This past weekend I had the opportunity to help family friend, Dr. Frederick Zamon, with the youth fishing program of the Fairfax Springfest at the Occoquan Regional Park. It was probably the most I’ve ever handled fishing lines, bait and children in my life but I have to say that it was incredibly fulfilling. It was nice to see so many happy families out and about enjoying something as simple as fishing. And that was just it, not one family caught any fish but as the parents returned the rods I could see smiles across their faces. It was a chance to share an experience with their kids on a beautiful day.

     I got to meet fellow volunteer, Anastasia. I don’t exaggerate when I say she was the brightest high schooler I’ve met in a long time. She wants to become a photographer, more specifically, a wildlife photographer! You can imagine my excitement! I was basically holding myself back from barraging her with a mountain of life advice (I think I did anyways). I essentially told her a little bit about my journey thus far and how important it was to follow your dreams. Corny, yes, but I told her how much time I feel like I wasted not doing what I wanted from the start. When something grips you enough to be called your passion there is really little else you need to think about. Pursue it, engulf yourself in its art, become the best and never stop chasing it and you won’t regret where you end up. Not to say that it won’t be hard - hell it will be the hardest thing you’ve ever done. But what is a life spent walking a prescribed path? What is a life spent “working now so I can enjoy life later”? Not everyone has the same definition of a happy life, and it’s taken me this long to see that. Alas, I digress. Between wanting to become a photographer and her love for choreography, I hope Anastasia never stops pursueing her dream. I really look forward to the awesomeness you will be growing up to be!

(I don’t know if she will ever find this post)  

Here’s to keeping on going.

Trek On,

Chris

This past weekend I had the honor of shooting the Copa Nova Spring 2013 BJJ tournament for my team. It was a harsh 8 hours but my amazing Silverback family gave it their all and I couldn’t be prouder. Personally, it was a life changing experience to say the least. Many of my team had already been to this competition and, as one of them mentioned later that night, it was really a tournament to get a fighter’s feet wet to go on to bigger competitions like the Pan Am’s. Regardless, I bore witness to an astounding variety of fighters and saw some of the most fluid, agressive, combination filled matches that I’ve ever seen. I fell in love with BJJ all over again. I think it was largely because I have spent all of my BJJ experience in the Silverback gym (http://silverbackacademy.com/). I work out and practice against my peers, I study YouTube and practice on my own but it took seeing this gathering of schools and unique styles in person to show me how huge BJJ is. Needless to say, the journey to black belt will be a life’s journey I won’t regret.

Anyways, like I said the competition was fierce in all divisions but what surprised me was how the women’s division was bringing it as hard if not harder than the men’s! These women were not playing around. They would jump guard, they would take you down and they would pull off some of the nastiest arm bars. As a matter of fact, I was lucky enough to catch some stills of 2009 world champ, Adrienne Adams! From her humble, brandless rash guards you couldn’t tell that she was a world champ and starter of her own (awesome) company of eco-friendly gi’s (http://thegreengi.com/)!

Something that stood out to me were the individuals that stood out of the crowd, go figure? Included in those would be my new friend Jaron Hampton who proudly wore his (beautiful) dreadlocks into battle, winning it for all the BJJ lions out there (http://jaronhampton.com/). Another man I saw, who I regret not finding and introducing myself too afterwards, was this agile elderly rastaman. In all honestly he looked like he would be making amazing music and spreading words of peace rather than throwing down at Copa Nova! He had a beautiful head of naturals and wicked skills to match, he was my hero of the day!

As the competitions moved on and we got into the 5th hour or so, the Brown Belts came out. Now, BJJ has one of the most grueling belt systems in the world, and I would have it no other way. It goes White, Blue, Purple, Brown, Black and Red (of which there are only 5 living holders right now). It can take years to get from White to Blue and even longer from Blue to Purple. In order to reach Brown you would have needed at least 5 years of pure dedication to the art. If you were a black belt at say, 19, the soonest you would expect to get your Red belt, if ever, would be 67. That being said, the brown belts brought a whole different game to the mats. In all honesty, it felt like I was a Private watching Spartan-III’s go at it (since I would reserve Black for S-II and Red for S-I)! They were laughing and smiling, they would start in the most bizzare positions that only a lifetime of experience would have shaped, they were amazing. One could tell them apart even in the No-Gi competitions. The whole gym could hear the throws being made by these two massive heavy weight Brown Belts. Without Gi’s they were doing more aggressive limb locks and throws and moved with such startling power it would humble any fighter right away…

My fan-boying aside, it was an amazing day and an inspiration. The techniques, pressure and fluidity I took away from it has already started to affect my game as well as my life. I’ve decided to start a more purposeful training regimen as well as a healthy (as possible) diet. The next competition is in October but if I get into the SMSC as well as REI I don’t know how it will affect my training…Alas, no excuses. The last picture is probably my favorite picture of the day. After making our team wait for at least an hour they finally placed two of our boys against each other. It was an outrage and a product of crappy bracketing. Viv (left) and Aust (right) were good chaps about it and respectfully gave it their all. The fight was powerful, emotional and fought by a couple of the best people I’ve had the fortune to meet. Silverback and BJJ are blessings that have come into my life at a point where I really needed direction and hope.

Here’s to a lifetime of improving oneself both as a fighter and as a person.

Trek On,

Chris

p.s. If you want to see more pictures of the Silverback team specifically check out my website under the “Volunteer Work” section!

http://500px.com/christophersophotography/sets/volunteer_work

What happens when you cross a Fox, Wolf and Lion? My baby, Leviathan. Going through the usual Monday applications and took a break to watch a movie with the mom and son and thought I’d take advantage of the natural light.

Let us travel the world together my son.

Trek On,

Chris

What better way to kick off spring break than a trip to the National Zoological Park? My brother, Alex, and a number of my friends came home from UVA this week and thought it’d be nice for an impromptu journey into DC. Much to the surprise of my father and I, my brother asked if he could borrow one of the DSLR’s to start shooting around UVA. In terms of men of the So household who are photographers, my brother was the last frontier. We decided to let him take the 5D into DC with us and I gave him an extremely simplified breakdown of manual shooting during the metro in.  To be honest, he picked it up remarkably quick and was able to properly expose a photo within his first 5 tries. I made sure to tell him to try to photograph things in a variety of difficult situations such as against the sky and inside a dark museum (see his shot against the sky). 

I am absolutely in love with the NZP. I have gone several times by myself and even dragged my friends here for my 18th birthday. The animals are all somewhat sentimental to me after the photography project I did on them as well as the sheer amount of research and applications I have sent to work/ intern for the NZP. Nothing too remarkable today but I did capture the curious face of one of the Red Pandas (as you can see I too can use some work shooting into the sky). 

Sunday was the usual relaxed day around the house. The weather was so remarkable that we decided to do some yard work. Some cousins of mine came over and we all decided to head to the nearby lake for some fishing. It was another wonderful opportunity for my brother to develop his photography skills. This time he had to figure out how to properly expose the sky, water and trees/ houses of a landscape. Of course the day couldn’t end without the cliche photographer’s-photo-of-a-photographer. 

All in all, another wonderful weekend to be thankful for. I’m starting this week a bit behind and have a lot to do but things do seem hopeful. 

Here’s to good people, good times and good things to come.

Trek On,

Chris