american made

Jipsi Jenny had a show at the Temptor lofts in downtown STL. I was trying out a new camera, playing around with focus and color.  I'm pretty pleased with some of the results...

across no man's land

this visitation is but to whet my almost blunted purpose
    - May 11th: fashion photography

   ~P.K.

won't you help to sing

  

This fellow, Diako Diakoff, started playing some music out in front of the Tivoli while it was still warm. He played a lot of classics and a few tunes of his own. This one's my favorite.

 

 -  Anyway,

You're a Skyscraper

I've been a long time going through sixteen-hundred-plus images from San Francisco, and I think this will be the swansong for that trip's assemblage of exposures. I'm hoping there was some enjoyment on your part of this whole deal, going through these sets with me. If you didn't enjoy yourself, though, you can piss right off, because I had a great time. Hah. You should be used to the next part:

(makes you wanna say your prayers)

The St. Louis Japanese Festival at the Missouri Botanical Gardens was awesome as usual, and I've only been to the opening day so far. Mayor Slay was there for the kagamiwari: the ritual of smashing a giant barrel of sake open with hammers, and then dishing it out. And so it came to pass that the mayor of St. Louis poured me a drink. I'll be mentioning that at parties for a long time.


Oh! There were many cool things, but the Taiko drummers stole the event for me. I just set my camera on rapid exposure and held down the button. How's that for technique? I guess it's more like carpet bombing than sniping, but the St. Louis Osuwa Taiko ensemble put on a non-stop flawless show to a packed crowd (I cowered at the back) so I'd go so far as to say you can't blame me. Anyway, click that break link below to see a full sequence of the sound and the fury in photographic form.

Stop it.

Jump on that link below for the full sequence. Cheers.

so stark

open call for prison architects

I've got so many sequences sitting here waiting to be sorted... I don't know exactly how they'll play out, but I do know they'll go quite a long way. I suppose next week will be strict abstracts the way this sequence ends, but for now, why don't you give these a good stare. I found some of the best bars in the Bay Area.

ride it out

I got into a serious photo binge in the last few days, still fixated on simple shapes and texture. Not much to say, really, check out the latest under the jump break.

never complains when it's hot

The other day I sat, camera in lap, wondering where I could go to get some great shots of trees in their full summer plumage.

"No!" A million voices cried out. "No more trees!"

And as I am a loving god, I give you... windows! And then next month, probably more trees.

you're not one of them.

~P.K.

someone said we're there

I went on more than a few photo safaris during the winter, and I'm still catching up with some of them. I'm never so inclined to pick up the camera and drive around as when there's fresh snow on the ground.

aloha means goodbye

Three of Three:

I'm just tired at this point. Look, pictures!

i am no futurist

Part Two of Three Follows.


Looking over my nature scenes from winter in Tokyo, I often got the same feeling I had with the images of constructed elements. Great lines, but very little life. It was January, after all. So I decided to play the revisionist - added some warmth here, juiced a couple images past my normal comfort there, until I was satisfied that the photographs suggested at the same theme. (usually by way of its glaring omission.) Anyway, that's what was going through my head.

come on in.

Part One of Three.

I love lines.

the tones are grouped in clusters

I've just sorted through 1000+ images from a recent trip to Tokyo, and I'm just now getting ready to touch up and post two or three sets over the next few weeks.

I did want to throw a couple images out, though, as a prelude. I can't really think of any way to group the collections other than: images of living things, images of constructed things, and images of the two together, which last thing could be a pretty good leitmotif of the entire city, but whatever. I had two cameras with me, but I wasn't exactly hunting for anything other than compositions I liked. The result was the aforementioned oppressive bulk of image data.

And but so:

Out of Reaches, Out of Scenery

Times are rough for my camera. Things are getting a little... dusty. Disuse is a cruel thing to make a camera bear, but I'm a cruel person anyway. Here are some photos, some old, one or two new.

I need to sleep.

I find myself self-assured, and dressed in funny clothes.

Time has been moving almost depressingly fast. At the discovery that I had nothing new to advertise, I journeyed out and had a little night shoot.

There's still some rust to be shaken off of my good old self, so let's call this my winter warm-up roll. Don't get me wrong, I really do like these photos, but I'm still a long way from home.

There's a Chief Investigator Standing in the Middle of the Street.

I promised nightmares would come. My cup runneth over.

In this horrordream I drifted from images of simple souls trapped in horrortableaux to dark things that lived there of their own accord. As I drifted from one character to the next, some part of my mind said (In that silent dream speech you never hear, but immediately understand):

These are your possible futures. After all, your future is in your hands, but your hands are frail, and incapable. Your lot lies with this grim deck. You will bleed into this minor arcana.

THE FAMILY MAN.

THE RENAISSANCE MAN.

THE RECLUSE.

SLOTH.

THE MUSICIAN.

THE THINKER.

THE CHRONIC MASTURBATOR.

THE SENTINEL.

And then it ended.

And Then.

At first I thought the name "A day in the Light" would suffice to explain this collection. It may not. Let this be read it as a series of images with presence, told in calls and answers of shapes and tones. I think I'm actually pretty pleased with these, so do chime in.