400 Tons!!!

Four hundred tons of radioactive contaminated water leak out of the Fukushima power plant into the ocean each and every day...

THRIVE

It's over two hours long and you're free to make of it... what-you-will. Many will consider it but a compilation of every "conspiracy" theory imaginable, from: free energy and UFO's, to our collapsing environment and The New World Order. The production values vary and it can be a tad "new Agey" at times, but keep in mind this is a man born to privilege, groomed for power and success, who mixed and hobnobbed with the monied elite. Some will dismiss it out of hand, others as the food for thought that it is...

2016 and Beyond...

Photo: © S. Banos

No idea what 2016 will bring, no clue. Well, for the most part... what I do know sucks and sucks bad, like global climate change. As I write this the North pole is actually above freezing- in the middle of winter!!! And the fact that we still don't have any effective response or solution (besides partying in Paris) is certainly far from promising. In fifty years when a whole lot more Earth is underwater, and even more people need room to live- it's gonna make the Syrian refugee crisis look like a New Year's Rockin' Eve. Of course, I will have put down my film camera for quite some time by then...

The wife and I voluntarily celebrated a giftless Christmas this year, highly recommended for couples who already have everything and live in a rent stabilized 1BR in one of the most expensive cities in the country/world. We can attest to no lingering after effects. Actually, there is one thing I'm looking forward to this year, and that's self publishing what will more or less amount to a Greatest Hits Compilation (Part1)- this after all being The Golden Age of Photo Books. Or... not.

Of course, if you want to truly get noticed amidst today's plethora of (self) publishing wonders, one has to present not only a competent series of photographs, but a comprehensive "art" piece complete with all the doilies, nick knacks and other visual/sensory ephemera that make for the complete artistic experience. Actually, ain't got nothin' agin 'im, just that finances dictate this'll probably be your standard Blurb production- although will definitely have another look/see at what's out there. Regardless, I'm very much looking forward to putting it together. I already have a total of some fifty plus hi res scans (restorations and otherwise), and looking forward to making another 25 or so before getting a group of 40-50 in a final edit, hopefully some time next fall...

Been very much looking for a photo book to get for some time, so glad to report that I finally found and am ordering Gus Powell's The Lonely Ones. I particularly like the small size and that the photos embiggen when you fold out the pages- a thoughtful extra step that not only supplies additional acreage for one's viewing pleasure, but also purposely forces one to slow down and... actually look at the photograph itself (the latter becoming a lost art in itself)! Meanwhile....

Happy New Year!

PS- And one more thing... to the 50+ organizations sending me emails asking, demanding and pleading for $$$- wish it so folks, but you're asking the wrong guy, (ie- barking up the wrong tree). Capisce? I give a few bucks to MSF and Amnesty Int- case closed. Rule #1- Don't expect money from people who make considerably less than you...

Fantasy, Reality & A Few Bits In Between...

 A little levity for the masses...

Yes, things have been pretty quiet 'round these parts; ya know what they say- no news is good news. I was recently saddened to hear the ongoings at B&H, I had done business with them for decades and it was heartening to see a multi hued, multi ethnic sea of faces whenever I visited. Sadly, it does not appear all is at it seems... Cheap prices, come at a price and it's always interesting to hear how many people just don't give a rat's ass as long as they get a few bucks off their L lenses (and don't have to work in their far from public view warehouses). Not gonna rehash everything I said there, but the issues raised accurately encapsulate modern economics, prejudice and society as a whole.

Elsewhere, elephants continue to be slaughtered- forget the solitary big game assholes, I'm talking the wholesale slaughter for the continuing Asian market in ivory. And forget the glaciers, the tundra is now melting as we continue to mindlessly plunge this earth headfirst into the abyss, blissfully ignoring we seal our own fate as we do so...

Whatever photographs do survive into the next century will serve as bleak testament to a memory of how people happily carried on as the signs of the planet's demise danced all about them. They will view them with curiosity, longing, and utterly justifiable rage.

Digital vs. Analog

I had the biggest laugh of the day while shaving the other morning and first hearing about Volkswagen's special emissions reduction software that works only when... being tested for emissions. Brilliant! 

Reminds me of the time when Hyundai had to cut the weight of their cars in order to meet US gas mileage standards. Solution: take the stuffing out of their fenders. Classic!

96- Per Day...

Bruce Davidson Today...

Good, recent interview with Bruce Davidson by Owen Campbell on American Suburb X that explores how the man works and thinks. Interestingly, this remarkable photographer is usually thought of as a very "traditional" photographer, despite the fact that he has established his reputation by photographing unique subject matter in a fairly unique manner- one that requires the gift of time, and mutual acceptance and recognition whenever possible (something a Mr. Edward S. Curtis discovered a few years prior) .

Also interesting to hear that the next project from this "traditionalist" will be a digital endeavor!

Operation Tomodachi

The Fukushima catastrophe changed the world. Nuclear reactors melted down on live television and twice as much radioactive material was released as during the Chernobyl accident in 1986. The disaster drove 150,000 people from their towns and villages, poisoned entire landscapes for centuries and killed hundreds of thousands of farm animals.

AFP/US Navy

There's an old Saturday Night skit in which a Black janitor (Garrett Morris) is ordered to get his mop and bucket and clean up... a radioactive spill at a nuclear power plant. It was one funny skit- it's also basically what  Navy Captain Thom Burke told his crew to do on the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan when they entered the radioactive plume dispersed by the critically damaged Fukushima nuclear plant. Not so funny...

Many of those sailors lived and worked well within that radioactive plume for days, cleaning radioactive fallout without protective clothing, drinking contaminated water. Hundreds of them are now suffering from advanced cancers and "unexplained" debilitating diseases that the Navy says they cannot explain, and for which they take no responsibility and admit no accountability. Of the 500 sailors stricken ill, 247 are now attempting to sue Tepco (the Japanese power company that ran the plant in question), they're legally prohibited from suing the US Military itself due to the Feres Doctrine).

 

 How much of this have you heard or read about on the news???

Genesis- Erratum

It's been pointed out to me (see commentary) that Vale Mining Co did not fund Salgado during the shooting of his Genesis project (alas, my staff has failed me again). Obviously, I was in complete error in that assertion.  Vale helped fund his exhibit at The Natural History Museum.

So let's be clear...

Who owns and has ultimate control of his work? Who could have told the Natural History Museum to go screw themselves should they even consider accepting blood money from such an organization? And finally, who willingly gave his blessing to- and then defended Vale?

Here we have a major name artist and so called environmental activist openly embracing and further advancing and legitimizing this most brazen form of greenwashing. Imagine, had he said- "Not on my watch, not with my work!" His exhibition would have gone on regardless, smaller in size perhaps, or in another venue- but the publicity alone from his refusal to play along with those despoiling and poisoning our planet for greed and profit would have sent a resounding message reverberating worldwide on how individuals and institutions should lead, instead of falter.

The Salt Of The Earth vs. Sebastião Salgado

OK, OK! So I am no doubt at least partly to blame, I'm the one who put Salgado on the god like pedestal, for all that he has shown and taught us photographically, concerning not only the human condition, but the state of the entire planet. I'm the one old enough to know better; no one is perfect- we're all mortal and flawed and sinful and weak... And I was also wrong when I said that Burtynsky should have been more openly critical of the giants of industry and commerce that he so famously documented in Manufactured Landscapes. Truth is, had he been so, he would have never been granted the access necessary to photograph in the first place- and the resulting images would have never even seen the light of day, let alone spoken as loudly as they did. 

But goddang, Sebastião! Now, whenever I hear your hallowed name, think of the spectacular work you have produced, the eyes and minds you have awakened- the grand legacy you sought to so gloriously immortalize will forever be tainted and marred by the rationalizations of such lesser men. I don't know what the budget was for Genesis, but maybe if you had taken one less helicopter ride, had your book weighed one pound less- had your exhibition prints measured in feet, rather than... meters, maybe, just maybe, you wouldn't have had to accept money from Satan himself in the guise of Vale Mining ("a Brazilian mining corporation that in 2012 was voted the worst company for human rights and environmental credentials")! For in doing so, your work has not only documented what man has wrought upon this once great planet, it also explains how all of us, great and small, have contributed to that destruction- be it in full knowledge, sheer ignorance or absolute denial...   Update: Erratum...

Smithfield Foods

I had no idea they sprayed that shit on people!!!

If Ya Still Need A Reason...

 

Photo: Noah Addis

Still have your doubts, not quite convinced on why you should get on your freakin' knees and give thanks... Check out this illuminating essay by Noah Addis at Fraction mag.


When I first visited Europe in the early 80's, I was amazed to discover this foreign realm of the future where lights went on and off automatically as one entered and exited a room- a magical, logical land of the future I said to myself! Meanwhile, here in 21st USA we still unabashedly burn our office lights bright even when no one is to be seen on floor after floor...

 

 

So before ya start to yellin' at how other people are mucking up the world- just keep in mind the world's all time user and abuser of the world's resources...

 

 

Help Us, Save Us... Anyone!?

Well, the American people have spoken! Dissatisfied with our current lot and our current crop of ineffectual, so called leaders, we once again ran screaming to the flip side of the same sad coin to elect those who can get things done- and in the worst possible way. Case in point- soon to be Senate Majority Leader Mad Max Mitch O'Connell gathered mucho support because of his pro-US stance on Big Coal- his gun ho, yahoo supporters completely oblivious to the fact that his filthy rich wife is in the business of shipping in cheap coal from... Columbia (along with a little blow on the side). The "git the gov'ment out of my Medicare" brain fart mentality goes a long (long) way in brainwashing the Republican faithful, along with copious amounts of voter suppression and under the counter racism galore. These guys are determined to run whatever's left of the earth into the ground, out of the ground and straight into their ever lovin' pockets. And they won't stop until there's nothing left to hide behind...

9/21/14 NYC- Photo: © S. Banos

Climate Change Facts  vs.  Climate Change Hucksters

9/21/14 NYC- Photo: © S. Banos

Behold Nature



9/21/14 NYC- Photo: © S. Banos

9/22/14 NYC- Photo: © S. Banos

 

Pretty Scary Shit...

And it's just starting up (but No Worries)!

350.org

The NY Report...

Well, the Climate March in NYC on 9/21 got 350,000+ people, considerably more than expected (approx 100,000). And what was especially good to see was that it wasn't just the usual gang of aging White hippies out there- it was multi-generational, multi-ethnic and multi-racial. And it's a damn good thing we protested on the streets of midtown (not to mention the sit down event the following day near Wall St.), because they weren't letting anyone anywhere near the UN building on the the day of the actual conference on the 23rd. One of the coolest things of the whole event was when the march stopped dead at 42 St. between Broadway and Seventh and had a moment of silence for Mother Earth- never did hear Times Square quite so eerily silent in all my years...

Sadly, the protest is merely an exclamation point, one desperate all out plea for a reality check that will not arrive anytime soon; the real progress occurs behind the scenes, and suffice to say, I really don't think any real action(s) of consequence will occur until the tsunamis are licking at the doors of those in power in real time. Of course, by then, it will already have been far too late...

The Daily Show
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Meanwhile, NYC has managed to cram yet another several million people unto its streets since I visited last year, and it was while I was promenading through Bryant Park that I spotted the oddest looking tour bus ever, in which people are seated in rows, theater style, all facing one side of the sidewalk, with pedestrians literally on stage and on display- a much more unsettling experience than even the bizarre scenario below alludes to, I assure you!

Photo: Marc Bryan-Brown

Also couldn't help but notice that there were considerably more photographers of color out taking fashion and wedding photos (a good thing), more people of color in the NYPD (good if their diversity impacts the police force- and not vice versa, as is usually the case), and MOST surprisingly of all... more people of color in the dancing, chanting Hare Krishnas- talk about... unsettling!

Naturally, I went to play with all the new cameras at B&H, and I'm happy to report that there wasn't one I was truly excited about save for the Fujifilm XT-1; happy because there's no way I can afford one of those along with a couple of lenses, happy because I'll no longer be tempted by anything else, happy to remain happy with what I got.... And I'm also bizarrely happy, confused and perplexed to report that I didn't see one single book at Dashwood, MOMA or Strands that I absolutely, positively had to have- not a one. And lord knows I have enough relatively recent acquisitions that I have yet to pay adequate homage and attention to.

Couldn't get to a lotta shows since I had familial obligations to attend to (my 91 year old father was officially diagnosed with Alzheimer's), but did see Matt Black at Anastasia Gallery, and did manage to make it to Photoville on its last day. The latter was a bit overwhelming to do in just one day, even without attending any workshops/conferences; there was just so much there in all those assorted shipping containers- good, bad and indifferent, that in the end made for quite an impressive showing nonetheless. One was dedicated solely to James Nachtwey's work- always fascinating to see how he remains just one notch above everyone else's work in that particular "genre."

Gorged myself on Two Boots Pizza and donuts at the appropriately named Donut Pub on W14 St, but was disheartened to find that St. Mark's Books is no longer with us- that particular book store was to The East Village what CBGB's was to its music scene- RIP.

Meanwhile, Governor Cuomo of NY created a commission to examine corruption- only to disband it when it began to examine the festerings in his own backyard. And speaking of cover ups.... new mayor of NYC Bill de Blasio dropped the groundhog presented to him on Groundhog Day, which later died of internal injuries. The zoo however reports that the precipitous fall from the good mayor's arms had nothing to do with its demise. Why this came out in September, when it occurred in February...

Favorite T-shirt (particularly in these times when people my age are contemplating their own mortality while dealing with that of their elders): Too Old To Die Young (almost as good as the one I saw earlier this year- Don't Bro Me If Ya Don't Know Me).

Got four rolls to process and edit (a helluva lot for me), hopefully something to show for in the upcoming weeks, and will also be posting on my favorite new photographer spotted at Photoville. Oh, and one last thing- put my Tri-X naked into a clear baggie, asked for hand inspection, and request granted no ifs, ands, or buts... least at SFO and JFK!

ClimateChange/Climate March

"...more than 2.4 million pounds of carbon dioxide released into the air every second."

Climate change means, amongst other things: less land to live on, and less potable water and food, particularly in areas already stricken with famine and drought- which in turn means... more (many more) people fighting for whatever remaining: food, land and water.

What promises to be the biggest climate protest will occur in NYC this Sept. 21st...

What Can One Man Do?

Lead us, show us, point the way...  but as with all the greats, they do it with the strength of will from their own two hands...

Self Destruction

Unfortunately, since this video was made, we have not only failed to curtail our own self destruction, we have redoubled our effort to destroy the very planet we live and depend upon and everything within it...

Happy Earth Day!

UPDATE:  Watch A Fierce Green Fire (in its entirety)...

Photo © S.Banos