Thursday, November 29, 2007

clouded visions roll into my head. they meet one another with animosity, snarl and retreat and i'm left where i started.

seems like pictures are not coming to fruition these days... i spent over an hour, maybe it was two hours, shooting feature pictures today of a window cleaner at city hall. it's been a long time since i've worked a situation that hard.. and while i'm not happy with the immediate results, this picture stood out as a visage of my mind..

jumbled, cluttered, chaotic, cliche

belated


So if you've been following college football or the Jayhawks much.. you probably know the outcome of the KU vs. Mizzou game from last week. Missouri pretty much man-handled KU the first half. I spent this time combing the stands at Arrowhead Stadium, shooting feature pictures.. dejection pictures.. jubilation pictures.. to send back on deadline..

But those pictures pretty much fell through the cracks as the second half warmed up.

The crowd at Arrowhead was split 50-50. Right down the 50 yard line.. on one side, black-clad Mizzou fans threw chants from the stands at their rivals.. the blue-clad Jayhawkers... booming back from the opposing side of the field.

It was thunderous.

Eighty-thousand fans booing, jeering.. and bemoaning...

It was a blow to the Jayhawks.. their untainted 11-0 record, a first ever in school history was no longer unblemished... by none other than Missouri. That dream season brought crashing down by the most hated of hated in KU land. Mizzou.

Wednesday, November 21, 2007

meeting of sorts

Sitting at Yuri's house, catching up with friends at an art collective meeting.. something I haven't been very active with in awhile. Discussions spiraled from theories on time travel, to gallery spaces and back to cloning humans to support habits of laziness. And back to artists using sensory deprivation to reach moments of clarity.. or insanity as Betsy chimed in from across the table. This chamber, as Yuri described it, consists of filling a bathtub with 98.6 degree saltwater in a 98.6 degree room, floating in it with earplugs and a blindfold. Entirely appetizing prospect for some reason.

We have two shows coming up. One, a pocket art party. Make small stuff and plan on exchanging it for someone else's small stuff. Two, a Lumps of Coal holiday show at Tellers.

Saturday, November 17, 2007

dream season


That's what people keep referring to the Jayhawks' now 11-0 season. Just saying "dream season" out loud kinda makes me feel funny and like I've done something wrong. I'd like to think of it as a sweet season, or badass season, or wonderful season... or maybe they have a 'rocking record'? Anyway, tonight the hawks put down Iowa State 45-7 in their systematic ritual of destruction.

A week from today it's Mizzou in Kansas City. I might shoot it. See you there, maybe.

Friday, November 16, 2007

dog trials

Thursday, November 8, 2007

therapy

by myself. feet propped on a chair, leaning back into the black leather sofa that is the taproom, blanketed in red light. my brew sits to my right, lemon floating at the top. there is a pressure in my head, originating from a cold that is working its way out of my system, or maybe it's a new virus infecting me again. either way my throat is raw and i've been in this basement a million times. i'm leaning though, elbow supported by my camera. it feels solid under my weight.

i lean back. inhale, and take in the chaos.

the jazz filters through me in waves. the dischord a welcome vacation. the music starts to melt together into a vibration, pulsing through the red air.

another breath.

and i can feel my contacts sticking. the jazz contains no form. three musicians explode at different tempos, rates.. at his own pace. it drives others away. it drowns them out. it puts them to bed and i laugh. go and hide i say.

the hood on my jacket becomes a pillow on the leather, i'm melting with the beats now. tingling as i watch, feel, listen, become. am. dischord becomes symphony and my dreams drift away.

i'm relaxed

Wednesday, November 7, 2007

iBlog

going through the motions. daily assignments filing them and punch the clock. take a drag and hit the sack. punch clock click sack punch clock click sack

Sunday, November 4, 2007

Records

One of the perks of being a photojournalist. Being there. Recording history. That one moment that changed a life, the world or the game.

KU football is 9-0, something that hasn't happened in 100 years. And on Saturday, they stomped Nebraska so hard, 76-39. Records were broken ad nauseum. Touchdowns scored against Nebraska. TD passes in a game. TD passes in a season... How many touchdowns can you stomach? I was reeling after the first quarter. Can't imagine how the Cornhusker defense felt...

Here, the KU defense intercepts a pass, surely on their way to score another touchdown.

Today I sat on the hardwood floor. A familiar feeling in November. One that will last through March. The pain in my back and butt a living proof. Much different than the pain that radiates through the knees after shooting four quarters of football. This is different.

It's basketball season.

And I shot my first game in Allen Fieldhouse, the home, the birthplace of the sport. Now I'm not much of a basketball fan. Especially shooting it. I think that feeling comes from sitting in dank high school gyms. Learning to shoot it in horrid middle school gyms as a student.

But don't get me wrong. I love me some college basketball. Ask me trivia about a team other than the Salukis or the Jayhawks and I'm likely to change the subject. But this kind of competition.. this is different. Competition like this draws in even the most naive.