(Kind of) Neat

Click to see full version.

Aftermath

David Vasquez, Brian Gatimu, Kevin Dixon, Nate McCormick, and John Rathjen watch a recording of McCormick sinking a shot on Dixon’s Blackberry phone. McCormick made the shot after wagering his virginity to Vasquez.

Annex Update

Work continues on the Antioch Annex. A meeting between the higher-ups proposed cutting back from three to two workers in the coming weeks due to budget shortfalls. For now Ben, Andrew, and Adam continue working on various projects to make the house liveable by fall. I stopped by three different times today to check it out and take some photos. For the earlier portion of the project I shot mostly on a Nikon D70. The last two sessions I used the Nikon D300. The difference in colour alone is pretty amazing. Also, it is usually crazy dark inside the house and the D300 handles better at high ISOs. I’ve also been working the flash, which I usually try to avoid (see the second photo.)

Andrew and Adam remove staples from the entrance stairway. The stairs will be covered with a wood finish.
Ben scrubs months-old debris from a toilet in the second floor bathroom. The only restroom in the house has three toilets, three showerheads, and two urinals. The house will eventually support forty members.

Corvallis Pride Parade

I shot Corvallis’s first Pride Parade last week. We’ve been struggling with passwords and online publishing, but you can finally see some work here. This is an outtake from after the parade. I didn’t really think much of it when I shot it, but the posture, flag, and expression make for an interesting frame.

Impact

Brock Gates of the Moses Lake Pirates makes contact with the ball Sunday against the Corvallis Knights. The Knights beat the Pirates to maintain a 13 home game winning streak.

And then…

…sometimes things don’t work out. A friend’s band was playing at a coffee shop, so I tried to take some photos. ISO 2500, f/2.8, 1/20. Nothing is sharp. Venue is difficult. Photography is frustrating. This is life.

Corvallis Band Pine Language played at the 2nd Street Beanery Saturday night. The band plans to record new tracks over the next few days and has another show July 2nd at Cloud 9.

Fuck Yes.

I’ve felt that lately everything I’ve been doing—every photo I’ve taken—is really mediocre. (I can definitely identify with this.) Hopefully this is the beginning of a turn-around.
Click to see a larger version. Tack sharp, bitches.

Fireworks.

These seem to be popping up everywhere.

Annex Update

Workers put on hearing protection buds early Thursday morning in the boiler room of the Annex.
Adam Harney removes asbestos insulation from a water boiler. The boiler will be removed to make room for two new water heaters.

Summer Surprise

A bag of locally grown strawberries I just picked with my dad. The sun wasn’t out much during the season, so the berries are smaller than usual.

(Old) Art Project

Stuff animals make for excellent subjects.

Rest

A woman sleeps beside a University of Oregon building underneath the Burnside Bridge in Portland.

David’s Wedding

These photos match a furious episode of text tweets at a friend’s wedding. Read them here—you may have to scroll down a bit. (These aren’t the best images, I know. Whatever. It’s a friend’s wedding. Live a little.)

They kiss!
David and Sarah Haley greet guests at their wedding reception.

Fellow tweeter Powersurf poses while David thinks about things.

P.S. Any information leading to a contact and/or telephone number of the assistant wedding photographer will be rewarded.

Studio Space

Artist and designer Russel Borne recently purchased some studio space in Northwest Portland.

Recent Images.

A man sleeps on his possessions in Portland’s Chinatown.
The Portland public MAX-line is free within the downtown area.
Rachel LaChasse flips through a magazine at Powell’s extension bookstore in Portland.

Field Work, Indeed

I am in Portland, and I am stuck.

On Sunday, lured with crepes and (excellently) seasoned potatoes, I met a friend of a friend in Corvallis. Beers on the river, bacon-stuffed calzone. On a whim I caught a ride back up to Portland.

The last few days have been, well, weird.

I edited these on a friend's 192MB RAM IBM Thinkpad running Adobe Photoshop 6 (which takes a full minute to launch.) It is slow. This is field work, indeed. So if the photos look strange and the colour is off, whatever.

An honest moment from my pretty copilot.
Inquisitive pigeons, Pioneer Square
Ouch! Some Honda left on 82nd St.


P.S. Call or email if you are returning to Corvallis from Portland in the next few days. I need a ride!

Antioch House Annex

This is the beginning of an ongoing project. More words on this and recent thoughts soon to come (its been a long day.) For now, let the photos tell the story (click to see full size.)
Antioch House, a Christian organization at Oregon State University, recently bought an old fraternity located on NW Monroe Ave. and NW 13th St. The house was constructed in the 1920s and used as a barracks during WWII. Members spent Friday gutting the house and cleaning the yard.
Josh Baretich and Andrew Hartenstein sweep up debris in the dining room. The fraternity was abandoned two years ago and has been occupied by homeless persons ever since.
Members observe tar damage to the floor in the basement. Antioch plans to make the house livable by the end of September, which will require numerous replacements and renovations.
Antioch House founder Nate Borne, center, plans future renovations while observing the work day.
Tyson Butler, acting house father, holds a biohazard box. Drug addicts lived in the basement, leaving behind lighters and dirty needles.Tyson Butler throws old plywood fraternity letters into a dumpster. The 13th St. house will transition into the new Antioch over the next few years.
The clean-up crew filled a large dumpster twice with old furniture, carpet, and the like from inside the house.
Josh Baretich and Andrew Soltis pull an uprooted tree from the front yard. Plans include raised beds for gardening and new trees and shrubbery.
Josh Baretich checks his foot after a rusty nail punctured his shoe. Baretich plans to stay in Corvallis through the summer to work on the house.House father Tyson Butler dances on a table in the new house’s living room at the end of the work day as Adam Harney, Andrew Soltis, and Ben Baretich look on. Antioch will pay Harney, Soltis, and Baretich over the summer to renovate the new house.

Faces

Art 263 Final Project

The following images are part of a series for the Art 263: Digital Photography course. I chose to make three strong abstract or still life images, taken within 10 feet of my bed. (click on the image to access a larger version.)

Some Recent Work

The local Baskin Robbins on a warm spring night.

My mother outside my grandmother’s house. We stopped by to pick her up for my brother’s high school graduation.

Fiery and Flaming

I’m practically finished with school. I have no idea what to do for the summer. I will be sorting photos from the past year and revising my portfolio, perhaps making a website. Here’s an interesting frame from a week ago.

George Smock of The Campus Ministry U.S.A. talks to passing students Wednesday in the Memorial Union Quad. Smock came to Oregon State’s campus during the Genocide Awareness Project, a display of graphic images regarding abortion set up by the Northwest Center for Bio-Ethical Reform.

No Kidding?