So I spent a good amount of time in the library this past weekend, and will probably be doing the same in weeks to come. It was time well spent, as I got a lot of work done. I have been in the King Library many times, and am continually impressed by it. It has a bunch of weird quirks about it, even though it is so new. I think I need to explore it some more. Check it out.
And I am stuck in the library.
I got this gorgeous view of the San Jose, but am stuck knocking out a paper, which I have yet to start. Only a few weeks till the end of the semester. It's going to be a busy few weeks.
After spending 4 hours on a Friday morning covering the active shooter training for the Spartan Daily, this is the final product. I was totally stoked to get a bulk of the front page, even though it was a sub par photo. It doesn't upset me or anything like that. I guess it was put to good use in the end.
And who eats in the bathroom?
Have you ever felt like you're in a rut? Of course you have, that's a stupid question, but I am in this rut where I am feeling extremely creative and artistic but can't translate it to a product.
It got worse in the sixth inning.
On a recent trip to visit one of my best friends in Sacramento I came upon one of the best booksales I have ever been too. I got several books on Life Magazine and thier photographers, with the most expensive one being $3.00. I have since poured over the pages of some of these books and been scouring the internet just looking at photos. Being an observer of the art of photography.
I have been trying to find something much different than what I see a lot of today, that reminds me of the old days.
I have drained the battery on my camera with three days of shooting this weekend, a news event, some landscape and a sporting event (which you can guess was baseball). And I don't think I got a single image I was happy with.
So why the sixth inning? That's when it happened. That's when I lost a huge part of my inspiration and a big reason why I am who I am today. It Didn't even involve a camera, though one was in my hand like last time. Didn't have anything to do with my assignment, though I was on an assignment last time.
The game was over in the sixth inning for me, and I am not talking about baseball.
We'll see how I can mature and develop over the next few months after this personal issue. For the first time in a long time, I have no clue where my life is going and with who. I wonder how it will affect my shooting, my writing and my motivation. I wonder how I will come out. I can't say that I am happy or feeling good right now, but I am excepting of what has happened and why.
But that's enough of me pulling the emo card. I usually hate this kinda crap, but I just got to for my own sanity get it out, even if I do it in a vague blog post.
But I will never forget the sixth inning.
See the aftermath of layoffs with your own eyes.
Originally saw this on Joe Hollak's blog.
If I am correct it depicts the layoffs at San Jose Mercury News.
I am a fan of the Merc, which is the paper that gets my $.50 on a nearly daily basis. Now in the past few months, I haven't been too happy with the Merc, as it seems like financial problems are becoming more noticeable. It's not so much the coverage, (but I have heard that it has not been as spectacular as in years past) but in it's presentation.
Firstly, I hate that the Scene section is now part of the B section most of the week. I have a routine with reading the paper, which involves the funnies, and it just annoys me that it is part of the local news section. There were some times when all the puzzles were separate from the comics.
And then the thing that really got me. In the middle of one of the Scene sections (when it was its own section) there was a half page. Really, a half vertical page.
I thought that something happened on accident, but it seemed like it was done completely on purpose. I am not sure why, but I am a big boy and can take a full page of news.
I don't know if any of this has to do with finances, but I am going to guess so. Maybe these are really big issues, but they did and do bug the crap out of me. Along with having to register for their website. I had to log in a few times, and eventually I got tired of it and just started going to the chronicle website for Bay Area news.
I am done with this rant. One final birthday wish to my girl. She deserves it.
Here is my first Vuvox piece. I attended their breakout session at the NPPA flying short course at San Jose State last semester and was extremely impressed with it. I went home that day and created an account, but haven't really done anything since.
I shot these photo at Auto Club Speedway, which use to be called California Speedway. These photos include vintage racers that ran with the Historic Champ Indy Association and with Vintage Auto Racing Association. Most of them are from the HCICA though. I hope to do a piece with sound soon, just trying to find time to get to it.
I know the file name comes up, when you click to enlarge. I wish you were able to edit that with Vuvox. Maybe be able to turn off the name thing or be able to change the name of the file. But I had already uploaded the files the other day and didn't have them with me to rename and re-upload.
Tell me what you think. Do you think it would be better as a slideshow? I have some audio, but it's mainly the sounds of the cars revving up and on track. I did interview one person but it would be hard to piece together without my questions, because of the way he answered.
Anyways, I have to say happy birthday to my wonderful girlfriend. Happy birthday Courtney.
Here is one of my assignments from my Digital Photography class. It was a random assignment, meaning that we created actions and had them randomly performed on the folder of photos. Here is a grid of my favorite ones.
If you haven't heard about all the Olympic protests due to China's position on Tibet, open your eyes.
Today in San Francisco, three protesters with the Students for a Free Tibet scaled the cables of the Golden Gate Bridge to hoist up two signs that read "Free Tibet."
One thing I wanted to highlight was the CBS5 anchor who had to think quick on her feet as she was told a caller was calling in that was on the bridge. Little did she know it was one of the protesters hanging from the bridge.
Talk about a tough and lucky situation to be in. Talk about a prime source. Talk about thinking on your feet. That is what journalist dream about.
I think she handled it decently, especially in the situation she was put in. I was hopping the video was on Youtube already, but they only have the original video up right now.
Here is the link the protester calling in.
Went on a little hike yesterday, actually I don't know how much of a hike it was because it was about as strenuous as a nature walk, but for the first time in a while I felt like I got some good photos.
I am not much of a landscape photographer, but I am a photographer and heavily enjoy the good out doors. Fortunately, thanks to an article in the Mercury news about Joseph D Grant Park and a free weekend morning, I was able to make the trip up Mt. Hamilton about 20-30 minutes from my house.
For a while I just walked around and kind of just looked at everything. I got there and was amazed by all the green grass complimented by the blue sky. Flowers were starting to sprout up and lake was filled with ducks of all breeds (I know that cause I stopped to talk to some bird watchers who mentioned there were a wide variety of birds at this park).
I was very happy with what I got, but I don't know if I really met my agenda. I wanted to go out and shoot with just one lens, my 50mm 1.8, and get back to the roots of photography. You know, just limit and back myself into a corner and see if I could come out punching with some good photos, but I was too chicken to just go with one lens so I brought my bread and butter wide angle. I was happy I had the wide angle, cause it allowed me to get some fun shots, but I feel that I let myself down.
I feel part of being a good photographer is seeing what you can pull out of crappy situations. It's about doing good with what you got, and not about being over-prepared with your six different lenses and three bodies all fitted with 8GB cards. I didn't go out with all that nor do I have all of that, but I really wanted to keep it basic. I did to a point, but not to the full extent.
Like I said I enjoyed my photos, and hopefully you will too. I did some different things in photoshop, and I like how they turned out.
But next time I'll go out with just the Holga and one roll of film. Lets see if I really am the photographer I think I am.
Went to the top of Mt. Hamilton the other day. It was a fun drive and a great view.
