REAWAKENING TO LIFE

I don’t know if this is appropriate or not to be posting this image with this blog. I guess I just wanted to add a dose of reality and perspective to this whole thing… There are so many people who are really hurting and have given up on others, God, and worst of all, themselves. God loves us from the top people to the bottom people - He respects no high man’s wishes, nor does He tread over the lowly. We will be judged with the same standards standing next to this man. Took this image up in NYC with my Olympus XA-2 and Kodak V100 slide film cross-processed.

Don’t worry - he’s a friendly Scottish Highland bull. Just don’t try to push him over or pretend he’s not there. The image is from my Canon Mark II shot through a red filter to create a infrared-ish BW effect with the Leica 35mm f/2.

Image = Rollei + HP5 + Pittsburghian Architecture

I took a psychology test today. Not one you study for, but one that allows you to study yourself. (Okay…take the test and then come back).

I came back borderline INFP and ENFP, depending on which website you take the test on. I googled my results and came back with some weirdly accurate results. I mean, I shouldn’t be surprised - you answer questions and it gives you generalized results, like a palm reader. Or something. Anyway, probably the most revealing thing was out of the INFP personality description:

“…INFPs are flexible and laid-back, until one of their values is violated. In the face of their value system being threatened, INFPs can become aggressive defenders, fighting passionately for their cause.”

Meditation (Assisi, Italy) - Leica R5, Leica 35mm f/2.

Found this old image from my trip to Italy. It was a simple Franciscan crucifix in a meditation room for monks to lay prostrate before. Sometimes this served as penitence for sin, which sometimes this lasted for days. The simpleness of his sacrifice, his love, for days…

A bit of reactionary graphic design.

“You need to stop hanging out with those dumbass Christians who tell you it’s okay not to go to church. Get yourself together and get into a church or come back to ours.” - Perry Babb, “Pastor/Apostle/President/Leader/Boardmember” of Keystone Church - State College, PA.

Those ‘dumbass’ Christians are people that left his church on bad terms, and are now seen as demonized people who are out to curse his church.  They are further shunned and all personal/familial relationships are cut-off between members and ex-members.

I know this happens because I did it to people when I was a member.

But now, I fall into the category of a ‘dumbass Christian’ and am an ex-member of this…’church.‘ See their website here.

Read my story and talk about it.

So my day was pretty great in comparison.

I have a lot of um… fun shooting cycling races. I didn’t know how thick the tension would be when I first started shooting, but seeing racers whip around 90 degree bends on an outward sloping road lends itself to pretty dramatic scenes. Of course, I hope no one gets hurt in all this - on every crash I captured, everyone got up. I will be posting more ‘positive’ images of the races pretty soon on my event website, so hopefully I can expand to non-mainstream sports like this. I am investigating motocross, cyclocross, and mountain bike races for upcoming events.

I am moving into a much bigger place next year, and with that comes a BIGGER basement. I am planning on setting up a darkroom and silkscreening studio, with the intention of it being some sort of co-op for people looking for access to such equipment at a decent price. It might take a bit of finagling <sp>, but I am really excited to get it started. I have had a few people already ask about it, and I don’t think it would take much $$$ to operate since most of the overhead is taken care of already.

Heck! I might even have time to develop some film for your prying eyes to see!