philly

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My Dashboard is all wonky. Does anybody know why my dashboard looks like this?

Watching 400+ seemingly impatient Philadelphians stand in silence for a minute honoring recently killed in the line of duty Office John Pawlowski was humbling. I didn't think the niceties would last long, but they did, for the entire evening. In a stark change from the first two events (the first of which you can read about here and here and the second here and my take), the South Philly crowd gathered in St. Monica's was tame.

The Catholic school was filled to the brim with people handing out literature. From within inches of the front door shielding people from the frigid temperatures outside right into the auditorium, Philly activist Marc Stier (pictured above) among them. Councilman Bill Green (D At-Large) was there, as usual, handing out and collecting surveys in addition to the regular private citizens doing their part for the evening.

Once everyone was settled in, The Penn Project for Civic Engagement's Harris Sokoloff took the mic center stage to lay the foundation for the evening to come. Scanning the room, I noticed that this was the youngest crowd I'd seen at one of these PPCE forums in quite a while, perhaps ever. This area of South Philly has been a spot where many 20-something scenesters have been flocking to for several years now and many of them are taking a part in their community instead of many in other parts of the city who simply see their neighborhoods as places to crash for the night before heading out to work or party. Sokoloff told the diverse crowd that after the conclusion of the 4 forums, Mayor Nutter would be going on Radio Times (10am – 12pm, WHYY 91FM)with Marty Moss-Coane Tuesday March 3 to discuss the forums. Not only will he state the City's reaction to the input from the forums, the phone lines will be open for all to call in.

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Over 500 Philadelphians gathered at Mastery Charter School in Germantown to talk about the City's ever-growing budget crisis. The crowd was 200 more than event organizers had expected, but there was more than enough room in the gigantic gym for all. Getting everyone's concerns addressed was another issue altogether.

To say Philadelphians are opinionated on the subject matter is a gross understatement. The Penn Project for Civic Engagement knows this and made every effort to make breakout groups manageable and also introduced a 'Wailing Wall' (pictured above) for people to leave comments and 2-minute video testimonials; this session's videos are up here.

The 500+ split up into a dozen groups scattered along the sprawling charter school's campus. The goal of the evening was to pluck out parts of the budget citizens felt comfortable doing without; whether it be unanimous decision (Low Hanging Fruit) or ones which only carried a 50% margin (Shared Pain). This is the .pdf citizens were handed to look through with all the cuts and revenue items. I tagged along with the 21 citizens who made up Group 3. Several in the group immediately had concerns about the general concept of the forum; Anne wanted more information, Margaret had several amendments to the official handout to talk about. Co-oderator Joan Davis' voice was audibly shaky initially from the burst of opinions coming at her from all sides of the room, but regained her composure and laid down the rules for the session as her co-moderator Pete Lafferty readied the gigantic Post-It board for comments.

As the group of 21 split into yet smaller breakout groups to discuss the possible budgetary cuts, I joined Gloria Gillman, at center, (of Philly Neighborhood Networks) in her group (conveniently located right next to my chair).

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Canon Canonet G-III QL17 up onto flickr here. I shot a roll of 400TX, a film I know pretty well, to test out all the settings in real world conditions. The timer works, slow shutter speeds seem fine, no light leaks, no stuck shutter stops, aperture blades open and close fine. I'm quite pleased with my new camera. The form factor is amazing. It fits into all my jacket pockets. It's a rangefinder so it's quite quiet. I just wish it was aperture priority instead of shutter priority. Above is a shot of the new Cherry Bus Inc station in Chinatown at 10xx Arch St. It's my favorite shot from the roll. I pressed the lens up against the glass and stopped down a bit to f/5.6 and the shutter quietly clacked at 1/30s. Why do I like the shot so much? The lovely leading lines at both lateral edges; the sense of depth of the photo; environmental framing at bottom, left and top; the single passenger-to-be meeting my gaze. I hope you like it too.

The camera lends to some nicely moody images. It's part the lens and part the way I feel when I'm shooting with the camera I guess. The f/1.7 lens really makes me want to use it wide open as often as possible so I'm shooting seemingly 'moody' things too without much light I guess. Above is a shot of a cyclist riding south [AGAINST TRAFFIC!] around Rittenhouse Square with The Rittenhouse Hotel in the background.

Focusing with the little tab at the right of the base of the lens is easy enough. My rangefinder is slightly out of alignment. I have to get around to aligning the images at ∞, but it's not crucial. The 675 zinc-air hearing aid battery + o-ring from the hardware store has been holding up quite well. I've been trying to get better with metering by eye than constantly being on A [shutter priority] mode. But when I do meter, I usually do it once and then adjust from there until I go into a completely different setting with completely different light to work with. The next hardware test will be the Canon Canolite D flash which is coupled to the shooting distance via the hotshoe. I've put AA batteries and did a dry run with some test shots and it pops just fine. I've never shot flash with film before though. Should be interesting.

A final shot around twilight at 12/Market. I've found that 12/Market is one of the absolute best people watching and photogenic corners in all of Philadelphia. And I've done a ton of people watching and photographing in the last 5 years here in Philly. I love photographing newsstands. Food carts too, but not as much as newsstands.

Finally, a shoutout to all the great QL17 sites out there: Photoethnography, Philly's own Kyle Cassidy, Cameraquest, Camerapedia, Matt Denton, kataan. People really love their old cameras. I'm one of them.

Once again, the full set of 38 shots (a full frame more than my Nikons can eek out) up here.

After 5+ years in Philly, I finally made it over to the Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul on the Parkway. I've wanted to step into the cathedral for ages and finally got did so a few weeks ago on one of those freakish 50° days we had in January. I've never been a religious person (I just don't understand it), but always loved the structures people go to for worship whether it be a church, temple, mosque, cathedral or shrine. This cathedral did not disappoint.

I've seen many photos of the interior, but it was quite the experience being inside for the first time and I was just about by myself for the duration of my visit. There were a few people breaking down after the mass and setting up for a wedding later that afternoon and a couple tourists. But at some points, I was in that gigantic space by myself and I could hear my footsteps echo off the far walls and the towering ceiling above.

Unfortunately, I arrived about 2 minutes before they turned the lights off of the altar area. I'll be back eventually to get some shots with the altar lit up in all it's splendor.

Some more photos of the cathedral in this flickr set.