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.

Views of Cambodia

Here are a few pictures of my time here in Cambodia. Just a sampling of life here and how I see it.

I'm Back!!!!!!!

After more than a year hiatus, I am beginning my blog once more. Hopefully someone out there is still at least a little interested in what I have been up to and what I am doing now.

I have left the Connection Newspapers and the newspapers business. I was accepted into and enrolled at Brandeis University for a graduate program in Sustainable International Development. Don’t ask me what that means, I have not figured it out yet, but am working on it. I spent the last year on campus in Waltham, Mass, just outside of Boston, for the on campus portion of the program. Since June, I have been in Phnom Penh, Cambodia for the second-year off campus-required portion. I will be here until the end of February. I am working with an organization called Equal Access. Equal Access is an organization that uses communication has a form of development through social and behavioral change, mainly through the use of innovative radio programs.

I have enjoyed my time here in Cambodia learning more about the field of international development and hopefully finding something I can be interested in and passionate about in this new life direction of mine. Cambodia is a beautiful country that is emerging from years of horrible atrocities and a period of genocide. Cambodians, for the most part, are looking to the future, but without forgetting the past. Over half the population is under the age of 18, so youth development is of vital importance here, and it is a difficult path to chart.

Enough of work and the reasons for development here, Cambodia, is truly a beautiful country. There are hundreds of ancient Hindu, and Buddhist temples dotting the countryside, none more famous than Angkor Wat in Siem Reap. This is a massive complex of over 20 temples in one general area, with Angkor Wat being the biggest. Angkor Wat is the largest religious complex in the world and has stood for thousands of years. There are also amazing, remote and undeveloped beaches, which are wonderful due to a lack of technology and crowds.

Well, I guess that’s it for now. I promise I will make a better effort for now on to maintain regular updates, with photos of course, to my blog.

Graduation Season

Our high school graduation season has recently finished and I am very happy about this. Over a two week period I attended and covered 16 graduations. Here are a few from those ceremonies.

Sports Weekend

This past weekend was the high school state championships and we had five teams playing in three sports with three state champs. First was girls soccer and then girls and boys lacrosse.

It is that time of the year again, when the weather is pretty warm and nice and everything happens at once. Yes, it is prom and carnival season and post-seasons sports time. Yes, I said prom. We cover all of our school's proms, over 30. Will do the same for graduations also in just a few weeks.

This update includes my first prom of the season, an artsy-fartsy pic from a carnival and then soccer and a bike-to-work commuter.