Bye

I'm going to refrain from posting on this blog while I am in China. Aside from a few (not in real time) twitter updates for the betting pool, I will try to post a photo a day on flickr. I'm not down with the web 2.0 shouting into the interwebs thing.

Well, we will see. Peace.

Adam in China Fantasy Betting Pool

You are invited to participate in the Adam in China Fantasy Betting Pool.

I am going to Hong Kong from March 30th-April 16th. Set bets on things that may or may not happen while I am there!

1. You have 100 points to bet. The minimum bet is 10 points per prediction. The maximum bet is 50.

2. All bets must add up to 100 points. All bets totaling more or less than 100 points will be disqualified. You can bet anywhere from 10-50 points on any amount of bets as long as your points total add up to 100.

3. Please place bets in this format.
10pts Adam buys a camera 2:1
20pts Adam spots Chinese hipsters 2:1
45pts Adam gets drunk at a Chinese bar 5:1
25pts Adam gets sick at some point on the trip 3:1

In this example, the user has spent 100 points on 4 bets. You do not have to put points in every bet, just the ones you like. So if one of those things come true, your payout would be "X" points bet times the bet odds. In the case of "Adam buys a camera", the odds are 2:1, so the payout for a 10 point bet would be 10x2= 20 points. If this still sounds confusing, just ask me to explain it to you more clearly.

4. Please send all submissions to augraphics@gmail.com. The best way to track my progress is to follow me on twitter (twitter.com/otheradam) as I will be posting progress as it happens. When I get back from the trip, I will tally up all the points and see who wins.

5. The person with the most points at the end will win an original Polaroid taken on the trip plus a copy of a photobook with photos from trip. The person with the second highest point total will win an original Polaroid.

6. This pool is only open to people who know Adam, no strangers please. All entries must be received by 6pm on Sunday 3/29/09. In the case of a tie, a random drawing will be held to determine the winner.

THE PREDICTIONS
1. Adam buys a camera 2:1
2. Adam spots Chinese hipsters 4:1
3. Adam spots a hot Chinese hipster 6:1
4. Adam befriends Chinese hipsters 25:1
5. Adam gets drunk at a Chinese bar 5:1
6. Adam finds a bar that has a high percentage of Chinese hipsters 15:1
7. Adam steps into a Chinese night club 10:1
8. Adam steps into a Chinese night club and stays for more than 10 minutes 15:1
9. Adam makes a Chinese friend that he isn't related to 10:1
10. Adam gets sick at some point on the trip 3:1
11. Adam's mom tries to set him up with a Chinese girl 15:1
12. Adam has a bonding moment with his sister 5:1
13. Adam gets a dirty look by a native because they can tell he is an ABC (American born Chinese) 10:1
14. Adam visits a rice paddy 8:1
15. Adam gets a haircut in Hong Kong 8:1
16. Adam bleaches his hair gold 30:1
17. Adam buys something that is made mostly of bamboo 5:1
18. Adam eats a piece of meat that is not from a cow, pig, chicken, duck or fish 10:1
19. Adam eats something funky and regrets it 7:1
20. Adam finds the Chinese equivalent of The L Magazine 8:1
21. Adam finds the Chinese equivalent of The L Magazine that is pocket-sized 15:1
22. Adam runs into someone he knows from America 25:1
23. Adam spots the Chinese version of someone he knows in America 5:1
24. Adam will have a spiritual awakening and end up closer to the motherland 5:1
25. Adam visits an area where there are no modern toilets 6:1

BONUS: Guess the amount of photos Adam takes on the trip (all formats total) and win 200 bonus points plus an original Polaroid. The closest estimate wins:

Ways to follow me on my trip:
TWITTER: http://www.twitter.com/otheradam
FLICKR: http://www.flickr.com/photos/otheradam
BLOG: http://augraphics.blogspot.com

St Patricks Day Weekend

I went to Philly last weekend. Totally forgot it was going to be Saint Patrick's Day "weekend." One of the worst "holidays," I must say. Bunch of frat boys running around drunk and dressed in green. It's like they get way more obnoxious and are everywhere all of a sudden. I remember 2 years ago, I ended up at Alligator Lounge on Saint Patrick's day for some reason - it was like any other night haha! No one in green or any bullshit. Seriously, do they really need an excuse to get drunk? Just do it...

Anyway, it was a pretty mellow visit. Didn't really do... anything. Spent the better half of it at Alex's suburban house 15 minutes outside of center city. Took some portraits of him while Nate worked on a grant proposal..



He's in this get-up because he was painting his neighbor's house. So we took photos between breaks. On Saturday night, we went to meet up with some college friends who have settled in the Philadelphia area. Corey had recently moved to King of Prussia for work.


Nate and Corey


Harney

Erica Harney is going to grad school at a school I don't remember the name of in central PA. U. Penn maybe? I think she said it was a four hour drive to get to Philly. We all met up at a bar called Monk's. It's a Belgium bar. There is a "good" beer scene in Philly. Between Monk's and Eulogy, they have good European beers covered.

Soojye and Paul came to meet up with us there too. After dinner we went to a bar that Sarah Davey bar tends at. It was totally spur of the moment thing. Shawn Spangler was drinking there when we went. It made the whole night awesome. I miss being around people I enjoy the company of (or just a lot of Alfred people at once). We were all semi-drunk and had a great time.


Corey, me, Soojye, Paul, Sarah Davey

Overall a pretty good trip. We really didn't do anything except go out Saturday night though. It's ok, Philly is pretty ass in my opinion. Nate keeps trying to convince me to move to Philly since one of his roommates are moving out but what is the point when NY is only 2 hours away?

sixtyseven - he and his sled

I might be able to string a narrative around all these photos of Alex and his baby blue sled.

Sixtysix - Alex

Went to visit Alex and Nate this weekend in Philadelphia. More details Tuesday or Wednesday, when the fricken scanner I just ordered on newegg arrives. Then I'll be able to summarize the trip with some Polaroids I took of surprise guests that I met up with/ran into.

For now, enjoy this portrait I took of Alex behind his house in his suburban home. Yes this is with the new camera, and it's awesome. View it bigger at my flickr page.

Bye Hasselblad, I hardly knew ye

I sold my Hasselblad today to a girl on Craigslist. I couldn't justify keeping it right now since I have no studio space to properly set up and don't have a lens that is good for portraits. Perhaps I will buy one in the future. That or a Mamiya RB67. (ehhh...)

Also, I think I'm going to buy a Fuji Polaroidesque camera and film to take to China and do a little project where I take a photo at set intervals (or just take a massive amount of Polaroids) and then do a self published book of them when I get back. That will require me to buy a scanner. Ugh, why am I doing this to myself?

Either way, I will take a ton of photos in Hong Kong/ Beijing. You can count on that.

Meeting people from the interwebs

As some of you (most?) know, last week I bought a new camera- the Canon 5d Mark II. I was browsing a photography forum two days ago and some guy had just bought it also but they didn't have the lens kit so he bought a different lens with it. Well he sort of jumped the gun because when you put down cash for a new camera, you tend to want a lens for it, any lens. So he picked up a 24-70mm F/2.8L that I debated on getting with this camera. It was either get the kit with a lens (24-105mm F/4L) or buy the body only and get this lens.

I didn't really give it much thought because buying either lens separately costs ~$1100. The kit "saves" me ~$300-400 on the lens. It's cheaper if you buy it with the body. So now this guy realized he wanted the extra reach (from 70-105mm) and I realized that I needed the larger aperture (F 2.8) because a lot of times I'm shooting bars and restaurants (dim light situations) so I decided to trade with him. Hey, this is a great deal for me, I "paid" $800 to get a new $1100 lens.



So I told him to meet me at Joe's (where else?) today and we did. He was a middle-aged man with a balding headline and glasses. That is a very stereotyped kind of photographer in my mind. Sort of like all the people who work at Calumet remind me of my college professor, Roger- mid 50 year old guys with glasses and all sorts of mustaches and monotone vests on.

The guy I met was obviously rich and had a ton of money to throw. He was telling me how he settled back into photography as a hobby (he doesn't shoot professionally but bought a $2700 camera and L glass!). He told me he was collecting cars for a while and then moved onto watches and had always liked to photograph the things he was collecting so he got into photography through it. Plus he takes lots of trips with his wife. They are going somewhere exotic in a few weeks. I don't remember what he said.

So we talked about cameras and things for a while and traded lenses. Oh yeah, the photo above is the new cover of the L, which I shot. I shot a ton of photos for the issue. Check it out.