Aperture

farewell

2008-05-02T17:31:00.002-04:00

Well, the semester has come to a close as well as my Media Literacy class... thus the ending of my blog. It is fun making posts and stories, but the grades are in so I figure I'll just be lazy and stop posting. Got an A in the class which is always solid. Anyways, I hope you all enjoyed reading my stories and looking at my photographs. Until next time... Peace.

straight west coastin'

2008-04-15T22:31:00.016-04:00

Oh yes, the Specific Ocean. That's what this one lady I know calls it. She thinks it is pronounced specific instead of pacific. Makes me giggle... Anyways, I took this picture almost two years ago when I was in California for a paintball tournament. Before event started we hit up LA and the beach for a day. The week I was in Cali it was like 120 degrees outside. Ridiculous. Luckily it isn't humid there and it was just dry heat, but still, as Paris Hilton would say: "That's Hot." The paintball tournament was fun, we played pretty well and made it into the quarter finals. After the event I went down to Oceanside (just outside of San Diego) to visit some friends that live there, which is where this picture was taken at. Oh how I miss it so. If you haven't been to California I suggest you travel their some day. It truly is a totally different country. Everything just seems so different there, it's like traveling abroad. But then you realize you're still in the United States. Maybe I'll return one day and kick it with my homies Dr. Dre and Snoop. Until then, I'll be living it up here on our own very little West coast (of Michigan). We have coasts too, don't hate! Michigan and Florida are the only states who have both an East and West coast, so I guess that is something to be proud of... PEACE!

au soleil

2008-04-07T20:58:00.008-04:00

Ah, Lake Michigan. Weather in Michigan is finally shaping up! This photo was taken yesterday at the beach. It is a little over-exposed but it was so sunny outside, it was hard to avoid.... Was such a beautiful day tho so I can't complain. There was NO wind, the temperature was upwards of 70, and no clouds. We laid out, got a head start on our summer tans, played some frisbee, football, took some pictures, climbed a big sand hill, looked out over a completely still Lake Michigan with water and skies horizon fading into the distance. It was awkward because there were still small piles of left-over snow/ice scattered near the beach, but at the same time we were running around in our bathing suits. After a long day at the beach we picked up some ice cream sundae's to finish off the day. Was a nice reminder of how awesome Michigan can be given the correct weather conditions. It's been a long winter and I think finally there is some hope for sun.

splats

2008-04-01T12:00:00.012-04:00

This is a picture I took of my friend Charlie during a paintball practice at Futureball Outdoor located just outside of Brighton, MI over the summer. Charlie's mask has a mirrored lens, so I thought it would be neat to take a picture and being able to see me and my friends reflections in the image. Many of you probably are unaware of my paintball career. Since I was 16 I have been playing paintball semi-professionally all over the country. I have played on a few different teams on and off over the years. Yes, paintball IS a real sport. Tournaments are hosted around the country with hundreds of teams competing for thousands of dollars across many different divisions of play, and different formats. Sponsors pump millions of dollars into their teams and endorsements, just like in any traditional sport. It's real and it's here to stay.

Playing paintball has taken me to:

Los Angeles, California
Orlando, Florida
Charlotte, NC / Rock Hill, SC
Chicago, Illinois
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Nashville, Tennessee
Cleveland, Ohio
And numerous other small cities

I have gone all around the country just playing the sport of paintball. Playing no high school sports, I was focused and committed to my paintball career. Taking time off school and spending thousands of dollars on the sport over the years has been a big part of what I do. Nothing beats grinding it out against each other on a summer Sunday afternoon. Shooting 15 balls per second at each other. Running, sliding, and diving on the ground. It creates such an unbelievable adrenaline rush. Recently I have taken a falling out of the sport. I can't take time of school now like I used to be able to do to in high school. With bills and payments it's even harder to fit a week long paintball tournament in between my work schedule in the summer. Paintball has brought me many great memories and I have made life-long friendships because of the people I've met along my journey. Hopefully I can get things sorted out and get back into the sport full-time. But until then I just play occasionally for fun (when I can afford to).

A favorite quote of mine, by retired player, Matty Marshall:

"It happens on a random Monday coming back from an event, or late on a Sunday night right before you get on the plane and you’re about to be frisked for the third time. You’re driving, you’re flying, you’re sitting in an airport seat with boys from the team. You’re drinking stale coffee trying to stay awake. You’re explaining the fat welt on the side of your neck to a confused stranger or a best friend. You’re coming back to the other life, the one without paintball, where no one understands why you do it. You’re tired, you’re working off little sleep, the question creeps up and you try to ignore it. “Why do I do this?” Why the travel, why the losses, the missed work, the missed school, hours of practice, and the complaining girlfriend. Because the lure of living a paintball life is just too potent, and the products of the road, the travel, are memories forever, and trips, and strange lands with stranger people. At tournaments it feels like for once you actually get to live as loud as you want. Its worth the sacrifices, its worth all the bull shit. Because if you work hard enough, a Sunday will roll around and you’ll be in the huddle screaming with your hand in, one among ten, playing for the World title. And suddenly all those cliches you ever heard make sense. And you are defined. You say it to yourself, and it means everything: “I am a Paintball player, and this moment, right here, is my life.”

a broken heart

2008-03-26T02:55:00.007-04:00

Hey folks, this post is about different matters other than my own stories/photos. If you were unaware, last month Polaroid announced that they will stop production of instant film. Yes, thats correct, NO MORE INSTANT POLAROID PHOTOGRAPHS! Malarkey. There has been an online movement to try and convince the film companies, or to find an outside company to continue to make and sell polaroid film. You all remember when we were kids growing up and the enjoyment we got from taking and witnessing the magical photograph appear in front of our eyes. Digital photography in all of its mega-pixel greatness, is shutting out traditional and "outdated" means of photography. Here are a few websites that provide more information on the issue, and even have pages similar to my blog, where polaroid enthusiasts post their favorite photos and share stories. Check it out please, spread the word. There are some truly amazing photographs taken with such a simple device, it is sad to see it come to an end like this. SAVE POLAROID! SAVE MEMORIES! SAVE AMERICA!

Links:

http://www.savepolaroid.com/

http://www.xpolaroid.com/

http://www.flickr.com/groups/savepolaroid/pool/

tour de france

2008-03-23T23:28:00.007-04:00

This is a bike, it was in my backyard (I think)... The End.

Okay that was lame, sorry. No special story about this specific bike other than it looking cool. This picture was taken a few years ago while in my high school photography class. It's actually B&W but when I scanned the picture, it scanned into my computer in like a sepia-ish tone, but whatever. Anyways, I can't leave you hangin' so I'll share another bike related story for your enjoyment!

Once when I was like 7 or something, I was riding my bike down the sidewalk, going fairly fast. It was a 6-speed, so you know I was cruisin'. For some reason in the neighborhood I was riding in, all the yards had turf that was probably an inch higher than the sidewalk. Stupid, I know. So I'm riding along and I'm about to cut through my cousin's yard. My front tire hits the yard (which is higher than the sidewalk I'm currently on) and it was like running into a brick wall. The back half of the bike flips upwards and I go catapulting over the handlebars. If you were wondering, that did NOT feel good. My legs got tangled in the bike, face busted from the ground (it's a lot harder than it looks), scrapes all over me. I probably cried like a baby, but I can't be certain, it was a long time ago. Basically the moral of the story is to make sure your yard is level with the rest of the Earth. Who gave you permission to make your property taller than everything else? Seriously, not cool.

LE FIN!

lazy larry

2008-03-18T00:12:00.008-04:00

I'm crammed with school work this week. Between reading this media literacy book, my business management project, statistics and economics homework, and everything else I have going on this week, I don't think I will have much time to type a neat story for you guys. So I'll just post up my Challenged Children's Book Project (its a video!), that probably none of you other than Dr. W has seen. Enjoy for now, maybe later this week when I get some free time I'll get back to posting up some photos.

mystery berries

2008-03-10T13:19:00.017-04:00

This is my little brother Kyle. He is a fun little kid, almost 10 years old now. I took this picture last summer while playing football in our backyard. What he's holding in his hand is some type of berry. I don't even know what kind it is, maybe a blackberry? Who knows, but they grow on our tree in the backyard and we eat them every summer. The berries are quite tasty and apparently aren't poisonous as we have been eating them for awhile now and are still alive. Oh how I miss summer... Winter is great, don't get me wrong, I love snowboarding and the chilly weather is a nice break from the sweltering 90-100 degree weather when all we wish for is a little breeze. It just seems to drag on (winter, that is) for awhile, and it gets old. I'm ready to return to the grassy backyard and chow down on some mystery berries, whatever they may be. Once last summer, Kyle was playing football in the street with some friends and was going out for a pass. While running forward with his head turned back to see the ball, he could not see where he was heading and the disaster that was about to happen. A few seconds later, he ran into a parked car. He banged his face up, fat lip, bloody nose, bent his glasses. It wasn't really that funny when he came running into the house crying and all busted up. That is until I asked him what happened and he simply replied:"I ran into a car!" I couldn't help but start giggling just a little bit. Oh c'mon, you know thats a little funny. Anyways, we cleaned him all up and he was fine, so it's a happy ending, right? Maybe playing football in the backyard is more his style. No parked cars in the way and there is a tree filled with juicy berries to snack on. Summer is just around the corner, I can't wait to see what other shenanigans my little brother Kyle gets himself into this year.... Who runs into a parked car, seriously?

Also, if you click anywhere within the paragraph above there is a hidden secret. Go ahead, click it!

welcome to my blog

2008-03-09T21:25:00.006-04:00

Hey everyone. There's probably a few reasons you are reading this blog of mine....

You are in my Media Literacy class
You stumble upon and read random blogs
You are a friend/family member of mine
Some other obscure reason

In my media class we are required to complete a blogging project. So yea, welcome! The focus of my blog is to feature a photo I have taken or a video I've produced, and to tell a story about it. The plan is that every couple of days or so I will post up something interesting. I'll pick old and new photos all complete with a relevant and hopefully enjoyable back-story to them. First story is set to arrive within a few days.

PS - Maybe I'll even hold votes for a couple different pictures, so that way you guys can pick the pictures you want to hear about most? Let me know if that would be something cool. Peace.