Self-Deprecating Photography

I ate at Bruxie in Orange with some friends today. The parking sucked, the line was long and the food was totally worth it. I don't think I can afford to become a regular there as the fried-chicken-waffle sandwich would put me in the running to be the fattest man alive ... and makes me want to nap now that I am back at the office.

I was stoked to learn that the guys I ate with actually read this blog. They pointed out that I say that I'm not happy with my pictures that I post here ... And the whole point of this blog is for me to have a place to post pictures. Well, the fact is that I am happy with about half of the pictures I post here. At the risk of sounding too groovy, I am still learning what I want to do with this blog ... eventually I think I'll need to type less and post fewer pictures. I guess less is more. The original idea for this blog was very similar to a new blog a friend told me about called Deux Photographies. They post pictures and titles (or state the subject) that's it. Check it out, great stuff there. Maybe that's the goal. We shall see.

Here are some pictures from lunch, I want to say "not great, but here they are anyway" but I'm trying not to re-title my blog: Self-Deprecating Photography.

Improv(e)

Here are a few more examples of me thinking something looks cool and that I see a picture in it somewhere and don't find it ... I really love the child's shoes on the phone wire. I stare at those shoes whenever I walk Otis by there. But I just cannot find the right angle, or maybe it really isn't that cool and I'm trying too hard to catch an image that's not really there at all ... I don't know, but I'm glad I'm shooting more and getting a little frustrated with my results right now is good. It means that I want to improve.

Neutra

Feb 25 - Today I went to go see a Richard Neutra exhibit. 20 photographs of things he'd worked on or been involved with in Orange County. It was being held a the Old Court House in Santa Ana (where a few friends have been married). The Old Court House's website said the exhibit was running through 2/25/11 and the blurb I read in LA Magazine said 2/28/11. Either way I was safe ... WRONG. After wading through a few weddings and trying to find an exhibit room or info or anything, I stumbled upon someone in an office, in a uniform, watching a video on her computer ... Where's the Neutra exhibit, I asked? Oh, that's been taken down, you missed it. What the fuck? At least I got to go to El Toro on First and Bristol and get some tacos ...

I took a couple pix at the courthouse though, honestly, if I had the balls to be a "Johnny on the spot" photographer, the photos are of the people in the surrounding area ... Awesome people walking, waiting for buses, sleeping under trees ... Seriously ... I need to go back and shoot the natural wildlife ...

Stair rails



Stairs at Old Court House




Stairs at Old Court House



Neutra exhibit .. Not really

I think I am using my fisheye too much. I love that lens but I need to concetrate on getting a good image and not depending on the fisheye. Some pictures just scream for a fisheye though ... Some.

its been emotional part 2

Some photos from Saturday night ... The Stimy memorial at the Ken.

its been emotional ...

Its been an emotional last few days.


fluf

 Wednesday Night was the Stimy memorial/benefit at the Casbah with Skydiver, Congress of the Cow, Fluf, Creedle, Inch, Sub Society ... It was like a high school reunion even though I didn't go to high school in San Diego. Tons of old friends, great bands all gathered to say goodbye to a great friend. In trying to keep myself from crying through the entire show (and the one on Saturday too) I shot some pictures. My live band photography has always frustrated me. I'm just not very good at it. I feel like I should be, I've been to enough shows in my live, but for some reason, I suck. I am still trying to learn the proper setting for my flash and for shooting bands ... here are a few from Wednesday night that I feel are OK, but not great. (see next blog for Saturday)


fluf






Sub Society w/Matt



Sub Society w/Matt





Sub Society w/Matt



Sunday quest

Does this ever happen to you? You see something, a place, a sign, anything that you think would make a cool picture ... Go there and you just can't find the picture. You look at angles and shadows and change lenses and everything ... and you just can't find the picture that you know is there ... That's what this is:

Sunday evening

Anyone see the sunset on Sunday? Wow. None of these are editted, no color boosting, no cropping, except the last one is color boosted a little.

Sunday Afternoon

Sunday 2-13 (Happy Birthday Henry Rollins) I had driven by a few spots that looked like they would be cool to take pictures at ... They are in Orange, so I took Otis to a dog park in Orange, got him tired and went on a little photo expedition. Otis is a great photo-assistant. Very patient.

Neb Lodge

I took a few shots at the Nebenkanoozer's (sp?) charity poker tournament. They are not great, but I love the fisheye.

Lucky War Plane

Today on Otis' morning walk a giant plane caught my eye. It took off to the west, as most planes do from LB Airport, but this one banked hard to the south while still over Cal Hts ... It was a gray, military, cargo jet. I think a C-17 based on some internet pictures I looked up. I was fumbling for my phone to take a picture as a small yip yip dog was coming toward us unleashed. I got a couple shots, but for some reason I just LOVE this one.

Limitation Breeds Creativity

Sunday January 30 I went to the Barker Hangar at the Santa Monica airport and saw Raymond Pettibon speak. He was actually "In Conversation" with a friend of his who was really there to ask Raymond questions and try to keep him on track. I've liked Pettibon's work since the Black Flag days and now, I really wish I would have thought about trying to buy some of his work back them, because now I really want some and I can't afford it.
I was nervous that I wasn't going to make it to the noon event to which I had purchased advance tickets ... I took Joe to the train station in Fullerton got home to walk Otis and he promptly barfed twice. So I was feeling guilty about leaving him home alone but I knew he was tired and would fall asleep as soon as I left.
I left the house around 11:30 and made it just in time. If Mona hadn't been there early saving me a seat, I never would have pulled it off. Thank you Mona!
I took a few pictures with my phone and only 6 with my camera (it was a small venue and you could heard every camera click, so I was self conscious - plus Raymond Pettibon is awkward in front of a crowd and I didn't want to be the source of more awkwardness). I think you can tell by his body language that he's not too comfortable.

One thing that really stuck out was one of Raymond's answers to a weird question from an audience member. I really felt that the people asking questions were trying to be on the same plane as Pettibon. Kinda artsy, out there in left field, weirdos ... Basically, I didn't really understand what they were asking. Some guy asked a question somehow pertaining to limits and referenced haiku ... And Pettibon answered "Limitation Breeds Creativity" (I think that's what he said, I freeking loved it when he said it and now, 2 days later I'm having trouble recalling it). I just thought it was a great quote and it made me think a little bit ... Just a little bit.

Check

I made a long list of things I want to accomplish this year. For some reason I don't want to call them resolutions, I've never been big on making resolutions anyway ... Why wait 'til Jan 1? If you really want or need to do something, just fucking do it. Anyway, some of the items on the list are as silly as "surf more" and other items have a more serious subject or are to do with work ... I've actually been able to check a few off already, which is cool. I have not lined them out because I can do them more then once this year. I have 11 items on the personal side of my list and 6 on the work side. I've already done 6 on the personal side and 1 on the work side.

One of the items on my list is to take more pictures. In order to do that, I now take my camera almost everywhere with me. I took it on a walk with Otis the other day and only took 6 frames, all of the same subject, none spectacular but I'm going to post one because that's what this blog is for (and I like the shadow).



VClub Box

 This blog is not about food trucks but I need to vent a little. I decided to try to hit a food truck for lunch today. I haven't gone to a truck in a while (except MIHO in SD for Phonography). I found a tweet that Taco Dawg was going to be serving about 15 minutes from me from 11 - 2:00. I always try to avoid the "regular" lunch time to avoid crowds, so I arrived at 1:35. Upon arrival, I saw the truck parked in it's place.  I did notice that none of their windows were open ... So I parked and got out of my car just in time to see them drive away ... At 1:35! This sucks. They were supposed to be there until 2:00! As far as I'm concerned, they owe me a taco or a dog or whatever it is that they sell ...!

Obvious

Sunsets are an obvious thing to photograph yet I'm drawn to them. Sometimes the colors are just amazing and if you add some clouds in there ... I'm sold.

A couple days ago Sarah said "The sky looks really cool right now, you should grab your camera" and I did. I remeber not being too excited about what I shot, right after shooting it but looking at them later, I actually kinda like a couple.



I wish the moon was an inch to the left.



I think this was January 16, 2011.

Phono

The Phongraphy show opening was last night. It was cool. A lot of great photos. I bought 3 by Ed Templeton. I've really liked Ed's work for a while now and when he has a solo show his work can be $3000 each. I got 3 images for $20 each at Phongraphy and I'm almost as happy about that as I am about having a picture in the show. The show was PACKED. In fact the Blind Lady staff were concerned about capacity and finally had to start a line outside until some people left. By the time I left, there had to be 150 people in there. It was crowded, which is GREAT. If I remember correctly Josh (curator) said there were 164 images in the show and probably 50+ different contributors Before I left it looked like sales were going pretty well, which is great because I want Josh to get reimbursed for his expenses and I'd like there to be a decent donation made to Doctors Without Borders for Haiti too. I'm curious to see if mine sells but we'll see.


Wall A of the show.


Switching gears - I got a nice email from John Royce (pres, Cal Hts Neighborhood Assoc). He said he was talking to Robert, the owner at Roxanne's, who was looking for vintage photographs from Cal Hts to display in the bar. John said that there are not too many available and wondered if I would be interested in sending Robert some of the stuff I've been shooting around the neighborhood, particularly the pictures of the reconditioned street lamps. I am stoked that Mary Sramek tagged John in some of those pix on facebook or this never would have come about. I've sent some images to Robert ... we'll see. I think i posted a couple of the pix on the last blog entry. Most are from my phone but here's one from the camera:

favorite

Well, including myself, there are 3 people following this blog so far. I am actually considering telling a few other people about it. But not yet.

You 2 other people have seen these pictures before but they might be my favorite pictures I've ever taken with my iPhone. That being said they belong on my photo blog, right? So here they are, taken in California Heights Historic District in Long Beach, CA, January 6, 2011.

Signing

I don't really have too much to say about these two pictures except I cried as soon as I saw them. They capture a special moment in time for a special friend on a special night surrounded by friends.
(Taken on my iPhone ... I love that thing).



Mona Signing




Weave Signing