le 31 decembre 2004
If someone came to me in search of the coolest kid known to man, I would of course direct them straight to Captain Drew Anthony Rohaly of the 509 Shunk Hall. This kid has serious skills like nunchuck skills, bowhunting skills, computer hacking skills... Girls only want boyfriends who have great skills, and he's got them. Now I don't want to ramble on in one long incredibly unbroken sentence so that no one has the chance to interrupt. I just want it stated for the record, that this kid is pretty flippin' sweet. We're pretty much like Darmok and Jilad at Tenagra.
le 30 decembre 2004
I think crayons are one of the coolest inventions around. They're so simple. Only Crayola crayons count though. The other brands just aren't the same. They're not true crayons, alright? Crayola crayons have a certain crispness and scent to them that I just find irresistible crayon-wise. Right down the the course construction paper-esque textured wrapper of each crayon. I never understood the really light wrapper for the black ones though. That blew my mind when I was young.
Oh, and best of all, Crayola crayons are always labelled! That was always a boon for me, since I have trouble differentiating certain colors. Even before I could read, I was able to tell blue and purple crayons apart by the length of the word printed on the wrapper. Blue and purple are nigh on impossible for me to tell the difference between - like the green and yellow lights on stoplights at night.
So now you know about my secret passion for Crayola crayons. I'm not sure how I feel about that.
le 27 decembre 2004
There was no shortage of assorted candies around my house this Christmas! Eventually I even got around to taking pictures of them...in groups, alone, didn't matter. I took this in the middle of the afternoon on Christmas day. A lone almond Hershey's Kiss. Lonely, because it was the last one of its species in my house. The rest had been eagerly munched the night before and earlier that day.
I really like the way the background is almost entirely white on the right side, making a strong contrast with the bottom rim of the Kiss, and how that white area bends with the shadow of the Kiss. I also like the way the ray of light reflecting across the wooden tabletop seems to stab right at the bend in the Kiss' almond banner. I captured some of the Christmas tree lights in the background too.
le 26 decembre 2004
So the Christmas holiday has come and gone, but not without an endless supply of shiny objects for me to photograph. The camera was pretty active this holiday with all the cool goodies laying around waiting to be captured on film!
During a party at my place, the wine was flowing freely, and under one of the chandeliers the full wine glasses looked pretty dazzling. I whisked away a friend's glass for a moment when they were distracted and captured a good series of shots like this one with the light coming through all the angled facets in the glass. I like the way the glass bends away and you can see a little bit of what was in the background.
le 19 decembre 2004
My good friend from Brazil just sent me some cool pictures from her travels around her country. I didn't really get much back story on any of them from her, but I really liked this picture. It was pretty cool - a very plain house in a warm and beautiful looking location. I cropped it down to her in the the window by the door. I like it a lot, looks very calming and relaxed. The picture makes a nice contrast to the latest wintry entries I've made.
It makes me miss Summer and Spring even more! She doesn't hesitate to remind me how warm it is down there all year 'round. Makes me wonder why I'm still in the the Northern hemisphere sometimes!
le 18 decembre 2004
My hands almost froze off, but I went out to take some pictures in this freezing weather! This is one of the last remaining fruits left on the tree in my front yard. Winter hesitated this year, and gave me just enough time to finish the semester before dumping snow all over Penn State!
I took this shot with the zoom set to maximum and macro mode enabled. It was hard to get the autofocus to choose the right object to focus on in this shot. I need to get a Canon EOS Rebel II or something...as soon as I feel like spending as much for a camera as I would a computer. Santa?
le 17 decembre 2004
It's the most wonderful time of the year! I thought I was going to sneak past without Winter catching me this year, but I was wrong. The temperature has been dropping, the gloves and scarves are out, and there is snow on the ground. I miss Spring!
Any PennStaters remember this scene from last year? The major snowdump of 2004 - this is the long lawn behind the library. One thing that's cool about snow - especially a lot of it - is that it seems to silence the outdoors. If you stand still and listen, it's a lot quieter outside right after or during a snowfall. I'm sure there are many ways to explain why that seems to be.
le 13 decembre 2004
Assignment 8: For my final assignment in Art 201, I had to use Adobe InDesign to layout a multi-page document including graphics and text. To complete the assignment, I created a simple photo portfolio with small descriptions to go along with each group of photos.
I called the document "GoCarlo Travels" and each page featured photos from a different location I've been to. I included Spain, New York City, Pittsburgh, and something from my imagination.
Check it out here! Be careful, it's a 13MB file!
le 10 decembre 2004
I'm home in Pittsburgh for the next month! It's good to be back home again. I was downtown last night, fresh out of State College waiting to meet friends and family for dinner, and I had my entire livlihood in the back of my car - including my camera. Instead of getting bored waiting around for everyone, I walked over to the shoreline and snapped these shots of the skyline in the rain. It was a beautiful night, despite the drizzle. You can see the sky aglow from the city lights, pretty cool!
I should have taken my time to compose this shot. Unfortunately, I left my camera ISO setting at 400, which generates grainier shots. It's great for when you don't have a tripod and you aren't using the flash, because it is more sensitive to light. There were some handy steel beams to brace the camera against for this shot, so the high ISO setting was not necessary. The shot still turned out very nicely though, and we had a great time at dinner! It's good to be home.
le 5 decembre 2004
This is one of my three cats, Bella. She's a crazy, six-year old little girl. I got her from the Animal Rescue League last year around this time. She's probably one of the sweetest and flounciest cats I've ever known. She loves to be around people. She climbs up on the couch next to you, and buries her face against you and snuggles up. She completely zones out when you pet her on your lap to the point that she forgets to keep herself from falling off of you.