Political Science Pilgrimage

 Me and my friend TJ went up to Washington DC this winter on a "Political Science Pilgrimage", since we are both Poli-Sci geeks. We visited the National Archives (Constitution and Declaration of Independence and other important documents), Library of Congress (James Madison statue), Museum of Crime & Punishment (TJ is also a Criminal Justice nerd), then on the way home we went to Montpelier (James Madison's estate) and Monticello (Thomas Jefferson's estate). We ended up with an unexpected stop in Mount Airy, NC due to a flat tire (better known as Mayberry from the Andy Griffith Show).

Drive up to Washington

TJ on the drive up

Georgia Christmas tree in front of the White House

White House and Christmas trees

TJ at the Supreme Court

Me at the Supreme Court

Me with James FREAKIN' Madison

TJ at the Museum of Crime and Punishment

TJ and TJ

Washington DC

James Madison's Montpelier

TJ and the Madisons

Me on the steps of the house of Madison

Went and paid my respects

Monticello at sunset

Monticello at sunset

The view from Monticello

The Andy Griffith Museum!

Ghosts at ASU

I love making ghost pictures. Seems like the thing to do at Halloween too. Thanks to TJ for serving as our ghost.

Foggy October Day

There was a beautifully - creepy fog this morning on campus and I actually had my camera with! 

Some fun with Photoshop!

Tricia's Portraits

Portraits of my friend Tricia

My first HDR, upcoming contest

While I'd love to write a post about the debate as to what category HDR photography should be placed (is it manipulated or not? short answer: its manipulated), I have a 20 minute presentation on Colombia's FARC for my World Terrorism class on Thursday. So right now, this is procrastination.

I actually shot these pictures back in 2008 to use as an HDR, but only recently got around to getting a program for processing HDR. Definitely need to try my hand again at this for a little more of a compelling subject, and one that offers a DYNAMIC RANGE (ya know- for the HIGH dynamic range look?) instead of a black sky. But, I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out. I wanted to avoid that overly-plastic look that some HDR gets but I don't think I succeeded very well.

In other news, I have an upcoming contest I entered. The gallery opens on Friday. You can see my entries HERE wish me luck!

Florida

Went down to Florida to study for the GRE. Took a study break to get some photos and, of course, a storm would roll in.

National Model United Nations: Cuban Delegation

I got the opportunity to participate in the National Model United Nations in New York City this past week. I didn't get to take a lot of pictures because it was so busy during the actual conference, but I did take some at the closing ceremony and after. New York is still one of my favorite cities. It was April and it rained nearly everyday.

Our graduate advisor

Times Square

Delegates' Delegate

Delegates' Delegate

Our faculty advisors looking at our awards

The Delegation for Cuba