peace love and whatnot

I got a new blog

2010-03-24T13:34:00.001-05:00

So you should go there.

Here's the link!

http://robbratney.wordpress.com/

kbai! Thanks Blogger!

peace, love and whatnot,

-rob

Mardi Gras Poster, Seismic Design logo and shirt design

2010-01-26T19:50:00.003-06:00

Hello there world wide websters! I hope you excuse the less than frequent blog post! I'm in the middle of trying to sacrifice quantity for quality. Not taking a photo class this semester hasn't and is not going to help things either.

I am, however, taking another letterpress class, so expect more of that! I've got a bunch of things in the works - all of which will be available for sale. Those things will include a few art prints and posters, maybe some coasters, thank you cards, birthday cards, or any work YOU'D like to see! Just leave me a comment letting me know what you'd like!

My latest work at the design center has been a poster for Mizzou After Dark Mardi Gras Mayhem event.

The design center has had some really good designers who work as if producing for silk screening. I LOVE this style, and I'm trying to learn how to do it better myself. What you don't see very much is work with photos.

As a photojournalism major looking to combine photography and graphic design, it is in my best interest to design in a way that utilizes photographs. The Mardi Gras poster was my first attempt keeping that idea in mind. Behold.

Mizzou's Seismic Design Team asked us for a logo and a T shirt design. One thing I've been trying to start doing more of is use hand-drawn elements in my designs. After many failed attempts, I drew the "seismograph line" in this logo. It looks like I may have scaled it too many times... dah well. I'm just glad that I got a hand-drawn element into one of my designs.

After I made the logo, the shirts were pretty quick work.

Shirt front:
Shirt back:

In other news, I've been visiting this guy's site a lot. Frank Chimero is a New York-born designer who now lives and teaches in Missouri. At Missouri State in Springfield in fact! He's right on their faculty page! At the bottom, under the "per course faculty". Anyway, VERY cool stuff, and a super smart guy; be sure to check his site out.

Mmk, that's about it for now! Be sure to check out what else I have on my flickr here.

peace, love and whatnot,

-rob

Final Redesign

2010-01-14T13:46:00.003-06:00

The client wasm't satisfied with the last design I had (probably because I forgot to put WHERE the event was). These things happen! So here is the final as it was chosen by the client.

You should check out my flickr here

Thanks!

peace, love and whatnot,

-rob

National Stalker Awareness Month (seriously)

2010-01-12T20:45:00.003-06:00

This poster has had me ramming my forehead against the computer screen for the past day and a half. And I'm still not happy with it. That "green" was much more blue when I was working on it... I wonder if a screen isn't calibrated or if something got messed up in the transfer from email to email to flickr... anyways.

Let me know what you think.

More can be seen at my flickr!

peace, love and whatnot,

-rob

Annie Fitch Headshots

2010-01-12T20:36:00.002-06:00

Annie saw Phil's shots after he put them up on Facebook, and wanted me to take some headshots for her as well! She liked the way they looked so much that she wanted me to take her to the exact same spot as Phil's (so leave me alone, photog friends!).

More can be seen at my flickr!

Thanks for checkin in.

peace, love and whatnot,

-rob

Phil Newman Headshots

2010-01-12T20:27:00.002-06:00

My good buddy Phil asked me to take a few headshots for him to use at audition at a few schools. He's completed one and a half semesters at SEMO, but decided he didn't like it, so he is taking this semester off to work and audition at some other schools he's more interested in.

Phil and I have been good friends for a LONG time. It wasn't my fault though, the guy lived two houses down!

More of these can be seen at my flickr.

Thanks for checking it out!

peace, love and whatnot,

-rob

Indyground and No Coast Show Flier

2009-12-28T17:56:00.003-06:00

Hey there folks!

My latest design work is a flier for an upcoming Indyground and No Coast Battles show. My band will be playing (we're the "Live Band")! It's gonna be a great show, and it's at the BLUE NOTE - very exciting to be playing there.

Small Version:

Large Version:

Hope all of your holidays were much fun!

peace, love, and whatnot,

-rob

Cat Photos! (shame)

2009-12-17T14:01:00.002-06:00

Leann and Nikki asked me to take pictures of their cat, Bella! MUCH more fun than I thought it was gonna be!

Awwww yeeeaahhhh

peace, love, and whatnot,

-rob

So I Borrowed a Hasselblad...

2009-11-26T00:55:00.006-06:00

...from my work. It's been sitting in a cabinet for 6 years, sadly. I took it out and had three days to shoot a roll. Being in class or work from around 8:30 am to 5pm nearly every day in the fall reeaalllly limits the amount of time you can shoot with a camera loaded with ISO 100 film.

Anyway, here are some shots. There are two at the end of the roll (of my girlfriend - sad day) that didn't make it onto the cd. Corrupted files or something. I'll have to take the negatives back into Photographx and get a new cd.

By the by, THEY'RE GREEN! I corrected the color in a few of them, but you probably won't be able to tell which ones they are because they all still look weird. I mean, the film DID expire in 2004 sooooo maybe that has something to do with it. Like I said, this whole set (Hasselblad body with FOUR lenses - I believe a 45mm, 80mm, 120mm, 150mm) has been sitting unused in a cabinet for 6 six. Cry.

Alex and Brenden (Brenden's blog: http://brendenneville.com/wordpress/)

Alex (Her blog: http://alexandrabrowning.wordpress.com/)

Eve (http://photobyeve.blogspot.com/)

August (http://www.augustkrygerblog.com/)

My best bud and band drummer Andrew (he don't have a blog. Nor is he much of a computer person. In his own words he has a computer for three things: Word, Internet, and iTunes. A no BS kinda guy. On the right)

The 903

And my room inside it

The Hoc

And the campus. Go MU

peace, love, and whatnot,

-rob

Multiple Flash

2009-11-19T12:34:00.002-06:00

Here is my select for Multiple Flash! As the name sounds, this is a photo lit with more than one strobe. In this case, two.

I haven't gone to bed yet. Since like yesterday. I may or may not be having trouble staying awake.

see ya!

peace, love, and whatnot,

-rob

Design Center Work

2009-11-13T13:31:00.002-06:00

This was my assignment at the Design Center today; a scavenger hunt! Sounds kinda fun, and it benefits a great organization that "provides mobility to those with low or no resources in poor and underdeveloped countries"

Here's the full description I got with my info sheet: The Personal Energy Transportation (PET) Project provides mobility to those with low or no resources in poor and underdeveloped countries. This wonderful organization builds and ships all-terrain, hand-cranked wheel-chairs to places like the Congo, Zambia, Afghanistan, Bosnia, Honduras, Vietnam, and North Korea. They also collect and ship canes, foldable walkers, crutches, sewing machines, and reusable sheets, towels, and clothing in their efforts. Check them out at www.giftofmobility.org

Anyway, lots more to do today! see ya!

peace, love, and whatnot,

-rob

Fill Flash

2009-11-12T13:38:00.003-06:00

For fill flash I got a hold of Kyle McDonald, the Director of Music at KCOU, the student radio station on campus. I want to do a multimedia project on KCOU in the near future, so I figured I'd take this opportunity to get an interesting portrait.

Caption: Kyle McDonald, the Director of Music at KCOY, talks about his favorite band Against Me! on top of the Virginia Avenue Garage. KCOU is a student run radio station on campus. During the summer months, McDonald would park in Virginia for easy access to the station, but would get weekly tickets.

Outtakes:

If the flash in that first outtake hadn't hit his face so weird, that'd be my select. But shoot, it ain't.

peace, love, and whatnot,

-rob

Fill/Balance

2009-11-10T10:54:00.002-06:00

Today's assignment for Advanced Techniques in Photojournalism is fill/balance! This would be the balance portion of the assignment, meaning we are to add light to the room inside to bring it up to level of light that is outside - and make it all balanced.

Caption: MU faculty Brooke Cameron works on a plate in the printmaking studio Monday, November 9 2009. Artists like Cameron etch a design into a thin wax layer on the copper sheet, then soak the sheet in acid. The sheet, now a negative, is coated in ink, then run through a press where the ink transfers onto paper.

Woohoo!

peace, love, and whatnot,

-rob

Multimedia post

2009-11-09T17:20:00.003-06:00

For my advanced techniques class we were asked to find a multimedia presentation we liked. I was going to try to embed it, but that doesn't appear to be an option.

So, sadly, all I can provide is this link.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/216394

It's on the disappearing face of New York in it's old store fronts. All this culture and history wrapped up in these old store owners, disappearing slowly from New York. Mostly due to death.

Annnnyyhoooo

peace, love, and whatnot,

-rob

Steddy P Letterpress Poster

2009-11-08T21:11:00.002-06:00

Finally done and photographed!

Over 40 hours of work. Ouch. Some people may say I'm busy. I'd disagree with them louder if my voice wasn't shot (likely from over working) right now.

I also did a few poster red instead of gold, but I was partial to the gold.

Back to work for me! I hope to see you all soon.

peace, love, and whatnot,

-rob

Color Correction Take 2

2009-11-05T14:11:00.002-06:00

Ok, I think I got the assignment right this time!

Students get together for a flash rave in front of Plaza 900 dining hall Wednesday, November 4, 2009. The flash rave was sponsored by MU Dance Marathon, a student organization that raises money for Columbia Children's Hospital. The rave was an effort to raise awareness of MU Dance Marathon.

peace, love, and whatnot,

-rob

Color Correction

2009-11-03T12:19:00.002-06:00

Color Correction assignment!

We are to go to a room or a lighting situation that has nasty lighting. In my case, I went to this AIGA Mizzou Chapter organizational meeting. We are to put a gel matching the light in the room over our strobes, and make the whole picture a nasty color, then retouch it in photoshop later. The first one if the original, the second, the corrected one.

Devin Rogers sits in the Student Design Lab in the Fine Arts Building and listens to professor Rick Wilson give information about the American Institute of Graphics Arts. These students were meeting to discuss starting a Mizzou chapter of AIGA. AIGA has chapters for adults and students alike all across the country, helping designers and artists find work wherever they may go.

Thanks guys,

peace, love, and whatnot,

-rob

First run of Steddy P poster

2009-10-30T14:33:00.003-05:00

The second run will either be gold or black. Haven't decided yet.

This show is FREE and you should come cause I'm the live band playing with steddy.

Mojos dec 4!

peace, love, and whatnot,

-rob

Painting with Light

2009-10-29T14:45:00.002-05:00

Painting with light group with Clint, Naomi, and Colleen. Took us a while to get to a good idea, but I'm really happy with the final product!

Thanks to Jeff Parrett for being our model!

I was in charge of the lungs and heart. The lungs worked better in some others, but this one was best overall.

Big 13x20in letterpress poster coming up soon!

peace, love, and whatnot,

-rob

Single Flash Take 2

2009-10-22T12:48:00.003-05:00

Bounce flash this time!

Caption:
Freshman Mitch Frazer helps Jamila Barnes with her hotdog at the South/Center/North residence hall BBQ. The students are both freshmen living in North hall.

peace, love, and whatnot,

-rob

Letterpress Small Broadside Project

2009-10-21T13:40:00.003-05:00

Our second project for my letterpress class was broadsides. The class decided the theme should be "Secrets", and we'd all base our pieces on little personal secrets. If you've ever read a web page with me at the same time, then my secret isn't much of a secret to you.

Three different papers. The green one came out weird under that strange florescent-trying-to-be-tungsten light. Anyway,

peace, love, and whatnot,

-rob

Single Flash Take 1

2009-10-20T08:57:00.003-05:00

Phi Sigma Pi members Allie Reed (center) and Kristie Harms dance at the Big/Little Social at the Empire Roller Rink Wednesday, October 14, 2009. Phi Sigma Pi is a coed honors fraternity and student organization. Although its name is in Greek, Phi Sigma Pi is not connected to the national Greek Organizations on college campuses.

So here is my first take for Single Flash for Advanced Techniques. Hard.

New letterpress project up soon!

peace, love, and whatnot,

-rob

Letterpress Business Cards

2009-10-15T10:21:00.004-05:00

Hey guys,

I'm in a letterpress class right now, and our first assignment was to make our own business cards. Here is mine!

Unfortunately, the class isn't offered this Fall! Sorry guys!

Take it! It's fun!

peace, love, and whatnot,

-rob

Metal and Glass

2009-10-12T21:46:00.004-05:00

I did glass! The Fonz rocks!

The select:

An outtake:

Another outtake:

peace, love, and whatnot,

-rob

Classmate Portrait

2009-10-01T01:02:00.006-05:00

Select

Lighting Diagram

Outtake. I hate Blogger's photo compression. I need to make a new flickr.

peace, love, and whatnot,

-rob

Portrait

2009-09-17T00:00:00.002-05:00

Vladimir Putin by "Platon"

Here is a link to his website: http://www.platonphoto.com/

peace, love, and whatnot,

-rob

Copy Test, Meter Calibration, Daylight and Tungsten Exploration

2009-09-10T01:11:00.009-05:00

Tungsten select

Daylight select

Copy Test emotional lighting

Copy Test Stump the Chump

Meter Calibration Select

I felt a bit in the dark with this assignment. It may be that I am not as independent-minded as I think I am, but without specific instructions of exactly what to shoot, I found myself having trouble finding subjects to shoot. I ended up taking my camera with me to a chapter meeting of my honors fraternity Phi Sigma Pi and made some images there. I felt though that by the time I was getting back in the zone of taking pictures, I had taken the requisite 30 images, and had to stop shooting. I’ll have to be very mindful of how many pictures I’ve taken in future assignments. Needless to say, the instructions on how to name and organize the final pictures were a little confusing.

I was trying a few different bracketing techniques here, and that’s partly what took up so many photos. I’m finding that occasionally my meter will have me over-exposing more than I need to. I shot at ISO 800, kept my shutter between1/15 and 1/45 and my aperture between f/11 and f/2.8.

Captions:

Phi Sigma Pi Honors Fraternity members Austin Schreiber, Kelly Collins, Jason Driskell, and Jack Horrell chat before a chapter meeting in Stewart Hall.

Austin Schreiber parks his bike outside Stewart Hall Tuesday, Sept. 8th before a Phi Sigma Pi chapter meeting.

peace, love, and whatnot,

-rob

SSA Day 3 - Water Polo and Ultimate Frisbee

2009-04-12T01:58:00.002-05:00

But mostly Ultimate. I am SO tired, and I have an 8:30 flight tomorrow. S'gonna suck.

peace, love, and whatnot,

-rob

SSA Day 2 - Track & Field

2009-04-11T02:47:00.004-05:00

For all you folks whose photos I put up just because I took a picture of you and gave you my blog address, lemme know what you think!

Tomorrow is going to be NUTS, I'm shooting water polo, beach volleyball, and lacrosse. S'gonna be crazy, so check back tomorrow.

peace, love, and whatnot,

-rob

Sports Shooter Academy Day 1 - Boxing

2009-04-10T03:37:00.003-05:00

So late, must sleep!

peace, love, and whatnot,

-rob

Some Design

2009-03-21T02:54:00.003-05:00

I recently declared a double major in Photojournalism and Graphic Design. I feel so much better about school now. I felt like graphic design is what I really wanted to do anyway, so I guess the photoj degree will be to help me stand out among other artists.

Anyway, here are some fliers I made for Indyground Entertainment, my current employer giving me a chance to work on my portfolio, both artistically and photographically.

Sorry, but that's all for now.

peace, love, and whatnot,

-rob

Columbia Hip Hop - Who Knew?

2009-01-31T11:19:00.003-06:00

My latest pics from the Indyground Monthly at the Blue Fugue here in Columbia. Some really great groups.

http://www.myspace.com/steddyp
http://www.myspace.com/earthworms
www.myspace.com/jbomb2009

peace, love, and whatnot,

-rob

Capital Wasteland

2009-01-12T14:17:00.002-06:00

M.S. Westerdam.

In Aruba, stores celebrate the year's final closing with champagne and fireworks. The fireworks are meant to scare away any bad spirits and give the store good luck for the following year. Between you and me, Aruba sounded like a war zone, but it was quite the party!

Can you tell me what it is?

This kid was watching the fireworks going off in an intersection ahead of the car. Traffic would stagnate for several minutes as the fireworks were going on in the street.

If you've played Fallout 3, I found the Capital Wasteland.

A Curacao bike cop watching over NO ONE because we were in port at 10 am on Jan. 1st. Everyone but than jewelry and electronic store owners were hungover and asleep. Curacao was kind of a bust.

peace, love, and whatnot,

-rob

2008-12-14T20:23:00.005-06:00

Open publication

click on "Open Publication" and view it bigger.

Here's my current porfolio... needs work. I have too many "artsy" photos. I need more photojournalistic ones.

thats all for now!

peace, love, and whatnot,

-rob

Final Project!

2008-12-10T10:21:00.006-06:00

Thanks firstly to my photo class for their help, and to Anjali Pinto and Will Lounsbury for some late guidance that really helped. Also, thanks for Esten Hurtle for putting up with me when i had a million questions about getting this thing hosted online, and to Patrick Fallon for helping me find the embed code!

peace, love, and whatnot,

-rob

Final Project Teasers

2008-12-01T15:28:00.002-06:00

I swear to god, Blogger has terrible photo compression. These colors are terrible and far from the truth.

Anyway, check it out, 2 teasers from my final project, looking at Columbia hip hop.

The final product will be up before too long.

peace, love, and whatnot,

-rob

Pigeon John at Mad Real Mondays...

2008-11-13T01:55:00.007-06:00

...was the shit. if you like hip hop at all you're seriously missing out on some great shows this week. Please, if nothing else at Bluebird Fesitval, go see Atmosphere.

It's Atmosphere. It WILL be awesome.

And I'll hopefully be taking pictures there! :)

Of course, blogspot kills the color on these. I need to get an unlimted Flickr account so i can upload them from there...

peace, love, and whatnot,

-rob

Possible Pictorals?

2008-11-08T02:26:00.002-06:00

I need a "Pictoral" photograph for my photo class. These are my first choices. The assignment reads "Think Color, Think Environment, Think Moment". Which of these do you think fits that better?

It may be time for a re-shoot.

If I wasn't in school, I would still be super busy. Gahh

peace, love, and whatnot,

-rob

Classmate assignment Final Takes, Final Project Environmental Portrait

2008-10-25T12:06:00.006-05:00

Ok seriously, I'm gonna try to keep the posts coming more frequently. Will, Anjali, Cyrus, Y'all are puttin me to shame.

Here is the final edit for the classmate project.

David said they were too dark, and were therefore "unreachable" which i can understand. I'm pretty happy with them though.

Here is my Final Project Environmental Portrait.

[Cutline] Kansas City native and MU grad Ray Pierce, better known by his hip-hop moniker Steddy P, is not only an MC, but also started Indyground Records, his own record label, in December 2004. Before Steddy began promoting and performing at Sapphire Lounge’s “Mad Real Mondays”, a weekly hip hop show for local artists, Columbia hip-hop was in need of a catalyst. “Mad Real Mondays was definitely a catalyst,” said Steddy. “We’ve been doing our thing for the past 3, 4 years. Now [Columbia] is recognized as a legitimate hip-hop scene... where a national artist will come and tour.” Steddy and Indyground Records also promote the “Indyground Monthly”, a monthly showcase of artists and friends of the label at Columbia’s Blue Fugue.

[Cutline] At his apartment in Westport in downtown Kansas City, Steddy’s record collection and sound equipment sit side by side with his desk, each equally important in his day-to-day life. He rarely makes his own beats anymore, but keeps the equipment for it simply for the joy of mixing and scratching.

peace, love, and whatnot

-rob

Been Busy

2008-09-28T00:20:00.016-05:00

So the logic board was bad. That's an $1,100 fix for a machine that's two months out of warranty.

I bought a new 15" 2.4GHz MacBook Pro... and that's cool... you know.. gettin new electronics and all. But having to pay for it sucks. At least I'm in warranty now. Classic case of learning the hard way.

Anyhoo, i got a few photos to show you all, soo...

This was an assignment for my PhotoJ class. We were told to capture honest emotion, which is a steeper task than you may think when you're trying to shoot people other than your friends at places you don't necessarily know.

The first photo is the original. I wasn't sure if I liked it, but I couldn't have told you why. I met with David Rees, our professor, to talk to him about it, and he pointed out the distracting background. "I wish you had used a different lens" he said. Yeah, so do I. Had I happened to be standing across the park with a 135mm f1.8 lens, I may have gotten the desired effect, but this was the all my 18-50 f2.8 could muster at 20mm. Live and learn.

I was messing around with the photo in one of the labs when another student, Jared Henderson, a grad student, pointed out the relationship between the cop and the two kids right in front of her, and suggested I consider cropping it. I thought it was a good idea, so there it is. Thanks Jared.

These are my shots for our assignment called "Human Interaction". The first few were shot at Stankowski Field. It was a terrible lighting situation, trying to freeze quick movement at 1/40sec. Yeah, I could have gone passed ISO 1600, but that noise kills it for me.

Anyhoo, these were some cool kids, so I took their individuals portraits for funnzies.

I ended up shooting at a Latin Dance class completely by chance. I was walking to the library to study some Bio, and had grabbed my camera hoping to maybe find some subtle interaction there, but heard some music through an open window in Memorial Union, saw people dancing, and decided to see what there was to see.

I turned in the last one, but included the other two because I had originally been deciding between those two. Again, the lighting situation was less than ideal, but that's probably more the case than great lighting situations.

Now for something more recent! My mom came on down for Family Weekend and we went to the football game! w00t! She had to buy some Mizzou gear down at the good ol' Walmart...

Our latest assignment for PhotoJ is the classmate project, where we document a classmate of our PhotoJ class. We're supposed to strive to not shoot a "day in the life" but more to try to really explore this person. It's been a lot of fun so far.

I got my new friend Eve Edelheit, and I'm trying to document the multifacted life she leads into a neat set of a few pictures. My "thesis" for her is pretty much how she is trying to get better grades this year after what she's called a "freshman year experience". So I try to get photos of her studying but also trying to maintain a social life. She is from Minneapolis and has a strong connection to home and her family. Lastly, she comes from a Jewish family, and while she may not identify with every one of the religion's points, she is still very culturally Jewish, so that is also a point I have yet to explore.

I have shot with her only twice, once at a party and another at her boyfriend's room studying and watching the presidential debates.

(having trouble picking between these two, any help?)

Take care

peace, love, and whatnot

-rob

2008-09-25T23:41:00.003-05:00

So here's the deal folks.

I have plenty, and i do mean plenty to show you all. Takes from my honest emotion assignment, human interaction assignment, the final edits of each of those, then my first takes of Eve for the classmate assignment. I would really love nothing more than to post these things.

On top of that, i dropped my Spanish 3 class which was sucking all my time away, so i even have the TIME to post!

but here's the clincher! my computer is in the shop! hooooo boy!

yep. My 2.2 GHz MacBook Pro, just two months and one year (read, two months out of warranty) after purchase, will do nothing when i press the power button.

Things that should happen when you press the power button on 2.2GHz 15" MacBook Pro:
1) start-up sound
2) Screen light up
3) turn the F*&$ on

What would happen when i press the power button on my 2.2GHz 15" Macbook Pro:
1) not a god-damn thing

SO, I took it to the "Mac X-perts". Took it to them on Monday. I may have a diagnosis tomorrow (BUTTF&*$ FRIDAY) of what's wrong with it.

I don't want to jinx myself and say "With my luck it'll be this part or that part", so ill let ya know when I know what the problem is.

Until then, I am unable to upload pictures.

So there you have it.

Pray for me.

peace, love, and whatnot

-rob

Breaking the Ice

2008-09-05T15:26:00.005-05:00

This assignment for my PhotoJ Fundamentals was called "Breaking the Ice". Our mission was to take portraits of ten people we do not know. I would walk around downtown Columbia and approach people asking explaining to them what was hoping to do. Here are the ten i got!

I'm hoping to get a hold of one my subjects again and talk to him about shooting with him further. Ricky T. if you're reading this can you email me (rkbratney@yahoo.com) or leave a comment as a guest at the end of this post with your email! I have something very important to talk to you about!

Ok, here we go; the ten pictures, in the order I took them.

Brandon

Ryan
Cami

Artis

Mark

Jenni

Ricky

Nyoka

Eddie

Red Dog

I like Eddie the best. What a great face.

peace, love, and whatnot

-rob

What's in Your Pocket?

2008-09-05T14:55:00.005-05:00

Hello again everyone! After a month or two hiatus, I'm back and ready to continue taking pictures!

This semester, I'm taking my first photo class, J4556, Fundamentals of Photojournalism. That means I will have plenty of pictures to keep this thing updated, so keep checking back!

Our first project for the class was called "What's in Your Pocket?". We were set loose upon downtown Columbia and told to approach random strangers and ask to photograph the contents of their pockets.

This is Rob Wilhelm. I found him trying to reach someone on his cell phone outside Snapper's Bar. I explained to him my assignment and got some background info from him. Rob's a biker, his Harley was just a few feet from where we were speaking. Because he's on the road for long periods of time, he has to take his whole life with him wherever he goes. It took him a few minutes just to unload everything from his pockets, and then he couldn't even hold all of it, so we had to pick and choose what he would display.

We have a three pill bottles, two collapsible combs, four pocket knives, and his ID and bike insurance in a plastic bag.

I think the tattoos and design on the shirt, not to mention the camo pants, add a touch of personality even though you can't see his face.

That's all for this project!

peace, love, and whatnot

-rob

When I'm not in Nebraska...

2008-06-21T21:09:00.008-05:00

...I have a lot of fun at home!

we got lots of photos! woo!

ok, two things.

so my friend Cyrus and I went downtown to take pictures. I got some cool ones of him inside Union Station, but knowing Blogger, the excellent color which I have worked so hard to obtain in photoshop will be sadly understated through this poor photo compression. awesome.

also, my friend and high school drama teacher asked me to take some photos of her baby for his first birthday, so I'm put some of those up!

and one other thing! I got a new camera rig! this one is for the gear heads out there... I got a new Nikon D80, body only, and bought separately a Sigma 18-50mm f/2.8 EX DC HSM Macro lens... its pretty much sweet. I'm beginning to invest in good lenses. Good lenses will last you a LOT longer than a new camera will anymore... it seems every 6 months there is a bigger, better camera. Those lenses though, will fit any (of the same brand's) future camera bodies, so stock up on them and you'll save money in the long run AND take better pictures! woo!

go go gadget photo blog!

illegal.

that's it for now, hope everything is well with everyone!

peace, love, and whatnot

-rob

Farmer's Tans

2008-06-17T20:30:00.006-05:00

We have bad ones.

Here's the back story. My friend Mike and I are working for my grandpa's company this summer, working construction. We are on a cement crew, working on a job site up near Wahoo, Nebraska, which is about 45 minutes west of Omaha. We stay at a hotel in Fremont, which is about a half hour (thanks to the 20 mph zones through most of Fremont) from Wahoo. We stay so far away because Fremont, population of about 25,000, has many more restaurants and shops than Wahoo, population about 4,000. Sadly, one of the main reasons we stay in Fremont is also because it has a Wal-Mart, which is sad that it's important. It's just easier when we need to buy a few clothes, groceries, or whatever else Wal-Mart sells because the only comparable store in Wahoo (where we originally stayed due to its proximity to the job site) is a small grocery store, which was not enough. We found ourselves making Wal-Mart runs all the way to Fremont which turns the trip into an hour and a half endeavor. and that sucks.

We are building an ethanol plant, which I guess is neat... however it is funny to consider the amount of gasoline being burned to create said ethanol plant. 2-ton forklifts and other large machinery sit idle for long periods of time, gasoline-powered generators crank away for hours at a time, powering only a few small hand-held tools, infrequently. In any case, it's a "non-green" method to create a "green" product.

Anyhoo, our weeks are a little different than most. Instead of 5 day weeks and 2 day weekends, we work 10 day weeks and 4 day weekends. I'm writing this during our second 10 day week, finishing this Thursday.

The work has not been too hard. The first few days (of the last ten) were the hardest, but not for the reasons you'd expect. We worked hard the first few days, but after that, there was less to do. The parent company that our company is working for is very unorganized, and is making getting any work done a big hassle. Since then, work has been infrequent and short-lived. It really makes the days go by a lot slower, and makes me feel useless. Out here, in this setting, I want to work to I can feel like I'm actually getting something accomplished.

All that said, now it's time to see the pictures. The theme of which is essentially "look how dirty you can get when you play in a big hole in the ground for ten days at a time". please enjoy.

This is our stock of food at our first hotel, in Wahoo.

Mike. First morning. roughly 6am. He's feelin good.

Dirty clothes!

Before:

After:

That's from the first day, which was particularly dirty. We were moving these big steel concrete forms, each about 60lbs, and they were all oiled up. All that oil, therefore, got on us. This sweater, also from the first day of work, paints a pretty good picture too.

That's mostly oil and rust, a little dirt. You can see where I would rest the forms to haul them on the chest.

This actually looks a little tame compared to what we have now... Pretty nice, eh?

Note Mike's arm, rather the filth covering it. Also, the bandanna had formed and stuck into a dome shape.

Well, there it is. Dirty, dirty, dirty boys are we, working a tough summer job but gettin' paid. S'alright.

peace, love, and whatnot

-rob

2008-06-02T15:23:00.005-05:00

You'll have to forgive me. I've been taking a few pictures while I'm up here working this construction job in Nebraska, and I do plan on uploading the gems I've gotten (farmer's tans, clothes that give new meaning to "dirty", etc.). However, I forgot to bring my SD card reader, so my photos must just sit on my camera until I get home (Thursday the 5th).

So for now I've started spending my extra time in Photoshop, using it as an illustrator and art tool rather than just a photo editing tool. I'm coming to the realization that whatever there is to learn in Photoshop, I'll probably have to teach myself. I don't think any of the classes I'll have to take to get my minor in art will cover the advanced techniques I'm interested in mastering.

I've begun reading the UK-based magazine"Advanced Photoshop" and it's really helping. Each issue has tutorials to do really cool effects and includes a CD with necessary files. Anyhoo, one thing the magazine says is a good canvas to practice on is desktop backgrounds. So, I've started trying to make some.

I've been listening to The Roots a lot recently, so I made a desktop with them as the theme. Check it out.

Went from this:

To this:

I'm gonna keep making these for myself. If for some reason you'd like me to make you one, just give me a theme or something and I'll see what I can do!

From this:

To this:

From this:

To this:

Soooo, how's everyone else? This construction job hasn't been too tough so far. I'm up near Wahoo, Nebraska, though Mike and I (my buddy whose working this with me) are staying in a town about 20 miles from Wahoo called Fremont. Fremont is significantly bigger than Wahoo, and Mike and I decided we wanted to be near more restaurants, more stores, etc. so we moved on over to Fremont.

I'll hopefully be updating soon with pictures from me construction job!

peace, love, and whatnot

-rob

New England Vacation Day 8 (Last Day!)

2008-05-25T01:01:00.005-05:00

Sorry to get such a late start here folks. Today was only a half day in Boston, my plane left at around 4:30 pm and i didnt get in to KC until 9:30. Then i had to see some friends, etc. etc, anyway, here i am now, ready to update for the last time over the New England Trip.

With such a short time left in the city, all we really had time for was the aquarium, which was pretty cool, but a madhouse full of little brats on a Saturday morning.

This is where parents would try to manage their brats, but it was no use. The place had already been overrun.

The penguins were definitely a central part of the aquarium, and were a lot of fun to watch.

The main attraction at the aquarium is the 200,000 gallon 26 ft. tall cylindrical center aquarium that holds all sorts of fish, sting rays, sharks, and turtles.

This is the top of it, where people were able to ask an aquarium employee ass sorts of questions.

This turtle (not the same in both photos) is their largest and oldest turtle. It is estimated at around 75 years old, but some experts have apparently guessed it could be up to twice that. It's weight, though, is no mystery. 550 lbs. she was HUGE. About the size of a Volkswagen beetle. No lie.

The fur seals were spry little devils who put on a show.

After the aquarium, my mom and I walked downtown with the vague goal of reaching an H&M store, but not having any real way to find out how to get there. I had a HAZY idea of what direction to take, to be sure, but we found it without any trouble. I took a few photos on the way through the city.

So I'm sorry to say my trip has come to an end. It is definitely good to be home, though I leave again on Tuesday to start a construction job up in Wahoo, Nebraska that has a hectic schedule. I don't know if I will have much to take pictures of, but we'll see. I have some rough plans to visit Denver later this summer, so if that happens, I'll definitely document that trip the same way. thank you for reading if you've been keeping up! take care all!

peace, love, and whatnot

-rob

New England Vacation Day 7

2008-05-23T21:24:00.004-05:00

OK! lets get this going.

Today was actually pretty slow. Too bad too, I leave tomorrow afternoon.

We saw a farmer's market sort of thing along one street, so we stopped there. It was also a fish market. I LOVE fish markets. couldn't tell you why. maybe me just pining for my long lost Seattle days? who knows? Pike street was (still is, too) an awesome part of town...

But anyway, after that, we went to the USS Constitution. It was built in the late 1700s, and is the oldest commissioned battleship still afloat. She never lost a battle, etc etc, is a perfect ship and is a symbol of American pride and perseverance, blah blah blah.

There was one thing they were really proud about, in regards to the shit. Her nickname is "Old Ironsides" and you'll that same G&$ damn story about 20 f$*%$ing times between visiting the ship, reading the plaques, and visiting the museum and gift shop.

We get it. The British Ship had some wet gun powder, so the cannon balls weren't able to fly as fast, so when they hit the side of the ship, they bounced off. "Huzzah, her sides are make of iron!" great. interesting the first time, but really, I don't think you need to sell shirts with the saying on it.

hard work vs. weak cannons. not hard math.

ANNYYWHOO

At one point, we went to Prudential Center, which has just about every shop imaginable, one of which was a store called Teavana. They sold very nice tea sets and very expensive teas.

Later on (this is very broad, we did more and traveled other places between this, it's just that none of that was very photogenic... I can't really remember where the day went) we went up to visit Harvard.

Will some Bostonian reading this please fill me in on what this building is? It's on Harvard's campus... I just have no idea what it is.

This kid was waiting with us on the way back into town from Harvard. He didn't know i was watching, but he was all dancing to himself, singing under his breath and snapping his fingers. It was really neat to watch him, he was all into himself, and actually pretty good. He raised his hands in the air, and it was actually really nice to see a person being that free out in public. I had just intended to take a picture of the exit sign, then they walked up. I hadn't seen him dance yet when I took the photo, but I was glad i got his picture once I had.

And lastly, the pano. I took 14 picture of the great view of the city afforded to me by the observation deck in the Prudential Building.

I'm home tomorrow night!

peace, love, and whatnot

-rob

New England Vacation Day 6

2008-05-22T21:55:00.010-05:00

Boston.

It feels good to be back in a big city. As much as I love rural areas, I have a lot of fun in a city.

Lets start at the beginning of the day. It's a bit late, and I'm tired from walking all over today, so I may be a little short in my explanations.

Here's the bed in our Westin Hotel! 5 stars baby!

Oh, I'm sorry... did you think that was my bed? Surely not! I get the roll-away cot. yippy. Dah well, I'm closer to the window (and the view) and it's pretty comfortable despite itself.

Speaking of the view from our room, there it is. Downtown Boston in all its glory. That big plane hanger between me and the city is the new convention center.

First stop, Boston Common. Look at that date! You don't see too much of that around the US. Boston Common is a big park in downtown Boston (think along the lines of a smaller Central Park in NYC).

Here is the tomb of Paul Revere, with our costumed tour guide. He was really great; a history teacher.

This is Paul Revere's house... there were more things than Paul Revere-related things on the Freedom Trail, I promise.

Final stop was the Old North Church... siigh.. where Paul Revere (Really, there were a lot of interesting places relevant to people like Benjamin Franklin, John Hancock, George Washington, etc. etc., they just didn't make good pictures, Paul Revere was not the centerpiece of the Freedom Trail, I swear!) did the whole "One if by land, two if by sea" blahdy, blah.

The inside of the church, and one of the pews. Each of the pews are little cells, which i thought was neat. The original idea behind that behind heat-conservation. The little cells, along with a little foot warmer helps makes services in the pre-electricity church a little more bearable.

This was neat, though unrelated to the Revolutionary War. These are all dog tags, one for each soldier killed in the middle east. sad stuff.

This was taken mainly for Cyrus, the architecture major. This is Boston's city hall. It was voted the nation's ugliest city hall. Thoughts?

A church on Newburry Street.

We came back later and ate dinner along this street, Salem Street, at a tiny hole in wall gem called Al Dente. pastaaaa

This guy was playing on pots and pans n' the like. I really enjoyed watching him.

Sharp looking building in Copley. Wish I knew what it was.

Beautiful city they got here.

I tried to do a few panos, but they didn't really turn out. I'll put em up anyway.

All this New England traveling has me listening to songs about New England. So what better song that Big D and the Kid's Table's cover of Jonathan Richman's "New England"? You may need to create an Imeem account to listen, but it's a cool site with tons of free (streaming) music, so go ahead and sign yourself up.

New England - Big D And The Kids Table

peace, love, and whatnot

-rob

New England Vacation Day 5

2008-05-21T21:16:00.006-05:00

Whew. I found "Maine" today! You know, that "Maine" you see in pictures and hear the hippies talking about? Yeah, that.

As far as having much to talk about, I'm afraid today was another one of those days where we mostly drove. We woke up this morning in Bar Harbor, Maine, and drove (albeit leisurely) to Portland, Maine. Old Downtown Portland is really beautiful, with a lot of really neat shops and restaurants. It's really a lot more than i was expecting.

So, quick overview of the day, after leaving Bar Harbor, we drove into Acadia National Park and drove to the top of Cadillac Summit, which is the tallest point on the eastern seaboard (all measly 1,500 feet of it!)! They say if you watch the sunrise from up there, you are the first people to see the sun in the US for that day. Kinda neat to think about.

Anyway, you'll see the pictures from the lookout on top of Cadillac Summit. We drove along the Atlantic on Highway 1, and ate lunch in Camden (pretty much one big Maine postcard).

So here we go, lets let the photos talk for themselves.

On top of the world, they are.

All of those ^ were taken in Acadia National Park. This last one, i was trying to make into really smooth water, but in the middle of the day, the slowest i could get my shutter was 1/4 at f/22. laaaame.

Then on we moved to Camden, the postcard for Maine.

This one is my favorite from today. I had the hardest time deciding if I should put it on here in color or black and white.

There was a cute little family market in Camden (how often do you see them anymore? too bad too, it was really nice) and i took some photos of their produce, which was sitting in the front window.

Gotta love the 50mm f/1.4.

Last stop today was in Portland, Maine. We went looking for a pretty lighthouse, but wound up at a different one... that wasn't quite at pretty. In any case, I got some great sunset photos. I also touched a real lighthouse! It was a long walk out there.

See?

Yep, couldn't decide between the two. But i LOVE big sky shots... please take time to enjoy how big it looks in these photos.

And lastly, what has become the almost-daily pano.

Check back tomorrow!

peace, love, and whatnot

-rob

New England Vacation Day 4

2008-05-20T20:35:00.007-05:00

Today was mostly a driving day, starting at around 10am in North Conway, New Hampshire, and ending at 4pm in Bar Harbor, Maine. I was worried for a while, because I found that Maine... at least inland Maine... is not that scenic... to my surprise. The coast, however, is very nice! Anyway, my point was that I was worried I wouldn't have any pictures for you all tonight (well, for Kaitlin at least)

Sorry I don't have more to talke about... was pretty uneventful. I think I'll just post the pictures along with a short explanation.

You see that temperature? It has been about that everyday... a little cold. And by the way, Taylor. I don't know if you've realized, but there are about a million companies named Taylor that make about a million products with their company's name on it. I am constantly reminded of you. And that goes to the three Taylors I am close with, Taylor Glascock, Krones, and Ohman.

Here we are in Bar Harbor, Maine. My mom and aunt can be funny when they want to.

I had my first Maine Lobster tonight aaaand it was delicious! only cost $37 (but it wasn't my $37, so why count?)!

They were biiiig. Note the bibs. I opted out of wearing mine, and got butter on my new red shirt. Then i learned that butter doesnt just evaporate and disappear like water would. Dammit.

The rest of these photos were all taken down by the bay (harbor?), very near out hotel. They look like Maine, so please enjoy (and comment? please!)

peace, love, and whatnot

-rob

New England Vacation Day 3

2008-05-19T21:18:00.012-05:00

Day 3 has been great. I woke up this morning in Burlington, Vermont, which is on the north western end of Vermont. Tonight I am in North Conway, which is on the eastern edge of New Hampshire. Today was mostly a driving day. In a nut shell, we went to the Von Trapp Family Lodge (pretty unexciting, i have no pictures from there), we went on a tour of one of two main Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream factory (free samples!!!), saw some beautiful rural Vermont and New Hampshire, and checked out a farm that used to be in my family. That requires a lot of explanation which I'll handle later.

First Stop: Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream factory!!

Out behind the factory they have a "Flavor Graveyard" set up for all the retired flavors. The only retired flavor I was aware of was Phil's favorite "Godfather" which was not in the graveyard, so it must not be complete, or at least updated. Out tour guide told us the company has to come up with at least 5 new flavors each year, but also must retire 5 flavors. The factory can only make 2 flavors at a time, and while i was there they were making "Half Baked" and "Cherry Garcia".

There are two factories for the sole purpose of making the ice cream (there are a few other factories owned by the larger company that owns Ben & Jerry's which does produce some of their ice cream, but they also make other products in the plant. Between the two Ben & Jerry's factories they produce 85% of the worldwide stock. And they can only make two flavors at a time in each factory. I think the tour guide said they make about 250,000 pints per day, per factory. caarraaazzzyyyy

Once we left the factory, we headed east, and would occasionally stop along the side of the road to take pictures. We were headed toward an old family farm, on my grandmother's side. Here's the story.

My grandma's maiden name is Warden, and some relative of hers (some other Warden I'm not sure of) owned a farm in rural Vermont until about 10-20 years ago. The farm had been in the family for literally about 250 (+/- 25) years, and the family, because they had been there so long, were really important and prominent in the small community. A divorce had apparently taken it out of the family for a short time, but we later learned another Warden, David, a very very distant relative (probably going bake three or four generations before finding the common relative) now owns the land, so it is back in the family. You can see the Warden name everywhere around the area. The farm is still there, and that was our main destination for today, though we had heard (and later found out) that it had fallen into disrepair.

So like I said, you can find the Warden name everywhere in the town, especially the local graveyard. The road that the farm sits on is called Warden Rd, probably because they had been there for so long, the road simply became known as "their" road.

I took a picture of all the Warden names I saw, mostly in the graveyard. Some of these are hard to see, but they're there. Some of the dates go back to the 1830s, others are as recently laid as 2000.

A sexton is a person who looks after a church yard, and were in earlier times gravediggers. We met David Warden, a man of about 70, planting flowers in the graveyard today, and William Warden, the sexton for the graveyard, is his son. These are very distant relatives of mine. Here is David.

And here is the Warden Family Farm.

Just to the left of the house, still a part of the land:

A really beautiful plot of land. There is a pond, marked even on the map as "Warden's Pond" right on this land too, though I wasn't able to get a picture of it. There is also a few tilled plots of land which would normally be used for crops, but are just sitting there now.

So it was all very interesting to get to this place where my family has been for years and years, I sort of felt like I belonged there... I think, if I were to have the chance to buy that farm land when I am much older, fixing it all up and making it a big Bratney Family destination would be something I would very much enjoy.

Now please enjoy other picture I took of the graveyard and other scenic spots around Vermont and New Hampshire.

This is a panography of the view from the road very near the church and family farm. check it out! it was made with 21 pictures i think.

On the way to the family farm, we drove through a little town called Peacham. It was founded in 1776 (what a year!) and was so neat, I had to get a few photos.

I thought this was a funny little sign...

That's it for today! I am very happy with the photos i took! What a beautiful part of the country this is.

peace, love, and whatnot

-rob

New England Vacation Day 2

2008-05-18T20:45:00.006-05:00

Ok here we are, Day 2.

today was the day of my cousin Erin's graduation from med school up here in Vermont. But we'll get to that in a little bit.

Here is where we ate breakfast this morning, a great little place in Burlington.

After our great breakfast, we all had to go back our rat stall hotel to change into our snazzy digs for the graduation. And I looked pretty snaaazzy.

This next guy is Frank. Frank is awesome. He is my cousin's grandpa, my mom's sister's ex husband's father. WHEW, that is a mouthful. He's worn this green suit every St. Patrick's Day for a long long time, and my cousin, his granddaughter asked him to where it to her graduation.

He was making fun of fake smiles, so he showed me his. He calls it his "Chorus Girl Face".

His button cracks me up.

My beautiful mother.

These were all taken at the graduation, which was held in a beautiful church.

Damn you, Blogger, for ruining colors... The sky looks MUCH bluer..

My cousin Erin had some troubles when she went up on stage to get her hood. Behold.

Here we are with all the frantic parents trying to documentdocumentdocument.

Check back again tomorrow, I'll be uploading then. Tomorrow is mostly on the road, so who knows what kind of photos I'll have.

peace, love, and whatnot

-rob

New England Vacation Day 1

2008-05-17T22:20:00.014-05:00

My cousin Eryn is graduating from Med school in Burlington, Vermont, so my mom and I are making a vacation out of it and planning to travel around New England. First stop: Burlington, Vermont.

Bored in the Atlanta Airport

My mom and I flew into Boston yesterday. We left KC at 9:51 am Friday morning and arrived in Boston, after making a connection it Atlanta, at around 3:30-4.

At the baggage claim in Boston, it slowly became apparent that my bag had not arrived. The very nice man at AirTran claims let us know that the next flight from Atlanta was arriving in about an hour and a half. My mom would go get the rental car, and i would hang out near the baggage claim reading my book, "On the Road" by Kerouac. I ended up just talking to people most the time, the first being a mother who had lived in Boston all her life, and her son Dillon. He was probably 2 and he was all smiles. The second guy i talked to, I never learned his name, but he was originally from Bangladesh and had come to the US to get a good education. He was stuck in a job at the airport at a soda/magazine/candy stand, and i gave him some feeble suggestions to go talk to bank about getting a loan for some schooling. He didnt speak much English, but he kept telling me about how his Muslim roommate gave him "a very very hard time" for being Hindu. When he didnt know what to say, instead of saying "uhhh.." he would say "sooooo". He wouldnt let me take his picture.

Bored in Logan Airport, in Boston, waiting for my bag.

OK, so my bag was luckily on the next flight, and we drove the three and a half hours from Boston to Burlington, Vermont. This is definitely a beautiful part of the country. Our Days Inn, however, is shitty shitty shitty. I actually found out just tonight that all the rooms in this wing are being renovated, and we are the last people to stay in them. Good thing too. The fluorescent light in the bathroom fell out of its socket when i tried to fix its flickering. The ceiling above my Aunt's bed looks like it's about to collapse. Theres a big crack in the window. The smell of cigarettes and industrial cleaner leak through under the door... this place is gross.

Out and about, we drove by Lake Champlain, and hung out downtown.

A few bird watchers on Lake Champlain. They said always have an eye out for Champ too, the North American Lock Ness Monster.

One end of the main drag through downtown Burlington, Vermont, Church Street, though no cars can drive on it.

We went to a really cool store that sold a lot of wooden furniture, and it was great.

I want to live here.

I really, REALLY, want to live here. Not with all the stuff for sale still there, but you know, make it livable. The first two photos of this store were taken on the floor above this. I love how it's so open, how there are multiple levels on the main floor, the hard wood floors, the huge windows, the brick, the pipes, etc.

But anywho, today was nice. We saw downtown Burlington, which is all a cobblestone walking area kinda thing. After a while, my family (my mom, my aunt Barbara, her two kids and my cousins Ryan and Eryn, and their dad's dad Frank) went on what was essentially a Booze Cruise on Lake Champlain. The two hour cruise had been organized for the graduating med school class of 2008, which means my cousin. It was a nice time, the lake was pretty.

This is the view of the Adirondack Mountains in Upstate New York, as seen from Burlington, Vermont.

Then we went to a mediocre Italian joint over in a close-by town, Winooski, and i got a few shots of a small waterfall.

This is Papa Frank's, where we ate. It was ok, i think everyone who got any pasta had wished all the sauces were a bit creamier; all of our noodles seemed dry and hard to swallow. Or maybe we're all spoiled by Olive Garden, who knows?

Here are two of the three shots I was able to take before my family rushed me away (The major obstacle in getting good photos on a family vacation). These were taken at around 20" and f/29. I like them, the blue night light is nice.

Then i got bored on the car ride home, so i did these lame things in the car.

As usual, Blogger messes up the colors i edit into these things... damn.
Now im back in this condemned hotel room. Check back tomorrow for the update!

peace, love, and whatnot

-rob

There is always a sunrise somewhere

2008-05-10T02:51:00.005-05:00

Tomorrow
Tell me where will you wake up
Beyond title
Beyond lease, career, and laws
Something more than borders on a map

And the sun's always rising in the sky somewhere.
-Tom Gabel

I guess I'll deal with that first.

At our most basic, what are we? Beyond our titles - our Mr. or Mrs, our Dr, our P.H.D., beyond the bounds held by our current housing situation, whatever it may be, beyond the laws applied to us, and beyond what part of town we're from, beyond what city we're from, beyond what country we're from, what are we?

We are humans. Why is that so easy to forget? Things like religion, income level, education, diet, nationality, habits, skin color, all get in the way of that...

What am I even talking about?

There are times in music when a certain melody really grabs hold of me and takes me exactly where I want to go.

Here I'd like to deal with three things.
1) friends from high school
2) judgment, and first impressions
3) befriending people on Facebook

in that order.

I guess this doesn't just apply to guys I know from high school, there are definitely people like this here at college.

Where do the boring people come from? I've noticed more and more lately that there is this "genre" of person that I cannot... figure out, for lack of a better phrase. What bothers me about it is they appear to simply have no personality. There is nothing memorable, distinguishable, or altogether unique about them. You see them with their friends, they look the same, they act the same, there is an apparent herd mentality here.

My question is how does it happen? Were you raised in such a colorless suburban setting with such humdrum parents that you grew up with no quirks, no talents (at least none that your dull day to day life uncovered), an average intelligence (which you most likely squander), and absolutely no motivation? Do you see the whole picture here? Is college to you anything more than that which simply comes after high school? Do you understand that life won't always be handed to you, and that independence is a goal that must be worked for?

GOD, get your head out of your ass and take a goddamn look around. There is a future that we, at this age, are working towards, and if you continue to float through the work it takes to secure that future, you're going to end up in a bad place.

who knows, maybe I just need to talk to more people.

OK, number 2

as the preceding paragraphs may have helped to indicate, there is a lot of judgment of other people going on on my part. Admittedly, I have been judging others more and more. But I don't think that in itself is a bad thing.

When judging other people and first impressions become a bad thing is when you can't allow yourself to get over that initial first impression. The key is being open to the fact that I do NOT know that person and they could be radically different from how I've pinned them, AND being able to readily accept that your first impression was wrong.

Thirdly

I'm sure this happens to all of us Facebook users.

Simply because we went to the same high school, that does not mean we should be friends on Facebook. Why do we have friends on Facebook? To keep up to date with what people we are interested in and care about are up to. I'm interested in knowing when Jeremy will be playing another show with his band, I'm interested in knowing how Cody is doing down in Georgia, or Tyson in Florida, or Cyrus in Chicago.

But, if we rarely spoke in high school, don't share any mutual friends, and still don't speak, there is not much point in being Facebook friends. We obviously have no interest in each other's goings-on, or any investment in how the other is dealing with this or that. It isn't a bad thing, it's just a practical thing. So, please don't take it personal if I decline your friend invitation, it is not because I actively don't like you, it's just that you or I don't really know each other and have never really shared concern for each other.

WOO, there all that is.

I was once in this same sort of mood, and I was writing about how, in regards to the infiniteness of time and space and the insignificance of our lives on this one-in-a-trillion planet, what difference it makes if i become an architect, or a lawyer, or whatever. And I haven't forgotten the message of one response to that post.

Sarah Mundy left me a comment saying that in life, on this planet, what matters is relationships, and how we affect the people we love.

So guess what I'm trying to say is just that. Maybe that's even the meaning of life. Relationships, and how we all act as people towards each other.

peace, love, and whatnot

-rob

One Acts poster, and a recent death

2008-05-08T23:12:00.003-05:00

One Acts, originally uploaded by RKBKC Photography!.

Just wanted to try out Flickr's new blogging capabilities. Flickr has MUCH better photo quality than Blogger (sorry Blogger). This is a flier i made for the one act festival back at my high school.

In other news, Austin Shipp, a guy whom I had good friends with in 5th grade but had since fallen out of touch with, died Thursday afternoon in a car wreck.

I do not know many details other than that.

I'm pretty close with his brother and really close with his brother's girlfriend, so it strikes pretty close to home. He was 19, had been in my graduating class.

Sad stuff, its all really too bad. If you are a religious or spiritual person, I ask you to keep the Shipp family in your prayers. They are having a hard night.

peace, love, and whatnot

-rob

British Sea Power

2008-05-02T16:28:00.008-05:00

I went to see British Sea Power at Mojo's last night. Turned out to be a pretty good show! Didn't know how it was gonna go, since when we arrived (an hour early, we later learned) there was absolutely no one there. It did eventually fill up. All the supa indie kids, most of whom were at least 5 years older than me, came out to enjoy the show.

Oh, and I took photos.

They had gone outside and simply torn off branches from trees and bushes and placed them all around the stage; tangled in wires on microphone stands, leaning on drums, etc.

This guy and the the guy in the next photo switched off playing guitar and bass and also switched as lead vocalist throughout the whole set.

Sorry for all the red. The black and whites were just too noisy. Gotta do something about this D50.

and damn, Blogger really kills the color on these.

They're a really neat band, you should check them out. And here are a few places to do that...

Imeem.com

Grooveshark.com

Myspace.com

Welp, that's it for now. It's a beautiful day outside so I'm going to go enjoy it. I have some reading of "On the Road" to do.

//UPDATE\\

I uploaded the photos from this show onto Flickr, and they look a lot better there.

peace, love, and whatnot

-rob

Arial Bold

2008-04-28T21:20:00.014-05:00

I see movies, I read books, I think of funny things, I write them down, I make them into weird minimalistic designs in Photoshop. Behold.

My friends back home in high school wanted me to design a poster for their One Act Fesitval coming up.

Still needs some work... I'm not sure I like the font on the date, not to mention I haven't inlcuded the time yet... That probably isn't all that is missing.

The red looks a lot different on here...

Then a few things I've done in the past which are also up on my Facebook...

So yeah, in addition to my photojournalism degree, I'm planning on getting a minor in Art; Graphic Design.

I've been considering going to grad school to pursue either photography or graphic design after Mizzou. I got a random link to the Academy of Art University in San Francisco and liked what I saw, so I sent away for an "information package".

Today in the mail I received said "information package". It's a book about the size of Jupiter and like, two sheets of paper. More package than information, really.

SO, who knows, maybe after my four or five years here, I'll have it in me to spend another hundred grand or so and go to grad school for something I love but has a low chance of getting me a job that pays well enough to pay off any debts I'll undoubtedly have.

Yay school!

Ooooh balls, now what?

Today was a worthless Monday. I have a Spanish quiz to study for. That is all my homework for tonight. Things I COULD do (have done):
1) Study for any of my finals which include Masterpieces of Western Music, Spanish II, or Journalism 1100 (A class about nothing...)
2)Work on either my final English paper (which is on the movie "Blade" strangely enough) OR the presentation I have to give in there on I do-not-yet-know.
3) Write another Journalism Event Paper. They're pretty much the bane of my existence.
4) Look over my choir music...
5) READ FOR FUN FOR ONCE - which I was actually able to do. I picked up "On the Road" for the first time in a good two months and read a chapter, then got distracted. Someone take this laptop away from me.
6) Punch babies, I don't know.

Any good quotes I could end this post with?

Ok, so while looking through my old Xanga for the quote I know I had put on there once, I found something which I think would be appropriate here.

I, sitting in my chair here at my house, am a part of an infinite amount of space called the universe. If it really is infinite, then i take up no space. The computer takes up no space, this chair takes up no space, the millions of billions of trillions of tons of matter on this one lonely planet take up no space.

So wouldn't you think then that the universe is not infinite? If it is infinite, then matter inside of it is not taking away room for anything else. But since we obviously are taking up space, then the universe must not be infinite.

Ok, so thats not the point I originally wanted to make. But I'm ok with it. Just...so much is going on and I don't feel like i know how to live life freely. Yes, I know how to live in this structured world. You wanna know the recipe? Do well in school, go to a good college, get a good (though not necessarily important or self-fulfilling) job, make a lot of money, retire early, vacation for 30 years, die. There ya go. But I don't feel like this structured world is what it necessarily should be.

What am I even getting at?

That still applies to my thinking today. That was posted August 24th, 2006. And it makes me think of another post I once did... lets see if I can find it.

Here we go:

It touches on a few things the last one did, but it goes a different direction with it.

OK OK OK OK.

I have a post.

I feel disillusioned - disenchanted.

I'm going to try to make a lot of very broad ideas come together.

Everyone I'm spending time with is disappointing me. People I thought I really liked, and who really liked me, are really just not being...friendly. They aren't being MEAN; I just don't feel like my affections are reciprocated.

I'm also unhappy with myself right now. I want to be creative, though unto what, I am at a loss.

I don't feel like I share anything with anyone.

There is SOMETHING more to life than being born, living, and dying. I'll try to break this down.

OK. Why are humans so special? What makes us so...self-involved? Why does it matter what I do with my life? What is my life? Why is it different from a chimp's? Or a butterfly's? What is society? Where did it come from? Did all those big names in philosophy and literature that you've always heard of, but never read, dictate our human thought, the knowledge of the human race?

Socrates? Aristotle? Marx? Darwin? Copernicus? Hypocrates? Thomas Aquinas? Marcus Aurelius? Thoreau? Hammurabi? Adam Smith?

Have they had a PHYSICAL impact on human thinking as we know it?

Ask yourself this. When growing up in the United States, children are taught that nudity is inappropriate. Why is this? Parisian children could simply turn on the television and watch pornography on basic cable - I've seen it myself. The answer is in America's history - specifically, that of the Puritans. The Puritans have had a physical impact on the way Americans think. The Puritans affect the way AMERICANS, over 300 million people, think. In America, nudity is simply taboo, and that is only because the Puritans with their ultra-conservative lifestyle, were the social norm at one time, and that conservative thinking has carried through. See how BROAD that is?

through what?

So again, what is this life? We are on a planet that is a part of an INFINITE universe. Try to really grasp that, though as humans, we really cannot fathom true infinity. Infinity - you say to yourself "ok, it's really big." which is true but misses the point. Imagine traveling through infinity. If you could somehow travel twice the speed of light in one direction for 1 billion years, you wouldn't reach an end; really, you would pretty much be in the same position you were before. In an infinite space, how does one designate direction or location?

Ok I'll try to wind this down to one of my points. IF we are a part of an INFINITE universe, and our planet is ONE in a collection of an INFINITE number of planets, why does it matter if I become an architect? or an engineer? or get good grades? This makes me think: there has GOT to be more than this. There is more to life than just living. I hate feeling like I sound pretentious, or like this is a slogan.

Conversely, here we are on this planet. We may live for 80 years, a single moment in a twitch in time. You're here - why not DO something with it? see what there is? Go to school, get good grades, go to a good college, get a good job, get a good paycheck and then RELAX! see the world! go to Egypt! and Australia! and China! and Italy! and Brazil! See what there is to SEE, and I mean really SEE it and appreciate it.

But, again, conversely, if we are so lonely of a planet, just a germ on a germ of a gnat, why should I not be able to see our little slice existence if I have no money to pay for travel? Why is money such a limitation?

Why was it so hard for people to get out of New Orleans for Katrina? Why couldn't they simply leave? Could they not afford to leave? How ridiculous is that! Here comes this monster of a storm, and though people want to leave, they simply don't have the means.

Of course, there were those idiots who were too prideful and jingoistic to leave "their city" (soon to be the Gulf's city).

Do you think there will be a similar situation if a catastrophic comet ever hits Earth? How will we handle that?

There is SOMETHING to this life that I haven't found yet.

A person? A hobby?

I'm tempted to throw caution to the wind and simply do what I feel is right.

And right now, I want to be creative. I want to put this aggression into something I can look at.

Dammit, i sound like Holden Caulfield.

Salinger is over-rated.

Most of his stuff was first published in the New Yorker, and that bothers me for some reason.

I'll cut it off right there. That was from June 8th 2006.

Anyway, back to that quote I was looking for. It's from the same post.

By Victor Hugo, from Les Miserables

"The plight of a child concerns its mother. The plight of a young man may concern a girl. But the plight of an old man concerns no one. It is the loneliest of all despairs."

I don't know why I thought of that, or what it has to do with anything here, but there it is.

peace, love, and whatnot

-rob

Hippie Fest (Earth Day 2008)

2008-04-21T14:18:00.022-05:00

Lets get to know Rob a bit.

I'm sorta cynical. I have trouble swallowing anyones or any organizations views whole. So, whenever I go somewhere where there is a lot of one sided opinion being shoved down throats, I'm very skeptical.

Earth Day is a perfect example.

April 20th, 2008:

Thousands of environmentally concerned citizens drive their SUVs and trucks to Peace Park in Columbia, MO to celebrate clean living.
Walking through the booths, I could not help but notice how many of the booths dealt with different methods of energy conservation and renewable energy sources.

These were all plugged into potatoes which here floating in water, of course.

Many of the booths also dealt with water conservation. Booths condemned plastic water bottles, because of the large amount of energy it takes to make just one. But they lost no opportunity to sell some!

It is not a big secret, what political views most people who take this stuff seriously subscribe to. Most are liberal... some are VERY liberal.

Some far-leftists believe in, for one, revolt against capitalism. Earth Day 2008 was all about revolting against capitalism. Everything sold was made by some sort of artisan, leaving large corporate vendors out of it.

These books were created by one man living in his mother's basement, gluing pages together.

This man personally made all these shirts by hand.

Also, they believe in the rejection of mainstream media.

I give this demographic a hard time. It's too idealistic for me, and i just don't agree with all their politics. That said, I think they have some good intentions, especially their environmental ethos. I make fun of it, because I think a lot of their methods just plain wouldn't work because they don't deal with mainstream tendencies of excess. If they could jive their values with practical ways of getting them done, I think they'd be a lot more popular.

I'm sorry to say I can't give you an example at the moment...

All that said, there were some good booths there that had some useful messages.

This booth sold products that use less energy, so they have a direct impact on people's wallets and the amount of energy consumed by their homes. +1 to them.

So, I suppose this was supposed to be a satire against far left politics, but lord knows it's feeble at best. I need to work on my journalistic photography. That will come with time.

In the meantime, here are some prettier photos.

Soooo thats it!

peace, love, and whatnot

-rob

ooooh nothing really...

2008-04-19T17:48:00.002-05:00

So it looks like this post is pretty much gonna be my "Spring thus far" post.

"Spring thus far" in photos, that is.

And who knows, maybe I'll talk more since that apparently went over well, if the comments from the last post are to be believed.

BEWARE: These photos contain a lot of noise and a good amount of lens flare in some of the photos. I am becoming evermore aware of my need for a better camera. I'm deciding between a Nikon D200 (keep in mind I shoot with Nikons now, a D50... and its poor noise handling) and a Canon 40D. If you have any useful thoughts of either camera, please let me know. I'm looking mostly for superior noise handling.

Ok, so lets start with the oldest photos...

DANCE PARTY

It was a Summer themed party, so many of the guests were wearing bright colors. The party was at this sweet old house is East Campus.

I'd really like to live in a big old house like this someday.

This house was definitely the stereotypical "College house". It reminded me a lot of Animal House. Especially the bathroom.

This guy, I forget his name, lives at the house with something like 12 of his friends. It sounds like a pretty sweet set up.

There wasn't any doors to the bathroom, and, as you can probably see in the background, there was a big lazy boy type chair directly outside the shower. The only light, as far as I could see, for the shower, was a one of those little palm tree neon lights that screw into regular light bulb sockets. You may be able to see it above the chair in the background as well.

Moving right along...

I think these were the following Thursday.

I had a final submission of an English paper due the next morning that, at the time these photos were taken, was not completed ...so these were good decisions.

Note Taylor attempting to get out of the photo. Nothing escapes the stupidly-wide angle lens.

It was a good night. We all ate some good food and didn't do homework. woopty doo. As i loos at this photo... I'm asking myself "Where is Taylor's right hand?"

The weather is beautiful more and more often, so Taylor, Beth and I took advantage of it and spent a day after class (I think it was a wednesday) at a couple of parks, just relaxing.

First stop was Cosmo park and the sweet playground there. We actually took a photo at what sounded like the exact moment. I think its on her blog.

The girl who wishes she wasn't so photogenic, or at least wishes her roommate and I would leave her alone with our cameras, Beth.

She's looking rather complacent in that photo.

This is a sweet (as in nice, not as in AWESOME) photo. If only that lens flare hadn't landed right on Beth's face... In any case, I like this photo.

Then we went to Stephen's Lake Park. And it was a good idea. We all just laid there for a while and really relaxed. It felt great. I had to leave this last photo in color because the colors were just too good. It would be a crime to monochrome it.

Taylor wanted to photograph our feet for her grandma. It was weird.

So there you have it. I take photos occasionally, don't think any of them are worth a post in themselves, but then accumulate many photos and put them all in one post.

So, do I have it in me to write anything now? Hmm...

Nope.

peace, love, and whatnot

-rob

What to say?

2008-04-13T02:09:00.000-05:00

That's the thing, I don't know what to say. I'm sitting here at 2 am knowing I have something to say, but honestly not knowing what it is. I feel like I've been here before. I feel like this situation happens to me often. I'm just now seeing how frustrating it is.

Where to begin...

I think a lot. Too much, in fact. If we've been friends long, you probably already know this about me. I have trouble getting to sleep at night because I think too much. Hell, even tonight! I had turned my laptop off and was headed to bed after a melancholy day of dealing with a foul mood. Yet here I am.

I feel like I know what is going on more than most people on this campus. I also feel like I'm sometimes clueless and have trouble finishing what I start. I feel all these existential, greater-than-thou emotions and I hate it. It makes me sound weak. I hate that it makes me sound like Holden Caulfield or some other protagonist from Salinger, Palahniuk, or Kerouac. Is it not funny that even we weirdos, we who feel like we're so unique and uncommon, are so perfectly framed in novels by famous novelists? I hated Holden Caulfield, yet I find myself sounding like him.

Now I don't know what to talk about...

I know. I'll talk about being creative.

I wish I was better at it. How's that? I wish I could verbalize my emotions, of which there are miles, into some lyrical and just write a goddamn song. I wish I could think up better melodies to give to those lyrics.

I wish I could buy a large canvas (well... I actually have done that already... step two) and just explode onto it. I think it's funny; I make fun of modern art sometimes because it can look talentless, but I have a feeling that if I were to be caught in the right mood and given the best possible conditions, anything I could therein create would look just like what I mock. I want to be able to stand in front of a canvas, yell at the top of my lungs, and create a visually stimulating image that way.

I think as a cultured human, you should, at some point, wrestle with your own definition of art. I'm glad to say I have a simple definition. I define art as anything someone has put emotion into. Sadly, if that is the case, I don't have any art.

Lastly...

I suppose I created this with the purpose of being a photo blog, so let us see if I can find a suitable picture for this woeful post.

peace, love, and whatnot

-rob

A Night on Earth (in the Mizzou dorms)

2008-04-09T23:22:00.000-05:00

Tonight, I just picked up my camera and took a few photos; something I should do more often.

My roommate, Burt, just got his hair braided and bought this stocking cap to help tame it so it doesn't stick straight up all the time. Well, for fun, he pulled it down over his face, and he looked like a terrorist, so I took his picture.

I was fairly certain we had not taken it far enough yet, so I urged him to take this photo of us.

Perhaps the best "roommates" picture all year.

Come to think of it,I think its the only photograph of the two us. Cute.

It can be fun to just walk into rooms in your hall and take photos. Walk in, see whats goin on, take a few shots and leave (you know, be a photographer).

In this case Brote (right) was digging through the fridge throwing away the stuff that had been in there for the past forever. He also thought it would be funny to stick his butt out which Julie could not help but notice.

The freezer was apparently broken, for these Freezepops had been in there a while, and were room temperature at best.

A little bit of video chatting with the roommate and his girlfriend. I don't know what they wanted.

Thom in the housin' chair.

This is the underglow hanging from the top bunk in Mike and Thom's room. It adds more light to the room than I would have anticipated.

This was this last weekend when I went back home to KC.

Brie eating some Chipotle in the car before we go spend money on the Plaza. I love Kansas City.

This is Cyrus. I like to consider him a good friend. We both have an appreciation for art and design, though our tastes sometimes differ. I don't appreciate some of the art he likes sometimes, but it's just because he is much more educated and well-read on art than I am that he can see what I sometimes cannot.

I took this shot of him in my room one night hanging out. He looked real sharp, and I knew just how to process the photo in PS to give it a good feel.
http://lomolifeincolor.blogspot.com/

Go check out his blog! He takes a bunch of neat photos with a Lomo, which are really neat cameras.

peace, love, and whatnot

-rob