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.

Watching the Planes

So Dunkeswell's claim to fame is that it was the only U.S. Navy land air base in Britain during the Second World War. One of the more enjoyable things I found in the town was to sit on the bluffs and watch the planes come in; the base is still operating albeit commercially. They just soar right over head and more seem to perform failed landings than actually land. And by failed landings I mean they touchdown but can't slow enough to stop, so they take off again and circle round for another try. But still, it's pretty neat.

Walking the Hedgerow

So one of the fun things about exploring these small towns, such as Dunkeswell, is that there's all sort of strange foot paths and trails... this one lead me down the top of a hedgerow. Granted it lead nowhere, it was still an exploration, and slightly hazardous.

Caption Says It All

Really. I go from Exeter to visit my grandparents and as soon as I get out of the car all I can smell is cow crap. Really.

Dormitory Loafer

Dormitory Flashdance

Photobooth thermal camera with a photoshop applied green filter.

Como Estas?

Indoor reflection shot.

Photo 302

Utilizing photobooth due to the fact that its pouring... again.

Public Footpaths

In England there are a whole bunch of Public Footpaths... all of which I don't think lead anywhere. There's a few in Dunkeswell, which is where my grandparents live, and I decided to explore a bit with my downtime. This one, took me nowhere. It ended near a farm and all I saw was some trees, grass and shrubbery. But it was still nice as far adventure goes.

I left the photo color because without all the green trees and brown dirt, the location of the photograph seemed to float towards ambiguity. It looked liek a path and that was it. So color it is.