Women's March, Austin

A woman marches during the Women's March in Austin, Texas on Saturday, January 21, 2017.

Day 230

My snap is a Southern California Moment today.

3D, Give or Take a D

Philana Chiu demonstrates a process for 3D photography at the 2011 Macworld event in San Franciso, January 29, 2011.

Actual Size Never Is

I think it's important to remember that photographic meaning relies on context. There's no "large" in actuality, only a relationship of one depicted object to another.

Above: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, December 27, 2010.

He Knows if You've Been Bad or Good

Upland, California, December 24, 2010.

Air Show Practice Over San Francisco

Seen today, out my window.

Hazards of Suburbia, Part 4

Storage: anything could be in those damn bins of stuff. To get to the family photographs (glad I found those) you might have to wade through thousands of CDs and DVDs. Above: snapshot from yesterday's grand clearing out.

You Can Do It

Now that's supportive.

Jeremy's

Above: Jeremy's, the home of the very inexpensive 32-ounce beer -- served in a styrofoam cup. Try the fried clams.

Merman

Over on my other blog I've posted a snapshot from this year's Mermaid Parade. Above: the King of the Sea.

Mermaid Parade 2010

My wife and I took the N train to Coney Island Saturday. Right off we noted a harshness to the crowds this year, for whatever reason, and soon enough thought about leaving. After standing near the parade route for a while we decided to back away to a less-crowded area. At that point, there must have been a sidewalk closed off, sending crowds streaming back at us. As the group clogged up in front of us, some decided the way out was to jump a chain link fence.

Once on the fence, one woman froze, uncertain how to get down safely on the other side. She sat atop the fence for a while, eventually completing the jump down after some "helpful" assistance. The crowd cheered when she finally made it.

Behold the Power of Twitter

Back in the summer of 2008, I ordered Chinese food from our usual place on First Avenue and got a laugh when I received this fortune.

As you can imagine, I sort of forgot about that, eventually.

Then tonight, about a year-and-a-half later, I saw the following fortune posted by musician Ted Leo.

So, one can only speculate. Is there a disgruntled fortune-maker? Someone who grew up with dreams of being a writer, but because of poor spelling was only able to acquire a job in a fortune-making factory? Has a small typo been printed in a huge stack, inserted into fortune cookies all over the world for years?

Good luch figuring that one out.

Chalk Talk

So I've been teaching various versions of my Seriously Fun Photography course for a few years now. In that time, a lot has changed: quality DSLR cameras have dropped to under $500, cell phone cameras have become omnipresent, and the idea of photographs living in the computer rather than a shoebox is now well established. More significantly: we've seen the rise of the Serious Amateur, the Prosumer, and the Weekend Pro -- all of whom take photography very seriously, but don't fit in the traditional niches.

So I'm considering developing another class with a different approach. "Seriously" came about because people wanted to go one step past the basics and start developing their creativity. This new class would be more like what I imagine the best camera clubs might have been in the era of the 35mm camera. It would cover a broad range of skills, be repeatable, and be an experience even advanced photographers could benefit from.

I've been writing notes about it during my morning subway ride....

On the Beach (500th Post)

On Halloween, Mrs. New York Portraits and I went to Florida for a beach wedding. We left New York -- with daily high temperatures in the 40s -- for a room a few yards from the beach.

My task for the weekend was to photograph the wedding. (I'm hesitant to say that, because I'm not a wedding photographer, and I know a lot of wedding photographers, and they're not particularly happy when they hear you've taken a gig away from a full-time wedding photographer. It was a family thing, though, and besides -- taking pictures gives me something to do other than stand close to the open bar.)

So I did. The technical specs: just under 1300 shots (about 12 gigabytes of files), using cameras mounted with a Sigma 24mm f/1.8 and a Tamron 90mm f/2.8. Balanced beachy daylight with fill from my Metz 58 during the service, then at sunset the trick was to get seascape skies mixed with the flash -- without the flash looking like flash. Went fine.

The wedding rehearsal was scheduled on Halloween, and everyone -- bride, groom, guests and all -- came in costume. Maybe I'll be able to post a few of those soon. Until then: a casual snap of Mrs. New York Portraits in a kimono, waiting for the rehearsal.

Alas, Poor Tunick

This just in: Spencer Tunick is still a hack.

Hold on ... receiving another report ... and the media still writes about him. That wouldn't bother me except that they neglect to point out that when he says his work "explores the relationships and comfort levels of people in a party atmosphere" he means to say "I'm doing the same thing again, and continuing to claim it's more than it is."

You can more or less write all future Spencer Tunick articles ahead of time: "Yesterday, Spencer Tunick photographed a large or small group of people without clothes. He then issued a press release claiming his work is greatly significant, despite the fact that you can't find a single reputable curator who's interested in it. (Of course, finding people to sell it -- that's easier, and a different thing altogether. Blue Dog paintings sell. Nagel prints sell.) The press release mentioned AIDS, global warming, issues of representation or something else not actually related to the work. Managing editors read four words into the release -- as far as the word 'nude' -- and assigned the story to a writer who copied and pasted in the text of a previous article, replacing only the location of the event and a quote from someone who may or may not have actually been there."

New York Magazine covers the latest event:

Spencer Tunick Got a Bunch of People Naked in Brooklyn the Other Night

Warning: the article has a teensy-tiny photo that is NSFW (not safe for work) viewing if you work somewhere where people have superhuman eyesight.

Best article on the general lameness of the Spencer Tunick experience:

Why doesn't Spencer Tunick get any respect?

The problem with Tunick as an artist—and the main reason, I think, most critics have ignored him—is that he doesn't seem to have anything to say. His installations are spectacular and attention-grabbing, but as for what it all means … well, to put it bluntly, I don't think it extends too far beyond, "Wow. That's a lot of naked people."

Above: on 86th Street.

Dogs of The Upper East Side

Above: somewhere in the East 90s.

Welcome to the Bigs

Above: A broken wheel results in a lost lead during the Big Wheel Race, October 18, 2008.

Or, Learn To Hurdle

So here's how I read this: first, there was flooding, then the track sank, then they built a fence around it, then they realized they couldn't trim the weeds near the fence with the riding lawnmower.

So the important thing is to draw lane 8 at the track meet, because otherwise it's tough going.

Cut Off

After a lot of slowing down and dropping out, my cable modem bit it last Monday. Right at a time when I had to do online grading, post files for review, write stuff, and communicate on several projects. When classes were starting, also.

The service from my cable company was terrible. It could have been resolved in a day. It took until Sunday at 4 p.m. and would still be going on if I listened to their advice. It cost me money, time, at least one gig, and a weekend that could have been a lot of fun.

I tried Plan B, too -- visit Starbucks and other places with wireless access. It worked, but it was problematic. Starbucks was just like always -- tough to log on, expensive, and it included a screaming child at 10:30 p.m. Guess he'd had a lot of coffee.

I'll also no longer visit the local coffee house that charges extra if you plug in the wall. They have a smug note about not stealing their electricity from them. They can turn off their lights, for all I care -- I won't be back because of that note.

Now I have a new cable modem -- went to Queens to get it -- and things are running. But I'm about a week behind.

Above: we dropped into the Met on Sunday, to celebrate Mrs. New York Portraits passing the Second Exam. This seemed like the most appropriate work to photograph.

And How Was Your Week?

Mine, let's say, was mixed.