The Uptown Theater

The Uptown Theater was built in the 1920's. It was previously a landmark for entertainment and music. Currently there have been efforts made to begin restoring it. It's located at 2248 North Broad Street.

Anthropology Studio

I was back in the Anthropology Studio on Monday. I like how this shows the whole ridiculousness of studio photography. 
I was going for the whole "shroud of Turin" look here. 
Yeah shadows. 
I like how distorted Jason's body looks behind the screen. 

Termini Brothers Bakery

I went to Termini Bros. to take photographs "describing the neighborhood of South Philly" for my science class (unexpected right). When I asked if I could take pictures for a class at this bakery I got an entire tour of the place! All of these photographs were literally taken in about five minutes, because although I got the tour I had to "stick" next to my wonderfully kind tour guide. By the way, I had the best cannoli here that I've had in a long time (since Italy). 

I wish that this was a little brighter. 
I was trying to show how gigantic that mixer was. I only wish I got the man a little sharper. 
He is flattening dough (each piece goes through 15 times), to make cannoli cases. 
Here they are wrapping the flattened and cut cannoli dough around wooden sticks to later get fried in wine. I like that the one hand shows motion and the other does not. 
I don't think I especially like or dislike this photo. The subjects are the best part. 

Anthropology Studio

My Anthropology and Photography class took portraits today in the Anthropology studio in Gladfelter Hall. These photographs are my favorite from the ones that I took. 

I had a few photographs with Jason's head completely in the magnifying glass but I choice this one because of his expression.   
I like how I took this photograph, cropping out his mouth, because the best part of the image is his eyes. 

Yogi

Sam & I adopted a kitten from the farm. She is only four weeks old and was abandoned so we decided to take her home with us! Her name is Yogi Bear because her fur makes her look like a little bear. 

This shot was actually a little tricky to meter for. White on black is not the most simple color combination. 

Fall

I was at my parents house in Richlandtown. It looks like fall again.

I took some photographs in the high grasses at a low angle to emphasize how tall they are.
Sunspots again. I think there is a time and a place for sunspots. I don't mind them so much on nature photographs.
I used a shallow depth of field to draw your attention to the bug on the one flower.

Pirate Ship

This pirate ship is on the lawn of Palisades High School's football field. It was once my high school. 

The stadium lights are definitely something to work with and not against... if you try to fight them they will probably beat you. 

Photos on Friday

I took these photographs on Friday from 11 am to noon. It was a class assignment. 

This toolbox was in the PGW mechanic shop between 9th and 8th on Berks Street. I love that it has a Bible verse in it. I wish the lights didn't have such harsh reflections on it. 
This was above the desk in the shop. 
This is one of my favorite photographs from the hour. Jim pulled out his pocket watch. When he saw me photographing it he started mugging for the camera a bit, but I like this one. I think this was before any superior mugging happened. 
I saw this near the cookie truck by the Student Center. I used as low of an aperture as I could.
This is in Alter Hall, or the Fox School of Business. This was taken in one photograph. I preset my camera and pretended to be watching the TV. This is from the hip. I was trying to say something about the pace of the business world but I don't know if it's clear. 
I like the light here. I had to make sure there weren't trees coming out of his head when I took the photo. 
I was trying to show that I where I was with only a small detail. I was manually focusing. I wish that I would have made the "motorcycle parking" letters just the slightest bit sharper. 

Procession of Saints

Today was the annual Procession of Saints and Italian festival in South Philadelphia at Saint Nicholas of Tolentine Parish. The procession started at around 12:30 pm. 

This is my establishing photograph. I like the expressions on the peoples faces. I know I could have cropped the cars out but I like how it shows the place. 
I like this photograph but I am very disappointed that I cut the woman's fingers out slightly. So close. 
Hooray for the tuba! I love it's shape. 
I guess this could also be considered an establishing shot. 
I like my angle here. There was lots of Italian flag colored confetti being pumped into the air. 
Here I was going for repetition of lines- the conductors arm and the clarinets. 

I like this moment but I photographed it wrong. I wish I could have gotten lower, and I needed to change my aperture so I don't have the flash bright white that you see. The moment only lasted a second though. 

Bocce Ball

Bocce Ball is a sport. It is an ancient game that's most popular in Italy. The Italian Club at Temple got a group of players together yesterday, Wednesday September 30th on the lawn next to the Tyler building (across from SCAT).  

The most beautiful Bocce set. The larger balls are thrown at the smaller ball. It was hard to avoid my reflection. I'm in there a little bit. 
They are determining who's ball (larger throwing ball) got closest to the target (smaller ball). Whoever is closest wins the round. This feels a little to far away I think. 

My attempt at a self portrait. 
I like the shadow in the shot. I wish I had used shallower focus. 
The winning ball. 
This shot is more informational than anything. It shows how the game is played. 
Players deliberate  who is the winner of the match after all of the balls have been thrown. It looks like red took this round.  Although I cut off their torsos and heads I still like this shot. The lighting is nice and I think it still gets the point across. 

Sunset

There was a beautiful sunset on September 28th. I went to my roof to view it. 

This is a reflection. My roof is falling apart, so might as well use it's faults to my advantage. 
When I saw this I thought that the colors that were on the top and bottom portion were so matched that I wanted to sort of cut the photograph into thirds- sky-street-roof. 
Philadelphia Skyline. 
I wanted the buildings to be a silhouette at the bottom to ground the photograph's place. Although it is mainly about the clouds and the light, which is why I portioned it like this. 
A rainbow was found in the sky after a light rain. I thought it was nice next to the steeple. 

Yoga

My friend Emily (middle, front) and I got some friends together on Saturday, September 26th for some crafting and yoga. We will be doing it again. A Facebook Page: Philadelphia Alliance for Creative Expression was created to keep everyone in touch.  

I like how I cropped the photo, although I wish I had a shallower depth of field. 

Temple v. Buffalo

I went to my first Temple sporting event on Saturday September 26th. It was the Temple v. Buffalo football game at the Lincoln Financial Field. I am not a football follower so it was difficult to define the "opportune moments." Temple won: 37 to 13, so it ended up being a more exciting day than expected. 

This is a pretty basic photo, but I like the repetition of their uniforms. 

Here's my attempt at a football feature. I am glad I was able to get my aperture low enough that I blurred out the background. 

I was having trouble with the sun and clouds. I was shooting manually and there were clouds that kept moving in and out of the way of the sunlight, making me have to change my settings. I think this photograph is a little washed out because the whites look a little too bright, but I still like the moment. 
I learned that there is a difference between dancers and cheerleaders at Temple football games. She is a part of the Diamond Gems Dance Team.  
An angry moment. I learned that football allows players to let the "fight" out. 
I like that there was two players going for the ball in this shot. I was only shooting with a 135mm lens so I couldn't blur the background out. It's too bad because that would have made it better. 
I like all of the action packed into this one tiny space in this shot.