Animal Tracks in the Snow

Linden, NJ.
Feb. 2010.
Vivitar Ultra Wide and Slim.

Shane MacGowan

Shane MacGowan at the House of Blues.
Hollywood, CA.
Sometime in the mid '90s.

Happy birthday to our lord and savior...Shane MacGowan. For showing us how not to live, unless you're an exceptional song writer.

Hoboken, NJ.
Summer 2010.
Holga 120N.

I've been slacking on this whole blog thingy. Part of the reason is that I've run out of prints to upload to the interweb. I haven't been able to get into the darkroom for about two years now. So, I've gone to scanning negatives. Which is not a favorite activity for me. I much prefer the hands on approach that is print making in the darkroom. But that isn't an option for the time being, so here starts me posting up scanned negatives.

Joe

Eight years ago today, I remember waking up for yet another day of work. My good friend and roommate was still up and he had a look of concern on his face when I said 'good morning' to him. He told me he had stayed up to tell me some bad news. "Joe Strummer died." It felt like a ton of bricks had hit me and the world had stopped. Damn. I contemplated calling out of work, but in the end, went on with the day. It was a busy work day so my mind didn't have much time to linger on this morning's news. That was until right before the end of the work day when All Things Considered reported on Joe's death. The world stopped again and that ton of bricks seemed to hit me a little harder. The evening was spent in a mournful haze. Joe and his music had been a constant in my life since the early '80s and had helped shape me as a person. I knew Joe was working on a new record and I was looking forward to the new year when that record would come out and the tours that would follow. It felt like I now had a big hole in my life. Then I thought of his family and how devastated they must be. My grief at Joe's passing must pale in comparison to theirs. I wanted to give them a hug.

Iceburn

Iceburn.
Buffalo, NY.
Summer 1992.
Hephaestus is such a good record. Good cover art too.

Simpson Street

Simpson Street.
The Bronx, NYC.
Sometime in 2008.
Vivitar Ultra Wide & Slim.

Lunachicks

Lunachicks at Coney Island High.
NYC.
Sometime in '98.
Canon AE-1.

7th Avenue Cabs

7th Avenue Cabs.
New York City.
Sometime in 2009.
Supersampler.

Jawbox

Jawbox at Spanky's Cafe.
Riverside, CA.
Sometime in 1990 or maybe '91.

Airport Sunset

Airport Sunset.
Newark, NJ.
Sometime in 2008.
Vivitar Ultra Wide and Slim.

Made this shot while riding in a car cruising down the New Jersey Turnpike.

No For An Answer

No For An Answer at the Whiskey.
Hollywood, CA.
May 17, 1989.

Solargraphy

Solargraphy-6 month exposure.
Linden, NJ.
Dec. 2009-June 2010.

Sticks and Stones

Sticks and Stones at the Hook.
Brooklyn, NYC.
Oct. a few years back.
Canon AE-1.

At the recommendation of Jon Hiltz, I picked up the first Sticks and Stones single when it appeared in the record racks at Zeds. I had read the interview he did with them in his zine and wanted to hear them. I'm really glad I did. They were such a great band. I'm bummed I missed them at their one and only show in southern California, but I guess I wasn't scouring the pages of Maximum Rock'n'Roll enough back then. Luckily for me, I was able to catch some of the reunion shows they did every now and then a few years ago. I'm usually not a fan of reunion shows, but sometimes there's a band you just gotta go see again, or like in this instance, missed out on seeing back in the day. Anyway, I've recently found out that Chunksaah Records is releasing the Sticks and Stones demo that was recorded back in 1987. I will be adding this to my record collection. Here's a link so you can do the same: Sticks and Stones-1987

Sticks and Stones at Asbury Lanes.
Asbury Park, NJ.
August 2007.
Holga 120CFN

Sticks and Stones at Asbury Lanes.
Asbury Park, NJ.
August 2007.
Canon AE-1.

Central Park

Central Park.
New York City.
Summer 2008.
Pentax Pinhole.

Under The Train Bridge

Under The Train Bridge.
Roselle, NJ.
Fall 2008.
Supersampler.

Sparkmarker

Sparkmarker at some club in Hollywood, might've been Madam Wong's.
I totally forget the year, but I'm going to guess it was around the year 1996.

One downside to having lots of music at your disposal, is that sometimes very good music falls through the cracks and ends up collecting dust in the back of the record collection. Every once in a while I try to get out of the habit of listening to the old favs and blow the dust off a record or cd that hasn't been spun in a while. Today I'm listening to Sparkmarker. They were really good and I'm really enjoying having them blasting out of my speakers right now.

Birds on a Wire.

Birds on a Wire.
Linden, NJ.
Spring 2009.
Vivitar Ultra Wide & Slim.

Carbon Silicon

Carbon Silicon at Asbury Lanes.
Asbury Park, NJ.
April 2, 2008.
Holga 120CFN.

Earlier on this blog I wrote about the time I missed my chance to meet Joe Strummer. The first time Mick Jones' project with Tony James (ex-Generation X), Carbon Silicon came through the area, I tried to stick around after the show for a chance to meet him, but it got too late and I had to rush to catch the last train home. My luck turned for the better the next time Carbon Silicon came through. This time they played one of my favorite places, Asbury Lanes down in lovely Asbury Park.

Carbon Silicon at Asbury Lanes.
Canon AE-1

The show itself was good fun. The band seemed to enjoy playing in a bowling alley with a silly movie on the screen behind them. After they were done playing, it was announced that Mick and Tony would be back in a bit to hang out. And they were true to their word. Mick was imediately mobbed with fellow Clash nerds having their records signed and having a short chat with him. Tony had a much smaller crowd. I made my way over to him, introduced myself and had him sign a polaroid shot that I made that night. He was a nice guy. After a long while the crowd around Mick thinned out and I stepped up to say hello to him. I thanked him for all the great music he's made over the years, gave him some prints of some photos I had snapped from the first time I saw Carbon Silicon. He really liked them and thanked me for them. Then I got a chance to show him my lower left leg (which is covered with Clash tattoos), he was impressed and mentioned that the tattoos were well done. (My friends who did the tattoos got a kick out of that.) My friend offered to snap a photo of Mick and I, Mick obliged. I shook his hand, thanked him for his time, and thus ended a really good night.

Mick Jones and I at Asbury Lanes.
Photo by Konstantin Sergeyev.
Holga 120CFN.

Carbon Silicon at Asbury Lanes.
Polaroid Job Pro.

Carbon Silicon at Asbury Lanes.
Holga 120CFN.

Carbon Silicon

Carbon Silicon.
Highline Ballroom.
NYC.
Dec. 5, 2007.
Canon AE-1

"You're my guitar hero!!"

Fountain

Fountain.
Central Park, NYC.
A few years ago.
Canon AE-1.

Must think cool thoughts. This summer has been a little too hot for my liking.

Old Shed

Old Shed.
Upstate New York.
Summer 2008.
Holga 120CFN.

I haven't been posting up too many photos to this bloggy thing. Part of the reason is that I usually make prints in the darkroom, then scan them for the internet. But, I haven't been to the darkroom in quite some time. I've been shooting, but just not printing. Hopefully that will change, but I may resort to scanning negatives. Not a favorite pass time for me. I'm not the most computer savy person so it can be battle for me to get results that I'm happy with. I guess I've just got to plug away at it and learn how click my way to a nice looking image. I much prefer doing that in the darkroom. I just like the hands on approach that is print making.

Sunset over Linden

Sunset over Linden.
Linden, NJ.
Summer 2009.
Ansco Rediflex.

Biker

Biker.
Linden, NJ.
Summer 2008.
Holga 120CFN.

Mermaid Parade

Mermaid Parade.
June 2007.
Coney Island, NYC.
Canon AE-1

Mermaids are messy.
I've never liked the color in this print. That happens to me from time to time mostly because I never take enough time to make a really good print when I'm in the darkroom. The reason for not taking more time is simply because I can't afford to. Darkroom time is expensive and I have a short cash supply. Plus, I'm self taught, so my technical knowledge is slim. These two things combined means me sometimes having to try and fiddle about fixing a print in the computer. Of which I'm even less skilled at.

Mermaid Parade

Mermaid Parade.
Coney Island, NYC.
June 2008.
Polaroid Job Pro.

Mermaid Parade

Mermaid Parade.
Coney Island, NYC.
June 2008.
Holga 120CFN.

This is one of those rare photos that I'm proud of and lots of other people seem to like as well. Those two things don't seem to happen to many of my photos. Or, maybe it's just because the woman in the picture is pretty. Probably the later.

Mermaid Parade

Mermaid Parade.
Coney Island, NYC.
June 2005.
Canon AE-1.

Solargraphy 2

Solagraphy 2.
Seven day exposure.
April 2010.
Linden, NJ.

I forget which week in April I did this. I really should write these things down.

Skull

Skull.
Linoleum block print with a bit of watercolor paint on balsa wood.
Spring 2010.

Polaroid Swinger

A few years ago my lovely wife brought home a new camera for my collection. The Polaroid Swinger Type 20. It's a cool looking camera but the bad news was that film hasn't been made for it since 1970. Despite the great commercial, this camera just didn't last long in the marketplace.

Somehow that great theme song just didn't cut it. It seemed like I would never find film for this camera, but I was happy with how it looked on the shelf. Then one day, the internet shined some light onto two rolls of film for this camera. I just couldn't pass it up. Despite the fact that the expiration date on the film was June 1967, I just had to give one of these a try. A little bit of research was followed up by ripping open the packaging and loading it into the camera. It didn't go too smoothly. Things that were supposed to stick together no longer stuck together, but I got the roll started none the less. I stepped outside into the sunshine, snapped a shot of a nearby tree. Went back into the house, pulled the film, and nothing. The first shot had no goop and basically just fell apart as I pulled it from the camera. I went back outside and tried it again. And again. About five more times. Each time nothing. Not that I was expecting much, but I did have some hope. I tired of always walking out to the tree, so the last few shots I just stood in the doorway and snapped a shot of the neighbors roof and some sky. Two shots, nothing. But that seventh shot actually had some goop. But it fell apart too quick for any development to take place. One last shot and one last trip to the sunshine. Snap. Push the blue button and pull the film. There was even more goop this time. I kept the pieces together by resting the camera on top. And that's when the little miracle happened. And actual image showed up. Very faint, but it's there. See for yourself.

Swinger Shot.
Linden, NJ.
May 30, 2010.

So, that's my Swinger story. I'm going to resist temptation and keep the other roll in it's packaging. However, if I ever find more of this film with a more recent expiration date though, that, I will load into the camera.

Sunrise on the Pond

Sunrise on the Pond.
Tremley Park.
Linden, NJ.
Fall 2009.
Pentax Pinhole.

Andromeda

Andromeda at her first birthday party.
Jersey City, NJ.
Six years ago.
Canon AE-1.

Andromeda, turns seven today. Happy birthday Andi! Have a good time.

Steampipe

Steampipe.
NYC.
April 2007.
Holga 120CFN.

Milemarker

Milemarker at the Knitting Factory.
NYC.
I forget when I made this photo.

I always really liked Milemarker. A really good band that not a lot of people seemed to be into. I'll never forget the first time I saw them. They were playing with The Hives and International Noise Conspiracy. The Hives played and I thought they were boring, but the kids around me seemed to like them. Then came Milemarker. They were heavy, noisy, and totally rocked the place. Many of fans of The Hives took cover. Any band that can clear a room of people that like The Hives has got to be a good band. I loved it.

Milemarker at the Knitting Factory.
NYC.
From the same show as the first photo.

Spring Trees

Spring Trees.
Linden, NJ.
April 2010.
Polaroid Business Edition.

I love when the green of the trees returns in spring.

Passing Train

Passing Train.
NYC.
Summer 2009.
Supersampler.

Words of Wisdom

A sign inside of Clear Light Natural Food Store.
Linden, NJ.
March 2008
Holga 120CFN.