Salmon Swimming Upstream

It all started around the New Year... I leaned over the crowded bar to order a drink and the woman sitting on the stool next to the spot I found to place my order turned to me and asked, "Has anyone ever told you that you have a radio voice?"

As we all do, I think my voice sounds on the higher pitch of the male spectrum in my head, and especially nasal on top of that. But also, yes ma'am. Yes I have. My friend Sara asked my to DJ her wedding, primarily to save money, but also because of my "radio voice."

I have no idea where my thought processes went from there, but within a day or so I was planning the format and subject of a podcast. I would find a group of people, maybe ten or so to start, with some common thread that I could interview over about half an hour. With ten minutes of introductory exposition and a couple minutes of wrap up, I could easily make a few episodes of a forty five minute podcast.

New Year's Eve eve I was at a tavern watching a high school acquaintance play guitar and I was, please forgive me for this (as you'll soon understand), inspired. I found the common thread of the people I would interview. Inspiration. Something inspires us to do keep at our passions or take up new ones. I was inspired by a random comment from a stranger. What drives other artists and creators and role models? I had my premise and my format.

Talking to a woman who was watching the band play while visiting a friend in town my recent train of thought came up. I really wish I remembered her name, because I was able to find a name for the show during that conversation. As an aside, I learned that I sound similar to Eric Teel, the Director of FM Network Programming and Music Director at Jefferson Public Radio in Oregon. While discussing inspiration, it was noted that, while inspiration can be easy to come by, following up on it isn't. It can feel like...

Well, if you've read this blog post, and you've seen the title, and you know that I'm creating a podcast... You get it. I'll post the first episode in the Podcast section of this site with a little better introduction in the near future.

Indiegogo/Final Project

Some of you have been directed here and already know this, but for those that check in on my web site on occasion, this is the latest news.

In a last ditch attempt to avoid having to drop out of college, I've created an Indiegogo crowdfunding site. I'll be updating my most recent artistic endeavors to support that, so there will be more options for those that choose to contribute to helping me complete school.

Additionally, I have been tasked with creating a virtual space for my final exam in A260, my basic photography class. Those images will be uploaded before the weekend is over, so stay tuned for many, many updates in the near future...

Published!

I had originally decided to wait until I had heard back for certain, but I don't know how long that may take. Last week I was asked for the original photo of the science lab at school that I took for a rephotography project to be used in the alumni calendar. It appears that I will have my first photo published before the end of this school year.

Along the same line, I feel that my pictures are getting better with each project. I'll upload some of the most recent shots to the A260 gallery later this week to show what I mean. The compositions and subjects are steadily improving, but I still have a long way to go, world famous published photographer or not. Stay tuned for some exciting further updates to my budding graphic design career as well... 

New Photos

I've added a few new photos to the gallery from my Basic Photography class, including a neat shot of a fire hydrant in downtown Salem and a couple of the projects that we've done so far.

The hydrant was especially nice as a "diamond in the rough" shot. We were tasked with going out to three different locations to take photos for about half an hour. During that time we could only move about one step in any direction from our original place and had to take around 30-40 pictures. I chose the entry to one of the alleys in downtown Salem as one of my three locations, thinking that some of the city/nature views would allow for a fun balance. I took the picture of the hydrant as a filler while trying to line up something interesting and it ended up being one of the only photos I ended up liking... Who knew?

tape.ly

I was recently invited by a friend to participate in a creative process. I would like to share that invitation. Here are the rules as they were initially provided:

A Conversation in Mix Tapes, Part III: The Challenge

1) To being with, I’ll post a “mixtape” to tape.ly (within the next two weeks)
2) You will actually listen to it, all at once, wholly, and not in pieces
3) You create a “mixtape” in response to mine 
a. Rule I: Original Photo or Cover Art
b. Rule II: Include track list and any “notes”
c. Rule III: Post it within a two week time period
4) Ideally, this will continue in conversation form, allowing me to share and experience shared music in a more personal way. Are you willing to take the challenge?

I have created my tape in response to her and I would like to ask the same: make a mix tape that is a comment or statement to me to which I will attempt to reply. In this manner we will have a conversation of some true meaning.

You can check out my tape here: http://tape.ly/and-the-women-who-loved-him

iPhone Update

Now that I have everything set up, I can post from my phone... The next steps involve getting the site set up to host some products to sell and clearing out all the Latin placeholders. After that I can do some edits to the photos and dig up some real art work... Thanks for your patience as I get this all together.