My Winter Adventure

Well, for those of you who haven't been following my Facebook status updates, you're in for a real treat with this post.

It all began on Dec. 20 around 12:30 pm. I was packed and pretty much ready to go. I'd had breakfast with my roommates at this sketchy little joint around the corner on Georgia Ave. I got a phone call, an automated one, from United Airlines saying that my flight from Chicago to Portland had been cancelled. All week I was anticipating something like this because of "Snowpacolypse" in Portland. So, I get on the horn with United and tell them, I have to get home! Finally, after about an hour and a half of begging and pleading and anger, they tell me that I'm on an Alaska flight from DC to Seattle. I'll be arriving a little later than I was supposed to in Portland, that I wouldn't be able to fly to Portland because of the weather. That was fine. I was going to bus, train or drive it down. So, I'm on a 6 pm flight to Seattle.

We're en route. The flight's a little bumpy, but for the most part we're doin well. We're makin good time. About 5 hours and 45 minutes in we start flying circles over SeaTac. We're in a holding pattern, the captain tells us. "Looks like they're de-icing the runway. We've got winds at 25 knots. A little faster than I'd like them to be with ice on the runway. We're going to be in a holding pattern for another 5-10 minutes. If they don't deice the runway in time, we're going to run out of fuel and have to fly back to Spokane to refuel." I start thinking... I knew this would happen. It was supposed to be really windy in Seattle, I knew we'd get stuck in a podunk eastern Washington or Idahoan town.

So, we land in Spokane close to 930 pm. We sit on the runway for TWO hours waiting for some planes to take off so we can park at a gate. At this point I'm realizing, we're not going to refuel. We're going to park and deplane and get stuck. This sucks. So, we park, we deplane. (The photo above is my plane... not flying.) We find out SeaTac control says no more flights in or out because the weather is getting really bad. Blizzard style. Looks like we're sleeping in Terminal C of the Spokane Airport. Mind you, it's already 1130 pm and everything inside is closed, all the agents have gone home along with the TSA guys. We're hungry, we're tired, we're cranky. There are 5 jumbo jets at the Spokane Airport, at the same terminal, that aren't supposed to be there. This airport is entirely unequipped to handle this many people. Snow it can do, people it cannot. So, at about midnight, they announce over the PA that someone has run to Wal-Mart to grab some snacks. They bring us back bottles of Dasani water and special edition Chewy Granola Bars that read "Snowy Day" on the package. The irony is ridiculous. 

In the meantime, we're asked to hang out, find a place to nap. They'll get us blankets and cots (which never showed up) and to wait til Alaska/Horizon decides what it wants to do. Agents were supposed to be arriving at 315 am on Sunday morning to start help rebook people on flights home. 

So at 3 am I go to the counter and ask, should I go to the front and wait? And they tell me, no no, we don't know the schedule yet, it's colder out there. Just hang out in the terminal for a while. So, I go back to watching my Netflix movie, which I thankfully brought with me. 

At 4 am they announce over the PA for everyone to go get their luggage from baggage claim and get in line for new tickets. Before I know it, I'm in a mile-long line and waiting and waiting... and waiting. This is the kind of line you wait in for so long that you end up making friends with the people around you. Which is exactly what happened. I was standing in line with an Italian from California, a mother and her two children from MD, a college student from Seattle and a fitness manager from California. We all exchanged pleasantries and enjoyed coffee together while standing in this miserable line. My genius self decide that while waiting in line, I'd get on the horn with Alaska and see if anything could be done faster that way. I get through, they tell me the wait is 30 minutes. Ok, I can hold out for that. 30 minutes passes... still on hold. 45 minutes passes... still on hold. I can't hang up just out of principal at this point. An hour and 45 minutes passes before anyone answers!! And, the answer I get is, well continue waiting in line. The best thing to do is talk to someone at the counter. Thanks lady, I was already doing that. So, I finally reach the counter at 915 in the morning. Yes, that's right folks. I was in line for FIVE hours!

Well, I finally get a new boarding pass. To Seattle at 1030 am. Ok, awesome. I'm finally gonna get somewhere to where I can drive home. Just kidding folks! Flight is delayed. We finally get on the plane at about 1115 am. Turns out the guy sitting next to me is the fitness manager I waited in line forever with. So, at least I had a friend. We get on the plane, we get ready to go. We have to deice. Cool. We're deiced. Just kidding. A piece of ice slid off the top of the plane and got stuck in the electrical system and broke it. We're pulling up to the gate to have them fix this quickly. Cool. We've got the electrical system fixed folks. But Seattle control tower says no one is allowed to come in or go out. We're deplaning. At this point I'd been awake for nearly 30 hours. I was not functioning properly whatsoever and fitness manager guy was getting quite a kick out of me.

We deplane. We're told our flight isn't cancelled, it's just on hold and that we'll know more at 2 pm. Ok, time to get food. Go to the sports bar with fitness manager guy. Proceed to eat and hope to get drunk. 2 pm... folks, we're informing you that we'll have more information soon. Ok. Cool. 3 pm... flight to Seattle, cancelled. Seattle has run out of deicer for the planes so no planes can take off leaving no empty gates for planes to land. So Seattle is done for on this lovely Sunday afternoon in Spokane. Somewhere in the meantime, I'd been on the phone with my Dad and he'd found me a flight from Spokane to Portland at 330 pm. It of course had also ben delayed. But, I had a second option. The problem was, I had to go back out through security to get my back from baggage claim and recheck it. This is the third time I've had to do this and the third security check I had to go through with my laptop and camera bag in hand. (Oh, and did I mention that I was randomly selected for the extra search?? How fun.)

So, now I'm waiting in the lower part of Terminal C. I hear that the flights before and after mine to Portland have been cancelled. I'm holding out hope. Maybe I will get to take off! My plane is delayed to take off at 550 pm. It's about 435 pm. I'm thinkin, they haven't cancelled it yet, how can they now? Oh no folks, they did. "Weather's lookin pretty bad in Portland. Sorry folks, your flight's been cancelled too." NOOOOOO! So yes, that's right. I was stuck in Spokane for another night. Luckily, fitness manager guy had told me about the Holiday Inn nearby where our 5 hour line group was planning on staying that night. So, I was off to the Holiday Inn.

We all meet up. Now I'm in a room with fitness manager guy, a thinktank guy from DC and two college girls from Seattle. One of the girls' dad was driving from Seattle to Spokane that night to come get her. He had 3 extra seats in the car. Everyone in the room, except me, was heading to Seattle that night. Lucky them. Well, I'd bought myself a Greyhound ticket to go back on Monday morning. I-84 had been closed at this point so driving wasn't an option. I bid my farewell to my single-serving friends and head up to my room. 36 hours had passed, I was ready for some sleep.

I wake up Monday morning. Order myself a leisurely room service breakfast. My phone stops working. What the hell! I get on the phone with Verizon. Technical support troubleshoots for about 20 minutes. Finally, it's working. In the meantime, I'm writing emails to my mother and talking to Dianne who has to call my mother to explain what's going on. Also, my friend Sean shows up on gChat. I tell him, hey, you might have to come get me. He says, what's up. He finds out for me that my Greyhound bus was also cancelled. Great. I'm in hell. The next flight out of Spokane to Portland isn't until Thursday. I can't stay here for a week!! Sean, being the hero that he is, realizes his friend Whitney is landing in Spokane today and that her father is picking her up to drive her to Missoula. He gets me on a ride with them. My two new heros: Whitney and her father. 

So here I am. In Missoula since Monday. I'll be here til Friday until Sean and Ashley and I drive to Portland together. Weather permitting of course. But, so far it's lookin good. And now, by a fluke, I'm in Missoula with friends I haven't seen in over a year and I'm having a pretty damn good time.

One Month to Go

I suppose it's about time that I update my blog once again. I'm hoping that anyone and everyone reading this, recently celebrated Thanksgiving. Whether it was the traditional way or not. I happen to like my turkey with a slice of apple pie (as seen above). Unfortunately there is no evidence of my beautiful bird as it was carved and sliced up before I could get the camera to it.

We celebrated Thanksgiving this year at my new place where I live with a little band called, DeVille. We had quite a few people over.. I believe the final head count was 14. I did most of the cooking myself with a little help from Trevor. Cooking for a lot of people is exhausting, let me tell you. But, it was fun, nontheless. I was happy that people enjoyed the food and (seemingly) had a good time. It was nice to host a gathering with good people and family. I'd say, all in all, it was good stuff.

I've been living in the new place for about a month now. We're still trying to get settled. Looking for a couch... a dining table.. you know, the fixins. If you know if any deals, we're open to hearing them.

Moving on. So there's only one month of 2008 left. What does that mean? I have no idea. It just means that we're one month away from 2009. One month and 20 days away from a new president.  And, one month away from... well... something.

It's About Damn Time

I was going to write about my trip to Portland last week, but I feel that this is much more important than that. That can wait. So, without further ado, I'd like to say, "Thank you America," for electing a new president who will do good for our country. 

I spent election night with a former professor of mine at a bar in Adams Morgan, called Angles. I figured there would be a few people there, sitting quietly at their tables, having dinner and drinking beer, but no. I walked in to an absolute madhouse. The bar was jam-packed with people. The stairs were lined with smokers. Both flat-screen TVs were blaring CNN (HD, mind you) and everytime Wolf Blitzer announced a state had gone blue, the entire bar went into an uproar. If he announced a state had gone red, boos filled the bar. I have to say, there's nothing like being in your nation's capitol when such a huge election is taking place. The whole night I was wondering to myself whether people were going to run down to the White House and try to throw Bush out onto the South lawn. Well, only a little to my surprise, the next day I read an article on Yahoo! about an impromptu parade lead by police escort down Pennsylvania Ave., rounded out with a drum circle! I'm so sad I missed this! I instead, drove my tired ass home to make it to my couch on time to hear Obama's acceptance speech.

We're in for a bumpy ride with a new president, who in my personal opinion, will take these challenges in stride and I beleive he will succeed. Like he said, maybe not in one year or even in one term, but he will put us on track to getting to where we needed to be eight years ago.

Two weeks down, 50 to go.

Today is the second Friday of my first two weeks at the Fort Myer Pentagram. The boss is out of the office so I can do some of my own writing now. The above photo was my attempt to go feature hunting in the area (notice the spots... the camera's at this place are all filthy and need a desperate sensor cleaning.) I did end up finding a feature that day, a woman shopping for pumpkins, but the boss decided the woman didn't look friendly enough, so instead we ran a feature of the pumpkins on the ground in the parking lot. I guess that's more journalistic than humans? Whatevs.

I guess it's going ok. I'm still trying to find my footing. I'm designing a little, shooting a little more and copy-editing more than anything else. I guess they don't realize I'm not a copy editor! But I hold my own. I find plenty of mistakes. I guess this isn't the dream job I was hoping for, but it's a foot in the door, right? Hence the 50 weeks to go. Apparently when you work for a Washington Post owned publication, if you old out for a year, you get preferrential hiring within the company. So, hopefully, in 50 weeks, someone will have quit or retired or whatever from the Post's photo department and I'll find myself a job!! Here's to hoping.

In the meantime, I hope everyone is getting ready for the election. Do your research and make the right decision!!

Growing Up Sucks

The past couple of weeks have been absolutely nuts. Or, at least, that's how it's seemed to me. I signed up with a temp agency putting the dog-walking thing on hold. Never was offered any work. My car went in and out of the shop 3 times for mechanical issues and then got rear-ended last week. (The accident wasn't a bad one though. Phew!) The mechanical issues are 1/3 fixed, so just a few more things to go. Then, I get offered a job at the newspaper out here and decide to take it, only to get a phone call from another newspaper out in Wyoming saying they want to talk to me about the staff photo job. I'm supposed to start my job in DC tomorrow. Well, I mean, I am starting tomorrow. It's a lot of stress. And, on top of that, the parental unit was in town for a little while. But, it was nice to see them.

Now I'm trying to prepare for my new job and make it work for me. Hopefully it turns out better than I'm expecting it to. 

Moving on. I'm jumping on the bandwagon and will be one of many women out there on Halloween night dressed up like Sarah Palin. I'm on the hunt for a red suit jacket and a nice skirt. That and rimless, prescriptionless glasses. And, I need to figure out how she gets that damn bump in her hair at the back of her head. I also need to find a McCain for the evening. I think it'll go over well in Portland. People should get a good laugh out of it... But, I've got lots of time to think about that.

Life as a Dog

Can you imagine the world being your own personal toilet? I suppose it's not that personal when everyone else pisses on it too. Yes, folks, that's right. I've been dog walking again. The little puppy you see above, no, not one of the dogs I walk, but it is the pup of the dog I do walk. There are 3 more where it came from. It is cute, I'll admit. So, since the journalism/newspaper industry doesn't seem to want me right now, I'll go straight to the people (or mammals) that do, the dogs! Next week I pick up my regular clients for however long I don't have a real job, so I'm guessing a few months.

I'm walking this one dog, I believe it's a puppy, that is SO defiant! I just don't know what to do! She chews on my toes, scratches at me and when I walk one way, she tries to pull the other. Now, who's the boss here? I suppose this is all good training for me when I finally do get a dog of my own. I'm learning which types of dogs I do and do not like. Do: boxers, shepherd/collie mixes... I think that list stops there. Don't: Min pins, beagles, labs... the list goes on. (Now, it's not that I don't like min pins, it's just... they're REALLY small. Sweet yes, but way too small to wrestle with.)

There's my little update for the week. I've applied to 8 (real) jobs (7 newspaper) and so far I've gotten 3 rejections and haven't heard from the rest (Even with follow-ups!). I'll continue my search for the dream job, and in the mean time, I'll work on my tan, get paid to work out and get some puppy love in between.

A Quick Advertisement

My sister has a business, NadiaDaniel.com (as advertised above), which sells scarves, handbags and jewelry. Ever since her PC died back in like April, she has been unable to update her Web site, but, the products still exist and are still available for purchase. This is my way of helping her advertise her business. I photographed the handbags for the ad above and I have to say, these bags are really fun and colorful. They're silk with wooden handles and they're just roomy enough to fit your necessities and 5 of the 6 are small enough to take out on a Friday night. So if you're feeling like you need to spruce up your accessories wardrobe, you should check out her site.

Thanks!! More regular posts to come after the long weekend. Enjoy!

It's That Time Again

The internship is over. I shot the Gypsy Kings two Friday's ago to round out my summer. But, lucky for me, Wolf Trap is hiring me on to shoot four more shows before their summer season comes to a close, so Chris Isaak, here I come tomorrow night! Oh, and I got published again, though the review for the show wasn't so pretty...

So, now what? Now, I start looking for a real job. The quest begins all over again. I have found 5 job openings, basically for the same position, in various cities around the country. Today I applied for 4 of them. Though, one is a position to be a university photographer at Tufts. We'll see. Hopefully some more positions open up over the next few weeks. Until then, it's photographing plants time for me.

I just got back from a nice little vacation to Boston on Monday night. See picture above. It was nice to see my friend Julie. She came here to visit back in May, so it was a good way to bring the summer to an almost end. I watched more volleyball than I ever thought I would. And that includes the Olympics, too. Back to Boston.. In case you ever go, check out Mike's Pizza in Davis Square (make sure to get Sicilian style), Mike's Pastry in the North End (crazy good gelato), and Haymarket for some nice fresh produce. Other than that, Boston is like your typical east coast city. OLD. I suppose you could check out the Freedom Trail too if you're into Paul Revere and that sort of thing.

Ugh, I love the Olympics. That Usain Bolt is one crazy kid. I really want to know how quickly he could've finished that 100 meter dash, had he not given up 15 meters out to soak up all the glory. Someday I'll get to go to the Olympics as a photographer. That'll be damn sweet. Speaking of the Olympics, I gotta catch up on the stuff I DVR'd while I was gone. Peace!

Freaking Out... A Little

First thing's first. I got published in the Post, yet again. I'm starting to feel silly about being so excited every time i get published, but come on! It's a big deal!! It'll always be exciting. Even if I get a staff position there someday in life, I think it'll still be freaking awesome every time!

Next. My internship ends in about two weeks. What does that mean? It means I seriously have to find a job! I'm like back at square one and I really don't like it. I have my job with Finding Species but the contract ends at the end of August, so in the event they don't extend it, I'll be walking dogs full-time... if that's even an option! I have an interview tomorrow. We'll see how it goes. I'm not trying to jinx myself here.

Moving on. I'm going to see Not The Messiah! tonight at Wolf Trap. Apparently it's like a dialogue with the NSO in the background. Not really sure. I've been conned into going by all the other interns. It's not enough that I'm here every other night of the week! But that's ok. It should be a good time, especially since the weather seems to have stopped freaking out for a bit.

Back in the Game

Last Saturday I shot my first freelance assignment for the Times Community papers of Northern Virginia. I covered a district little league championship game. Let me tell you something. I was SO rusty. I was out on the field, shooting the game. Trying to keep up with the action (I mean, it's not like it's fast, they're 11 years old), yet I still felt like I wasn't getting anything good. Lucky for me, I surprisingly caught the play of the game (not the photo above), and that's what ended up running. And, I got a phone call from the mother of the boy in the photo telling me the photo was "phenomenal" and that she wanted a copy. So, needless to say, I felt flattered.

Now I realize it's been almost a year since I did anything with any kind of journalistic edge and I miss it! I totally miss being out there, talking to people. Running after people trying to figure out who I need to talk to and where I need to be. It's becoming more and more evident to me that I need to get a job, and ASAP! If I stay in D.C. any longer, it might never happen, oddly enough. You would think that the nation's capital would need lots of coverage and what not, but apparently everyone's got a handle on it. I suppose that means I'll be leaving D.C. to find work elsewhere, though I make no promises.

On a side note, I got published in the Post again. I think I'm 3 for 5 now. 60%, not bad. And I met the former editor of National Geographic magazine today. That was a pretty cool moment I must say. Oh, and, I got to shoot Earth, Wind & Fire in their dressing room last night, though I'm not at liberty to make those photos public.

Just a Quickie

Happy 4th to everyone!!

On this glorious day, I found out, I got published in the Post again! This makes 2. Hopefully in the remaining weeks of my internship, I'll continue to have more opportunities. In the mean time, I'll continue trying my hardest and sending out photos wherever they are needed.

A side note to those of you in the DC area: I hear there are supposed to be close to 750,000 people on the Mall tonight to watch the fireworks. I also hear that the other side of the river in Rosslyn is usually less crowded.

Field Trips Aren't Just for Kids Anymore

Many of you know, I'm doing an internship program again this summer out here in the D.C. area. What many of you may not know, is that included in this internship program, are intern events, such as: field trips. So far, we've gone on two, and we're going on a third one this week. The first, was the to the Kennedy Center. The Kennedy Center is a performing arts venue with 6 different stages. What you might not know about it though, is, that it's also an art museum! I bet you would've never guessed. Also, the building was a tribute to the late President, and as American as he was, the building barely is. Almost everything in that venue was a gift from another country. Now, many of you might think, well that's very generous of all these countries to recognize one of our greatest (questionable...) presidents, but I on the other hand find it a little ironic that an American tribute to an American president doesn't contain many American materials. Next: We went to the Strathmore this week. This was a cool venue, though it is mainly devoted to classical music and music (for the most part) alone. Beautiful place, I recommend seeing a show there (though I have yet to do so myself). Apparently it has world-class acoustics. In any case, what I'm finding after having been to these two venues, is that, I really don't care about the place. I just want to see a good show in a comfortable place, whether that be on the lawn of some outdoor amphitheater or a box seat at the Met. I'm more into the entertainment than what goes into it, and maybe that's a bad thing, but hey, let me enjoy my fun! So, next time you're signing up for an internship, find out if you too get to go on field trips!

The Newseum: It's About News

Lucky me, my friend Danny came to town last weekend for a brief, yet enjoyable, visit. So, being the nerdy journalists we are, we invited Ethan down to the Newseum to check out what the fuss was all about. For those of you that have never been to DC before, let me tell you something: all the museums (with the exception of like 3 or 4, so mainly all the Smithsonian's...) are FREE. The Newseum, is not. Once again, lucky for me, Danny using his big brains, got us two free tickets. Where am I going with all this? Let me tell you. The Newseum typically costs $20 to get in. For an adult. It's 6 floors of pure journalism goodness, including a new exhibit on G-Men and Journalists featuring Ted Kazcynski's cabin and the DC Sniper's car. Well, those 6 floors took us about... maybe 4 hours to get through, which included an 8-minute orientation and a 4-D movie (water and wind included). But, unlike a FREE Smithsonian, I wasn't totally wiped out and dying from exhaustion when we finished. Let me tell you why: There's practically nothing inside that 6 story building. Yes there's lots of history and information about news and journalism, but it's not jam packed the way I expected it to be. So, needless to say, I was a little disappointed. But, to end on a good note, I'd still recommend for any journalism-geeks out there, to go check it out. I mean, there is a huge room with all of the Pulitzer Prize winning photographs dating back to 1945 in it. (For me that was probably the most exciting aspect of the whole place.) So go get educated and journalism-afy yourself.

Update: Didn't Get Published

So, I did get published, in the Washington Informer. But, this time no Post and no Eagle News. Here's why: Our communications department, where I'm interning, has trouble communicating. Funny, eh? Yes... not really. Since I spent a lot of time editing those photos and sending them to the proper places. On top of that, the people at the Post never even received the photos for whatever reason. Anyway, that's my lowly little update. And for that, I'm letting you see one of my favorite photos from the Anita Baker concert.

Got Published Again!

A quick post that I'll update in the next few days when I get the other two links to where I've been published, but, here's one. I shot Anita Baker Friday night for the Washington Post, the Washington Informer and the Eagle News. The ladder two I hadn't heard of until Friday night. But, hey, that's ok. Like they say in the celebrity world, any exposure is good exposure. More to come soon.

Tooting My Own Horn

So, here's the photo they ran in the Post today. Not gonna lie... It's pretty awesome to know that they decided to run one of my photos. I mean, I knew it was coming. It was mentioned to me when I signed up for my internship at Wolf Trap that occasionally the (Washington) Post would be sending reporters to review the shows and that naturally they'd be asking for photos. So, this photo is from the 19th Annual Louisiana Swamp Romp, which happened on probably THE hottest Sunday known to man. I think they said temperatures reached like 102º on the heat index (sun and humidity combined). Needless to say, shooting conditions were miserable and by the time this act had gone on stage, I'd been wanting to go home for like two hours. But, nonetheless, I got a shot (albeit not the greatest one, but the one that told the story) and I went home. So, now I'm published in the Washington Post and it'll happen again sometime this summer (I hope) and when it does, I'll be posting those links here too.

Thanks for all the kind words from everyone who I already told this too. Now hopefully Michel DuCille will take notice and offer me a job!

Humidity: It's Like Liquid Air

So, this is what my hair looked like today by the time I got home from work. No joke. Let me tell you folks something. You don't know humidity until you've lived on a swamp on the east coast in the middle of summer. Today it was 86º and like 150% humidity. This is not the greatest weather to have to run around in taking photos. To put it simply, it's also not good weather to wear jeans while running around taking photos. My jeans were completely stuck to me in places I didn't know even existed. My elbows were sweating! No... my ICE CREAM! was sweating!! Is that even possible? Yes. That's how humid it was. And, tomorrow is only going to be worse because it's supposed to be 97º. Hopefully Sunday, the sun will come out, burn off all the clouds, and just be hot. Ugh. It's days like today that make me really miss Montana. I'll take dry, cracking, bleeding knuckles in the winter to not have my jeans stick to me in the summer. Even Ptown isn't this bad. It's only humid when it hits like 110º and that rarely ever happens. I hear they still have rain. Sorry guys. In any case, humidity sucks. That's my story and I'm stickin to it.

Holy Thunder, Batman!

Let me tell you folks something, the weather out here on the East Coast is absolutely ridiculous. So, I'm at my internship today, and I'm checkin my email, you know, doin non-work things, then my mentor shows up for our meeting (he's a National Geographic photographer, no biggie...), we're sitting in the atrium, having a chat. I'm learning about all the cool stuff he's done over his 40 year career, then... BOOOOOM!!!! The rain comes pouring down so hard on the glass roof to the atrium. The wind has the trees going absolutely nuts outside. So, it gets louder and louder, and I can barely hear the guy. Then, we're all ushered downstairs into the auditorium where there are no windows to blow open and cut us all up. Ten minutes later, we're free to go upstairs and we continue our chat. In any case, on the drive home, I'm driving, driving, then, around the bend, a fallen tree in my lane. Do the cars in the oncoming lane even think to slow down to let us pass? No, of course not. This is after all the East Coast. Anyway, finally the other lane slows down to a stop and I ask the lady in the car next to mine, "What's up with the tree?" and her response is, "It goes around the bend to the curb. You're just going to have to push your way in. Good luck!" I'm thinkin, you could at least wave to the people behind you to get them to stop. Well, some nice lady finally does. I get through to the other side, then I try calling 911 to report the fallen tree. They direct me to some other phone number, which I dial, and it just rings, and rings, and rings. So, no reporting of the fallen tree. But as I drive on, a police officer comes roaring toward me in my lane, so I'm guessing he saw the tree. In any case, here's an interesting thing about crazy East Coast drivers. They don't treat down traffic lights as 4-way stops. They just plow right through them without thinking about the possibility that there might be a car trying to turn that they could T-bone. So, to make a long story about weather and East Coast drivers short, my drive home felt like I was driving on an obstacle course.

The end. Thank you for listening! Catch you all next time ...

Work... Everyone's Gotta Do It

So, it's been a while since I last posted. Here's the basic update. I have 3 jobs. Yes, that's right. Three jobs. First job: I'm the photo intern at Wolf Trap. I'm responsible for shooting the shows and other events that happen at the park. Here's a recent photo from the Ben Folds concert I shot last week. The summer is shaping up to have some interesting shows to shoot. A photo story may be in order soon too, so look out for that. I'll post updates as they happen.

Second job: The dog walkin biz... It's going a little slow so I haven't walked any dogs in like three weeks, but here's a picture of one of the few that I thought was sweet.

It's starting to pick up, right as I find my replacement job for it.

Job three: Finding Species. It's an NGO that has hired me as a photographer to take some seriously detailed photos of plants in their studio. So, needless to say, I'll be learning a lot about plants soon. So, that's the update on my work situation...

In between, what have I been doing. Let's see... I went to an open mic night where my sister's friend and her singing partner performed a few songs. I decided to take the opportunity to take a few photos. It was pretty cool to see a friend perform in a small venue like Tiffany's Tavern in Old Town. Pretty sweet spot. Oh, I did another photo assist, meanwhile working on my tan since it was all outdoor work. That was good... And yesterday, spent 7 hours shopping with my sister, though, only came home with four items (and spending less than $60!). Last but not least... Today. Today was the celebration of Israel's 60th Birthday on the National Mall. Lucky me got to see Mandy Patinkin sing and talk and then, a live free concert by the always lovely, Regina Spektor. (I didn't feel like carrying around the huge lens in the awful heat, so this is the best you get to see.) She definitely screwed up a few times and forgot the words to one of her songs, but all in all, it was enjoyable and I'd go see her again, even if I had to pay. So, for the first time in a while, it was a pretty busy weekend. And now, I have to go back to work in the morning, first to shoot plants, then to research my photo story. Speaking of... if anyone out there is willing to help, does anyone know of a photo story that has been done on an opera company? I'm looking for more ideas on how to do this story.

Ok. That's all for now. Signing out. E$

Domke, What?

Hello folks. Today is a good day. You want to know why today is a good day? Let me tell you. My new camera bag arrived. Yes, my day is better because of my new camera bag. But, let me explain. It's not just about the bag. It's like the opening of a new chapter. My old bag got me through the two years of the j-school photo program. It got a serious, serious beating, as you can tell by the duct tape that's holding it together. So, I decided to start my third internship off on the right foot. I treated myself to a new, improved camera bag. It's a Domke. Supposedly it's what the pro's use. And, it's kinda cute. I'm not gonna lie. I could've bought the plain tan bag with free shipping, but, I opted for the cute chocolate/cream trim bag. So, in two weeks, when my internship at Wolf Trap starts, I'll walk in with my stylish camera bag and gear and be ready to kick some photography butt. Shoot those concerts like they've never been shot. And you folks out there, can look forward to seeing the photos.

On another note, my first dog walking job is this Sunday. I'll keep you posted on how it goes.

D.C.: So much to do, so much time

I've taken up a dog-walking position with a company here called "FurGet Me Not". Unfortunately, they don't have very many clients in my neighborhood as of yet, so I just sit at home searching for photo jobs on the Internet.

There's a lot to do here in D.C., unfortunately, I have no one to go do it with. I could go wander the streets of downtown by myself and see what kind of trouble I stumble into, but, it's always more exciting when someone is there with you to witness the event. So, in the event that my dog walking position starts sometime soon, I think I'll bring my camera along for the, walk. Maybe I'll document D.C. from the dog's perspective. After all, they're the ones close to the ground, where at night rats scurry and bugs crawl.

With that said, here's a photo I took the first week I was here in town. I kinda like it, though I did take it while driving home from the airport. It pays to have a working sunroof.

Bored on a Sunday Night

So, dinking around on my computer, I discovered I had created an iMovie that was like 10 minutes long and desperately needed some editing. So, instead, I made a new one. Here it is.

Enjoy!