Nearby one of the AIDS outreach centers DIG has joined with in the Jinga area lives a dude who built a radio. Well, really it seems like the radio itself is a standard receiver, but the ANTENNA is just nuts. He can, allegedly, get channels from all sorts of African countries on this bad boy. Feels more like an art installation than a functional home device.
All I know is it's badass.
I'm going through the ole archive to put together an edit of my various exploits in Africa and I just love this one.
Mini DIG story:
This is Emma, one of my favorite kids from the orphanage where DIG has a project just outside of Jinga, Uganda. He stuck out in my memory the first time we went there and I was super pleased to see he was the same semi-spastic, loving boy I remembered. He danced half the day we went visited back in 2009 and he was first up the jackfruit tree this time, when we headed into the family's land. He's one of quite a few kids (from infants to late high schoolers) living with Paul and Rose at their home in a tiny town called Bwala. And I gotta say, I was blown away by the growth of these kiddos. I had conversations (that were probably out of my league) with a couple of the older kids (Collin and Maureen) that showed how much they had learned about growing food and creating a sustainable system for their future, and now doubt that interest and knowledge is spreading around to everybody they live with too.
I guess I love this shot because it seems to sum up the hope I associate with all those kids. Emma's precocious grin says a lot to me about the future ahead of him.
The first day of spring for us here in Alabama was in the mid-80s which makes me sort of terrified about what summer has to offer. S'gonna be hot as crap. But I spent most of my day in an air-conditioned car and posting photos to Instagram*, and I'm gonna blather on about it right...Now.
*I love Instagram. It's almost unhealthy.
I got up ahead of sunrise, which is lately becoming too much of a habit, so I could get to ATL to meet up with Sarah Koch of DIG (Development in Gardening) and scamper over to the Dekalb Farmers market to stock up on a bunch of awesome whole foods to photograph as one of the final steps for their Nutrition Manual and their Gardening Manual they've been working on for a while. It's gonna be awesome, and by awesome I mean it's going to help them help others help others. That's a lot of helping. (The point of these manuals is to pictographically walk through stuff like diet / nutrition and how to make all that delicious food yourself in a garden)
I was greeted with the slowest ever merger on to I-75/I-85 I've even been a part of, despite it looking like a veritable wasteland.
Met up with Sarah at their new downtown office, which had a killer view. We immediately escaped to the Dekalb Farmers Market, which blew my mind. They had a no photography sign that I obeyed fully, if anyone asks.
And below is our take! Since we were only buying for a photo shoot, we were only buying something like 3 cents worth different things. Kinda felt bad about it. Oh well.
After we wrapped, I spent the day driving around in my oil-leaking car (soon to be fixed by the place that recently did work on the ole Subaru), meeting up with some friends for dinner, and talking myself out of buying an E-Pad.
The sun at horizon sandwiched my day.
But speaking of DIG, I was going to mention some more junk I'm planning on posting. I dropped in recently with Slaughter Group, who is responsible for me being connected with DIG in the first place, because they're working on what will undoubtedly become a killer photo-heavy print piece (which excites me). While I was there, we started talking about collecting stories that could serve as narratives throughout the piece and I found myself gushing about various groups or individuals. I didn't realize how jam-packed with awesomeness these DIG trips have been, but now that I've lived with it all for a while, the magnitude and depth of these experiences is sort of catching up with me. So I'm planning on making a few posts to talk about some of the people I've met and how their lives have been impacted by DIG.
Alright cool. I'll be back.
{ed note: Well crap. I've been mixing my days up. ALL THIS SHIT HAPPENED ON THE SECOND DAY OF SPRING! THIS BLOG POST IS RUINED!}
Fin is getting way bigger. Pupdate!
I got an email from CF Salicath telling me of his LEGO creation made in the wake of the Legotron. Holy shit, you guys. This thing is a) awesome, b) huge, and c) fucking awesome. This dude made a LEGO Twin-lens reflex camera! MY HEAD IS EXPLODING!
A shot from the Legoflex B1!
PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE check out his build blog!
All images in this point ©CF Salicath.
Last Halloween there was a skate comp at the now-defunct Shoe Factory skate spot hosted by Peter Karvonen, pictured above. I'm just now getting good scans of some of those shots (the black and white ones anyway) and thought I'd post them, even if I'm too lazy to spot them and stuff right now.
Below is a dude's super gnarly scar and fake Tony Hawk.
Quick update on the pup! Fin has really done an amazing job with everything—crate training, living in a new place, being more or less responsive despite not being trained, and he has cuddling locked DOWN.
It's cute explosions all the time over here.
fin.
The real Dr House. This one makes a killer lasagna.
Fin on his way home!
Today we added a new member to our family. Stephanie and I adopted a wiener dog (mix?) from the Chilton County Humane Society and, like probably every pet owner, we clearly have the cutest dog of all of time. He's pretty stinky, too.
Arriving at home
Exploring his crate
First walk!
First jump up a step!
In the freaking kitchen! OH MY GOD
TOY!
Butt!
This blog post will serve as the home to new photos of Fin, too. I'll update this post here and there with new photos, so if you're interested in him growing up (I'm looking at you, Nicole), bookmark this URL.
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