Day 82

9/30/10

"University Club in Fall"

Continuing with my theme of fall, I decided to just quick take a picture of the UW-Madison's University Club, with its beautiful brick facade that goes so well with the colors of fall.

Bonus Photos: When the Leader of the Free World Speaks... 9/28

Alright everyone. I'm gonna try something a little different with this blog post. I'll write a little bit about each photo before the photo so you can get a sense of what's going on, instead of trying to come up with a crummy title for each. As always, you can get a much much better look at the images by just CLICKING ON THEM! Do it! Its worth it, I promise!


My friend Ibby had a bunch of friends from the radio station show up to stand in line with us, and then more of their friends showed up too. To pass the time we sung theme songs for TV shows and other songs, like "Lean on Me," during which, I definitely sang harmony and bass.

Here's my friend Molly (redhead on the right with the goofy look on her face) watching JDante conduct the singing of any song we knew at least (and generally not more than) one verse of, to pass the time.

After a scary stampede into Library Mall, we all fought for a position where we could best see the President when he spoke.

The stands in the back were empty, but soon filled by a hundred or so students in red, serving as a "Wisconsin" backdrop for the event.

Abraham Lincoln made an appearance. Hey Abe!

This guy was pretty red, but his hat's pins showed him to be pretty blue at heart (politics pun!).

Mama Digdown's Brass Band played some good New Orleans jazz tunes to get the crowd excited. They were pretty awesome.

A view of everyone listening to the music. Quite a few people here! 17,000? Yeah, but 90% of them were behind us.

The National took the stage, playing a few acoustic tunes with some good baritone vocals.

Secret Service's elite Counter Sniper Unit on the roof of Memorial Library, with one of their helicopters in the background circling before the President arrives.

More of the Counter Sniper Unit and the helicopter.

The National. Now with more trombone!

Who's excited to see Ben Harper? That guy!

Ben Harper took to the stage and sang "With My Own Two Hands". Its a great song, so look it up on YouTube or something.

Ben Harper playing a bit more music.

 He was really getting into the music.

And here he gets down with the guitar a little bit more.

Some excitement for someone coming on to stage!

Who could be on stage causing this much excitement?

The President of the United States, Barack Hussein Obama.

 The President spoke for around 45-50 minutes, and it hardly felt like ten. He's that good of a speaker.

The President looking us in the eyes and trying to prove a point.

More of the speech and a lot sign to make sure people Vote 2010.

Heres a little of the crowd behind me.

Day 81

9/29/10

"The Rock"

My friends Ibby and Andy invited me on their radio show yesterday to talk about the President's visit to Madison and various other news items. If you're looking for a good student take on current events, tune in on wsum.org or 91.7 for The Rock, Wednesday nights from 8:00pm - 9:00pm. Rooms without a lot of good lighting make for hard shooting, and I wasn't actually able to get the other guest, Alex, in the shot. Sorry Alex! It was a great time, talking about politics, the state of the coming elections, and current events. I really hope I get invited on again sometime. Another thing I learned about radio is that, its hard as heck to cram so much solid information into an hour. This past week's events could have taken hours to cover, and we didn't even get a chance to touch on things like the UN General Assembly speeches. I have a lot of respect for all the radio talkshow personalities after this.

Day 80

9/28/10

"When the Leader of the Free World Speaks..."

I had what could be described as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to hear the President of the United States give a speech on what is, most succinctly put as the UW-Madison's "quad", Library Mall. Sponsored by the Democratic National Committee, President Barack Obama spoke to a crowd of over 17,000 (with 26,500 total that tried to attend) on eliminating the "enthusiasm gap" for midterm elections. Prior to his speech, the bands, Mama Digdown's Brass Band (a New Orleans-style jazz band from Madison with amazing amazing horns), The National (an indie rock band that was on their way through on tour), and Ben Harper (acoustic musician with a reggae lean) took the stage, as well as politicians Tammy Baldwin, Russ Feingold, and Democratic Gubernatorial candidate Tom Barrett. Though obviously a rally to stir up votes for democrats this coming November, the speech was nonetheless amazing. President Obama is one of the greatest orators of our time, and you can't help but get chills when you hear him speak.

Click for a larger photo.

Note: I will upload more photos in the near future of the event. Though I was one of the first 50 in line for the speech, a large and dangerous rush for the entrance did occur and I was not nearly as close as many of my friends. However, I did get a good number of photos, so I hope these will impress someone.

Day 79

9/27/10

"Presidential Preparations"

Well. There's an important person coming to speak at the University of Wisconsin tomorrow. How big of a deal is it? Well, its the first time in 60 years that a sitting President of the United States has come to speak on our campus. Pictures to come tomorrow!

Day 78

9/26/10

"Lake Louie"

After a long night, I again had to find something to take a photo of in my apartment. One of my roommates has been collecting the boxes of 6 packs of... beverages, and hanging them on the wall. I thought I'd do something different with the point of view and depth of field. These are hanging on wall above a picture window, and weren't the easiest thing to photograph, but I still got the shot, and I thought it was interesting.

Click for a larger photo.

Day 77

9/25/10

"The Big Race"

Some friends of mine had a race today; a boat race. Really, it was "anything but a boat" that was allowed, so any type of remnant or garbage would do. This is a picture of everyone ready to jump into the water (in the 60 degree weather). I have quite a few pictures of friends and their "boats" that I might post later, but I don't have much time now (yet again), so I'm going post this and run.

Day 76

9/24/10

"Wasabi"

I don't have much time to write again today, but this photo is of the wonderful and beautiful food that my Dad and I shared when he came to visit me. It was a great time to just get to sit, talk, and try some new (and beautiful) food. The focusing was obviously weird here, and I should have taken time to re-arrange, with the sushi rolls in front, but I hate being the weirdo with the camera out at a restaurant, and I was just really hungry too.

Day 75

9/23/10

"Yellow Fall"

Thought I would take a few pictures of the yellow falls colors on Langdon. The colors are starting to change in the last few days from yellow to red, so expect many more photos of the colors of fall.

Day 74

9/22/10

"Corpse Flower"

I don't have much time to write today, but here we have the "Corpse Flower" (Google this for more info). It blooms once every 9 years and while in bloom smells like decomposition (thus the name). I thought that the person in this photo gave a good sense of the size of this larger flower.

Day 73

9/21/10

"Hokusai"

Another bleak and dreary day and not much to see outside. I tried to find something to shoot inside artistically, but instead I turned to one of my favorite pieces of artwork that I have hanging on the wall in my bedroom. This piece, called "The Great Wave off Kanagawa," but better known as "The Wave" is by a famous Japanese ukiyo-e artist (wood-block prints) by the name of Hokusai, published circa 1830. This piece was one of his "Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji" and for some reason really strikes me. Not my most artistic photo, but I thought I would share.

Day 72

9/20/10

"Spawn more Overlords"

I took the opportunity last night to spend some time at the UW StarCraft II Club on campus. StarCraft is an internationally known game that is played professionally in Korea, and I thought the group would be a different segment of the population than normal to photograph. Naturally, I played a few games inbetween photos. As for the title, you need a certain amount of buildings or people that allow your population to increase. One of the things you often are reminded is that you cannot sustain your population and that you need to "spawn more overlords." Here is a certain unknown player playing a game of StarCraft II.

Day 71

9/19/10

"Immediate Fall"

Fall is here, very abruptly. I saw the first intense color change on Thursday, and other trees started to follow. I thought the slight yellow in these trees played off the fall colors on the buildings and the sign for the Orpheum. Nothing particularly awe-inspiring here, just a sign of the season to come.

Day 70

9/18/10

"Ready to Climb"

I spent most of the day doing work (beyond the three hours spent at the Badger football game). One of these days I might just take my camera to the game, but I want to make sure its sunny with no chance of rain, and I don't want to be paranoid about it getting bumped all day either. Tonight I didn't have much time to get out, and it's been kind of overcast the last few days, so I decided to just take a picture of some of my climbing gear sitting on the back of my door, ready to be used whenever I have a chance. Sadly, with a mild injury and not a lot of time, it might be hanging there for a while.

Day 69

9/17/10

"Battle of the Ages"

Fun comp, though not my best showing ever. All I can say is that I really wish I would have had my fast lens at this comp so I could have taken some better pictures. Not one came out without blur in the shot because it was just so dark in there. Great to get to climb at Adventure Rock and get on some longer routes. I'm not 100% for climbing yet though, so it was kind of sad, but it was still a great time with great people. Here we have Greg Padovani on a route on the overhang. I think it was a 5.12b or 5.12c. Not the easiest thing ever, for sure (hyperbole, its actually pretty hard).

Click for a larger image.

Day 68

9/16/10

"New Orleans Jazz"

Hawk's Bar and Grill on State Street hired out this band to draw attention, and did they ever. Boy I really miss jazz band. I really really wish I had my saxophone and clarinet to play around with in my limited free time, because those guys really inspired me to start playing again. It was difficult shooting without flash, so this was 1/20, f/3.5, and ISO 1250. I was worried about the ISO, but it actually looks great, though the trombone is a bit blurry. I just wish I could convey the music through this picture a bit more. Hope you enjoy.

Click for a larger photo.

Day 67

9/15/10

"Chi Rho"

Today I went to the Wisconsin Lutheran Chapel and Student Center on campus for a gathering they hosted with free food. Its a beautiful building and a chamber orchestra playing beautiful music in the chapel itself. It was a great experience, and I took the opportunity to take this picture of some stained glass that they had in one of the common areas.

Day 66

9/14/10

"Artistry (HDR)"

Today's photo is of Music Hall on the University of Wisconsin - Madison campus. Through this process of shooting in the bright sun, I realized that I could use all this light to shoot HDR photos without a tripod by setting my camera on burst mode (motor-drive) and Auto-Exposure Bracketing and the photos came out perfect for an HDR. Instead of my normal realistic HDRs, I decided to go for the surreal look instead. Hope you enjoy.

Click for a larger photo.

Day 65

9/13/10

"College Culinary"

Its Monday Night Football, FINALLY! I bought myself two burgers and used everything at my disposal to make this piece of art. Its missing some greens, a tomato, and some onions, but I have enough to make another and finally top it off. It might not be the most exquisite of meals, but as a college student, I could get used to food like this.

Day 64

9/12/10

"Juggling Responsibilities"

This title, though a pretty terrible pun, describes what I've been doing the last few days. Between homework, my new job as a grader at the University of Wisconsin, and trying to find time with friends (and lately, more doses of playing guitar, trying to build a better base of songs on top of the technical ability I already have), I've been juggling a lot of things. I barely felt I had time to put this up online, along with yesterdays photo. Today I got to see a friend of mine, Aaron, and his friends at juggling on Library Mall. They were weaving through the circle while juggling. It was a fun sight to get to photograph. 

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Day 63

9/11/10

"Brats"

Today I hoped to get a good picture out of the post-football game revelry, and had to wade my way through the drunk people (while politely insulting the rude ones, which is always fun; "someone has had a little too much to drink today, I think"). Heres the one photo I took of some generally well-behaved people at State Street Brats right before the Penn State vs Alabama match-up. Just a nice little shot of Madison after a football game in the fall.

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Day 62

9/10/10

"Bikes to Infinity (Spokes to Infinity Redux)"

Okay, its almost a repeat of yesterdays photo, but its Ironman weekend and I'm going bike crazy! These beautiful bikes, all 6-7 that were on the rack, total over $20,000, with the one up close likely in the $8,000 - $10,000 range. I'd have to go back and look at the groupset and wheels. Beautiful bikes, beautiful geometry, and I just had to take a picture. The capitol in the background was a nice aesthetic bonus.

Click for a larger image.

Day 61

9/9/10

"Spokes to Infinity"

This is a photo I've been waiting to take until a day where I didn't really have much to shoot. I needed to grocery shop and then the Saints vs Vikings game was going to be on, so I took this quick between everything.

Day 60

9/8/10

"Stare Down"

Today was another kind of lackluster day for shooting. A lack of motivation didn't really leave me wanting to travel far for a shot. I returned the lens I bought Saturday. $200 was too much to spend for a lens I decided that I really wouldn't use much. As for something to photography, this metal badger was staring me down for a while, trying to start a fight, so I snapped a picture quick and ran away before I got torn into shreds. I was super impressed with the depth of field in this photo, though. I'm pretty happy with just the one lens at this point.

Bonus Photo: 9/7/10 Panorama

Heres a panorama I stitched together Tuesday evening after taking three shots, by hand of the sky as it split in two, creating this huge contrast on the land of almost unbearable brightness and  terrible overcast shadow. I've done panoramas before, and its easiest with a tripod, but not necessary. I've just never had one come out like this before by hand.

"Ying and Yang (Panorama Redux)"

Day 59

9/7/10

"Ying and Yang"

Today I was struggling to find something pretty to take a picture of while I was out at the Union for a meeting. After the meeting finished the mountaineering executives went inside and talked some more and after I finished dinner, I went outside because I thought I saw some light. While I need more Union photos like a hole in the head, this photo was just incredible. The terrible clouds and weather had passed in a straight front, leaving a line dividing the sky.

Click for a larger photo.