I shot all but one of these images while flooding was happening in my town from Hurricane Irene. Of course I got stuck on the side of town where I don't live after both bridges flooded and were shut down. After a roughly 40 minute back roads route brought me back home, I found that power had died 5 minutes before I got home. Great start to a crazy week. 

The next day I went to work with my dad to find that we might work later but we couldn't do much with power still dead. So I went shooting. I came upon destruction almost immediately. I've never witnessed anything like this before and it was amazing. Not in a great way but in a way that gives me an even greater respect for nature.

The owner of a custom shirt store saw me shooting and said I could shoot inside if I wanted to. I got taken around back through thick mud to an entrance to the upstairs office. It was amazing seeing what had happened to a store that had been there for my whole life. I honestly had no idea what to say besides sorry for your loss after thanking the owner for allowing me to shoot. He shook his head and 

said there wasn't much you could do about mother nature. 

I really wish I had been able to shoot another 2-3 hours but I headed home after shooting some other destroyed areas and got back in time to get called into work.

Other than that, I'm really glad I took color darkroom last spring. I developed my work ethic so much from that class. Even though I've been working 10-12 1/2 hour workdays all summer I've kept my shooting up whenever possible. I started a series towards the middle/end of July and began to work on it more seriously in August, finishing almost 6 rolls of 120 film (probably around 60-65 unique images) in under 4 weeks. That's only the start, as I've shot 2 portraits for it and want to include more than that. I also want to shoot in different seasons.

On a final note, I really want to get into writing. I never really developed my writing to where I wanted in high school even though I enjoyed it. I'm thinking of either starting a tumblr for writing and my less focused photography or creating a blog on my eventual website for that.

Walked around quite a bit today, starting a little after 8 since I finally had a day off from work. Started my currently untitled suburbia series. Finally took a couple of portraits. 

A few important things I took away from today:

- I hate digital

- Walking beats driving almost all the time

- Every place is the same. At the exact same time, every place is different.

Those last 2 shots are missed/waiting opportunities. The kind of shot I'm waiting to get in another location with better light and possibly a better subject.

Also asked to take a woman's portrait. It was gonna be an awesome one but she said no because of how she looked since she'd been doing yard work. Which would have been vital to the portrait. I hate it when photos get away like that. I'm thinking of shooting a day in Kingston again next week, but this time going from like 4 in the morning til 6 or 7. 

Last image is my favorite from this walk. Also really pissed at myself, saw a dude at the ice cream stand on my walk back home and considered asking for a portrait. Had tattoos all over his arms and chest and a long beard, just chilling and eating ice cream. And he was on crutches. Currently working on shooting for a book I want to make when I get back to RIT and a portait of him might've been great for the book. Gotta get back into shooting portraits because that was one of the first times I've felt uncomfortable going up to a person in a very long time.