Something on the last roll from Krakow that mystifies me. I took two frames of an old church court yard but they came out blurry. Two frames completely out of focus. I took 5 rolls and many more with the Mamiya 7. I never had is so out of focus before. To some odd degree they almost seem interesting in the softness of the outlines. But I still need to give them a second though before I would post them here. I am a bit surprised how it could have happened.

Well, tomorrow’s evening is a visit to a lecture at the Aperture gallery in NYC form a photographer whose subject have been Muslim women shot on location in the Middle East. The Aperture lectures are phenomenal and I so glad to live in this area if just for these. So tomorrow I might get home late and not have a moment to post but Wednesday I’ll most likely will reflect about it here.

The photograph tonight is from the trip 3 weeks ago with Ilona. This was out view from the window looking toward the Market of our apartment. We had a wonderful time in Krakow. On this very corner is a lounge we were looking for that was highly recommended to us. It might not been the most comfortable or best place we visited but the evening we went there we sat along candles on the table with very good atmospheric music. I remember looking at Ilona’s face to the candle light and it’s in my mind I have a photograph of that moment. We’ll have to shoot something like that so I can have it on paper to look at instead of just remembering. And of course moments like that are very much ones I love in her company.

Tonight I watched a documentary film released last year on Leonard Cohen titled “I’m Your Man”. I know pretty much most of Mr. Cohen’s work. The film itself is a documentary tribute of some folk and other artists singing his songs while in-between Mr. Cohen himself comments on himself mostly. U2’s Bono has probably the best observations on Mr. Cohen as an artist and that is exactly what the documentary is about. Leonard Cohen embraces the fact he is a writer and that so many years yield success only with getting up and wiring everyday. It’s the Patience that has enabled him to reflect in peace on his work. There is a bonus feature that includes an interview but I have not watched it yet. The sinning only shines when at the end of the documentary Mr. Cohen performs ‘Tower of Song’ with U2. The other musicians are mediocre at best. Leonard Cohen is a signature to the songs I came to know and draw pictures from so interpretations do not particularly interest me that much. If I can walkway with one or two ideas that spark my deeper thinking from such films then I call them very helpful. This is one of them but unless you know his work I would suggest listening to his original songs since the musicians here do not justice his lyrics deserve.

Ok, I lied. It would not be fair to get into a Magnum recognition and not post a photograph.

The photograph tonight is of Ilona. This was taken right before our flight back east at San Diego airport. Some 2 hours ago Don asked ‘So where do you want to go’ and I replied ‘The Desert’. Don was all set. Then I realized we sort of had to go back to the hotel and pack. Incredible trip. Don made us both feel like he was family. We were talking about that around the time I took this photo. We both knew we'll miss him.

If there is one photography organization I absolutely love then Magnum is what does it for me. I absolutely love reportage photography.

The strong statements tonight are inspired out of few details coming together. They serve a reminder why and how I found the most comfortable photographs from my early interest in it.

The older I get the more mature I suppose. I don’t think that is always true because I like to look at the world as some peaceful harmony of shapes, shades, and colors. The older I get the more truth I find out. I enjoy reading history books. I like to get the deeply researched works what can tell me how it was unbiased.

Reportage photography does that in a frame. A caption gives you the circumstance. Magnum photographers define life in a photograph.


In other news I have taken my Contax G2 out of retirement. If I’m somewhat successful I will sometimes post just a photograph if I deem it speaking it …. some words.

No photograph tonight. I’m got the last toll from Poland going up tomorrow.

Hey, is 35mm slide still beating a digiSLR?

So one roll is now left to develop and I can’t remember what’s on it. The roll I developed tonight was a bit disappointing not in content but in myself. In the midst of the conversation I set the camera wrong. I just didn’t pay attention because I was also I guest. I like my hermit ways of photographing. I stand there and observe so that with success I can not be too noticeable, or at least the camera. The roll form tonight has 4 more portraits of my uncle. But the photograph tonight a photograph that originally was to capture a trolley I used to take to my grandparents house as a child but we were driving and with the medium format camera everything is manual. I took the photograph but got the man and boy instead and the still man on the shoulder of the boy. There is something here but I am not sure what yet.

Nostalgic photographs tonight from where I grew up and have most found memories of childhood. This is where my childhood friends and I have played. Around these buildings was my world when I was a kid. I remember when near by the grass was tall over us and we would make tunnels. I remember when the summers came and the grass was cut into long lines from which all the children collected it and made heaps and houses from. I remember the first snow of the year and everyone running around occasionally collaborating to make a snowman. I remember all of this. I was there for mere 5 minutes some two weeks ago. I left when I was 11 years old but childhood memories are like fairy tales in my memory now. The photographs to me are full of those sentiments. These photographs are colored in my head.

Family. Part of my trips to Poland are all about seeing and spending time with Family. I have gotten used to living pretty much away from big gatherings. I have lived around my parents for most of my life. But on this trip I almost made a mistake and a chance of seeing my Uncle. His life has been though a dramatic change in the last year that I saw him. In the last day in Warsaw I saw him. I’m glad for the moments like this. It meant a lot to him as well.

The photographs are document in nature. These were two on a roll I just shot in my neighborhood where I grew up. I have an entire roll of him pretty much in this setting and that chair as our talk went on. I love photography for this very reason.

This is an attempt of a tight crop for the photograph below. This might not be a very photograph from start but at least up close the pigeon lady's outfit appears as if a scarecrow while blurred by motion dark figure is approaching. I was just curious what it would look like closer and sharing my comparison here with you.

In 12 plus years of photography I am now learning how much life a photograph has though proper presentation. By some very sad fact I had given this part very little attention now realizing that lack of confidence was because I did not fully remember work I’ve done. The blog is helping a lot by giving me a chance to select and post photographs. But then further down I am also revisiting them though viewing them scanned, then adjusted, and sometimes even cropped somewhat to produce the final image. It’s the process that I am learning about or maybe just really now paying attention to it. Some parts are mundane and repetitive but do yield progress. Some of the elements of the process become a second nature.
Tonight two photographs of quick city photograph of Krakow. The people were chosen for a purpose but not anticipated the perfect moment. The dirty old street has a human and modern element as does the photograph with the pigeon lady. Both photographs ironically have a car in them on these very old streets.

I’ve developed 2 rolls from 5 so far and at random they both happened to be from Krakow. We (Ilona and I) have walked most of the city during the few days there sightseeing for the most part. The weather was sunny the day we got there and sunny again when we were leaving but for the most part it was a cloudy even lit days which occasionally carried a flurry with it. Krakow is famous though European history and by most part undamaged by WWII unlike Warsaw which was rebuilt as far as the old part of town.
I shot at random and almost as if a tourist except the fact I wasn’t too concerned about the historical significance as I was about atmosphere. Shooting while on vacation is still something new to me and combined with how I perceive photography and memories translates into somewhat still to be defined selection.
So tonight I am including two photographs. Both are from Wawel castle where kings and queens were coroneted and biggest events concerning the kingdom took. The first photograph is the outlook though an archer’s hole onto Krakow. The second photograph is a gate which on looks an open yard.

I am back from my short but wonderful vacation. I did not had much access to the internet so hence no Posts but even before I left I had very little time to prepare images for the blog.
I returned on sunday night only to go to work the next day and erupt with a significant cold/flu which resulted in a doctor visit on tuesday and another day of today. Tommorow I am back at work. I have mamnaged to develop two rolls but still scanning and the first pictures from the trip will have to go up tommrow. Short today but tommrow the blog picks up again.

I am realizing that I am in my photographs and somehow having a strong feeling that this is only the beginning. The varied subject matter becomes more organized with time and I am beginning to do things with the camera more naturally [as opposed being all technical]. I am beginning to pursue what I have been bothering all those around me which is the aim of my work. The more I give up pursuing an answer the more it becomes clear that photography is a personal tool I can record and observe where I happen to find myself.

Tonight photograph is of NJ. I took this and few others few weeks ago from the window of a train ride home. Despite the motion blur I think this best defines [until I shoot some more] the Elizabeth area (15 mile radius around Newark Airport) which is cluttered with homes among industrial parks.

No matter where you came from you can blend into the everyday life here without much interference. You can exist from anywhere on the Web and make your voice heard to those who listen and if you look thoroughly you’ll find your clique. And from there you can go into the mainstream [media] if you choose to. But Artist is a broad term. I read an editorial in the Saturday’s Wall Street Journal of Mr. Kasparov’s (The famous Chess Champion) taking on Vladimir Putin from his NYC residence. Van Morrison speaks truth of the commercial weight that art is effected by in USA but still seeks out his influence in USA. If it’s not on the East Coast then it’s on the West Coast. The politics come and go and lives get better and worse. But at the end of the day you can probably find it easiest in the States.

The photograph today is from 3 weeks ago walking by WTC site that not is under construction of the new Freedom tower. I am including the second photograph because it moved me. The coins and a rose left behind remind all that pass by here though the PATH station that some 5 years ago this was a site of total devastation. I am more amazed that 6 years ago I walked out of the WTC twin towers where the PATH station stood. Religious fanaticism is another topic but by no way should it ever be a reason to destroy a human life.

Listening to Bob Dylan tonight along Pie De Palo (2005 Viognier). My attachment to Mr. Dylan’s is in the respect for the use of the language in his lyrics. It very well might be the fact I am bilingual that my respect for his wittiness makes me re-listen his songs in admiration. In any case I do love a good use of language I can find the break from the mundane.

Tonight photograph is about power. In Mr. Dyaln’s lyrics it is the message. In the photographs included it was the feeling I want before setting out to shoot. And the model here is among the brightest I have to shoot. She is a quick learner. She actually pursues to lean about the medium. I find that fascinating.

One photograph at a time. More comming... well, tommrow.

I have been neglecting the blog too frequently lately but day job has been the biggest factor in that. Bad planning is to blame I suppose but that of management. The company grows but concerned more on profits they neglect the basic principle that what enabled that growth was the stability from the operations side. Well, it does not matter much now because by March the work load should ease somewhat.

In a week I am flying out to Poland. I’d like to focus this time around on documenting what I know I can approach with connection. My trips to Poland are very personal in the fact that if my life would have been different I would live there in a very different climate. I go back to my neighborhood on each trip there to walk the same paths I did as a boy in grammar school. Not so much is different now except maybe only the fact that I can walk the distance relatively quicker now since I have longer legs. But I remember the details. I remember the summers where wild rose bush grew near the bus depot and a piece of the sidewalk where some asphalt would give under the feet to a soft step. I remember taking those busses or walking few kilometers with my mom and sister to my Uncle’s house stopping at different stores along the way. I remember this time because I have a very vivid memory for strange moments. In some strange way I look to live them again with some success. The difference today is that I continue to learn and understand how the past can be the future with the right set of eyes and thoughts. Being a boy I had nothing by dreams with little care or understanding. Now I have a set of decisions that can alter my life completely and need to make sure ones I make will somewhat give me some stability. All has changed but that’s because life is about seeing and learning.

No photograph tonight. I do not have anything that would fit here and satisfy my thoughts tonight. I will only try to take as much photographs as possible while on the trip and that of course will depend on the situations I will be in.

Tomorrow with a post less reflective I will post something recent.

Hoga! Cheap plastic medium format camera which is known to leak light and focus where it wants to. Completely unobtrusive and unpredictable camera. It looks like a plastic toy. But for one reason or another it serves as a true tool for creativity No seriousness not heavy tweaking with the camera before a picture is taken. It has two or 3 settings and that is pretty much it.
I got mine sometime late last year. I have only shot one roll though to see where my light leaks will come in. Every Holga is unique. But the leaks can me minimized with a little patience so somewhat consistent results are possible. The 3 images included tonight are random from one roll of walking down a random street in Manhattan. After I will duck tape my Holga from the stranded light I hope to post more with greater consistency for final photographs.

Poland. I’m going on a well deserved vacation in 2 weeks. In fact this time in less then two weeks I’ll be in Warsaw unpacking or getting up on a Sunday morning. There is something about going back that makes it better each time. And more then previous times this time is much more special. The photography part will enable me to cover Warsaw and southern Poland. I am very much debating the color choice but if I will concentrate on street photography then it will all be back and white.
Traveling with film is a chore. But hopefully Frankfurt won’t be much of a problem.
Photograph tonight is from a November walk on Princeton University’s campus.

Andrea has seen hers (and she likes em!!!) and Katie just got her a voice mail this evening that the photographs are up for review. Katie has gone though each one in the past and give me feedback back on each photograph but this time I hope she chooses her favorites. When I was developing the film I was a bit concerned with the fact of shooting two rolls in the same light and space. But despite the same setting I got enough variety on the two rolls that I am now satisfied with. There are certain technical details I need to work on but hopefully that will get resolved soon.
Tonight simply about posting more photos. Day job affecting my quiet (reflection time) but even that I am trying to work out toward time for photography.

I have neglected the Blog which was on my mind over the last few days. But the reason for it was that I was busy shooing. I did two shoots this weekend. One is Night photography, and the other a soft lit sitting with a model I have the pleasure of working with over a year. So tonight to start things off I am including the first of the two. First photograph is from Saturday evening and the second is from Sunday mid day. More coming soon.

Space and Architecture. I don't find Manhattan as a pleasing city. NYC is a rough industrial buildup that signifies fast paced lifestyle. People here talk faster, they curse quicker and by far make the most money here whether commercial photography or other industries. That is why so many lie here. The flip side is the high cost of living. There is some truth to the idea that if you make it here you'll make it anywhere. But the cost of this making 'it' has a price of quick and frequent adjusting to what comes in next which is never far off. I live roughly 35 miles from NYC and its somewhat of a safe city as any suburbs offer.

I do not consider NYC a cultural center of any sort. It is by far among the most prestigious centers for art collections and performances but take away the commercial drive of the city and you have a lot of dirty and abandoned concrete street blocks. Perhaps a dark way of looking at it but money seems to be the life here. I only wished it would not be this strong of a force around here. Life here is primarily about work.

The first photograph I am including is a quick snapshot of NYC skyline from the street level. Its chaotic and scattered. There is very little below that is different. NYC as for a walking city is huge. The difference down below varies by the immigrant neighborhoods or commercial interest defined by square blocks in most part. If for example you go to Chinatown you’ll see street signs in Chinese and all one could want from China. If you go the photo district you’ll find all the photo labs within close proximity of few blocks (although that has changed much with the property values[rent] and digital services. And this continues onto the surrounding area but perhaps less organized the neat city blocks of one way streets.

The second photograph is just a mere play of the word ‘Space’ in the advertisement below and how the figures in the photograph happen to be spaced apart.
Film is Kodak Tri-x at 400 in Rodinal 1:100. The second photograph is about a half of the original frame (if not a little less) because the 80mm lens included to much of the bright building above the street. This is a large cropping but the 6x7 negative makes its size shine in photographs like these.