Pop Culture Vid

Sophomore Review from Burim Loshaj on Vimeo.

Procedural Vid

Intro to Playing Guitar from Burim Loshaj on Vimeo.

Interview with Steve Perkins

Interview from Burim Loshaj on Vimeo.

Mercyhurst Art Department Tour

Art Department Tour from Burim Loshaj on Vimeo.

Mercyhurst Art Department Tour

McDonald's in Erie

View McDonald's in Erie in a larger map

Hirt Building Panorama

Enjoy

http://art.mercyhurst.edu/~bconnor/andrew/cylpano/partial.html

Mercyhurst College Campus Tour

View Mercyhurst Highlights in a larger map

Earth Day Flash

Creating Reflections in Photoshop

Blogging Vid

Witty Title

blah blah blah i hate everybody!!!

The Jem on the Lake

Presque Isle is one of Erie's greatest attractions and provides a new and fun experience everytime you visit. Presque Isle was formed about 14,000 years ago when huge ice glaciers passed through the lake. Gradually the ice melted and more sand built up along the shores. Today the peninsula is 3,200 acres stretched out seven miles into Lake Erie. Public beaches line the northern side of Presque Isle and and over 30 miles of multi-purpose trails weave throught the interior. Because of its diverse habitats, Presque Isle is home to about 82 species of fish and crustaceans, over 635 species of plants, 320 species of birds, and 35 different butterflies and moths. Attendance tops four million visitors, which is more than attendance at Yellowstone National Park.

Multipurpose Bike Trail

This trail winds along the coast of the peninsula and provides many beautiful scences and experiences. Although this trail is usually heavily populated with bicyclists, rollerbladers, joggers, and walkers, during the colder months it seems to be abandoned, which allows you to really focus on the environment and the magnitude of the natural presence on Presque Isle.

Picnic Pavilions

These resting spots are scattered along the peninsula and provide shade and a break from activities. The pavilions can also be used for family or social gatherings and, of course, a place to eat. This particular pavilion is just before beach 11. It is fenced in to make sure that no little ones get out and it even has a little playground.


Perry Monument

Perry Monument is one of the most visited sites on Presque Isle. Located on Crystal Lake, it is the site where Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry settle during the battles of Lake Erie in the War of 1812. The monument was erected there to commemerate Perry's victory. It provides a resting spot for the bike trail and is an excellent place to site-see.





Misery Bay

Misery Bay is the body of water surrounding Perry Monument. It is a great place for boating and fishing during the summer. During the cold months, however, it lives up to its name by being very, plain, boring, and almost depressing.

Marina

The marina is an interior dock for recreational boats. During the summer it is popular, but just like the bay, it was abondoned due to the cold weather.

Lighthouse

This lighthouse can be found on the nothern coast of Presque Isle along the bike trail. Although its tourist draw, it is currently a private residence. I figured that so many people, including myself, have photographed the lighthouse from the beach view that it was getting redundant. So instead I took a shot from the gate on the southern side to get more of a fresh perspective.

Beaches

Public beaches are scattered across the nothern shore of the peninsula and are one of the most popular attractions on Presque Isle. This is the beach accompanying the lighthouse. You can still see chunks of ice out in the water, which gives the photo a very naturalistic feel.


Pine Tree Beach

This is one of my favorite beaches because of its uniqueness and diversity. It has all of the essential beach items: sand and water. But it also has pine trees, hence the name, that make this beach so much better. The needles give new colors that really make this beach seem alive.


Beach 11

Beach 11, commonly known as the kid's beach, is named so because of its very shallow water. As a young lad this beach was the greatest, the doorway to grownup life. Now, however, it has lost most of its magic. Standing ankle deep in the water I contemplate what I saw in this beach all those years ago. Well, at least its a great spot to kayak.






Gull Point Trail

Despite its unbearable length, this is an amazing trail that winds you along endless photo-ops. It would have been amazing to travel this when the plants were in full bloom.




Gull Point

This is one of the world's most popular bird watching spots. It is the stop for more than a hundred migratory birds each year. As soon as I walked into the clearing I saw this lone tree struggling against the roaring wind. Despite the bad weather this tree persists on.






Coast Guard

This was the most pointless stop on the trip. We had to go completely out of our way to find the station only to find out that there was a ten foot fence surrounding it. Fortunately my mom knew where to get a nice shot from the opposite angle from across the channel, shown here.



North Coast Channel Lighthouse

This Site is pretty self-explanatory. Its a lighthouse, on the north coast of the channel. The only downside was to get this shot I had to walk down a very long, narrow dock in the freezing, windy cold.







Land Lighthouse

Technically this lighthouse is not on Presque Isle, but the handout for the project said both lighthouses AND the channel light. Getting confused and frustrated I took a shot of the Land lighthouse. Although its not on the peninsula, it still served an important role for travelers through the bay.




Nature

Throughout Presque Isle there are endless opportunities to lose yourself in nature every turn you make you can find a new plant, animal, or landscape. During this time of year geese heavily populate the more common stopping points along the peninsula. These two I found along side the road so I jumped out of the car and took a quick shot as they swam away. The second shot I took of nature was a landscape shot of the numerous cattail as the jutted out into the endless sky.

The Wonders of Photo Sharing

This little album is just a few of the images I tweeked with during my Digital Imagry class.

HOW CAN PHOTO SHARING MAKE MY SOCIAL LIFE BETTER: Instead of going out and meeting actual friends, with photo sharing I can post images that reflect myself to the community of web users and interact with people all over the world that way.

HOW CAN PHOTO SHARING HELP ME IN BUSINESS: With an evergrowing dependency on computers, post my artwork online puts it out into the community that is now way more effective than posting physical copies. Scouts from millions of international businesses now have the ability to see my portfolio.

POTETIAL PROBLEMS OF PHOTO SHARING:

• other people could steal your work and use it as their own
• you might post something that you don't want certain people to see
• you might post something inappropriate
• stalkers and preditors (as with everything else web-based)

Erie Burns Red

It is amazing that once you begin looking for disaster how much you can find. One trip through lower Erie and I had more than enough examples of urban decay. This old factory was my first stop and little did I know that this would be one of the more intact sites. Paint was pretty well chipped off or faded and a good deal of windows were broken. Just around the street I found an abandoned church. Utilities were destroyed, the siding was well stained and it appeared as if the site had become a local trash dump. Across the street from the church was an old vacant house that had all of its widows boarded up and siding falling off. Like the church, it was also very polluted. A short drive further north and I stumbled across an old garage that seemed like it had seen more than its fair share of winters. Paint was pealing, hinges were rusted, and dents were numerous. One ironic part I found about this garage was that it had the words "No Parking" spray-painted across one of the doors. A quick stop at an East Ave. bridge proved to be a treasure for decay. Under the bridge was a very old set of stone stairs that looked like you could get a disease just by touching the rail. One the other end of the bridge was Tagger's Alley, which was graciously flavored with an overturned old couch. To the west of the bridge was a very old factory where the roof actually had started caving in, exposing the interior. From there I took a quick turnaround to an old gas station outside of Value City. Widows were shattered, the door was hanging onto its frame by one hinge, the inside was pillaged, and the tanks outside were left exposed. Across the street was a garbage heap, with its own excuse of a pickup, trying to pass itself off as a residential area. Finally, heading west provided abandoned (or not) decaying brick factory after another ending, not a second too soon, with an old factory on twelfth street.

Web 2.0

Web 2.0 is a communication networking system that supports information sharing and interpersonal computing. This new version of the web allows for efficient work and personal communication and expression. At the forefront of Web 2.0 are hosted services and applications such as social networking sites, blogs, wikis, and video-sharing sites.

Web 2.0 Pros

• easier to find information
• easier to communicate
• faster way to get business done
• easier to navigate
• easier to express yourself
• consumer efficiency

Web 2.0 Cons

• increased identity theft rates
• accommodates sexual predators
• information loses credibility
• computer dependency

Stop Burning Tires

Jake Shimabukuro: "While My Guitar Gently Weeps"

A very impressive version of George Harrison's song on the ukelele

Search for the Pink Bic

It all started a couple of months ago when I was standing in a checkout line at Wal-mart. Just by chance I glanced over at the lighters and noticed that there was a pink Bic. I found it interesting because I had never seen a pink Bic before let alone think that they even made one. Since it was in a 5 pack, however, i thought it it would have been an expensive treasure so I refrained from buying it. Afterward it started as a joke that I wanted a pink Bic but was never serious about it. Then I began looking for a pink lighter while in checkout lines but could never find one. It soon became somewhat of a task for me to find this pink Bic, but as time went on my hopes faded. Finally, at a time when I had almost forgot about the search altogether, my aunt came up to me on the last day of break and shows my a pack of lighters she had just bought and, sure enough, there was my pink Bic. It may be simple but at least now I can boast that I have the only pink Bic that I know of.