street photography
The Last You’ll Hear From Me… for a little while…
I am taking a break….
Packing my belongings…..
Saying goodbye to Lou…
And heading to the airport…
I will be hiking up Mt Rainier and then kayaking around Lopez Island, in Washington State, for the next week, with all my relatives, as we celebrate my grandparents’ (not pictured above) 65th wedding anniversary. I can’t wait.
Commuting…
For the past month, I have been driving back and forth, and back and forth, from the country to the city for this office project I am working on.
And because I often work with MALT (the Marin Agricultural Land Trust,) and they love to have photos of green hills for their annual reports… I have been trying to take the back-roads home, which has been nice because not only do I get to avoid the traffic, but I also get to build my 2009 library of green hill photos.
Here is my next installation of parallels between the two worlds that are not so far apart.
City Hall…
I am currently working on a fun project with a group of researchers, and we are exploring different businesses in the Bay Area, in order to learn what would bring businesses back to the city instead of sprawling out in the suburbs.
So… so far I have mostly photographed interviews, which means I have lots of photographs of blackberries, fancy shoes and close-ups of hands that are frozen in the air as they help emphasize the brain’s important message. But, between the scheduled interviews, I have also been experimenting with my least favorite kind of photography… street photography.
It’s not that I don’t like street photographs taken by other photographers, because I do, I just don’t like doing it myself. It makes me feel like a creepy stalker when I try and take photos of people without them noticing. But so far it has been easier in SF than my last attempts, in London. Here are some of my impressions of City Hall… more favorite street photos to come.
Favorite Philly Moments…
Thanks Craig and Andy for a great visit.
the summer begins
Ok….so all the papers are finished and I have left London and am gearing up to start my photo-intensive summer.
My first stop was Philadelphia, well after NY it was Philly, then back to NY, then back to Philly and now I am in Greenville, SC, well Reidville, SC….but that is hard for me to remember as there is not a whole lot to remember, at first glance.
NY was insane…but it felt nice to be able to take photos without feeling like a paparazzi stalker. People are way more laid back about being photographed here and it is very refreshing. But I have to say I think NY is a litle too much for me; Philly is much more my speed.
It was nice to practice and to have fun with my camera again (well Matteo Borzone’s camera, thanks Matteo.) The only thing is that I am still longing for the 6×6 format and I almost bought a Mamiya 6 in the ridiculously busy and huge B&H store in NY (from now on I will stick with ordering from the website although Chris in the used department was very knowledgeable and helpful). The camera was in my hands and my credit card was out, but when Chris went to ring it up he realized it was already sold. I was disappointed but the good news is that I saved $1,300 and after more time using Matteo’s 6×4.5, I realized that I would prefer a camera with a waist level view finder option, so I am searching for a Rollei instead.
So back to the adventure….I found some great communities in Philly and I hope to spend more time there photographing at some point in my life. Maybe post-London…we’ll see. Here are some photos…..
This is the penny man from Philadelphia. He custom makes outfits for people and enjoys rescuing injured wild animals, rehabilitating them and then releasing them back in the wild. He usually charges people to take his photo but on the fourth of July it’s free.
Happy Fourth of July in the birth place of our Nation. To celebrate you can get your face painted…..
or you can pay $5 to have your picture taken while holding a big yellow snake, that travels in a suitcase….
or you can hold a wooden gun for free and pretend you are in the Revolutionary Army….
or you can kick back, relax and wait for the parade to start like Albert.
Whatever you do, just make sure you do it with style like Philadelphia’s local celebrity “The Boo.”
somewhere between a handshake and two kisses 
