It Happens Around

Recent

2008-05-14T01:06:00.004-04:00

God Damn I'm Lazy.
Over Four Months?
I have no excuse for not posting other than I didn't feel like it.
Things are going well. Really well.

Grades are looking good.
I was contracted to shoot Artscape with Baltimore Magazine!
I was interviewed by Rangefinder Magazine!
Next Month's Urbanite uses two photos from a shoot of mine.
And this summer is shaping out to be good too.

Jam Packed.

June 12-17 - Eastern Shore
June 19-22 - AST Dew Tour w/ Media Creds.
June 24- July 16 - Europe
July 18-20 - Artscape Shoot
July 20 - August 1st - Focus on Photojournalism, Residential Program through Corcoran in DC
Ausust 2nd - August 24th - Free Time

I'm also doing web design.
Need a website? Email me. I'll show you my portfolio.
And as always, http://www.acphoto.net

Bacon Patches

2008-01-21T21:34:00.000-05:00

I was hungry so I decided to have a turkey bacon sandwich, on a bagel. In the process of unraveling the bacon packaging an idea popped into my head. Why not make a bacon quilt and just put it into the microwave like that. It'll cook more evenly and it'll be easier to put onto the bagel. That's exactly what I did.

Final Product? Crispy Goodness. In a Kosher Friendly Format....(Josh)

Saturday

2008-01-12T15:08:00.001-05:00

I haven't touched this in a while.
A lot has been going on.
I've written "blog" on my to do list everyday for the past week and haven't gotten around to actually writing in it. I find it easy to get my priorities in order by putting everything on a piece of graph paper and folding it up and putting it in my pocket. I've begin to love my Rhodia N°18 Notepad, it's bright orange and contains A4 sized graph paper, perfect for writing down notes.

Next week, I have mid-terms. We then have friday and next monday (21st) off. I finally have school in order, the solution? Just get your work done and you'll be fine, it doesn't take much more effort than that. Grades reflect it.



This is Day 11 of Project 365

It is now Day 12 of project 365 and I'm beginning to understand the challenge. It is so hard to come up with creative ideas, some days it just isnt flowing. In other news, I was written up in two blogs this week in three posts. I also have a photo in the Urbanite - What You're Writing. The Links are Below.

Design*Sponge - Weekly Wrap-Up
Design*Sponge - Meet Anne
Pret a Voyager - I'm a Little Sponge*

Also, I figured out address bar icons. They are called favicons. If you notice, my icon isn't the normal Blogger B. To change yours create a 16x16 icon, save it as a bmp and rename it favicon.ico Then upload it to a site like imageshack.us or your own FTP server. Place this code in the blogger "edit html" section. Click the link below to see the code, blogger won't let you embed it.

Code

Change the link to wherever you're hosting it from, save changes
and you're good to go.

Glad to be back, Expect More Soon.

Project 365

2008-01-01T21:28:00.000-05:00

I started the new year with a new project.
Ill start taking at least a picture a day for 365 days and by this time next year, I'll be able to look back on all of it. I'd like to thank Keith Morrison for the idea, He's a photographer on a forum I read. Check out his work at
http://keithmorrisonphotography.com/

You can see the first picture at acphoto.net/365

A little aside, the reason I haven't been blogging much lately is due to the fact that I have mononucleosis. I was out for an entire week of school before my winter break. I'll be very busy this week because I need to catch up on school so don't expect to see many posts. Happy New Year, '08 will be good.

Hungarians and Winter

2007-12-16T23:21:00.000-05:00

Winter is setting in, I am continually refreshing noaa.gov's results for my zipcode looking for the slightest chance of a snowstorm in the forecast. Snow is a godsend, when we actually DO get it here in baltimore. It's a chance to get off from school and play outside. An excuse to not care what you look like, or how puffy your jacket is, just because its there. I love it. Third year in a row, I'll probably go snowboarding at Roundtop with Chello.

In other news, my mom got an iphone for christmas (an early present) and it's fantastic. It is so much fun to fiddle around with. It'll be amazing for long trips where I'll have internet access anywhere we go. I do have to say, it's a bit pretentious, for example, saying "where is my iphone" or when you send an email it says "sent from my apple iphone" Also, I have a sore throat and am never feeling 100% anymore.

That is a panorama I did earlier today. All of the warmer air previously trapped in by the clouds was quickly escaping into space. The sky was a deep blue and the wind was blowing.

And as for the other word in my post title, I found in my analytics that 2.1% of my blog readers are from Hungary....Welcome! And welcome to the 3.1% of readers in the UK as well!

Good Day.

Woah

2007-12-11T23:33:00.001-05:00

MPK, a company that has made a name producing glow-in-the-dark paint, has developed self-luminous micro particles called Litrospheres. The new material is said to be inexpensive (35 cents to light up a 8 ½ x 11 piece of plastic that is 1/8" thick), non-toxic, and capable of staying constantly lit for over 12 years thanks to a betavoltaic technology that uses a radioactive gas.

The Litrospheres, which can be injected molded or added to paint, are not affected by the heat or cold and they can withstand up to 5000 pounds of pressure. They can also give off light that is equivalent of a 20-watt incandescent bulb in almost any color imaginable. As you might expect, the first applications of the technology will most likely involve safety equipment—or the clothing and accessories of frequent clubgoers. [Wiki via Gizmodo]

Cool Beans. And no, it is not harmful to your health.

Christmas Tree, Correction: Holiday Tree

2007-12-09T22:52:00.000-05:00

Today I was in the holiday Spirit. Ornaments were taken down from the attic, television was watched, a tree was brought into the house, wreaths were hung, candles were lit, and lights were strung. There is something about hanging ornaments on a fresh tree that can not be matched. Maybe it's the fact that they are something you see for a month of the year and no longer. Every year you unwrap the ornaments like gifts. It's also the first tree I've had since Christmas of 2002.

I got an early "holiday" present, an iPod 80GB Classic in silver with an iSkin EVO 4 Duo case. My only grudge is with the case, the silcone on the clickwheel makes the iPod a little bit unresponsive, and I couldn't deal with it. So I took matters into my own hands and just cut the silicone out, it's perfect, I am more than satisfied with it. Thanks Dad.

Because of the new acquirement, I legally ;) downloaded a bunch of electronica and hip-hop. Favorites include Milosh , Lali Puna, and Quantic. Lil Wayne is good too.

I also have a new Project starting the first of the month, for the entire year of 2008, I will take a picture a day. Not of anything in specific but of anything I come across. Project 365

The R1AA Cant Touch. P1R4AT3 For Life.

Laptop

2007-12-06T09:19:00.001-05:00

My mom dropped my powerbook from about 6 feet up, it was an accident but I am really angry about it.

Everything seems to be okay, none of the hard drive platters were damaged but the screen flickers a lot more when the laptop gets moved around. And the front of the case is just completely messed up.

It Snowed!

2007-12-05T15:04:00.000-05:00

And it's still coming down as of 3:06PM, I'm still feeling crappy and I learned a new spanish word. Muy Linda, which means very pretty. I want it to snow forever, at least until march...I've probably looked outside more times today than I did in all of november.

Do I smell a two hour delay?

Happy

2007-12-04T14:46:00.001-05:00

I am sick

2007-12-04T14:38:00.000-05:00

It's getting old, I have no energy to do anything. I haven't been in school for two days and have been sick since Sunday. The slight chance that it will snow a couple of inches tomorrow is making me happier.

I find myself never standing up for more than a few minutes at a time and constantly lying down and refreshing web pages. Blogs are my salvation right now, strobist, gizmodo, engadget, tuaw, lifehacker, and the Sports Shooter Message Boards. My head hurts and I am achy.

If it snows, I'll post with pictures. I have a few ideas mixing flashes and falling snow. We'll have to see.

For now, I'll be lying down for a while and eating some food later, wish me well.

Sound Triggered Flash

2007-11-29T21:28:00.000-05:00

The technical name is SK2-DU. Sound Trigger-Delay Unit Package.
It is a DIY project I am undertaking soon, it is to build a sound trigger for my flash.
So you can do a 2 second exposure in a dark room, and have the flash freeze the motion perfectly!

I am excited for this one, here is what the project looks like.

It's complicated but will be worth it. I might just end up putting it into a project box from our local "baynesville electronics" And just have the flash cable coming out to sync.

I am so excited

Myers-Briggs Type Indicator

2007-11-29T00:57:00.000-05:00

The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) is a personality questionnaire designed to identify certain psychological differences according to the typological theories of Carl Gustav Jung. It is over seventy detailed questions of habits.

I am an ENTP

* Dominant Extroverted Intuition (Ne)
* Auxiliary Introverted Thinking (Ti)
* Tertiary Extroverted Feeling (Fe)
* inferior Introverted Sensing (Si)

The attributes of each personality form a hierarchy. This represents the person's "default" pattern of behavior in their day to day life. The Dominant is the personality type's preferred role, the task they feel most comfortable with. The auxiliary function is the role they feel the next most comfortable with. It serves to support and expand on the dominant function. One of these first two will always be an information gathering function (sensing or intuition) and the other will be a decision making function (thinking or feeling) in some order. The tertiary function is less developed than the Dominant and Auxiliary functions, but develops as the person matures and provides roundness of ability. The inferior function is the personality types Achilles' heel. This is the function they are least comfortable with. Like the tertiary function, this function strengthens with maturity.

They also fall into the general categories of thinkers, rationals, and engineers. Through their primary function-attitude of extraverted intuition (Ne), ENTPs are quick to see complex interrelationships between people, things, and ideas. These interrelationships are analyzed in profound detail through the ENTPs auxiliary function, introverted thinking (Ti). The result is an in-depth understanding of the way things work, and how they can be improved.

Maybe it's right....
Thanks Cem and thanks wiki.

The Website

2007-11-28T00:18:00.000-05:00

acphoto.net has been completely overhauled.

Check It Out

Oh and I upgraded to Leopard too, many thanks to Zoey for that.

In other news, thanksgiving went well, and the family is good.
My uncle Thom and I worked in a makeshift studio he has setup in his community center.
We set up 3 AB-800's with Umbrellas, Beauty Dishes, Backgrounds, Clamps, Reflectors, Pocketwizards...the works. Besides all of the technical stuff, in the end nice images were produced and we had a great time.

Now I just need to buy some Strobist gear of my own. (i.e light stands, swivels, umbrellas, adapters, velco) XMAS is soon, believe me, I have my list...

Fun Shot

2007-11-22T01:00:00.000-05:00

I set up two flashes (R+L) to try and capture a light bulb in the process of shattering. I only managed a before (mid flight) and after (shattered) series of images. I set up one Nikon SB-24 in a vice grip to the left and one SB-600 to the right. R flash on 1/4 and L flash on Auto. All of these were triggered by modded ebay slaves. (Shameless Plug, Modded Ebay Slaves) Camera was on a tripod and the right flash on an AS-19 Nikon Speedlite Stand.

Here is a mid-flight shot

Enjoy your thanksgiving

Logos

2007-11-18T22:01:00.000-05:00

Right now I am going through logo designs and am trying to figure out which one I'd like to use, help me out. Complete the poll at the bottom. Also, all logo designs are done by Anne, a Graphic Designer here in Baltimore. Here is the link to her blog.

Logo One

Logo Two

Logo Three

Logo Four

Logo Five

Watch It

2007-11-17T12:50:00.000-05:00

Harlan Ellison goes crazy in this excerpt from the upcoming documentary called "DREAMS WITH SHARP TEETH" This piece is about his experiences dealing with the packaging company for MGM on Babalon 5, includng their possible inclusion of one of his on -camera interviews about the series in their DVD for the series, which they don't want to pay him a dime for. Hilarity

Circular Strobe

2007-11-12T20:06:00.000-05:00

I made a new flash device.
Made out of aluminum foil, painters tape, a half plastic sphere, and AS-19 speedlite stand and a 1/4-20 bolt. Here it is in all its glory.

Yes, thats it. It focuses the beam of lite and acts almost as a ring light. It gives similar results at least.

Here it is with the flash inside.

And finally, the results.
Sorry for the mean mug, I never smile in photos. haha

Now I just need a way to mount the damn thing.
Ideas?

Hindsight

2007-11-11T00:13:00.001-05:00

I had a bad day today. All of the things that could have gone wrong, did.
Halfway through the City > Poly Game I had my camera battery die on me. Not
having a replacement, I didn't know what to do. I just left the field and finished the game in the stands. That could have easily been avoided. Now, I only have 13 usable images to turn in. I got home at 6:00, needing to leave by 6:40 to go to homecoming. I only had that long to charge my battery and import my images.

Of course my image transfer didnt finish, and I needed to leave so I just took my card and went with it. At the dance I was flipping through the menu before I started shooting, came over the delete all button, and selected it, not realizing that my transfer had never finished at home and that I was quickly losing images as it worked away on my card. Who knew it took the newest ones and deleted them first! I had to remove my battery only to discover that my last images of the game were deleted.

Dammit.

Rules for the future.

Buy Second Memory Card
Buy and Charge Extra Battery
Get Sharper Lenses
Underexpose a bit while using RAW, to get
faster shutter speeds.

Edit: Never Edit Photos when you are tired unless you have to. I just looked again
and found 21 usable images.

Application

2007-10-17T00:28:00.000-04:00

I am in the process of applying for a summer internship at the Associated Press for photojournalism.

I have all of these things assembled: 300 Word Essay, Cover Letter, Resume, Letters of Recommendation, and Portfolio, the only thing left is a meeting with the Bureau Cheif.
Hopefully I'll get it. Wish me luck.

School

2007-10-14T19:55:00.000-04:00

I have hyperactivity and I lose attention quickly in school.
So you may ask, what do I do if I cant follow along?
I take out my camera. This is only on rare occasion.

Here is English II Pre-IB.

Sitting next to Harry, Eliana and Zoey doesnt always prevail as the easiest way to focus in class.

Here is a few shots from English.

The view from below, everything under the desk is safe from the hawk like vision of teachers. Some more than others.

Phones are some peoples salvation. Razr FTW.

Dirty Floor. 7 Periods a Day. 5 Days a Week. 180 Days a Year.
The feet on some of the chairs are off of the legs, the chairs creak, and they are just down right dirty.

Mod Follow Up

2007-10-14T16:44:00.000-04:00

My last post showed the modifications I made to the Cactus V2 Radio Strobe Trigger.
Today I went out and tested it to see just how far it would trigger my flash from.
The results amazed me; One little antenna increased the range to more than 100 ft!

Notice the White Circle in the center of the image, that is the flash.

I didnt want this to turn into another version of Strobist but it's kind of on track. hah

I Modded.

2007-09-30T17:03:00.000-04:00

Today I modded my ebay slaves that I ordered a little while ago. Trusty as they are, I felt I wasnt getting enough range. So I searched for a solution, I got the idea from Pisco Bandito on flickr.
I started out by disassembling an old broken cordless phone. I removed the antenna from the backing, and the wire that was on the inside.

I proceeded to take the cover off of the transmitter. I attached the wire to the mounting point (the circle at the top of the circuit board) where the antenna would be most effective.

I then drilled a hole using a 3/8 inch bit into the top cover of the transmitter. That is where the antenna cover would fit through, but not entirely. That's so it stays in place and stands upright. I sanded the top of the hole so no jagged edges were left.

The last step was to put the cover with the antenna cover inserted, over top of the circuit board. And here is your final product.

The range was dramatically imrpoved. I triggered an SB-600 through a wall and from the bottom of a cast iron basin sink and all from about 25 feet away. Pretty good if you ask me.

Fall is Finally Here.

2007-09-29T20:14:00.000-04:00

This morning I was at Harry's house.
I woke up and left shortly after. I rode my bike home, it was cool out with a nice breeze and a little bit of warmth from the sun. I had a good day relaxing at home with nobody around. I put on some sweatpants, a long sleeve t-shirt and I was one happy camper. Later I went outside and took some pictures of the folliage.

Fall is a season I like, the weather is nice, the smells are good, and the air is crisp. With fall, brings a new school year, and eventually leads to snow near the end. There is thanksgiving, with warm family gatherings, birthdays and beautiful colors. Happy Days

Today Felt Like Sunday, Because our school was let out on Friday. I am glad I have one more day to love before another week of school. It seems repetitive.

I Went Out Today

2007-09-24T00:08:00.000-04:00

Last night I went to bed at around 9:30, first time in a while. And that was after I slept an hour in the car on the way home from Jack's Birthday party in Pennsylvania, which was good but a little out of control. All aside, I went to bed at 9:30 and woke up this morning at 11'ish. Good nights sleep I must say. Deciding earlier in the week that I wanted to shoot on Sunday with Mike Cullen, I called him up to see what he was doing and if he still wanted to go down to the harbor. He did, I ate some of those delicious Bob Evans Sausage patties on a bagel, took a shower, and went downtown.

When I arrived, I was crossing the street and jumped onto a ledge in the median of the road realizing quickly that I have mad ups with my new KATA backpack on. I proceeded to cross the street and made my way into urban outfitters. I bought two books, both of which I have yet to start. After leaving, I went outside to wait for Mike, I found some entertainment in watching Philipino Men play drums and harmoniously Blow into small flutes. He arrived and I gave him the film I bought him. We made our way to the chinese restaurant in the Pratt Street Pavilion and ate a good lunch. It never fails when eating chinese food that you eat too quickly, get full and an hour later you are hungry again. You all know it's true.

After lunch we made our way out of the harbor and into little italy, when I remembered there being a car show that I read about in Baltimore Magazine.
It just so happened that we were two blocks away. We walked around gawking at the beautiful cars we will never be able to afford.

We got a ride to Mikes.

I ate a good but dysfunctional dinner at his house and played with his camera stuff.
We took some pictures outside and talked for a while. Later, I called my mom and she picked me up. On the way home I thought about doing some exposures of the lights that we passed and went under as we were driving. So I did. I leave you with this

Thanks for reading. Next Week Might Be Busy So I'll post when I have time.

Destruction

2007-09-19T22:52:00.000-04:00

I destroyed a beautiful thing.
A Yashica ML 28mm 1:2.8
Not the nicest in the world, but I no longer had a use for it.
Wanted to see how it would break down.

The Initial Blow.

Shattered Optical Glass.

Tools Used.

The Awl isnt pictured.
Surprisingly, the most inner element did not break through, despite multiple blows, and the outer shell stood up well too.

Writing.

2007-09-19T21:23:00.000-04:00

Writing is something I don't do very often. In fact, I usually don't write unless I have to; for school. Lately I have been finding myself needing organization. I can't remember what I need to do after school on what dates, and who I have already made plans with. Then, when I tell people I can't do things even though I've already agreed, I seem flaky.

This week, my schedule is/was busy.
Tuesday - PTSA Meeting shoot
Wednesday - Fish for dinner with mom. Had a shoot planned, didnt work out guy cancelled
Thursday - Shoot at Friends School for a Field Hockey Game against Park.
Friday - Plans with Chello
Saturday - Grant's Baptism in Pennsylvania
Sunday - With Mike Cullen in the Harbor Shooting Once Again

I already have things for next week.
Jesus.

Days seem repetitive, no one day is different from any other between the hours of 7:15 and 3:10
I started riding my bike to school, at least that wakes me up. I think susan's blog inspired me to write.

I leave you with this

This is a photo I took on saturday night, completely wrapped up in fleece from head to toe, on a balcony, tripod and camera against the railing, waiting for cars to go by so I could get the motion streaks. The two arrows aren't leading anywhere, pointless. There isnt an entrance for at least 100 yards on either side of the road. Hmm.