Photographer Report - Annie Leibovitz (Disney Series)

I had the chance to see an Annie Leibovitz gallery in Balboa a couple years ago, and was mesmerized by her work. Most of her images seemed to focus on celebrities and pop culture in general - to me, there were a lot of sensationalized images.


As a big Disney fan, I was surprised to find out that 1) Annie Leibovitz was going to doing a series of images combining celebrities and classic scenes from Disney animated films, and 2) I even knew who Annie Leibovitz was. Really, it made me feel cultured, if even only a little bit.

On the surface this is consumerism in its prime, but me being biased towards Disney, I find the charm in the series. I think there's something otherwordly about them - two worlds that really shouldn't exist in one, yet they do. They are jarring, yet somehow natural.

Photographer Report - David Michael

David Michael, or "darkbeer" as he is known online, is a theme park photographer, best known for his work on the website www.miceage.com. His is job basically to provide images to narrate editorials by online Disney insiders who dish on the latest news stories regarding the future of the theme parks. Through his work, Michael frequently deviates from this and captures random images from the park - often small details that the everyday parkgoer would overlook, like an oddly placed statue or a mother duck with her ducklings in the Rivers of America. For all that is artifical in the Disney theme parks, there is actually a good amount of wildlife who choose to take up residence in Disney's manmade landscapes.

He has also found a good hobby in creating a library of downloadable windows wallpapers, most.y comprised of images from the parks. He can be found on darkbeer.smugmug.com.

FIELDTRIP REPORT - Quail Gardens

My final field trip for Advanced Digital Arts - QUAIL GARDENS.

I'd been before, but not in the same context. A few years ago, I somehow ended up here one December evening with a group of friends, where they were having a Christmas celebration, complete with lights, carolers, and free marshmallow roasting. It was pretty awesome, but I couldn't really get a good grasp on what was really going on here.


To be completely honest, I really didn't take many pictures of California native plants, and the few I did take weren't very good. I had to hike quite a ways to find them, and by the time I did, I'd already passed many other much more interesting and beautiful plants from all over the world that really dwarfed the California natives in style by comparison. As such, my best photos are from other parts of the gardens.


It really was hard to sort through my pics at the end of the day, as the gardens very amazing and there were so many different kidns of plants. It was almost like something out of a dream or fantasy novel - just a really cool place that somehow exists right in our own backyard.


This was another solo trip for me, so there's really not a whole lot to say as far as trip happenings - just a case of me showing up, wandering around for an hour and enjoying the scenery. I'll probably be back here.

FIELDTRIP REPORT - Las Pilitas Nursery

The drive out here by myself was really something I'd been needing for a while - after a few weeks of Big Love related craziness, a lengthy drive through some pretty scenery with reflective music was great.


The trip itself was a little weird, as there was really no one here aside from a guy hanging out at the information booth. Despite this, I had pictures to take, so take pictures I did!



Most of these plants I'd seen in other field trips (mainly Tree of Life), but I did like the setup they had going here at this nursery, set against a valley and under a lot of trees and vegetation. It seems it would be a pretty relaxing place to live and/or work.


As I was by myself, I didn't stay for too long, but it was a fun little outing regardless.

FUNES Digital Art Competition

Here's my entries:

Poster I designed for a play I was in. Charles Mee said he likes it.



A Leaf. YES.




I like DDR. A lot.

FIELDTRIP REPORT - Indian Rock Garden

The same group of us had carpooled for the last 3 fieldtrips, and I felt kind of guilty for not volunteering to drive until the trip that was most local out of any of them. I think somewhere in my mind I had planned on also driving to Camp Pendleton, but that trip never panned out, so now I must live with my guilt forever.



The location for this trip was somewhere I wouldn't have expected - in the middle of the pad part of Vista, there is a very nice neighborhood, and in the middle of that neighborhood there is this random rock garden place - unexpected, but cool.



The site itself was not very big, but full of vegetation. Perhaps the best part of this trip for me was the view of Vista and Oceanside and all the surroundings. What an amazing view! I don't know why, but I have a thing with sweeping vistas such as the one there - they make me very contemplative.

The rock itself was very imposing, and something about it made me want to conquer it. So yeah, I just kinda climbed up all over it, which apparently they weren't happy about, but I'd like to think many from my class got some good pictures out of it.

Some other miscellaneous notes about this trip:

- a small lemon grove reminded me of the secret garden and was a cool place to hide.
- free sandwiches! they really went out of their way for us and for that I am grateful.
- the tour guide type person reminds me of John Hammond in the pictures I took of him, even though he acted nothing like him in person.



This trip was an all around good time, despite me being yelled at for climbing on things. I’d say that was balanced out nicely by the free food, though. And because we can never have enough pictures of Zane looking weird, I will end this writeup with just that.

FIELDTRIP REPORT - Rincon - Digging Adventures!!!

I've been a lot of places this semester and done a lot of things, and for some reason this day put a lot of that into perspective. Two thoughts frequently came to mind throughout the trip, the first being ‘so, I took Advanced Digital Arts to learn how to dig holes?’, and the second being, ‘wow, this morning I was in lecture, and now I’m standing in the middle of this gorgeous valley somehow.’ Despite my confusion, this turned out to be a wonderful experience overall.




The trip started pleasantly, as the last one did, with a fun group of people to carpool with. I always enjoy drives out into Valley Center for whatever reason - it's fun to leave my typical suburban surroundings, and make me happy that I don't have to go very far to do it.

Not long after arrival, we were thrust into the work flow. A large patch of the valley had been divided into four sectors, and we were counted off into groups to start planting. They were sure to mix up people from the different classes, so I got to know some people through the experience.


As I will surely reiterate multiple times, I don't know, nor do I pretend to know anything about plants, and since I didn't take notes I can't speak of what exactly we were putting in the ground. All I know is that we had a method that worked pretty well - Someone arranged plants, I dug holes next to them, and our two remaining members removed the plants from their containers and planted them. Our efficient assembly line method made for a quick process, and allowed us to finish before most groups.


After planting, we were treated with powdered donuts and given Rincon coffee mugs as gifts, both of which I was happy about. At some point during my taking advantage of their hospitality, the rest of my class seemingly disappeared - I later discovered they went on a hike in the hills. While they did that, I was snatched up to help set up irrigation systems. Again, something entirely unexpected (never did I think I would be doing this during college for any reason,) but a pleasant learning experience.


At the end of the trip, I did not hesitate to snatch up an entire case of powedered donuts for the ride home - this was a bad idea, as a trip to Chipotle followed shortly after.