7/4/09 Ohio to California: Utah Salt Flats
On the way to California we slept in the car on a back road near the flats. Made it to Bonneville Speedway for sun-up. Most beautiful place in America if you ask me. But that’s because it’s where I fell in love for the first time, some 9 years ago. I was 17 and we kissed in the back of her sister’s car as we drove through Nevada. Stood in dusk on the Utah salt, glowing with summer heat. I took your picture for the first time. It was true love, as far as I could tell.
This entry was written by , posted on July 4, 2009 at 1:12 pm, filed under Landscape, Personal, Travels and tagged Bonneville Speedway, Road Trip, Salt Flats, Salt Lake City, SLC, Sunrise, Utah. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink and follow any comments with the RSS feed for this post.
7/3/09 Ohio to California: Under The Milky Way Tonight
We slept in the car most nights. Saw a huge lightning storm in Western Nebraska. Got familiar with the milky way in Utah.
“And its something quite peculiar, something that’s shimmering and white. Leads you here despite your destination, under the milky way tonight.”
This entry was written by , posted on July 3, 2009 at 4:10 pm, filed under Landscape, Personal, Travels and tagged Lightning, Milky Way Galaxy, Nebraska, Night, Road Trip, Stars. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink and follow any comments with the RSS feed for this post.
7/3/09 Ohio to California: Wyoming
Drove from Ohio to California last month with my friend Lee. Wyoming was surreal. Medicine Bow National Forest made all the hours in the car worth it.
This entry was written by , posted on at 2:21 pm, filed under Americans, Personal, Travels and tagged Climbing, Forest, Lee, Medicine Bow, Road Trip, Rocks, Wyoming. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink and follow any comments with the RSS feed for this post.
4/22/09 Morro Bay
This entry was written by , posted on April 22, 2009 at 2:47 pm, filed under Landscape, Personal, Travels and tagged Beach, california, Ocean, Water. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink and follow any comments with the RSS feed for this post.
4/11/09 New York
This entry was written by , posted on April 11, 2009 at 6:09 pm, filed under Landscape, Travels and tagged Architecture, Court, Ground Zero, New York, Street. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink and follow any comments with the RSS feed for this post.
4/11/09 Venice Beach 1998
This entry was written by , posted on at 3:57 pm, filed under Americans, Travels and tagged Beach, california, Color, Cops, Gang, Los Angeles, Mexicans, Street. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink and follow any comments with the RSS feed for this post.
4/11/09 George and Babe the Dog-Dog
George found Babe eating his cat food. He decided to keep him.
This entry was written by , posted on at 1:19 pm, filed under Portrait, Travels and tagged Animals, california, Color, dog, Morro Bay, old, Portrait. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink and follow any comments with the RSS feed for this post.
4/10/09 Oceanside
Oceanside, California, 2003.
This entry was written by , posted on April 10, 2009 at 11:28 pm, filed under Americans, Travels and tagged B&W, california, Car, Classic, old, retirement, San Diego, Street. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink and follow any comments with the RSS feed for this post.
4/10/09 You Should Walk Across Too
Walked across with Miki and Noah on a windy day. We watched the not-so-sissy kite surfers sketch the water in all directions. I love to do this when I go to San Francisco. I don’t see it as a bridge, despite the traffic roaring past, so much as I see it as an anchor in time and human achievement. When you stand on it you become a part of that massive super-human creation looming steadfast over the ocean. It’s best experienced during sunset.
This entry was written by , posted on at 12:01 pm, filed under Personal, Travels and tagged california, Color, San Francisco, Water. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink and follow any comments with the RSS feed for this post.
4/3/09 Ohio Girls in Los Angeles
My week in Los Angeles: warm steering wheel, listen to coast to coast am, contemplate Planet X, sand grinding on heels, Venice Beach addicts, dirty looks at street urchin pawning rap c.d., watch filming of French cosmetic commercial, rush of excitement seeing movie studios, incessant traffic, Mojave soon-to-be poppies, Randy’s donuts, Santa Barbara wineries, too much sushi, stretching dinner bellies, spotting Casper Balslev’s Superman in Hollywood, thoughts on lost opportunities and suppression of chaos, Sanchez Brothers, Bergamont Station, overpriced boring photography, inspiring Todd Hido prints, $45 parking ticket, flipping off meter maid, thinking about moving to Los Angeles, hotel boredom, meeting CalArts film students, sleeping on couch, intense dreaming of things I no longer remember, Val Verde, candy run to Santa Clarita, Scintillation, EX3, actress comes to shoot, sister city Solvang, amusing absence of Danish peoples, walking out of the Hitching Post after being seated, cuckoo clocks and pea soup, SF quickie on way home, rush of anxiety about being late, drive like maniac, Noah and Miki, hipster tells story about park, lay in grass, make Tim Hussin and his girlfriend uncomfortable with questions, walk the golden gate, feel a little bit alive, watch kite surfers, think about sharks and jumping off, talk to grizzled face fisherman, think of Christian Hansen’s bridge picture-silly bastard, cheap strawberries from mission district that rot the next day, grown in Mexico, garbage on street, return red rental car with no scratches.
This entry was written by , posted on April 3, 2009 at 4:14 pm, filed under Personal, Travels and tagged Beach, driving, Friends, girlfriend, Ocean, Ohio, Portrait, sand, Street, summer, sun, sunglasses, tricycle, woman. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink and follow any comments with the RSS feed for this post.
4/1/09 Strange Things Above
This entry was written by , posted on April 1, 2009 at 9:46 pm, filed under Personal, Travels and tagged B&W, Beach, Birds, california, Exercise, Los Angeles, Pier, Street, woman. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink and follow any comments with the RSS feed for this post.
3/30/09 Hotel Room
Don’t know how I feel about hotel rooms. Clean but worn, safe but vulnerable, enjoyable but costly. They symbolize escape and relief but are generic, impersonal, communal. A strange intersection between private and public. When I am in them I can never stop thinking about what has taken place in that room or what is taking place in the adjacent room. How many people have cried on this pillow or made love on these sheets? How was their life different when they left? When I leave these places I am dreary with a sense of conformity as if during the night I absorbed all the stories the walls have watched unravel. I walk away with a sense that people don’t change but run in the same circles in new ways, rarely learning from the past.
This entry was written by , posted on March 30, 2009 at 11:32 pm, filed under Personal, Travels and tagged california, Portrait, woman. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink and follow any comments with the RSS feed for this post.
3/27/09 Randy’s Donuts
Been in L.A. this week. Went to some photo galleries and cruised the town. Saw a Todd Hido print. Very nice. Ate at Randy’s Donuts. Coffee was gross. Headed to Santa Barbara to taste wines. Will post more when I return to Sacramento.
This entry was written by , posted on March 27, 2009 at 10:17 am, filed under Personal, Travels and tagged B&W, Los Angeles, Street, woman. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink and follow any comments with the RSS feed for this post.
3/7/09 Time Heeds None
This entry was written by , posted on March 7, 2009 at 8:52 pm, filed under Americans, Travels and tagged B&W, Depression, New York, Riding, Rural, Truck. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink and follow any comments with the RSS feed for this post.
2/28/09 Trendy Photo
This entry was written by , posted on February 28, 2009 at 11:07 pm, filed under Travels and tagged Animals, Holga, Museum, NYC. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink and follow any comments with the RSS feed for this post.
2/27/09 Pink Cadillac
This entry was written by , posted on February 27, 2009 at 8:03 pm, filed under Americans, Travels and tagged Car, Diner, Pink Cadillac. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink and follow any comments with the RSS feed for this post.
2/25/09 Kansas
A few from my drive from Ohio to California this past November. It would have been nice if everything I owned wasn’t crammed into my struggling 1980 Benz because it was my first time in Kansas and it definitely warrants further exploration. It was like a mecca of Americana gems.
This entry was written by , posted on February 25, 2009 at 4:05 pm, filed under Americans, Travels and tagged America, Kansas, Landscape, Plane, RV. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink and follow any comments with the RSS feed for this post.
2/17/09 Lonely Paris
Revisited some pictures from a winter trip to Paris, found some images I overlooked. Paris, I only knew you for 5 days, but I’ll adore you forever.
This entry was written by , posted on February 17, 2009 at 9:13 pm, filed under Personal, Travels and tagged B&W, Cat, Eiffel Tower, Europe, France, Lonely, Louvre, Paris, Smoking. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink and follow any comments with the RSS feed for this post.
2/12/09 East Timor
I’m still scanning and archiving and editing old photos. It’s turned into a larger task than I expected. These images are from an operation in East Timor back in 2002 when I was in the Marines. It’s strange looking at them, they don’t feel like pictures from 7 years ago but pictures from a past life altogether. East Timor was both exotic and barren, my brief time there made for some of my best memories while in the Corps. We traveled to several different villages, some in better shape than others. Many people we came across appeared to be incredibly peaceful despite the fact they struggled to survive. It was an experience that altered my view of both modern and Western culture. You spend your whole life taking certain things for granted, and you hear about how worse it is for some. Then the Marine Corps slaps you around a bit and you wake the fuck up, but in the end you’re still an American with a sense of security. Destitution doesn’t really sink in until you’re standing next to the people that are stuck in it. And I’m sure you can’t truly understand it until you become it.
I felt like an alien in East Timor. The security team that I was a part of was there to protect a team of doctors that was giving much needed care to the people in the villages. The team and I were geared up in case some shit went down, which was unlikely. I remember walking a patrol though the village, a lot of the structures were partially made from palm tree leaves and looked like they could just blow away. A young boy, maybe 4 or 5 turned a corner in front of us, like he probably had a thousand times before we ever showed up. But there we were, a couple of American 19 year-olds in camouflage uniforms, ammunition strapped to our bodies, throat mics around our necks, assault rifles in hand. The boy froze like Satan him-fucking-self just burst from hell spewing the souls of his dead ancestors. Poor kid just burst into tears, turned the other way and ran for his life. I remember, before laughing it off with my fellow Marines, feeling like I did something terrible without even wanting to. Later on I attempted a good deed by handing chocolate out to some of the kids. By the time I gave it to them, It had melted in the wrappers from the heat. It literally felt like I was handing them shit. I eventually scared another kid into tears without trying and made some of the elders really nervous. It felt like no matter how hard I tried I couldn’t do any good for those people. But, when I left that island I felt like I had received one of the greatest gifts of my life.
This entry was written by , posted on February 13, 2009 at 1:45 am, filed under Personal, Politics, Travels and tagged 2002, East Timor, Humanitarian Aid, Island, Marine Corps, Military, USMC. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink and follow any comments with the RSS feed for this post.
2/6/09 Bodega Bay
This entry was written by , posted on February 6, 2009 at 10:49 pm, filed under Personal, Travels and tagged Bodega Bay, Friends, Ocean, Surfing, Water. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink and follow any comments with the RSS feed for this post.
2/5/09 Bombing Begins in 5 Minutes
Left is the guide of a crocodile tour in Darwin, and right, a wax Cher in Wisconsin.
This entry was written by , posted on at 1:35 am, filed under Personal, Travels and tagged Australia, Cher, Museum. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink and follow any comments with the RSS feed for this post.
2/1/09 Blue Wild
This entry was written by , posted on February 2, 2009 at 12:51 am, filed under Americans, Personal, Travels and tagged Ohio, Salt Flats, tree, Utah, woman. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink and follow any comments with the RSS feed for this post.
1/29/09 First Camera: First Road Trip
I bought a book on photography right before we drove to Salt Lake City. I had just finished High School, and my Mother had given me my first camera as a graduation gift. The arid, solitary landscapes of Nevada and Utah, combined with my first true act of freedom have left an indelible impression on me. I fell in love with taking pictures during that experience, and I knew I wanted to be a photographer after it. I had months before signed up for the military, so by the end of the summer, a week after turning 18 and receiving my drivers license in the mail, I was in bootcamp. I rarely used that camera for another 4 years.
This entry was written by , posted on January 30, 2009 at 1:48 am, filed under Personal, Travels and tagged Bull, Nevada, SLC, Utah. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink and follow any comments with the RSS feed for this post.
1/28/09 Scanning Old Photos
This entry was written by , posted on January 28, 2009 at 10:54 pm, filed under Americans, Personal, Travels and tagged crab, deer, delorean, helicopter. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink and follow any comments with the RSS feed for this post.
» Next Entries