Dude Looks Like a Lady

I saw a poster a few days ago and heard from a friend that there was going to be some "Bearded Lady Fortune Teller" at Bromley Dining Hall tonight. Well, it turned out to be a little more than that.

First of all, the bearded lady was a sham. He was some clown from my high school, he was drunk, and his crystal ball was a piece of junk. But...all was not lost. There was a drag show...

(In case you are not sure, all of these photos are guys, dressed like women).



















I smell a long term documentary/essay of sorts on these folks. I don't understand why they do it at all. I didn't really talk to them much, just got their fake names and where they were from. One was from Dayton. It's a weird sort of subculture....and it is certainly photogenic.

Funny side story to this is that this "Modern Carnival 2008" was put on by a student group called "Open Doors." I googled it and it said it was some Christian outreach campus group. I was very confused when I showed up.

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Yar, We Be Visually Pillaging Your Festival

Well, it's 315 AM and what better time for a ridiculously long and gratuitous blog post. No class til 3pm on Mondays, so let's get to it.

Sunday was a really fun day. Me, along with Charles and Ryan (fellow photographers), drove over to Ashland, Ohio for the 5th Annual Viking Fest. These people were super into it and it was a lot of fun. I even participated in some "piking" training, which is basically using super long spear. I have a certificate that states:

BE IT KNOWN THROUGHOUT THE HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE THAT DREW ANGERER, DUE TO THEIR ATTENTIVENESS AND CUNNING, HAS COMPLETED STUDY FROM THE COLLEGE OF PIKING AND IS TO BE DECLARED AS SPIEBTRAGER (no idea what that means) OF THE EMPIRE AND IS HEREBY ACCEPTED INTO THE RANKS OF LANDSKNETCHTE AS ESTABLISHED BY KAISER MAXIMILLIAN I. AS SUCH, YOU ARE HEREBY GRANTED EXEMPTION BY IMPERIAL DECREE OF ALL SUMPTUARY LAWS AND CITATIONS. THE HIGH ADVENTURE AND SATISFACTION OF IMPERIAL MILITARY SERVICE NOW AWAITS YOU. I CONGRATULATE YOU ON YOUR WISE CHOICE OF PROFESSION. -signed Herr Wolfgang Bleucher

We also pillaged us some photos while we were there.






I really like this frame. It is square shaped because this girl's dad would not stop staring into my camera lens. I really wanted to work the mannequinn face into a frame and I think I did a decent job of it here. This is also the part of the day where I made an idiot out of myself. These braids this lady was selling were called "Pyrate Tails." P-Y-R-A-T-E. I read em as I see em, so I asked the lady, what exactly is a "Pie-rate" tail. She said....you know, like pirates wear. My mind wasn't on pirates, and "pyrates" should be pronounced nothing like "pirates." This was a Viking Festival and this lady was bringing her "Pyrate" trinkets in on the vikings. Whatever, I made a decent photo out of it, but felt like a fool because I said the word "Pie-rate."










This dude up here, Dave Segermark, brought his half sized replica of a Viking longship from Philly to the festival. This was kinda cool, because all those boring history classes I took last year finally paid off. I actually know a bit about these longships and I had a nice conversation with this guy about them.




Looks like a little strategery going on in this photo here. The game is called Fox and Geese and apparently the Vikings used to play it on the ships during their long boat rides. You know, just something to do to pass the time before pillaging the villages, setting fire to everything and ruining everyone's peaceful lives.


Great weekend all around. Can I have an internship now, please?

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Football and an Interview

I shot the OU spring football scrimmage on Saturday because I was assigned to shoot it for Speakeasy Magazine (student run "webzine" for those who aren't acquainted) and I'm still working on my sports assignment for class. There was hardly anyone at this game and it was probably just an excuse to tailgate and play cornhole. Notice the completely empty stands in the backgrounds. Also, this is the first time I've ever shot football. It's kinda tough, since you are looking through the viewfinder with a super long lens and then when the quarterback throws the ball, you lose it for second and then it's kinda tough to tell where it went.









This last frame here is my favorite from the day by far. You have this guy celebrating his measly one yard touchdown run during a scrimmage (where he is playing the B team defense) and there is absolutely no one in the stands. I love it. OU football isn't such a big deal as it is at that other State school up north, who also tends to lose the National Championship game every year. OU gets to play them next year. WATCH OUT!



In other news, I had my first photo related job interview with 2 photographers from the Sandusky Register on Saturday. I think it went really well and they seemed to like my work. They shoot a lot of high school sports in the summer, so they were glad to see a lot of good sports images in my portfolio. The chief photographer for the Register went to OU when he was a student and when he was looking through my portfolio, he realized we both did stories on the Last Chance Corral. That was kinda cool. I should have asked him which one of us did it better.

I should hear back about this summer internship sometime next week. I'm really not expecting to get the summer one (they are considering interns for this summer, fall, winter, spring and next summer- so maybe I'll get one of those slots). I'm all ready and lined up to go to Scotland, but if I happen to get the job at the Register, I will be spending my summer days in the beautiful flatlands of northern Ohio, instead of the rolling green of Scotland. Either way is fine by me.

Also, since my parents paid 40 bucks to have my nice dress clothes expressed in for my interview, I figured I should wear them for more than 20 minutes. So, me and a friend went to Walmart to get a DVD and some candy, so I wore my nice digs and my tie and strutted around Walmart, trying to look very important.

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Fun with Softballs

There was a doubleheader softball game on Friday afternoon and I took some photos at the games. Our assignment for next week is sports action, and I also have to shoot the spring football scrimmage tomorrow for a publication. Before we get to any real sports action, here is some selective focus fun with the ball. It isn't as tough as a thought it would be to make this happen. Got it on the 2nd try. (These first 3 photos were inspired by the Chris Detrick photo that won many awards)









And now back to regularly scheduled programming with a sports action photo. I wish I would have gotten this frame a split second later, so the ump would have his hands in the air, signaling safe. Oh well.


That's all for now.

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Opening Day

Saturday was opening day for the Athens Little League. They get some serious fanfare going for this event. Every player rides into the ball park area on a trailer or truck or fire truck and they throw candy at people on the street. I enjoyed some junior mints, starburst and smarties for my breakfast, as they were chucked at my face from players screaming "hit the photographer!"





I never got a parade when I played ball.

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Two Headed Monster

This was my first time at a water polo match and it looked like a really fun sport to play. I think I would like it even more if it was played in the shallow end, because treading water for 45 minutes straight would have to be pretty grueling.

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Sunset

It was a rainy day. Probably shouldn't make a habit of shooting sunsets...my eyes are sore.




Please, no rain tomorrow.

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Cort Schneider

Pretty amazing man right here. Cort Schneider is an OU grad student and has cerebral palsy. But, that doesn't stop him from running 5 miles everyday and regularly participating in half-marathons. He has completed 8 so far, and this was his 2nd of the week.







"Running is not about who is the fastest, but who tries the hardest. The best feeling after a race is knowing you've finished something and accomplished something."

I walked about 12 miles on Sunday, trying to find him on the course and then following him for an hour or so. He was impressive.

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Athens Marathon

A nice day for the Athens Marathon.




These guys were Canadian and awesome.





Found a wonderful ditch to take this photograph from.






I took a ton of photos and I also met an OU grad student who has cerebral palsy. He runs 4-5 miles a day and this was his 2nd half marathon for the week. The guy would have crushed me in this race. He was amazing. I followed him around for an hour or so, I'll post some photos of him later.

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Pickup Basketball

In honor of the Final 4, here are some guys playing a pickup game on campus.





Send it in. Athens Marathon tomorrow.

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Yellow Ball, Yellow Ball

I shot the OU vs Buffalo softball game today. The first thing I noticed was the yellow ball. Why do girls play with a yellow ball and guys play with a white ball? Yellow balls will follow in the frames below (because I've been told many sports pictures are worthless without the ball).











Ohio won on a game winning single in the bottom of the 7th (the last inning). Pretty good game. I was amused by the mom in the stand who kept yelling at the team to "TURN 2, LET'S TURN 2" when there was a runner on 2nd and on one on first. You aren't going to be turning 2, ma'am. Also, the starting pitcher came out of the game in the 5th inning and was replaced by the closer. The closer ran into some trouble in the 7th, and then the STARTER came back in. That seemed a kinda Little League to me, but whatever.

As of last night, I'm also shooting for the OU yearbook that I didn't know existed before last night. You just shoot whatever university related stuff you want and turn it in on a disc each month. Sounds good.

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The Sun Makes An Appearance

It seemed that every single time I went out to shoot something for class during winter quarter, it was cloudy/snowy/rainy/gray/ugly/gross. I am so glad spring is here. Today was beautiful, no hints of winter grossness. I want a job in the south when I graduate. No cold, no snow, no frostbite. Sun and good light, let me come.

So our first assignment of the quarter was called "College Green." Pretty self explanatory. I was on my way to get my hair cut today when I saw these people jamming on their bongos (I will use that as a general term for whatever African drums they were using). I really like the 2nd photo down there. I shot it without their faces on purpose, just wanted to focus in on the repetition of drums and hands. I find it more interesting than the first.

I think I'm also going to shoot the Annual Athens Marathon this Sunday. I've been here for 2 and a half years and I didn't even know Athens had a Marathon (this year is the 41st one). Where have I been? ...Not running

I cook. Nick doesn't.

The pup tried to come back to Athens with me.

My camera bag came today. I don't look like a novice anymore.

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