Many thanks to the Greek Life office for awarding me the “Creative Achievement” award for my photography work. I wasn’t able to attend the award ceremony last night, but I’m very honored. Last night I had my Object-Oriented design final and then performed with the orchestra in Thwing Ballroom.
April 27, 2006
April 10, 2006
Rope Pull, Adam Pascal
By the time I made it down to rope pull, I had already missed Phikap. We lasted all of but 7 seconds on a pull against SigEp. I hate loosing *anything*, but what the hell are we supposed to do? Technique only goes so far…
I took photos. I took more photos. After that, I ate some chips, and then took some more photos. How did they come out? Eh, alright. Nothing really great. I tried looking for different angles than the ones I used last year - but that didn’t work out. The photos look decent.
After rope pull was dinner and then chapter. I got a last minute call to cover the RENT event in Strosacker. I took photos of the Adam Pascal concert after the movie. The audience was 90% female and 99% of them would sleep with him in a second. The remaining 1% were straight males. 
I kid, I kid. The guy *really* can sing and the concert was very good. I got some great shots and got to enjoy the last songs of the concert with Goldie.
Obstacle Course, Egg toss, Unity, Pyramid, ISA Dinner and Show
Let the day of photography begin. I was really pleased with how my shots were turning out. In particular, I got a great shot of a ball passing through a tire during Obstacle course. Then, during egg toss - one of the Theta Chi groups kept dropping the egg but it never cracked. Finally, the egg smashed when the guy caught it and I caught the shot very well - the egg splatter flying everywhere.
After egg toss was the Unity event where I got some great blackmail quality shots of some friends bouncing on balls :). I particpated in Pyramid - which Phikap placed 5th in. Not bad!
I ran up into Thwing and caught some shots of the International Student Association Dinner and show. The food was *un-freaking-believable*. Indian, Mexican, Turkish, you name it - they had it - and it was great. I took some great photos of the after dinner show. I ended up using exclusively the 135mm f/2.0 prime and the 50mm f/1.4 prime. No flash. This worked out beautifully. I set the mode to shutter priority, except during the juggling act when they turned out the lights for some glow in the dark acts. At this point, I went into completely manual mode and manual focus. I need to improve my manual focus skills. It’s *freaking* hard with a lens as sensitive as the 50mm prime. A single hair length is the difference between in focus and a blur.
April 3, 2006
Footlighters present Footloose
I caught the Saturday midnight performance of “Footloose” as presented by Footlighters, along with a group of Phikaps and friends. Jeff Verespej, the director, made my night by saying I didn’t need to pay for the show - he rocks. The show was fun, upbeat, and soaked in 80’s (but bearable).
I was very impressed with some of the singing and the pit, under Kevin’s direction, was very good. I thought Alex Hamberger and Kim Sullivan were hilarious in their roles. Phikap’s own Eric Moschetta was one badass street thug. Garrett Coombs, Christine Chambers, and Sonali Arora have amazing voices. I am envious!
After the show, I headed back to my apartment. The night didn’t end there, but that’s all I care to tell.
Bruckner and Schoenburg
Saturday’s performance at Severance Hall was surprisingly…tonal. Schoenburg, the inventor and master of the twelve-tone system, did not always compose atonal music as evident in “Kol Nidre”. The piece is based off of the Jewish prayer said at the holiest of High Holidays, Yom Kippur. Schoenburg, who was then living in California at the time, worked with a local Rabbi in creating an extended and slightly modified English translation of the Aramaic text. This text is spoken in a dramatic tone by a narrating soloists who is accompanied by a reduced orchestra. As the narrator speaks the text, the orchestra provides apt coloring and phrasing that intensifies the meaning of the words.
I had never heard this piece and I really enjoyed it. It had some very innovative sounds and the simplistic way in which Schoenburg resolved the G minor piece to a G major chord at the end was beautiful. Of course, the traditional “Kol Nidrei” melody typically performed by a cello soloists during the Yom Kippur, will always be my favorite. In fact, it is my favorite Jewish melody - it is incredibly passionate and moving.
The evening concluded with Bruckner’s epic Fifth Symphony. We’re talking 70 minutes of hardcore symphony. The perfect marriage of sonata and fugue form in the finale. The Cleveland Orchestra is performing the piece on tour this summer and will produce a DVD video recording of it. Needless to say - they have been practicing it extensively and Saturday’s performance was flawless. The Cleveland Orchestra’s recording under Dohnányi is considered by many to be the definitive Bruckner Fifth Symphony recording. It will be interesting to see how Franz Welser-Most’s recording will compare.