Monday, July 31, 2006

Disgustinly Yummy

As I devoured my nachos at lunch, the guy behind me gave me the perfect title for my post. After more than 3 months, I finally ate at a crappy fast food joint. This time it was Taco Bell. Funny thing was that I wasn't really craving it, I wasn't that hungry, nor was I tagging along with someone who was going there.

I just decided to go.

And oh did my stomach complain.

So in the time since I last wrote about this stuff, I've actually eaten as fast food joints, but only a select few: "healthy" or "high quality". That list has included only In-N-Out, Quiznos, and Subway. That's it. Oh, I did grab an ice cream sundae from McDonald's once but that wasn't really a meal and I would have gotten something similar elsewhere anyways since it was so hot!

I don't think my health changed in any way during the last three months. People keep telling me I've lost weight, but I venture to say that's because I've been working 6-7 days a week this whole summer (work and photography) and sweating like a pig on the hottest days. During that whole time, I can't say that I craved anything from the crap fast food joints. The only times I thought about going to them was when I was in a rush at work or I wanted a change from the cafeteria food at work. That being said, I'm really not sure why I went there so randomly.

But I must say, I still feel a bit off this afternoon. I didn't eat that much, but I still feel like I just ate an hour ago. Processed crap can do that to ya, can't it?

Anyways, I don't plan on eating that crap again any time soon. Now, let me run and make another pit stop.

Ugh.

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Allies Fo Life

I was listening to BBC Radio yesterday for a recap of events on Israel and Lebanon. If you don't know, the bombing is still going on, civilians have been killed, and Condi Rice has been carrying the influence of the United States into cease fire negotiations.


Oh wait, un-check that last item. After two weeks and international pleading, Israel is still continuing with bombings and in fact have proceeded further with ground troops. So it begs the question...why is Israel still doing this?

In my last post on this subject, I guessed that Israel is basically taking a "don't fuck with us" attitude. Which doesn't help the Lebanese, but certainly makes a statement. But the path these cease fire "negotiations" have been going has made just as big of a statement.

BTW, before I proceed, I should say that I made a couple of mistakes in my last post on this subject. Hezbollah obviously doesn't run Lebanon...they have seats in the parliament, but not a majority, far from. Also, the US didn't support an election there. In both cases, I was confused with Palestine & Hamas. Anyways....

The duplicity of this situation is really amazing. The BBC Radio reporter (can't recall his name) really got me kind of pissed off - bot he himself, but just because of how this is being portrayed. In response to some questions by the show host, the reporter stated that Condi Rice is in some really tough negotiations and the temporary pause on aerial bombings (which they've already renegged on) are a way for Israel to give some to Condi for all her negotiations.

My ire was raised the fact the the US apparently has no pull with Israel. Seriously, we're the biggest supporter of Israel. Without all of the arms that we provide to Israel, the country would have been under seige from Day 1. Without our support, there's no way Israel would have any place in the world.

So despite all of this, we're in "tough negotiations" with Israel. Dude, fuck that. The country owes is complete existence to us and they don't listen to a word we say?

I don't actually think there are tough negotiations at all. I think Condi has gone in there and essentially confirmed that it's okay for Israel to destroy Lebanon. Anything else would mean that for all its support, the US is Israel's bitch. And W would have none of that.

In reality, I think the situation is much worse: The US supports Israel's destruction of Lebanon. Afterall, Hezbollah is a terrorist organization (albeit it, with parliamentary seats) and they need to be removed, right? And the US is too tied up with Iraq to do anything else. So letting Israel do its bidding would seem a really smart choice for Condi and W. The public pronouncements by this administration pretty much back this up since the US has not called for a cease fire. They've called for a negotiation to address the root causes of the situation. That's all fine and good. Addressing the root causes is obviously the only way to solve this once and for all. But how can one faithfully enter negotiations when you're bombing the fuck out of the other country?

And that just disgusts me.

So either the US is Israel's beeyotch (which I completely doubt). Or this is a much more disappointing and maddening situation where the US is supporting the utter destruction of another Middle Eastern country. Sometimes, I wonder about diplomacy. The real deal here is pretty clear, and yet diplomats every where can't call it for what it is. Heck, at the beginning of this, when someone said that Israel had bigger aims with its bombings than simply to gets soldiers back (which is totally the case), he was ridiculed! Why can't you call a spade a spade and be done with it?

Seriously, we got the idea. Don't fuck with Israel. Stop the bombing already!

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Wednesday, July 19, 2006

Snap! Crackle! Click! My Photos!


Holding the Dupatta
Originally uploaded by Jigar.
Well, it's been over a year since we started the business and I finally got tired of not being able to show off some of my favorite photos. Let's start with this one since it's near the top of my faves list.


It's actually from one of the first weddings we covered, but I still love it for the meaning behind it.

Sikh wedding ceremonies are so calm that they're almost non-events. However one of the most important ceremonies is when the couple walks clockwise around the Guru Granth Sahib four times. This is pretty similar to the Hindu ceremony where the couple walks around the fire 4 times as well.

One of the things I noticed about the Sikh ceremony is that the bride holds her groom's dupatta (rather than having their dupattas tied as in Hindu ceremonies). For some reason I find this to be so meaningful. In Hindu ceremonies a similar thing is done where the dupattas of the couple are tied together, but something about the bride holding the dupatta during the entire ceremony conveys more to me.

And, for me, this moment is transformed by this photo. I've taken several very similar to this, but this is still the one that I like the best. Indeed, the bride loves this photo too.

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Monday, July 17, 2006

Escalating Madness

By now, the escalating battles between Israel and Hezbollah are something that we should all be pretty concerned and fearful about.

Recap: Hezbollah (the group who's political arm happens to run the Lebanese government) kidnapped 2 Israeli soldiers. Israel said "WTF?!" and proceeded to go midevil on Hezbollah. What does midevil mean? Well, it started with disabling the Beirut airport by bombing runways and some other known Hezbollah strongholds. It continued with further bombings in the Beirut suburbs targeting areas where Hezbollah keeps arms, plans, etc. Meanwhile, Hezbollah hasn't backed down and has sent a mulitude of rockets into Israel. Apparently, fully 1/3 of Israel is under bombing alert. I'm guessing that 100% of Lebanon is under bombing alert.

So since this is my blog, I've gotta write about my take on this nonsense, right? Well, obviously, nobody is right and nobody will win in this situation. As usual, lots of innocent people have already and will likely lose their lives or livelihoods.

So who's to blame? Well, obviously Hezbollah's the instigator in this. But I'd say that Israel is definitely an enabler. They certainly didn't need to go this far in attempting to recover their soldiers. But the undercurrent here is that Israel is making a much larger point about incursions on its territory and against its people.

Do I think it's okay that Israel is sick and tired of this? Of course. No single event can justify the kind of force Israel is using. And I don't think any series of events can provide the rationale for this type of action. But seriously, what Israel's really saying (in Tupac's words) is "Fuck you and your muthafuckin homies"

No seriously. They're raining flyers down on the Lebanese telling them that they need to drop their ties to Hezbollah if they hope to see tomorrow.

So, not surprisingly, it's up to the US to do something about this. Israel is obviously living under our wing. Make no mistake that Israel would have been destroyed without the support of the US all these years. And if W is to live up to his goals of fostering democracy, he and his admin have to broker a deal here.

Let's not forget that the current admin pushed for elections in Lebanon even though it was pretty clear that Hezbollah would win. That electoral win may have provided some legitimacy to Hezbollah, but from what I can surmise, the Lebanese people aren't exactly happy with the direction of the country. Any doubt amongst the people should certainly be erased after the current beat down by Israel.

So I think W actually has a perfect chance to get a huge win here. Broker a deal that not only stops the bombs, but also leads to better democracy. By applying conditions to the cease fire, hopefully Hezbollah is backed into a corner and really has to give up its use of violence. At the same time, Israel needs to back off and not go bombing left, right, and center. Those things tied together will actually show the people of both countries how to proceed from the current no-win situation to a win-win where the people actually benefit. And in the best situation, this is actually how democracy spreads. Not by dismantling the very foundation of a country just to get one regime out (irony of Israel's actions here is that they're so similar to what the US did to get Saddam out).

Progress begets progress. Let's hope for some in the coming days.

W, the ball is in your court. Don't fuck it up. Again.


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Going Once, Going Twice


We're finally no longer the owners of two homes!

Our previous home closed last week and I walked inside it for the last time on Thursday. Neither of us got truly attached to the home, but there was a bit of reminiscing in those last few minutes in the house. As the first home we owned, it'll always be remembered, but at the same time, we knew we didn't want to stay there forever.

So now we're in Mountain View and loving it. Our mortgage payment is ungodly, but it's just different to live here versus there.

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Thursday, July 13, 2006

Snap! Crackle! Click! Photography in the New York Times

Wow, I haven't written about photography since March! And just when I was trying to find some interesting portfolios to talk about, I run across a link on the NY Times homepage. Being that I love photography, I find this Q&A with the NY Times Assistant Managing Editor for Photography very interesting.

Talk to the Newsroom: Assistant Managing Editor for Photography, Michele McNally

I'm far from a news photojournalist, but I'm always amazed by photographs of news-worthy events. This Q&A features several wonderful photos in-line and the discussion of the philosophy about what makes a good news photo, what choices are made when selecting photos to run, and so many other things really intrigues me.

In a future life, when I don't have a 9-to-5, I'd love to do more freelance work. Most likely, not on-going event coverage, but editorial coverage would definitely be right up my alley. Here's to hoping that the plan works out.

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Wednesday, July 12, 2006

Rocket Bust

If you follow the world of blogging and trends on the internet itself, then you've probably heard about the whole drama with RocketBoom. If you haven't heard of RocketBoom, don't worry, you haven't misseed much. In fact, I hadn't heard of the website until a few weeks ago. It's referred to as a video log (vlog), but my take on it is that it's a daily news tidbits show.

As a vlog, I guess it's revolutionary. Apparently, it took the web by storm and was "the next big thing". Given those comments about the vlog, I had to check it out post-humously and well, I'm left wondering why it could be considered the next big thing. Like I said, as a vlog, I guess it's a big deal, but overall, it's not much more than a basic cable tidbit show.

It's produced pretty decently, but in the end, it's no better than most of the crap that's on Mountain View Comcast Channel 15 (that's the local access channel where people can buy TV time and host their own show). So why did it become a hit?

Well, the biggest thing behind it is the nature of the internet. Local access cable is, by definition, local. Only people in your general area are going to see it. If you make waves on local access, it's still a long, long way between your neighbors seeing you and the rest of the country seeing you. On the internet, your neighbors are all across the world. And if you make a splash, it's much less difficult to make a name for yourself on computer screens across the world.

And how does one make a splash on the web? Well, you can be funny/wierd (most of the stuff on YouTube), you can be insightful (several blogs). Actually you can just be consistent and build an audience. We're very used to seeing new versions of things on TV every day or week so we come to expect the same thing online. So if you post something every day or week, your audience will come to visit just be nature of habit.

So why did RocketBoom make a splash? Well, I think it's the last thing that can get you noticed on the web: Sex. Okay, so Amanda Congdon didn't strip on her show, but let's all be honest here, people wouldn't watch her if she wasn't cute with big boobies. Go watch her show. I watched a few episodes and the only thing I could imagine around why she's so popular is her looks. The actual content of her show is pretty annoying, to be honest. I couldn't watch a single entire episode simply because I find her mannerisms either copies of other stuff (SNL's Tina Fey on the Weekend Update skits) or just kind of annoying.

Okay, so maybe I'm being cynical and since I didn't follow thing vlog while it was still alive I can't really say why people found it so interesting. And what I find annoying could be in-jokes with the vlog for people who have followed for a long time. But seriously...go watch the archives. How many episodes can you find where she's not wearing an extra thin baby-T and where she's not showing her chest? How many times does she do something unique?

So now the big question for people who have been following this whole thing is whether she will succeed in "the real world" based on her internet success. C'mon...given the nature of Hollywood she won't be doing anything unless she continues to show off those boobies. From watching a few of her episodes, I can't find anything interesting about her. My guess? She'll end up on one of those tech tv shows as "the hot chick who digs tech".

Afterall, that's pretty much all she was on Rocketboom.

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Thought less

I woke up this morning to the horrible news of the bombings in Mumbai. Somehow, I almost feel numb to this kind of thing now. It's sad...while it's certainly not a regular thing, we've seen enough of this kind of horror that the shock and automatic "WHAT!?!?!" reaction is no longer there.

And that's why it's sad. The dozens of people who died and hundreds who were injured deserve our thoughts and sentiments. So is this what they want? Certainly they want us to live in fear. But instead I'm numb. Thought less. Without thought.



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Monday, July 10, 2006

Through to the End

We had our first weekend with the photography biz where we had two clients booked at the same time. We didn't exactly plan to booked two clients at the same time, but it also wasn't a mistake or an overbooking. Booking multiple clients is part of the progression of the business.

So the plan was for Sandhya to stay with the morning client all the way to the end of the their event and I would go to the other client's event. We would both hire extra photographers to ensure that we'd have sufficient coverage. In the end, I think we both did great jobs for both clients and they should be very pleased with the coverage.

But an interesting thing happened on my way to the second client's event. I had a feeling of emptiness. This was the first time I wasn't able to stick around to watch the unfolding of things as things progress from a wedding ceremony where the couple can be a bit tense all the way through to dancing at the reception when the couple is happy beyond reason.

Ok, so I'm not a guest I don't need to share in the joy of the couple, but we're doing this because we love it, not because we desperately need the income. As such, we not only take a lot of pride in what we do, we find a lot of enjoyment in getting to know our clients and feel just as happy for them as their guests.

At first it felt a bit odd that I would miss not seeing our morning client at their reception. Then I thought...well, it's a business. But after another day, I'm actually proud of myself for having that empty feeling in the first place. I'm in this for the love of photography. Yes, the money is worthwhile, but it's not the beginning nor the end of the involvement.

That's one of the differences between working for a living and running your own business. I'm happy to say that even after a year of double-duty with my day job, and several months of feeling like I've got too many things to keep track of, I'm still happy to be doing this and even happier to feel a connection to the people that trust us to cover the most important events in their lives.

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Thursday, July 06, 2006

Make sure you get my panties while I'm putting on this Salwaar Kameez

Imagine if you had a bride-to-be tell you that while you're photographing her getting ready for her big event. Thank god neither I nor my partner have ever gotten a wierdo request like that. And hopefully we never will.

But given the way white people seem to be headed with the wedding photographs they want, I wouldn't be surprised if we get similar oddball requests.

I had heard some random things about women wanting more revealing photos taken of them while they getting ready in the morning. However, I thought those type of shots were limited to some tasteful behind the back photos of the bride's top being buttoned, etc, but with nothing actually revealed.

Little did I know that both the Wall Street Journal & ABC News have gone to great lengths to tittilate us with how far brides will go to have intimate photos of them taken. Thanks to Seshu's Bliss blog I now have something else to leave me speechless and shaking my head:
Brides Gone Wild (PDF link so I suggest you download it rather than load it directly)
and Nightline

In the coming days I'll try to post a bit about the interesting things we've seen and been part of while photographing weddings. For the most part, it's a pretty standard thing and as photographers we don't really know much more than the average guest besides timing, but sometimes, due to the specificity of what our clients want, we get to find out about the great lengths to which the couple has gone just to have a perfect day. A perfectly produced day too.

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Wednesday, July 05, 2006

Wait and then wait some more

I went to the post office this morning. It's a rare thing for me to go to there since I don't have much need to mail physical things. Email, PDFs, and especially online bill payment has replaced just about any reason for me to visit USPS.

This morning reminded me why I'd like to avoid USPS completely.

I got to the post office to find that about 8-10 people were in line. Not a huge deal since the lines tends to go down quickly since there are usually several people working the desk.

But just to avoid any wait, I went to the automated machine to see if I could get my postage done automatically. I tried finding the specific option on the machine but couldn't find it. So I figured I'd just go to the line since the lines usually just take 5-10 mins (at least at other post offices)

Lo and behold only 1 person is working the main desk. There's another woman working the passport desk and there at least a couple of people in the back since they keep poppping their heads out when someone rings the bell for pick up service.

After waiting about 10 mins, more people had joined the line (I counted 15 people) and only 2 people had actually gotten their task completed at the front of the line. Seeing these other USPS workers sit around seemingly doing nothing really pissed me off. I'm sure the other people were doing something useful, but what got to me is that none of these other workers thought to do a thing about the length of the line.

That means a few things:
1) Lines of this length are nothing new at USPS
2) One person working the line is nothing new at USPS
3) Other workers not being very helpful is nothing new at USPS

So I finally got tired of waiting in the same spot without making any progress so I went to the passport lady and asked if the automated machine should be able to help me (she wasn't doing anything anyways). Even though I explained that I wasn't able to find the option on the machine she didn't offer to help me out by showing me. What's more, I actually asked if there's anyone else who can work the main line and she just said nope. I asked her if she thought that having just one person there after a long weekend was a good idea since so many people were waiting. With a big smile on her face, she said I'd have to talk to her manager about that.

So not only is this person not helpful she happily passes the buck.

And our tax dollars subsidize this private company?

Yes, the USPS is a private company, it's not a federal agency like the IRS. Amazing how well USPS can act like a typical govt agency.

Anyways, I didn't bother to complain since I didn't want to wait around longer. I went to the machine and after clicking around in a few places I found the option I was looking for and was on my way.

On my way home from work, I'm stopping by again just to lodge a complaint. See you tomorrow.

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