Sharing the Earth

I haven't posted in awhile, things have been moving extraordinarily fast lately. I went on a video shoot with Mark Walker, whom I met at the documentary screening. I met the president of the Economic Club of New York, helped shoot video for Bloomberg, and was there for a Charlie Rangel speech on economics (he isn't too bright). I wrote a lot of pieces, worked on a big multimedia piece (and am still working) and have been wearing myself ragged.

A website in Australia puts everything in perspective and says that I'm overstaying my rights to this planet. If you go to Planet Slayer a project by the Australian Broadcasting Company, ABC, they will let you take a quiz to see how much of a "Planet Hog" you are. You can see how your lifestyle is draining on the planet (who knows where the science is for this) and when you are done taking the quiz, they will tell you when you should have died in order to have gotten your fair share of the earth's resources. I finished the quiz and was told that "you should die at age 5.4." This is designed for children!!!

It sickens me the way that this global "warming" crisis has gone from being bad science that people unfortunately believed to a campaign against the children in our schools, watching our television stations and living in our world. We are telling our 6 year old children that they are wasting the resources of the world by drawing breath every day, because of a runaway theory through which Al Gore is reaping financial gain. What should a parent do when their child comes home from school and tells them that a scientist said they should be dead because they are a waste of resources.

The "science"page said ridiculous things, like that taxis could be better for the environment than bicycles because they cost so much that we have less money to spend on other things that are bad for the environment, or that if you eat beef you are responsible for land being cleared for grazing. The biggest factor is the amount of money you make, the more money, the bigger a "drain" you are on the planet, class envy much? I wonder how many resources went into the "years of research" that they claim support this hateful quiz, we should calculate their drain on society.

For every kid that they corrupt with their vile spew they drain each child's life 70 years.
The bad science they present confuses kids about science exactly 50 books worth.
The amount of space that they take up on the web means that in order to stop internet overcrowding, their site should be deleted in 1 minute.

The result: In 2020 no one will live past 8 years old and they will need to read thousands of books to catch up to anyone from the current era in intelligence, ABC Australia will be off the air for blasting too much of it overheated.

My reasons for those conclusions are just about as viable as theirs.

Robinson Crusoe

I have come to the realization that blogging is alot like being stranded on a desert island with a giant transmitter and no reciever. You write alot of words but cant tell how many people read them. After awhile you are tempted to just write ridiculous things since no one seems to be watching anyway, but you can't. Its quite the exercise in self control.

Multimedia

Here is a link to my first audio/photoessay. I worked on it with my roommate Chris Ross. Emil: From Another Place

To see the rest of the student's pieces, go here.


Aqui esta mi primero foto escrito de Nuevo York. Trabajo con mi amigo Chris Ross.

Mirar los otros estudiantes, ir aqui.

The Faceless Mob

I just got back to my apartment from a Taco Bell run. The nearest Taco Bell is a few blocks away, but living on fifth avenue and 34th street, the trip isn't short. I was pensive for the whole trip, lost in my own thoughts. I walked through a crowded park near Madison Square. There were hundreds and hundreds of people all crammed into a tiny green block, hemmed in by concrete towers on all sides. Everyone claimed their own couple of square feet of grass and entered into their own world. Women in bikini's trying to shed their northern skin, men in Oakley's and cargo shorts reading books and trying to look cool, families with children trying to find a spot on the playground... It struck me that there were hundreds of people present, but no one was paying any attention to anyone else, it was like there were 400 parks, each only occupying a few feet. On the street, people become obstacles, there are so many of them, no one sticks out in particular, old people, foreign people, children, cool teenagers, loser teenagers, businessmen, construction workers; everyone is a small fish in this pond. There are just so many of them your brain gives up processing what you see, all these people are just in your way, their speed and size becomes more important then their lives and their faces.

My mind flashed back to a time like this in China, I was walking down a crowded street in Zhu Hai after eating a delicious dim sum meal and I became overwhelmed by the thousands and thousands of people that I could see in one simple glance. It bugged me the rest of the day, I remember calling home about it, what good is reaching out to one person in a place with millions and millions of lost people. I come from a town where for the most part you acknowledge people on the street, you don't necessarily talk to them, but you glance and smile or at least notice their existance. Here, you could practically ride down the street on an elephant and not be noticed. (Exaggeration)

I was mulling over these thoughts in my head when a woman came up to me and asked if I would answer a question. I thought she was lost and was happy to help.

She asked if I had heard that God was a woman.

I tried to shake her and her male companion, but they chased me down the street trying to debate me. I was frank, I told them I was trying to eat my taco and I didn't have time to deal with bizarre heretical cults.

I regret that.

I'm afraid of becoming desensetized to people, will I ever learn to see beyond the faceless mob? Can I fulfill my goal of seeing people as God sees them? Both as a photographer and as a man? My heart aches imagining how much His must burn for all of these people, all over the world, in thousands of cities packed with thousands of people...


El Espanol para este no esta buena, lo siento. Use una dictionario por mucho.

Acabo de volver a mi apartamento de un viaje a Taco Bell. El Taco Bell mas cercano es algunos bloques lejos, pero viviendo en 5 Avenida y la 34 calle, el viaje no es facil. Era pensativo para el viaje entero, perdido en mis propios pensamientos. Camine para un parque apretado cerca del cuadrado de Madison. Habia centenares y centenares de gente abarrotada todo en un bloque verde pequena, dobladillado adentro por las torres concretas en todos los lados. Cada uno demando sus propios pares de pies cuadrados de hierba y entro en su propio mundo. Mujeres en traje de banos que intenta verter sus piel nortes, hombres en Oakley' s y libros de los cortos del cargo y el intentar parecer muchachos, familias con los ninos que intentan encontrar un punto en el patio… Me pego que había centenares de presente de la gente, pero nadie prestaba cualquier atención a cualquier persona, él era como allí era 400 parques, cada uno que ocupaba solamente algunos pies. En la calle, la gente hace obstaculos, allí es así que muchas de ella, nadie se pegan hacia fuera particularmente, las personas mayores, gente extranjera, ninos, muchachos, muchachas, hombres de negocios, trabajadores de construcción; cada uno es un pequeno pescado en esta agua. Hay apenas así que muchos de ellos que su cerebro da para arriba el proceso de lo que usted ve, toda esta gente estan apenas de su manera, su velocidad y tamano llega a ser mas importantes entonces sus vidas y sus caras.

Mi mente destellaba de nuevo a una época como esto en China, caminaba abajo de una calle apretada en Zhu Hai después de comer una comida deliciosa y me abrume por los millares y los millares de gente que podría ver en un vistazo simple. Me desinsecto el resto del día, recuerdo llamar a casa sobre el, que bueno está alcanzando hacia fuera a una persona en un lugar con millones y millones de gente perdida.

Vengo de una ciudad en donde en general usted reconoce a gente en la calle, usted don' de t la charla necesariamente a ella, pero usted echa un vistazo y sonríe o por lo menos nota su existencia.

Reflexionaba sobre estos pensamientos en mi cabeza cuando una mujer subió a mí y preguntó si contestaría a una pregunta. Pensé que la perdieron y que se placía ayudar.

Ella pregunto si había oído que Dios era una mujer.

Intenté sacudir a su y su compañero masculino, pero me persiguieron tragan la calle que intentaba discutirme. Era franco, les dije que intentaba comer mi taco y no tiene tiempo para ocuparse de cultos heréticos extraños.

Lamento eso.

Asustado de el desensetized a la gente, aprenderé nunca ver más allá de la multitud anónima? Puedo satisfacer mi meta de ver a gente como dios la ve? Como fotografo y como hombre? Mi corazon duele imaginandose cuanto debe quemar el suyo para toda esta gente, por todo el mundo, en millares de ciudades llenas con millares de gente…

The Long View

Those of you who knew me in college, particularily my junior year, will remember a photographic obsession that I had with panoramic photographs, particularily 360 degree photos. It came from a photo essay on cave paintings in New Mexico that I saw in a photography magazine. The photographer took long 360 degree images leading to a super long panoramic extravaganza of bizarre lighting. I fell in love with the medium and went out to try some for myself. My efforts resulted in one eerie photograph of the Huron River which made it look like a lake with an island and bench in the middle of it (the place where I'd taken the photo). It remains to this day the only photograph I have ever sold, it went for $100. If I ever become a Van Gogh or Rembrandt the girl who bought it is very lucky because I lost the original file and my brother has the only other copy (and his got caught in the printer and kind of chewed up.)

Now I'm getting into it again, mostly being frustrated with the wide angle options that I can afford and being consistantly presented with breath taking vistas. It also helps that I have a new program that came with the Canon point and shoot I got, called "Photo stitch" It take the tedious hours and hours out of meticulously cloning and healing together 16 photographs and does it automatically. Of course, it isn't always perfect. It doesn't seem to understand a split car very well, but when I get a copy of photoshop to work with I will be able to do that myself very easily. Anyway, check out this picture of the Brooklyn Bridge, I suggest clicking on it so you can view it full size.


Para los gentes quien me conoceron en universidad, especialidad en mi tercer ano, sabais sobre mi amor para las fotografias muy largas. Este es de una historia fotografia en un noticia que yo lei sobre pintas en Nueva Mexico. La fotografias estan de todo y la luz es muy interesante porque hay dos sols en la pictura. Yo amo este y sacude fotografias a concordia mismo. Mi favorito fue un foto de la Rio Huron cual mira que una isla en una lago. Este fue el solo foto que yo vende a un otro, y es muy especial porque no tengo la original ahora y solamente mi hermano tiene un otro foto, y su foto es roto.

Ahora yo amo otra vez. Porque es dificil sacar fotos con mi lenses que tengo y miro muchas vistas que queiro sacar. Ahora yo tengo una nueva programa se llama foto stitch. En la pasada fue mut tedioso y dificil hacer una foto larga. Este programa hace este muy facil. Mira a mi foto para [clicking] en lo.

La Vida Nueva York

I'm going to try my hand at bi-lingual blogging, I think it will be useful for me to start writing in both English and Spanish. I'm sure I won't do the Spanish justice, but it seems like a worthwhile exercise all the same. My family wants me to write more about life here in New York, and so I will try to give some more generic details.

First of all, we spend a tremendous amount of our time here writing things. Just yesterday I wrote a 500 word feature for my professor Russell Pulliam, about my other professor Bill Maddox, who is a writer for USA Today.

Secondly I spend a lot of time taking photos. This is probably obvious from the fact that most of the time I post a photo instead of writing anything. I go out into the madness of traffic and people and start snapping pictures. Some are good, most are not.

To eat I usually go to a restaurant. They have many different kinds here and you could eat out every day for a year and never see them all.

One thing I don't do much is sleep, there is either work to be done or something to do, or my fiance to talk to.

I am learning alot here and am excited to use these skills for my work in Latin America!


Ahora yo iba traer escribir este blog en dos lenguas. Me piense que es bueno comenzar escribir en espaniol y ingles. Mi familia desean que you hablo mas sobre vida aqui in Nueva York.

Primer, la trabajo aqui es muy loco, de cada dia yo escrito muchas palabras sobre cosas de la nacion. Ayer yo escrito para mi profesor Russell Pulliam sobre un otro profesor aqui, se llama Bill Maddox y el es un escritador para USA Hoy.

Segundo yo usa mucho tiempo sacar las fotos. Es probablamente obvioso porque muchos dias yo no usa mas que una foto. De cada dia yo iba a las gentes y coches en la ciudad y yo sacudo fotografias. Algunas estan bien, mucho no.

Para comer yo usualamente iba a una restaurante. Hay muchos aqui, si traier comer a una nueva restaurante de cada dia para un ano, es imposible.

Una cosa que yo no hago es dormir. De cada noche necesito trabaja o tener divertida, o hablar con mi prometida.

Aprendo mucho aqui y todo ser bueno para mi vida y trabaja en latino america. Especialidad este!

Just in Case

New York really is just like in Monopoly (which is about Atlantic City).

USS Kearsarge

My roommate James Harrison and I visited the USS Kearsarge yesterday as a part of New York's Fleet Week. It was an awe inspiring trip and I'll write more about it later. I got to sit in the cockpit seat of an Osprey Helicopter.