Bio Bit: Ansel Adams

The Power to Move: Ansel Adams

"When words become unclear, I shall focus with photographs. When images become inadequate, I shall be content with silence." - Ansel Adams

Weekly Photo Tips

Imagine an earthquake, raw and powerful. Imagine the shear intensity of it making the ground roll like the sea and the buildings come crumbling down all around you. Imagine being thrown to the ground, as helpless as a rag doll at the mercy of its ferocity. Ansel Adams didn’t have to imagine this, it was a vivid memory from his childhood that he had experienced. He even wore the crooked nose from being slammed into a stone wall as a reminder of it for the rest of his life. As powerfully as the land had moved him physically that day in 1906, nature continued to move his soul just as powerfully from that day on. Born on Feb. 20, 1902, Ansel Adams spent most of his childhood as a loner. Rejected from several schools because he was hyperactive and troublesome, he was tutored at home by his father and aunt. A naturally shy child, Ansel had few friends and instead found companionship in nature. Every day he would hike and explore the untamed wilderness surrounding the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. In 1916, after hiking through Yosemite National Park, taking pictures with the Kodak No. 1 Box Brownie camera that his parents had given him, Ansel Adams came back a changed man. The sweeping rock formations and awe inspiring heights and waterfalls of that place had sparked in him a new passion; one for both nature and photography. He began to teach himself different techniques and built up experience with the camera through experimentation. The black and white pictures of Western American lands that he took began to catch people’s attention and he began to make a good living off of the money that he earned selling prints. Joining a group of environmentalists, Ansel Adams began to promote different causes through his photography, raising awareness of the beautiful lands that were slowly being destroyed.

The Ansel Adams Gallery

As photography became more and more recognized as a fine art form in the 1960s, Ansel Adams’s work was displayed in several major art museums across the country. To the very end of his life, Ansel maintained a deep love and respect for nature, and especially for Yosemite National Park where the story all began. Every year he would go back to that park and spend time hiking and photographing its raw and powerful beauty until his death in 1984. From the earthquake that shook Ansel Adams when he was young to his photography that still moves us now, nature has been a strong moving force throughout this man’s life.

Bibliography

"Ansel Easton Adams." Bio. A&E Television Networks, 2014. Web. 29 Aug. 2014.

"Ansel Adams Biography." Our Mission. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Aug. 2014.

Fright in the Night

Lying on the couch, the evening outside begins to darken to night. I am surrounded by Kleenexes, journals, my Bible and my phone and wrapped up in my red snow flake covered blanket. Whenever you see me wrapped up in that blanket outside of my own room, that most likely means that there's something physically or emotionally wrong with me. Today, it's physical as I cough and shiver, fever raging. Mom has left for a youth group leader meeting and I've sent Little Sister to go get ready for bed, which I hope she's doing. Finally, with both of them gone and my college work finished despite my cloudy mind, I am free to turn on the T.V. and watch Last Man Standing. Not very far into the first episode, I notice outside a quick flash lighting up the trees. My first thought is that it's lightning. I think it odd that a storm is starting when the air doesn't feel that way and it had just been clear outside as the sun was setting. Still, I give it little thought and turn my attention back to the T.V. Once again a white light slides through the tree branches and I realize it can't be lightning; it's moving to steadily and lasting too long. This time I pass it off as someone's headlights, coming from the street over. In a few moments, though, I hear a rap on our front door. Great, I think, I don't feel like answering the door! Still, I get myself up off the couch, leave my red blanket behind and hope that I can put on a good act and not look sick. At the top of the stairs, I peer down through the screen door's window into the darkness. The fact that our door is wide open doesn't make me feel very easy. Also, I can't see anyone or anything standing there. Suddenly, everything about this situation doesn't feel right to me. Heart starting to speed up slightly, I decide to go tell Little Sister about it, to ease my jitters. There are no other lights on in the house besides in the room that I was in, and I walk through the darkness with even steps, knowing full well that if I run that'll give my imagination free reign to give chase with terrible monsters coming out of every dark doorway. Thankfully I can see the light coming out from underneath our shared bedroom's closed door when I get there. Trying the door knob, I find that it's locked and realize that Little Sister must be getting changed. Being locked out in the darkness with a growing sense of dread makes me begin to slowly panic. With one finger I rap three times on our door. "Let me in." I say softly. When there's no response, I impatiently rap again. "Let me in! Common, open the door!" More loudly this time. My heart is starting to speed up and I glance behind me into the darkness. "I gotta get in! Let me in now! Seriously!!" Finally the door opens slowly and I leap inside like a scared rabbit just as I catch a glimpse of that same light... on the wall next to me... inside the house!

I slam the door shut and lock it again. Little Sister is standing there, frightened by the fear on my face. The door handle is tried on the other side... someone is trying to get in. Frantically I look around the room, trying to decide on a course of action. If we stayed there, there was no telling what might happen. Our door is flimsy and could easily be forced open. My eyes fall onto our fire escape window, the one with no attachments so that it could be popped out easily with a turn of a lever. The knob is rattled more violently; whoever is out there is angry. Rushing over to the window, trying to keep my breathing regular, I throw all my decorations on the window sill to the ground and flip the lever. The window doesn't come out at first. A fist slams on our door. 
"Tina..." Little Sister's starting to cry. 
"shhh!" I tell her harshly. I give the window a good bang with my fist and it falls with a thud onto the grass below. "Quick, go out the window. When you land, don't resist the impact, tumble to your knees and roll." I urgently try and teach her all that I can remember about taking a landing without getting hurt as I help boost her up. Little Sister is clinging to the window frame, too scared to jump. "Go now!" A boot kicks once, twice. The door begins to splinter. She finally lets go and disappears out the window. I hear her land, she cries out a little in pain. I get up into the window, feet dangling over, "move out of the way!" I yell down at her, then, taking a deep breath, I shove myself out into the air just as the door behind bursts open with a loud crash. I land feet first from the second story jump. Letting my knees give out, I absorb the impact with my whole body, rolling off my shoulder. Shakily I get up right away and locate Little Sister standing in the dark crying. My knees hurt from the impact, but I try an ignore it. "Are you alright?" I ask her, she shakes her head yes. I cough, head suddenly spinning with my fever. "We’ve got to get out of here." I grab her hand and begin to drag her along as I stumble through the darkness of the night. The grass is cool to my bare feet, but several twigs and stones dig into them as well. Thankfully, I've developed tough feet from running around our large field bare foot all the time and I don’t slow down. We run through the circle of trees that's on the edge of our yard, heading to our closest neighbor’s house. That same bright flashlight falls on us from our window, casting our shadows wickedly black in its cold hard light on the ground. Fearing that whoever it was had a gun, I yell at Little Sister while letting her go "run in zig zags! Don't run straight!!" I stumble for cover behind a tree, then dart to another one to my left. And then...

Okay, so that last bit was actually me spicing the adventure up a bit the next morning with just a little imagination. What really happened after I leapt inside our room, and told Little Sister about the knock on the door, was that her reaction was like "oh, that's the neighbor girl and her friend. I heard them laughing and talking outside." This made sense to me, and as I went and looked through my books on the bookshelf to help calm my nerves, a sharp noise came at our window. I glanced at Little Sister and now she looked a little unnerved. That same bright flashlight shone directly into our window and danced around a bit. Below, I could hear the two little girls giggling. 
"It's just a rock." I explained to her and began to leave. 
"Why would they do that?" She asked. In the doorway I leaned back into the room with a smirk on my face. 
"To get our attention. Like a guy does to get a girl's attention without waking up her parents in the old days." Then I left.

Photos Public Domain

Sunday Social: VI

1. What are you most looking forward to about Fall?

Fall is one of my favorite times of the year, I always look forward to Thanksgiving. And now that I'm out in the country I am enjoying fields and fields of corn ready to be harvested and am excited to watch them be slowly eaten up by combines. I'm also looking forward to my first year of college,  and finding out what this new chapter of my life and friendships will hold.

2. What is your favorite sports team?

Honestly, I've not been into sports that much, and never very loyal to any team. Not until I started going to the local high school sports, that is. So, although it's no famous team or anything, my favorite sports team is the Wolverine's, where the players are my friends and cheering the team on becomes way more exciting than just yelling at the T.V.

3. If you could go back to college is there one thing you would change?

Well, that is yet to be found out, isn't it? And since I take a view of life that everything, including the failures and mess ups, makes you who you are and helps you get to the point in life that you're at, I usually don't want to change anything in the past. If I could, there's no telling who or where I'd be right now! Since I'm extremely happy with where I am, that's quite a scary thought

4. What was your favorite class you ever took? HS or College

So far, I'd have to say it was my screenwriting course that I took in high school.

Barnes & Noble

5. Reach into your purse what is the first thing you grab?

*Digs into the main pocket of purse; a plastic wrapper crinkles, something rattles* Ta-da! A small little booklet with the title "Comforting Thoughts." It's a free thing I picked up at a garage sale somewhere, filled with little poems about God's beauty and how He carries us through the hard times.

Bio Bit: Gene Stratton-Porter

Here is my very first Bio Bit. Every week I will be writing a short bio for that week's "person of interest." This one was a trial run before my actual school starts, to try and get my mind into the researching and writing mindset. And without further adieu...

A Woman Ahead of her Time: Gene Stratton-Porter

 "What you are lies with you. If you are lazy, and accept your lot, you may live in it. If you are willing to work, you can write your name anywhere you choose, among the only ones who live beyond the grave in this world, the people who write books that help, make exquisite music, carve statues, paint pictures, and work for others. Never mind the calico dress, and the coarse shoes. Work at you books, and before long you will hear yesterday's tormentors boasting that they were once classmates of yours." - Gene Stratton-Porter, A Girl from Limberlost

indianahistory.org

Author, photographer, naturalist, entrepreneur, Gene Stratton-Porter was often referred to as a woman ahead of her times. Living a lifestyle quite in contrast to the typical house wife of the time, Porter followed her love for nature and helped ignite some of her passion in our own hearts. Born in the farming country of Wabash County in 1863, Geneva Grace Stratton was the youngest of twelve siblings. From the very beginning her father, who was a part-time preacher, taught Gene that plants and animals were gifts from God and were to be valued. In her early childhood, nature was her classroom and she had very little formal education. After her mother died her family moved to the city where Gene attended high school all the way up to the last semester before graduation; she was frustrated with the ridged public education system and dropped out. Grown up and married to Charles D. Porter and having one daughter, Gene was unlike other women in that she spent a large amount of her time out of the house, exploring the Limberlost swamp that they lived on. This swamp was described as being a “treacherous swamp and quagmire, filled with every plant, animal and human danger known — in the worst of such locations in the central states.” But Porter fell in love with the wild land. She would go out and explore often, always carrying with her a camera and a gun; the camera to shoot birds and plants with, and the gun to shoot poisonous snakes. Gene studied the plants and birds extensively, writing several scientific essays that were published in magazines. Her photography was also featured in several nature magazines. 

Gene's log cabin she designed herself in Limberlost kpcnews.com

Eventually, Porter decided to begin writing novels, all set in places very similar to the land she lived on and loved, including The Girl of Limberlost. Her novels became widely popular, and in her later years, as the swamp was drained, she moved to California and opened her own movie industry and had several of her novels made into movies. In a time when every woman was expected to stay close to home and simply tend to house making, Gene Stratton-Porter stands out as someone who chose to stay true to who she was, despite the fact that it was different from the culture’s norms, and through her bravery to pursue what she loved she has inflamed our hearts with the same love that she had for the beauty of nature through her stories and photography.

Bibliography

"Indiana State Museum and Historic Sites • Rental Information." Indiana State Museum and Historic Sites. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Aug. 2014.

"Gene Stratton-Porter." Indiana Historical Society. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Aug. 2014.

A New Adventure

Self-education. Homeschooled College. Studying at home. Whatever way I put it, most people still need me to go into further explanation. It’s just that the fact that someone is going down the no college road while still studying on their own is so uncommon that it takes a while to fully register that it’s not online classes or state regulated in any way. It’s just me, a bunch of books and online resources and a desire to learn. I’ve been my own teacher since 7^th grade, so it’s not an intimidating idea for me, it’s really quite exciting. I’m calling my school Auto-Logartis College, or ALC. I figured if I had an official sounding name, people might take it more seriously. Some of the subjects I’ll be studying are photography, storytelling, screenwriting, small business and a few others. Since I was little, I pretty much knew that college wasn’t something for me. Like in so many other areas of my life, I’ve felt a need to discover my own unique path for further education rather than following the society norm. A couple people who are really inspiring to me as I am on the verge of starting this new adventure are Ray Bradbury and Steve Jobs. Ray Bradbury, because he couldn’t afford to go to college, said he instead spent 3 or 4 hours at his library every day. Steve Jobs dropped out of college and later admitted that it was probably the best thing that he’s ever done. He instead “ghosted” the classes that he wanted to (sat in on them without being officially enrolled) and didn’t have to waste his time doing any of the required elective classes. Although I know it’ll take a lot of self-discipline, I’m really looking forward to stretching myself creatively to come up with stimulating assignments and exciting ways to learn. And that brings me to this blog; as a way to get my work “out there,” since there’ll be no other students or teachers to share my work with, I’ll be posting various projects and papers that I do in ALC onto here! So in a way this blog will temporarily become my virtual classroom! But don’t worry, it won’t be boring (I don’t think) and I’ll still make some regular posts on here as well. Here’s to an exciting new school year and limitless learning!