Farewell

It is a little bit of a sad day, but not really. I am saying farewell to blogspot.. I have loved it, but there are just some things that I am not able to do, and most importantly, the pictures look like hell on blogspot. So, the time has come to move over a bit.. I have moved to squarespace. Beautiful portfolios, slick interfaces, all that jazz, but yes.. now i have to pay for it.. you get what you pay for though, and that's why this site was free.

The new site should feel familiar, all the same, just better. Let me know what you think? oh by the way, www.elliothaney.com is still the website, so that shouldn't be any different. to go directly to the blog, it's here: http://elliothaney.squarespace.com/blog/

now remember, it's still under construction, but it's mostly there... i hope you enjoy it. thank you

Boston Renaissance: Week One

So the other day at school, I took my camera with me and was really annoying to my team all day, but hopefully they're not too upset, at least I hope they'll like the pictures.

My team is honestly a well-oiled-machine of efficiency, empowerment, and beauty. Every day, I am impressed by how well we get along, and how well we work together... I really do love it.

So I am a communications coordinator for City Year and one of my roles is to document my service using pictures and by writing articles. Obviously, the picture-taking comes just a bit easier to me, so here is round #1 of the Boston Renaissance. Enjoy :)

As Always, all of these pictures can be viewed in much better quality on my flickr page

The views of elliothaney are not those of City Year Inc. or of the Boston Renaissance Charter School

Pretty Cool News and Pretty Lame Pants

Quick post tonight, it's late, I'm tired, getting over some sickness of the week but it's okay. I wanted to let you know about something that I find to be fairly exciting. Christian from City Year tracked me down today and asked me for permission to use this picture on a future flyer to be sent out as a 'Welcome to Boston' type of thing to future corps members (I believe). This may be small to some people, but I am incredibly excited. If you may read this Christian, much thanks :) I love this picture so much, I also entered it into the metro photo contest which you could leave a comment for it here. (Like always, please click on the picture to view it in Flickr)

I said this would be quick, but there is one other quick sidenote. We finally got our pants for CY. Three pairs of professional dress pants and one pair of "heavy duty" service pants. Now, imagine when you finish a roll of paper towels, and you have that cardboard cylinder thing left over? now, take a bunch of those, flatten them all out, and assemble them into something that loosely resembles a pair of pants, but in no way matches the size you requested. Okay, you have that image? That is exaclty what is lying on my floor right now, immediately placed back in the bag to be (hopefully) replaced. Now, I know begger can't be choosers, and the pants are graciously given to us in goodwill but comeon... i requested a pair of 38"W x 32"L and i got roughly a 36"W x 38"L.... I can't even button the cardboard pants! that may be more my fault than anyone elses though haha...

That's it for now, I'll be sure to keep you all updated on my pants :)

Service!!

City Year again, and by the way the views presented on elliothaney.com do not reflect the views of City Year as an organization, as they are the views of elliothaney himself. Phew!! okay, so... Friday, October 2nd was opening day for me, the end of 6 weeks of training and seminars and discussions, and meetings, and everything else that you might be able to think of. It was really really good though. Possibly the most I've ever learned in one short amount of time. I've met so many people, I've learned so many things, and I've become just a little bit more aware of who I am and what kind of things I want to achieve. I've also had a lot of fun along the way. I have become a communications coordinator for my team, and I think I have found an organization that at times might feel a little hippy-ish and weird, but I'm really comfortable here. I really do reccomend checking out www.cityyear.org if you're at all curious about it. I couldn't be happier here.

So Friday was the big day, it was CY Boston's coming out party at Fanueil Hall's Great Hall in downtown Boston. It was an amazinggg room. Full of history, and awesome United State's history happenings like; where the line "no taxation with representation" was spoken by Samuel Adams, and where George Washington toasted the nation on its first birthday. Big names then, kind of big names now, the mayor of Boston was there to swear us in, along with all of us, and many alumni. The picture is just a fun panorama I took from my seat to give you a vague idea of the room. (click to make bigger!)

After the ceremony, we traveled of to East Boston near the harbor to do our traditional opening day of service. You would be incredibly surprised with what 150 people all working for 5 hours (that's 900 man hours) can do. We quite literally transformed the outside (and some parts inside) of this middle school academy in East Boston. I Built and stained benches, painted a basketball and soccer court, and painted murals... and that was just me. We made it onto news, click here to watch it. See if you can spot me!! Now some pictures of the day, because that's the best way to see it! ...There may be a lot. (only one artsy one today haha)

Through the Gate
Click one... or both: Flickr Large on Black

View of the Skatepark

Manish on the Ladder
Sari and Her BenchLatisia Painting

Julia Cheesin'

Dua Singing (?)
Caitlyn Loving City Year
Lisa Feeling Proud (karla peppin')
Chance being Chance
Me and my Sweetieeee!!!!

If Anyone would like the full-res version of the picture, leave your e-mail adress in a comment and I will send it! Thanks

Day Trips and Pretty Nights

As I mentioned in a previous post, Karla and I drove up to Salem... two weeks ago now (?) and hung out, and for the first time for both of us, we enjoyed the "New England" coastline. I figured that if I was going to be on a rocky new england coastline, I may as well take some time and soak it all in.

So, we went to Salem, to the Salem Witch Museum, which was an embarrassing waste of fifteen dollars. The high note of the museum was the peanut butter & jelly lollipop that Karla bought for me in the gift store that tasted like a nightmare. Yes, that was the high point. The "museum" consisted of nothing more than a large room that had a bunch of statues/mannequins that lit up when the soundtrack was talking about them. Awful. but, like many things that are incredibly bad, we had a lot of fun with it.

After Salem, we got in Tom's prius, (which if you have never driven a prius, i highly recommend it) and drove north about another twenty miles to a town called rockport. This place was absolutely beautiful. We parked and walked through a street where art galleries and ice cream shops seemed like the only service the place offered. A little bit up on the street, we hit a lookout point, and I knew this was the place. I climbed down onto the rocks below the visitor's area, and I set up my tripod... I'm not really sure if this was allowed, but there weren't any problems.


Karla and I sat in this location for about an hour and a half, because I had timed the sunset very wrong and we were there at about 6 o'clock. So there we sat, Karla, my camera, and I, just enjoying the breeze and the sounds of the waves. As the sun started setting, I started to understand why the english chose this area to settle... it was amazing.

(Please click to view HQ in Flickr, this one deserves it!)

I wanted to include both pictures so that you can see what a little bit of planning, and a little bit of work on a picture can mean in the end. The top picture doesn't even have a visible cloud, and the sun washes everyyything out. I believe that it is near impossible to get a good, or even a moderate sunset picture without bracketing the shots and combining them in the digital darkroom later. People did the same thing with film, it was just a lot more difficult.

Thank you so much for keeping up and for reading :)

~elliot

Where I've Come

so you may notice some similarities today. This is a direct comparison post. about a year ago, give or take a couple weeks, I went to New York with my aunt's film camera to get some pictures of the city with Karla. I got some pictures that I really love. The first picture is responsible for the most money I've made at any one time with photography yet. It won second place at the blair county arts festival which earned me a cool $250!! Then, it also won a spot in the Juniata College student art exhibit. I really love this picture, and it's probably one of my favorites that I've ever taken. Since being in Boston, I've been looking back, and I have decided to try and see where I've come as a photographer. I want to redo some of my favorite shots, and this is my first attempt at it.

This is the one from New York. Not a whole entire lot of though went into it. It was nighttime, so on program mode, my shutter speed was automatically set to a slower speed so I basically tracked the bike while the shutter was open and here is the result. I think it's a great picture; it shows a clear sense of movement, it follows the rule of third, and i just really like it. I always thought that it looked a little flat though, and that it doesn't really show any environment at all. Hence me trying to redo it!

This is my current try, and i have to say I like it soooo much better.

(please click to view HQ in Flickr)

This one actually has the option of being color or B&W since it is a digital picture instead of film like the other one, but, when making a direct comparison I should take the color out. So this one took a little bit more planning to get the right shot. It's on the.... charles bridge (?) right beside the red line on the way to cambridge. So this one definately takes a lot of cues from the one from New York; it's a blurred biker, and it still shows the rule of thirds. But, this one shows the environment, it shows depth, it shows a direction that isn't just left to right, and you can almost sense the speed that the biker must be feeling. Pleaseeee click on the picture and look at it in Flickr... it looks sooo ugly on this blogging site.. you won't be dissapointed ;) Please, let me know what you think and let me make sure that I actually am improving with time and that I'm not regressing. Negative and positive please!

The Dinky Lighthouse and Some Portraits

So this past weekend, Tom was in Colarado and allowed me to use his car, so Karla and I took a drive up to Salem, Mass... I have a ton of pictures from Salem and then from Rockport, which is a little north of Salem, but I'll pepper those in here and there.

So one of my main goals in northern Mass was to get some lighthouse and sunset pictures. I did get some really cool sunsets, but the lighthouses were strangely absent from Salem, on the map, there was one lighthouse there, so we walked there... not too long of a walk, but a walk nonetheless. So we get there, and what do we see?

This.
(click to view HQ in Flickr)

This was the dinkiest lighthouse I have ever seen. It was such a huge letdown, but it was only one downside to the day. I love this picture because it makes me laugh because it brings back the memory of seeing this lame lighthouse.

We did take advantage of the environment though, and I worked on some portraiture with the absolutely beautiful Karla Rodriguez, what do you think?

(Click to view HQ in Flickr)

As always, thank you for reading, and enjoy your day :)

~Elliot~

New Ad??

(click to view HQ in Flickr)

Hello there, so you may notice a big picture here with my name very largely proclaimed, and this is not because I think I'm awesome or anything, but I've been thinking about maybe getting some business cards printed up so as to possibly make some money and start being serious about this little thing. I was making some money in Altoona, but it seems like Boston is just a bit harder to crack... all in good time I guess. I feel like this picture is a good representation of what I do though. It's Boston, it's a cityscape, and it's HDR, which gives it an awesome look, but one that some people may not be in love with.

So to catch up on City Year a little bit, we have been going through literacy training and conflict resolution, and I came to a realization. We are quite literally attempting to learn four years of undergrad elementary education into 6 weeks of training. We knows, this might be more efficient, because this way, we simply only have time for the most important things, and the rest will be learned on the job as we go. I though I was coming up here to tutor, but as it stands now, I will be a mentor, a lunch and breakfast buddy, literacy trainer, math coach, possibly a science teacher, (yes... I said teacher, as in quite literally leading a class in lessons in science, by myself, as Mr. Haney) also, helping to run after-school programs, and writing lesson plans. It's going to be a lot on our plates as corps members, but it feels good. I'm excited to start, and I know everyone I'm working with is too.

I have a lot of pictures to get up in the next couple days and a lot of stories to go with them, so keep checking back, or you can follow me on twitter @elliothaney and, of course on facebook.com/elliothaney

Thanks again everyone... the kind words are appreciated so much, but remember, responding to criticism is the only way to get better.

~elliot~

Day 1 Observations

I am tired. I am really tired. this new schedule of being back in grade school is wearing on me, and it's the first week of actually being in the school! I guess it's more of an adjustment that i still need to... adjust to. My day is about 7:30 to 5:00-6:00 so that's fun, but the kids are great and I'm very happy.

Just a quick observation. Today was day 1 with kids in the school and i noticed something. This is the first time in my life that I have been a minority. St. Rose through Bishop Guilfoyle exposed me to maybe....2 african americans throughout my 12 years? Then in college at Juniata, the vast vast majority was still white. Now today, for the first time, even since being in Boston, I was one of the possibly 5% of whites in the room. Now, admittidly, there was a time in my life when this would have made me a little bit uncomfortable; not because I have any negative racial feelings whatsoever, but simply because that experience is much the opposite of my upbringing, and my school years. If City Year does nothing else for me this year (which would be an absolutely ridiculous claim) it has placed me in positions that remove me from my comfort zone, and when we are removed from our comfort, we experience new aspects of life, and we grow as humans. I could not be happier that I am here, and that I am taking part in an organization like this. I actually feel like I am making a palpable positive difference in my world. I guess that "quick observation" wasn't all that quick.

(click to view HQ on flickr)

Picture Info:

Church is Trinity Church in Copley square in the Back Bay area of Boston. The tower in the back is currently the tallest building in Boston. As a note, this is where my City Year friends and I will be performing public physical training throughout the next couple weeks and then the rest of the year, it should be interesting, especially when we start our call and responses and our pledges... maybe I can get a video of it sometime. It really is a sight to see!

Thanks for reading, and remember, comments are always appreciated :)

~elliot~

The Woods and My Collaboration With Danny Viera

i'm back from the woods! i had a great time, did some intense team-building exercises, i got much much closer to my team (viva la renaissance!!) and i got to do some high-ropes training, which i haven't done since bishop guilfoyle time... man i miss it sometimes. It was nice to get out of the city for a few days and to hear the sounds of insects at night again. sometimes it feels really good to sleep on an awful mattress with a sleeping bag, it kinda re-awakens you a little bit.

yesterday (saturday) i worked the "boston back to school jamboree" handing out free things to kids that were starting school this week. i got to experience parents who complained and argued with me because they only get one free thing; a bookbag, or a bag of supplies. it's really nice when you get yelled at for only being able to give them one free thing. sorry, i guess it's my fault. but as a perk, at the end of the day, there were ironically many things left over, and karla and i were able to take a bunch of books. we ended up almost doubling our library in 30 short minutes... too bad we had to carry about 100 pounds of books through the city and on the subway, it's all worth it.

i just finished reading 'the alchemist' and i must say, it was fantastic and i highly recommend it. now i'm starting 'down and out in paris and london' by george orwell, i'm excited for it :)

now for the photography. one of my favorite people from juniata was danny viera who was a roommate of mine junior year on exchange from seville spain. we had a great time that semester and i consider him a great friend that i hope i will see again sometime. he sent me an e-mail the other day with a picture he took (in paris i believe) and asked me to collaborate on it and edit it and make it pretty for him. here is what he sent me.

it's a great picture, i love the composition, the people to the side, the blur of the train to the left, but it dark, and it lacks a little of the detail that i really like in my images. here's what i came up with after a little bit of work.

i think danny liked it, and i hope you do too. pleaseeee check out danny's blog, it really is fantastic. incredibly interesting. click here for the universal traveler

(click to view HQ in flickr!!)

Catching Up

late night posting again, and i said i would update on where i am going to be working and yes, it's a happy day. i am going to be working at the boston renaissance charter school, right in back bay/downtown. it's wonderful, it's right off the orange line, so my commute is still nice and generally short, and it's an urban school, which is completely oppposite to everything i've ever known, so i think it's going to be an excellent learning experience. the school is great because i'll be doing literacy and science tutoring, and i'll be doing breakfast andddd lunch mentoring/hanging out, and all the food is free for me!! how cool? after school, i'll be running some after school programs, which are to be determined later, once my team and i work it out, but either way, i'm incredibly excited.

tommorrow, in just a few hours really, i am leaving for 'camp wing' which is a teambuilding camp with ropes courses and cabins and all that fun stuff. i'll be there until friday, so hopefully you can get by without me haha. we have just been placed on our permanent teams, so this camp is a great way to get to know everyone and to start building working relationships.

o and one more thing.. do me a favor, go to your address bar, and type in www.elliothaney.com and see what happens............. did you do it?............. good, well then you see! i am now a dotcom!! big deal for me. i don't know if it really is or not, but i get excited typing my name, then a .com, and it goes to my website.. it's a cool feeling. feel happy for me!!

until next time, have a wonderful day :)

(green line train that was very late coming)
click to view high quality in flickr
once in flickr, click on the picture and 'all sizes' for the big version
also, feel free to browse the rest of my flickr while you're there

About to Start a New Week

so it's sunday night, and i have my first full week of city year starting tomorrow morning. i'll be getting placed into my permanent group and i''ll be finding out which school i'll actually be working at, so check back tomorrow for the results. i applied for the "boston renaissance charter school" which is awesome, because they focus on science, art, and music... if you know me, you know that those three things together would be perfecttttt for me to teach and to tutor. plus, it's one of the kinds of schools that you have to apply to get into, it's not a normal public school.. fingers crossed on whether i get it or not. any school i would be placed in will be fine, but i like this one a lot. so again, i'll post the results tomorrow.. wish me well!

wednesday into friday night is our "basic training retreat" where we go to one of those teamwork camp type places with ropes courses and cool teambuilding games and activities... i'm hope there's a rock wall and/or a rappelling wall.... mannnn i LOVE rappelling walls. that would be great. i guess we'll find out soon.

I think my picture today is really interesting.. it shows you that even in a "modern city" such as boston (quotes because it's one of the oldest cities in the country) you can find little nuggets of history and past construction and architecture. kinda like you should always look under the outer layer, and search for the good within.

(6 exposure HDR from Back Bay in Boston MA)
click to view high quality in flickr
once in flickr, click on the picture and 'all sizes' for the big one
also, feel free to browse the rest of my flickr

The Enemy of Great Is Good

this is a thing i keep hearing at city year. at first glance, it might seem a little... off. but, read it again. what it means is that if you are okay with being good, if you're happy making every day a good day, then they will never be great. therefore, the worst thing for great, is good. strive for greatness, don't allow a normal "good" day to interfere with having a great day.

Tonight was a meet and greet with alumni from previous years. it was incredibly cool to meet people who have been through this experience, and who can speak to what we're about to go through. I'll tell you what though, for us being a not-for-profit organization, the food was phenomenal, and i thinkkkk it's all donated. how cool is that? the best thing about it was, guess who took home an entire tray of about 30 gourmet bbq and swiss hamburger sliders.... yeah that's right, me :)

(long exposure on Mass. Avenue in Boston)
view for better qulaity on flickr please

Changes Around Here

so at first glance, everything is different... yes, i am attempting to be serious about this photography/journal/social media thing... please please please, click on the portfolio link on the top right, it's 25 of the pictures i'm most proud of, and it's all in a nice viewing package, so please look at it and tell me what you think, good or bad (but it had better be good.) look at the contact and elliot link too... really get in there and such.

so today was day #1 at city year, and i'll tell you what... i feel good, i feel like i'm about to be a new, changed... better person. yeah, maybe that's all the hype they're feeding us, and maybe it's working, but even if it is just hype, it makes me feel like i can make a difference, then i go out and make a difference. so, that hype that was just hype, it turned into results, and it's a beautiful thing. today we went to a housing project and cleaned it up and painted the outsides. the railings, benches, and the playgrounds all got a major facelift. we left the place much better than we found it, and that is what we call positive change, and it feels good. the kid who spilt an entire can of paint down a plastic slide, not such a positive change, but we deal.

goodnight, and have a pleasent tommorow... thank you.

Christian Science Center

So, at first glance, you may see that i have a new picture at the top, and that is the Christian Science Center in Boston. Now, i heard "christian science center" and i got really excited because i thought, hey, maybe this is something i can get on board with! so i go to the website, and apparently, "christian science" has nothing to with science at all, it is simply "the science of christianity" meaning, the story behind beliefs and things like how jesus "scientifically" changed water to wine, multiplied fish and bread, the world was created in 7 days 6,000 years ago blah blah blah... I've been using "quotes" a lot in this post because i feel like they need them, so that no one thinks these are my beliefs in any way. I would love to find a religion that fits in with what i (and common sense) know as truth and that doesn't try and answer the questions we don't know the answers to yet with "you must have faith in what god hasn't revealed" ...i'm tired of that. but anywayyyyy, i'll get off my soapbox and show some pictures.


This one is from the opposite end of the reflecting pool... awesomeeee place to be, beats DC's anyday haha


This one is very important to me... i've been trying to get a lightning shot since i started taking picture, and here in all it's kind-of-visible glory, is my first successfull lightning shot... oh yeahhh haha


This one isn't very different from the others, but it's the ending one, so love it.


cheers yo!

A View of my Room

so i'm going to say, today was one of the hottest days of my life. I've never been without A/C through the hot parts of August... i've been without it in college for 4 years, but never in the hottest parts of august, with the sticky, wake up sweating, humid, disgusting hot. I woke up this morning angry, partly because i'm sick of my dumb air mattress, but mostly due to the heat. yes, i AM in a complaining mood haha. but anyway, karla and i finallly got most of our stuff put away, organized, and our pictures are officially hung and set. So, to celebrate that glorious occassion, i figured it was time to show the apartment to the world (or, the possible 3 or 4 people who may read this.) as you can see in picture one and two, there are two flags. you really should know the first one, but the bottom one, for those of you "not in the know" is from the tiny little country known as El Salvador. clearly, the U.S. flag was hung higher up :)
Anyone who has known me in college, knows that i loveeee string lights as the main lighting in a room. Yes, i call them string lights because they should never be relegated only to the winter holiday months, they should be used all year. really. name another piece of decoration that is more versatile and more calming..... exactly, you cannot.

This is my kitchen, it's cute. not a lot of counter space, but i'll tell you, i am creating magic in the kitchen with some dishes, karla's not too bad herself... it's like she LOVES washing dishes!

Why do people paint their walls yellow? it's known as "gender neutral," but what does that really mean? are there any guys that really enjoy yellow? on the other side, any girls? does gender neutral just mean both sexes hate it equally? i go for that explanation.

Last but not least, a little porch, cute porch, and until this very morning, a very dirty porch. i swear, i don't pay her to clean, it's just in her blood (...too much?)

Trinity Church Visit

First of all, big news. I discovered yesterday that, like our mysterious internet signal from upstairs or downstairs, or somewhere else, we also have free basic cable!!! yes, it is basic meaning nbc, cbs, abc, fox and not much else, but that means football, for FREE! like tonight, bills and titans... incredibly uninteresting game, but i will watch it, because i have missed football terribly and it's free :)

So one of the first things i do when i get into a new place of my own (i think this makes living space number... 6?) i always check the toilet. i seem to have pretty rough luck with toilets, and their... umm.. strength of flush. through three years at juniata, I always had a communal bathroom with multiple toilets and a janitor to fix it, if need be, but last year in my house, i was luckily graced with a strong flush. This year however, in the great city of boston, my toilet was no match for me :) day 3, i go. next flush someone uses, overflow. so, in comes landlord and he says (in a thick chinese accent) "in ten years, i never see any toilet ack like dis! ...not in ten years!" so, he has been in our bathroom for about 4 hours, replacing the toilet, maybe this one will be a little better haha... i wasn't able to say a few words of goodbye to the friend i knew for so short an amount of time...

So today was sunday, and in our endless pursuit to find free things, we discovered that on sundays, right after the service, their is free admission and free tours into the trinity church in boston, so in we went for a tour. Now, this tour was reallllllly boring, so i found myself looking at the celing a lot, hence the first picture. it's a really weird, but kind of beautiful church. really odd colors. I've never seen more red and gold concentrated in one spot, and i don't know if i'm a fan of it... it got a little nausiating, like they bought way too much red and just needed to use it all so as to not waste it. Renaissance is cool and everything, but i much prefer the gothic style for churches and the like.











Although, the details on the alter's stonework were reallllly baddass... just look!!!