Edward Cheng

flashback: november 18, 2005

2008-11-18T14:17:00.002-05:00

echito, new york.

this was the first time i went to church for a service in the u.s. abroad i constantly go, really there's not much to of anything to do on sunday mornings in latin america. and i guess technically i've attended masses for weddings and christianings of friends.

i haven't been back to this church since christmas of that year though the congregants still recognize me. maybe i'll drop by some day.

not that i believe any more than i did, but i can understand why others do. what the echito project has done for me is to expand my understanding of the world, from my very own street oddly enough.

naked

2008-11-13T23:25:00.001-05:00

since the border crossing incident at niagra falls, now 14 years and change ago, i've always tried to keep my passport near me. the only a handful of times did they stray away.

today, i sent my passport on a journey without me. it is in philadelphia now getting more visa pages. i had run out of free pages earlier in the year. in bolivia, i tried to get some more but that was a entire episode of problems which involved the state department and an fbi record.

if it comes back soon, i get to go somewhere cool like egypt or vietnam and cambodia or who knows. otherwise for christmas and new years i will end up in france or tokyo. (anyone looking to travel around then?)

until it is back in my hands i feel a bit naked.

flashback: november 11, 2008

2008-11-11T23:13:00.004-05:00

milan, italy

it was our first night in milan. we were coming from florence earlier in the day. i'm not sure if we gave milan a good chance but florence is a tough act to follow.

the one thing that was great that day was going up to the roof of milan's duomo. that is spectacular. i'm going to have to trudge up one it (there it is... bad scan but an image none the less). p-91orchard mentioned something about a bon jovi song and his coworker being up on the roof.

that evening y-twokicks and p-91orchard treated me to dinner. chinese restuarant. they felt obligated to buy as it was my birthday. the food was horrible. but the company was good. y-twokicks was still trying to figure out how to be a millionaire by the age of 35. and p-91orchard was looking to change jobs.

eight years later, y-twokicks still hasn't figure out how to be a millionaire and p-91orchard was recently laid off of that same job he was trying to get out of in 2000.

for dinner i eat alone in the darkroom street meat. chicken and rice halal. i've never made a big deal of surviving another year. just every evening i strive to live a little the next day.

crunch time

2008-11-10T11:15:00.002-05:00

spent most of the weekend reprinting images to match up with the rest of the set. i figure i have to hang everything the friday after thanksgiving. so i have so much to do before that.

make postcards

flatten prints

spot prints

bleach out back prints

buy dry mount tissue

figure out how to use dry mount tissue

work out an opening reception

figure out how to hang the work

call up and see one last time if i can tape stuff to the walls

this is all a bit overwhelming

i'm back

2008-11-04T22:55:00.000-05:00

most of yesterday i joked to my hostel mates that
photography and day of the dead are only a cover for
what i was really doing in mexico. tacos and
latin pop music videos.

now that world is over.

i had a good time. i'm not sure if i got as good
of images as last year. it was very comfortable,
but no means relaxing. i think i only got one normal
evening of sleep during the week.

will i go back next year, *shrug*. i might be more
apt to head towards patzcuaro, where i spent day
of the dead in 2003.

on a more local note.

too bad there is no red or blue on the my black
and white tv because i'm trying to figure out
what's going on. virginia just announced. yippee.

again

2008-11-02T15:10:00.000-05:00

like a groundhogs day scene. this morning, like last year
i got up at 5 in the morning to head for the cemetary for
the last day of the dia de los muertos festival. i think
i took relatively the same pictures as last year, only more
of them.

but the big difference is this year i got to drop off a
slew of pictures to people from the previous. and the people
were really grateful, really don
't get a chance to do this too often outside of new york.
(pretty much at all) so it was nice.

in an hour or so head to the cemetary again. along the way
i should pick up something to eat. this is especially difficult
as alvaro is closed today and i don't know what to do.

this cant be good

2008-11-01T06:33:00.000-04:00

the clock on the hostel computer says 4.30am. an d i
have two more days of this. maybe i should get some sleep
before i dehydatemyself completey.

oaxaca day one

2008-10-30T00:52:00.001-04:00

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

2008-10-28T17:54:00.003-04:00

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?

2008-10-27T23:59:00.001-04:00

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

2008-10-24T11:16:00.002-04:00

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

2008-10-23T17:16:00.003-04:00

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

2008-10-19T21:14:00.001-04:00

.. 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

2008-10-18T21:19:00.000-04:00

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

2008-10-15T16:48:00.002-04:00

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

2008-10-14T15:41:00.003-04:00

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

2008-10-09T16:09:00.002-04:00

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

2008-10-07T18:00:00.003-04:00

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

2008-10-02T18:20:00.002-04:00

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.

flashback: sept 30, 1999

2008-09-30T14:58:00.003-04:00

nine years ago i got a pair of these emails from e-wedontseeanymorebecausehesinjerseywithtwokids.

Hey guys, just ran into this site... looks like a cool way to set up our next group gathering... the way it works is the event info gets posted on a personalized page..., and you can RSVP throught the page, see who's attending, etc... looks pretty cool... looks like it was tailor made for our little group...

you know what? I just realized I forgot to pass on the site.. it's www.evite.com whoops. =)

evite's come along way. now there are no more phone calls and evite has become the defacto way of getting people together. there are a few jokers who will accept or decline with 50 guests and sometime people forget to update locations. but all in all it works out remarkably ok.

a few months ago, j and l-inthesign got threatened with "we better not get evites as your wedding invitations." which might have happened without the warning.

this morning, i got the three baby birthday party in a small apartment evite which i promptly replied "too many kids potentially involved." chances are e-wedontseeanymorebecausehesinjerseywithtwokids will drop by with his two kids.

the hills are alive

2008-09-27T13:23:00.004-04:00

so i'm walking home from the darkroom last night. every once and a while i stop by virgin megastore for a little break and a short musical education. and they had a 35% off sale on country, world, jazz reggae cds. i quickly asked them "is latin, world music?" they said yes and i went to town.

i'm probably the last person alive still buying cds. in fact virgins racks are pretty empty and it looks like after this sale they might do quite a bit of remodeling.

why do i still buy cds? i like something tangible. i also don't have a high speed internet connection so it makes it hard to download anything illegally or legally for that matter.

i traveled with a swedish singer though bolivia. she still buys cds as well. she's in the business and knows how much effort goes into making those little coasters. so maybe i'm not the only one.

what did i get?

two chambao albums; saoud massi's deb; a really old willie nelson (which i've been meaning to own), the live julieta venegas album; a mc solaar album; and a nusrat fateh ali khan.

as many of you go "huh", hopefully some of you will be, wow that's all old stuff

i like to think you killed a man, its the romantic in me.

2008-09-26T15:50:00.003-04:00

so last night around 2am i was hypnotized by pbs when casablanca came one. casablanca is one of the movies that always sucks me in. it's a great movie, but by far not perfect the medium shots leave something to be desired, there's no amazing cuts, but the story is always captivating and the dialogue is catchy.

the odd part of this viewing is it was the second time i watched it last night, just before charlie rose and tavis smiley they aired it and i watched it then as well.

two weeks ago, i watched it yet another time so it's not as if i had not watched it recently either.

flashback: sept 23, 2006

2008-09-23T17:34:00.002-04:00

tanah rata, cameron highlands, malaysia.

between golf course, strawberry fields, a town and jungle are the cameron highlands. the thing i remember most was that day was wet. i started off telling the hostel what routes i was going to take. it's the responsible thing to do when hiking alone. i had gotten very lucky in that i just made it to the buddhist temple five minutes before the skies opened up. and boy did they open up.

in the temple i befriend a family on pilgrimage. they invited me to join them in a ceremony the next morning. unfortunately it started well before sunrise and had now way of getting there. if this was the 2008 me i would have found a way. we were stuck there together for a good two hours as the rains came down flooding the tiled courtyard.

going home i stopped through the local towns picking off street food and strawberries -- of which the region is famous for.

excited

2008-09-22T19:08:00.003-04:00

i usually don't get too excited about camera equipment. even though i have so much of it. i've always figured that most visions can be tunneled through any variety of lens and camera bodies.

the most recent crop of camera coming out of photokina, annual german camera show, has peeked my interest.

maybe by the end of the year i'll get myself a canon 5d mkii and a 28mm lens. i'll probably need to couple that with a new computer.

i've been thinking more an more of "going digital" recently there are so many shorter term projects i want to work on but just don't want to spend the effort in processing them with the rest of my film batches. mostly chinatown related stuff, subway musicians and what not.

but that being said i'm off to the labs to slam away at a few more tanks of chemistry.

in between time

2008-09-20T02:31:00.003-04:00

its 2:50 in the morning. and i figure i have to get up in about 4 hours or so to get ready for l and j-inthesign wedding. but globe trekkers is on and i have a pile of contact sheets to go through from bolvia.

going through i probably shouldn't have made so many shots of the festival. so many of the same parade shot. couple winners i hope -- though lately i've been thinking what am i going to do with the ever growing pile of negatives.

after that i have to conjure up a quick costume of a mythical beast for a random party that i may crash after the wedding on eldridge, if i don't crash first.

i probably should get some sleep...