Tampa Chain Letters

So long...

2009-05-16T08:20:00.000-07:00

Well I haven't posted in forever and there's a reason. I don't live in Tampa anymore. This blog therefore is done. It's been fun but now it's over.

Now I'm having adventures in India. You can follow me here.

Hopefully not my only 15 minutes...

2009-04-24T08:50:00.000-07:00

I made a personal goal for myself to post to this blog every day in April. As you can see I didn't do it.

Between moving and work and all of the fun little things going on blogging has taken a back seat.

I've been taking a lot of bike photos lately. Fixed Fight III went down in St. Pete this last weekend and I snapped a bunch of photos. You can see them here.

They've been getting reposted all over the web. My friend even found them on some strange Italian fixed gear blog. PEDAL Consumption has four on their blog as well if you scroll down to April 21.

The Orlando Fixed gear blog picked them up too and so did Prolly.

I had no idea all of this was happening until yesterday, it explains why my flickr has been generating thousands of hits everyday.

Anyway I took a bunch of photos of the Thursday night ride yesterday. I put up a light and a diffuser and after a couple beers convinced some of the guys to do some tricks. I'll post the photos later today.

Here's one that I made yesterday more to come soon:

And then it stopped

2009-04-14T17:12:00.000-07:00

and I remembered one of the reasons I love Florida

Rain, rain...

2009-04-14T12:58:00.001-07:00

The first

2009-04-14T07:41:00.000-07:00

My close friend Joshua and I just finished our first multimedia project last night. It was shot with my 5D Mark II using a Rhode Video Mic for audio.

We edited it in Final Cut pro and used MPEG Stream Clip to make the footage native to Final Cut.

Hopefully this will be the first of many.

Go here to watch it in high def.

Fun with Final Cut

2009-04-13T14:51:00.000-07:00

Yesterday my friend Denver and I finished our first ever multimedia project. Unfortunately we learned some sad things about editing native footage from the 5D Mark II in Final Cut. Now we have to go back and fix some things.

To make sure our solution would work I slapped together probably the worst Final Cut video ever complete with homemade techno and footage I took of the Sunshine Skyway.

Let's see if this this works!

Easter

2009-04-12T15:07:00.001-07:00

Doesn't really mean a whole lot to me but I found my own way to celebrate the resurrection of a 2000 year old carpenter. I drank mimosas and made a giant pancake. It was decadent and wonderful.

Here are some photographs I made:

Old glass new home

2009-04-11T18:52:00.000-07:00

I told my dad that I had started adapting old lenses to my DSLR and he sent me a box of old glass.

Neat little lenses. I had fun playing with the Zuiko 75-150mm the only bad part about it is that the aperture blades are stuck so I'm forced to shoot wide open. Interesting results.

I've noticed that old glass gives the pictures a sort of dreamy haze.

Here's a photo I made. I know it's a squirrel but like I said I was just messing around =)

Bikes away

2009-04-09T19:38:00.001-07:00

Decided last minute to go on the Thursday night ride. It was a great decision. This was the biggest I've ever seen the ride. There were at least a couple dozen people out there.

The pace got a little wild and people got dropped. I was riding fixed again and fueled my wheel lock ups with the fear of death or embarrassment.

I managed to get a few snaps in as well.

Next week I think I'm going to load up the cooler with beer and water and lure everyone back to my place for a post ride shin dig.

Hmmm, man Tampa is getting so fun right before I leave. It makes me a little sad...

Here's a photograph:

Blitz

2009-04-08T21:00:00.000-07:00

Made it down to Miami yesterday to visit an old friend and take in a Flight of the Conchords concert.

We sped south in my friend Ian's convertible, top down the whole way. Originally the idea was just a novelty and we planned on putting up the top some of the time. That all changed when a crucial piece of convertible mechanism ejected itself from the car.

I'm a little sun burned but the experience was nothing short of epic despite the disapproving glares we garnered from manly truck drivers and angsty teenagers.

Here's a photograph I took:

Flute master

2009-04-07T09:46:00.001-07:00

Flute master
Originally uploaded by TristanWheelock

I want this guy's life.

You can't really see it but off to the right a banner reads can Paul McCartney, four soap operas and 900,000 people all be worng?

My answer is yes flute master, yes they can. Your hair may blow mystically in the wind but your proficiency with various recorders does nothing for me.

News.

2009-04-06T18:48:00.000-07:00

Here's a photograph of the pizza I ate at New World brewery to celebrate the news that our documentary creative crossroads won best short documentary at the Crossroads Film Festival.

Movies and Booze

2009-04-05T20:26:00.001-07:00

Is basically how Saturday turned out. I went and did the good old movie double sneak seeing both Adventureland and I Love You Man.

Both films were good. I Love You Man made me feel sort of awkward, it was definitely well done though. Adventureland was better. The actors from Freaks and Geeks keep showing they that they have what it takes to make it in Hollywood. I was thoroughly entertained although it was a less funny than I thought it would be.

Post movie activities including attending the opening of the new Reax space and drinking a bunch of liquid mistakes in the form of Kentucky Gentleman whiskey. Probably the worst well whiskey there is, not that any of them are good.

The new Reax space is really nice. It's a little converted house. One half serves as an art gallery and shop and the other half holds the laptops and other accoutrements that the Reax crew use to put out their little rag.

The art on the walls was kind of interesting. It was by Eleanor Grosch. There was also plenty of Red Bull, jug wine and cookies on hand so I pretty much couldn't have been happier. Here's a photograph that I took:
I must have walked over this square of concrete nearly 100 times since 2006 and I never noticed this. It's so strange. I wonder who the mysterious Tristan is that put this here. I've certainly never met them.

Artcore

2009-04-04T07:57:00.000-07:00

I went to Irregular Artbeat at the Skate Park of Tampa last night. The art was alright. Some of the pieces were better than others. The crowd is always great at SPOT events though. Lots of kids, lots of energy and lots of free Red Bull and vodka.

There was a live painting by Chad "Cheeta" Ruis, Austin "Artwar" Englan and "Bean" Spence. The image at the top is the end product of about an hour and a half of work.

There was skateboarding as well of course. Man, those little kids are really good. Events like this one make me think that Tampa might actually be a pretty cool city in five or ten years.
Here's a link to some more pictures from the night.

Today so far.

2009-04-03T16:23:00.000-07:00

Work was rough. I usually love the hours spent perusing the Internet, slowly fueling my ever growing addiction to the seductive tendrils of the web. But today it was just sort of arduous. Maybe I'm turning a corner.

When it was time to go home I sighed with relief. This morning was muggy and gray but somehow the evening has turned golden and beautiful.

On my bike ride home I saw a really nice motorcycle. I don't know anything about these machines but this one looked tough and utilitarian, something about it drew me in.

So I stopped and took a photograph. Turns out the owner was a CrossFit instructor who just moved down here to help his friends start a studio.

He let me take a picture of his giant flipping tire as well...

Tonight I'm going to an art show at the Skate Park of Tampa. Pictures and video to follow I'm sure..

Weary

2009-04-02T22:15:00.001-07:00

I'm tired. Tonight I decided to go on the Thursday Night bike ride. I used to go on it a lot but for some reason I stopped. Today I broke that streak.

My friend Ian left his fixed gear at my house a few weeks ago. I started trying to ride it the other day and somehow managed to teach myself how to lock up the wheel.

Feeling brave I took it on the ride tonight. It was a lot of fun but pretty exhausting. I think my legs are going to be feeling it tomorrow.

Here's a photo I took:

It's alive!

2009-04-01T18:06:00.000-07:00

My Macbook Pro has been resurrected through judicious use of a Phillips 00 screwdriver and more patience than I knew I had.

That's about it.

Here's a photo I took today...

look closely and you can see a window washer

Death of a Macbook Pro

2009-03-31T15:14:00.001-07:00

I got a Macbook Pro the three days ago in anticipation of my upcoming career as a visual journalist.

Today it died.

So frustrating!

That's all it does now. It even ate my install discs. I put one in and now I can't get it out no matter what I do. Arghh!!

Kim of Matt and Kim

2009-03-31T14:15:00.000-07:00

The happiest drummer in the world puts out a beat at Czar

One step closer...

2009-03-31T08:36:00.000-07:00

As I may or may have not mentioned I'm moving to India on May 13 to chase my dreams of becoming a professional photographer and all around media man. My friend Joshua is coming along too.

Now we're one step closer...

Ybor Rap

2009-03-30T17:48:00.000-07:00

I saw this guy on my way out of the Matt and Kim show, which was amazing by the way. He started rapping and I turned on the camera. It was pretty great. I wish I had some change to give him but I didn't.

Stickers

2009-03-25T18:20:00.001-07:00

Stickers
Originally uploaded by TristanWheelock

I saw this van while I was walking through the back alleyways of south Tampa. I dig it.

Sculptures of photos

2009-03-20T12:09:00.000-07:00

Korean sculptor Gwon Osang makes his sculptures from photographs. Each sculpture takes a minimum of 300 images to create.

See more of his work here.

Uncommon Sense

2009-03-18T19:12:00.000-07:00

5D Mark II + Olympus Zuiko 50mm f 1.8

Something old, something new...

2009-03-17T20:35:00.000-07:00

Taken with an Olympus Zuiko 50mm f1.8 attached to a 5D mark II

Another old lens I picked up. It has more edge softness than the SMC-Takumar I was using yesterday. There's heavy vignetting but it sort of makes for a cool effect.

What do you think?

P.S.
The gun is fake

Neglect

2009-03-16T20:10:00.000-07:00

I've definitely been neglecting this little outlet. There just seems to be so much to do these days.

I fell in love today. With a lens, har har. I discovered the beauty of attaching old lenses to new camera by using little adapter rings from Hong Kong.

This isn't a new thing. Apparently people have been doing it for a while. You can read all about it here.

Anyway, the weather was perfect when my little metal adapters came in the mail today so popped an SMC-Takumar 55mm f2 onto my trusty 5D and walked around the neighborhood. I got the lens for $13 at a thrift store with a Pentax camera body attached to it.

The results were surprisingly wonderful. Here's a little example. More later. (maybe)

Playing with new tools

2009-03-03T17:24:00.000-08:00

As I've mentioned a bunch of times I can shoot video with my 5D mark II.

I haven't messed around with this function much that is until now. Shooting the documentary over the last couple of weeks gave me a perfect opportunity to get comfortable with the moving image and what it's good for.

I also learned how to use Final Cut and soundtrack pro to mash things up. I'm going to try and do this a lot more but for now here is some of the b-roll that I shot for our documentary.

Enjoy.

sparks fly

wind in the trees

One more step

2009-03-02T21:06:00.000-08:00

My close friend Joshua and I collaborated on a piece for the St. Petersburg Times about cobblers. He wrote the story and I took the pictures. It will be in the metro section tomorrow.

Here's a tease:

Read the article here.

I made a film

2009-03-02T07:47:00.000-08:00

Me and my team with a dead hawk in the foreground

The last two weeks were hectic to say the least. Long days that began early and ended late were the norm for myself and the two other members of my team as we stabbed blindly into the world of documentary film making.

Our film isn't perfect but I'm very proud of it. The effort it took to make was monumental and I feel confident that I could do it again and I will. The audio levels still need to be mastered so you may need to mess with your volume as you watch it.

It was filmed in high definition using the latest and greatest cameras. It's possible to watch it that way here but the file is massive so it may take something like an hour to optimize depending on your computer and internet connection. If you want to see it in it's native form I suggest letting it load and then going and doing something else and coming back to it. Some of the shots are really worth seeing in all of their ultra defined glory so if you like me, do me a favor and watch in high def.

An interesting point for those into this kind of thing. We mixed footage from Canon XHA1S AND MY 5D Mark II. See if you can tell what's what.

A little background: This piece was filmed in Clarksdale, a small erstwhile cotton town in Mississippi where blues music was born. The place has a surprisingly high concentration of artists. My team and I wanted to explore creativity and how the artists who lived int he town found their inspiration. The idea changed and morphed into something new as the filming and editing process unfolded.

Here's what we ended up with.

Let me know what you think...

On my way

2009-02-15T16:50:00.000-08:00

Woke up before the sun and drove myself to the airport to catch a flight to Memphis and then a car to Clarksdale for the Delta 09 workshop.

Everything went off without a hitch although I was surprised that Northwest charged me $15 to check a bag. Oh how times have changed.

Got on the flight and off we went...

the clouds looked like an ocean of cottony marshmallows...
and the pools of water below glittered when the sun caught them...

We touched down in Memphis on time. I grabbed my bags got the car and met up with Diana, one of the students in the workshop.

She's a nice woman with a lot to talk about. We had an hour drive to get to know each other and we got along just fine.

We got to the Shack Up Inn a little before noon. This place is incredible I'll post a ton of photos later. Check out the website, it's from another world.

Time to eat. So that's all for now. More later.

1976

2009-02-10T21:51:00.001-08:00

This is amazing. At first I didn't know what I was looking at or how it was possible.

Oh the things you can find on the internet...

I discovered something wonderful...

2009-02-06T10:26:00.000-08:00

Usually when I find a new blog I just add it to the list and check it periodically. This time it's a bit different.

I found Franke James. Shes describes herself as, "an artist, photographer and writer whose artistic mission is to do something green and document it."

She creates these wonderful visual essays about things that happen to her or things she's doing. Her past essay topics include, a dinner with a stranger, reactions after a propane plant exploded near her home, and her quest to turn her driveway into a green paradise among others.

Take a look at her site, it's inspiring.

Withdrawal

2009-02-03T14:04:00.000-08:00

I like this photo a lot. That's Shannon James with some guy who plays football for the Philadelphia Eagles. I saw them at Dave Navarro's party over the weekend. I was there covering it for the Times. The expression on both of their faces are great. This is how the other half lives I suppose.

Anyway... I'm about to turn my laptop in for repairs. I think it's going to be gone for about a week. I'm pretty sure that I've backed up everything but I'm sort of worried that I might have forgotten something. I have a pretty serious computer addiction so these next few days should be interesting. I might have to go read a book or something (gasp).

Lots

2009-02-01T12:31:00.001-08:00

I just finished confirming everything for the Delta 09 Barefoot Workshop. I'm going to be heading to Clarksdale Mississippi for two weeks to learn how to make documentaries. It's pretty exciting.

Film making has been a secret dream of mine for a long time but I never took it too seriously. Now I have the tools and I'm about to get the knowledge. Watch out world.

I spent the weekend playing paparazzi at various glamorous and not so glamorous Super Bowl parties around Tampa. I'm going to edit the photographs this afternoon and have them up by this evening.

It was a challenging but overall rewarding experience. I can now say for certain that I never want to be a celebrity photographer but that I respect the people who do it.

And, I saw this:
I first read about it on Slate. The review had the headline, "Jean-Claude Van Damme Made Me Cry." I couldn't believe it but after seeing it I have to say I'm convinced and that I too teared up a little.

The film paints a very human and touching portrait of Van Damme the man rather than Van Damme "the muscle from Brussles." It addresses his custody battle over his daughter, his money problems and his difficulty dealing with stardom. And yeah, he delivers a beautiful poignant monologue that just sort of ties the whole thing together. Watch it. It's completely rewarding.

Sapped

2009-01-27T17:00:00.001-08:00

Its been a battle to find energy today. I had plans to get a few pressing things done but I had to put them aside...

The above picture was taken yesterday during a long bile ride to north Tampa. Is it a commentary on our times, zeitgeist in physical form or just a book in the trash? Maybe all three?

Sunday cooking sessions have resumed after the Inauguration weekend hiatus. Take a look here if you care to see what I eat for some reason.

I'm having trouble making my brain work right now so I guess that's about it.

So I'll leave you to ruminate on this other little gem I saw on yesterday's bike journey.

Back in town.

2009-01-24T16:01:00.000-08:00

The inauguration was an epic experience, trying both physically and mentally. The thousand miles of driving, the arctic blasts of wind on the morning of the big day the crush of the historic crowd it all blended into a heavy weight that I was glad to carry but also glad to put down.

Now I'm back home in the Sunshine state and the cold seems to have followed me here. I've been sort of slow getting back into the swing of things. The task of editing the videos and photos that I took over the past weeks seems daunting so I've been taking my time with putting any of it up here it. It'll happen soon though.

On a side note if you live in Tampa and picked up a copy of the Times on Friday check out page 3b I have a nice big photo there. The content isn't all that exciting but I'm proud of it none the less.

I don't have an inauguration pictures but I do have a few snaps that I took over the past few days. I think all of the Egglestein and Shore and Polliwog(link totally worth clicking) and Too Much Chocolate kids are rubbing off on me...

Inauguaration Eve

2009-01-19T21:40:00.000-08:00

Today was long but pretty amazing. We managed to get actual tickets to the inauguration courtesy of a gracious senator and some inside family ties.

Tomorrow we'll be standing in the silver section with a view of the jumbo trons and maybe even Obama himself.

I've sort of lost track of time at this point, that coupled with the cold weather, excitement and constant walking has me exhausted right now.

Check it out though, we're official. Look here and here.

and take a look at this...

An activist group set up a giant inflatable Bush and encouraged passersby to throw shoes at it. There were more than 1000 pairs of shoes to choose from al of which were donated to charity afterward.

Pretty sweet?

All right, time to go to bed...

We made it

2009-01-19T07:18:00.000-08:00

We're (we being myself and my friends Joshua and Ian) here in D.C. now, braving the freezing weather. I made the poor choice of wearing Chuck Taylor's and now I am really regretting it.

I don't know how much I'll be adding to this blog while we're up here. It's turned into a bit of a work trip as we got picked up by the St. Pteresburg Times. You can follow that here.

The drive up was fun. Not as bad as you might expect. Sleeping in shifts took a lot of the pain out of it.

We saw a lot of wonderful kitschy roadside American. Below are some pictures you won't find on the Times blog:

Out of the gate...

2009-01-17T22:06:00.000-08:00

We're getting ready to hit the road so I'll keep this short. I took a bunch of photos of our supply run today but I don't have time to upload them.

We're actually doing this. We're actually taking the Kia up to Washington D.C. to witness history in action.

We got the ok to blog for the St. Pete Times while were up there so check us out there.

There won't be any internet on the road so I'll be using twitter to keep the story fresh. Keep up with us on our way north there.

I guess that's it for now. When me set up the command center in out hotel room I'll add some pictures and such. Until then. Ciao.

A day of questionable new media...

2009-01-16T13:59:00.000-08:00

Now I've discovered Yelp.

I don't know if this is a good thing or a bad thing. I''m pretty addicted to the Internet as it is. The site seems more useful than Twitter, but still I just don't know.

Sigh sigh. I'm sure I'll spend too much time here putting in my two cents about everything Tampa.

Tweet Tweet

2009-01-16T07:34:00.000-08:00

In order to offer the fullest up to the minute coverage of our journey into the frozen north I've joined Twitter.

I used to think it was silly and I didn't really understand the point of it but I've been hearing so much about it lately that I decided to get in on the action.

I'll try to add a little sentence to it at least everyday and then many more times when we hit the road via my cell phone.

Tweet Tweet!

Inauguration or bust

2009-01-13T17:26:00.001-08:00

My friends Denver, Ian and I have decided to road trip to the upcoming inauguration next Tuesday. There's a lot of prep work involved.

We're essentially a trio of thin blooded Floridian yahoos daring to ride a '97 Kia Sephia into the icy north. We need warm clothing, we need supplies we need to make sure the car is going to get us there.

Time off has already been secured and the plan is in action. We started fixing the Kia yesterday. Check it out here.

I'll be documenting our misadventures here and on flickr. It should be pretty epic.

Time flies

2009-01-13T12:08:00.000-08:00

Judging from the nearly 12 million views I'm going to guess that most people are at least sort of familiar with the Noah time lapse. It was pretty cool and the Simpsons even made a spoof of it.

Now self described "media dude" Eirik Solheim has also made a pretty interesting time lapse by photographing the seasons. Pretty interesting stuff. Check it out below.

One year in 40 seconds from Eirik Solheim on Vimeo.And in true gentlemanly fashion he shows you how to do it yourself here. I wish I had some sort of interesting view to try this on...

Panoramas from the archive.

2009-01-12T23:17:00.001-08:00

One of the photographers from my job agreed to take a look at my work. So I was in the process of looking through the photographs that I had made over the past year and found a bunch of panoramas that I took but never assembled.

I had Photoshop put them together for me. Check it out:

More here...

Sunday...

2009-01-12T10:15:00.000-08:00

...was a pretty great day, so great that I blew my streak of uninterrupted blogging.

It started with diner food at the Pine Grove family restaurant and ended with late night musical conversations that stretched into the wee hours.

The Pine Grove is a wonderful little place that I've always been curious about. I'd never been inside and was excited when I set foot in the door. This place has a full bar! Drunken old folks sipping whiskey on Sundays is priceless. The food was good too, typical greasy omelets and heavy duty itis inducing biscuits were the order of the day.

I fought off the post Pine Grove food coma with an impromptu road trip to St. Pete to fix my ailing 5D mark II.

My friend Denver and I have decided to start cooking for the week on Sundays. Yesterday was the maiden voyage in what I hope to be a series of culinary misadventures. Follow us here.

2009-01-10T16:28:00.000-08:00

Today I finally took the plunge and bought the Canon 5D Mark II. It's a lot of camera and I don't see it getting replaced any time soon.

I took it out on a leisurely bike ride down Bayshore Blvd. and eventually to Davis Island. I saw this blimp and it looked sort of lonely out there by itself on the empty airfield.

I'm pretty sure that this is the blimp that once upon a time wore the logos for the Outback Bowl. Now that's over and it's naked and waiting for another mission...

The new camera is wonderful right now. It can shoot crazy high quality HD Video in really low light situations. As soon as I find something interesting to shoot I'll upload some clips here.

That's all for now. Time to enjoy Saturday night.

Reppin'

2009-01-09T19:39:00.000-08:00

I was sitting at Sam & Eddies enjoying a delicious slice of pizza when this beauty drove by. He was stopped at the light so I had enough time to calmly reach for my camera and capture this beautiful scene.

If you look closely you can see that he's hood tough. If you look closer than that you can see he's rollin' on 26s.

William Eggleston and Stephen Shore...

2009-01-08T13:37:00.001-08:00

Are two photographers who I've been turned on to recently. Apparently both of them pioneered color photography as an art form in the 70s. Eggleston's was the first one-person exhibition of color photographs in the history of New York's MOMA. He used dye transfers to get extreme saturation out of his prints, that combined with his ability to find interesting concentrations of hue in mundane places results in some pretty intriguing stuff. Stephen Shore was kind of doing the same thing. Both of them manage to create some pretty great images, stuff that I wouldn't think to capture.

Shore

Eggleston

Not the photograph I wanted to take...

2009-01-07T15:13:00.001-08:00

Boring...
Originally uploaded by TristanWheelock

I got off work feeling good. The air was crisp and the crush of mundane duty wasn't so heavy today. I felt light on the two wheels that carried me home, I felt like taking a photograph.

I wanted to add to the lagging numbers of my 100 strangers project. I got back to my apartment, changed and set off by bike to find a subject. It was tough finding people and when I did for some reason I just froze up. I couldn't ask them if I could take their photograph. I felt awkward and a bit overwhelmed.

I kept going through different approaches in my head but when the time came to open my mouth I couldn't find the words so I just biked on by. I don't know what it was. I suppose rejection but when you think about it objectively "no" really isn't anything to worry about. Alas and alack.

I'm disappointed in myself but I'm going to use the feeling as a motivator. Hopefully there will be more faces up here soon until then I'm sorry you have to settle for this faceless landscape, at least the sky is sort of pretty...

There you have it...

2009-01-06T12:05:00.001-08:00

Blur

2009-01-06T07:08:00.000-08:00

The past week has been a blur and thus I haven't posted, as I am just now getting back into the swing of things.

Sitting in my apartment I no longer hear the shuffle of feet above me. My best friend has moved to Brooklyn for bigger and better adventures than this midsized Florida city can offer. And so an apartment that I spent so many years visiting is empty.

The New Year is here. It's a time for transition and new growth I suppose. I feel good if not a bit sad and nostalgic every once and awhile. There are big things happening and sometimes I even feel like I might be part of something.

I haven't made any resolutions myself but I'm inspired by the lofty goals and bravery of my peers. In four months I hope to be back in India, this time with a friend. As for the time being I suppose I'll just keep shooting and hope that I can get more of that kind of work at the St. Pete Times.

I hope the New Year brings good things to you as well. There are some pictures floating around here and there but I think most of them will be confined to my hard drive.On another note I have been digging through suitcases and dusty boxes lately. They're filled with treasure and some of it has been uploaded to flickr.

That's all for now. I'm off to watch elephants eat ice cream. Maybe I'll have a picture of it up here later...

A rarity

2008-12-30T12:59:00.001-08:00

Today I had a religious experience...

It didn't happen in a church or a temple but instead the bathroom of the St. Petersburg Times Tampa office.

I ate a pear. Not just any pear. One of the finest pears in all the land.

The juice tasted like heaven and I'm pretty sure the only way they can get them so sweet is to have a priest from every religion bless them.

"I'm in a state of post-pear euphoria, unlike anything I've ever experienced," said my close friend Joshua Neiderer as we laughed hardily, drunk of this gastronomic explosion of fruit and bliss. "Truly rare winter Riviera pears are the fruit of the gods."

I would argue that if gods worshiped gods these green bundles of delicious would be just the cuisine for them.

"Their lush juiciness, melting texture and exquisite flavor are truly unique," claims their creator Harry & David.

They are truth speaking prophets and their gospel is fine fruit.

Try these pears they are worth so much more than what they charge for them...

I imagine this might send someone into a pleasure coma.

So it begins...

2008-12-26T06:46:00.000-08:00

I'm back in Venice. I came here for two reasons, one being more obvious than the other.

First, I wanted to celebrate Christmas with family.

Second I wanted to scan old photographs. Lots of old photographs, some dating back as far as the late 1800s.

So on the way down I picked up a scanner and today I'm getting to work.

Above is the first of many. I believe it was actually taken by a professional. There is a business label on the back that reads Paul's Photos and gives a short description of the photo. Check it out on my flickr for more info.

Well here I go, wish me luck...

Longways

2008-12-24T05:54:00.000-08:00

My best friend Patrick and I were digging through some old photos on my hard drive when, in a stroke of genius, he remembered that we had taken panorama shots on a couple of our vacations together over the years.

These were the days before easy photomerging in CS3. We hadn't seen these assembled yet. It was like opening a present you had gotten for yourself years ago but had since forgotten.

The results were mostly satisfying, with the second panorama from Ireland being a little too much and the above panorama from Denali National Park being my favorite.

Anyway, I'm heading south today to celebrate Christmas in Venice and pick up my new 50mm which will replace the one that took a nose dive on surprise night.

Cheery Christmas pictures up soon, probably a few days after the fact...

Check out the rest of the panoramas on my flickr...

Week ender

2008-12-21T09:33:00.000-08:00

Above is a photo from the skid competition that went down after a St. Pete bike race.

We missed the actual race because we got there too late and couldn't find the pack but our afternoon in St. Pete was still pretty wonderful. The weather was perfect and there were actual bike lanes for me and Jon to ride in.

Today will be a nice lazy Sunday. I spent the morning adding stuff to Flickr. Check it out if you get a chance.

The LIFE photo archive...

2008-12-18T11:08:00.001-08:00

is online now and you can check it out with Google.

Here's a gem.

That's a picture of a two year old child smoking a cigarette in Paraguay in 1939. It was taken by John Phillips.

Take a look for yourself and see what you can come up with...

Three things that are just sort of wonderful...

2008-12-17T15:43:00.000-08:00

A lot of this isn't related to the theme of the blog, but as the title of the posts suggests it is sort of wonderful so here it goes...

1.) Reign of Fire.

You may remember this you may not. Let me jog your memory a bit. Think six years ago and now imagine a scene in which you saw Matthew McConaughey leaping through the air, sporting a body built for war, tribal tattooed and angry with a giant ax. His target: a massive fire breathing dragon. Ok, remember? Yeah? You don't believe me. Ok I understand but I promise it's worthwhile. No, there isn't a lot of plot but do you rally need any when you have Christian Bale and the aforementioned warrior tuned McConaughey teaming up to battle dragons in a post apocalyptic wasteland that cost $90 million to build?

2.) NPR end of the year music lists.

Both All Songs Considered and Second Stage are hosting great end of year lists that you can stream right now. I never really listened to David Byre or Brian Eno before but since listening to the All Songs Considered list I have been addicted to Strange Undertones, that and Fur by Blitzen Trapper. Check it out!

3.) Photographers that do good work (sort of a cop out har har).

Stephen Ferry, whose work is pictured above, shows what Kodachrome can do when put into the hands of a true artist. And Mikhael Subotzky just sort amazes me with how deep he is able to get in with his subjects. I mean he has a picture of a sex worker and a client in the middle of the act. Check out his Beaufort West portfolio.

Thats it.

Something's wrong

2008-12-16T09:04:00.000-08:00

I was checking online this morning to see if the 5D mark II was available yet (something I do far too often) and I came across this bizarre anomaly.

The MSRP for this camera is around $2700. Seems like Amazon is price gouging, that or the 24-105mm costs -$1400. I suppose stranger things have happened...

Film again

2008-12-15T18:06:00.000-08:00

I finished another roll of film. This one took a lot more time to get through. I had stuff on there from the presidential debates...

There were a couple gems but film still sort of confuses me. I just can't seem to figure out how to focus on a certain point in a composition. I end up blurring out things that I want to be sharp and sharpening things that I want to be blurred. Ho hum maybe it's accidentally avant-garde.

You can see the results here.

I also put a triptych together. I don't think it's going to fit into the blog very well because it's three pictures wide but give it a click and see.

Things I saw yesterday

2008-12-15T11:15:00.000-08:00

The One Light Workshop
I learned a lot. I'll have some neat off camera stuff coming up soon...

This...

which I feel sums up shows and hipster clubs pretty well...

and this

which is just sort of great

Shoot the moon

2008-12-12T15:38:00.000-08:00

Having finished all my work for the week I was sitting in my cubicle willing the clock to tick faster and perusing the interwebs for story ideas and such.

And I came across this.

Which led me to search for a way to handle it, and I found this.

And realized that the lens that I had with me was way too short for this kind of action.

So I asked the photo editor if he could lend me something a little longer. He said sure, told me he was busy at the moment but would get me something as soon as he could.

My God.

He walked up to me with a hard shell suitcase.

"I think this might work," he said.

This is what he gave me...

I felt like a little kid. I was playing with firecrackers and he handed me a bomb.

I pulled the big boy out and set it on the table. I had to attach my camera to it rather than attach it to my camera. The thing has to weigh damn near ten pounds.

I hefted the hand cannon to my eye and shakily aimed it at the cold night.

There it was, a veined rocky disc floating golden in space reflecting the sun, traveling through 500mm of glass to the holes in my head triggering processes that sent chemicals through me, chemicals that felt like love and Christmas.

Before the camera came out myself and the some staff of the St. Petersburg Times were watching from our office windows as the moon pulled up past the horizon line, nothing more than a pink crescent, a half eye watching eager weekenders scurry home.

One of the writers, taken by the beauty said in sincerity, "It kind of makes you think that everything might be all right, it really does."

I think so too.

What do you think?

Knocking the dust off...

2008-12-07T20:35:00.000-08:00

Inertia set in. I felt it's creeping slimy grasp weeks ago. The alluring lull of non-action sweet and sickening.

Well now I'm back on the horse. And ready to go. There's a ton of new stuff on my flickr.

Including this latest edition to my 100 strangers project...

I'm hoping to have a multimedia project done in the next few weeks. I'm collaborating with my friend Denver on a project that focuses on a man who used to be homeless but is now off the street and helping those less fortunate than himself.

My best friend jumped into the blogosphere today. Check his page out. I'm looking forward to seeing more from him, he's already off to a great start.

I also stumbled upon this relatively new site for young photographers. It's full of great content and interviews.

I shared some e-mail with the site's creator, Jake Stangel, and he gave me some good constructive feedback on my work.

I'll be following his blog from now on.

That's about it.

More to come...

Giants, prostitutes, transvestites and dwarves...

2008-11-24T19:13:00.000-08:00

are just some of the things that Diane Arbus was famous for photographing.

Here's an example:

She lived hard, explored the fringes of society and then killed herself in 1971. She was 48.

This image is a bit more famous:

Arbus' Child with Toy Hand Grenade in Central Park, New York City (1962)

I had seen her work before but rediscovered it yesterday along with this super neat website.

Click through the other books, it's a pretty interesting concept...

Diptych

2008-11-23T15:44:00.000-08:00

Taken in an abandoned parking lot just after sunset.

That's all...

Saturday

2008-11-22T20:35:00.001-08:00

I woke up late, fully clothed from the night before. It went late...

Today was slow, and lazy. Omelets at Nicko's, a diner made famous for its claim to being "Tampa's last real steel diner.

Not very interesting but, I did see this...

Yes, that is 100 pounds of pure orange fury.

It is scheduled to be demolished soon...

Mixed media

2008-11-21T16:12:00.000-08:00

Kim and Yoshi, 2007 Richard Renaldi

It's the tail end of my Friday shift at the St. Petersburg times. The desert of empty space before the weekend. I'm done with all of my work and I've resorted to perusing the dregs of the Internet and filling my ears with This American Life.

Aside: The new episode is excellent, listen to it.

Ira is doing his sign off, the show is over and I think that's it... and then this weird sad music comes on. I quickly cruise over to the website to figure out who is making this bizarre sound.

It's Antony and the Johnsons. I'm moving at Internet speed so I've clicked, looked and I'm already on to something else but I let his eerie voice keep piping through my headphones.

And then I come across this photo project. It's like 100Strangers on steroids.

Read the interview if you want but wait to click to his actual project.

When I scrolled through Richard Renaldi's work that Antony and Johnsons was still playing in the background.

The combination of the sound and the visual did something. It was sort of over the top but powerful none the less.

Give it a shot. Here it is in seven steps.

1. Find headphones and put them on.

2. Click this and listen to The Lake

3. Wait a second... maybe a few seconds... is he singing?

4. It's a little cheesy and weird I know but bear with me. Keep the music playing.

5. Open up a new tab or a new window or whatever. Now click this.

6. Scroll through...

7. Let me know what you think.

Surfing the Archive...

2008-11-21T10:35:00.000-08:00

© Paul Gauguin

© Alessandra Sanguinetti

Magnum ran a contest where they asked readers to compare the past work of Magnum photographers to the work of other famous artists. Above is one of my favorites but all of the entries are pretty incredible. Check them out here.

Entry number 13 was selected as the winner.

Which one is your favorite?

Two more strangers.

2008-11-19T16:22:00.000-08:00

This is Cliff. I was talking to his friend Sal when he walked up. He was a really nice guy. At first he seemed sort of confused as to why I would want to take his picture but after he heard that I had already photographed Sal he opened up.

This is Sal. He was a real sweet guy. He looked sort of tough so I was kind of worried about asking to take his picture.

He agreed immediately saying, "Go ahead I don't give a shit."

He started talking about Al Pacino and how he had just gotten a free 12-pack of diet Coke from some lady who bought it by accident.

He gave me a diet coke and made this tough face for me...

www.100strangers.com

More from Magnum

2008-11-19T07:32:00.000-08:00

Odds are you've seen the above image before. It was taken by Thomas Hoepker on September 11, 2001. To me it's a gripping contrast to many of the other images that were taken that day.

Here is his advice to a young photographer:

"Avoid all photo schools and courses. Most will give you lofty ideas and twist your mind in one direction. Find your own way to photography, nobody will ask you later if you have a diploma. Visit as many museums as you possibly can. The images you see (painted, drawn, etched or photographed) will stay with you for the rest of your life. They will help you to discover good pictures in real life. Suppress any silly ambitions of becoming a great artist. Being a good photographer is difficult enough."

I like his style, it goes with my thoughts on the subject and the thoughts that I have heard voiced by peers.

Check his Magnum portfolio here.

A little inspiration in the morning...

2008-11-18T07:19:00.001-08:00

CARL DE KEYZER ©
Men waiting in front of film theatre. HYDERABAD, India, 1985

Applicable to more than just photography I think.

"Give it all you got for at least 5 years and then decide if you got what it takes. Too many great talents give up at the very beginning; the great black hole looming after the comfortable academy or university years is the number one killer of future talent."

- Carl De Keyzer
Magnum Photographer

Take a look at his Magnum portfolio here.
And his website here.

I learned about him from this post on the Magnum blog. It's worth checking out.

The old camera dilemma...

2008-11-17T20:46:00.000-08:00

I've always liked the idea of vintage things. Growing up my mom owned a vintage clothing store called Strange Cargo so it's sort of ingrained in me. I don't know what it is exactly but there's just something about things from the past the strike a chord with me.

This passion extends to cameras as well but there always seems to be the same dilemma. I find these little gems at the thrift store. Small plastic beauties like this..

or this...

They call out, beckoning to be used. I take them home thinking of all the fun I might have with them and then discover the inevitable. They ultimately use some bizarre size of film that has either been discontinued or is only available by mail order from New York or some other far off place.

Short of learning how to process in a darkroom does anyone know of any sources for old film in the Tampa Bay Area. Namely 110 film and wait... while googling for a link I found this. I may have just answered my own question.

Arghh shouldn't post rambling posts after a night of Old Smuggler I suppose.

Keith

2008-11-16T21:29:00.000-08:00

Photo # 2 of my series for the 100 Strangers project.

This is Keith. He was outside of the laundromat asking for change when I was leaving.

He said he was just trying to get on the bus and that if it was any other day he would be trying to get a beer.

I gave him what I had. He seemed fine with it. He asked me what I wanted to take his picture for. When I told him he seemed impressed.

Nice guy.

Something worth watching

2008-11-16T08:55:00.000-08:00

This has been on TED for a while but for some reason I've never watched it.

Today, pajama clad with fresh Yuban running through my veins I decided to give it a click.

What followed was a wonderful journey through the origins of life. Frans Lanting has a funny accent which does not necessarily lend itself to dramatic narration but his pictures and words are inspiring.

Watch his work, it's a good way to spend a couple of minutes.

100 Strangers

2008-11-13T23:02:00.001-08:00

For the past couple weeks the concept of familiar strangers has come up in conversation. The link defines it as "an aspect of urban anonymity."

There are so many of these characters in my life. Faces in crowds, repeated often and never addressed.

These people are often some of the ones I would like to photographic but self consciousness and fear of breaking social norms prevents me.

When I saw the 100 strangers project in a photo magazine at Barnes and Noble I was interested and thought I might try it out.

I was sort of nervous asking to take her picture but had a little extra liquid courage in my system. I asked her and she was completely fine with it. I was sort of surprised and happy because it was getting late and I was worried that I wouldn't get another chance that day.

Here's the beginning, it won't be the last.

Found Art

2008-11-11T20:48:00.000-08:00

Found in walking in SoHo (South Howard). Beautiful, majestic, disgusting...

Panographs or how to turn your camera into a puzzle machine

2008-11-10T18:02:00.000-08:00

Sometimes when I'm looking through Flickr I'll find these wonderfully fragmented, jagged edged images and I always wondered what they were. Here are some of my favorites.

I did a couple of quick google searches and came up with this great tutorial.

Inspired by what I saw I headed out into the world (by bicycle of course) in search of a worthy subject. With the sun low in the sky casting long golden shadows over everything I was hard pressed to find just what I was looking for.

I'm still not sure about what I've made but I think after I do a few more of these things I could really be on to something.

More than anything they are really fun to put together. If you're bored and have a camera that you can control manually I highly recommend it.

Let me know what you think...

This just in...

2008-11-10T10:32:00.000-08:00

Vincent Laforet is a rock star of a photographer based out of New York City. He won the Pulitzer prize before he turned 30 and changed the business model of the New York Times in regards to how it contracts shooters.

He's also kind of a big deal in the lecture circuit and in the photographic community in general. PhotoShelter just released a widget to help photographers promote themselves. It basically embeds a gallery into whatever you want with the option to buy the prints you see. Really neat stuff if you're trying to make some money off of your work.

In an effort to promote this neat idea and help up and coming photographers Laforet has created a gallery of his work and the work of some other great photographers. In the next 30 days all of the money that the sales of these prints generate will go towards a scholarship fund. You can read the extensive specifics on Laforet's blog.

Anyway the first shot is an incredible deal, $75 for a signed 16x20 print. Something like this might normally go for $1,625. So if your looking for something fancy for your wall or business or whatever this could be it.

Look click buy or not either way these pictures sure are pretty...

Amateurs on the heels of lions

2008-11-08T15:32:00.000-08:00

I keep seeing more and more evidence that the world of photojournalism is in for a big change with the release of the D90 and the 5D Mark II. Being a Canon guy myself seeing videos like the one below kind of gets me going. It'll be interesting to see what lies ahead.

Tokyo Reality (Canon 5D Mark II) Final
by lejapon

P.S.

I know I've been super lazy with my posts lately. I'll fix that in the next couple of days.

Keep an eye out.

Perspective

2008-10-17T11:53:00.001-07:00

The above picture was taken by my friend J. Adam Huggins.

Adam is a photojournalist who often shoots for the New York Times. He's a great guy and an inspiration to me. This photo in particular got my attention because of the caption.

The man pictured above is the same age as myself and he's standing in front of his home which has just been consumed by a raging monsoon flood.

After looking at the photo for awhile the differences between my life and his began forming in my mind.

We've both been on this planet for the same amount of time but our experience must be so vastly different. Now I don't pretend that this is some sort of epiphany and yeah his life could be summed up in one word, "tough," but it's still interesting to think about for a bit.

I don't want to end with some sort of saccharine diatribe about being grateful and appreciating the small things but I can say that this photo did make me happy for roofs and air conditioning and being above the high water mark.

Fashion/Modeling?

2008-10-14T09:38:00.000-07:00

I've sort of been jumping around as far as what kind of photography I want to get into. I love the idea of changing the world with poignant shots of the unfortunate victims of third world circumstance but... there's always that side that says hey why not just point the camera at some pretty faces and make some money.

Being in Tampa right now with the aforementioned world changing shots thousands of miles away I have decided to turn my lens towards the fashion side of the business. I started a model mayehm account and am waiting for approval. Until them I'll be semi-creepy and pull models from CraigsList.

So goes the life of a freelancer just getting his start...

P.S.

I got a job at the St. Petersburg Times so now I'm not a total derelict yay!

Big Time

2008-10-09T05:27:00.001-07:00

Sharper, faster, more megapixels, bigger sensor, more saturation, more depth. Digital photography is a beautiful thing but lately I have been turning more towards film. There's just something about the softness and unique imperfections of a film image that draw me to it. John Chiara has taken his romance with film to the edge of reason, building a massive pinhole camera. Watch the whole video and check out his website. It's one of the more interesting things I've seen lately in the world of photography.

Sagan got it right...

2008-10-05T22:12:00.000-07:00

With all the gloom and doom that the media is spewing out these days (mostly with good reason) sometimes it's nice to look at something that puts things in perspective.
This does that for me. And although it makes me feel a little lonely it also makes me feel a lot better...

"We succeeded in taking that picture from [deep space], and, if you look at it, you see a dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever lived, lived out their lives. The aggregate of all our joys and sufferings, thousands of confident religions, ideologies and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilizations, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every hopeful child, every mother and father, every inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every superstar, every supreme leader, every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there on a mote of dust, suspended in a sunbeam.
The earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that in glory and in triumph they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of the dot on scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner of the dot. How frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds. Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the universe, are challenged by this point of pale light. Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity--in all this vastness-- there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves. It is up to us... To my mind, there is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly and compassionately with one another and to preserve and cherish that pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known." -Carl Sagan

Film

2008-10-05T11:06:00.000-07:00

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.
The pictures, aren't particularly interesting but there's just something about the soft desaturated look of film that I love. I wish I knew how to develop my own and had access to a darkroom... but I don't so I have to rely on the dorky, excitable CVS clerk near my house.

These were taken with an old Canon AE-1 that was gifted to me by a friend. I destroyed my first couple of rolls by being a little naive so this is my first complete set.

These were shot with Fuji Superia X-tra which I am told will bring out blues and greens. I don't know enough about film yet to distinguish between different types but I am going to start experimenting...

Look for more in the future...

Getting back into it...

2008-10-03T09:14:00.000-07:00

I've been getting complacent with the frequency of my posts. I'll take the time this week to get back on top of things. Here is a quick link to a project that James Nachtwey is working on. The footage is graphic and intense so fair warning.

Slow ride, take it easy or Tampa Critical Mass

2008-09-27T17:57:00.000-07:00

The weather was perfect on Friday night so I decided force my self off of the couch and into the Tampa Critical Mass ride.

I caught the pack on Tampa Street. About 50 bike enthusiasts riding all manner of two wheeled contraption were meandering through downtown with bells ringing and voices yelling out to declare the greatness of the bicycle.

The pace was slow and easy. The air was cool almost crisp.

I didn't finish the ride but I stayed with it through Ybor, there's just something special about the feeling you get riding down seventh in the middle of a bike pack...

After ditching the ride I soon discovered how hard it is to find beer in the wide open urban nowhere that makes up the space between Ybor and downtown.

Cruising aimlessly on my search I stopped to ask a rough looking vagrant if he new where I could get some cold brews. "The store," he said and vaguely pointed down a dark and scary street.

He was right and cold 12-pack of Keystone's finest light lager was mine. I packed it into my bag, handed two beers to the homeless guys in front of the store and rode back to reward the vagrant for his tip.

With nine beers weighing heavy on my back I pedaled off to Cafe Hey to quench my thirst and watch the first presidential debate.

Fun times...

Tired now.

Maybe Orpheum tonight. Who knows?

Double Dose

2008-09-24T07:30:00.001-07:00

Here are two videos that really inspire me. The first is sort of uplifting the second is sort of depressing. Watch them in whatever order you want... I highly recommend Ted. If you are ever bored watch this, I promise it's better than any antics you might see on YouTube.

Catching up (guts full of Cuban delicious. Sort of bullets)

2008-09-23T18:40:00.000-07:00

As I mentioned I might in the previous post, I did indeed go to 1905 Day at the Columbia and it was magical...

The lines were long, stretching around the the side of the restaurant in double file and were populated mostly by gray haired Cuban food enthusiasts and every brand of yokel (I mean this in the most sensitive way) you could possibly imagine.

Forty minutes of gawking at the distant doorway and muttering expletives was rewarded with a small ticket that allowed us to come back three hours later and enjoy turn of the century pricing.

The food was incredible and the sangria flowed like water. After about two hours of forcing massive piles of black beans and rice, hot fresh Cuban bread, and special 1905 salads down our throats we were ready to roll away dazed and content.

Outside the air was warm and the edges of the day seemed to have softened. A Zen like calm had descended over the world, the silence was a beautiful poem. The Columbia is an incredible place, transcendent in a way. I know I'll be back there... for 1905 Day next year (what can I say, I'm cheap).

But...

That was Sunday and now Tuesday is almost over and I'm running the risk of becoming complacent with my posts. So here are some bullet points in homemade shorthand:

Monday - Interview with the St. Petersburg Times for a job as an editorial assistant. I might use my degree for something after all. Aimless Walking through downtown at lunch hour, coffee sipping and lazy glances at the world of downtown Tampa professionalism. Naps and casual reads. Sleepover.

Today - French pressed coffee and backseat Jaguar rides. Procrastination in the form of apartment cleaning and organizing. Bike rides in the sweet heat of fading summer/early fall. Errands. Meetings with German couchsurfers who are calling my floor home for tonight. Graduation from hospice class (soon I will be meeting with the near dead). And off to liter night to guzzle some sort of delicious brew.

See you in between sips?

Back in Tampa

2008-09-20T16:15:00.000-07:00

The two day hiatus was rough for all of us I know, but now I'm officially back in town and ready to... go nuts? Party? Errr who knows what this crazy city will throw at me.

Instead of posting a blog last night I sat on a beat up plastic chair in the parking lot outside of my place with my best friend and a 4-pack of 16 oz. bottles of Bud heavy.

It was a wonderful evening, possibly the perfect way to herald my return from the world of corporate award snapshots. We talked and laughed and reminisced over the events of the past three days. It was eventful indeed, a lot happens when you try to push the limits of your liver and social acceptability every night (har har har).

But really there's a lot to be said for skipping a night on the town and instead tipping back a couple of cold ones with a close friend. Think about it next time your about to head out to the club. Instead of dropping $20 on an evening of smokey bars and loose women (or men) drop $5 on cheap beer and talk about the stuff that really matters or doesn't... you might like it.

Anyway tonight you might find me at Orpheum trying my best to drown in cheap booze (gin and pineapple is delicious I promise). Tomorrow I'm going to brave the long lines for 1905 day at the Columbia. They're lowering their prices to the levels they were at when they first opened. Count me in for $.95 glasses of Sangria and $1.95 fancy salads...

And here's the picture...

It's my first ever invoice (I feel like a real professional now) covered in gold coins, cash and rupees. I hear rituals like this are the only real way to succeed in this tough business. I hope so, I need all the help I can get.

Resurrection

2008-09-18T21:08:00.001-07:00

Sweat. Grease. Rust. Three things that I was covered in this afternoon when I decided it would be a good idea to try and bring some ancient beach cruisers back into the world of the living.

After a couple hours of of struggling with what I think were the first pair of pliers ever invented (the only tool I could find) I managed to get one of the three bikes to sort of work. Yay for slow going early nineties beach bikes!

Today was also day two of the previously mentioned photo assignment. This was the big night. The put up or shut up. The show. The end all be all. Really, it was just dinner at a local hotel with some pseudo important delegates giving speeches about the impact of Main Street associations in Florida and handing out various awards.

Not quite an island side fashion shoot for Elle or a mountain trek expedition for REI but I may be on my way...

The light was friendly to me today. I managed to bounce it just right so that the wrinkles in my geriatric subjects were smoothed to a creamy veneer. Smiles popped and teeth glistened as the shutter clicked and clicked. It was magical in a way. Well I guess it really wasn't but much less stressful then yesterday.

Tomorrow it's a few hours in front of the laptop, picking up a paycheck and then boarding the good old Greyhound back to Tampa just in time for Pulp.

Maybe I'll see you out there, time for me to go to bed...

Limits?

2008-09-17T21:08:00.001-07:00

Today was the first day of my second ever paying gig as a photographer. It's a simple assignment. Nothing too crazy (unlike what my photo idol has been up to) just candid shots of people milling about at a Florida Main Street Association function.

I thought it would be easy enough but in fact it was a bit more difficult than I expected. Armed with my good old XTi and my clunker 285HV I strolled boldly into the breach of silver haired cocktail holding event goers and started popping off frames.

The lighting was overhead tungsten, a bit low but it didn't seem too challenging but when I looked down at my LCD the results were less than fantastic. I just couldn't seem to find the exposure balance that I needed. When I finally did start getting something to work the crowd was already moving on to watch awards being handed out.

I have yet to check the results on a bigger screen but I'm a little worried. I need to be faster and more accurate with my settings. The 285HV is challenging because it doesn't synch automatically with my camera so getting the light right is all up to me... Ho hum. Whine whine.

Tomorrow is another day and I'll have another opportunity to make this better. I'm hoping some well spent time in front of Lightroom will help me salvage what I did today.

Oh well, we live and we learn.

On an unrelated note I took some fun portraits yesterday. Cross lighting, snoots, masks and American flags blend together to for some creepy results... Below is an example of what I like to do with my free time.

It makes me laugh every time I look at it. Great. Anyway I'm exhausted. Good night for now.

Starting on a low note...

2008-09-16T07:37:00.001-07:00

So it happened, that horrifying what if that haunts everyone who hops on a bike. My friend got hit by a car, an SUV to be exact.

He's ok... sort of. I mean he was knocked out and woke up in an ambulance, has some road rash on his head, a broken arm and a fractured elbow and to top it off his super fancy 100 percent wool pants now have little holes in them (he was on his way to work when he got hit, it's not some new bike trend you don't know about...).

I spent three or four hours waiting around Tampa General yesterday while they pumped him full of morphine and checked to make sure he wasn't pissing blood. We laughed and winced and wondered what the future would hold and who would be next.

I ride a lot, it's my only way of getting around. Often I catch unnecessary honks from drivers who just can't conceive of why I am on the road. I have gotten in yelling matches, had to swerve to avoid being crushed, and talked shit to plenty of people I probably shouldn't have.

It's like a transformation occurs when someone gets behind the wheel. They are in their little steel shell and they don't seem to realize that when I'm pumping away on my Schwinn Le Tour the only thing between me and the pavement is me.

Anyway, I don't want to preach. I'm glad my friend is alive and the damage is minimal. Please please just be careful if you see me or any other cyclists out on the road...

I texted Denver last night to see how the pain was, he texted me back with this

"To quote Patrick Swayze, 'pain don't hurt much.'"

I think he'll be just fine...