Watergate...going...going..

So the Watergate Hotel is having a liquidation sale, $10 admission to buy used things that are only slightly cheaper than new things. However, this is the site of history, and people are willing to pay more for a piece of it. For those of you don't know, it was the hotel, rooms 214 and 314, where the Watergate burglars were on the lookout during the break-in of the DNC offices across the way in the Watergate Complex. The hotel didn't house the actual break in. Yesterday when I went to the hotel, I didn't know which rooms the burglars were in. Now that I do know, I plan on photographing it later on today. In the meantime, here are some photos from yesterday.
If you are looking for a piece of history, the sale ends tomorrow. And no, there are no ashtrays or anything with the Watergate logo on it.

Overcast, with a chance of precipitation

I decided to go and enjoy the cloudy/overcast weather we experienced yesterday for the first time in ages. The diffused light is gives is what I enjoy the most. I love autumn, because the weather is always like this. The only thing I don't like about autumn is that winter is next and that means cold.

Click on the pict for a larger version.

Meh...It's August

I'm recuperating from a very stressful weekend. my brother and I visited family, some of which is the kind of family we just can't get along with no matter how hard we try. As a result, the family who visited me, my brother, became the victim of my snappy attitude. I tend to snap at people when I am stressed because something minor that they do will piss me off.
Also, it's August, the month that I have a bipolar love/hate relationship. I love August because it is slow, no one is around, and traffic almost disappears. I hate August because it means summer is almost over and the heat can become absolutely unbearable. Also, August is the month of Murphy's law, if it can go wrong, it definitely will go wrong in August. You know how some people name their kids after months of the year - like April and June -if I ever meet someone named August, I am gonna run away from them. They would automatically mean trouble or bad luck.
So more than a month ago I decided I was going to start a new project. I started it, but that's all I did. These past few weeks have found me doing other things, including being broke.
So what do I do when I am stressed and need and outlet? I start to work on my photography, or I clean my apartment (which I'll do tomorrow). This is a result of my efforts and part of my new project - the Potomac River. I have no clue where this is going. Unlike my thesis, not knowing where this is going isn't such a bad thing, because this isn't being graded and is being done for me and only me. I'm kinda excited. I chose the Potomac because after brainstorming on projects I wanted to do, they all had water as a theme. Being around water does something to my soul. I love the water, I love swimming.
Originally the thought came for this picture after driving to one of my usual haunts, looking to clear my mind. It was taken at Edwards Ferry in Maryland. The streaks in the sky are from airplanes flying in and out of Dulles.




Click on the pict for a larger version.

I spent $2.30 and all I got was a 2 1/2 hour Metro ride!

Metro Metro, how I hate thee, let me count the ways. Oh wait, I can't, it's impossible, there are too many ways I hate you.
So yesterday I get on the Metro at 5:20. I ride the Blue line from Farragut West to Braddock Road. Normally, my commute door to door is less than an hour. Yesterday, it took 2 1/2 hours, thanks to a broken train.

The train broke down conveniently in the tunnel, under the Potomac between Foggy Bottom and Rosslyn. That tunnel is a single track only, meaning both Orange and Blue lines share the track in both directions, which is why there are always so many delays between those two stations. Luckily in our car, the rear one, the A/C was still working, apparently it wasn't in one of them. We waited thirty minutes, while being told every two minutes our wait was almost over, for another car to come and tow us out. The Orange line was stuck directly behind us because of it.



Finally we arrived in Rosslyn and had to get off the train. The overpacked Orange Line was directly behind us and had to wait an additional 10-15 minutes for our train to leave the platform so it could unload. While we waited on the platform, we were told (angrily) that we needed to leave the platform and go upstairs, because more passengers would be getting off on it and the platform was too full. Both the lower level and upper level platforms were full.



Shortly afterwards we were told that shuttle busses were going to take us to the next stations, the ones we were just told were in the problem areas. Then the voice on the loudspeaker told us that the shuttle busses weren't coming and, "I don't know if this is true or not, its a rumor I heard from Central, but the train service will resume shortly. I don't know how true it is." After hating her previous anger filled announcements, I decided I liked our announcer. At least she wasn't trying to sugar coat things by telling us our wait was almost over.
I decided to stay where I was and just wait it out. Finally trains showed up. I am so happy I don't ride the Orange line because as always, those trains were overcrowded, and those people were gonna have to wait several trains before they would be able to get on. Its just the Blue line always seems to have delays.



After 3 packed Blue line trains passed, I decided to move up the platform and get on a train. Much to my surprise, the car I got on was almost empty, with available seats too. I got on that train at 7 pm. It arrived at Braddock Road at 7:20.
Walking home across the field, I noticed that the shopping cart that I had photographed in the football field a couple weeks ago moved. I guess it likes the shade more.

Don't cry for me federal attorneys (and torture victims, John Ashcroft, etc.) part dos

Alberto "Gonzo" Gonzales once again looks like he is gonna cry during a Senate Judiciary Hearing. Here he is getting grilled by Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI). My new complaint of Gonzales is that he always shows up wearing what looks to be the same suit and tie. This can be very confusing. If I wasn't an organized person I would wonder which hearing he was at denying everything.

I kinda wonder why they bother with Gonzales testifying. He's just gonna deny everything. He's never gonna resign, though I get the feeling he'd like to, but is to chicken. Bush will never fire him, and Congress can't force him out of office. It does provide for great theater though, watching him squirm.

Once again I despise Code Pink. They were rude and disruptive during the whole proceeding. Don't they get it that no one cares about them anymore. I refuse to take their picture, but in this case the sign wound up in the photo anyways. Jedi Master Doug said he liked the photo. That made my day. I feel like Luke Skywalker now, well maybe Lukette. Though I still have much to learn.



That reminds me of what Yoda said in "Episode 1":

"Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, and hate leads to suffering."

And for another Gonzo - Gonzo the Great.

W00T

Check out the nytimes.com. Hopefully this pict is still up.

Metro Fairy

Normally I don't think that I have the most interesting commute, that is until I decide to photograph it. Then interesting things happen. Last Friday I was coming home on the Metro after gathering audio for the Crow, when I saw this interesting concoction. Feathers. Feathers and peacock feathers too! Turns out these two ladies and a gentleman (not pictured) were on their way home from a photo shoot on the Mall. From what I gathered, the lady in black was supposed to be Icarus.



Normally this is my standard view of my Metro commute. It never seems to change for 26 or more minutes, twice a day, 5 times a week.



Walking back from the Metro I have to go through an athletic field at this school. The other day I saw some dude sleeping under a blanket, except I wasn't too sure if there was someone under the blanket, and if there was, I wasn't too sure if he was sleeping or dead. I didn't check, I was late for work. Later on that day, coming home I saw a cop talking to the guy. I think the guy left behind this, because it seems to have been there ever since:



Despite this rare occurence in my otherwise boring commute, I consider myself to live in a very odd neighborhood that sometimes borders on the surreal. In fact, the above picture probably could have been included in this essay I did about two years ago. Its on my old website that I don't bother to update anymore. I now have a new website which doesn't include that essay.

In other news tomorrow I'm up on the Hill covering Sara Taylor testifying before the Senate Judiciary on the firing of 8 federal prosecutors. That is if she testifies. Bush invoked his executive privilege. Yawn. This behavior from the White House has become so predictable. I can't wait to see what the Code Pink Ladies will be doing for this (not).

I never realized how dangerous fireworks are....

I never realized how dangerous fireworks are until I saw this picture that I took yesterday:





click on it to see the rest of the pictures on my flickr.

On Independence Eve I went to go see my friend Carol Bui play the other night at the Red and Black.. The opening set was this dude Malonius, who said something very interesting while wishing us a happy Independence Day. At first when he said Happy Independence Day, no one clapped. Then he mentioned how we don't have to celebrate our government, but we should celebrate our Constitution or Declaration of Independence. I agree, though I do think that the Netherlands is probably more free or lenient than we are, but I digress and shall save that for another post, or for Hoi to respond to.
Oh by the way, go to Carol's sight and check out her music. Come to her next show. She is awesome and very beautiful for those of you who need eye candy to look at.

Nature and stuff

So about a month ago I went for a walk by the Potomac in southern Maryland. Well, I wasn't walking right by the water, but I was close by walking in a field.



I stumbled across a few things and just enjoyed the fresh air. I'm working on a new project, I don't know what it is going to be exactly, but something keeps drawing me to being outside near the water. Which isn't too shabby considering it is summer.



The place I was walking also served as hunting grounds, thus the shotgun shells that were everywhere:



After reaching the end of the field and turning around, I was calm enough to notice the little things around me, like this dragonfly and wormy little fella:





After photographing the wormy little fella I started walking back and stopped in my tracks. At first I thought it was a piece of tire. Then I realized it wasn't. I stared at it, he stared at me and didn't move. I then thought it was dead until I saw its tongue stick out. I walked way out of its path and watched it slither away, his head held up like a cobra.



I went home and looked it up and it turns out he (or she) is a, Eastern Hognosed Snake. They aren't very common, and they aren't poisonous. They do however get mistaken for a cobra all the time because of their flat neck and behavior when threatened. The time I took these pictures is when they are most active during the year (mating season). Needless to say, after seeing the snake I decided to cut the rest of my field trip short. It was the first time I had seen a snake in the wild (besides one in our car when we were traveling across country) and I was pretty freaked.

Btw, the links in the previous post weren't working. So click on the picture to see the photos from the Festival of the Photograph.

Finally I uploaded the images

These images are from the Festival of the Photograph that was held June 7-9 in Charlottesville, VA. I had an awesome time. The photos are kinda like a travelogue.



Above is Eugene Richards. He is the man.

The Crow is the man.

Its one thing to see something pre-production, it is another thing to see it finished and published. Last week I had the opportunity to look at my boss's audio silde show and give him some feedback before the final edit/publication. I just saw it on the web for the first time and I have to say I am very proud of my boss. The pictures and audio fit together perfectly and told the story so well.
I could sit here and ramble the statistics of the massive AIDS and drug crisis in DC, and how it seems that nothing is really being done about it. But I don't think that would have the impact of this story. Check it out.

"Washington's Lone Needle Exchange Program."

Don't cry for me federal attorneys

Yesterday I got to photograph the Gonzales hearing with the Jedi Master Doug, whose genius I can only hope I can attain. To quote Beck's song "Ozzy":
[Doug] you're the man...how can I grasp your power?

This is one of the photos I took. I was just waiting for (soon not to be) Attorney General Gonzales to start crying at any moment. Considering the tears I have shed recently, I can't say that I would have blamed him. He was getting a far worse critique than I have ever received. Then again, I don't aid and abet in stripping away civil liberties.

Things that make you go hmmm.....

When I was younger, this was many moons ago, there was this late night show called Arsenio Hall. Arsenio was a comic and his show was millions cooler that the Tonight Show or anyone else. In his monologue he used to do this bit, "Things that make you go hmmm." It was mainly crazy stories pulled from the news.
Anyways, today I experienced something that puzzled me. It wasn't a crazy story. It just irked me. Let me begin by first publishing an outtake from the shoot today that made me go hmmm. This pict didn't make me go hmmm. I just think it is a nice pict, and didn't fit with the subject of what I was shooting, so I didn't turn it in.

This is Senator Kerry before debating Newt Gingrich on global climate change. I don't recall seeing too many pictures of the senator smiling. He was always portrayed as a grim fellow.



This is Senator Kerry debating the Newt.



Anyways, the thing that made me go hmmm was this



The genius that is Mark Abraham says it is glare. Even though I had my lens hood on, the light of the chandelier made for some nasty glare. In other pictures it even bleeds into Senator Kerry's suit. Needless to say I had a lot of pictures that were rather lovely, but couldn't be turned in because of the glare. Mark said back in the day they used to use cardboard to elongate the lens hood to prevent this, but I can just use my hand. The problem is I didn't see the glare when I took the picture, otherwise I would have move to a better location.
Oh well.

For you Struthophiles

The NY times (who has brilliant assistants I hear) published this article regarding Thomas Struth. Apparently this guy is a good photographer or something according to Eggery and Colin.

Shervin's show

So last night I went to go see my friend Shervin's photographs at Asylum in Adam's Organ.

This is Shervin:


This is Shervin and his friend whose name I forget:


This is Brian. As in James-Brian (I can't read the handwriting of his last name). This is not Shervin shrunk down to size.
Behind him are Shervin's fotos, with some falling out of their mattes. His photos must have gotten drunk before the opening.
Back to Brian - he is studying photography at NOVA (a wise decision I must say - their alumni are quite brilliant). He is very likely coming to our opening this Thurs. He is debating whether or not to pursue a full degree/career in photography. He also likes lots of depth of field in his photos, and can't wait to use a large format camera.