agrigento, italy
so, it’s a few days after the chinese new year shooting season. and my desk is a mess. i keep pulling out more and more gear and just leaving it out there.
what’s out there? the highlights
mamiya 645 super
sekor 80mm f/2.8 lens
sekor 45mm f/2.8 lens
olympus om-4ti
zuiko 21mm f/2 lens
zuiko 28mm f/2 lens
ricoh gr1
leica m6ttl
summicron 28mm f/2 lens
summilux 35mm f/1.4 lens
summicron 50mm f/2 lens
nikon sb-28 flash
mamiya press
90mm f/3.5 lens
65mm f/6.3 lens
roland r-09 audio recorder
sennheiser mke 400 microphone
olympus stylus epic
sekonic l-358 lightmeter
sekonic l-208 lightmeter
that’s alot of gear, a week ago there was a canon 5d there too. in addition there are cleaning kits, rechargable batteries, card readers, sharpies, am/fm radios and loose film.
i need to clean up, start packing up for colombia.
that is the rough translation (有頭有尾) of the initiation ceremony that smantis does every year to it’s rookie members.
what actually happens is the rookie stands in the horse position across two chairs spread apart eating at a chicken head and chicken butt in a ’special’ sauce prepared by j-smantis.
maybe that is why i don’t own a smantis jacket or sweatshirt.
yestereday sifu-smantis called me up to cover the event, as well as their street performance and lion dance walk around chinatown. it would have been nice to get more than one days notice, but i would have done it anyway.
i spent most of the major shooting period trying to balance my flash to a canon 5d i had borrowed.
In contrast to the broker’s statement that this building (139 Eldridge Street) is “safe and clean,” there have been several burglaries during the past year. Two suspects, currently charged with the last burglary, told the NYPD that thieves are targeting the building. However, the landlord has not made any security improvements, while tenants’ lives are put at risk. The landlord also has violations with the NYC Department of Buildings and Department of Housing Preservation and Development for improperly disposing of trash by throwing it in piles on the floor of the lobby or courtyard, which has attracted rats. No reasonable individual would consider this building either safe or clean.
found on craigslist, and true.
i was two weeks into my central america trip and still in panama. i needed to make my way further north to meet up with a-2bits in nicaragua in a few week. this is was the day i stepped back into costa rica.
this would be the first time i would revisit a country. since, i’ve been back to seven others — mexico, guatemala, ireland, uk, france, italy and spain. mexico i’ve had the pleasure of going back to five times now. i figure i’ve seen more countries the second time around than most people in the world will ever see — i consider myself very lucky.
later this year i go back to ecuador for a week after my semana santa in colombia. i’ve already told d-quito that the galapagos islands were a regret not to goto the first time and i might not make it this time around. she said i should find a way. when i get back from that trip i pretty much immediately to munich, another repeat city.
more on costa rica next week
same routine, pretty much. it’s been pretty much set for the past ten years with a few variations.
wake up . take the train in to chinatown. photograph the temple on eldridge for few hours. eat something downstairs. run home swap cameras. head into chinatown and photograph he unicorns. scamper back home swap bags. and head into brooklyn, late for dinner. finish dinner and become bored to tears.
this year i got to pick some transit checks from g-thefamilyc, have a cup of coffee with a bunch of photographers and watch reruns of robotech on hulu.
i can’t wait for next year — same bat channel; same bat time.
i get an email from google last week. it would be stopping ftp service for blogger. so it’s time to go back to hosting something myself.
i’ve spent a little time getting to know this and redesigned some of the styles and internal code workings but much still needs to be done.
Okay, campers, rise and shine, and don’t forget your
booties ’cause it’s cooooold out there today.
groundhog’s day, one of my favorite movies.
the basic premise is… if you were stuck in eternity how long
would it take you to transcend it.
today isn’t one of those days i want to repeat. wake up drop
by my cafe to have a cup of coffee and a muffin. rant about the
10 best movie oscar nominations. go to work, trudge a away for
hours. eat lunch, mexican again. go back to work. head to
icp to pickup prints from sunday. go into the office to work again.
if i woke up to tuesday again. i’d like to be more efficient.
the date on the calendar may not be the same, but my life has
gone into a cyclic mode. really, quite sad, especially with
everything i try to do.
the winter months are the hardest. from christmas to
easter i don’t go far. i always stay in the city for chinese
new years. in past years, i would go skiing. between
it getting too expensive, most my friends are burdened with
kids and i’m liable to break something major, i probably won’t
make it to the slopes this year.
so the only thing to do is to look forward. i just booked
my airfare to colombia/ecuador for this years holy week — mar
20th – apr 19th. i still need to book some housing (anyone
want to put me up?).
btw: this hardly serves as a flashback.