Rainforest Entrance

I printed most of the good infrared shots as 5 x 7 proofs today. I'm superstious enough not to want to jinx it - but there are four or five beautiful, mysterious prints in the set. Bits and pieces in the prints sort of peer out from behind the leaves. For example, my reflection is in the shot below. No, not the large figure on the left (that was a woman on the other side of the glass feeding the Tucans) but just to the left of the doors. And the doors are not a reflection either - they are painted to blend in with the forest - which they really do in this shot. I had to study this shot for a while to figure out how the pieces came together.

So - I know - it's not for everyone. I wonder what I would have thought of it ten years ago when I was in my realism phase. But today - it seems to hold up for me.

My only problem with the IR film is the awful curl that makes it tough to get the strip into the scanner holder. It's pretty funny to watch because half the time the damned thing curls up at both ends before I can snap the holder shut.

There's probably some film uncurler somewhere - or the way things are going with film - maybe not.


Entrance to Central Park Zoo rainforest. IR film.





Version II, Hedges & Woman (ir film)

NSA and Chinese Takeout

So the story breaks that the NSA has been secretly been collecting or trying to collect a record of every domestic phone call (not the content, just the phone number) made in the United States. Qwest is the only phone company that refused to turn over records. We are talking about billions and billions of calls.

What you are telling me is that when I call for Chinese takeout, the phone number of Lili's Noodle House is added to the database. That's right. Every phone call.

Now the idea is that someone at the Noodle House calls their cousin Jun who in turn calls his friend Mary who works at Walmart. Mary has called her doctor to make an appointment to treat her acne problem.

And on it goes. Eventually, 1 million links later - there is an intersection with another 1 million link trail to a terrorist phone number. The NSA is using a supercomputer to spit out the number and it only takes three months. Oh, the terrorist has long ago discarded the phone, but no matter. I don't see this as efficient.

What they should do is put a video camera in every house and be done with it. If you turn the monitor off - then the homeland security police arrive. Or maybe ankle bracelets so we can track everyone's movements. That would work even better. Sure, you'd have to sacrifice a bit of privacy - but c'mon - we are up against a mortal enemy.

Today's slogan: Data mining = Safety