Tied loose ends

It may have taken a little while, but I'm finally caught up! I can now write in the present-tense.

Chopping Trees

 Shane Vereen and Mike Mohammed chopping trees in the Redwood Grove of the Botanical Gardens

Okay, so Vereen and Mohammed didn't actually chop down any trees. But it makes for an awesome photo. 

Jessie and I co-edited the Big Game Gameday Issue. We were feeling nostalgic for our editorship overlap from last fall and wanted to make this issue the best yet. Being the idealist and dreamer that I am, I thought it would be cool to get the players into the redwood forest behind Memorial Stadium (get it, with Stanford's mascot?). I knew it was ambitious, but I propsed the idea to Kyle, the football media relations guy, and he gave me the green light. After being laughed at by the sports desk for my idea, I quietly relished in my victory, this was going to be epic.

And although we lost both the exacto knife and the axe this year, our Gameday issue compared to Stanford's doesn't even stand a chance.

Farewell Memorial

Oregon with the ball

Shooting my last home game was a little heart breaking. The fact that the 70-200mm lens was acting up and that it was a night game made it even harder. I got some decent shots, but the focus was off on a lot of them, probably because the lens was bending up and down and only focusing at certain lengths. But it was still a lot of fun, being on the sidelines running around will always be some of my fondest Cal memories.

Keep Tahoe Blue (and pink and purple)

 Sunset on Lake Tahoe, taken from the North Shore

Every semester the editors of The Daily Cal take a trip together to get out of the office and spend some quality time. We have the fortunate opportunity of being able to stay at one of our board member's cabin in North Shore Tahoe, I've been 3 times now. While it was too cold to go into the lake and not cold enough for sloping, the weekend was still a lot of fun. The weather made for clear days and nice photographing opportunities, as well as Baileys cocoa.

A Giant Win

 A little Giants fan wearing a Wilson beard

Unless you live under a rock, you probably know that the SF Giants won the 2010 World Series against the Texas Rangers. Now I love baseball, there really isn't anything more American than being at a game. However, being a student and therefore on a budget, I could not afford to scalp tickets in the city. So my friends and I opted to spend the World Series at Raleigh's (while working on our tap cards of course). That Monday night win was electric, only trumped by the Wednesday afternoon parade in the city.

Bleed Blue and Gold

 Betsi screams for joy as Oski walkouts out of the tunnel to the field

My first home game of the season was the Cal/ASU game on October 23. The shooting conditions could not have been more ideal, overcast the whole time. It did start to rain, not hard though, which made the experience even more fun. I felt bonded to the other photographers out there. And I got to see some of the cool camera rain gear I never knew existed. I'll have to get me some of that.

I got some nice shots, the one I posted is one of my favorite football shots I've ever taken. I posted more non-action shots just to spice things up a bit though.

Circus Oz

 pre show entertainment

I love shooting at Zellerbach Hall, the media relations man, Joe, is always so hospitable. The same day as the walkout I was given backstage access to Circus Oz, an Australian circus troop. It was a great show, I got to stay and shoot the first half of it, and was even offered a pair of tickets for the next night's performance.

The bicycle routine

Spectacle of Action

A man observes the crowds on Upper Sproul from the balcony of the MLK Student Union

Last school year was marked by activism. Fall 2009 had multiple protests, including the first walkout, with an estimated 5,000 person turnout, and the Wheeler Occupation. In Spring 2010 there were riots in the streets of Berkeley - all responses from the continuing frustration with how the UC Regents and the state of California were handling the budget crisis in relation to higher education. 

This year another walkout was planned for October 7. The turnout was substantially less impressive than last fall, but the fact that there was a heavy police presence proved how serious the university and city has taken these demonstrations. There have been random other acts of protest throughout the course of the semester, but nothing as dramatic as before. 

Part of me is glad to be graduating, I'm not sure how Berkeley will look in a few years, especially the ever shrinking Art History department.

Gameday

 DJ Holt

Sports features are one of my favorite type of assignment, Gameday features are even better. I shot these 3 players for the Homecoming Gameday Issue. The cover featured Hill, but I put the funny one up instead.

Invented

 The mic before the show started

One of my favorite bands is Jimmy Eat World. So when I saw they were scheduled to play at The Warfield in September, I made sure I had a photo pass. The show was great but the trickiest lighting situation I've ever found myself in. I could barely keep up with all of the different colors and flashing that was going on.

Beam me up

Inside of the Advanced Light Source at Lawrence Lab in Berkeley

I was hanging around the office on a random Monday afternoon when Evan (the assistant photo editor) nervously asked if I was free. I was curious about the assignment, and when I learned it was a guided tour through Lawrence Lab (the scheduled photographer was sick and had to give it up last minute), I jumped at the chance.

No Vegas

 Shane Vereen with the ball

As a senior staff photographer of The Daily Cal, I had the privilege of shooting an away football game. I opted for the first one in Reno (if only I had been 21 at the time...). I basically had a free vacation courtesy of Cal Athletics. It was definitely an experience to fly charter with the football team, I wish I could fly Cal Athletics all of the time. We stayed at The Grand Sierra, a huge resort - I sunbathed by the pool before heading to the field on Friday. 

The game itself was disappointing, the first of many losses for Cal this season. I got some decent shots, although other photographers also admitted their frustrations with their lack of capturing anything great. The benefit of shooting a Friday away game? I still had the whole weekend ahead of my when I landed back in Berkeley.

I'd like to be under the sea

Visitors of the Monterrey Bay Aquarium admire the jellyfish display

Aquariums are extremely photogenic, I'd like to make it back to Monterrey and shoot some more. Very visually inspiring.

Trekkin'

Hiking in Marin near Mount Tam

Washed Up

Taken from a bike tour crossing the Golden Gate Bridge

Garage Band King

Andrew McMahon of Something Corporate plays the piano at the Warfield in San Francisco on August 24, 2010 as part of the band's reunion tour.

 My first Daily Cal shoot as a plain-old-staff-photographer was a self assigned Something Corporate concert. I loved this band during middle school and was so excited to get to shoot them, and see the show for free. It definitely made for some great people watching. My housemates and I went on a middle school reminiscing binge in the days that followed. 

Take me to my city by the bay

Sunset over the bay, the Golden Gate in the background

I thought coming back to Berkeley might result in some serious nostalgia from being abroad basically since January. However, I was excited: I was moving out of DG into my own place with a couple of friends from work, my schedule was relatively light, and there was so much for me to do in the Bay that I still hadn't. 

For the first couple of weeks I was very nostalgic for Paris and for Israel. But it faded. I've been having a great semester, which I will be finished pictorially updating (hopefully) this Thanksgiving Break.

So here's to bucket listing and my senior year of college.

Fin

Ladder shot of D4, the end result

This season may not have unearthed treasures like the Alexander Gem or the Mask Mosaic, but it was productive nonetheless. In D4 we removed all of the Roman Walls, enabling the 2011 season to begin work on the Hellenistic layer beneath. 

As staff, I stayed at Kfar Galim for an extra couple of days to help wrap up last minute work. For me this was just editing photos and making sure they were all saved properly. For the directors and supervisors it was writing last paperwork and making sure logs were all properly filed. 

My last day and a half was spent in Tel Aviv. I checked into a small hotel near the beach, much needed after living at Kfar Galim for 6 weeks. I got to do some last minute tanning, shopping, and of course, a last iced coffee (they don't make them the way we're used to in America, how I miss them). 

It was then back to Los Angeles for 3 days before heading back up to Berkeley.

It's been a hard day's night

Napping after moving the tarp tents

Cleanup was one of the most difficult days, as it happens without the much missed shade from the tents. One way to cope after work before bus pickup was to just lie down and try to nap.

All good things come to an end

 Warren gazes out to admire D5's work

Tel Dor is a grueling experience; a great one, but tiring. At the end of the 6 weeks, if you're one of those who chose to dig for the whole season, you're ready to go home, take a shower, and pass out in your own bed. However, it was very bittersweet to begin the cleaning process, preserving our work for the next season to start from.

Clean up entailed doing a last series of photographs, which meant I had to climb a 10 foot ladder and get whole areas into my frame. My semi-dormant fear of heights was definitely riled during the process. We also had to put down plastic over everything we opened up, and then, ironically, chain a couple feet of dirt back into the pits. This is to prevent people from coming and digging up real things, if someone were to dig after the cleanup process, they would just be going through back fill. Finally, the shade tents had to come down, get rolled up, and labeled.

Community

The whole Dor team

Dunkin' Bux

Kyle dunks bux

Kyle, one of the supervisors for D4 (the Gryffindor square) invented an end-game for the many bucket chains we did. He dubbed it "dunkin' bux." Usually Sarah was the last to receive buckets during the toss, she stood on top of the dirt pile, kind of claiming her right as director. However, one day things got switched up, and Kyle found himself king of the pile. Throughout the season Kyle got more and more elaborate, different styles were invented, and other supervisors tried their hand at the sport. I got to dunk a couple bux too, Kyle and Henry thought I should get a feel for it since I shot it so much. Shooting this activity was my favorite of the dig.

Click for the greatest hits.

Let there be light

 Light streams through the tarp of D2

Footprints, the result of repairing the roof structure, on the top of D4's shade tent

Toiling

 Steve weeds area D1 for aerial photos

 Sam dumps weeds out into the pile

Warren passes the bucket during a bucket chain

Life is but a dream

A swimmer floats in the Dead Sea

Brownscapes

 Dorians rest on a bench at the top of Masada

I missed the first UW field trip because I was in Tel Aviv with an old friend. The second trip was to Masada and the Dead Sea. Even though I've been before, I wanted to go again and take some photos. We made the mistake of arriving at Masada around noon, on what was coincidentally one of the hottest days in Israel yet. However, the fatigue and sweat was worth it, I was really pleased with my shots.

Architecture

Sveta, the site's architect, sketches walls in D2

Before any major architectural element could be removed, it had to be sketched by Sveta. Her drawings were crucial for reconstructing each layer of civilization and understanding how the different layers interacted with each other.

Act a Fool

 D2 poses as Sexy Dor

More silliness from the Tel:

 Henry elevates Jessica during a nap

Shake, Shake, Shake

Ben and Shannon dry sift, a technique used when loci were especially rich in finds

Tel Olympics

Lawrence paints up in D5 spirit for the olympics

Each season the tel comes together for the Tel Olympics. Events include: extreme bucket toss, bucket racing, rock toss, bucket soccer, poetry, and the long bucket toss. Spirits were up on Friday, July 30, and areas D2, D4, and D5 joined together for the annual celebration.

D5 took the win, but not without valiant efforts by D2 and D4.

Pottery Reading

Barack sifts through washed pottery to explain what's been found

The North Arrow

 Part of a hippo skull found in D4

It was my job to document certain special finds (such as above) and architectural elements for publication in the end of season report (and any subsequent scholarly material derived from it). I had to make sure that what was being photographed was "clean" and camera ready. I thought it was funny that I had to make sure things in the dirt were clean, but apparently archaeological journals are particular and fellow archaeologists picky. Therefore, you could often see me telling supervisors to brush more dirt away from their shot; sometimes I refused to shoot if the element wasn't clean enough.

I was also responsible for having the north arrow pointing in the right direction (north), the measuring sticks straight, as well as the labeling. Most of my official photographs look like the ones above, I prefer my candid shots though.  

Exposed

Dawn at Dor

 

  

The shore of area D1

 

 Marcus enjoys a break on the lookout point

 The moon over Dor

 Tide pools off of the side of area D5

Some More Dor

 Rob holds a praying mantis while weeding

 Vistors are free to walk up the Tel, we often saw school groups on field trips

 Uli measures heights

Barack shows off a bead found in D5. The bead was made from (probably) recycled pottery

Weekend Hiatus

A boy plays on the beach during sunset in Tel Aviv

The Israeli work week is Sunday-Thursday because of Shabbat. We worked an American work week, Monday-Friday, which made weekend travel a little more hectic. Not everywhere in Israel completely shuts down for Shabbat, but the public transportation systems start to close down Friday afternoon. It was always a rush to get back to Kfar Galim and catch the last bus or train. If all else fails, taxi cabs are an option; expensive, but still doable (Israel isn't really that big afterall). During my time I did 3 weekend trips on my own: 2 to Tel Aviv and 1 to Jerusalem.

View from Jaffa Gate Hostel's roof

Work all Day

 D5 chains out dirt

Digging at Dor meant working eight hours of labor. Some days were easier than others, some days were more fun than others, but every day was rewarding. As students we sometimes forget the sense of accomplishment and pride that comes after a day of manual labor. It was a nice change of pace from writing papers and taking tests.

There was a definite hierarchy of labor at Dor. Sledge hammering was definitely the most fun, albeit the most difficult. But when that head came down on the marble slab and it cracked, you felt good. Pic-axing was next down on the totem pole, followed by using the trowel. At the very bottom was chaining out dirt. All of the earth removed from our various loci had to be chained to a dirt pile. Every so often the supervisors would call for a bucket chain responded to with groans of almost unwillingness. As the season progressed, we got better at the chain system, it was the ultimate test to not have a single bucket drop during the process. And if you think chaining dirt would be a breeze, you'd be surprised to know there is a definite technique to it.

The Vuvu

Inside of the vuvuzela

 

World Cup fever hit everyone hard this summer. To signal the end of breaks, Kyle blew the vuvuzela. The sound became something everyone dreaded, although it was satisfying and sad when it was blown for the last time.

 

 Kyle signals the end of another break