Photo final!

This semester, I took a photography class. I really just wanted to learn how to use the camera I got last year for Christmas, but I came out with so much more than that. Sappiness aside, I got to do some pretty freakin' rad things and I took some sweet pictures.

I presented my final project this week — a very scary, intimidating task. I was afraid of rejection and I was afraid no one would like my concept, my pictures or me.

Because, after all, my project was extremely personal. I took my favorite songs (the ones that have hundreds of plays on my iTunes) and decided to represent them in a photo. Since all of them are country songs, I thought I'd go shoot a few horses, some nice landscapes, maybe a truck or two and call it a day. What I ended up with was a lot of self-reflection, some really good memories and the closure I needed most in my life. And of course a few really cool pictures.

Here they are: my "Melodies and Memories."

"There ain't a corner of this hallow ground that we ain't laughed or cried on. It's where we loved, lived and learned real life stuff. It's everything we're made of."
Tattoos on This Town — Jason Aldean

"Wouldn't last a single day, I'd probably just fade away. Without you, I'd lose my mind. Before you ever came along, I was living life all wrong. The smartest thing I ever did was make you all mine."
Crazy Girl — Eli Young Band

"My favorite color is neon, the light they always leave on. A weekend on the rocks, an old school jukebox with a little Johnny Lee on."
Neon — Chris Young

"Strong, like a river rollin', strong, gonna keep on goin', strong. When the road runs out, they're gonna keep on talkin' about how he was strong."
Strong — Will Hoge

"He aimed his truck toward that Wyoming line. With a little luck he could get there in time, and in that Cheyenne wind he could still hear her say...She said, "Don't bother comin' home. By the time you get here I'll be long gone. There's somebody new and he sure ain't no rodeo man."
I Can Still Make Cheyenne — George Strait

"I have weathered colder winters; longer summers, without a drop of rain. Push me in a corner and I'll come out fighting. I may lose, but I always keep my faith."
Country Strong — Gwyneth Paltrow

"God's lookin' down from that sky blue ceilin', he made these old country roads for drivin' and dreamin'."
Two Lanes of Freedom — Tim McGraw

"'Cause I've been sittin' on the front porch, watchin' the world go round. Through the eyes of a fool, head like a rock, my whole world tumbling down."
Take Me Away — Hayes Carll

"I don't know how to tell you what you want to hear. You see, guys like me, we just disappear. And you deserve someone who will never leave, but girl, the last few days are the best we'll ever be."
Clouds — David Nail

"I gotta be where I can see those Rocky Mountains, ride my horse and watch an eagle fly. I gotta live my life and write my songs beneath these Western skies."
Western Skies — Chris LeDoux

"For some ol' redneck reason, sometimes I get the feelin' maybe I give too much of a damn. I'm a little old fashioned leanin', out of style and out of season, but I reckon that's just the way I am."
For Some Ol' Redneck Reason — Justin Moore

"Funny how a melody sounds like a memory, like the soundtrack to a July Saturday night."
Springsteen — Eric Church

Thank you to everyone who helped me get this bad boy done! I took about 600 pictures and edited about 130 before narrowing it down to the final 12!
Thank you to my momma for buying me the camera in the first place, to my uncle Phil and my cousins for carting me all over east Texas during Thanksgiving break so I could get the pictures I wanted, to my many friends and family members who accompanied me on all my adventures and, of course, to Trent for being my cowboy model and posing when it was a mere 9 degrees outside.

Happy finals week!