A Friendly Update, and She has a Knife

I woke up feeling slightly queezy this morning, si instead of getting up early, I slept untill 11ish. Afterwards, I went to help a friend do some shooting, and did a little hanging out with some of my friends from the restauraunt (which one of my Brooks friends insists on calling "Dan's Harem"). Got some cool new photos of 2 of them. I was walking the streets on the way back, and saw this little girl peeling an apple with a buchers knife. Thats a BIG knife to peel an apple with. I got 1 photo (because thats all she let me take before she ran away), and continued to make my way home. Got here, had my first meal at about 6pm, and started writing this shortly afterwards. Anyway, Im sick of staring at this trying to come up with something else to say. Im just gonna get to the photos. Enjoy.


Li Dan - 17 years old


Fan Deng Yan (a.k.a. Francine) - 22 years old


She Has a Knife

Alternative Rap

It rained today, which means that I got to see Nacho Libre while tryingto decide whether I was motivated enough to leave the hostel. Im happy I did, because I got some pretty cool shots. When it rains, there are refleactions, and reflections can do some pretty cool things. I also ended up going to see the same band I saw yesterday. It was a great time. We met a few really cool people, and had a hell of a time. I even (gasp) drank a bit of vodka (at the time, I felt it would have been VERY rude to refuse my host, so I had a sip and passed the rest to a friend). Anyway, thought Id check it. Its not a long post, but it does include a photo, so Enjoy.


Alternative Rap

An Uneventful Event

So not alot happened today. I got to see a traditional tea ceremony. It was really interesting. Before you drink anything, everything pretty much gets baptized in the tea. The tea pot, the glasses, everything. And there is also a very interesting pouring technique. Maybe more on that later, but I doubt it. Besides that, I spent most of the day with the 4th of my previously mentioned friends, Fan Deng Yan(a.k.a. Francine), and it was alot of fun. She is very delightful and humourous, and we happen to share alot of common interests. Plus, she is very pretty. Her photo does her no justice, but Ive put it off long enough. Anyway, after some dinner, I went to wander at this outdoor shopping center thing named Jinli, and I found another magic cart. So, for the second time, I taught some rubber band magic in exchange for another magic trick. This time I got miniatuire linking rings. Sweet shisnap. I pretty much got a 50 yuan magic trick (thats like 50 bucks by theyre standards) for 2 rubberbands and instructions. Kick ass. Everything was closing down at that point, and I decided to start meandering out, when I came upon a crossbow stand. I shot 20 rounds out of an ancient styled automatic crossbow, and it was fun. I got 19 bulls eyes. Afterwards, I continued to make my way out and heard some music. I followed the source, cause it kinda sounded like kareoke, and wandered into a bar. Inside was a live rock band that was doing a bunch of American covers. I got to hear some Beatles and John Mayer, and it was really fun. I talked to the band a bit afterwards, and made some new friends. After a while, I decided it was startingto get late, and caught a cab back to my hostel. I got the shot below on my way out of Jinli. Keep in mind that none of my photos have been edited in anyway besides a simple resize. Enjoy.


Fan Deng Yan (Francine) - 22 years old


Fan Deng Yan (Francine) - 22 years old


Jinli

P.S. I just realized I posted a similar photo before, but I still think that this is my favorite photo of the day.

Porcelin

Shoddy internet prevented me from posting last night, but here I am, and here I will be. Anyway, yesterday was fairly uneventful, except for the huge ruckus at my normal restaurant. But before I get to that, Ill mention that I went back to the temple wit a couple friends, and found a woman with flawless skin. It really was like porcelin. Amazingly smoothe. I had to post her photo. I definately think she was a professional model, just from her hight, posture, and absolute beauty. Anyway, back to the restaurant. A friend of mine asked a few of the staff if there was anyone who wanted to take a photo with me, and next thing you know, 4/5 of the entire restaurant staff is huddled around me for a group photo. There were people there I had never even seen before. It was really funny. Some of the waitresses kept trying to get me to hold the hand of a shy girl I had never even seen before. Then, after teh group shot, people wanted portraits of just me and them, so what should have been a small portrait with me and a few of my friends there turned into this big 20 minute ordeal. It was quite the adventure. Afterwards, we came back to the hostel and just relaxed for a bit. It wasnt until about 40 minutes after we left the restaurant that my face started cooling down. Anyway, here is the woman I spoke of earlier. Enjoy.


Porcelin

Too Good for One

So today I was going to go to a really cool temple, but I got kinda sidetracked as I wandered the local area. I went to take photos of a tapestry that I have been shooting every day, and I found an allyway that I hadnt noticed beore. I decided to wander through it and found a really cool area that had a tradtional household that I could wander through, with information on all of the rooms. Afterwards, I walked out and wandered the area a bit more and came upon this old man who was working with clay. I sat with him for 3 hours as he worked on a sculpture of the ornate wall in front of him. It was very interesting. Really. Afterwards, I wandered a bit more and found a place where they make silk. Cool stuff. I then went to have dinner with some friends, and managed to take a photo of another one of the girls I made friends with (Huang Li). Today, I couldnt decide what photo to use, so instead, you get 2 good ones and one of my friend (like yesterday, but opposite). Enjoy!


Huang Li - 19 years old


Hands


Clay Man

A special post.

Today is a special post. You get 3 photos! 1 is good, and 2 are to give you an idea of my friends. I went out with some of the locals (friends Ive made at the restauraunt Ive been going to regularly), and we went to get some local food. We then walked around and talked for a while, and we all got along very well, regardless of the language barrier. I actually hung out with 3 out of 4 of my frineds from the restauraunt, and there was a quick appearance from the the 4th girl. The names of the girls in the photos are Liao Jing (15) and Li Dan (17), respectively. The other 2 girls are Huang Li (19) and Fan Deng Yan (22), a.k.a. Francine, will have photos coming. We had a good get together with a few friends, and it went really well. I went to a temple to take some photos, and I think things went well. I actually managed to get some of the monks to stand still for me (A much harder feat than it sounds like). Anyway, Im sick of writing. Enjoy!


Liao Jiang - 15 years old


Li Dan - 17 years old


Prayer

An Evening in Cheng Du

Today I went to computer street, which is 7 floors of nirvana. It was awesome. 7 floors that would make a tech geek weak inthe knees. It was awesome. Anyway, Ive been going to a restauraunt regularly, and I love it there. I have made friends with some of the staff, and I believe I am in love with one. Anyway, here is your photo of the day. Enjoy!

Temple

Not much to say today. Moved from a hotel to a hostel. Im paying about $2 a night to stay. Its cool. Anyway, here is the photo for today. Enjoy.

Street Vendor

First of all, thought Id mention that none of the photos I post from china will be edited in any way other than sizing them down for web use. Now, on to business: So last night, I was sick for the very first time on this trip. Im sure it wont be the last. I went to eat at a place where you boil your own food, and something there didnt agree with my stomach. But here is the catch, It was soo good, I plan on going again. Screw the sickness. But at getting up at 5am to use the restroom is no fun. Anyway, today, we all went out and bought cell phones. Its nice to be able to easily communicate again. On another note, I thought Id mention that I havent seen any direct sunlight the whole time ive been here. The air is polluted and misty all the time, so the most ive seen is filtered sunlight. On rare occasions, it casts a yellow hue. Otherwise, it is just grey. Im starting to get pretty good at communicating with gestures. I managed to haggle down the price of my phone from 1200 RMB to 800 RMB (there are about 7.5 RMB in every dollar). I was quite proud of myself, as I dont speak the language. Anyway, im getting tired of writing, so I thought Id get to the title of the post. There is a very large ammount of street vendors selling everything from clothes hangars to sim-cards, to fruits, to meats. Its crazy, cause they all ride around on bikes trying to sell their wares. Anyway, here is an image of one. Enjoy.



P.S.I can read your comments jsut fine. Keep em coming. Its good to hear from you all. I cant comment onmy own, though, so dont expect to hear back from me that way. If there are anyquestions. Ill put it in the Post Script of the next update. Nick, e-mail me your address.

Still Shooting, Still Breathing

As of now, I am unable to view my own blog, but I can post to it. I should still be able to read comments on my blog, seeing as how I get them in my mail. I am going to try to do a photo a day, but Im not sure that will be possible when I get out of this hotel. My last night here is tomorrow night. Ive realized that there is a 16 hour time difference between me and my regular readers. Yay... Im not going to really try to keep up with teh news part of my posts, because that takes more effort, but you may get them here and there. Did think Id let ya know that today I saw Pandas. I wanted one as an accessory, but its frowned upon. Anyway, here is the photo of the day. Enjoy!

Nihao!

So,here I am in China. Its really late right now, and Im really tired, so Im going to make this fairly short. I have no idea how I got here. Well, thats a lie. I know how I got here, I just dont know how it all actualy happened, or why I agreed to it. Let me begin by stating that China is a very cool place. It was a 13 hour flight to Beijing from LAX,and then we had a 3 hour lay over, followed by a 2 hour flight to Cheng Du. Its different. I saw a coke can that was advertising WoW. Crossing the street is seriously dangerous. The buildings are not western. And then there is the language barrier. Its hard to do anything, even the simplest of tasks (like getting a locker), when you cant verbally communicate with people. Ive decided that within the next 36 days, Im learning some Chinese. I think the biggest problem in the next few weeks is going to be ordering food. I saw a couple temples today,and I was very impressed. I also went to a show, and was also very impressed. They have a mask changing technique that blows my mind. Maybe Ill touch on that some more later. But today was mostly traveling into the future. It is almost 11pm on Saturday night, while in LA it is almost 6 am on saturday. Ill wake up in a few hours and be a day into the future. With that said, here is one from China. Enjoy.

Finals

The cover for my Final Submission (its a CD):



and here is teh full image with no crop:

Double Whamie!

A special photo for a special friend. Enjoy.

Mas

Enjoy.

It was a cold cold night

But it was pretty in the day. Enjoy.

Im coming up

Here is another for ya!

Busy as a... lizard?

Well, Ive been a combination of busy and lazy, but youll be getting more soon (or at least thats the plan).

At long last

I decided to try a slide show to display my images from London. Its not as high quality as I like, but this company made it really easy. If you do want to see any of them in a size more like the usual, let me know which one. Well, here goes:


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I swear, london is coming soon. Just be patient with me. Please...

Just to Hold You

Returned

Im back. I just woke up from sleeping 12 hours straight, which is very uncommon for me. Yesterday, I was up for 26 hours straight, which dont seem like much, but the sun was un for 19 hours of that time, which can be very exhausting (ina ddition to flying and all that jazz). Traveling really dos take it out of you. But now, Im back. You wont see any photos from this trip untill I have finished editing them all. I may post a couple from my other trip, but well see how busy I am. Well, off to work.

From London

Consider this a postcard if I dontget thechance to mail the ones I bought.

London @ Night

Well, its 152 in the morning here and Im bored. Saw a few very awesome things today, which you just have to be there to feel their effect. Met a couple cool people today, and I saw Les Miserable, which, by the way, is the only piece of entertainment that I know of that has ever made me cry. Im going to go see stonhenge tomorrow, but it would seem that paris is a no go. its only 2 1/2 hours away by train, but tickets are about £114. thats about $230. ah well. ces't la vie. ill check in when I can. Sorry for the lack of photos, but I havent been using my computer to go online. but have been stopping by internet cafe's and such. Well, adios for now.

Checking in

Still here, still alive (no thanks to steph), and still awed. Its hard to imagine the imposing nature of these ancient structures unless you are here. It is incredible to see these buildings, and know that many are older than the entire United States. Ah well, off to catch a train in the london underground. A message to the kids: save your money, save your time, go to europe. It will be money SUPER well spent. Just dont stay in london too long if you are on a budget... Until I can, this is me saying adios.

Update from London

Well, here I am in London with one of my best buds, Steph. My first trip anywhere near the atlantic. First impression: Everything here is sooooo godamned expensive. Ive already spent 600 bucks out of my 800 dollar budget, and it is the morining of day 2 of 10. It is really nice weather here. Sunny, but not too warm. The only wierd thing about this place, though, is that there is only about 6 hours of night. Its very strange. Very very strange, and it makes it hard for me to sleep, seeing as how the sun is rising as I am trying to sleep. It does make it so that I have alot of shooting hours during the day, though. Sunset at 930 pm, sunrise at 4 am. It is a cool place to be, though. Some updates to our travel plans have tenatively included going to Paris. Anyway, wish me financial luck, as Ill need it. Ill see you all when I return.

P.S. We are currently paying for internet (about 12 bucks an hour [6 pounds]) so I will probably not update as much as I would like unless I find something more feasible. Leave a comment if you want something from london, and I will get it if it is financially feasible.

Salton Sea

More Salton. Enjoy.

Back to the Show

Welcome back to the Salton Sea. Enjoy.

On an Unrelated Note

Just shot this for my travel class. The assgnment was architecture. I did something wierd to it, but I like it. It is the Santa Barbara Mission. Enjoy.

Too much! Too much!

Been very busy. Im sorry I havent posted more often, but with e3, and class just having started, and shitty internet connections (a.k.a. wired) in LA, I havent been able, or had sufficient energy motivation to post. But Ill hopefully have something for you soon.

Salton Sea

Sorry for the Delay. Finals and Shisnap. Salton after Dark.

Salton Sea

Sunset at the Salton Sea.

Salton Sea

Another Sunset Panoramic. Enjoy.

Salton Sea

Another haze shot at the Salton Sea.

Salton Sea

Post on a Pier at the Salton Sea. Enjoy.

Salton Sea

More Salton Sea. Enjoy.

Welcome to the Salton Sea

The Salton Sea. Enjoy.

A New Adventure

I took a trip recently. An awesome trip. A fantastic trip. A trip so magical, it gave me awesome photos. For the next week, you will see some of what I saw. Ill try not to say much so that the photos speak for themselves, but if you have questions, ask in the comments section, and Ill answer. So now, I introduce you to my new series:

Natural

La Cathedral

Another photo from my trip to El Salvador long ago. Its been photoshoped. Its the outside of the same cathedral that I posted a while ago. Enjoy.

Off the Hook

A friend was shooting a project at the Santa Monica Pier, and I went along to keep her company a while back. I found this phone off the hook, and decided to take a photo. Enjoy.

Come Original

So these are the originals for some of the recent photos that I have published on my blog. Compare and contrast. Let me know your reactions. Thanks.

A Morning in the Desert

Anthother of the Anza Borrego photos. Im not sure which I liked more, so give me your opinion. Also, I have included the original photo, so you can see what I did in photoshop. Tomorrow I will try to upload other originals. Enjoy.

Another Desert Photo

Another Desert Photo
Originally uploaded by Bringer of the Dead.

This is another photo I took while camping in Anza Borrego. I remember, it was so windy, that I could barely walk into the wind that day. My clothes would whip around me as I stood there. Everyone was sitting on cars as the sunset was coming. We eventually decuded to leave the place we were shooting sunset from. As we were leaving, I saw this radio tower. I thought it looked pretty cool, but I only had a about a minute or two before the sun's light was too far gone to be usable for a handheld photo, so I told Brenda, who was driving, to pull over. I knew what I wanted the shot to look like in my head, and when I jumped out the car, I knew I was in the wrong place. I was too far away, and too close to the road. So I jumped the fence that devided the highway from the desert, and started running. I pretty much sprinted to where I wanted to be, is easier said than done when running on desert sand in what was near darkness. When I got there, I took the photo. The original photo barely exposed enough to be usable, but it was enough. This is what came of it. Enjoy.


By the way, I just opened an account with flickr, and I am testing it. This is not necessarily the new format for posts, but let me know what you think.

***EDIT***

I have decided that flickr does not let me post photos as large as I would like you to be able to see them. It limits the size of my images, and I want to you all to be able to see the images in a larger form, so here it is. Please let me know your opinions regarding image size.