From The Window

The Mayor

2010-05-06T19:45:00.000-04:00

So, I woke up this morning to find a bunch of Mayor Adrian Fenty's campaign volunteers and staff members waving signs and wielding clipboards in front of my apartment building. I had to wade through all of them as they asked me if I was registered to vote in the District. "No. Leave me alone, please." Well, one of the volunteers pointed out that Mayor Fenty was standing on the corner. The sight of him waving a sign absolutely had to be photographed, so I went back for my camera and decided I didn't care if I was late for work. I took a few pictures, told him I wasn't registered in DC, and he told me to wear sticker. Small price to pay for some funny photos. I thought it especially hilarious that he continued to hold the sign up as talked to people passing him on the street. I was only two minutes late for work.

Tourists

2010-05-02T15:33:00.000-04:00

I know we all love to hate tourists in this city, but they make for some decent street photography because they are so obliviously unaware to anything around them. I also took this photo as part of the NYT Moment in Time project. On May 2 at 15:00 UTC, people around the world took a picture of wherever they were to record a simultaneous portrait of out entire world.

Saturday Night

2010-04-22T20:23:00.000-04:00

She'll kill me if she sees I used this photo, but it was my favorite picture of the weekend. While a bunch of my friends were over at my house for some beer pong, I decided that I needed to get everything on film. I didn't expect to really get anything good, just some photos of my friends to put up on Facebook. As it turned out, I got several fantastic shots, including this one of my friend taking a sip of her drink before it was her turn to throw. There are so many elements that I just love about this photo. The plain curtain background, the vignette, the arm extended with the ping pong ball at the tip of her fingers, the cup covering her face, and just the overall sense that she had no idea I was taking a picture. Without further ado,

The Sydney Opera House

2010-04-18T18:22:00.000-04:00

Hello again. I'm sorry. Here's a picture.

I went to Australia for a little while and made my way to Sydney. I took a couple pictures of the Opera House and then pretty much gave up because it is so difficult to take a unique picture of one of the most photographed buildings in the entire world. I was talking about that with my friends as I was walking along the boardwalk when I turned and saw this reflection. It was about as good as I was going to get.

Boston

2010-01-30T21:48:00.003-05:00

Eye candy for you all since I haven't updated this thing in way too long. It's a bar.

Leaves

2009-10-29T11:05:00.002-04:00

Leaves I found on the ground in DC. There were a lot of them. They were pretty.

My Best Friend

2009-10-28T10:00:00.001-04:00

So, on Monday, my Dad called me with the call I had been expecting for over a month but one that I had been dreading. My Dad called to tell me that they would be putting Mick, our 15-year old Australian shepherd to sleep. We got him while I was still in kindergarten, and we would have never dreamed that he would make it to my senior year of college. I still remember picking him up on St. Patrick's day of 1994 from a farm just outside of Des Moines. It was puppy-love at first sight.

Mick would sleep in my bed with me, sometimes under the covers. He would usually stay there until I fell asleep, but then the next morning, my dad would let him into my room to jump on my bed and wake me up for school. As I got older, there wasn't room for both of us on the bed, but I still started everyday by getting jumped on and licked by a relatively large dog.

We had a lot of fun growing up together. We explored the woods behind my house. He would chase after us as we sledded down snowy hills and would steal our hats and gloves from us once we got to the bottom. When I played catch with friends, it turned into a game of keep-away from Mick, and when he eventually did get the football/baseball/whateverball, it turned into a game of catch-the-stupid-dog-so-we-can-get-the-ball-back.

I could go on and on about Mick. How he chased the deer in the park, and how the deer weren't scared of him at all. How he used to greet my family with a special bark and how his left ear was always perked in the air. How he hated to have his paws touched and how he "played guitar" when I scratched him on his chest just below the neck.

Mick was simply the best dog a boy could ever ask for. I'm gonna miss you, buddy.

So without further delay, from about a year ago, here is a self-portrait of me with the best dog ever to grace this earth.

Octuple Stuf

2009-10-27T10:39:00.002-04:00

All I really wanted to do was show you this Oreo. Look at it!

Row House

2009-10-26T00:00:00.002-04:00

While walking around the Shaw-Howard area, I found this old section of row houses. The red brick and teal tops were an interesting contrast, so I decided to show it. One of my favorite parts of this scene is the old sign. I love old rusting signs like that, but unfortunately it's kind of lost in this photo. From a couple years ago, this was one of my first experiments with Photoshop Lightroom.

Fall

2009-10-25T12:08:00.000-04:00

It's definitely fall in DC. Took this picture last weekend, but now the trees are more gorgeous than ever. Lent my camera out to someone, but should be getting it back tonight or tomorrow.

Terrifying Playground

2009-10-24T12:34:00.000-04:00

One of my very first HDR attempts. Also, don't take your kids here. It is terrifying.

Narcissism

2009-10-23T10:48:00.001-04:00

Because I know all of you want to see how I looked two years ago. Here I am. Rough, raw, and unedited.

Beer

2009-10-22T00:01:00.000-04:00

I don't imagine many of you outside the Midwest have had Schlitz. Hell, I bet most of you in the Midwest haven't had Schlitz unless you're over fifty. Way back a million years ago, like when my parents were in college, it was the cheap beer of choice. The original Natty, if you will. They changed the formula, and apparently it made the already crappy beer undrinkable. Recently, Schlitz reverted back to its old formula, and the beer is making somewhat of a come back. I have even had more than one!

Pontiac

2009-10-21T00:02:00.003-04:00

The same day I caught John McCain eating a pork chop on a stick, I took this shot of an old Pontiac at the Iowa State Fair. Do any of my readers know what model this is or what year? I know nothing about cars.

Smile

2009-10-20T00:02:00.000-04:00

One of the reasons my friends hate me is because when I have my camera, I am constantly taking pictures of them. I know I will throw out most of the pictures I take, but the reason I take so many of them is so that they get used to the camera and act natural. That's exactly what happened here with my friend. We had gone out on a walk to take pictures, and every couple of minutes or so, I would take a picture of her. I got the usual playful "stop it" and "cut it out," but she finally relaxed a little bit and I got this picture of her towards the end of our walk.

Solar House

2009-10-19T00:00:00.000-04:00

This is the side of a solar house on the National Mall in DC built for the Solar Decathlon. I can't remember who built this house, but I toured the house built by Iowa State. One of my friends from high school helped build the house, and it was pretty cool.

One thing that I have always liked in photos, but never have done all that well myself are photos with a bunch of parallel lines crossing the photo. It might be benches in a stadium, ceiling beams, or something else. I'm pretty happy with how this turned out.

Warning

2009-10-18T10:51:00.001-04:00

Having never been to Northwestern, I decided to take a walk around campus. The weather was miserable, so I didn't stay out very long. I found this sign as I was walking out to the Lake Michigan shore.

Orange

2009-10-17T12:09:00.001-04:00

Orange is my favorite color, and this is one of my favorite flowers. Grown at home last summer.

fotoflōt Review

2009-10-16T00:00:00.006-04:00

I have been looking for a way to display my HDR photos for quite some time now, and I think I've finally found a way. Framing has always been too expensive, especially when I have an odd sized picture. I used Imagekind once, and it worked alright for a normal photograph, but I was a little worried about putting an HDR behind glass.

I first found fotoflōt a couple of years ago while looking for framing options, and although I thought it looked cool, I never really considered it. fotoflōt does framing in a totally different way than ever before because it isn't actually framing at all. Instead, the photo is printed and mounted onto a 1/8 inch thick sheet acrylic. Magnets are attached to the back of the picture, and once the included wall mount is installed, the picture snaps to the wall mount and appears to float just off the surface of the wall.

I finally caved last week, and bought my first fotoflōt. It came yesterday, and I was so excited to see it, I opened the box before I even got back to my 4th floor apartment after picking it up on the 1st. I picked it out of the pile of boxes left at our apartment because of the big fotoflōt sticker on the box.

Once I got the thing open, I was actually a little disappointed at first. The print seemed a little too dark. Then I decided to turn on the light. The image popped! I was so excited. Installing the wall mount was a little difficult, but that's because I had no idea how to use the wall anchors (for those of you that don't know, those are the plastic things you put into drywall before you add screws). For the record, you can also use a hook or a nail to hang the picture, but the screws are a lot more sturdy. Here's what it looked like after I got it onto the wall.

As soon as I got the thing up on the wall, I went back to fotoflōt and ordered two more. I ordered another shot of Chicago that's 7.5"x15" which is the same same size as the one that's on my wall now, and one of the National Cathedral that's 15"x12.5". The National Cathedral pic is black and white, so I'm excited to see how that turns out. I plan on doing another panorama of the American University quad once the trees change color and turn it into a 5"x25" fotoflōt. If I had the cash, I would do one for all four seasons and hang them stacked over each other to make a square.

Price was, I couldn't complain. While certainly not cheap, the fact that fotoflōt offers free shipping in the US made it about the same price as a cheap frame on Imagekind. Basically, I think I'm in love with fotoflōt.

Just for fun, here's a picture of our kitchen table. This is why my roommates hate me. It really doesn't matter though, because they are gone this weekend.

Update: The folks over at fotoflot gave me a shout out on their blog. Check it out: http://su.pr/3DKx17

Grandmother

2009-10-15T00:00:00.001-04:00

I have a really hard time taking pictures of strangers, so this was a little difficult for me. While I was in Cairo on my class trip, our professor took us to the apartment of the family that hosted her while she attended the American University in Cairo. I had been snapping hundreds of pictures everyday, so I asked the professor to ask the family if it was okay for me to take pictures during the meeting. They said it was fine, so while I was snapping pictures of them, they were snapping pictures of us on their cell phones.

Although the apartment itself was in pretty rough shape, the uneven blue on the wall, the old lace drapes, and the beatings that the door posts had taken over the year made for a perfect back drop. Photographically speaking, the apartment was perfect. The grandmother's dress and headpiece made the scene even more colorful. I was so excited that the family was so comfortable with me taking pictures, especially with these two. At the time, 20 people were crammed into the room, but by the look on their faces, you'd think they were the only two in the room.

Cartoon

2009-10-14T00:00:00.002-04:00

Something crazy happened while I was in Baltimore this summer. People were undergoing a bizarre transformation into cartoons. I caught these folks about halfway through their metamorphosis.

Peace

2009-10-13T10:37:00.001-04:00

During the winter of my freshmen year, there was an anti-war rally down on the National Mall, so I decided to go. I wanted to show my family where I was, so I took a picture on my phone and sent it to them. I then made the picture the background on my phone. When I came home for spring break a couple months later, I borrowed my brother's phone only to find that he was using the picture on the background of his phone as well. He then told me that my mom and dad were using the picture on their phones too. Basically, my picture spread like wildfire.

Sorry for the poor image quality. The phone was made in 2005 at best.

Moving Along

2009-10-12T10:01:00.001-04:00

Been a while since I've posted a Cairo pic. This one is from my first day there. By the look of this photo, you might think that they were the only people on the road. To understate it, they weren't.

My Other Roommate

2009-10-11T10:21:00.002-04:00

I like taking portraits with a wide angle lens. It makes people look not quite right. It's appropriate for him. He's not quite right.

Guys, before you start reaching for your wide angle lenses to take pictures of your girlfriend, keep in mind that it makes things in the middle of the picture bulge. Your girlfriend will not appreciate the extra 20 pounds the lens adds to her.

Alban Towers

2009-10-10T11:49:00.001-04:00

I think my experimentation is getting a little out of hand. This is a panorama of the apartment complex across the street from my place.. To that panorama, I applied something called the Ansel Adams effect in order to boost contrast. I think the effect misnomered and should be called the infrared effect. Infrared film produces an effect a lot like this with white leaves on the trees. I am going to post a normal photo soon to prove I can do this photography thing well without Photoshop.

A Boat

2009-10-09T11:17:00.001-04:00

A tugboat in New Hampshire. It hurts my eyes.

AU Quad Panorama

2009-10-08T00:00:00.002-04:00

Alright. Trying out SmugMug again, so bear with me. This is a panorama of the American University quad that I took yesterday. As you can clearly see, the picture below is waaaay too small. If you click on the picture here and then mouse of the picture on SmugMug, click on "O" to see all of the fine details. Since this is a stitched image of 12 different images there are some funny mistakes. For example, you can see the same golf cart times in this picture. There is also another person that can be spotted three times as well. Can you find this person?

Also, SmugMug has a feature where you can either give a photo a "thumbs up" or a "thumbs down." If you like a picture of mine, click on the green thumbs up! Thanks all!

Mega Church

2009-10-07T00:00:00.002-04:00

One of my friends told me that the stitching function on Photoshop CS4 was amazing, so naturally, I had to try it out. For those of you who don't know what stitching is, it's sort of a collage. It is a composite of a whole bunch of different images put side by side to make one image. Photoshop will automatically stitch the images together seamlessly into one image. My friend told me about it at night, so I had to wait until morning to try it out. I walked outside in gym shorts and a t-shirt first thing yesterday morning and walked across the street to the National Cathedral, snapped 12 shots, and walked back home. Apparently, 12 shots is going overboard. I crashed Photoshop a few times before it agreed to do it for me, and then once the final image was processed, every program I used struggled to open it. Then I made things really interesting by converting it into in HDR. Photomatix was not at all thrilled. By the time it was all said and done, the image size was 19.8MB. My photos, even my most intense HDRs are only around 4 or 5MB. I really wanted to showoff my picture full size to the world, and that's where I ran into another problem. The free flickr account only allows a maximum file size of 10MB and my SmugMug account only allows 12MB. Upgrading my SmugMug account was a bit out of my range, so I cashed in on my parents' offer to buy me a flickr pro account. That account allows a max size of 20MB. Please click this image and then click "all sizes" above it once you get to the flickr page. Then click "original." It's huge.

Trying out Smug Mug: HDR Slideshow

2009-10-06T00:00:00.000-04:00

Basically, I decided I hated flickr, so when I friend turned me on to Smug Mug, I decided to try it out. I can't do this with flickr!

Yogurt

2009-10-05T16:38:00.002-04:00

Because I occasionally enjoy yogurt.

Skyline

2009-10-04T12:51:00.000-04:00

This photo is not a repeat. It is the normal version of this HDR. It's proof that I can make a good image without hyper-processing. Seriously, though, Chicago is one of my favorite cities in the world. I think it's safe to say that the Bears are going to destroy the Lions today.

Happy October

2009-10-03T00:00:00.000-04:00

Halloween is a little more than month away, but here are some pumpkins and a scarecrow to put you in the mood. I'd also like to ask a favor of all my kind viewers. Show someone you know my blog. I'm trying to find some incentive to keep updating this thing, and I feel like if I get more people looking, the more I'll feel obliged to post.

My 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th Roomate

2009-10-02T00:00:00.002-04:00

Well, I suppose it's just my 3rd roommate four times. For those of you who have wondered what my images look like in a before and after comparison of normal to HDR, here's your chance. This is a kind of a bonus picture because it's 4-in-1. The top left is a normal exposure, then progressing clock wise is a normal black and white, then an HDR black and white, and finally a normal HDR. Sure, I may have overdone the HDR on this one a bit, but whatever.

My place

2009-10-01T16:02:00.000-04:00

Because most of you haven't seen where I live, here's a picture of my living room. Notice how the American flag takes the place of honor to the left ad is hung with the blue field on the left. That is how to properly hang an American Flag. I've done it a million times, I'm pretty sure. Anyway, I invite you to come take a look for yourself sometime. It's not quite as cool looking as in this picture though.

Cave

2009-09-30T11:26:00.000-04:00

It's actually not a cave. It's the observation deck of the National Cathedral. It's too well lit to be cave. Duh!

Abandoned House?

2009-09-29T16:50:00.002-04:00

The question mark is because I don't know for sure whether or not it's abandoned. If it is, I'm gonna take a look inside. If I'm wrong, I'll probably be arrested for breaking and entering and possibly attempted burglary. No one wants that, so I'm just gonna stay out. I just thought the house was creepy.

Giant Food

2009-09-26T10:47:00.001-04:00

This is the grocery store where I get my food. I spent a twenty minutes taking pictures, and of all of the ones I thought were going to work, this was the one I least expected. It's turning out to be the only one I like.

Walking to Class

2009-09-14T10:01:00.000-04:00

Photos taken with my lovely spy camera. It's actually the same as my real camera. The only difference is that it is pointed at you when you least expect it.

National Cathedral

2009-09-13T11:58:00.002-04:00

Just for fun, I decided to see how intimidating I could make the National Cathedral. Here is the progression.

Cool

Cooler

Coolest

And a Red Rose

2009-09-11T09:53:00.001-04:00

Also, because I felt like it.

White Rose

2009-09-10T18:35:00.000-04:00

Because I felt like it.

To Maine

2009-08-09T09:06:00.001-04:00

A shot from Portsmouth, New Hampshire of a bridge crossing into Maine. Not composed quite right, but it'll do.

Sorry sorry sorry. Here's a flower to make up for it.

2009-08-08T18:05:00.002-04:00

It's been about two weeks since my last post. Unforgivable. Here's a flower. A creepy flower.

Photojournalism

2009-07-24T12:04:00.003-04:00

Sometimes, all it takes to be a photo journalist is to be in the right place at the right time. This was from last year at the Iowa State Fair. John McCain eating a pork chop on a stick. Got myself on CNN for this one. Take a look at the number of viewers.

Jelly

2009-07-23T17:31:00.003-04:00

A jellyfish at the National Aquarium in Baltimore. As some of you might be aware, the trip to Baltimore was sorely need for me and my camera. She was a great date. The camera. Not the Jellyfish.

Kay Spiritual Life Center

2009-07-22T08:45:00.002-04:00

I think I'm going to start a project to photograph American University in HDR. I already have a few shots, and I did one more yesterday. This is Kay Spiritual Life Center, better know to students as the Flaming Cupcake. Step outside, and you'll know why. Click on this photograph to see what I think of it, and also check out my flickr page while you're there.

Max's Taphouse

2009-07-21T11:17:00.001-04:00

Another shot from my fantastic weekend. My friends and I stopped into this bar to redeem a "buy one beer, get one free" coupon. Max's Taphouse had a draft list of about 80 beers. It was pretty amazing. I recommend it.

Camden Yards

2009-07-19T17:50:00.002-04:00

This is my first HDR in a very long time. Took a weekend trip to Baltimore where I thoroughly enjoyed myself. Camden Yards, as many of you may know is the home of the Baltimore Orioles baseball team. There were a a whole bunch of numbers outside the stadium that represented retired numbers of Orioles legends. I don't know who number 20 is.

Long Ago

2009-07-06T23:28:00.001-04:00

This is just a shot that I did with my point and shoot almost three years ago. I just rediscovered it and did some post processing on it. My goal is to find a good photo from before my Nikon. I want to prove that it's not just my equipment that makes me a good photographer.

Happy America Day

2009-07-04T16:23:00.002-04:00

In honor of our Country's 3,000th birthday, here's a picture of a small kid playing with fireworks. God bless the USA.

Thriller

2009-06-29T20:32:00.001-04:00

A little late, but since everyone is in the Michael Jackson mood, here's a shot of some friends practicing thriller.

Pilars

2009-06-28T14:20:00.002-04:00

Another shot in Cairo. I need to travel more. Need new cities for pictures. Anybody going on vacation and need a date?

My President

2009-06-07T22:33:00.000-04:00

Just because he rules.

Midday Cairo Alley

2009-06-06T18:58:00.003-04:00

Can't help it. I'm lazy. Sorry for being bad about posting.

Another example of a fake tilt-shift photograph. This was taken from a bridge on Ring Road in Cairo. It's a highway that almost circles the entire city. I say almost because the ring isn't closed. It has like a three mile gap or something, but that's not really all that important. What is kind of funny though is that while I was looking through some pictures that one of my friends studying in Cairo this spring took, and I noticed a picture of the same alley from the exact same spot. I emailed her my picture and her picture for comparison. She didn't realized that I hadn't just simply edited hers until I brought it up with her. Funny thing is that the picture is in a book I gave her before she left.

As a side note, I encourage you to click on this picture and then select the large view to get a closer look. It gives the effect a better feeling.

Ken

2009-06-02T17:12:00.002-04:00

While I was home last week, my mom's birth mother came in to town to visit for my brother's high school graduation. This is her husband Ken enjoying a beer in the beautiful Iowa early summer weather. As a side note, they live about a half-hour from the Sierra Nevada brewery in California, so Ken is no stranger to this beer.

What it Feels Like

2009-05-30T00:36:00.002-04:00

I took a class on Cairo last year, and an optional field trip was offered as part of the class. I went on that trip, and that's where all of my Cairo pics came from. My professor is one of the top Cairo experts, and she has this picture framed because it reminds her of Cairo and really captures the essence of the city. A polite way of saying it's very dirty.

My Caucus

2009-05-28T16:55:00.002-04:00

Well, this is really what made it happened. Winning caucuses just like these all around the state of Iowa was the reason why Barack Obama is the President of the United States of America. I caucused for Edwards. Poor choice, Reid. Poor choice.

Cherry Blossom

2009-05-27T13:04:00.003-04:00

Several people have asked me for this photo to put on the background of their computers. This was from the Cherry Blossom Festival in Washington, DC. It was an absolutely gorgeous day, but the banks of the tidal basin were overflowing onto the sidewalk. The falling petals looked like snow, so that entirely made up for it.

I'mBack and Another Wrigley Shot

2009-05-26T16:32:00.001-04:00

Sorry guys, it's been a while. I was really busy the last two weeks doing a Campaign Management Institute at American. Anyway, here is another tilt-shift from Wrigley. It's Derek Lee standing at 1st base. The guy is huge, but he looks small and lonely in this shot.

Football

2009-05-18T22:41:00.002-04:00

Per my Mom's request, I am posting this silhouette of my brother. The light was perfect, the light pole was obnoxious. Also, I think I am going to update less regularly. I don't really have enough of an incentive to post every day, to be honest.

I Don't Know How Much Longer I Want to Do This

2009-05-17T00:00:00.001-04:00

An Egypt picture. Let's face it, they're the best I've got. This is a Pyramid. Also, happy birthday, Mom. Everyone send her a birthday wish. jtrose11(at)mchsi(dot)com.

Dad

2009-05-16T00:00:00.001-04:00

What a goof!

When Photographers Get Bored

2009-05-15T00:00:00.000-04:00

Photographers are people too. In this case, photographers are bored people, so photographers play with their favorite toy: their camera. I set my camera on a shelf, set the timer for a few seconds to allow me to get into place, then halfway through the exposure, I walked out of the shot. Here's what I got.

Campaign Photography

2009-05-14T00:00:00.000-04:00

For all the time I spent at campaign rallies doing my job, I never really had any pictures to show for it. This is one exception. The day before the Iowa Caucus, John Edwards had a rally with John Mellencamp, and since I wasn't really doing anything, I had my parents bring me my camera. I got to go to all of the press areas and take pics. It was a good show, and a great way for me to end that campaign. As we all found out, thank goodness we lost. This is a picture of Bruce Braley, a sophomore congressman from Northeast Iowa. One of my favorites from the Iowa delegation. To be entirely honest, this isn't one of my best shots from the rally. I just like him the best of anyone there.

Motorcycle

2009-05-13T00:00:00.001-04:00

This is the HDR that made mw keep trying HDRs. It was the first one that looked like I actually made to look like I intended. I spent a good two hours that die trying different shots and spent a few more on Photomatix. Consider this a look back into my history

Yellow

2009-05-12T00:00:00.000-04:00

A pretty flower in honor of the summer and such.

Shadow Figure

2009-05-11T00:00:00.000-04:00

During the second semester of sophomore year, my friends at school produced, filmed, and starred in a TV show on ATV, American University's closed circuit television. I didn't want anything to do with the show, so I kind of became it's official photographer. The cast of the Mike Mayer Show was practicing the "Thriller" dance for an episode that never did see the light of day. Fortunately, a bried clip of the dance can be seen in this teaser trailer for season two...which only aired a single episode before the cast and crew gave up on the series.

For this shot, the cast turned off most of the lights so they could better see the laptop computer scene while they followed along to Michael Jackson's dance. At the time, they seemed a little hopeless, and this shot caught Adam right as the team finished up the rehearsal.

Three for One

2009-05-10T00:00:00.000-04:00

Sorry y'all. Got a little lax. Parents are in town. Stuff is moving. These are just going to be three pretty pictures of mosques in Cairo. Not much of a story behind these. Just mosques.

I'm gonna try to get away from my Cairo stuff for awhile. Looks like I need a little more diversity in my pics. I need to travel more. It's an official goal.

A Cat

2009-05-07T00:00:00.000-04:00

This is a favorite of one of my friends. Actually, a favorite of several of my friends.

Anyone that has been to Cairo knows that stray cats are everywhere. Less common on the sidewalks, though, are couches. However, every once in a while you do come across a stray couch. I found a stray cat AND a stray couch at the same time!

Finally There

2009-05-06T00:00:00.000-04:00

After 14 straight hours in the car together and very little sleep, it's no small miracle that they actually wanted to move closer to each other. But they did. Of course. I'm kidding. The car ride down was very pleasant and we all got along great. I think I might be the one they got mad at, seeing as I had to take this picture so far away and they made some sort of strange rule that I couldn't talk for two days.

Anyway, it was a sweet moment.

Colourmusic at 80/35

2009-05-05T00:00:00.002-04:00

Feliz Cinco de Mayo, everybody! Is that right? I stopped taking Spanish a couple years ago. I wanted to post a picture of something that looked like a party, but I thin the closest I'm going to get is a picture from a concernt I went to over the Fourth of July last year. These guys are called Colourmusic, and they're out of Oklahoma, I think. Not sure if I would buy any of their music, but they were a blast to watch live. The crowd was really into the gig and the white sweatsuits made me think of Devo. Not sure that's what they were going for.

On an unrelated but just as interesting note, I was looking at the followers of my blog the other day, and I noticed that of the ones who had profile pictures, all of them were taken by me. That trend ended yesterday when Dee joined the site, but she's still welcome here ;)

And since I'm working on my last assignments for the semester, so now is as good of a time as ever to daydream instead of being productive. I decided I should become a travel photographer. Just seems so much more fun than politics. Any idea how I go about doing that? I suppose I should start by traveling, but I don't have the cash. Maybe I should sell my photos! Who wants to buy a picture? $300 for a 4x6 print. Frame not included. Oh man, it would be awesome to be that good.

Anyway, I toast this margarita to you, my readers.

Chicago in a Purple Sky

2009-05-04T00:00:00.002-04:00

This photo has pretty much the same story as the other Chicago picture. Froze my @$$ off waiting for the sun to go down so I could get a night shot of Chicago. I may have gone a little overboard with the HDR processing on this one, but I like the colors. My friends always seem to do a double take when they see this picture and aren't sure whether or not it is a photograph. I assure you, this is a photograph.

My parents pointed out that there is a "44" written in lights on the center building. I didn't notice it until they pointed it out to me, and they told me it was in honor of then President-Elect Obama's victory earlier that month. Pretty cool stuff, if you ask me.

Breadline

2009-05-03T00:00:00.004-04:00

A different version of this picture is currently the desktop image on my computer. It's not a particularly breathtaking image, but considering millions of people have taken this same picture, I don't think more than a handful have tried this in HDR. Processing pictures of people in HDR is somewhat complicated since people can't stay motionless over three separate exposures like a building can, and people sure as hell won't stay still if they don't know you're taking a picture of them (don't worry, I asked later if I could keep the pictures). I know this picture doesn't look like HDR, but trust me on this one.

Chemistry Building

2009-05-02T00:00:00.001-04:00

This is one of my very first attempts at HDR. It wasn't a particularly good one, but I really like the combination of the angle and strange lens distortions. Something about all of the lines and angles feels really strange. It also reflects my sentiments of American University--gray and dreary.

I dunno, what do you think?

Opera

2009-05-01T00:00:00.001-04:00

This is my friend Elizabeth Zito singing with the American University Symphony orchestra. She easily has one of the most amazing voices of anyone I know. If you get a chance, check her out at http://www.myspace.com/selizabethzito. Incredible stuff.

I haven't really done a lot of event photography, especially not indoors, so taking photos at the concert was pretty new to me and very experimental. I couldn't use flash, and I broke my zoom lens, so I was forced to use a fast ISO equivalent and crop the pictures pretty close. Sorry for the grain. Regardless, I was very happy with the end result given the circumstances.

A Pigeon

2009-04-30T00:00:00.001-04:00

This is definitely a picture of a pigeon. There is simply no way around the pigeon. You have to look at the pigeon before you look at any of my other pictures. I often think about what animals are thinking about when I look at them. In this case, I don't think the pigeon is thinking about all that much since it is obviously a zombie pigeon. Look at those eyes. Everyone knows that zombies don't think. They just eat...brains.

Yellow Wall

2009-04-29T01:36:00.001-04:00

This is a yellow wall. It is in Cairo. I had a good time there.

Up

2009-04-28T00:00:00.000-04:00

First of all, I'm Jewish. This is not a religious picture in any way, shape, or form, as the first flickr commenter seems to think. That said, if that's what you want it to be, then it is. I picked this picture at the request of my roommate. I wasn't paying attention to the tour guide while we walked through Cairo. It was louder than hell, and I couldn't understand a word she was saying. Instead, I spent most of the time looking around. This is what I saw when I went into a back alley and looked up. It was cool. I pressed a button.

On another note, updating daily might exhaust all of my good pictures very quickly. I'm considering reducing the number of times I post a week to 3 or 4. Thoughts?

Wrigley

2009-04-27T00:00:00.000-04:00

Walking into the stands at Wrigley Field is easily one of the most memorable experiences of my life. Seeing the ivy on the outfield walls, I froze as I thought to myself "Wow! I'm really here!" Funny thing is, I really hate baseball.

Without digital photo editing, this shot would be nothing, just a boring, run of the mill wide shot of Wrigley Stadium. Even post processed, it's still nothing special, but I tried to imitate a style of photography taken with a special lens called a "Tilt-Shift" lens. A tilt-shift lens is usually used for architectural photography, but it can be used to make a live scene look like a miniature because of it's selective focusing capabilities. It's complicated, just trust me. Anyway, it didn't turn our so well in this photo, but it still kind of gave the scene an interesting look.

And it's freakin' Wrigley!

Veggies

2009-04-26T00:00:00.001-04:00

I am glad I didn't get kicked out of Whole Foods this day. I spent a good twenty minutes just walking around the store taking pictures of anything and everything. Whole Foods always feels so yuppie, but the level of organization in this store in particular was outstanding. All of the fruits and vegetables were perfectly stacked, and the labels on all the containers were turned outwards. It was pretty disgusting. However, it made for an awesome image.

Personally, I think this image is one of the least appreciated of my collection.

Mantis

2009-04-25T00:00:00.000-04:00

This photograph is the reason I keep my little Canon PowerShot point-and-shoot around. I don't own a macro lens for my D80, so I'm limited to using the macro function on the PowerShot.

As I was mowing my neighbor's yard a few years ago, I noticed this guy sitting on a bush, and I really wanted to get some pictures. I ran back to my house, grabbed the camera, and threw the bug into the grass where there was a bit more light. With this picture, I started to realize that I wasn't terrible and taking pictures, and it encouraged me to start taking the hobby more seriously. This was before I even owned the D80 that my parents got me for my birthday. Possibly the best birthday present ever.

Street Lamp

2009-04-24T00:00:00.003-04:00

Up until this point, I hadn't done a lot of night shots, and I really didn't plan on doing any night shots when I set out to shoot. Originally, I wanted to catch the sunset, but failed miserably. Instead, I stuck around to do a little experimenting with long exposures and passing cars. I was pleasantly surprised that no one passing by decided to call the cops on me, or if they did, I apparently left at just the right time.

I took dozens of pictures, and each shot took about 30 seconds to capture. By the time I left, the sun had long left the scene.

Sunrise Over St. Simon's Island

2009-04-23T00:00:00.003-04:00

A couple of my friends and I planned to go to Canada for Spring Break, but due to an unfortunate series of unfortunate events, our plans were thwarted. As a back up plan, we packed warm clothes and decided to "drive south." Without a real destination in mind, we drove 14 hours south and ended up on St. Simon's Island in Georgia. Before doing anything else, we drove straight to the beach to catch the sunrise. This picture was taken about five or ten minutes before the sun cracked the horizon. Very little post-editing was done to this picture. The exposure was a little fast, so I had to adjust the brightness a little bit. Other than that, the colors are true.

Not Google Street View

2009-04-22T11:01:00.004-04:00

I don't think Google has made it down this street in Cairo yet, so I'm going to take the liberty of posting this small section of a street in Downtown Cairo for them. I'm really not much of a street photographer, and it makes me nervous taking pictures of other people, especially in a foreign country. Since I was already being judged by the Cairenes for walking with a camera around my neck and with a large gaggle of white Americans, I felt like I could get away with being a stupid tourist. I turned around and took one snapshot of the street scene behind me. It really had been a beautiful day in the city, and more people than usual were out on the streets. For those of you that have been to Cairo, you know that's really saying something about the crowd when there are more people than normal. Somehow, I managed to capture a rather relaxed, uncrowded shot.

Broken Promise

2009-04-21T10:10:00.000-04:00

No photo today. Broken laptop. Limited to my Blackberry for the time being.

Jefferson Memorial by Day

2009-04-20T00:00:00.004-04:00

I love the Jefferson Memorial. At night, it is easily on of my top two favorite places in DC. By day, however, it's a different story. The nicer the day, the more swamped it is with tourists and other pleasure seekers. I didn't take too many pictures that day because there were so many people around, and they were all getting in my shots. That and I was on a walk with one of my friends.

Regardless, this shot turned out pretty well given everything, and the Jefferson Memorial still remains one of my favorite spots in the city, despite the crowd.

Chicago at Dusk

2009-04-19T10:45:00.002-04:00

After a very disappointing visit to the Shedd Aquarium, I walked up the pier towards the Adler Planetarium. The sun was starting to dip lower and lower in the sky, and with it, the temperature. I forgot my gloves and hat, and my coat was barely substantial as some light flakes began to fall, but I was determined to get a night shot of the skyline of Chicago.

This is an HDR (high dynamic range) image, meaning it is a combination of three different images that is processed using a special program to get the highest range of colors possible. This also meant that I had to hold the camera in the same exact position over three exposures, one of which was over 30 seconds. If I had a tripod at the time, the job would have been much easier, but I instead had to set the camera on a ledge. Since I had little choice of camera position, this is why the ladder and platform are in the shot, but I believe that without them, the picture would have been boring and somewhat cliche.

Welcome to From the Window..And welcome summer

2009-04-18T12:57:00.001-04:00

Well, for the longest time, I have thought about creating a photo-blog and making a post a day, but I could never convince myself that I have the time, the patience, or the motivation to do it. This is hopefully the beginning of a successful experiment.

Spring is well underway, and as I am wrapping up this semester at American University, summer is on my mind. I thought it would be appropriate then to post a photo from last summer. All the kids in my neighborhood were out playing on the cul de sac on the 4th of July, and there was something about the tether-ball pole that added to the Americana of the scene. It truly felt like an American afternoon.

I promise my writing will get better, and hopefully so will my photography. By the way, all of my photos link directly to their respective flickr pages.