The last entry for the year

Well its been a good year. Much has transpired and many memories made. But now its time to say good bye to the old and welcome the new year. To all of you out there here's wishing you the very best in the upcoming year and may it bring all the things you need.

More late night ramblings...

Well with the advent of the rain and the melting of the snow that for the past couple days had me holed up in my house gone it was a day to venture forth and once again see the world. I must say it was good to once again step out the door and smell the air though it still held a faint hint of the crispness the snow brought. The fields not encumbered by the mantle of snow was once again showing its rich soil in furrows and ridges. 

As I sit now back in my house, listening to the falling drops of water outside my window and contemplating my bed being as the hour is quite late... or early if you consider that this is the morn of the new day, my thought goes out what other aspects of this year came and went. To each of you out there this year has undoubtedly brought firsts, lasts and events in between. Having passed the winter solstice and the days getting longer as we hurtle on through time and space towards another long summer day what other new firsts, lasts and events in between will we encounter.

I once contemplated the usefulness of being able to see into the future. What fun, I could figure out what the daily jackpot numbers were going to be and be as rich as a pig with a field full of mud. I could know when danger was coming and save millions.... and I could also see into the far distance and read my own obituary and live every moment with the knowledge that I would die at a very set time and place and there would not be anything I could do to stop it. Because if the thought is that I could know the winning numbers to the lottery and that thought and knowledge did not change the course of events then why should I be able to change the time of such things as that which is bad and harmful. 

But I cannot see the future and in a way it is for the best I guess. Looking back though with the well known 20/20 vision that we all posses we can see the actions that we have taken over the course of the past year and I wonder how many I would have made had I known the outcome of them? How many such decisions are yet to come I cant say but what will I do with them in the future. But the drip, drip, dripping of the rain is slowing and so should I. Off to bed, rest relax and rejuvenate to face another day. And besides I got a few more days of 2008 to enjoy before it is but another memory to store in my collection of memories and I should make the most of it while I still can.

Finally something to post

Well I guess I have been somewhat lax in posting... and so here I am again. Yesterday with was sunday I had the opportunity to go out and do some shooting. Being as it is cold this was a bit of a stretch for me as I have mentioned in past posts I like it not so frigid. Anyway shoot I did and on my walk I noticed that in the black and white world of snow and everything else there still seemed to be subtle shades of color peaking though. I was captured by the shades of brown leaves which in contrast to the rest of the scene which was blanketed in white almost had a red or rust colored look to it. Well having worked with the images of the trees I decided that by them selves they did not adequately tell the entire story so I turned them into a triptych, Enjoy.

Finishing Finals and getting ready for more white stuff

After spending the last several weeks getting ready for finals and looking back over notes and handout it is finally over. To some extent it can be called anticlimactic just because once you hand it in and walk out well thats it. There is no real feeling of elation other than knowing that the quarter is officially over. 

On a unrelated but equally interesting note, because you know things are hopping in this end of the world... More Snow! I like snow... the white has a clean and fresh look and it makes the mountains look so pretty... but that does not mean it makes everything pretty. The sidewalks are festooned with patches of ice that make walking on it somewhat of an exercise in balance and agility... and humility if you have the great fortune of allowing your feet to get the best of you and tell your body to go one way while they go another... feet can be tricky like that... Specially when its so cold that the messages between your feet and your brain freeze up. Anyway the forecast is for more snow. Well I am sure children all over Walla Walla are looking forward to it as the snow we have to this point gave them a snow day today and I am sure if the weather gets bad they might be expecting another tomorrow... and then its vacation starting on the weekend so who thinks they are going to want to come in on friday anyway... I guess with it being a snow day today everyone is just going to hit the holiday mood early and kiss the next two days goodbye as far as getting any work done. 

This thought brings me to wonder about all the poor adults as it would seem who are wishing they were kids and got a snow day too. Isn't being an adult great? You get to do all the cool adult things like pay bills, worry about the economy, go to work in snow, hail, rain and all manner of crazy weather. And I am sure your boss is always looking over your shoulder just to make sure your not goofing off. 

Happy holidays.... No really... enjoy it... it could be worse... you could have an itch in the middle of your back from all the layers you are wearing because its so cold... Oops you have that too... Oh well I guess you are going to have to find a nice long ruler or stick or something and wont that be sooo good when you get that itch... see things are looking up already. 

More snow and more pictures

Being as the white stuff keeps falling it is an occasion for staying indoors and working on my pictures. And being that the last shoot gave me something to work with this seems like the perfect opportunity. 

First snow of the season

Well the white stuff keeps falling and falling. The first big storm of the season... well at least thats what the meteorologist are saying... is bringing a dumping of snow. Within the last several hours at least 2 or three inches have fallen and it doesn't seem to be stopping. I have not decided if this is something good or bad yet. On the one hand it makes for some very interesting photography and on the other its cold. 

I cant say I am not accustom to the cold having experienced at least 10 winters now, but on the whole I think I like the warmer weather as far as something to live in. It just might have something to do with my being born and raised on an island 7 degrees north of the equator. But winter is officially here and with it the snow. Well at least the option of building snowmen is there... and maybe an igloo as well....

More pictures and Joe

I have been working on processing a few more images from tuesdays impromptu photo-shoot. Today as I was working on these images I had one of those rare (for me;-) "ah Ha" moments that helped me to understand why the images look the way they do. I have been wanting to experiment with this look and have not quite understood why the images looked this way even though I knew the process of how to get them to look this way. But today for some strange reason things aligned and in my head there appeared a pictorial representation of the zone system and how the tones of these images stretched and squished that scale to look like what they do.... anyway it makes sense in my head even though it comes out as crazy babbling sounds when I try to explain it. 

But understanding is the first step... which reminds me of an old cartoon saying. 

If anyone remembers the cartoon G.I. Joe, soon to come out as a movie which is not to be confused with Joe the Plumber... but anyway, at the end of all the episodes one of the "Joe's" would advise a kid who was doing something "wrong" who would naturally see the light and the phrase "... and knowing is half the battle." would be uttered. Well what no one seems to get is that they just had a half an hour or 20 minuets of violent action with bullets flying and buildings exploding everywhere as the good guys battled the bad guys.... and the rest of the story is that knowing may be half the battle but the other half is bloody violence and mayham... Hmmm.... I am sure thats not it.... or is it? You tell me?

Beating the dead week blues by getting spontaneous

I have been wanting to do some shooting for some time using some lighting equipment. Being as the end of the quarter has been drawing near and all the other commitments piling on it has had to be on the back burner. Last night almost in a spur of the moment... well I actually thought about it two mights ago... but none the less I drug out the soft box, grabbed my camera and was off to do some shooting. 

Last night we had a very cool concert by Aaron Roche, setting up the soft box at first outside on the grass and later moving it into one of the side rooms of the village hall I literally snagged people as they walked by and had a mini photo-shoot. For those of you who stopped by a huge thank you and we should do it again because you are beautiful people!!!

I have also been intrigued with a very specific style of portraits and the images attached are my experimentation and exploration of this style. Out of the shoot I think these three images best suited the style. Enjoy, and next time you see a goofy looking dude with a crazy setup looking for volunteers... well come on by and say hello.

Parade

This evening Walla Walla celebrated its parade of lights. About 60 cars, truck, bicycles and other forms of colorfully lit floats paraded down main street and others in a loop that gave everyone present a eyeful of the brightly lit contraptions. The mood was one of merriment yet at the same time there was a sense of people doing their own thing. 

I am not sure if it is just the season that is bringing me to notice this but as I have mentioned in a previous post I am noticing the facade that society calls community. I recently re-watched the movie WALL•E and this may also have something to do with this tangent I seem to be on. But as in the movie everyone is so connected with everything that they don't even know each other or that they had a pool. 

Anyway back to the parade and the lights. Maybe we need more of these events so that people once again start coming out and mingling and maybe we will start to get back the sprit of the community back.

Caroling to Hunting Men

This has been quite the eventful evening. It started with the festive activity of caroling. Being the season to bring good cheer to others via the singing of songs on the door step, a group of Walla Walla University students went from door to door singing the songs of the season. While this was a most enjoyable activity I wonder why it does not happen more often. It seems that as a society we are becoming more and more separated and isolated, shunning communal activities that once brought us together.

The recent story in the news about the "Black Friday" tragedy in New York in a sense is a typical example of where this leads society. To be so driven to acquire materiel objects that we as a species would step on someone else with no remorse or concern is sad. On the same token were the people gathered there viewing others present as fellow shoppers who like them were enjoying the seasonal low prices and reveling in each others company waiting for the doors to open for a morning of shopping? I think not, more like trying to elbow their way to the front of the line, what your pregnant well an elbow in the kidney will get you out of my way and give me an edge. We are getting so distant from each other that we have forgotten how to interact, behave even.

But not all is doom and gloom. Several students have organized a game of Man Hunt. The object of this game is to complete a route of several locations and get back to the starting location within a given time period. Now you may say... piece of cake... or, what thats just like a foot race... well the catch is that there are several others who drive around in cars that if they spot you will pick you up and deposit you back at the starting point where you can hang out till the next game or in the case of the last game till everyone gets back. 

Its a fast paced game and knowing where to hide and which fence to jump if the need arose makes the chilly air more bearable and the people one meets helps to bring that sense of community and camaraderie. It is often seen that in times of stress or need such as a war or in our own recent history of 9/11 or the hurricanes, people came together to support each other. Well being as such events have more negative aspects than positive aspects, games such as this are a much more exciting and rewarding way to build that sense of community.

Playing with Pigs

Today was the last Biology lab of the quarter. While I am both happy and sad to see the quarter almost over the last lab being what it is was also a time for some fun. We have been studying the anatomy of a fetal pig for the last couple weeks and with the project coming to a close it was an opportune moment do do a little exploring and do some casual dissection. Liz, Chelsea and Brandon who I share a table with were quite voracious in the scalping and exploring of the remnants of our beloved specimens.

Fishing the Yak... again

Well on the way back from Seattle, determined to get in some time on the water I stopped along the Yakima river to wet a line. The evening was quite productive with the trout being quite willing to take a fly. Being as it is starting to get colder these fish seem eager to stock up on what little insects they may happen by before the icy grip of winter takes hold.

Thanksgiving in Seattle

Well its been a while since I have had the time to update this and much has transpired since. Going back and retrieving memories in a chronological fashion what comes to mind first is the trip to Seattle. Having the couple days of break from tests, homework and other misc. studies it was good to get out an visit with friends. During this visit I decided to play with the idea of creating some images with my point and shoot which I have got into the habit of carrying with me. I have been looking into the concept of the decisive moment that Henri Cartier-Bresson so eloquently often spoke and more correctly captures in photographs. Well only being a student of the subject and my no means a master of the technique and also because I have a perverted nature that forces me to create "homework" assignments for myself even when I am on holiday... Well I played with the idea. The technique of zooming through the exposure was something I had seen and tried in the past and when the off chance of that synapse crossed with another in my brain I spent most of that evening sitting in the passenger seat of my buddies car as we drove on errands snapping away and reveling in the interesting images that I got.

The trip was fun and I think that I will have to keep this style in mind and feel more free to experiment and capture other decisive moments of my own life as I go through them.