festival held 46 days before lent and festivities start in Sao Paulo for two then move onto Rio for two days. Carnival is made up of various Samba schools performing in parades that contribute to an overall competition. The participants are various ages from young children to elderly people. Thousands upon thousands participate and practice all year long for this one festival. And thousands of residents come out to watch, participate in side street parties, and dance along with the beat of the the samba drums. Everything stops for the week of Carnival and all businesses give a 5 day vacation. If your not participating in Carnival your most likely getting out of town and enjoying your week off. We noticed the emptiness of the city aside from the main Carnival events that were happening. Saturday night and Sunday most of us pulled all nighters and went out to a side festival parade that was happening from 10pm-5am. It was CRAZY and really cool to be apart of. I feel every day I need to pinch myself and remind myself that I am in Brazil haha and yes I am witnessing this countries most unifying event :) I'm thankful daily for the crazy life God has called me to. There were many busses arriving when we got there, each with a different Samba school inside and each school was decked out in crazy outrageous colorful costumes. It was a blast to photograph and me and two friends found an area off to the side of the main event, under a highway overpass where all the teams where joining to get ready and where they began the parade. It was so cool to be that close to everything and be able to photograph the performers and walk around between the rows of the actual parade. We got quite the access and it made for such a fun night :) 

Aside from the glitz and glamour of Carnival there is a dark and sad side to it. When you step back and take it all in you see the insane amounts of drunkenness.. the numerous beer cans laying on the ground..the performers drinking or taking in drugs before their turn is up.. you see the trash that litters the ground, the multiple used condoms, the left over smoke packs, the feathers and sequins that had fallen off costumes. I also noticed many homeless people going throughout the crowd picking up empty beer bottle in hopes of it bringing them some spare change. Carnival is beautiful in color, yes.. but the nature behind it, the sin and over indulgence, the sex appeal it thrives off of, and the large amounts of money that gets poured into such an event and the false Gods and religion that is being celebrated made me sad. There is still beauty, though, in the multiple generations that participate and the unity and community that such an event brings to this massive country. We had a photo essay assignment as well to do while at Carnival. In a whirl wind of a city and at a whirl wind of such an event I thought it would be appropriate to do a series on motion. To capture the movement of the dance, the busyness of the city, and the swirls of color dancing in rhythm around us. My vision was to get some images with the dancers in motion and slightly blurred, we well as one thing focused and still with motion around it.  To slow down the chaos and turn it into a blurred artistic swirl of colorful passion. To take a step back and stop or speed up what's going on. The first image posted is one from my essay.  

 Week Five:

 

This week has been busy, inspirational, frustrating, amazing, and every other emotion possible. It has by far felt like one of our busiest weeks always having to keep ourselves on our feet with assignments and making deadlines as well as the normal things like dish duty, team time, work duty, and getting out into the community. Our speaker this week is Brett Marshal from Kentucky. He graduated with a degree in photojournalism and is here this week to talk to us about photo stories. He challenged us with the assignment of completing a photo story on someone in the community, someone whose story we wanted to share. We are to spend time with them, build a relationship and even try and get into their home life and capture their everyday life as best we can. The language barrier made us all a little skeptical, could we really get that close to someone? Would they let a foreigner have access into their lives just to "take photos". The assignment is due in a week so its a short amount of time to get close to someone and have them trust you like that. I was unsure of what to do for my subject because I didn't feel I had met anyone with an incredible story of some sort that I wanted to tell. I've been wanting to photograph dancers and love the beauty and strength and angles in the art of dance, I secretly wish so badly that I could dance :) Layne told me of a dance studio a couple minutes away from us and I decided to go check it out and see if I could find a story there. I was met with luck instantly when I arrived because the instructor happened to be unlocking the doors and opening the studio for the day. She let me come in and I told her I was a photojournalist thinking of possibly doing a story surrounding dance. As I watched and photographed the classes that night I met two sisters who both have danced since they were young and are very passionate about the art. I also noticed the dedication and love Denise, the instructor, pours into her job and students. I'm excited to pursue a story here, whether I focus on the teacher or the sisters i'm still unsure of. Above and below are some photographs I took while spending time at the studio these past two days. 

Week Four:

The other day I decided to go out shooting alone. I went on a long walk along Imirim Av, one of the main roads that goes near our house.  Not finding anything to interesting, I took a side road and began photographing an old man loading up his cart with what appeared to be cardboard and trash. I was still craving for interaction.. to meet someone and that I could spend some time with.. listen to their story and learn their name. As I continued on I came across these two little girls playing with some sand in their driveway. I quietly crouched down and began photographing them. Watching their innocence and the simplicity of the activity they were partaking in.  The youngest soon recognized my presence and to my surprise immediately began to run towards me. The smile and joy on her face instantly brought a smile to mine. She was so open, so friendly, not even batting an eye at the fact that a stranger was at the edge of her driveway watching from a distance. I soon began to play with them, hug them, run my fingers through their beautiful black hair and photograph them. They chattered away to me in a language I sadly could not understand. I did manage to communicate my name and age and they did likewise.. Thamiris, 2 and Thais, 4. I had so much fun with these little girls and they loved me hanging out with them. Soon their dad and mom ventured out to see who their children were playing with. Such a sweet family of four.. originally from Bolivia, I believe, if I understood the father correctly. I plan on returning and visiting this family again with a translator so I can hear more of their story. The best part of my time there was when Thamiris, the youngest, ran back the alley to their house only to return with an old camera around her neck :) :) she mimicked me trying to photograph what was going on. It was adorable!! And made me smile so much :) :) I can't wait to go back and spend more time with this sweet family.

 

 
Week Three:

Yesterday was one of those days that makes for a great story in the end.. but in the moment it's not always going exactly how you'd like haha. Yesterday a few of us decided to head downtown to participate in the festivities of Sao Paulo's birthday :) Right as we stepped off the bus the dark clouds and wind gust that we know so well started settling in. As we walked to the park we could feel big drops randomly pelting our faces. Approaching the park we took notice of all the people hurriedly leaving and finding shelter, but for some odd reason we followed our guides and continued on :) The rain began coming down and we were stuck in this park with nothing but some trees to keep us dry. Shelter was to far away and we were trapped. The rain came down harder and harder and we were soon SOAKED as well as our bags (to our amazement our cameras stayed dry). I think that was partially due to the fact that a nice garbage man lent us a trash bag to cover our stuff with. Drenched and clutching our bags we ran until we found an overhang outside a museum in the center of the park where many others had gathered as well. Right as we got underneath the ran and wind picked up the CRAZY. A full fledged thunderstorm broke out. The overhang was not very sturdy and soon the one end began to break and water rushed through, for a moment we were all afraid the whole roof would collapse! Needless to say if made for a great memory as we ran soaked through the park holding our bags trying to seek shelter haha typical outreach moment. I love our lives :) The light afterwards was beautiful and I was able to capture the second picture, above, of that sweet girl enjoying the after effecst of said rain :)


Week Two:

looking back on these pictures I realized again why I love photography so much. :) You get to capture those everyday moments that otherwise go un-noticed. When you look around your eye begins to notice the girl dropping her cookies and the man reading the daily paper, moments that most walk by and miss.. you save it in a 4x6 respectable image compiled with numerous pixels that you can revisit and relive when ever you want. A frozen moment in time captured so as not to be forgotten.

I thought for my post would share some random things I've been learning lately. This might turn into me just rambling...  I've been learning what it mean to truly be a servant and I've been challenged by my wonderful teammates and those who work on this base that are 100 percent serving and willing to help out whenever necessary. I feel I've been slacking in that area since being here and it was one of my goals from the start to go into this track with a servant heart and being willing to help and lay aside my wants and needs.

I've been learning patience and love. Daily choosing to wake up and have joy even when the internet is out and you cant skype home, or your exhausted and still have 6 assignments to do. Choosing to love each other and not let my attitude get in the way of how treat people. We have so much to look forward to as a group as we walk through this journey together. The way God is going to mold us and shape us. The way we will grow and gain new vision for the future. Its at times terrifying and adjusting into the mindset that you aren't going home for awhile and the people you are with are your new friends and family for the next 18 month was harder than expected. I feel more at peace now though and I know if God has us all here, If he has chosen us, then he has amazing and incredible plans that we don't even know yet. As is says in Job "So the poor have hope, and injustice shuts it's mouth." (Job 5:16). And thats why we are here. To do just that, to capture moments like the ones above but most importantly to LOVE those people. To love and serve and take the time to listen above just getting a good picture. To communicate Jesus in our words and actions. To take time to sit and talk with someone that society has pushed aside and walked by day after day. And then.. to take their photograph and show them their beauty, their worth and the fact that yes, somebody does care.. I care.


Week One:

 

"When we are children we seldom think of the future. This innocence leaves us free to enjoy ourselves
as few adults can. The day we fret about the future
is the day we leave our childhood behind."   — Patrick Rothfuss

These photos reminded me of this beautiful quote. I loved just walking around the streets yesterday and interacting with the kids. They didn't speak much English but their actions, joy, and innocence, was that of any other child. I loved the simplicity of their past times; flying kites or kicking around a barely inflated soccer ball. I met two boys, who after trying to talk a bit, offered me a piece of grape bubble gum :) The best part was the tattoo on the inside. We shared many laughs over how to put the tattoo on..

me: "water?" 

boy: "usar agua!"

.. other boy, "No, No agua!" 

me.. "Agua? no?" 

haha in the end, with a little help from my new friends, I was able to make the tattoo stick :) The language barrier wasn't a problem for them. They wanted to talk and hangout, whether I could understand them or not.. 

In another alley, through motioning, I asked if I could kick a soccer ball with some boys. They seemed confused (maybe because i'm a white female, carrying a big camera haha asking to play soccer) but soon warmed up and we passed the ball back and forth for some time. The sky was overcast..the children were running the streets..and the joy of the Lord was radiating all around us.. mmhm, perfect.