New Holga Shots :: 04. 4.08
Holgas are the Russian tractor of the photography world. Its a 15 dollar plastic camera with a plastic lens that takes medium format film. They leak light, have no adjustments for aperture, focus or shutter speed and the viewfinder is completely inaccurate. But they can take some great pictures. After shooting nothing but digitals for years now, its fun to shoot real film and wait for the results. The shot in the Charles De Gaulle airport is hands down the most popular picture I've ever taken. It's getting me more love and affection on flickr than I've ever gotten. Almost didn't take it cause I was afraid of airport security.
Paris Airport
New Vilnius
Field in Kupiskis
Kupiskis Church
Drinking the TIgris: Sand Storm :: 04.17.08
A sandstorm came up early this morning and ruined the day. I could smell dust in the air when I woke. Bad. Got so much dust in my room I had to change the sheets on my bed. Still going, just hope it clears for tomorrow.
This is tough land. The people who've lived here over the millennia are tough. Summer is an oven and winter is cold. It was hitting the low thirties every night for a couple weeks in January and it even snowed once. They said it was the first time in 80 years it snowed in Baghdad. I guess the locals don't have a word for snow, so they were calling it frozen rain or something to that effect.
When it rains, the mud is different from anything I've ever seen. Everybody talks about it like its magic. Its as thick as potters clay, when you walk through it, it builds up and collects anything you step on, making you taller as you go. Even if it hasn't rained for months, the ground doesn't absorb the water. These are my shoes after a twenty yard walk to the laundry room a full day after the rain stopped.
There are days when this is, without a doubt, the ugliest place I've ever been. I don't mean Iraq, I mean the little perimeter I'm stuck in. I have no idea what the rest of the country is like. But now and then, the sky gives us something nice. Not that the ugliness is so bad. Its so ugly, its interesting. I've been trying to capture it with a photo, but I'm not good enough. Beauty is way easier a subject.
The water here fascinates me. This is a lake just north west of Baghdad. Not sure what its called or if its manmade or not. The desert is peaceful from the air. Its vast and empty, so I can only imagine what its like to pass through it on foot, then encounter one of these bodies of water. The contrast.
And of coarse there are the rivers. This is the Euphrates. I love seeing it for some reason. The Tigress I've never seen, but I drink it everyday. I think the water starts in the mountains in Southern Turkey, but it tastes like a plastic bottle. If it wasn't for the Euphrates, the British would have never been interested in this region. They wanted it, because it gave them their best and fastest access to India, which was their cash cow back when. They sent their messages to and from India via the river. Kind of a Victorian pony express. As WWI ruptured, the regions oil came into play. The Brits started drawing odd national borders with rulers and making up nation states to their advantage, or so they thought. Almost a hundred years later and we're in up to our necks in the consequences of bad foreign policy, from then and now.
Its already getting hot. Yesterday was way over a hundred. My thermometer said over 105, but I can't believe it. My body has never been so acclimated to heat before. 105 is nothing.
Bush League: Honesty the Dog :: 04.23.08
Getting some work done on Bush League this week. Here's a shot of Honesty the Malawian village dog going toe to toe with a baby goat. Cracks me up cause Edward, one of the soccer players, is laughing so hard.
Bush League: Ethnographic Recordings :: 04.25.08
Today I listened to a cool piece about an ethnographer who recorded all kinds of American folk songs on the New Yorker website (http://www.newyorker.com/online/2008/04/28/080428on_audio_bilger/?xrail). Got me thinking about the music for Bush League. One of the things I'm trying to do, is use a hundred percent Malawian music for the score. I tried to collect as much as I could while I was there, and will probably, hopefully, go back for more. This is a recording of the players themselves singing one of their songs. Listen to that chorus! They played percussion with an empty water jug and a steel bowl full of popcorn seeds. These guys are the coolest. We recorded it in the middle of the night, so don't look for a picture. Can't wait to get back there.
Disturbing to see this just before bed. A white shark killed a guy off San Diego. My closest friend is a lifeguard Sergeant just about a mile North of this beach. Was hoping to see him in the background at the press conference.
We used to take the Junior lifeguards up to La Jolla and swim them out a quarter mile. Didn't like doing that swim. Looking down into the green knowing the canyon was dropping out from underneath us for hundreds of feet and all these little kids splashing and kicking. Butt clencher, though I never really thought a big one could be out there.
Hans, paddle your big boards for a while and keep you feet up. Seriously.
Drinking the TIgris: Red Bandana :: 04.27.08
These are some amazing photos of a Mi-24 HIND my buddy James took out at one of the outposts. A Polish crew is running this thing. I'm pretty sure this is the same helicopter Rambo took out with a sling shot and a red bandana. From James:
"Max speed is over 200 mph, which is pretty phenomenal. The pilot is really
crammed in there -- he can really only get out by opening his canopy,
although there's a kind of crawl space behind him which he could use if
he were a twelve-year-old child. The co-pilot is really just trapped
down on the nose by himself in his bubble. The crew says they are being
sent to Afghanistan, possibly."
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