Wanderings

It Gets Better in Hutch

2011-12-04T22:24:00.000-05:00

Kansas sky

2011-11-09T02:34:00.001-05:00

2011-11-07T00:43:00.000-05:00

Found a robot walking home from work on my way home for my dinner break on Halloween.

Quivira National Wildlife Refuge

2011-11-05T20:57:00.002-04:00

Last weekend I went out to Quivira National Wildlife Refuge on Saturday for the paper. Quivira is normally home to two large salt marshes and a ton of migrating birds, however because of this year's prolonged drought, it's really dry out there and (though I haven't seen it in other years) I'm fairly sure there are a lot less birds than usual. We did however still manage to run into a few members of the Boulder Audobon Club, who had taken a field trip down to the Refuge because it is a migration stop point for the very very endangered Whooping Crane. Sadly we didn't see any Whooping Cranes but they did let us look through their scope to check out some Sandhill Cranes instead. Very cool.

The day started out as a bit of a feature hunt but instead the photos ended up running alongside a story on how the drought is effecting bird hunting season, as you can hunt some birds in certain areas of the refuge.

Getting Ready for Halloween

2011-10-21T03:43:00.000-04:00

Celebrity Goat Milking

2011-10-16T21:20:00.000-04:00

Rashell Lozada, a member of the KSCW-TV celebrity goat milking team, has some difficulties taking her turn milking during the Celebrity Goat Milking competition at the Kansas State Fair. (9/16/2011)

Trinity Catholic vs. Bennington

2011-09-25T21:54:00.001-04:00

fading Friday night light

The highest point in Hutchinson

2011-09-20T22:05:00.003-04:00

The state fair has dominated the past 12 days of my life.

Yoder Heritage Day

2011-08-30T22:28:00.002-04:00

I spent the day at the Yoder Heritage Festival in Yoder, KS this past Saturday. Yoder is a community with a large population of Amish and on the last Saturday in August everyone in town gets together and participates in traditional area activities, like buggy races, tractor pulls, horseback football and a big old parade. There's also some amazing homemade food (pie and ice cream!) and traditional music and 'cowboy poetry.'
I was intially concerned about getting names of people whose photos I shot, as Amish are traditionally reluctant to have their photos taken and I know that sometimes they decline to give their names (making them sometimes unpublishable in the newspaper as a result) but I either got lucky or was worried for nothing, as everyone I spoke with was very accomodating. A good day all around.

National Track and Field Junior Olympics

2011-08-24T21:44:00.002-04:00

A few weeks ago I spent my mornings all week long and days off shooting at the National Track and Field Junior Olympics at Cessna Stadium in Wichita. 7,000 junior olympians came from all over the country to compete in traditional track and field events during one of the hottest and most brutal weeks of the year. A lot of these kids were from milder climates and the heat and sun definitely took a toll. They even started spraying the kids down with a garden hose at the 3/4 point on the track. There were a lot of incredibly impressive athletes there, I can't say I've ever seen an 8 year-old pound out a sub-six minute mile before. All in all, it was a brutal brutal week that cemented my tan in place and I hope I never have to shoot 40 hours in constant sunny 110 degree weather again.

Fire in Burrton

2011-08-21T22:51:00.001-04:00

Boy Scouts!

2011-08-19T22:13:00.002-04:00

Spent a summer evening with the Boy Scouts in Nickerson, where members of the local troops gathered up flags for retirement. While any private citizen can retire a flag, it is commonly done by Scout troops and veteran's associations, who have their own ceremony procedures. The most common way to retire a flag is through burning, as recommended in the U.S. Flag Code.
Never having been to a retirement ceremony before, it was pretty neat to watch and these scouts definitely took their duties seriously.

Summertime in Kansas

2011-08-14T21:56:00.004-04:00

Roy Williams, of Mulvane, looks on as grandson Bryson Williams, 9, unhooks a fish he caught while at Pete's Puddles. The family has been coming to the lake for five summers.

Marie Cochrane, 1, of Hutchinson, plays at the Fairgrounds Water Park in Hutchinson, KS, on Saturday, July 16. Triple-digit temperatures will continue to plague the area through-out the coming week.

Sophia Rose, 5, of Hutchinson, looks back to her family while waving an American flag prior to the start of the 4th of July parade down Main Street on Monday morning.

Tylia Bruton, 11, center, Andryce Jackson, 9, left, and Angie Imel wash a car during a fundraiser for the Little Miss Hutch Pageant on Saturday, July 16. The car wash, which raised funds for a float in the Emancipation Day parade among other things, was held on front of Gray's Barber Shop on Main Street

Features Features Features

2011-08-10T22:06:00.003-04:00

Tracey Rogers takes a break from the triple-digit heat under an umbrella during the Sunday, August 8 Monarchs baseball game agaisnt the St. Joseph Mustangs at Lawrence-Dumont Stadium in Wichita.

Olevia Dennis, 3, paints on a sheet while at the Kansas Kids Museum Parking Lot Adventure at the Hutchinson Mall on Saturday, August 6. The event featured activities inside the musuem and in the parking lot, including a dunk tank, learning stations, and police and fire department booths.

Jolynn Martin runs through water from a fire hose with neighbor Ireland Rutan, 2, during the National Night Out, held on Lyman Avenue on Tuesday night. The event, which included free activities and hot dogs, was a way for locals to connect with their area police and fire personnel.

Kansas, Idaho, Wyoming

2011-07-20T22:07:00.003-04:00

Kansas

Idaho

Grand Teton National Park

Wyoming

Took a last-minute trip up to Idaho to visit my boyfriend a few weeks back. Drove 16 hours up in a straight shot, luckily the scenery got increasingly beautiful as I went along. These certainly aren't groundbreaking in terms of landscapes, but I still like'em.

I love zoos

2011-07-12T20:55:00.003-04:00

In search of different hot weather photos (it's been in the triple digits for atleast a week now and we're running out of photo subject matter on the topic(cute kids in water!)) I was sent to the Hutchinson Zoo to see what they do to cool off the animals. These are not those photos since they're not running until tomorrow buttt they're still from the zoo.

Zookeeper Ryan Witmer showed me around the zoo's rehabilitation facility while I was waiting for animal snack time (frozen pureed bananas with crickets!) with another zookeeper.

So I moved to Kansas.

2011-07-03T00:46:00.002-04:00

It's outragously hot and full of bugs and weather I have little experience with, but it's going well so far. It's pretty in a 'Little house on the praire' sort of way.

PS There's a very good chance I'm going to get a wordpress blog soon. very soon. Stay posted, my six google-reader subscribers.

Michigan's Empty Schools

2011-03-12T21:27:00.002-05:00

Steve Grose, School Board President of Holland Public Schools, stands inside of Lakeview Elementary School. The building, which once educated about 150 students per year, has been closed for over a year and is now used as a storage site for the district.
(Amanda Loman | Grand Rapids Press)

Paint peels off of the walls in a yet-unrenovated section of the former E.E. Fell Junior High School building in Holland.
(Amanda Loman | Grand Rapids Press)

Kel Tenbroeke, right, a plumber, and John Wycners, a plasterman, work on the second floor of the former E.E. Fell Junior High School in Holland. The building is being renovated to provide housing to senior citizens.
(Amanda Loman | Grand Rapids Press)

RV Expo

2011-03-12T21:25:00.000-05:00

Allie Breese, 4, plays with a table setting inside of an RV while parents Jeff and Jenny look on. The family was attending the Grand Rapids RV Expo at the DeltaPlex on Friday, February 18.
(Amanda Loman | Grand Rapids Press)

Sugarbush Trail Tour

2011-03-12T21:23:00.001-05:00

Marcy Yanos, center, receives a taste of maple syrup from outdoor educator Nicole Durso, Yanos was at the Blandford Nature Center's Sugarbush Trail Tour with daughter Meg Riter, 2, son Colin Riter, 5, and husband Web Riter, right. Tours will be held every Saturday in March, culminating in a pancake breakfast on March 26
(Amanda Loman | Grand Rapids Press)

Portraits portraits portraits

2011-03-12T21:20:00.002-05:00

Karla Oard and Thomas Schiedel co-founded Blue Monkey Adventure, a travel agency which currently operates out of Oard's home. The agency offers trips such as mountain biking in Moab, Utah and one to London, England for the royal wedding in April.

Randy Finch, co-owner of Ice Sculptures Ltd. with Derek Maxfield, whose business is the subject of a new Food Network TV show, Ice Brigade. The show debuts at 10 p.m. on March 3.

"Michigan's where my roots are," said Mitch Ranger, a Grand Rapids-based photographer who is being included in a new book of the world's top photographers. Ranger's studio is located at 401 Hall St SW in Grand Rapids.

Winter Bridal Show of West Michigan

2011-03-12T21:17:00.002-05:00

From January. The first of many trade shows I shot at DeVos Place.

2011-03-10T02:20:00.001-05:00

Tina Moreno, left, and daughter Natalia, 14, stay warm by a fire pit with Tami Steagald, right, at 1 a.m. while at the Great Winter Skatefest. The three arrived at 12:30 a.m. to wait in near-zero temperatures for Natalia's favorite Griffins player, Francis Pare, who was scheduled to skate at 2 a.m.

(Amanda Loman | Grand Rapids Press)

Winter Beer Festival at Fifth Third Baseball Park

2011-03-10T01:08:00.002-05:00

Grand Rapids Zoo

2011-03-08T01:00:00.005-05:00

Long time no blog. I moved to Grand Rapids, MI in January to intern with the Grand Rapids Press, it's been wonderful so far. GR is a great city.

I love zoos more than most things on this planet. So when I got an assignment to go take photos of the zookeepers getting ready for Opening Day, it was like Christmas came early.

Cats & Windows & Good Company

2011-01-06T14:56:00.000-05:00

Halloween

2010-11-02T09:56:00.001-04:00

Old Forge

2010-10-08T23:41:00.000-04:00

2010-10-05T01:20:00.000-04:00

Old Forge, NY

Kitty

2010-09-29T17:07:00.002-04:00

NYS fair

2010-09-18T22:38:00.000-04:00

2010-08-17T01:30:00.000-04:00

Rome, May 2010

2010-08-14T23:32:00.002-04:00

Eagle Falls, Adirondacks

Living a balanced life is difficult at times. In MI I had a more fulfilling professional life, in Syracuse I have a more fulfilling personal life. Reconciling the two sometimes proves difficult, but I think I'll just make the best of it while I'm here.

2010-08-14T23:29:00.000-04:00

Dare I Say... the last of high school sports?

2010-06-22T20:26:00.003-04:00

Adam Pijaszek of Bay City All Saints, a four-year pitching ace who made his reputation as a big-game pitcher, even pitching in the state championship game as a sophomore.

Gini Fisher, of Bay City Central, set a school record for career and single season home runs while leading Bay County in batting average.

Autumn Glysz, left, Jen Washabaugh, and Stephanie LaBelle, Bangor John Glenn soccer players whose strong defense let only six goals against Glenn all season.

Way way behind on updates. Gotta get on that.

Softball

2010-06-12T17:06:00.001-04:00

Essexville Garber's Molly Braun throws to first base during the Saturday, June 12 regional semi-final game against Mt. Pleasant. Mt. Pleasant won the game 7-4 after ten innings.

Longview Elementary School Closing

2010-06-05T19:45:00.002-04:00

Royleen VanEver, a para-professional at Longview Elementary, helps former student Tim Charitz, 33, adjust his costume while dressed as the Longview mascot during the closing ceremonies on Saturday, June 5.

Jan Marcou, left, a teacher at Longview Elementary School from 1972-1975, and Bina Carter-Gillett, a student at Longview from 1968-1975 share a joke while visiting a former classroom.

Wendy Shurlow comforts daughter Ava, 5, during the Longview Elementary School closing ceremony on Saturday, June 5, where Ava was a student.

Longview Elementary School will be closing its doors soon. To say goodbye, they held a 'closing ceremony' today.

School's pretty much over here in Michigan. I'm going to miss shooting at them, they're so full of chaos and life.

Feels like Summer

2010-05-20T15:20:00.004-04:00

Justin Parker, one of the founders of AR Productions, films part of a commercial for Urban Laundry in Wenonah Park on Thursday, May 20. Parker is also a bartender at Old City Bar.

2010-05-19T16:00:00.000-04:00

Steve Tews, of Jim Bradley Quality Painting, puts a fresh coat of paint on the tail section of the helicopter at the Bay County Vietnam Veterans Monument in Veterans Memorial Park. Tews estimated that repainting the monument would take 5 gallons of paint.

Beer beer everywhere

2010-05-19T15:07:00.003-04:00

James Fabiano Sr., right, president and chief executive officer stands with son
James C. Fabiano II, a partner-owner of the firm. Along with Joseph R. Fabiano II, the three
are celebrating the 125 year of Fabiano Brothers.

Went with Mike Wayland to check out Fabiano Brothers in Monitor Township, a beer and wine distributor. Beautiful offices and a really cool warehouse.

Guns and Hurdles

2010-05-18T16:57:00.002-04:00

Kyler Rosin, a senior at Bangor John Glenn, will be competing in the 110 meter hurdles, 300 meter hurdles, pole vault and 1600 meter relay this weekend at the regional tournament in Cadillac. Rosin, a four-year member of the track and field team, plans to attend Delta college in the fall.

Glenn Duncan, owner of Duncan's Outdoor Shop, holds a 50th anniversary commemorative Smith and Wesson revolver engraved with the shop's logo. Duncan's Outdoor Shop was founded by Duncan's mother, Patricia Duncan, a competition shooter.

The gun shop had two poodles! Unexpected? Yes.

Crazy Socks

2010-05-17T14:54:00.001-04:00

Reba Vance, a Pinconning junior, clears the high jump at 4'3" during the Bay County Track and Field Championships held at Bay City Western on Friday, May 14.

Back rooms

2010-05-17T14:43:00.002-04:00

I went and shot at a local brewery this weekend. When I asked to use the restroom, I got lead through back parts of the warehouse, through a storage room with all this memorabilia from the 1950's, including basically a complete diner, with booths and a bar and signs on the wall. It was like stepping back in time. There was also a ridiculous car collection there, including what I was told was apparently the first fuel-injected Corvette (or something like that.) I don't know anything about cars, especially old ones, but apparently this one had a million dollar insurance policy on it, which seemed impressive to me.

Earth Day

2010-04-22T11:40:00.001-04:00

Different sports!

2010-04-17T17:48:00.004-04:00

Saginaw Valley State University Scrimmage

Nouvel Catholic Central vs. Frankenmuth Girls Soccer

Great Lakes Loons Baseball

All in the unseasonably cold weather that I had to break the Skirt Challenge for.

Northwood Fashion Show

2010-04-15T23:11:00.003-04:00

The Northwood University fashion show got a thousand times cooler when the harpist started playing.

This past week

2010-04-09T16:34:00.004-04:00

Bay Heritage Quilters Guild

Lorenzo Acosta, Bay City Central senior, track team member, 4x1, 4x2, 4x3

Toldo Masonry employees lay bricks at what will be the Army Reserve Training Center in Buena Vista Township.

So at the beginning of April I decided I needed an arbitrary challenge in my life and decided to wear a skirt or dress every day for the whole month.
On Thursday, I had to go shoot at a construction site, which normally would have been mostly fine to wear a dress to except that it was insanely windy that day and it was coming to the end of my assignment and I hadn't yet gotten what I considered a good-enough photo. The supervisor showing me around and I go to find some masons doing work so that I can get some photos with people in them. The only problem is that these guys are 15 feet up on scaffolding laying bricks and the only way up is a pretty unstable ladder. This is where a dress becomes a bad idea. I manned up, got my photos and finished up but not before climbing a 15-foot ladder in a dress in gale-force winds and having some construction worker sing AC/DC's 'You shook me all night long' to me. Lesson Learned.

Easter Sunday

2010-04-09T16:31:00.001-04:00

So much media

2010-04-09T16:22:00.003-04:00

Two TV stations and two newspapers at one event. Sometimes I feel like the media outnumbers the actual newsmakers.

Walk a Mile in Her Shoes @ SVSU

2010-04-09T16:03:00.004-04:00

I'd never heard of this event before but the concept is pretty cool. To raise awareness and funds for sexual assault prevention and domestic violence prevention, a bunch of guys participated in the Walk A Mile in Her Shoes event at SVSU.
When they got to the event, each of the guys picked out a rockin' pair of high heels and then later walked a literal mile in women's shoes. Some of these shoes looked brutal and they all pretty much wore socks with them. There was also a lot of testing of the shoes limits via push ups and heel-clicking and soccer.
Sadly I had to leave before the event finished, so I didn't get to see how much limping there was at the finish line.

Food Give-away

2010-04-08T15:27:00.002-04:00

Got sent to Saginaw yesterday to shoot a food give-away by Parishioners on Patrol and Hidden Harvest. It was such a rainy and gross day but everyone there was super enthusiastic. Even the cops there for security were helping out!

Passion Play

2010-04-01T19:39:00.003-04:00

Nelson Salgado, playing the role of Jesus, has his make-up and fake wounds applied prior to the dress rehearsel

I went to a Passion Play at Redeeming Love Christian Assembly last night for an assignment. I had an 8:30 deadline so I couldn't stay for the whole thing but it was definitely a quality production that you could tell a lot of hard work went into.

While I was shooting the play, I sat on the floor right in front of the table closest to the stage. There were aisles marked for the actors in glow-in-the-dark tape on the floor so I thought I would be alright if I was back far enough. Alas, between scenes when the lights went down the people in the play just kind of scattered and ran for the back and atleast one lady took a faceplant falling over me. Sorry about that :(

This or that

2010-03-31T14:46:00.003-04:00

The paper printed this one

But I kind of like this one. Thoughts?

Bay City

2010-03-30T20:27:00.002-04:00

Shopping center constuction, corner of Saginaw and Center

Greg Kimbrue, co-owner of Kingfish restaurant and Tiki

dog walkin'

Bay City All Saints girls softball practice

Portraits

2010-03-25T13:54:00.003-04:00

Tom Weiss, 49, Auburn, has been farming for 32 years, since graduating high school, with Weiss Farms in Auburn.

Sister Maria Goretti Beckman, recipient of the Pax Christi Michigan's 2010 Purple Ribbon for Peace award

Bay County District Judge Scott Newcombe, retiring after 31 years

Beautiful weather

2010-03-24T16:36:00.002-04:00

'He was like a brother to us,' said Nichole Gotwalt, as she and Matthew Pierson hold up the signs they brought to the protest in front of their car, decorated with words of tribute to Brett 'Dewey' Elder. A protest against Taser use was held by the police station on the one year anniversary of Elder's death. Elder, a Bay City fifteen year old, died after being stunned with a Taser by police during a confrontation at a Bay City apartment.

Machine-rolled cigarettes, $25 per carton at Let's Roll Tobacco on Wilder rd.

Fishing Ban along the Kawkawlin River after the area was designated a fish spawning area. It was a beautiful day to go walking in the mud in dress clothes.

Students make wood duck nesting boxes at Washington Elementary School

Lacrosse

2010-03-17T15:28:00.003-04:00

I started a long term story yesterday following the Bay City Western lacrosse team. This is the first year the school will have a lacrosse program, so it should be interesting to see how the season progresses. Guess I'll have to learn the rules of lacrosse.

Wednesday

2010-03-17T14:36:00.003-04:00

Wendy Zvara, cashier and food service technician at Bay City Western

Lorene Moyer, 91, buying a new used car at Hagen Ford

Bob Hagen, owner of Hagen Ford

Unexpected notes from people I'll never know.

Rainy Saturday

2010-03-13T15:02:00.003-05:00

Guy Henika, 12, takes a shot on basket as Trenton Thomson moves in to block on Saturday, March 13. The boys and many others enjoyed the outdoors despite cold temperatures and rain.

Noah VanAllen, 10, struggles to break his line after his hook becomes stuck.
VanAllen was fishing for walleye with father Terry VanAllen.

James Johnson, Clare, left, and Brian Engel, fish for Walleye along the Saginaw River on Saturday despite cold temperatures and rainy conditions. 'We're not really fishing for walleye anymore, more like anything that bites,' said Johnson.

Today was my last of four consecutive saturday shifts for a while and there wasn't anything lined up and I had no deadline, so I just drove around for a while, looking for people out on a cold and rainy day. There were way more people out than I thought there would be (especially fishermen!), and it was nice to just shoot without any looming assignments for once.

VARIETY

2010-03-12T21:49:00.002-05:00

Bay City Western vs. Mount Pleasant

Tom Levengood, Chief Plant Operator, Bay City Water Treatment Plant

I think I hope I wish I might now be at the end of my high school basketball season. I don't mind shooting it honestly, but there's just been so.much. lately.
I'll take a good early morning municipal utility any day of the week.

Sportraits

2010-03-11T16:33:00.001-05:00

Chelsea Dery, Arenac Eastern player on the Dream team

Jason Newsham, owner of JJKN Hoops

Basketball!!!

2010-03-10T20:43:00.002-05:00

Bay City Central vs. Bay City Western

Arenac Eastern vs. Deckerville

2010-03-06T15:15:00.000-05:00

Sometimes, I like the ones that aren't newspaper-worthy better.

why hello, basketball

2010-03-06T15:06:00.002-05:00

Special Olympics basketball tournament at Handy Middle School

Arenac Eastern wins the district basketball championship

From a while ago

2010-03-05T17:37:00.003-05:00

Ma at the beach, November 2009

Basketball Basketball Bowling Basketball Basketball

2010-03-04T18:05:00.003-05:00

Pinconning vs. Roscommon

father and son who won doubles bowling

Essexville Garber vs. Bangor John Glenn

My fellow intern John and I take turns working the day and evening shifts and because of how things work out I'm in the middle of shooting three weeks of evening shifts right now. So basically high school basketball with a little bowling thrown in every once and while. So. Much. Basketball.

oh Michigan.

2010-02-27T14:55:00.001-05:00

The arena had played three Nickelback songs before the first period of the hockey game was even over.

The past week

2010-02-26T16:30:00.005-05:00

Artsy teens

Middle School Wrestling

Library Millages!

Only one bball game, heck yes.

And lastly, I don't think the photo does him justice but this Husky was HUGE. Fattest dog I've ever seen. I was taking photos of his owner and he grabbed my attention.

2010-02-26T01:01:00.002-05:00

Saw this guy while XC skiing a few weeks ago. I wish I'd talked to him when we were done and he was loading up his pups into a crazy dog trailer. I've tried finding people who dogsled here in MI but no luck locally so far.

Iceland

2010-02-23T00:58:00.002-05:00

Let's go back. As much as I like living indoors and having access to running water that isn't a river, in retrospect, living out of a car, sleeping wherever we set up our tent for the night, cooking over a camp stove in fields and spending all day everyday outside in a country more beautiful and untouched than words can describe was beyond magical.

An abbreviated month

2010-02-22T00:56:00.003-05:00

No words, just photos.

Kittens

2010-02-22T00:18:00.002-05:00

J Lo's and my mama's.

Cosmic Irony.

2010-02-21T16:34:00.004-05:00

Shot The Affordable Little Bridal Show at Old City Hall today for work. Nothing like love songs and people celebrating the rest of their lives together to get my day off going right.

The base of the thumb on the mitten.

2010-02-20T13:51:00.004-05:00

At the beginning of January I moved to Michigan to intern at the Bay City Times. Since then, I'm shooting more than I've probably ever shot in my life. Guess that means I'll have to start updating this thing again. Soonish.

NYC Snowman

2010-01-04T22:32:00.003-05:00

Went to NYC with my boy for New Year's Eve, avoided Times Square and found the most awesome snowman in the road. He's a survivor, this one, especially since it was freezing rain out. But maybe snowmen like that.

Ice Skating

2009-12-23T00:37:00.003-05:00

This year is my fourth Christmas in Syracuse and I hadn't yet been downtown to ice skate at Clinton Square. It was ridiculously festive and fun and I didn't even fall down. Heck yes.

2009-12-05T01:36:00.002-05:00

M+D

2009-12-05T01:34:00.001-05:00

2009-11-14T22:27:00.000-05:00

Manasota Beach, FL

FL

2009-11-14T06:56:00.000-05:00

2009-11-07T00:39:00.000-05:00

Dettifoss, Iceland

Spain III

2009-10-30T00:08:00.004-04:00

The Reina Sofia

Picasso's Guernica

Matt & I at a train station with a random botanical garden

Creepy wall art in our hostal in Salamanca.

I recently spent a week in Spain visiting my boyfriend who's studying abroad there for the semester. I hadn't been to the country before so it was really nice to spend the week exploring Madrid and Salamanca with him. I've determined that I love spanish food, specifically, tapas.

Spain II

2009-10-28T23:47:00.002-04:00

Plaza Mayor, Salamanca

Catedral Nueva, Salamanca

Negative Space? Yes please.

Spain I

2009-10-27T22:03:00.002-04:00

&

2009-09-28T17:59:00.002-04:00

Mt. Ampersand, ADKS

Apologies

2009-09-28T17:44:00.001-04:00

I am immensely lame for not touching this in a month and a half.
Life's a lot less exciting now but I'll have to make due somehow.
Updates soon.

2009-08-17T17:00:00.002-04:00

Reykjavik

Iceland National Museum

Sea angling for Whiting on a whale watch I went on. We ate them for lunch after we caught them.

Viking skeletons, Iceland National Museum

Back in Rochester now after visiting Matt in Jersey upon return from Iceland. Farewell, Iceland, you were fucking amazing.

Reykjavik food

2009-08-11T20:34:00.004-04:00

Supposedly the best lobster soup in the world? at Saegreiffin, on the harbor. Tasty stuff, and fresh.

Afternoon pick-me-up

I will try almost anything
but there are some things I will not eat
and this is one of them. $12 for a whale shishkabab.

Tomorrow Sadi and I are going on a whale watch to hopefully see some live whales and puffins. The weather was glorious today, hopefully it'll carry on tomorrow.

Science!

2009-08-08T17:47:00.002-04:00

Learning geology on a coffee cup.

Reykjavik

2009-08-07T18:24:00.002-04:00

Sculpture Garden in Reykjavik, apparently only tourists go here.

Icelandic delicacy! Fermented Shark aka Hakarl

Candy stand at the flea market. Icelanders love their candy. I've been in grocery stores small enough that they only have something like four racks of food, and never fail, one of those racks is always devoted to candy.

Mask stand, Flea Market, downtown Reykjavik

Aleece and I took our second day off of the trip and went down to Reykjavik just to wander around. We've been staying at a university outside of Borgarnes, called Bifrost, couchsurfing with a Korean exchange student here, Sol. She came down with us for the day and introduced us to some of her awesome Icelandic friends, one of whom, Finn, ended up showing us around for most of the day and night.

Dikes

2009-07-31T18:10:00.001-04:00

What I spend all day looking at and taking measurements on. And then hacking at madly with a rock hammer.

Iceland

2009-07-28T19:00:00.001-04:00

Restaurant made of sod, by Snaefellsjokull.

There was a sign nearby about Jules Verne and the hole to the center of the earth, unfortunately it didn't say where the hole was located.

Snaefellsjokull and Stykkisholmur

2009-07-24T16:30:00.005-04:00

Yesterday we took our day off and headed up to the Snaefellsnes peninsula. It was pretty kickass. We fit in a lot, visiting a few museums and touring around the peninsula. Saw some seals and tried the fermented shark, which was probably my one goal for Iceland. We tried to go up to see the Snaefellsjokull glacier, but alas, our little red Corolla wasn't up to the steep dirt roads and we didn't want to get stuck in the middle of nowhere.
In Stykkisholmur, where we spent Wednesday night, there was this awesome church up on the hill. We stopped by when we first got there and since it was closed, we decided to come back during the morning to check it out.
I visited dozens of European churches when I studied abroad and Icelandic ones are so different. The inside was very graphic and modern. Behind the altar was a very beautiful but definitely untraditional painting of Mary holding the baby Jesus and the place was lit by these two windows on either side of the altar and all of these hanging lightbulbs that were all on different lengths of pieces of wire. So simple and beautiful.

A day off???

2009-07-22T15:23:00.002-04:00

Skagastrond

Aleece and I are finally taking a day off tomorrow and going up to Snaefellsnes peninsula to visit the Bjarnhofn shark museum (where you can taste fermented shark YESSS) and we're going to try to hike on Snaefellsjokull glacier.

Be back shortly.

Iceland: Sunsets

2009-07-21T16:55:00.003-04:00

There have started to be sunsets here, although this is still as dark as it gets. I guess here this means that Summer is ending and that Winter is right around the corner, they kind of skip Fall here, maybe it's the lack of trees.

Our field area

2009-07-19T16:06:00.002-04:00

The stream cut Aleece and I have been working the past week and a half

How we get up and down on the Eastern side, it's not really steep enough that you'd have to use the rope, but it helps.

Blue and white

2009-07-18T16:56:00.004-04:00

There are always so many different types of clouds in the sky at once here, it makes the sky look like something out of a fairytale.

Jökulhlaup

2009-07-17T18:26:00.003-04:00

A boy plays under a bridge that was destroyed by a jökulhlaup. Jökulhlaups are glacial flood bursts, often pouring out of glaciers with extraordinary force, usually destroying whatever is in their path, such as roads, bridges, and power lines.
There wasn't much in the way of people or civilization in the areas characterized by these floods and probably with good reason.

Skagastrond

2009-07-17T16:31:00.002-04:00

The shoreline by Skagastrond. A gabbro outcrop that Sadi, the other undergraduate was mapping and studying the faults of.

Before coming to Iceland, I emailled an Icelandic photographer whose work I enjoyed to see if he had any advice on gear to bring for working in Iceland. He recommended a wide angle lens, which is way out of my budget right now, and graduated neutral density filters, which isn't. I bought two, although I'm pretty sure I was accidentally sold the same one twice and as I bought them the day I left, didn't notice until I got here.

I really like how they help bring out more accurate colors in the sky, I feel like the blues always get blown out, and I definitely used them for the picture above.

Street Art in Reykjavik

2009-07-16T17:30:00.002-04:00