Autumn\'s Coming

Off to Chicago to celebrate the hitching of an old high school buddy. Congratulations, Riley!

Tree

Also from Oak Openings.

Stairs

Today's picture comes late. For those of you in Germany, today's picture is coming tomorrow, which is now today, but its still yesterday's picture...Got that? What it means is...if you're checking this on Friday, then know this is Thursday's picture. Friday's picture will come a little later.

I got on my bike this morning and road to Oak Openings. Oak Openings is one of the things I miss about Toledo. It is a Metropark in the Toledo area. [http://www.metroparkstoledo.com/metroparks/oakopenings/] I love the Toledo Metro Parks. I think they are absolutely great. They are home. I realized that today. But then, I'm getting a little ahead of myself.

This morning, I wanted to take pictures of the rising sun. Though I arose myself at half past four, I left home at 7 for a forecasted sunrise of 730. Problem is, the exciting part, the breaking of the sun over the horizon, happens much earlier than 730. By the time I got to the park, the sun was still hidden behind the trees, but the sky was already blue.

I listened to a new album I got this week, the one by Blue October. It relaxed and inspired me to make photos. As I hinted before, I realized that I feel at home in the Toledo area Metroparks. I have been to the Harz Mountains and I have been to Turkey Run State Park. I have been in other forests in Dayton and in Germany, but somehow, they are not home. When I am in a forest in the Toledo area, it feels different to me. I can't tell you what exactly it is. Maybe its completely subconscious and only happens because I know I am in Toledo and the actual make-up of the forest has nothing to do with it, but I doubt that. The soils are different. The grasses are different. The kinds of trees are different. The topography is different. The forests are unquestionably different. And without ever realizing it before, I notice this.

Anyway, I hope you like the pictures I made of the outdoors at Oak Openings today because they will be the posted photos for the next few days.

Bobby

I made this photo in London back in May when I was there with my brother. This officer was one of the guys actually working during the changing of the guard. Making sure the place was guarded while the guards with the fancy suits were fooling around with their musical instruments, flashy sticks, and silly marches.

I made it home last night. Its now 5am. I woke up about an hour ago and have been unable to go back to sleep.

I heard a song on the radio last night that, for the first time in...well, if it's ever happened before, I don't remember. For the first time I can remember, I heard this song and was absolutely amazed. I find it to be a fantastic song with great instruments and the singing that just captivated me from the start. There are two voices layed over each other perfectly. The song is "Into The Ocean" by Blue October. If you get a chance, you should really check it out.

I think, since I'm up, I may try to go get some early morning photos for tomorrow.

Night-time Bench On the Maschsee

This is the picture I really was pretty excited about from when King and I went out to make photos on Sunday night. It took me several tries to make it. It also required a 2 minute exposure and that I use myself as a human light-shield so there would be no glare. My camera has no timer beyond 30 seconds, so there were several times I would hold the shutter button down for 1 minute and 30 seconds and then all of the sudden I would accidentally let it up and the photo was underexposed.

Stone Chimney and Ivy

I have nothing to write today.

King and I took some night pictures yesterday and I'm very, very excited about the way they looked on my camera screen... let's see whether they look good on the computer or not.

Statue

Nice beard and mustache! I bet he goes through shampoo really fast.

::Grins:: I get to go home next week!

Bee on a Dandelion

I get to go to the states next week! I hope that won't mean no pictures, but I also cannot make any guarantees. I will take my camera with me, but we will see.

Also, I think that I popped my ear drum while trying to clean out my ears. It doesn't hurt, but it is annoying the crap out of me right now. Whoa...Pretty sure I just fixed it. I used my hand and made a pump. I forced air into my ear and it feels fine now.

I like quotes, so here's one that I read this morning.
"Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming 'WOW What a Ride!'" --Unknown

Puppy Dog

He's such a cute little puppy dog...

Gotta run...lots to do today.

Schlossecketurm

Pretty sure that's not a word, but my favorite misuse of the German language is to smash as many words together as I can in order to make one big word that still makes sense to me. Sometimes it actually works.

This picture is also from Aachen last Friday. The feedback from the Mathworks interview went as I thought it would.

I have been waking up early without setting an alarm, lately. Its really cool, but not so cool. Since I don't have so much to do, I feel at the end of the day, like I haven't done anything (which is mostly true) and I get really upset with myself. I should get out and make more photos.

Remember, patience is a virtue. Remember, because I need you to remind me...

Wall

I made this photo last Friday inside the Aachen Hauptbahnhof. I was standing there with my luggage waiting when I decided I wanted a photo of the wall I was looking at. I took out my camera, focussed on the wall across the tracks, made one or two photos then put my camera away. I noticed afterwards that I was getting many a "What-the-hell-are-you-doing?" stare from those around me. As I've discussed with another American colleague... We seem to get those all the time, everywhere in Germany, for no apparent reason at all. ::shrugs::

Steeple

This is a photo I made of a church steeple in Aachen. I think I want to switch back to Black and White photos. I like 'em a lot.

I have been having a lot of dreams lately. They have been an awesome mixture of some of the coolest people I have met in the last 6 years. ::sighs:: I miss you guys. Sittin Club, Breakfast Club, trying to build a Foam Gun, Hammer Fights, Dressing Up like Homestarrunner for halloween and doing homework while drinking and eating pretzels, Homemade cat-traps involving powertools and home security systems, mixing carrot cake with power tools, walking around the wal-mart with two salsa bowls making horse-hoof sounds, poker nights, random drawings on the whiteboard, all-night study sessions (not because the work was hard, because we procrastinated, screwing around together until 2am before we started), shooting Z in the eye with a tampon, Open-mic nights, Mario Kart: Double Dash in the Student Affairs Game Room, Camping and four-wheeling in Missouri and Texas, laughing at Keith and Chad for stranding the four-wheelers in Arizona, Driving my Eclipse with a 150lb raw pig in the back while Ray laid next to it and punched it periodically, Scooter races around New Res, promoting safe-sex all around campus, laughing at my roommate for his incredibly loud farts while he slept, cringing because the same roommate flossed his toes with his socks when he thought I wasn't watching but could unfortunatley still see him, midnight attempts to aquire certain paraphanalia from the roadside and almost getting caught by the cops (very smooth talking, by the way, I don't know if I ever congratulated you on that, but well done), Ribs on the last night of the sittin club before graduation, talking to my roommates in my sleep (in italian/german...something not english...), driving around town just to have a good place to hang out, chat, and listen to some music (I miss random 4 hour road trips), The Coffee Shop making ASCII art for Justin and sending each other messages about the girls in the coffee shop or making fun of the stupid guys, visiting uncle crunckle with the Schoen twins, going to football games with the guys and being crowd-surfed up and down the bleachers 'cause I was small (ok, so that was almost 10 years ago, not 5 or 6, but still...), teaching the RAs about Velociraptors (it inspired the chicken walk as well...as I pointed out, velociraptors, according to Jurassic Park, my unquestioned source for all science and pre-history, velociraptors are ancestors of birds, so it makes sense), random working model projects just because I could and am a dork, trying to do a flip onto the couch in the lobby while holding a full glass of water, Trainee Pool trips to East Europe and the USA, unexplored crushes, my first experience being a wingman, making dice out of aluminum just to get the experience with the machine shop, flippy-cup!!!! I love flippy-cup!!! (flippy-cup is my name for the game also known as flip cup, turbo cup, etc.), Paris with Marlo (everything about it... being models in front of the cathederal of ND, meeting random french women who offer their apartment to me in the first 20 minutes, learning all about Amelie along that canal, sneaking past the tight security at the hotel, French Lunch including creme brule, a stiff drink, and some awesome seafood, finding a box full of poo on the edge of the river), "stop-everything-we're-playing-with-legos-in-the-lobby" days, making the professor laugh at our unwelcome outbursts, radio shows with Ellis and calling in the weather from the field with Milks, playing river city ransom and always punching my teammate in the back of the head or throwing brass knuckles at him, playing snake-rattle-n-roll and finally getting to the very end guy but being incapable of defeating him, playing hours and hours of mario kart double dash with Stu as my gunner, being a lifeguard, working at the SRC for volleyball matches, lacrosse team trip to chicago and my first experience eating thai food, ... There is still so much shit I am forgetting. I know there is. The Can-I-Jump-Over-That game, for example... Midnight trips to Steak-N-Shake. Parties in the haunted basement.

Well, maybe you skipped that paragraph, fine with me, I just wanted to refresh my memory about some of those things. Haha...Hammer fights... Someday, I know I'll have similar memories about being here in Europe. Its just hard to bring them up as memories when I feel like its still the same "Stage of my life." Eventually, I'll get to the next pile of little square blocks and jump to the flag pole, slide down and go hang out in a little fortress for a while. "Thank you, Mario, but your princess is in another castle."

Why does the Deutsche Post symbol have those two little arrows on the bottom?

I can live with the rest. A horn of some sort and two little lines that seem to represent a stand or perhaps a ribbon, to make it look nice. The horn and stand/ribbons don't mean much, but they are rather benign. But when you add those arrows, it confuses people. WHAT ARE THEY FOR?

Water Bugs

I went out a couple weeks ago to read at the park. I brought my camera with me, just in case I felt the inspiration. Fortunately, I did. Unfortunately, it was sunny that day until I went outside, then it started to rain. Every day for about 3 weeks was exactly like that. It would be sunny until I had the chance to go out, then it would rain.

But alas, I am pleased with this photo. I like the way the exposure of the trees on the edges is so dark and the reflection of the water is so bright that the bugs stand out as they do. I am pleased with the depth of focus I found in this picture. It makes me really happy to be able to give you a picture again that I really feel pleased with. I can think of a few others lately that have been that way, but sadly not too many.

One of my friends told me "It's better to not post any photo at all than to post one you're not happy with." In a sense, I agree. In another sense, I disagree. It would be nice to be able to present to you only my finest, however, I'm learning. This blog isn't about me being a professional, its about me learning photography. Learning how to shoot, how to compose, how to meter. Its about me also learning about me. Its about me taking photos and learning what kind of photos I am pleased with. Some day, I hope to be able to make one of those "professional" presentations of my work to you where I weed out not only the crap, but also the less-than-perfect. Until then, I am very excited to share my journey of learning and growing in photography with you.

Church

This is a church in Hannover along Sallstrasse. I don't know how long ago I took it.

Concrete Base

Its a concrete base for something.

See you all tomorrow.

Fishing

Its another picture from Hamburg. There were a couple guys just hanging out fishing along the edge of the river. I like fishing a lot, but I like it more "outdoorsy", along a lake or river or something with trees around. Oh well, obviously can't always have everything I want.

::sigh:: Sometimes, its just not good enough.

Spider Sillouette

I went to Hamburg yesterday for an interview. I thought the interview went horribly. During the interview I had to speak english a couple times. I was pissed at myself for that because I knew that I had the skeelz, I just wasn't capable of building german sentences yesterday. When that function is kaputt, I can't think of any of my vocabulary words and my pronounciation starts to sound more and more american than it already did (if that's possible). So that did not go well. And when I left, I felt like it all together went poorly. But then the guy who interviewed me sent me a follow-up email asking for more information, so maybe not as bad as I thought. Well, anyway, that was my little personal blurb for you...

I walked around Hamburg sooo much. It was great. I was exhausted. A) because I didn't sleep well the night before 2) because it was a lot of walking and iii) because the sun was very bright and that always makes me tired. I took naps in parks, read on stairs along the river/harbor, read in parks, took a few photos (still pissed at myself for my photographing technique...), and ate some of the crappiest food I have ever had. I thought I'd try this little fish joint along the harbor. I got a thing of fish and chips and it was decent, but it was soooo greasy that it was gross. And so greasy it gave me a headache.

In other news, the scar I have been trying to develop on my arm is coming along quite nicely. Also, I had two crazy-weird dreams last night. I won't go into too many details here, but it was awesome. Friends from the states, a catapult, a balcony of a beer garden, silly germans speaking english with my buddy and me, and some friends from Europe all came together to make a whole heck of a lot of awesomeness. Lets just say...its a lot of fun to shoot things with a catapult off of a balcony at unsuspecting people below. The other dream was even weirder but not quite as much fun. Also, its really awesome. Having read an article once from the Harvard Journal of medicine or something which says that we dream about what we are trying to put out of our minds, its easy to identify where my stress points are right now...what things I miss...etc.

::end rambling transmission::

The Sun Is Hidden By The Clouds

Seems to be that way. The light is there, gleaming at the edges. Eventually it will burn through.

Sometimes I sit down for these things and just write down a bunch of crap. Crap that I sometimes call philosophizing.

(These are British clouds, by the way. Taken when I was in London all the way back in May with my brother and his girlfriend and her parents.)

Lausanne

More water. Like I mentioned not too long ago... I love it. I am most certainly looking forward to go to Hamburg tomorrow. I think it will be a good trip. If nothing else, I will take the opportunity to walk along the harbor and enjoy more water...again.

Statue

I saw this guy in Switzerland and he had a bird on his head. I thought it was funny, so I considered myself fortunate to be able to get the picture in time.

Actually, the dude is made of stone, so it wasn't all THAT difficult.

I tend to think that there is something a little crazy about statues with a bird on them. Maybe its because it seems to both give them life and and take it away at the same time. Somehow, when I see the head of a statue with a bird on it, it seems more lively to me. But the bird's indifference to the statue, the way he just sits there completely and totally calm, goes against my intuition about birds and how they interact with humans.

Chimney

If I remember right, this is a chimney from a palace I went to see in London with my Brother and his girlfriend and her family. We got to the palace 20 minutes or so before it was supposed to close and they weren't letting people in anymore. Somehow, my brother's girlfriend talked real nice and pulled the "I'm just a poor silly tourist" card and managed to get in. We rushed through in classic American style and got out before they closed. It was pretty cool... Anyway...that's what THIS is from.

Rollerblades

Lately, I have been doing a lot of rollerblading, so I took a picture of my rollerblades.

Anchors Aweigh

This anchor comes from Hamburg. It is huge and sits just inland from the walkway promenade along the harbor, of which I have already posted several pictures.

I really like the city of Hamburg. Actually, I really like being near the water because I loved it in Lausanne as well.

I love The Water. I love swimming, fishing, beaches, sailing, showering, rocky coasts, kayaking, tree-lined shores, lakes, skipping rocks, rivers, fountains, boats, fish, having rock throwing contests for distance, the ocean, diving, canoeing, feeding ducks, creeks, scuba diving, belly-flops, catching crawdads, walking across stones and logs trying not to get wet, feeding fish, jumping in puddles, bathing, walking in the rain, having rock tossing contests for accuracy, white-water rafting, waterfalls, playing king of the raft, cannon balls, water slides, ... I love The Water.

I think the only thing 'water' I could do without is Kiddie Pools and I don't think that counts because their pee and poop and diaper-debris content is higher than their water content.

Baustelle

It's from Switzerland. I just like the way it looks. Construction is a facinating and important thing to me.

Today is Wednesday!

Bis dann! Tschüss!

Ah, what a spot...

I'll tell you when I get 'round that corner.

Soap

This picture is from Lausanne as well. There was a street vendor selling soap. A lot of soap. I thought I recognized the guy and almost said hello, but then I remembered the first rule of fight club, so I just took a picture of his soap and walked away.

The only thing I have to say about soap is that I have this one memory of soap. My mom buys, on occasion, this certain flavor of body soap. I think it comes from one of those "bed, bath & beyond" or "linens and things" type of stores. It was translucent blue, I think. Maybe green. A couple of times, I was forced to use it. The smell is supposed to be good, but it is so strong and so vile that the two times I used it, I nearly vomitted right there, in the shower. Fortunately, I never smelled it on one of my family members or anyone else who used it. It's alright if other people use this soap, but I have to be careful or my shower may turn into a shower and a kotz. And no body benefits from that.

Kills

Smoking Kills. European cigarette packages have incredible labels. They say awesome things on them like "Smoking kills", "Smoking is deadly", and "Smoking may lead to a slow and painful death." (Some of those are translated from German.) It doesn't matter... People still smoke like chimneys. I think that is a complex cultural difference between the US and Europe that has so many levels I will probably never be able to describe it. I'm sure there are elements of the American I'm-not-capable-of-being-responsible-for-my-own-actions attitude involved. There need to be 300 word warnings in little letters on the package. The warning probably has to be in standardized language to be legally significant. Here, its clear. "Oh! - this product, in very simple language, will kill me. That's ok. I understand and accept responsibility for my actions."

It's probably also got to do with the If-we-don't-talk-about-it-its-not-true attitude. "It's not labelled as deadly poisonous in a way that is visible from 20 feet away, so it must not be deadly poisonous." The same attitude is evident in the way families deal with issues. "We don't talk to our daughter about sex, so its safe to assume they are not having it." "We don't talk to our parents about their marital problems, so obviously everything is fine." Don't ask-don't tell.

Alright, well, I have really gotten on my little soap box there... We have our stupid little cultural issues, but its not like its any better that Europeans are so open about the fact that smoking kills and yet THEY STILL DO IT! Not only do they still do it, there are very few laws (becoming popular now in the US) to protect the second-hand smoker. And just because you are open to talk about sex, drugs, and rock-and-roll doesn't mean that its ok to do all of them in every situation.

I have been reading a book called "Bush, Baseball, and Barbeque: The 39 1/2 Biases About The United States". It's a really interesting book written by a European about the way Europeans see the US. It also points the finger in both directions. It reminds me of some of the things about the US I had forgotten in taking a 'European' point of view. (Here, European point of view means everything about the US is bad.) I feel like its giving me a much more realistic handle on my feelings towards US culture and politics. Lots of what we do is not perfect (what country does everything perfect?), and yet, a lot of what we do, really isn't all that bad. Anyway, I don't know if there is an English edition, but I would certainly recommend you read it. If you want to read it in German, I will gladly lend it to you as soon as I am finished.

Alright, so I don't know how it happened; I didn't want to write much for this picture but I did anyway. I am frustrated with my photos of late and I don't know exactly why. They feel lame and boring and stale. I am going to have to do some soul-searching to figure out why they suck so much. I'll get back to you when I know and continue to give you the best I can until then. See you tomorrow.

Favorite Kind of Spot

I really, really like this spot under the willow tree. It's by the water, which I love, and it's in the shade, which is nice on my favorite kind of day (sunny). I need these kind of places sometimes. A nice, quiet place to sit alone with my thoughts, maybe with a friend to chat or just enjoy the silence together. Its a great spot to sit and read a book, to sketch, to write, to think and philosophize.

With the right kind of tree, I would probably still try to climb it. I love to climb. To sit up in the branches and see the tree and the ground and the surroundings from a different perspective.

Moral of the story...Living in the city and not having access to a car to take me away, I miss nature quite a bit sometimes. I think I need to go back to the Harz Mountains for a nice hike.