Personal Updates

  • Snowstorm

    Snowstorm, originally uploaded by Matthew Singer. After last week’s post about the snowstorm that welcomed us in to March, I took a few photos of the snow banks to illustrate how much we had. So here’s one of those photos, from Tuesdsay, March 1. Now, to be fair, the total snowfall over the few days was anywhere between a foot and a foot and a half. What you see out the window is the snow that piled up as the accumulation from the roof slid off. But even previous storms that dropped a foot of snow or more did not…

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    A Walk Around the Yard

        When you live somewhere long enough and see the same scenery day after day, you sort of become numb to it. It no longer thrills you the way it did when you first moved in. That’s sort of how I feel. Don’t get me wrong, I love my house and its location, but it feels like I could have better scenery out my window living somewhere else. The scenery here is never actually dull. I’ve got a great view of Spud Hill, Deary’s local “mountain” that stands over 1000 feet above the town, and most evenings, we get…

  • Happy March

    Wow, it’s March already. Yesterday, it began to snow. Let’s back up, all of last week, it snowed. We may have gotten a good combined foot of fresh, fluffy powder. We got a bit of a break over the weekend. Sunday it snowed a bit, but the accumulation wasn’t siginificant. But yesterday, it began to snow. In the course of the day, I probably blew 8 inches off the driveway, and the snow wouldn’t let up. This morning, I woke up to find that all my hard work of keeping the driveway clear was erased with potentially another 6-8 +…

  • Website Update

    If you’re reading this on the website, you won’t see much of a difference. But I just upgraded WordPress to version 3.1 and upgraded the theme. The result is a better integration with the Gallery plugin. The galleries should now fit with the look of the site. Enjoy.

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    Nostalgia

    times square, originally uploaded by Matthew Singer. I’m going to start this post by sharing a few photos I shot on Kodak T-Max black and white film way back in 2001 during my freshman year of college. Film. Back then, my little school of 1600 had a darkroom that the photo club and art department shared. It was in the basement of one of the dorms. When the art department got its brand new building, it got a brand new state-of-the-art darkroom, and the club took complete ownership of the old darkroom. I’m not sure what’s left of the facility…

  • Winter Desires

    I was in town today getting snow tires for Erin’s Jeep, and when I’m in town, I often head over to Hyperspud to look at maps, books and gear that I can’t afford. Today I was looking through the book Mountaineering: Freedom of the Hills put out by the aptly named Mountaineers Press. They put out some nice hiking guides and how-to books for outdoor recreation. Turns out, this book is the “Bible” for mountaineers, and I want it. I also desperately want to get into mountaineering so that I may continue to hike and explore all year round. While…

  • First Snow

    First Snow, originally uploaded by Matthew Singer. On Friday, I woke up to find a light layer of white on everything. At first, I thought it was a heavy frost, but when I put my glasses on, the truth was revealed. We had our first snowfall. It wasn’t much, less than an inch, and by late afternoon, all was gone. It wasn’t the first snow of the season either, but it was the first to stick on the ground, especially at our elevation. But Sunday night, it began to snow some more, and the accumulation was greater. It still wasn’t…

  • New Books!

    I’ve got two new books available for purchase. 2010: The Year of Change, Volume 1 is a collection of photographs and stories from the first half of the year. 2004-2007: A Portfolio from the Archives is a portfolio from my first four years out of college. This book is more of a photo portfolio rather than a personal album. 2004-2007 by Matthew Singer | Make Your Own Book 2010 by Matthew Singer | Make Your Own Book

  • Hunter’s Moon

    Havest Moon, originally uploaded by Matthew Singer. I’ve been so busy lately that I haven’t been able to make any new posts. I wish I could tell you that I’ve been busy doing some sort of interesting research, but that’s just not the case yet. However, during my drive home this evening, I was given a nice treat. My drive to and from school is about 25 miles, one way. This is a bit on the long side but nothing that can’t be done. I do sometimes envy those who can get up and walk to school, not using any…

  • Kittens

    I can hidez., originally uploaded by Matthew Singer. We’ve been in and out of the Altoona area to pack up belongings in preparation for the big move later this summer. We usually stay with Erin’s grandfather who lives on a farm off of Rt. 22 near Williamsburg. He has some “stray” cats that he feeds, but won’t get spayed or neutered, so every so often we find a litter of kittens. Two weeks ago, we were visiting and the kittens were out playing. I couldn’t resist a photo shoot. As cute as they are, we are not keeping any of…