Hot Butter Cuttlefish

2012-01-28T02:03:00.000-05:00

Photographing cemeteries is like photographing homeless people (but that's street photography!), low hanging fruit. While I AM a little late to the cliche (rite of passage?) of shooting in cemeteries, my intention wasn't to make a haunting portrayal of the circle of life or something like that. The light was running out fast, I had to shoot to get out of my slump, plus mausoleums are interesting structures.

This one especially. It reminds me of Stargate.

2012-01-28T01:38:00.000-05:00

2012-01-26T22:46:00.000-05:00

I have many pictures of Jon, but this is is a personal favorite. I really like it.

I have more medium format pictures coming. I'm really happy to be at it again. Fuji pro 400h is incredible.

2012-01-20T13:22:00.000-05:00

I saw Tycho play yesterday and it was a pretty fun show. We managed to get a nice spot by the stage and had pretty good view of the performance. I took a couple shots of the show but since they were all from the same angle they aren't too different from each other.

The show was really cool, it had a video component with nostalgic west coast/Jacques Cousteau clips looping and overlapping on a screen behind the band. It was also really refreshing to see a live band play too, as many electronic artists just pretend to do shit while they play stuff off their laptops and occasionally jiggle a MPC.

Funny story is I know Tycho (Scott Hansen) from his graphics design days and blog ISO50 which has been pretty much the only blog I've followed for more than 3 years (I think that's saying alot, considering how tastes change). It's got a mid-century modern, futurist leanings to it which I subscribe to, and it's heavy on electronic music which I can dig as well.

In other news I've amended my hypocritical ways and embraced editing pictures on my phone as well. As a person who uses photoshop frequently, I have no high ground hating on hipstamatic users.

Look me up on instagram @spcycuttlefish.

2011-10-23T22:12:00.002-04:00

2011-10-23T22:11:00.002-04:00

Downtown Pittsburgh.

2011-10-23T22:10:00.000-04:00

Mellon Park, Pittsburgh

2011-10-11T15:29:00.001-04:00

Polish Hill/North Oakland, Pittsburgh.

2011-10-11T15:27:00.001-04:00

Strip district. Pittsburgh.

2011-10-11T15:26:00.000-04:00

Another church. Less about the architecture, more about that morning light. View big, I think I nailed the metering on this one. Strip District. Pittsburgh.

2011-10-11T15:22:00.000-04:00

I try to refrain from posting self portraits; it's an ugly trend with tweens on flickr, but this is interesting for more reasons than my mug. Downtown Pittsburgh.

2011-10-11T15:18:00.001-04:00

This picture was taken at f/2.8 accidentally because I forgot to change it back from another shot. Look at how soft this picture is. It really bothers me. Medium format kicks your ass. Strip district, Pittsburgh

2011-10-11T15:13:00.000-04:00

It really is time that I finished uploading all of the medium format stuff from this summer.
This was the last shot from a roll, an interesting looking church in East Liberty. I've been a bit lazy and havent cleaned up theses scans like I usually do.
People do some really interesting stuff with churches and I always think of Valentine Gunesekeras Jesuit chapel in Bamba. I really want to see that place.

2011-09-23T14:07:00.002-04:00

I cant decide what I like more:

This version

Or this

2011-09-05T21:35:00.000-04:00

2011-09-05T21:31:00.000-04:00

I've shot highland park a couple times over the last year now. If you click on the label "highland" below you can see it in a different season/from a different camera/in digital.

2011-09-05T21:16:00.000-04:00

I'm amassing quite a number of photographs of my bike. I guess it is a little repetitive, but it's become a big part of my photo process: to ride somewhere first, then take pictures. My tire is blown out, and that I've had to wait to get it fixed, now I find my self not even reaching for my camera. That's no good.

2011-08-29T22:24:00.000-04:00

Allegheny General

2011-08-29T22:05:00.002-04:00

2011-08-29T22:04:00.000-04:00

2011-08-29T21:13:00.000-04:00

Been really inspired by this lately.

2011-08-29T21:11:00.000-04:00

2011-08-29T21:08:00.002-04:00

Ohiopyle, as the name might suggest, isnt actually in Ohio. Its a state park close to PGH where you go hiking, swimming, kyaking and other out-doorsy activities. It was a nice day trip in the middle of a stressy summer semester.

Frank Lloyd-Wright's Falling Water and Kentuck Knob are close by, and are maintained really well, from what I can tell - I havent actually been to Kentuck Knob yet, it supposedly has a really nice art garden.

More pictures coming sharpish.

2011-08-13T14:48:00.000-04:00

2011-08-13T14:43:00.001-04:00

She. Doesn't like this picture. Damn shame.

2011-08-12T22:08:00.000-04:00

2011-08-12T22:04:00.002-04:00

2011-08-12T22:00:00.000-04:00

I think they make wonder bread (awful, white bread) nearby this peeling, pink store that sells the bread for cheap. Its a fascinating spot, photographically, and im gonna try to go back with some 35mm soon.

2011-08-12T21:53:00.000-04:00

2011-08-12T21:43:00.001-04:00

I've been making a few changes up here in preparation of five rolls of medium format I just got back. They are pictures from the whole summer, and I've been using my free time to really obsess with them and get good scans of em.

GP

2011-08-09T15:15:00.005-04:00

Faces

2011-07-23T23:05:00.000-04:00

Shot a roll of redscale at the vintage grand prix today. When I ran out of film, I took these two with my phone.

It blows my mind how good camera phones are these days.

Not taken with hipstamatic, Jesus.

2011-07-18T01:40:00.002-04:00

Revisiting some Ektar 100 shots. Best film ever.
Lazy cropping, yes, but I think it works for some pictures.

Konica Redscale

2011-07-17T09:50:00.000-04:00

Urm, So I got another camera. Yeah. My housemate gave me his extra 35mm SLR before he left for gradschool so I have a 35mm SLR again!

My last redscale experiment didnt go so well, and I kinda gave up on the idea because it was so much work. However, recently by a really random coincidence, some film I bought from amazon was loaded into the canister backwards! I mean, it really is a defective product, and the seller was very dodgy and isnt replying to emails. But why not have another crack at it, yeah? So I shot the first roll a while ago and here are some of the less mediocre ones.

Hiss all you want, kitty. You're just a silly cat.

This came out wayy over exposed, and green. Thats what photoshop is for. Also, my scanner cropped it this way, and I liked it. Good one, scanner.

2011-06-19T23:16:00.000-04:00

Rose, and her little Canonette rangefinder.

State of the (Photo) Nation

2011-06-12T19:20:00.001-04:00

So it's been a while since I did one of these where I go over what camera's I've been using lately.

I am extremely sad to report that my beloved Canon AE-1 is no more. This winter it completely tanked on me and a camera repair guy informed me that its a fault of the circuitry that makes the AE-1 so popular (it was the first camera with a built in CPU, historic!!), and that it would cost and unholy amount to fix. So with that ends the chapter of my (well it was my dad's) first old camera that I've taken everywhere. It's been to more places than I've ever been and it died a distinguished, painless death of old age. RIP.

This, with the inexplicable sudden death of my Yashica Electro 35 in Japan, and the ridiculous, crippling light leak and light meter failure (meaning camera failure) of my Yashica ME-1 left the state of my photographic house in severe state of disarray.

However, with the total and utter failure of these machines also came the opportunity to re-collect ~~junk~~ and rebuild a set up different from my ADD induced, too-many-camera's-than-I-know-what-to-do-with set up that I previously possessed. I had the opportunity to start new with some camera's that required me to think differently and focus(pun!) on what I really wanted from a camera.

I decided to settle on the cheapest possible decent rangefinder I could find for a 35mm camera, and just one camera. I dont think it's a good idea to shoot with more than 2 different cameras of the same format because you become too fragmented and never get any good with any one of them. So after some searching I found a this little Yashica minister III (seriously, this is my 5th Yashica) for really cheap and It's been treating me real good. It's an eccentric little thing with the most bizzare light meter, but I've been having fun with it and I got some pictures I really like with it.

Medium format has always interested me and I've wanted a medium format camera more than anything. After month after month of looking for a medium format camera, I finally snagged this incredible Bronica ETRSi for a very decent deal. It shoots 4x5, which isnt my ideal situation (6x6) but after one roll I've had some pretty good results and I cant wait to see what I can get with some Ektar 100 in it.

Viva Film!

Home is.

2011-06-08T13:46:00.000-04:00

Light in the evening streams into my kitchen. It looks really cool; im not sure if I really did it justice here.

I must be getting older or something because I'm really starting to care where I live. I like moving around and in my few years here I have managed to move to a new house every year. Lately though, I've been really sick of living in Oakland (student/university town). Living in a student town is strange dynamic because no one is really from around here, every one here is just passing through. It feels like I've really had every experience I can get from here, and now it's time to move somewhere different. I cant wait for August when I move to Lawrenceville, a few miles away from Oakland, and from what I can tell a cool place to live.

2011-06-08T13:23:00.003-04:00

baby

Weekends

2011-06-08T13:21:00.002-04:00

I went to a wedding in Ohio a couple weekends ago. Friends are already getting married and it must mean im getting old or something. It was a really fun wedding though, I was really glad to be a part of it.
These pictures are kinda pre-wedding from the drive there. These were shot on ektar 100 and that stuff is really amazing.

Suburbia

2011-05-26T13:39:00.004-04:00

Lancaster, PA

Golden Hour

2011-05-25T15:47:00.000-04:00

On the way back from a craigslist trip, we were driving through this strangely beautiful suburban neighborhood with the most golden light. I got these two pictures in, which I guessed the exposure for (didnt have a light meter on me, plus I had to act fast because I parked on the side of the road), and got pretty damn close to perfect exposures imo.

Medium formaatttt.

Jeff

2011-05-25T14:40:00.000-04:00

My good friend Jeff, actually my first friend in college, left Pittsburgh to study the big things that happen when little tiny things hit each other. Ill miss him. Good luck man.

These are medium format shots from one last bike ride together before he left. Will you look at that depth of field/sharpness. I am a bit bummed by the harsh shadows, though. But that comes with this kinda mid day light. Best to avoid this kinda light if you can, F/11 can only do so much.

Pictures taken on a bike

2011-05-24T23:33:00.000-04:00

2011-05-18T23:59:00.000-04:00

I have a ton of pictures of Jon. This one is definitely one of my favorites.

Oh yeah, this one's medium format. More on that soon.

More Galle Face

2011-05-07T15:32:00.000-04:00

Galle Face Black and White

2011-04-27T19:11:00.000-04:00

Remember those old rolls of film I found in a photo shop in Colpetty? I finally had them developed (thanks Rose!), and scanned in!

I shot one roll on galle face, here's the first few.

Clearly, the quality isn't phenomenal, but I'm really happy with them. They seem like pictures from ages ago, not 2010.

Everything.

2011-04-23T19:23:00.000-04:00

I absolutely love this picture. Please click here if you would like to see this picture with a black background. In this picture is everything I love about shooting film. You can't plan a picture like this.

2011-04-23T19:17:00.000-04:00

This just makes more sense rotated this way.

Happy Light Leaks

2011-04-23T19:15:00.000-04:00

Mattress Factory

Kubrick and his Leica M3

First REAL bike ride of the spring.

2011-04-23T00:27:00.000-04:00

It was a gorgeous day (like shorts outside good). Amazing light. Ridiculously fast bikes hoarded up from winter. We found a couple of new trails around the city, and decided that the best way to see a city is on a bike.

Mine

A year, almost.

2011-04-17T23:57:00.000-04:00

So this is a little different to what I usually put on here. I've been recording little videos on my phone for a while now; usually little ambient clips that dont really mean much more than what you see. Maybe banal, maybe boring, definitely repetitive.

I've put a bunch of these clips together, giving attention to only the order in which they're arranged. I didnt change the sound, or change the colors at all (I actually have no idea how to do that). There's a good chance that it might not make sense or hold any meaning to anyone uninitiated to the content, so I guess I'm asking you to give it a go. I really feel the order these clips are in and I hope that the content in them could mean something to someone who doesnt know me at all but can maybe relate to whats in it.

It starts off in Sri Lanka and moves to the states. The juxtapositions are a kinda blatant and there's not a lot to interpret. Enough talk.

More Toronto on Film

2011-04-16T00:45:00.000-04:00

Downtown Toronto

2011-04-16T00:25:00.001-04:00

So, after years (really) of meaning and wanting to get one, I finally got a film scanner. It is likely that the money I spent on it will be earned back after a while of not paying CVS to scan my rolls, but the main reason to get a scanner was to be able to work with bigger files and less crap in pictures like dust and finger prints.

I'm just getting the hang of the scanner and working out a workflow, but this picture of downtown Toronto from my hotel room makes me really happy.

The 1's and 2's

2011-04-03T21:43:00.001-04:00

Some of you maybe aware of my friend Joe Kennedy's earlier project, "Drugs: the movie, the movie". Well he's started a new project with his bandmate Dave and new guy Rich called the 1's and 2's. They've been doing really well and won a competition to open for B.O.B (whos isnt very good, but it's still cool to see your friend open for a national ~~ass~~ act). They've been gaining momentum now and they did a interview with local rapper A-Jaxx for his local hip hop blog thing. I was around in the WPTS studios to take some pictures of the interview.

If you're into super fresh beats (seriously, for all you FlyLo/Dabyre beat freak fans this stuff is crack), Dave spins some magic for Joe and Rich to destroy wannabe Taylor Gang kids to (my brain might explode if I hear "Black and Yellow" one more time). Give them a listen here and here "Like" them if thats what you're into.

One more.

2011-03-30T19:53:00.002-04:00

February, Toronto.

2011-03-30T19:49:00.000-04:00

Flare

2011-02-22T23:48:00.000-05:00

Mobile, Alabama.

My computer is desperately in need of formatting, and is not letting me use photoshop. So these next few pictures are straight from the camera. gasp.

Rose

2011-02-22T23:31:00.000-05:00

Toronto, Canada.

2011-02-10T17:11:00.000-05:00

I know I've been a little silent in these parts lately. It's not because I dont have photographs to post (I do, a ton), but it's because I'm working and I dont have a lot of free time. But that said, this post should kick off a more consistent posting spree. If I can get my act together.

Picture unrelated and is the Guitarist from The School of Seven Bells (and Secret Machines), taken (and edited) from my space-phone.

I'm on twitter again, if you care.

Guggenheim People

2011-01-18T20:35:00.000-05:00

Can you tell that I loved it here?

HIghland Park

2011-01-18T20:20:00.000-05:00

I went back to highland park again yesterday, after quite a long time. I just realized that I never posted pictures from there for some reason. I am due a backup, so maybe ill find pictures of it in the spring/summer.

The park is host to a huge drinking water reservoir that people like to take walks around, for fitness and what-not. In the winter this reservoir freezes over and it's most gorgeous/bleak place ever. You have the occasional fitness enthusiast (I dont say that out of bitterness because I am hardly fit, promise) who brave the god awful cold, but besides that there's not many people around.

Its strange to think how much has changed since the last time I was here. Change for the better, I mean. It's funny how that happened over the fall and winter, which is usually the most bleak time of year for me (emotionally). Maybe I'm getting used to this weather, who'dathunk?

Oh yeah, pictures;

Silly birds, what are you doing here? You have wings, why aren't you going some place warm?

Guggenheim

2011-01-09T20:10:00.003-05:00

Times square at night.

2011-01-04T19:05:00.000-05:00

SoHo

2011-01-03T20:28:00.002-05:00

classy

Yashica Memory Maker III

2011-01-03T20:22:00.000-05:00

I found this ridiculous point and shoot film camera called the "memory maker 3' in a garage sale and I kept it around for a long time, shooting a few rolls here and there. I finally got around to developing the film (let me tell you, developing the film cost more than the bloody camera itself), and i'm pretty happy with the results.
I originally bought the camera because I wanted to shoot Terry Richardson-esque portraits of people (minus the debauchery) with its flash. I dont have a flash for any of my film cameras (or my dslr, not considering the dumb built in one) so this would have to do.

I hate working on dslr pictures on my super slow computer so ill be just posting more memory maker shots because film is awesome.

Taken around Pittsburgh during the fall, featuring my house mates.

Generic New York

2010-12-30T12:52:00.001-05:00

Times Square

42nd St Subway.

2010-12-28T14:06:00.002-05:00

shot from the hip.

Ammi

2010-12-28T13:32:00.000-05:00

Mom. Chinatown, NYC.
Christmas Day.

The Guggenheim, New York

2010-12-27T15:40:00.001-05:00

There's a blizzard brewing outside.

Merry Christmas

2010-12-22T21:02:00.000-05:00

New Header

2010-12-16T11:19:00.000-05:00

Like a friend said in the comments, I thought the old header was a bit jarring with its underlining. Instead of fixing it, I just though id make a new one.

Source Picture (from trincomalee, overlooking the ocean from Koneshwaran temple):

some photoshoppery later:

It's interesting that after switching the header to the right, I still kept the headers square or at least rectangular in shape. Dunno how it occurred to me that I could experiment with different shapes and forms and placement of text. This ones a bit safe but I like how it looks. Maybe ill do something more adventurous later on.

I think this header was partially inspired by penny shaped Daguerreotype photographs. I like how it was the style to set portraits in circular frames, I guess this is still seen as a natural fit considering how people vingette studio portraits in an ellipse around a portrait.

I've been watching this great show on BBC called genius of photography, and thats what got me into daguerreotype. I think you should check it out if you're even partially interested in photography, the production quality is fantastic.

The youtube channel contains all the episodes. I'm on episode 4 now. Episode 3 was really good, if you want to just get your feet wet.

Train ride

2010-12-14T20:24:00.000-05:00

I took a train from Ragama to Pettah once and and had my camera with me. Pretty self explanatory.

Amputee

Year In review

2010-12-12T15:47:00.000-05:00

Cheap tricks

Finals

2010-12-09T00:54:00.000-05:00

I'm completely overwhelmed by finals right now. At least the weather is wonderful. No, seriously though, I love snowy weather as opposed to shitty rain all the time.

Action Shot

2010-11-29T23:44:00.000-05:00

Jon built himself this crazy bass pedal board out of some old organ pedals and keyboard. Its kind of genius really: he can play bass and guitar at the same time now. I wont try to go into to much detail on how he built it, but if you're interested here is Jon himself describing the process.

I got this action shot of him while he was practicing.

2010-11-24T18:47:00.000-05:00

I got a nice phone a while back and it does a lot of things most phones I've owned cant even hope of doing. One of those things is it's ability to take very decent quality pictures. I have some shots from Sri Lanka that I will upload soon as well.

It's a lot more convenient than carrying a dslr around and I like that I have it near me most of the time. This, I find, has allowed me to take pictures of things around me which have over time turned into a visual diary of sorts.

Vegetable juice and audiobooks: your best friends on long, solo roadtrips. Audio books are a fantastic way to eat up the miles. The vegetable juice, however, is harder to justify.

I am the caretaker of my favorite turtle again! This little guy has tons of character, and I just want to take pictures of him(her?)and put stupid Lolcat slogans on them.

I spent a good few weeks trying to build a road bike from an old frame that I bought from a friend. It ended pretty awfully as I found out after building it up that the front fork was bent and probably been in an accident. I was devastated, kinda still am. But imma make this bike deal work out soon.

This is baby, she is a pretty big deal in my neck of the woods. She is also a movie star. During our Halloween party, she was also a part of this grizzly installation.

I helped shoot a short film at the Carnegie Library of Braddock for a grant application. This was the set up for the interviews, and I thought it looked pretty legit considering our pretty ~~low~~ no budget set up.

Freshly painted bridge near Braddock, PA.

Oldie

2010-11-24T01:34:00.000-05:00

Old picture from the Carrie furnace trip almost a year ago. I'm not sure why I didnt upload it, im quite fond of it.

Sunday Morning

2010-11-24T01:06:00.000-05:00

2010-11-24T01:01:00.002-05:00

For the lack of a better title

2010-11-24T00:49:00.000-05:00

Call it random. These pictures are from the same roll, and some are from the general region of Pettah, but I like to think of them having separate themes/feeling to them.

I really like the focus in this picture, even though it's not 'correct'(the middle of the plant is not in focus, but the spiky branches closest to you are).

People roasting peanuts in a shop in Pettah somewhere

Strange roundabout monument

The state of the Millers building is a shame, but I think there are plans to refurbish it.

New Header

2010-11-10T12:41:00.000-05:00

It's been a while since I've had a new header, so I went ahead and made this one:

Using this source picture from the prayer tree in the Trinco

.

How does it look?

2010-11-01T23:23:00.000-04:00

State of mind is everything, trick yourself into a good one.

Picture unrelated.

The details

2010-10-14T15:36:00.000-04:00

When you live away from home for extended periods of time, the first things you start to forget are the little details: textures, the colors and how the little things are just slightly more different than anywhere else.
When you come back home after being gone for long, when you look out the the window from the plane and look down at the distant shapes of the paddy fields that grow bigger until you can start making out people and houses, it all starts flooding back.
By the time you're in a van on the way home from the airport, at Negombo street level, the sensory overload just starts overwhelming you- its like revenge for forgetting how things smell, and how personal space is scaled down relative to the country you're in, and how much out of sync you are with your surroundings.
These senses fill your jet-lagged, emotionally overworked brain and starts to fill you with worry: that things have changed and that everyone has left you behind.

And then you come home. Everything starts settling down and the familiar starts rushing back and you're rested enough to know where to file away the different sensations that are vying for your attention.

I go through the pictures I've taken during my time at home and I realize that half of them are wide aperture shots of little details. You always remember the shape of the house, nothing can make you forget that. But you start to forget the layout of the garden, the shape and the feel of the rock and how peaceful things are. I think I took these so I wouldnt forget those things.

Kites

2010-10-14T14:45:00.000-04:00

Kite season was in full swing when I was back home in August. It drives the kids nuts and I feel like someone was always trying untangle a kite stuck on a lamp post/tree/roof near where we live.

Paddy fields are naturally the best places to fly kites because none of the aforementioned structures obstruct the kite's path. So anyone looking for the smarter kids on the block should look no further than at those flying kites in paddy fields.
My logic is flawless.

The picture however, is not.

Galle Face

2010-10-06T19:47:00.000-04:00

I had some time to kill while in Colombo once and I walked up to the galle face green and took a few pictures. I shot a roll of B&W film, but to get to that I had to finish off a roll of colour first. I haven't got the B&W developed yet, but I will post those when I get them.

These two shots are from these odd-looking coke vendors (ha), who deal (ha, again) out of giant coke bottle shaped stalls. Their stuff(on a roll now) is super expensive, and in the searing heat it is so tempting to splurge on some iced cream soda.

Hustler

Oh yeah, so it looks like my ME-1 has developed a consistent light leak. I am so pissed. It's left that on almost every picture.

Heartbreak

2010-10-03T21:17:00.000-04:00

Try to spot it here

Seen on Shadyside, Pittsburgh.

I have ridiculous dogs

2010-10-01T16:13:00.001-04:00

Prayer Tree

2010-10-01T15:55:00.000-04:00

Koneswaram.

Trinco

2010-10-01T15:53:00.000-04:00

Strange bunker like thing, built on some rocks on the ocean. I bet when the tide is low this thing is less peculiar.

Koneswaram Temple

2010-10-01T15:49:00.000-04:00

Koneswaram Temple was, and still is an incredibly fascinating place.
I love the intricacy of the design of Hindu temples, it's like layers and layers of detailed carving that is the antithesis to the extremely minimal Buddhist temple exterior. Even the relatively busy looking gothic churches have strongly defined vertical lines, while a hindu temple (I feel) is built upon the vertical stacking of horizontal elements (like plates). Does that make any sense?

And the colours! I mean where else do you get colours like this?!

Pettah

2010-10-01T15:20:00.000-04:00

Trinco

2010-09-29T18:30:00.000-04:00

A few shots from Trinco. It was in the mid thirty's and the sky as bright as ever, I cant believe the film didnt melt, let alone work.

2010-09-28T20:56:00.000-04:00

A quick picture before I get back to work. It's been a crazy three months, if that counts as an excuse.

Uppuveli beach, trinco.

Home

2010-09-12T13:23:00.000-04:00

I got my film from Sri Lanka developed. Expect constant updating services to to resume starting now.

I miss you, home.

Good morning

2010-09-08T20:44:00.000-04:00

After taking the overnight mail train to trinco (if you plan early, it really is the best way to travel to trinco on a budget) we got to trinco right on time for the sunrise. Seeing as this was the east coast, what an epic sunrise it was.

Also a tip to those wishing to travel to trinco on a whim, book a hotel early! Especially during the season. The tuk driver that took us to our hotel was jovially describing how he was ripping foreigners off who came to trinco without a reservation and needed a ride to a hotel so they could find a room. He would do a tour of all the hotels which he knew was already full and cash in on a fat charge at the end of the day from poor backpacking tourist types.

Honestly though, trinco tuk drivers are really crafty and will rip you off if you give the slightest inclination of not knowing the area well. We got taken for a ride (pun intended) a few times by them, until we found a regular. You really start to miss the meter tuks in Colombo after a while.

Trinco is also becoming a bit of a tourist trap. I think it's mostly down to the lack of direction of the tourism industry in Sri Lanka in general. My sister made a good point that the general philosophy of the tourism industry here hasn't changed for decades; all the money from the big hotel chains gets pumped into building massive resorts on the seafront. Not only are most of these hotels eyesores from the outside (with the exception of a few), big resorts also tend to divert their waste into the lagoons or even the sea nearby completely ruining the area. These hotels usually cater to tourists by the bus load, pump them full of mass produced (Western!)buffet food send them to some attraction where the tour operator can cash in a nice big commission.

It's like the concept of the individual was lost during the really profitable days of Sri Lankan tourism. Now all thats left are these bloated, undead blocks of cement springing up everywhere.

I hear Arugambay is turning into the new Hikka, this in my opinion is not a good thing. Hikkaduwa is like a testament to how not to do things (remember those child prostitution scandals?). The current administration can make all the pretty commercials in the world, but it cant change the fact that we dont have a sustainable model.

Wow, this really turned out to be a rant. I was literally planning to post the pictures, say the beach was awesome and then do some home work. Crazy.

Donegal 2010

2010-09-08T19:37:00.000-04:00

This one is an oldie but good(ie?). Jon explaining the subtleties of making grass whistles to Grace.

Nothings

2010-09-06T22:13:00.000-04:00

I dont really have the motivation to go through pictures and post them, so here's a shitty picture of my workstation instead.

This too shall pass. Hopefully.

I didnt actually take this picture.

2010-09-02T17:30:00.002-04:00

Someone who hijacked my camera did.

classytrash

2010-09-02T16:33:00.000-04:00

It takes special kind of people to drink classy gin with elephant house cream soda, and love it.
Besides, the other option was drinking classy gin with woodapple juice. I mean, even I'm not that bad.

Uppuveli beach.

GOH

2010-08-27T13:32:00.000-04:00

I have no idea why the Grand Oriental Hotel is named as such. My sister thinks it's because the British considered Sri Lanka as a part of the Orient; but I still think its name is a little misplaced.

Nevermind that, look at this awesome pettagama (chest) in the hotel.