Well, not really. But I am essentially living in NYC 5+ nights a week for a good portion of this year. A few months ago I was staffed on a project at work that is located in Brooklyn and have been super excited about it ever since. I started out here last week and am scheduled to work here through mid-August - potentially longer if I'm needed and get extended.
I have the option to fly home every weekend and will be doing that often, but I also want to take advantage of being in the greatest city in the world. My other options include staying the weekend with my expenses paid (hotel & food) or flying someone to come visit me here. I plan on taking full advantage of both options!
I hope to be able to write more about my adventures in NYC and also plan on packing my camera next week and will post any good shots that I get. My dad requested that I do a "My Day Yesterday" video in NYC. If I can figure out a way to do that without getting my camera stolen then I definitely will!
I am taking the day off tomorrow to go to a Sage conference (see previous blog posts) in Lubbock, Texas. In order to get there in time for sound check I had to book the 6:55am flight out of La Guardia, which means leaving the hotel at 5:00am! In other words, I'm going to bed! Good night!
Friday, March 23, 2012
Monday, March 12, 2012
Sage Redeemed Video -- pt. 2
When we arrived in Tyler, Texas on the Friday of the first conference, I mentioned to the team that I had made the video of Heather and would be happy to make another if anyone else would like to tell their story.
Emily approached me shortly thereafter and said something to the effect of "God told me I have to tell my story." Even though it was short notice, we both thought it would be great if we could show it at the conference the next day. So that night when we got to the hotel around midnight, Emily and I got to work filming her video. We tried a couple different places, including the hotel lobby but ended up deciding that despite the horrible lighting, our hotel room was the best location. So I filmed Emily telling her redemption story and then got to work editing on my iMac set up on the desk in our room. I made it to about 3am before passing out, but luckily I don't have a lot of responsibilities on Saturday mornings during the conferences so I was able to set my computer up in the green room and get back to work. I was able to get everything finished around noon so that we could show it at our last session that day.
Even though it's not perfect, I'm pretty proud of how far it came in just a few hours. Despite the lack of sleep, I count it such a privilege to be able to help these ladies tell their stories. The Lord has been so good to us even through the hard times in our lives and I absolutely love being able to show that to the world in new and creative ways. I hope I never stop creating things that point people to the Lord.
Emily's Redemption Story:
Emily approached me shortly thereafter and said something to the effect of "God told me I have to tell my story." Even though it was short notice, we both thought it would be great if we could show it at the conference the next day. So that night when we got to the hotel around midnight, Emily and I got to work filming her video. We tried a couple different places, including the hotel lobby but ended up deciding that despite the horrible lighting, our hotel room was the best location. So I filmed Emily telling her redemption story and then got to work editing on my iMac set up on the desk in our room. I made it to about 3am before passing out, but luckily I don't have a lot of responsibilities on Saturday mornings during the conferences so I was able to set my computer up in the green room and get back to work. I was able to get everything finished around noon so that we could show it at our last session that day.
Even though it's not perfect, I'm pretty proud of how far it came in just a few hours. Despite the lack of sleep, I count it such a privilege to be able to help these ladies tell their stories. The Lord has been so good to us even through the hard times in our lives and I absolutely love being able to show that to the world in new and creative ways. I hope I never stop creating things that point people to the Lord.
Emily's Redemption Story:
Emily's Redemption Story from Amy Marks on Vimeo.
Friday, March 9, 2012
Sage Redeemed Video -- pt. 1
During my senior year at A&M I got a Facebook message from the Director of an organization called Sage Girls Ministry. I believe she had gotten my name from my friend Donna and asked if I would be interested in playing drums at a few conferences that they put on for middle school and high school girls in the spring.
I immediately said that I would love to, but I think I that the dates only worked out for me to play at 1 or 2 events that year. Even with the limited time I spent with the ladies, I immediately loved them and knew that I would fit right in. Since then I have been able to play at almost all of the conferences and am happy to say that I have been able to continue to work with Sage even now that I have moved and am working full time.
This fall when I got my camera I told Merritt Johnston, the director, that I needed her to help me put my new camera to use, and she happily obliged. The theme of the conferences this year is "Redeemed" and she mentioned doing some interviews of the Sage team explaining how the Lord has redeemed certain areas of their life. The plan was to film several people at a meeting we had a week before the first conference. As it turned out, no one was really interested in being on camera that day except for Heather. So I filmed Heather that day and over the course of the next week I was able to edit it at least to the point where it was good enough to be shown on Friday night.
Much of Heather's story has to do with her mom, who was addicted to drugs and had many struggles while Heather was growing up but later, both Heather and her mom came to know the Lord. The song in the video is a hymn called "Redeemed" which is perfect for the theme in and of itself, but it also happens to be Heather's mom's favorite song, so I knew that we had to use it. Heather is a singer/songwriter and so she recorded the hymn for me that week and I was happy to be able to incorporate it in the video. Even though the girls that we showed the video to had no idea, I love that the music choice had such rich meaning on several different levels.
This story is to be continued, but in the meantime check out the first video that I made with my new camera: Heather's Redemption Story.
I immediately said that I would love to, but I think I that the dates only worked out for me to play at 1 or 2 events that year. Even with the limited time I spent with the ladies, I immediately loved them and knew that I would fit right in. Since then I have been able to play at almost all of the conferences and am happy to say that I have been able to continue to work with Sage even now that I have moved and am working full time.
This fall when I got my camera I told Merritt Johnston, the director, that I needed her to help me put my new camera to use, and she happily obliged. The theme of the conferences this year is "Redeemed" and she mentioned doing some interviews of the Sage team explaining how the Lord has redeemed certain areas of their life. The plan was to film several people at a meeting we had a week before the first conference. As it turned out, no one was really interested in being on camera that day except for Heather. So I filmed Heather that day and over the course of the next week I was able to edit it at least to the point where it was good enough to be shown on Friday night.
Much of Heather's story has to do with her mom, who was addicted to drugs and had many struggles while Heather was growing up but later, both Heather and her mom came to know the Lord. The song in the video is a hymn called "Redeemed" which is perfect for the theme in and of itself, but it also happens to be Heather's mom's favorite song, so I knew that we had to use it. Heather is a singer/songwriter and so she recorded the hymn for me that week and I was happy to be able to incorporate it in the video. Even though the girls that we showed the video to had no idea, I love that the music choice had such rich meaning on several different levels.
This story is to be continued, but in the meantime check out the first video that I made with my new camera: Heather's Redemption Story.
Heather's Redemption Story from Amy Marks on Vimeo
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
New Camera
As I mentioned last week, I got my first DSLR camera about 3 months ago and have really enjoyed it so far. I blame my friends Matt Johnson and Emily Kiel for my new money-sucking hobby. They totally ruined me for lower quality photos and videos. I was perfectly happy with my little point and shoot camera until I saw the magic that Emily made with her camera and her insanely creative mind.
I have been interested in videography since high school but haven't pursued it a whole lot. I had a video camera for awhile and filmed a few things but didn't have very good editing software so I didn't do much with the footage. My 5th year in college I got a better computer and bought some good software (Premiere Pro CS5) to go with it, but all I had was a little Flip video camera at the time.
So fast forward to October 2011 and for the first time I have a stable, full-time job with a steady income, and the more I watched videos online by Matt and others, the more I was itching to start creating them myself. So I finally mentally allowed myself to take the plunge and did a little research on Canon cameras (both Matt and Emily shoot with Canon's so that's what I was most familiar with). After considering my options I finally settled on the Canon T3i. For several weeks I had my mind made up and was just waiting around for the right deal, which finally came on Cyber Monday (the Monday after Thanksgiving).
I haven't had as many opportunities as I would like to take photos and make videos but I have gotten to play with the camera some and really love it so far. Over the next few days I'll post a couple of videos that I made for a ministry that I work with (and love!) called Sage Girls Ministry.
Monday, March 5, 2012
Somebody That I Used to Know
I was first exposed to a capella music probably around my sophomore year of college. I knew a couple of the guys in A&M’s all-male a capella group Apotheothis and throughout the rest of my time in College Station I made it to every Apotheosis concert that I could.
Not too long ago I discovered a show called The Sing-Off. I haven’t been super dedicated to it but I catch it when I can and this past fall my roommate and I recorded Season 3 and watched it together. From the start I was drawn toward a group called Pentatonix, partly because the 3 original group members are from Arlington, TX, not too far from me, and partly because they are just really good and also really unique. They have a knack for taking pop songs and making them sound just enough like the original that you recognize and enjoy the song but also putting their own spin on it.
All of that to say, I found this video the other day of Pentatonix singing Somebody that I Used to Know by Gotye. I actually hadn’t heard the original song, but I had seen another cover by a group called Walk Off the Earth that is really good. It involves 5 people playing 1 guitar at the same time (video below).
So here’s video of Pentatonix. Enjoy!
And if you like the song, here is the cover by Walk Off the Earth. They have a lot of really good, creative videos you can check out on their YouTube channel.
Thursday, March 1, 2012
My Day Yesterday
I'm not sure what it is, but lately I've been itching to create something. Maybe it's the fact that I work in a cubicle somewhere between 9 and 13 hours a day. Or maybe it's the fact that I got my first DSLR camera about 3 months ago and haven't gotten to really put it to use yet. Either way, I've been dying to create something. Anything.
I got the idea for this video from a guy named Carlos Whittaker. Carlos is a christian singer/songwriter and worship pastor as well as a blogger. Plus, he won a People's Choice award last year for this video. I have to admit that I don't actually listen to Carlos' music, or even read his blog much. But I came across a series of videos that he made called "My Day Yesterday". The premise is that you take a bunch of clips that are just a few seconds long and throw them together to show how you spent your day. No editing, no music, just a bunch short clips thrown together. His rule is only 90 seconds. I broke that one.
I have wanted to do this for awhile but I kept thinking that my day was just too boring to be a good video. Most days I literally drive to work, sit in a cubicle, drive home, and spend the couple hours I have before going to bed watching TV or surfing the internet. That actually ended up being part of the fun. It was challenging coming up with lots of ways to portray my boring and menial tasks throughout the day. Actually, the best part of my day (having dinner with my mom) ended up hardly making it in the video because I was more interested in spending time with her than getting cool shots. Plus, I didn't want to take my camera into Chuy's :-)
So check out my day yesterday and let me know what you think!
I got the idea for this video from a guy named Carlos Whittaker. Carlos is a christian singer/songwriter and worship pastor as well as a blogger. Plus, he won a People's Choice award last year for this video. I have to admit that I don't actually listen to Carlos' music, or even read his blog much. But I came across a series of videos that he made called "My Day Yesterday". The premise is that you take a bunch of clips that are just a few seconds long and throw them together to show how you spent your day. No editing, no music, just a bunch short clips thrown together. His rule is only 90 seconds. I broke that one.
I have wanted to do this for awhile but I kept thinking that my day was just too boring to be a good video. Most days I literally drive to work, sit in a cubicle, drive home, and spend the couple hours I have before going to bed watching TV or surfing the internet. That actually ended up being part of the fun. It was challenging coming up with lots of ways to portray my boring and menial tasks throughout the day. Actually, the best part of my day (having dinner with my mom) ended up hardly making it in the video because I was more interested in spending time with her than getting cool shots. Plus, I didn't want to take my camera into Chuy's :-)
So check out my day yesterday and let me know what you think!
Monday, January 3, 2011
Trusting He is Faithful
I'm not really one to make New Year's Resolutions. It's not that I have something against making them. I think it can be helpful to reflect on your life once in a while and see what needs to be changed. On the other hand, if you're making a change for the sake of changing, I think that more often than not, it's not going to stick.
While I'm joining the many people across the world writing a blog on New Year's, it's not because I'm making a New Year's resolution to begin blogging regularly. In fact, I know I won't be blogging with any kind of regularity this year. 2011 marks a year where I already know that I'm going to be going through some huge changes in my life. Most of those changes will begin in May, when I will graduate from Texas A&M with a bachelor's degree in Accounting (and a minor in Communication), and a Master's degree in Management Information Systems. I'll be spending half of my summer at Sky Ranch Christian Camps in Van, TX working as a lifeguard and will spend the remainder of my summer getting ready for Impact, a Christ-centered retreat for incoming freshmen at A&M in August. After Impact, I'll get settled in my new home (apartment?) in Dallas and begin working as a consultant in the Enterprise Risk Services practice (or maybe it's called Advisory now? I can't keep up) of Deloitte & Touche sometime in mid-September.
See? I told you a lot is changing in 2011.
On top of all of that, I'm about to begin what I anticipate to be some of the busiest months of my life. Today I begin studying for the CPA exam so that, Lord-willing, by May I'll have fulfilled all of the requirements to be a Certified Public Accountant (you also have to have 1 year of work experience so I won't be officially certified until next summer). The exam is actually a series of 4 individuals tests that I will have to pass, and I will study for each test for 3-5 weeks (up to ~40 hrs/week) so really, this is going to consume my entire semester. In addition to the CPA exam, I'm taking 6 hours of classes to finish my degrees, I am the Media Exec for Impact (www.impactretreat.com), and I am the Production Coordinator as well as helping with the accounting/money stuff for a conference called Masterpiece that is coming up in March (www.masterpiececonference.com). Not to mention being involved in my church, FBC Bryan, by being on the worship team and involved in the college ministry. Oh, and I have a job, too.
I didn't need to write that all out to realize that I have a lot going on, and it definitely creeps into my mind that I may have bitten off more than I can chew.
Thinking about all of that, and the consequences of neglecting any one of those responsibilities honestly scares me to death. The comfort I have is that I know the Lord has specifically called me to each one of these things, and even though sometimes I don't see how I can do all of them at once, I'm trusting that He will sustain me and am looking forward to seeing what He'll teach me through it all.
"Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it." -- 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24 ESV
While I'm joining the many people across the world writing a blog on New Year's, it's not because I'm making a New Year's resolution to begin blogging regularly. In fact, I know I won't be blogging with any kind of regularity this year. 2011 marks a year where I already know that I'm going to be going through some huge changes in my life. Most of those changes will begin in May, when I will graduate from Texas A&M with a bachelor's degree in Accounting (and a minor in Communication), and a Master's degree in Management Information Systems. I'll be spending half of my summer at Sky Ranch Christian Camps in Van, TX working as a lifeguard and will spend the remainder of my summer getting ready for Impact, a Christ-centered retreat for incoming freshmen at A&M in August. After Impact, I'll get settled in my new home (apartment?) in Dallas and begin working as a consultant in the Enterprise Risk Services practice (or maybe it's called Advisory now? I can't keep up) of Deloitte & Touche sometime in mid-September.
See? I told you a lot is changing in 2011.
On top of all of that, I'm about to begin what I anticipate to be some of the busiest months of my life. Today I begin studying for the CPA exam so that, Lord-willing, by May I'll have fulfilled all of the requirements to be a Certified Public Accountant (you also have to have 1 year of work experience so I won't be officially certified until next summer). The exam is actually a series of 4 individuals tests that I will have to pass, and I will study for each test for 3-5 weeks (up to ~40 hrs/week) so really, this is going to consume my entire semester. In addition to the CPA exam, I'm taking 6 hours of classes to finish my degrees, I am the Media Exec for Impact (www.impactretreat.com), and I am the Production Coordinator as well as helping with the accounting/money stuff for a conference called Masterpiece that is coming up in March (www.masterpiececonference.com). Not to mention being involved in my church, FBC Bryan, by being on the worship team and involved in the college ministry. Oh, and I have a job, too.
I didn't need to write that all out to realize that I have a lot going on, and it definitely creeps into my mind that I may have bitten off more than I can chew.
Thinking about all of that, and the consequences of neglecting any one of those responsibilities honestly scares me to death. The comfort I have is that I know the Lord has specifically called me to each one of these things, and even though sometimes I don't see how I can do all of them at once, I'm trusting that He will sustain me and am looking forward to seeing what He'll teach me through it all.
"Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it." -- 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24 ESV
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