my very first website. :)

 For my final i created and published a website. You can find it at http://web.me.com/beccahaskell/Rebecca_Haskell_Photography/Home.html. I also did a photo essay over my Great Grandmothers home. 

              

     

lighting up the night

I did a long exposure using bulb on manual to allow my refrigerator to light up the whole room. 

my fridge and sitting area.

this is an HDR that i did of downtown Kilgore. This is an example to show i understand HDR.

Evan Abramson

So i recently had this light bulb moment where i realized i want to be a documentary photographer one day. that title had never crossed my mind, but now the more i think about it the more it explains my exact goals with photography. i then began looking up "documentary photographers" on google. by chance i came across a photographer that could possibly become one of my all time favorites! His name is Evan Abramson and he is also a documentary photographer, working for names like national geographic and the new york times. His work is inspiring and is exactly what i want to do in the future. He just goes out on assignment and exposes the culture of other nations through photos. He has photographed different tribes in africa and even shot a film over the wet lands in southern Louisiana slowly dissapearing. The below image is him

photographing the hatians and the after affects of the tsunami. All of his images are beautiful and so full of life. I hope one day produce images of such great quality. I am now going to be searching google for photographers more often.

Final Exam

I've chosen to photograph the Commerce Food Pantry for my final. I want to tell others about the opportunity to serve others in the Commerce community. I went last week for the first time and plan on going again. 

this is my favorite photo out of the more than 50 I took. this is the storage closet that is full of cambell's chunky soup that was donated at the beginning of the year. 

this is the entrance of the organization. the thursdays that i help work there is always a line out of the door of people waiting to receive their bag of free food. I plan on re-taking the same photo because the lighting in the photo is just too plain and boring.

Artist Statement and Resume

About Me

I hope to one day share with those back home who are clueless about the needs around the world. My goal is to use my photography as a ministry for others to get involved and give back to those less fortunate. I want to make in impact on peoples lives, and to be able to share the love of Christ through the simplicity of a powerful photograph. 

Resume

Texas A&M University - Commerce 

                 Spring 2011 - Present

                      Bachelors of Fine Arts

                      involved with:

                            Art Club

                            Baptist Student Ministry, Local Missions Leader

                            Commerce Food Pantry, Volunteering every Thursday evening 

        Kilgore College

                 Fall 2008 - Fall 2010

                    Worked towards an Associates in Commercial Photography

                    involved with:

                         The Flare Newspaper, Staff Photographer

                         The Ranger Yearbook, Editor

                          Baptist Student Ministry, Leadership Team Member

                  

                        While a student at KC my work was shown in the Anne Dean Turk Fine Arts Gallery             

                                    and the Mathew Dean Johnson Gallery.

        Tatum High School 

                  2004 - 2008

                        Graduated 12th out of 99 with a 96 GPA 

                            involved with:

                                Fine Arts Forum, President

                                Key Club

                                Future Farmers of America

                                Eagle Yearbook, Assistant Editor, Head Photographer

Employment

 Kilgore College Police Department 

                 Spring 2009 - Fall 2010

                    Student Worker    

                    Job Details: dispatch, office secretary, printed student ID’s, issued parking stickers

127 Hours

This past week i had time to sit down and watch movie for the first time in weeks. A friend chose the movie 127 hours. I've seen a lot of movies in my life time and few have left me wanting more. This movie is brilliant and inspiring. It's a movie i would probably never own because once you've seen it, you've seen it all but i've spent the past day watching video's on youtube to learn more about the guy. The movie is a documentary on the life of Aron Ralston, a guy who chose to go hiking in the canyons of southern Utah and not tell anyone where he was going. After being out there on his own for 4 hours he starting climbing down into one of the crevasses. He put all of his weight on one of the boulders not realizing that it was unstable, causing his arm to be lodged between the canyon and boulder. After 6 days and drinking his own urine he realized he had to do whatever it took to survive, which meant cutting off his arm. With a 2 inch dull bladed pocket knife his pieced his skin and cut each tendon and even the nerve. Watching him in different interviews gave me a  respect for the guy like no other. Seeing him describe the feeling of being free after 6 days gave me chills and i suggest that everyone go and watch it.

website ideas

i'm starting a website mainly because it's a class assignment but i'm also really excited about this. To make a website of my own for the first time, so i'm taking this project serious in hopes that i like the outcome. Here are a few examples

Student Show

After viewing all of the student show there was a lot that caught my eye and that i thought was brilliant. At the same time though, i also didn't understand why some of the art made it in the show especially some of the photographs. I loved the different dresses that made the show, the originality of the tree and skates outfit. My favorite was the photo i've posted of the older man. My personal intrest is black and white photography, so this picture from the beginning drew my attention. I feel as if it's from an old Life magazine. This photo calms me and i could just stare at it for a while. The photographer did a great job at capturing emotion.  

cubism

TOMS: One for One

In April of 2009 I bought my very first pair of TOMS shoes. Almost two years later and I now own three pair and hope to be buying a new pair soon. I'm not the kind of girl who likes to go shopping or spend a lot of money on clothes but when it comes to TOMS shoes I always seem to make an exception. Buying them can become an addiction much like getting a tattoo. I buy TOMS because i'm inspired by the story behind why they got started. It all started with this guy named blake who was on the t.v. show called the amazing race. During blake's journey through the show he realized how many kids in other countries were going without shoes and were dying because of a simple foot disease. As of September 2010. TOMS has given over one million pairs of new shoes to children in need through Giving Partners around the world. The picture here is the new pair of TOMS that I hope to buy soon.

Rize up

"I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up" - MLK

how do we define a language?

We use language as a way to communicate with one another. In the movie Rize, dance is their language.  In the south side of L.A. where violence is an every day occurance, Tommy the clown chose to create a new form of language. The language of Krump.

how do we define art?

In today's society anything is can be considered art, it's all in the eye of the beholder. Tommy and his gang of clowns used the art of dance as a way to release their anger. "this is how we express ourselves, this is what makes us feel like we belong." - dragon

how does this relate to me?

Like the clowns i too use many different forms of communication when communicating with different people. The clowns use dance a a form of art to express themselves, while i use photography as a way to make me feel like i belong. 

Shawn Mcdonald

where ever i go whether it's walking to class, in my car, or just sitting in my apartment i'm always listening to music. During the fall semester of 2008 i attended my first concert, where i got to see Shawn Mcdonald perform along side Jake Smith. A few years have past and that concert is still my favorite. When performing live Shawn uses only his voice, guitar, harmonica, and sometimes an electric violin. On March 18th he released his 5th album "closer" which i purchased off of itunes this past week. These are two images that i took while sitting on the front row of his concert more than two years ago. 

pan views

Panoramic images taken on spring break in South Padre Island. 

Mumford and Sons

Lately i have been listening to new music suggested through various friends. well numerous times i heard people talk about mumford and sons. so one day i decided to create a mumford and sons station on pandora while working on homework. that was about a month ago and now i love their music. it's totally different than other music i'm interested in and a few of my friends don't quite understand my interest in the band, but i like the old look they have. they recently performed on the grammy's along with 3 other bands and sounded amazing. their most popular song that has even hit the radio's top forty is called "little lion man."                                                  
http://www.mumfordandsons.com/

advice to young artists in a postmodern era.

Talent, Itelligence, and Art... The author goes on to talk about how our society tends to perceive those who are intelligent as though who occupy their time with so-called intelligent pursuits. He gives a few examples then goes on to talk about the differences between intelligence and genius. When talking about tallent he decribed a story that i found really entertaining. A story about a tennis player who would talk out loudly to their opponet about the strengths, then the player would start to focus on how they do that particular move. Focusing on that would affect their game and would cause them to lose the game. I just found this interesting because i know how hard things can be at times once you lose your focus. Near the end of the chapter he goes into description on conformists, anticonformists, and non conformists. I would like to consider myself a non-conformists but most like most of the time i am a conformists.




Reading-and Reading Right... this chapter taught me a lot on the importance of reading. How you can improve your IQ score just by reading a higher level book. A test was done on 2 students that had the same IQ score, one began reading a lower IQ level book while the other read a book at a higher level than their own. Over time the second student's IQ score changed and became a higher number while the other student's lowered due to reading a lower level book. Reading this has encouraged me and given me the urge to start reading again. I have never been one to want to read when i have down time, but i'm hoping and working towards changing that. I have a book shelf of books that friends have given to me or suggested that I buy to read. Also, knowing that my IQ can increase just by a higher level reading material is another incentive.

my lovely discoveries

Over the past 3 years i have fallen in love with the musician JJ Heller. She along with her husband Dave create a folk sound created with just the guitar and occasional harmonica. As i big fan of hers i follow her on facebook and recently discovered her blog. I have never been one to follow or even have a blog, this is my first. But i love reading her posts, she posts about yummy recipes, her new garden, outfits she sews for her daughter Lucy, and much more. http://thelovelylittlethings.blogspot.com/

 

Another lovely discovery came while shopping with a friend at First Monday in Canton this past Friday. My friend Chelsea and I went through several different clothing booths during that day and realized more than half of them were now carrying a new clothing line. It's a new line called Blue Bird, it's a vintage look. I really like each peice of clothing we saw but it was all just a little out of my price range ( which is cheap.) While looking up more about the clothing and where I could possibly buy it at a cheaper price I discovered the designer's blog. http://bleubirdvintage.typepad.com/

me multiplied!

 me trying to  imitate the Beatles on Abbey Road.

Zoey and Trinity