Now that Spring has arrived, for the most part, it is time for area youth baseball and softball leagues to begin. These photos are from opening day of a local softball league.

Championship Weekend

I know it has been a while since I have posted to my blog, but hopefully this changes now. Now that I have back to photography full-time, I hope to have more images and words of wisdom, or coolness, to share. These photos are from two high school basketball games I covered this weekend, I am little rusty but I liked these.

DSLR vs. Cell Phones

I love wondering around town with my camera taking pictures of whatever interests me, but my camera is bulky and to big to carry around sometimes. With cellphone cameras, it makes this spontaneous picture taking much easier, I just wish they were better quality. These were taken at the National Portrait Gallery and around the D.C. Chinatown neighborhood.

Buddhist Alms Ceremony

I recently had the opportunity to photograph a Buddhist Alms ceremony and consider myself honored for the chance. It reminded me of seeing Cambodians give alms to monks’ everyday as I walked around the streets of Phnom Penh during my time in Cambodia. It is something to see people, many of which can barely afford to buy food for themselves and family, give money and food to monks on a daily basis because of their strong religious beliefs.

Occupy DC Movement

I’ve been bad at keeping this blog up to date, but am going to begin doing a better job. It will probably be a mix of photos that I take along with some commentary about issues of international development and other things.

So, I will kick-off with some photos of the Occupy D.C. movement in D.C. The local Washington D.C. government and the U.S. Park Police have been pretty flexible on letting protesters stay camping in McPherson Square and Freedom Plaza, but have been growing tired of the tactics and behavior of some of the protestors. These photos show some tense moments in the life of the camp at McPherson Square over the last few weeks. I am personally divided of how I feel about the Occupy movement. On one hand, I support the ideals of the Occupy movement, since I am most certainly a member of the 99-percent, and am having problems finding a full-time job. On the other hand, the actions of a few are turning me away from the movement. Those who are participating also seem to have no sense of organization, no real action plan, besides camping out. Anyways, here are a few photos from the past two weekends.

A Humbling Experience

Today I visited the Genocide Museum for the first since I have been in Cambodia. I have been debating about whether or not to go. I know a little bit about what happened during the time of the Khmer Rouge and have even heard stories from people who lived during that time, but wasn’t sure going to see the museum would be worthwhile. I was wrong.

The museum was originally a school, which was turned into a prison/torture facility by the Khmer Rouge. Thousands of people were imprisoned, tortured and died here. Walking through the halls and classrooms, which had been converted into prison cells and torture rooms was haunting and an emotional experience. Much of the facility is still in the condition it was when the Khmer Rouge abandoned it. The tiny one-person cells still exist, where blood and even handprints, can still be seen on some of the walls. The beds were prisoners were tortured still sit in many of the rooms with torture tools laying on them. In one room, there are cabinets of human skulls of victims of the facility.

I am not the most emotional person in the world, but this experience was emotional. There are thousands of mug shots of Cambodians whim were imprisoned here, including pictures of people being tortured. It was worth a visit if anyone ever visits Cambodia.

My experience in Cambodia continues to be a great experience, both emotionally and career wise. Work is starting to pick-up and I am getting more responsibilities and experiences. The more I learn about using communication strategies for social change, the more I become interested in pursuing this area in my future career.

Here are some photos from the Genocide Museum.

More Views from Cambodia

Here are a few more pictures from my first 4-months in Cambodia.