I really enjoy taking photographs. And I have more than one digital camera that enables me to do so.

And since a couple of people (Jill, ahem) who regularly read this site have suggested (ie- insisted) that I include more posts about what I do in my life, I’ve decided to quote a conversation about how I got into photography.

You might find this interesting, as I’ve never told anybody (ever!) this story, until now:

I came to photography from more of a journalistic background (that was my major). I started out documenting events for newspapers and websites, but what really pushed me into photography was 9/11. Cause I was in my dorm room when it happened and one of my first thoughts was to document the event (after the inital shock).

But I didn’t have a digital camera then, and I only had a disposable with 2 exposures left. I used them, but I realized that day that I needed to be better prepared.

Ever since then, I always have a camera on me — either in my pocket, in my car, or at work. At first it was for “just in case” purposes, but then, since I had cameras all over all of the time, I started taking more and more photos of everything. And I love it now. I can’t stop shooting, heh.

Its sort of interesting that my experience on 9/11 turned my life upside-down (and I don’t just mean photographically) and my site layout right now is that upside-down city skyline. Strange, isn’t it? But what in life isn’t…

Flickr link

Originally uploaded by CityCynic.com.

Aboard the Port Jeff Ferry.

[Editor’s Note: I set up Flickr + Wordpress to allow me to immediately blog photos and updates during my vacation via my cellphone. Enjoy!]

Improve your photography with classical art: “When Photoshop entered the CS series it included a new tool called ‘Match Color.’ This tools was made so that you could match a series of photos to one another. But there is another thing you can do with ‘Match Color’ that is much cooler: You can match the colors in your photos to those in famous paintings.” Check out the amazing results this method produces.

Which one is Lincoln?

(This craziness brought to you by a combination of insomnia, despair, and a bit of apprehension.)

Skillz and Scales are my two bearded dragons. They are approximately one year old and love crickets and romaine lettuce.

When I went to turn on their basking light and full-spectrum UVB light (both necessary for optimum bearded dragon health), this is what I saw:

They are obviously bearded dragon buddies and hardly ever get into a scuffle over crickets.

*NYU to Ban Killer Coke: New York University will ban Coca-Cola from campus on December 8th (joining 19 other colleges), unless the company agrees to an independent investigation into conditions at a Columbian bottling plant. And this November 9th, NYU graduate students and teaching assistants plan to strike over the right to unionize.

*Blogs and Dogs Conference: Alberta, Canada will play host to a blogging conference called Blogs and Dogs for 4 days in December. It won’t be about bloggers meeting each other’s dogs, though. It’s actually about blogging and social software with an included dog sled race for all participants!

*Democrats, Don’t Ignore the War: Former presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich calls on Democratic leaders to make their party a true opposition party to get things done and get troops home from Iraq in an article on Alternet. Ignoring the war apparently wasn’t helping.

*Ashlee’s fast food flipout: Terrible singer and actress Ashlee Simpson got drunk and went crazy at a Canadian McDonald’s and here’s the (poor quality) video to prove it! She’s probably unset she wasn’t invited to Blogs and Dogs 2005…

*Splogs Solution: Class Action Lawsuit Against Google?: Ensight.org’s Jeremy Wright ponders whether suing Google could help stop the spam blogs (or “splogs”) problem on site’s like Google’s Blogspot. Interesting idea, but could it really work? Any lawyers want to chime in on this one?

*NaNoWriMo: November is National Novel Writing Month. Join in with bloggers or others for a fourth year of novel writing. Can you write an entire novel in less than 30 days? I think I’ll wait ’til next year.

*Famous Friends UK: A British service called Famous Friends will photoshop you into celebrity photos for a fee. Why didn’t I think of that as a business venture? You can even become a Scientologist celebrity-friend! [via Chris Diclerico]

*Most New Yorkers In Favor Of Smoking Ban In Some Outdoor Areas: Bad news for you city smokers out there — now non-smokers don’t want you to smoke anywhere. Well, there’s still inside your car… oh wait.

*Baby on the way for Tom and Katie: Just call it Baby TomKat — Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes have really done it this time — literally. With no date set for their wedding, TomKat announced that Katie Holmes is pregnant… or did we all just get Punk’d?

*RIAA sued by victim: Remember this name: Tanya Andersen. The 41-year-old disabled Oregon mother has chosen to fight back and is countersuing the RIAA for RICO violations, fraud, invasion of privacy, abuse of process, electronic trespass, violation of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, and negligent misrepresentation among others.

*Photoshop Magic Melts Prison Bars: A service catering to convicts takes photos of prisoners with their visitng loved ones in prison visiting rooms and then photoshops them into “exotic locales.” And for $10 and a pack of cigarettes, it’s quite a steal.

*Blu-ray support hinges on disc copy, says Intel: Intel stands up for limited consumer rights in the HD DVD versus Blu-Ray successor-to-the-DVD battle by taking sides. Too bad that if both formats are released as planned consumers will still get screwed.

*Weblogs Inc. Being Bought Out By America Online: AOL buys the weblog network for a reported $25 million and now there are rumors Gawker Media’s gossip blogs might be in talks with a buyer. No word yet on when AOL plans on running Weblogs Inc. straight into the ground.

Today marks four years since the terrorist attacks of September 11th.

As many of you know, I was attending NYU at the time and saw the whole tragedy unfold from my dorm room window in Union Square.

It’s weird to be four years after that day looking back. At the time, I can remember wondering if I’d get four days away from it. Now it’s four years later somehow.

I was forever changed that day, seeing all that destruction firsthand, feeling a fear and dread not only immediately, but for weeks following, that I had never felt before. But then there was my family and my friends surrounding me at NYU who became a source of support in coping with what had happened. I’ll always be thankful for that.

I have many memories associated with September 2001, most of which I won’t go into today, but which I remember very clearly. I’ll never forget what happened that day.

Like the past three years, I’ll be returning to Ground Zero today to again photograph the people who return to the site and also the progress made in rebuilding and memorializing. There has been much improvement there and I hope to publish a comparison of the levels of progress from year to year at the site sometime in the future.

I’ll also be going to reflect on all the feelings I still experience about that day and what I and the City went through and to remember Scott Bart, a family friend that we lost that blue-skied September day.

I won’t be there to see the Towers of Light tribute at night, but I’m really happy they’re doing it again this year. I’d love to see some photos at the lights’ new location this year if any of you get some good shots. (Edit: Tien has a good photo here.)

RELATED: I found these various blog posts interesting concerning September 11th, and you might too: Here, here, here, here, here, here, and a list of more here.

ALSO: Four years after September 11th, President Bush’s approval rating is at it’s lowest ever — 39% and Halliburton has been awarded no-bid contracts to rebuild New Orleans.