New Year's four months late

I used to be big on the whole photography thing. Really big. Something then caused it go fizzle out. It was a culmination of many things, things that I still am not sure of. But that does not matter anymore.

I do not take as many pictures anymore under the pretense that I focused for too long taking photos of people living instead of living myself. But on occasion, I do find those days in which I find myself wanting to live through a camera lens, even if for a little while.

There is something powerful about being an observer, a captor of things usually unseen and unappreciated, that draws me back to my camera. It is almost as if you are invisible, a shade, a ghost, and it is exciting. It is exciting to see things from a point of view that barely anyone gets to see and then, when returning from the eyepiece of the camera, mulling over your results.

Here are some of my more recent results from the 2010 New Years...



These photos were taken right after New Years--everyone was enjoying a celebratory cigar outside in the freezing cold. With the perfect light, smoke, an elliptical, and slightly drunken atmosphere, conditions were perfect for me.

I am going to try to start putting more things up on this thing as time goes by, so continue to check this blog out periodically!

Retirement... sort of...

Yeah, so I just realized I left this site idle for quite a long time.

Many things have happened since my last post... many many things...

First off, I have switched my major from journalism to psychology. Yeap. I know. Big change, huh? I realize it was kind of sudden, but I know it was the right thing to do. There are a lot of motivations behind doing so, mainly personal, but I feel burnt out when it comes to photography.

Sigh... the bad thing about writing something like this is that I can only write so much about my decision and what I do not write, those who read it will fill in the blanks I failed to address with assumptions and other speculations that may or may not be true.

All I have to say is this--I finally feel happy where I am at. The future is uncertain for me, but I know I am heading down a path--a path that is new--a path I actually feel excited about traveling on.

I may post more photos on this site as time progresses, but photos are not my priority anymore. All I can say is that I am glad I realized this now before I majored in journalism and realized, once out of college, that photography was not my thing. Whew... would that have been disastrous...

Big Ten Track Championships

Yeah, so this day was long, stressful, and disheveling--hence why I'm writing the post for Sunday three days later on a Wednesday. Hehehe.

So instead of writing a play-by-play of everything that happened, here are some of my selected pics. I really did not score big at the meet but I made some OK shots...



Gotta love his hair...



The sun kept playing tricks on me all day--it was annoying trying to stay one step ahead of it--I blame the meet officials for scheduling the event during midday--bah!



Pole vault shots I'm finding are fun to shoot--how often do you get to compose a shot with a person flying through the air with the blue sky as your primary background?

Road Trip!!! (in about eight hours)

Ok, so this will be my first photography-based roadtrip today--kind of excited! NCAA Track Championships baby! What fun--I have some interesting multimedia ideas to work with alongside of the reporter going--hopefully all goes well! Look for an update later today in the evening some time.

Burma Vigil for Burmese Victims of Cyclone Nargis

So, I was walking back to my apartment last night when I got a call--it was my friend, Aung Khain Min (I call him AK) and he just saw me walk past his apartment--we live in the same apartment complex. I have been wanting to hang out with him for a while since he is planning on traveling overseas over the summer in a couple of weeks. I make an abrupt U-turn and head to his apartment.

We catch up on some things and then he says that there is going to be a candlelight vigil tonight for the cyclone victims. With nothing else to do, I tagged along to show my support.

When we arrived at the courthouse, I started to get quite cold. You see, earlier in the day it was quite warm--shorts and short-sleeve t-shirt warm. However, when you mix the sun setting with a nasty cool breeze, well yeah... you get my drift. Anyhoo, I was standing there being supportive and listening to AK and the rest of the Burmese students chat in Burmese and why Mr. Brandon Foltz comes along. I guess someone at the IDS filled out a photo request for this particular vigil and since nobody picked it up, Brandon was left with the job. We chatted for a bit and then he went to work. I told him since I am friends with these people I probably should not shoot for the IDS even though I had my (actually, the IDS's) 20d with me at the time. Ethical stuff, can't shoot photos of your friends, etc. He said to go ahead and do it anyways and I figured it would not hurt--he has been kind of strained at the photo desk with lack of photos so I figured I'd give him a hand.

Brandon began snapping away and after about five minutes questioned me for my lack of shooting--I only shot a couple of frames within the last five minutes or so. Jokingly, I said, "Oh, you want me to shoot more, huh?" and I wildly aimed my camera at him, getting off a short burst of out-of-focus shots of his mouth:



I like how you can see his green gum in almost every photo--pretty funny.

Anyways, this is what I got after Brandon left:



I'm a fan of this above one actually. I had a chat with Neineh, one of the students out there, about this photo and I said that it was good, but did not really explain much. Still, after pulling it up on the computer, I think it is quite good. Not great, but still pretty good.



Jerry Htoo



Neineh Plo

Also made a Soundslide out of it, too, but without the sound. Yeah, I know--a voice recorder is the next thing on my list of big purchases so sound will be coming soon.

Burma Vigil

...ok, so I can't get the link to work right now. But bear with me--in a couple of days, it'll be up.

new job!

So I am a copy editor now alongside of being a photographer. How cool is that? Yeap... just wanted to brag...

It was too good to last...

Saturday was perfect. Sure, it was unseasonably cold in the morning, but when the sun rose, wow! Just the perfect weather for a running race, which was what I shot in the morning-noonish hours. But now, Sunday, it is cold, in the 50s, and rainy. Curse you Indiana weather!!!!! Anyways....

The race was the first annual Coach Hep Indiana Cancer Challenge or something like that. People ran, rode bikes, walked, etc. and of course I got there way before all the events even started. People were just mulling around, registering, socializing, and not doing anything photogenic at all. I then realized that the fun walk with Jane Hoeppner and the rest would not be until 11am, about 1.5 hours later. After taking pretty pictures of shoelaces and bicycle jerseys, "Screw this," I thought, and I went home to sleep instead of waiting until 11.

Upon returning, things began to happen and I did my thing. Here's the result:



Cute, but quite sad when you learn the back story. The father lost his mom to cancer early this March. When I found that out from him, I mumbled a "Wow, I'm sorry" but the way I said it, it did not feel... true--it came out sounding a little fake. I hope he did not take offense by that. I mean, what are you supposed to say to someone after they say that to you? Sigh... well that's the photo--that's his daughter, obviously, on top of his shoulders touching "The Rock" by the way, in case you did not catch that. Damn though... I still wish I sounded more empathic saying I'm sorry to hear about his loss because I still kind of feel bad about it...

Oh, and here's the slideshow:

Coach Hep Cancer Challenge slideshow