More Pictures!

I got to go play in the snow with a 20-month-old and his mom earlier this week, he was so much fun and we got some really great shots! Here are a few that I'm excited about...


















































As usual, more can be seen on my flickr page

tags technorati : headsoff, baby photography,

My first baby!

Although I've been photographing babies for going on 6 years now professionally, this is the first I've done independently and therefore the first I've done without the confidence that comes from studio lighting, and the comfort of having all of the quilts, seamless backdrops, and posing tools I'm accustomed to.

It forced me to be more creative in some ways and there were definitely a lot of failed attempts in there, but in the end I came out with a lot of great shots that I never could have gotten in the studio because of the differences just mentioned, which was pretty exciting! I can't wait to do more!

Here are a couple of my favorites...




































































As usual, more can be seen on my flickr page

tags technorati : headsoff, baby photography,

Is "goddess" a bad word?

Philosophically speaking, who are we? Who am I? Who are you? Who and/or what affects who we are; as individuals, as communities, as cultures, societies, races....

Obviously there is a lot to say about this and a lot of energy to be generated through the discussion - both positive and negative. Some people would claim that we have full control over our destinies, while others would insist that we have none. And while this debate rages in one corner of our existence, still others struggle to extract definitions as to what they all mean, and what is "destiny".

Using the English language as a paramount reference point, we bind ourselves into devastating paths that lead to absolute miscommunication. We land solidly in our anger and disagreement and manage to completely miss the fact that when it comes down to it, whether our dogma allows us to admit or forces us to deny it, we all just want to believe that there is something important enough to live for.

I've heard a lot of people who say they do not believe in concepts such as "luck", "love", "fate"... The problem is language.

I do believe in all of these things, especially love and fate -- in my own way. To quote an earlier fridge "haiku", "who says language is never purple?". Must we all agree on a definition for such universally personal things in order for them to be true? Isn't there room to simply accept that sometimes things work out in ways we would not have expected and then realize that "truth" can mean something different to each of us linguistically but still, without exception, hold the same weight and merit?

I do think that every person who enters our lives enters in order to teach us something. I also think that the lessons they bring have little to do with them, and everything to do with us, and that it can be immediately apparent or take years or decades to understand them.

I don't think that all of this is necessarily true from the perspectives of those passers-by, but it's the perspective through which I choose to view them all, and this life. I do think that every situation, every accomplishment, every challenge, is something to learn from. I do think that every word I say, every move I make, every decision I support will effect everything around me in the same way that I am affected by the movement of others. I do believe that our lives are in continual motion and that the motion is inevitably shared, no matter how much we try to separate or individualize.

I do think we're all connected, and we need to be careful and loving in our actions in order for the world to return to a more naturally positive balance.















Technorati Tags: headsoff, philosophy, goddess, who am i?

Photo shoot with Tori Marie

Here are a couple from a shoot I did downtown with Tori Marie, a young new model who has a lot of promise. I love how she uses her eyes! I threw a couple "urban" shots in to spice things up a bit, hope you enjoy!

Fall photo shoot

I just wanted to archive and share a few photos from a fall shoot with Heather.. The luck we have had with weather and lighting has been remarkable, and I love the warm but still chilly quality that this shoot has...

tags technorati : headsoff, arnold arboretum, arboretum, autumn, leaves, fall, maple

Autumn in New England

I went out to do a photo shoot today and the girl I was supposed to shoot with didn't show up. I had been so excited to shoot the foliage that I wasn't ready to leave without taking a few photos regardless.


So I convinced Chad to walk around with me...
and slipped in a couple of him.












But hey, it's not like I'm unreasonable!
To be fair, I let him take some of me too ;-)

tags technorati : headsoff, arnold arboretum, arboretum, autumn, leaves, fall, maple

Delerium and how we make it through

I had gum surgery last Tuesday (the 9th) and it's been a ridiculous stretch since then...

Let's start off with a little history. I've learned that there are two things that lead to gum recession. One is not brushing/flossing enough so that plaque builds up and your gums are separated from your teeth. The other is brushing too hard so that your gums are slowly worn away.

So. Looking back over my history I had a couple years of low blood counts and immune dysfunction during which I was told not to brush my teeth, because it was dangerous to do things that cause abrasion through which infection could enter. After those years passed, my dentist told me that I was incredibly lucky and I had no cavities but that I had a bunch of areas where it looked like cavities were just beginning and so I should be extra careful to take good care of my teeth. What he failed to mention was what exactly to do, and not to do. So I interpreted that as "brushing well" which ignorantly translated in my mind to scrubbing harder....

Fast forward through 5 or 6 years of (what I would now classify as) negligent dentists who failed to point out the hole that I was literally scrubbing my way into and I ended up with one tooth that had a gum recession almost all the way to the bottom of the root. I thought I was doing good (I never did end up getting any cavities)...

Well, my immune system still isn't stellar so after having the initial surgery, and being on tylenol 3 supplemented with motrin and eccedrin for most of a week with gaps of pain that led me to malnourish myself to the point of baseline hopelessness, it was clear that I was having problems beyond what the periodontist had anticipated.

I finally went to my medical doctor to ask what I could do, since he understood my history, and he put me on $85 (yes thats after insurance) worth of crap which has put me back on the up-swing. Yay for simple Nystatin and Levaquin.. along with percocet for the meantime...

Today I'm feeling so much better but I'm not thinking TOO silly optimistically because Chad is right when he says that if I change my expectations too much I'm just setting myself up for disappointment in case I do have another setback.

Anyways, I figured it's time for another magnetic concoction, and since it's been a very nonsensical week I think it calls for a very nonsensical haiku, the choice of which is inspired by Chad's (highly appreciated) attempts to soothe me by playing guitar and reminding me how good it feels to take baths.

tags technorati : haiku, magnetic poetry, music, lather, percocet, headsoff

How is your apparatus?

Yep, now I'm sick. Way to go Chad! Or I guess it could be the countless small children I come into contact with on a daily basis... anyways, this poem spoke to me today because assuming that a body is an apparatus for one's self, mine is really in question and I'm not thinking about it too fast....









Technorati Tags: magnetic poetry, refrigerator, words, apparatusillnesspoetry, headsoff

Language is never purple.

The manager at the studio I work at is Portuguese. Her accent is of endless intrigue to me, because she certainly accents words differently but she also arranges them differently in a way that is completely sensical much of the time but also very unique.

Sometimes I find myself arranging sentences as she would, for example "The 15 images on CD, it's 179.95" whereas normally I would say it with no pause and, actually, probably with the sentence re-organized with images on CD coming at the end: "it's 179.95 for 15 images on CD"...

Anyways, it's gotten me thinking once again about language and how much I like to play with it. So for a new bit of fridge poetry, this one not in haiku format because I liked it too much as it was.









Technorati Tags: magnetic poetry, refrigerator, words, languagepoetry, headsoff

Dancing and Photographing

I did a photo shoot the other day with Heather Bryce, a choreographer and dancer, at Spy Pond up in Arlington. The goal of the shoot was mainly to capture her in motion, as well as to get some head shots of her.







The park is beautiful, but very parky in that there are fences and benches and parked cars and people and dogs all over the place. Because of this it was a challenge to find spots that were empty for long enough expanses that we could shoot and have it look like she was alone.

We had a great time, though, and I think we did a good job of making it hard to tell that anyone else existed. She's so beautiful, and she made it easy to capture stunning images! I've (obviously) included a couple of the shots from the shoot here, to see more you can go to my new serravision flickr page!




Technorati Tags: dancing, dancer, spy pond, photography, headsoff

Worshipping Repulsive Fluff

I've been studying philosophy for a while now, which puts me in a place to really notice things. One thing I've noticed frequently is the incredible attachments that people have to all sorts of things. I am by no means claiming that I'm exempt myself. Just an obervation...




Technorati Tags: magnetic poetry, refrigerator, words, poetry, headsoff

Less Size Pant

Chad has been feeling sick. Usually he cooks everything but lately he hasn't been feeling like cooking. I think this poem might have come partially from that.

But mostly it came from our amusement at the words "less" "size" and "pant" all in a row. It makes us feel even more lucky to be living with each other, rather than having to worry about encountering any number of Chinese men, or smoke, or just plain strangers when venturing out of our bedroom...




Technorati Tags: magnetic poetry, refrigerator, words, poetry, headsoff

Fridge Haiku

Chad and I are slowly settling into our new place. After 2 months of blank refrigerator, we finally broke out the magnetic poetry.

We stuck word after word onto the fridge until it looked like it had magnetic poetry pox. Then, satisfied, we went to make dinner... but those words all over the fridge were too tempting and before you knew it we were munching on frozen yogurt sitting in front of the fridge and seeing how many haiku we could make from the words that were there...

I've decided to post a few of them in an attempt to get myself back into blogging. They'll be photos rather than video, and since I've been doing a lot of still photography lately this suggests to me a possible transition from strictly video blogging to photo and video blogging. We'll see what happens...

Here is our haiku entitled "self portrait" ;-)





Technorati Tags: magnetic poetry, refrigerator, words, poetry, headsoff

Veggie Oil Filtration

I had an e-mail glitch and didnt get notified about comments for the last post, so I sincerely apologize for those who commented and got ignored!

As predicted, here's our very elementary video on figuring out the sock filter system of oil cleansing. Its probably too long, and definitely too dark, but amazingly simple! For those of you out there wondering if SVO is too much hassle, take a look and see what you think...


Click here for Quicktime movie (in a new window)

Runtime is a little under 4 min

Technorati Tags: SVO, alternative fuel, veggie oil, vegoil, filter, inner tube, sock filter, new balance, headsoff

VeggieOil Pickup

Still thinking about converting to SVO, and Chad just put a deposit down on a VW Rabbit that has been converted already. So I called up the Green Grease Monkey guys and asked if they'd let me tag along while they collect waste veggie oil and show me the ropes.

The restaraunt we will be collecting from for our car(s) will be considerably more straightforward than the footage you are about to see. Since it's a smaller restaraunt, they won't have the huge drums and all we will have to do is walk in and carry out already-filled cubes of oil!

Next lesson will have to be setting up a filtration system at home...


Click here for Quicktime movie (in a new window)

Runtime is 4 minutes

Technorati Tags: veggie oil, bio fuel, red bones, waste veggie oil, oil collection, headsoff

Bio Diesel Fill-Up

It's official. The new ("new") Jetta is now a green machine!


Click here for Quicktime movie (in a new window)

See my previous post Going Diesel for more on what I'm doing and why, and links to more information.

Runtime is 3 minutes plus a bit

Technorati Tags: biodiesel, diesel, alternative fuel, green, funnel, volkswagen, headsoff

Going Diesel

I bought a car in August. It was a Honda Civic, a basic economy car known for its reliability and its gas mileage. Many of my friends live off the subway lines and many miles from me, my work at WGBH is hard to get to without a car, and every job I seem to be applying for requires that I have my own transportation. So I caved.

Despite my good intentions and rationalizations, it became clear that driving this Honda was gnawing at my soul. The automatic transmission confused me and it's all together possible that the unfamiliar territiry simply made me paranoid, but the mileage just never seemed to be what it should be. I felt like I wasn't even making it to 30 miles per gallon, and slowly I stopped visiting people because I felt guilty.

I would be on edge driving to have dinner in Waltham (only a 10 mile trip from my home) because I figure that's probably almost half a gallon of gasoline that I'm using, and by driving all the time and burning so much gasoline I'm contributing to so many problems including health risks associated with the gasoline exhaust, greenhouse effects, and warped political priorities that have arisen to ensure US appropriation of foreign oil.

So after owning the Honda for less than 6 months, I decided it was time to sell it and buy something that didn't stress out my morals so much. Enter, 1989 VW Jetta. For now, this car will run on diesel which is not much better for the environment, but at least is more efficient. I can get approximately 45-50 miles to the gallon, as opposed to just under 30 with the honda. And as it warms up I can transition to biodiesel and eventually, with the help of these guys, to SVO (straight vegetable oil).


Click here for Quicktime movie (in a new window)

Thanks to Chad for the excellent camerawork, encouragement and company.

For more inspiring videos about running on alternative fuel, check out RyanIsHungry

Runtime is 1:17

Technorati Tags: volkswagen, vw, jetta, diesel, biodiesel, SVO, straight vegetable oil, vegoil, alternative fuel

Making Ice

While some may think it's a difficult, highly technical endevour, I'm pleased to present you with the idiot's guide to making ice. Turns out it isn't difficult at all, just takes a delicate balance between starting out with very little water in the first place, and accidentally leaving it outside in the car all night long while it's snowing... The result is beautiful. Just don't tell my mom I've been freezing the new Nalgene she got me...


Click here for Quicktime movie (in a new window)

Runtime is 28 Seconds

Technorati Tags: ice frozen water+bottle winter cold

Hot, Cold.

Commentary on global warming?
On the unusual winter we've been having?
A day in Chinatown...
Or just some random moments that caught my attention...


Click here for Quicktime movie (in a new window)

Runtime is 1:27

Technorati Tags: hot cold odd+restrooms

Stained Glass Installation

I posted this video of me working on stained glass a few months ago. Well, here's the final product, what all those countless hours of work helped to create!


Click here for Quicktime movie (in a new window)

Runtime is about 3.5 minutes

Music is "Ce matin la" by Air

Technorati Tags: stained+glass window art artist glass

I Work Nights

I was talking to Ryanne online while at work, and when she found out what I was doing she exclaimed "you're me!" and sent me these links:
New Friend
I work Nights

This is for you, Ryanne....


Click here for Quicktime movie (in a new window)

Runtime is 4 Minutes

Technorati Tags: Ryanne ryanedit editor work nights