Rocket Netting, Goose Catching

Ever wanted to blast a net at a bunch of geese and then go wrangle em down for banding and measurements? Yea, me too. Well, we didn't get to blast it at a bunch of geese, but we did get to use military grade explosives to shoot it and then get the experience. Super fun. Hopefully I'll get some more opportunities like this. Being a wildlife major is wonderful.

Public Education

Here's a shot of my friend, Brennan Bird, with one of the last Nature and Culture diplomas from UC Davis. He's standing in front of one of the Occupy UC Davis signs from a few months ago. Bittersweet news: I'm graduating a quarter early.

Freedom Comes Tomorrow

Remember my Day 365 post, Onto the horizon? Well this shot reminds me a little bit of it. My last final is tomorrow. Sorry I have been so absent these past few weeks, but school has gotten the better of me. Soon enough, I will be spending some quality time in Zion, hopefully with my camera as well (though it would be quite the weight for backpacking, we will see).

Real Food

What a concept! I'm a huge fan of real food. Why? because it tastes so much better than that slop they serve...wherever. I get a lot more joy (and often flavor) out of my food when I know where the ingredients came from and when I (or my friends) cooked it in their own kitchen.

Here is a shot of some good friends, David and his son, at the Food Day festival we had at the CoHo on UC Davis campus awhile back. They fully support the idea above.

Favorites From Occupy UC Davis

So, a lot happened during the occupy UC Davis movement and I was there for the majority of it with my camera. Here are a few of my favorites.

Occupation of Dutton Hall

Some friends of mine, Cam and Cheya, in full assembly regalia.

A foggy night just before a general assembly is about to convene.

Hanging up the banner "Defend Public Education" next to the Occupy UC Davis camp in the quad.

Thousands gathered for speeches.

Finals!

SO EXCITED FOR FINAL EXAMS

I'm Sorry

I have been very busy with life ever since this happened. I'll try and start posting again soon though, I have a lot of photos backlogged.

Eggheads

I was going to use a shot like this for the intro to my skate video before I came up with the whole falling out of a tree thing. I decided to tweak the composition a bit and use it as just a photo instead. Check out a bit of a background on Robert Arneson, the creator of these strange sculptures.

Domes March 5/25

Here are a few of my favorite shots from the march on the 25th to save the domes.

Gathered in front of Mrak, Janaki and Michelle give another nonviolence speech.

Easily my favorite shot. Heres the march going down the side of the quad. So many supporters!

Lots of photographers at the event.

Also some fat beats provided by good friends and their speaker bike.

Also, one of my friends, Mona, requested me to print out a bunch of hard copies of the prints so that she could make a photo album of them. Hopefully I'll get to see it soon!

The Domes Trash and Cob Bench

I cannot wait for this bad boy to be finished. No, really, it'll be amazing and beautiful. So much work has gone into making this cob bench. For those of you who don't know, my boy Brennan Bird has been spearheading this project as a monument to sustainability. The bench has been made entirely by volunteers and mostly students and is made out of mainly cob (an earthen building material from clay, dirt, water, and straw) as well as gravel and portable landfill devices.

The portable landfill devices are an awesome idea and allow people to use their trash instead of just simply throwing it away. The plastic trash is cleaned and compacted into a bottle until the bottle is as hard as a brick; at this point, it can be used for building. This not only creates a practical use for all the things people throw out that cannot be recycled, but also makes people aware of how much trash they really create.

The bench is being built on The Domes property (also known as Baggins End) at UC Davis and if you can, you should definitely come and check it out. I personally have donated my trash and time to this along with dozens of other people.

Also, I posted a little while ago about the Domes having some issues with student housing (see link above) and we have now started an online petition HERE. Please sign it guys! It would really mean a lot. This place has too much history and potential to be demolished!

The UC Davis Marching Band-UH!

Picnic day was this previous weekend, and man was it awesome. For those of you who don't know what it is, it's basically the one weekend out of the year where people actually flock to Davis to do...stuff. Generally, there is a lot of public drunkenness, but there is also tons of really awesome stuff like the Parade.

Since i have two friends in the Marching Band-uh, me and my other room mate were exposed to copious amounts of marching practice and heard countless stories of band tradition. Band-uh is like a cult, but with a much more impressive resume. It takes up tons of your time and makes you do some crazy things, but the overall result is amazing. Here are a few shots from the band-uh in the parade, two are of my roommate, Jake (sadly no real good shots of Zakai).

Deer In the Headlights

I shot another self portrait to kill some time yesterday so I wouldn't have to study. I had an idea for this ever since my last organic chem midterm (the overlaying shots are my notes from practicing reactions over and over again). I am really happy with how it turned out and was not expecting it to be this successful.

Ultimately, I wanted to try and capture the fear that gets into students when finals time comes around. At the precise moment the final is handed to you, it is a mixture of feeling like a deer caught in the headlights and acknowledging the idea that it will all be over after this. Just one final push and you get a well deserved break.

So Many Papers

So much to look at. My mind probably resembles this bulletin board. Read. Write. Study. Review. Finals.

Writereviewstudyreadwritecommittomemorypassoutfrommentalfatiguemygod.

The Experimental College

If you're studying in Davis and looking for some time to fill in Spring quarter, I HIGHLY recommend checking out a few of the wonderful classes offered at the Davis Experimental College. It has courses taught be professionals ranging from firewalking to glass blowing to capoeira to first aid and tons of great other things. Check out the catalog they put out ever quarter and you may be surprised at what sounds interesting.

Try new things!

This shot was taken inside the experimental college registry office while the sun was shining through their library window and I was signing up for ecstatic dance, which you should all go to tonight.

The Davis Tri-Co ops

A wonderful place full of music and friends on the porch on a rainy night. Been spending some more time at Agrarian Effort recently. Possibly a new home for next year?

Save the UC Davis Domes

Also known as Baggin's End, the Domes is the most interesting place on campus in my opinion. Made up of about 28 students who are committed to living and cooperating in a sustainable manner with each other as well as the environment, it really is an amazing place. These past few months I have spent a lot of time at this student based cooperative community and have experienced countless new things--whenever I am there, I feel as though I'm in the presence of this awesome energy, and whenever I leave, I feel inspired. If you live in Davis or the surrounding area and you have never experienced the Domes first hand, then you really do need to, and soon...

Sadly, the current landlord of the Domes, UC Davis Student Housing, has decided that the 39 year old Domes are no longer inhabitable and that they need to be taken down in order to build up new housing structures. The current residents are supposed to evacuate the premises by the end of July. This, my friends, is a travesty. There is currently a strong student movement that is aiming for continual habitation of the UCD Domes and to "request that UCD acknowledge the community’s worth by protecting and nurturing it as they move forward with the proposal of the Sustainable Living/Learning Community" as Kara Sweeney, a fellow Domes advocate says.

Here is the vision statement of the domes according to our wiki page:

""As members of the Domes Community, we choose to promote and exemplify a lifestyle that incorporates the following: living practices including organic agriculture and permaculture, low-impact construction, energy efficiency, alternative forms of waste management and the general reduction of our ecological footprint, which allow us to meet our needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet theirs. interdependence on levels ranging from emotional to economic. understanding of differences and conflict resolution through the consensus process. To encourage creativity, inspiration, initiative, personal growth and diversity. To structure our place and our community as an accessible educational resource for each other, the University of California at Davis, and the greater community of the world."

This community is invaluable to Davis as a whole and it would be horrible if it were to be bulldozed so that some more high rise student housing could be built on the historic site. If you would like to help in any way please just ask or if you have a Facebook, you can join the open group called "Save the Domes." We need all the support we can get.

Today at 5pm

I will be in a state of mind-numbed euphoria. It has been a hell of a week, and today is the day that all the studying hopefully pays off. We shall see...

Strange Structures

Found out by the greenhouses close to campus. Possibly a massive kiln? Or maybe a small industrial compost (if that makes any sense)? Anyways, it presented a photo opportunity, so I took it.

Behold

The might being that is The Deathstar of the UC Davis campus. It definitely has so crazy architecture going on. Enough so that it regularly eats students if it is their first time trying to find a class in that area.

Dome-raiser

Went down last night at the Delta of Venus in Davis. So bummed I didn't bring my camera for it! augh, I always forget it for events. Anyways, it was an awesome time. Glad to see so many familiar and friendly faces over there. Here is a picture of the much loved Yurt on the domes property, where much of the communal time is spent for dinners, meetings, dance parties, and massage trains.

Forever keep the domes spirit alive. Yeeha!