Red Elephant

Red Elephant

By Josh Montgomery 

& Grant Leslie

As we plunge,

art, imagination. 

Dreams, but wonder; 

fanciful imagery. 

Red Elephant

Clay cakes our fingers

graphite coats our toenails

our mind is painted on the canvas 

of the universe

Red Elephant

Pencils fly

the room of mind's eye

mind I, mind thy

mind trust, mind us.

Red Elephant

Time bends, time swells

I can't even tell

where I, eye belong

lets pitch a tent

Red Elephant

Whisper soft melodies.

Title the script of the soul.

Red exclaims he,

Elephant yells another.

Red Elephant

The oceans of imagination

engulf our very being.

we wild 

party on young flower child 

let thy soul fly free 

Red Elephant

Achoo. Achoo.

Train of laughter softens

the reign of Elizabeth.

Oppression.

Not here.

Red Elephant

Hear ye Hear ye

the king has spoken

have some tea

lets pitch a tent

Red Elephant

Slay the dragon of insecurity.

Guard the gold of trust.

Liquidate all uncertain fingers

Let them choose the brush

Let them choose the brush

Red Elephant

Some nights the stars burn.

Other nights they kiss the earth.

The universe bends at our will.

Don't eat the window sill,

The earth doth he till. 

Plants will grow,

Tonight we dine.

Let us pitch a tent.

Red Elephant.

A letter from the authors:

"As one can presume this was a collaborative piece.  we tried to capture the ambiguity of life using the limited vocabulary of our ancestors.  Our inspiration came from the common people who view life through a different lens. This said lens sees the world with wonder,  imagination, and fanciful imagery. We incorporated a day in art class. A class of these described beings, all gathered in a 'tent' of 'mind's eye'."

- Grant Leslie & Josh Montgomery

How To: Photograph in the Gym by Allison

Have you ever found yourself in the middle of a basketball game, praying you can find a random camera setting that will help your blurriness problem? When I first started taking pictures in a gym, that was me! Because the lighting is so awful in a gym, here are a few tips I've learned throughout my journey of finding the perfect camera settings.

First of all, I usually set my camera on Manual mode for sports. If you feel more comfortable with shooting in Shutter Speed Priority mode (TV for Canon/S for Nikon) then that works as well!

You DO NOT want to have a shutter speed slower than 1/200. This is simply because of the rapid movement that happens in most sports in the gym.

Here's an example of what can happen when you have a shutter speed lower than 1/200. The ball is blurry, as well as the player's feet. This particular photo was taken at 1/160 with the ISO at 1600 and the exposure meter set to +2.

The photo on the top was taken at 1/320 and the one on the bottom was taken at 1/500 with the ISO at 5000 for both. As you can see, the players are completely in focus and their movement is stopped midair.

When your camera is on the right settings, the blurriness is nonexistent, and the lighting is great! Of course to get these kinds of shots, the photographer should stand to the side of the net, and keep their focus on the player. It is also important to set your AF Mode to AI Servo. This helps track the players as they move to make sure your photo is in focus. Another helpful tip is to evaluate the kind of lighting in your gym. This gym, for example, has fluorescent lighting. Even though the Auto White Balance (AWB) is great for most lighting, it does not do a great job balancing in fluorescent lighting. To fix this, I simply set my white balance to Fluorescent.

Finally, I would like to add that your image size should be set to RAW if you are taking professional quality photos. However, if you do this, make sure you have a version of Photoshop to edit and process them into JPEG format later. To add my own personal touch, I set these final two photos' Camera Profile to "Camera Faithful". While the difference between Adobe Standard and Camera Faithful are slight, I love the warmness that this profile brings to the photo. Also, I set a -17 vignette to sort of tie the entire photo together. I hope these tips help when you take pictures in a gym!

HAPPY PHOTOGRAPHING!!!

all photographs by Allison

Haiti by Joanna

Monday, January 12th marked the five year anniversary of the 7.0 earthquake that devastated Haiti in 2010. The epicenter of the earthquake was about 5 miles from Neply, where San Antonio Christian sends a team each summer. Aside from the obvious negative economic impact of the earthquake, the effects to the people were heartbreaking. Haiti has no formal adoption system. The Haitian government developed a child-slave system in hopes to feed and shelter many of the now parentless and hungry children. In exchange for food, shelter, and education, the kids are expected to work for their new "parents". In many situations, that is not the case. An estimated 200,000 lives were lost and left hundreds of thousands injured, homeless and struggling to find the necessities to survive.

Haiti is a land that has been prone to natural disasters in the past. It could be expected for Haiti to be perceived as a hopeless nation. Surprisingly, Haitians have extreme pride in their country. They spread hope among each other in many ways such as Haitian street art.

God's hand is still evident in Haiti, despite the widespread poverty. Haiti is home to some of the most clear blue waters in the world. His love is evident through the innocent smiles and tender hearts of the children who, although lack so much, have limitless love to give. Please remember the families who lost loved ones in your prayers today. Also, pray that God's mighty works would continue to be present there and continue to restore and rebuild hope in Haiti.

"'Though the mountains be shaken

 and the hills be removed, 

yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken 

nor my covenant of peace be removed,' 

says the Lord, who has compassion on you." 

Isaiah 54:10

all photographs by Joanna