Face Photos

This blog is moving...

2009-04-19T00:38:00.002-05:00

I got a new blog!!

http://aaronfacemire.com/blog

Please excuse the dust as the new site is constructed.
:p

Buddy Guy at The Virginia Theater

2009-03-26T14:52:00.002-05:00

Buddy Guy and the Ronnie Baker Brooks band preformed at the Virginia Theater on Saturday, Feb. 28, 2009. Good Blues, I only wish there was some good bbq too. Josh, it's time to go to Kansas City!

Unofficially Late

2009-03-26T14:10:00.003-05:00

Photos from unofficial. Wow, what a day.

Sexy Color

2009-03-12T22:31:00.002-05:00

name that drink and the bar at which it was bought. (this is from a while ago taken with a D90)

Good Morning

2009-03-11T08:54:00.002-05:00

In recent news, I have been accepted to the Year In Japan program, which means that come September I will be in the Kansai region of Japan for an academic year. Fun, fun. Thanks to the professors and peers that helped with the application!

This morning (and last night), while studying for my Japn204 exam, my attention was called to some old photos I never did anything with. Here are a couple from the summer of '07.

This is just the beginning...

2009-03-06T11:17:00.002-06:00

I got these in passing, ie. on my way to class, but its ridiculous already...

The one above is from 9am. I awoke to screams at 8am. I counted 5 parties just outside my backdoor.
More to come later, undoubtedly.

donburi

2009-02-24T14:28:00.003-06:00

A good stress reliever, as Mr. Babcock would put it, to an already long day is cooking. My favorite lunch is definitely donburi, or rice bowl. Today I decided to cook up some chicken, mushrooms, and green pepper in teriyaki ginger sauce with some various spices thrown on top. Yummy, but I think it needs something else as well...

I have recently come across some inspiration to take more photos through various sources, the foremost being Beck's recent post of a video from his travels in Europe. Check it out, and more to come here as I find things that catch my eye.

ICPA 2009, Illinois Collegiate Press Association

2009-02-23T21:20:00.010-06:00

Congrats guys!

This year, The Daily Illini had a great showing at the ICPA annual convention. Brad Vest, Josh Birnbaum, Erica Magda, Pat Traylor, Roxana Ryan, Adam Babcock, and I represented the paper and especially the photo department with many awards.

--I received 2nd place along with Josh, Erica, Paolo Cisneros, and Brad for multimedia reporting for this: NIU Vigil. I also posted about my experience with some photos here.

--Josh, Roxy, Brad and I received an honorable mention for our work at the Rose Bowl last year. It was a photo spread we did titled 'California Dreaming' which I helped design. I will post a pdf file as soon as I get a copy. Here, here, here, here, here, and here are some of the photos I took on that trip. It was a good time and the reason for the start of this blog. I found some more images from the 3000+ I took over that week that I will post later.

--I also received an honorable mention for a photo I posted a couple of days ago of Wayne Coyne of the Flaming Lips at the Summer Camp Festival in Chillicothe, Ill. You can see that picture here and see the complete coverage here, I hope.

It is nice to see that the group I worked with through the past couple of years has become so recognized for their work, especially the work we have done together. Wish them all luck in their current and future adventures.

OGs

ISBOP misc

2009-02-19T21:08:00.002-06:00

Here are the miscellaneous rejects from the contest. There are more, but these are the ones that made it to the final cutting board. I should have shot a lot more last year. There is always this year, I suppose.

ISBOP nws

2009-02-19T19:41:00.003-06:00

These next posts are a kind of portfolio I have thrown together as part of my submission to the Illinois Press Photographers Association ISBOP contest. All of these were taken in 2008, so its not my complete portfolio, but a year in photos of sorts. Enjoy.

News:

ISBOP fea

2009-02-19T19:40:00.000-06:00

Features:

ISBOP spa

2009-02-19T19:39:00.000-06:00

Sports Action:

ISBOP spf

2009-02-19T19:38:00.000-06:00

Sport Feature:

ISBOP pop

2009-02-19T19:37:00.000-06:00

Portraits and Personality:

ISBOP pic

2009-02-19T19:36:00.001-06:00

Pictorial:

Summer Red

2009-02-14T15:52:00.006-06:00

Erica's post of (naked) Nick in the heat lamp reminded me of my experiments with a red filter over the summer. She stole my idea...

Dakoda Rex

2009-02-13T23:10:00.002-06:00

Here is my sister's son, Dakoda Rex. He is a cute little man who was born January 8th, I believe. He is the newest addition to my immediate family, and my newest volunteer photo-model. I will get some clearer pics next time I see him. Apparently he is already strong enough to lift himself and his head up to look around and he grins all over the place. Welcome, Dakoda.

OBAMA

2009-01-20T13:31:00.002-06:00

I normally would not do this, but I will make an exception for today. If you want to see my photos of the rally in Chicago, check last November's posts. Brad, Adam, Erica, and I (as well as many other friends I have infected with this catchy song) have been singing this all weekend, if not since last September. I also saw Daedalus in Chicago on New Years (see NYE post.) Good times.

OMG and excited is what describes today.

"This is real..."

Christmas Loot

2009-01-04T23:12:00.000-06:00

Here are a couple of photos I made during Christmas. My nephew Steven made out with a lot of sweet loot. Christmas overall was pretty laid back and relaxed.I enjoyed the time with my family and away from Champaign/school. But now I am ready to get back into the swing of things.

Happy Holidays, again.

Out there on the ice

2009-01-03T17:41:00.019-06:00

I went home to Princeton and called up Joe. He says lake and I say lets go. We all got together out there and had some beer, awesome cookies compliments of Jordan's mother, and cooked some questionable food that was in the freezer (some of it up to 5 years old!)
Brantley thought it would be a good idea to test the limits of the ice, and Joe eventually found a late night show on Cinemax. Just like old times...

The Texan Idiot

--------------------

"It wasn't porn, it was educational. Its an educational video... about hookers and transvestites [in Buenos Aires.]" ~ Brantley on Sexo Urbano

NYE

2009-01-02T11:31:00.006-06:00

DANCE DANCE DANCE. Wow, I did not think I could top NYE from last year. This one was spent at Abbey Pub in Chicago dancing to Daedelus with friends and strangers. And by dancing, I mean it was spent getting crazy on the dance floor, as well as some pretty fly dance moves by all if I may say. What a fun time it was. I didn't take too many pictures because I didn't have my camera, but I did commandeer Brantley's camera to take some shots.

"**** what yo momma say, Imma vote Obama way, We hood, We votin', and throwin' it up!" (Daedelus did not spin this one unfortunately, but I did throw up the O and he completely understood.)

My New Years Resolution is to live a good life, whatever that entails.

Brantley in the first pic, then Daedelus, then crowd.

Edit: Check out Brantley's awesome photo journal here for more coverage. Good stuff.

Happy New Years all.

Friends and Food

2009-01-01T11:58:00.000-06:00

The time leading up to NYE was spent with much friends and food. Also drinking, but I didn't really focus too much photographic attention on that. Have these instead.

Randomness

2008-11-17T17:52:00.003-06:00

Having a 16gig memory card means I have a lot of old photos I have yet to look over.
Here you go.

Warrior

2008-11-17T17:48:00.002-06:00

Here are some old photos from Halloween. The warrior made an appearance.

Graffiti

2008-11-17T17:24:00.002-06:00

Here is some graffiti I found around campus. This is from an assignment I shot a couple months ago, but they were never used.

Football Vs. Ohio State

2008-11-17T16:17:00.005-06:00

Illinois lost 30-20. I don't know if I will be going to another Bowl game this season. Also read: it was cold.

All images copyright Aaron Facemire and The Daily Illini.

Also see the chief video I helped Erica shoot on Saturday.

Girl Talk

2008-11-13T11:13:00.002-06:00

@ The Canopy Club. Got off the train from Chicago and immediately had this to cover for the DI. (Last Wednesday, Nov. 5)

Obama Night

2008-11-13T09:39:00.005-06:00

Here are some photos from the evening of the Election. Intense is all I have to say. Many people were every, moving towards Grant Park. Lines wrapping around park to get into the ticketed side of the Rally waited for hours to get in. People on loudspeakers were everywhere, trying to be heard, shouting there messages to anyone that would listen. Bikes were piled on top of each other on fences they could be chained to. Traffic was close to non existent as people on foot blocked thoroughfares.

I looked for iconic photos to shoot, I looked for peoples expressions, and I looked for details to describe the event, but eventually became overwhelmed by everything. I listened for a while to the speeches of McCain and Obama and then look for some more photos. Here are a few of the frames I got that night.

The day overall was great. Great weather, great photos, and great people. I got some of my photos picked up on the AP wire and have found them in online galleries in Reno, Honolulu, and Indianapolis.

I wanna be your dog

2008-11-09T11:56:00.004-06:00

I stayed with Nick and Jason in Chicago. Jason was at class most the day, but Nick's were mostly canceled, so he hung out with me during the day while I wandered around the city for feeches. I got some of him and some other stuff that looked cool.

Obama day in Chicago

2008-11-09T11:44:00.004-06:00

It was amazing. I went to a diner in Lincoln Square in the morning to hear everyone talking about the rally. The server saw my camera and asked, "Are you going to the rally tonight?" It was expected that everyone would be there.
Downtown, on every street corner, there were vendors selling Obama paraphernalia. Buttons, shirts, towels, hats, sparkling lights, whatever you wanted. Obama had already won the presidential race according to those vendors, and everyone believed them.
Not only did everyone believe them, everyone was waiting around Grant Park for the speech to happen. People walked around the guarded park, with police controlling the perimeter every hundred feet or so. Then came the talk of downtown Chicago closing down at 3pm.
Even if you didn't support the man, it was amazing what he did to/for at least a city for a day.

Zombies

2008-11-06T16:00:00.005-06:00

I finally was able to make it to the Allen Hall Zombie Mob this year. Better yet, it fell on Halloween! It was really dark and Pentax struggled a bit, but we made a couple of decent photos. They didn't make it to Green Street this year because of the gun threat and what not, but still made their way around campus visiting ISR, Krannert Center, Illini Union and the Courtyard, KAMS, etc.

Fire Prevention Week

2008-10-13T15:00:00.003-05:00

Here is the audio slideshow I did of Urbana's Fire Prevention week at Lincoln Square Mall for the News Gazette class. Cute little kids abound.

Also look here: http://www.news-gazette.com.

Saturdays

2008-09-24T18:38:00.011-05:00

I did a lot this last weekend. I did the audio story. Then I woke up early the next day to do a Scene and Be Seen gallery for the News Gazette which got rained out. After that, Erica and I went to Chanute to try to do an audio slideshow on the reunion that was going on. We got 50 minutes of solid interview, but other than that, there were no good visuals to accompany. So we decided to go get some.

I havent been there in a couple of months and a lot is happening. I now have a contact for the person responsible for White Hall. Objects are moving around and disappearing and someone is attempting to clean up. Now I have a solid news angle for the story.

Also, puppies. And it was Babcock's birthday weekend. Ask him how his Friday went. HA.

(Erica says scrolling is better than slideshow. Which is better?)

Twelfth Night

2008-09-24T15:57:00.003-05:00

This is assignment 1 of the BKJ Digital Newsroom Class. We were to make a story which relied on only audio, with a picture to introduce it. It turned out okay, I believe, but would have worked better with a visual component as well.

Shakespeare in the Park presents Twelfth Night. (I am part of the News Gazette now)

Being who I am, however, it did not stop me from taking photos.

Flooding

2008-09-15T21:00:00.000-05:00

Here are the flooding photos. Enjoy.

Slideshow Vs. Louisana Lafayette

2008-09-15T06:00:00.001-05:00

All images copyright Aaron Facemire and The Daily Illini.

Football and Rain

2008-09-14T23:17:00.002-05:00

This weekend was fun and relaxing. Adam and I shot football, which went well, except for maybe the way the game was played. Then I wake up the next morning to have Ike knocking on my door and pissing a couple of inches of rain in my backyard. Got a sweet feech though.

Will post more from both later.

the intense wall of intergalactic interocular pleasures

2008-08-10T22:37:00.006-05:00

During the AEJMC workshop, we got bored during the Apple guy's presentation. and started to get nosy. Then it happened. The most delicious and amazing wall ever. Here is a little taste, but you will be hooked afterwards.

There are some good ones of BKJ getting super-excited about the wall in the SS as well. The textures and the colors and OMG...

For more, check Erica Magda's blog here.

The BeeYAAAAAH Show

2008-08-10T21:34:00.005-05:00

*Sorry, these next few posts are out of order.* Here are my contributions to the debauchery of the weekend everyone came back. I miss everyone from the spring. Photos are untouched, to show the more true, gritty, and awkwardness of the evening.

BTW, look for the "**** buddy" moment on Heis's face. Classic! Love you guys, and here is to your respective future careers!

Great Light part 2

2008-08-06T15:29:00.004-05:00

Walking away from the Marriott on Michigan, and away from a very long successful workshop, Nick and I happened upon some fantastic Golden light coming through the buildings in Dailey Plaza. ( I believe that is what the place is called.)

I took a portrait of him, which happens to be the fourth portrait in the last two days of my friends. I will have to see if Jessie will let me take one of her now.

Keep your eyes open, cause you never know what you will see. (Again with the colors, I will fix and you will no longer see this sentence)

Tortoise and Wine or Awesome beards part 2

2008-08-06T15:20:00.004-05:00

The past Monday, while in Chicago for the AEJMC pre-conference Video Journalism workshop with BKJ, Erica and I met Jason at Millennium Park's Pritzker Pavilion for a fantastic and free Tortoise show. While there, we happened upon a certain front man of a group called Iron and Wine. Have you heard of him? HAVE YOU HEARD OF HIS BEARD?

The exact question I asked him, after a few minutes working up the courage, was, "I have a creepy request, but can I take a picture of your beard?" He was very nice and let Erica and I paparazzi him. Ha. The beard is great and so is his music. Thanks, Mr. Sam Beam.

You will have to excuse the colors for now, as I have no good compy to edit on.

Last night, she said...

2008-07-25T17:51:00.002-05:00

Last night Adam and Roxy came into town and insanity ensued. This is closing time outside of Neros Gyros. A woman stood in front of a car screaming at the driver, refusing to let him pass. I don't know why he didn't just back out and go another way, but this scene lsted a good five minutes. After the woman had enough, she almost attacked some bystanders who were taunting her, telling her to get out of the way.

I think I found a new spot for a story.

Cracked Spider Webs

2008-07-15T11:31:00.003-05:00

Those -expletive deleted-. I came home last night to find a shattered window on the Gambler. GRRRR. Apparently somebody went cruising around Champaign yesterday sometime and thought to themselves, "Hey, I love BB guns, and so should everyone else." At least 30 other evveryone else's cars got tagged. Touche, d-bags, touche.

Here are some pics of the car and of my brother and I waiting around for the 5-0.

Bugs

2008-07-15T11:30:00.000-05:00

Here are is a vicious looking beetle and a cicada from last night. Bastard kids with their BB guns and their... GAHHHH.

fireflowers

2008-07-09T16:48:00.003-05:00

The 4th was pretty laid back. I went to a book store with my dad and got a book (Rant by Chuck Palahniuk) then later I made ribs for everyone. Florida has no firework laws, so we didn't have to leave the house for the show. Rockets red glare, indeed.

Side note: I watched a lot of Twilight Zone during the Sci Fi marathon, and it is good.

Fishin' on an island

2008-07-09T16:24:00.003-05:00

On July 3rd, Julie, my parents, and I went fishing. We traveled to one of the islands in the middle of a river near Julie's house in Palm Bay. We caught a bunch of cat fish but let them all go. Julie had a big one, yet it got away. Too bad. A storm started brewing and spitting out lightening and thunder, so we took cover under the kayak that i was drug to the island in. (Julie's boat was not big enough for all four of us)

My mother was spared from most of the photos, as she hates when people take her pictures, but the rest show some of our adventures while the storm blew over.

St. Augustine, FL

2008-07-09T15:10:00.013-05:00

I went to Florida last week and chilled with my aunt and and cousin, Julie and Asa. Good times all around. Thanks again, Julie.

Here is some photographic evidence.

We went to St. Augustine with Julie's friend Julie mid week after we got back from being beach bums (for a day: read sunburn) in Ft. Myers. First stop was a restaurant positioned over the water. Nice place, nice atmosphere, good fish, but bad beer service as my Guinness went flat before I could get a glass to pour it in. Oh well.

Asa was good entertainment all day. Lemons are sour, bud, quite sour.

After sustenance, we walked around the old town just inside the old gate leading into town. Very charming minus tourism. The shops were filled with commemorative this-and-thats, garden trinkets and "resort wear." Ha, truly Florida. There were some awesome art galleries and shops, though. Dad and Asa take a break while Julie looks on.

Here is some of the architecture. Reminds me of some of the pics Beck has been sending from Europe, except not as tilted. Nothin' but love, Beck. I am too jealous.

After walking for a while, we all started to fade a bit, and Asa started to crash. I brought up the idea of stopping by A1A Brewery and getting a drink and everyone agreed. These next two are of Dad and Asa relaxing.
"Chillin' out max and relaxin' all cool."

We ordered a couple of flights of beer. Taste test concluded that the middle three were the best, in my opinion. The pale ale, the brown ale and the red ale. I got another pint of the red. Delicious.

Your still a bit young for that, Asa. I threatened to send a copy of this to child services.

Asa never did take a nap, but he was definitely tired.

After a few more art shops and a brief walk through some of the side streets, we were on our way.

More Texas

2008-06-16T19:15:00.005-05:00

Would you get a tattoo of Texas? I would possibly... as it is the most visually appealing of all the states. Brantley and I discussed this much as we did a lot of swimming while I was there. Therefore, there were a lot of tattoos, and other things(ahem*boobs*), that were ogled.

Good times. Thanks to Brantley's mom for the awesome dinner! Thanks to the Dancy house and all the peoples in Austin for the good times, and good accommodations. Here are the remaining photos I have of the trip.

Brantley at Barton Springs in Austin, Texas, the place where we stayed for 2 days, swimming in the perfect water with the perfect summer weather. Hot damn that sidewalk is blown out.

Creepy statue of Sam Houston outside of Houston. Brantley is back in the woods somewhere pissing.

Planes Trains and Automobiles

2008-06-16T17:28:00.023-05:00

Oye,
I have been gone for a while. A lot of things have changed, a lot of things have not. I took very little photos while I was in Texas. Sorry. Roxy chronicled our drive down well enough, but it was an uneventful smooth ride. Except through Arkansas, as we where "Prepared[ed] to meet your maker," with a million and a half Christian billboards. Scary.

Anyways, I was in Austin, then Houston, then Tyler, then Dallas, then Tyler again, and left from Dallas on a place to Chicago.

Go to Austin if you get a chance. Do it! Side note: Absinthe is pretty good, and so is the bar by the same name in Dallas. Check it out if you are in the area.

Here it is, the triptych of the trip South, Planes (Landing in Chicago), Trains (South out of Champaign), and Automobiles(Brantley on I45 north of Houston somewhere):<

OMG Summer Camp

2008-05-25T23:43:00.008-05:00

It was awesome. Here is a snippet, but wait, there is more!!! There was very little internet in Chillicothe, and even less power, so it will all come tomorrow.

Wayne Coyne is the man!! By the way, the song they were playing is a cover of "Song remains the same" by Led Zepplin.

More photos at On The Town. Click on the last few days on the calendar to see more posts (the 23rd through today.)

Edit on 6/17/08:
Here are the links to the Slideshows-
Dumpstafunk
Flaming LipsGeorge Clinton and P-Funk
Girl Talk
Moe.
New Pornographers
The Legendary Roots Crew
Sound Tribe Sector 9
Outtakes

A night for Epic food, friendship, etc.

2008-05-03T18:19:00.004-05:00

Here are some photos from the party. No color editing, and some may not be mine, but they were on my camera. I didn't keep up with full documentation, but a half dozen other cameras attended the party. Talk to them.

Blue Skies

2008-05-03T17:59:00.003-05:00

Outside of Sams Club, the clouds were converging on death and beauty. Before the party, Hotcock and I went to get supplies...

Sound and Sunglasses

2008-03-11T08:22:00.002-05:00

Oldies sitting around on my hard drive. Next couple of days' posts will most likely be pics from last year, as I need to pick some stuff to submit to IPPA.

This one is of Nick and Jessie in Chi, listenin' to EMF frequencies.

Nick's sunglasses in the summer.

Studio Edit

2008-03-10T13:28:00.002-05:00

Here is some photos from the studio session a while ago. Unedited in as much as I haven't touched the color on these.

Chi in February

2008-02-24T14:12:00.002-06:00

Friday, Feb. 22, 2008, I went to Chicago to see friends and to see the crew at ICPA. Craziness ensued.

Bad driving weather

2008-02-24T13:59:00.003-06:00

I was almost involved in a very bad accident on Friday afternoon on the way up to Chicago. A couple of semis lost control when a van stopped in front of them on a very snowy Interstate 74. One slid off to the side of the road while the other lost it and flipped in the median, about 10 feet in front of me. Risky business. Quick thinking and a pull of the E-brake later, I a successfully navigated through the crash with no damage to call 9-1-1 and check on the status of the drivers of the semis. They escaped with bruises.

I was shaky for a while afterwards. Too much adrenaline, man.

NIU memorial

2008-02-24T13:49:00.003-06:00

Here are a couple shots I took a little over a week ago at the NIU memorial. Trying to play catch up with my posts....

The day was as cold as it was sad.

Groundhog's Day 2008

2008-02-03T13:48:00.000-06:00

I took a lot of photos, as usual. I don't know how. Brad rolling around on the ground outside of the gas station that he couldn't buy alcohol at (your finagling skills suck); Joe throwing up into a glass after a car bomb; Dave doing a car bomb, or a shot, I don't know; the MEs getting upset at me for snapping photos and yelling at me about apertures. All and all it was an interesting night.

Beecher City Nights

2008-01-13T17:50:00.001-06:00

Roxy, Josh and I went to Beecher City, Ill., Friday night to hang out with the locals and hear photo war stories from her father, PJ Ryan. Good times, good stories, good photos. Well... interesting photos from the trip, great photos from Mr. Ryan.

Josh had to see the giant cross in Effingham. Weird? The cross was big and bright. It seemed like it was shot from Texas and landed in Illinois.

Long exposure shot of Josh walking away from the cross. Photo illustration titled, "Josh's Exodus."
Mr. Fluffy @ 2ish in the morning after hours of stories. Who would of known that Jim Morrison's dad was an Admiral.

red set

2008-01-13T17:46:00.001-06:00

Here's a photo from the other night. Dad called me up and told me that the sky was the reddest he has seen in a while. I jumped in the car a sped out to the country to catch the tale end. 1/13th of a second hand held.

When it was all over, and I got back into my car, I realized I had my tripod with my. Idiot.

new years eve

2008-01-05T14:24:00.000-06:00

New Years eve was a day of rest for the photogs in the house. We had been running around for a long time up to this day and decided to rest before our 18 hour day to come. No big partys or anything, as we had to get up at 3am to get to Pasadena. Just chill.

Reflections on a sunny California day at a little Mexican food spot.

During the evening, we went to the beach for the sunset. I don't remember the last time I have seen a Pacific sunset.

Last one of 2007.

Photographers' light.

This tilt goes out to Beck... and Josh, brought to you by a missing left limb.

Roxy got into the water. She didn't stay anywhere as dry as she wanted.

Josh reminiscing about his childhood. Well, it looks like it at least. He was a surfer?!?

Brad got in eventually as well. He got a wet crouch and an ass shot from Roxy's Polaroid for it!

Exposure, check. ISO, check. Aperture, check. What the hell is wrong with this thing?... Oh, I forgot to turn it on!

Jokes. Nothin' but love, Roxy.

This is the shot, a bit blurry I know, but I really like the feeling.

Happy New Years, even if it is just another passing day.

holly-WOOD!

2008-01-05T13:35:00.001-06:00

After the whole group had free drinks and cigars at the Lucky Strike just off of Hollywood blvd., Brad, Josh, Roxy and I went to explore the stars on the night of the 30th. And see all the Scientology churches, of which there were many. And explore shitty souvenir shops. Thanks Roxy! Just joking... or am I?

Roxy was constantly on about her Lindsey, or Brittney, or some other such celeb. I hate those celeb hoes. It was funny how she referred to them as her close friends. Funny but creepy.

I was still a little buzzed from the 5 or 6 beers I had. The photos didn't suffer any, only my artistic sense. I am an idiot.
Brad and I had a few moments where we went to take pictures of each other at the same time. Kind of creepy. Roxy kept telling us that we where going to scare everyone away because we looked like the Paparazzi. It was true.
One of the only good stars I saw on the walk was Steve McQueen. This is for Jordan.

Random Stuff from LA

2008-01-05T13:03:00.001-06:00

Here are some photos from throughout the week. Stuff from before the day of the Rose Bowl.

This is a frame I caught on the freeway on the way to a press conference the morning of the 29th.

USC Practice on the 29th

Pete Carroll has an arm. He was tossing perfect spirals thirty yards before the USC practice on the 29th. Love him or hate him, guys' got some energy.
--Side note: This was taken with a 500mm f8 mirror lens on a Pentax ist DL. I believe a couple of guys owe me some money!

Pep Rally on the 30th

Brad after the pep rally at the Citywalk of Universal Studios on the 30th. I edited out the advert above his head, just to let you know.

Media Day on the 30th

More from Media Day on the 30th. First is Juice, then Leman, and finally one of Lawrence Jackson from USC.

Sweet beards

2008-01-02T12:22:00.000-06:00

I have respect for people who can grow a good beard.

This is Sam Baker of USC during the Rose Bowl Media Day at the Beverly Hilton in LA. This guy was awesome. His name is Jann Eldnur, if he wasn't lying to me. He is Swedish and sounded like it but has lived in the LA area for a while. His beard kind of reminds me of Bruno's. He was riding around the Rose Parade on his 'steel horse'.

"It sounds like I just got off the boat. I try to keep my accent so I can run for governor of California."

Classic.

The Pier on Redondo

2008-01-02T11:54:00.000-06:00

Josh, Brad, Mike, Roxy and I went out to the pier near Josh's house the evening of the 29th to kill some of our (sleep) time after running around to different events all day.

Here is a long exposure of the pier on the walk down from Josh's.
Brad had the same idea, long exposures of the lights on the coast line.

Josh got a call from Erica, who was pissed beyond measure for certain reasons (check Josh's blog). He claimed we were all drunk off our asses. To confirm that, I called her afterwards and sang to her. We weren't drunk, I just like to sing to people on the phone.
And I took one of Brad looking confused, not a hard feat to do.
I think for this frame I will add the quote I got out of him at the Rose Bowl. "Its like in the daytime I have an out of body experience and play with salamy."

beef bowl, babe-eh!

2007-12-31T14:36:00.002-06:00

So, it was real good. Real, real good. Good food, that was also free, and good times. Definitely made the bus ride worth while. Well, kind of.

We have arrived.

Jealous much?

1950s Josh. Paparazzi style.

smellin' the roses: Day 3, 12/28

2007-12-31T13:27:00.001-06:00

We got into Phoenix, AZ, on the morning of the 28th. Greyhound sucks. I don't want to talk about it anymore. Here are some pictures.

These next two are a sequence. A couple hours a part, same position. Describes Greyhound perfectly.

Here is the immigration police in Indio, CA. Thank goodness I had my papers in order, but this was not the case for this nice guy. Strange, he had been with us since at least Oklahoma City, I think.
This is my last of the Bus trip, just outside LA.
Don't ride the Greyhound, "It's too hot!"

Check this out as well- top 10 of the trip: Adventures on Route 666

smellin' the roses: Night 2, 12/27

2007-12-31T12:58:00.001-06:00

At this point, I fell off on the photo documentation. Didn't have as much zeal as the days before, unfortunately. The bus was gradually more tardy and I was getting a little bit sick from lack of good sleep. In Albuquerque, New Mexico, we all decided to got to a bar near the station. Everyone decided a few drinks would help us sleep. I, being under 21 years of age, did not and could not partake. Damn.

Here is Brad and Josh as we left the bar that I believe was called Tucanos. Josh was taking forever to drink his beer, so Brad and I waited while the others got back to the station.

smellin' the roses: Day 2, 12/27

2007-12-31T12:07:00.004-06:00

The second day was on and off. Everyone was tired because of Greyhound time. We stopped two or three times during the night and was ordered off the bus. No more than 2 hours of sleep at a time. "Sucks a lot!" We gradually fell more behind as the incompetence of the Bus grew.

In Amarillo, Josh, Brad and I stopped at a Japanese food place a block away from the station. I had not been to Texas for a couple years, but I remembered everything as I walked in the door to this place. A man standing behind a sushi bar greeted us with a "Whats up Amigos?" in broken english. He had a 10 gallon hat on, and a western style shirt. Classic. Everything is not only bigger in Texas, it is much, much more cowboy. We met a guy from the Bay Area while we where waiting for the food. Talked about Bhutto's assassination and surfing. What a Californian.

We got the food to go and went back to the bus stop, as we feared we would miss the Bus. Much to our chagrin, we did not even come close to missing it. The bus was being changed because the heater of the old one died. As if we couldn't tell on the way. It was really, really hot during the night, then really, really cold during day. I hate you Greyhound.

So were running even more late.

This is the too much wasabi sequence of Brad.

The clouds broke at the end of the day and allowed some awesome light into the bus. Here is Alex Symmmonds and Mike Theodore somewhere in Texas, I think.

Jason Grodsky and Dan Johnson.
And finally, I improved my hail mary skills on the road. Even with a manual focus! Brad and I in crazy good "golden" light.
detail of Brad

smellin' the roses: Night 1, 12/26 (part 2)

2007-12-29T18:34:00.002-06:00

Greyhound Time

Greyhound has a complete and final hold on your life, have a nice trip. Everything from who you talk to, what time you are in any one place, when you eat, where you sleep, and how you go to the bathroom is controlled by the Bus.

Example of a conversation @ St. Louis. Takes place between a customer and a Greyhound employee:

-"I am sorry, but what is the hold up. Aren't we supposed to be departing?" the customer politely asks.
-"No. I just told everyone what was happenin'." the employee spits back.
-"Sorry, but I was at the end of the line at the back of the room, I didn't quite hea..." the customer is interrupted.
-"The bus will be here in a couple hours!" the employee shouts and turns away.
-"Oh. Why then did all the others leave, and we are still here?" At this point the customer is confused about why a hundred people in front of the small group had just departed on the same bus he was supposed to be on.
-"Out of all these people, you are the only one giving me problems. What is that ()?" with an audible expletive underneath her breath.
-"I apologize again..." interrupted once again.
-"The bus will be her in a couple hours! A COUPLE HOURS, PEOPLE!" the employee screams so as everyone can hear this time, and proceeds to walk away, only to be found again 2-3 hours later when the bus arrives.

This is just a dramatization, but close enough to what happened to the group in St. Louis. Logistics is not what Greyhound does. They do what we now call Greyhound time. If there are three buses leaving from one location and must transfer at another location, only have two buses ready, and the third bus is just stuck at the transfer spot for an indiscriminate amount of time, and is abused the whole time. Sounds logical right? Great way to get returning customers.

Brad played some video games to pass the time, as we didn't know how long we had to wait for our bus to come.

We were frantic. We scrambled to see if there was another possible line of travel. Train, car, airplane, anything that would get us to LA on time. The realization that Greyhound didn't actually care if anyone ever got anywhere was a deafening blow. The scramble was in vane and we had to continue on with the plan, at complete mercy to Greyhound time. (-----) insert choice word here.

There was time now. Time to examine the surroundings, time to get to know the birds, time to get to know each other. There was time, but not the time we needed.

Josh documents the shenanigans of the group while Alex and Jason laugh.

Greyhound time is further explained on the top 10 list on http://blogs.dailyillini.com/sports. Oh, so much fun. The bus came eventually, the harassment continued, the ghetto held strong, and the one guys drinking forties out of a plastic cup kept on his spiel about the bump and grind.

The station would have been a nice place, and probably was at one point, but now, not so much. Probably due to the employees attitudes.

smellin' the roses: Night 1, 12/26 (part 1)

2007-12-29T12:01:00.001-06:00

Dropped off in St. Louis on time and well adjusted, I was looking forward to the rest of the ride with some sort of optimism, everything seemed to be going alright.

The Chinese place in St. Louis, called Empress Express, was a whole in the wall, red and yellow box with bullet proof windows. The menu was hard to read, and the environment was less than inviting.

We had time to eat at this point. We went in groups, one group would go get food, while the other stayed behind to guard our luggage (as we where dropped off at a station in the middle of the ghetto, see Top 10 on the DI Sport Blog). The Chinese restaurant next door sounded more appetizing than the KFC across the street, but looked much less inviting. Asian food of varying degrees of quality would become or menu for the next few days by quite a coincidence.

Josh, left, and Brad talk while we wait for our food. A nice photo to show how tall each is. I don't normally do this to Josh, but this one is hilarious.
We tried to hurry, as we were kind of worried about missing the bus. We got the food to go to allow plenty of time for the writers group to get food. Oh, we had plenty of time. PLENTY OF TIME.

A trio of photogs must of been a spectacle in the hood.

smellin' the roses: Day 1, 12/26

2007-12-28T22:25:00.001-06:00

Everyone was hopeful and bright eyed about the Rose Bowl. I was glad to finally be on the way. The night before departure was a second Christmas eve for me. With 49 hours and 1 minutes of a bus ride in front of me and a 5 hour car ride behind me, I needed to rest. We all met at the station a bit too early, due to anticipation of what was to come and had a wait that was going to grow exponentially from there...
Personally, it was a bad start. The customer service of the certain bus company that we had chosen for our transportation to Cali was already starting to show its colors. Nothing too extreme, but it was difficult to get all my luggage onto the bus. I am thankful to get out to the Bowl any way I can, but the Bus ride was shaky to say the least. Fun, fun.

This photo had good light. Brad, Josh and I had sat down on the bus and the shutters began to fly. I like the creepiness of this frame, it might help to explain how Brad got two seats to himself the whole time. The bastard.
The next frame is of Josh and his new fedora (with which he claims he commands more respect now). Sleep, something with which we had some much time to do, but never really got enough. Or was it we slept a lot, but couldn't get any good sleep, as accommodations were a bit lacking. Josh looks so peaceful and powerful in this one. Quite opposite, the peaceful part that is, of his normal devilishness.

More to come later....