Alright now for my reasoning behind wanting to fly 6,000 miles to France to watch cars fly through the countryside at 200mph, camp and drink beer.....wait, need I explain more?

Yes?

Okay, fine. You're no fun.

My decision was the result of a few factors: the maddening boredom at work for the months of January, February, and most of March now; my conservative lifestyle over the past year (not socially conservative, more like fiscally and "experiencially" conservative (I made that word up)); and the fact that there is a window of opportunity like no other this summer. Without these, I would be planning on a June of emulating a tortoise, laying on my stomach grazing.

Work boredom

Having absolutely nothing to do at work is like playing sick to avoid grade school. The thought of it is exilarating and liberating; no responsibilities, no pressure, and a list of fun things you want to do but couldn't otherwise get away with it. It is all of those things and more.....for the first 2 hours. After "sampling" various activities you resign yourself to the television because it's the one activity you can partake in and still delude yourself into thinking you are actually sick. The day floats by and you don't care, you're completely relaxed. By the time you would have normally gotten home from school you look back and realize you're only accomplishment of the day was making it through an entire block of Montel re-runs. Sure you feel relaxed, but its like there's a thin layer of shame coating your body- an ooze of worthlessness (in reality that ooze is just sugar from gummy worms and grease from potato chips seeping through your pores).

Now imagine that feeling after a month....then two months.....then 3 godforsaken months.

It has pretty much been 3 months since there has been work of any significance in my place of work. We completed all the work required from our last contract, and now the company that hired us is trying to doggy-paddle through molasses to be ready for testing. We are still being paid through whats left of this past contract, and are simply waiting for the next contract. I spent lots of time reading news, playing with photoshop, and cruising through Google Earth. One bad habit I developed during this time was finding things I don't need on the internet. I started shopping for progressively more expensive material items: RC aircraft, computers, and cameras and lenses of all shapes and sizes. By the time I was trying to decide between a 2012 model 302 Boss Mustang Laguna Seca Edition and a Cessna 206, one of my favorite lyrics came to mind: "all you touch and all you see, is all your life will ever be."

Shit. Was I turning into one of those suburban types that buys widgets from Brookstone only so they can invite people over to show them only to never use it again? Someone who worships brand names and integrates them into their personal identity to improve their image of themselves? I had been rather outspoken on my recommendations of Toshiba computers recently, and I did buy a television I didn't really need during a black Friday sale. This scared me.....then it depressed me. What happened to the idealistic 18 year old that would rather spend money on the catharsis of flying a real airplane than one that I barely have to get out of my car to operate. What about the guy who would wake up at 0530 just so he could be outside ready to catch the sunrise behind the expansive Kansas landscape just to capture that moment and make it last longer? Goddamn it was depressing to think about how I stopped living to feel.....it still is. Somewhere in the past few years I told myself that flying was too expensive for what I get out of it, and photos of sunrises were for dildo assholes who pretend to be professionals. I thought about when I toured Europe after high school and how I didn't give a flying fuck about anything I brought back, except for the recollection of moments I preserved on film. A photo of the Thames from Victoria Embankment Gardens brought back the feeling of amazement that overcame me when I realized I just traveled more than a quarter of the way around the globe in fewer than 10 hours (more than 1500 times farther than I do on an average day). A photo of chicken kiev reminded me of the night after seeing the Louvre, essentially in shock that I had just viewed the most historically significant pieces of art on earth. And of course the photo of the Alps that reminded me of the night I fell asleep on the balcony in Switzerland.

After this epiphany and subsequent tour through my brief life, my hippocampus was exhausted and I was in seratonin withdraw. The trip seemed so insignificant now; my mind found ways to minimize the entire experience. The fact that I was on a pretty guarded tour, that a single trip to Europe wasn't anything compared to what some people get to do, and that all I really saw were tourist attractions. I wanted something more.

Anyways I was bored at work reading motorsport news when I started thinking how cool it would be to actually be at a race and witness history; and what would be more historical than seeing a race at Le Mans? Just the name Le Mans bursts forth a rush of images to my mind: historic corners, cars that "made" their makers, and legends that wrote history. I had found my seratonin fix. At first is was just to keep me occupied while the clock spun around, then I realized I could afford the plane tickets. I could afford admission. I could camp on the circuit. There is a wealth of knowledge online about how I could make it all happen (thank you beermountain.com). I had a ridiculous amount of vacation time. The pieces seemed to be all there, but would I actually execute? Could I?

Encouraging thoughts were met by discouraging words from my parents who still think I am crazy for going it alone. After every discouragement I found solutions and answers. Then fear. Then adrenaline. Then depression. Eventually I just told myself that I would represent a failure of the human spirit if I chickened out. I committed myself to it, although I put it off for about a week and a half afterwards. Finally I sat down, pulled up the travel site, entered my information, hesitated, and executed. Then euphoria (what other choice did I have? No refunds for airline tickets).

More to come, I will explain why this is an opportunity I can't pass up next time.

Windows

I'll be perfectly honest, I haven't felt like there's been anything worth writing about from my life for a long, long time. Sure I could have posted photos I have created, but without the motivation to place them in the context of my life or events around me, what is the point of posting them here? Beyond the photos themselves, I have been at a loss for additional content. None of them have told a story, or really had meaning beyond their aesthetic qualities.

On to the point - why have I suddenly found the motivation to post again? Because I have just done something for which many will call me crazy. I booked tickets to France and made plans to attend the 24 Hours of Le Mans motor race.

More to come hopefully

Been a While

I'm back, and obviously I didn't stick to my goal of posting every week. I got busy with school, work and blah, blah, blah. Heres more shots:

These are from a digital imaging project to shoot an editorial portrait. Its my friend Nathan and the goal was to capture the personality of the subject. The first shot I think captured the "essence" of Nathan in his facial expression.

The next shot was to take a close-up of some part of their body

The last one was supposed to be a long shot, so I used my wide angle lens to give it the impression of distance.

Thats all for now, hopefully I won't wait 6 months before I post again.

Some Things You Just Can't Miss

Hello again.

On Saturday (which I suppose was yesterday) I woke up from my afternoon nap in preparation for an over night shift to some really cool weather. I looked outside and a small thunderstorm cell had formed over Wichita and I was in just the right position to view it. The sun was setting and I could see that these cool looking clouds, along with rain shafts would catch the reflection well. I decided this was something I would regret missing, so I grabbed the camera along with the 18-55mm kit lens and took a walk. I ended up walking down to the neighborhood pond:

I was frustrated by the houses blocking my view of the sky, so I took another brisk walk in flip flops through high grass past a "no tresspassing" sign. This is where I captured the sunset:

Thats all for now, more coming soon.

A Hello

Hello all, my name is Michael (a.k.a. "Monkey"). I am a pilot, photographer, psychology student, and an airport bum. I have been flying for 3 years, studying psychology for about 2 years, and shooting dSLR for one year. I decided to create this blog to share some interesting sights and experiences I encounter in my day to day life through photography. I plan on posting about once a week, but I'm sure I won't be able to stick to that; some weeks will be more interesting than others. Most of my shots will be geared toward aviation, as I work at an airport here in Wichita, but I might just include some landscapes, nature, and even some people photography. If I don't do much shooting in a week, I'll post some older stuff and explain it, or something like that. This first week will likely be just an introduction, then I'll dive into it.

First heres a self portrait I took in December of 2008:

Can you tell how I took the image? Maybe this will help:

This is a very shiney coffee thermous which belongs to the owner/pilot of a Cessna 441 Conquest at my home airport. I was working when he asked me to take some shots of his aircraft; so we towed it out of the way, he fired up the engines and I hopped on top of a ladder on top of his pickup flatbed. They turned out quite good as you can see here:

Well I think thats all for now, I have work at 0600 tomarrow so I'd better sleep.

Thanks for looking, see ya' later!