Katie's Blog

Behind the Scenes of LB Films Production LBCC’s Film Club on November 13th began their brainstorming process for their next short film. There are no competitions for them to enter for the month of December, so they are using this film to better everyone's skills around filmmaking. There is going to be three directors for each of the three films. Each director will have their own genre assigned to their film to be inspired by. This will also allow them to put a spin on the fixed scenario that every director will work off of. The genres they decided on are drama, romance and comedy. Every director needs to include the same one line of dialogue, “I only did it one, I promise,” and they have to interact with a pen at least one time to give the scenes some similarities to each other. LBCC’s Film Club members (from right to left) Jakob Jones, Kaitlynn Hughes, Konoha Tomono-Duval, and Byron Drenning on November 20 performed their first table read of the comedy director...

Topic 1 This photo of The Macks is my favorite photo that I took this term. I really like how I framed the bass player in between the two singers up front. These photos weren't easy to get and my hearing was gone for a couple days after which really adds to the worth of this photo for me. I think this photo reflects what I’ve learned in this class well. It a nicely composed picture and I had to fiddle with the settings a lot on my camera to achieve it. Before photojournalism I would always use my camera in auto mode, so this is a big achievement for me. I also managed to talk to the band afterward for a short interview which I would have never done before. My photo skills have improved a decent amount compared to where I was when I started. I still have a lot to improve on, but slow progress is still progress. I never really cropped my photos that I would take with my camera before this term, but now I understand how much of a difference it can make. Now when I’m looking throu...

One of the most intense scenes that you’ll find in Lynsey Addarios It’s What I Do is in chapter 9, The Most Dangerous Place on Earth. In this scene Lynsey and her pregnant colleage are photographing in Korengal Valley with Captain Kearey and some US soldiers. This place is known as the most dangerous place on earth due to the warzones and the fact that there is little to zero cover if you were to be shot at, it’s simply a desert. Well, this place lived up to its name in this chapter. “As a photographer in a war zone, I didn’t have a weapon. I needed to get as close as I could to the action in order to get the photographs, but I also needed to stay alive.”(pg 185) Lynsey reminds us that she is completely unarmed while being in these war zones. After a couple days of trekking through Korengal Valley during Operation Rock Avalanche, Lynsey and the soldiers with her began to be shot at from various places. The most powerful part of this event to me is when Sergeant Tanner Stichter is co...

Helpful Tips For Wild Animal Attacks Cougars are nocturnal and are more likely to be seen at dawn or dusk than during the day photosource: nwtrek.org A Cougar is Stalking You! What do you do? Prepare! Look like the opposite of prey; do not squat, do not turn your back, and do not run Make yourself appear larger using jacket or sticks Assert yourself by speaking loudly to the cat Maintain eye contact while backing away slowly Protect! If attacked fight with everything; your legs, your arms, sticks, or rocks Do not play dead Try to remain standing while also protecting your neck at all times Black bears come in a variety of colors from light brown to black photosource: Katie Littlefield - @cocoapower A Black Bear approaches your campsite! What do you do? Prepare! Don't leave food out; lock food up and store away from campsite because bears can smell food up to 6 miles away and will memorize that location permanently Carry bear ...

It’s what I do by Lynsey Addario is a very captivating novel about balancing a career with your everyday life. Addario's career is working as a freelance war photographer with the New York Times. In this book she mentions her struggles as a photojournalist when it comes to the dangers she faces in foreign countries and with getting her work published after having to face those dangers. One chapter that really resonated with me is chapter 9 titled "The Most Dangerous Place on Earth". In this chapter she returns home after being shot at in Korengal Valley. One of the more frustrating parts of this career is that sometimes those amazing shots she’d risk her life for would not get published. My favorite image of hers from this chapter is the photo of Khalid. A young boy whose face is splattered with blood from shrapnel caused by a bomb dropped by the US Military. Khalid also has such piercing bloodshot eyes that convey such a strong emotion of sadness and grief. I think it w...

If you find yourself on your way on the scenic drive of Highway 34 to the coast, you may have passed through the small town known as Alsea, Oregon. In this town you can find the Mercantile which also owns this gas station that has been around for over 60 years. Stop and grab some gas; and while you’re at it pick up some snacks for your beach trip at the Mercantile. Gracie Hildebrand has lived in Alsea, Oregon for 10 years and is currently studying nursing at LBCC. Elk season opened November 16th and Gracie has been out almost every morning at an attempt to tag one. She’s been hunting for since she was 9 years old and isn’t slowing down anytime soon! At the High School in Alsea, Oregon, you can hear the band playing groovy blues in late afternoon.  From left to right is Travis Chilcote playing bass, Dillon Elbers on the drums, and Lewis Bourne on the guitar. The instructor, Mrs. Ellis, splits up the class based on your level towards the end of...

Cyclists in Corvallis Spend Evenings Playing a Unique Sport Polo is a sport I’m sure we’ve all at least heard of, but what about bike polo? Hardcourt bike polo is a recently popular sport around the world. It was invented in Seattle in ‘98 by messengers who had free time in between deliveries. It’s played three on three and everyone has a bike and a mallet. The goal is to use your mallet to hit the ball into the opposing team's goal. The ball is made of a heavy plastic to keep it on the ground easier. You can play using a normal bike, but in tournaments the bike frame is smaller and the wheels are stronger to protect against the ball. Often times you’ll see people put a cover on their wheels as well to prevent the ball from getting caught in the wheel. Bike polo is unique in many ways, one way is that there is no girl or boy teams. They mix men, women, and all identifications into this game. The rules to bike polo are what makes this game tricky. You can’t put your feet on the gr...

Portland Oregon based rock and roll band The Macks performed Thursday October 31st at Interzone’s annual Halloween cover show. The Macks were dressed as the English rock band T. Rex and covered their most popular songs. Other bands that were featured included Flexing as Joy Division, Sadgasm as Good Charlotte, Shaene as The Cars, and The Shifts as Smashing Pumpkins. Lead guitarist Ben Windheim continues to impress brother and bandmate Joe Windheim on the drums. Windheim broke a string during the first song of their set and had to switch guitars to keep going strong. The first guitar couldn’t handle his shreds! Frontman of The Macks Sam Fulwiler brings the energy to each of their live performances and never fails to get the crowd jumping to their music. The Macks are set to debut their new album “YUP” on November 6th on Spotify. Bailey Sauls brings the groove with his bass to this live show at the Interzone on Halloween.

Lynsey Addario is an amazing photojournalist who has many lessons to teach. After talking to my classmate who assures me that Lynsey is doing a great job at describing what it’s like overseas in these various war zones, I feel even more connected to her story.  I most admire how many sacrifices Lynsey is willing to make for her career as a photojournalist. Lynsey had a long distance boyfriend in Mexico and struggled to keep that relationship going strong while balancing work. The relationship ultimately came to an end. That’s just one of the many sacrifices Lynsey has had to make for her career. If I felt so passionately about my career in the same way Lynsey does, I think I’d be willing to make the same sacrifices. My favorite quote from our most recent readings is on page 139. She’s just arrived at a desert camp of starving refugees in Darfar. They weren’t in a famine, but were instead so immensely drained from the desert they all had to travel before arriving at the refugee cam...

Julian Sanchez owns a bike shop on 1619 Main street in Philomath Oregon. Julian is a fun easy going guy who will tell you the best trails around to ride on. If your bike needs to be repaired or if you're looking to start biking as a hobby, he's the guy to go to. He always adjusts the bikes specific to each person to ensure that you are doing the least amount of work while riding your bike. In his free time he likes to ride his motorcycle around new areas and take photos of landscapes. He actually went to school for photography for a while, but he wouldn't trade his shop for anything.

Rich Bergeman is the curator of this display. He says, “the best street photography creates art from the fleeting moments of urban life.” In today's age it can be seen as taboo or an invasion of privacy. But it gives the audience a look into real life' candid moments. Some advice from George Kelly (Middle) is this: "If someone gets mad because you took a photo of them and asks you if you did. You just say no, you walked into my photo and you ruined it! You could sit there and explain how it's legal, but we all know they don’t want to hear that." Lisa Gidley and Blake Andrews couldn't agree more Five Oregon photographers, George Kelly, Blake Andrews, Lisa Gidley, James Han, and Gary Gumanow, have their street photography on display until November 15th in the South Santiam Hall Gallery. They came to the LBCC Albany campus on October 24th to talk about their images and give advice to aspiring photographers. Some of the best advice that I heard f...

Want to play soccer without the pressure of winning or worrying about how good you are? Are you looking to make some new friends? Then this is the place for you! Every Tuesday at 4pm you’re welcome to come play soccer on the field behind the track. Every experience level is welcome to come and join the fun. Remember to bring a water bottle! Elijah Espinosa goes to pass the ball back into the game. Elijah wants to go to school to be a PE teacher for Jr. High, so you can count on him to make sure everyone gets their stretches in before playing! Stephanie Pace and Mason Sloan race for the ball! Stephanie is a local community member that helps organize this weekly event. She actually got hit by the ball in the stomach during the game, but felt no pain due to her “mom abs.”

TOPIC 1: SHOOTING AN EVENT/ACTIVITY For my event assignment I decided to shoot the Ski Swap in Corvallis. I shot the day where individuals were bringing in their items to have priced and set up to sell for the weekend. I love skiing and the event was close by to my house, so I thought why not? Going into the event, I knew I was unprepared, but I didn't know exactly what to expect. So I just went in with my pocket book and camera and called it good. I also brought my brother along for moral support of course. Everyone there I was talking to was very nice and easy to talk to. I was honestly having an off day, so I have to thank my brother for helping getting conversations started with me. My first obstacle was that there were lots of skis and things I wanted to get great angles of, but I was blocked off with a bunch of tables. I worked with what I had though and got a couple decent shots. I tried to get a lot of each kind of photo, close up, medium, and overall. I was having a hard ...

52nd Annual Ski Swap Volunteer Dan Sherman is helping price snow equipment at his computer for this year's annual Ski Swap at the Corvallis Benton County Fairgrounds on October 17-20. The individual who is bringing in their items to have sold gets to decide their own price for the Ski Swap. A general rule to think when pricing is this: If you were coming to the Ski Swap to buy them, how much would you be willing to pay? Jerry Heilman recommends coming to the Ski Swap this weekend if you're considering taking up skiing or snowboarding as a hobby. This sale begins this Friday from 6pm to 9pm and on Saturday the sale goes from 9am to 6pm. You can get great low prices on used equipment or discounted prices off new equipment while it's still available. They check all items for damage before selling, so you can be sure to count on them.   Sam Littlefield asks Jerry Heilman why they picked the name Ski Swap 52 years ago. Jerry says that snowboards didn...

Topic 1 Jim Marshall, famously known as the Godfather of rock photography, was born in Chicago in 1935. He passed away in 2010 at age 74. You’ve probably seen some of Jim's pictures if you've ever been into a record store. His photos have been on over 500 album covers and in even more Rolling Stones issues. Annie Leibovits, who famously photographed John Lennon and Yoko Ono, called Jim Marshall a rock n’ roll photographer, and for good reason. Jim photographed countless rock artists in the 60s and 70s. Artists such as Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix, The Beatles to even Johnny Cash iconically giving the camera the middle finger. That’s just to name a few. Jim always shot his photos in stunning black in white except for his arguably most famous image, or his claim to fame; Jimi Hendrix setting his guitar on fire at the Monterey International Pop Festival in 1967. This image was so valued that in 1973 it’s said that someone offered Jim $25,000 for the camera that he used to take the icon...

Jared Knowleton My name is Jared Knowleton. I work for the school in the greenhouse, that’s what I’m doing right now, and I do some work on the farm for the horticultural department. I’m majoring in biology here at LBCC, I love anything biology I’m just totally obsessed with it. I love hiking, camping and I love being outside. I also love to cook, but that’s more on the side. A lot of the food I cook is fresh from the garden which is a great perk to this job. I’m a second year student at LBCC. I picked LBCC since it’s close by, I live in corvallis, and I can do all my general credits here before transferring to OSU. I’ve grown to really like it here a lot actually. I have not grown up here, I’m from Missouri. I lived in Kansas City Missouri for most of my life and then I moved here after high school. I moved here because I really wanted to get out of Missouri and go do my own thing. I like the coast a lot and I have an aunt that lives in Portland that I would visit. I’ve always l...

Monique Montoya “She showed me what true battling was” My name is Monique Montoya and I’m majoring in Phycology here at LBCC. I’m from eastern Oregon, a small town named Echo, Oregon. It’s over by Pendleton, Oregon and La grande. Over in that area. Something that inspires me would be my aunt, Denene. She passed away from breast cancer a couple years ago. She showed me what true battling was. She used to go by this saying that she used to say a lot, and that was to “kill them with kindness,” and so I really live by a lot. One of my favorite things is sports! I used to play third base in softball while I was in high school. I also played the setter in volleyball. I’ve always loved watching sports mostly! I also love to hike. I’ll hike anywhere it doesn’t matter. David Briggs  My guitar was a gift from my brother. Back in high school I had the nickname of “cool guitar dude” because I used to just walk around the halls and play my guitar. What inspires me m...