Dateline: J-town 6.30

So after the spectacular fisherman episode, I raced out to the creepy north end of the island the next night after work (around 11.30) to shoot a bus shelter under a pool of streetlight. Seemed like with a little jacklighting it would totally fit the bill.

Now for those of you who haven't been here, the north end of Jamestown (or Conanicut Island as it's officially known) is prime Blair Witch real estate. Twisty trees in shadowy forests with eyeballs glaring out from the underbrush (OK, so no eyeballs, that I saw. But there coulda been...) Dirt road, potholes and dark, dark, dark...

Passed through a herd of deer and pulled off the side of the road to see what I could shoot. Unfortunately, I inadvertently punched the display button and had to do everything through the viewfinder. Not exactly what I wanted, but evocative of midnight with a low tire on the side of the road in a spooky thicket... To make a long story short, nothing, NOTHING, happened with the bus shelter. Drives me nuts to think of it to this day (4 days later...) Someday I gonna get arrested for slinking aorund after curfew, standing in the middle of the road with my camera cocked and locked flashing innocent buildings, etc...

Eureka! What if I crept around on a nocturnal Jamestown wildlife safari? My skin tingles...

Last night's shoot was better, but not breathtaking...

Our trip to Cambridge was swell. Watched a modern Norwegian New Wave style film. Quell esoteric! Kinda boring (but then, that's the nature of New Wave and Norwegians so it was a guaranteed snoozer- triple ZZZ...)) but at least it gave us somehthing to think about...

Last PM we watched a documentary on HBO about high school debate teams called "Resolved". Frightening. High school debate ain't what it used to be. It ain't even about the debate any more. The proposition is merely a suggested jumping off point and technique (ultrafast speech) is every thing. It's a creepy (big word today) post-constructionist freak show. Can these kids think straight or logically? Ummmm.... noooo. And they're the politicians of the future. God help us...

Dateline: J-town 6.26

So this J-town by Night series is becoming (as usual and not surprisingly) an obsession. A tick in my brain that's almost engorged. (Where the hell did that come from???)

I raced out of work last PM at around 11.15 and headed to the Salt Marsh on the west side of the island. I'd hatched an experiment and couldn't wait to try it out- lighting up the local seafood shack with my car lights. When I got there, though, a coupla fishermen were hanging their giant catches (bass? cod? mackerel? I don't think they were whales...) by trucklight and the shack motion-sensor light lit up the front porch.

"Bummer," I groaned as I cruised by. A whole expedition shot. Sometimes my stupidity astounds even me.

By the time I pulled into the water station down the road across the street from the osprey nest, I came to my senses and turned back to the shack. The anglers were packing up their finny friends in the back of the truck.

I plowed into the parking spot alongside them and jumped out of the car like Jimmy Olsen, boy wonder, camera at the ready. Introduced myself and told the duo what I had in mind.

"But then I saw you and your fish," I purred as seductively as I could, "and I wondered if I could take a group picture of you all."

To my surprise, Gian (pronounced John) jumped on the op. He gave me his email address and asked for copies. I asked where they had caught the fish. Apparently a faux pas among piscadors. Ambiguous waving of hands in a southerly direction... The other guy slid into the shadows.

This morning, when I dumped the portraits into the computer, I realized I (for once) had done the right thing. Look at the above shot! It sends nautical chills down my spine!

I had to drive to Providence today to take some shots for the usual gig- and when I got back did a circuit of the island looking for likely shots for tonight. Came up with a coupla beauts (I think).

More as life progresses....

Dateline: J-town 6.22

So with the combo of the full moon and the solstice, last week was cosmically pretty tough around here. Work was a shambles at the hospital as every resident and visitor on the island chose to visit Newport ER between the hours of 3-11PM. Sucked. But it did make the nights go quickly.

I couldn't get my article for the usual gig to gel. I finally finished it, but am racked with indecision. Maybe I should rewrite the whole thing. I was OK with the first one (RISD's history) but really screwed up on the arborsculpture piece.... It just doesn't look like I think it should. I know Sam (my editor) will let me know if it doesn't work, but still, in my gut I know I'm wrong...

Then there was the esophagram, which, by the bye turned out to be 100% healthy- "go now and sin no more and take your prilosec daily- we'll see you in three months...". I was so terrified about having it that my blood pressure shot to an all time high of 154/87, and when I asked the nurse to retake it (maybe the machine's broken???) it peaked at 162/90. The nurse forbade me to look at the readout any more, and suggested her pal only write down the first numbers... I told them I hate to fail tests, and needed to schedule a retake exam... Then they rolled me into the procedure room, added the versed to the IV and just as the doctor was answering my question, "When do I go to sleep?" it was lights out, ni-ni, sweet dreams and I'll see you in the AM. Now, apparently the reality is that you function perfectly normally with this stuff. If they taped the whole event, I'd be looking around and doing whatever they told me to and maybe even dancing on the stretcher. But I, of course, remember nothing nothing! about all of it. Cool! I'm ready for my colonoscopy, Mr. DeMille... (is this the same thing as the date rape drug???)

When I came to in the recovery room, the nurse said that she'd jsut taken my blood prpessure and it was back to normal- 118/65. The doc had already told me everything was dandy, but I didn't remember, so he sailed in and repeated the good news.

I've been taking a lot of walks lately. Mostly after dark to add to my "J-town By Night" portfolio. I have a lot to learn, but some of the pix really blow me away. Especially the East Ferry by Night shots (see above). I need to do a few more studies of the stuff I've already done, to try and get the best pix, and then begin wandering elsewhere. Now since this is pretty much a rural island, it should be interesting to see what I can bag after dark.

Dateline: J-town 6.15

Quick note and a coupla pix.

We had a fine time safari-ing around J-town with our cameras yesterday- as you can see in the above. The day was perfect and our shutters were hot...

I went over my pix and printed some up (a couple on canvas and a couple of soft gloss paper) and they looked fab! My self-confidence is back again! I may see if anyone wants to show them. I'm even spurred to do more J-town at night shots...

And- here's the best- we're off to Paris again! This time in early September. That city is mistress to both of us. Hopefully we'll have a swell hotel again, and spend lots of time hanging around cafes and parks, etc. After all, as Victor Hugo wrote in Les Miserables, “To err is human. To loaf is Parisian.”

So it's back to translating an article a day from Le Monde so I'm prepared to think in French (as long as I see it in writing...). Maybe I should be watching more french subtitle flix, too....

Life, as they say, is sweet!

Dateline: J-town 6.14

A week ago we were whooping it up in beantown to the north headed on a collision course for Zohan...

Life is sweet here on the island. In the low 80's (I think) with a sea breeze, blue sky and fluffy clouds and multihued green leaves on the trees. What can I write on the back of this postcard???

The gang's coming over for a Photo Safari b-day party. Only four of us, probably, but that's enough. We're going to do a safari out to the lighthouse, windmill, salt marsh and terminally cute downtown after (or before and after) which we'll do a traditional picnic here...

It's been, to be honest, a tough week. Rejection by the agent the same night we went to the opening of the Photoguild Show (in which I had 2 pix) at the Newport Art Museum. Seeing them on the wall with the others, I realize that they were definitely in the competition for "worst of show". The house is a wreck. I spiral...

But, as I watched the finale of Top Chef, I realized that some people work harder than crap and still don't reach their dreams. And I thought of all of the other major losers of history- like Leni Riefenstahl who made the most astonishing movies of her time (1930's). Unfortunately, she worked for the wrong boss (Hitler) and after the war was never allowed to make movies again! What a loss to the world and the history of photog. In the meantime, crap got funded. And distributed. Like Cecile B. DeMille.

Don't I ever have anything good to say? Of course! Read paragraphs 2 and 3.
There's Thursday's Supreme Court Decision re: Guantanamo (sorry guys, enough is enough and your argument that our prison camp isn't actually on US soil isn't good enough to suspend constitutional rights). Major good news there!
Food.
Employment.
Friends.
Canada geese and their babies.
Moose who grows healthier by the day.
The bridge at night.

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz....................

Dateline: boston- 6/7/08

It almost never happens. We walked out of a theater in the middle of a movie.

The movie was "You Don't Mess with the Zohan" about a mossad agent who fakes his death and starts over in NYC to fill his dream of becoming a hairdresser. Now, remember, I'm so crazy about "Zoolander" (a stupid movie about a male model) that I thought this comedy would be more of the same. And I had sat through "Borat" with twinges of guilt,, and recognition that this was an uber-politically incorrect movie, but I could handle it and laugh against my better judegement at some of the schtick. "Zohan", on the other hand, is Hollywood's answer to Borat. "Offensive?" they said. "We can do middle eastern offensive. We'll pull out all of the stops and people will love it!" Guess what? We weren't the only people to walk out. I feel dirty. I feel as if I need a clorox shower. I feel like I'm going to throw up...

The day had gone really well up to then, except the part where I got a call from work asking me if I was coming in today. My coverage hadn't shown and we hadn't put it on the schedule, though it was OK'd by the powers that be. (Later on, I got a call that she showed up after getting her call from the ER. Just forgot, I guess.) I walked all over downtown Boston, it felt like. Took dozens of pix. Ate properly. Read in the Garden. Etc.

And D, whose birthday it was, was twirling in his shorts. The first place we hit was breaky at a joint near the Harvard University Press bookstore. Guess whose book had pride of place??? I did get lots' o pix... Then, we split up and he went to a showing of "Jaws", one of his favorite all time flix, at the Brattle theater. They were supposed to have a discussion afterward, led by a Harvard prof. The prof didn't show, so they were just about to cancel it, when himself said he could do it, so he got to carry out a dream! Watched the Belmont at a sports bar, had dinner and then went to the fatal movie. Made up for it by shopping at the local Whole Foods for delish and healthy foods....

Last PM it was dinner and karaoke. Now, karaoke is one of D's all time passions, but I'll never go with him because it's always too late and too loud for me. But, it being his b-day weekend, I toughed it out. But- miracle- I'm waaaaay ready to go again because I pulled out the camera to shoot him and then just kept going- mostly in black and white. A great karaoke photo essay. When I get home I'll make some web albums for one and all to enjoy.

More later....

Dateline: j-town 6.1

You'd think that with a whole exciting day in NYC and almost a whole exciting day in Stamford, CT, I'd have some pix to show for it. Well, Stamford , yes, and NYC? Ummmm-no- except for a few taken at dinner at the Metrazur restaurant in Grand Central Station, looking over the fabulous grand hall. What's up with that?

I walked a lot in midtown Manhattan, from Grand Central to back again. Bought an umbrella in a line of other improvident umbrella buyers when the sky opened up and the rain pelted down. I loved it. Had just spent part of the afternoon being uninspired by the exhibits in the International Centre for Photography. Some mildly interesting projects, but nothing (other than the Avedon/Arbus exhibit) that grabbed me in any way. I did get an idea for a(nother) project of my own, though, involving walking along pathways. Am I just, like, artistic and visionary and everybody is just plodding, or do I just not get it "real art"? Is this hubris?

Saw the play "Top Girls" that begins with a really inventive (though not entirely successful) dream sequence of a dinner party with the main character and a few gals from across the centuries like Pope Joan and Isabella Bird. I scarfed up my hearing assistive device (free) at the desk just before the show started. It's like a headset that has a sensor so you can hear everything on the stage. The crowd around me were all complaining after the first act that they really couldn't hear the dialog very well so I, like a hearing-impaired evangelist, encouraged one and all to go get their free hearing aids downstairs. Which they did. A line formed to the right and they all came back ecstatically waving their auditory treasures in their hands. Then they complained that they could hear OK, but they didn't much like what they heard. C'est la vie.

D and I spent a coupla hours in the Virgin store cruising all of man's digital knowledge on disc... D dropped a bundle on various things and I suddenly knew what I was buying him for his birthday this week. Which I did, as soon as I got home. For half price on Amazon. But places like that are scary. The music is loud and its crowded with zombies lurching from aisle to aisle to get, like, the music of their generation.

Dinner, of course, was amazing, tasty, trendy, not unbelievably expensive and very, very, pretty. I've never been at a formal dinner that was punctuated by "train to New Haven now leaving on track 23", etc. A fascinating variation on the dinner music theme. It reminded me of a movie I saw not long ago. Something made 1933, but it's slipped away. With Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. as a bum posing as a swell. Shit. I hate when my brain freezes....

Stamford, where I'd never been, is exactly as you would expect an industrial outskirts of the most-crowded city in the USA place to be. Grimy. Dodgy. Trying hard to gentrify, and I must admit that the restaurant scene is pretty amazing. We chose a pan-Asian place and my taste buds were exploding. (Sense a theme in this post? A culinary theme? So sue me...)

Then, I admit with my head in a brown paper bag, we went to opening night of "Sex and the City" the movie. A cultural phenom. The theater was totally packed,and 95% female, which was a no-brianer since it had been marketed as a "girlfriend movie". A lot of the gals brought their shakers of cosmos and wore mile high stilettos and tight dresses. We, fortunately, were seated in an old folks gulag, so were much more relaxed. The movie? Just what you'd expect. An adolescent cartoon, complete with poop jokes and push up bras and disney-esque philosophy. But we were in the mood for it. Sometimes both D and I get a BIT too heavy...

Went to the lego-art exhibit at the Stamford museum at the beginning. I was astonished by some of the stuff, including a full sized skeleton of some sort of dinosaur. And the place was surrounded by gardens and a show farm with free ranging guinea fowl and some kind of llama. Pix to follow.

And that was my weekend.