I’m trying to figure out if I’d actually done anything since January 1st. Oh how time flies and it’s just been one of those weeks where I I’m constantly busy but feel like I’ve accomplished nothing. Thankfully, that doesn’t quite apply to the past 3 months…

A couple things have happened since my last post.

For starters, I entered a juried photography show at a local gallery, and not only was one of my photos accepted but I won a prize! I do my own matting and framing and an happy that I took a pic of the finished products. The winner is the photo on top, of the mirror:

(Apparently I uploaded this photo back on March 7… and never got around to blogging about it…)

Another big thing includes a hole in my wallet – a Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8L II USM lens. For those of you that didn’t register anything between the words “Canon” and “lens” just think fancy, pricey, awesome camera equipment.

I’ve also been accepted into my first choice transfer school! Which is important because I didn’t actually apply to more than one; there wasn’t really any other place I wanted to be. So come August, I’ll be heading south and starting at Western Kentucky University.

This past month I also had an opportunity to hear Christiane Amanpour and James Rubin. Amanpour is CNN’s Chief International Correspondent and one awesome woman, a great journalistic inspiration. James Rubin, also a cool character, is a foreign policy adviser who served under Pres. Clinton and Madeleine Albright. Both were good speakers and took questions together at the end. It was great, especially since their husband and wife and have a sense of humor.

I took a few pictures at the end of them together for the Q&A. In the one below, Rubin is taking a break from the hot lights while his wife tackles a question.

A work in progress. Enjoy:

This started out as being something completely different, and developed into its own thing, not that I’m complaining =)

It’s very much a draft. I’m planning to add a photographer, for example, and I’ve got other ideas for additions, some refining, and the yoga poses are really just stand-ins (especially the last one), but I think it’s off to a nice start.

Sorry about the absence. January was pretty crazy and somethings just got left on the sidelines… But picking up just where I left off – here’s a little photo story:

Love’s Labour’s Lost
Presented by Shakespeare in the Basement

Shakespeare in the Basement is a high-school student run theatre company that has been putting on one Shakespearean play each semester for the past two and a half years. The troupe was started in 2005 by three high-school juniors to makeup for the lack of Shakespeare in their English classes (the eleventh grade cover American Literature). They held auditions at the end of the school term for Twelfth Night which was performed that fall. Since then, the company has put on four more shows, including their latest – Love’s Labour’s Lost.

It was my first experience photographing a performance and unfortunately I wasn’t really prepared *cough*notripod*cough* as I just sorta spontaneously did it. I also realized how frickin loud dslrs can be… must do something about that.

Also, first time shooting with RAW (+ jpeg). I knew it would be amazing, but it’s just something else to see the results and comparisons in person. It really saved some of the frames too… as I had some exposure issues. I completely underestimated the power of pale, shiny fabric in some of the scenes… Still got a lot to learn!

Over all, gotta say I had a great time. I’d never seen/read this particular play before so I missed some of the key moments, but there was plenty to work with. The kids did a great job bringing the comedy to life. I was really impressed!

I took these photos way back in March of 2007, but they’ve only been adapted to the digital world within the past month as I was putting together my portfolio. So everything below is scanned b&w film, tweaked in photoshop to look like the traditional prints glimpsed in the last blog entry.

Once a year, during the last week before spring break, the first-year architects at Cornell University design and build a dragon that they parade around campus on Friday afternoon and then ceremoniously burn on the quad right in the middle of the Arts and Sciences College.

By the way… yes, that is snow and this kind of weather is actually pretty normal for mid-March.

This year’s dragon had a modern design to it. At first glance I thought maybe they hadn’t finished it on time. I never did find out for sure.

The proud designers/builders all donned white suits.

I singled one out.

I enjoy taking pictures of other photographers. This is one of the better one’s I’ve ever pulled off.

I wish I had a stuffed dragon like that as a kid.

As per tradition, the rest of the architects dress up in crazy costumes and accompany the dragon along the way.

I really really wish this person had walked a little faster, or I had leaned a little farther over… I honestly don’t remember exactly the circumstance, but that’s the way it goes. The amount of times I’m this close yet so far away from an amazing photo…

The above guys… I never did get the full story, but their banner suggests they’re landscape architects who are jealous of the regular architects; they don’t have their own special holiday. I guess they’ve come out to slay the dragon.

Crowd shot. The parade usually starts sometime about 12 to 1pm, so a lot of students come watch between classes or during lunch. Then there’s all the faculty and staff who usually come see, though they usually don’t stay for the whole ordeal.

And finally at the end it burns… or in this case chars. Bamboo doesn’t really burn dramatically, and I don’t think the snow helped.

And that’s Dragon Day!

The end

One of my goals this past fall was to create a personal website, a site I could use as an online portfolio, and well… I did. Though, it wasn’t quite the same type of site I envisioned back in September, I’m really happy with it:

One awesome thing about the site… it’s 100% free. Yes, that does mean there are limitations, but for right now I can happily accept the word “uber” in my url address and a slower site…

In other news, I have three sets of images for you in the next week or so. A theater performance, my fall portfolio series titled “Craft,” and a snowy parade that features a bamboo dragon.

Til then, here’s a preview. A collection of some of the prints I made of the parade, all traditional darkroom prints from b&w film =)