Collage Created in Picasa

 

Pictures from Matt

2 pictures
View Album at Shutterfly

Old Ways Left to the Elements

Fast forward 50 years--the year: 2049. The place: Pioneertown, CA. Instead of seeing this old typewriter, which sits among other relics in Pioneertown, CA, you'll see the type of laptop I'm working on right now, the MacBook Pro.

I'm wondering what my laptop will look like in 50 years. Will it sit outside for passersby to recall a past era? Will Pioneertown still be there? Will there still be an Apple Computer Company?

L. C. Smith, the company that offered this once-shiny black typewriter has been long gone. This company, run by the Smith brothers, started out making guns. In 1893, they started making typewriters and went on to be very successful.

This typewriter (above) was probably made in a factory in Syracuse, N.Y. around the turn of the last century.

Just over 100 years later, typewriters are no longer made. The only ones left end up either at museums, thrift stores or out in the wild, like this one.

Tell me, please, have you ever typed on a typewriter?

Bag-on-Head

Is this a Caribbean thing, or what? Balancing a bag full of goodies on top of your head is no easy chore, especially when you're carrying other things with both your arms.

I dare anyone on the Internet to try this trick. Go ahead and see how far you can walk with a bag on your head.

I snapped this image quickly when my camera was set at f/5. It has some softness in it as well as some white out, which disappoints me.

I have delusions of grandeur with every photo I take. I close my eyes and see it on the wall of some New York museum or gallery.

This photo won't make it though. I had to move so quickly to catch these women (they were walking at a very brisk pace) that my camera shook because of both the hot, humid weather and my heart pounding running after them.

Musing about Margaret

It seems that Margaret Cho has taken to the guitar. She's workin' on records and writin' songs. You can hear her singin' here. While I'm not a critic of guitar playin' singers, I do have a bit to say about Margaret's singin'. It's only so-so. She seems a bit out-of-tune.
I was thinkin' that maybe she should stick to comedy.

I can remember seeing Margaret decades ago running around her parent's store on Polk Street in San Francisco. At the time the neighborhood was a spicy mixture of gays and Asians. Too bad today, it's one of the most run down neighborhoods of the city.

As for the pic above, I shot that when I was attending a screening of the television pilot of Sordid Lives at the San Francisco Gay and Lesbian Film Festival. I had been shooting around the city for my book, "50 Greatest Photo Opportunities in San Francisco." You see, I was in line with my big ass camera. A friend of mine had volunteered for the festival and knew everyone who was working there. A photographer was supposed to film Margaret on the red carpet. Well, the photographer didn't show up. My friend had told the head honcho that I was a photographer. I got pulled from the line and immediately started shooting. The fun part is that I got to go backstage and shoot the whole cast of the television series.

Okay, so shooting that wasn't like shooting at the Academy Awards, but it sure was fun.