El Salvador.

A few of many shots taken in El Salvador. Went down a few weeks ago to aid in building seven homes, was the single best experience of my life overall and in terms of photography opportunities. Completely indescribable experience. It's like I was in a twisted paradise. My view of poverty and happiness is distorted. Happiness seems more abundant in poverty, which seems so strange by our American standards. These childrens' faces are burned into my mind. I keep fixating on them, and wanting to be back there and live the way they do. Let me know what you all think or if you want to know more, etc.

PS: Shot with manual focus, aperature, everything the entire time. Aperture set on lenses from the seventies (Nikon 35mm f/2.8, 50mm f/2) May not mean much, but doing so for the entire trip made me realize how incredibly well I can control every aspect of a photo shooting fully manual. Prime learning experience. Came home with a whole new knowledge of photography.

Terminal Viscosity

"Terminal Viscosity"

Went on a shootin' spree yesterday. A lot came of it, but this ended up being my favorite shot. It was a technical feat for me. Minimal editing. I used reflections and shadows to achieve the vignette effect around the power-line. Was looking into a power transfer station, the dots of light below are part of an old switchboard from the 1950's when the town of Keene switched energy sources.

-:o:- First Attempt at Overlay -:o:-

Doug, I know we talked about Microsoft and how you've mastered their image program... but I don't think I even have it so I decided to play around with photoshop. I don't even know what I did, but I somehow induced some interesting effects by monkeying around. Overlaid a photo I found of my favorite place from when I was a little boy. A pond in Drew University's Zuck arboretum. Merging distant past and present... while trying to learn a thing or two: Youtube has some great tutorials. Photoshop has many, many functions. Layers are confusing! Anyhow, I like the way the colors turned out for sure. An eerie effect. Not too similar to your overlays which I'm so fond of, but I'm looking forward to playing around some more.

...Decay...

When I got my knew camera, this was the first set of shots I took. All of them (except the one with the top-down shot of the girl in the leaves) were taken very early morning at a cloister in the woods I that I find very powerful. It's a conglomerate of all sorts of 50's vehicles-- mostly Chevy's. They are partially buried, overgrown, and rotting away. I have no clue how they came to be. The trees around them are too big to be less than 100 years old. It's just a very strange, surreal environment that I often visit. I wanted to capture the sense of decay, and loss of life there. The shots of the boy hopefully reflect it. I've sort of created this fantasy story in my mind that some horrible accident happened there, leaving everything mangled; only to be abandon. As if nature tried to hide the fact by eradicating the roads and sprouting the old trees. Of course, none of it's true-- but it's an image to me. Some secret is trapped there. I just wanted to combine the strange feeling of the secrecy with the equally obscure sense of autumn (and youthful) decay.

(Expect Delays)

Hey guys. I feel like a slacker, or something for not coming on here in a while. I've got a lot to share-- I'm not at home now, but when I am, I'll be sure to post up some of my work. Really like your shots, Doug. And the Stephen Crane poem a few posts down is inspiring. Made me think of "Into the Wild," which has also been a source of inspiration lately. Anyhow, I was along the highway with some friends of mine, and saw this sign through the treeline... had to snap a shot. I'll be back soon. I'll compensate for my long absense. Hopefully, you won't have to "expect delays" from me anymore.

skyscraper

hey guys. love the stuff that you two have been putting up. this is a poem that was birthed out of justin's window photo. love that picture man. the poem may feel somewhat aloof from the photo, but it was definitely inspired by it. hope you like it. do you have a name for that shot justin? it's not critical - just curious. i would love any input about the poem, especially on the title - that's always the hardest part for me. "skyscraper" has no bearing or significance on the poem itself - just a cool word that i plucked out that feels in contrast to the poem itself. i'm open to new suggestions.

skyscraper

at times
coming back from a dream
i’m struck with a synaptic burst of some kind
wham
straight thru the body
electrifying sensory receptors like a brush fire
crashing in like a wave that immediately drags itself back out
a spell of clairvoyance maybe
can’t say for sure

once it has moved on to wherever it goes
i’m left with only a remnant of what it was
i lay there as though searching for a particular word or name
waiting for the revelation
“wait for it!”
nothing

there is something though
one thing tends to stay -
it’s something like the deja vu
that smacks of a misplaced dream:

I get the sure, yet vague sense
that one morning
i will wake up in the very same house
in the very same room
and as though my window were a slide projector
without warning or surprise
i will look up and see something altogether new
strange how natural it is in me
i’m not sure what it will be
in place of the barn - perhaps a skyscraper
instead of a patch of trees and a gently sloping stretch of grass
there may be a patch of clouds - no landscape beneath
i’ll stroll over
place my hands upon the sill
peer downward
and there – a great distance beneath me
- the sea
there’s no knowing

it’s not that I despise my plot in life
i’m content enough
i take great pleasure in my barn
as well as it’s inhabitants
i never tire of our tree patch
i’ve never cared too much for skyscrapers
but all the same
now & again
for reasons beyond me
wham