The Meaning Behind the Art on the Body

I decided to do the series on tattoos because I felt it fit my skill level and tattoos often have deep meanings to the people who have them and I wanted to explore that. I did the pictures in three different sessions, one for each person. it was a good experience and I feel like I learned a lot about both my style and what it takes to prepare before actually taking the pictures and what goes into editing after we take them. Overall, I am proud of the series I’ve created.

 Leigh O’Brien has the goddess Hecate, on her arm, “That represents the crossroads, I got it during a time when I was changing.”
Jessica Hardesty has molecular formula of serotonin on her wrist, “I got my first tattoo on my 17th birthday. It was meant to symbolize happiness and emotional balance.”
Leigh O’Brien has one on her arm that reads “Hard to Swallow”, “The hard to swallow was drawn by a friend of mine and I got it on impulse.”
Rain Hubbell has two on her feet both with a deeper meaning. “The anchor reminds me to ground myself, Its based off the Teen Wolf quote, ‘be your own anchor’ and the 14 is my favorite characters lacrosse number on the show. The continue reminds me to keep moving forward and the ‘i’ is actually a semi-colon for mental health awareness.”
Leigh O’Brien has one on the back of her arm, that reads “How lucky we are to be alive right now”. “This one is a line from Hamilton in my mom’s handwriting, its my first and favorite tattoo.”

The Before and the After of the Election

The 2020 presidential election marks the first election where most college students can vote for president. The students of Central Michigan University in Mount Pleasant, MI are eager to make their voices heard the first chance they get, by voting themselves and encouraging their peers to do the same. Walking to the Bovee University Center on Election Day many students would pass Ckret Stokes, John Caufiled, and Grace Ray as they gave out information on voting and the polls, made sure their fellow students voted, and campaigned for Joe Biden.

Campaigning openly for one of the presidential candidates didn’t go over well with everyone, Grace Ray talked about how some members of the Republican organization on campus, “They came by and told us that we were going to get shut down, but we were here all day yesterday and they haven’t yet.”

Of course, the aftermath of the election is just as important some students like Jacklyn Kempisty, Chloe Flatlety, and Leigh O’Brien gather together to watch the votes come in live. while doing homework they always have a tab open in the background showing the Electoral College so far.

Central Michigan University students, in order from left to right, Ckret Stokes, John Caufiled, and Grace Ray across from the Fabiano Botanical Gardens and encouraging passers by to vote on Tuesday, November 3rd, 2020.
Vowles Elementary School became the polling place for many people in Mt. Pleasant, MI on Tuesday, November 3rd, 2020.
Roommates, Chloe Flatley, in the black hat, Jacklyn Kempisty, and their friend Leigh O’Brien anxiously watch as the votes are counted in their state of Michigan, the day after the election, Wednesday, November 4th, 2020.
Leigh O’Brien, 20, takes a break from homework to check in on the votes being counted for the presidential election, on November 4th, 2020. She watches in concern as her home state of Michigan wavers in between red and blue.

Article and Photos by, Rain Hubbell

Getting Ready for the Perfect Night Needs a Little Help.

After Weeks of preparation the day of Heather’s wedding finally came, but there was still much to do. On a day this special doing hair, makeup, getting dressed all need a little help. Heather wanted her dress, “So tight, I can’t breathe” and that’s how she had it. Alex and Heather Smith finally got to tie the knot on October 3rd, 2020.

Hairdresser, Jacqueline Yother putting the finishing touches on Bride, Heather Smith’s hair as she pins in her crown on October 3rd, 2020. Heather loves color and also added pink flowers into her braid.
It takes three pairs for hands to get Heather tied into her wedding dress. From left to right, Her mother, Dawn Miller, maid of honor, Shawna Roskoski, and the mother of the groom, Karen Smith, all work together to make sure her dress is tied tight enough so it stays all night, October 3rd, 2020.
Maid of honor, Shawna Roskoski helps Heather into the cowboy boots she will be spending the rest of her wedding night of on October 3rd, 2020 in. She had three different shoe options and decided against the more traditional heels.

The Process of Making a Picture

The hardest part of this video for me was definitely coming up with a video idea. My first idea was to do it on my dog Brandi, who’s blind but that didn’t work out because I couldn’t take her for a walk and film me walking her at the same time. My second idea was to make banana bread, but I had the same issue when I was trying to mix ingredients in the bowl because I couldn’t hold the bowl, mix them, and fill at the same time.

I often go for walks with my best friend Laney and she commented that I should take pictures for her because she never has enough pictures to post. And I haven’t had anything to take pictures of for weeks, so I agreed. And about 10 minutes before our walk, I decided that I should do my video on the creative process of making a picture. Laney was nice enough to let me interview her, she doesn’t like being in videos, but she agreed because, “I don’t know anyone in your class, so it doesn’t matter”.

Some background that might be helpful is, in the video Laney mentions a picture where I’m removing the bench. this picture is one where I took a picture of her sitting on a bench and I used Photoshop to get rid of the bench in the background and place her in another picture. The point wat to try to make it look like she was floating. I had never done that before and I also had a video of me editing that picture, but it was too long to keep in this video. I did, however, put the picture, along with a couple of others in the credits.

I don’t think I got nearly enough videos of me taking the pictures I think that was because I didn’t really plan out what I was going to do too much beforehand as I only knew that I was videotaping a couple of minutes before I left. If I were to do this again, I would definitely get more of a variety of videos and angles and such.

I think that I could have done a better job with this video, but with the little time that I did it in, I’m actually really proud of it. it’s super simplistic but in a good way.