Good Morning Autumn!

I'm very happy with the fall colors that have settled in the past few weeks. The cool air and the interestingly foggy mornings. An early morning in late September I woke up to go to shoot a funeral for a fallen soldier whom I knew nothing about. The story behind that, is somewhat of a weird one. Long story short: I was going to a military cemetery with some patriotic bikers one min and the next, I wasn't (due to a Harley starter issue). I was a bit disappointed when I looked outside. It would have been the perfect morning to be in a military cemetery with a camera. Not to be excited for a funeral or anything, but, with all due respect, I kinda was.

Take a look and tell me what you think. Would it have been a perfect morning, or what?


The fog enveloping the rows and rows of white headstones. Lending an eerie effect to the folding of the flag and the salute of gunfire. It seems kind of wrong to think that I would have enjoyed the tast of photographing it, but I would have loved to be able to capture that type of emotion. While myself, being overwhelmed by many thoughts, feelings, and the constant reminder of the reality that he was not the only one who died to keep us free.

For more shots of this foggy autumn morning see my fotki web album : Autumn Morning

The Flood of 2008

In my last post I mentioned that we had a major flood here in Wood Dale and many of the surrounding cities/towns.

While all eyes were on Texas in early September, rain too was falling in Illinois.

Rain fell for two days straight: Saturday, the 13, and Sunday, the 14 of September. The rain was pouring so hard that we broke record accumulation for all of September in the second week of the month. 12.61 inches of rain fell that weekend, flooding our community and most of the cities around us. All of the reservoirs were full by the end of Saturday. The Salt Creek, less than a block away from my house, had risen to it's highest height. There was nowhere for the (still pouring) rain to go.

2am Sunday morning, after removing all the valuables from the basement in preparation, our yard and all the yards on our street were flooded. I'm not sure of the time line. I don't watch the news and I wasn't really paying attention to the clock. All I know is, when I woke up Sunday morning, there would be no piling in the van and heading to the church as the usual schedule goes. There would though, most certainly, be praying. Praying that the two lake pumps and three standard sump pumps we had somehow gained possession of, would keep the quickly rising water level out of our, newly finished, basement.

The houses(single level homes w/o basements) on Grove, our adjacent street, had taken the worse blow. The house directly next to us was about 3ft under water. All of the families, from (my street)Center St to Commercial St, were evacuated from their homes(Map).

We were surrounded by water. Struggling to get enough sandbags to baracade our house- the last with any hope. Families were using canoes, motor boats, and rafts to rescue what belongings they could before everything was completely distroyed. Those who hadn't left in time were evacuated by the Fire Dept.

We joked the whole way through, that we always wanted lake front property. I kept saying, "Well, I always wanted to live on an island!" trying to make light of something that was far from it. Our next door neighbors, Brian and Rachel, had only moved in 2 months before-What a housewarming gift!!! They took it in stride and let go.


All in all, we kept 96,000 gallons of water out of our basement. That's my dad, brothers, neighbors and God to keeping the two lake pumps pumping 10,000 gallons of water out of our sump hole for two days. We had a few minor breaks, but nothing over 6 inches(Thank God!). Despite some stress and some lost sleep, I think the only real damage that we had was a few warped doors.


I went out Monday morning, after the storm had past, and took a few pictures, to add to the ones Ben and I took the days before.

A week later the water had receded back away from the houses and I took more pictures. "The Aftermath" - the grass was still covered in silt. Piles of sand and silt were all over, like we lived on the beach or something.

Looking back, now a month after, our community has been declared a disaster zone and is seeking relief from FEMA. Homes are being torn apart and rebuilt. Families are starting over, building their houses on raised foundations, 3ft higher. We weren't really reconized in the news, only other larger communities, but I guess it doesn't matter as long as we get the same relief opportunities.

To see more photos from the flood, please visit my fotki site here : http://public.fotki.com/hadassahintisar/fall-2008/flood/

Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder?

or so the saying goes...

But how bout it, have you missed me? ;)


While I was away (for the 5 billionth time) :

We had a significantly damaging flood that requires it's own post.

I've taken LOTS of pictures of my nephews - here

I've shot a baseball training facility for Illinois Rebels Travel Baseball - photos on fotki, here :)

I (finally) finished my Tiananmen Square Massacre research paper, after what feels like decades.

I graduated high school (Yes, everyone say it with me, "Finally!")- just waiting for the diploma

AND.....

I've completely revamped my bedroom - stay tuned for pics.

I've really missed being online from my own computer and being able to read blog feeds without all of them getting "marked as read" before I read them. I've missed looking at all the wonderful photos that my brilliant friends(and fellow bloggies) post.

I'm super behind on my processing, but I'm attempting to get caught up, a little everyday. I'm also attempting to push myself as a photographer and really learn from my photography and from that of my fellow photographers.

Anyway - It's 12:50am and I'm pretty tired, so I'm going to hit the sack, but I'll be back. Much sooner this time. ;)

Expired film & some pride to go with..

I got my first 35mm roll developed- here are my top 4


P.S. Anyone know about fitting Pentax SLR lenses to a Nikon DSLR camera? My friends are kinda stuck on wanting a Nikon base...

Tale as Old as Time...

No, I'm not talking about Beauty and the Beast here, I'm talking about the ever repeating question of Canon or Nikon(or Pentax, or Leica, or Samsung, or Sony, or Finepix or... OY! too many options...)?

I mentioned in my last post that I'm looking at getting a camera for graduation.
My only problem is that I don't know what camera should I get.
I've been using the Pentax K10 D and it has done a really great job so far, but I feel limited with it. I'm always worrying about having noisy images with high ISO or blurry ones because LCD display isn't accurate(displays images which are WAY sharper than they really are). Which, I know, has to do with the compression, but seriously, NO fun. The AF isn't very accurate either - not that I use it very often anyway.

Something I read a long time ago on Justin's blog was that the Canon EOS 5D shot nicely in the low light. "ISO 1600 looked more like 400". That was amazing to me because when I shoot at ISO 1600 it looks more like ISO 1600 - very noisy. My friend Josh and also Brian Delaurenti, use Canon and have really great results.

I also read that Nikon does well in low light - Mike, from Mike's Right Brain, shot THIS at ISO 6400!! (I didn't even know that existed!) But that may have had a lot to do with the high caliber D3 he was using (which is totally out of my price range).. Archie also uses a Nikon (D300) and he does really well with it. So, there are two votes there - also in Nikon's favor is the size of the LCD.

I like the Pentax interface, because Im used to it. I'm not too keen on Canon's(maybe because I'm not used to it). I like Nikon's SLR interface (or whatever you want to call it on a film camera), but I've never played with a Nikon DSLR.
I'm kinda limited in exactly what I know, because I don't hang out with enough real photographers on a regular basis. So I kinda rely on you all to mention things(here or in your own blogs) that I can draw from.

Something that I'm really wanting, as well, is a camera that will allow me to have a lens with incredibly low f stop. I've been playing with that lately and I'm loving it, but I'm only able to go 5.6 and I want to go soo much lower... Then I take a lot of shots of kids and candids so, shutter speed is def a factor(is this more of a lens thing?).

Another factor is that I have a lot of Nikkor Lenses for the SLR my dad bought back in the day.t I'd love to be able to use them with the DSLR that I end up getting - My dad suggested that maybe there is a way that I could get adapter rings? I have to do a lot of research to do, so any shared knowledge would be lovely ;)

I'm taking a break from writing my final paper, so this post will be kinda short, but I really wanted to get one up today.

Firstly - I got a call last Tuesday that I have been fully admitted/accepted into Columbia College Chicago! Ok, SO totally excited about that! I've decided tho, to give myself a breather and start the Spring semester.

During the 5 months that I'll have off I intend on working on myself. I'll be dedicating a lot of my time to bettering myself in many different ways. I'll reveal that "plan" later so stay tuned..

Secondly- I've spent some time shooting, finally, so I'll be out with a couple new albums of shots.

Thirdly - I've been told that, as soon as all my graduation things are in order, it is quite possible I'll be getting a nice SLR of my own for a graduation present. So, any suggestions on that topic are welcomed and eagerly awaited.

The first NEW album, "Air Show Weekend", is located on my Fotki site * here *. Please feel free to leave me comments there - I love reading what y'all have to say.

Muses : My inspiration

Last week, I was commented by an anonymous photographer asking what my muses are. I realized that I probably haven't talked too much about muses because I figured you could probably tell from looking at my pictures. But I guess maybe not. Or maybe I'm just assuming too much from my audience, so I decided to post on it.

All of my online sources (Wiki, Merriam-Webster, ect..) seem to agree that the definition of a "muse" is as Merriam-Webster puts it: a source of inspiration; especially : a guiding genius. So going off of this definition, I'm determining what they are.

One of my muses, I know definitely, would be children. Something about their innocence. I love capturing their essence; even the most monstrous devil of a child has a soft, sweet side that can only be caught candidly- when they don't realize they're being watched- a challenge I never pass up.

Two would be organic - flowers, leaves, trees, grass, light, clouds, water, the beach ect..

Three is probably my most frequent muse - Details. I absolutely LOVE details. The concept that everything we see, touch, use on a daily basis can be broken down into tiny little parts is fascinating .
A wedding dress, with draping, lace, beads, tulle....
A flower, with it's petals, stamen, pistol, stem, leaves....
I could go on forever! There are so many things to capture that a lot of people don't even pay attention to! These often end up as abstracts.

Four has to be repetition. Oh! How I LOOOOOVE repetition! I'm sure many of you know this, because I constantly point it out in comments. There is just something about it that gets me excited. Something so pleasing to my eye.

Five could be just about anything urban. I love the city and all it's wonders. Architecture is amazing. Lights! Ooh the lights! I always end up looking like a tourist, which my poor sister(who I'm usually with) hates.. Nice cars and all the people! Oh and when it rains at night, everything glitters! I love the long streets with medians filled with trees and flowers. Fire escapes and scaffolding. Tunnels and underpasses. This one is definitely never ending...

Six - pictures! I love photoblog browsing, looking at many of my lovely friends' blogs. Your work inspires, as much as it may not seem like it sometimes - it really, really does. Also, pics in magazines and scenes of movies- visual stimulation is something I look forward to everyday.

Seven, my lucky number ;) Family and friends. Amazingly enough, there are those days when I don't feel like picking up a camera and those are the days that my family and friends turn things around. I can't tell you all how much I appreciate it when I'm pushed and prodded to get out there and take pictures. "It doesn't matter with what, as long as your shooting." - something I'm often told.

I'm basically naming just about everything that comes to mind, so I think maybe that means that LIFE is my muse.

All these things inspire me - I've been writing this in amongst other things for a couple of hours now and I'm basically just jotting down everything that comes to mind. It seems like I'm just writing things I take pictures of, and I am, but at the same time these are things that when I see them, photographically I go nuts with excitement to shoot.

I'm a photogaphy junkie, seriously, I can't be without a camera or pictures.. They're in my core, a part of me, and I think my best advice to those of you, anonymous blog readers, wanting to shoot better is to shoot and often. It's SUPER important - the more you shoot the more in love with photography you'll get and the more amazing your pictures will be.

I think I'll probably go and do that now... ;)