Rabbit Run!

Had a blast at Chinese New Years Parade this past Sunday. First time going to it at all, and I was amazed at how many people pack into the tiny streets. Streets that, frankly, are hard to navigate with a normal amount of foot traffic.



Packed ten deep on streets, a lot of times all I could do was hold my camera straight up and hope it caught something worthwhile. It worked well enough here I think.



This group on the fire escape had the best view of the whole parade. As it went past them, they'd let off the screw-operated confetti guns onto the cheering people below.

The dragon dance follows circuitous paths, reminiscent of a winding river. It's so fluid it makes you forget that it's ten people hoisting poles underneath some canvas and not a real dragon.

The best bits were the people, especially the children, dressed in their best and cheering in celebration.

Cold Fusion

Will need a lot of energy in the coming days, weeks, months. Lofty goals of travel and exploration. Alaska is pretty far. Hoping I can find enough fun work to pay my way there.

If you want a photographer for anything, feel free to contact me via e-mail

January-ists

Had a good time braving the "wintry mix" during the walk home after the Decemberists show last night. Was a really amazing show in the awesomely interior-d Beacon Theatre.

The walk home was lovely; it looked like diamonds falling from the sky and it was coming down heavily enough to not turn instantly into city slush. A Grey's Papaya nearby was the perfect vantage point to watch passersby with Mary over sugary fruit drinks.

On the way home, we had an impromptu photo shoot in a busy train station. Mary is very good at posing for impromptu photo shoots when she isn't unconsciously making 'crazy eyes'. Shes studying history with an eye towards costume design for stage productions, has a bag that is a rubber chicken and may be the Kwisatz Haderach.

The City Around

Losing My Head

Been a long time in posting due to distractions on all fronts. A month full of papers, projects, deadlines and publication dates. The Torch is a pretty constant workload and we've recently been working on Courtside, our basketball publication.

This has meant a lot of late nights walking home past closed stores on Steinway and Ditmars. They often leave one or two neon signs up in them, giving the whole place this dramatic and contrast-y look. Rather than just hurrying past to get home, I've taken to recording these midnight scenes.

Busy few weeks coming up, but hopefully there will be some things worth sharing in them. Basketball, ducks and maybe some Delta Phi Epsilons?

Anticipation

My favorite shot from the night. The same five-year-old-boy expression on the opposing players as they race after the falling ball. That "Whoa-damn, lets go!"-face.

I've been looking at this shot for a while, and today I realized it's because I'm making the same expression as the players when I'm shooting them. That urgent feeling and tension is on me for the entire game, for every action. Every time a person moves or twists or kicks, it's a ball falling that I need to get to to make The Shot.

Shooting sports is difficult for me because of this. Each moment keeps building up tension that doesn't get released by looking at the shots in the camera. I know chimping is bad, but it's so difficult not to peek right after shooting ten frames of a guy rushing up the field and making an awesome kick. I just don't have the willpower right now not to look. The need to see if you translated the amazing spectacle you just witnessed is powerful, and it can't be satisfied on a three inch screen.

The release doesn't come till back at the office, sorting through the shots and realizing that there are actually some worth printing. Some actually worth feeling a little pride about. Some worth writing about.

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No Torch next week, looking forward to the time off to work like mad.

Dejection

These are from the St. John's University v. Cincinnati Soccer game last Saturday. St. John's went 0-2, but I was shooting it so my involvement was separated; the score is almost inconsequential. If anything, there are better shots when they don't do well. Our team has some really emotional people, and it bubbled up to the surface during the last twenty minutes of the game.

Number 10 got angrier and angrier as the game went on, and his movements got more reckless and dark when it was sure St. John's wasn't going to win. The kick above missed badly and he knew it as soon as he connected, but he kept running towards my end of the field. Before turning the corner and getting back in the game he kicked the fence that the cheerleaders were leaning on, which sent us all rattling.