life in vibrancy

I’ve had a different del.icio.us account in the past, however I felt the need to start over rather than edit. So -

Here we have it!

Please add me to your network if you like. I’ll eventually have a lot more than 40 bookmarks. The old account one had several thousand.

Hi all - quick post here. Just to let you know I’m helping alpha-test this new video website, which I am finding to be quite fun. Founded in Santa Cruz, one of my favorite places in the area outside of SF itself.

Here’s my latest post - but not for long! conceptualizing and recording 12 second clips is turning out to be more fun than I thought. I’m using the DreamCatcher iPhone video recorder - which may or may not be using parts of the mpeg group’s code.. That part however is up to the developer.

Yay embed code:

#13- before there was central air on 12seconds.tv
Let me know if you have video capability, and I’ll whisk along an invite to you. I don’t have many- if you want one, make sure you use it !
I invite you all to check out my channel that I’m developing thus far, I’m having quite a lot of fun with this.

-Omar

well.. the embed code above doesn’t appear to do much when directly inserted. lets try html view. switching the code to html insertion seems to have made it work - I’ll end this post now, as I’m off to the cutting ball theatre here in SF to see a friend’s play - an exercise in experimental theatre.

The 12 seconds thing feels like twitter for video, - Vitter ? Video Twitter? I’m enjoying Vittering. Hmm. I dunno. Clever acronym thinking cap set to on - we’ll see what it comes up with later.

Hippie Hill, uninhabited.  Weird right?  Not really.  It was very cold at the time, the fog was rolling in,

and this photograph was snapped with the [idea box] aka the iPhone,

right as the last stronghold of Jamaican drummers retreated.  :]

These flowers appeared in one of the spaces Raymond used to sleep, the stairwell of the Stockton Tunnel. Raymond was an Inuit man in his forties, from Barrow, AK; That lived sometimes in my neighborhood, sometimes at a homeless shelter. He was an incredible fellow that I slowly became friends with over the course of the 4 years that I’d been talking with him.

He left quite an impression on many people, and often “hung out,” next to the mailbox by the Tunnel Top Bar - Bush St, SF. For weeks after Raymond’s passing, there would be food, candles, small bags and things left in the neighborhood places where he frequented. He was certainly a well liked man, and certainly easy to overlook based on his appearance, that of a homeless alcoholic. If you’ve been living here long enough though, you know that this city provides angels, messages, and friends in the most delightfully varied of ways. My life is certainly enriched for knowing him.

If you’ve been wondering where he is on the off chance you’re one of the people that also knew him, Raymond crossed over to the other side in mid April 2008. In the last few months leading up to his passing, you’ll be happy to know that Raymond - was healthy, happy, and more lucid than I’ve ever known him to be. He’d made peace with himself, and given up his alcoholism.

The most important thing Raymond taught me was the importance of family. =]
Ray Ray, you’ll be missed. Hi !

[Photo taken with an Apple iPhone, and darkroom done digitally in Aperture.]

This is something I’d like to re-shoot, provided I make the discovery of it’s location again.  I enjoy urban still-life, and find it interesting to see the various combinations of objects as they share space with nature, partial nature, people, or buildings and or other constructed objects. In this case, I enjoy the rather slipshod appearance of the plywood juxtaposed with the graffiti and the lush, yet accidental plant-life that’s happening in this neglected area of space.  The ridges in the side of the building coupled with brick and the plywood meet appropriately in a classic homage to leading lines.  Shot with iPhone, darkroom workflow with Aperture.

This is a concept shot, taken with the iPhone.  This is one of the several vantages from atop Buena Vista Park, located in the Haight Ashbury District of San Francisco, California.  Oakland can be seen in the distance.

This park happens to be the city’s oldest and first park, the trees were planted in 1863.  This predates Golden Gate Park, and all the others.  Wonderful trees can be found here, as well as a great place to clear ones mind.  The walk to the top will be accomplished in about 20 minutes if one is taking their time.

Image was captured in 2007 at the Spouting Horn blowhole, located - Poipu, HI.  Canon 20D.

This image was shot one day in Oakland @ Lake Tilden National Park.  Quite pretty there.  This specific patch of earth strata was found around the lake walking trail.  Canon 20D. Darkroom adjustments via Aperture.

shot with a Canon 20D, this was a concept shot for something I may want to add location lighting to afterwards.  I was wondering if the ridges in the wall would bring out a nice shadow detail…  :]

This is what I recall to be the back/side of the general store - in Randsburg, CA.  It’s a ghost town by the Kelly Silver Mine, with several lively and friendly occupants. I shot this on Fuji Acros 100 or 1600 Neopan, with my Canon EOS 3 - back in 2002.