Living Vicariously through My Former Self: Rome

Rome, Italy

I was born in 1986. What else happened in 1986? McDonald's opened its largest store to date. A 425 seat behemoth in the heart of Rome was considered by many locals to be the "death of Italian Cuisine". Based on the food I ate in this fine city that apparently wasn't built in a day, I'd say Italian cuisine has survived quite nicely. I would go back to Rome in a second if someone offered me the chance to. That's not saying much though since I would go back to practically every destination I visited on my month long venture through Europe. In descending order, we have the view from the Spanish Steps, a peek inside the doorway of the Pantheon,  a cross in a public square and an old buildings front door. 

Living Vicariously through My Former Self: Vatican

St. Peters Basilica

Vatican City

Life is all about taking what was once great, remastering it and trying to improve upon that greatness by creating a new, even greater reincarnation of that original greatness. If George Lucas could do it with Star Wars and DC Talk could do it with the Free at Last EP, I can surely do it with some of my European pictures. I surely can and I surely did. I rummaged through my external hard drive and selected/re-edited some of the finest digital images I created while backpacking my way through the southern half of Europe. For a quick historical recap, I traveled overseas to Europe in the summer of 2007. I'd been given the flight discount pricing of a lifetime. $300 round trip to fly standby on Delta. $300!!! I had to take up this opportunity, and I did. I hugged the Mediterranean heading east hitting Spain, Germany, Austria, Italy, Greece and Italy once more. Due to the beauty of the sights, the historical depth and the company I kept and met, this trip was amazing. Due to my lack of planning, foresight and understanding of whether it's smart to trust strangers, this trip had some weird, crazy and generally unsafe moments. But that's bound to happen when you're travelling Europe. Below were three favorites from Rome, specifically the Vatican City. As I say often, no picture can really capture the greatness of what I was witnessing. But I did my best. 

A Very Ulysses Christmas

Bellingham Covenant Church

Bellingham, WA

Christmas came early for me this year. That, or my 25th Birthday came really, really late. I just found $50 in a birthday card from last March. I was cleaning out my room, going through old magazines and cards. The crisp bill slipped out of one of those cards and landed ever so softly on my lush, just vacuumed, carpeted floor. It didn't make a sound, but if it did make a sound, it would have been a very beautiful sound. Ulysses S. Grant just sat there staring at me in his stoic yet joyful way, almost as if to say, "Merry Christmas Kile, may your days be merry and bright." Thank you Mr. Grant and thank you sender of the birthday card. 

Bellingham: Dealing w/ Celebrity Status

Whatcom Museum of History

Bellingham, Wa

Fact: I once had a photograph displayed in a gallery at the Whatcom County Museum. Let me repeat myself, I had a picture in a Museum! Be amazed. Be proud. But before you decide how amazed and proud you are of me, know this; I was in 4th grade. Hundreds of other elementary students from the local public school system were granted the same honor as I and my feature photograph was a 4x6 affixed to the wall by a couple of rolled up pieces of scotch tape. The louvre this was not. But still, pretty amazing right? Well, let me explain further. I technically didn't even take the picture. One day in class, my teacher took each student outside one by one. He had a disposable camera. I walked out with him and he asked me where I wanted him to point the camera. I pointed, he pressed the shutter button and took a picture in that general direction. To finish the assignment, he asked me to name the picture. I hadn't even seen it yet and I was tasked with granting a name to my fresh new piece of art. I succumbed to the pressure and said, "Nature". It was a picture of a big oak tree. Oak trees are nature. I named it Nature. Turns out "Nature" was my ticket to the big time. A few weeks later I received a flyer declaring my photo a "winner", meaning it would be displayed at the great Whatcom County Museum along with hundreds of other "winners". This was clearly a socialists idea of winning. Still, my art in a museum! My mom drove me down one evening while the gallery was on display. We sauntered around, gave quizzical looks and pointed at things for no reason like good art observers do until we found "Nature". The colors were dull, the tree was poorly centered in the frame and and subject itself lacked anything of real interest. But that was my picture. My picture displayed in a public forum for all to admire, gush over and simply sit in awe of. In the grand scheme of things, it wasn't that grand. But at least when my friends ask me "can you imagine what it's like to be a famous photographer?" I can respond, "yes, yes I can."