I’ve decided that I’m done with political comment and so on on this blog. Life’s too short and having a one-way conversation with 300 other political nerds every day isn’t for me. Realistically, I gave up on this long ago. Now I’m just making it official. (P.S. That doesn’t mean Stephen Harper isn’t a golem, and it doesn’t mean Michael Ignatieff has suddenly gained some morals and backbone.)
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It’s the middle of winter. By the time I get home from work I feel too damn lazy to shoot. And it’s too damn cold. So inevitably, I end up surfing other people’s blogs and feeling like a wimp for not shooting photos.
One of the blogs I came across was Chris Weeks’ APhotoContributor. He’s a hot shot and has a bad attitude. I came across him because I’m a gear fetishist and he shoots a Leica M9. Turns out he hates gear fetishists. Turns out that I think he’s right and I realized I have a problem: too much gear fantasizing and not enough shooting. More on that in the days to come.
BUT, hurt feelings and introspection did force me to go back and look at what kind of stuff I shoot and what I’m proud of. Until I get off my ass and shoot some more I’m going to post some of my favourites – the stuff I like to shoot, not the stuff that makes the forum people happy. (forums are a dumb trap, stay out of them). Weeks inspired me, or shamed me. Either way, it worked.
This is my wife, before she was my wife. I made her pose kinda like John Coltrane on the Blue Train poster. This series is all from 2005 I think. Doesn’t seem like that long ago.
Not bad? I shot that with an Olympus E-1, a camera that I sold later for a Nikon D200, which probably didn’t do much for my photography. Shot the one below in Vancouver at a clothing store I won’t name. Shot that with an Olympus C-7070, which I kinda miss.
Another one I like from my old C-7070. This one in Edmonton, with friends Kosta and Rebecca.
in the rain
They were visiting from London, making me jealous of all the coolness of their lives.
I shot this one because I thought I should be a micro-stock photographer. Yes, I thought, that will make me happy AND rich! You know how that one ends.
zoooom
This is one of the beautiful River Valley vistas everyone goes on about in Edmonton. Personally, I find this preferable to the other typical landscape stuff which I started trying to shoot for no good reason other than the internet seeming to approve of pretty, conventional pictures of water at the bottom of valleys.
River Valley
Then fall came. I know shots of the sky and tree boughs are cheesy but I don’t care. I liked what I saw and pushed the trigger. I liked seeing the leaves blow of the limbs of the tree, and since we get only five minutes or so of beautiful fall colour before the city turns into a back drop for a Tom Waits song, you might as relish it.
falling leaves
I used to go for coffee a lot more than I do now. Why is that? I would just sit and BS with people forever. What is wrong with me? That was so much fun. It’s what I’m going to do on Saturday. This one was from the Sugar Bowl Café, before it turned into a brunch scene. Oh yeah, now I know why I don’t go there any more.
before the brunch invasion
Back then life was simpler. I worked for a small newspaper called the St. Albert Gazette. My co-workers were awesome and my editor and the two-person photo department were great, letting a hack writer like me play photographer. These are some shots from a shift I spent with a small town vet. I liked the photos better than my story. P.S. The dog pissed all over he was so scared. I think I shot these with a Canon 10d, my first digital slr.
stare down
By the way, calling these guys “small town vets” is in no way meant to be an insult. They work on everything. Horses, bulls, puppies. Not like those chi chi suburban-wholistic-reiki-acupuncture cat doctors.
wrestlemania
This little guy looked so sad.
awww
And it got pretty ugly. I witnessed an autopsy. Some guy suspected that his dog was poisoned. Don’t know how it turned out, except for the poor dog (not pictured). Don’t think we published this one.
remains
Actually, I got a little confused about the timeline on these shots. The exif on this last one says 2004 – the vet shots all came from 2004. The other shots said 2005 in the exif. Whatever. It was in the past, and I miss it.
Working at the Gazette was a good gig. Nobody respects you as a journalist. Even less if you’re weekly journalist. The boss pays you poverty line wages, every source has an agenda, and you have every reason to think you’ll soon be downsized. But it was great fun, and I’m sure that’s why so many people do it, even for the sucker wages they pay you. These are some good memories.
Rockin’ August – annual retro/classic car celebration. Love the Wal-Mart in the background. Shot these ones with a 1d, maybe even a MKII.
Poodle Skirts
Last quarter and no hope, from what I remember. This is is why I hated team sports in school. What teenager needs an extra helping of disappointment during puberty?
no hope
Okay, that’s enough nostalgia for one night. Think I’ll bounce back and forth between old and new for the next few posts. Hope you enjoy ‘em, all five of you out there reading.
What did I learn from all this? I’m better at taking pictures than I thought. 99 per cent of it is just having the balls and motivation to go stick a camera in someone’s face. Thanks again to Chris Weeks.
Still love photography, although I’m having second thoughts about my purchase of the Canon 7d. Great camera as long as you don’t plan to lift the shadows. If it wasn’t for my interest in video I’d still be shooting the Nikon D700. Oh well, back to pretending I’m shooting film and calling the noise in my photos “grain” and “texture.”
(cc licensed by SuperFantistic on Flickr)
I’ve smoked since I was about 15 years old. I’m now 32 years old. I never really thought about quitting until I was 28 or 29. My milestone 30th birthday was to be my deadline for quitting. I’ve tried and failed to quit more than a half-dozen times in the last four years. And I’m trying again, and I’m taking all of you along for the ride.
The tricks I can only employ to help me quite are becoming limited. Zyban (Wellbutrin) made my heart race and mind go crazy. Nicotine patches worked well for as long as I kept wearing them (I do credit them with helping me realize how nice it is to not smoke). Of course I’ve also tried to stop cold-turkey, and failed. So much for the well-advertised methods.
Of all my failed attempts to quit smoking, trying to stop cold-turkey was the most personally satisfying. I did it on two occasions – once I lasted about a week after throwing my pack away before a transatlantic flight home from London. The last time I just felt tired and sick of smoking and stopped for about the same amount of time. I shared this with my doctor during a recent visit where I was diagnosed as having bronchitis. He told me to read a book called the Easy Way to Stop Smoking before I tried to go cold turkey again, as I had told him was my plan.
So hear I am, day one, just having read the introduction to Carr’s book. No grand insights so far. Just a couple conditions for the program: you’re supposed to keep smoking while you read the book and you’re supposed to finish the book to guarantee success (and it does come with a money-back guarantee that I am guaranteed to be too lazy to utilize if the method fails). I’m a skeptic, and to me this sounds like hocus pocus, but what the hell, I’ve got nothing to lose but my chains.
Margaret Wente thinks women complain too much on Dec. 6, the anniversary of the Montreal Massacre. From Wente’s lofty perch she declares those who attach any lesson in equality to the day to be part of a “death cult.” If you don’t mind reading the Globe and Mail website with vomit in your mouth, you can catch her story here.
After cleaning up my keyboard, I posted the following reply:
Dear Margaret,
If someone left of centre says black then you say white. Your predictability is only exceeded by your unoriginality. If only that were your greatest sin.
Worse, you present contradictions as logic, arming the hateful with nonsense stamped with the authority of a Globe and Mail columnist’s byline. In one breath you take exception to women in Canada being portrayed as victims and in the very next you take up the banner for victimized men. Please tell me: shall we pity their higher average salaries or the fact that they are almost never the victims of spousal abuse? Oh the dilemma!
What sickens me most however is how you have baited so many misogynists in to making guttural noises against women in this comment thread. “The day has been hijacked by feminists!” declares one such low life. Indeed, this day, a day on which 14 women were gunned down by a lunatic who believed a movement of women interested in equal treatment was plotting against him, has been “hijacked” by feminists. You have inspired a misogyny that equates feminism with terrorism.
Congratulations, Ms. Wente.
For the record I do have a penis, but I don’t hate myself for it and nor do I ignore that, statistically speaking, my anatomical make-up has conferred advantages to me that women do not enjoy. I don’t personally carry a burden of guilt because of these facts, but also recognize that I enjoy certain unfair advantages, and that despite the many steps we have taken towards equal treatment of people regardless of their sex, the playing field still needs to be leveled considerably more.
No Life Without Roots CD release party, April 17, 2009 - click for larger version
I showed the photo above to my good friend Vladimir (Che-ish guy looking to the left) the day after taking it at The People’s Poets April 17 CD-release party at The Artery in downtown Edmonton. He was ecstatic: “that looks way better than the show actually did!” I don’t know about that, but I love showing people a photo that they love. The good news is I probably have 50 more photos they will LOVE. And I love sharing the love.
About the People’s Poets: The people’s poets are three Edmonton MCs who rap about social justice issues, local and global. rosouljah, 4 Life and solidario joined up in the fall of 2006 with the intention of making critically conscious hip hop. They then hooked up with Edmonton’s renowned cut artist DJ Dice, who has over two decades of experience in contributing to the local Hip Hop scene. Representing their Latino refugee roots from Chile and El Salvador this hip hop colectivo mixes rhymes about life experiences with social and political commentary. The people’s poets performed at over 20 events in Edmonton and Vancouver in 2007. The people’s poets are committed to building and networking at a community level for social change and development. These RAPTIVISTS are involved in a variety of issues and movements such as affordable housing, labour education, and youth empowerment. “We be the people’s poets and we believe another world is possible.”
I’m not a saavy wordpress guy. I’m more a click-download-upload-fiddle-till-it-breaks kind of guy. Then I consult with wiser friends to get things going again (mostly just one, who works here). That said, my technique quickly breaks the stuff that’s crap to begin with, and eventually I find something that works. I’m too small time to care if something fails.
Two good things happened to me recently during a fit of downloading and installing – I discovered the Automatic Upgrade plug-in and the Flickr Gallery plug-in. The former got me to the latest wordpress from v2.6 (without bugging T!) and the latter got me a slick little gallery on my Photography page, also reproduced in below in this post. Awesome. Follow the links and you can be a dumb-luck success like me. Read more…
But since you’re still reading, I’m offering a longer review. Never, ever, ever will I buy another Lacie product. I am now certain that Lacie’s hard drives are only purchased for their looks, because there is nothing to commend when it comes to longevity.
The two Lacie external hard drives I’ve owned have both crashed almost one year to the day after using them. They were both my external storage solutions for my photo library. They are both utter product failures. I curse you Lacie! May you go bankrupt in a spectacular fashion and may your designers produce the next Edsel.
I’m addicted to my iPhone. The most addictive quality of the iPhone is its extendability through the App Store. There’s so many good programs to add and at the same time so much junk (a little like Windows that way!) I thought I could help out some of my fellow tech nerds with my top 5 recommendations.
1) Truphone – this sweet little application lets you make cheap international or local VOIP calls from your iPhone. All you need is a WiFi connection. Free.
2) Stanza – a sweet e-book reader for the iPhone, based on open standards unlike the Kindle. Aside from full versions of public domain historical works, you can also download and read stories from a growing list of periodicals like The Atlantic, Wired and Tech News. So far I’ve read George Orwell’s Animal Farm. Free.