Tamir Kalifa Has a Camera

It's Been Real Blogspot

2011-05-19T08:59:00.000-07:00

Thanks to all who have followed my photography here on blogspot. Like many other photographer friends, I am jumping on the Tumblr train.

The new site is www.tkalifa.tumblr.com

Thank you!

Karl Rove Ignites Audience at UT

2010-04-25T14:14:00.002-07:00

Leading Republican politcal strategist Karl Rove spoke at the Texas Union Ballroom in an event hosted by College Republicans monday night. Rove is lauded for his poltical ingenuity but criticized for what many consider unethical behavior throughout the many administrations he has worked for.

Code Pink member Heidi Turpin yells in dissent during Karl Rove’s speech moments before she is removed by police from the Texas Union Ballroom.

Vintage Car Round Up, South Congress Ave.

2010-04-25T14:14:00.001-07:00

Polo at Magic Hour

2010-04-25T14:13:00.001-07:00

Kocian washes her horse in a stable adjacent to the playing field following practice. The UT polo team will host their Spring Invitational fundraiser on April 24 at Rio Vista Farms Equestrian Center in Dell Valle and will play a match against the Dallas Polo Club.

Kocian gallops alongside the edge of UT’s polo field at Rio Vista Farms Equestrian Center in Del Valle during practice. Kocian, the vice president and captain of the women’s UT Polo Team has 12 years of riding experience and has spent the past year and a half learning to play polo.

Kim Kocian instructs Christine Achico and members of the UT polo team to canter, a controlled three-beat gait, as she critiques their form. Though Kocian grew up in cities across America, her passion for riding remained constant.

2010-04-25T14:12:00.000-07:00

April Photos

2010-04-25T14:06:00.000-07:00

APD Sgt. Keith Bazzle prepares for a brief press conference following a bank robbery at a Wells Fargo on Guadalupe St. The incident was Austin’s 8th robbery of the year and the 3rd robbery in four months for the bank.

Baskball Sportraits

2010-04-20T14:44:00.000-07:00

UT basketball

Service for the Prayer and Healing of AIDS in Austin, TX

2010-03-15T19:58:00.000-07:00

Portraits of a Legend: Eli Reed, Magnum Photographer

2010-03-08T20:56:00.000-08:00

http://www.magnumphotos.com/Archive/C.aspx?VP=XSpecific_MAG.PhotographerDetail_VPage&l1=0&pid=2K7O3R133SSV&nm=Eli%20Reed

"How far will human beings go before they find out what it means to be a human being?" - Eli Reed, a true inspiration.

There photos were taken to accompany a phenomenal story written by Gerald Rich.

http://www.dailytexanonline.com/top-stories/through-the-lens-of-a-visual-storyteller-1.2186728

2010-03-08T20:55:00.000-08:00

Tyler Krasowski and Megan Chambers stand on their East Austin porch on a grim March morning.

2010-03-08T20:50:00.000-08:00

At the New Hope Missionary Baptist Church on Monday, the first day of the week of prayer for the healing of AIDS, Carlos Carter, an Austin resident and activist living with HIV listens to Tracy Jones discuss the impact of HIV/AIDS on the black community. “If I know one person who is suffering with HIV or AIDS, that means I’m suffering with HIV and AIDS,” Jones said. “We need to understand when one of us suffers, we all suffer.” The prayer group will meet at noon daily until Friday, March 12.

Mike Harris bows his head in prayer for victims of AIDS at the New Hope Baptist Church.

Five members of the Austin community came to the New Hope Baptist Church on Monday morning for what they hoped would be a community conversation.

Balmorhea

2010-03-04T14:20:00.001-08:00

Last December I had the pleasure of photographing one of Austin's most dynamic bands, Balmorhea. I shot portraits of one of the guitarists, Michael Muller, a month earlier. He liked my pictures enough to return to Red Bud Island for another round of photography.

Rob Lowe, Michael Muller, Aisha Burns, Travis Chapman and Nicole Kern. They are fantastic musicians and wonderful individuals.

http://www.myspace.com/balmorhea

Graduation

2010-03-04T14:13:00.001-08:00

An Israeli cadet greets her mother outside of Bahad Ehad military base before the graduation ceremony. Graduating from an officer’s training course is often more appreciated than finishing high school.

A soldier converses with a friend from her guard post on the second floor of army base Bahad Ehad.

750 cadets stand at attention during a graduation ceremony at the Bahad Ehad military base. Soldiers trained for three months to complete a preliminary officer’s course before graduating to another base where they will train in their specialized field.

Soldiers prepare for the graduation ceremony. They are disciplined to always look their best when not in combat uniform.

An Israeli soldier climbs the steps to the on base synagog an hour before the graduation ceremony.

An Israeli army soldier sits along the walls of the base prior to the ceremony.

GRADUATION

Straight out of high school, American teenagers receive a diploma. Israelis receive a gun. To Israeli citizens, enlistment is not a matter of choice; it is a facet of their culture known since birth. The army is as familiar to them as college is to high school graduates.

On Jan. 20, hundreds of Israeli soldiers anxiously wait to march onto the ceremonial grounds of Bahad Ehad, a military base dedicated to training officers. The afternoon graduation is the culmination of three months of grueling training meant to prepare soldiers for positions of leadership.

Soldiers are ecstatic because they did not have to run today. Before the ceremony, one Navy cadet helps a friend straighten the collar of his wrinkled uniform. Another soldier fixes her boyfriend’s beret. A group of religious soldiers dance and chant in celebration.

Regardless of cultural and regional conflicts, the narrative of the Israeli army is a coming-of-age story similar to the American college experience.

Before a crowd of thousands, the soldiers stand proudly at attention, their lives forever shaped by the discipline, moral code and camaraderie they will carry into their future.

- Tamir Kalifa

Aaron Williams - Director of the Peace Corps

2010-03-04T14:09:00.001-08:00

Peace Corps director Aaron Williams, center, speaks with former colleague Samuel Scott, right, and volunteer Ben Freelom, who served in Guatemala from 2007 to 2009, following a moderated interview at the Etter-Harbin Alumni Center.

Bonnie Drenik, a Peace Corps volunteer in Bulgaria from 2003 to 2005, listens to Corps director Aaron Williams at the Etter-Harbin Alumni Center.

Neko Neko Photoshoot

2010-03-04T01:03:00.000-08:00

Today I had the pleasure of photographing a talented group of young lads from Houston, TX. Jono Foley, Harrison Smith, Derek Beck and Trevor Smith. They are NEKO NEKO FILMS. I shot them on assignment for The Daily Texan; however, we happen to be best buds and I live with the ugly bastard on the left.

http://www.nekonekofilms.com/Neko_Neko_Films/Home.html

Check them out. They will make you laugh.

Austin Marathon - February 14, 2010

2010-02-18T11:07:00.000-08:00

Runners are overwhelmed by emotion moments after completing the physically and mentally demanding full marathon on Congress Ave.

An exhausted marathoner receives medical attention moments after completing the 26.2 mile run.

Runners receive medals for completing the 26.2 mile marathon at the finish line.

Keith Piece jogs a short victory lap through the finish line chute moments after coming in first place in the Austin Marathon.

2010 men's marathon winner Keith Pierce from Cedar Park, TX, leads the race through a West Austin neighborhood.

The 19th annual Austin Marathon begins as 15,000 runners from around the world race up South Congress Ave. during the first mile of the marathon.

Spot News - Fire at 38th and Speedway

2010-02-11T22:32:00.000-08:00

Austin Fire Department personnel responded to a two-alarm fire at the Jacksonian apartment complex in Hyde Park on Thursday afternoon.

Firefighter Elizabeth Donelson said 50 AFD personnel and 15 fire engines responded to the two-story apartment fire at 38th and Speedway streets. The fire was caused by plumbers who were sweating the pipes on the first floor, a process that uses a propane torch to solder pipes together.

Donelson said two apartments were damaged by the fire and two others below were damaged by excessive smoke and water from sprinklers.

Five residents were displaced by the fire and were aided by the American Red Cross. One Jack Russell terrier was rescued by AFD personnel. No one was injured.

Structural damage is estimated at $150,000, and content damage is estimated at $40,000. No smoke alarm was installed in the apartment where the fire originated.

Photographs by Tamir Kalifa

Brief by Bobby Longoria

Crossroads: 14th St. and Cedar Ave.

2009-12-07T14:33:00.000-08:00

Jordan and Kelsey Walton, 8 and 10, usher congregation members into the New Hope Baptist Church at the start of a Sunday sermon. The Church is the spiritual center of the community.

The intersection of E 14th St. and Cedar Ave. in East Austin, TX is the crossroads for the community around it. A convenience store, a welding shop, the Free Angola Capoeira Society, and a network of other business unify new and old members of the community outside of their homes.

Congregation members socialize in the parking lot of the New Hope Baptist Church following Sunday services.

Celester Fowl and the congregation of the New Hope Baptist Church wait for the collection basket as they listen to Pastor Roy F. Jones II during Sunday morning services. Throughout the service, Jones and a chorus of singers led the church in songs that brought congregation members to their feet.

Adam Calloway and Jason Rittman moved into their Cedar Ave. home in May 2009. “I think this is a great neighborhood,” Calloway said. “All these people have been here for ever and once you get to know them they are really nice but at first it’s kind of weird.”

Al Mak, owner of the Shopper Stop Food Store, tends to customers while “Dolfus,” an employee answers his cell phone. Mak has managed the convenience store for 10 years and knows most of his customers personally.

Sarah Cheatham holds her son Django at the Austin Metal Authority’s open house during the East Austin studio tour in November. “More development that’s the biggest change,” said Brady Foster, a blacksmith at the shop. “More newer houses and more businesses have opened up and I do think it will continue to change and it will continue to change quicker.

Barbara Massington has lived in her house on Cedar Ave. since she was born 1954. “Born and raised here, I’d like to do some traveling but I’m just like Dorothy,” Massington said. “I click my heels and say there is no place like home.”

quotes compiled by Tamir Kalifa and Erika Rich

Reflections on the photo essay.

I was standing in line at the RBM food mart on Manor road holding a loaf of bread, eggs and a gallon of milk. I shop at this convenience mart because my house is conveniently located two minutes away from all the shopping I ever need for twice the price I pay anywhere else. It’s nice and tame. Junk you don’t need, lots of beer, joose, four loko and fading posters of buxom blondes holding beer in a can that hasn’t been produced in five years. The craziest thing that ever occurred to me while shopping was when the guy at the register offered me a free lighter with my dad standing next to me. Otherwise it’s mostly smiles and sweatpants. That’s why when the black man behind me in line said “Fuck you white people,” I was caught off guard.

“Fuck you white people.” I thought about it for what seemed like the time it would have taken me to pay for groceries, walk to my car and drive home. I conjured an impassioned response about the evolution of race relations and why such an accusation level against me was unwarranted because, among other things, a) I didn’t do anything to him and b) neither did any of my family because they were busy having their houses burned and weddings crashed by the Russians in Poland 100 years ago. Even if I did say anything to him (which I did not) I definitely would not have said those things. What came out as I signed another fraction of my life with their pen shackled to the counter, was most likely no than a squeamish sigh. My heart beating anxiously and my face most likely red, I opened the door and walked to my car feeling guilty and somewhat pissed I didn’t think of anything better to say.

I felt like Moses parting my cheerios in the ceramic bowl later, too frustrated to consider closing the parted walls and spoil my non-appetite. “Fuck you white people” loomed on my consciousness like a curse. This occurred as I began photographing the neighborhood around the intersection of 14th and Cedar in East Austin, a predominantly black community that is seeing new smiling white faces like mine move in next door on a regular basis.

The last thing I wanted was to make another documentary that shows pictures of poor people because they are poor and do things that poor people do like not take care of the family, drugs, argue and feel sorry for themselves. If I wanted to do that I could find any middle class neighborhood in America and do my project on a Caucasian family struggling to deal with the monotony of the suburbs.

In a nutshell, I was having a difficult time dealing with race because of the societal pressure and the enormous psychological weight placed on it by every educated person you’ve ever talked to. My run-in with the individual at the RBM Mart only exacerbated that. Previously, I felt a genuine discomfort taking pictures and talking to people at this intersection because I felt like an intruder.

I returned to the intersection with a friend and parked in front of a group of women socializing and styling another woman’s hair in their front yard. As I got out of my car an elderly woman left to go home and I built the courage to talk to her. A subtle wave somehow elicited the reaction “Why hello darling! How are you today?” Not what I expected. I reluctantly introduced myself as a photographer from the University of Texas doing a story on the community at 14th and Cedar and the impact the property tax increase was having on their neighborhood. She hooked her arm under mine and walked me to her house three doors down and across the street. We talked for half an hour and by the end of the conversation I learned that Barbara Massington, born 1954, grew up on Cedar Ave, lost her mother at age 13, drove a school bus for 20 years, got laid off, was a drug addict for 17 years and has been clean for 8, loves her grandchildren and four dogs and the people across the street and down four houses moved out because they couldn’t afford living there.

Before we parted, she said something that shook me to my core. “Thank you for listening to my story. People need to hear about my mistakes so they don’t have to make them.”

I’m white (I guess). So what? I didn’t choose to be this way, how can I feel guilty for something I have no control over? Barbara put things in perspective for me without anger and without animosity: Race is an issue.

In a naïve and idealistic way, that’s why I decided to focus my project around this intersection. I wanted to show people being human beings. In comparing different members and parts of the community, I tried to convey a sense of family and general community that is experienced by anyone and everyone, regardless of what little circle they bubble in on Federal forms under the box that reads ethnic background.

As a society, we will see race, no matter how hard we try to ignore it. Maybe, if we put it out in the open and talked about it, we wouldn’t be so afraid of it.

EMS Ride Along - Saturday Night

2009-12-07T14:30:00.000-08:00

Austin Fire Department Ride Along - Friday Night

2009-12-07T14:10:00.000-08:00

Parade!

2009-11-28T12:29:00.001-08:00

Holiday parade down Congress Ave. Austin, TX. November 28, 2009

Black Friday

2009-11-27T16:47:00.000-08:00

Truly the darkest of days...

Michael Muller of Balmorhea

2009-11-27T16:42:00.000-08:00

Muller is the most cooperative subject I have worked with and accepted my rather absurd proposition to take portraits of him submerged in cold autumn water. Granted, Austin never gets too cold but most sane people would not subject themselves to such treatment by a photographer.

Threw in the 360 Overlook long exposure for kicks cause its perty.

Photographs from November 17

2009-11-20T14:10:00.000-08:00

Peter Bay conducts the Austin Symphony Orchestra during a Tuesday night rehearsal at the Long Center.

Dan Ojeda, Barber at Dan’s Hair Styling, looks out onto East 6th street while his niece Anjelina plays on the sidewalk.

Student sit outside a dorm at Huston-Tillotson University at sunset.

An auto paint shop on East 5th.

What?

Fort Hood Memorial Ceremony

2009-11-10T23:18:00.000-08:00

Spc. Brian Hill, who was wounded in Iraq, pays tribute to victims of the Fort Hood shooting at the III Corps Headquarters on Tuesday. “It was a shock because it came from one of our own,” Hill said. “When you are at home you don’t expect things like this to happen.”

President Barack Obama speaks to soldiers, families and civilians during the memorial ceremony for the victims of Thursday’s shooting at Fort Hood. “We are a nation that endures because of the courage of those who defend it” said Obama.

PFC Chris Gaines, 23, awaits the memorial ceremony at Fort Hood.

Angie Hatla and her daughter, Leslie, pay respect to the 13 victims of the Fort Hood shooting. Hundreds of families and civilians joined soldiers in solidarity at a memorial ceremony on Tuesday.

Soliders watch the memorial ceremony from an M4 Sherman Tank.

Tired troops line up in formation outside the III Corps Headquarters following the memorial ceremony.

Horray for Medium Format

2009-11-09T18:39:00.000-08:00

Older than his years. East Austin.

Mariachi musicians on break outside the Cristo Rey Catholic Church

Two chairs so finely placed in our backyard.

Jackie.

Texas Longhords vs Central Florida Knights

2009-11-07T16:22:00.000-08:00

Kinky!

2009-11-05T09:48:00.000-08:00

He's not Kinky, he's my governor.

Sunlight and Shadows

2009-11-04T10:09:00.000-08:00

Sunlight and shadows in Austin. November 3, 2009.

Its THIS big

2009-11-03T08:16:00.001-08:00

Students outside of the Texas Union at sunset.

Where the Wild Things Were. Halloween, October 31, 2009.

2009-11-02T13:32:00.000-08:00

Government Sr. Cecil Hynds and UT information technology services employee Paul Anderson, share Tex-Mex food at El Chilito on Halloween.

Dressed as Jellyfishes, Stephanie Evans and Juliana Stewert walk down 6th street saturday night. Evans and Stewert chose jellyfish costumes independently of each other.

Haya Alani stands in front of her mother and a costumed Chuck Wagner on 6th st.

Chicago native Ted Johnson challenges a fellow American gladiator on 6th street during Halloween.

Dia De Los Muertos. Austin, TX

2009-11-02T13:27:00.000-08:00

A man observes the alters along the outdoor walls of the Mexican American Cultural Center during their Day of the Dead festival on Sunday.

Ken Zarifis sits with his son Zosimo as he plays frame drums at the during a Day of the Dead festival at the Mexican American Cultural Center.

An ACC student dances in the Auditorium of the Mexican American Cultural Center during their Day of the Dead festival.

A boy sits outside of Cristo Rey Catholic Church as his parents attend sunday mass on the Day of the Dead Sunday.

Adolfo Chavez IV plays with gravel outside of the Mexican American Cultural Center during their Day of the Dead festival.

Death Penalty Rally. Austin, TX.

2009-10-31T08:31:00.001-07:00

Former death row inmate Shujaa Graham.

Former death row inmate Shujaa Graham carries a 6,000 signature petition asking for a moratorium on the death penalty to Gov. Rick Perry’s Office.

Shujaa Graham in the office of state representative Elliot Naishtat

Curtis McCarty, former death row inmate, joins protests to support a moratorium on the death penalty.

Anna Terrell weeps outside of the state capitol at the loss of her son, death row victim Reginald Blanton, moments before his execution in Huntsville, Texas. Blanton received a lethal injection Tuesday evening for the shooting of 22 year old Carlos Garza in April 2000.

This entire day of photographing may have been my most difficult yet. I was assigned to photograph an anti-death penalty rally at the capitol which is expected to be another hundred-man republican bash party. When I opened the door to the south mall of the Capitol, only four individuals awaited the media's attention. Two were exonerated inmates on death row, two worked for the Coalition Against the Death Penalty, an organization to abolish capital punishment nation wide. Rather than being able to hide behind my camera as I usually do during sensitive events, I was forced approach the former prisoners because there was no other picture. I wrestled with the extent to which I photographed because I always worry that I'm shooting for the wrong reasons. In situations like this, I convinced myself that it is no longer is about the moment, its about the impact the photo can have on its viewers.

In her essay about experience in Vietnam, Trip to Hanoi, writer Susan Sontag realizes that while she spent two weeks with Vietnamese citizens outside the context of war, she still could not relate to them on anything more than a basic human level. Her western perception of the Vietnamese was challenged and she found similar elements of the human experience to share even though she could never related to the Vietnamese people.

I felt like Sontag all day.

I never thought I would ever speak to and ex-convict, let alone a wrongly accused exonerated inmate. After getting permission to photograph from Shujaa Graham and taking multiple pictures I asked where he was from in an attempt to make small talk. What surprised me was that he grew up in Silver Spring, Maryland and live in Tacoma part, my own home turf. We launched into a conversation about "home" and Maryland as I thought about how I could never even begin to understand what it was that he experienced.

I would never be able to relate to an individual like Shujaa or the Anna Terrell, the mother of the most recently executed death row inmate. With something as powerful as death row, I hope that my photographs help others to imagine and consider their experiences in order to continue the dialogue on capitol punishment. I feel that is my responsibility as a journalist. Its not about telling people what to think, its about giving them something to think about.

Wild!

2009-10-31T08:24:00.000-07:00

St. David's Hospital Medical staff perform a routine check up on Austin mayor the Lee Leffingwell, the first patient aboard the hospitals new mobile dental unit.

Japanese businessmen explore the state capitol.

Laundry day

The East Side Showroom. Austin, TX.

Bored? El Chilito. Austin, TX

Austin City Limits 2009

2009-10-31T08:18:00.001-07:00

Crowds during Ghostland Observatory.

The Decemberists.

Dancing in the Rain

Mute Math

The Felice Brothers

Madness

Photographs from the Past Part Deux

2009-10-31T08:15:00.000-07:00

6th St. Austin, TX. Thriller!

Ben Bergstein, friend and scholar.

Two more photos from before the fall of 2009.

Photographs from the Past

2009-10-31T08:07:00.000-07:00

Jeremy Barnes and Heather Trost of A Hawk and a Hacksaw in Prague, Czech Republic during the filming of Housle.

My eye. Budapest, Hungary..

Cafe Rybka, my favorite cafe. Prague, Czech Republic

I was going through some old photographs and thought these were worth putting up. All were taken in Prague, Czech Republic. The bottom three are from a Neo-Nazi rally on November 1o, 2007. Those pictured are anarchists who protested the Nazi presence.

Obama!

2009-10-18T00:01:00.000-07:00

San Antonio resident Matthew Medina directs an anti-Obama protest outside of the Rudder Auditorium at Texas A&M University. Medina led the crowd in chants of "Tell the truth" and "Obama been lyin'."

President Barack Obama addresses Daily Point of Light recipients and civic leaders at Texas A&M on Friday. Obama joined with former President George H.W. Bush and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates to promote the idea that community service is essential to fulfilling national priorities.

I left Austin for Texas A&M without press credentials for the Presidential forum on community service and returned with photographs of Barack Obama, George H.W. Bush, angry protesters and two plastic badges labeled MEDIA. With a little bit of chuztpah, patience and blind luck, Daily Texan reporter and close friend, Lena Price and I were given access to the venue by the same A&M press officer that told us driving down would be futile. I think she was impressed with our determination because the first thing she said after we introduced ourselves was, "You young people! What are we going to do with you! I'll see what I can do." She came back with two press passes and walked us into the press booth at the back of the auditorium.

ACL Double Exposed

2009-10-04T18:25:00.000-07:00

What began as an accidental double exposure became a fascinating way of looking at the Austin City Limits crowd on October 3, 2009. Taken with a 4x5 Speed Graphlex from the Dell stage.

Portrait at ACL

2009-10-04T15:55:00.001-07:00

Portrait taken of Miss Jackie Gilles at the Austin City Limits music festival with a 4x5 Speed Graphlex. Due to a rather unfortunate onslaught of rain and human error, this is the only negative out of 6 that came out properly.

Foray in the Realm of Large Format

2009-09-30T18:43:00.000-07:00

Take in Washington D.C. with a 4x5 Speed Graphic Camera using tilt-shift techniques. Large format is beautiful.

Portraits

2009-09-25T14:11:00.000-07:00

Colt McCoy, Texas Longhorns Quarter Back

Colt McCoy, Texas Longhorns Quarter Back

Austin Tea Party, July 4th 2009

Jim Franklin, the resident artist of the Armadillo World Headquarters, produced poster art for the venue. Franklin is well known for his Armadillo symbol that defined the Austin counter-culture during the ‘70s.

Bo McCarver, chairman of the board of directors of the Blackland Community Development Corporation, stands in the foyer of a house he is renovating with Blackland residents. McCarver helped prevent UT from expanding into Blackland territory in 1992 and currently works with UT to negotiate future plans for the community.

2009-09-25T13:52:00.000-07:00

Students after school

Uncommon Objects.

Mexican American Cultural Center

Dobie Center, Austin

Fireworks on the 4th from Auditorium Shores

Photos From the Summer of 2009

2009-09-25T13:37:00.000-07:00

Doggy Cupcake Eating Contest at Club 121 on 5th st.

Dude! Wheres my vote? Iran Solidarity March, Congress St.

Goran Bregovic, Bass Concert Hall.

Construction workers protest for labor rights following the deaths of fellow workers in Texas.

Religious Experience.

Hard Work Under Heavy Weight

2009-09-21T21:10:00.000-07:00

A UT employee works under a maintenance truck at the East Garage on Manor Rd.

THIS IS BAT COUNTRY

2009-07-24T12:34:00.000-07:00

Mexican Free-Tailed bats sour out from under the Congress St. Bridge.

Iran Solidarity Rally, Austin TX

2009-07-24T12:30:00.000-07:00

All Photos published in the Daily Texan

www.dailytexanonline.com

2009-07-24T12:24:00.000-07:00

Hair cut at Birds Barbershop on S. Congress. Austin, TX.

Ryan Thompson by the fire. Keene, New Hampshire.

Guiding light. Part of an art installation on the UT campus.

Art installation featuring projectors and smoke on the UT campus.

2009-07-24T12:19:00.000-07:00

Heather Trost and Jeremy Barnes of A Hawk and a Hacksaw in Carizozzo, New Mexico on location for the music video "Raggle Taggle."

http://vimeo.com/4573950

Gorgeous New Mexico sunrise. (ektachrome)

Ghost town, NM (ektachrome)

Ghost Town, NM (ektachrome)

New Mexico (ektachrome)

2009-07-24T11:47:00.000-07:00

Saul Escondido works on the side of a building in East Austin, part of the city's attempts to revitalize the area.

Students from Bee Cave Elementary play in the golden noodles art installation outside the Blanton Art Gallery on the UT campus.

Ballet, Austin, TX.

State Capitol, Austin, TX.

Conversation. Prague, Czech Republic

2009-07-24T11:34:00.000-07:00

The first frame of a still photography project I made for a UT class about a marionette that cuts himself loose from his strings and escapes to freedom.

My old friend Maritsa Patrinos, one of the most talented artists I know.

http://fire-plug.blogspot.com/

395 Tunnel beneath the Capitol during the inauguration. I was one of 5,000 trapped in the infamous purple tunnel of doom. Purple ticket holders, determined to attend the inauguration ceremony, were herded like cattle around the block, into one end of the tunnel and out the other. People waiting as far as the eye could see and no one made it in. Oh well, I may have not seen good ole' Obi in person but at least I was in D.C. for the energy and got a chance to see a major highway packed with people.

Street Musician, Washington D.C. (my home)

Amerika. Broken white picket fences taken in Bethesda, MD.

2009-07-24T11:20:00.000-07:00

HDR...The Vltava beneath Hradkuv Most. Prague, CZ

The beautiful coastal town of Dubrovnik, Croatia grazing over the Adriatic Sea...

Jiri Kabes of Plastic People of the Universe on location for the short film HOUSLE, shot in Prague.

Tiny Boats, Dubrovnik, Croatia.

Taraf De Haidouks. Live in Prague 2008

Old Photographs

2009-07-24T11:04:00.000-07:00

The Czechs. They don't like Americans and their radar systems.

View from the balcony the 500 year old Town Hall in Old Town Square, Prague.

A snapshot of a busy Prague street.

Hundreds of anarchists march through the streets of Prague in response to the Neo-Nazi presence in the city.

Taken at an attempted Neo-Nazi rally in the Jewish Quarter of Prague. Thousands of Jews, anarchists, citizens and tourists poured out the city center to combat the anger shed by the Nazis.

These are various photographs taken over the course of two years. I lived in Prague, Czech Republic for FAMU International film school before attending the University of Texas in Austin, my new home.

Horray for Photography

2009-07-16T18:36:00.001-07:00

Photography is fun. Who doesn't love walking around with a camera and taking pictures of every damn thing that moves. Thats part of the beauty; the camera is basically an eye ball and every time the shutter snaps its a blink, a digested thought manifested in celluloid or pixels. Anyway, I love it, I love lenses, I love lighting, I love the little circles of confusion you get when something is out of focus and so on and so fourth. I've started this blog to share my photographs, thoughts and the things that I find interesting and exciting as seen through my right eye. Have a wonderful day.

- Tamir