Less than 1%.

I watched the documentary The Bridge last night.  Definitely the most haunting documentary that I have ever seen.  The Bridge takes a look at suicide jumpers at the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco.  The film makers filmed for over a year and captured several suicide jumps from the bridge.  The aspiring photo journalist side of me understood why they did this but the ethical side of me questions why anyone would want to film suicide.  I watched the film on hulu (watch it here) Unfortunately I didn't get to see the extra features.  However, I did a little research and found out the filmmakers could only call 911 if      someone went over the railing (which they did call on several occasions).  People walk up and down the bridge all day long so you can't just call the police if someone appears suicidal.


The best part of the film was the beautiful photography.  I mean, visually it was amazing.  I was absolutely drawn in by the beautiful time lapses.  They did a wonderful job at capturing the scale of this gigantic bridge.  They filmed it from every possible location.  I mean, it was really top knotch work.


The interviews with the family and friends of the suicide jumpers that they filmed were okay.  Some of them were terrific but others were long and drawn out.  Overall, it was pretty touching.


The film even included an interview with a Golden Gate Bridge suicide survivor Kevin Hines.


From an interview with TIME:


"I got off the bus at the bridge, and stood there crying. I went onto the span very slowly. Almost reluctantly. The whole time begging myself not to jump, but the voices were too strong, I just couldn't fight them.

There were tons of people, it was 10 in the morning, bikers, joggers, tourists, workers, cops biking around. I found my spot. And I said to myself, if just one person, just one, comes up to me and asks me if I need help, I'll tell [them]everything. And this beautiful woman walked up to me, and she goes, "Will you take my picture?" And I thought, "What? Lady, I'm going to kill myself, are you crazy?" But she had sunglasses on, her hair blowing in the wind, she was a tourist, all she could see was this guy standing right where she wanted her picture taken. I must have taken five pictures of this lady. She had no clue. I thought at that moment, nobody cares. Nobody cares. So I handed her her camera. She walked away. I walked as far back to the railing closest to the traffic as I could, I ran, and I catapulted myself over the bridge. I didn't get on the ledge to have people talk me down. I just jumped."


I remember every second of it. When my hands left that rail — and my legs curled over — as soon as I left the bridge, I thought, "I don't want to die." It's a four-second fall, and in those four seconds I said, "God, please save me." I had no idea that you could jump off the Golden Gate Bridge and live. That was foreign to me. You see these websites, they say, "If you want to kill yourself, go to the Golden Gate Bridge." I'm trying to shut them down now.


So I was in the air, I threw my head back, my feet came around, and I landed at a 45-degree angle. [The doctors] said if I had landed 1 centimeter to the left or right, I would have severed my spinal cord and drowned. What I did do was shatter two vertebrae [in the middle of my back], and they shattered into tiny little pieces. I felt the explosion in my stomach, the vertebrae shot right into my organs.

I went under. I didn't know I was alive. I was all turned around. I couldn't see. It was all dark, very scary. Then I said, "Wait a minute — I'm alive, I can move. [But] I couldn't move my legs. I swam with my arms to surface. I got to the surface, took a big gasp of air, and begged God to save me. I couldn't yell, I couldn't scream for help. The current was so strong.


At that moment, I said, "I jumped, I'm in the water, no one is going to save me, I might as well just let go." But I went down in the water, and I hated that drowning feeling. I thought, "No, I can't drown, that's just horrible, I'm alive." Then I thought, "This is a dream, it cannot be happening." I actually pinched my right cheek to check.

[Then] the Coast Guard came. Two men jumped in the water, two more pulled me up with their hands. They saved my butt"


Pretty intense stuff.  I started the movie at about 10pm and finished it about midnight.  I tried to sleep but I couldn't.  It was that haunting.  I think, the story needs to be told.  There needs to be a barrier at the golden gate bridge just like there needs to be a barrier at the cold springs bridge. 


The film is an important one.  If you're interested in the subject definitely check it out!

A walk around my block.

Through the viewfinder is such an interesting photographic technique.  I discovered it a few years ago and forgot about it and recently rediscovered it again. "Through the Viewfinder photography is defined as taking a picture of any subject through the viewfinder of any camera with another camera"

For my through the viewfinder photos I use a kodak dualflex II



as the "viewfinder" and my Canon Rebel XTI as my top camera.

The results:













A lot of people have ask me why I never became a "professional" photographer.  Well, honestly I don't like the pressure.  I love just playing in the backyard taking shots like this and not fussing over perfection or details.  I prefer taking pictures for me.  Professional photographers take pictures for other people.

I really wish I still had these books:

Halloween is my favorite holiday. I absolutely love the fact that everyone embraces evil for a day. I wish, Halloween were more than just one day. I wish, it were the entire month of October. Although, I kind of celebrate Halloween all month long anyway. Halloween is just kind of the end of my Autumn celebration.

Did you know that Halloween originated in Europe? October 31st was the last day of the year for Celtic people 2,000 years ago. It was the end of the harvest and the end of Summer. They believed the dead came back to earth on this day. The Celts celebrated Samhain for three days at the end of October which means "Summer's end" During this festival the celts would wear costumes made up of animal hyde and bones. They would light bonfires to burn animals as sacrifices to the Celtic deitie. They would also slaughter cattle for the upcoming winter.

The Romans eventually conquered what was Celtic territory and two Roman festivals were combined with Samhain. Feralia "commemoration of the dead" and a day to honor Pomona who was "the goddess of fruit trees". When christianity spread to the area the christians decided to offset all the pagan celebration with "Eallra Hālgena ǣfen" Also known as "All Saints Day" Modern day Halloween is a hybrid of all of these festivals.

Anyhow, I was revisiting some of my Halloween-esque photos. Of all my work my favorite pieces are the dark, scary, and abandoned.

had a wonderful evening with the family at Butterfly Beach in Montecito! It is my favorite beach in the Santa Barbara area. Mostly because Butterfly Beach has a west facing view and therefor you can actually see a sunset! Santa Barbara is south facing and so the sun doesn't set over the ocean! Strange! I know!

We found a ship wreck!




We saw a rainbow:


and then a sunset!



What a perfect way to end a day!

exhale.

We recently changed our netflix subscription to three dvds at a time. I am finally getting to see things that I have been meaning to get around to.

I recently came across Trouble the Water





"Filmmakers Tia Lessin and Carl Deal recount a surprising tale of heroism in New Orleans, where a wannabe rapper and her husband brave the floodwaters of Hurricane Katrina to rescue their neighbors. Featuring live video diary footage from the couple, the Oscar-nominated documentary is both a poignant portrait of a family's will to survive and a startling portrayal of Katrina's devastating power"

Honestly, this film wrenched my heart. I felt like the real story behind this film was the racism and classism that undoubtedly contributed this tragedy.

I recommend this film to anyone interested in learning the real story behind the hurricane.

After you check out the film check out Kimberly Rivers Roberts myspace page to check out her music. The song Amazing in particular is pretty amazing in itself.

Another death at Cold Spring Bridge


http://www.stopthetragedy.org/

I recently came across this very interesting cluster of places in Santa Barbara. I am always looking for new places to explore where ever I am. One of the best ways I have found to find places is by searching photos on Flickr . The first interesting place I came across was a ruined mansion in the Santa Ynez mountains called Knapps Castle.


Amazing photo by http://www.flickr.com/photos/gotfish_mb/

The second place I came across was Camino Cielo A road on the crest of the Santa Ynez Mountains overlooking Santa Barbara. Kevin and I decided to go for a drive on Camino Cielo road today. (appropriately named in spanish meaning "road in the sky")

Honestly, the road is breathtaking. Driving the road was exhilarating! There were sharp corners in dense canopied forests, narrow rocky patches next to cliffs, drop offs leading to vast vista points, and a painted cave!

We were looking for Knapps Castle but unfortunately just missed it due to faulty internet directions. I didn't mind because the entire area was so gorgeous. We pulled over at a really interesting vista on a windy ridge.









My internet search of Camino Cielo led to me to Cold Spring Canyon Arch Bridge (which I haven't actually gone to yet) However, I find the story behind this bridge incredibly interesting. I browsed through many flickr photos of this bridge and none of them seemed to have the unbelievable back story of this place. I had no idea that there was something unusual about this place until I looked up the directions and stumbled upon http://www.stopthetragedy.org/ Apparently, this place is the #1 suicide spot in the country. I haven't found any official numbers to prove this however, I saw this claim posted on various sites.

According to http://www.stopthetragedy.org/ there have been 51 deaths at Cold Spring Canyon Arch Bridge since its construction in 1965. There have been 4 deaths in 2009 alone. As recent as 3 days ago

There is something chillingly haunting about this place. I haven't been able to stop thinking about this place since I started reading about it. What would drive people to leap off a bridge into a tree filled canyon of certain death? I find it overwhelmingly sad that some people are so desperate for relief that they would jump off of a bridge. I don't understand how people who are brave enough to jump off a bridge aren't brave enough to face and cope with life.

All kinds of people have jumped off this bridge-housewives, attorneys, a construction worker, a psychologist, a salesman, a farmer, a consulting engineer, a mechanic, a forest ranger, students, teachers and a pharmacist.

Nobody is safe from suicide.

As I sat and read page after page about this bridge I felt myself filling up with empathy. I tried to imagine what it would be like to stand on that bridge. I wondered if these people looked at the ground or at the sky as they tried to fly away. I sat wondering if these people found peace in their that brief moment they were suspended in between it all. I imagined my own shakey knees and my dirty shoes on that bridge. I know, several times in my life I probably would have jumped. I think, at one time or another we all have metaphorically stood on that bridge.

I sat starring at this photo of the bridge




As corny as it sounds I started hearing that third eye blind song in my head

And I do not think anyone knows
What they are doing here

And your friends have left you
You've been dismissed
I never thought it would come to this
And I, I want you to know

Everyone's got to face down the demons
Maybe today we can put the past away


Please go here to sign the petition to put up a suicide barrier at this bridge.