philly

The folks over at The Next Mayor have the ballot position lists for the upcoming May primary.

• Mayor
• City Council At-Large
• District Council
• Court of Common Pleas

Just put up a flickr set of the Red Cross Red Ball 2007. Shots are unedited aside from resizing to 72dpi and then saved for web in Photoshop CS2. Uploaded straight to flickr afterwards. Some of the shots will be further edited and posted over at my photoblog.

I went to the annual Red Cross Red Ball on Friday night for work. It was one hell of a party. It was my third time inside the Kimmel Center, but the first time with my camera handy. It's quite the photographic gem (from the inside). Different textures everywhere, hard angles and soft angles jutting into the frame. Warm colors, cold colors. And the people all decked out for this fan-cay affair. The shot above is from the second floor looking towards Verizon Hall from the Broad St entrance looking west into the center.

People were rocking out dancing until Midnight when the music stopped and people had to leave. I was rocking a VIP band which entitled me to a VIP giftbag. The contents of which are up for grabs. You can see the schwag in this flickr set. Lemme know if you want something.

I took a buttload of shots and it's going to take me awhile to go through them and make a proper set, but that'll hopefully come by the end of the week. For now, peep the giftbag contents and leave a comment if you want anything.

I finally got my ass around to buying the special battery adapter for my Yashica GSN Electro 35 rangefinder that Lady bought for me 6 months ago and then it took me another week or so to go out and get the regular 6V battery to fit into it. And above is a shot of the TMax 400 36 exposure 35mm film I bought a few days ago from Photo Lounge (my fav photo store in the city).

I can't wait to see the results. I'll be taking notes on the shots I take as I go in my trusty moleskine squre-ruled notetbook. I'll get the film developed and get the shots on CD. If everything looks okay with this flea market bought camera, I'll be going back to Photo Lounge to pick up some more (and different?) film to keep on shooting.

I've shot half a dozen frames so far and it's gonna take some getting used to – this different manual focusing system the rangefinder has. I haven't touched a roll of film in ages. At least 3 years, maybe more like 5. I think I used to shoot Tri-X in school and I think I shot this TMax as well. I'll get some color rolls too eventually if everything looks kosher. The lens on this camera is supposed to be sweet.

A couple days after I got my new 17-55mm f/2.8, I shot a friend's 80th birthday party with it. And what better an occasion to open up the good stuff than #80? Above is a shot of three of the bottles 30 or so cracked open with a Chateau Lafite Rothschild 1970 at center. I'm not a wine guy, but I'm told this sucker is a real treasure.

I've never ever seen wine this color before. It was an amber-burgundy color. It smelled nice. It tasted good. But me, I can't tell the difference between good wine and the good stuff. I can tell the difference between the shit and the good, but past that, it's lost on me and that's why I only took a sip of it (that sip may have been worth enough to buy me a new lens). [glass modeled by Danie]

The top of the bottle. It was covered with a protective wax. The thirty-seven year old cork was crumbly and it took the skilled and steady hand of the birthday boy to get it out using a variety of kitchen-found tools.

And another shot of the three fine wines plus a pretty bottle thrown in for show.

Gibberish to some, but to others, poetry. I finally did it. I went and bought the 17-55mm f/2.8G ED-IF AF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor. I had a day off a couple weeks ago (go figure!) and I went up to Webb Cam on 12/Vine Sts and bought it. I've wanted it forever and I was worried I'd have to get a new camera body before buying new glass, but PW's ace photog, Jeff Fusco, gave me a tip which fixed my problem. And then I went and bought this new glass.

I've had it for a couple weeks now and good god is it fucking awesome! I've already taken it out for events and the focal range is perfect for large group shots to portraits without getting too close. I fit 27 people into one group shot from about 10' away and I wasn't even at 17mm and I didn't have to switch lenses afterwards to get close ups.

Prior to this lens, I've been using my Tokina 12-24mm f/4 at 12mm for group shots and at 24mm, up close, for portraits which isn't ideal – or switching lenses to my Nikkor 50mm f/1.8, which is time consuming and tricky depending on how much room I have to work with to switch lenses.

My camerabag is now quite snug. My D70, Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8, Nikkor 80-200mm f/2.8, Nikkor 50mm f/1.8, Tokina 12-24mm f/4, Nikon SB-600 flash and then all the extra batteries, filters, CF cards, cords and whatnot in the zippered pockets. It's a good deal heavier too with the new big honking lens. But it's worth it.

Photos are crappy due to the usage of my Sony DSC-U10 spycam-sized digicam which I've had for 5 years now. I don't take many shots with it anymore, but it was a wonderful, 1.3MP, camera which more than served its purpose of documenting me and my friends being drunken fools while out. I could take it anywhere – it's about the size of those jumbo packs of stick gum.

A few excerpts from Paul Krugman's latest column titled Valor and Squalor:

the Walter Reed scandal is another Hurricane Katrina: the moment when the administration's misgovernment became obvious to everyone.

To save money, the administration has been charging veterans for many formerly free services. For example, in 2005 Salon reported that some Walter Reed patients were forced to pay hundreds of dollars each month for their meals.

Two months before the invasion of Iraq the V.H.A., which previously offered care to all veterans, introduced severe new restrictions on who is entitled to enroll in its health care system. As the agency's Web site helpfully explains, veterans whose income exceeds as little as $27,790 a year, and who lack "special eligibilities such as a compensable service connected condition or recent combat service," will be turned away.

IAP Worldwide Services, a company run by two former Halliburton executives, received a large contract to run Walter Reed under suspicious circumstances: the Army reversed the results of an audit concluding that government employees could do the job more cheaply.

(more…)

I was at a friend's house on Thursday (I had the day off!) and she was showing me around her new 2 floor space. One floor was her apartment and the upper floor was her new photography studio. Soooo cool. It's a 5 floor building and she has roof access – the photo above is from her roof. It's an incredible view.

Click on the image to get a 900px wide shot of the same shot. I'd love to head back up there with a tripod and take a crazy panoramic shot. Can't get quite 360° because the stairwell structure takes up one corner, but most of the way. You can see City Hall, the Comcast Tower, PNI Building, Liberty Place, PSFS, Mellon Bank Center, Bell Atlantic Building clearly in this shot. If I turned around, you could see the great huge (apparently abandoned) church on 13/Spring Garden, the Divine Lorraine, the Ukrainian Church, the Reading Trestle Viaduct and further north. Night long exposures would be magical – an adventure for a warm summer night.

Taken with my Nikon D70 and a Tokina 12-24mm f/4.

So what's the main function of the Philadelphia Democratic Executive Committee office at 1421 Walnut St? Is it simply to push Congressman Bob Brady's agenda as the Chairman? If that's the case, I don't have a problem with the postering of his shit all over the windows of the office.

If the purpose of the office is to be some kind of organizational tool/hub for all things "Democratic" in Philly, then, what the fuck?! Shouldn't that window be plastered with one piece of literature from all the candidates for all offices? Or at least wait until after the primary to just blanket the window with all the Ds on the general election ballot?

This photo was taken on March 1, 2007.

We talked shop (f/stops, mm, white balance), reminisced (Eastern State Penitentiary, Centralia, Laurel Hill Cemetary) and took a whole bunch of photos of each other and anything that didn't actively run away from us. Shots from the evening were uploaded to a group page on flickr called philadelphia area photobloggers.

We met up at Buca di Beppo and then headed over to Tops Bar which is above McGlinchy's. The gang included: Kathleen Connally, Geoff Young, Jorj Bauer, Robin Odland, Andi Gingerich, Tony Green, Steve and Lady who was a very willing model for the evening.

For the gearhreads out there, there were 3 Canons (all 5D), 3 Nikons (2 D70, FM2n), a Sony, 2 Leicas (M4, M6) and a FujiFilm FinePix F30.

We entered McGlinchy's hoping to stick around and find some patrons willing to let us snap away at their smoky faces. We were kicked out. Well, not exactly – we were told to go upstairs to Tops. And FYI, Tops is not a topless bar. Tops is like McGlinchy's lite. Still smoky, but no as crowded. We gathered in the raised (and fenced in) portion above the pool table and set up camp. Got ourselves a few drinks and started to shoot the night away. It's always fun to be around a bunch of photogs. Creative juices flowing and all. And the ability to talk like a total gear nerd is nice and relaxing too – "Oooh, is that the 85mm f/1.2? It really is like a grapefruit!".

The next outing is going to be on the weekend before St. Patrick's Day, but I'll be working that day, oh well.