Day 31 - Viramos Todas

Device: Nikon D3100

Lens: 50mm f/1.8

Focal Length: 50mm

Aperture: f/2.8

Shutter Speed: 1/13 sec

ISO Sensitivity: 800

SW: LR3

Location: São João del-Rei, Minas Gerais, Brasil

HELLO EVERYONE!  So I moved today, I left Ângela’s house and moved in with Ronan & Elvis. Today was a good day I ended up going to the Pantufas + Z recording studio with André. We are planning on recording a music video for them this weekend. This should prove to be interesting and fun. Today I had initially thought of putting four images together to say “end 1” for the end of the first month… but I never realized how difficult it is to find objects that look like letters. So I gave up on that idea, for that kind of project I think I need to actually wake up early and venture out to find all the letters. I am here now at Pedro’s house and we have been drinking and drinking… and drinking. There is a saying in Portuguese that means to … I guess chug or drink all – virar todas, and well tonight we are virando todas. Here is the picture of the empty bottle incorporating the literal translation of the saying (to flip it or turn over). I found it to be very creative, ladies and gentlemen I give you Viramos Todas!


P.S.


This picture was created by putting a macro lens between me and the bottles and then focusing on the lens. The result was a clear picture of the bottles upside down and a hazy picture of them right side up in the background.

Day 30 - Beautifully Dilapidated

Device: Nikon D3100

Lens:  18mm (18.0-55.0mm)  f/3.5-5.6

Focal Length: 18mm

Aperture: f/13

Shutter Speed: 1/160

ISO Sensitivity: 1600

SW: LR3

Location: São João del-Rei, Minas Gerais, Brasil

Yet again, I start another one of my stories by telling you I went to go visit a friend. Today I woke up very early… 10:30am. I had made plans with Ronan to meet up with him at 11:30am for lunch. By the time I showered and got ready it was already 11:20am there was no way I was going to make it to his house on foot. So I called a moto-taxi – OH DEAR GOD! – How I hate moto-taxis, not only because I am a big guy and these bikes are the little 250cc bikes but because I have no control over the bike… and not to mention I hate riding bitch. Any who, I get to Ronan's and we have a great homemade lunch, very delicious. Ronan and Elvis are the kind souls who offered their hospitality to me, I will be living with them – it is a spiffy place, I like it. Ok well back to the description of the picture, a few days back when I went to André’s house I was walking down the street and as I came to a bridge I saw this shabby little rundown building. I thought it was enchanting– in its own unique way. Confucius once said “Everything has its beauty but not everyone sees it.” And it is true, I found this building to be beautifully dilapidated, it has this charm to it. One that seemed somewhat beguiling – the stories that it must hold, the families it housed, the fire it survived or rather the fire that took its life. I give you Beautifully Dilapidated. I hope you see the beauty in this as I did.

P.S.

There is also a new picture in the album RunnerUps of a dog (with the same title) that was there in front of the building.

Day 29 - Pretty Kitty

Device: Nikon D3100

Lens: 50mm f/1.8

Focal Length: 50mm

Aperture: f/2.2

Shutter Speed: 1/30 sec

ISO Sensitivity: 1600

SW: LR3

Location: São João del-Rei, Minas Gerais, Brasil

It seems that every day I am visiting a different friend, today I went to go visit Pedro. He sent me a message mid-afternoon, like 2:30pm or 3:00pm, to let me know he was back in town.  I had just woken up; I stayed out all night last night and did not make it home until about 7:30am. Since I had not gone out of the house yet I got ready and ventured out to Pedro’s. I get to his house and knock on the door and to my surprise his brother, Isaias, opens the door. Isaias is the big lovable guy with a humungous afro, and a great sense of humor. Oh how I missed him. I go inside and I find Marli and Enoc, Pedro’s parents. They are the some of the kindest hearted and welcoming people I have ever met. They took me in for Christmas of 2010 and New Year when I was down here the first time. It was nice seeing them again. We chit chatted for a bit, Isaias and me that is; Pedro being asleep did not join in on the conversation.  Then Isasias told me about how they rescued this itty bitty kitty, maybe a month old, because it was abandoned by its mother. They named her Amu, the poor thing looked disoriented and terrified, not because she was mistreated or anything like that but because she was acclimating herself with the new house, and things for her must have seemed big and scary. 

Day 28 - On Track

Device: Nikon D3100

Lens: 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6

Focal Length:18mm

Aperture: f/3.5

Shutter Speed1/1600 sec:

ISO Sensitivity:400

SW: LR3

Location: São João del-Rei, Minas Gerais, Brasil

I went to go visit Thiago today and to get to his house I simply followed the tracks for a good amount of the walk. As I was walking I was thinking, thinking of some of the good ole train idioms that we use; stay on track, chuggin’ along, runaway train, ride the gravy train, even train of thought.  The one I was most fixated on was "staying on track." Are we so adamant on having our entire future planned out that we leave no room for spontaneity? Do we forego adventure for security? Do we really go after what we want or do we simply let society dictate what we want? Maybe you want a house, a car, a good job. With all that you get put into the rat race, and once in it is nearly impossible to get out. I know where I want to be, but will I really stay on track or will I diverge as the days, weeks, and years pass on? How many of your plans actually got accomplished? Well I do know one thing for sure – I am the one laying the tracks for this train!

Day 27 - Reminiscing Raindrops

Device: Nikon D3100

Lens: VR 55-200mm F/4-5.6G

Focal Length: 200mm

Aperture: f/5.6

Shutter Speed: 1/3200 sec

ISO Sensitivity: 6400

SW: LR3

Location: São João del-Rei, Minas Gerais, Brasil

Rainy days are great, for me they take me back, back to those early days when rain would not stop us from wanting to go outside and play. It had the complete opposite effect for me, I wanted to run outside and jump in the puddles and just lay looking up at the sky and let the drops just splash on my face. Even when it was hailing outside, in Chicago, I remember running outside with all my sisters. We would collect hail stones and throw them at each other and even save some in the freezer… why? I do not know. Why do we do half the things we do when we are young, because it is fun and we can. I really love today’s picture for that reason. It takes me back to a better time; a time when wet clothes did not matter - ladies and gentlemen I give you Reminiscing Raindrops.

Day 26 - Tiradentes

Device: Nikon D3100

Lens:  50mm f/1.8

Focal Length: 50mm

Aperture: f/1.8

Shutter Speed: 1/13

ISO Sensitivity: 1600

Location: Tiradentes, Minas Gerais, Brasil

Have you ever woken up and not known what day it was? Well today I went about my business thinking it was Wednesday. It was funny I kept telling everyone “yea we’ll go one Thursday” or “Thursday we should go drink here/there.” Any who I went to Tiradentes today and there is this sort of Film Festival thingy going on –really cool I like it. It is a very old school colonial town but since it is setup for the festival I did not take any pictures of the city street level. I went up a very steep hill and caught this beauty – I would not believe this was a real picture if I had not taken it myself. Yea yea, I know it is a little out of focus but I did not take my tripod so this is the best I could do given the circumstances.

Day 25 - André and his New Toy

Device: Nikon D3100

Lens: 50mm f/1.8

Focal Length: 50mm

Aperture: f/5.6

Shutter Speed: 1/30 sec

ISO Sensitivity: 400

Location: São João del-Rei, Minas Gerais, Brasil

Today was my first day in São João del-Rei, I arrived at Ângela’s , I did not call ahead because I wanted to “surprise” her, she was not home. I waited like an hour and a half for her to get there.  Once there the internet did not work, I spent another hour fixing that- customer service in Portuguese is a bitch. But I did get it fixed. Finally I went to Andre’s and here he is with his new toy I brought him.


P.S. 
we were taking pictures of eachother taking pictures... dorks , I know, but it was cool.
Here is the link to the one he took, click here.