my photography

I took this photo on my second trip to NYC in 2001 with my very first camera, a Nikon N65 w/ Nikkor 28-80mm AF-D zoom, which I am actually selling today. Coming from a small town in Texas, New York and everything that is The City changed me and that camera gave me images to remind me later of the memories long forgotten. It was there beneath the towering skyscrapers that I declared my first passion, architecture, and with my first roll of film developed, my second passion of photography was born. Two passions grew from one trip, to one city. The first followed me into college and then into a career of architecture but photography as always been lingering around, hiding in the shadow's details. Armed with a new camera and a new lens my love of photography has been blown wide open again. This photo represents what I found to love in a simple strip of film saturated with the light of a past image: memory. The glory of a taking a photograph is that you can make that memory say whatever you want. Communication through imagery. Passion without words. This is only the beginning...

Santa Monica College Performing Arts Center

© 2009 Jared E Photography

green paint - paint green

"Even if you’ve taken the steps to weatherproof, insulate, and seal up all of your home’s energy-sapping drafty spaces, you may be alarmed to find that your home’s interior is far from eco-friendly. Studies done by the EPA have shown that indoor air quality can be just as bad, or worse, than outdoor air quality. One of the culprits is all over your walls – paint. Despite their awkwardly earth-unfriendly logo, Sherwin-Williams has launched several lines of paint that claim to offer eco-friendly alternatives to standard VOC-laden paints" - read on for an in-depth look at the company’s efforts to go green at Inhabitat.com.

wordless wednesday

© 2009 Jared E Photograhy

ecofont ink saver

Ecofont is a brand new typeface, designed by some Dutch geniuses, that's made up of tiny little holes. Since most printer cartridges end up in landfills and the more ink we use, the more garbage we create, Spranq designed a font that uses 20 percent less ink by simply removing as much of each letter as possible, while still leaving it readable. Basically, the whizzes got rid of the line that connects the dots to create the characters. It's free to download and use, so there's no reason not to. Originally found on Daily Candy, you can get your very own Ecofont here.

can you spot the bubble?

11.2 — months supply
4.2 million — number of unsold homes
4.02 million — homes sold on an annual basis
10.6% — drop from a year ago
$181,300 — median price, down 13.2% from a year ago
11.5 — months supply of new homes
407,000 — annualized new home sales for November
35.3% — drop from a year ago
$220,000 — median price for new home, 11.5% drop Nov '07
Sources: National Association of Realtors, U.S. Commerce, U.S. Census.
Analysis:
Housingcrisis.com
Wall Street Journal
Calculated Risk

AfH, game point

Concerning the state of architecture today:
Read the New York Time's take and then
Read Architecture for Humanity's response

Architecture for Humanity: 1
New York Times: 0

And the debate goes on...

matchstick garden

Tear off a match, stick it in soil, and add water; then watch a miniature garden grow. Each set will grow a patch of Basil, Thyme, Chives and Parsley. So instead of using a match to smoke, use a match to spice up that bland pasta from last night. That's the magic of Matchstick Garden. ($12.50 for five)

vatican goes solar

Vatican City has just installed 2,400 photovoltaic solar panels on the 5,000 square meter roof of Nervi Hall where popes hold general audiences. Check out this link; the photos of this installation are actually really good and they highlight the architect's ability to keep this installation of flat panels from being predictably mundane and for a lack of a better word, flat. First found on Inhabitat.com.

it's just a little break

Thanks everyone for the tremendous feedback and I promise to respond to all your requests asap. And yes, I have more posts coming soon! I’ve been busy busy (aren't we all?) and blogging unfortunately has taken a back seat, but check back often and get some more, por favor.

revisiting Obamianty

Now that we, as proud American citizens, have cast our vote and [finally] elected our new president I want to take a look back at a post I wrote on February 8th, 2008 just after Super Tuesday called Obamaianity. I couldn't help but feel the content of this article was more than appropriate for a re-post after having seen the amazing emotion and celebration upon the announcement that Obama would officially be our 44th President. You may read into the article all you wish, but I'm actually not making a political statement for or against Obama or any other previous candidate for the office of the presidency. My intent rather was to take a look at the American voting public's response to this once long-shot candidate, and now President Barack Obama.

There’s been a political wave moving through the country and now that Super Tuesday is over it looks like it’s about to come ashore. I’m calling it Obamaianity. A snippet of it was presented to me the other morning as the idea that people see Obama almost like a senatorial preacher, declaring the gospel of political hope and governing prosperity. Most of his speeches feel less like political meandering and more like pastoral reconciliation. This gleaming image of a political redeemer is only reinforced by Obama’s own claim to faith, hope and change in an unashamedly religious context. He’s quite quick to point out his personal religious beliefs and how they are intertwined with his political leanings. Check out his campaign Mailer. If you didn’t know anything about him, you might think he is a preacher running for command in chief, but a preacher he is not although he is admittedly Christian. But this isn’t about Christians aligning to Obama like they are to Mike Huckabee, because as a whole they aren’t doing that. It’s about people who haven’t found hope and who think they can find that hope in him. His aura of faith and change has carried him so high that he seems to be above having to answer questions about current political issues. Strong Obama supports would disagree, but they support him admittedly for his stance on the issues not only his promise of change. On the other hand, to those who are turning to him for hope, not because he is pro-choice, he carries with him an air of a pastor leading his congregation to D.C.

The general voting public has become completely fixated with his presidential demeanor and enthusiastic speeches. So much so that his following has increasingly included those who want change regardless of his voting record as the most liberal member of the senate and his far left political views. The fact is- he’s just so likable and inspiring. There are those who don’t like Hilary for her views yet they willingly support Obama despite his more liberal record, Democrats and Republicans alike. Newsweek has even called crossing Republicans entering his camp Obamacans. It’s not a far stretch to say he’s aligned himself to be perceived as the savior for our country and the one to lead us to the promise land of comprehensive healthcare, a thriving economy and…we’ll I don’t know what else- because he amazingly hasn’t focused on the issues, just that he will create change. This rhetoric of change has been abstract at best yet none the less inspiring. The underlining current of Obamaianity is a subconscious attraction, not just to an idea of hope, but to the belief that it will actually be delivered by him. Undoubtedly there are countless people who crave hope, change, security and the belief that someone can bring them peace and after listening to just one of Obama’s “change” speeches one gets the feeling that he can be that person. That’s what attracts so many to Obama. From the pulpit he rains down inspiring messages to masses of people who are in search for something more out of life. It’s so interesting how people have latched on to him, not in a political supportive manner, but in a pastoral leader way. The question that must be asked is- how is he, in the office of the presidency, going to act for the best of our country? For those who agree with Obama on all his positions, by all means support your candidate and vote on. But to those who hear a message of hope and prosperity and don’t care to look beyond mere inspiration, be careful for what you ask for; you just might get it…and that’s Obamaianity.

watermill me some air

As found on Inhabitat.com:

What if we could, like mythical alchemists, change stone into gold; or like Superman, make coal into diamonds by squeezing it with our bare hands? In possession of such powers might we choose to create something that could make the world a better place? Element Four seems to have answered this not-so-hypothetical question with a resounding “yes” with the WaterMill, a water purification and filtration system that creates “fresh, potable water from an unlimited source: the air.”

Unlike other water harvesting systems such as fog and dew collectors which rely on a delicate combination of surface area and atmospheric conditions, and similar large-scale systems like WatAir which have more practical concerns such as special permits and community approval, the WaterMill is a small, relatively simple home appliance that draws moisture from the outside air and condenses it into fresh potable water. More robust than hacked dehumidifier systems like the AquaMaker and Air2Water, the WaterMill promises to provide 3.2 gallons of drinking water a day under ideal conditions - enough for a family of six.

While the elegant design of the WaterMill is striking, its real breakthrough seems to be its efficiency. According to Element Four, the WaterMill operates “at a cost of approximately 11 cents per gallon (three cents per liter), the average operating cost of 35 cents a day is a fraction of that of bottled water, which averages around $4.00 per day for the same amount of water.” Not bad!

If water scarcity is the “most underestimated resource issue facing the world today,” as reported by the Earth Policy Institute, then every measure taken to mitigate the crisis is a welcome one. Look for residential units of the WaterMill to be available next year, with more flexible units for everything from crop irrigation to peace keeping and disaster relief available in the near future.

fact check this

The following information comes from factcheck.org. With so much instant information on the internet and in the media going unchecked, I advise everyone to refer to reputable bipartisan, nonprofit organizations such as factcheck.org to find out the truth behind what politicians are saying. The seemingly small difference between a stretch of the truth and a flat out lie can mean everything. It's unfortunate that politicians (and even worse the media) somehow have no accountability to tell the truth and have no consequences for when they don't. It's up to us to know better. So before you go on a political rampage against your opposing candidate you better get your facts straight.
____________________________________________________________________

McCain and Obama debated for the second time, in Nashville. We noted some misleading statements and mangled facts:

• McCain proposed to write down the amount owed by over-mortgaged homeowners and claimed the idea as his own: “It’s my proposal, it's not Sen. Obama's proposal, it's not President Bush's proposal.” But the idea isn’t new. Obama had endorsed something similar two weeks earlier, and authority for the treasury secretary to grant such relief was included in the recently passed $700 billion financial rescue package.

• Both candidates oversimplified the causes of the financial crisis. McCain blamed it on Democrats who resisted tighter regulation of federal mortgage agencies. Obama blamed it on financial deregulation backed by Republicans. We find both are right, with plenty of blame left over for others, from home buyers to the chairman of the Federal Reserve.

• Obama said his health care plan would lower insurance premiums by up to $2,500 a year. Experts we’ve consulted see little evidence such savings would materialize.

• McCain misstated his own health care plan, saying he’d give a $5,000 tax credit to “every American” His plan actually would provide only $2,500 per individual, or $5,000 for couples and families. He also misstated Obama’s health care plan, claiming it would levy fines on “small businesses” that fail to provide health insurance. Actually, Obama’s plan exempts “small businesses.”

• McCain lamented that the U.S. was forced to “withdraw in humiliation” from Somalia in 1994, but he failed to note that he once proposed to cut off funding for troops to force a faster withdrawal.

• Obama said, “I favor nuclear power.” That’s a stronger statement than we've heard him make before. As recently as last December, he said, “I am not a nuclear energy proponent.”

• McCain claimed “1.3 million people in America make their living off eBay.” Actually, only 724,000 persons in the U.S. have income from eBay, and only some of them rely on it as their primary source.

curbed LA goes to Cabrillo

Our client sold his house on Curbed LA...check it out here.

wordless wednesday