philly

Now, a word on LA's public transportation system. Above is one of their hybrid buses (press release on their system) which are pretty cool. They're spacious, clean and these new buses (at least in LA) have live maps of the bus's location via Windows Live on several 15" LCDs throughout the bus (I think 3 on the standard length bus, that's the double length above). It's crazy. The metro system is clean and new. Upon initially hearing one of LA's trains pull into the station we were at, I guessed that they were using similar technology to that of DC's train system. After we got onto the train, I noticed that they were the same cars (minus the ridiculous carpet) so they were same.

But the good stops there. From our 3 day experience in LA, it would seem that 90% of the city is oblivious to the fact that one can take a form of transportation that is not a personal automobile from point A to point B. Asking for directions via public transportation is like asking for moon rocks. Asking for walking directions might get you slapped in the face for such a preposterous request. Being the east coasters we were, we persevered and got through 3 days in LA only riding in a car one time to Grifith Observatory only because we were headed there at sunset and they close the walking trails at that time. But, we did make the car trip in our gracious hosts' bio diesel Benz.

We were staying around the Hollywood/Western Metro stop and got to/fro the LACMA, Hollywood, The Farmers Market, the Getty Center and Union Station without a car. If you ever need to get to those places, or many places in between, let us know, we'll fill you in on the secrets of the LA Metro system because you won't get a straight answer from Angelenos from what we could find.

So, back to our adventures… On Day 2 in LA, we headed to the Farmers Market. But before we headed there, I had to make a pit stop at Freestyle Photographic Supplies (conveniently a quick <1mi walk from our friends' house) for some slower film. I had brought a bunch of 400ASA film with me to SoCal - bad idea. I had to grab a 5 rolls of Fujicolor Pro 160S. Even with that, I'm shooting at f/11 and up all day long. The Tri-X and Pro 400H will have to wait until I get back to Philly. If you're in LA and need some photographic supplies, head to Freestyle - they have film up the wazzoo. I'll be taking a closer look at their catalog when I get back to Philly to compare prices to the local shops and B&H.

The market is a nice and big open air market dating back to 1934 (Philly's RTM is from 1893!). It had tons of local food vendors selling tons of seafood, ice cream, donuts, Korean, Chinese, Japanese, Mexican, French, burgers, pastries, hot sauce… But we only saw a single produce vendor. For a farmers market, they seemed low on farmers. No produce for us, but we did have some good eats at ¡Lotería! Grill.

I had a huge shredded beef burrito with guacamole, rice and cheese, Lady had bean and cheese enchiladas drowned in black beans. It was some of the best Mexican we've had. The homemade spicy salsas weren't as hot as I wanted, but very tasty. We washed them down with some fresh lemonade from a stand in another part of the market.

If in LA, I highly recommend a couple of hours wandering around this open air market. There were lines all over the place and the food smelled wonderful at every turn. But if you're looking for fresh produce and can't find what you're looking for at the single produce stall, there's a Whole Foods across the street and vendors on the street selling whole, peeled and sliced on request fruits and veggies including cukes, watermelon, mangoes, pineapples and melons.

More shots added to the CA 2008 trip flickr set starting here.

Lady was finally free from work and we started our vacation in Universal City. We got a great deal on a hotel. We spent the day lounging by the pool, some time in the gym and a relaxing post-workout hot tub soak along with some of the parents and their kids in town for Universal Studios ending with some delicious (and reasonably priced) room service. The shot above is from the 1st when we walked around Universal Studio's City Walk for a bit to see what was going on over there. Cheese.

The smog in and around LA contributes for some crazy sunsets. That's the view from our hotel room in the Hilton. We didn't have a downtown view, but our view NW towards Burbank was nice.

There's Lady at the Hollywood/Western Metro stop by our friends' house where we were staying for a few days. Taking the subway and the buses in LA was a trip. The stations are pretty cool with many of them housing lots of art. Photos, murals, tile work and installations all over the place. I'm proud to say that we beat LA. What do I mean by that? We didn't take a car at all to see the sights. We relied on public transportation and our own feet to get around except for one trip to a place which was not accessible, at all, by foot at that time of day. Day 1 in LA, we went to LACMA to see the incredible Philip-Lorca diCorcia exhibit. Incredible large format color prints about 30" x 40" of several different projects of his. We had some yummy Thai food for dinner in Hollywood before heading to bed after a long day.

More to come on our escapades in LA later (short take: I'm not a fan of LA). For now, we're lounging at Lady's sister's place in San Diego. Off to see the fireworks on the beach.

I've added some shots to the California 2008 flickr set with the new stuff starting here.

That's a shot of me outside of the Crystal Cathedral, a gigantic mega church home to The Hour of Power. It's just a few blocks from the hotel in Anaheim. According to the wiki, the main cathedral can hold 2,900 worshipers, but The Hour draws some 20M viewers worldwide each week. And no, that's not the same shirt from yesterday - I have 3 of the same shirt.

But before I headed out to check out the cathedral, I had me some breakfast outside in the cafe attached to the hotel. Some subpar eggs, sausages and home fries, but it got the job done. I headed back upstairs and watched the Euro2008 final in the hotel room. It was my first west coast sports watching. Weird having the game start before noon.

I hoofed it a couple of long blocks to the cathedral. Lady had told me about it the day before. She went to check it out with her boss before checking into the hotel. It's a sleek looking thing set on a large campus. Aside from the main campus and the tower, there were 4 other buildings with at least one of them housing separate places of worship. I saw a group of Arabic-speaking people using one of the small side chapels. I noticed before heading into the campus that their big LCD screen street side had screens displaying what was upcoming and one of the screens was fully in Arabic - seems like they welcome everyone to use the space. The main cathedral was occupied by a Spanish mass at around 3p when I was there.

On the way back to the hotel, I stopped off at Winchell's Donuts. It seems like SoCal is a good place to get donuts. I saw an episode of Anthony Bourdain's show on Food Network where he was in LA and stopped by a donut shop. Seems like the SoCal thing to do and I'm happy for it. I got me a vanilla frosting and rainbow sprinkle donut for 84¢. It was a nice and thick donut, slightly crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. It tasted fresh and definitely not stale. This shop is open 24/7. I wish I had places like this where I grew up.

I finished off the first 2 rolls of film and I added to my California flickr set with some more shots starting here. Tomorrow will be some more free breakfast and then off to the Hilton for a night (we got a ridiculous rate since it's a Monday night) before meeting our friends on Tuesday.

Greetings from California! Above is a shot of me in front of the base of a gigantic 100'+ tall ombu at the Fullerton Arboretum in Fullerton, just north of Anaheim.

Friday was a long day that never ended for me. I got up at 5.45a to meet a friend of mine at her house to take off to DC for the day to take photos of the Philly Orchards Project's exhibit at the US Botanical Garden. The weather held out all day until we got back to Union Station which was nice. I took 2 rolls of fim (Kodak Portra 160NC, Fujicolor Pro 400H [looking back, I should've shot the 160VC I had]) of the orchards and another 2 rolls (160NC, Kodak Tri-X 400) of a folklife festival going on at the National Mall. Since I had a 6.42a flight and had to be at the airport as early as possible, I didn't go to sleep. I took the 4.25a R1 from Market East to Terminal D. The train was over 20 minutes late and messed everything up for me. Luckily, I made it to the gate with about 10 minutes to spare and all was good.

We flew over the southern tip of the Rockies in Colorado I think and I got to see the Grand Canyon for the first time. WOW. It was pretty awesome. I flew to Arizona once before, but I think I was either asleep or the plane took a slightly different route.

I got into town and Super Shuttle got me to Anaheim in under an hour (including 3 other drop offs). I saw Lady at the hotel and we unpacked part of the gigantic suitcase I brought for the the two of us (she just took on a carry on bag for her 1 night she was here ahead of me). She was off to her conference which left me by myself. I had planned on going to the arboretum so off I went (after remembering to switch my clocks 3 hours backwards. The people at the front desk of the hotel sent me in the wrong direction on the bus. I noticed after about half an hour and asked the bus driver if he could give me a transfer to head back north. He kindly gave me an all day pass. I got to the arboretum at 2.30p or so and got right to it. I loaded up my F3 and FE2 with Pro400H and 160NC, respectively, and headed off into the manageable in one day sized, free arboretum. I don't get 10' into the place and I see a hummingbird! Very cool. It darted off before I loaded up my cameras. Such is life.

I saw some cool flora and some tiny fauna along the way. There were tons of orange trees on the property (apparently Fullerton is well known for their oranges from back in the day). There were coffee plants and tons of avocado plants too - unfortunately, neither of them were bearing fruit now. The coolest animal I saw was the blue heron pictured above. Since I didn't have my 80-200mm f/2.8, I used a manual focus 105mm f/2.5 instead to get this shot with my D200 to show online right away. With the digital crop factor, this was a 210mm shot. It stood there, motionless, waiting for fishies to swim into striking distance. After watching it for 20 minutes or so, I moved on out of the hot, hot sun.

Tomorrow, I'll be watching the Euro2008 finals and then who knows what. Maybe the Crystal Cathedral megachurch. Maybe a walk around "downtown" Anaheim. Maybe lounging by the pool vacation style to work up a tan before heading to the SoCal beach in the coming week. All I know is I'll start the day with some free breakfast ;)

Photos from the California trip will be posted to this flickr set.

I've been having a string of great luck lately, but it came to a crashing halt on Thursday. The lenses which I dropped off at Comet Camera in Cherry Hill for repair (the rubber grips on the lenses were coming off from so much use) were not ready as promised. Not only that, they were not in the store. They had sent them back to Nikon (in Long Island, NY) for warranty repair. I was told that they were going to order the grips and do it all in house. I've been calling the shop for the last 2 weeks for updates to see if the parts came in and they kept telling me no. I told them repeatedly that I needed the lenses back by the 26th as I was going out of town on the 28th. I was assured that the repairs would be done in time. The guy on the phone today said he called Nikon to see the progress. He told me that one lens would be ready sometime next week and the other one sometime the week after that. Thanks for nothing. Now, I'm headed to DC on Friday for a photo assignment and then to California on Saturday, for the first time, without my two workhorse lenses (17-55mm f/2.8 and 80-200mm f/2.8). As a result, I'll be taking my D200 with a 12-24mm f/4 which is unsuitable for anything beyond wideangle landscapes.

I had to run to Photo Lounge to pick up $100 worth of film (Kodak Portra 160 VC and NC, Kodak Tri-X, Fuji Pro 400H) to take along with some film I already had in the fridge (Neopan 1600, Fuji Superia 1600, Kodak Portra 400 NC, Ilford HP5+). So I'll have to shell out several hundred in processing fees when I get back. It'll all be written off come April, but fuck is this fucking inconvenient. I didn't intend on only shooting film out there and I didn't plan on hundreds of dollars of processing fees afterward. I wanted to shoot some film but now it's mostly film and some digital instead. I'll be hauling around (in addition to the D200) my Nikon F3 and Nikon FE2 with several lenses (20mm, 28mm, 50mm, 105mm). Hopefully the TSA people will agree to hand inspect the film both ways and not run it through the x-ray machine. Yes, yes, I've read that x-ray machines won't do any harm to most modern films, but with my luck, it would fog up all of my film for some odd technical aberration.

Later, my bike crapped out on me. Something's wrong with the chain or the shifter. It constantly jumps gears now. I got my bike fixed for the same reason, but now it's worse than ever. Ugh.

Our dryer is on its last legs now. It's very old. It squeaks when too heavy a load is put in. My landlord thinks it's the belt taking on the strain. As a result, we're washing smaller loads which means more frequent wash cycles.

But on the bright side, I got to see my good friend Kati. She was coming up to PA to visit her family from VA and stopped by to see our house which she hadn't seen yet. We hung out for a few hours, watched Spain trounce Russia in the Euro2008 semifinal, caught up on each others lives and got some grub at Tria II. She's been having much worse luck lately than I have so I think it was good for both of us to see each other after several months.

Now, I'm headed to bed to rest up for a long day in DC touring and taking photos of The Philly Orchard Project's [new website coming soon] planting at a special exhibit at the US Botanical Garden. I'm on the 7.15a train down and the 7p train back up. Then I'll take a nap for a few hours before getting up - and staying up - so I don't miss my train to the airport for the 6.42a flight to LAX.

With all the cutbacks at the airlines, my flight was changed a few weeks ago. But fortunately for me, I was switched to a non-stop flight instead of a flight with a stopover in Denver. Unfortunately, there's a $15 baggage check fee and there is no meal on the flight. A cross country flight with food for purchase. And, of course, I can't bring my water bottle with me to drink anything.

But fuck it - I'm going to Cali! I'm intent on having a wonderful next 2 weeks. I like shooting film so it'll be fun shooting so much of it. Until I get back home and get the bill for the processing that is. Then, I'll curse Comet Camera once again!

I've mentioned before that I live atop a crazy former commercial photography studio and how I have access to an incredible amount of photo equipment. But I finally worked up the courage to take out my landlord's Hasselblad 500C out for a spin. I put 2 rolls of film through it (12 shots a roll). One roll of Kodak TMax 100 [TMX] black and white and a roll of Kodak Vericolor 160II [VPS] color through it. I got both rolls back yesterday, but the lab missed a couple shots from the color roll on the scan so I have the TMX shots to post for now.

Above is a shot of the Comcast Center's crown shot from the island median at 16/Parkway. The only lens I found which fits the 500C is a CF 250mm f/5.6 which is about equivalent to a 163mm on a 35mm camera. To get this shot, I had to tilt the head of the tripod all the way back and lower the single rear leg of the tripod to get a tilted up vantage point. I was holding the tripod steady with my body and tripped the shutter with a little plunger attachment (seen here). It's my favorite shot I've taken of the Comcast Center. I like how the northern face fades right into the clouds above.

There's no auto exposure on this 43-year-old camera. I've gotten fairly good at doing a little math via the sunny 16 rule and adjusting from there. With negative film (not the kind of film for slides), you have a bit of wiggle room (latitude) so you can be off by a bit and it's all still good. I get a lot more stares with this setup too. First off, it's a strange looking camera to people who are much more used to seeing a conventional SLR or pocket point and shoot camera. Then add in the tripod so you stick out even more. And finally, I'm shooting using a little cable release plunger. If I only had a black cloth I could drape over myself while holding a gunpowder flash…

Take a look at my first 9 shots here. I messed up on 3 of the frames so that's why there aren't 12 in the set. I should get a rescan of the color negatives back this evening.

Above is a photo of my newest camera, a Nikon FE2. It's a 35mm flim SLR which was produced between 1983 - 1989 so this baby is between 19 and 25 years old. It's built like a tank and works like a charm. The camera came with a clean Nikkor 50mm f/1.8 AIs lens. Where'd I get it? On the street. It was on top of a dresser outside of Uhuru in the 'FREE' pile. When I picked it up, it wasn't working. I figured it was a battery thing and brought it home and stuck some new batteries in and it sounded mechanically sound.

I had a roll of Tri-X lying around so I stuck it in and went out shooting for the day. I just got the roll back from Philadelphia Photographics and, as you can see from the shot above, the camera and lens seem to be working fine. There's some brassing on all the corners of the body and there's a dent on the front of the lens, but it's all good. The only issue is the film advance lever doesn't have a catch preventing the film from advancing without a shutter click. I accidentally wasted 2 frames on the test roll due to advancing the film when I had done so already. The double exposure lever works fine though. This camera has a nice needle light meter in the viewfinder like the one in the Canon AE-1 which I learned how to shoot on almost 15 years ago.

One last shot of what the top plate of the camera looks like. The viewfinder is nice and big and magnified. But it's 93% coverage. Compared to the 100% the Nikon F3 provides, it's a noticeable difference, but not by much. The FE2 seems to meter 2 stops faster than the F3 which seems about right - I've always thought my F3 was metering under (but not out of the range of negative film). I'm going to dial in a -2 EV into the F3 from here on out.

A link to a flickr set of my first roll with the FE2.

Long live film!

I've been busy these last few weeks. I had an uncle die (went up to NY for the funeral); went to my first game at Campbell Field; got my new full-sized business cards; went to NY for Father's Day and my dad couldn't make it to dinner because he was too busy at work; found my long lost NES from 1985 and brought it back to Philly; got some new plants; planned a trip to California (leaving Saturday morning!); found a new camera (Nikon FE2); put some film through the new camera and a Hasselblad 500c; started shooting real estate for Prudential Fox & Roach Realtors;and I got me a new jobby job. I'll be working at Fair Food Farmstand in Reading Terminal Market.

Pictured above is a shot of part of the farmstand taken with the new camera. I'll be there 4 days a week and another day in the office when I get back from California. I've put in 3 days so far. It's a great place to work with some wonderful people behind the counter and the customers are cool too. I'll be learning a ton about the local food system and I'll surely be learning tons of new recipes with all the cool produce at the farmstand. Also, it comes with a nice discount to further push me to try new things.

Lady and I will be in California from the 28th and we'll be back July 9th. We'll start off in Anaheim, go to LA and then to SD and finally back to LA to fly back. I've put together some ideas for the trip. In Anaheim, I plan on heading to the Fullerton Arboretum the day I get into town (Lady's headed into Anaheim a day early for her conference). On Sunday, I'll be watching the Euro 2008 finals. It's been a great tournament so far. I think it's gonna be Germany v Russia.

In LA, I want to go to The Getty and Venice Beach. My friend Austin has also suggested Pink's Hot Dogs. He lives in Chicago, the king of meat in casing of the US. He also suggested some time out at The Standard's roof bar. Lady, a vegetarian, is intent on going to IN-N-OUT Burger. We'll also be eating avocados as often as possible. I've never had a super fresh avocado - I'm told they're even more heavenly.

We'll be in SD for July 4th. Angie (half of Squirrels Go Like This) has told me that SD has quite the July 4th celebration. They have a Museum of Photographic Arts that we'll be heading to. We'll also do some hiking. Maybe take in a Padres game.

Any suggestions on what to do in Anaheim, LA, SD?

YouTube

One of the funniest, smartest and crankiest motherfuckers died yesterday. No fucking chance in hell he's in Heaven though. I doubt he'd want people to be sad. He'd probably want people to have a drink and punch someone who pissed you off in the face. Sounds good to me.

Two weeks ago I attended the PIAA District XII Philadelphia public league baseball championship game between Frankford High School and Central High School. My friend Pat used to live down the street from one of the stars on Central (Ian Lewis, CF, junior, Central's lone All-Star). The championship game was at Campbell's Field across the river in Camden, NJ - the home of the Atlantic League's Riversharks. The shot above is from the 1st base side with the setting sun behind the Benjamin Franklin Bridge.

Frankford's senior hurler, Esteban Meletiche, after getting roughed up a little bit at the start of the game, he settled down and threw hot fire all night long. The stands had a good amount of fans on each side, but Frankford's fans were definitely the more vocal. In addition to their voices, they brought along several drums and a cowbell. By the third inning, they had much more to cheer about as well with Frankford piling on runs at the bottom of each inning.

The bottom of the 6th (high school normally plays 7 innings) came around with Frankford up 8 or 9 runs. Meletiche, one of Frankford's 7 league All-Stars, stepped up to the plate with 2 men on base and belted a triple deep into the outfield batting in the game ending runs and enacting the 10 run mercy rule. The Frankford bench emptied onto the field (along with some of the fans from the 3rd base side) swarming Meletiche.

It was great to see a small-scale baseball game. I forgot how fun it is on a non-MLB level (I lost faith in MLB in 1993). It reminded me of going to a Pittsfield Mets (now Tri-City ValleyCats) game in Western Massachusetts around 17 years ago. I definitely think I'll be heading back across the bridge to catch some Riversharks games - it's a lovely stadium. A flickr set of photos from the game.