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$