NYC Gallery Show

Some as yet unpublished photos of mine are going to be part of a group photography show in DUMBO next week. I'll be there at the opening reception to meet people and share stories. The info is as follows:

OPENING RECEPTION:

Friday, July 16, 2010 – 6:00PM-9:00PM, and closing August 6, 2010

Mighty Tanaka
68 Jay St., Suite 416 (F Train to York St.)
Brooklyn, NY 11201
Hours: M-F 12PM to 7PM, weekends by appointment only

Office: 718.596.8781
Email: alex@mightytanaka.com
Web: http://www.mightytanaka.com

While the following image will NOT be in the show, I felt like I should share it anyways. Happy Birthday America!

Why?

As of a few days ago, it seems a post I made on this blog back in December is getting a bit of attention from the local Orlando media. As such if you are reading this, you are probably someone that caught this on the evening news or maybe from one of the WDW forums that seem to be creating alot of the hype about it. I've been getting quite a few emails and alot of comments from people ranging from "Thanks so much for doing this, I've always wanted to see it!" to "You guys are idiots and God will sort you out" and I feel like I should speak a bit about motivations and intentions.

While I do enjoy things like big Hollywood movies, theme parks, roller coasters, haunted houses, and other similar attractions, they have always felt a bit hollow. You know there is always going to be a happy ending. The CGI dinosaurs aren't gonna really eat the kids, the hero is going to save the day, and nobody is going to get hurt. That sense of knowing that it's artificial has always put a bit of a damper on those forms of entertainment for me. I started seeking out other ways of having real experiences on my own back in high school and that is what eventually led me to recreational trespassing. I didn't have the means to go out and participate in adventures like climbing mountains or hardcore cave diving, so I did the next best thing, exploring decayed and neglected man-made structures. I got to rediscover places that had been forgotten by others as well as challenge myself in ways that I never had before. It made me see the world in a different way and I don't think I could go back to seeing it the way I did before. It gave me confidence, motivation, and satisfied my natural human curiosity.

How many people are killed each year in auto accidents? How about heart disease from eating terrible unhealthy food? Cancer? These are all things that kill ridiculously huge amounts of people each year, but nobody gives you a lecture about how irresponsible you are when you order a Double Quarter Pounder at McDonalds or get in your SUV to head to work. I could just as easily drown in a lake or fall off of a bridge as I could slip in the tub or get hit by a bus crossing a street. Yet many people still feel the need to tell me what risks I should or should not take with my own life. Alot of this seems to come from the relatively recent trend of people filing lawsuits for every dumb thing that they can't take responsibility for like spilling obviously hot coffee on their laps. It really is pretty ridiculous and suing someone is something I would never consider if I were ever injured in the course of recreational trespassing. I am the only person truly responsible for my own well-being and it would be a much better world if everyone felt the same way.

So why do I go to the places I go and do the things I do? Because they are there and because they are beautiful. I am afraid, not of getting hurt or killed, but of missing out on an opportunity to live my life to it's fullest potential. I have no regrets for the things I have done, my only regrets are for the things I didn't have the courage to do when given the opportunity.


"Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing. " -Helen Keller

Urban Explorers: Into The Darkness

As some of you may already know, I was one of many people featured in Melody Gilbert's documentary Urban Explorers: Into the Darkness. If you enjoyed my post about my trip into the rocket engine silo in the FL everglades then you will certainly enjoy the film. My portion of it mostly focuses around my trip into the silo and a bit of other assorted geekery.

This past week it made the "New and Noteworthy" section on iTunes under documentary films, right next to Werner Herzog's Encounters At the End of the World (which was totally great too). So go on over to iTunes and check it out.

Participating in the creation of the film was a pleasure and I got to know Melody, some of her crew, and other explorers from around the country. The film itself is pretty great, it's definitely one of the most realistic and honest documentaries on the subject I've seen. I think that mostly has to do with Melody's style of allowing the subjects to tell the story themselves without introducing her own narrative to it, it's all genuine, from Slim Jim's quirkiness to the social interactions in the Parisian catacombs.

After the film was completed I got to participate in a handful of the screenings in the festival circuit which were always great. I really enjoyed doing Q+A and talking to the audience, and even met a few people I later went exploring with at the Boston Underground Film Festival screening. You can see a photo from one of the screenings above as well as a shot of myself with Melody and Charlie Gerszewski (editor for the film) at Cinequest in San Jose, where after winning the favor of the hotel bartender and having a few too many free beers, I ended up talking trash about some of the other film productions and nearly getting into a fight or two. Good times indeed.