Hi everyone! :)



Just to let you know, I don't have internet right now (I'm typing this from school). Please be patient while I get back to answering your emails... I appreciate all of them!



Oksana

Hi everybody! :)

If you're a teenage photographer, you'll might be interested in taking part in MMM's first-ever exteneded photography feature. To take part, look at the list of questions below.

1. Choose 1-2 of the questions (if you pick two questions, they must be from different sections) and leave a comment with your name and the number of the question(s) you chose. I will then mark the question(s) as "Taken."

2. Send your answer(s) by September 20th to mm.ministry@gmail.com. Answers should be approximately 8-15 sentences in length. Please stay away from Internet chatspeak, spelling mistakes, and grammar errors! :)

3. Along with your answer(s), please send me your 4 best photos (as links or attachments). Completely optional, you may also send me a self-portrait in addition to the 4.

- If you choose a question from the "Portrait" section, at least two of the photos you send should be portraits.

- If you choose a question from the "Nature" section, at least two of your photos should be nature shots.

- If you choose a question from the "General" section, send in whatever you like! :)

I will choose several of the photos you send me to include in my layout. As a photographer myself, I know how important your photography is to you, and I will NOT use steal your work or publish it in MMM without crediting you.

All clear? :) Great, now onto the questions!

Portrait

1. What can portraits say about God's relationship with humans? [TAKEN by Kjersti]

2. Do you prefer to take planned, conceptual portraits; or spontaneous photos? Why? [TAKEN by Abbie]

3. What can a photographer do to glorify God in a photograph that focuses on a person? [TAKEN by Erin and Stewart]

Nature

4. God teaches us a lot about himself through nature. How can nature photography help us tell the world about God? Should Christian-themed captions and titles be used to make this message clearer? [TAKEN by Reana]

5. Nature photography has a repuation for being less "exciting" than other genres. Why do you think it's important for teens to appreciate nature photography? [TAKEN by Katie]

General

6. How do you feel about photography lessons -- is it something that can (or should) be taught? [TAKEN by Reana]

7. How important has the support and encouragement of other people been in your journey as a photographer? [TAKEN by Abbie]

8. Have you ever used your love of photography to help a church or Christian ministry? Tell us about your experience. [TAKEN by Erin]

9. What was the biggest challenge or most difficult experience you have encountered as a photgrapher? [TAKEN by Stewart]

Hi everyone! If you would like to participate in the dancing feature for the Spring 2008 issue, please choose 1 of the following questions to answer. Leave a comment with the number of the question you have chosen -- this is on a first-come-first-serve basis.

Please email me your answer at mm.ministry@gmail.com. Answers can be any length up to 2 paragraphs.

I look forward to hearing from you! :)

Here are the questions:

1. (TAKEN by Janell) You began dancing ___ years ago. How has your understanding of dance changed since then?

2. (TAKEN by Lydia) As a dancer, how do you connect with your audience?

3. (TAKEN by Caitlin) How does dancing affect you spiritually? When you’re having a bad day, does it lift your mood or help you express your sadness?

4. What would you say to someone who has never danced before?

5. (TAKEN by Ashley) How have you dealt with shyness, nerves, and pressure?

6. (TAKEN by Kristyn) Some people argue that rules in dancing restrict peoples’ creativity and expression. What do you have to say about this?

7. (TAKEN by Natalie) How has dancing drawn you closer to God?

8. (TAKEN by Kristyn) Share your favourite dancing memory.

9. (TAKEN by Aubrey) How have you been blessed through dance? How do you hope your dancing has blessed others?

Oksy

Hi all... I'm happy to say that I'm almost done the e-zine. It will have 29 pages, and I hope to host it on a Wordpress blog. I really want to get a domain name for it, though this probably won't happen until after the magazine is out.

Now, for the big day: The e-zine will be officially out on

DECEMBER 6th

I'm really excited. It's been so much fun... I've honestly loved every moment of writing articles, making layouts, and emailing contributors, and listening to good music... I can definitely imagine doing this as a job. But the funy thing is that I never expected this to be more than an idea, a dream. I never expected to have 29 real, true pages saved to my hard disk... moreso in just two months time.

Obviously, God had the biggest role to play in all of this, He was my Managing Editor and overlooked the whole project to make it come together into a whole. So I thank Him and all of you for your work and contributions. I am so excited about thsi project and can't wait till you guys see it!!

Oksy x

Hi all! Here is a sneak peak at my 4-page poetry feature. All of the poems except for the first one were selected from a bunch of great writings entered into my contest on AllPoetry.com. I'd like to thank everyone for participating!

Thanks also to 'Passions Promise' for donating 1000 points to make my contest bigger and better than it could have ever been without her help! :)

Oksy

Hi all! Here is a little preview of one of two photography pages that will be on the e-zine... thanks to the God-given talent of some wonderful teen photographers in Flickr.

The second page will be up soon. :)

All of the images are watermarked, I'll take off the watermarks in the actual publication.

I'm very honoured to have two very talented singers participate in this issue of Multi Media Ministry. Crystal and Natasha ("Tashi") Poholka have sent in their wonderful interview answers and will be getting a feature in my magazine. I've known Tashi for quite some time over the internet, and she was one of the first people that came to mind when I was wondering what to include in my magazine... she has her own online magazine called Pure Talent, which was a big inspiration to me in making this one.

I'm really happy to have something about classical music in my magazine, because it gives some variety from the "mainstream" teenage Christianity. originality in this issue is something I've really been struggling with, so this article is really going to help.

Above is a screenshot of the feature so far (the text is blurred out on purpose... you'll have to wait to read! ;). Comments are encouraged!

Oksy