Thoughts and Minds... Inside

Fourth of July Weekend....

2009-08-24T19:15:00.012-04:00

Alright. These photographs are all out of order, so I'll give you a general story, then direct commentary on each image.

Zach and I went up to his parent's camp on July 3rd to drop off our jewelry to his Aunt's for her yearly craft show. Then, on the 4th, we went to the Oswego County Fair in Sandy Creek to check out the wares and, incidentally, the cars. Then we join a few friends for the Independance Day fireworks at Fort Ontario.

I think most of the cars are self explainitory, like the GMC truck and others that you only get to see parts of because I have way too many images.

This truck was beautiful, though not in the shiny, fully-restored way, but in that it was beautifully designed by an artist, not a computer, and the little details, like the grill and the V8 emblam that was a symbol of the time and the years to come.

Sunset the night of the fireworks. Beautiful with the clouds and the red from the pollutants in the atmosphere. I guess there is one good thing that has come from air pollution.

The moon was beautiful opposite the sun set. I have more that are better, but again, I already have too many images.

This looked like a dandilion flower, except that the puff ball was about three inches in diameter. (see next photo for comparison)

The fireworks. I took quite a few the night before up to camp from a kind of 'home-made' show, though they were not as nice because I was still firguring out the timing and there wasn't the wonderful sunset.

Some interesting textures on our morning walk at camp...

Yes.... This is the Tool Nerve Ending hoodie and grass, but think abotu how the textures interact.... Yeah, now you're getting it...

There were dozens of these little guys going from this bird feeder to the pine trees in the background.

At the Oswego County Fair, there were a few very large trucks parked together. They were massive and just over the top. Again, Zach is around 5'8" tall, maybe 5'10". Yeah, it's a big truck.

We agreed the mascott and the hood ornament matched the looks of these trucks quite well, though the ornament doesn't exactly emphasize the sheer bulk of this truck.

2009-07-06T12:29:00.002-04:00

Sorry I haven't updated in a while, but I've been busy with the end of the semester projects and with finding a job for the summer, which I have (yay!), as well as commissions (double yay!) for painting.

I work for AmeriCorp through a local charity organization, mostly office type work. What's weird is how little I am outside now. I don't like being out of touch with nature and with the warmth of the sun. I only took a 20 minute lunch, half of which was outside, so I could take a mental break and update this.

Forgive me for not having any images to show off just yet. I will once I get home, because this morning I uploaded around 700 photographs onto my computer. I took quite a bit of the fireworks I saw this weekend (now that I know how to take photographs at night, thank you Digital Photo I), as well as some awesome sunsets and daytime vistas and a couple of moons. I know I have a bunch that are probably junk, but I haven't been able to go through them all.

I hope to have some images to show in a little while, cross your fingers for me.

Sculpture Project....

2009-04-28T21:48:00.004-04:00

Here are some photographs of a sculpture project I made the last few weeks. It is around 6'x6'x6', the images painted on the white sheets are watered-down acrylic. The vertical posts are wood with nails to hold the horizontal PVC pipe that the sheets are hung on. The structure forms a large square with a square off-set within it, forming a geometric spiral inward.

I won't get into the concept because it's a little sensitive, but let's say this project has been cathartic.

As many artist's say, the photographs do not do it justice, but that's fine. I made it so that the structure could be taken down and rebuilt, so it's all good.

Recreating Reality & Finding Interest

2009-03-23T20:54:00.006-04:00

For my digital photography class, I had to create a composite image by editing myself into another image. I chose to do a kind of self portrait by taking a photograph of my hands and editing myself into those hands. Here is the result. It took me quite a while and I am glad to be finished with it. I don't like spending multiple hours straight staring into a computer screen.
A while ago, like when there was still snow on the ground and the semester was just beginning, I was working on my first exercise for my photography class and I had to photograph a "Space" and create a unified collection of five images. Well, here are a few that I took that did not make the cut, but I still thought were interesting. The first three were from my redo at the Great Northeastern Whiteout, a collection of vintage snowmobilers, meeting together to find parts and show off their finished pieces. The last two were from the original attempt at the project in Zach's barn. There is so much interesting stuff to find in there. He was shaking his head at me because he couldn't understand what I was looking at. It is all junk in his eyes and he cannot look at it in a photographic light. Good thing I wasn't raised around it all.

Updating with Photos that are NOT Mine (but still really good)

2009-02-16T07:44:00.006-05:00

I guess it is a good thing I decided the middle of last semester to take a photography class this semester. It has forced me to get back into photography and focus on what is in front of me and the camera. My hard drive is still in limbo, and may be for a few years until I get the couple of thousand dollars to get send it to California to get it taken apart and the information retrieved. Oh well..... I know they should be there. They are just out of reach, like when a person gets a concussion and some of the connections between circuits get damaged or destroyed. The messages keep trying to get to a spot they know is there, but it just cannot find it anymore.

Anyway, I have been taking a lot of photographs and I am finally learning the finer points and uses of my camera. The Aperture Priority and Shutter Priority are now under my control. My professor says 'We will never switch back even to Program Mode ever again.' I doubt it because sometimes when I get into a setting that I am photographing, I just want to focus on the images, not the settings, and I rarely find issue with the settings Program chooses.I won't argue with her though, because she doesn't seem the type to take it well. Besides, I want to pass, and to actually have her teach me something, not just avoid me because I contradict her.

Yesterday when I was taking photographs for a project on using Shutter priority, we were in a little culvert with a pipe coming out that drains an area near by. I didn't have mud-boots on, just short rubber galoshes over my boots, and I was afraid of getting into the water (yes, it isn't frozen there because it is moving) and getting too close to some things I had been eying. Zach then asked if he could use my camera and take some images, getting a foot wet here and there to get close or climbing up on that sheet of ice to perch next to the small waterfall to see the ice hanging off of the vegetation. He won't believe me that they are awesome images. (He says they suck, partially, I think, to pic on my because I am standing up for him when he is putting himself down) Some could have been framed better, but these are all him. If you agree with me, say so, cause this guy needs encouragement.

Problems.....

2009-01-06T10:30:00.002-05:00

Well, I have more wonderful (sarcasm) news....

It seems my computer's hard drive decided it wanted to die on me. I have had the hard drive replaced, but the drive is mechanically broken and must be disassembled to retrieve the information. This means I don't have any new photographs, because I haven't taken many since it happened, and all the ones I have taken since the middle of this summer are no where except that drive.

Needless to say, when I discovered this, I was upset. (understatement) I have adjusted the settings on my new hard drive and have my computer up and running again, but I think I'm taking a break from my photography for a while. This happened the middle of December, and I took some photographs at my grandfather's when we went the day after Christmas, but whenever I pick up the camera, the photographs that are hanging in limbo keep running through my head in a constant slide show, which makes photographing the present quite difficult.

I will update soon when I know more about the future of my hard drive, and perhaps some images from my grandfather's, when I get up the courage to put such delicate information on this new hard drive.....

~Namaste~

Roscoe, New York: The Town the 21st Century Is Beginning To Remember

2008-12-08T14:26:00.003-05:00

For Thanksgiving, my family and I went to Roscoe once more. This time, there was actual snow on the ground. It was beautiful. As Zach and I walked around town, we stopped in front of the school to look at the art deco architecture around the face of the building. They don't even use the original main entrance any more. It's a shame.

The stone patio in front of my grandfather's house.

In town, there was a stenciled spray-painted image of our President-Elect on the wall of one of the buildings. It was a show that some people in this town are aware that the 21st century has come. I don't always like the common era, and I like the anonymity of time in that place. It was interesting to see, none-the-less.

Down by the river, the ice and the coldness of the water interacted with the sand and the light to create some fascinating effects.

Looking out over the snow-covered athletic field to the cemetery across the river.

More Fun Stuff....

2008-11-26T19:47:00.003-05:00

Hello there again. It seems mother nature wants to join in the excitement in our lives. Here's the backyard.....

We have two willow trees in our back yard. They were trimmed back twenty-some-odd years ago the wrong way and they grew back really weak. Every year-or-so decent-sized bough and branches fall, but this is one of the once-every-five-years breakage that causes more damage than to the tree itself. There is an evergreen tree uprooted and buried underneath the pile of branches. There was also a split-rail fence that has been smashed.

Needless-to-say, the two trees are coming down soon. It was originally going to be only one of the two, but the one that lost this bough is the other one, the one we were going to save.

The playhouse is around 12-15 feet high at the peek. That means that bough on top of it is somewhere around 25 feet long, if not 30. This bough is from the tree that was set to be cut down.

In the above shot, you can see on the left-hand tree the spike of the major bough that fell from the tree that was not slated to be cut.

Fire Spirits.....

2008-10-13T17:42:00.004-04:00

Well....

To make a long story short, a fire in my mother's fireplace kindled a larger, uncontrolled fire in the chimney which spread down into my brother's room (the chimney runs up through his closet). Most of the house was saved from the damage of the fire, but was touched by smoke and/or water. The demolition of the damaged sections of the house has begun today, and reconstruction will begin as soon as that is finished. I spent this weekend and two weekends ago cleaning out not only my room and my possessions, but also those in my brother's room because he is in Buffalo and hasn't even been in the house in months, years since he's spent the night. I worked on cleaning out all of the burnt insulation and scattered/burned items. It wasn't as difficult as going through my room, even though nearly nothing of mine was damaged. I think the anticipaton, not knowing what was damaged and what wasn't, was the hard part: i.e. my artwork. This was around a month ago now, and it looks like my part in this dance is mostly done.

Before we had my brother's room completely done, I took some photographs of the objects that I thoughts were interestingly damaged, such as melted stereo equipment and street signs. My brother asked that I post them for him to see. I don't have any photographs of his damaged artwork, save for pottery on a shelf, but our mother has some images I captured on her camera.

Here you go Matt.... I hope you handle it well. I tried to show things well, even though this is going to be hard for you..... It's kind of a good thing you weren't there before we began to clean things up. I don't think you would have been able to handle it. It was difficult for me. I hope my photos help paint a clearer picture for you....

Wedding!!!!

2008-09-20T14:56:00.004-04:00

Wow.... I didn't know how exciting and wonderful weddings could be! Last weekend, Patrick and Jen VanSuydam were married. They didn't have a Photographer and I was asked to do so. I was home for the weekend anyway and knew it would be terrible to only have "mom-pictures' as I call them, when they photograph weddings professionally in a journalistic style. I knew they would like something similar and I wanted to help. I had a smile on my face the whole time. It was so amazing and happy.

It was held on the Battlements of Fort Ontario overlooking the lighthouse. The rain held off until the ceremony was over, then everyone except the bride and groom scurried off to get intoxicated at the reception. It was slightly amusing how scared people were of a little drizzle.... okay, it became more than a drizzle by the time I was leaving....

But, over all, the day was wonderful. Thank you, Patrick and Jen, for letting me be a part of your beautiful day. Congratulations....

(see a link to their blog at right)
(see their website at http://www.vansuydam.com/)

The Bride (Jen)... Just before the ceremony.
The Bride and her Father, walking up the isle....
The vows.... and Patrick almost forgetting to repeat the Priest.
The rings.... they are so beautifully simple....

Before the ceremony, Patrick and his friend, and fellow trumpeter, Chris...
Matt (my brother), Craig, and Mike, trying to act all cool and such....
Patrick and the two Best Men (Matt and Mike)
The guys... what more can I say?

The Fesival of Steam

2008-08-16T09:29:00.006-04:00

Last weekend, Zach and I camped at the Festival of Steam in Canandegua, New York. This is a place where, once a year, stationary steam engines that used to power cities and mills are now run to show how things were done before the advent of the internal combustion engine. But along with this show, are hundreds of antique tractors that pull in competition. I couldn't give a good explanation on how tractor pulls work, so look it up on YouTube or something to see how it's done... Trust me, there are plenty of videos for your viewing pleasure.

There are also a few antique construction and destruction equipment out in the field, as well as plows and hit-and-miss engines. They work by coasting, and not firing for every time the engine revolves, saving fuel. When the engine goes below a certain number of RPM's, the engine fires again, and waits, everything revolving and moving. If there is a load on the engine, it will fire more often, but if there isn't, it could coast for quite a while before firing again. One of these was running a saw used to make cedar shakes for roofing and siding.

They also have steam tractors that look like miniature steam locomotives. They use these to run the separator (look for the straw pile) and also to bail the straw, powering clutches with long belts, around fifty to seventy-five feet long. One was used in a lumber mill right next to the separator. The blade is around four feet in diameter, maybe bigger, and spins fast enough to cut you in half without batting an eye.... Watching the guys work so close to that blade makes you wonder how they feel, getting so close..... I wouldn't want to be there when a mistake happens....

It rained only at night, which made the show nice and unspoiled during the day, but made the entire grounds a mud-hole and impossible to get out of is you didn't have good tires, or four wheel drive. Luckily, we had both.

Bailing the stalks to use as straw...

Zach is around 5'8". His arms add around another foot and a half... Just for reference of size.

They weren't posing, I swear.

....So that means the wheel here is around seven feet tall, not including the traction spikes....

These buses were getting stuck left and right... and getting pulled out by tractors that had been pulling in competition the night before.... (and we think these two John Deere guys are twins or brothers or something...)

Apparently, there were only ~130 of these tractors made, only two survive to this day, and this is the only one of the two that still runs... A living piece of history.

Separating the wheat from the chaff...

Update (at long last...)

2008-07-08T13:27:00.003-04:00

Hello once again. I know I have been terrible about updating with new images. I am sorry to those who have been checking back and finding nothing. I apologize. I have been working hard at chain mail. Yes I, the one that only took photographs am now (in the summers) the one making chain mail. In the winter, I don't have time, with school and everything. But this summer, I was unable to find a job, so I decided to be creative, working on different projects, including incense burners, candle holders, chain mail jewelry, and rocks wrapped to be placed on a necklace. All pieces are for sale and I will be putting up photographs of my work soon. I am really happy I have been doing so much (and making some money).

Here are some pieces of artwork that I have done in the past, but only recently photographed. None of these are for sale, sorry, but they are too close to my heart.

This is a photograph of a sunflower painting I did for a friend of my mother on the back of her furnished garage. It's about four feet high and 2 1/2-3 feet wide.

Catskill Purity, Lakeside Walks, and an Ice Storm

2008-04-08T09:08:00.007-04:00

I have not posted for some time and have quite a few photographs to share.

Remember that ice storm we had the end of March? Well I have some beauty I captured while waiting for a ride somewhere from school. All of the images were taken within a fifty-foot square area.
This next set are from when Zach and I went with my father and my step brother to visit my grandpa in the nursing home near where he lives. He's home now, but at the time he hadn't been well. He's so much better now, but it is scary seeing him age. After dinner, Zach and I walked back to my grandpa's house so that I could take photographs of the area. It was beautiful, but horribly cold. I had gloves, but it didn't help my shutter finger much....

The next day, we visited a friend of my father's, Alice, that lives on one of the many mountains in the area. She is such a wonderfully eccentric woman. She was always fun to visit, always welcoming, always warm. And she still is.

More Photographs... Maybe...

2008-03-18T22:41:00.004-04:00

I'm sorry, again, for not posting in quite some time. I have been busy with school work, as well as my birthday, which was Monday. I went to a club in Syracuse with friends from home, then hung out with friends here at school on Monday. It was great to feel that so many people cared about me enough to celebrate my birthday. I felt so special. *smiles*

Here are some photographs I took a couple of weeks ago when the weather warmed up for a day, then cooled down again. It's not quite as warm now, but it is close. The sunset was so inviting, as well as a friend of mine who looked up to my window from outside and motioned for me to come down... So I did and got these beautiful shots.

I also got a few photographs of the ice storm we had last week, but I haven't loaded them onto my computer yet, so you will just have to look at these ones for now...

Umber Moons...

2008-02-28T11:21:00.003-05:00

Okay, I know I haven't updated in a while and I'm sorry. I haven't had much to post, except my horrendous photographs of the lunar eclipse a week ago. I wish I could say they looked nice, they look kinda cool, they just are not what I meant to end up with. I don't have a tripod, or even a uni-pod I could stick in the ground. Thus, the images are blurry and disgusting.

I did get some interesting shots of the moon and the nearby smoke stacks prior to the eclipse. They are more creepy than anything else... And no, there are no alterations to any of these images.

I ask that you do not steal my images. I did not put my signature on these ones, so I have to trust you guys.

(This is the snow drifted in the light of the street lights.)

(Moon prior to Eclipse)

Walking and Working

2008-02-19T22:22:00.007-05:00

This past weekend was a busy one. Saturday morning found me walking with Zach's family and their two dogs. That afternoon I was taking photographs at a gig my Dad and Step-mom had at a 50th wedding anniversary. Sunday I was snowmobiling. Here are some relics of these events.

Painting

2008-02-15T10:42:00.004-05:00

Painting with watercolors has only been a joy to me for the last two years, but it has changed my life. I love working with this medium more than any other except linoleum block prints (because of the variety of things you can do) and a good pencil (first love). I have not yet used another kind of paint that I have an affinity for. It was a torture to learn how to use them though. I pushed myself and pushed myself to figure out this damned stuff... I was using it for my final project in a drawing and painting class in high school, and I got it. I really got it. Now... well... Here are some of the present results of my appreciation for the complexities of this medium.

This first painting I did on the coldest day of the year so far... Out SIDE! I know... I was crazy... We all understand the truth in that. I had to learn how to overcome the problem of the water in my brushes freezing. It did create some interesting effects in the fallen-over grasses. I was outside for around forty-five minutes.
This next painting was done in about nine hours to a still life in my watercolor painting class.
This one is an abstraction of a portion of the previous painting. It took over twenty-six hours. The spikes alone took twenty of those hours.

Year-Old Beauty

2008-02-12T15:24:00.000-05:00

Last year, in February, I took a week-long vacation in the Caribbean, the British Virgin Islands. This was long before I got, or even thought about, my Nikon D50 that I love so much. At the time, I only had my father's Kodak, which isn't bad for what most people do, but the lower quality limits what control I have over the images. I was able to move beyond the difficulties to bring back some amazing shots of the beautiful waterscapes and islands. The ones I am posting now (and the more I will post in a few days) are the best of the best, the ones I have straightened (I was on a 47 foot sailboat and it rocked, so the horizon wasn't always horizontal) and have added my signature to. I hope you like them.

All of these can be found on my DeviantArt gallery page (see link at right) along with titles and comments on each of them, usually some kind of existential poem. Enjoy.

Hard Work?

2008-02-08T10:28:00.000-05:00

I have been putting together a web site (a blog with a few alterations) for Zach to show his work, as well as a business card for each of us to hand out. I have also made a new deviantArt account to have a more professional feel and look. I am slowly going through all of my photographs, choosing the best, putting my signature on them, and posting them one... by... one.... It takes so long, though it is just tedious, not really hard. I have posted quite a few pieces so far, though I am only into my third folder. I have at lead twenty (if not more) folders to go through.

I haven't decided if I am going to post my old photographs, those taken with my mother's Kodak, or if I am only going to include photographs taken with my Nikon. If you have any suggestions, that would be great.

Well... Here are a couple of photographs I don't think I have posted here. I was going through my folder for the day I went to Zach's great Aunt Marianne's and saw these ones. They are nicer than I first thought.

2008-01-30T07:45:00.000-05:00

School was a lot to get used to last semester. This time around, it's still weird. I'm not used to being around people, I guess that's why I become a recluse when I get here because, outside of class, I don't really want to deal with people. Maybe it's connected with the reason I choose to be behind the camera instead of in front of it. It is much nicer back here and the lights aren't as bright.

Zach snuck this photograph of me while we were at my grandpa's for Thanksgiving. (The trickster!) My brother's girlfriend Michelle had straightened my hair and Zach wanted to make sure he could capture the moment in case it never happened again.

Adobe Photoshop... Ooooo... Take II

2008-01-29T09:28:00.001-05:00

The blogger is still having some trouble loading these images, probably because they are jpg, but not quite the same as the blogger is used to. I hope you like them.

Here I wanted to bring out the water in the leaf. In the original, you had to look closely to find them.
Here I increased the contrast and lightened the petals in the black-eyed-susans, giving them this frosted look. I like it, though it looks more like a painting than a photograph.
In the original, the entire image was light ans airy. I wanted to darken the background, and have the birdbath stand out more. I hope I succeeded.
This one only has a tiny bit of lightening on the been to bring her out more. Not major editing, just a little dodging.
This is the second version of this image I did. I wanted the tiny ant to be more of a focal point than in the original. I tried dodging with too much of a crisp edge to my tool, making it obvious what I had done. I found another brush that was speckled and left a more gradated edge to the area altered. It looks, to me, like just that place where the ant was got direct sunlight.

Adobe Photoshop... Ooooo...

2008-01-28T19:12:00.001-05:00

For Christmas, my Dad and Marybeth gave me Adobe Photoshop. I decided to do some editing on the program, to get used to it and get to know the tool available to me. Here are some of the final images.

I'm sorry, I was not able to load the images because of this error:

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Fun in the Sun?

2008-01-25T10:46:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was the first day of classes here at SUNY Oswego. My roommate left school at the end of last semester and the only friends I had in this wing of my building were kicked out and had to go to different halls. I was kind of reclusive last semester, and it looked like I would be even more so this semester, until my friend Andrei appeared in my Geography lecture. She came back to my room after class, then dragged me outside, into the snowy tundra called the ice pack on the shoreline. I brought my camera because, looking out my window, the wind was down and the sun was out, for once. We trudged through the snow, or as Andrei put it, "trundling." *shrugs* Andrei is Andrei. Here are some of my favorite shots from that outing.
Wonderful, unbroken snow.
I decided to break from the path Andrei was taking. She was pretending to be some guy that climbed Mt. Everest, thus choosing the icy mounds that are the hardest places to walk on, especially with camera in hand.
Yes, I know... I took a picture of my feet.... I'm sorry.
Look at that beautiful sunlight!!! Yay!

Beautiful Things

2008-01-24T21:31:00.000-05:00

A few days before I returned to school, Zach and I went to his grandmother's house. I wanted to photograph her decorations, besides work on chain mail. She has so much stuff, she calls it junk, it's nuts, but it is so festive and uplifting to see such joy, even in all the crazy nick-nacks.

Christmas and the Coldest Day

2008-01-23T21:10:00.000-05:00

Christmas day was hectic and frantic. First, Zach and I were at my mother's, then my father's, then his parent's house. The night before we went to my father's because we didn't know if we would have enough time, though we did. It was nice to see everyone all at once; Matt, Dad, Marybeth, Michelle, and Robbie. It was really nice and everyone was glad to see us.

Then we went to Zach's parents to have Christmas with Zach's parents, grandparents, and uncle. It was more grown up, more importance to the presents, not just sheer number as at the other two houses. While there, I saw a candle set-up and was captivated by the beauty of the burning flames reflected in the glass.

A few days later, on the coldest day of the winter so far, Zach went snowmobiling on the Tug Hill Plateau and I stayed home, taking photographs and, silly me, decided to do some watercolor painting outside. It worked out well, except when the water in the paint would begin to freeze. There is a skill to having just enough water, though not too much to clog the brush with ice crystals. It is interesting, however, the effects that are created by the splayed-out brush and the thinned paint. I would recommend it.

Here are some photographs I took later that day when the white snow and sunlight continued to beckon.

Winter Comes

2008-01-23T15:31:00.000-05:00

Christmas Eve my mother insists on putting up luminaries and such, even though the Christmas spirit is lacking in my house ever since my parents divorced and were not able to stay in a parenting relationship for my brother and I. It kind of killed the homey and loving feeling that used to come with Christmas... Well, I took picture of her decorations outside that night, like she asked, as well as put out some of her luminaries by catching the bag on fire! It was fun. I had to capture the fleeting flames.

Back From Winter Break

2008-01-23T14:54:00.000-05:00

I'm sorry I didn't post over the break but at home, oddly enough, my computer is not attached to the internet except through the spotty connection I get from the wireless bleed-over from my neighbors, definitely not enough to load the images I generally post. Now that I am back at school, I can catch you all up on my photographs and my life.

I went to Zach's Great Aunt Dale's house to see and photograph the decorations she puts up each year. They were beautiful. You will notice a common theme of green... It's her color. Zach's grandmother's color is red. I don't know about the other four sisters, but they all must have some kind of decorations they put up. They are a very festive group of women. They love the Christmas season. Here are some shots I took the night we went. It was before Christmas, though I'm not sure how long before. Oh, well... Enjoy!

Alterations to Roscoe

2007-12-11T19:49:00.001-05:00

The other day, I was playing around and made some changes to some photographs of Roscoe to try to capture the feel of the place, how timeless it is, how beautiful it is. The first is simply a slight alteration to a photograph from Zach's grandmother's house, but the rest are of that wonderful place called Roscoe, New York.

Chain Mail Is BOOMING!

2007-11-26T22:03:00.000-05:00

Zach's chain mail 'hobby' is turning more into a business with all the attention and orders he is getting from the chapter of the KMC near us. They love his chain mail and are sponsoring, letting him come over any time, helping him advertise his stuff, got a glass case for his pieces to be displayed, everything. He's not a member, but they treat him like a brother, even call him that. He's even got a nickname there: "Chain-Man." I wonder where they got the idea from.

Anyway, on Sunday morning, while working on my homework, I put together a portfolio of his work along with a typed-up price list to give to the K-men to show around when Zach isn't at the Clubhouse. He got two orders just tonight and sold one of the bracelets he made yesterday. Business is booooooming! I'm so proud of Zach.

Roscoe, New York: The Town the 21st Century Forgot

2007-11-26T21:33:00.001-05:00

Hello! Wow... I have photographs, new ones, to show you guys. I hope you like them. These are the best of the best of the photographs from the trip Zach, me, and my family took to see my grandfather in the town my father grew up in: Roscoe, New York. The moment you walk/drive into this town, it's like you have stepped back fifty years, except for the Chevrolet car lot, the town has changed little in fifty years. It is still quiet, slow, and nice. The people are genuine, the food great, the traffic small. It is a good place to go to if you want to not be bothered by the modern world, just so long as you turn your cell phone off, though you probably won't get any signal unless you are carried by a company I can't remember right now. In the fall, before all the eaves fall, the entire area is beautiful with the brilliantly colored leaves on all the hills surrounding the area. I wish I could visit my grandfather more. He is so nice and he's all alone there right now in that big house. It's nice to see him.

We had Thanksgiving Dinner at a restaurant owned and chef-ed by one of my grandfather's students from so long ago. The guy came here from Greece knowing no English, now he owns and runs his own restaurant. He's such a great guy and came out to see us and talk to us. My grandfather was sick with a head cold and couldn't come to eat with us, but we brought him back a whole dinner so that he could still enjoy the delicious food.

We came back Thursday evening and Zach and I had dinner Friday with my mother. Then, on Saturday, we had dinner with Zach's family. Sunday night, Zach and I stopped at his grandmother's house so I could take a picture of her Christmas decorations and her kitten so I could paint her Christmas present.

Beautiful People

2007-11-19T15:31:00.000-05:00

Hello. I am sorry I haven't posted in a while, but I haven't taken many photographs in a while. I haven't had the time, what with school and all. Any way, the other night, two of my good friends, Josh and Pam, came into my room and the four of us (my roommate leading the show) had a hair dying party. I was the only one whose hair was not altered, but I helped. In the process, I snapped a few shots of Pam, she is SOOOO photogenic and beautiful (Yes Pam, you!). Josh and she are such a great couple and are so great together.

Also, Zach completed a bracelet for one of his friends and let me snap a picture before he handed it over.

These three photographs all have minor alterations to bring out the beauty... The third has a little more than a little, but I think it only accentuates the beauty of chain mail.

Making Beauty More Beautiful

2007-10-18T12:35:00.000-04:00

These are images that I have altered to increase their beauty. All the changes are minor, all that are included in the most basic of photograph-changing programs. I do this because the images can be enhanced so much by simple changes, so much more than by huge alterations.

These are two alterations of the same images, trying to see which would look better. I'm not sure myself. I like them both.

The Beauty That Comes Out Of Design

2007-10-12T12:50:00.001-04:00

For a 2-D design class I am taking, I had to take photographs of "architecture" for a photo-montage, though I didn't exactly follow the guidelines. I took photographs of all made-made objects and abstracted them with high contrast and different brightnesses, but it still isn't exactly what I needed for the assignment. But these are some of the images I took (I took over 100 photographs) and messed with a little bit. I really like the capabilities of this computer for allowing me to still have the feel of black and white 35mm photography with the ease of digital.

Crépuscule Beau

2007-10-10T15:36:00.001-04:00

Yet another beautiful sunset here at Oswego. I haven't had much time to go and take pictures, but when I do, I make the most of it.

I really like how the clouds enhance the colors in the sky. Everything looks so soft, as fragile as cotton candy.

Sunflowers in the Times Before the Hiltons

2007-09-26T08:24:00.001-04:00

Before I came to school, my mother took me to a field of sunflowers. Her friends wants me to paint a few of them in her garage and so I was collecting reference photographs. Some of them were huge!!! There was one that was over fifteen feet tall. It was nuts. What I liked about this place was that it was run by an older woman that had been living on the property for some time. There were old farm buildings and equipment. This tractor had become overgrown it has been there so long. These kinds of places warm my heart, letting my know the world isn't completely lost to the world of materialism.

Burning the Books and the Sky Afire

2007-09-25T12:39:00.001-04:00

Here are some more photographs of the evening I spent with two of my friends along the beach.

This one I took because I thought it showed how 'respectful' people are of the information captured in books, and how important that information. It reminds me of Farenheit 451 and all the destruction that novel captured. I fear those days will come true. I really hope it doesn't.

Creating Something From Not So Much

2007-09-20T13:20:00.001-04:00

Last Night, Zach and I stopped by his friend's house to deal with Chain Mail stuff. Kurt is going to be selling Zach's jewelry to people that go to the club Kurt works at. Here are some pictures of the weaves, the jewelry itself, the tools and the hands that make it. Also, there is Curt's braid in there somewhere and another necklace is trying to figure out what to do with. f you look closely, you can see some jewelry that Zach has made for Kurt on him. It was really cool, hanging out and swaping stories with a guy that hadn't had enough sleep.

A New Home

2007-09-20T13:13:00.001-04:00

One night about two weeks ago, as I was walking along the water, I ran into a couple of friend of mine and they let me take pictures of them. They have been friends for so long, and I think they're great. I will be posting more photographs later on.

A New School, A New Home

2007-08-31T14:15:00.000-04:00

This was a beautiful sunset, as they all are. I have been having some trouble with the browser, making it so that my vertical photographs are still horizontal, really frustrating. I took these pictures the first weekend I was here, and I just gave up wrrying about the others. I want to share my art. I hope you enjoy it.

A Weekend of Pictures

2007-08-06T10:42:00.000-04:00

This weekend was invigorating, and tiring. After a concert to cause permenant deafness, a semi-relaxing day of walking and four-wheeling. During the walk, I took pictures of the Salmon River Reservoir, now extremely low, and the streams that run into it. The place looks like something left behind after

Harborfest Anniversary

2007-07-30T13:50:00.000-04:00

This weekend was the two year anniversary of my symbiont, Zach, and I: Harborfest. During the weekend, I took pictures of all sorts of things, though mainly flowers near my house and kittens at a farm we went to before we even really headed to Harborfest and the fireworks that followed. It was a great weekend over-all and I can't complain.

Last weekend, we went to the Renaisance festival in Sterling. We saw the glassblower and talked to him about our past, and failed, attempts to do anything with glass. We aslo taked to a seamstress where Zach bought a cloak, very stylish and slightly demonic-looking, but that's fine. I got a snazzy red cap with a really soft feather. Nice. I never shared those pictures with you, so I will do so now as well.

At the moment, I am printing out some of the picture to paint in watercolors, though I haven't had much success scanning my paintings. They never do the magic of the colors justice. But until I finish the paintings, you can look at these pictures instead...

Down By The River

2007-07-26T13:19:00.000-04:00

Here are some more photographs that I took yesterday at the river near where I live. It is so peaceful and beautiful there. No one would know it was there unless they had been there. I kind of wish I could live in the house on the property, but the taxes alone would be far more than I could afford, probably ever, in my life. They couple that lives there say they will be selling it in a few years, when the two of them retire. It's too bad. I hope the next owners won't mind me going down there with the four-wheeler or my bike to take pictures, to read, to write, and to think.

At the moment, my 'someday' house is a log cabin kit with two bedrooms in the woods, and an art shed near by. A small, yet cosy home for at least two, if not more. But that is still a few years in the making. I have my reachable goal, and that is what I am going for right now. If I do end up being able to look a little more ahead, then I will. But for now, my dreams are modest.

Yay!!! New Camera!

2007-07-25T17:56:00.000-04:00

On Saterday, I finally got the new camera I wanted. It is a Nikon D50, digital camera with optional full manual controls!! It is great having such a good camera, and I have to thank Jen McNulty for it. She and her fiance Patrick have a photography business and this was her first real camera. I think they got it originally for over a grand, but I got it for 350. She says she's really glad someone she knows is getting it (they were going to put it on ebay is no one around them was interested). She wanted to be sure that it was going to be used and enjoyed, not left sitting around, collecting dust. Well.. I have put this thing to quite a bit of use. These are just a few of the many pictures I have already taken with it. The battery is charging right now (I think it might me done) and I haven't downloaded the most recent pictures to the computer, but check them out.

Salmon River Walk

2007-07-19T13:28:00.000-04:00

A few weeks ago, I went up to the Salmon River Reservoir, taking my camera and actually taking pictures, the first time doing so in a long time. These are just a few of my favorites. These were on a walk in the early morning. It was a good way to wake up after spending the night on the couch.

I took so many pictures that day, I shouldn't have turned my camera off. The night before, there was the most beautiful moon-rise, but my camera was being quirkie and didn't want to work, let alone adjust to the low light and do what it was supposed it.

I will be getting a new camera soon anyway. Hopefully, it will not be quite as annoying and my pictures will be of what I want them to be of. Maybe I am exacting when it comes to my work, but I want it to be a true expression of what i see and how I feel, not something that is only a vague representation. I want the beauty I see to be the beauty seen by others.

The Path Often Forgotten
The Labels Are Gone
"I Refuse To Die..."

Only One Way To Go

Reaching For the Sky

The Beginning

2007-07-18T11:31:00.000-04:00

Hello, my name is Marissa Hill. I am an Art student and will be going to SUNY Oswego in the fall. I am 18 years old and I want to be an art teacher. Some people I have talked to, teachers mainly, have told me that the openings for art teachers are closing because the state does not see art as anything more as a side note compared to the massive number of classes the students have to take, especially those who passed the class but not the regents. I believe there will always be a place for art teachers, no matter where. I will be able to find a place for myself.

In the mean time, I am painting, drawing, and writing. I am working on anthologies of my poetry to sell at a craft show along with some hemp jewelry of mine. I plan to get a copyright on the collection and self publish off of my computer and give the copies to the bookstore at campus as well as the one in town. If people like them, it will be a steady income that I control of something that I created.

I am also a photographer, though, as with all my art, I go in spells of interest or drive and right now, for nearly everything, I am at a low point. But I know I will be back up in a little while. I will be posting photographs I have taken on here as a display case for some of my work, though I have a variety of art on my gallery in DeviantArt.com (see link at right).

Anyway, thank you for visiting. I don't know how often I will be posting, but hopefully often enough that I don't disappear from here completely.