amsterdam: no. 7

This was the bar area of the cute little shop where we had breakfast on our morning in Amsterdam. Carla's. Delicious smoothies, photos to follow. Warning: you will want one after viewing the photos.

Yesterday we had a "snowpocalypse." We had about 20 inches of snow, the biggest snowstorm apparently since 1978. Yale is no exception to the general rule about Ivy League Universities considering a university-wide weather-related cancellation to be an affront to the halls of learning everywhere and a horrible blemish on their personal record. So, despite being unable to run the buses and closing most of the libraries, classes continued.

In order to make it to my morning class on time, I had to leave at 8:00 -- I estimated that walking in during the blizzard would probably take longer than my usual 45-minutes. Surely, if my morning class was canceled, my afternoon class would not be. Wrong again. I finally get to campus to find out that BOTH classes were canceled, with the emails sent while I was trudging through the blizzard. Had I left late enough to get the emails, I would have been late for class (the class that didn't meet anyway). Fail.

Unfortunately, because I had to lug in all my class things and was worried about the snow messing with my camera, I didn't take any pictures yesterday. Perhaps if I'm not too lazy, I'll snag some today.

So, I had a very productive morning, being one of very few people in the library during the few hours in which it was open, then did some reading in the afternoon. Thankfully, despite Connecticut's seeming inability to salt their roads (oh, is just plowing not enough in a blizzard?), we found a pizza place that was open and had some delicious mashed potato pizza with artichoke hearts. Yes, mashed potatoes and pizza. Carb overload, and a New England thing, but delicious. Don't judge until you try it.

Today, since I have no reason to go downtown, I'm staying in to study. Hot chocolate may be in order.

--
iTunes: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, by J.K. Rowling (yes, yes, I know... Harry Potter at 10:00 a.m. when I haven't started working yet...)

amsterdam: no. 6

I like the "architectural longevity" of European cities. With the exception of some of the advertising, this looks much like I imagine it would have several decades ago. I love that about Europe -- in the US, it seems that something is barely a decade old before it is deemed "out-dated," and it's pulled down and replaced. And everything is built to last about that long anyway. As they say, in America, 100 years is a long time, and in Europe, 100 miles is a long distance.

--
iTunes: Don Carlo, by Verdi

amsterdam: no. 5

I like when cities have water and boats. And I like how open certain cities feel -- when the buildings are spaced out a bit and aren't too tall, and you can look up and see the wide-open sky. So I think I would quite like Amsterdam if I could spend more than 4 hours there. My first impressions weren't the greatest -- torrential downpours and jet lag didn't help -- but the next morning made up for it.

Courses have now started up for the semester, and today is full of meetings to discuss my choice of topics for comprehensive exams. A lot of people talk about how the process of taking qualifying exams is a horrible experience, but I am determined to look on the bright side. I think the studying process will play to my strengths, and as long as I work steadily and prepare well, I hope that the whole process could be a good, constructive experience. I've had a lot of fun brainstorming ideas for topics, and I'm curious to see which ones I end up doing. I have a meeting this afternoon about it and then a group meeting tomorrow morning, so I'm starting to narrow in on specific ideas.

--
iTunes: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, by J.K. Rowling

amsterdam: no. 4

When we arrived back in downtown Amsterdam the morning after arriving in Europe, the weather couldn't have been better. Or more different from the evening before, which had involved buckets of rain. The bright blue sky just seemed cheerful, and we walked around for a bit to take pictures and see what the city looked like in the light of day and without lots of rain.

Pretty nice, huh?

And now... off to start the first day back. Wasting no time diving right back into classes!

--
iTunes: Va tacito e nascost, by Handel

amsterdam: no. 3

This is a shot of the Haarlem train station. After the morning walk, this is where we picked up the train to head into downtown Amsterdam for the morning. What I like about this shot is seeing the textures and lines of the iron work in the old station. I also like the silhouette of the older gentleman standing about halfway down the track. We spent quite a lot of time in train stations during the trip because we had Eurail passes and used them to get from city to city. It was convenient for all the places we wanted to travel, though the next time I go back to Europe, I probably won't try to fit so many different cities into one trip.

--
iTunes: Circus Band, by Charles Ives

amsterdam: no. 2

This shot was another one that I snagged on my morning walk along the canal. I loved seeing the reflection of the houses in the water, and I love how the black-and-white brings out the various textures in this image.

People have sometimes asked me which I prefer, color images or black-and-white images. It's hard to say, and impossible to really decide. But I must say that I love the classic crispness of a good black-and-white shot.

Often, when I'm out shooting, I know as soon as I frame the shot whether I want it in color or in black-and-white. I always shoot in color, because I like the flexibility that the color data gives me in editing a photo to be black-and-white, but sometime I frame a shot knowing that it will eventually not be in color.

--
iTunes: Sometimes I'm Happy, by Sarah Vaughan

amsterdam: no. 1

It's been almost six months since the last post, and I'm long overdue for an update. Such is the life of a graduate student, though. There is no sign of the work letting up anytime in the near future, but I'll attempt to periodically share a few shots from the archives -- hopefully with more regularity than I've been posting.

To start with: here is one of my first shots from my trip to Europe last summer. The first stop was Amsterdam, but because of hiccups in our travel plans and nasty weather as soon as we arrived, I didn't pull out my camera until the day after we arrived. We took a walk around the outskirts of the city, close to where we stayed the night before, before taking the train into Amsterdam. Don't you love the early morning light here?

--
iTunes: Beethoven, Missa Solemnis

europe 2010: trip #1

Reality #1 of life as a graduate student: procrastination happens.

Reality #2 of life as a graduate student: procrastination doesn't happen as often as you'd like.

But a peek at my life lately will show you this lovely shot taken at the Vienna Opera House.  This spring I had the opportunity to go to Vienna and Berlin as part of a graduate seminar I took in the Art History department.  Even though I've been to Europe many times and even lived there for a little while, this was my first time in Europe with my Nikon D-80!  Trip #2, incidentally, will be starting next week!

Life as a photographer-turned-graduate-student is good.  Busy, but good.  Not as many picture-taking opportunities (really, who wants to see pictures of all the papers I write?), but I am enjoying the new direction life has gone.  Photography still happens, it is just much more under-the-radar these days.

Before I sign off, I will share a few more photos.  Here is a VERY truncated survey of some of the pictures I took on my trip.  Reality #2 keeps me from uploading more pictures and writing more blog posts about it, but I have put all the images on Flickr in case any of my former readers wish to see more.  Enjoy!

 

The Postsparkasse, Vienna -- everything inside is in black-and-white, so this picture almost looks like real life.

 

The streets of Vienna -- quite lovely!

 

Though there are some interesting signs -- any fun commentary on what this one might mean?  I think my favorite interpretation is "no heterosexual couples."  (Incidentally, these are all over the old city of Vienna.)

 

And graffiti -- I always take graffiti pictures.  Odd taste of mine I suppose.

 

Inside the Rathaus -- gorgeous, right?

 

One of my favorite shots of the Vienna streets.  I like the lighting and the colors in it, plus how overtly European it feels.

 

Another shot, taken during a brief lunch break.

 

Walking through the Belvedere gardens.  Snazzy in black-and-white, yes?

 

En-route to Berlin!

 

The sign on our very hipster hotel in Berlin.  Cracks me up!

 

Museums.  This is representative of where we spent most of our time.

 

Inside the Berlin opera house.  Have to get as many opera-related pictures in as I can :)

 

View up to a monument.

 

Berlin streets.  This is one of the very nice neighborhoods.

 

A model of the famous gate in Berlin.  There was an exhibit with a model of what the city used to look like, and it was a neat way to access an understanding of the historical city.

 

Another Berlin neighborhood.  A bit different from the other shot, yes?

 

Outside the city -- water and openness was nice after all the time in urban areas!

 

Picturesque, I thought.

 

Love the three doors here and the warm colors.

 

Quite enjoyed my macro lens on this excursion!

 

Potsdam!  Great fountain in the square.

 

Love it.

 

Our breakfast table from the aforementioned hipster hotel :)  Wish my breakfast table always looked this fabulous!

 

Love the gallery shot.

 

Reminds me of a picture I took close to my old apartment.  But this is clearly much more fabulous :)

 

Hope all is well for my readers!  Auf Wiedersehen!

photoshoot: X and Z

Two of my favorite kids, X and Z are both adopted from China -- and don't they have the coolest first initials?  I've posted some pictures of X before and since that post, she and her family went back to China to adopt Z.  X has grown up so much and is becoming such a beautiful young lady, and Z is just the cutest little guy ever.  I've known their family for years now, so it was bittersweet that I moved several states away just before they got Z.  But in the short time I've had to get to know him, he has totally claimed a special place in my heart.  How could he not?

We got to do a short photoshoot this afternoon -- and by short, I mean short.  We were done in about 10-15 minutes.  This is my favorite shot of the afternoon.  It's faces like these that make leaving so hard.
--
iTunes: Cavalleria rusticana

roses are red...

Roses on Valentine's Day are nice, aren't they?  It's a toss up whether I like the roses, the chocolate, or the champagne best.  It was a pleasant treat to have all three this year, thanks to a great group of guys who got together and made a lovely dinner for the ladies!
--
My iTunes: You Belong to Me by Carla Bruni