It is that time of year again when I take a look back at the year and see the good the bad and the ugly of my past 365 days. I guess it is really a time for reflection and planning for the year ahead. Compared to past years this would probably be the median. I don’t feel like I got to do much this year and it seemed pretty flat in excitement. I mean, the first year at my job I got to visit South Korea, that is hard to top. Setting high standards for what a year should be is not my strong suit. last year included Vancouver, Costa Rica, San Francisco and the Grand Canyon. So now looking at this past year seems so unproductive.

One thing I did make sure to do is get in my photography work, I think that was key to my sanity. I started off the year right with a set photographing Harvest Bloom and Kurtis Park and the Anthem live in VA. After that I put my nose to the grind stone and work at IIE pretty much ruled my life for a while. Balancing IIE work and personal projects seems to be something I am starting to get comfortable with over time. I do plan on picking up more work on the side and all signs are pointing to this being a good year for it in 2013.

My first freakout fanboy moment of 2012 had to be the Shuttle Discover’s flyover of DC which I was able to take an early lunch to see from the Mall. I don’t want to take too much time on this, but that was kind of a big deal for me. If you want the whole rundown, check out the blog post. I have been a space nerd for a long time now and it showed this past spring.

Sticking with the DC vibe I have going here, me and some friends decided it would be a good idea to head to the Capitol for the 4th of July. Now, It was the best 4th of July in my entire life, but I would DEFINITELY question the possibility I would ever do it again. I suggest it for everyone that can do it, go do it, ONCE. I don’t think this is the type of thing I could see myself doing every year. It is just too draining and is pretty much miserable before hand and a cluster fuck trying to leave.

One new thing I did do this year was I started to pick up club gigs. Now, I like doing event photography but this was sort of new for me. The closest thing I can compare it to are wedding reception candid shots. All in all I enjoyed it, but it is definitely something I need to get more used to doing. There are different priorities for the photos and some even come with specific requirements. I hope to get into doing more of these this coming year starting with a New Years Eve Party in Baltimore.

After two years of threatening, my parents finally came down to DC for a day to do some sightseeing. Now I normally do NOT like the whole tourist thing, but I made an exception for them. We went to the capitol, which I was fairly disappointed in as a tour. We also visited the Air and Space Museum on the mall (which still looks the same as when I went there in grade school) and finally the Library of Congress. Maybe I’m a nerd, but to me the most interesting was the Library of Congress. I think we spent the most time there and I would totally go back again.

My second tourist adventure of the year took me a little ways out of the city to Arlington. It has been on my bucket list for a while to visit the cemetery there and rightfully so. I am a fan of symmetry so the head stones were a great subject. I also was in awe of the tomb of the unknown soldier. Not only is it hollow ground and place of reverence, it is a testament to precision and Honor given by the guards at the Tomb. It is one of those reflecting moments sitting there and watching.

One of the highlights of the year came later in the summer when I finally made it back out to Sacramento, CA to visit a college friend. This time around we were driving fools and made it all over the place to see all sorts of sights. From an underground tour of Sacramento, to the California Caverns (I LOVE ROCKS!) and even got to see the Pacific Ocean for a day of relaxation and sunburn. I think the best part of that leg of the vacation was the driving. Driving through wine country was pretty amazing on an overcast day with low-lying clouds it was beautiful driving in and on the way home it was clear and sunny. (AND I PASSED THE TWIT BRICKHOUSE!!!)

Next up was one of my favorite parts of this year, I got to see Lindsey Stirling perform at The Hamilton in DC! I was totally jazzed up for this show and got some AMAZING photos from it. I tried to get VIP tickets which included meeting her, but I was unsuccessful due

to a site issue. Guess what though, JOKES ON YOU UNIVERSE, I DID get VIP tickets to see her this coming February! So now I will be able to take large prints (of photos I took) with me and have her sign them. I WIN AT LIFE! I swear I won’t start the introduction with “I just want you to be my friend.”

Wrapping up the activities for the year I had a club opening with the Baltimore Raven’s Cheerleaders, which wasn’t as awesome as it sounds, they were not happy to be there. And I closed out the year of sightseeing with a trip to Harper’s Ferry. It sort of turned into, OMG LEAVES, since fall was setting in and lets face it, there are a lot of trees in West Virginia. I got to take one of my favorite fall photos and also got a little culture in Harper’s Ferry. It really reminded me of Defender’s Day back home in Baltimore with the re-enactors and old-timey weaponry.

All in all I guess some people would say, “wow, what a hell of a year.” I guess I have the, “I can do better” mentality about it. I think the next steps would be to go on a true vacation again this coming year, away from everything. I feel that it helped with the mental anguish I was feeling after the spring and summer. I really want to head to Iceland this winter, but I really don’t know if that is going to happen. I have a feeling it will be an impulse decision made in the next few weeks if I do it or not. I have been looking at prices for the last week tempting myself.

I also want to jump back into doing charity work which I really have fallen off on since I moved. I think it was a huge part of who I was in the past and I want that feeling back. I could blame work or stress, or countless other things, but not getting out and doing this stuff is on me. I have been a slacker. PERIOD. With that, maybe some Pro Bono work to go along with the new relations I have been making for new business this coming year. OH, and I want to get back into reading more again, I slacked off a little this year, so Audible, I will catch up with you dammit!

So thanks for sitting though all of this and seeing what I have been up to, I am looking forward to a good year. Ah, life… it IS the ultimate adventure.

So here we are again coming up on the holiday season and I am, as usual, not prepared for it at all. go figure.  When I first sat down to write this I thought it would be another one of my quarterly reports as to what is going on and what to look forward to in the coming months.  The problem with that is that I really haven’t done anything all that exciting recently besides a day trip to Harpers Ferry last weekend which I will get to eventually.  I have sort of been in a rut for the past few months now and it’s really bugging the crap out of me.

Most of my woes come from the deep seeded feeling that work is starting to become that redundancy that I hate.  What does this mean you ask?  Well, it means I am feeling complacent and not challenged.  I need to figure out a way to get myself motivated like I once was three years ago.  This time of year is always kind of slow until International Education Week and I need to keep myself moving before it’s too late.

I think it is about time to go through my work plan and notebook to see what kind of trouble I can get myself into.  I know there are plenty of projects I can work on, but the main issue is support for them once I get working on them.  I don’t want to start something and it get tabled which, in my mind is wasting my time.  There are a lot of good ideas brewing, it’s just a matter of getting them worked out in the real world.  I guess a real life example of this is my “painting.”  The quotes are because I got up the energy to take one of my old canvases and gesso it, but it is still sitting in my garage blank.  For me, its a good thing that I at least had the first burst of “lets get some shit done” attitude, I just haven’t had the follow through that I have had in the past.  That is one of many personal projects that are just laying around screaming to get my attention, while I just don’t have the drive to do anything about it.

In the meantime, my side projects doing web design are slowing down, even though there are hints of possibilities, but their future is unknown along with their timelines.  Oh how easy life would be if you knew every pitch that was coming at you and where it was gonna be.  I am a man of structure damnit!  I need my regularity while appearing to be spontaneous!…?  DAMN.  For the time being I will leave it up to change, but let the world know… I’m onto you and your trickery.

Luckily me and the roommate have some things lined up for December along with the winter movies that I will be seeing in theaters.  So I have that going for me at least.  I also will be welcoming a new member to the household this weekend when I officially adopt 3 year old rescue named Vinnie.  So I guess things aren’t all that bad.  Lastly, since this is the fall post, I should explain all the fall foliage that you are ingesting with your eyes right now.  Me and my roommate took a day trip to Harpers Ferry in West Virginia (scary, I know).  I don’t believe I had ever been there but it became #3 on my list of National Parks visited list.  This is not a ranking, It is the third one that I have been to (as a tourist).  We decided that last weekend was going to be the last time we would see all the fall colors before storms blew all of the leaves off the trees (aka. Hurricane Sandy [what a bitch]).  The trip was totally worth it, I kind of wish there was more sun out while we were in the town but the overcast worked well when I went looking for leaves afterwards.

As things slow down in The District, I get to pick up some more work in the area and in Baltimore on the side. I am starting to get into more of the club scene doing promo photo stuff during events in more recent months. I like doing these gigs, although they are not as fun as Unit Photography or wedding receptions. I would like to pick up more side work and I there are some things in the works. As much as I love photography obviously the money is in design. Hopefully I can pick up some more work and give myself some padding… financially.

This most recent gig was at a new club in Baltimore, MD called Voltage off of Boston Street. The location is not the best and I see it as a huge issue with getting people there. Security does help and a healthy police presence keeps things under control. Besides location the club itself was pretty nice. There was plenty of bar space and even more floor space for standing around and most importantly dancing.

I have noticed as I do more and more club gigs that the level of harassment from the patrons is surprising. It helps to have witty phrases like “you better be buying me dinner later” or “don’t start something you can’t finish after I get off work.” Either of which will either scare them away or increase the amount of flirting over the night.

Oh, did I forget to mention that there were a few Ravens cheerleaders there part of the night?  Yea, they weren’t that happy to be there.

Photo Gallery 

I have to admit, when I realized this I wouldn’t be doing any special traveling for work I thought this year was going to be pretty lame. Even though the travel is down for work, I have be
The other week I had the opportunity to see Florence + the Machine which I was not going to pass up. I have to say it was one of the better live shows I have seen in reference to sound. I felt like iten getting out a LOT in DC and surrounding areas. The most recent adventures have been music based and have drained me but it has totally been worth it.

was better than the CDs. As exciting that was, this week I was able to attend a smaller show, more intimate, with a twist on the violin.

Lindsey Stirling was playing at The Hamilton in Washington, DC and I decided that I HAD to go to the show. Even though I had my heart broken while failing at getting VIP tickets I was still able to get a relatively good seat for the show. I think I was a hot mess inside for this show, since she is probably one of my top 5 favorite people.

I had a few moments while she was playing I kind of got lost in the music. I just LOVED her performance and the music was amazing. Even though I was not able to meet her I got some amazing shots from the show. I think I might have to make some prints from them because I was very happy with the results. The one thing I did run into was the low light but I was expecting that. Downside was that I took almost 700 photos, maybe 100 or so were good and I ended up cutting that down even more for the final gallery so that there weren’t a lot of repeated images that looked the same.

 UPDATE

9:30 Club 2-13-2013 I got an early Valentine gift!  VIP MOFO!

This time around there were no job offers waiting for me. What was waiting for me were caverns and some nice beaches to relax on. It took some driving but it was totally worth it. There is just something relaxing about cruising through Napa Valley in the early morning, before all the tourists. I think next time around I will need to take some more time to stop at some of the vineyards and of course stop in Petaluma to catch some nerd podcasting.

It was a beautiful drive from Sacramento up through the hills of Napa but was even nicer when we got to the coast. The rock formations all around the hills and then the beaches were a nice destination for a road trip. Took some good time about a mile or two from the beach to take a set of photos of the rock formations looking down on the coast.

While one trip lead me west to the coast from Sacramento another leg of the trip lead me east towards the border. While Sacramento itself was nice, having time outside the city was even better. As usual the heat decided to follow and we needed activities that will also keep me cool. Enter, California Caverns. It was like a gift from the nerd gods. Got some great photos and had an awesome time with one of my best friends.

What would a vacation be without some time at home with nothing to do. Well, almost nothing to do. The new Atlas Camera Support website is finally up and running. It took some late nights and a good bit of caffeine but it’s done. With the vacation and website out of the way I am looking forward to some new projects outside of IIE hopefully and even ones within.

There are a lot of things up in the air for me right now so it is tough to talk about what is coming up for me, but fingers crossed, good things to come!

Road Trip Photo Gallery

Photo Gallery

There have been very few things that I wanted to do around the city but this was one of them.  I finally made the first of many trips to Arlington National Cemetery and besides the want to pass out from all the walking in the heat, I was very impressed.  There are many parts of the cemetery that I wanted to see and made it to most of them. Lesson number one is to shell out the cash for the tram to get around the grounds.

I am a man of symmetry and the headstones at the cemetery proved to be an interesting subject to photograph. The row upon row of graves seems to have had a calming effect on my mind. I am not saying it was soothing, but I think it helped put life into perspective among the american heroes that lay around me as I walked around the grounds.

The main thing that I went to the cemetery was to see the changing of the guard at the tomb of the unknown soldiers. I feel like I was watching something straight out of a movie.  Just the guard was impressive and I have never seen someone who took their job so serious.  While the changing of the guard is something of reverence and every movement is precise I couldn’t help but wonder how they do it day in and day out.  I know that it is a highly regarded position and I assume that those who want the position see it as the highest of honors.

It’s funny how I have lived down in Virginia for over two years and worked in D.C. even longer and I have not done the U.S. Capitol tour.  I must say, there was not much to it. I guess I should have had lower expectations since it was free and there are so many people who go though each and every day.  I really expected to get some more vantage points and better photos during my visit, but I guess it just wasn’t my lucky day.

One highlight of the day trip was making my way around the Library of Congress.  It totally made up for the Capitol tour and got to see some pretty sweet stuff. I highly suggest visiting the Library of Congress, there are tons of rotating exhibits and most of them are interesting to nerds like you and me.

Unfortunately there was a whole lot of “no photos allowed” and wandering around huge building that had me in awe but to be quite honest I didn’t take the shots because there were too many people and I do not like having tourist in shots unless I am one of them.  As of right now I like to think I have limited myself on tourist photos.

Times are tough all over.  It’s been a while since I picked up a promo photographer gig, and first time since I came down to DC from Baltimore.  Set up shop in a small club/gallery called Montserrat House near the 9:30 Club in DC.  The promo was for Bacardi Plus, which is kinda like a premixed drink but I never got around to trying it… not really one for drinking on the job (at least not since I worked at the Country Club in my teenage years).

Lots of hipster music and DJs that I have never heard.  I guess I have been out of the loop with the different genres of music.  It was definitely not the rock shows I used to shoot all the time.  I got to get in some stage time and group/action shots around the club.  Looking back on it I wouldn’t mind getting some more gigs here and there like this for some quick money.

There is nothing like the thrill of catching the energy that is a club and that is live music. 

Photo Gallery

Starting this one where it should start… WE SURVIVED!  The entire day was completed with everyone still in the group and no one passed out from the heat! That is a big deal. Besides it being insanely hot on the 4th and the humidity just making it worse we were out there for nine or ten hours.

There were many reasons for my excitement in attending the show on the Capitol this year. The first would definitely be seeing John Williams.  Even if he just conducted the Olympic theme there was a little part of me that just wanted him to break into one of the other countless movie themes that make me get all happy and fanboy-ish. A close second would be Matthew Broderick aka Ferris Buller.

Besides the want to see the show, the real reason I was there was for the fireworks show. I have to admit, there is nothing like it. I got some shots in during the day but I could have done so much more. I think this year opened my eyes to what I can do in the future to get the best of the best photos during the fireworks.