Your Bio

06/16/2009 - Isn't it funny the paths that life takes? At 27 I have already lived so many different lives that when I really think about it I am astounded. This coming fall (2009) I will be moving to Bloomington, Indiana to study Near Eastern Language and Culture at Indiana University, as well as serving as their graduate assistant. It is my hope to combine my love for serving women in need with my passion for the Middle East and it's culture. Nope, photography doesn't add into that in the least, but its been a passion of mine since my father gave me my first 110 camera when I was 5 or 6. Now its just a hobby, but who knows what the future holds!

07/03/2008 - Yesterday, my new Olympus E-500 Evolt SLR Digital Camera arrived in the mail!! I am so so so so so excited! Lol, this means that there's going to be a lot more picture taking :)

-Danie

P.S. Ignore the HTML coding below. It's a guest tracker, so I can tell how many visitors enjoy this page, which they visit most, and how long they stay on this site. Hopefully it'll give me some good ideas on how to upgrade my little site so it is more enjoyable! Of course, any recomendations are always welcome ;o)


var gaJsHost = (("https:" == document.location.protocol) ? "https://ssl." : "http://www.");
document.write(unescape(""));


try {
var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker("UA-6353559-3");
pageTracker._trackPageview();
} catch(err) {}

Featured Galleries

SmugShots - IPhone Pics on the Go! : For useful comments and kewl photos check out the actual article! 

July 1, 2009, 5:00 am 
Readers’ Photos: What’s in Your Phone?
By David W. Dunlap
http://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/07/01/readers/

The little secret is getting less so. With almost every passing day, it seems that more and more professional photographers are admitting (perhaps a bit sheepishly) that, yes, there are moments when the Canon simply won’t do, when they just have to use their — cellphone. And there are many imaginative nonprofessionals who are also using this quirky photographic device to produce some intriguing images.

Exhibit A is the gallery that the photographer Chase Jarvis has gathered in response to the offer: “Who Wants My iPhone?” The idea was that entrants who submitted pictures taken by mobile devices would be eligible for Mr. Jarvis’s iPhone, well-used but in “tip-top” condition. 

How about you? Do you have a picture or two, taken with a mobile device, that you would rank among your best or most interesting work? Lens is putting together a readers’ gallery of its own. With this form, you can upload your photos. We extended this invitation pretty quietly last week and are repeating it now. (Sorry, no prizes.)

Among the first to respond to our earlier invitation was Allison V. Smith, 38, who lives in Dallas and whose professional résumé includes The Dallas Morning News, The Fort Worth Star-Telegram and The Santa Fe New Mexican. She also works as a freelancer for The Times.

Ms. Smith’s pictures, slightly vignetted through the use of the CameraBag app, portray a robust, eccentric, larger-than-life Texas landscape

“I shoot with a Hasselblad,” Ms. Smith said in a telephone interview on Tuesday, “but the fact that the iPhone had such a good camera on it, I can’t deny.” She confessed in our conversation that she had already stopped twice on the way to an assignment in Austin to take pictures with her phone. She left the Hasselblad in the car.

Her mobile phone pictures are typically just for fun, intended to be shared with friends through e-mail or on Facebook. But Ms. Smith also appreciates the cellphone’s strategic advantage. It’s relatively inconspicuous. And there are plenty of occasions when it’s easier to hold up an iPhone, quickly and nonchalantly, than it is to fish out a big professional camera — with all the attendant scrutiny from the kind of people who say “Can I help you?” when they really mean “Hey, stop taking pictures!”

The photographs above were taken at a taxidermy sale. “I was in Fort Worth on another assignment,” Ms. Smith said, “and I just had to stop by and see it.” Truth to tell, she said, the sale was so photogenic she wishes she’d gone armed with a better camera than an iPhone.

We’re glad she didn’t.


var gaJsHost = (("https:" == document.location.protocol) ? "https://ssl." : "http://www.");
document.write(unescape("%3Cscript src='" + gaJsHost + "google-analytics.com/ga.js' type='text/javascript'%3E%3C/script%3E"));


try {
var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker("UA-6353559-3");
pageTracker._trackPageview();
} catch(err) {}

SmugShots - IPhone Pics on the Go!

For useful comments and kewl photos check out the actual article! ...

Updated: Sep 14, 2008 8:32pm PST

Galleries

SmugShots - IPhone Pics on the Go! : For useful comments and kewl photos check out the actual article! 

July 1, 2009, 5:00 am 
Readers’ Photos: What’s in Your Phone?
By David W. Dunlap
http://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/07/01/readers/

The little secret is getting less so. With almost every passing day, it seems that more and more professional photographers are admitting (perhaps a bit sheepishly) that, yes, there are moments when the Canon simply won’t do, when they just have to use their — cellphone. And there are many imaginative nonprofessionals who are also using this quirky photographic device to produce some intriguing images.

Exhibit A is the gallery that the photographer Chase Jarvis has gathered in response to the offer: “Who Wants My iPhone?” The idea was that entrants who submitted pictures taken by mobile devices would be eligible for Mr. Jarvis’s iPhone, well-used but in “tip-top” condition. 

How about you? Do you have a picture or two, taken with a mobile device, that you would rank among your best or most interesting work? Lens is putting together a readers’ gallery of its own. With this form, you can upload your photos. We extended this invitation pretty quietly last week and are repeating it now. (Sorry, no prizes.)

Among the first to respond to our earlier invitation was Allison V. Smith, 38, who lives in Dallas and whose professional résumé includes The Dallas Morning News, The Fort Worth Star-Telegram and The Santa Fe New Mexican. She also works as a freelancer for The Times.

Ms. Smith’s pictures, slightly vignetted through the use of the CameraBag app, portray a robust, eccentric, larger-than-life Texas landscape

“I shoot with a Hasselblad,” Ms. Smith said in a telephone interview on Tuesday, “but the fact that the iPhone had such a good camera on it, I can’t deny.” She confessed in our conversation that she had already stopped twice on the way to an assignment in Austin to take pictures with her phone. She left the Hasselblad in the car.

Her mobile phone pictures are typically just for fun, intended to be shared with friends through e-mail or on Facebook. But Ms. Smith also appreciates the cellphone’s strategic advantage. It’s relatively inconspicuous. And there are plenty of occasions when it’s easier to hold up an iPhone, quickly and nonchalantly, than it is to fish out a big professional camera — with all the attendant scrutiny from the kind of people who say “Can I help you?” when they really mean “Hey, stop taking pictures!”

The photographs above were taken at a taxidermy sale. “I was in Fort Worth on another assignment,” Ms. Smith said, “and I just had to stop by and see it.” Truth to tell, she said, the sale was so photogenic she wishes she’d gone armed with a better camera than an iPhone.

We’re glad she didn’t.


var gaJsHost = (("https:" == document.location.protocol) ? "https://ssl." : "http://www.");
document.write(unescape("%3Cscript src='" + gaJsHost + "google-analytics.com/ga.js' type='text/javascript'%3E%3C/script%3E"));


try {
var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker("UA-6353559-3");
pageTracker._trackPageview();
} catch(err) {}

SmugShots - IPhone Pics on the Go!

For useful comments and kewl photos check out the actual article! ...

Updated: Sep 14, 2008 8:32pm PST

IMA: Breaking the Mode : 
var gaJsHost = (("https:" == document.location.protocol) ? "https://ssl." : "http://www.");
document.write(unescape("%3Cscript src='" + gaJsHost + "google-analytics.com/ga.js' type='text/javascript'%3E%3C/script%3E"));


try {
var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker("UA-6353559-3");
pageTracker._trackPageview();
} catch(err) {}

IMA: Breaking the Mode

var gaJsHost = (("https:" == document.location.protocol) ? "https:// ...

Updated: Jul 18, 2008 10:25pm PST

IMA: To Live Forever : To Live Forever: Egyptian Treasures from the Brooklyn Museum

July 13 - September 7, 2008
Indianapolis Museum of Art

To Live Forever explores the ancient Egyptian belief that death was an enemy that could be beaten through proper preparation. 120 objects, including statuary, coffins, jewelry and vessels, from the Brooklyn Museum's extensive, world-renowned collection tells the story of mummification, the funeral procession and rituals, the contents of the tomb, the final judgment, and the idealized afterlife. See funeral accessories that were used to defeat death and achieve success in the afterlife. 

http://www.imamuseum.org/exhibitions/toliveforever/


var gaJsHost = (("https:" == document.location.protocol) ? "https://ssl." : "http://www.");
document.write(unescape("%3Cscript src='" + gaJsHost + "google-analytics.com/ga.js' type='text/javascript'%3E%3C/script%3E"));


try {
var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker("UA-6353559-3");
pageTracker._trackPageview();
} catch(err) {}

IMA: To Live Forever

To Live Forever: Egyptian Treasures from the Brooklyn Museum July 1 ...

Updated: Jul 18, 2008 7:45pm PST

2008 Indiana State Fair : Historical State Fair Moments
http://www.in.gov/statefair/fair/index.html



var gaJsHost = (("https:" == document.location.protocol) ? "https://ssl." : "http://www.");
document.write(unescape("%3Cscript src='" + gaJsHost + "google-analytics.com/ga.js' type='text/javascript'%3E%3C/script%3E"));


try {
var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker("UA-6353559-3");
pageTracker._trackPageview();
} catch(err) {}

2008 Indiana State Fair

Historical State Fair Moments http://www.in.gov/statefair/fair/index. ...

Updated: Aug 18, 2008 7:34pm PST

Indianapolis : Capital city of the U.S. state of Indiana, and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana. The 2000 Census counted the city's population (excluding included towns) at 781,870. It is Indiana's most populous city and is the 13th largest city in the U.S., the third largest city in the Midwest, and the second most populous state capital (behind Phoenix, Arizona).

Like many other Rust Belt cities, Indianapolis has diversified its economic base in order to avoid relying solely on manufacturing. A large part of this diversification includes the hosting of events, especially sporting events. The labels of The Amateur Sports Capital of the World, and The Racing Capital of the World, have both been applied to Indianapolis.

The city is second only to Washington, D.C., for number of monuments inside city limits. There have been two United States Navy vessels named after Indianapolis, including the USS Indianapolis (CA-35) which suffered the worst single at-sea loss of life in the history of the U.S. Navy.

The Indianapolis metropolitan area has seen modest and steady growth among U.S. cities, with growth centered in the surrounding counties of Hamilton, Hendricks, and Johnson. Hamilton and Hendricks Counties are currently the fastest growing counties in Indiana and in the Midwest, although the state as a whole is only showing modest growth. Currently, the population of the combined statistical area stands at 2,014,267, making it the 23rd-largest CSA in the U.S.

The city of Indianapolis is referred to twelve times in the movie Uncle Buck.

The television sitcom One Day at a Time was set in Indianapolis. The opening credits of the show include a shot of the Pyramids, a set of three distinctive office buildings located near the northwestern edge of the city. The first seasons of Good Morning Miss Bliss (later to become Saved by the Bell) and Thunder Alley were set in Indianapolis. The American version of Men Behaving Badly and CBS's 2005 drama Close to Home were also set in Indianapolis. In a darker view, in the television show Jericho, Indianapolis is one of twenty-three American cities destroyed by nuclear weapons, a fate which also befalls the city in the Worldwar series of novels by Harry Turtledove.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indianapolis


var gaJsHost = (("https:" == document.location.protocol) ? "https://ssl." : "http://www.");
document.write(unescape("%3Cscript src='" + gaJsHost + "google-analytics.com/ga.js' type='text/javascript'%3E%3C/script%3E"));


try {
var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker("UA-6353559-3");
pageTracker._trackPageview();
} catch(err) {}

Indianapolis

Capital city of the U.S. state of Indiana, and the county seat of Mari ...

Updated: Jul 18, 2008 9:10pm PST

Street Artz : Street art is any art developed in public spaces — that is, "in the streets" — though the term usually refers to art of an illicit nature, as opposed to government sponsored initiatives. The term can include traditional graffiti artwork, stencil graffiti, sticker art, wheatpasting and street poster art, video projection, art intervention, guerrilla art, flash mobbing and street installations. Typically, the term Street Art or the more specific Post-Graffiti is used to distinguish contemporary public-space artwork from territorial graffiti, vandalism, and corporate art.

The motivations and objectives that drive street artists are as varied as the artists themselves. There is a strong current of activism and subversion in urban art. Street art can be a powerful platform for reaching the public, and frequent themes include adbusting, subvertising and other culture jamming, the abolishment of private property and reclaiming the streets. Other street artists simply see urban space as an untapped format for personal artwork, while others may appreciate the challenges and risks that are associated with installing illicit artwork in public places. However the universal theme in most, if not all street art, is that adapting visual artwork into a format which utilizes public space, allows artists who may otherwise feel disenfranchised, to reach a much broader audience than traditional artwork and galleries normally allow.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Street_art


var gaJsHost = (("https:" == document.location.protocol) ? "https://ssl." : "http://www.");
document.write(unescape("%3Cscript src='" + gaJsHost + "google-analytics.com/ga.js' type='text/javascript'%3E%3C/script%3E"));


try {
var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker("UA-6353559-3");
pageTracker._trackPageview();
} catch(err) {}

Street Artz

Street art is any art developed in public spaces — that is, "in the ...

Updated: Sep 19, 2008 9:36pm PST

NYC : New York City is comprised of five boroughs, an unusual form of government used to administer the five constituent counties that make up the city. Throughout the boroughs there are hundreds of distinct neighborhoods, many with a definable history and character to call their own. If the boroughs were each independent cities, four of the boroughs (Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan, and the Bronx) would be among the ten most populous cities in the United States.

The five boroughs: Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, The Bronx, Staten Island; Brooklyn (pop. 2,511,408) is the city's most populous borough and was an independent city until 1898. Brooklyn is known for its cultural, social and ethnic diversity, an independent art scene, distinct neighborhoods and a unique architectural heritage. It is also the only borough outside of Manhattan with a distinct downtown area. The borough features a long beachfront and Coney Island, established in the 1870s as one of the earliest amusement grounds in the country.

Manhattan (pop. 1,593,200) is the most densely populated borough and home to most of the city's skyscrapers, as well as Central Park. The borough is the financial center of the city and contains the headquarters of many major corporations, the United Nations, as well as a number of important universities, and many cultural attractions, including numerous museums, the Broadway theatre district, Greenwich Village, and Madison Square Garden. Manhattan is loosely divided into Lower, Midtown, and Uptown regions. Uptown Manhattan is divided by Central Park into the Upper East Side and the Upper West Side, and above the park is Harlem. 

The building form most closely associated with New York City is the skyscraper that saw New York buildings shift from the low-scale European tradition to the vertical rise of business districts. New York City has about 4493 skyscrapers, more than any other city in the world. Surrounded mostly by water, the city's residential density and high real estate values in commercial districts saw the city amass the largest collection of individual, free-standing office and residential towers in the world.

New York has architecturally significant buildings in a wide range of styles. These include the Woolworth Building (1913), an early gothic revival skyscraper built with massively scaled gothic detailing able to be read from street level several hundred feet below. The 1916 Zoning Resolution required setback in new buildings, and restricted towers to a percentage of the lot size, to allow sunlight to reach the streets below. The Art Deco design of the Chrysler Building (1930), with its tapered top and steel spire, reflected the zoning requirements. The building is considered by many historians and architects to be New York's finest building, with its distinctive ornamentation such as replicas at the corners of the 61st floor of the 1928 Chrysler eagle hood ornaments and V-shaped lighting inserts capped by a steel spire at the tower's crown. A highly influential example of the international style in the United States is the Seagram Building (1957), distinctive for its facade using visible bronze-toned I-beams to evoke the building's structure. The Condé Nast Building (2000) is an important example of green design in American skyscrapers.

The character of New York's large residential districts is often defined by the elegant brownstone rowhouses, townhouses, and shabby tenements that were built during a period of rapid expansion from 1870 to 1930. Stone and brick became the city's building materials of choice after the construction of wood-frame houses was limited in the aftermath of the Great Fire of 1835. Unlike Paris, which for centuries was built from its own limestone bedrock, New York has always drawn its building stone from a far-flung network of quarries and its stone buildings have a variety of textures and hues. A distinctive feature of many of the city's buildings is the presence of wooden roof-mounted water towers. In the 1800s, the city required their installation on buildings higher than six stories to prevent the need for excessively high water pressures at lower elevations, which could burst municipal water pipes. Garden apartments became popular during the 1920s in outlying areas, including Jackson Heights in Queens, which became more accessible with expansion of the subway.


var gaJsHost = (("https:" == document.location.protocol) ? "https://ssl." : "http://www.");
document.write(unescape("%3Cscript src='" + gaJsHost + "google-analytics.com/ga.js' type='text/javascript'%3E%3C/script%3E"));


try {
var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker("UA-6353559-3");
pageTracker._trackPageview();
} catch(err) {}

NYC

Penrod Arts Fair : "Indiana's Nicest Day" is set for 6 September on the grounds of the Indianapolis Museum of Art, 4000 North Michigan Road, Indianapolis.

The Penrod Arts Fair has been held annually on the first Saturday after Labor Day since 1967. The Penrod Arts Fair attracts over 30,000 people to the grounds of the Indianapolis Museum of Art to listen to music, watch performing artists and purchase thousands of dollars of art. All proceeds from this one day extravaganza provide grants that are allocated to Indianapolis area arts organizations.

It's sponsored by the Penrod Society, which was formed in 1967 by a group of 12 young men as a vehicle to support the cultural and educational activities of Indianapolis area artists, students, and arts organizations. The name is taken from Indianapolis native Booth Tarkington's fictional character, Penrod Schoefield. 
http://eyeonindianapolis.blogspot.com/2008/08/penrod-arts-fair-is-6-september.html

Also Check Out:

www.penrod.org/artsfair.html 
www.indy.com/events/view/78136


var gaJsHost = (("https:" == document.location.protocol) ? "https://ssl." : "http://www.");
document.write(unescape("%3Cscript src='" + gaJsHost + "google-analytics.com/ga.js' type='text/javascript'%3E%3C/script%3E"));


try {
var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker("UA-6353559-3");
pageTracker._trackPageview();
} catch(err) {}

Penrod Arts Fair

"Indiana's Nicest Day" is set for 6 September on the grounds of the In ...

Updated: Sep 19, 2008 9:10pm PST

Syria - Maaloula, & Seidnaya : Seidnaya
This village, where houses are built around a rock with a very old monastery at the top, is considered a place for religious pilgrimage. A steep climb is the only way up to the monastery, which is said to date back to the Emperor Justinian. 

Legend has it that the Virgin Mary appeared to Justinian and asked him to found the monastery. After entering through a maze of passages you finally reach the Chapel of the Virgin. The walls are covered with beautiful icons including one said to have been painted by St. Luke. This chapel was very famous to Christians and at one point was the second Christian place of pilgrimage after Jerusalem, the crusaders called it "Notre Dame de Sardeneye".

Another chapel is the one dedicated to St. Peter (Mar Boutros), which is converted from an ancient tomb.

Maaloula
By far,  the most important Christian site in Syria, is the magnificent village of Maaloula. In Syria it means "the entrance", probably referring to the gorge in between the mountains. MALLOULA IS THE ONLY VILLAGE IN THE WORLD THAT STILL SPEAKS ARAMAIC, the language of Jesus Christ. 

This village, with its houses piled on top of one another on the side of the mountain, makes it one of the prettiest villages in Syria. 

Although Maaloula dates back very far in history, there are only two chapels and few remains that date very far back. The first chapel is the St. Sergius convent (Mar Sarkis), a Greek Catholic chapel, has a beautiful display of icons on the entrance to the altar. This chapel is considered one of the oldest, if not the oldest, in Christendom. Downward into the village is the other chapel, a Greek Orthodox institution dedicated to St Thecla (Mar Taqla), is located in the lower monastery. The Saint, said to be a pupil of St Paul's, is supposed to be buried in the mountain just above the monastery. 


http://www.syriagate.com/Syria/about/cities/Damascus/outskirt.htm


var gaJsHost = (("https:" == document.location.protocol) ? "https://ssl." : "http://www.");
document.write(unescape("%3Cscript src='" + gaJsHost + "google-analytics.com/ga.js' type='text/javascript'%3E%3C/script%3E"));


try {
var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker("UA-6353559-3");
pageTracker._trackPageview();
} catch(err) {}

Syria - Maaloula, & Seidnaya

Seidnaya This village, where houses are built around a rock with a ve ...

Updated: Jul 06, 2008 1:02pm PST

IMA: European Design Since 1985 : European Design Since 1985: Shaping of the New Century Thur 03/05/09 To Sun 06/21/09 
Organized by the IMA, this exhibition redefines two recent major movements—Modernism and Postmodernism—which have not only shaped design in Europe but have also had a profound impact worldwide. View 250 works of furniture, glass, ceramics, metalwork and more, created by some of the most influential artists of our time. The works include everyday, mass-produced objects with exceptional artistic merit (including some recognizable name-brand items), and experimental and conceptual product designs that blur the lines between design, art and craft. The project has been organized in cooperation with the Denver Art Museum and Kingston University, London.

IMA: European Design Since 1985

European Design Since 1985: Shaping of the New Century Thur 03/05/09 T ...

Updated: Mar 13, 2009 2:56pm PST

Ava James Banners : For more information visit:

http://www.avajamesromance.blogspot.com/



var gaJsHost = (("https:" == document.location.protocol) ? "https://ssl." : "http://www.");
document.write(unescape("%3Cscript src='" + gaJsHost + "google-analytics.com/ga.js' type='text/javascript'%3E%3C/script%3E"));


try {
var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker("UA-6353559-3");
pageTracker._trackPageview();
} catch(err) {}

Ava James Banners

For more information visit: http://www.avajamesromance.blogspot.com ...

Updated: Sep 26, 2008 3:42pm PST

St. Louis 2009 : St. Louis was the fourth largest single city in the United States at the beginning of the 20th century, although the city proper has since slipped to 52nd. The 1904 World's Fair and 1904 Olympic Games, the first ever held in the United States, were both held in St. Louis. The St. Louis region is home to some of the country's largest privately-held corporations, including Enterprise Rent-A-Car, Graybar, Scottrade, Edward Jones, and is also home to some of the largest public corporations, including Emerson, Energizer, Anheuser Busch-InBev, Boeing Integrated Defense Systems, Purina, Express Scripts, Charter Communications, Monsanto, and Wachovia Securities.

The city has many nicknames, the most popular being "Gateway City", as it is seen as the Eastern/Western US dividing mark. St. Louis is also called "Gateway to the West" on behalf of the many people who migrated west through St. Louis via the Missouri River (first leg of the Oregon Trail) and other wagon trails.

St. Louis lies at the heart of Greater St. Louis, a metropolitan area of nearly three million people in both Missouri and Illinois. The Illinois portion is commonly known as the Metro-East. The Greater St. Louis area was the 16th largest metro area in the U.S. as of the July 2007 US Census estimate, with 2,871,421 people.

For more info check out: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Louis

St. Louis 2009

St. Louis was the fourth largest single city in the United States at t ...

Updated: Jun 16, 2009 1:00pm PST