Mărțișor

It's been a while since I've posted and so with this occaison I would like to take the time and wish everyone a good day or evening depending on where in the world you are. I would also like to share a Romanian tradition with you all: Mărțișor.

Mărțișor is a Romanian celebration at the beginning of spring, on March the 1st in Romania, Moldova, and all territories inhabited by Romanians. The word Mărțișor is the diminutive of marț, the old folk name for March (martie, in modern Romanian), and thus literally means “little March”.

Mărțișor, marț and mărțiguș are all names for the red and white string with hanging tassel customarily given on the 1st day of March. 

Giving this talisman to people is an old custom, and it is believed that the wearer will be strong and healthy for the year to come. It is also a symbol of the coming spring. Usually, both women and men wear it pinned to their clothes, close to the heart, until the last day of March, when they tie it to a fruit-tree twig. In some regions, a gold or silver coin hangs on the string and is worn around the neck. 

After wearing it for a certain length of time, they buy red wine and sweet cheese with the coin, according to a belief that their faces would remain beautiful and white as cheese and rubicund as the wine, all year. In modern times, and especially in urban areas, the Mărțișor lost most of its talisman properties and became more a symbol of friendship, love, appreciation and respect. 

Concerts

It's been a while since I have last been on here, so here's a quick update.

I've made a list of concerts I have attended, since I've been to 6 concerts since the summer. I will be going to my 7th next week, Wednesday. 

Concerts have been a big part of my life (okay, not that big, but I've been in love with them) since 2007 when I went to my very first concert with my dad. It was to see my favorite band, Simple Plan, along with Lifehouse, Avril Lavigne, and Boys Like Girls. Since then, I've seen Simple Plan 3 times (once in 2010 at Bamboozle Roadshow (along with BLG a second time) & once this year in October when they were headlining). After that, I have tried my best to go to one concert once a year at the very least, but that go along very well. So this year, I took it into my own hands and decided to go to as many shows as possible starting with Vans Warped Tour over the summer. That was a very interesting exerpience because it was my first real music festival that cost money.  Then in October it started with (as I've mentioned) Simple Plan (with special guests: A Story Untold & Hit the Lights). Next I went to Loudfest in New Jersey to see Set It Off, but ended up liking a lot more bands...such as: Ice Nine Kills, Sylar (only live, because their stage presence was increbible), Palisades, Like Pacific, Broadside, Slaves, and Secrets. Then it was Memphis May Fire's The Rise Up Tour with The Devil Wears Prada, Silverstein, and Like Moths to Flames. November has consisted of: Emarosa along with Anarbor in New York City, and Brand New with The Front Bottoms and Modern Baseball. Next up is Crown the Empire, Blessthefall, New Years Day, Too Close To Touch and Light Up The Sky. Hopefully the next show after that will be Our Last Night's Face to Face Tour with special guests The Color Morale, Hands Like Houses, and Out Came the Wolves.

I can finally say that I have found someone who is just as passionate about concerts as I am, maybe more. When you find a music mate, hold on to them like life itself. I promise you, it makes concerts all that much better.

None Of Us Live Forever

       Have you ever experienced a death of a close friend at a relatively young age? Has it affected you later on in life with other deaths you have heard about regardless of how close you are with the person? Have you wondered if they were in pain before passing away or if it was relatively painless?

       I had a few friends pass away over the years, and ever since any death that was relatively close to my age has hit me like a ton of bricks, nearly every time. It's terrifying that someone can die at such a young age. It's terrifying that it can happen to literally anyone. It's terrifying how you can talk to them one day and then the next they're no longer here.

       I think that the biggest realization I have made throughout college has been just how fragile a life actually is.
      Moral of the story, I guess, is making sure you let your loved ones know that you love them, because you never know when they will be gone. 

Ocean City, Maryland

Penn State Arboretum & House Show 11/5/15

Raw Broccoli Launch Party @ Chronic Town 9/2/15

10 things I've learned from living alone.

1. Keep your room clean. It's easier when you aren't tripping over random cords, books, and clothes. You'll also be able to find things easier.
2. If you can't fry food or bake your food (chicken, eggs, etc), BOIL IT....or microwave it. It's been three years and I still burn or undercook my food. It's a tough life.
3. If you can get a job, DO IT. It's more spending money in your pocket to begin with. It may even teach you time management....maybe.
4. Try not to drink all the coffee you can get into your body... It's not really healthy and then on top of that you build a tolerance level. 
5. ALWAYS keep cash on you. You never know when you're going to need cash.
6. Don't waste time. Don't wait until last minute to get stuff done. You'll hate yourself for it.
7. Don't waste your nights not sleeping. It's better to get a goodnight's sleep instead of being sleep deprived.
8. Go to sleep early if you know you have to be up at a certain time. It'll be easier for you to wake up then.
9. Set a schedule and try following it as much as possible. It'll save you in the long run.
10. Sometimes listen to what your parents have to say. They know what they're talking about. Don't be so stubborn.

Human Cloning

So today in my photography class there was a joke made about human cloning, and I just stumbled across a video on this subject matter and found it disturbing.... The introduction part of it is what is creepiest in my opinion.
See for yourself!

"This Is My Photo Story From Israel: Final Edits" by Jared Polin

This is a way different approach to multimedia photo stories. This guy, Jared Polin, not only explains into detail his photos but shows you exactly what he is talking about. Polin even tells you how he went about taking the picture and why he edited it the way he did. In the bottom left side you can see him talking with the microphone right in front of his face. That's literally the only sound there is.
I chose this because it's different. There's a lot to learn from how he went about taking the images.
From a photo story point of view, it's not very story like. From a technical point of view it's definitely helpful.
His photographs are powerful and well composed and I enjoyed them, but I wish it was more like the other video I watched instead. This is great for future reference for my own photography though.

Bongo Fever by: Chien-Chi Chang

I chose this multimedia photo story mostly on a whim. Since Chien-Chi Chang was presented yesterday in class, I came across this photo story and decided to give it a try. I liked what I learned in class about Chang in class. When I stumbled across this by chance (found it on the Magnum in Motion website) I decided that I was going to do it on this. The title was the first thing that pulled me in because I didn't read the description.
From a young age, in school we are taught that drugs are bad. I've always found stories about drug users very intriguing. I've read far too many books about drug users and talked to a few drug users too. Their stories are all interesting to me, because I've never done any drugs (not that I ever plan on it since I know there's no turning back once you do).
I think Chien-Chi Chang did a wonderful job on this. He captured the sights and sounds perfectly. If you are on the squeamish side, then this will definitely bring that out in you because of the photos of syringes being used. It's very... not brutal (well, I guess in a way it is), but more audacious than anything.
The sounds make you feel as if you are there. It starts of with sounds of city-ish life. You can hear people huffing & puffing out of various drugs, along with heavy breathing. Three lines stood out to me most: "Everyone wants to stop, but no one can." "Your addiction is every day." and "Trust your friends." The last quote was talking about having to trust your friends when you use the same syringe as them, and basically hope for the best that they're not infected with HIV.
Something that caught my eye in this photo story is the use of photos that make it look more like a stop motion (so continuous shots). There were also videos put in and that was good, because it wasn't over done either. There was some text, but mostly used as subtitles so you can understand when a person was speaking and what they were saying.
The photo story starts off with a scene of people outside during the night. Then dives directly into images of people using syringes, and it just now occurred to me (after watching it for a third time) that this video is just as much about HIV as it is about drugs, since in this case they go hand in hand. At the very end, it shows you how the syringes are just everywhere on the ground and there are slugs crawling (for lack of a better word) over and under the syringes.

We Connect! Workshop (Book Assignment)

We Connect! is basically to get people to get to know each other if they will be doing some sort of collaboration in the future. In this case, it was a group of students of various majors that are literally working on some sort of rocket-ship science for Nasa. They did would choose cards and then introduce themselves and talk about whatever the question on the card asked. After asking and answering the questions, they had to do the exercise that was on the back of that card. Regardless of there being 3 GoPros and 2 dSLRs being pointed at them, they didn't seem to notice them.

My biggest problems were that it was artificial lighting (this took place at about 6pm back in January), and they were moving too quickly for me to be able to focus on them. There were also too many people to try and capture while focusing on a pair. I needed as many pictures as possible so that I'd have a few good ones, especially since I did this for an actual person, and not just for myself.

Understanding Comics by: Scott McCloud (Response)

When I first started to read Chapter 3, my first thought was, "Hey! I used to think the same way as a child! I'm glad I am not the only one!"

As I went further into reading it, it made me realize how little we think about closure. It's something so natural to us, that we don't dive further into thinking about it. The only time we think about closure is if we are creating something: a story, a photograph, a painting.
In photography we use closure when we are trying to convey a story... It's easier to show a story in more than one image and create closure and help guide your viewer into what direction you want them to see the story.

The example above is brilliant, because everyone definitely interprets things differently. Personally, from the comic above, I interpreted as if the guy screaming, "NO! NO!" is trying to save a kitten from the crazy ax man. Someone else might interpret it as the guy being murdered for stealing the crazy ax man's teddy bear. Everyone may interpret things differently.

This is excellent to look at because it helps thinking about positioning my own photography together to show a story. It shows the effect two images has next to one another.

I've noticed that whenever I position images together I tend to do this. If I were to do this, I'd need to actually write captions along with my images. However, if the audience is creative enough, they can very easily fill in the gaps with their own experience and knowledge and it is a whole new experience.

This made me think of this past summer when I went to a photography class my cousin was taking. The guy who was teaching the class was telling us about how there is never a single moment in a photograph if it's like the one above. Each person tells a separate moment and/or story. We should keep that in mind when taking photos of people and focus on a single thing that is going on, not the full moment. It's too much to take in for a single person, I think. They might also not think too much about what's actually going on, and you want them to think about it.

To me this is routine. Routine can be in every day life, but also life in general. This sort of thing happens to multiple people. People every where can relate to this. It shows time passing by in a very interesting way.
Overall, I found both chapters very interesting and insightful to read. There is so much potential in each photograph that has ever been photographed to be turned into a massive story (which I think would be super awesome to see done). Everything depends on the content of the image and the way they are put together.








(Now I have many ideas for different projects. Reading is one of many great ways to get inspired.)

Photo Story Documentaries

Beneath The Streets of Romania's Capital, A Living Hell

I stumbled across this article while searching the web for a photo story of the Romanian people. I decided to first watch the video of this to see and hear what it was about before actually reading it. I will warn you that it is kind of graphic, so beware.
I chose this because I wanted to see what else I can learn about Romania. Being born in the US and never having any Romanian history taught to me, this is how I learn about my family's country.
Having gone to Bucharest way too many times for me to even count, I never knew about these tunnels. I have never even thought about real people living in tunnels.
Personally, I think that this was a great topic for a documentary. It teaches people about what goes on under their city. Not many people think about what could possibly go on at night in the streets or below the surface.
These people were in orphanages when Ceausescu, once Romania's communist president, was in power. I think that to them, that was a much better life because they were in the care of the "state". Once communism fell apart in Romania, everything went downhill for them. Some were in concentration camps and some went to prison. The ones who got out came to the tunnels. The original intent for the tunnels was for it to be a heating system for Bucharest.

These people are sort of a family. They look out for each other, but also do drugs together. The main guy that they followed is the drug dealer who goes by the name of Bruce Lee. He explains that the "little" kid they met outside is practically his son. He looks out for him and doesn't let him do any drugs that involve needles. The kid, Nicu, who is actually 17 years old, is only allowed to do a metallic paint called Aurolac.
The text goes with the stories after they are pictured, sort of like what I just did.
It's amazing they got Bruce Lee to trust them enough to bring them into his "home". I wish there were more photos though and that they spent more time with these underground people.
They did however go back to these people 4 weeks later when one of the underground people, Catalina, died from her weakened immune system from AIDs and drugs. (Link here.)

Gypsy Life

For my second documentary, I came across a photo story of gypsies in Romania. (Link here.)

I thought this was fitting, because it kind of goes along with the documentary above. Most of the people in that documentary were also gypsies.

I've seen this type of community before many times. On your way to the country side, or going to the mountains, or the beach you will encounter this type of view pretty often. I think that in a way it has it's own beauty to it.
In this photo story it's not really about a certain family, but about the gypsies in general. Each photo has a caption of a few words and there isn't really an order to it. If you were to rearrange each photo it wouldn't change the story.
As I was looking through the photos I've noticed that it's not too much different than the regular poor white people in Romania. They wear about the same sort of outfits and look way more aged than someone living in the upper class.

 In the image above it basically shows what the living conditions are for some white folks I know in Romania. Always strange colored walls, with at least 1 rug hanging on the wall.

One thing to take note of in the image above is the fact that they have a horse (here it'd be ridiculously expensive to own) and a buggy, or cart (or whatever you call them here). I personally know many people in the countryside that own horses and buggies that aren't rich at all. It's one form of transportation.

I think this photo story was well done, however I wish it was more story like and more personal. It seems kind of impersonal to me right now. I also wish there was more captioning or an article or something to go along with the images. The images do go well alone though.