On the 4th of July, Megan and I took off amongst all the traffic between Boone and Blowing Rock (due to the celebrations at Tweetsie Railroad) and arrived at the Blowing Rock Country Club for a picnic and fireworks. The fireworks were huge - we were right underneath them and I actually had to turn my camera sideways to get the fireworks completely in the shot. Fireworks are custom to July 4th celebrations, as any American knows, and they never cease to make me feel like a child again. Hope everyone was safe in their own celebrations!

As my roommate Megan and I were working on our new farmhouse in Vilas with a few friends, I rushed upstairs to scrub another layer of paint off of my hands before returning back to trimming the edges of the stairway in green. I immediately grabbed my camera, turned back around, and yelled quick instructions for everyone to drop their paint brushes and get outside. My room, as I'd found it, was being lit with the most amazing orange-purple light and I knew, without looking, that there would be an amazing sky awaiting us. We stared at the colors of the sky and the setting sun until they all faded to a deep blue and we got back to brightening our living room from a once dirty cream into our own blue, a bright, beachy hue to serve as our getaway from work and school.

My roommate Sheila and I took her dog, Forest, for a walk on campus a couple of weeks ago when she came up to visit. We started out in Durham Park before walking all the way through campus to King Street to grab some dinner at Our Daily Bread. Everything was in full bloom, proving to me once again how lucky I am to go to school at the most beautiful university in North Carolina. Walking to class amidst the mountains never gets old. Well, except for maybe in the sometimes subzero temperatures of winter. I actually took these on my little Sony Cybershot, which never fails to give me great pictures for a point and shoot.

As I walked home from class on April 15, I found that there were carloads upon carloads of people flooding the Hardees parking lot. I grabbed my camera and wandered over to find a modern-day Boston Tea Party-esque protest taking place. These tea parties took place all across the country to speak out against what some deem unfair taxes and the new government and it's policies, specifically the stimulus package. Though I couldn't stay long due to inclement weather, I did stand and listen on the porch for a while before finding myself in too much discrepancy to linger and hear more.

These are from a little over two weeks ago, the same night Adrienne and I shot portraits on the train tracks. I wish I could remember this guy's name - I'll try my best to track it down - but he just started to spin fire for what seemed to be no apparent reason other than to entertain everyone while simultaneously giving me a chance to catch some cool photos. Fire spitting is up next! Anyone?
I vow to have more photos up on my site gallery soon of this and many other events, but I have to spend the next week or so moving, so bear with me while I get everything situated.

For the past two weeks, Major Magick has performed at Koncepts Hookah Lounge. It's a small venue, but it's always packed and the atmosphere is truly one of a kind, even for Boone. The lounge's lighting is very odd for shooting photos, so the set here is only from this past week's performance as I finally grasped some concept of what needed to be done in order to get any photos at all. Stephon LaMar, the lead singer of MM, opened with a solo set and his music can be heard here, while John Harris did all of the lighting - a name that should be familiar if you read this earlier blog entry of mine.

My friend Adrienne and I went and shot some photos on the train tracks beside a mutual friend's house during a cookout. I took these on her Canon, but any editing of the color, etc. of the photos was done by Adrienne before I got a hold of them. I arranged them after I got them, of course, but half of the credit should go to her! She took some photos of me as well that are fabulous and I'll link to them as soon as I get that information from her. Enjoy - it's rare someone actually sits down and lets me do portraits.