RIS

RIS Bazaar, originally uploaded by Elysium Exposed.
Taken above the bazaar hall, at the RIS conference in January 2004.

RIS - Sami Yusuf in Concert #2, originally uploaded by Elysium Exposed.
Sami Yusuf in concert at RIS - Skydome 2005

I will be at RIS this year as well, hopefully selling art, tshirts, stickers and photos from both myself and friends, god willing. It's been a difficult task to find others to sit at the vending booth for me to go off to listen to lectures, or leave my sister with for her to listen when I'm not around. They need to start temporary in building fm broadcasts of the lectures so vendors can tune in using radios or headphones within the building. This along with my other suggestion of making a guest registry where out of town visitors can find places to stay at people's homes within toronto vicinity since so many can't come due to travel and financial constraints -- need to be seriously considered for whatever is being planned in the next year. I also plan on taking pictures at RIS so that will require moving around as well. Next year I hope I'm a bit more prepared for this with more people to back me up. But for now the plan is to make the best of it. :-)

Come say hi! if you find these on the table:

Decorated yet Daunting.

Decorated yet Daunting., originally uploaded by Elysium Exposed.

It's a daunting task to take pictures indoors, specially if you are one to belong in a 'risk' group that is easily profiled. It took me about 2 minutes to focus and test around for this shot. It's underground in the pathways of toronto's exchange tower leading out to the sheraton hotel.

Right after I clicked the shutter the man in yellow who was already on his way over to me, told me to depart since they do not allow photography. Ofcourse, if I looked like a foreign tourist, everything probably would have been okay. This isn't the first time I've been escorted out or told to leave. To his credit, this security guard was polite.

All I wanted was to take a picture of the festive decorations in the underground world. Something that a lot of businesses in the downtown core actually spend money on.