Photography // The Daily Render by Nikolas R. Schiller // Page Number 4

The Daily Render

A Digital Scrapbook for the Past, Present, and Future

|| 6/30/2009 || 4:45 pm || + Render A Comment || ||
Signs of the Time: Michael Jackson

A Michael Jackson fan holds up a homemade sign at Restaurant Marvin in Washington, DC

Although this is a few days late, on June 25th, the night of Michael Jackson’s death, I was at Restaurant Marvin, (ironically named after another dead musician) in Washington, DC projecting old Michael Jackson videos on the wall of the adjacent building and this yahoo showed up at the bar. I couldn’t help but laughing at the crude nature of the sign. I understand we all experience loss in different ways, but showing up at a bar with a sign is a bit silly.

|| 6/3/2009 || 7:36 pm || + Render A Comment || ||
My Artomatic 2009 Opening Night Exhibit Dissected on Flickr

For my second official upload to Flickr, I continued last year’s practice, and uploaded a photo I took of my Artomatic 2009 exhibit on opening night. By adding notes over every part of the display photograph on Flickr, you can click on the embedded links and view the respective content on my website. If you are unable to make it to this year’s exhibition, I hope this dissection satiates your curiosity.

|| 3/31/2009 || 2:19 pm || + Render A Comment || ||
Surveillance under Freedom

Surveillance under Freedom by Nikolas Schiller

Last month I did sound for the American Student Medical Association on the West Lawn of the United States Capitol. While the group was marching up the hill before the start of the rally, I looked up to the dome of the Capitol and noticed the little surveillance camera below the Statue of Freedom for the first time.

Related Photography Entries:

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|| 3/9/2009 || 11:29 pm || + Render A Comment || ||
Today at Lafayette Park: YouTube Video of the Tibetan National Uprising Day Rally and SEIU’s Employee Free Choice Act rally

I was woken up this morning by a friend calling from Los Angeles. He’d missed his flight and needed someone to do sound for a rally at Lafayette Park (just north of the White House). Happy that it was a beautiful day, I obliged and proceeded to go to his office to pick up the sound system. When we arrived at the park we were greeted by a decent sized demonstration that was taking place on the other side of the park in support of a Free Tibet because the following day, March 10th, is the 50th anniversary of the 1959 Tibetan Uprising. As the Tibetan National Uprising Day Rally ended and the demonstrators started to march toward the Chinese Embassy, I got out my camera and filmed this:

Afterwards we set up the stage and about an hour later the SEUI‘s rally for the Employee Free Choice Act began. I snapped a couple pictures of the masks that were created by local designer Cesar Maxit:

Masks at the SEIU Employee Free Choice Rally

Continue:

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|| 3/2/2009 || 11:49 pm || Comments Off || ||
Photos and a YouTube Video of the Capitol Climate Action at the Capitol Power Plant

Earlier today I attended the Capitol Climate Action on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. Organized by Greenpeace and the Rain Forest Action Network for the Powershift09 conference, the demonstration was billed as a “mass civil disobedience” designed to shut down the Washington, DC’s biggest polluter, the Capitol Power Plant. Although I wasn’t able to stay for the entire demonstration, I was able to slice together some of the video clips I took from around 1pm to 3pm:

See the rest of the photos of the demonstration:

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|| 1/19/2009 || 11:44 pm || Comments Off || ||
Photos from the DC Manifest Hope Gallery Party

Celebrities on stage at the DC Manifest Hope Gallery Party

My friend from Los Angeles who was in town for the inaugural festivities invited to attend the Manifest Hope Gallery party this evening. After hearing that Moby, De La Soul, and Santogold were performing and it was an invite-only party, I was quite excited. It turns out that although she had tickets, she opted to volunteer for the event, so as her guest I also volunteered for most of the party. All I did was stand next to a wall and guard the artwork and tell people not lean on the wall. It was pretty easy and I took quite a few breaks to dance, look at the art, and say hello to my friends who were also at the party. I think the highlight of the party was when one of my friends gave me an extra ticket to the swearing in ceremony tomorrow at the Capitol.

Below are a couple pictures I took of the party:

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|| 1/18/2009 || 11:16 pm || Comments Off || ||
Two photos from the We Are One concert on the National Mall

Today I went down to the National Mall to check out the opening ceremonies of the Inauguration of Barack Obama. I twittered that I had never seen the Mall so full! While I didn’t really catch much of the concert it was quite cool seeing so many people on the Mall.

|| 1/10/2009 || 1:29 pm || Comments Off || ||
Yes We Can – DC Statehood Now!

Yesterday I spotted this sign on K Street. They were put up so that people coming to DC for the inauguration will be reminded of DC’s second-class status.

|| 1/1/2009 || 6:40 pm || Comments Off || ||
Time-lapse photograph of Mercury, Jupiter, and an airplane taking off

6 second time-lapse photograph of Mercury (left), Jupiter (right), and an airplane taking off (top)

This evening marks the first time I’ve seen the planet Mercury in night sky. What makes this extra beautiful is Mercury, the smallest planet in the solar system, was next to Jupiter, the largest planet in the solar system. I have now have seen all of wandering stars known to the ancients.

Below I decided to digitally zoom in as far as I could and see what the time-lapse photograph would look like:

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|| 12/30/2008 || 3:48 pm || Comments Off || ||
Birds of Colorado: The Stellar’s Jay

Today I am flying back to Washington, DC, so I am going to post some pictures of the birds I saw when I was in Colorado. This third and final photographic installment is the Stellar’s Jay. I saw this guy eating tourist’s food at the edge of Bear Lake. They are named after naturalist Georg Wilhelm Steller and are probably one of my favorite alpine birds because of their beautiful blue feathers.

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|| || 12:43 pm || Comments Off || ||
Birds of Colorado: The Hairy Woodpecker

Today I am flying back to Washington, DC, so I am going to post some pictures of the birds I saw when I was in Colorado. This second photographic installment is the Hairy Woodpecker. I saw this guy from the deck of the cabin. I believe I saw this same specie about three weeks ago in Washington, DC. It was tapping on the dead tree in the backyard of the house three doors down from where I live.

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|| || 11:34 am || Comments Off || ||
Birds of Colorado: The Pine Siskin

Today I am flying back to Washington, DC, so I am going to post some pictures of the birds I saw when I was in Colorado. This first photographic installment is the small finch known as the Pine Siskin. I saw these tiny finches constantly feeding on the deck of the cabin. They remind me of the common sparrow, except they have little yellow fellows and a brown & white spotted breast.

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|| 12/29/2008 || 9:00 pm || Comments Off || ||
A slightly blurry view of Mount Princeton from Buena Vista

View of Mount Princeton at night taken from the car

Today we drove to the Mount Princeton Hot Springs near the ghost town of Nathrop, Colorado, nine miles outside of Buena Vista, Colorado. There are about are forty springs around the resort, with two main pools, that have a flow of hot water aggregating to about 1,000,000 gallons daily (in 1904). The springs are known to be beneficial for rheumatism, cutaneous diseases, and paralysis. It was wonderful sitting in the 104 degree water on the banks of the ice cold river. When I was playing in the rocks, I cut my cuticle on my thumb and I noticed how quickly it healed in the mineral-rich water! While I am not going to post any of the photographs of the hot springs, today’s photographs are of Mount Princeton at night.

View of Mount Princeton at night from Buena Vista

|| || 12:40 pm || Comments Off || ||
A panoramic view of South Park & beyond

View the larger 5,588 x 800 pixel version

The digitally manipulated panoramic photograph above was created from 7 stitched-together photographs of the view of South Park from Wilkerson Pass on U.S. Route 24 about 50 miles from Colorado Springs, Colorado. Unlike yesterday, the Continental Divide is not stuck in the clouds and off in the distance you can see the Sawatch Range, which contains the highest concentration of mountain peaks in all of the lower 48 states in the United States of America. Within the mountain range is th Collegiate Peaks Wilderness area, which includes mountains named after ivy league schools like Harvard, Yale, Oxford, Columbia and Mount Princeton! About 15 years ago I went on a seven day backpacking trip in those mountains and I remember stopping at this scenic overlook. Viewing it again in the wintertime was quite stunning.

Below is a photograph of a map from the Pike National Forest with the peak’s listed South to North. By clicking on it you can see a more close-up view and be able to match the mountains in the panoramic photograph above:

|| 12/28/2008 || 4:28 pm || Comments Off || ||
Elk outside of Rocky Mountain National Park

When were driving into Rocky Mountain National Park I mentioned that this massive RV lot outside of Estes Park was completely empty. When we were departing the park someone spotted three elk from the road and we stopped I took these grainy 3X-12X zoom photos.

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