Paolo Pellegrin photo essay on the New York Stock Exchange, and its current crisis.

It’s like they’re looking at each other, creepy!

Justin Raden

or Agoraphobia, for those of you who do not speak Spanish, and cannot easily translate such a complicated term, is the fear of being in open places. Outside. While I cannot imagine how it would be to be afraid of the outside, there is a deeper meaning that I can attach to this seemingly ridiculous fear, to which I can relate, intimately. I graduated from university just about a summer ago, and I have been traveling around and enjoying my life as an ‘unoccupied” (read unemployed) adult. The reason that I was enjoying it was that it is normal for a student to spend the summer scratching his umbilicus and drinking beer, at least that’s the way I did it, every summer, since I was 5 until this very last one. Yet, it’s now September and classes should have started. No classes for me, no schedule for me, still unemployed. I have the feeling I need to be following a calendar, that I have never seen.
I don’t know where to start, I moved to a new city where I have no contacts, no family, no “role-model”. I need to find a job, my resources are limited and will not stand for much longer. I need to start moving. I need to find something to do. Inactivity is killing me! I am a man with an empty resume, and a huge fear to be outside.

I spent the summer in Europe. It was great. The only problem is that after three months of not having a regular schedule, it becomes hard to come back down and see the world through the eyes of somebody that does not have a trust fund, or some other type of unlimited fund.
This is one of the last photos I uploaded to flickr, and although I took many more, I haven’t had the time to look at them, selecting and uploading. I’m not going to lie, it will probably continue like this for a little while.
On the other hand, following the transition that this site has had for the past month, there is going to be a redefinition of what this blog is going to be about. I cannot say yet, because I haven’t made up my mind completely yet. However, I know that this blog is boring, and nobody will read it like this. So I have decided that if I am going to take the time to keep a blog, I have to make it interesting for other people and not only for myself.

Havaianas have become one of my philosophies of life. They come from the happy people of Brazil, to every corner of the “globo”. I recently learned that they were considered for a long time, the shoes of the pariahs. For a long time, nobody wanted to be seen in one of those. It was the alternative to no shoes: worn out havaianas. They slowly, slowly moved into being so ubiquitous. Today, they have managed to be considered the ‘hip’ flip flop in the stuck-up Bean Town (Boston).
Other than being the most comfortable footwear that you will ever find, Havaianas are loved also because of their ability to blend into your body as if they were part of it. They somehow manage to take a little part of you in every step you take, they will be a faithful portrait of yourself, and they will be your ultimate companion.

nature macro 3, originally uploaded by Janrito Karamazov.

My parents came up this past week, and we took a trip to the north of New Hampshire. There are several (or one huge) natural reserves in the area. My family has always loved to take trips into forests and mountains. We’ve always done this, since I remember. The only difference this time was that instead of hiking throught the high altitudes in the Ecuadorean Andes, the Ecuadorean rainforest, or some remote Pacific Ocean beach, we were in New Hampshire.
I have been in college for the past 4 years, and it is finaly over. My parents came up to see me graduate. Although this is supposed to be a happy situation, the bittersweetness of it is what comes accross most prominently. I’m soon leaving this place, and I’m sure I’m going to miss it. It’s been a great 4 years. I know I complain, but i’s been great.
This macro of a green leave fighting the rain in NH is one of a few rolls of photos i shot at this trip. Click on it and browse my flickr account for the rest.

115 shopping, originally uploaded by Janrito Karamazov.

Done. College. What did I get from it? … not sure yet… Well, I probably did. I haven’t goten sentimental yet. If there is something, however, that I know that I am going to miss, is this city. Boston has been my home for the four last years. I don’t know when I am going to be back here.
I was taking a digital imaging class for the past semester, and for the last project, I decided to pay a little tribute to this wonderful city. enjoy…

warm blood, originally uploaded by Janrito Karamazov.

I am so excited! It is very gratifying to find that others actually like your work. Especially because I have just started to explore photography, and don’t have any formal training on it. Anyhow, UTATA.org featured this photo on their front page, yesterday, may 5th. Here is what they wrote:

There is a special pleasure in standing barefooted on brick. The temperature of brick is always a bit out of step; it slowly absorbs the ambient temperature and is reluctant to release it. In the evening, brick retains the warmth of the day; in the late morning, brick holds fast to the cool of the night. Brick seems to know what bare feet want.

For more than five thousand years bricks have been made in essentially the same way, and to the same perfect 4:2:1 dimensions. The barefooted brickmakers of the Indus Valley Civilization would recognize and feel perfectly at home standing on the bricks of Boston or Brisbane, of Bogota or Berlin. The story of civilization is written in brick.

When you stand barefooted on brick, you become a living link between history and physics.

Text by: Greg Fallis

Original Posting

rest

This man was sleeping in front of the Boston Public Library, in Boylston Ave. His position not only looks funny, but also gives the impression of a deep fatigue. The bottles in the left suggest drunkenness, but I hope that is not the message that this image conveys.
Lately I’ve been experimenting with the use of negative space. It amazes me how powerful some photographs can be by leaving a great part of it empty, or almost empty. Also, it is incredible how this emptyness can radically change the feeling of the whole composition. I think this photograph gains from the amount of negative space to the left of the man.

black widow

Spring is (almost) here! Over the past couple of weeks, there has been a bunch of warm days. This one being one of them. We decided to go to the beach, but as you can see, it wasn’t warm enough to darken our nun-ass hue skin. However, it did provide a nice day for taking photographs at the beach. Revere beach is north from Boston. It is convenient because you can get there on the T (Boston’s public transportation). The beach is not beautiful. But it serves the purpose.
This photo seems almost like I photoshoped her into the picture. The high-contrast creates a nice composition. The only think i am concerned about is the horizon crossing in the middle of her face. But that is a minor complaint. For me this image is almost as mysterious as it is happy. It raises questions, but it also gives a nice cheerful feeling. Or maybe, I’m just happy that it’s getting warmer.