Archive for the ‘photography’ Category
Making This Year Challenge A Little More Interesting: An Ultimatum
I’ve made up my decision. Well, after talking to a good friend about it all. I am giving myself an ultimatum and it wasn’t something I thought about ever since talking to him a couple of days ago.
I Learned Something Last Year Reading One of My Favorite Writers
Most people wouldn’t consider Steve Martin much of a writer. I didn’t, until I read 3 of his books last year. The guy is just talented in all ways and I encourage people to give him a shot–as a writer–if you are not fond of his films. While I was reading his non-fiction work about becoming a comedian, the section that stuck out to me was, well actually there were a couple:
Practicing the passion- Steve worked his ass off without the much thought of making money from it. He did multiple stand-ups, changed his act, talk to many people, watched and copy, to an extent, his favorite comedians.
Money wasn’t an issue until he couldn’t pay for his lifestyle- Steve started to make some money from his comedic act, but nothing to sustain a life of partying, women, traveling around the country, and whatever else he wanted to do. He knew he had to do something about it.
He gave himself an ultimatum- Steve was nearing the age of 30 and realized that his passion had to make him money or he had to do something else. He just wasn’t making enough money and had to be real with himself. I believe Steve gave himself 3 years or so to get paid.
Tags: challenge
Day 2 - Road Trip, East Coast: The Road Trip and NYC!
The alarm was jingling around 12:30 a.m., early Saturday morning. I knew it was time for me to do something I’ve never done before, or more accurately, done something that I’ve never done for a long time.
I made some coffee, turned on my laptop, and started writing. I would have to say that I left Ann Arbor before 2 a.m. It was dark, cold, and spooky at the same time. I looked around my surroundings so many times. I wonder if somebody was behind me? I would have probably attacked them with the fact that it was night time and I was defending myself (you would, too).
There were no hiccups on the road-trip. The coffee lasted roughly 4 hours, until I had to stop at a convenient store to load up on more coffee (with tons of sugar), 3 bags of M&M’s, and one crappy egg Mcmuffin, that almost chocked me. I would have liked to stop in the towns along the way and see how the people lived; I guess I will have to save that exercise for next time.
Tags: NYC, road trip, sight seeing
Day 1 - Road Trip, East Coast: Part 1 of 2: Detroit
The first day was slow, but picked up quickly. It is hard to imagine how long a full day actually is.
I woke up around 5 or 6. Started packing and took a shower. Loaded up on bagels (3), a pastry and a half, raisin brand cereal, decent coffee with sugar creme and my pick of sugar and sugar substitutes, a slice of wheat bread, and a cup of orange juice.
I made my calls to my people and began my day in route to Detroit. The airport is 20 or so miles away from Detroit proper, so I started my navigation to Dearborn, Michigan. Dearborn is home to the Ford Motor company. I wasn’t noticing the vehicles much, but they were mostly American cars and trucks. I drove through the headquarters of Ford, went through Ford land, saw the barricade wall that the test track occupied, and continued my drive through the R&D part of the property.
Right when I was about to exit and make my way to Detroit, I noticed a car show of mainly Ford vehicles, here and there of other American cars, and 1, I couldn’t believe it, Foreign car, a first gen RX-7 (which was nicely placed in the back of the event). I didn’t talk to much people. I gawked at a couple of the cars, took many photos, and was on my way.
Tags: Detroit, east coast, road trip
What I see… My Apartment
It was a bitter sweet feeling, when I woke up early on a Saturday morning in late November of last year. I knew this was to be my last time with roommates. I knew that I will be in a place where I could learn about myself, take my writing to a new level, and grow. Besides, I could be butt-naked and enjoy my girlfriend without the added pressure of other people to worry about.
Damn, this door represents so, so much.
Move-In Day - Uhaul stops, my friend and I get out, I look around and smile with excitement. I see an older gentleman of 50 or so, who, is watering his plants. He looks puzzled and confused, he doesn’t make much eye-contact, but is aware of my presence. I go up the stairs, I have this smile on my face, I go to greet him - and the fucker shafts me. He looks me dead in my face and proceeds to water his plants…
2 Days Later - Afterwork I’m eager to get back home. I was ready to shout to the world that I was living by myself. I get off the bus, I walk 4 minutes or so to my apartment, and instantly am greeted with more neighbors. Another older guy of 50 or much older said his name, where he lived, welcomed me to the apartment and neighborhood…mentioned something briefly about his partner. I saw other people from time to time during that first day. I didn’t think much about it…
Tags: apartment, photo journalism, what i see
What I See - The J.O.B.
From the looks of this building it is scary, uninviting, and like a jail cell.
I go through the heavy, solid glass door, walk through the carnival style security bar, by elevator I arrive on the 15th floor, swipe my badge and my day officially begins.
Everyday is the same, for the most part. I pour smelly, seldom dirty city water into my Brita filter, make toast, and slowly start my working day.
My workplace consist of 13 men and 4 women. They range in age from 25 to 60 something. They have different characteristics that are cool, but at times piss me off.
Tags: Job, photo journalism
What I See, Story 2 - Bus Transporation
This is a new series of post I will do on Friday that is called, What I See. During the week I will take photos of various events around me. I will provide a story behind the photo. This is essentially giving my readers a glimpse into my writing, the way I think, and also about my life. It wouldn’t be fair to only talk about writing, I have to be willing to show yall my pieces, too. Let me know what you think.
It’s hard getting up early in the morning. To be exact, around 4:30. Well more like 4:50 after all the snoozing is needed to convince myself to at least write. After I write I have to drag my ass into the shower, then probably make breakfast or get it on the way to work. I run, run, run to the bus stop, this is done because I have terrible time-management skills.
The bus, that object with 4 wheels, that is transportation to annoying and nice people. That grotesque-never-been-washed hand rail and those uncomfortable seats I have to force my not-flat-ass into every single morning. For the most part, I run to the bus stop because I’m either making sure I didn’t forget anything and making sure I set my a/c past 90 degrees (apartment is an oven when I get back). If I didn’t decide to use the bus I could either jog at a decent pace (30-35 minutes) or ride my road bike (15 minutes). I can’t eat on the bus or drink (I wouldn’t want to drink a thing on a bus that is constantly stopping and jerking my body forward), but I can listen to a podcast with total concentration, I can read a couple of pages of a novel or blog post via iphone, or observing others.
Tags: photo journalism, transportation
My Other Addiction: Photography!
Why Photography?
It is a good idea, for anyone, who is starting to take something a little more serious than they usually do is to take baby steps. There is no reason to go fully overboard because one may find out it isn’t for them.
I did this very method of finding my passion through writing and now I have done so in the field of photography. I used to take photos with my crappy point and shoot camera. I would take the camera anywhere, I would take a photo a day, I took it even to work to see what interesting things I would capture. I had a great time doing so, but as months passed by I stopped using my camera, I just didn’t care anymore. I made the decision over the past Christmas break to get a present for myself. So I ended up getting a Nikon D60.
Great camera, bulking, but not unreasonable, and I could learn for days on how to use it properly. Everyone learns differently and the way I learn is by playing with things without using a manual. I finally hit a brick wall, so I read some of the manual, watched a couple of the videos, and read some information online. I even bought a bigger lense for my California trip so I could take better images far away. I was in the game and knew this was my second passion of active interest.
I have now committed to being a photographer. I have bought Apple Aperture, a 16 gig memory card, and a photography book that will teach me everything I need to know about photography. I can go to classes and get the experience there, but I want to do this on my own. This is the way I feel I will learn more efficiently and appreciate the art of photography.
Tags: Nikon D60, photo journalism, photography, writing
What I See, Story 1- Mr. Homeless guy
This is a new series of post I will do on friday that is called, What I See. During the week I will take photos of various events around me. I will provide a story behind the photo. This is essentially giving my readers a glimpse into my writing, the way I think, and also about my life. It wouldn’t be fair to only talk about writing, I have to be willing to show yall my pieces, too. Let me know what you think.
Mr. Homeless guy was packing up his belongings to begin his day. He had on some old adidas’ sneakers that barely held his feet in place, due to worn out shoe strings. He wore the same outfit every single day, however, whenever I pass him he didn’t smell of an odor. He is a man around the age of his mid 40’s to early 50’s, he is probably younger, but the weathered look of living on the streets for however long, has aged him.
Many people walk pass him, especially during the work-week, I also am a victim of passing him without any care.
Tags: homeless, lost, passion, photography, writing
May ‘09 Vacation to California (part 2 of 3)
I haven’t been on a real vacation ever since I went to Japan, which is roughly 2 years ago. I was looking forward to this one because I was going with my girlfriend. We went on a trip last summer to Minnesota, but we didn’t spend much time with each other because she was running around doing activities with her cousins.
This vacation has been a couple of months in the making. I know my girlfriend needed it and I just wanted to unplug from the ‘9-5’ and relax for more than a weekend. So we picked California, particularly Oakland for a night, and then off to the Mountains (about 2.5 hours away). The drive through Northern California was satisfying, probably because I wasn’t driving, I was also soaking up all of the fresh and breezy air. Oh yeah, we went to California because my girlfriend’s friend husband was celebrating his 30th birthday.
As we were driving, all I was thinking of was looking over the balcony from the beach house and drinking as much as possible. I didn’t care about the scenery. I wanted to chill, eat, drink, have sex, and that’s about it. But, as I was day dreaming I started paying attention to the road. We drove over the Bay Bridge, which consisted of dirty, nasty, gray water. We went through this one ritzy town, where the locals looked like they enjoyed there quiet, but happenin habitat. We kept traveling on highway 80 or 580 to finally take a detour to the mountain side. The land was clear and flat, as if it was used for farming, as there were cows everywhere to eat, shit, and to look at the cars, trucks, and RV’s pass by. I didn’t know how much longer we had to get to our destination, but I stopped day dreaming and paid attention to the scenery. It was like something from a movie; the elevation kept rising and noticed their were deeps, turns, and mountain passes on both sides of the curvy road. It seemed there were at least 200 turns to get to our destination, I so badly wanted to take over in the driver seat to experience something I have only seen in movies or the television screen. But I stopped acting like I was the best driver ever in the world and enjoyed my time in the passenger seat.
Tags: california, new place, surprise, vacation
- @YEAdamMcFarland The full screen editor are badass, I get plenty done, but there shouldn't be a reason for so many choices. 12:37:20 PM November 13, 2009
