esrosedotblog

Hot in more ways than one.

I love this photo from Bend Oregon.

The couple in question had scheduled their outdoor wedding near where this fire began raging. They moved the whole thing in town but got this photo before they went indoors. The story is here.

Labels: fire, photography, photos, wedding

LOCAL COLOR

South of here is the Salton Sea. Well, east of here. It just seems south because the road twists and turns and ends up at Mexico.

Once a resort, the Sea has been left behind by time and increasing pollution. It is also isolated from the rest of the world. In the middle of nowhere.

This photo essay tells the story.

At the Salton Sea, Something Like Nostalgia

It is worth an auto trip. You must get out of the car.

You can see the imprint of the dream in the desert. It is pretty depressing. But then, not. In its own bedraggled way there is a very faded elegance there. An outline of the vain hopes of the developer and everyone who came to be by the sea.

Labels: desert, photography, photos

TWINS

Labels: photography, photos

GETTING THE BEST SHOT

I have one of these cameras and always put it on automatic. The only time I used manual, I got a black and white photo by mistake. Which John loved, incidentally. An enlargement hangs in his bathroom.

I don't think that I have any special settings like "fireworks". Or if I do I have never found them.

But the rest of it? Doing my own settings? I am seriously out of synch with the whole thing.

I have pretty well learned to aim and focus and to avoid hot spots, contrast, a real problem with digitals.

When I come right down to it, I am mostly not interested.

We never look at the photos that we have.

I am reminded of my friend Jim's speculation. Some day, he will die and "they" will come to clean out the house. They will take a look at his photos of a long extended trip to China and say "here is the album of that time he went to China" and then toss it into the dumpster.

All of our prints are now in my iPhoto. The hard copy "old fashioned" film photos are in albums. A lot of them show a sandy beach, a sunset, palm trees and some people in bathing suits. No years, no names. Even less interesting than China.

Franklin and Booker are well documented and are probably curated more accurately than any of the humans.

We do have a lot of family and friend photos that have been sent to us. Those we look at. Keep them coming.

Labels: photography, photos

BEAT UP

We saw some of these photographs in Provincetown a decade or more ago. They are quite something to see.

Poet With a Kodak and a Restless Eye

Allen Ginsberg took many snapshots of his friends when he was young.

Many of the friends are now iconic.

What is more, he wrote on the prints, by hand, commenting on the time or place or situation that the photo represents.

One feature of this collection is, sadly, the price that many of these guys paid for their "experiences". Over time, there is a kind of fall from grace that occurred. Only a few survived unscathed. Ginsberg for one.

We saw him in the hallway at Boston Symphony Hall shortly after seeing the photos. He looked pretty good and was almost totally ignored by the crowds. His time had passed, icon or not.

Now he will have a movie about his life and he is James Franco. I will be watching with interest.

Take a look at the slide show.

I think that the show we saw had as many photos in them. Fascinating.

Labels: art, history, photography, photos

GEAR

I am not a camera fanatic but I am interested in the technology as it lunges forward into our times. I am also interested in cinematography and how "they do it".

Look at at this little film. Use the big screen.

This film was shot with a still camera!

The Canon 5D Mark II.

It costs about $2300 and will put 22 minutes on a single 18gb card. That doesn't seem right but that is what he says.

This short is "filmed" on one card.

The effects and the feel of this are amazing.

See here.

I got onto this because I had read that the last program of the popular series House had been done with this camera.

Amazing.

Labels: films, photography, photos

HAPPY DISASTER

I seized victory out of the mouth of defeat today.

My printer has been on its last legs. It barely made it on to the new Mac System X.

We had to offer incense and prayer to the HP customer service gods to download a program that would work.

But today, mid project, it gave up the ghost.

We had taken pictures up and down the street to show why the MacMansion is out of sync with the neighborhood.

I got good pictures and was printing 8 or 9 of them when the machine faltered, gave a death rattle (really) and expired.

I tried, gods know I tried, to resuscitate but no dice.

Off to Staples and with a call to Dave and some help from a customer service guy I got me a new printer.

The HP 6940. Without the wireless.

It installed without any problem at all!

It has gotten where even four thumb intuitionists like me can install a new device.

I finished the photo job (due to be presented tomorrow) and all is well in printer land.

It is a beautiful machine. Sturdy too. Brushed chrome.

How can they sell them so cheap? 150 dollars?

OH! The cartridges, silly. Two combo packs cost almost as much as the printer.

Caught again.

Labels: computer, macmansion, photos

SHOTS

Today is the last part of the party we held two weeks ago.

Did I tell you about it?

Yes. Go see January 28th.

I turned 70! We had a few people over.

Huge. Including a wonderful east coast kid contingent.

We had pictures taken. Professional.

They are pretty good.

So I went through them and picked out one or two or more for as many people as I could and had them printed.

I ended up with 175 prints!

I will send them out today to the 120 or so who are pictured.

I thought it a nice touch to finish off the whole event.

Labels: me me me, Party, photos