London Calling

Ah, London. I haven't been there in ages. Since 2002 I believe. I didn't have a whole lot of time to spend there, but I made the most of it. Hansa, girl down the hall, was going and I figured I might as well go seeing as I didn't have any papers or stuff due anytime soon. So I went and did all the touring things. I went to Piccadilly Circus first because I had no idea what it was. As it turns out, its a plaza with cars and a statue. Glad to have gotten that one out of the way. I also went to Trafalgar Square, which I can't remember being to before. It was pretty awesome, mainly because of Nelson. But the peopel were ridiculous, climibing all over the statues and stuff. All I wanted was a clear shot without some parent taking a picture of their kid in front of the giant broze lion in it. I hope these people don't think they're original. So i also went into the National Gallery and caught a glimpse of some of my favorite paintings. A few, such as the Turner paintings, I've seen before when they were on tour in DC last January. But the Botticelli Mars and Venus was real cool to see in person. I had no idea it was there until I spotted the postcard and then looked it up. To think I could have missed it. There was also a Leonardo daVinci sketch, which was pretty much the most badass drawing I've seen to date. So Other than that, I milled about the parlimentary buildings gawked at protestors who've run out of things to say and snapped a few pics of the various cool things on the way. One especially neat thing that I found was the Cenataph a few days after Remembrence Day, which basically means it was loaded with poppies put down by the Queen and other politicians, plus the armed Forces. It was really quite awesome. So other than that, i didn't too too much. I'd like to hit up the Imperial War Museum next time, because of course, there will be a next time.

Diamondcutter.

Exhuberant

So I took a boring photograph from Photobooth and toyed with it. First I made it black and white, then pushed the curves to the extreme. Blew it up from 2 inches to 14 inches and added some red.

Souptown!

I made some Ramen noodles and Ha, the vietnamese girl down the hall, gave me some ketchup looking spicy stuff to put in it. It was good, but I didn't use a whole lot cause I'm not too keen on spicy things. On a side note, apparentl Vietnam has a latinized alphabet on account of the French. I mean, it makes sense but I never knew that.

Action Poses

Ah, the greatness that is technology. Basically I've been taking photos of myself in order to work out some of the anatomical details for actions scenes in my unfinished comic books. I thre a few together and added some cheesy speech bubbles to make a short little comic that makes no sense. But there's ninja, which redeems everything.

Procrastinating Against the Sunset

Fuzz

Grainy Duality

Still having fun with the shutter speed.

Duality

Three

Just playing around with cropping.

Oxford Rooftops

So, I managed to get out of Exeter for a change and caught a ride with my grandparents to Oxford. Well technically I went to Harwell, which is where my Aunt Jackie's family lives, but I spent most of my day in Oxford sightseeing. This photo was taken from above Carfax Tower, using me holding the camera out because I'm convinced if someone takes my photo for me, they'll mess it up. Or steal the camera.

So, not surprisingly Oxford's cityscape is kind of plain in the European sense. You won't find this in Ohio. Pointed roofs, orange tiles and some semblence of architecture. Out int he distance you can see the spires of Oxford's schools as well as the Dome.

The trip was nice to see and experience, I haven't been there since 2002 and I barely had any idea of what I was looking at. Plus, no camera. I visited a few of the schools, from the outside that is. They don't let outsiders in very often. However, Julia pulled some strings when [i]she[/i] went and got to see the inside. On this trip, I didn't have all my Hillsdale credentials with me... damn.

Splinter

For this one I took a bunch of photos in various poses and a previous self-portrait came to mind that utilized my hands and face. So I used the flash this time to bleach out my hands, which with a little photoshopping I could make my background darker, creating contrast.

Dog

For this one I wanted to drive photoshop to the point where what I produced could be identified as a photograph, yet look strangely not.

So, what you're looking at is a long exposure of myself walking forward. I tried to maintain some gardient of values throughout the picture, but the deep blacks were to stand as my frame.

Ultimately, I like styling, but I think it could be better applied with different photographs.

Haircut

I just cut my hair and it looks very short. My hair was getting out of control and it had to go. I just can't deal with waking up inthe morning and having to be concerned about the state of my hair. So off it went. I can't stop looking at it. It's so short.

Remembrance Day

So this is the second year in a row that I've been in England for Remembrance Day, this particular one marks 90 years since the last shots were fired in on the western front, 1918. Apparently there are 3 First World War veterans in the UK left. On Remembrance Sunday they were in London to lay the wreaths at the monument outside Whitehall. It leads one to reflect on the lives affected by that war and all wars for that matter.

So then they have this annual Poppy Appeal where you give a pound for ailing soldiers and you get a poppy to clip on your jacket as a sign of remembrance. They're extremely popular, you don't often see someone without one. So I thought this poppy would look nice on my winter coat. That it would have a sort of a feeling of the past which is common to these times of remembrance.

Untitled

Wild

Down to the Brass Tacks

I bought these brass tacks and I always think of that line from a StrongBad e-mail where he tries to interview Homsar and says "It's time to get down to the brass tacks." So I took a photo on that.

Eh, what?

Muse

300!

It's been long, its been arduous. Taking photographs for 300 days in a row has been both fatiguing and fulfilling. Some of them are good, some of them tend to be bad. Some of them are cheesy and fun, some of them lean towards a seriousness side. Interestingly enough, 300 individual self portraits have been the larger part of a major self portrait. On the whole, one should be able to get a good idea of my character and identity. I also should have a better grip on this myself. Although, I suspect I have only scratched the surface; everyone is more complex than they can probably explain. But I'm not done yet, there's 66 more photographs to go!

Waiting for Results

So I stayed up way too late waiting to find out who was going to win. After Ohio went to Obama I pretty much assumed he would win. I still woke up at 6 to confirm. Needless to say, I've been out of whack all day.

I like to refer to myself as a Bush 2000 republican, meaning what he said then made a lot of sense. That maybe, what Reagan started was going to go a little further and Republicans were going back to their roots. Less nation building, less militant internationalism, smaller government and less taxes. Ultimately, he did the opposite of all those things and McCain in many ways was his heir, who had argued for more internationalism and a stronger government since 2000.

I voted for Ron Paul in the primary because I believe there needs to be a movement within the Republican party to get back to the notion of small government. While I knew he had no chance of winning, I think the boulder needed to begin rolling. This general election I gave my vote of protest to Bob Barr, which won't be counted until Nov. 10th anyway.

I think Obama winning is a good thing. Because the Republicans have lost their way. I hope they'll step back and look at where their post 9/11 message took them. I hope they'll re-evaluate their message. And I hope they'll come back around to standing for something I believe in.

Absentee Vote

It's a vote of protest.

Since I forgot to pack my sticker I got in the primary in my baggage to England I had to do something else. Since I actually had the ballot on hand, this is what did. The photo was a no brainer though.

Veritable

While not the most flattering of photos, I do believe it is a decent portrait. I'm still not used to being beardless, which makes it all the more interesting to me.

For this photo I used a green filter and tooled with the highlights to give my face bit of depth.

Pony Beers

These stout little things cost about £3 for 8 and taste like it. But they're small and they make up for taste deficiency with novelty. Needless to say, eight novelties will be about all I'm going to buy. Back to European goodness for me.

Exmouth

So this is the seaside in Exmouth. Exmouth is a town about 10 miles from Exeter. You see, there is a river called Exe. Exmouth, because its by the mouth of the river. Exeter, which on 16th an 17th century maps is Execester. -cester is another word for chester, which would be a town of over 100,000 people in Western England. All this I figured out from looking at the loads of maps, from present to way back when. Plus the dictionary.

So anyway, we went to Exmouth today. While it was only 10 miles out, we took the car and it took near 40 minutes. Next time its the train for sure. Traffic is a pain. But its a nice quaint town with little shops and seaside... stuff. There a few more pics I took in the my other blog: Os Donatus Nobis Per Apparatus.

Front

It's a little dark, but the interior lighting in my room kind of throws my camera off. I'm going to start having to take that into effect. I also have a renewed interest in my face since I've shaved, which has made studying it a little more interesting.

Estudio

I like how the book its illuminated and the figure dark, but it could do without the computer.

Looking Significantly Younger

My Name is Carl

Shaving and stopped about an eighth of the way through.

Emphesis

Finally have things working as far as the traditional camera and tripod goes.

Blue

An interesting experiment in trying to bring out colors. Basically I turned my seat cushion to the sun as to saturate it to the full. Then placed my face close. Took picture and got some pink tones. While unflattering its kind of interesting.

Pixie Part II

Same effect but with a little more emphasis on creating some contrast and whatnot.

Pixie Part I

I found while messing about with photobooth and photoshop that when placed under a blue filter the photobooth file turns real pixelated and grainy. Almost to the point where it's like a mosaic.

Glow

A photobooth setting turned lack and white.

Marinara

Shamelessly stolen from a previous entry which was shamelessly stolen from a fellow photographer.

Except here I desaturated everything that was not red.

Password

Bed head

Thought the photo was funny due to my bed head and over all grogginess.

Bookz

This is what I do all day. Read. Most other students can't believe I only spend 2-4 hours in class a week. They think I've got it easy. But in reality I've made reading books a full time job.

Scenery from the window and face

This is the lovely sunset outside my room. And the obnoxious scaffolding.

Souvenir

Feeling uncreative and without the camera. But this is the mug I got from Palestine. I try to pick up a mug from every place I visit.

Travel Angst

Jordanian for a minute

I put this thing on in a little gift shop at the insistence of the owner. He said I'd be Jordanian for a minute. Then Johnny took my picture.

The red pattern is for Jordanians and Saudi Arabaians. There was a blue for Yemen and a black for Palestinians. There's also a certain way you have to wear it too, cause one way is for the king only. The way I have it is for... probably Americans with money.

From the Mount of Olives

So this is at the Mount of Olives, you know, popular hang out place for Jesus. Yeah. I was there.

So next to me is my cousin Johnny and in the background is ah, what's it called... oh, The Dome of the Rock. To the left is popular Jewish site, The Wailing Wall.

Yeah. Jerusalem. One of the, if not the most, important cities in all of the world and I was there.

Also, not pictured is the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Home to many a famous relics and holy sites such as, rock where Jesus was laid and anointed. Calvary and the the tomb where he was buried.

It was amazing to see all this personally. Though the Russian/Greek Orthodox priests were rude and a nuisance and the sheer number of tourists, especially not christian tourists was unnerving. I mean, you got to the Dome of the Rock and they say, "You're here after visiting hours (the morning) and you're not Muslim so go away." And even if you're there during visiting hours, you can barely get close. You go to the Wailing Wall and you cover your head and go to either the women or men side. You respect the places. But at the church, anyone walks in and it feels lieka theme park.

But all that aside, it was quite awesome to see these seriously holy places.

At first I was like, yeah right. It's like another piece of the true cross in which there are so many of them you could build Abe Lincoln's log cabin with them. But then, you figure these are major spots. Those people who knew Jesus aren't going to say "ah, where'd we put him again?" If you can find your quaint great great grandparents gravestone, you sure as hell should be able to remember where Jesus was buried.

And even over the centuries it would be hard to mix up. It's not like the place he was crucified got lost somehow. You figure, today we accept that where people say the Battle of Agincourt or even something as old as Marathon happened, that it happened there. Because people remember and they pass it down. Plus, as for Calvary, the Romans killed about everyone there so I'd expect it was hard to miss. This stuff would have a serious fan following from the moment it happened. So why wouldn't these places be the real deal.

Jerash

So this is the Roman city Jerash and at its heart was this amphitheater. It's a massive steep hike up those stairs and it makes you wonder how many people were injured or died in entrance or exit procedures. I mean, there isn't even a railing.

So the rest of the city is a bunch of ruins with the usual column lined roads. What I found was interesting was the amount of relics lying around. I mean, I spent 2-3 hours in the surrounding desert treasure hunting with some Palestinian named Walleid. But there's remant houses and excavated areas. Most of the floor mosaics were still intact. I thought to myself as I walked on them, "I've definitely walked where Romans have now." Or rather, where they've lived. I mean, you go to most ancient sites anywhere else and its all cordoned off. Sure, a Roman prolly walked there but its not the actual floor he touched. This mosaic floor, on the other hand, was. I'm sure some someone spilled wine or something on it too. It's got history and you can definitely feel that.

So speaking of history, I was searching for a hidden treasure in the dirt and found a few pieces of pottery, I only kept the painted pieces though and I found about a million mosaic stones as well. But Walleid found a damn coin. It had Constantine on it and everything. I was so pissed. So i bought one off a shop for like 15 bucks. It alleviated things a little.

But next time I'm bringing a metal detector.

Petra

And you can see the trail I walked extend in the distance. Yeah. Needless to say I was tired at this point, but when you look back at the scenery you just don't care. Plus I had like 400 more steps to climb. You see, there's this monastery at the top of this big ass hill and these monks carved 800 odd steps into the hillside to get there, plus the monastery itself which is carved into the mountainside.

But despite sore legs, the hike is fantastic. And dangerous, but that adds to the dynamic. It's amazing as you walk through this canyon how still everything is. There's no water, no wind, no clouds. Everything is very... separated. Plants, rock and blue sky. Three things. And you and your footsteps dredging on. To be honest, I'd never been anywhere like it.

En Route

Packing.

Barbed Wire Bill

Airbase Tribute

This that I am seen n front of is a propeller from the actual planes that flew from this aforementioned base. For me, when I actually see this old, old things it's interesting to think about who might have touched this same propeller, the nature of why they were touching it (i.e. mechanical reasons) and whether or not they thought that some dude 60+ years later would be putting his own hand on it. It's unusual the connection across time that can be established between people. Because, you assume someone else WILL touch this same item, its almost a positive fact. That some way some how some one will touch this. But the best part is in wondering who that person is, why they're touching it, what they're seeking and what role does this thing play to them.

A lot of times I find or have a penny and I immediately toss it into the dirt or perhaps ocean, or better, the wishing well. And I think about someone finding it 2000 years from now wondering about me.

I suppose that's the timelessness of history.