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. 

Marlowe

I took this photograph of Marlowe on Friday, September 25. He is my fiancés nephew. 

Technically, what I like about this photograph, beyond the catch lights is that I got eye level to Marlowe. I think that photographing children from their perspective is the best way because it doesn't demean them like a shot from above might. 

Liberty Vintage and The Caterpillar

Tonight I went to hear music at the caterpillar, a small stage with benches near Frankford and York Street. There I met Adam Cramer (below) working at Liberty Vintage Motorcycle Repair. He was attaching a sidecar to a motorcycle. A little later, when I was about to leave, I watched him drive down the street with it. It worked.  

I like this shot, just wish I'd been a little wider with it. 
This is Will Hannan. He was playing with his band tonight. His voice reminded me of Marc Bolan's. I was shooting from the hip for all of these shots at 1600 ISO.
Framing. 

Nockamixon Community Day

Saturday, September 19th, was Nockamixon Township community day at Bucks County Horse Park. Hooray for bi-planes. Aesthetically speaking, I wish there were some clouds up there.  Journalistically speaking: hooray (in an objective voice) for bi-planes. 
Yes, this was cropped. But is cutting out blue "lying by omission"? No, I think i'll be okay. 

Ali Baba (left) had just got done challenging this boy to a hula-hoop off. I think Baba won this one (although he was getting beat by a lot of the girls) but they had no hard feelings in the end. 

I like the blue on blue mojo here. 

Mood

My little sister Rachel and her best bud Tiffany came home late tonight. They are in my sisters room. I like the mood. 

Billy and Family

Tonight was a family dinner at the Richlandtown Inn. We are a loud bunch who has a lot of fun generally.  The light was incredibly dim in the restaurant so it was hard to make pictures without stooping to the pop up flash. I didn't, but the journalist in me didn't really ask people to pose... so I ended up with a few blurry faces (we move around a lot),  but I like this shot a lot for its content... not for it's grainy, dark quality.

Tonight I met Billy. He came with his mom, Vanessa and my cousin Travis. Billy is three years old and was playing with an iphone for a minute in the corner before it got taken away before a possibly expensive phone call was made. This was actually a harder photo to make. I had to pump my ISO to 1600. I was at F3.5 and shooting 1/8 of a second. I leaned against the wall and held my breath.  

Nature

I was on my parents farm today. I love being in the woods again. 

I like the shallow depth of field here. 

Library

I took these pictures today in the library on Temple's campus. I was playing with lines. 

I chased this man down after I took the shot to tell him I took his photo and ask for his name. He was seemed offended that I took his photo and didn't want to me have his name. 

I like lines and reflections... 
Reflections and leading lines. 

Maybe it's boring, but I wonder what it would go for in a posh art gallery in NYC.

Rap on Campus

This is Ben Lagos. He is a senior Latin American studies major. I saw him watching the rap group on campus at the bell tower today. I like the shot but wish I had more of his features. I took it from this angle to get his tattoo in. 

Sleep

I took this photo of my unsuspecting fiance' this morning. He was sleeping and I got my window light shot for class. I wish it was a little lighter, the exposure was low, but I guess that helps define the time as 7 am (maybe). 

Old City

I was in Old City Thursday afternoon, taking pictures for a Cyberspace and Society project. I was to define this neighborhood without people. Here are some of the less architectural photos I took. 

This statue is at the 615 Public Ledger Building. I like her mood, and saw the photo as I shot it. 

This is my attempt at hinting at a business world. It was taken at the corner of 3rd and Market. Legs aren't whole people right? 

This dog is amazing. I love this moment. 

This is a walkway next to Christ Church on 2nd and Market. I like the fallen leaves in the shot.

 
This is the same dog as before... a quieter moment. 

A Bike Messenger

I was at the Rodin Place on 21st and Hamilton Street and I met Tomy Lipka, a bike messenger. He said that Pete Rose is the best baseball player and is a fan of the Phillies.

 

This goes against all conventional portraiture, but this tattoo is a part of him worth seeing. 

I guess it could be considered a cliche' shot... but how many fans actually go this far? 

Unusual Portrait

This is an attempt at an "unusual portrait" or one that "goes against all conventional portraiture." 

This is Brian Pasquariello. He is a last semester senior in Sociology. He was sitting on the heater in Anderson hall. I met him before one of my classes and thought his tattoo and book was portrait enough. 

Four Square

This past Sunday (September 13th) I ran into a group playing four square on Temple Campus by the bell tower. They asked me to join so my fiance' and I did (although I ended up photo ninja-ing instead of actually playing). Diane, the organizer of the event said that she is going to try to have the group meet every Sunday afternoon, so it's a good time if you'd like to play.

This is my best try at four square triangle composition. I like the action... you might think that four square wouldn't be a ruthless sport, but I learned that it has it's moments. 

This is Diane. She coordinated the event through a Facebook group she made for four square at Temple. I'm glad the ball is stopped but wish I hadn't chopped off her unsuspecting fingers on her one hand. 

I don't think he was playing foursquare, but I like the whole musician in the grass thing. 

I don't know his name but would recognize him anywhere. I love the light and the depth of field here.