Fog-O-Riffic

I am trying something new here, sharing my love of fog with whoever reads this blog anyway.

With my interest in the super-sensible worlds, I suppose it is not such a stretch to see how I would love fog. Fog has to symbolize delving into worlds unknown, going blindly into something, a place or a situation, and going wherever the fog leads. Objects can be illusive in the fog, with portions hidden from view.

Whenever I see fog, I head to the cemetery first. Unfortunately, because fog can dissipate so rapidly, and some areas are foggier than others, I find it difficult to shoot over to any cemetery I want. So I hit the closer ones, while the hitting is good. Another consideration is that many active cemeteries have business hours and sometimes the fog is best before they turn over the 'open' sign.

A few years back we had a brief period of intense fog and I was out having intense fun, and nabbed a few of my older favorites:



and



The later reminds me of a movie set from a classic Hammer horror film.




Not of the dead:









Back to the dead:













Larger images of these can be viewed in my Flickr gallery.

Filters

While viewing a fellow Flickr-head, it dawned on me how each of us filters what images attract our attention with very different sets of inner eyes. I know when I drive through affluent suburbs with massive homes and strong indications of privacy, with a strong 'keep out' feeling conveyed through signs, fences, and order, I fail to see images that catch my fancy. My photos are tainted by my reaction to the area in which I visit and my inner filters finds little of interest in such a setting, with no death, destruction or decay.

Is that what I'm about most of the time?

Back to the point, I noted that this one particular Flick has a very distinctive approach to imagery and I do believe I could pick out his photos from a general mix. I do not mean to pigeon-hole anybody and think they are limited by what I believe to be their photo-gathering filter.

However, we must have some sort of inner thing going on that draws us to a particular style of photo.

I can't judge just who I am and how others see me, especially when interacting with me in person, but I sense that judging me just from my choice of images, the death, decay, destruction one would think I'm morbid, wear only black clothes and listen to obscure Goth and art rock, have black fingernails and watch every vampie flick that comes out. (Well, actually, I do tend to do the later, though I do pass on teenage romance vampire films like "Twilight.") That is not me at all.

So I have a style, I scan the terrain looking for a certain type of image.

One interesting self-imposed exercise I sometimes do is to fix in my mind beforehand something I want to find on a trip out for photos. Perhaps it is a specific color, or shapes, maybe globes on a partciular day. My filters shift and I notice new things with that filter on. I can alter what sorts of images I'm likely to find on that particular day.

Most of the time, I am unaware of my own filters.

I particularly enjoy finding scenes with incongruity is the theme, things that are not normally linked, perhaps a leisure chair out in the middle of nowhere, or objects that I force interaction with in a photo, signs, words, advertisements, statues, anything. I like the unexpected. The surprise. The big "huh?"



This is an example of what I mean, totally.

We create our own filtering systems, though largely on a subconscious level, and I do believe that just being aware of this, we have a great deal of control of the whole process.

Still, I do not think I'll ever be comfortable driving through affluent neighborhoods looking for interesting things to shoot.

Living in the Fog

Ah, golly gosh darn, the fog made only a short stopover here. There is meat and potatoes (if you are so inclined), coffee and cigarettes (again, if you are so inclined), spring and love, and fog and cemeteries. Truly a natural for the mysterious question of what happens when...we die. The fog enhances the mystery.

So much going on, and I don't know why anybody would be interested, and I don't even know why I'm writing about it. Maybe to sort things out inside my head a bit.

Detroit. My adventures came to a standstill when I developed some serious car issues this past summer. With an older car, I had no desire of breaking down in the areas where I go for photos. I'm on edge enough when I do so without having to wonder about the mobility of my being.

Equipment. I haven't had such good 'luck' with my cameras these past few months. The newer Fuji HS10 is really a fun camera and I love the manual zoom because it gives me much more control of my composition while I'm shooting. However, the shutter is slightly delayed and I miss shots with the camera. Overall, I am really pleased with the photos. And like an earlier Fuji I had years ago, a S5000, it was defective from the start. It has to go back for repair, though it doesn't appear to be a major problem affecting the image itself. Before I could send it back to Fuji (with a nasty letter about all these defective cameras I have been buying!) I had to secure my other camera, which also was having issues, the Canon Power Shot SX10 IS. It was already back to the factory for warranty repairs, and Canon only addressed one of the three issues. About the time that the factory warranty expired, a new problem arose, one that I would have to pay for no doubt, had I not purchased the extended warranty. Whew. I'm not a firm believer in those services, or at least I wasn't. The camera went back and was evaluated for repair, which was too costly, and the repair was declined and the store gave me a brand new SX30 (with that wonderful 35X optical zoom!) I am definitely a zoom-aholic. Great. Then I took it out for a spin a few days ago and the zoom mechanism was a mess, freezing up at times, moving in the opposite direction when engaged. Very strange. I got a replacement and so far this one performs as I expect.

So there that accounts for the equipment issue.

Back to Detroit, I can only visit for so long until it starts getting to me, seeing how people suffer, how people have so few options anymore. The world economy and recent events weigh heavily on my soul. We all seem to be morphing into something else, something unknown, something bad. I wish I could stop the world so I could get off, or just stop the world and have everyone evaluate where we are going.

And there has been so much else going on in my personal life, which has been swirling in a blender set to 'pulverize.'

On top of that, I really needed to move my photography into a different direction, and unlock the grids where it seems only my Detroit photography is deemed worthy a look. I don't kid myself about my skill level as I have no aspirations to that of a professional or 'arty' photography. I do what I do and I derive immense satisfaction most of the time. I started out my photography days in the cemetery, some decades ago, and I really enjoy it, the atmosphere, the elements that I like to bring together to create images that transcend 'just a grave marker' type photo. I like to set a mood, create a feeling perhaps.

But that's the tip of an un-melting iceberg of my photographic interests. I enjoy so much more, and in fact am just enraptured with the process of taking pictures. Some themes and topics come more naturally, but the whole practice of freezing an unique moment in time...is so intriguing.

So that's what's up.

Critique THIS

The photo critique!

Maybe it's just a way of saying 'if I was you, I would have done this.'

It's a chance for someone to pretend they are you behind the lens, a way for the 'critic' to fault your work!

The photo critique is a strange practice, one I have never been fond of engaging in. It's one thing if a person specifically ASKS for suggestions on improving his/her work. I am NOT that person. It's not that I think my shit don't stink, butt that I really don't care. I got my image the way I want it and that's that. Would 'you' go to a live music performance and tell the band after a piece how they could have improved their performance.

Somehow THE CRITIQUE has become part of the whole photo experience.

Hell, why don't those critics get off their asses and get their eyeballs behind the lens more often and learn about photography through self discovery?

Eastern Thinking

Now that I've decided to take a break from Detroit, I am realizing a few things, mostly that sweeping through Detroit felt more like a dare than working on a photo project.

I've always felt an oddness to the east side of the area (Detroit) where I live, that it is another world, a place that I can't totally relate to. It really is different. I'm more interested in books, art, gourmet coffee and foods, art films, world music, art rock, alt. rock, etc. The east side ain't like that at all.

The east side is more hard working class people (or it used to be...before the erosion of the middle class in Amerika), lots of flat one story ranch homes lined up in a row, churches, party stores, big screen televisions for sports, etc. That is not me.

The west side is not all artsie, mind you, but there are (or were, before the corporatism of Amerika through monopoly capitalism eradicated so many small businesses)or were more bookstores, alt rock music shops, ethnic restaurants, art galleries, and a wider diversity of houses and buildings.

It's to the 'burbs I go now. I want to capture my feeling of this strangeness I sense in the east. I most want to capture documentation of how people create space in their personal space that exemplifies or displays their personal belief systems. Religious statuary is more common in the east (side of Metro Detroit) and I love the challenge of finding some compelling photos/images of what I find in this land that makes me feel like a stranger in a strange land.

Detroit isn't going anywhere, so a diversion will be nice.

Photographic Kinship

A few photographers really capture my attention/imagination, incl. Winogrand, Friedlander, Kertesz, Frank, Mark, and Arbus. I am doing a life study of Arbus right now, first watching a warped movie that really distorts her life quite a bit ("Fur") and then I went to read the biography from which the movie was inspired, even though the script writers took HUGE liberties. I've known of Arbus for years and even have a the famous Aperture monograph of her work, plus the monstrous Revelations, a book of unpublished Arbus photos, text, and even some of her own writing, a book for the real Arbus aficionados. That comes next, as soon as I finish her biography, which is coming to its tragic conclusion.

I don't care to take portraits and that is really want Arbus was all about. But I find a certain kinship with her fascination with offbeat subject matter. When I started reading the book, I thought perhaps that her fascination with freaks was manufactured, but now I am pondering the possibility that she was really a freak herself, something I can relate to a bit, a person who just doesn't quite fit in with the rest of 'you.' And on that plane, I totally identify with this woman. She talked to her subjects quite a bit before snapping photos, and probably let her subjects in a bit to her secret world.

She is such a complex person that I am finding her biography quite intriguing.

Besides that, I am trying to make sense of 'art' and photography. My tastes are rapidly changing, or rather I am allowing them to surface after more or less allowing my watchers to determine what I shoot. I am not happy going into Detroit for photos because I am expected to, in the sense that if I don't post such photos, people won't stop by and look at my stuff. They aren't and I'm growing apathetic. The idea of dropping off from Flickr is more appealing each day I look at some of the photos I've shot that I really liked getting just a few page views.

I'm looking.

Rethinking Things

My Flickr Pro account is up for renewal and quite frankly, I am not pleased with where it is going. I seem to be interested in a totally different style of photography than the people who view my stuff. I was hoping my twisted way of seeing things would interest people, but what 'sells' (page views) are sex-related and Detroit.

Ah...Detroit. The city of my birth. And where I grew up. Well, sort of.

I know I'm in quite a spot, that I have an opportunity to photograph subject matter that others would love to document, the streets of a deeply wounded city. And I have the courage/stupidity to drive through areas I probably should avoid. I've been doing that since 1 January 2004. That's when I made my first serious plunge into the city. And what a shocking scene I found!

We want different things.

Flickr is not my first choice of places to show my work. I don't have a first choice. I've tried a few but they do not appeal. My first choice WAS DeviantArt. My type of crowd hung out there and I really enjoyed putting up new work, all kinds of new work, not just Detroit. Then I learned that DA sneaked in some fine print in the user agreement that they have the right to sell our work. That really doesn't lay right with me. I don't want my photos, as bad as they are, showing up on stock photo sites. I may not be a big shot artist, but I am what I am and my work is mine.

I still stop in at DA to see the work. A new tread there is the presence of viruses and other malware which a subscriber can have, free of charge! What's up with THAT?

Photonet. The almighty CRITIQUE! Screw that.

So here I am, feeling very discombobulated, not really having the audience (and community) for my work. It's not that I want to be adored for my strange photos, but that I want to be in a community of like beings. Early DA was SO MUCH FUN. It was like blazing a way in uncharted territory. Flickr is cold to my touch.

So...I'll probably renew my Flickr account just to have some social networking. And I'll still post photos, but I'm on the prowl for something new, something different. I have a few photo projects going on, things I don't waste my time exposing on Flickr. Why? Unless there is destruction in my shots, many do not bother to look. I will subscribe to a community-fueled zine called SHOTS. Subscribers get four issues a year plus they can submit a few photos of their own. That might open a few doors if a few of my photos are accepted. I also may erect my own site so I can show my work the way I want.

If anybody knows of some good opportunities for photo communities, offbeat places with fringe people, contact me through my Flickr account.

Lawn Museums

I'm taking a little break from Detroit. It gets to me, roaming around the city, spying on people's lives. I decided to seek out strangeness in the 'burbs. I want to explore the deeper recesses of the suburban mind and find lost souls wandering in the sea of humanity who have strange visions.

Lawn museums fascinate me. A land owner/renter has a small chunk of land to use and is more or less free to do whatever s/he wants with that parcel of land. The conventional thing is a nice green lawn, some shrubs, a few flowers for color (and bees), maybe a stone rabbit, a chair to sit and watch cars drive by, and of course an American flag. We wouldn't want any aliens running around the area unaware of what country they are invading!

But some people don't want to fit into that cookie-cutter mold. Those are the people I want to find.

Overly zealous patriotism is always interesting, where just a flag isn't enough. Now that I think back, maybe I got this fascination by visiting cemeteries and observing the garish decorations I sometimes find. Missing someone who died is understandable, even to me, but obsessing is something I also understand!

I love a good obsession.

One statue caught my eye a few years ago in an old cemetery in Detroit. A woman's face and upper body was carved out of stone.



And what hard, erect nipples! I'm figuring the husband visits that grave and when nobody is around, copes a feel and gets a thrill, since it does look like the woman he loved.

Maybe he breaks in at night and does unimaginable things right there in the cemetery!

I have found a few brave souls who decide to do something a little out of the ordinary with their lawns, with what the world sees of their external lives.

My newly found friend, Stickman Wilson of Berkley, is really quite fascinating and friendly as hell, in a good way. I visit his grounds for pictures to post in my gallery and also have the treat of visiting him. We talk and he doesn't seem to mind me snapping away while we do so. I especially like that because I like to be in a loose "Zen" mind when I take pictures and talking/shooting seems to do that. Stickman gives new life to old discarded tree branches, giving them the opportunity for a while to live as humans, right on his front lawn. Life-size, too. He has them engaged in all sorts of activities and it's always a treat to see what's new. We see the world through similar sets of eyeballs, so it's great fun just talking to Larry as well. He has an amazing back yard, a double lot, that looks like a real piece of a forest, with many trees, wildflowers, a newly installed pond (equipped with a nice supply of mosquitoes), handmade birdhouses nailed to the larger trees, a few bird feeders, and even chandeliers hanging from a tree. Amazing. He lives over on Morgensen north of Catalpa, if you're ever over that way.

Stickman Wilson

Mr. M-80 of Madison Heights had an interesting exhibit of modern/found outsider art, much with discarded parts of dolls, on display in his backyard. I had a really excellent time viewing his gallery, and meeting with him, talking about his art, taking photos, which can be found in my set of lawn museums.

Lawn Museums.

Mr. M-80 has moved. Sigh.

There is another man who lives (or lived) in the Big Beaver and Ryan area of Sterling Heights who has/had a double lot with a great deal of grass area and cement statues everywhere, many Greek/Roman style statues. He had little scenes set up and it made for a most interesting photo shoot. I recall they had something to do with memories of his wife. He wasn't especially friendly with me, but did allow me to go back there and photograph. I've removed photos of his land from my gallery, for the most part, though this one, a wheel shed he decorated, still remains. It really isn't a good representation of what I saw there, but lack of interest in my photos of that topic earned them the right to be retired.

Statue Land.

There is a man in the northwest area of Detroit, the Brightmoor district, who has a bit of a lawn museum going on. I always check out his offerings when I'm over there. Nice man, too. I spoke with him and he was unaware of others in the area who decorate their grounds.

Right now I seem to be fascinated with Virgin Mary statues. I'm seeing these ladies in a William Eggleston "Democratic Forest" type way. We have a huge Christian Chaldean population and I've been meaning to explore their turf and see what kind of VM displays I can find. Culturally, they seem to like to display their fondness for the goddess.

Zen Photography

It should be obvious to anybody viewing my photostream that I have returned to the streets of Detroit. But with mixed feelings. For one thing, as I keep mentioning, the city is much cleaner, cosmetically, than when I started shooting there over six years ago. The devastation has been covered up with boards, and many buildings have been ripped down. I gave up last autumn for three reasons: 1) the cosmetic clean-up, 2) feeling overwhelmed with the situation in the city, and 3) too many other people flitting around the city armed with cameras.

My cameras went back on the shelf, that part of my existence ceased.

There are still bad sections that I'm exploring and documenting. And the city seems to be erupting with danger again. Shootings, arson, etc. I have been lucky so far not to be on the scene, or an integral part of, that.

Funny story...the other day I spotted to very attractive Asian women standing in front of a church in a rather bad part of the city. I thought they might be tourists and did not realize that they might be endangering themselves by walking around. I drove around the neighborhood a bit, as I usually do, exploring streets and a while later saw them walking together down a side street, heading into an area that is not only unsafe but that has largely been blocked off and closed down for construction. I pulled up to them and told them they might not realize how dangerous it was for them to be strolling down the street as they were. They politely thanked me and continued on.

Either they were really tourists determined to see the sights, or, as it dawned on me later, prostitutes trolling ass. I'll never know. But I do regret that I did not take their photo.

I'm looking to expand my photo horizons, and find something new to explore. I'm also trying to return to that state of mind I used to have of no-thought photography, just look and shoot and check it out when I got home. That's one main reason I can't take others with me as talking and chitter-chatter just destroy that mood.

Boarded Up

I guess it was just a matter of time before I started dipping back into Detroit for pictures. I've been nibbling on the corners, making a few short treks through certain areas. And I can definitely report now that the city has changed. The wreckage has largely been cleared and while 'clean up' is not appropriate, cover-up might. Those smashed windows and dangling door frames are now shielded by sheets of plywood. The grime is gone. Many homes are gone, ripped down, replaced by fields of grass. Or better yet, weeds.

I don't know how the city survives.

It looks better, but that means the photo ops are not as good for me. I'd love to see the city bounce back and become respectable again.

Last week I went to visit one area, was stopped in the road (no traffic behind me) and a pick-up truck with two men slowly pulled up next to me. The passenger shot me the evil eye, and they hung back near me while the light was red. It changed, and they moved, a mere crawl. The passenger throw some paper out of the window and shot me another look. I was in the right lane and as we passed under the light, I took a turn and left the area.

I wonder, if I lived in that area, how I would like strangers coming and gawking at my hood. Since Detroit is largely populated by blacks, my presence as a honky stands out loud and clear. There are whites in Detroit and I think they live in relative peace, but then they don't have a camera up to their eye, taking in the scenery.

For excitement, there was a massive fire in Highland Park. I was miles away and saw pillowing black smoke pumping up into the air. It seemed like forever getting there, with all the stop lights, which I think are timed to the 'annoying' setting. Drive a few blocks. Stop. Wait. Start. Stop. Wait. Running reds in abandoned areas (and often in not so abandoned areas) is pretty common in the city. I guess the police will often look the other way as they have more important matters to attended to.

The fire was huge and lasted hours. I learned later a man died, jumping from the smoke. And it was not exactly an accidental fire. Police report that one of the non-official residents (squatters) had tossed some sort of fire bomb after a dispute.

Then later a major auto accident on the street. I heard the car wrap around a telephone pole. The front end was demolished and it looked like the driver 'should' have died, but the air bag saved him and he was walking around. The debris fanned out across the pavement. I did not take any shots of it because traffic was snarled and I just didn't see anything I wanted to capture.

I had a good outing yesterday but the pickings were slim and I don't expect that it will be 'business as usual' for me in Detroit.

In Limbo

More equipment problems. The Canon is going back to the factory this week for repairs not performed on its last factory-warranty visit just weeks ago.

And at a time where I'm really feeling an itchy trigger finger.

Shoot!

However, I do have back-up and can still shoot sans the Canon.

But WHAT to shoot! Of course I can't ignore my love of Detroit. However, the city has changed - drastically. Sure, there is still some devastation to be viewed, but quite a bit of that has been cleaned up, if only cosmetically. Store fronts are boarded up, covering broken plate glass windows. The same with houses. Many questionably sound buildings have been leveled. And life is still very hard in the city abandoned by the auto industry.

I haven't explored every neighborhood in the city. I'm sure I could find interesting subject matter if I explored. The troubled economy impacts me heavily, and gas is a major expense in my ventures. And repairs. Tires. Suspension. It's not cheap prowling the streets of Detroit.

However, the major deterrent for me is the popularity of urban photography now. I see carloads of folks, cameras in hand, tooling around the city. A major fire will bring them out like cockroaches after the lights are turned off. Or vultures, circling over head. I experienced that last summer when I saw black smoke rising over the horizon in the city. I was perhaps five miles away and by the time I got there, there was a crowd of camera folk.

Seeing so many others doing what I've been doing for six-seven years really diminishes my desire to go out shooting Detroit.

I sometimes wonder how 'useful' my photos are, showing sides of the city that the media skims over. That was my motivational reason these past years, to expose.

My nature photography doesn't attract much interest on Flickr. Either I have the wrong crowd looking, or it's just not that interesting. It's interesting to me, though, and for that reason I will continue to shoot, and post a few. However, I don't think of Flickr as MY site, but rather a gathering place for we who are drawn into the world of photography.

Another detriment, but one that I will not allow to restrict me, is the heavy emphasis on surveillance these days, ever since that day in September eight-and-a-half years ago that totally changed the course of my country. I wonder if people see it that way, how so many things changed that day. And one that is close to home for me, is our loss of personal freedom. I had my own encounter with the law this past summer when I was reported as engaged in 'suspicious activity' that resulted in lengthy interviews on the phone. And I was asked to send in the photos I had taken. Abandoned warehouses in Detroit are hardly 'rich targets' for terrorists, I'd say. Unfortunately for me, there was also a power station within a block, which held absolutely no interest for me.

So now I'm probably on government watch lists. The saddest thing is I did not even get a decent photo for all my later-developing trouble.

I think people are really fooling themselves about what's REALLY going on. Enough said.

Taking on the Big Guy

The other day, while walking through woods in the area, I saw a magnificent long wing span hawk gliding over the tree tops, probably looking for some lunch. And near the pond where I was standing, was a rather noisy red-winged blackbird, yacking away as blackbirds do. I guess the blackbird spotted the circling hawk and took off. I thought it did not want to be lunch. Instead of dashing off into the woods, that blackbird ascended in the direction of the hawk and, to my amazement, started attacking it. All told I think that blackbird pecked at the hawk a good dozen times, and the hawk showed no signs of mixing it up with that little blackbird.

I say it's time to really go after our friends on Wall Street and toss some of them in jail. I hope they're not too big to serve time.

Amazing Amazoning

I wonder how many people realize that their favorite book seller, Amazon, is out to destroy all their competition and put an end to hard copy books altogether?

Over the years they have been buying up bookstores, used bookstores, adding all the good stuff online, sucking the life out of these stores, leaving them behind with just more stuff (common books) and moving on. How can a brick-n-mortar store compete with this mega-monster bookstore, who regularly sells books at +30% off, and includes free shipping to boot (on orders over $25, that is.) And meanwhile, they continue to Kindle their real intent...to get rid of paper books and get us all hooked on their electronic readers. They are not interested in hooking us, and getting us all to add a Kindle to our bookshelves, but rather get rid of the books, and just Kindle.

It's a clever scheme and requires a great deal of patience, a long term business strategy to kill all your competition.

I for one do not find this policy at all 'user friendly.'

We chase the huge discounts and ignore the fact we are squeezing out the life blood of our local bookstores. I adore books, have hundreds and hundreds of them on my shelf. Sure, getting rid of them all and replacing them with digital copies would be more space efficient, but I just love the book as it is, with worn covers, ripped pages, and that very neat sound of flesh rubbing across the paper as I turn pages. Maybe the Kindle will recreate an electronic sound for you, of that page turning sound, sampled from a real book, but that just isn't good enough for me.

No thanks. I'll keep my books. And my fountain pens, too. Hell, I even go to the vegetable market and get foodstuffs that are hopefully closer to the 'real thing' rather than all this processed shit grown with space-age Monsanto seeds.

We really are living in an age of the Corporation. The people of my land were recently shocked when our tipped-to-the-right-corporate Supreme Court ruled that corporations are allotted all Constitutional rights as a person. Well, except if a corporation intentionally harms people (and they do...ALL the time.) You can't sentence a corporation to jail.

Our greed, the 34% discount of most books, is luring us to a future world that perhaps we are unaware that we create.

Retreating Army

Quick observation there...

I need some plastic army men for some photo shoots and prowl the dollar stores for cheap stuff. I've noticed lately that packages of army men are scarce. I can find bag after bag of police and firemen, but no troops. They were there just a few months ago.

That got me thinking...why?

Even though we still have thousands and thousands of troops still stationed in Iraq, news from there is scarce from the corporate-controlled media. I still think that troop presence, and the dangers they face, are important. It is still a dangerous mission. Why aren't we getting daily updates from Iraq?

The media largely guides what appears in the news. General Electric, for instance, owns NBC and one would think they might have an interest in what is reported in the news. GE also makes a ton of money from war contracts. Perhaps some conflict of interest here?

I don't think GE controls the Chinese-made army men sold in dollar stores, but perhaps 'army' is out of sight right now. With the recent health care bill, perhaps we'll see bags of health care workers, 54 in a bag, EMU techs, doctors, nurses, maybe even a few unconscious victims.

I wonder if these plastic figures will still sell after Michele Bachmann of MN can get the new law before the Supreme Court, so her friends Scalia, Roberts, Alito, Kennedy, Thomas can strike it down and return us more to the Amerika we've grown to know and 'love' over the past thirty years.

No Longer Coreled by My Software

My Canon PS SX10 IS came back in snappy time, less than a week in total, and was fixed by the Canon people. Very impressive service. So, I'm sort of back in the saddle, but my horse doesn't have a destination. The idea of returning to the streets of Detroit, with so many others who have claimed the streets as their own, does not appeal to me at all. I figure I had my shot and now it's time to move on. That doesn't mean I will "never" return, but for now, I am not interested. As time went by, I also began feeling that my visits were intrusive and that I wasn't doing the city any favors by showing my work. It is important for people to know what's really going on in Detroit, though, and that was my main objective. The corporate-controlled media is not going to show you what I saw. Perhaps you'll get a glance when a robust filmmaker shoots a documentary on the city, but you're not going to see street after street of a city that was abandoned by an industry the way the auto people fled Detroit.

Detroiters are really struggling to survive now. Good jobs are hard to come by, especially in Detroit. Sure, we're all having a rough time thanks to the last thirty years of watching the middle class in this country getting plundered by the rich.

I am thinking of turning my eye to some of the skirting 'burbs, a few in particular that are packed with people struggling to stay afloat in this weird economic environment. Those with less find interesting ways to survive and decorate their worlds. I drove through one such neighborhood last week on my way to a dollar store that I find to be THE most depressing I've visited, where I shot Mom's Taxi. Chinese Junk. That's what I find in these stores and I use this junk for my photos.

Someone listening to my rants might think I'm one of those flag-waving Americans who loved George Bush and wants this country to be a Christian nation. Truth be known, I am very interested in other cultures. I largely eat Indian (east) food, as I learned to cook quite an array of tasty dishes, firing up my pressure cooker for a steaming spicy bowl of palak mung dal, some fiery hot sambars and rasams, steaming pots of basmati and masoori rice...Really excellent food. I watch scores of foreign films. No, I do like being a citizen of the world and don't want a closed society. I don't want to stop buying foreign-made goods. But I do want jobs to return to the U.S., and I want a thriving middle-class where we get a slice of the pie, too.

Not only am I pissed off about what's going on with bankers and Wall Street thieves, but I'm even more pissed off that nobody seems that interested in what's going on. How can real life events that effect us all compete with the latest line-up of television shows?

Back to these poor neighborhoods. The ones I have in sight are not poverty-level areas, but hoods where it is a real struggle to stay afloat. I see some very interesting home decor, and that's what I think I want to go after next. I'm not looking for post-war bomb-out shots, but more quirky shots.

Sorry to disappoint all of you. I wonder, if I ever return to the streets of Detroit for photos, if those crazy-ass Wall Street tycoons would be interested in placing hedge bets on whether or not I return unscathed?

Something new regarding my photography...I'm shelving my Paint Shop Pro and delving into the world of Adobe Photo Shop. I will finally begin to experience all the wonder I've heard about this program. I have been using Paint Shop Pro for all my digital days, long before Corel bought the company. It has been okay, and performs basic adjustments alright. Perhaps not. I've really had nothing to compare it with. So it's time to boost up my computer, but in that new graphics card, pour in the RAM, and get ready. The software was shipped.

Bon soir Corel. And good riddance. I've been a loyal fan (forced to be for economic reasons, I might add, plus a touch of my attraction for the under-dogs of the world) but you have really let me down with your latest versions of software. I've invested hundreds and hundreds of dollars into your company. Thanks for the complete breakdown in support this past year.

waving with great enthusiasm...blowing a kiss to the north, to Canada, where Corel lives...thinking kindly of my Canadian neighbors and not holding Canada accountable for the buggy software that Corel publishes.

It's Freezing (Up)

No, not me! The damn camera. My main camera is jamming, and I don't mean dancing smooth moves to the latest grooves, or improvising wildly off a hot chord progression.

Dead.

Me friggin' main camera is only delivering grief. And just when I was sort of starting to get back into it a little. It's a Canon Power Shot SX1o IS, my second in this series. Even though this has more zoom power, I think I liked the first one better. This has been a slightly disappointing camera. I'm very disappointed in the noise I get from it on a gray day.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/tooloose-letrek/4398395318/

The sky is putrid. I don't have fancy software to fix it up. Nope. Just old Paint Shop Pro, for us poor saps that can't afford Photo Shop.

The repairs will be covered under factory warranty, so except for shipping, no cost to me. The cost is measured more in lost time and killing my interest in getting out for shots.

I still have a camera to shoot, but another disappointment for me. The Lumix is capable of some nice shots, but I have some issues with shake. I don't think the anti-shake mechanism works properly. No factory warranty on that one, and that's the way I got it out of the box. But I must admit, in ideal circumstances, it does make a nice sharp image.

I tried a Fujifilm S2000 for a day and was horribly disappointed. It's not a great camera and costs roughly half the price of my Power Shot. The zoom was horrible. And it brought back a very bad taste in my heart, too. My first better digital camera was a Fujifilm Finepix S5000. It was great fun for me to get away from a totally retarded Kodak Point-N-Shoot 1.3MP junk box and into a camera with some controls. I think I had a little Nikon Coolpix in between the two, but beside the low resolution, it totally lacked any controls. I liked it, though. Anyway, back to my Fujifilm. It had problems out of the box and I didn't attend to them right away. Had I, I probably would have gotten a brand new replacement. Someone in a photo forum convinced me that it was a power issue and not a camera issue...and I didn't realize that I had such a small time frame for the right remedy, a new camera. So I got on the repair train ride. It went back to the factory tw0 or three times (who's counting?) and the problem was never resolved really. I was able to get photos out of it, but at times, the camera just went bonkers on me. I don't know why they couldn't fix it properly. But oh well, right?

I was disappointed in Fuji, to say the least. So when I had one in my hand the other day, for a few hours, I was on high alert. The zoom sucked, as did the display.

No more Fujifilm for me!

And then I learned about a new model coming out next month, a HS10. Man, it has features, and a super-dooper zoom, 30X. I can't even imagine what I could have done with that much zoom, and still stay out of firing range when I drove around Detroit for photos.

Detroit. Wow, what a change in sentiment for me. I still don't want to do what I used to do, and I'm thinking of getting some professional help to aid me in understanding why I did what I did in the first place. Perhaps I have a death wish? I just watched a local film about thugs in the city, mostly drug dealings and violence as the theme. I guess when one is feeling that disadvantaged in life, the value of life is minimal. Popping someone is no big deal. There can't be any thought behind that bullet ripping through and ending a human life. Life is shit so I shit on life?

But while I was driving down the streets of Detroit, there was a lot going on behind the scenes, drug deals and violence. It wouldn't be anything for someone to pop a white boy driving where he shouldn't be driving. I've written before that I was nearly car-jacked (or worse?) twice in my travels, and nearly accosted on foot a handful of times. The first time, I was in a mixed black-Arabic neighborhood early on a Sunday morning and two guys in a car were doing their best to cut in front of me, and probably stop me. I don't think they wanted my car because it wasn't much of a car, and I don't think they wanted sex because I'm not appealing that way. Every time we got to a stop/yield sign, they tried to pass me, but I gunned it and had a goal in mind, to reach a street some blocks away that I knew was populated with security guards, guarding some new cars in storage at the Michigan State Fair grounds. I won. As soon as I hit that street, they backed off and went looking for some other action. Another time, on the other side of town, in an area known for prostitution and crack, a pick-up truck pulled up next to me and when I decided to leave, left with me. And kept leaving with me. Fortunately I was driving a V8 and s/he was in an old pick-up and I was able to hit a main street before him or her. I never looked over at the driver and would not have been surprised to see a gun pointing at me. We got onto that main street and s/he pulled in front of me. There wasn't a cop in sight! I took a hard left just in front of some oncoming traffic and escaped down a side street.

Then one day I was pulled over against the curb, watching a nun eating a sandwich outside a church, just on the border of an area called DelRay, one of the nastiest areas in the city. I noticed some movement in my rear view mirror and saw a guy creeping up along the parked cars, heading in my direction. He was about a car length away and I got the hell out of there. When I was in my car, I always had the engine running, in gear, foot on the brake, with a clear escape path.

I'm really not anxious to see how many more of these 'adventures' I can have, just to feed you guys some interesting photos. And on top of that, I feel like I'm invading people's private lives. I hate it when someone takes my photo without permission, so why would I want to do that to others?

Not so many people stop by my photo gallery anymore.

On top of that, anybody who reads my comments know how I feel about what's going on in this world now anyway. The rich, the VERY rich, are in control. They, along with corporations, have a commanding lead on the American people, and what makes matters much worse is the fact that the American people (hell, the world's people, as it isn't just happening here. It can't happen here? It is!) don't seem to care that much. I used to think Americans were a people who respected freedom and liberty, but now learn they cower in fear of 'terrorists' and fully support an undefined 'war' against a principle. Hell, this is stuff right out of the pages of Nineteen-Eighty-Four. And obviously whoever is behind all this studied that book in great detail. Doublespeak is everywhere. A 'clean air' act that pours massive pollution into the environment, for instance. Bush is on record as using a quote right out of the Orwell classic, "War is Peace."

And now, I have no idea what's going on.

It's not just in Amerika, either. It's happening all around the globe.

So here I am, at odds with the world. I have some photo projects in mind, some involving the only friends I have, action figures and figurines I have accumulated over the years. Don't worry, I have some ideas that will no doubt be plenty offensive to some people, though that is certainly not my intention behind the concepts. But I'm having trouble with this because I find I do much better with my photography chancing upon something rather than setting it up. Maybe I don't have a good sense of layout design, I don't know. What I probably should do is get someone else to lay out the props, giving them a general idea of what I want to do, and then going to the scene and nab my shots.

That, and a horrible economy, is what's going on. I'm working on developing my business more and that has me hopping. And I'm back to work on my book, a non-fiction book, that I have been working on for years. I don't know why I even care, but I'd like to leave something useful behind, when I'm a goner.

Not sure what I'll be able to grind out with the camera with my main weapon in repair.

Maybe I should just get a lobotomy and an iPhone, watch American Idol and buy lotto tickets. Oh yeah, and pick up a six pack on the way home.

New Projects on the Horizon

I really gotta wipe those cobwebs off my cameras. Damn. The urge is there, sortta. My finger twitches, the one I use to push down the shutter. So when it starts spazzing, I stick it in my nose so nobody notices.

I'm still getting my ass kicked, trying to get my business doing gooder. Rough times. You guys look at all that decimated real estate and forget that I don't live that far from it.

Maybe Toyota will open a factory here and give everyone jobs.

As I side project, besides rebuilding my website with nicer, newer Legos, I'm farting with music, composing, then after hearing what I've done, decomposing. I might do a little video project and I'll want all the music to be mine. It will involve pictures.

And then there's that photo project I've had on the back burner for a few months. I have empty whiskey bottles in the trunk, and a statue of the Virgin Mary and a can of beans, all set to go. A friend of mine is a bit miffed at me because I rode his butt getting him to suck down some cheap whiskey so I could get my grubby hands on the bottles, and he's wondering...where are the pictures? I am a big fan of the winter but the gods have been sending all our snow over to DC and Maryland.

I hope to have something brand new to post on Flickr soon.

Sigh...

Whereabouts

Not that anybody gives a rolling donut what's going on with me, for the few who do, the few who keep tabs on me, I thought I'd post a bit of an update.

It appears that I dropped off the face of the earth. I guess I have a bit. A few months ago I felt totally burned out on driving around Detroit, looking for evidence of how rough things are in the city. I also felt very 'unsafe' in doing so. When I'm in my own, I feel safe and invulnerable as I drive the cities in some damn dangerous areas. But not now. Add to that the fact that many others have joined me in this and it just isn't fun anymore, looking at recent photos posted in my style, of houses and scenes I shot years ago. It shows a lack of creativity on the part of these people, though I must say, their photos are definitely not ones I would take. When I used to go out, I rarely saw others roaming with cameras, but recently I spot people on just about every trip I took in the city. I roam alone and am definitely a lone shooter type.

I had quite an adventure in Detroit, and now it's time for me to do something else. If ever I do return, it will be with fresh eyes.

However, that something else hasn't materialized for me yet. I wanted to do a series on Christmas decorations, especially ones where patriotism is very evident in the display, flags and whatnot. I think waving a flag proves nothing, especially since so many of these flag wavers are not engaged in what's really happening in this world, but rather living off of some distorted notions of who we are and our role in the world. America is a real we're #1 and we're going to kick your ass if you don't agree mentality lately. The USA is a wonderful concept, or at least it used to be, before the ultra rich took over this country. They own it, lock, stock, and barrel, to borrow a phrase often associated with the gun industry.

Bankers and Wall Street manipulating tycoons are running things here at home. Corporations are running things here at home. The officials we voted in (assuming they were not recipients of fraudulent elections) are owned by the corporations. And the shift to the rich is getting stronger each month. Watch the movie Food Inc to get a glimpse of how little we know about our food supply. Corporations have been granted the same Constitutional rights as people.

Sorry. I'm so damn pissed off about what's going on here, I lost it.

Why I haven't been posting many new pictures. How about because I haven't been taking my camera out of the case very often? Or that I don't get in the car and either go somewhere 'shootable,' or cruise? I do occasionally slip into a cemetery and drive around, and I really do miss the camera action.

Lately, though, I have had to turn my attention elsewhere. I am self-employed and have been devoting long hours to my business, to maintaining it and to developing it. Business is not good. Look at my photos and realize that I live within a radius of that devastation, and you might get the feeling that the economy is especially hard hit in this area.

I provide a service, a non-essential service, so as household incomes freeze, so do I.

I have to put my work first now, and I do not have the time to shoot.

And I need to eat, and that eats up a lot of time. Though I am a honky through and through, of 100% European descent. I am drawn to other cultures and foods. I eat Indian (of the Asian sort) food 95% of the time. I've become quite good at cooking up a dal, a spicy sambar or rasam, a kootu or poriyal. And lately, idli and dosai. Last weekend I made a fish curry to die for, it was so good. And I'm definitely not into taking photographs of my food. It has taken a while, but I have established some very interesting relationships with people here of Indian descent. The Indian community is very large here, due to the highly technical nature of the auto industry that once centered in this area, but now has moved on. There still are some good jobs to be had, and the Indian community here is very strong.

So now I eat, shit, catch a few movies, work my ass off on developing my business, and if I have some spare time, find new recipes to cook. I still take my cameras with me whenever I leave, but now instead of roaming the streets, I'm going to a destination with a purpose.

Not that anybody cares, but I'll try to keep you guys informed on my progress in getting back behind the lens. I adore the winter time and I have been feeling hunger pains to get out and eat up the area looking for winter photos. However, they are usually not that popular on my site. You guys just want the death and destruction! Also, I have some staged photos in mind. I've gathered the props I need and just need to get me arse in gear to go out and do it. I prefer to shoot 'found' stuff, not staged. And I'm not thinking I'll be especially good at doing this. Perhaps I can give the props to a friend, describe basically what I want, have that person set it up and just go and shoot it. Hmmm...

I will still be on Flickr, enjoying your photographs, and will post a few of my own, just to let you know I'm still alive.