I'm Back!

Time to start blogging again. It's been a while. I've been busy doing nothing. Beer, video games, snowboarding and sleep. But its now becoming spring! the sun stays out till almost 8! it's so perfect! If anyone is interested my "hyper-core" band Hermit is getting together to play some shows in the next few months. I'll update you all with dates when they're announced. till then you can check us out at www.myspace.com/hermittheband

Photo Essay: Civil War 2010

It's 6p.m. December 3, 2010, in the small town of Corvallis Oregon and theirs not a bar in town that's not completely packed. Why? Because this is the 113th civil war between the Oregon Ducks, and Oregon State Beavers and the Rose Bowl is on the line.



Ryan Myers watches the 113th civil war between the Ducks and Beavers at Suds and Suds, a local sports bar.




A Small group of Beaver fans celebrate after the Beavers make a big play in the civil war.



Off duty bar tender, Matt Gibbs, leads Suds and Suds in a toast saluting the Oregon State Beavers on playing a great game.

Environmental portrait with head shot

For this assignment I took pictures of pizza chef Andy Haley. Haley works at Nick and Willy's Pizza on Philomath blvd. and takes great pride in his job.

Here is the head Shot:












Nick and Willy's employee Andy Haley


and here is the environmental portrait:



Andy Haley cooks a pizza for Nick and Willy's Pizza

My Neighborhood..

Here's a look into the neighborhood of downtown Corvallis. This is where I grew up and have spent most of my life roaming the streets, meeting new people, and enjoying all the beauty this place has to offer.


A couple of Corvallis City employee's clean leafs out of a bowl at the Corvallis City Skate park




The clock tower is the symbol that has defined downtown Corvallis since the beginning.

























Shawn, a student at Oregon State University listens to tunes while he waits for the bus.

Action Photo!

Brendan Kelly singing and playing bass at the "Plea for Peace" center in Stockton, California for the Lawrence Arms, a Chicago based punk rock band.

Idea for photo essay...

People getting Hammered. It's as simple as that. going around to all the bars and getting faces and names of people that like to drink. maybe make it themed on all the different micro brews in the northwest. I can think of four or five bars in the immediate area that have brewery's inside of them and they even make there own beer.

The Lawrence Arms in Stockton!

What better way to start the string of Lawrence Arms shows than with what was a last minute addition to the tour that took place in a small room at the Plea for Peace center in Stockton, California.

(Brendan Kelly rocking the Bass and Vocals)

This wasn't like the other shows on the tour. Working their way up the west coast, the Lawrence Arms, had seen their fare share of big venues with big Stages, sound systems and class A security. But in a venue that wasn't there to turn a profit, the band and fans had nothing to loose.

(Neil Hennessey plays drums for the Lawrence Arms)

The set started as drummer, Neil Hennessy, took the stage to the music of AC/DC's "Thunderstruck." After receiving a loud cheer and heavy clap from the audience Neil busted into what can only be described as the signature Lawrence Arms beat that made the band what they are today. A short minute later, Neil was joined by the rest of the Arms, Brendan Kelly(Bass/vocals) and Chris McCaughin(guitar/vocals). keeping the beat, Neil counted one.. two.. one, two, three, four! and the band was off, playing "Cut it up" from the bands 2006 album "Oh! Calcutta!"

(Chris McCaughin singing and playing guitar)

The show went on for an extended amount of time. Chris and Brendan split the vocal duties, keeping it to almost a fifty-fifty ratio. Requests for classics such as "the Rambling Boys of Pleasure" and "Brickwall Views" were made and played and the band stopped at no expense to make sure every single fan in that room was satisfied. Never in my life have I seen so much fan dedication towards one band.

After the band played for well over an hour everyone knew the end was near. The Arms put down their instruments and attempted to leave the stage. luckily everyone was packed in such a small space that the only way out would of been for the band to walk through a thick endless sea of demanding punk rockers! needless to say the band played one more song finishing up the set with "Like a Record Player," a song about friendship, love and bonding that pretty much summed up the night.

The thing that made this show so great was the DIY attitude that was put forth by the people who put the show on at the Plea for Peace center. They weren't their to make money or take advantage of people. In return, all they wanted was the chance to see some great bands and meet new people. If there was one thing to take home about the night, it's that DIY attitude and positive social activism is what makes the world a great place, and when things end up being done for joy instead of greed it rubs off on others reflecting towards the rest of the world.

The Lawrence Arms Stockon Video!!!

I got some videos of the show in Stockton the other night. I was in the front of the crowd and getting pushed around a lot so the camera's a little shaky but it still gives you a good feel of what was going on!

(100 Resolutions)

(The Rambling boys of pleasure)

Holy Crap!!, I forgot about In-N-Out Burger

WooHoo!!!

Happy cows come from California!!

Well, I've made it to Sacramento and it's a warm, beautiful sunny morning here in the great state of California! God only knows what the weathers like back in Oregon. I don't really have much to do till I drive to Stockton tonight so I thought I'd kill some time by writing a blog entry!! hmm.. what to write about??...

Oh I know!! Celebrity Birthdays!! Lady's and Gentleman Mackenzie Phillips is 50 today!!! Alright Mackenzie Phillips and who else..., well. I guess that's the only one. shit, I don't even know who that is.. lame day for celebrity birthdays. Tomorrow we would of hit the jackpot with famous actors such as Leonardo DiCaprio, Demo Moore, oh yeah, and Fucking Marc Summers!! I don't know if any of you remember "Marc Summers and the Physical Challenge" on Nickelodeon but that show pretty much defined my childhood. I share a birthday with Burt Reynolds and Jennifer Aniston, hmm, I should feel special..

I don't know if any of you have heard of the band, Cobra Skulls, out of Reno? But they're a great band worth an honorable mention that's opening the show tonight. They released an album called, Sitting Army, on Red Scare Records in 2007 that's in my opinion one of the punk albums released in the last few years. check out the songs "Faith is a Cobra" and "Cobra Skullifornia" you'll be instantly hooked! that is unless you don't like good music..

I'm excited to visit San Francisco again! This'll be the 3rd time this year. I love this City. Next to Portland it's the best. they've got their public transportation down to. Once I get in the city I don't plan on driving anywhere. It only costs a dollar-fifty and you can ride the busses or subway anywhere for two hours! Don't try to use your transfer after after the times up though.. I had a nasty run in with a metro security worker last time I was there that almost resulted in me getting ticketed. Luckily I was able to use my speech craft skills in convincing him that I was a confused tourist that didn't have a clue. He still made me pay the fair...

I think I'm going to take a short nap before heading south. Maybe try to do some math homework, hopefully I can figure out how to multiply and divide rational functions on my own but if I was placing a bet at a casino I'd say I may be seeing the letter "F" in my near future, I'm sure I'll be seeing plenty of "B's" as well! Where "F" is for Failure, "B" is for Beer!! Have a Great Day!! and if you're in Oregon take a walk in the rain for me.

The Lawrence Arms tour California, I'm on my way!!

Tomorrow I will be driving to California to see the band the Lawrence Arms three days in a row!! The Lawrence Arms, from Chicago, have been my favorite band for almost ten years now and I've already seen them nine times. After seeing that They're going on tour but San Francisco's the closest they'll be coming to Oregon I knew I had to make plans to go south..

Not only am I jazzed to be seeing the Arms in both Stockton and San Francisco but I will also be seeing them at two really famous punk rock venues. The Plea for Peace Center in Stockton, and Bottom of the Hill in San Francisco. It's been a dream of mine to see any band at these historic venues, let alone my favorite band.

The shows are on the 10th in Stockton, and 11th and 12th in San Francisco. Not only do I intend on bringing my camera for numerous photos and videos but I plan on meeting up with certain member of the band for interviews to be posted and used in an upcoming articles on this blog. Though I've interviewed the band before, this will be the first time I do so for any sort of publication.

Well I've still got a huge list of things I need to take care of before I hit the road so I'm going to focus my attention back to that. Be looking for Lawrence Arms show updates including reviews, photos, and videos as early as Wednesday morning!

Campus News Photo!

LBCC students walk through a large puddle of water that gathered in front of the learning center after a heavy downpour that occurred Friday morning.

Citizen Fish and the Star Fucking Hipsters!!

The Wow hall has always been a great place for punks rock shows in Eugene and Monday night it was no exceptions. Citizen Fish, a ska band from the United Kingdom and the Star Fucking Hipsters, fasted paced punk rock out of New York City rocked the house with a burst of highly political songs and lyrics that send a strong message fighting for the middle and lower class.

For those that don't know Citizen Fish contains Dick, Phil and Trotsky from punk rock legends the Subhumans. the Star Fucking Hipsters was originally started as a side project from Leftover Crack members, Stza(vocals) and Brandon(drums) unfortunately the project was put on hiatus till 2005 after Brandon Chevalier-Kolling unexpectedly passed away.

Enjoy the Photos!!
















(Citizen Fish Keeps the crowd dancing!)















(Star Fucking Hipsters rocking it as the kids push and shove!)





















(Guitar and Bass)

































(Star Fucking Hipsters vocalist Nico De Gaillo.)

Updated news photo

"Troy Laub and Bret Smith help replace a telephone pole after a truck ran into it at the corner of Kings and Garfield."

Strike Anywhere sets Portland on fire

Friday night Richmond Virginia punk rockers, Strike anywhere, brought an all out show to the Hawthorne Theater in Portland, Oregon with special guests Crime in Stereo, Ruiner, and Polar Bear Club.



























This is a show that I'd been waiting for months to see and it was sure to not disappoint. I'm working on a full review right now that will be up shortly. Until then enjoy some pictures of the band along with this video I shot of the song "Sunset on 32nd street."


I lucked out when shooting the video and managed to get the bands lead singer, Thomas Barnett, speaking out against racism and violence before the song starts. If you pay good attention you'll catch what is just a small glimpse of what Strike Anywhere stands for.


Unfortunately I've been having problems uploading the video, but I will try again tomorrow. Be sure to check in and look for it because I'm not going to give up on this one!

My Portland Adventure

I had the pleasure of going to Portland this weekend to see one of my favorite punk bands, Strike Anywhere, and managed to get some incredibly awesome pictures and even video of the band playing a full song! If you don’t already know, Portland is my favorite city in the world and this trip was no exception when it comes to loving the fair city of roses. Not only did I have an extraordinary time at the strike Anywhere show, but almost instantly afterwords I managed to find a house party with a Metal band from Olympia known as Christian Mistress.

Being in photo journalism I had to take advantage of the opportunity to snap as many pictures as I could in the overcrowded Portland basement. The band played fast, brain melting riffs that could power a whole city with the amount of head banging being generated in the damp basement. Unfortunately, you cant power a house from head banging and circuits were blown that lead to a completely dark house and an early exit for Christian Mistress who had easily made there point by then.



























After the band was done playing everyone shuffled outside and kept the party going. I made bunches of new friends here and got a real taste of the Portland scene. It was just like a Corvallis house party that had way more people and not just a bunch of college yuppies. When the cops drove by they didn’t even look at the place. In Corvallis the pigs would be watching all night just waiting for there chance to move in. Luckily, we were in a big city, and the cops just have more to do there.

After meeting some new friends and seeing some great music I decided to move along and headed towards Burnside to continue my Portland adventure. It didn’t take long before I ran into an aspiring street musician, Roby Dale Williams, who goes by “Lord Bullet Train Sugar Cane” and proclaims to be the “Lord of PDX buckets” I snapped a few shots and some video of Williams playing the bucket drums and after a short conversation realized that he actually played drums for the legendary Portland punk rockers, MDC(Millions of Dead Cops) in 1994-1995, I was talking to a legend!!








Once I parted ways with Williams it was getting late, the clock was pushing 2am and I still had to drive all the way back to Corvallis. But I had one more stop to make before making the long trek up I-5, Ground Kontrol, Portland’s famous video arcade/bar!

Knowing I had a long drive ahead of me I stayed clear of purchasing any drinks that could cloud up my head, but made sure to put my left over quarters to use and started making my rounds through the arcade. I started with the start wars fighter pilot game that had me blowing up tye fighters left and right until a shielding gun on the death start put my ship to rest. After that it was up to the second floor that was dedicated to nothing but pinball.

After a few more random games and a quick drive around the city It was finally time to head back to that small black hole known as Corvallis. Exhausted and tired I made sure to drive extra carefully because it was late and this was no time to be messing around. The drive home presented great opportunity for me to reflect on my evening full of extraordinary circumstance. Portland is a great city and on a night like this it doesn’t take long to realize that it is truly the heart of Oregon. One day I plan on making Portland my home but till then all I can do is take every chance I get visit and make the best of my time in the city of roses.

Photo critique..

http://www.flickr.com/photos/anasantos/2899594955/

So here's a picture I found on flickr.com with three girl simultaneously jumping up in the air. The three are all wearing the same clothes and jumping at the same height witch leaves me to believe that this picture was probably set up. It's possible that they could of all been wearing the same thing and randomly decided to jump in the air for a photo but if I were to bet I would say they set it up long in advance. So I really like this picture. they put the label "Don't Worry, Be Happy" on the photo witch is very fitting. the girl in the middle is making a goofy face while the other two girls on the side are just looking happy. I really like this picture. It gives off a really good vibe. Like some of the comments on the picture state, the colors are really vibrant witch makes for a great visually apealing photo. The picture almost looks like the three girls might just be one girl that took three pictures of herself jumping in different places and put them together in photo shop or something. I don't know if the pictures set up or not but one things forsure, its a great shot of people in a good landscape with faces and distinct features sticking out and that makes for one great picture.

First Photo: Music for the Market

People Gather in front of the Eugene City hall to play Music together during the Eugene Saturday Market. People meet here to play every Saturday while the market is going on.

My first Blog Post...

For Photo Journalism. wow. I feel really unoriginal now seeing that the person next to me typed the same thing.. Oh well. It's gonna be a good term!! So I'm taking photo Journalism for a couple reasons. For one, it's the only journalism class at LBCC that I haven't taken yet. Also, I just wanted to have an opportunity to take some pictures and sharpen my skills! So instead of working on editing pictures I took the other day I'm going to work with some that I took in San Fransisco a couple months ago. I just feel like theirs more action in these pictures then the ones from the other day. I really enjoy big city's!

Last Story is Up!!

Alright!! it feels good to almost be done. This story was a hard one to write. It was hard to talk to the people I needed to. I wanted to take a more laid back approach for this profile story. I guess I was really just trying to fit the language that most people interested by the story would take to. This is why I continually say "the camp" and use Davids first name. Well, I'm in class right now so I should start paying attention again...checkin' out!!