Assignment 1

Got out today and shot some stuff for my first assignment. We were told to go out and find something and make 3 photographs that could work individually to tell a story of sorts. I went all over the Harbor and talked with some boat operators. I've made some contacts and hopefully am going out Wednesday on a tug boat to bring in a Cargo ship. The captain gave me the ok. Also met a real cool dude and posted a pic. It's an environmental portrait of a dude and that's all you need to know.

And lastly, I found three older people working to restore a tugboat that was built in the US in the early 1940s, used in Normandy on D-Day, and was a working boat from 1953 until 1986. Now they're restoring it and trying to turn it into a museum for the city. I didn't make too many photographs and wanted to truly get to know the people and I think it paid off for future shooting and stories.

Skole!!

These are just a few quick snaps either walking to or leaving school. The school is made entirely of concrete and it's amazing. The architecture is real cool and unique. This is part of the inside looking to the doors I enter.
This is the road I walk down on the way to school every morning. Sometimes I can grab a bus, which are really good, but lately my bus hasn't been consistant because I guess it had problems with kids throwing rocks at it on the route.

The outside of the journalism school.

This week has been crazy with new information. We had a tour of City Hall two days ago and got climb to the top of a clock tower and view the whole city. I think it's the highest point in the city. You can see islands and the harbor which is real close to the city center. I'm waiting for a friend to email me the picture he took. I didn't have my camera. Before and after that we talked about the country government and what it's like to be a foreigner in Denmark taught by a woman who moved here 16 years ago from San Francisco. Pretty interesting stuff and so far everything I've learned makes me want to stay here forever. That basically means their government is truly for the people by the people and doesn't suck.

I haven't had time to take photos because I've either been in class or walking home to sleep. It's been a busy week!! Tonight we have free beer and pizza at the school and we have to present something about the culture where we're from. I think there are 7 Americans here. Should be interesting times.

Today was the first day of photo class and it was real cool. Lars Bech, a Danish photographer, will be spending about a week with us for a workshop type thing. We have class everyday from about 9-3 and it's all photo. Our first assignment is to go and photograph a person, place or event like we would be covering it for a newspaper. We have to turn in 3 photos that work on their own to tell the story, as opposed to all three working to tell a larger picture. I'm not sure what I'm going to do. I may go to the harbor and see if someone lives on a boat, just stopped in Aarhus for a little, or maybe a fisherman. I've never shot in a harbor or that sort of thing so I figure I'll check it out. Had I known I would have gone to a hearing the other night about Aarhus possibly building the first Mosque in Denmark. That's crazy there's no Mosque in the whole country!! After hearing that, I wanted to go and figure out where the Muslim go for prayer, if they maybe meet somewhere. But I guess a kid in my class is working on something along those lines.

The final project we're given 4 weeks to complete and it can be anywhere in the world. I kind of want to go outside Denmark to either the Balkans or Gaza area. Yeah, I know what you're probably thinking but these are just my initial ideas...having NOT done any research.

Either way I think I made a good choice to come here and I think I'm going to learn and grow in the direction I hope and I think this is the place for risks with photo.

First day of Class

So today was the first day of class. This week is all intro to the program, computers, library...that sort of stuff.

Here's a rough draft of the semester schedule:

22-26 January: INTRODUCTION
29 January- 16 March: PHOTOJOURNALISM IN GENERAL
19 March-13 April: STEREOTYPES
31 March- 9 April: EASTER HOLIDAY
16 April- 3 May: MAGAZINE PROJECT
7 May - End of semester: FINAL PROJECT

For the final project we have a month to work on a photo story anywhere we choose and research. The magazine project is similar but we only have 3 weeks.

$$$$$$$

So, I woke up at 4 PM Saturday. Did laundry. Then went and met people downtown. I didn't think anyone would show because it was raining, windy and cold, but there were maybe 15 of us. We went to this bar on a corner, which had a real chill environment and a DJ showed up to spin for a few hours. The problem is, beer was a range from 25 kroner to 95 croner...that's like $15 for a half-pint. Food here is really expensive too, unless you buy it in a grocery store. So I think I'll be cooking at home all the time.

There's a guy here from Connecticut who's real cool and has been living here since August, so he showed us around. Some people took off early so about 7 of us chilled at another bar until maybe 3 AM. Apparently the buses stop running around midnight.

Pictures will come soon. Class starts tomorrow and I'm going to shoot downtown touristy stuff tomorrow...probably.

Fun times

I just woke up. It's 4:00 PM. I went to bed when it was still dark and woke up to darkness. The sun sets around 4:30 here during the winter and it makes the days go by quickly.

Last night I met a guy who lives next door to me and his friend who was visiting from a city about an hour north. Apparently the dorm area I'm living in has its own bar, so after talking for about 4 hours from school to government to just random whatever and playing a cool drinking game, we headed to the bar to meet their friends around 11PM.

The place was packed and people were singing Karaoke. Beer wasn't too expensive. Fooseball is also popular. I played with my neighbor and we took on all the challengers in the bar. I think we held the table for 6-7 rounds. They are insanely good, doing fakes and passes.

I think the best part of the night, before I got home around 5 am, was when the Baywatch theme song came on (you know, the one in the beginning while they're introducing the characters). Tons of people got up and started dancing. Like they really liked this song. I couldn't stop laughing. I had asked my neighbor earlier about the whole David Hasslehoff thing in Germany and he didn't get it and agreed it was ridiculous. I just don't know.

Tonight, most of the international kids here for journalism are meeting in the city to hang out. There's about 30 kids in the whole program, 8 of which are in photo. Should be fun.

Never leaving

I'm never leaving Denmark. I think the first Danish girl I meet I will marry. Holy Moley! All of the girls here are beautiful! Blonde, Black, Brown hair it doesn't matter. Wow is pretty much all I can say because I'm still in shock. Shock and awe my friends, shock and awe.

Woke up to this

This is absolutely amazing. Congratulations goes out to the government for adding yet another teardrop to the rain of life.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16691101

WOW!

WOW! I got lost as hell today! I guess that's what I was hoping to do, but then changed my mind after I woke up to rain. Anyways, I headed to the grocery store to feed my amazing hunger and then was going to head to the bank. Should have probably done it the other way around because the grocery store wouldn't take my Visa. They have special visas I guess for residents of Denmark. So I trekked the 45 minute walk, my jacket soaked by the rain, and the temperature began to drop. I found the bank, but got lost on my way back. Near my dorm, I remembered seeing a yellow bus stop, so I hopped on the next yellow bus I saw. 2-3 hours later and after getting help from 2 bus drivers, I was back in my neighborhood where 3 inches of snow was waiting as my soaked shoes sunk through to the pavement. I got in my room, changed clothes, grabbed a new jacket and some gloves and walked to get food. Luckily the store was still open.

The store was a bit confusing to me, but I managed. The only thing I got right was some pasta and sauce and beer. I bought a carton of, what I thought was orange juice, and it turned out to be yogurt. I just made a ham sandwich with lots of mustard because the ham smelt funny, as do most things to me. I took the cheese off after nearly puking (not really). I'll get used to it soon. Pretty much what today showed was how much I need to learn to atleast read Danish.

Also, last night I forgot to include: I threw my 80-200 in my backpack that I had to check. The filter and some inside glass was shattered. I plugged in a US surge protector using a connection adaptor because I didn't think I'd need the convertor. The thing exploded and caught on fire in my hands as soon as I turned it on. That was pretty neat. Especially after being awake for like 36 hours.

I'm going to Ikea tomorrow with a dude in my class from Buenos Aeires who lives near me.

DENMARK!

Alright, so it maybe wasn't the greatest trip I've been on, but I got to Århus safe and I can't wait for tomorrow. I've been awake for the past 36 hours and all these time changes are starting to mess with me. The ride from DC to London was fine and uneventful. But once I arrived at Heathrow, I had to get rid of one of my carry-on bags. Appartenly, any passengers departing London can only board with one bag. So I pulled everything important out and fit it into my camera bag, while I pulled some lenses and books out and put them in my backpack. I had the camera bag on the plane(s) with me. This was the worst. I got to Norway a little delayed as the plane skidded along the 5 inches of snow that covered the unplowed runway. If this were in the US, everything would be closed for 2 days.
I waited around, spent $4 on a bottle of Pepsi and didn't even know it, then followed 12 people onto this tiny plane in the middle of the snow storm. None of the runways were plowed. It was pretty cool. Then landing in Århus was exciting in this small plane that was moving sideways at one point. Probably the scariest/funnest flight of my life. Now I'm in my room, which is in a co-ed dorm building somewhat close to my school but a 15 minute bus ride to downtown.

It's small and has this one big window that can open up, but it has this gate/bar/security system on it that you have to move each time. I'll do pictures later. I have my own bathroom but share a kitchen I have yet to find. I took the bus to the city where I met a volunteer student who picked me up and drove me to my room. From the bus the city looks awesome and is really big. Seems really confusing, but then again it was at night. Everyone rides bikes, which I heard can be bought each Wednesday at an auction, and all the cars are funny looking. Some are pretty small, but in a good way. Who needs a Hummer or SUVs and all that anyways? That probably has something to do with the US being the highest producer of pollution in the world. Kyoto Protocol? So I'm going to bed.

ROUND ONE: packing

Grabbed some shots from bits here and there while packing for my trip. Keep posted to see what I'll have in my carry-on bag.
Some drugs so I won't get sick and some soap so I don't smell as bad as usual.

Some random stuff like a sleeping bag, bed sheets, a headlamp, outlet converters, extension cord, etc...

Here's the camera equipment I'm bringing. It all pretty much fits into my Domke bag which I'll have on the plane. Still have to figure out if and what harddrive I'll bring.

Drive home

I took my time driving home to Virginia from Missouri. It took 3 days because I stopped to see a friend at JMU in Harrisonburg, Va. This past summer, I did the 1000 mile trip in 12 hours. Some snaps from the first night

Mizzou v Iowa

Had a real bad time shooting basketball the other day.