Fixed Gear Photo Essay

What? Back to back photo essays at The Vidette? The features staff rules for getting color for this story! Yup, I've been way to busy during finals week, but everything has finally calmed down.  I just have lots of huge papers and finals to study for.  See ya later social life.

The photo essay is on an obscure group at ISU called "Le Fixed Maquis."  Brightly painted fixed gear bike, you get my drift.  I had a lot of fun shooting it, and am pretty proud of the results.  The full story is HERE at The Vidette website.  I put some more pictures up on Flickr, too. I hope you enjoy it!  

Side note, T minus 2 weeks till Paris!

Has anybody ever been there? Any restaurant suggestions? Good coffee place? Good stories?

Let me know.

58 Years of Service on 120

I'm finally done with the Dunn-Barton and Walker Hall photo essay.  It's available here!  

Dunn-Barton and Walker Halls are being torn down after being built 58 years ago.  In order to commemorate their many years of service to ISU we decided to shoot everything with cameras from the era in which they were built.

I shot everything with my grandfather's Yashica-A, and developed everything by hand.  Jamey Davidsmeyer shot everything with his Mamiya, and did all the scanning and editing.

I spent an accumulated 16 hours of shooting, editing, and office time working on this project with Jamey.

Jamey is graduating at the end of this semester and I am thankful to have had him as a photo editor for the past year and a half.  He's a great photographer and a great person.  He will be dearly missed.  I wish him luck in everything he does, though he probably wont be needing it.  He is a very dedicated and talented person and will go far in anything he does.

..but I'll wish him luck anyway.

Good Luck, Jamey.

The Dodos

My Chicago trip was extremely stressful, but I got my visa!  Better yet, I got to take pictures for The Dodos.  The show was great. Brendan Losch opened, and the pics I took of his great performance are up on his myspace page here.  

I can't get over how great The Dodos were live.  I can't wait to see them again in Paris.  I'm sure that, by that time, it'll be nice to hear something in English.  I'll give an update later on this week if The Dodos use my pictures. (fingers crossed)  I have some other pics from the show on my Flickr. Go there.

All in all, it was a marvelous show.  I got back to ISU around 3:30 a.m., but it was totally worth it.  Oddly enough my computer crashed and I had to borrow my friends computer to finish an assignment for class the next day.  I was up at 4:45 when the alleged "earthquake" shook Illinois.  It seemed that everyone felt it but me.  : (  I'm sad I missed it.  I guess I'll have to wait for the next one.

My girlfriend is pretty!

Who loves The Dodos?

I know I do, and I'm seeing them tomorrow!  I'm doing pictures for the wonderful Brendan Losch and it should be a great time. Expect picture to document the occasion.

Also, I'm trying to get my visa for going to Paris this summer at the French Consulate in Chicago.  A lot of people have told me that they deny you if you are missing anything on the really long check list.  So I'll be double checking that for the rest of tonight.  Ugh. 

www.alexreside.com

I told you this day would come. This is the first draft, but I'm pretty proud of it. Here is the link alexreside.com. Come in and stay a while!

Thanks to Cole Blotcky for the sweet design. Check him out.
Uh, check THIS out too.

Biking

Last Wednesday, I had a pretty crazy adventure. 

Dave and I had talked about fixing up my bike by stripping all the gears and breaking equipment.  I skipped my 4 o'clock class and we drove to a house a few miles off campus.  Inside the long garage, we took all the extra parts off my bike, but in the process of filling the tires, we broke the tube inside.  So, we went to a bike shop and came back around 5:30.  I had class at 6 so we quickly fitted the new tube and I hopped on my bike at 5:53 to make it to my 6 o'clock class.  I was flying down the street and passing cars.  Time of my life, maybe.  I turned and hit a brick street. My chain came loose and my back axle was bent.  I looked at the clock and I only had 4 minutes to get to class.  I pulled the chain back on and dealt with the shimmy in the back axle and went on my way.  Somehow, I pulled up to the building that my class was in as the bell was ringing.  I came into class dripping sweat with grease all over my hands, but I was on time.

My bike is all fixed now and running just fine.

Dave and Nick helped me fix up my bike.  It's so fast and slick looking now.

Also, I am doing a photo essay for the Vidette on the bike club at ISU.  Some of the pics I took that day might be in it.  I'm pumped about it!

I also got my new lens and my photo editor interview went well.  I'll know if I got the job later on this week.