Is the election over yet?

Now that the VP debate is over and McCain is in Denver today to take his turn at campaigning, I thought I should finally get around to finishing my report on the DNC. 

I love this quote posted in the Pavilions. Denver definitely increased its pulse during the convention and it made it a lot of fun to be in the midst of. I've missed the craziness since it ended.

Bands played in the streets. (The keyboard player's shirt is awesome, is it not?)

Statues came to life.

People spoke their minds.

And everyone showed off. I can't wait for the election to be over, but it was fun to be a part of it.

PS: The homeless were finally allowed to return to the streets of LoDo.

PPS: McCain Palin 2008!

Stanley Goes to Work

This week Stanley has been coming to work with me. We ride a train from south east Denver to downtown. There are lots of cool places to visit in Denver.

This is the 16th Street mall.

Stanley really likes the Hard Rock Cafe. Look at that giant guitar!


This is Nike Town where Stanley tried on some new shoes.

There are lots of concerts at the Paramount Theater. Stanley wants to see Lenny Kravitz and Kelley Clarkson.

Stanley got tired of walking around so he tried out this bench.

Then he ran over and sat on this bench. They are hand painted by artists and make the street very colorful.

Then he jumped up to look at this cow. It has Denver painted right on it's side.

16th Street is really long and there are stores and restaurants everywhere.

Denver has lots of tall buildings built around historic buildings. Look down this road and you can see an old church.

This is the World Trade Center where I work every day. It's more than 25 stories tall.

Stanley's Sunday

Today Flat Stanley and I went to church. My church is on a street called Holly Street. Stanley thought that was funny.



In church he played with the other kids in primary and had lots of fun.



On the way home I stopped and showed Stanley this giant ice fountain.





Isn't it cool? Stanley thinks so. But it was so warm today that the ice was melting fast.

After lunch Stanley played with Athena. He had another fun day.

My New Friend

I have a new friend who has come to visit me in Denver. His name is Stanley and he arrived in my mailbox. Stanley is very unusual because as you can see, he is flat. Stanley has been staying with my niece Paige, and she sent him to me in the mail.

Stanley was excited to get out of his envelope. It was a nice sunny day, so I took him to the park.

We played basketball.

Stanley slipped down the slide and played with the puzzle.

He climbed up the ropes . . .

And almost fell off! But he caught himself just in time.

On our way back home we saw a squirrel in a tree. Stanley was very excited to see a squirrel!

Stanley will have lots of fun while he is on his vacation, but he already misses Paige.

Family

It's only taken me six weeks, but I finally had a chance to dig through moving boxes and find the cord to my digital camera. In September I flew back home for a weekend to attend my cousin's wedding. It was my first time back since moving to Denver, and I loved having the chance to see everyone. Here are a few pictures of the event. You can see more on flickr.

Writing

What's up with all the blogging? For the longest time hardly anyone I knew blogged. Now all of a sudden everyone is doing it. Friends, my brother and sister, even my office has a blog. So I guess I should post something more than once every six months. Here is my first little offering to the blogiverse. I'm heading back to handwritten blogs because I spend too much time in front of a computer as it is.



PS: Moleskins don't have spell check.

Schmap!!

I was notified today that two of my photographs have been chosen for the Schmap Guide to London. They are pictures I took this summer while on study abroad. These weren't my best pictures, but here's a sneak peek.



This is the South Kensington Tube Station that was home for the three weeks I spent there.



Here are the beautiful gardens of Hampton Court. The day we were there was hot and the ongoing drought left everything yellow and wilting, but it was still stunning.

These pictures join the two pictures from my trip to South Carolina that were inculded in Schmap Myrtle Beach.



This is a mall parking lot during Bike Week.



And this is Ripley's Aquarium on the same day.

Does this mean I'm a published photographer? I need to keep traveling so they can use more of my pictures! I have trips to Denver and Chicago planned already . . .

Don't Think, Just Shoot.

On a trip like this you see so much that you almost become numb. You don't know what you will assimilate into your being and what you will leave behind, touched briefly and then forgotten. It's especially difficult to immediately implement something you see, hear or smell into your experience. Sometimes you need instructions.

In an unlikely and subversive spot, the gift shop at the Centre Pompidou, I found a photography exhibit. This exhibit was unusual. It was displayed on the ground. While dozens of people fought to get a look at overpriced watches I became engrossed in hundreds of little pictures pieced together like a mosaic on a platform no higher than my knee. Each photo was an unremarkable snapshot of life. Signs at a Tube station, people passing by, feet on a beach, and a thousand other things we pay little attention to. Together they made up a fascinating cross section of a life where the mundane becomes beautiful. The collage was accompanied by a series of signs explaining the practice, called Lomography. There are 10 Golden Rules to follow to capture spontaneous, intimate pieces of life. I wrote them down.

1. Take your camera everywhere you go.
2. Use it anytime, day or night.
3. Lomography is not an interference in your life, but part of it.
4. Try the shot from the hip.
5. Approach the object as close as possible.
6. Don't think.
7. Be fast.
8. You don't have to know beforehand what you captured on film.
9. Afterwards either.
10. Don't worry about any rules.

According to the website of the International Lomographic Society, the purpose of the organization is to "shoot as many impossible pictures as possible in the most impossible of situations from the most impossible of positions. These lomographs are put together to make up vast walls of pictures with tens of thousands of images shot by what are often hundreds of individual lomographers, and then exhibited all over the world."

Lomography began in Vienna in 1991 when a group of students shot rolls of uncomposed pictures on cheap Russian cameras. They put their pictures together and found their spontaneity had captured life in an intriguing way. Often serendipity is more powerful than planning.

I spent the afternoon implementing the rules. The camera sees things you can't.

















Click each photo for a larger view. The story is told by the details.