Burn My Television

January 30, 2007

The archive processing has begun.

Those of you who have visited my website know that the archives are sad indeed. Just a few Polaroids that I had around my desk and could scan in.

Now, though, the big push is on to get up to speed and have a gripping cross section of past work to present to the world. I’ve started from the beginning, yielding the faucet from the last post and am now halfway through the portraits and some other random stuff I shot in high school. No results yet here or on the website; I have some work to do on them before they’re ready for Prime Time.

Speaking of which, I have made a decision. All the video equipment (LaserDisc/DVD, SelectaVision, my VCR which is dead anyway) is being banished to under my bed. The TV will take up residence in my closet. Maybe at some point I’ll even throw the TV out, since I have promised myself that next year I’m getting a new, small HDTV set. I’m a prime target for a new format investment - I only bought a few DVDs (smelling trouble on the horizon with this whole HD business). As soon as HighDef DVD starts to really emerge, I’m willing to bet there will be a new transfer of “Close Encounters of the Third Kind”. I’ll want it. Badly.

But for now, I can just put the tube aside. All that junk takes up too much room, and you know what? I don’t want it around right now.

Not that I feel such a pull from any of it. Most of you are aware that I stopped watching broadcast television when I moved to Chelsea - couldn’t find my antenna and never bothered to get a new one - and haven’t missed it. I do have a habit, though, of watching movies I’ve seen 100 times over and over again. Over, and over, and over again. LaserDisc, CED, VHS: I’ll just sit there and watch “Stewardess School” - starring good ol’ Ralph Malph and my secret girlfriend Corinne Bohrer, the totally unkown actress that you’ve seen 1000 times in commercials - merrily quoting the movie as its magic unfolds before my eyes.

I can give it all a rest. I’ve got work to do!

Besides, if I’m having Cathode Ray withdrawals, I can always load up the computer with a DVD and watch it that way.

Music and work will fill my evenings. I’ve got all the archives to do (that’s a lot of scanning and processing), then after this Amtrak trip I’ll have another whole stack of work to do. Then I’ll shoot some more this summer and have even more work to do. Then I’ll go back to Lebanon and have PILES of work to do!

I used to apologize a lot for sounding like some snooty intellectual and saying “Oh, yeah well, you know… I don’t watch television”. Not anymore.

I don’t watch TV, dammit!

I’ve got work to do!

Posted in: photo chatter No Comments »

Origins of a Drip

January 29, 2007

Here it is, folks. The image that started it all.

This was taken about 20 years ago while in a photography “activity” at my junior high. It was my first darkroom experience. We did get to develop our own film and make our own prints, which was fun and exciting, but unfortunately we didn’t get much experience with improving their quality.

There are a bunch of dumb images from this time - people around school, hideous stabs at being “topical”, a sheet of negatives documenting a friend of my father’s building a subwoofer. Not much to look at.

Then the image above emerged. At the time I knew it wasn’t much of an image (still isn’t), but I was sufficiently excited to plant the seed of pursuing this photography stuff.

What do I think of it now? Well, I’ll always have a special affection for this image. There is nostalgia and “my history” wrapped up in it, so there’s no escaping that.

However, for a first attempt from a nerdy 13 year old I don’t think it is half bad. It got me thinking about idiosyncratic subjects (part of the faucet, not the whole fixture), composition (the spout leading off the frame, the screw on the far left balancing that), tonal quality (it always bothered me that the highlights are totally blown, although the rest is pretty good) - all those happy photo topics. I won’t pretend that I could articulate this process at the time, but the above was going through my mind - just with different terms.

I’m not sure I still have any prints of this anywhere - they were probably lost to the ages - but mercifully the negative survives. The tones that you see above aren’t all too different from the original prints (as far as I can remember). I think Ethan might have a copy of this print - I know someone does - perhaps he could tell me. The only odd thing was that there was a horrid little spot of crud encrusted on it - but the miracle of Photoshop cures all. It would have been one hell of a SpotTone job to remove that one.

You know, the more I look at this image the more I like it.

Pretty cool.

Posted in: photo, photo chatter 4 Comments »

Hope For Change

January 25, 2007

… and as I humor myself writing posts about my hair, my good friend over in Beirut is watching things fall apart and stepping carefully in an attempt to just get through the whole thing.

Again.

It sucks to sit here knowing that the calm, inviting place I visited less than a year ago has fallen into turmoil once more. That my friend, who just wants to live his life like everyone else, could potentially be in mortal danger.

Again.

It’s a horrible thing to try to comprehend. I wish there was something I could do, but honestly, what would that be?

All I can think to do at the moment is try to be a good friend. To call every now and then (if I can actually get through) and take his mind off it for a few minutes. I have been able to get through, and he is doing okay, but he sounds just as nervous - perhaps moreso - as he did last summer.

This.

Sucks.

I could quite easily start screaming and simply never stop.

Is it that things have gotten worse?

Or is it that in my younger, completely self-centered years I just never noticed how insane this planet really is?

Is it that I have an interest in the well-being of someone who is planted directly in the middle of a war zone?

Or am I just sick of this ridiculous nonsense as a general principle?

Enough.

Posted in: the world 1 Comment »

Big Hair

January 25, 2007

The archive pictures appear to amuse people, and as I haven’t really got anything new to show, here’s a few more.

Once upon a time my hair started to inflate and rise to the heavens. Sometimes it worked pretty well.

This, of course, is me and my sister at her wedding about 100 years ago. We do look wonderful, don’t we?

Sometimes, on the other hand, my big hair contributed to an overall complete fashion disaster.

Dreadful.

This is a three generations photo, surrounded by two guys I would have gotten absolutely nowhere without.

Be sure to click on the image - you really should get a closer look at my Grandfather’s fantastic trousers. Some of the items in his wardrobe were absolutely legendary.

I don’t miss the big hair. It was kind of a pain, and as I worked my way well into the 90s it became more of a public oddity. I went through a long hat phase (I think it was attached to my head once or twice in that time) while I decided what to do about my apperance. Now I have it buzzed down as close as possible without just having my head shaved.

Seems to work.

Posted in: huh?, photo 3 Comments »

Smooth Railing

January 25, 2007

I just closed the second conversation regarding my trip with a very pleasant woman in the DC office of Amtrak Media Relations - we have concluded that I should be good to go.

One of the key decisions I made was to keep the Mamiya packed up while on the train. I will separate the photography into “Journey” (digital) and “Destinations” (film) - mercifully I have been able to warm up to this conceptually as well as a way of keeping Amtrak happy.

The best news, though, is that I in fact did do the right thing by contacting them - the manager in DC gave me their main line and encouraged me to call them in case I run into trouble.

Of course, I plan on keeping copies of my email exchanges between both her and the gentleman in New York with me on the trip…

With that off the table I am free to make final plans - I decided to upgrade to the “Superliner Roommette” (heh) for the Chicago to Portland leg after all, which should be a cool experience in itself.

Only a few more rolls of film left to buy, and then it’s just the anticipation…

Note: I did a lot of web searching about Amtrak and permits before I contacted them. I read a lot of experiences and strategies. My story should not be construed as any indication of how your specific photo exploits might run. The absolute best thing to do is contact Media Relations. They were very nice to me, very friendly, and seem to have offered honest advice.

Posted in: photo chatter 1 Comment »

Who Dunnit?

January 24, 2007

It’s not easy being a Genesis fan.

We have “Invisible Touch” and “Sussudio” to live down, even though the latter was Phil solo. I don’t think either of those are bad songs necessarily… but yes, like you, I don’t think I ever need to hear them again.

Or “In Too Deep” for that matter. Or “I Can’t Dance”.

On the other hand, there is a back catalog of all kinds of great stuff. If you can stay afloat through the massive Progressive Rock production and detailed lyrics of the very early stuff, you may find that the combination of Peter Gabriel, Steve Hackett, and the core Genesis folks yielded some very, very interesting results.

Maybe that kind of thing isn’t your cup of tea, though. No big deal.

During 1986 you couldn’t escape them, and that ended up being a bad thing. However, I always enjoyed the stuff leading up to that period (”Misunderstanding”, “Abacab”, “No Reply At All”, “That’s All”), and they were all off albums that held some nice surprises for the curious (”Duchess”, “Keep It Dark”, “Mama”).

Yesterday I contacted my oldest friend Brian to share with him the news that their were rumors floating: the Genesis reunion tour might possibly hit North America after all. Brian and I both became Genesis fans much the same way - via the Abacab album. We’ve been suffering the slings and arrows of Phil Collins jokes ever since.

(Which brings us to an interesting point - why do those who get such abuse have so many friggin’ hit records?)

Needless to say, we’ve concluded that if this reunion tour really happens, we are so there. We live on opposite sides of the country, but I think for something like this we’ll both be willing to find a common ground.

Now, since you were dying to know, here are my thoughts on the back catalog:

From Genesis to Revelation - D
A tough one. Peter Gabriel’s voice is the only saving grace, although there are hints of things to come here and there. Otherwise, the album mostly sounds like The Moody Blues gone bad. “A Winter’s Tale” - a single - is the highlight.

Trespass - B+
This is more like it. Things are still a little flowery at this point, fairy dust floats about the proceedings and lands in gentle, mystical clouds on a few of the songs, but tracks like “Looking For Someone” and “The Knife” are big moves forward. “White Mountain” is a classic.

Nursery Cryme - A-
Definitely on the right path. “Fountain of Salmacis”, “The Return of the Giant Hogweed”, “The Musical Box” are all terrific, with “Harold the Barrel” and “For Absent Friends” balancing the giant productions with small, fascinating sketches.

Foxtrot - A+
Unbelievable. That’s all I’m gonna say.

Selling England By the Pound - B+
For each masterful track - “Dancing with the Moonlit Knight”, “Firth of Fifth” - there is a companion clunker, overdeveloped and toppled by its own vastness (”Battle of Epping Forest”, “The Cinema Show”). There are a couple of neat little bits though - “I Know What I Like” is a fun single, and “More Fool Me” a great early Phil ballad with not even a hint of his giant, sometimes disruptive drums. “Aisle of Plenty”, a quiet epilogue to the proceedings, is the most evocative.

The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway - A
Pete starts to get itchy. Like many a double album, this could have been scaled back a bit, although one vinyl LP wouldn’t have been enough to hold the good stuff. The most disappointing parts are some extended bits of studio noise. Otherwise, talking about New York rather than England brought about some interesting variations in their tone - definitely worth investigating.

A Trick of the Tail - B+
Definitely proved that Peter wasn’t the only talent in this band. The big showy pieces like “Dance on a Volcano” are cool, but it appears that Tony Banks had some irritating keyboard solos that he had been sitting on that were just dying to get out. On the other hand, “A Trick of the Tail” is one of the most pleasant little songs they’ve ever done.

Wind and Wuthering - B-
In which Tony Banks goes completely out of control. There are bits here that are extraordinary, but they often go on too long or shift gears too violently (”One For The Vine”) to really hold together. On the other hand, “Blood on the Rooftops” is one of the most gloriously amazing things they’ve ever done. Sadly, the rest often sums up exactly what people hate about progressive rock.

…And Then There Were Three - C-
Heavy-handed, in a bad way. “Follow You Follow Me” is pleasant enough, and “Many Too Many” is nicely atmospheric, but the rest is just so cumbersome. No fun, although “The Lady Lies” shows some of the old spark.

Duke - A-
A lot of good stuff here, and some of the songs get shorter and more chart-friendly. Nevertheless, there are some reminders of the old days that are a bit more polished and less sprawling. The intro of “Behind the Lines” leading into “Duchess” is spectacular, and “Heathaze” is wonderful.

Abacab - A+
I have a soft spot for Abacab, even the ridiculous “Who Dunnit?”. There are three old-days-worthy extended pieces, some pleasant hits… overall, a nice little album that you can either listen closely to or just put on and forget about. “Keep It Dark” is an underrated classic, and if you work at it the lyrics tell the other side of the “A Trick of the Tail” story. Sort of. OK, it’s a stretch.

Genesis - C+
They lose a whole letter grade for “Illegal Alien”. Horrid. On the other hand, this is the record that contains “That’s All”, “Mama”, and “Home by the Sea”, so it’s not all bad. But “Illegal Alien” sure is wretched.

Invisible Touch - B-
If I didn’t hear three of the big hits (invisible, in too, throwing it all) every other day on Mall Radio, I’d have more respect for this album. “Tonight Tonight Tonight” is a great classic Genesis track, “Land of Confusion” is a pleasant enough mid-80s indignant we-are-the-world piece, but the other three hits? Sorry, can’t stand them anymore. The rest of the album contains some great stuff lurking here and there, but I couldn’t sit through the whole record. No way.

We Can’t Dance - B-
Well, what can I say. Things are moving a bit too adult contemporary for me. The hits were even significantly less interesting than I though they could be, although “No Son of Mine” isn’t bad. Tony Banks still flexes his complexity once in a while, and I know musician-types consistently look to their music as being finely constructed even though it may sound like a smooth jazz track with lyrics (Hold On My Heart), but I don’t really care. This record just isn’t that much fun.

Calling All Stations - ?
I’ll admit it. I avoided this record. I don’t know if I’ll ever listen to it - I did catch “Congo” from the hits disc, and it did not encourage me to investigate further.

There you have it. There’s other stuff - live albums, compilations - but honestly, if you stayed with me this long, your curiosity will lead you there without my help…

Posted in: sound 3 Comments »

Beating A Dead Horse

January 18, 2007

One of my bosses just remarked that Apple only has so many predatory felines (Tiger, Jaguar, Panther, etc. - I bet Lynx won’t be one of them; see Atari) before they will have to start rethinking their naming scheme.

With that in mind, I started to wonder why the predatory qualifier needs to be a part of it at all. Why not put a friendlier face on software?

Some possibilities:

- OS X Fritz

- OS X Garfield

- OS X Pussy Galore

- OS X Hairball

- OS X Eartha Kitt

- OS X Fat Freddy’s Cat

and my personal favorite,

- OS X Henrietta Pussycat (”meow mac meow meow mouse meow steve jobs”)

I think these should take care of Apple’s needs for a few years.

Posted in: filler 1 Comment »

Ambiguous, but perhaps OK

January 17, 2007

Well, I think the way I’m supposed to interpret the conclusion of this dialog with Amtrak is: too many unknowns, and even if you know them, it would create a whole stack of work for us that probably isn’t worth it considering you’re nobody.

I guess I will keep in mind the statement I found on the web - supposedly a communciation from the Media Relations Office to www.nycsubway.org, which reads as such:

Photography of trains from public property - not railroad property - is permitted. Persons not holding tickets for trains scheduled for immediate departure may not enter station train platforms, thus non-passengers are prohibited from photography from train platforms. Passengers holding tickets may take photographs from train platforms while waiting to board a specific train for which they hold tickets or immediately after alighting from a train. “Snapshots” or other amateur photography that does not interfere with passengers or crew is permitted on board trains. Any other photography requires permission obtained in advance.

That pretty much applies to what I’m doing - I’m not on assignment, I’m not a commercial photographer, I’m not writing some big, fat exposé of America’s Rail System, I’m just a photo nerd with two weeks of suddenly-empty vacation time.

I get all snooty-poo and try not to use words like “amateur” or “snapshot” in connection with my work, but I think I better re-insert them into my vocabulary real fast if I’m going to make this work.

(Beirut was easier!)

Posted in: photo chatter No Comments »

Amtrak, 1; Jim, Zip

January 17, 2007

In my attempt to Do The Right Thing I contacted Amtrak about their policies and procedures regarding photography. I received a very pleasant reply from their Media Relations Office, but it appears I may have dug myself a hole.

Of course, my plan was to shoot-as-I-go, seeing what I find along the way. Jumping out when we are invited to stretch our legs at a short stop and seeing if there were any images on the platform to be found. I can imagine a few nice images being done this way.

Unfortunately, either they don’t quite get what I’m doing yet, or I’m really going to have to plan out the entire trip - where exactly I think I might want to jump out. Each stop. They also asked what property I had envisioned photographing. I haven’t the faintest idea! I know a lot of these Railfan-types roam around obsessively shooting historical station houses and specific locomotive types (right down to the train number!), but I don’t know any of that stuff!

I have no idea what I will find.

But, still, it may just be that the only way to make this work without trouble is to plan it out in this fashion. Then that data will be passed on to the regional Media Relations Office for approval. Of course, if the train is running behind some of these stops could be eliminated and all this back-and-forth could be for nil.

Oh, what have I gotten myself into this time…

(Beirut was easier!)

Posted in: photo chatter No Comments »

The Plan

January 12, 2007

Here’s how it looks at the moment. I decided on adding a stay in Denver - two 60 hour trips across the west sounded like a bit much for one week!

2/18 - leave Boston, arrive Buffalo
2/19 - leave Buffalo
2/20 - arrive Chicago
2/21 - leave Chicago
2/22 - train
2/23 - arrive Portland
2/24 - leave Portland
2/25 - arrive Sacramento
2/26 - leave Sacramento
2/27 - arrive Denver
2/28 - leave Denver
3/1 - arrive Chicago
3/2 - leave Chicago
3/3 - arrive Washington, DC
3/4 - leave DC for home

Posted in: photo chatter 3 Comments »

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