A few weeks ago, I got it into my head to try some street photography. Turns out I'm phenomenally bad at it. But what the hell, I'll never get better if I never try it, right?

I've also learned that it's much much easier to do this sort of thing in a city. In the 'burbs, there are so few pedestrians that we are shocked to encounter each other, and we all just stare suspiciously at each other (ESPECIALLY if that other person is pointing a camera at us), which doesn't ever make for a good photo. In a city, if you see someone with a camera, they're probably taking pictures of the city, and it's totally normal, and you ignore them and don't worry too much about it.

Anyway. I'm putting this up for Photoblog Challenges' "Black and White Cityscape."


Date: January 31, 2012
Where/What: Manhattan, looking over the Hudson River to Jersey City
Camera: Fuji S700
Shutter: 1/400
Aperture: f/13.6
ISO: 400
Listening to: "Rhubarb Pie," by Five Iron Frenzy
Thankful for: Being able to run again!

So it turns out I'm not very good at this whole updating thing.

I haven't really posted much 'cos I haven't really photographed much. I don't usually have the time (well, I have the time to shoot, but I don't have the time to edit) or inclination to go out photographing. Plus--I have to stuff my backpack into lockers more often than I'd like, and I'm always afraid the camera's gonna break when I do that, so I've stopped carrying my camera around with me.

So.

I've got some old photos (like this one). Maybe you haven't seen some of 'em, or maybe it's been a while since you've seen 'em. But do enjoy. :)



Date: September 2007
Where/What: my feet in dancin' shoes! I used to dance; did you know that? I was never very good--I've always always always had weak quads and tight hamstrings--but it was fun. :)
Camera: Fuji S700
Shutter: 10/17
Aperture: f 3.5
ISO: 100

Listening to: Everyone Else Has Had More Sex Than Me (TISM)
Thankful for: A bedroom that's finally sort of almost organized!

This clock, which lives in my parents' house in New Jersey, has been nonfunctional for as long as I can remember. Once, when I was small, I tried to cajole this clock into working by pushing its hands around the face. It actually ticked for a few hours. But I think that's why the minute hand is bent at a strange angle.



Date: September 2007
Where/What: a clock.
Camera: Fuji S700
Shutter: 1/3
Aperture: f 6.3
ISO: 100

Listening to: Summer Song (Dave Brubeck, sung by Louis Armstrong)
Thankful for: Sleep. And pretending I have the time to make this post.

MY TRIP TO CHICAGO!!!
an essay by Josy
(age 8)

Last April, I went to Chicago, Illinois. It was a lot like New York City except the subways are way above the ground instead of underground. When I rode those subways, I could look in people's windows on the second floor of buildings! I wonder if they minded.

My favorite part though was the Bean. The Chicago Bean (also known as "Cloud Gate") is a really, really, big, famous, shiny, metal bean. I don't know why they decided Chicago needed a giant metal bean, but if you go to Millenium Park, you can see it.

A lot of people took pictures of their reflections in the Bean, so I did too. It was fun! I hope to visit Chicago again soon.



Date: April 2008
Where/What: Millenium Park, Cloud Gate/ Chicago Bean
Camera: Fuji S700
ISO: 200

Listening to: Sell Out (Reel Big Fish)
Thankful for: nerves. otherwise life would be pretty senseless.

My parents keep finding this blog through search engines. Mom, just bookmark the page. If you don't know how to bookmark a page, call me and I'll walk you through it.

On a note more related to this image (a NOTE! like a MUSIC note! get it?!), I found a Chicago community band that rehearses in Chicago (as opposed to the 6 "Chicago bands" I found that rehearse in the suburbs, which is no good if you don't have a car)! I went to the first rehearsal of the season on Sunday. Fun times! We're playing some good, challenging pieces--a close-to-original arrangement of the 1812 Overture, Mars (Bringer of War), Colonel Bogey--well, that one's not challenging, but it is fun--and others.

Woohoo! I don't have to totally give up trombone for two years!



Date: July 2007
Where/What: Bucks Mill Park, Colts Neck, NJ; members of the Colts Neck Community Band
Camera: Fuji S700
Shutter: 1/85
Aperture: f 3.5
ISO: 800

Listening to: She's Actual Size (They Might Be Giants)
Thankful for: being in a dissection group of people who are just as slow as I am.

A few months ago, I was going through my old film negatives, and I came across this self-portrait that I didn't remember taking. I found it kind of fascinating--mostly because it's so different than anything else I normally produce--and I have left it in negative form for your enjoyment and mine.

...Well, mine, mostly.

On an unrelated note: what a depressingly soggy day it is today!

On another unrelated note: Google Picasa has just been overhauled, and it is now even more difficult to navigate. Thanks, Google.



Date: July 2007
Where/What: self-portrait in NJ
Camera: Canon Rebel 2000
Film: T-Max 400

Listening to: Dance of the Lame Duck (Casa Loma)
Thankful for: fedoras

When I took that photo class last summer, one of the assignments was "people/portraits." Because it was a summer session, I had about a week to shoot two rolls of film. Of people.

I am not a people person.

But you can get kind of chummy with people once you've shared a darkroom with them. When I saw this fellow student outside, reading, waiting for her mom to pick her up, I up and asked if I could take her photo. We were all pretty uncomfortable with the people/portraits assignment, so I think she understood. And didn't think I was creepy. I hope.

On the other hand, I think my creepiness points just doubled for posting her portrait on the internet without her permission. (If you are the subject of this portrait, and you see this, lemme know, and I'll hide your image so no one can see it.)



Date: July 2007
Where/What: outside the CVA at Brookdale Community College
Camera: Canon Rebel 2000
Film: T-Max 400

Listening to: Low Rider (War)
Thankful for: not having been in a major accident (YET)

In order to get into the physical positions you sometimes need to get into to capture the photograph you're after, you sometimes need to take a deep breath and remember that you're a serious photographer. If you make a total ass of yourself while trying to get this shot, that sort of humiliation just comes with the territory. (Well, I need to reassure myself, anyway. At least, I did when I climbed under this bridge and balanced precariously and awkwardly to take this photo.)

Pretending to be a semi-serious photographer in a world of enthusiastic amateurs (while waving around a highly amateur camera and trying to ignore the fact that my own status is "enthusiastic amateur" at best) is a tricky business.

It's funny. Last year, when I bought my Fuji S700, part of the reason I bought it was for its snazzy looks... so that people would look at my gear and not automatically say, "What kind of a loser tries to take serious artistic photos with THAT kind of a camera?" This year, while I still think the Fuji S700 is one of the best-looking point-and-shoots out there (and I still love the fact that its 10x optical zoom is internal), there's no denying that EVERYONE and his dog has a digital camera. And uses it to take attempts at artsy photos. I see people with pretty fancy cameras--DSLRs, lens hoods, the whole deal--and I think to myself, "Huh. I'll bet they're an AMATEUR. Pfft." (Which is of course ridiculous because I myself am as amateur as they come.) It's not until I see huge 100-mm lenses that I start believing the photographer might be a professional.

But even professionals are using point-and-shoots now. A journalist for the Asbury Park Press came to one of my band rehearsals to take some photos of the group; she was using either a Fuji S700 or its Canon or Olympus or other brand equivalent. Whatever it was, it was not a DSLR. And those photos made it into the weekly version of the paper and onto the website.

I'm not sure what it just goes to show you, but I'll bet it's something important.



Date: April 2008
Where/What: bridge over Spring Lake's lake
Camera: Fuji S700
Shutter: 1/50
Aperture: f 3.5
ISO: 200

Listening to: It Only Takes a Moment (Hello Dolly)
Thankful for: dachshunds

Money doesn't grow on trees. But sometimes spatulas do.




Date: July 2007
Camera: Canon Rebel 2000
Film: T-Max 400

Listening to: Song Sung Blue (Neil Diamond)
Thankful for: the rain!

(This is not real food.)


(This is also an inverted photograph of a negative, because I have no scanner; as with all of my 35mm shots, the quality of the image you see here is imperfect [and not as good as the original]... but hey, if you wanted PERFECT QUALITY, you wouldn't be reading THIS photoblog, would you? ;) )



Date: July 2007
Where/What: a concept
Camera: Canon Rebel 2000
Film: T-Max 400

Listening to: Bye Bye Blackbird (Nina Simone)
Thankful for: Loc-Tite. Who invented that stuff?

Making this photo freaked me the hell out. I had to put my camera on a low tripod, kneel on the kitchen floor in almost pitch-darkness, try to focus on my hand in almost pitch-darkness, light a match (in almost pitch-darkness), quickly frame the shot (in the tiny dark viewfinder--this was a film camera), hurriedly hit the shutter with my non-dominant hand while being very sure to keep a dish of water underneath the match for safety purposes, hold my hand very still for 2 or 5 seconds (while FREAKING OUT that the match was going to BURN ME), and frantically extinguish the match the second I heard the shutter re-click.

I had to go through this process multiple times for multiple shutter speeds.

Sadly, it did not help me conquer my fear of fire.



Date: July 2007
Where/What: me & a match
Camera: Canon Rebel 2000
Film: Tri-X 400

Listening to: Light my Fire (the Doors)
Thankful for: not setting the house on fire during the making of this photograph

This stupid contraption is why I rarely get to bed before 2AM--even though I fall asleep around midnight. I'm looking forward to not having a TV next year.

...okay, honestly, not wanting to move the cute little dog that's fallen asleep on my lap is the REAL reason I don't get to bed before 2AM. But it's easier to blame TV.



Date: July 2007
Where/What: watchin' television
Camera: Fuji S700
Shutter: 2 sec.
Aperture: f 6.3
ISO: 100

Listening to: Money for Nothing (Dire Straits)
Thankful for: having the time to watch this stupid contraption (tho' I wish I spent that time more wisely)

35mm fun.

Side note: Crayola washable markers don't wash off as easily as you'd think.



Date: August 2007
Where/What: Photograph I people/portraits assignment
Camera: Canon Rebel 2000
Film: Kodak T-Max 400

Listening to: Model (Balanescu Quartet cover of the Kraftwerk original)
Thankful for: family (...sometimes)

I went to the MoMA (Museum of Modern Art) in April. To my delight, there was a little observation bridge on the eighth floor that allowed visitors to peer over the edge and watch everyone else hanging out in the commons area below.

(I AM NOT A PERVERT. But I do like peoplewatching-- don't you?)



Date: April 2008
Where/What: the MoMA, NYC
Camera: Fuji S700
Shutter: 1/50
Aperture: f 3.5
ISO: 200

Listening to: You Will Go to the Moon (Moxy Früvous)
Thankful for: the temporary 6-cent drop in gas prices

Ahhhhhhhhh. Aaaaaaaaah? I've never quite figured out which spelling is a sigh of contentment and which one is screaming for mercy. But the lazy barefoot days of summer are sure worth a sigh of contentment, however it may be spelled.

Incidentally, I had to climb a tree barefoot with two cameras over my shoulder to take this photo. THAT was a trick, lemme tell ya.



Date: July 2007
Where/What: Photography I assignment
Camera: Fuji S700
Shutter: 1/280
Aperture: f 4.5
ISO: 100

Listening to: In the Summertime (Mungo Jerry)
Thankful for: traffic that moves, no matter how far under the speed limit it is

Me, a mini Mag-lite, a film SLR, and a tripod. And mosquitos. But you can't see those here.



Date: August 2007
Where/What: people/portraits assignment
Camera: Canon Rebel 2000
Shutter: 15 seconds
Film: T-Max 400

Listening to: Carry On Wayward Son (Kansas)
Thankful for: the resiliency of hermit crabs

Original plan: "Ceci n'est pas un nez"

Unfortunately, that would've created all kinds of conundrums--after all, even though it wouldn't be a nose from YOUR perspective (as it would instead be a PHOTOGRAPH of a nose), it would be a total lie on my end, as the words would be WRITTEN ACROSS MY ACTUAL FACE.

So I went with Plan B NOT because my writing implement was TOO DAMN BIG but rather because I wanted to spare you from such a metaphysical dilemma.



Date: June 2008
Where/What: no comment. c'mon, guys.
Camera: Fuji S700
Shutter: 1/160
Aperture: f 6.8
ISO: 100

I'm submitting this for Shutterday: Flat even though I'll probably submit it again in the future for another meme or two.

This kind of made me chuckle-snort the first time I saw it, but I'm pretty sure it was just some dumb high-schoolers trying to be clever. The paint has mostly worn off now (a year later).



Date: May 2007
Where/What: It's graffiti, you nitwit.
(In Joe Palaia Park [formerly Deal Test Site], Ocean Township, NJ.)
Camera: Nikon E3200
Shutter: 10/1967
Aperture: f 2.8
ISO: 50