the good things

                Sometimes it’s really easy for me to look back on 2013 and just write it off. It’s easy to look and say “I didn't really do anything this year. I’m still in university, still accruing debt, still in Fredericton, still single, still lost.” I seem to forget the good things too easily. And not just “good things”, but goals that I achieved and experiences that made me a better person. So the other night I sat down and wrote a lot of the good things out, to remind myself to keep going.

                Let’s start with film. In 2013 I took a screenwriting class that changed my whole approach to writing and became a place where I made hilarious, talented, like-minded friends. In the spring I helped shoot a short documentary type film for the Heart & Stroke Foundation. I learned so much that day and it moved my heart to hear the stories of people who have struggled with various heart diseases. I also helped a very smart, well spoken friend of mine make a video application for the Youth Agricultural Summit, and she got in! I worked continuity on a prof’s film in June. I loved every moment of making that film and it has been one of my favorite on set experiences to date. During July I acted in a friend’s short even though I don’t act very often anymore. It was so simple and beautiful, I was proud to have been involved. In August I shot a friend’s film. I still have a hard time believing that she believed in me and trusted me enough to give me the opportunity to be DoP on her baby. It was a huge boost of confidence and definitely a milestone for me on a personal level. Welcome to fall, where I took all film courses at school for the first time ever and on a completely related note, enjoyed school more than I have in ages.  I did a crazy weekend for the 48 hour film competition with a bunch of friends in October. Later that month, a spur of the moment type decision resulted in shooting a short for the Picaroons contest and the subsequent hilarity alone was worth it. I also got the chance to do continuity on a friend’s film in November and I’m so excited to see the final product. He is such a talented writer/director and I felt honored to work with him (finally).

                In theatre news I worked for Bard in the Barracks & NotaBle Acts again during the summer. It is a great job and I’m so blessed and privileged to have gotten the grant money three summers in a row to do something I love so much. I watched so many pieces of theatre come to life on stage for the first time. Supporting local writers and actors is such a cool process to be a part of. During the fall I took part in a production of Evil Dead: The Musical. I hadn't been in a musical in ages and I’d gotten very used to behind the scenes work, so it felt wonderful to be back on stage. The content of the show itself was hilarious, I had a ball and it felt so nice to make some new friends and be part of a great cast! In the spring I was part of a burlesque show that raised money for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. Although I think it was my last burlesque show I will always be grateful to that art form for teaching me to be comfortable with my body and my sexuality. The other 2 huge bonuses of burlesque are the family-like bonds you develop with the people and the 8 hour killer work out you get every Sunday!

                As far as photography goes, I sort of felt like I left it out of the running in 2013. Looking back over my work it turns out I really didn't. I photographed two weddings, a few bands and several plays. I did some publicity work for NotaBle Acts, getting photos published in both Here Magazine and The Daily Gleaner, another first for me.

                My personal life in 2013 started off in a mess. I was a mess, my relationships with other people were a mess... I could go on but I won’t. I had to make some very important decisions about who I was, and I realized that I had to make a lot of them on my own, for myself. I am SO beyond thankful for my  friends who love me, listen to me whine, give me friendly advice, let me cry on their shoulder and constantly remind me that I’m worth something. That might just be the biggest thing I've learned this year: I'm worth something.

                Some other things that overall helped to make 2013 a great year included: all sorts of birthday parties, theme parties, trivia, karaoke, board games, poker games, owning a bike and using it often, house church, river front walks, attempting to learn how to skateboard, late night walks in Odell Park, camping in Fundy, so many road trips to Moncton for various reasons, sticky buns from Alma, kayaking, actually getting to go to the beach during the summer, bonfires, sushi, Thai food, lots of good food in general, taking prom pictures for my little sister and being so proud of her graduating, getting to spend more time visiting my parents than I have in years, revisiting a place that influenced so much of who I am: Camp Wildwood, staying at the cottage, getting to have my siblings living in the same city as me, going to screenings of weird and wonderful movies, watching a few good friends get married to the people they love and even being part of one wedding (!). I know that was a really long run on sentence and I left so many things out, but it just sort of came out that way.

                Once again the most important part of my year (and my whole life) has proven to be, not the events or things, but the people in them. So thanks to everyone for that :) 

-K

Freddy music

With all of this fantastic weather going on lately, you might think my next post would involve that. You would be wrong (but the next one will be). This one is music, music, music! In the last week I've been to and photographed a few really good shows around Fredericton. I love the challenge that low light interior photography presents. I also love the fixed 50mm portrait lens with an f-stop of 1.4 that I got in March. It's proving hugely useful as I can work with less light and get a really nice manual focus.

The first two bands I photographed were Cheers to This & The Playdates at the Charlotte Street Arts Centre on May 18th. I was pretty used to the lighting for this show, as it was a similar set up to the show I had been in and photographed there the week before, A Little Broadway Theatre Company's "Be Careful What You Wish For".

Cheers to This was mind blowing-ly good as usual. I mean, they are REALLY good. Unfortunately this was their last show as a band, as their bassist Dan Beattie is moving to TO. However, I'm sure the rest of these extremely talented guys will continue to play around Freddy, so everyone should keep and eye out for music by Anthony Gray, Kahler Legacy and Alex Daigle! Anthony and Kahler will also both be playing at FreedomFest at the Farm this summer, check it out! https://www.facebook.com/events/286755224742167/ Here's a few photos:

Anthony Gray. Lead vocalist, guitarist.

Kahler Legacy. Lead guitarist, vocalist.

Dan Beattie. Bassist, vocalist.

Alex Daigle. Drummer.

I'd never heard The Playdates live before, so that was new for me. They are very together as a band and the synth adds a cool sound. I didn't get as many photos of them because their lighting was much dimmer and they didn't get as long to play. It was an all ages show that ended at 11pm and it wasn't that well attended in the first place. The band was really cool about it though and for the last few songs they got us to come up on stage and dance with them, which was a pretty next experience. Check them out at http://theplaydates.com/. Here are two I managed to snap:

Lead vocalist and bassist Adam.

Guitarist and vocalist Aaron.

Last night I saw Two Hours Traffic at The Capital Complex. They are one of my all time favorite bands, so it was great to see them live again after more than 2 years since last time. Their sound makes me feel all of the things that good music should make a person feel. It was especially good because they played quite a few new songs and have announced a September release for a new album! Check them out here http://twohourstraffic.com/. The venue was quite a bit smaller and dimmer than CSAC, so it was definitely more of a fun challenge to photograph, although I'll admit I was mostly there for the show. :)

Guitarist/vocalist/sometimes tambourine player Andy:

Bassist Nathan:

 Favorite photo from the show

Drummer Derek:

Lead vocalist, who also happens to play guitar, synth, etc.

When I arrived at the show, a band I'd never heard was opening and I really liked their sound. They are Amos the Transparent. A six piece band hailing from Ottawa, as I gathered, with a folk/pop sound. You can check them out here http://www.amosthetransparent.com/. I just grabbed a few shots as I was warming up to the lighting and venue:

Hope you enjoyed these gems. What a time I had taking them!

If anyone is interested in seeing more from either of these shows or would like permission to use the images, please shoot me an email at kaleighmlstultz@gmail.com.

-K

Yesterday consisted of an afternoon in the sun and an evening in rehearsal. A great day all in all. Spent some time helping my friend build a fire pit, the outdoor physical labour was really good for the soul. I didn't get any photos of the fire pit, since I was mostly busy working on it while I was outside, but there are a few mid-spring joys I captured:

I have some super talented friends, and sometimes we enjoy doing shows together. This week we are putting on a Broadway Revue show "Be Careful What You Wish For..." at the Charlotte Street Arts Centre (https://www.facebook.com/events/364477543589278/). Here are Erin and Ryan rehearsing Ryan's number "If I Can't Love Her" from the musical Beauty and the Beast:

David knows how to enjoy the nice weather and spent the morning and afternoon outside, shirtless, splitting wood and barbecuing. Got himself a bad sunburn though:

Hmmm, I think I'm liking this narrative style, especially where I'm trying to get back into the swing of always having a camera in hand. Look forward to new images every few days, I intend to keep this up. :)

-K

my new home

I've decided to start posting some of my photography, because I'm going to be photographing more often and I'd like to start getting myself out there. Hopefully I'll have a site with a portfolio up soon enough, but this is a good start.

This summer I'm going to challenge myself. I haven't been doing that enough, especially in my photography... something which I have a passion for and should have been striving to better myself in. I've really just been sitting back for the past 3 years, doing it when I can, and not pushing myself.

As a person I strive to be thankful, and so this summer I am going to try a new way of doing that. I am going to try to express my thankfulness through my photography.

Here goes.

Want to know how thankful I am that the house I am living in for the summer is a little bit out of the city and is near a park right on the Saint John River? So thankful. Want to know how much I love sunsets? The answer is way more than a little bit.

-K

getting in a movie mood

So I was going through all of the Oscar nominations this afternoon. I have little to no thoughts on a lot of the categories because, sadly, I haven't seen most of the films. These are the Oscar nominated movies that I actually care about watching (and reasons why) in the next month:

Hugo - It's about adventure, and who doesn't love adventure? I simply love British children. It's got a HUGE bonus of what is probably a great original score. I don't know why, but I thought this film was animated...

Midnight in Paris - Interests me because I've heard people say it might be Woody Allen's best film, and although I'm no aficionado of Woody Allen films, the man is talented. The tone looks dream-like and the plot is likely to be captivating in the same way. Also, Owen Wilson is an odd favorite of mine.

The Artist - Just hearing the title of this movie made me want to see it. That word alone evokes so many emotions and paths of thought it my mind. I feel like it will be a very bold visual. If it's not stellar, I will be disappointed.

The Descendants - George Clooney. What can I say? I tend to like his stuff. The story seems to be poignant, tragic, touching. Bound to be a decent cry fest for me.

The Tree of Life - For some reason I expect it to be long and one of those movies I'll only watch once, but I'd still like to see it. The cinematography on it's own looks pretty powerful. Looks well cast, too.

Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close - Cannot wait to see how the book translated into a movie. That's all I'm going to say about this one.

War Horse - I like period pieces, I like war movies, I like horses. The cinematography is stellar. It's kind of obvious that I have to see it.

The Help - I've heard too much about this one to not want to see it. I hope it's good.

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy - The cast on this sucker, oh boys. Spy movies. The better question is, how haven't I seen this one yet??

The Iron Lady - Meryl Streep is a goddess.

Rango - I like animations. I didn't really have any huge desire to see this when it came out but I've changed my mind for inexplicable reasons.

Jane Eyre - Again with the period pieces thing. Again with the books turning into movies. Also, this one has been done before, and I'm eager to see what they've done differently.

The Adventures of Tintin - It just looks like so much fun. Also, sort of excited about the original score.

Rise of the Planet of the Apes - Saw the trailer a lot. Love prequels.

The Ides of March - George Clooney, Ryan Gosling... this is a movie full of beautiful men. Was that Evan Rachel Wood there? Haven't seen her in anything since Across the Universe, that could be interesting. Also, love the morality and ideas called into question by the plot.

Margin Call - Would really like to see why it's nominated for writing... HUGE fan of well communicated ideas.

A Separation - Something slightly different from what I normally watch. The story interests me. Would like to see why it's nominated for writing.

I feel like I should care about watching Moneyball... but I don't. I would watch it if other people were watching it and I'd probably enjoy it. I guess that's how I feel about sports movies in general.

Though not in the next month, I'd really like to see if I can find some of the nominated documentaries. I love documentaries because I always learn so much. Again with the 'well communicated ideas' thing.

Also, even though it's not nominated for anything, I'd still really like to see '50/50', because I love Joseph Gordon-Levitt.

Thinking about all of these films makes me want to write more. Need to allot myself some time for that maybe. I've got some big ideas 'a brewin' up here. Can't wait until this freaking play is over so I have some free time maybe. Ah well, 12 days, then I can really get my creativity focused on what I want to focus it on right now.

I used the word 'also' way too much in this post.

Also, I'm likely going to need help watching these movies, give me a shout if you're interested.

-K

so long 2011, bring it 2012 (just sayin')

Well, after a long break I'm back!

I'm not going to make any silly resolution that I'll post more frequently, because I probably wouldn't follow through.

What might my resolutions be, you ask? I have one, and it's just for kicks. I'm going to become notorious as the girl with the red bow.

There's this great little red bow that I wore for the burlesque show in the summer. Recently I've started wearing it when I go to shows, gigs and even just karaoke. It makes it easy for people to find me, and I look cute to boot. So why not? Why not get myself out there using something that's a little eye catching and easy to remember?

After reflecting on the past year I do have some things that I'm going to keep more in mind as I go about this next year. Not resolutions, persay. Not habits. More like words and ideas to live by. Things I've learned in the past year that I want to apply to my life in the upcoming one.

1) Be thankful.
2) You are never alone.
3) Hard work ALWAYS pays off.
4) Everyone has a distinctly different point of view.
4) Your attitude has a direct correlation with your happiness.
5) You create your life. You decide WHAT gets to affect you and WHO gets to affect you and HOW it's going to affect you. Period. Don't blame other people. Hold yourself accountable.

Also after reflecting, I realized that the single most simultaneously true and awful thing I've heard about myself this is year is: "You've got the talent, but you obviously lack the discipline." This was said by my 2D Design prof during my evaluation this past October. It's really stuck with me. Although apparently it didn't stick enough, or in a way to make any sort of impact on my work ethic, because said work ethic continued to diminish as I reached the end of term.

Due to all of this, I seriously need to remember the fact that just because I have grasped the knowledge I'm supposed to, does not mean that my professors know I have grasped that knowledge. In order to get the marks, I have to prove to them that I know what I'm talking about. This, unfortunately, only comes through actually doing the damn work. A connection, which since grade school, has eluded me. I don't know if that makes me stupid or if my brain just functions differently. Now I'm getting it though, so don't be hatin'.

That's probably the most negative thing that I will turn into a positive this coming year.

Now for the good things:

I have realized that from the beginning 2011 was nothing I could have possibly expected it was going to be. It brought a lot of new people, experiences and responsibilities. In 2011 I spent a lot of time figuring myself out, probably due to the fact that it's the longest I've been single since first year. I'm continuing to find and shape passions that are dear to my heart.

Pertaining to that, I guess you could say I do have some goals for the year.

I would like to spend more time exploring my field of photography. I seem to have lost the passion I once had for it. I got really discouraged. Right now I just know that I need to work harder at it to find the results I want.

I want to spend as much time as possible in both the theatre and film communities of Fredericton. I just started to dip into it this past summer and I'd love to explore it more. This fall I've been hindered by school. I feel that this will have to continue to take a back seat to school until late April because of the goals I have set for myself there. Now film... film was never something I saw myself being passionate about. I think it may come from the fact that it combines things I love about both photography and theatre.

And by golly, you know what? I think it's the people. Gosh, I think I must just like the people involved in such things. Creative minds, you know? We just get each other. Epiphany.

That's it, that's all. I'll be back at some point.

-K

don't stop me now ['cause i'm havin' a good time]

Hey y'all.

I know it's been about a week, but I've been busy with moving and starting school and all that business. Just yesterday I painted the walls in my new room a lovely sunny shade of yellow that will hopefully improve my quality of life throughout the dark winter months :) Though my room is still in upheaval I'm actually cozying in quite well. School is AMAZING so far, I was meant for art school.

Been listening to Two Hours Traffic all day and remembering just how much I love them. Also, it's the anniversary of Freddie Mercury's death and so I've had Don't Stop Me Now stuck in my head all day: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HgzGwKwLmgM&ob=av2e

Let me just say that LIFE IS GOOD.

Oh yes, and last week I went to bible study. Was a bit wary of it at first but I'm really coming to realize my beliefs are always going to play a huge role in my life no matter what. There are some things that really do still bug me about the organization of the Christian religion, but I know I believe in a God who didn't put these limitations on it. All of humanity is inherently flawed and forgiveness is always better than bitterness about the situation. Not to mention that being forgiving instead of bitter is a much more positive attitude, and attitudes are what your happiness depends on. So much to say I've decided (once again) that I'd rather try and be part of the solution than part of the problem.

Turns out bible study hasn't been the only good thing to come of the burlesque show either. All of the sudden I seem to have a new group of extremely supportive and loving friends! While they do all have their issues and dramas (who doesn't?), I love them dearly. Even if I barely know them yet. I always love the possibility of new & wonderful people in my life!

So today I'm thankful for said group of friends, especially D because it's his birthday :)

-K