Hallo from Deutschland!

So I am in Germany visiting my brother and his family. This weekend we were at the annual medieval festival in Dreieichenhain. Above is a performer practicing between some tents before he went on stage.


This vendor sold honey wine and was VERY nice once he realized I didn't understand German. I bought one huge glass bottle and two smaller ones to take with me to the States.


My brother and I. Yes, we really are related. Here is a very similar picture of us:


More photos from the festival:


This is my 12-year-old niece. She is taller than me.



My brother, my niece, and my sister-in-law. I love the houses.


We rented an RV to stay in for two nights.


I have TONS of photos of various scenes, from my first authentic German meal to my brother eating the Oreos I brought over since they don't have any in Germany, to my sister-in-law's Prussian father. When my brother introduced me to him, instead of the usual polite introduction, my brother says, "THIS. is a PRUSSIAN! Take a good long look. There aren't too many left anymore." Which is entirely true, and extremely interesting to me. Klaus the Prussian fled his home when he was 6 years old with his parents to escape the Russians. The German government finally assigned him to live in the town they live in now, called Breitenbrunn.

what's josie been up to?

Well, there was the sidewalk festival in Kent:





I saw the walking fruit first as I was driving by. I did a double take in my rear view mirror and that's when I made an illegal U-turn, drove past them again, in the direction of where they were walking, found a parking spot, ran out of my car with my gear and waited. Yes, I was hunting fruit. Apparently they were doing promotions for a nearby IGA grocery store.

The seemingly sadistic man who's burning another man, albeit tiny, glass, and soul-less, was someone who I only saw because I walked past some people who were looking at him from across the street. This is Max the Glass Blower. He was in the shade of a tree, and if it wasn't for the flame I wouldn't have even noticed him. The purple glasses I thought were a fashion statement, but are really there to help him see what he's doing through the flame. He had a few extra pairs and he let me wear one, and I put a purple lens over the lens of my camera, and this is the effect.


I think these two dudes go to the same hair stylist.




This is Jason, the owner of a new restaurant downtown called the Country Club. If you go there, he will write your NAME on your plate!!! Anywho, I like this because it's not every day I get to take my time with portraits and use the tools that I made with my very own gaffer tape and cereal box. (A snoot.)

---
One of my friends from freshman year at Boston is in a band, (The Appreciation Post) and every so often they'll come through the area on tour. (We actually reunited randomly when they came through and played with some Waterbury bands a few months ago... THAT was a blast from the past!) So I met up with them at the American Legion in Naugatuck, only I missed their set but we hung out a little bit:




Then we went outside to get away from feeling like the oldest people there and that is when Roger (Who's like, 7 feet tall) Looked up at the sky and said, "Um, guys?"

Five minutes and two miles later:


I wasn't on the clock, but MAN was it cool when I ran to my car and Roger and Nam (the ROCKstars) yell, "Go, photojournalist, go! Go shoot that fire!" in front of a bunch of teenagers.





In the meantime I'm looking forward to going to Germany for two weeks on the 9th. This will be the first time my brother and I will get to hang out without Dad yelling at us for things like playing laser tag at 3am or drinking in public. Also, I get to see my niece who is 13, I think, and from what I hear, she sounds exactly like me when I was 13... so.. this should be fun. =)

VIDEOS!!!

Thomas the Tank Engine

This was my first REAL video. (I did one a few weeks earlier with a small point and shoot camera.) I was stoked. Nidia, the mom in the video, called me at the office the next day and we became friends pretty fast and talked a couple times. She also shares a name with one of my favorite Panamanian aunts, and was more than happy to have me practice speaking Spanish with her.




Flying in a B-17 Bomber


Last year around this time I rode in the same B-17, with the same pilot even. That was before I knew a thing about shooting video so I did an audio slideshow on it that apparently has garnered over 6,000 hits on YouTube, which I only found out about after I spoke to the pilot during the latest assignment. It's always cool to come back to an annual event where people remember not only you but your work.


Germany in ONE WEEK!