Photos

Just some photos I had taken a while ago and I thought I’d post.

I’ve been meaning to go on this boat and see the Georgetown Canal.

I like the old antiquish look of the buildings on M Street

I really liked this photo. The reflection and ripples in the water look VERY cool.

Fall is coming and so the leaves have started to change. I love when the leaves change colors. Simply beautiful.

I’m Grateful For…

Today, while I was looking at the sun setting by The Washington Monument, I began to think of the all things that I’m grateful for in my life.

I’m grateful for having two eyes and being able to see the beauty of life.

I’m grateful for having parents who care about me even though they can be a little overprotective at times.

I’m grateful for having amazing friends.

I’m grateful for having good health.

I’m grateful for having two younger sisters who look up to me and want to be just like me.

I’m grateful for having great teachers in life. Without them I wouldn’t be the person I am today.

There are many things I’m grateful for but these were just some of things that I could think of from the top of my head.

..Today..

So today, my cousin and I decided to have a picnic on the National Mall. She’s leaving to go to UVA next Saturday and I told her that we needed to spend some time together. It was such a beautiful day. Not hot not cold just right. (Gosh it sounds like I’m talking about Goldilocks and The Three Bears with that sentence, haha).

We got to the National Mall around 5p.m. and time went by so fast that before we knew it the sun began to set. As I looked at the Washington Monument surrounded by the pinkish and orangish shades in the sky, I felt like kicking myself for not bringing my camera. I was so angry that I missed photographing such a beautiful sunset. Yes, I’m a sucker for sunsets. I think they’re one of the most beautiful things in the world. One thing I want to do one day, is just travel all around the world and take pictures of sunsets in different countries and then create a book out of it. I want to do the same thing of creating a book of the different Mosques around the world as well. I love the different Mosques and the architecture. Speaking of architecture, I still need to go see The National Cathedral. I think I’ll do that sometime next week.

And oh my gosh, I’m so excited for fall!! I was at Borders the other day and by the register I saw these postcards of D.C. and some of them were of D.C. in the fall time and it looked so picturesque! The colors of the leaves were beautiful.

So I had such an interesting dream last night. I dreamt that I was getting married in India and that I came out on a huge elephant in the street with women dancing in colorful clothes and throwing flowers everywhere as they sang happily for me. At the other end of the street, stood the groom and his parents waiting for me. On my left were my parents sitting on another elephant and on my right were my sisters sitting on an elephant as well. I smiled and waved happily to my friends who stood on the street with the dancers. And then yeah I don’t remember the rest of the dream. But I was telling my cousin about my dream today and she told me about this one guy who got married in D.C. and had the streets closed for his grand entrance of coming in on an elephant. I couldn’t believe it and then she showed me the article online. Here’s the link to it. I was pretty fascinated by it. I told her that when I would get married it would say “Bride Turns Heads With an Elephant of an Entrance.” But I would much rather get married in India. There’s no comparison with weddings back home. They go full out and just seeing the colorful streets and men and women dancing in the streets makes it so much more fun!

Procrastination= A Bad Paper

So I was really disappointed in myself…my research paper wasn’t as great as I expected it to be. I did a mediocre job on it. I just wish that if only I had started writing it a couple of weeks earlier then I could have developed my thoughts and ideas thoroughly. But of course, I waited till the week it was due and started writing it three days before I had to actually turn it in. Usually, I do some of my best writing under pressure but I don’t know what was wrong with me this time. I think I was just so overwhelmed with all the information and points I wanted to get across in my paper and at the same time I didn’t have much time to do that. Ughh I know I won’t get a good grade on it and I have myself to blame for that. But I guess to look at the bright side of it is that it’s only worth 30% of my grade. But i’m going to hate getting a B or C in a summer class…

M Street

So on Friday, I had to come to GW to fill out some paperwork for the housing department. Afterwards, I thought I would go shopping on M street. I knew it was near to GW but I didn’t know how to get there. So I called up my brother who had gone to Georgetown for undergrad and asked him how to get there. He laughed at me while telling me directions. His directions were exactly right and I was surprised how he remembered everything as if he still went to school in this area.

The walk to M street was like a straight route and I could not believe how close it was to GW. And oh gosh, there were so many tourists there! Well I guess, since it was a Friday afternoon around lunch time so I was bound to be in the rush. I was amazed at how many shops were along the streets. And they weren’t like crappy shops but actually pretty good shops. Haha yeah I’m a fashion queen. I think i’ll be coming around here more often during the school year.

Change of Topic

So today, when we were free writing for ten minutes, I started to think that maybe I don’t want to write about journalistic integrity after all. I don’t know what exactly changed my mind, but over the weekend I started skimming the books that I had checked out from the library and they didn’t appeal to me. And after all, if we have to write 20 pages it might as well be about something that I’m passionate for. And for me, that is photography. I love photojournalism. Working for National Geographic is my dream.

I’m kind of mad at myself for realizing all of this now and changing my topic, but I guess it’s still not too late.

I want to write about photojournalism in the digital era. With all the new technology that is emerging are we losing the true essence of photography? Has photography become a game of quickly snapping images and then enhancing them using photoshop? Are we too busy wanting to win the next Pulitzer Prize that we’ll do anything possible to make our photographs look outstanding? Is today’s photographer making a connection with his subject? Or is he/she simply getting the image they want and walking away? Are we even conscious of how many photos we’re simply taking away without even thinking twice? Has digital photography spoiled us?

Très Chic

It was my little sister’s birthday a couple of weeks ago and I bought her a dress, sunglasses, and a beret. She turned seven! I hate buying her toys cause within a few hours they’re thrown on the floor of her room. I love fashion and dressing up! Hence the Coco Chanel blog name.

We just moved into a new house here like a month ago. My mom has been busy decorating our house. I’ve been working on decorating my room and my sisters. My sister needed some pictures in her room so I thought we’d have a photoshoot using her new outfit. I’ve been meaning to do it but finally I got the chance on Friday afternoon. We only had 30 minutes so we went outside to our backyard and I just started shooting away.  It was funny though, cause my sister was tired and didn’t feel like getting dressed up but I forced her to. All the pouting and sad looks in the pictures worked out for the best.

She kind of reminded me of Madeline.

The Day the Earth Stood Still

So how does this movie relate to my topic? Well, I found three examples of how it actually does relate.

In the beginning of the film, when H.P Cullenburg is reporting, he mentions the anxiety and concern that is going on but immediately shifts to talking about “signs of normalcy” and how it is a beautiful spring day and the tourist crowd is around public monuments. This shows how even when things aren’t going so well the media tries to put up a good front. Which then leads back to my topic of the press shaping public opinion. If the media stresses that everything is “normal” will the public remain calm and continue with their day-to-day routine?

Another example is when Drew Pearson is conducting his TV radio broadcast and talking about the arrival of the spaceship, but then all of a sudden a note is handed to him during the broadcast. He then shifts gears and starts saying that there is no reasonable cause for alarm because the rumors are absolutely false and based on hysteria. Obviously, in the note, Pearson was ordered to not scare the public and tell them whatever is happening is complete bogus. Again, the media shaping the public’s views.

Lastly, when Bobby and Mr. Carpenter are interviewed near the spaceship, Mr. Carpenter exclaims, “I am fearful when I see people substituting fear for reason.” The news reporter immediately cuts him off and moves on to talking to another person. That wasn’t the answer the news reporter was looking for and it doesn’t make good TV.

Is McCain’s Age Showing?

Last Wednesday, when I was riding the metro home, I found a copy of The Washington Post on the seat next to me and began reading it. I came across an article written about McCain and his continuous verbal slips also known as “gaffes.” The article mentioned how McCain referred to the “Iraq-Pakistani border” instead of the Afghanistan-Pakistan border. We had talked about this earlier in the day in class and I remember that Dr. Larsen was wondering what the press had to say about it.

The article also discusses how Obama is given more media coverage then McCain. Additionally, whatever Obama says is scrutinized; whereas, McCain gets away with confusing Sunni and Shittes, referring to incorrect borders, and identifying Vladimir Putin as Germany’s president simply because he’s an expert at foreign policy.

Here’s a link to the article:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/22/AR2008072203201.html

D.C.

Since class was canceled on Thursday, I decided to go and see the Lincoln Memorial and Washington Monument. The other day, I saw the Monument from a distance but my feet were killing me so bad that I wasn’t able to walk all the way up to it. It was a perfect day to walk. I got off on the Smithsonian stop from the metro and started walking towards the Washington Monument. A gentle breeze was blowing across my face as I anxiously walked closer and closer to the Monument. I know I said that I hate taking those same ol’ tourist photos, but I just had to take some of the Monument. And the view of the Washington Monument from the stairs of the Lincoln Memorial is simply breathtaking.

I wanted to see the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, but there were so many people around it that I decided I’d go back another day.

So after touring around for over an hour, I was really hungry and I decided to go to Dupont Circle and get something to eat. I took the metro there. I began walking around deciding on where to eat and then I passed by Cosi and saw all these people eating delicious salads so I thought I would go there. I’m glad I went there because the Caesar salad I got was really good, and OMG the bread was delicious!!

This first photo reminded me of those postcards that you see in the giftshops at the airport. So I thought I would add the little “Wish you were here…” to it since I miss all my friends from Houston so much.

I just love the yellow! I saw this while walking around Dupont Circle, but I’ve also seen a similar home behind the GW hospital.

I think this was the outside of one of the Smithsonian buildings…