Andy v2.0: August 2006

Serendipity is a bitch, man.

So tonight after class I'm hanging out at L&V spending a few dollars of my hard-earned birthday cash on $2 beer night. I get bored, as none of the crew have shown up, and decide to walk the 4 or so blocks to D's. For you city slickers out there, blocks here in town are often small enough to throw a baseball from one corner of to another. Anyway, I'm enjoying a glass or two of their cheapest draft (I still have gas to pay for, you know) when three well dressed men come in and sit down next to me.

The apparent ring leader asks for whatever local brews they have, the nearest being of the Great Lakes Brewery out of Cleveland, and they proceed to bullshit about guy stuff. One of them says something particularly funny, and I join the conversation. Here's a breakdown of the miracle that ensused:

1) I mention I'm a photography student.
2) They're big time real estate investors looking to buy a newly built yuppie apartment complex here in town.
3) They need photos of it.
4) I volunteer my services for next to nothing compared to any other local pro photographer.
5) They're thrilled to nurture the "grass roots", and I'm meeting them there bright and early tomorrow morning.
6) I'm arriving before them to "secret shop" the management. IE: apply for a unit, even though I most definitely can't afford them, and see how management reacts.
7) I get paid for the secret shop, even if they don't buy my photos.
8) If they buy my photos, I'm buying a crapload of necessary equipment.

The bittersweet irony is that if Sophie and I hadn't split, I wouldn't have been at D's, and this wouldn't have happened.

The sound of distant thunder woke me up early this morning, but having taken melatonin and ibuprofen before bed, I woke up feeling quite refreshed. So I decide to hop online and read up on a blog or two. I'm still forming into coherent thoughts the self-realizations I've made since wednesday afternoon, and I'll write about them as soon as they're ready. Suffice to say that I'm so much better a person coming out of this than when I met her.

In the mean time, I've got a few visual goodies for you. Fun with wide angle lenses! We have an assignment where we shoot to a topic, and I chose the topic of wide angle architectural interiors after having so much fun goofing off with Elizabeth's (very very very expensive) 12mm lens. They have 14mm lenses available for checking out at school, but they just don't capture quite as much as the 12mm does.

Anyway, enjoy!

Interior of the Greek Orthodox Church in Dayton. 12mm wide angle lens.

Interior of the Greek Orthodox Church in Dayton. 12mm wide angle lens

Some weirdo with a wide angle lens.

Parking lot at the Greek Orthodox Church in Dayton. 12mm wide angle lens.

Parking lot at the Greek Orthodox Church in Dayton. Elizabeth in the background.

Kettering Tower in downtown Dayton.

Interior of the Schuster Center in downtown Dayton. 14mm wide angle lens.

Miami County courthouse interior, 14mm wide angle lens.

And this was taken just outside Dark Haired Girl's apartment. I'd never actually seen a cicaida emerging from its shell, and it was a vibrant green color. I swear, I didn't adjust the saturation on this, just the shadow contrast to completely darken out a few stray light patches in the background.

Hi all, quick post here as it's nearly 3am and I've got work in the morning. Thank you all for your words of encouragement. Fortunately, I've not been freaking out over this like the old Andy would've. Instead, being single again really sunk in today (I think it did, anyway), and well... I'll write about it in more depth later. Been thinking about this nonstop since Wednesday afternoon, and really trying to sort out the lessons learned.

Bottom line: I'm doing ok, no need for concern. And Sophie, you have no reason to apologize. You did what was absolutely right to do.

Sophie broke up with me today.

She simply said that it wasn't working out, and she wasn't feeling it. It's not my business to go into any more details of her reasons, that's between her and I. Suffice to say they're valid, and it's nothing against me. She said that I'm a great guy on so many different levels. But, as Bonnie Raitt sang, you can't make your heart feel something it won't.

Sure, I was stunned. But I'd be lying to you if I said I didn't see some foreshadowing over the last week or two that I tried my best to ignore. We went too fast, I think I didn't give her enough space, and basically we devolved into a married couple pretty quickly.

I spoke so highly of her on here. I still adore her, and stand in awe of her. In my mind, Sophie stood for all that was good in people. But I can't count on both hands how many times I've heard "There's plenty of other women out there" just this evening, and I wonder how long it's going to be before statements of adoration appear on this blog again. How long will it be before I start a post with a line like "I met someone today...", and you all leave comments like "I'm so happy for you!!" I can't bear the thought. I don't want to meet anybody else.

I miss her already. She had become my best friend. She brought out a person in me that I didn't know existed back when I was lonely, agitated, angry, and bitter. She gave me the gift of happiness. That level of contentment and serenity doesn't just go away, it sticks with you. It has become part of my personality over the last three months. It's kinda funny, but the wonderful traits I found in myself through her have become the very coping mechanism with which I'm dealing.

Crushed? Heart broken? Yeah. I'm feeling a little bruised. When we had our final hug, I dug my nose into her shoulder and took in her scent one last time. It hurts right now... but you know me.

I'll pull through, even if I have to force myself to laugh from time to time.

So we had our Photo Design midterm today. For the practical segment, we had 3 hours to check out equipment, shoot a beforehand unbeknownst subject in the lab (in this case, coffee filters), convert to b&w and retouch in photoshop, print, and turn in.

I decide to K-I-S-S, and go for the macro lens and bare flash. After a little photoshopping, this is what I printed out and turned in:

Thinking about printing it large, like 12 x 12 or something, and trying to get a local coffee shop like Night Sky or Winan's to hang it up. Here's my other favorite:

Oh. Hell. Yeah. Ten minute exposure tonight in my back yard. It's dark, illuminated only by the street light across the way. I just learned that my Nikon D70S has a long exposure noise reduction feature. See, when you make long exposures with a digital sensor, the constant voltage to the chip causes static, or digital noise, which looks like nasty little random red and green fleckles. Oh, I'm gonna have a heyday with this now...