Avi’s Photos
Deep Waters
(Image above)
September 8, 2023 – 10:58 p.m.
Photograph of the Milky Way from Northern California (Dunsmuir). A view into the dangerous and wonderful ocean of space.
Avi Rubin’s College Applications
Winter 2023/2024
(Additional Materials for Fall 2024 Admission Applications)
- Section #1) Photography – photos below
- Cosmic
- The In-between
- Microcosmic
- Section #2) Digital Art – images and animations below
- 3D images
- 2D images
- Animations
- VFXs (YouTube)
- Recreations
- Section #3) Videos – links here
- Section #4) Music – links here
- Section #5) Scientific Studies – links here
Original Photographs
by Avi Rubin
Cosmic
The Milky Way
Title: Γαλαξίας Kύκλος
May 25, 2023 – Askifou, Crete, Greece – 1:29 a.m.
Notes: Going to Greece was a profound experience in many ways. I grew up with the Greek legends, and learned the Greek names of constellations, but I remember that one of my first experiences of Greece was when (at a young age) I learned the commonly stated science fact that the reason our galaxy is called the Milky Way is because it was first named that by the Greeks who saw the white clouds affixed to the night sky and thought of Γαλαξίας Kύκλος (galaxías kýklos) meaning “milky circle”, “galaxías” also being the root of the word “galaxy”.
Thus It was especially meaningful, to look up on the May night.
The Pleiades
The Pleiades (Zoom Out)
Avi’s iPhone 14 Pro Max
The Orion Nebula
Avi’s iPhone 14 Pro Max
The Orion Nebula (Zoom In)
(reference photo below)
For Context (for the above image)
The Orion Nebula (Photo by NASA & ESA)
(“NASA, ESA, Massimo Robberto (STScI, ESA), Hubble Space Telescope Orion Treasury Project Team”)
Avi’s iPhone 14 Pro Max
The Andromeda Galaxy
(reference photo below)
Photo Above
Title: Rest Stop View of The Andromeda Galaxy
On February 12, 2023, I took a photo of the Andromeda Galaxy from a rest stop on the side of the road between Hornbrook & Yreka, California (near the Oregon border – just north of Mt. Shasta.) To the audience (anyone viewing this photo) it may just be a fuzzy blob (not a particularly beautiful piece of photographic genius) – but for me it represents both a profound feat of photography (taken in the freezing cold with an iPhone), & a deeply meaningful stride following in the footprints of past astronomers and astrophysicists. To me it is not just a fuzzy blob, it is a photograph of the Andromeda Galaxy, a galaxy that contains one trillion stars – starlight that first left those stars and that had only reached my iPhone camera at 7:05 p.m. that Sunday, that first left 2.5 million years ago, a time at which mastodons walked the earth. I don’t know about you, but that’s significant to me.
The Andromeda Galaxy
(Zoom In of Photo Above)
(reference photo below)
For Context
(for the above image)
The Andromeda Galaxy
(photo by someone else using a telescope – details below)
(“Andromeda Galaxy captured with an amateur telescope from the Israeli Negev desert. This is an RGB image + some h alpha data. Captured in the Israeli desert (the Negev) Equipment: Celeatron Cpc1100 Millburn wedge Starizona hyperstar Zwo asi294mc for imaging + asi178mc for guiding Finderscope for guiding Acquisition: 60 subs of 32 seconds for RGB 20 subs of 64 seconds for hydrogen alpha (This is an f/2 config) Captured with sharpcap and guided with phd2 Processing: Stacked in pixinsight Processed and enhanced in photoshop including noise reduction, sharpening etc.”)
The In between
For the Photo Below
Title: Listening…
Date: February, 18th, 2023
Note: Last March I had the misfortune of visiting Hearst Castle.
At first I thought it interesting to see how the museum staff presented the egregious nature of the man whose “house” they curated. I expected honest insight into the pain, death, & hatred, Hearst sowed in his life, intertwined with appreciation for the art, architecture, & engineering required to construct the “palace”. Instead, I was met with a ringing endorsement of the “wise” “businessman”, who constructed an empire, & a paradise (a man who inspired Citizen Kane, & who openly praised Hitler!)
Needless to say, I was disgusted. Knowing the history of the man tarnished my experience of appreciating the art and architecture.
Upon leaving, as I sat stewing on the bus, I look out the window to see the sunset & saw this deer on the hill.
And as I listened to the ever changing wind, I thought that at least there was still some beauty here.
With all of my photos of the “castle” that day – the memory of this lone deer persists.
For the Photo Below
Title: That’s all folks!
Date: March, 18, 2023
Note:
“‘Tis very odd that poets should suppose
There is no poetry about a nose,
When plain as is the nose upon your face,
A noseless face would lack poetic grace.
Noses have sympathy, a lover knows
Noses are always “touched,” when lips are kissing;
And who would care to kiss, where nose was missing?
Why, what would be the fragrance of a rose,
And where would be our mortal means of telling
Whether a vile or wholesome odour flows
Around us, if we owned no sense of smelling?
I know a nose, a nose no other knows,
‘Neath starry skies, o’er ruby lips it grows;
Beauty is in its form, and music in its blows!”
-The Irish Penny Journal,
November 28, 1840.
For the Photo Below
Title: The Rambler’s Lost Melodies
Date: Tuesday – March 14, 2023 – Portland, Oregon
Note: If you walk around the Portland State University campus the constant backdrop is the forested hills of Portland. One day, while lost, I discovered a long set of stairs leading up the forested hill. I was so enchanted by it that I came back with my brother. Charlie is 14 years old and – like me – has disabilities from Lead poisoning. As I think you may be able to tell from this photo he is a very peculiar kid. I asked him if I could take a photo of him on the stairs and he effortlessly demonstrated his wonderful unique character in this moment. To this day I look and wonder what he might be thinking.
For the photo below
Title: A Valley in an Instant
Date: February 28, 2023 – Meteor Crater, Arizona
Note: I think one of the main wonders of this place is as I pointed out in the title. I recently had the amazing opportunity to hear and see Neil deGrasse Tyson speak in my home town. I have always loved the program Cosmos, and it was an honor to hear him speak. He mentioned that he had visited Meteor Crater as a child and that it stood apart for him as unlike the Grand Canyon or Arches National Park. Those were formed over millions of years of slow erosion from ice and wind, and rain. This place feels different, you can sense it.
Once, just a lonely bit land,
a then, fast as blinking-
Flash!
A testament to the ever changing nature of space-time.
Micocosmic
For the Photo Below
Title: warmth
October 7, 2023 – 4:59 p.m., Portland, Oregon
Notes: I have probably seen thousands of photographs of leaves in my life, but none of them give me such a profound feeling of heat as this one I took in my back yard. It stays with me through all of the other leaves I see, it’s warmth a comfort when needed.
For the Photo Below
Title: A Bee’s Forest
Date: February 10, 2023
Note: I’ve always love the flowers at my local park (in Portland, Oregon) they are big, sweet smelling, and beautiful. Every year they fall to the ground in the rain. When they do, I am always fascinated by the way they dance on the wind.
Image Series Below: 4 Images
Image Below:
The Olivine Cells of a Portland Leaf
Tuesday, May 12, 2020 – Portland, Oregon
My first real experience of the wonder of Microscopy. The cells of this leaf (as viewed under the microscope) remind me of the radiant Olivine crystals I saw on the beaches when visiting my grandmother’s home in Hawaii.
Original Digital Art
(By Avi Rubin)
3D Images:
Image Progession
Image Progession
Commissioned Graphics
Exercise in three parts:
Luminosity of Candles on A Birthday Donut
Artistic Rendering of Ancient / Fossilized Seaweed Species
found in Glacier National Park: Horodyskia Williamsii
2D Images:
The following images were created to illustrate a poem series I wrote for my oldest brother’s 26th birthday.
Small Scale Pixel Art
Rafting the Wave
December 2023
Animation:
“Infinite Journeys” submission:
Recreations:
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