Thursday, October 29, 2009

A break from politics

So I've been up working on finalizing some projects and taking my creativity for a ride. And boy do I have exciting news. I finally opened up my online photo store. In order to help support my passion I have decided to put up for sale some limited prints. Each month I will continue to add sets of new photos.

I have also completed my first Music PhotoMontage.

Music PhotoMontage 1 - Eddie Vedder's "Long Nights" from Sergey Poberezhny on Vimeo.



Link to store: http://photoserg.flyingcart.com/

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Inspired by Others - Monica Szczupider



http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/picturegalleries/picturesoftheday/6445353/Pictures-of-the-day-27-October-2009.html

I came across this photo and I thought I would include it in Inspired by Others....

As photographer I am really drawn to photojournalism. There is an art with this type of photography where the photographer must embed oneself heavily into the environment and yet, remain a fly on the wall as to not disturb anything during the process.

Best,
Serg

PS
I was up pretty late working on a creative project which I will share with you guys later on. Just want to do some fine tuning before I release it into the wild.

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

We now return to our regular scheduled program...

Hey folks...

The trips are over and I am back in State College. Now that I am back at home, I can get to work on some projects that were left on the back burner. Sucks when I have to do that...

We start Tuesday with a light talk from TED regarding the effect of sounds on us.

Link: http://www.ted.com/talks/julian_treasure_the_4_ways_sound_affects_us.html
Length: 5:47
About:Playing sound effects both pleasant and awful, Julian Treasure shows how sound affects us in four significant ways. Listen carefully for a shocking fact about noisy open-plan offices.

This talk reminded me of binaural beats.

"Binaural beats or binaural tones are auditory processing artifacts, or apparent sounds, the perception of which arises in the brain independent of physical stimuli. This effect was discovered in 1839 by Heinrich Wilhelm Dove."(wiki: source)

Has anyone ever tried this? If so, please share with us your experience.

Peacefully Out,
Serg

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Away for a few days

Hey Everyone,

I am gonna be away for the next few days...what with a speaking gig with Ryan in Wisconsin followed by AGH/PRS Stanley event in Colorado. Should be fun with the masquerade ball, sneak peak at the entire AGH: The Movie, ghost hunts, snow ball fights, probably getting a cold somewhere in between, and of course...photography.

How Photographers Created Rock and Roll

So I know the theme for Wednesday should be: inspired by others. So I am gonna quickly throw a link out at you: http://www.npr.org/blogs/pictureshow/2009/10/indonesia.html?sc=fb&cc=fp

I really dig the Kurt Cobain photo. A genuine photo that captures the struggle he was dealing with.

Off to do the lecture....

Best,
Serg

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Crazy life

Hey everyone,

Sorry but we are gonna have to miss out on TED today. My hectic schedule is taking me to NYC to go on Tyra. But rest assured I will come back with a hell of story and hopefully some photos.

Hope you guys had a great weekend.

Best,
Serg

Thursday, October 08, 2009

Political Thursday

Здравствуйте - pronounced "ZDRAVST-vwee-tye" ("hello" in Russian)

Lobbying: To try to influence the thinking of legislators or other public officials for or against a specific cause.

"hmmm....could you use it in a sentence please?"

When the health insurance companies found out the government was going create a public option they began to lobby against in order to protect themselves from losing profits.

Etymology: "One story states that the term originated at the Willard Hotel in Washington, DC, where it was used by Ulysses S. Grant to describe the political wheelers and dealers frequenting the hotel's lobby in order to access Grant, who was often found there, enjoying a cigar and brandy." (source: Wikipedia)

Now, not all lobbying is bad. There are plenty of lobbyists who represent respectable causes such as environmental protection, marijuana legalization, or a public option. But what happens when a corporation with millions upon billions of dollars recognizes that certain laws will hurt their profit margin for the quarter, for the year, or for even several? Rather then adapting for the benefit of the society, they decide to focus on themselves.

Corporations are entities. Entities that carry this instinctual survival where any threat to its demise, must be eliminated. Its hard for me to imagine people running a corporation. Rather a corporation, once fully established, begins running itself. And that is where it gets dangerous. Some corporations don't know the difference between right and wrong*: Enron, AIG, Halliburton, etc. And so, on the painful day when the people are impacted by actions without ethics, do we learn how to rectify their deep and willful ignorance. To stand up against them, together.

This week I read an article about the recent policy change on lobbying.

"The policy change, described by the White House as the next step in President Barack Obama’s drive to limit influence-peddling in Washington, could affect hundreds of lobbyists who serve on the panels, which were created by Congress in the 1970s to provide private-sector advice to the government."

Now I know that the biggest fear of full government control takes us to an Orwellian future, but I for one believe that should not be a worry on our minds. To few forget that, we the people, are in control of the government...just as long as we get up and prove it, and always remember the difference between right and wrong.*

Thank you,
Serg

*The discussion between right and wrong can be very thought provoking. After all, different cultures, societies, people have different view points on what makes right, right and wrong, wrong. "The pendulum of the mind oscillates between sense and nonsense, not between right and wrong." Carl Jung

Wednesday, October 07, 2009

Wednesday's - Inspired by Others - Ryan Buell

I would like to introduce a new segment on my blog...following TED Tuesday's and coming right before Political Thursday's; I want to share photography works done by others.

I thought I would start this one of with a photo done by none other then...Ryan Buell of Paranormal State. He had this idea to get this group of us together and setting us up while we were shooting at a certain location in West Virginia. Perhaps you guys can take a stab at where with the given background....



I think Ryan did a great job on setting up the photo. I could see this being on a photo spread in Entertainment Weekly. I like photos that hold hidden themes and messages...photos that depict difference views for the different people.

Once again...many thanks for stopping by.

Best,
Serg

Tuesday, October 06, 2009

TED Tuesday's - Eric Giler - Wireless Electricity

We continue to TED Tuesday as we dive into the ever expanding world of technology. Watch as the future unfolds before your eyes. Next thing you know it we will be talk about having colonies on the moon.

About this talk:
Eric Giler wants to untangle our wired lives with cable-free electric power. Here, he covers what this sci-fi tech offers, and demos MIT's breakthrough version, WiTricity -- a near-to-market invention that may soon recharge your cell phone, car, pacemaker.

Link: http://www.ted.com/talks/eric_giler_demos_wireless_electricity.html

Video Length: 10:13
_________________________________________________________________

On a side note: Thank you everyone for your feedback and comments regarding the Public Option blog. I appreciate everybody's opinions and thoughts about it. On that note, I am also going to go see Zombieland tonight. It's amazing how well its doing. I am such a sucker for zombie flicks. Its funny I haven't really put much thought in having a plan if the house is on fire...like what I would save, how I would get out... but I have schematics on my head in case of a zombie viral outbreak.

Thursday, October 01, 2009

Political Thursday - Public Healthcare

So we just got back from a huge investigation. Its 5:00 AM. I decide to have a cup of the ol' green tea before I go to sleep...

...waiting for it to brew I decide to check my email and browse the internet...

I hop on the reddit to see whats happening on the Interweb and I find a Congressman who has the balls to say what others are thinking. What I am referring to is Florida's Rep. Alan Greyson. He presents a clear plan that the Republicans have regarding America's Heathecare: 1. Don't get sick. 2. If you do get get, die quickly. Below you will find the videos you should watch as this story unfolds.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-usmvYOPfco&feature=channel

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCAPX0RKwDU&feature=channel


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3H3gND4M9HA


I find it completely hypocritical of the Republican Congressmen who one, compared Rep. Alan Greyson to Joe "the Douchebag" Wilson, but two cannot comprehend the idea of freedom of speech. What I respect about Greyson's actions is that he is not letting a good idea fall through the cracks. The American people really need to understand how important this issue really is. Look at the various sources of information that are out there and educate yourselves. PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES! YOU WILL NOT FIND ALL YOUR INFORMATION FROM FOX NEWS!

Key take away points:

-The study that Rep. Greyson is referring to states that as many as 44,789 deaths a year are a direct result from lack of health insurance. So let's do some simple arithmetic here:

year: 44,789
month: 44,789/12 = 3,732
week: 44,789/52 = 861
day: 44,789/365 = 123
hour: 44,789/8670 = 5

So between the three hour drive back home, 15 people passed away.

-Rep. Greyson brings another good point to the table: the private insurance companies don't want the change because they know their profits will decline (one of the finer qualities of capitalism - money always takes priority over people). Currently, all the health insurance companies are spending as much as $700,000 daily on lobbying against health reform. Yea, read that line again. Per day, $700,000 is spent. I'm not even gonna do the math on that because I'm afraid I might throw up when I see the annual number. For a full press release about this number, visit here.

Final Note

Ever since Obama won the election I began to pay attention to politics just a little bit more. Catching the news on TV periodically, or reading interesting articles that I find floating around...anything really that I can make a note to see how our society evolves. What I find is that, as more and more truth is revealed about how this world works, I start to feel sick. Unfortunately, a visit to the doctor, even if I could afford it, would not make be feel better. This is the kind of sick where you find yourself questioning, at what point can "humane" no longer fit to be associated with "human." This idea that I want to distance myself from all the people of the world because of the greed, jealousy, vengance, hatred that I see flows in their blood. And then there is bursts of hope, that there are good souls on this planet who are fighting for a worthy cause. A cause that I can support. A cause, that I know, will make me feel better about being human.

Thank you for reading,
Sergey Poberezhny