cut costs on fighting crime?? whaaa??

this article in the new york times this morning made me a little skeptical of the sanity of our nation... 

Citing Cost, States Consider End to Death Penalty

an eye for an eye... and if they don't spend the money there they will just find somewhere else to use it... so is it really worth it??  

flight of the whooping cranes...

Here is an interesting story that I came across as I was scanning the New York Times this afternoon... It is a very long article so I am just going to give you the link, but here is a short summary:

Operation Migration has been one of several organizations collectively trying to bring whooping cranes back to the eastern part of the continent. The whooping crane is reclusive and headstrong — it demands a square mile around its nest to itself — and consequently was one of the first birds to suffer as humans crowded into North America.  Whooping cranes learn the pattern of their migration from other whooping cranes, so this past winter Operation Migration took action.  They gathered 14 juvenile whooping cranes in Wisconsin and led them to their winter nesting ground down in Florida.  The amazing story is how they did it.  A pilot from Operation Migration is chosen to lead the whooping cranes to their nesting ground in a small single passenger plane, that is marked and colored like a whooping crane. (like seen in the picture)  It is truly remarkable!! 

Rescue Flight

le portraits...

here's a few from ole copper... they're not touched up yet or anything... but enjoy, love, and comment :)

miss laura

miss patty

mister nick

Rock Climbing Competition!

Hey all you crazy kids!! Tomorrow night there will be a climbing contest at the rock wall... which is in the rec center for those of you who are unaware... it's going to be FREE and there will be PRIZES!! so i should see all your wonderful faces there :)

AND if you're not that into climbing... it will be a great opportunity to shoot some action shots... or get some rockin' portraits of some pretty awesome strangers...

It starts at 7:00 p.m!!

Too close to home...

as i was searching through the new york times for an interesting article this afternoon i came upon this one:

Killing Stirs Racial Unease in Texas

this took place paris, which is not to far from us here in the merce.  what i find more sad than this story is that whenever texas, or the south in general, is written about in national newspapers or magazines, it is more often than not a story with a negative ending.  very rarely do people get to see the optimistic, happy things that go on in the south... but i guess that is just the news in general... drugs, death, and sex is what sells... 

i think someone should come out with a newspaper where all the stories are of the positive nature... then i might actually watch the news or subscribe to a newspaper...

artist worth emulating part II

here are a few more:

numero quatro:

William Eggleston

the way he incorporates the background and the surroundings to become a vital part of the image is really awesome!

sometimes you just gotta work with whatcha got...

numero cinco:

Lewis Hine

incorporated the person's lifestyle to create the portrait

numero ses:

Roy Lichtenstein

even though he draws comics, i really like the way he captures the emotions of the subject. capturing emotion will be my challenge in trying to emulate him.

artists worth emulating...

Good afternoon all...

Here are a few artists that I will be trying to emulate for our next assignment... 

numero uno:

Pablo Picasso

 

Picasso used a lot of simple shapes to make very interesting and complex portraits.  

They are very simplistic and are more focused on the 

actual subje

ct than the background or its

 surroundings. Maybe try some cropping and pasting... you never know where this could lead... He should be fun to try and emulate. 

numero dos:

Garry Winogrand

I want to try and capture a person the way Winogrand did.  Even 

though most of his p

hotographs are a crowd of people crossing the street or on the subway, he is still able to make you focus on one individual.  A face in the crowd... a portrait thats not set up perfectly, but rather a spur of the moment, indecisive masterpiece.

numero tres:

Reza

Reza is a photographer that has been featured in National Geographic numerous times for his portraiture work.  I really like the way he incorporates movement into his shots, similar to that of Winogrand, but instead of a crowd there is only the individual.  

as for now... i have to go to class... i'll post a few more later

other thoughts on subways...

for those of you who read my last blog you will get the relation... 

i guess there are ways to bring back the wild...

enjoy!

twiggy twins

this article caught my attention because of the discussion that was brought up in class earlier... about taking something as ordinary as a library or in this case a subway and turning it into your own personal gallery.  Here is a summary of the article:

When commuters push through the turnstiles at the new South Ferry Terminal in a few weeks, they’ll find themselves surrounded by an arabesque of glass panels depicting intertwined silhouettes of trees—a lyrical, $1 million installation by the identical-twin artists Mike and Doug Starn. See It Split, See It Change reveals a parallel between the trees’ veiny structure and the gnarliness of the century-old subway. “We view cities as complex organisms made up of various systems, and we wanted to work with images of nature to help bring that through,” explains Doug, who with his brother has employed sinuous and knotty bark before, in the series Structure of Thought. The Starns spoke to New York about their new work, one of the MTA’s most ambitious “Arts for Transit” projects.

...not only did the trees strike my interest but also the comparison that was made between the complex structure of trees and that of a city.  

since there aren't any subways around commerce, we'll have to make our "galleries" out of other things... so get creative!

timeline thing...

here it is...

i didn't feel like typing it... so i drew it out instead (as you can see).. it's kind of crazy and all over the place... kind of like my life :) 

enjoy

refridger-hater?

sooo as i was searching the new york times this morning for an interesting story... i came upon this little article

Trashing the Fridge

although it was a good effort... it was not a successful one... but i think it shows us what we take for granted in our lives. we don't always think about what life would be like with no refrigerators... i mean more than half of the grocery stores these days use fridges to keep the food you like to eat fresh til 3 years from now... CRAZY

so i challenge you to try and not use your fridge for a day or two... keep your stuff in a cooler... or only eat stuff that does not have to be refrigerated...

Ivory Billed Woodpecker citing!

Quest for Lost Bird Is Worth It, Officials Say

(an article from the New York Times)

Federal wildlife officials say it is worth millions of dollars to research the suspected habitat of the ivory-billed woodpecker, despite conflicting views on whether the el

usive bird even exists in the swamps of eastern Arkansas.

“There’s enough out there that we’ve got to keep searching,” said Jeff Fleming, a spokesman for the Fish and Wildlife Service. “It’d be irresponsible not to.”

The agency this week released a 185-page draft plan intended to prevent the bird’s extinction. The draft, which is open for public comment until Oct. 22, recommends spending more than $27 million on recovery efforts for the woodpecker.

“The opportunity to recover this icon of the ornithological world cannot and should not be passed over,” said Sam Hamilton, regional director for the service’s Southeast Region and leader of the recovery team.

Much of the recovery work has been in Arkansas, but projects are also under way in Florida, Louisiana, South Carolina and Texas, Mr. Fleming said.

The plan outlines habitat needs and future conservation efforts intended to protect the woodpecker. The plan was drafted by the Fish and Wildlife Service, the University of Georgia, Florida Gulf Coast University, the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology, the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries and the Arkansas Natural Heritage Foundation.

The ivory-billed woodpecker was thought to be extinct when it was reportedly spotted by Cornell University researchers in 2004 in an eastern Arkansas swamp. Researchers and birders have since converged on the Cache River Wildlife Management Area hoping to spot the huge bird and hear its distinct double-rapping.

Researchers have also reported spotting an ivory-billed woodpecker in a northwest Florida swamp.

My thoughts:

It's about time they spent some decent money on science in this country.  I think it is wonderful that they are trying to bring back a species that is thought to be extinct, especially since the human race is probably what drove this bird to extinction in the first place.  You go Fish and Wildlife Service!!  

TOLC

A few weekends ago I went down to Huntsville, Texas for the Texas Outdoor Leadership Conference.  Our whole Outdoor Adventure crew traveled down to conference, and it was a weekend of fun!  It was a bit chilly, but perfect weather for a nice campfire and some dutch oven cobbler.  We won third place in the dutch oven cookoff with our cheesy potatoes.  They were quite delicious... Our adventure race team wasn't the first to cross the finish line, but they definitely had the most fans... It was an awesome weekend to say the least... 

home is where your tarp is...