This month more then ever I feel optimistic about my role as a photographer.  To light the stage and set the scene for a narrative image is something I love to do.  Historically, it’s been a decadent hobby of mine, but slowly I am figuring out how to make money so that I can do it more often (if you have any tips, I greatly welcome the insight).  I've posted a lot of new images on Flickr, and eventually my friend Ben Blood (www.benblood.com) is setting me up with a more "professional" site.   My goal this year in the realm of photography is to be able to pay for an assistant and to have my first ten thousand dollar shoot, maybe with Vanity Fair or something like that.  Dream big people!  

Yesterday, I arrived in Oxford ( I'm here until the end of July). Once I landed, I jumped a bus that I am certain Ricky Jervais was driving.  He spouted off dry British humor into the speaker intercom about sheep’s and intellects.  In the evening after I slept a few hours I attended a faith debate in the center of Oxford at the Sheldonian Theater.  The people I met  looked and sounded like Harry Potters classmates.  They talked to me about how they were working on their PhD’s and Doctorates in Astrophysics, History, Theology or Economics.  That’s cool I’d say, but what exactly do you do with a PHD in those things?  I continue to feel more comfortable with the Proletarians and labor workers of China, but the characters here at Oxford who live part time in a Harry Potter novel are willfully entertaining as well.  My brother seems to think I should go around casting spells on all the Potter people or ask them who their favorite Quidditch team is; I suspect this should help diffuse the rap on American ignorance. The weather is reminiscent of Portland today, rainy and cold, but I see a little blue peeking through.