I Holga-ed the Sun

Holga, originally uploaded by eatpomegranate.

With my sister in our favorite shoes

Photo by Wajiha Ibrahim.

Double Exposure

When I was about 16 years old my Dad gave me his 35mm SLR camera. It was my most prized possession. I was always composing photographs in my head and I kept thinking about how lighting would work in various situations. Buying and developing film became an expensive hobby. Every shutter release was costing me a quarter. . . click click click. Twenty five cents per photo was a lot of money for a teenager, especially because I was shooting so frequently.

There was a point where it wasn't financially irresponsible to keep shooting film. Eventually I had to succumb to digital photography. Regardless, I never abandoned film. Here are a few photos from one of the best rolls I have ever shot.

I shot these on my Olympus XA using Ilford Delta 100 film. After shooting this roll once, I unwound it, put it back in the camera and shot it over again. The roll was developed under 3 heavy comforters (a make-shift dark room) at my friend Jeana Dee Allen's apartment. I was overjoyed with the results.

enjoy!

Ginger Zing!

This is my guest post on Beer and Comics

Ginger is one of my favorite flavors. I have ginger in my green tea, I garnish my food with it, I even use ginger toothpaste for that extra zing every morning. So when I was looking to satiate my ginger craving in The City (NYC) the big “Ginger” sign on this bottle drew me in from across the deli.

Unfiltered Ginger Ale by Bruce Cost has pure and natural ingredients and a wonderfully fresh mouth feel. Unlike other ginger beers and ginger ales, it doesn’t leave you with an unnatural tongue burn. As you can see in the picture above, the small pieces of ginger settle at the bottom and it is recommended to give the bottle a gentle shake before you drink. It is made it with a surprisingly simple list of ingredients: water, pure cane sugar, ginger, and citric acid . There is only one Whole Foods Market in Michigan that is stocking this ginger ale but hopefully more will start [full distribution list here].

Abita gets Sassafras-y

This is my guest post on Beer and Comics

Michigan has had absolutely beautiful weather lately and there is no better way to spend a Spring evening than making music with friends. In preparation for watching the sunset from my porch, Ian and I went for a quick shopping trip. As he perused the isles for the best microbrews, I search for root beer. I almost missed the stack of Abita root beer until he pointed out this six pack.

Abita brews their root beer with spring water and they use cane sugar instead of high fructose corn syrup. This root beer is not very rooty and gives you a very soft mouth feel. Abita has kept the carbonation low so that you can enjoy the subtle taste. I wouldn’t pair it with any overpowering flavors.

I am really happy to see Abita is making muslim-friendly drinks. I highly recommend their root beer. It has been a fast favorite for me.

8/10

P.S. Thanks a lot to the Beer and Comics crew for letting me post here! I like root beer almost just as much as they like beer. I look forward to sharing my passion with you all.

Happy Father's Day

I have one of the coolest fathers on the planet. Because of my Dad (and Mom) my siblings and I got to have the most enjoyable childhood. We had vacations amongst Himalayan peaks and my dad took us for epic motorcycle rides. Even though, we took it for granted at the time, I am glad that he would choose the motorcycle over the car when he took us out. I will never forget maneuvering heavy Pakistani traffic and having absolute confidence in his driving. I think Dads are the only people who get that blind confidence. Those motorcycle rides trained me for all the biking I was to do in adulthood.

Shangrila Lake, N.W.F.P Pakistan

Trango Towers - N.W.F.P Pakistan

Here are some more pictures of my Dad being a total bad ass. None of these photos are mine because most of them were taken before I picked up the camera.

My dad on his motorcycle with my uncles

My dad (far right) at a military dinner.



Getting ready to fly the SA-330 Puma

Motorcycle

My friend Iron John Logan made this motorycle from an old steel bicycle frame. He rebuilt the frame to accommodate the fuel tank and a snowblower's motor. I got to test ride it yesterday and it brought back memories of my old bike. Regardless of the engine size, there is something exhilarating about motorcycles. I love this bike.



Cherry Hill Neighbourhood, Lansing, MI. Hugh C. modeling for me.

The motorcycle

Sickle Cell Anemia in Nigeria

Photo from: Migration for Development
My professor (left in front row) just sent me this article about a sickle cell genetic counseling seminar we conducted in Abuja, Nigeria.

Article: Nigerian diaspora doctors join medical medical experts in Nigeria to raise awareness of sickle cell anemia

He was always cute in my eyes

Aurailieus is on Cute Overload!

The fifty is nifty but. . .

My 50mm prime lens is incredible for portraits and low light settings but I am really starting to miss having a wide angel perspective on the world.

I shot a roll with my old film SLR and here are a few of the pictures.

Notebooks from recycled paper

Today, I went through my recycling bin and sorted out all the pages with single sided printing.



I took half the stack to Kinkos for binding and with the other half I made my own composition book.

BAM!

Happy New Year 010110

I wish you a very Happy New Year.

I hope 2010 brings great things to all our lives.

Aurailieus wants attention

Be Like Obama

This is a children's notebook. I saw it on a hospital counter in Nigeria. Kinda made me think of the "Be Like Mike" campaign.

Twins in Lagos

Photo: Lagos 2009


Like most other large cities in Nigeria, when traffic stops in Lagos, street vendors trickle their ways into the streets. I have seen street vendors selling anything from phone chargers and wall clocks to fried plantains and boiled eggs. As we drove out of the Lagos airport we saw these two ladies, both with twins(Ibeji) on their hips asking for food for their children.
Two studies conducted about three decades ago estimate that Nigeria has the highest twin birth rates in the world (Golding, 1990; Naylander, 1978). A town nearly 50 miles north of Lagos boast the highest incidence of twin births. The dizygotic twin birth rates vary by region but monozygotic birth rates are constant around the world.

In the scientific community there are many hypothesis regarding environmental factors that determine multiple birth rates. Similarly, most Nigerians have their own impression of why so many western Nigerians give birth to twins. A few people mentioned that the yoruba
diet was the main factor, while others suggested various enviromental factors.


Golding, J. (1990) Factors associated with twinning and other multiple birth. In Golding, J. (ed.), Social and Biological Effects on Perinatal Mortality. Vol. III. Perinatal Analyses. Bristol University, Bristol, pp. 21-66
Naylander, P.P.S. (1978) Causes of high twinning frequencies in Nigeria. In Nance, W.E., Allen, G. and Parisi, P. (eds), Twin Research. Part B: Biology and Epidemiology. Alan R. Liss, New York, pp. 35-43.

Village birth attendants

We recently visited a village outside of the federal capital territory of Nigeria. The route was unpaved and a 4x4 pickup truck drove us in. I can't imagine how much rougher that trip would have been in a smaller car. An NGO founded by an architect and an urban planner is doing a lot of work at this village. We got a tour of a new school being built there. Apparently the Japanese embassy is also funding a lot of the new construction.

After the tour, we went into the settlements and talked to people who spoke either Hausa or English. Considering the treacherous route to the nearest hospital very few people make the trip unless they are in a dire state. Understandably women aren't able to make the trip to the hospital to deliver their children either.
Someone told us about a local birth attendant. This is a picture of where many women in the village deliver their children.

Jumma in Abuja

Photo: National Mosque shot in 2008


Photo: People socializing after the Friday prayer 2009

I went to the Nigerian National Mosque in Abuja for the Friday prayer.
Fortunately the Nigerian Muslims don't have to worry about a minaret ban.

In queue for petrol

Petrol stations in the Federal Capital Territory have been hoarding gasoline in anticipation of a hike in crude oil prices. There is a chance that the Nigerian government will deregulate the sale of gasoline in the country. It is suspected that the petrol stations would hike the prices whenever there is a shortage. All around Abuja you can see mile-long lines of people in queue for gasoline. Our driver had to wait 8 hours to get the car filled up. Some people have been spending nights in their cars to keep their spot in line. For emergency situations people buy gasoline in jerrycans for two or three times the regular price.

Turning things around

Photo: A woman waiting for medical care outside the hospital. (as shot) November, 2009

In low-resource health care settings physicians have to acclimate in order to provide the best possible care to their patients. It is important to best utilize what is available to them in order to make a diagnosis. Two days ago we went to a clinic in Nassarawa state, Nigeria; just a little north of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). Alongside the highway we saw many scattered settlements. People from these small villages go to a central hospital to receive the most pressing medical care needs.

Physicians at this hospital make diagnoses without basic lab tests or equipment. Our project provides these physicians with a bacterial culture machine which may be used free of charge. On our last site visit we were shocked to notice that at this hospital the bacterial culture machine has only been used a handful of times. The local physicians have become habituated to practicing medicine in a low-resource hospital. Adding basic services provided at other hospitals is perceived as a burden to the physicians' diagnostic regiment.

Hopefully, we can turn this around.

Happy Birthday

It is nice to be back under the Nigerian sun. Today was my first full day here. We woke up around 7 am and started the day with fried yam. Later in the afternoon we were invited to the Nigerian Ministry of Health to make a presentation about the sickle cell project. The public health division was incredibly enthusiastic and very supportive about the what our team is doing. It was the division director's birthday today. While we were there people sang her the Nigerian version of the "happy birthday" song. This version was so different from what I am used to in the US that I don't think they will need to pay the Time-Warner any royalties. The song ends with "how old are you nowwww? How old are you nowwww?". She turned 59 today.

In the evening we went to a huge carnival with people from all the Nigerian states representing their respective cultures. More pictures to come on my flickr site when I get back to the US.

I think we are off to the outskirts of the Nigerian Federal Capital Territory (FCT) tomorrow.

peace