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It was a dark and stormy night . . .
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
1:59PM - Jump for Joy!
At the end of the two hour studio shoot yesterday, the model changed out her 3 inch spike heels, into her favorite boots, and jumped for joy. I've always wondered how photographers take jumping pics. This is my first try :-)
X-posted to Photographers
Monday, February 1, 2010
6:48PM - I'm on the cover of a magazine!!
My interview with British photojournalist Jez Coulson [of http://www.Jezblog.com] is featured on the cover of the Winter 2010 edition of Main Street Rag [http://www.MainStreetRag.com]!! See the cover of the mag posted below. YAY!
Jez is a very talented photographer, and an all around fascinating guy, that I met by chance in Boston. Passionate about photography, Jez got his first camera when he was six years old and has worked as a photojournalist since he was about sixteen, eventually attending the Kent Institute of Art to study photography in his early twenties. As a professional photographer for over twenty years, Jez has traveled the world several times over and has had all sorts of adventures, including nearly been shot (one really close call in South Africa!). With his sharply trained eye and through the lens of his camera, Jez has witnessed some of the most significant events in current history. It was truly a privilege to interview him over several months via e-mail, phone, and Skype as he traveled to places like New York, London, Paris, and even Belize.
The interview gives insight into Jez's take on photography (How to Capture Beauty), a peek into some of the ups and downs of his career, as well as what it is like to be a globetrotting photographer. And his cover photo and nine photos included inside the magazine are amazing! For a behind the scenes peek into the interview check out his blog:
http://www.jezblog.com/index.php?showim
Cover of Main Street Rag Winter 2010 magazine:
Saturday, January 23, 2010
1:20PM - WOW ... Christina Aguilera's song "Lift Me Up" for Hope for Haiti !!
Christina Aguilera sings with Linda Perry on piano. Click on Link:
http://www.mtv.com/videos/misc/474736/c
****
Lyrics to "Lift Me Up"
And so the pain begins ... as the music fades ... and I'm left here ... with more than I can take.
If you life me up ... just get me though this night ... I know I'll rise tomorrow ... and I'll be strong enough to try ...
When the static clears ... and all is said and done ... I will realize ... that we all need someone.
If you lift me up ... just get me through this night ... I know I'll rise tomorrow ... and I'll be strong enough to try.
So when you see me crashing ... and there's no where left to fall ... will you life me even higher
... to rise above it all?
If you lift me up ... will you lift me up ... just get me though this night.
Friday, January 15, 2010
5:59PM - Continuing my series: Haiti Before the Quake
An artist selling her paintings in Port Au Prince, Haiti
X-posted to Photographers
Thursday, January 14, 2010
8:05PM - Haiti before the Quake
The National Palace which is now in shambles. Please give to the charity of your choice. Often forgotten charities are: Save the Children and Doctors Without Borders. Check out the NYT for up to date info: http://www.nytimes.com/
X-posted to Photographers
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
5:03PM - Best Pizza and Largest Selection of Beer on the Planet??
Cootie Browns in Johnson City, Tennessee (on a snowy night, which is why it's soooo empty!)
X-posted to Photographers
Monday, January 11, 2010
11:02AM - Clooney's UP IN THE AIR ... surprisingly fabulous!
http://www.theupintheairmovie.com/
This past Saturday night I checked out UP IN THE AIR starring George Clooney. Although the film has gotten rave reviews, I was a little suspicious (after all the Cohen Brother's new offering "A Serious Man" got rave reviews, and um, imo it wasn't anything to rave about).
UP IN THE AIR? Hmm ... I'm thinking a movie about a man who obsessively travels around the USA firing people? Yeah, not much to work with there.
However this smart, funny, dark, poignantly written and well acted little movie is an absolute stunner. From its opening "When Harry met Sally-ish" vignettes to its voice-over conclusion, it drives home its question of a theme "Do relationships matter?" in ways both subtle and bold, and creative and original, while remaining savvy and unpredictable, comic yet dramatic.
The adapted screenplay by Jason Reitman (of Juno, Saturday Night Live, and The Office fame) is about as tightly written as it gets. Even a seemingly innocent scene in a church Sunday school classroom with a man reading a children's book is sharply on point.
Even Graham Nash's theme song, played at both the opening and closing credits, hits the mark (plus the whole soundtrack rocks!)
Oh, and don't forget to sit through the credits!!
I highly recommend!!
Sunday, January 3, 2010
6:16PM - What a cool Narnia Themed Park!
This is me waiting outside Mr. Tumnus's house for him to return home from his adventures (click on photo to make bigger):
Inside Warrior's Path State Park is the newly opened Narnia Park (situated by a beautiful lake). Narnia park is designed for handicapped children as well as children of all ages. I stumbled upon this beautiful park by accident and spent a day (even though it was only 20 degrees outside!) enjoying a walk through Narnia.
The park is officially called Darrell’s Dream Boundless Playground, which is described as "a place where children of all abilities can enjoy nature." The Narnia Trail features eight sensory stations telling a story based on C.S. Lewis’s The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe complete with a wardrobe, the beaver's house, and even the stone table (cracked by the deeper magic).
A perfect park for anyone who loves C.S. Lewis's books (my favorite, of course, is The Magician's Nephew).
Saturday, December 26, 2009
10:53AM - Salvation Army Major Shot on Christmas Eve
Salvation Army Band plays Christmas Songs in downtown Fayetteville, North Carolina
When I heard on the news that a tuba player and a major in the Salvation Army had been shot on Christmas Eve in Arkansas (http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2009/1
Sad news. Apparently the man in Arkasas, Mr. Wise, was robbed by two armed men and then killed in front of his three children on Christmas Eve. Wise, 40, had gone to the community center with his children to pick up his wife, also a Salvation Army major, to drive to his mother's home in West Virginia.
The Wises had just adopted their three young children the previous year from an abusive family.
Thursday, December 24, 2009
1:23PM - Merry Christmas & Peaceful Winter Solstice to all!
Downtown Candlelight Procession: Fayetteville, North Carolina, USA (Xposted to Photographers)
The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it --- John 1:5
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
5:26PM - Herizon's Magazine has an article written by me! YAY! :-)
The 2010 Winter Edition of the Canadian women's magazine "Herizons" is out on news stands now and has a full page article in it written by me ... yay!! ... my article details Afghanistan's Rahila Muhibi's brave and heroic efforts to bring education to women and girls in Afghanistan's rural and impoverished villages through her groundbreaking 100 Mothers Literacy Program:
http://www.globalgiving.org/projects/10
The magazine can be purchased through Herizon's Web site: http://www.herizons.com
Here's photo of the mag's cover:
Monday, December 14, 2009
8:07PM - Bagpipe Guy plays at Annual Christmas Tree Lighting
Each year our town has a big holiday festival downtown to kick off the Christmas Holiday season. The festival ends with a tree lighting and fireworks. This year, after they lit the tree, this guy with his bagpipes stayed on the corner and played a few songs while the kids watched in wonder:
(X-posted to Photographers)
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
9:02PM - Trying to Capture Fall
For my photography class assignment this week, I tried to capture Fall. Fall has always been my favorite season, but typically my fall photos never quite turn out as beautiful as fall itself. So this year, and with some of my new photography skills (I highly recommend the book "The Photographer's Eye" by Michael Freeman), I tried a different approach.
Thursday, November 5, 2009
5:33PM - Pumpkin Bread, anyone?
Image credits: http://www.recipetips.com/images/re
I've gotten behind on movie reviews and such, so how about something a little different for my journal? How about my neighbor's award winning Pumpkin Bread recipe? I was craving Pumpkin Bread, and oddly, where I live it is hard to find. So I put out a call for recipes. Here's Jennie's:
Jennie's Pumpkin Bread
3 cups canned pumpkin puree
1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
4 cups white sugar
6 eggs
4 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
1 1/2 tsp. ground cloves
1 cup chopped pecans
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line bottom of three 9x5 inch pans with parchment paper or with waxed paper cut to fit. Grease and flour pans and grease including the paper in the bottom of the pan.
In a large bowl, mix together pumpkin, oil, sugar, and eggs. Combine dry ingredients; reserve 2 Tbsp. flour mixture. Stir dry mixture into pumpkin mixture. Stir reserved flour into nuts to coat. Stir nuts into batter. Divide batter evenly into the 3 prepared pans. Bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour. The top of the loaf should spring back when lightly pressed. Remove from pans and remove paper. Cool completely on wire rack before wrapping in plastic wrap to store.
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Friday, October 30, 2009
5:03PM - A Poem for A Friend
I looked up this poem, written by David Harrington Watt, to give to a friend, but thought I'd post it here as well:
Nunc Dimittis
for Bleiben, 1988-1999
“Now you release your servant in peace . . .” –Luke 2:29
My life was saved when I was fourteen months old.
A woman came to the shelter that day—the day after her rape
—and paid sixty dollars for a watchdog.
She was a fool. I weighed seventy-seven pounds,
but I was no watchdog. She had come looking for a John Wayne,
and chose a Gandhi by mistake.
Still, for three thousand nights
I slept next to her, my snores and sighs telling her:
you are not alone; the world is not as dangerous as you think.
Today, she stand above me. I avert my eyes.
And then, at three o’clock,
As the needle begins to eradicate my pain, she
leans down and places her lips next to my right ear.
She whispers—once, twice, and then six thousand times:
How beautiful you are. You did great. You are loved.
***
Nunc Dimittis is Latin and from the Liturgy of the Hours. In English it reads: Lord, now you let your servant go in peace.
Sunday, October 25, 2009
8:47AM - Jon Jones Photos (Thoughts on Leaving)
Photo by Jon Jones: www.JonJonesPhoto.com (Gallery: Europe 1)
(direct link) http://www.jonjonesphoto.com/gallery.ht
Photo:
I've always been fascinated by photos of people leaving: walking, running, marching, rowing, riding away ... somehow leaving the picture. Many of the photos I own/have purchased capture this. I also love short stories that illustrate this as well: Ursula LeGuin's "The Ones Who Walked Away from Omelas" or even something like Tobias Wolff's "Bullet in the Brain" or movies like "Leaving Las Vegas" or "Blue" from the Red,White, and Blue trilogy by director Krzysztof Kieślowski or the Academy Award winner "The Lives of Others."
I'm not sure what this says about me, but my love for "leaving" photos continues. While looking through the amazing archives of photographer Jon Jones, I ran across the above photo. I love the mood and the way the light falls on the two men in the foreground as well as how the light blurs the men in the background as they make their way down the road. I love that they are leaving. I don't know who these men are or where they are going, but part of me wants to jump in line and go with them.
Friday, September 18, 2009
8:33PM - Casino Night: Texas Hold'em
Each year the university where I teach holds a Casino Night. It's quite a fancy set up. They hire, TJohnE, a professional entertainment company to come in and turn the student center into a real casino, complete with craps tables, roulette wheels, and everything. The university professors serve as "dealers" and the students get monopoly money with which they can buy real chips. I signed up to be a Black Jack dealer, but they only had spots for Texas Hold'em. Of course I brought my camera :-) This guy couldn't catch a break. The cards were just not kind to him. But wow, the lighting in this place was awesome for photos! :-)
Photo also X-posted to LJ's Photographers community for their Sept. Photo Challenge:
Sunday, September 6, 2009
9:31AM - Terry Gilliam at Dragon*Con?
I can't believe Terry Gilliam:
http://www.dragoncon.org/dc_guest_detai
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Gill
is at Dragon*Con this weekend, and I'm not there :-(
How did I miss that HE was going to be at Dragon*Con?
http://www.dragoncon.org/
:-( :-( :-( :-( :-(
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
6:31PM - Mirror Lake: Luray Caverns, Luray Virginia
What is it about caves? I could stay in them forever. One of the prettiest caverns I've visited, I visited recently: Luray Caverns in Virgina. One wonderful thing about Luray, at least for me, is that there are no guided tours. They give you headphones (a recorded tour) which I tossed as soon as they handed them to me. The tour is supposed to be about an hour, I stayed about five ... until closing time, until they made me leave. If I could have found a way to stay, I would have :-)
Here's a link to a vid I made of the Cathedral room (I'm holding a video camera and slowly turning in a circle): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6TJtf_jl
Below is a picture of the underground lake ... the top part is all stone, and the stone is reflected in the still water below, making it look a bit like shark's teeth ... the water is about 50 degrees and only about 3 to 4 feet deep:
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