March 19th - March 30th (aka: Color Fest!)

I've been really bad about posting, but its really not my fault... :) between tests and research papers and everything else... but thankfully I'm pretty much done with those, and I only missed 13 days of posting... :)  I know... pathetic... So to make up for it, i'm going to do a big post that tells the story of the Color Fest!  So, here is 13 of my favorite pictures from the color fest.  The one downside to this is that you will probably see these again in a different post when I do my final photo-essay... but I'm sure you'll all live... :)

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So for those you who are unfamiliar with the Color Festival, in a sentence it is an Hare Krishna festival originating in India that celebrates the coming of spring.

I arrived a few hours early to the festivities so that I could be sure to get a picture of everything (and get good parking!:)) I decided to head up to the temple first and as I walked Inside the temple there was dancing and chanting that helped set the mood for the festival. In fact, it did such a good job of setting the mood that when I emerged from the temple I looked around and saw a small village in India with little souvenir shops set up around the temple for the festival goers...

Couples always catch my attention, whether they are sitting close together, holding hands, or just talking... I think its because I love the way humans form relationships. Its so interesting... needless to say, this comes out in my pictures a lot, whether it is the two viewing the gathering crowd or the wild ones taking part in the premature color throwing...  

Another surprise i found on my trip to India was the age distribute... young and old all came to celebrate spring even if they were too young to leave the stroller or too old to stand... 

As it got closer to the climax of the festivities, the "official" throwing of the color that was already painted on everyone and tinging the air, the crowd settled down on a hill in front of the temple to enjoy the music and story telling. 

The anticipation built as the time drew closer... as the countdown neared its end the excitement was tangible and almost oppressing in its intensity, with the last few numbers it seemed the air itself couldn't hold another molecule of anticipation and finally had to explode in a rainbow cloud of color.

Within seconds the air was so thick that it was difficult to see in front of you, much less breathe. One thing was crystal clear in that fog of color. It was spring now. All the built up energy from being couped inside all winter was finally liberated and as the sky cleared, spring itself seemed to come with it.

As the shroud of color was swept away my illusion was carried with it, leaving me high and dry in normal old Utah, but for a few hours I got to pretend I was far away, joining another culture as it beckoned in springtime...

FYI: I Am Alive...

Yes... for those of you who were wondering, I am still alive.  That's about all I can boast though... cause I'm not a heck of a lot more than alive at this point.  College is fun.  I just passed my 36th hour in the library today, everyday from 7:30 to 10:30... minus the time I spend eating and in the car, and sleeping... but I wrote a brilliant 8 pager for anthropology the first two days and have been researching Giotto for the last two... hopefully I'll be able to start writing that paper tonight but I guess we'll see.  
The most interesting thing I've learned so far is from this collection of every Life magazine issue during 1948.   They really thought cigarettes were good for you!  crazy huh?  there's like a bagillian adds in there for smokes and drinks... the 40's were really really weird... thats about all I learned, oh, and Giotto is cool...  wha hoo! (i'm to tired to creatively express sarcasm... so just deal with it. :)  )  the problem with research is that you end up hating whatever your researching by the end... 

PS:  I know my last post is not working... Hopefully I can fix it tomorrow... yea... tomorrow for sure... :)

New Topographics: The 24 Hour Society

So... the long awaited, and very much anticipated... New Topographics! This is my third and second to last photo essay. :(  but I think its my best yet, simply because of the cool text-on-photo idea that makes it look more like something you would see in a photo book... which I read WAY too many of... :)  Anyways, for those of you unfamiliar with the "new topographics" idea, its this really famous exhibit put on by the Museum of Modern Art.  You may recognize it by its really boring pictures of tract-houses, new developments and other such pictures. It is more of an idea that gives it its importance if you ask me, because it was a push to capture a changing landscape, a landscape man was creating for himself...  So, without further adieu and with no more delay, My twist on New Topographics.

March 18th

I love the sun!  I guess it isn't out right now... but it has been out lately! :) So yes... Spring is coming. :)   another fun thing about sun is silhouettes, at first silhouettes are kind of lame because you can't get the picture you want to because the subject always comes out black... but if you change your perspective and try to make a silhouette, I think they're cool... especially in black and white, you just have to be sure to get some recognizable shapes in there so its not just a black spot. :)   

March 17th

Okay... So I obviously played with this one a little bit... but its so cool! I played with it because I thought it would make an awesome desktop background... I think it will.... :)

March 16th

This picture is basically the opposite of my last one, even though they were taken from the same spot... this one is just more happt, and bubbly, and kind of makes me want to pop the little thingies... there's probably a name for the effect an out of focus light causes... in fact I saw a whole book full of pictures like this, and I've wanted to take on like it ever since... so today I did. :)  
So... I think my favorite part is that its a happy picture, but I love the composition as well... which may sound vain, but when you have to pick from a bunch of your own photos you have to think about these things... Hence, since I picked it, I am a fan of the solid artistically balanced base of lights that are really the photos only subject... anyways, I like it... 

March 15th

So... I'm working on my last two photo-essays, I'm going to be so sad when I finish though, because I'll have to do real homework after that, and it will mean my class is over, that will make me sad as well.  Anyways, this is a sneak preview of my photo-essay, except not really because it has nothing to do with my essay, I was just out taking pictures for my assignment, at night, and stumbled across this. I love the eerie (?) and dark, mysterious feel that the Black and White gives it... it makes me shiver a little bit.... :) 

March 14th

Okay... I'm sorry, I know I've been behind with posting, and post dating my titles doesn't really count... but there is only 3 and a half weeks of the semester left and I've really been trying to finish strong... So far its paid off, hopefully I can keep it up. I do still take my camera with me everywhere, and today I didn't have anything to do while I was laying in the grass... So I took this one. 

March 13th

This is the picture I thought best described my first experience with rugby, mostly it looked scary, I definitely wouldn't want to be the guy with the ball, because everybody tries to kill him. I also wouldn't want to be the guy this guy is looking at, because he also looks like he's going to kill him... 
What is it with my brother and violent sports? :)  

March 12th

My big little brother Eric... why he likes getting hurt and playing in mud I'll never understand, but this is him after the game. Yes, he had a bloody nose earlier, but I think everyone did...  My favorite part of this picture are his glasses, covered in rain and a bit skewey on the right side, maybe a lot skewed... :)   so yea, my brother is a stud, even though they lost.... :)

March 11th

Also at the rugby game....   Taking pictures at a sports thing reminded me of being on yearbook staff in high school. Yearbook was the only reason I went to sporting events and even when I was on the sidelines and every game was free it was still a little boring, plus, the athletes get way too many pictures in the yearbook, so I liked to get pictures of the crowds and people watching the game.  These two girls were playing with the ball until it started to rain, then they hunkered down under the blanket to keep warm...

March 10th

I've been wanting to go back to a park and take some pictures, because there's lots of fun things at parks, and lots of textures... but I was really just at a swing set while I waited for my brothers rugby game to start, and it was cold and rainy... I do like the way the picture is divided in half, light and dark with this chain going down the middle, kind of cool... 

Two Hours By Alex

My latest assignment from my photography class was to spend two hours somewhere and take pictures, then pick our favorite five and post them.  :)  I can't believe I get honors credit for this class... its so much fun!  I couldn't actually talk about my pictures on that blog... but I'll say why I picked them on this blog. Just cause' I can... :)
I picked the first picture because I see this everyday and I'm always like, this would be a great picture, today I finally took it... and it worked like i thought it would, that made me smile, so I posted it.

The picture I like because of the point of view and the story it tells because what kid doesn't like feeding the ducks...?  The next one I took because of the broken pattern; all the empty tables and then this guy... 

Contrary to popular belief there are not random dudes with saxes just wandering around campus... thanks to the Daily Universe there are random people posing for a picture once in a while and its easy to just take a picture.    I love the last picture... its so dramatic and seems to pop out at you.  

March 9th

On Monday I got bored while in American Heritage... big surprise huh?  So I decided to look at Ansel Adams pictures online... Lo and Behold, I recognize two of the pictures... in fact, I've had them in my basement as long as I can remember and never known they were taken by Ansel Adams... Who knew I was being inspired by the greatest landscape photographer of all time without even knowing it?  I bring this up because its a black and white landscape like he did... but also because he said he didn't photograph landscapes, he photographed weather.  I would agree that the coolest picture can be ruined by a boring sky, especially in black and white.  Spring is a great time to catch a dramatic sky because of all the storms we have come and go, that makes me excited.  

March 8th

So this picture is actually 13.4MB... anything larger than 10MB shouldn't work... but this one did and it makes me happy. :)   I like the color in it, its a bit warmer than real life, but thats what it felt like while I was at the lake because the sun was shining extra bright.  I didn't really take it for the sign because its not that exciting, but the ropes are pretty cool... 

March 7th

As dirty as the lake was, there was some pretty birds there...  and naturally if there are pretty birds I tried to take their picture... Mostly I'm trying to catch up to March 9th on my blog...   I made such a great commitment, and then I pretty much failed.  Today has more than made up for it though, I slept it, went to the lake, took pictures, went to campus, took pictures, had lunch, read photography magazines, went to photography class, worked with photos, blogged photos.... yes... today more than makes up for it. ;)

March 6th

This is a fungus.... :)  As part of my two hours I decided to take a return trip to Utah Lake... Sadly it was pretty gross... maybe it was better under the snow, or when it was so dark I couldn't see anything very well... but it was fun to see it again, plus it smelt like spring, thats one thing I miss in the winter, the outside doesn't have a smell like it does in the other seasons... I'm not sure how I went from a fungus to smell... but enjoy! 

March 5th

I came across this view while I was doing my two hour photo shoot and it made me laugh... its not really that funny, just kind of ironic, the caution signs blocking the arrow that says go forward... I didn't really have time to compose it so that they were both in focus, mostly because I'm still scared around other people when I have my camera, and there were other people around. :)