Two Chefs

Early shot of the Metropolitan, with Canonet on tripod at dusk. This is the Egyptian Room. In 15 years since this shot was taken, I've never seen a catered affair at night in this spot.

Weber

Matt Weber's next show will be at: the Pierre Menard Gallery in Cambridge. I put this in the blog because he's a friend and a talented photographer. "Talented photographer" is a banal phrase but it's the best I can do right now.

Looking for Seat

I've been having problems with my scanner lately. I've been scanning in straight street shots but they keep coming out with these surreal patterns. I called Lester to come over and fix it but he said there was nothing wrong with it and the picture looked correct to him.

Fifth Avenue Escalator

This actually began as another homage to Feininger, but I couldn't leave well enough alone.

Memphis Man

Okay - the backstory: this was on the corner of 23rd and 6th. Used to be a parking lot there.

I often stop to talk to street musicians before photographing them. I asked him where he was from and he told me Memphis. He had that hard Muddy Waters sound. I asked if he could play Crossroads and he paused for a second (this shot) and then began to play the Johnson Crossroads. I stopped and listened without taking any other shots. He was the real thing. I gave him a few dollars, walked on to work, and never saw him again.

3rd Ave. Reflection 2005

Rockefeller Center

I did a 16 x 20 of this one yesterday. Beautiful. I read that they opened the Top of The Rock restaurant (or whatever it's called). I want to visit.

8:26

I love the hands coming out to hold what I guess is a torch - not really sure what it is (above the clock). Madison? Lex? Midtown.

etc.

I'll be matting and packaging all day and then I should be caught up. After that a couple of choices:

a) go out and force myself to shoot

b) watch the DVD of I Robot which I swiped from my sister's house yesterday and plan to return without her knowing (I need a caper once in a while)

c) Go back to - or start - workin' on the freakin' book which I've been too busy to deal with

d) None of the above. (This last choice has the most appeal for me. It involves a reclined position where I stare blankly at the ceiling fan trying to calculate how many times per minute it revolves before falling into a deep sleep.)

This entry is tagged as "blog drool."

Untitled

Dave Gets Banned

From:	FlickrHQ
Subject:	You have been removed from the [ Group ]
	Hi there... This is a note to let you know you've been removed from the group. (Being removed from a group isn't permanent. You can join again later if you want.) Note: This message has been sent to you by FlickHQ on behalf of the group. If you want further clarification about why you were removed, you'll need to follow up with a group administrator, because FlickrHQ has no say in an individual Group's administration.

Now that was exciting because I've never actually been kicked out of a group before. This is just a virtual group - so I guess it's not the same as being kicked out of a real group. But still --

So what did I do to the Flickr group? Did I say something wrong or something? (Tom Waits) The group is private and although there is a link to ask the administrator for an explanation when I click on it I'm told that I don't have rights to view the group or find out the rules of the group. Since it is a PRIVATE GROUP I can't even find it. So how did I get into the group in the first place - someone invited me. (Guess that was a mistake).

Since I haven't posted anything to the group in about two weeks - I can't imagine what I did to deserve being banished - but I have to say - it's a great feeling. Rebel without a cause and all that. If you haven't been banned from a group - you don't know what you're missing. In fact - it was so exhilirating that I may join up with more groups just so that I can enjoy the feeling of being kicked out.

Homage

Okay photogs - what photographer was I (emulating, ripping off, copying, doing an homage to).

* * *

The answer - maybe - is that you are all winners and that I'm the mixed up one. Andreas Feininger did a famous shot (seen here) of a person with the camera aligned to give a robotic look. One day, after my eyes were examined, I asked my optometrist if he'd mind sitting behind the eye gizmo for me. And that's what you see here.

At the time I was thinking of a Feininger shot the way I remembered it. But I could have sworn that his shot was also of an optometrist. Now that I go back through Feiningers images I see that I may have transfigured his camera shot into the optometrist shot. Or maybe there is an optometrist shot by Feininger but I can't find it anywhere.

So possibly this is an "inspired by" shot that has some originality of it's own (unless I'm still wrong and Feininger actually did an optometrist shot somewhere). At any rate, that let's you off the hook because according to contest rules if I myself can't even be sure - then certainly you, the contest winner are no longer eligible to buy me Leica lenses.

"No one can do inspired work without genuine interest in his subject and understanding of its characteristics." -Andreas Feininger

"A technically perfect photograph can be the world’s most boring picture." -Andreas Feininger