Gaffers tape is smarter than a 22-year-old

"From left to right, John Webb, Jordan Manning, Brian Bradford and Maurice Wilkins stand with the defensive unit's motivational 'hit stick.' The four players form the dynamic linebacking corps for the Tigers football team who play rival Delaware Saturday at Johnny Unitas Stadium."

Life for myself is chaotic. A friend reminded me today when she asked when I had free time. My reply? I have no free time. It made me feel miserable that I have no life outside of shooting photos and class. But I love every waking moment of it, even if I rant about it sometimes.

Simply put, I am a poor, sleep deprived, always hungry, no free timing, 22-year-old college student who loves photojournalism.

The past couple days and week to come are perfect examples of how complicated my life can be at times.

Friday evening I shot women's soccer and volleyball before heading home late to get things ready for a wedding (see last post). I woke up early and shot from 2p.m. until midnight. After catching a few hours of sleep, I trekked to The Towerlight to shoot the annual sorority event on campus. That lasted about 35 minutes before I started burning the wedding images to DVDs and editing incoming work from other photographers. Needless to say, I didn't get out of the Towerlight until around 11p.m., which isn't anything new.

As usual, I drive 35 minutes home, only to remember that I needed to do homework at midnight. Got to bed in the wee-hours of the morning and woke up at 6:15a.m. so that I could be back at Towson, find a parking spot, and make it to a weekly ed board meeting at 10a.m. then head to class at 11a.m.

If you've lost track, it's now noon, Monday. Just when I think life is slowing down, I get drowned in photo assignments; Towerlight and freelance. Only having two other photographers I have to schedule them and myself to more assignments than I know what to do with.

I call various subjects, schedule times to shoot, and call photographers for about an hour. At this point I haven't eaten anything yet and need to do all my homework that is due tomorrow. Before I know it, it's 5p.m. and I need to run to shoot the above portrait which turned out to be more of a hassle than fun.

Who ever thought lighting four football players dramatically would be hard? All I have to say is gaffers tape is smarter than a 22-year-old. I struggled to hide light stands in the background before I just taped an SB to the wall to get a desired effect. I also must thank my buddy, assistant and the one who will replace my shoes when I graduate, Kris. I think I showed him how bossy I can be when low on sleep and stressed out. Hopefully he learned a thing or two from my mistakes.

Anyways, back to my life. I am now sitting here, 10:30p.m. with Broadcasting and Japanese homework to do. I can barely keep my eyes open, but I am trying to do it because I have these classes at noon and 5p.m. with two shoots in between.

Sometimes I wonder how I manage everything. I wouldn't have it any other way though.

So, to professors reading, just remember when I can barely keep my eyes open and my work is sub par that I am a busy, busy student.

On the bright side, shooting the Ravens game Sunday. I can't wait.