I will be in New York until early next week and so there will not be any posts for the weekend. Sorry to the few loyal fans and I’ll be back soon!

Yesterday, I had the distinct honor of seeing President Obama speak at the Arlington National Cemetery for Memorial Day. It was a moving experience and I got to sit about 40 feet from Barack. The next few days will be images from that event.

Tilt shift photography usually involves an expensive lens that enables the camera to “tilt” the focus to create a tiny depth of field. It is often creates an artificial perception of miniturization, for example this photo from last year’s Tour de France. I’ve always enjoyed these images, but the resources have always been out of reach.  I’ve been playing around in photoshop and have found I can greatly improve bland images by artifically narrowing the focus.  Going through my archives, I’m hopefully going to dedicate the next week to tilt-shift images.

Just a heads up: I’ll be posting inconsistently this week due to midterms.

Starting today, I’ve decided to put up a number of very informal photographs from an even more informal project.  I’ve casually been taking pictures of my friends in a quick series of eight snaps shots arranged into a single sheet.  The 4×2 arrangement is similar to an uncut Carte-de-visite, an early photographic form.  It also reminds me of photo booths, a favorite and all too rare tradition of mine. These photographic octuplets were taken on my phone with an interesting little Japanese application called the QuadCamera.  Despite how simplistic the images are (and the process is), I enjoy them.

Over this past week I was fortunate enough to be in Washington DC for the inauguration of Barack Obama. For the few days I was home I was able to experience crowds and general good cheer on a level I’ve never seen. The reasoning was behind my excitement at attending were not just to witness the historic event, but to be amongst the diverse crowds during such a unifying moment.

One of the more powerful moments of the weekend was during a hurried walk home from the concert at the Lincoln memorial. Like every large event I’ve attended in DC, there tend to be splinter groups that piggyback on the intentions of the protest or, in this case, celebration. Often this involves a group of anarchists who cause a ruckus until the police crack down, but occasionally a small group or single individual with a sign is able to become the center of attention. On 19th street, near the Corcoran, a group similar to the Westboro Baptist Church had set up a series of signs proclaiming “God Hates Homos.”  Obviously this message ran counter to the spirit of the week’s events and riled up the crowd.  Some had gathered around them, taking photos and trying to engage in a fruitless argument.  As I approached the scene, someone in front of me began chanting, “Stop the hate!” over and over.  It quickly caught on and soon the hundreds of people passing this small hate-filled group were joined in a chorus, all smiling that they had overcome the negative message on the street.

It was moments like this that stuck me most, and I was fortunate enough to enjoy the event in the company of family and close friends.  It is in this spirit that I am dedicated a week or more to the photos I took during this past week.  Enjoy.

Today marks six months from when I first started this little blog and I’d like to thank all of the dedicated visitors.  It’s come a long way from the initial post and I have immensely enjoyed working on it.  I continue to follow my mission statement and I look forward to what the coming months and years will bring.