Spent a couple of days over winter break with the family driving through the mountains between my grandmother's house in Northern Greenville county and Asheville, NC. I ended up shooting several rolls of film -- both 35mm and 120 mm medium format. In an effort to mitigate the cost of getting all the film processed I am dropping them off one at a time. This was my favorite one from a roll of 35mm. I also used a red contrast filter for the first time. It probably would have worked to greater effect had there been a few more clouds in the sky. However, I feel like the way it darkened up the sky helped to convey the harshness of the bitter wind that was blowing rather fierce on that particular day.

I'll role out more as I get more stuff developed.

I'm a photographer...

...When did that happen?

2009 was known for many things that most of the world it seems would like to forget about. Yet, somehow during all the kerfuffle I stumbled headfirst into the world of photography. It seems I may actually have a knack for the craft of capturing images on film. Notice my use of the word "film." I'm not trying to demean digital photography in any way. It's just that I prefer shooting with the medium of film. I find its analog nature to be more intuitive for some reason. I've known many fine photographers who use digital and it is absolutely the most practical solution for professionals. I'm not at the point yet where I need to hire myself out for weddings, portraits, etc. Maybe soon. I have been featured in three shows so far and I've sold two pieces. I'm making baby steps into this new and exciting world of visual art. Anyways, I might try and use this blog as a forum for presenting and discussing my work online. Facebook has been great for getting my stuff out there, but it feels amateur.

I'll be posting some stuff very soon.

Elephants March on Columbia.

So, i was definitely walking home from school yesterday when i happened upon a most unusual sight. Between school and my house there are at least two sets of railroad tracks and several junction points that connect diverging routes. It's the nexus of the train universe. Trains and the rage-inducing horn blowing wheels of commerce are definitely not strangers to this town. It is not unheard of to get held up for up to 10 minutes while waiting for a train to pass. Today was no different...

...Actually today was different. I did get stopped by a train. I was held up for a considerable duration. Normally, this would have caused serious amounts of frustration and anxiety, especially with a cold front moving through the area. However, to my surprise, it was the Ringling Brothers Circus train just arriving into town! Yes they do really travel from place to place by train. Not only had they just arrived, but they were blocking my route home in order to unload the Elephants and march them to the Colonial Center arena where the Circus is going to be held. I was overwhelmed by a sense of magic and childlike enthusiasm for the spectacle i was about to see. It should be noted that I not particularly crazy about circuses in general and clowns do have that tendancy to freak me out. But how often do you get to see Elephants marching through your hometown?

Welcome to the nexus of the universe.

Sometimes, i forget how old i am. Not so much in the sense that if i am so many years old that i need to act in a certain manner. I literally forget how many years i have been alive on this planet. Perhaps, i live in a world that knows not the passage of time. I thrive in a temporal vortex. I believe I am beginning to understand the perspective of the tralfamadorians.

A Brief History of Time

God creates heaven and earth. God creates man. God delivers the gift of his own creativity and artistic expression to lift Man above the beasts. Man mistakenly creates religion. Man becomes powerful and forgets about God. Man creates war. Man divides himself into christian, atheist, jew, muslim, pagan, etc. Pagan kills Jew. Christian kills Pagan. Muslim kills Jew. Jew kills Muslim. Man destroys himself. God reclaims his tattered canvas that is the earth to paint again another day.

20 million dollars

The going rate for a ticket to the international space station is $20 million. I've decided that if i ever have that much money I'm gonna fly into space and satisfy one of my boyhood dreams that never came true. I understand that it is probably a selfish pursuit. I understand that there are probably better ways for one to spend that much money.

I don't really care.

If i won the lottery and came up short of my $20 million goal, then i'd think about more philanthropic ideas. If i were to find myself with more than the cost of a ticket into space then i would do the same with the remainder left over after space. I figure, I could donate all the money in the world to charity and still not solve the problems of this world. Maybe all it really takes to inspire change is to be a good person and to set a good example for others. The world might be a different place if we had some real leaders and not just men (and women) who do or say anything to indulge themselves with power and influence. These are people who like to see their faces on television and billboards. They get drunk off of the sound of their own voice.

I just want to fly into space and stay there for a couple of days. I would like the see the earth from outside. I want to experience to illusion of weightlessness and the reality of falling into nothing at extreme rates of speed. I want to know what the stars look like from beyond the veil of pollution and human arrogance. I want to travel through time, even if it is just a couple of seconds (proven scientific fact that astronauts travel forward in time every time they orbit the earth). I want to leave this earth, even if just for a couple of days.

Hopefully, the first of many.

I never know how to get these things started. I'm not the writer in the family. I play music. My creative mind seems to be more active the further away i am from a piece of paper.

For the first installment, i feel the need to provide some kind of a justification regarding my entrance into the exciting world of blogging. I've been wanting to keep a blog or a journal or something along those lines for quite some time now. However, the will to do so never seemed to manifest itself into anything real. For much of my life i have allowed myself to get away with not accomplishing most of the things i set out to accomplish. Many of my desires lay dormant in my brain's "to do" file which i am sure is covered by layer upon layer of dust and cobwebs.

However, i have resolved to take control of my life! I have been faced with a number of challenges recently and i believe that it might be worth musing over and reflecting upon them in a forum such as this. I hope to write things that will be of interest to the people of the virtual world. Perhaps i will even learn some things about myself in the process.

Happy Blogging!