Porter Lake at Dusk

Porter Lake at Dusk, originally uploaded by ArcherVision.

The sun dropping fast, my trusty dog Justice and I trotted off in the direction it was setting, and finally got to the lake just in time. Dusk, and a not so fast lens forced me to push the ISO a bit, which added a nice grain to the image, and a very painted look, that I often think can better capture the subtle colors and textures of a fall setting. Crisp is always better in an image, unless it feels more warm, more real and looks more like what your eye sees.

I could have turned around, chalking it up to a late start and quick setting sun. But, instead I pushed on and took in what I could in those last minutes of light where things change moment to moment. Funny, seems that photography is often like life....stay on the trail and you don't get your shot. Assume the sun has set, and you miss the best part.

The best photos are the ones taken.

Nature's Pallete

Nature's Pallete, originally uploaded by ArcherVision.

Sometimes, when you look close, you see things you would just walk by. Getting close to nature and taking your time to follow the light can often reveal more detail than you can imagine. Shooting photos in a familiar setting can force you to take a different approach. I often purposely take one lens, a long one, with macro ability. It sort of forces you to look at your surroundings much differently, and although you might come back with less shots they may often be an interesting take on a spot you have been to many times. For me, I turn to the details, the light and the textures.

This particular shot was almost walked past, but the light hit this leaf, close to the ground and caught my eye. It turned into a bit of a waiting game, trying to get the wind, sun and my dog to all cooperate long enough to focus and frame. But I was struck by the color and texture of this one huge oak leaf. It shows the incredible process that New England foliage is known for.

Thanksgiving Carnage

Thanksgiving Carnage, originally uploaded by ArcherVision.

Sun and Wind

Sun and Wind, originally uploaded by ArcherVision.

Rapture

Rapture, originally uploaded by ArcherVision.

Contrails, Rocky Mountains

Contrails, Rocky Mountains, originally uploaded by ArcherVision.

Yes, they can appear to go straight up.

Happy Halloween!

halloween, originally uploaded by ArcherVision.

No snacks were harmed in the making of this image. It may not look like it, but many of them were not only eatable, but tasty as well. This was not intended to represent actual treats given to kids but rather an attempt to bring light to the epidemic that is the potential for hazardous household items to be mistakingly entangled with candy intended for consumption.

Reflecting in Hawaii

Reflecting in Hawaii, originally uploaded by ArcherVision.

I took a long walk on the beach tonight on Oahu. While headed back to my $110/night hotel, about 100 yards from the Waikiki Yacht Club, I came across one of the many homeless that call the streets of Honolulu home. I had seen this same 60ish year old gentlemen a few nights ago, in the same place, sleeping against a wall right across from the multi-million dollar Hawaii Convention Center.

He looked up and asked for a dollar for some food. I was on the way to the 7-11 so I brought him back a bag of food. A sandwich, some granola bars, a few bananas...the kind of thing we often would never think might make a difference. The kind of thing most of us would wolf down while watching some TV, comfy in our living room. But to him, it did make a difference. And the appreciation was obvious.

To me, it reminded me that any of us could be in his place. A little bad luck, a bad year, a failed business, no prospects for work, no help from the government. It reminded me that to many of us, ten bucks worth of food is a snack. A meal. To him, it was more than that. Might have been his only meal today. Might have to last him through tomorrow, if no one helps...just keep walking.

To me, it is reminder that nothing is for sure. Nothing is given, except that we all have a wall waiting for us. A doorway to sleep in. A sidewalk to watch the people just walk on by, headed to the beach..headed to their yacht... headed to their meeting or hairdressing appointment.

Sure, tomorrow I might walk the same way towards the beach, and Magic Island and the Yacht Club. But I won't be able to just walk on by.

Would you?

Devil's Hopyard, Salem CT

Devil's Hopyard, Salem CT, originally uploaded by ArcherVision.

Life is upstream.

The Creative Process waits for no man nor beast

Mars_video_working_1, originally uploaded by ArcherVision.

Creative endeavors are never done. They are just out of time.
Houston:
T-Minus: Tonight!

Feeling Crabby ?

feeling_crabby, originally uploaded by ArcherVision.

American Heroes

American Heroes, originally uploaded by ArcherVision.

As we have just started the tenth year post 9-11, I am reminded of the consequences of that day. And the fact that they still are being faced by our braves troops, everyday. I met one of those solders today. He was enjoying a nice early fall day in New England, a picnic, some smoked chicken and had about 3 days before he returns to Afghanistan.

I have to wonder about Americans across the country today, enjoying their picnics and their freedom. Wonder how many of us do remember. How many of us do, in fact realize that as of today, a reasonable estimate of the amount of lives lost due to the war on terror, since 9-11 stands at roughly 146,000 lives.

Twice the number of American boys lost in Viet Nam. When the war in Viet Nam finally ended, I was about nine years old. The same amount of years since that day in 2001. And conflict ended in large part due to the activism and relentless Americanism of a generation that at the time was considered deadbeats. Well, I have to say that in no way does it seem that the same devotion to right exists today in the younger Americans.

Today, our 20-Somethings are more likely to be playing video games , ironically often war games, then they would to decide to get out and protest something. Like 146,000 lives lost. Of course, who do you protest against in this case? The terrorists don't seem deterred by large crowds with banners, regardless of what the banners might say on them. The wack-jobs on both sides that use religion as a convenient reason to keep on killing are the ones to blame.

But, they are scattered . Like rats. In hills and mountains of Afghanistan, the dirty suburbs of Baghdad, in the terror-friendly places like Pakistan, and even right here in our cities and towns of America. I often fly through the same gates those terrorist went through in Boston. And on Tuesday, while your at work, or at the grocery store, a brave young man named Brandon, and others like him, will board planes in Boston and Baltimore, Los Angeles and Louisville.

They will be headed back to places like Bagram and Tirkrit. They will face perils that match any that Americans have faced in war. Does not matter if the battlefield is a marketplace or random road through the dirt somewhere 7000 miles away from our picnic baskets and beer parties. It's the same battlefield as always. It is the battle for freedom. Freedom from tyranny, and freedom terrorism.

In a way, it is the same battlefield that Daniel Dodge fought on. Same battlefield a countless number lost their lives on in the pursuit of freedom and peace around the world, and here at home. Here in America, September 11th has become a day to remember, and a day to be thankful for our freedom, and the ones that make that possible.

It should also be a day to remember that peace is fragile and needs to be preserved. Yes, sometimes through might. But it is also though our collective determination to continue to be free, while always keeping in mind the price.

Leaf with light

Leaf with light, originally uploaded by ArcherVision.

Almost time to enjoy the fascinating process of chlorophyll production in New England!

BURNING MAN

BURNING MAN 2002 025, originally uploaded by ArcherVision.

Tonight, maybe right about now...many many miles from here..then 70 more miles down a twisty road leading into the Nevada salt flats...a Man Burns!

I have regretting not returning to the most incredible scene on Earth every Sat night on Labor Day weekend, for the past 8 years.

Put it on your bucket list. You have not lived a full life until you experience Burning Man. And, your missing out every year you don't return.

2011....?
Here's hoping.

Pay it forward.

Teaching while sleeping, originally uploaded by ArcherVision.

4 hours sleep, 2 hour talk, 20 students, 5 staff, only a small coffee?

I took a slight break from the biggest and most challenging deadline in the history of the company to visit some design students at American Career Institute. 3 or 4 all nighters into the last functional production weeks of a three year project, I was clearly on auto-pilot. However, this is always the way I like to talk to students, actually. Let them see the real-world of media design, complete with it's lack of sleep and beta testing, which I actually did a little of during the talk.

Great attentive crowd, lots of good questions and I stayed on a stream of consciousness, which is always a great time when it all goes well. I also got a treat by being able to watch my old friend (and Burning Man pal!) Dave Hibshire all grown-up and teaching. Thanks for asking me in Dave, and glad to see you putting all those degrees and miles of experience to good use: Inspiring kids to learn.

Well, as I said, still in production. So, one phase down, a few days left to finish Mars Interrupted..and then it is on to Space Center Houston...and of course...
Hawaii!

Sleeping Dogs

Sleeping Dogs, originally uploaded by ArcherVision.

Archervision punk banner

Archervision punk banner, originally uploaded by ArcherVision.

Ended up being big for a banner. But, spins a good yarn if you look close.

View from Poet's Seat, Greenfield, MA

Greenfield in yellow, originally uploaded by ArcherVision.

Fall is in the air. My favorite time to shoot photos, and one of the best times to be from New England. You can go far and wide, see all kinds of wonderful places, but fall in New England is at the top.

mi mi ni mpiga goma

gooving, originally uploaded by ArcherVision.

I am a drummer.

Africa, One Year Later

Looking back to this week one year ago reminds me that you never really get to finish, till you have done as much as possible...seen as many places as possible, met people with different backgrounds and experiences. And experience life for yourself.

And chances are, before your done, you will fail. You will fail, and get up, brush off the dust and try again. In my case, is was volcanic dust. Ancient dust of Kilimanjaro. And I guess I will have to try again as altitude sickness forced me to turn back about 1,500ft from the top. I have had a full year to ponder if I should have pressed on that night, in the dark with another 4-5 hours to go. Then of course there is getting down. The hard part, and the part you don't want to spend on a stretcher.

Being a flatlander from Western Massachusetts, I had a tough time getting over 1200 ft. above sea level for training. Red blood cells, this does not make. And red blood cells are the key to altitude. So, in the end my hernia surgery seven weeks before the trip did not stop me. Loosing my mom the day of that surgery did not stop me. But the thin air above 17,000 ft did.

This was my first picture headed down the mountain. First time I felt good enough to take one. This was most likely around 14,000 feet, and about where I stopped feeling like eminent death, and only felt like I "might make it down". I kept going, "pole-pole" one step at a time. That tiny path is actually a very long road, part of the "Coca Cola Route" most people take up and back. We came over the North side of the mountain, called the Rongai Route, not far from the border of Kenya. With this longer route we got to see a little more of the mountain than some trekkers experience with the more direct Southern Marnagu Route. However, when it comes to getting down, fast is super. Get down to where the oxygen is. In this case, that means Horombo Hut, at 12, 200 ft. Still a respectable altitude after 3-4 days above 10,000.

But the view at Horombo Camp was just incredible. I got my first cell call home in days and tried to put things into perspective. An actual Coke helped, along with a meal, lots of water and finally a good nights sleep way above the clouds. I felt much better the next morning and would have loved to just turn back up hill and take on the hill again, but we 28 trekkers and about 90 porters, guides and cooks. And they were all headed down.

So we loaded up, and headed down the rest of the mountain in a pretty grueling but incredible 10 mile hike down the mountain and through the rain forest to the lower camp and pick up spot at about 6,000 feet. Every 1000 feet, although you are even more tired and sore in places you never knew you could be sore in, you get more oxygen and feel better and better. By the time we made it down to the Marangu Gate, we had trekked 50 miles of one of the most interesting places on the planet.

I did not make it to the top, but more importantly, I made it to the bottom. But, that's ok. That is one Big Mountain. My first time hiking over a few thousand feet above sea level. But of course it was the chance of a lifetime, and I took it. And it led to a lot of changes in my outlook, and ability to believe in myself, and a great reminder of why I love my job. Some days more than others, of course. But this day last year I was still on my feet, shooting footage of the Mundai Crater that spills into the rain forest below.

Now, as I look back, I also look forward, and plot and plan to somehow find a way to get back to Kilimanjaro, and finish that last couple of thousand feet or so. Might take some doing, but I have time.

Three Floors Down

DSC_0033 copy, originally uploaded by ArcherVision.

Face Off

, originally uploaded by ArcherVision.

Roman Relic, Artist Unknown

, originally uploaded by ArcherVision.

Day at the Museum

, originally uploaded by ArcherVision.

The Quadrangle area of Springfield Massachusetts includes plenty of culture and art, and is amazingly free for city residents. We rarely take advantage of this geographic anomaly, but a showing of LEGO art by Nathan Sawaya pulled us in. As cool as the LEGO art was, it was the pieces that have been in the same place since I was a kid.

I graduated from Technical High School back in 1981, not long before the school closed. My whole family went to Tech, including my Mom, back in...um, I 'll take a stab at 1957. Situated on the eastern side of the Quad, it used to be a favorite way to get downtown and to the store, McD's, the civic center and buss route home. But it was also a favorite haunt for photo assignments while in school and taking Photography with Mr. Cook.

Armed only with and iPhone and a small Sony camera lite on battery power, I just had to shoot a few images of the Michele and Donald D’Amour Museum of Fine Arts, as well as the The George Walter Vincent Smith Art Museum, one of two Springfield Museums dedicated to fine and decorative arts. It represents the personal taste and Victorian aesthetic of the collector whose name it bears.

I returned with a Nikon or 2 and tried to get some shots of the aging school that brought me through the courtyard that is now filled with large bronze characters taken from Springfield's own Dr. Seuss. They are tearing the old girl down. Since 1905 Springfield's finest learned math and machining, drafting and drawing, and even a little English and History. They even had an ROTC program my sister and one of my brothers were in. And of course the legendary football program. All that will be history, and I am determined to go find some of my old black and white images from my tenure as a Tech Tiger.

The home of the Tigers will be no more and I am going to have to get over that fence to get some better shots. I am pretty sure the auditorium is still in tact, and would love to capture that. Urbex is fun, but you just don't always have bolt cutters on you, so getting close is tough.

My drums

My drums, originally uploaded by ArcherVision.

Got to love drums. They are always ready to be played. Especially if they are tuned. I think my kit is pretty much as ergonomically set up as I have had it in a while. Continuous tinkering, adding, subtracting and creating new things that like to be struck has been basically an obsession. I suppose I could have worse vices.

At any rate, they are signed Keller shells assembled by Springfield Drum Company and finished with Electric Turquoise, which was used for a time by DW. I found a DW popcorn snare in the same finish, so if course I had to get that. 13 inch solid maple snare, also by Springfield Drum Company has surprisingly won out lately over my other 6 snares, including my 14 Tama Warlord. Something about the 13 is just really nice. Gives you a little extra room, and sounds incredible with the snares thrown. I suppose it is that solid shell, the only solid drum I own, sadly.

Lots of cymbals, mostly Zildjian A Customs, including a flat top ride, a set of Platinum Hats, a set of vintage New Beats, an 18 Sabian Fast Chinese, and Dave Weckl 17 inch Evolution Effecks Crash provide some nice mellow low end. Low and slow.

Gadget run from a brass door bell, chinese cymbal stack, Lenox Hole Saw Kit, a 20 inch classic Rogers kick drum, 8 inch hi hats, oh and the better part of a vintage 1985 Chrome Slingerland kit I am restoring. That really seems to be enough, no?

Perfect Storm

lightining2, originally uploaded by ArcherVision.

Sometimes a tough week can still have some merit. Got us off our knuckles. Taught us how to keep a fire going. And to quote the great Roger Waters,

.."You wake up in the morning, get something for the pot
Wonder why the sun makes the rocks feel hot
Draw on the walls, eat, get laid
Back in the good old days

Then some damn fool invents the wheel
Listen to the whitewalls squeal
You spend all day looking for a parking spot
Nothing for the heart, nothing for the pot."


Ah, the good ole days!

Houston, we've had a problem.

One of the most famous radio communications ever transmitted is also often miss-quoted as "Houston, we have a problem". Small difference, I know. But it does show that the crew of Apollo 13 knew immediately that their mission had changed. On a recent late night visit to the mission control room that received that famous five words, I could imagine the mood instantly changing to one of determined and shared focus: to get those 3 men back safely.

Just walking into this control room gives you a chill. You get a serious sense that you are in a special place. I was whooshed right back to 1970. It smells like 1970. It looks much smaller than you would think, given the incredible amount of amazing firsts this room witnessed. It was this day, April 17th back in 1970 when this room finally erupted in applause and handshakes and sighs of relief when after 4 long and tense days, the crippled Apollo 13 Lunar Module made it back to Earth. This successful failure, as it was called, was not only possible due an incredible amount of luck, but an amazing crew on the ground that made it possible.

Out of all of the amazing things you can see at Johnson Space Center and Space Center Houston, the most human and touching thing was mounted on the wall of the mission control room. It was a small mirror, mounted in a frame with the following inscribed:

This mirror flown on Aquarius, LM-7, to the moon April 11-17, 1970. Returned by a greatful Apollo 13 crew to "reflect the images" of the people in Mission Control who got us back!

James Lovell John Swigert Fred Haise

There has been lots of talk lately with the possible cancellation of the Constellation Program and the fate of the Human Space Flight program for NASA. It is hard to imagine the U.S. not being the leader in space, and in technology. There is so much science that comes from the manned space flight program that the loss of not continuing our program could be, for lack of a better term, astronomical. People quickly forget where much of the technology we take for granted comes from. Air travel and communications as we know it, medical breakthroughs and new materials that will save lives and energy are all possible directly from the space program. If we could only limit our wars and put those billions of dollars saved into educating our next generation of scientist and engineers, we would all be so much better off.

John Bonham

I was just starting my senior year of high school when John Bonham died in September 1980. Looking back now, so many years later, it is hard to believe he was only 32. Just like now, even way back then I was a drum fanatic, and big Bonzo fan. At the time, and still now it is true, he was clearly one of the best drummers of all time. Listening to In through The Out Door today, I was thinking that although it is always a huge loss when a great artist or musician dies before his day, in John Bonham's case, it is hard to imagine what he might have done.

For sure, he would have raised some hell, raced some cars, raised some cows and played some incredible drum parts that we would all still be trying to mimic. He produced a drum sound that is still to this day hardly matched. But is was certainly more than just a huge 26 inch kick drum that made his drum sound possible. Bonham had as much control and dynamics to his playing as he did power and incredible timing. It was all in the feel. The groove.

And although In Through The Out Door might not be the most popular Zeppelin record, it hinted at what could have been. It has a huge variation of playing styles, including some ethnically influenced grooves in Fool In The Rain, some huge classic John Bonham grooves on In The Evening and the heart tugging slow tempo and incredible drum tone of I'm Gonna Crawl. Only Led Zeppelin could have done that record and I remember thinking "I can't wait to see what they do next".

Well there were no blogs back then, but I did write about it in a journal and I ran across it recently. There is a yellowed newspaper article about his death, accompanied by my own prediction that there wouldn't be another John Bonham any time soon. While I was right, you can hear his influence on so many drummers which is pretty cool in itself, but I would rather he were around to see it.

And no doubt he would still be the best.

From my Motivational Series

Make the world your amusement park, originally uploaded by ArcherVision.

see the rest on flickr

RED ONE Demo

Over a year in the making. No one ever said it would be easy. And then again, then I suppose then everyone would have demo reel of RED ONE only footage. Not done yet, but here is a look.

Inspire Me Africa video.

This is a very rough cut of some of my footage from Tanzania.

Obsessive–Compulsive Disorder

mark's drums, originally uploaded by ArcherVision.

OCD, Hording and Drums. When does it become something you need to talk to someone about? And who would you go to? Maybe I could run a drum shop that has a licensed therapist on staff.

But seriously, I guess it is because I have not been gigging lately, but I have been pulling out every drum and noise maker I can find. Some going back a decade or so, I am pulling together metal plates and bed pans, stainless steel strainers and drainage pipe. I'm certainly not done adding things I have laying around waiting to made into something that can produce some sound. And, I can hardly leave the house without looking for objects that might want to get hit.

You find them in the oddest places. Metal buckets, water cooler bottles, stove pipes and industrial filter housings. I can honestly say that I have never met a piece of metal or plastic that I did not want to smash. And like any decent war of attrition, I think if you add enough sounds then some interesting poly-rhythms and melodies can start springing up.

Stay tuned for some recording in the future, and I think I am going to get back to adding some of my electronic drums and trigger devices into the mix. It's been a while now that I have been concentrating on acoustic and found material instruments. I spent more than a decade working on melding the two, going back to the beginning of Simmons and later KAT products triggering MAC-based Sample Cell, Emu and Roland sound sources.

About another decade has whizzed by since using much electronics, so it should prove fun to see what I can do with a little more modern technology, and a whole lot more stuff to hit repeatedly.