Strangers On A Train

I met up with Matt and did a little shooting at the Peace March. I was bored. But there were a couple of the usual "maybe" shots. However - as usual - on the way there, and on the way back I got (hoping) a couple of good shots that had nothing to do with the march. I think the march functions like the phone series. Just something to get me moving.

I suspect that unless you're paying me to cover the event (your own ideas here) my mind wanders. But -- I had an absolutely fascinating train ride home.

Fascinating to me. It was just a mood or a vibe in my corner of the train. Very strange. Everyone very relaxed. It started when an older black guy (I hate that description. Picture Scatman Crothers) - sits down opposite me; stares at the camera a while and then says, "That one beauty of a camera."

This leads into some sort of conversation about the old time stuff and how beautifully it was made and I asked, yes asked - if he'd mind if I took his portrait. Oh sure. And he looked into the lens. One shot. And pulling on the lever I feel that I'm at the end of the roll. I tell him I'm out of film and just smiles and says: I'm ready when you are D.B.

Yeah, he actually uses my initials. But it's also an expression I guess.

As I'm changing film, the doors open and a young white couple (I should do police descriptions) enter the scene. The wife is pretty and pregnant. The woman beside me is scratching her foot in its sandal and talks to the couple across the way about giving birth.

- Now that's something you should get a picture of, she says to me. (Uh, that's about the last thing I want to photograph). She's moving her sandal thong around. As is usual with passengers on the subway - she knows everything. Maybe it's not confined to the subway and everyone actually believes they do know everything.

The young husband is being peppered with advice and stories from the woman with the itchy foot. Now she moves the sandal so that I can see a cut on her heel and in the arch. A little bloody.

She wants to know if I have any bandaids. Uh - she has me confused with a medic. It might be the camera bag.

She was coming from the peace parade. How far did you walk, I ask. She closes her eyes and doing the calculations she finally sputters: 4 blocks I think. From 23rd to 18th street.

I think that's five blocks say I. And she closes her eyes and does the math again.

It was sort of like being in the middle of a strange party. I had the camera to my eye and could pretty much click away at anyone

The couple get off at 59th after the pregnant woman has been given the secrets of life by the scatman wizard and the woman with the sore foot.

Then, as if that wasn't enough a young girl who looks like she's on her way to church steps inside the train and sits in the empty seat next to the wizard. And now they're sitting there like ma and pa kettle in American Gothic.

But there's nothing on that bench anymore that gives any sense of this time period. The old and young characters look like they were in To Kill A Mockingbird. Or that we were in the delta - standing at the crossroads --

Okay that's what I was feeling during those 6 or so subway stops. Now - is any of it on film? I don't know.

Metropolitan Museum

Willow Tree

Willow Tree, Closeup, Central Park





Willow Tree and Lake

Man In Rowboat

Man in Rowboat, Central Park

Union Square - Infrared

Union Square, People








Sprial, Union Square


* * *

A couple of tech notes: this film really wants to curl. I never had such a curly film to deal with. Almost everything was shot at f11, 1/100 sec with the red filter (I think its Wratten 25). Exposures were made with my handheld sekonic digital meter. The film was processed in Ilfotec dd-x just as if it were Tri-X.

Kodak Infrared

Shot one test roll (though often stuff on my test rolls is better than my normal rolls) with the Kodak Infrared film. I picked it up at Adorama, and also picked up a changing bag. I stopped under some scaffolding and loaded the M3 in the changing bag. That is one thin film. (No anti-halation backing). Anyway - put the 2-stop red filter on the 35mm and shot around Union Square Park. Then some shots on the subway just for the hell of it. Outdoors, I just shot around f8 or f11 and zone focused so I don't think the infrared difference in focus will matter. Inside the subway - that's another story since I was shooting wide open.

I don't think there is anything that amazing on the roll, so I'm going to just do it Ilfotec like I normally do Tri-x. I picked up some D-76 in case this roll is completely out of the ballpark.

* * *

The strip is drying. Not bad. The only thing I can see for sure so far is that there is not much infrared light in the subway, i.e. those those shots are about 50 stops underexposed :)

* * *

Untitled

I think I'll leave the phone at home for a while now. This was shot in one of the crevices in the Alice statue. The flare was added in PS.

Tulips and Bench - Horizontal

Bench and Tulips

Bench and Tulips

Magic Garden, Empty

I was lucky enough to get this yesterday as the reflecting pool was being drained and fallen petals covered everything. Central Park.

Good Vibrations

Biopsy results from the colonoscopy all normal. Phew. I think I have too much imagination for my own good.

* * *
If you haven't been up to the formal gardens in Central Park - 5th avenue and 105 street- now is the time. I was blown away this morning. Not the greatest lover of tulips but with puddles left over from the rain - man - that sort of took my breath away.

I continued with the "phone in nature" series. Found some sand - buried phone in it and then excavated as if I had just found it. Even tried to float it in the pond (I would need to tape up the holes from the inside for it to float).

If you look at the pictures on this site I don't think you can find a single (well I know one) shot that I would consider pure nature photography in the sense that it is bereft of human artifacts. I noticed this about myself a long time ago. I wonder whether the insertion of the phone and possibly other objects into otherwise mundane nature shots stems from prediliction. Of course the phone - even in this retro-version - seems to be the gadget for everything in the future:

The Phone: still camera, movie camera, planner, blood-pressure device, translator, small massage unit, e-mailer, text messenger, price-evaluator in the supermarket, accupuncture machine, garage door opening, music player, mapping navigation system, and possibly a program to tell me what's in the fridge - oh and you still may be able to use it as a phone to call people.

Phone And Blossoms

Phone and Blossoms, Central Park

Tree Trunk

35 mm lens / f2.0

Man With Poles

The Bridle Path, Central Park - Yesterday

They call them 'trekking poles; and I don't really understand why someone would need them on flat land. (or anywhere else?) - JeffK

2 Rolls

i sit on the edge of the bathtub inverting a plastic lightproof canister 4 times every minute. i have two rolls of film in the canister. two plastic containers with liquid - one yellow and smelly, the other clear -- sit on either edge of the bathtub rim. i look across at the lightswitch. it has a stain around it from fingerprints, probably fingerprints with chemicals on them. it's been building up for ten years. i think: not once have i put some fantastic and cleaned that area. is it a memorial of some kind?

and i look at my casio stopwatch which says its time to invert the tank again.

what's on those rolls? i know roughly that its what i shot yesterday in the park. i remember a couple of shots that i'm sure i got. but are they any good? will what i thought at the time was a humorous shot still have that humor on the negative? i never know.

and i'm getting towards the end of 8 minutes and pull the plastic top off the tank. man, if i could do that without getting developer in my lap. i should wear an apron. remember photographs of Ansel in the darkroom with his apron.

but an apron in my bathroom will take up 10% of the space.

i pull up the toilet lid and pour the developer out. the yellow liquid is ready to pour in. i don't feel like putting that damned top on again so instead of inversion i swish it around a while. oh, yeah - 30 seconds. i haven't swished that short stop for 30 seconds in 30 years.

out it goes into the toilet where the water turns purple. flush.

in goes the fixer. plastic top on and give it a good shake. i'm going to really hypo these rolls. i'm giving them full agitation every 30 seconds.

in the meantime, i'm setting up my gravity works washer in the sink. i hate to do anything with chemicals in the sink since the cat drinks from same; but we're just talking about washing. and after the thing is washed, i'll scrub the sink before giving Buddy his water.

i really should clean that light switch.

soon the two strips of film are hanging from the piece of string near my kitchenette over a small pot with a touch of short stop mixture in it. The smell keeps the cat from brushing up against the bottom of the hanging film.

Ah - these negatives look good. Nice and dense the way I like 'em. That shot looks great. I wonder what it will look like...

Infrared

In the quest for dreamier photographs I'm going to pick up some Kodak HIE tomorrow. I've read through most of the fact sheets; what filters are useful; keep the stuff in the dark etc. I haven't been able to find dev. times for HIE and Ilfotex dd-x. I hate using two developers (contamination, confusion etc.). So I think I'm just going to do take a wild stab at the first roll with dd-x and see what happens. Probably just do it as I would tri-x. What the hell. I did a search for the recipe on Ilford and Kodaks' sites but you know how it goes.

One of the handiest developer / film databases I've ever found is at DigitalTruth.com

I was sort of wondering what happens if you put some portable heat source into something - like the telephone I've been using and do it in infrared. I'm sure there's some glove warmer, or liquid heat pack, that you could do this with.

Anyway - the holidays are fini - so the quest to spend money in the Chelsea or Western Midtown? What is that area around B&H called. Did it used to be Hell's Kitchen? It does seem sort of hellish.

Hup Two Three

This was an old digital shot that I had a lot of trouble with (the usual stuff - highlights etc.) but I managed - what two years later - to get something halfway okay out of it.

Gods on 42nd Street

42nd Street Gods

This was shot with the Pentax 67 !! So you see - the Pentax 67 is one of the best cameras for street photography.

Fring and Yellow Stuff

It looked like spring. It felt like fall. It was a perfect time for me to go to Central Park and play with my yellow phone idea. The cherry blossoms and all the other blossoms were doing their best to entice me - and I couldn't help taking straight nature shots. But then I pulled the yellow phone from my knapsack and hung it from the cherry blossoms and began playing around with various arrangements. Passersby stopped to gawk - and I don't blame them.

My stock answer to anyone who asked what I was doing was: "I'm working on an art project for a class." That seemed to work. Everyone knows that you do crazy things for classes.

After a while with these weird still lifes - I began putting the phone in places where people could walk by and I could shoot their reactions. So conceptual meets street. No getting away from it. People are still more interesting than cherry blossoms.

I want to do the same thing again - but I want to do it with infrared film. I've never shot infrared and all I know is that you need a red filter (which I have somewhere in 39mm). But as to which film - or what ASA etc. - I'll need to do some research and testing I guess.

But it was damned good to get out. And dispite my intentions of doing this artsy thing - I found myself - as usual - doing some straight shooting as well. And that may be the best. I saw something very strange - a guy on the bridle path came walking by using what looked like cross country ski poles - but no skis of course. Is this some new fangled exercise regime. I have no idea but I got the shot with the cherry blossom trees in background.

detritus of the city

if you want to keep an eye on the Montauk Lighthouse section. It's a work in progress and you can see what I think I'm doing as I go along. Or not.

* * *

As I said - I'm sort of sick of straight photography. I haven't mentioned this before, but I've been collecting odds and ends from the street over the last month. The last item was a yellow phone handle, the wire has that protective covering for a street phone. The protective wire didn't work that well since the phone wire had been pulled from the phone box.

Another thing is a very heavy wrought iron top of something - maybe a fire hydrant. I'm not sure. Detritus of the city I guess.

I'm thinking about photographing them in odd settings where this stuff doesn't belong. First stop Central Park. I honestly have no idea what this is about . I'd like to say that the ideas comes from dreams or something - but I think it comes from the idea of simply forcing conflicting ideas in the same frame. I could do it easily in photoshop, but I want to actually go out and do it in the so called real world.

mamiya going away?

Barrett sent me this link:

Mamiya folding it's tent.

Here's a question for you - what camera companies will be left ten years from now?

The two obvious ones of course: Canon, Nikon.

* * *
Okay - I'm going to start a list of defunct camera companies. I'm still a little groggy from yesterday so let me know who I forgot so far. What about Fuji? Does Kodak still make cameras?

DEAD CAMERA COMPANY LIST

KONICA MINOLTA
CONTAX

colon day 0

9:20. I'm off to Mt. Sinai for the colonoscopy. Spent most of night making frequent trips to the can. That phospho soda is powerful. I was thinking they could use it for rocket fuel. Or maybe some upscale spa could re-label it and sell it as a high-priced cleansing routine.

I'm taking the hexar with me. I don't know if I'll be able to use it but we'll see.

Thanks to all of you global well-wishers. Let you know how it all turns out.

* * *

1:30 p.m. I'm back. Colonoscopy is finished. Doctor said all looks good, but now I must wait a week for biopsy results. Now for some sleep and the release of a lot of air that was pumped into me.

Scott McClellan

Looking for suggestions to replace the white house spokesperson. I'll open the bidding with: Tom Cruise because I would watch him knock out the press corp. I think the whole white house press conference thing could learn a thing or two from the Worldwise Wrestling Federation.

Both are phony, and both require great skill.

I would have Tom Cruise hooked up to a video screen showing his blood pressure. If it gets too high, he has the right to let off some steam on an ancient reporter.

Montauk Lighthouse

Montauk Point, Lighthouse

Construction began on June 7, 1796 and was completed on November 5, 1796

This shot has a long history. I woke up before dawn and went out with the Elan 3, and put together the longest lens I had with the 1.4x convertor, and waited for the sun to come up behind the lighthouse. It was off-season - which is usually when I could afford to go out to Montauk - and it was cold and yes - a cold rain started up. I covered up the camera with a poncho and sat in the car. When the sun finally decided to show, I took a couple of shots, packed up and headed back to the motel.

When I did prints of this thing - the blank sky was annoying - and the pre-dawn atmosphere was not on the film. So I began to play around with the sky these many years later. I did several edges and cut what texture there was in the sky so that other layers with related colors could show through. In other words the sky is three shades of blue composited.

Fog was added to the beach and a bit to the clouds to get a touch of a halo. Still not quite finished. The top of the lighthouse needs work. I want to give a tint of - not sure what - pinkish something to the clouds and I don't like the gray shadows in clouds which are leftover from the b&w picture.

COLON DAY - 1

This would be nice if they'd send out pre-op instructions on pastel artwork. Considering how much these things costs - I think it would go a long way to soothing fears.

One thing to keep in mind as you read this stuff is that this is my own personal fright. In other words - not every one has it. I know people who went in - took their colonoscopy and came out saying - hey - that was not such a big deal. Unfortunately, for a lot of reasons - some passed down probably from my mother - or maybe genetic - I simply have never been able to walk into a hospital without my blood pressure rising 20 points. I don't think I'm a hypocondriac - not in the sense that I always think something is wrong with me - I simply have a dread of doctors and hospitals and I'm old enough to know it just ain't gonna change.

Some of it may stem from the 15 years I spent going to hospitals and emergency rooms with my mother who had Lupus. The hospital was just a place where horrible things happened. Patients were lost in the paperwork. (See the movie The Hospital with George C. Scott for my take on it).

The only odd thing - is that as the day gets closer - my own fears start to disipate. That's something I don't understand completely although maybe its just - well finally its here so let's get on with it.

Another layer on top of this already existing fear is that they'll find something related to the Crohns disease: polyps, spread of the disease etc. Who the hell knows. On the other hand, I know rationally - since I'm having these things every year (more or less) that they'll probably catch whatever before its gotten out of hand. But there you have it. Tonight I'll drink the lemon flavored (there's a lie for you) Phospho crap; and from there on in its just a matter of sitting in the bathroom half the night.

Now I'm off to buy a few gallons of Gatorade.

[editor: I've been telling Dave not to spend so much time writing about his upcoming colonoscopy since readers would like to see some new pictures; or discussions about photography; but you know Dave - stubborn.]

Hey editor in chief - that's my life right now. This blog wasn't ever supposed to concentrate on photography - but on the "life of the photographer."

[editor: Well - if you want to turn people off - keep at it.]

No one's forcing anyone to read anything. In time - this will become interesting. Take my word for it. Especially if I can document the thing with pictures. I'm loading Tri-x into the Hexar now.

Dad in Hot Tub & Eiffel Tower

I forwarded a link to dad of his hot tub picture. (See below if you haven't seen the picture).

When he telephoned, you never heard such squeals of happy laughter. He was thrilled. It was as if I had painted the portrait of a king. He forwarded the link to his sister who was also amazed.

Then the link went to other Beckerman clan members. Same amazed reaction.

I didn't know Dave was painting! This is fantastic. I humbly explained that this wasn't "real painting" but that was lost on one and all. Frankly, early on I would much rather have been a painter - but quickly discovered that I lacked the ability to do anything remotely natural freehand - though these days I doubt that matters anymore. If I attempt to draw still life - it comes out like bad Picasso.

Oh you know Dave - he can do anything he puts his mind to, my cousin said.

My father wants a good sized print, but he also wants lots of small prints that he can hand out along with his business card (I kid you not).

I've been working on a large one of the eiffel tower - much more complex than the other ones since there's a lot of fretwork and willow tree etc. but it has been helpful in steadying my nerves.


This is still early on - but gives you an idea of the approach. The branches of the trees, for example are on there own layer - so I can futz with them on their own. Same for the water. The Eiffel Tower itself is the most difficult - not only because of the fretwork which is amazing - but because I'm having a hard time settling on the color scheme for the structure. I think that after that - everything else will fall into place. So far, the image has about 7 layers, each with a nice mask so I can smooth things over when I'm ready. At first I tried painting the willow tree leaf by leaf. That was impossible, so I found a nice feathery brush, and eventually settled on a series of related greens and yellows to do the job.

I work at 300 dpi, (in this case 11 x 14) so there is a wealth of detail. And p.s. - this stuff could never have been done with my old PC. I'm still doing this all in 16-bit.

Here's the layers from Dad In Hot Tub


One problem of showing this layer stuff is that you don't see how the layers are blended, or what the opacity settings are.

colonoscopy

Well - once more - here we go. I have my annual colonoscopy this Thursday at 10 a.m.

I already have butterflies thinking about it. I think this will be my fifth colonoscopy. Since I am absolutely terrified of hospitals, even if all they were going to do was clip my toenails - this puts me into a very bad mood for the next few days.

The procedure itself isn't that bad - it's just a bad phobia that I've had all my life and there's no way around it.

When I was ten years old, I stepped on a rusty nail - got a tetanus shot - walked to the elevator and passed out cold. So it goes back a long way.

I'm lucky that I have some valium to take before I get there - but I doubt if it will help much. Oh well - got to do it.

The procedure itself isn't all that bad - though last time the nurse couldn't quite find a vein and was hunting around a long time before I started to go under. And as anyone who's had this done knows - it's the night before with the phospho soda cleaning which keeps you going all night that really is awful. I'm going with my sister who will get a cab for us afterwards (thank God for family).

Because I have crohns - there will be lots of biopsies which makes the procedure longer. Then there's the waiting for a couple of days to see if any precancerous polyps are found. The whole thing freaks me out.

I might bring my hexar like I did last time. It seems to give me a sense of control over the situation. My doctor does his best to calm me down - but I don't know - if you've ever had a bad phobia, there's just no really good way to get over it.

I don't have any other phobias that go to this level. When we were up in Rhinebeck, we came to an aerodome place where you could go up in a two seater bi-plane and I was going to go but the place wasn't open for business yet. In other words, a lot of things that scare people have no effect on me - but just the smell of hospital disinfectent gives me the heebie jeebies.

I sometimes wish that my brain was like a cats - that I didn't really know what was coming or what exactly to expect. It seems that they live in the present better than I do. I'm forced to walk through life with baggage - and with images from the future which may or may not happen.

Then again - without this ability to flip back and forth through time - to imagine what would happen if - well - no trips to the moon without that; no inventions. No sense of the future or the past - I don't think humans would have survived.

Spring, Central Park

Spring, Central Park

(Medium Format - Mamiya 6 - 50mm)

Polar Bear and Baby

Polar Bear and Baby - Central Park Zoo

rhinebeck island

rhinebeck island

I began printing some of the color prints today on the silver rag. Very nice. I was surprised that I was able to do it without a profile (although a profile exists for the silver rag). I just set the printer control to ICM ADOBE 98 (which is my working space) and that was it. Damned close.

The overall look of the prints is like a pastel chalk sketch. How odd that I should have so much fun with color after all these years. Maybe it has a similar mysteriousness, abstractness - as a b&w photo? I haven't had any luck with color shots. I want to paint them all.

* * *

On other fronts, I'm deep into 'Cobra II' by Michael Gordon and General Trainor

No hype here. This is a serious and exciting account of the lead-up to, the invasion of, and the occupation of Iraq. One of the things that comes across early on his just how complicated the war was - is. How you can see the seeds for the current situation developing during the planning stages. I won't paraphrase the book - but if you want to get a detailed view of what was going on prior to and during the invasion - this is the book.

Cat On Bed

Buddy has been working on my "todo" list (his right) for a while. After that he watched some t.v. Now he needs a break.

Dad in Hot Tub

2 couples

Rhinebeck:

"Hey, why is your brother dragging us to all these graveyards? Must be something morbid about him."

"He's always been like that. I don't know what he thinks he's gonna find, but you can't go anywhere with him - without him dragging you off to some graveyard he spotted. I've been coming up here for five years and didn't know this was here.

- Hey. Pull over a sec. I want to look at that tree...

"Gawd, it's like having a little kid along. C'mon, we've got to get to the Stop and Shop."

- Leave me off here. I'll wait for you.

"Geez, are you sure?

- Yeah, I'm sure. Just don't forget about me.

"Wish we could."


Tree, Rhinebeck.




Cows, Rhinebeck New York

Walker Evans on the 6 Train

"To Helen Levitt, photographing in the subway (even though it was in fact against the law) was not daunting. Evans' difficulties looked to her more like a case of his usual inertia. Prodding him along, she volunteered to ride the subway with him as the photographer's foil. During the colder months of 1938, the two would set out for several hours of subway travel on the Lexington Avenue local, as he later described, 'down among the torn gum wrappers into the fetid, chattering, squealing cars underground.'"

In order to work inconspicuously, Evans did not use flash equipment in the subway car's dim available light but slowed his shutter speed down to a risky one fiftieth of a second. He painted the bright chrome parts of his 35mm Contax camera matte black, tucked its body under his coat with the lens slyly protruding between two buttons, and rigged the shutter to a cable release on a slender cord that led up to his right shoulder, down his sleeve, and into the palm of his hand. Sitting beside him, Levitt would feel him stiffen his back, his camera aimed at his captive and unsuspecting subjects, and know that he was about to squeeze the trigger. Every so often, they dismbarked onto a station platform for a cagarette break." - Walker Evans by Belinda Rathbone

Philip-Lorca diCorcia

"In 1999 Philip-Lorca diCorcia set up his camera on a tripod in Times Square, attached strobe lights to scaffolding across the street and, in the time-honored tradition of street photography, took a random series of pictures of strangers passing under his lights." - New York Times

My 83 year old dad cut the article out from the Times and sent it to me with a note, "thought you would find this interesting." At least ten people e-mailed me links to the article.

The gist of the article is that Philip-Lorca took a series of long-lens shots of people walking under his strobe lights and then had a show of the "heads."

An orthodox Jew saw his head shot in the show's catalog and sued the photographer on the grounds of invasion of privacy - and the fact that his religion forbad the worshop of graven images - or something like that.

The case went through the usual channels and wound up at - state supreme court - where it was thrown out.

That, anyway - is my understanding of the case.

The article in the Times (and maybe it has appeared in other venues) included a reproduction of the complainent - Erno Nussenzweig's head.

"Neale Albert, the lawyer who represented Pace/ MacGill, said the case surprised him: 'I have always believed that the so-called street photographers do not need releases for art purposes. In over 30 years of representing photographers, this is the first time a person has raised a complaint against one of my clients by reason of such a photograph.'"

The decision confirmed that street photography - being an art form - was protected by the constitution.

Link to article.

Several thoughts ran through my mind:

1) The reach of the New York Times is astounding.

2) Erno Nussenzweig complained that his religious rights had been violated in that his religion forbad the use of graven images.

- Does Mr. Nussenzweig have a driver's license with his photo on it? And if so - isn't this also a violation of his religion?

- I thought (silly me) that the worshop of graven images was forbidden, not the taking of photographs.

- Could the New York Times be sued for reproducing Mr. Nussenzweig's head shot?

3) So many people have written to me over the years asking whether I got model releases from strangers photographed on the street. This would be a good case to cite.

4) What would happen if a less-financially solvent photographer (myself as an example) were sued. Instant poverty?

5) Since "big brother" security cameras are now all over the place - citizens are being photographed all the time. Since these photographs are not for artistic reasons - wouldn't that make a better case?

6) There is no "time-honored tradition" of photographing strangers with a long lens and strobe lights. Where is the intimacy? Where is the time-honored tradition of fragments that coalesce at just the right moment?

7) How exactly did Erno Nussenzweig discover this shot of himself in a photographic catalog? I find it hard to believe that he's on the subscription list for the Pace gallery?

8) Mr Nussenzweig has substantially increased the price for Mr. diCorcia's work. I wish someone would sue me - but only if it got the same sort of publicity. Perhaps I should set up a long lens rig outside Mr. Nusenzweig's house.

At any rate - the idea that using a long lens and strobe lights to do street photography is a "time-honored tradition" is nonsense.

This photographic technique has more in common with the big-brother security cameras that are now omnipresent than with traditional street photography. And street photography is not time-honored. Walker Evans put off showing his series of subway close-ups for many years because he was afraid of being sued.

I noticed that Mr. Nussenzweig's image was not shown in the online New York Times version - but was in the print edition. I wonder how many New York Times lawyers it took to make that decision.

I think that when I have the time, I'll scan Mr. Nussenzweig's photograph from the print version and photoshop it into my picture with the monkey on the train. That would take this case to a whole nother level. Let me check first with my own battery of lawyers.

Central Park, 59th Street

Central Park, 59th Street

I haven't done any color printing at all with the 4800. Don't really like color photographs. So I whipped this up as a test. If I could paint - I'd probably do this sort of thing. I used to do a little with watercolors that were along these lines.

I got my taxes done so now - it's time to soup the cow pictures.

Oh - and my God - are you following the Mets? How great are they? I pray to the baseball God that no one gets hurt.

Metropolitan Atomic

Hard at work on the newest atomic energy plant. Located on 59th street and Lexington next to Bloomingdales. Now that the price of gas has gone up so much - people are ready for atomic energy in the heart of the metropolis. As you can see in this photograph, security is top-notch.

Back from the Sticks

I spent a day in the country, Dutchess County (Rhinebeck). There were a lot of cows around and I spent time photographing the critters. Actually, the light was great and I think I may have something that Bill Emory could use on his site.

Being in the country was just what I needed. I've got to get my taxes taken care of first, but then I'll soup the two rolls of film and see how the cows and one big black bull turned out. The bull was sort of scary close-up for a city guy.

Snow Monkey on Subway

I was on my way down to B&Walmart to pick up some film when the train was halted and we were told to evacuate because a snow monkey had escaped from the Central Park Zoo and was on the train somewhere.

I just managed to get this shot before the police arrived. They were going to write out a ticket for photographing on the subway when the monkey suddenly took off and they all raced after him. You should hear something on the news about it tomorrow. I heard that his name was Hal.

Camera: Leica digi-mahn. Lens: nocturnalux - f0.01

Matt Weber Interview

Short interview with Matt Weber can be found here.

Grand Central, Catacomb

Gum Bichromate Catacomb

This is more of a painting than a photograph. Most of the figures of people were touched up with quick darkening brush strokes; and the entire lighting effect with the textured walls and various accents was added. Oh, here's the original shot. I have reached the point finally of being very comfortable with the tablet / pen. I wish it wasn't quite so smooth. I wonder if anyone has a tablet addition that gives you the feel of working on rough paper.

Anyway - when I first looked at this underexposed image of Grand Central - I immediately got the idea of trying to make it feel like a dark fungus-filled catacomb.

Leaky Toilet

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Vice President Dick Cheney's former top aide told prosecutors President Bush authorized the leak of sensitive intelligence information about Iraq, according to court papers filed by prosecutors in the CIA leak case. - New York Times

OR

President Bush authorized White House official I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby to disclose highly sensitive intelligence information to the news media in an attempt to discredit a CIA adviser whose views undermined the rationale for the invasion of Iraq, according to a federal prosecutor's account of Libby's testimony to a grand jury. - Washington Post

In other words - if you remember President Bush being asked about all this and saying he would get to the bottom of it - I wondered whether the president would have plausible deniability or not. Apparantly not.

"The White House did not challenge the prosecutor's account of Bush's and Cheney's role in orchestrating the effort to discredit Wilson yesterday." - Washington Post

No - it's not so amazing that the President authorized the leak; what is amazing is that he has been caught doing it.

All along the campaign trail - the Bush administration has been able to maintain plausible deniability with things like the Swift Boat ads; and the attacks against Max Cleland.

And they've been able to have plausible (somewhat plausible) deniability about their own beliefs and reasons for the Iraq invasion. But if you pull one card out - such as this authorized leak - then the house of cards tumbles.

They've just made too many enemies in the establishment: CIA, FBI, ARMY, AIR-FORCE etc. And my theory is that the real powers are fed up.

busy

things have really picked up during the last week. today i matted and packaged about 30 small prints for three orders. two orders going to - europe. i am surprised that the small 5 x 7's are selling as well as they are. what surprises me is that i personally like this small size, and usually if i like it - then it doesn't sell. this is the exception.

i've actually got a nice little template setup in photoshop so that i can print four 5 x 7's at a time. pretty neat.

the only thing that i've really got to keep an eye on is cat hair getting on the paper while it's still wet. at that point it's just about impossible to get the hair off the print without leaving a mark.

buddy, oh buddy - how'd you like to be a skinhead for a while?

Times Square, Night Montage

Times Square, Night Montage

liner notes for this image:

Camera: Leica M3, Film Tri-x. 2006

o.k. possibly i was trying to be funny saying this was taken with the M3 and Tri-x. four different cameras were used to make this picture. two different film stocks. the pictures were taken over a period of about ten years. the skyline is from Sedona.

none of that matters. what does matter is that i felt from the beginning that times square needed to be like a big garbage bin filled to the brim with shiny things to keep the natives happy.

it should feel like a giant headache.

it was too big to fit in one frame. it really needed to be faceted. three different perspectives of the marine recruiting station.

times square is now: MULTI-NATIONAL CORPORATION AMUSEMENT PARK.

this is simply a big showcase for the biggest corporations. and it feels like Las Vegas - which is how the tree skyline made it's way into the shot.

I think I'm going to hang out there more often and do some more Times Square montages.

Another Stop

Another Stop

In my never ending quest to photograph every subway stop in New York - here's another station. This was on the way out to Coney Island, and I actually got off at about six stations because they looked interesting. I suppose this is a harmless sort of fanaticism.

Come to think about it - I always liked movies about trains. Did you ever see The Train with Burt Lancaster? That's what this shot reminds me of. Another great one, maybe the best film ever made where the New York City Subway was the star: The Taking of Pelham 1,2,3. Final frame for you trivia buffs was what?

In case you care about such things: HP5 with the Hexar Classic.

5 minute snow

we had a five-minute snow storm. i looked out the window and was startled to see big flakes. frankly, i have had enough snow but then matt called and said he was outside and this was the big-flake flurry.

i was warm and cozy and finally getting around to matting some prints, just about finished for a west coast customer, but i haven't been shooting much and so even though i had put the big yellow parka away yesterday - i pulled it out and downstairs i went.

the storm lasted about 5 minutes. the snow flakes were massive, maybe 5 inches wide (at times) and i stood on the corner and tried to do things with the trees that were in bloom, the guy trying to hail the taxi (impossible in this weather), and the big gusty flakes.

i decided to shoot at as high a shutter speed as i could manage because this time i was out to freeze those frozen flakes so I shot wide open at f2.0 and 1/500th. sometimes i need some quasi-tech thing like that to get me going. one shot intrigues me - as i bent down to tie my laces and may have pulled off this sidelong shot of a woman in black with a strange curved hat, against a black umbrella and the fluffy blizzard-looking scene. but who knows.

did the best i could in the new york minute snow. now back to matting.

Origami Ceiling

Local Japanese Restaurant - A couple of days ago. Best thing about the place are the little hand-made birds dangling from the ceiling. Reminds me of what I looked up at when I was a baby - you remember - those bird mobiles? Blue for the boys. Pink for the girls. Some of them you wound up and the birds moved around. Later on they got fancy with battery powered jobs.

These paper birds are wind-powered. When someone opens the restaurant door, a bit of a breeze and the birds all flutter.

Blizzard on Fifth

Steichen Striken Back

I was going to make up a story for April 1st about how I went to this garage sale and found this old print that was signed by Steichen and it was in an large envelope with a glass plate negative. But then I plumb forgot to pull the stunt or thought it was too dumb - if that's possible. But this was the photograph to go with. I was going to Photoshop the sign out - but as I worked on it, I began to like it and decided to let it just live or die on its own.

31 + 28 + 31 + 3 days ...

... Cigarette Free. But today I am missing them.

Other than that - orders for prints - especially the smaller ones are coming in from overseas. Last night I added Belgium. Yes, Belgium - tomorrow -- who knows, maybe New Jersey.

It's just that I don't want to tinker with the cart code to internationalize it, so I end up doing it country by country. Brilliant.

What else: I'm printing everything on the Silver Rag (small prints included). I've been doing two at a time on the roll paper without a problem. The roll paper is by far the cheapest way to go, because you can usually fit the image to the paper so you aren't using extra paper. The only thing that annoys me is that before I do any final printing - and if I haven't used the 4800 for a day or two - then I want to print a test pattern. But that means pulling out the roll paper, using the paper tray - and eventually going back to threading the roll paper through.

I guess there's just no way around that - you've got one paper path at that point and if the roll paper is threaded - then you can't use sheet feed. So what you want is automated feeding. I think that will be a long wait. Automated roll threading for you Epson 1MG.

And I decided that as far as having too many pictures - you may be right, but I'm going to keep going with it until I hit 150 online images for sale (that was my first goal).

I have them tagged by keyword, so at some point I'll categorize them. I always hate that:

PEOPLE : PLACES : THINGS

STILL LIFE : STREET SHOTS : NATURE

I don't know how to categorize my shots. I don't even see the point. No, I think most people would prefer to just browse through 'em all.

Crossing Street

'Crossing Street'

That early delta 400 film would do some odd things. This is an unretouched (except for sharpening) shot from the early Delta 400 film. I think it looks like a bad, or at least odd burn-in around the guy, his shadow, and the light. But as I say - it's a Delta 400 film effect that was built in at the time.

"CROSSING THE STREET IS ONE OF THE GREAT ADVENTURES IN OUR CROWDED LIVES." - The marquis de Fordham Road, 1890