oaxaca day one

didnt really do much. just walked around and reaquanted
myself with the town. remet the people working at this
hostel -- same place i stayed last year.

there was a small procession, following that i bumped
into a photographer whom i met in sicily. it's a small
world.

e-bazan who i met here last year has a book signing at
the m bravo center. i'll probably drop by and say hi.

flashback: october 28, 2007

oaxaca -> tlacolula -> mitla -> tlacolula -> santa maria de tule -> oaxaca

went around the small towns throughout the oaxacan valley. it was market day in tlacolula. it was good research for my return in three days later during day of the dead. getting to know the layout of everything.

in 12 hours i'll be on a plane heading for oaxaca again, hopefully everything i learned last year will make this years pictures better. we'll see.

does anyone really know what time it is?

my timing has been off all day and i wasn't sure why, until now. my server's time is off by an hour and i often use it to check my time during work.

now why was my server off. daylight savings time. i do quite a bit of research about trivia and to this day i still have yet to find a legitiamite reason for it.

my favorite quote was from indiana senator's reason why they didn't follow days light savings "why should we change our clocks, the cows and chickens still get up at the same time." unfortunately indiana has since adopted daylight savings.

why is there daylight savings time?

most americans attribute it to benjamin franklin. on a trip to france he noticed that the french got up earlier and slept earlier thereby awake during more daylight hours. but his proposal was for everyone to get up early, all the time.

the fact of the matter is daylight savings is from william willet, golfer who wanted to squeeze in an extra round of after work golf towards dusk in the summer time.

some attribute daylight savings with saving energy. does it? probably not. recent convert, indiana found that energy use went up 1-4% during the summer hours since they adapted it in 2006.

but why is my server off an hour?

before 2007, daylight savings in the states would occur on the last sunday of october. now it happens on the first sunday of november. that is next weekend (boy will the new york marathoners be confused). bush ushered in this change last year. it would be nice to match up with the european daylight savings calendar, but it doesn't.

the fact of the matter is my server is an hour off because i never patched it to adjust for the new daylight savings calendar.

the odd bit of trivia from this year and time is venezuela just moved their time zone 15 minutes ahead just to mess with everyone else. ah, chavez.

and so this is christmas

So this is Christmas
And what have you done
Another year over
And a new one just begun

last year for christmas and new years, i went to turkey. the year before australia and new zealand. in 2005-2006 it was guatemala; in 2004-2005 it was tahoe. maybe i'll try to get 24 different timezones to start off the new years in the coming years -- it is starting to seem like that.

traveling around christmas is horrible. the prices are way way up. things have to get prebooked on the actual christmas and new years day shops and sights are never opened. so why do i do it?

this year, again. i've been 'asked' to take a break from from dec. 14th to jan 5th ish. for budgetary reasons. so if i'm not getting paid i might as well hit the road.

now, where to go...

new scanner

just a test of a new scanner i got. it's hard to get used to the new palette of colors for my black and white prints, they feel slightly harsher and more contrasty

but 600dpi and usb2... yippee. it may not seem like much, but it's alot to me.

e-fohi, if you want your 10 year old scanner back, take it.

oh, everyone else's kids from that same birthday party oct 12th. http://www.ewah.com/i/gallery/l/08q4xx_blog/08q4xx_blog.081012_cs

Year Three cont'd

.. a day later.
everyone had their own ideas of what should be included and
what shouldn't be. each making their valid point, i'm not sure
what to do. they did help me point out two more to add
to the set. it's up to 17 images now. i'm thinking i
need to cut back a few.

today another two rolls. the shooting continues.
i have to work on getting indoors.

Year Three

today starts the third year i've been shooting eldridge street.
so far i took two rolls of film, probably some more before i
make it home. i spent most of the day going through the work
prints of the past three years. i was reflecting a bit, but
mostly editing my work for my show.

i asked some people to help me ...
brb

death and taxes

not necessarily in that order of course.

this morning i finally mailed my tax forms to the state and federal government. i get a six month extension to finally file on the last day. but, i'm getting a refund! pains me to think if i just got my butt moving months ago i would have already had that money.

on the flip side i probably would have put that money into the stock market.

on the flip side of the flip side, when i do get the check i will probably put that money into the stock market. i still want to believe in the system of greed.

flashback: october 14, 1998

pigeon forge, tennessee

to tennessee and back would be my first, and last non ski related road trip. i went with G-thefamilyc and s-gelston, i've known them since first grade and kindergarten respectively.

we arrive in pigeon forge around three pm. pigeon forge seems in memory to be a just mini golf and go kart courses. the following day would be our dollywood disappointment.

ten years have gone by and we still stay in touch. i met up with them (and a slew of others) this past weekend. G-thefamilyc and s-gelston are married with children, but life isn't that different for me.

oaxaca

ok, just booked tickets to go back to oaxaca. back to back years. i figured it is a good time since dias de los muertos falls on a weekend this year. oddly enough, i will probably do exactly the same thing i did last october so i can drop off prints. besides that i might have to endure boston winning another world series down there and eat some crickets. secretly, i am going down there to eat meals at taqueria alvarez.

flashback: october 7, 2007

echito, last year. i had just gotten an old vintage 6x9 camera off of ebay and was in the first week of playing with it. it became apparent quickly that there was a light leak in it. it's not so obvious in the picture above but it's definitely there. i spent the better part of the next few months trying to figure out where it was. but i can't so i'm trying to sell it now, among other things.

minolta cle w/ 40/2 -- $700
leica m-mount with auto exposure

mamiya 645e w/ 80/2.8 -- $350
w/ rapid winder

mamiya 105-210/4.5 for 645 -- $300
w/ 2x teleconvertor
bought it part of a bigger kit, unused by me. 
i'm willing to deal if you pick this up w/ the 645e

mamiya polaroid back -- $25
for 645 super/pro/pro tl

mamiya 6x9 -- $300
as is! as is! as is! as is! as is! as is! as is! as is! as is! 
includes
65/5.6 + finder
100/3.5 
two 6x9 backs
left hand grip, plastic shattered duct tape patched
columns for the back tilt and shift are broken
light leak, presumably from darkslide on the back, but unsure.
on the flip side
range finder retuned and lens recently overhauled by nippon photo clinic.

olympus om-1 w/ 50/1.4 -- $125

olympus om-10 w/ 75-150/4 - $100
w/ 2x teleconvertor

olympus 28/2 om mount -- $150
multicoat wearing away, rubber focus ring fallen off.

sunset

080826, San Juan, circa Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia by ewah

it may not seem like much of an image, but this was one of the best moments on the bolivia trip. the air was crisp. the sun was setting the sky was this amazing shade of blue. the round was the burnt redish color and everytime the kids ran around or the ball was squibed around a cloud of white dust would follow them.

i ran up and down the field with them. sometimes i would help on an offsides call, but it was all for fun. ever break in the action i would put my hands on my knees and gasp for air. it was 4500m up.