Film!! YES FILM!!!!

OK. So I am old school (skool for those in that generation) and I LOVE using film over digital. Somehow to me the colors are a bit deeper and the whole concept of photography (the writing of light, photography photo-light, graph-to write)of light marring and engraving itself of various solutions of chemicals and then manipulated to reproduce an image is so much more magical to me than digital. I know, the idea that an image can be created from a series of Zeros and Ones is just as magical,the idea of the physical is lost to me. But I do like digital music over vinyl! lol

ONTO THE PICTURES!!!!!!!!!!!
I actually stole the idea of this picture. I have no idea of where I saw this, but I loved it, and the the opportunity arose with the wind blowing and the flags flying...SNAP!


Do you realize that the White House was the LARGEST HOUSE in the USA until the Golden Age in the 1880's! It is impressive!


The view is from the World War II Memorial, looking west across the reflecting pool...and yes it does reflect!


Closer.....


CLOSEST!


And these words speak for themselves! I an honored to have known some of these brave men and women. My father is one of them.

Washington DC

I was in Washington this past week to lobby for the Education Jobs Bill. This year over 200,000 teachers were laid off nation wide. Over 17,000 in California alone. While there, I brought both the film camera and the digital. Here are some pics from the Digital. The film I should have by the end of this week.

The Supreme Court Building. Being a Con Law Major, this was an awesome event for me!


Me pressing the case at the Court! OK, so I was just standing there...


Looking from the WWII War Memorial towards the Lincoln Memorial:


Mr. Lincoln himself, with Morning light shining into the memorial.


Inside the Library of Congress:


The Washington Monument with the early sun rising behind it. I like this one! :)



And looking back at the Washington Monument from the Lincoln Memorial:


And a view from the street of the US Capitol Building. (detail shot)

St. Paul's Outside the Walls

Though looking old, it is very new. the church burnt to the ground in the late 1800's and was rebuilt. The mosaics were picked from the rubble (mind you that is one tiny chip of stone) and reset anew in the Sanctuary of the Church, as well as all the portraits of the popes that surround the Nave of the structure. The outside is beautiful and the monastery attached to the rear of the church survived the fire and does date back to the middle ages. It is often refereed to as the "Forest of Columns" due to the number of columns in the nave. The windows are actually alabaster, sliced very thinly to allow the passage of light and give an aura of wonderful earth tones to the inside. Let the show begin!
Walking up to the Front of the Church:


The Statue of St. Paul that sets in the center of the court yard. In Rome you can tell statues by the symbols they carry. St. Peter has keys, St. Andrew the X cross and St. Paul by the Sword. Tradition has Paul be decapitated outside the city walls (thus this church at the supposed spot of his death being located outside the city walls) since he was a Roman Citizen, he could not be crucified.



the facade of the Church in the next two shots:



the entry doors to the Church:


the Nave:



the main Sanctuary Moasic

Detail:


and the wonderful windows!




Hope you enjoy these!

Been a LONG time

Yeap, almost a full year since I last updated. Thankfully nothing has happened. Yeah...right...anyway..I am getting used to digital cameras. I hate them, I love film! But I guess that is what they felt like when they went from glass plates to film too! Gotta go with the flow. I also have been using my Droid hand held platform to take pictures too. So here are some Droid pictures for you to enjoy, or not!

This was the view from my room in LA at the last CTA State Council meeting:




And now the Sunday Morning Car Accident from 29 stories up!

with zoom

with cops



Now to downtown Fresno...I know what a joke...but there is an old county build in Fresno that was built during the Art Deco period. IT IS AMAZING. I was there with Cathy and saw this drinking fountain. When I got closer I saw that it was SOLID MARBLE! Yes, one solid block of marble...it is beautiful and so Art Deco!


Like I said nothing has happened all year! Well nothing you want to know about! I will be heading off to Washington DC on Tuesday. Who knows if I will get a picture or two from there!