Tag: Photography

the jonas brothers, a musical about evangelical Christians, and an inter-city bus trip … oh, where to begin?

well, work sent me up to new york city for a mobile marketing conference and, while i was only a day-long seminar, i had to go up the day before because the sessions started so early.

needless-to-say, i don’t do 4 1/2 hour trips before arriving at 8am … so, i decided to get up there Wednesday, take the afternoon off to take in some somethings, and be fresh and ready for the next day.

getting there

now, funding is a little tight at the office … so i decided to be creative and take one of those fancy-pants DC/NYC buses i keep hearing about. you can only book online (which limits the demographic), there are electrical outlets at every seat, and most lines offer free wi-fi as well.

i took the bolt bus (so can’t speak for the rest) but the whole experience was actually exactly as advertised. the bus was full, but not uncomfortable, filled with young urban metro-sexuals bouncing between the cities. i was easily the oldest (and least cool) person on the bus.

and it cost $18. i can totally handle ignoring the “cool-lier than thou” crowd for an $18 ride to nyc.

dead people who took pictures

once i got settled into the hotel (on 44th, near times square) i realized that i was about three blocks away from the international center of photography which is *the* only museum i try to visit each time i’m in the city.

the museum had a suite of exhibitions around fashion photography, including an entire floor dedicated to the work of 1920s and 30s Vanity Fair photo Edward Steichen, including many of his photos of America’s first star model (and a personal favorite) Marion Morehouse.

there was also a small wing that featured some of Louisiana-native (and a personal favorite) Clarence John Laughlin, whose black and white work depicting the American south is stunning.

so, that’s two bites at the “lucky” apple (three, if you count the museum being so close to my hotel) … it was a pretty good afternoon.

my name is jonas

after fawning all-over Ms. Morehouse and Mr. Laughlin, i headed towards union square to meet up with a great friend of mine for dinner, a musical about evangelical Christians, and drinks to follow.

the show (this beautiful city) is worth its own blog post, but in between dinner and the show i had to kill an hour while i waited for the house to open. that’s when the Disney magic happened.

i wandered out of the theater (the vineyard, on 15th) and around union square when i passed by the Virgin Megastore. there was a line out the door and around the block, which is a little odd for a Wednesday.

i looked through the window and thought i saw three shaggy-haired, Jonas-brother looking kids. and then i looked at the line of twenty something girls. and then Jonasus. and the line, which (again) lacked anybody under the age 21. and then the Jonasi. and then a guy squirming in line who looked like a bouncer at an irish bar. and one squirrelly guy who looked like bobcat goldthwait from Scrooged.

and then i was confused. these people were way too old to like the (disney channel product) jonas brothers. there were no elementary school kids. there were no 40-somethings who got dragged along by their children.

they were all normal, even though there was probably more visual diversity in salt lake city than in that particular line …

An hour later (as I was walking back from the strand, NYC’s best bookstore) everyone was gone and three NFL linebackers were blocking the entrance, but they were “kind” enough to leave the doors open to share their brand of saccharine-rock with the rest of the rest of the city.

to be continued…

seriously, though … this is turning into the world’s longest post, and I don’t want the musical about evangelical Christian to get short shrift.

theater: this beautiful life @ the vineyard

we spent the weekend in Dallas for a dutch-indo-pakistani-mexican-middle eastern-american wedding … oh, where to begin.

the weekend began with a traditional ceremony where the families exchange gifts, the groom is forced to pay-off the brides cousins (they hypothetically hold the groom down and demand money in small unmarked bills, though in this case the pressure seemed to be more mental than physical) and the ladies get henna tattoos applied (the lady sparkler included).

saturday saw two events, the “big one” early in the afternoon and then a formal dinner later that night. the bride had two spectacular dresses (see below), the first reception had a Mariachi band (which rocked the hiz-house), and the rest of the day saw us hanging out with one of the most spectacularly great groups of people ever assembled.

i always forget that good friends typically have good friends, but this was a special bunch.

On a personal note, I had a great time in Vegas … even ignoring the drunken debauchery. It’s nice to have post-employment validation that I worked with an exceptional group of people, and we had a pretty excellent run.

Ah, closure.

Explore the Photo Set:
Inside the Casinos, Las Vegas, Nevada

First of all, I haven’t pulled an all nighter since College. Second, I have never had any plans to go to Vegas (don’t gamble). Third, if I were to be in Vegas and were to have pulled an all-nighter, I absolutely would not get up the next morning at 9 am and wander around the south-end of the Las Vegas strip.

Turns out I was wrong on all three counts.

Early snaps were of the stretches of Coronado National Forest between Tucson and Parker Canyon, later snaps were from the road between Patagonia and Nogales. We did catch a stunning sunset right on the outskirts of town.

On the way back to Tucson, I got caught in yet another Border Patrol checkpoint. The agent stopped us, looked at me oddly for a couple seconds … I finally said “Hello,” he asked if I was a citizen, and then told me to move along before I responded.

I wonder if maybe some of these resources should be reallocated to something like murder or domestic violence or something.

The initial thought was to drive down to the Mexican border, stopping at a Nature Conservancy preserve along the way. Through the first part of the trip, however, we were innundated with signs for an Arizona State Park called “Parker Canyon.”

Feeling a bit of familial loyalty, we took a detour and wandered around the *completely* empty state park.

I had heard good (if touristy) things about Sabino Canyon and the sound of a tram car between myself and Mother Nature sounded like a pretty ameniable idea to me. Unfortunately, Sabino Canyon sustained pretty severe flooding the past season and was largely closed.

Thanks to the wonders of the interweb, I tripped on the Sky Islands Parkway which covers 27 miles in one of Coronado National Forest’s northern most pretected spaces. What an unbelievably lucky discovery.

To some extent, it was standard “parkway” setup … not too dissimilar from Skyline Drive or the Blue Ridge Parkway. However, the scenery was just stunning and unlike anything on the East Coast. Easily the best drive of the trip so far … and nary a poisonous snake in sight.

On the way back, our bus was forced to stop at Border Patrol checkpoint. The most fun of the trip so far was trying to convince an English ex-pat friend of mine that he should hide in the bathroom to avoid being deported. He kept dismissing the idea as “poor” as “it might arouse suspicion” … *sigh*.

went up to new england to visit family, flying out of BWI. quite a hike, but good fares… and a gorgeous sunset to boot.

Picking up from the last thread … some days are just to perfect for film (or digital media, I should say). The sky was absolutely blue, and nary a cloud in the sky.

While that sounds good on paper, I have a real problem with it photographically… because there is absolutely no white for the camera to “white balance” on. As a result, all the colors just look kinda odd. I’m sure that a real photographer has the skills to compensate, but I’m not there yet.

These pictures were taken from Coldwater Ridge, a visitor center off Mount St. Helens. The wildflowers just went on and on.

Part of our planning retreat was a lunchtime tour of the Cheasapeake Bay, including a discussion about its ecological significance and uniqueness. It had been a looong time since I was last on the water …

My department had a planning retreat in Annapolis, in a suite of hotels right by the State House. We had about half an hour of free time in between events where we could wander the grounds.

Trip to Chicago for NTEN 2005. Got out a couple of times to take pictures of a very cold, dark city.