IU | Alex Farris Photo Blog

Hello world!

It's been two years since I've updated the website. As I mentioned in the last post, I started medical school in August 2015. Since that time, my life has been dominated (by choice, mostly) by the Krebs cycle, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, standardized patients, computed tomography images, treatment algorithms, and, in the past four months, real patients in need of real care. It's been quite an adventure, and although I sometimes pine for the relatively simpler days of taking and submitting pictures, I don't regret exchanging one thrilling career for another.

This month, I'm taking an advocacy elective, and its seminar format affords a lot more free time than my first two clerkships of surgery and psychiatry. So, I finally have time to post an update to this six-year-old blog. It's not the post that I promised two years ago ("a catch-up catch-all entry ... before school completely dominates my life"); that post will come next. First, I want to post some pictures from the thing that completely dominated my life (mostly; I had some free time). Most of these pictures are of concepts I drew for study purposes, but there is a bonus collection of images from the solar eclipse this year. Explanations for each concept appear in the captions.

Welcome back!

The metabolism of hemoglobin (and then some). This is a long and winding road involving vitamin B12, an iron-binding protein called ferritin, and chromosomes 11 and 16. I combined multiple individual pathways that wouldn't seem to go together, such as the metabolism of methylmalonic acid and the fate of bilirubin. It seems I was in a synthetic mood on January 22.

There are some things in life that just make me smile. The profundity of seeing the million-year-old light of stars in the night sky. The connection I make between something I learned in organic chemistry and something I've observed and wondered about throughout my life. The friends I made in Madrid, and the fortune I've had in seeing them many times since we studied together.

On Friday, what made me smile was the exit off State Road 37 into Bloomington. At 1:45pm that day, an hour after finishing my physics lab in Indy, the exit meant I was that close to the Little 500, an experience that is simultaneously just a pair of bicycle races and so much more than just a pair of bicycle races. It's spring, it's college, it's athleticism, it's determination, it's the pinnacle of life in a great many ways. For me, it's the memory of good times at the IDS, it's where I first earned a photojournalism award, and it's a reminder of how vivacious life is and can be.

That's how I describe it when I'm away from the race. When I'm there, though, the only words I can say are "Wow" and "Woo hoo!" and "This is the best!" I have neither the time nor the presence of mind to put those emotions into words; I'm living the emotions, and there are photos to make! And make them I did, including my first good crash photo and the winning moments in both the women's and men's races. The sound I made when I saw that I got Brenna McGinn of Kappa Alpha Theta crossing the finish line, hand over her mouth in jubilant realization, is something hard to replicate. If you see me in person, ask me about it, and I'll try my best to make it. It was some sort of squeal.

I was covering the race for the Star, and they posted photo galleries, of course. Their gallery-posting system is still a bit off, though, and it resulted in crops I didn't make (to be fair, I'm certain the photo editors didn't make them, either). So, here are galleries of the women's and men's races, but original versions of 32 photos (16 women's, 16 men's) appear below.

Happy Little 5, everyone, and happy spring!

Brenna McGinn, Kate McDougal and Elizabeth Lieberman celebrate their victory in the women's Little 500 at Bill Armstrong Stadium in Bloomington, Friday, April 25, 2014.

I had an interesting assignment on Saturday. Every assignment is interesting in its own way, but this one felt a bit like I was looking into my future.

Every year for 23 years now, IU School of Medicine students put on an Evening of the Arts. Medical students with added performance acumen do skits, play music, sing, and dance, and the proceeds from the event assist four free clinics in the Indianapolis area. It's a good cause, and it ensures future doctors know how they can positively impact their communities through more than just doing medicine. It was held at the Madame Walker Theatre Center, another place in Indy that I knew of, but had never been to without a photo assignment as an excuse. It reminded me of Bloomington's Buskirk-Chumley Theatre, and if something reminds me of Bloomington, that's usually a great sign.

The event felt like the future because a) I plan on going to medical school for an M.D./Ph.D. and b) I might feel, at whatever school I attend, the need to flex the muscles I built up in high school on the speech team and as Major General Stanley. That was a cool feeling, and I hope one day to be a part of that. If this sort of program isn't at the school I attend, maybe I'll start it...

The Star also judged the photos good enough for page 2, so that's a big plus. It was a good thing to wake up to on Monday.

Kevin Masterson and Emily Laudeman perform during the IU School of Medicine's annual Evening of the Arts at the Madame Walker Theatre, Saturday, April 12, 2014. Funds raised through the event support four free medical clinics around Indianapolis.