I am very excited right now. Excited to the point that, even though it's four in the morning, I can't force myself to fall asleep until I actually write all this down. I have just finished planning out my travel plans for Winter Break - and oh, what plans they are! In a total time of only three weeks, I will drive more than 4,000 miles, travel through 11 states, spend time in more than a dozen cities and towns, and visit at least half a dozen great friends!
Throughout all of this, I will not stay in a single hotel, motel, or other "high-class" establishment. My goal with this trip, apart from seeing friends and traveling to distant cities, is to live as frugally as I possibly can. In about half of the cities I sleep in, I will be crashing with a friend, but for the other half, I will just figure out somewhere to sleep when the time comes. In a number of cities, Hostels provide a safe yet affordable way to spend a night, often costing only 20 or 30 dollars a night.
Don't know what a Hostel is? I didn't either. Picture a hotel room, except with anywhere from 2 to 12 complete strangers of either gender sharing it with you. Certainly not the ideal living quarters, but when you consider that I can have a warm, safe place to sleep in New York City for $26 per night (as opposed to the $100+ per night you'd be charged for a hotel), the benefits are obvious. When that fails, I will live even simpler - using a sleeping bag, pillow, and blanket, and curling up in the back seat of my car for the night, sleeping in the parking lot of a 24-hour Walmart, or at a rest stop just off the highway, or even down a lightly traveled road in the middle of a city.
Sounds stupid? Maybe. But, for some reason I can't really explain, this is just something I really want to do. Whenever I travel, and I travel quite often, I try as hard as I can to not see the destination only from the tourist's point of view. Rather than seeing the glamour and history of a city from the safe, upscale window of my 14th floor hotel room, I'd much rather wander the back streets late at night, the areas not included in the guide books, and see people actually interacting with people in the most genuine way.
To be honest, another huge appeal of this trip is the pure spontaneity of it all. While I do have a loose schedule for what I want to do, the schedule stops with days and weeks instead of hours and minutes. All I know for sure is that at some point during those three weeks, I will visit a few specific destinations, but other than that, I will simply drive wherever I feel like going. If I see a destination that looks intriguing while driving west on I-71, then I'm gonna take it and never look back! Rather than focusing on the destination, I'm really excited to be able to look at the journey as a destination of its own. I'm sure I'll end up in some very unexpected places, but I'll undoubtedly return with lots of new experiences, new photographs, and new ideas.
It's gonna be a great winter!
R
Showing posts with label Photography. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Photography. Show all posts
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Saturday, September 18, 2010
Photo Friday! - Sunrise Over Ithaca
(Yes, I'm aware that I'm publishing a Photo Friday blog on Saturday morning. Ah well)
So here we go! This is a very recent photo that I took last Saturday morning. I woke up really early to walk around the Ithaca College campus, and I tried to capture some photos of the sunrise. Regrettably, Ithaca is not a town that lends itself well to watching sunrises, as there are two enormous hills that lie to the east of wherever you happen to be. The sunrises are, however, magnificent beyond description. Possibly I will try for a sunset photograph next week. But meanwhile, this photo was my best attempt at capturing the sunrise in Ithaca. The building in the foreground is the Business building at IC, and the entire front is covered in a facade of clear glass. It really is quite pretty, especially when the light hits it just so.
So that's basically all I have to say about this one. Have a great day!
R
So here we go! This is a very recent photo that I took last Saturday morning. I woke up really early to walk around the Ithaca College campus, and I tried to capture some photos of the sunrise. Regrettably, Ithaca is not a town that lends itself well to watching sunrises, as there are two enormous hills that lie to the east of wherever you happen to be. The sunrises are, however, magnificent beyond description. Possibly I will try for a sunset photograph next week. But meanwhile, this photo was my best attempt at capturing the sunrise in Ithaca. The building in the foreground is the Business building at IC, and the entire front is covered in a facade of clear glass. It really is quite pretty, especially when the light hits it just so.
So that's basically all I have to say about this one. Have a great day!
R
Thursday, April 1, 2010
Turning a New Chapter
Well... this evening started out in a great way!!! As I was driving home during the heart of the golden hour, I noticed the incredible sunset and simply had to stop to take some photos. I drove to a location near my home that I've been dying to shoot for ages, pulled out the nifty fifty, and started shooting. I've been neglecting my camera lately because of being so busy with the show, and it felt really good to finally be making some photographs again. The light was simply spectacular - I was getting shot after shot after shot and loving every one! I was having the time of my life! And just as I was about 150 images into the fresh memory card - *POOF*. Out of nowhere, a card formatting error reared its ugly head, dragging my photo-taking escapade to a grinding halt. I tried in vain to recover some of the images, but without any success. After finally accepting the loss of the images, I reformatted the card, but by the time I was ready to start shooting again, the sun had set and the incredible light which had lit up my photos was gone. I begrudgingly got back in my car and drove home, resolving to return at the next beautiful sunset with multiple backup cards in my bag. And so, instead of a conglomeration of beautiful sunset images, I give you this poorly-written and disorganized journal entry. Voila!
Hmm.. what else.
Okay, so despite the devastating loss of my images, I'm still very excited. Why, you ask? Wait, what's that? You didn't ask? You don't really care? Ah well, I'll tell you anyways. Like every good technical theatre major, I diligently sent out my applications for summer internships to regional theatres all across the country. And, after multiple rounds of resume-sending and a phone interview, I have finally accepted a position as an Electrics Apprentice for the Hangar Theatre's summer season!! WOOT!!! For those of you not heavily involved in theatre, this probably doesn't seem like that big of a deal, but for me this is HUGE! I will be spending the summer working harder than I've ever worked, literally rubbing shoulders with professional actors, directors, designers, and technicians. And, as of about 45 minutes ago, all the contracts were signed, all the tax forms were filled out, all the housing information was recorded, and my paperwork packet is on its way to making me an official employee at the Hangar! I also got a first look at the schedule for the summer, and oh boy is it scary!! The theatre puts on 14 (yes, thats FOURTEEN) fully produced productions in a two-month time period all on the mainstage - plus another 9 on a smaller, secondary stage. Because of that, it's literally a 24-hour operation. Looking at the calendar, there's hardly a single hour in the entire summer where some department is not working. Painters work every day from 10pm to 8am, Electricians do changeover from 11pm to 4:30am, and many of the tech rehearsals start at hours such as 6pm or 11pm, totally throwing off whatever sleep schedule you might be on.
As I reflect on my freshly-signed contracts, sealed in their envelope waiting patiently to be mailed off to Ithaca, I wonder if I really made the right choice. This summer will very possibly be my last summer ever to enjoy and just spend time with my friends. Hell, it may very well be the last time I ever see some of my friends, although I sincerely hope that that's not the case. Yes, work and education are always good things, but is there such a thing as too much? Am I digging my own grave by sacrificing my only school-free months to the demanding and rigorous time commitments of a professional summer stock theatre? I really don't have an answer for that one. I suppose only time can tell how everything will work out in the end. And until that time comes, I'll make the most of every moment I have, before they've all run out.
Hmm.. what else.
Okay, so despite the devastating loss of my images, I'm still very excited. Why, you ask? Wait, what's that? You didn't ask? You don't really care? Ah well, I'll tell you anyways. Like every good technical theatre major, I diligently sent out my applications for summer internships to regional theatres all across the country. And, after multiple rounds of resume-sending and a phone interview, I have finally accepted a position as an Electrics Apprentice for the Hangar Theatre's summer season!! WOOT!!! For those of you not heavily involved in theatre, this probably doesn't seem like that big of a deal, but for me this is HUGE! I will be spending the summer working harder than I've ever worked, literally rubbing shoulders with professional actors, directors, designers, and technicians. And, as of about 45 minutes ago, all the contracts were signed, all the tax forms were filled out, all the housing information was recorded, and my paperwork packet is on its way to making me an official employee at the Hangar! I also got a first look at the schedule for the summer, and oh boy is it scary!! The theatre puts on 14 (yes, thats FOURTEEN) fully produced productions in a two-month time period all on the mainstage - plus another 9 on a smaller, secondary stage. Because of that, it's literally a 24-hour operation. Looking at the calendar, there's hardly a single hour in the entire summer where some department is not working. Painters work every day from 10pm to 8am, Electricians do changeover from 11pm to 4:30am, and many of the tech rehearsals start at hours such as 6pm or 11pm, totally throwing off whatever sleep schedule you might be on.
As I reflect on my freshly-signed contracts, sealed in their envelope waiting patiently to be mailed off to Ithaca, I wonder if I really made the right choice. This summer will very possibly be my last summer ever to enjoy and just spend time with my friends. Hell, it may very well be the last time I ever see some of my friends, although I sincerely hope that that's not the case. Yes, work and education are always good things, but is there such a thing as too much? Am I digging my own grave by sacrificing my only school-free months to the demanding and rigorous time commitments of a professional summer stock theatre? I really don't have an answer for that one. I suppose only time can tell how everything will work out in the end. And until that time comes, I'll make the most of every moment I have, before they've all run out.
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