Just Another Mass Shooting, Folks- Not To Worry...

Up until the latter twentieth century, whenever some homegrown, psycho non-Muslim crazy would shoot up a bunch of his fellow Americans, a few of our feckless, chosen leaders would denounce the crazed, wanton act of depravity and proclaim that we really needed to finally get all up and serious about doing something or other about all those things that shoot people and get 'em all killed. Yes, it was really, finally, and without a doubt time to really and finally do something about... 

GUNS! Until it was two weeks later, and everyone was tired, and no one wanted to talk about it (let alone actually do something about it)...

So much for that foolishness. Cause we're the god fearing, flag lovin', gun toting land of the free, and we no longer talk the crazy talk of needing less guns in this here 21st. century! Everyone now knows, if anything, we need more guns. And God loves the guns! Jesus loved his goddamn guns to death- if he a had his freakin' Uzi on that bleak and bleary Friday... no way they'd nail him to no damn cross. No Fuckin' Way! Every goddamn, god fearin' Christian'll tell ya that straight up!

We're Americans goddammit- Christian to the core. We don't get shot up less God wants it so.

Going Back...

Recently, out of desperation to get outta town (or at least outside the city limits), I decided to visit "old friends" at Pet's Rest Pet Cemetery next door in Colma ("where San Francisco goes to die"). It was a bit sad- the place is not as big as it once was (it used to go beyond that chain), and it was in most definite need of watering- a small portent of what the future holds as far as water scarcity throughout the world.

But it's always good to be amongst friends...

Pet's Rest- Colma, CA

Pet's Rest- Colma, CA

When Action and Sanity Take Hold...

I hardly, if ever, get news of any real definitive hope concerning The Public School System of these United States- despite the fact that each and every day some incredibly dedicated professionals throughout the land (particularly those in any inner city environment you choose) are giving their all, despite all odds. Every working day, they struggle against ridiculous test criteria that belittle them as professionals, and drastically shortchange the actual education of their students. And that's just the backdrop for the host of individual challenges each and every student presents- many with problems that academic programs of any kind were never meant to address, let alone solve.

Having dealt with these problems first hand for seventeen years in New York and California with a student population officially classified as "Severely Emotionally Disturbed," there wasn't a day that I didn't realize that all I was doing was applying a band aid to a mortal gaping wound- a wound that had a much greater chance of festering and spreading deeper and further, than of ever receiving the desperate and immediate long term, intensive care it so desperately needed. It was triage on the best of days.

So when I hear about a Restorative Justice Program that directly addresses the core social, emotional and disciplinary needs of those children who so obviously need it most, particularly in a city as troubled as Oakland, I am left a bit dumbfounded- relieved by the very existence and long overdue application of such a proven and effective program, and frustrated that more aren't employed everywhere they're so desperately needed. Usually those needs, even the most rudimentary and academic, are overlooked or under served- or worse yet, engaged with absolute subterfuge, as in the case of the much touted, and profoundly meaningless and pernicious No Child Left Behind.

It is also important to note that innovative programs (unlike the latter) actually save money. Not only do they prove effective in turning young lives around, so that they can be made ready to become educated and productive citizens- they are also infinitely more cost effective than any adult corrective institution ever devised by man. Unfortunately, many Tea Partying politicians would rather be seen cutting public education funding these days (as they send their kids elsewhere), so that they can in turn look tough on crime when they vote for more money to create private prisons for the criminals they directly help create- and therefore boost one of the very few growth industries left in this country...

Days of Destruction/Days of Revolt

Civilizations in the final stages of decay are dominated by elites out of touch with reality.   -Chris Hedges

If ya have to let that one sink in for a while before it makes sense, or if it just doesn't make sense to ya no way, no how- count yourself one helluva lucky bastard... for the time being.

Chris Hedges And Joe Sacco are two of my favorite journalists in the whole wide world- one tells it like it is, the other shows it. Both offer insights into sections of the world and society that many of us would either choose to ignore- or purposely wish to misrepresent to maintain our own comfort level and chosen "world view."

Photography (not to mention the written word) is often cited and faulted for being the limited medium that it has always been and cannot help but be- and no one knows it more than any skilled and capable photographer (or writer). Sacco's work addresses those limitations in all its various subtleties and nuances, and he's done so repeatedly (and ever so effectively) whether in Gaza, Bosnia- or the down and out realities of homeland USA in Days of Destruction/Days of Revolt...

Osama's Dead- OSAMA HAS WON!

Via: No Caption Needed

"All that we have to do is to send two mujahedeen to the furthest point east to raise a piece of cloth on which is written al Qaeda, in order to make generals race there to cause America to suffer human, economic and political losses without their achieving anything of note other than some benefits for their private corporations," bin Laden said.


Time to admit the obvious... all along, his goal was to bankrupt the US, and with the more than enthusiastic help of his comrades in arms (the international bankstas), and our ever so eager politicians (both Democrat and Republican alike), ever so anxious to either shrink or obliterate every social program in existence, and create or expand every security and military program imaginable, while deregulating every law meant to rein in zillionaires and protect ordinary citizens.

I can't think of another headline that so blatantly proclaims the ever so obvious..   OSAMA HAS WON!!!

It's All In The Details...

Photos: S. Banos

One thing that really kills it for me is when you have the makings of a great scenic, and the sky's a wash- I'm talking of course, of blown out highlights. I've seen way too many of them online- and I'm the very last guy to ask what percentage of this is due to the highlight limitations of digital sensors and/or the fact that they're just low res/online only jpegs.

The shot above was as much experiment as anything else- looking straight out, the light was blinding, and I was curious to see just what the hell would come out. Honestly, I didn't expect much; fortunately, experience dumb luck kicked in, I nailed the exposure, and I'm really quite amazed at what an inch and a half of Tri-X can do (on an 8 bit, low res scan no less).  I just don't see how a digital sensor could have possibly fared as well...

Likewise, I almost didn't take the picture below because I 'knew' the white, featureless, upper left sky would be completely blown out. And yet, there it was, right on the scan- detail! Or I should say, some measure of tonal value. True, I have darkened it a bit, the point being- there is, in fact, something to actually darken. Again, I don't think a digital sensor would have come through- particularly considering I had to expose for the shadows! Of course, the day will no doubt come when digital sensors will equal and surpass film's one remaining bastion of superiority.

"As Dogs Marking Their Territory"

   Photo: S. Banos

Photography is easier, more popular and as ubiquitous as the weather; long gone is the romantic, analog notion of photographs being treasured, historical artifacts. And at least since the seventies, there have been those who have called for the time when all of us are as visually versed and educated in the medium of photography, as in any other. The question, of course, is that now that we find ourselves in this global, nonstop digital shootout, are we any more literate in this particular medium- or are we no different than the minions of functionally illiterate students that inhabit our nation's middle schools?

This article is surprisingly rife with some (possibly?) insightful facts, quips and observations concerning our current and curious state of photography...

Prof. Cooper even cynically suggests that people brandish smart phones habitually now because no one smokes any more and they aren’t sure want to do with their hands. 

One photographer's unique contribution to slow things down...

Under Our Skin

Under Our Skin is perhaps the most disturbing documentary I've ever seen- and for several reasons. First, it is a very somber study of a very serious disease that first made headlines in the late seventies and has managed to fall off radar while leaving an ever growing circle of despair and devastation. Lyme Disease is caused by a parasitic spirochete from the bite of an infected tick, that can conveniently burrow into any part of your body (just like its syphilitic cousin) and cause grave havoc wherever and however it chooses to manifest. This is one seriously scary bugger- and they're practically... everywhere!!!

Not only do the ever growing numbers of those stricken have to battle the infection itself (and its myriad of severely debilitating manifestations), for which the only treatment is massive and prolonged antibiotics- they also have the fight of their lives (literally) with the vast majority of the... US medical establishment. Meanwhile, the small minority of doctors who are, in fact, willing to treat patients (I'm very much tempted to say 'victims') properly are having their licenses revoked by the ruling doctors who are in bed with health insurance companies (1-3 months coverage and 'bye, bye') and private, for profit interests working on vaccines and completely unwilling to share information to hasten the control of this epidemic. Meanwhile, patients are dismissively ordered to see shrinks (by those who either should or do know better) while more and more of them are slowly and agonizingly suffering- and dying...

The One Gun The NRA DOESN'T Like!!!

And it belonged to... a black woman--- SURPRISE!!!

Did Ya Hear The One About...

Happy Fourth...

Wall St. '90s

Battery Park '80s

WWI Monument- Golden Gate Park

Eureka!!!

After endlessly observing and plotting ad nauseum (while spending hundreds of millions of dollars), we finally have proof positive (kinda) of the missing cosmic "god particle" that explains... our very existence! Only problem- we don't know exactly what the heck it does, and especially, how the heck it does it.

What we have proved yet again (and with irrefutable 100% accuracy) is just how unbelievably ignorant we still remain. Hopefully, the photoblogger with the credentialed astrophysics background is supplying a better analysis today, meanwhile...

The Higgs Boson Explained from PHD Comics on Vimeo.

A Coupla Things Of (Photographic) Interest...

What happens when years pass and, an impostor imposes on an impostor...

Three Amigos Times Two

Market St., SF

Colma, CA

National Geographic Chases Its Own A**Hole

This Linda Hamilton look-a-like is supposed to somehow blind you into watching this pathetic program.

I don't have cable, but since everyone knows Nat Geo is a Grade A, serious class act- I just had to see the 2 hr. premiere of Nat Geo Chasing UFO'S last night. Luckily, I had a neighbor who would indulge my enthusiasm. Finally, we would be treated to a high tech, scientific, no bullshit, Nat Geo UFO Investigation Extravaganza!!! Yes, sir- everyone knows... Nat Geo does not fuck around!

I profusely apologized and left before the first hour was up. It was the same, very sad and very tired ghost searching, Bigfoot hunting in the dark and oh so scary woods exploitation formula. What was that? Did you hear that! Whoa! What the f... was that!? Did you see that? 

Yes- I have... A hundred, thousand times before- although never had I seen it from the likes of a supposedly reputable and fact based name brand. And name brand is all it was, and all it served to demean.

One eyewitness showed very clear video of a UFO (yes, that was exactly what it was- an Unidentified Flying Object) he shot from his backyard. Cool! Next stop- video analysis, right!? Certainly, with today's latest computer/digital technology they could at the very least determine if it was doctored- at the very, absolute least! Cut to commercial, and when the Linda Hamilton Terminator impersonator returns, she proclaims that they were instead... "Kickin' it old school" by investigating newspaper accounts in the local library, which in turn leads to an 1891 account of a meteor exploding locally and scattering fragments all over the neighborhood- which they then proceed to look for a hundred years later... at night!

That's right, this 'serious, in depth investigation' didn't even return to perform the most cursory digital examination of said video- and I was supposed to stay for another hour!?!?

Sarah Connor/Linda Hamilton- T2

A Well Respected Man

Not A Baby...

Guaranteed!

I went to pick up and examine said box- if not a baby, then what? But stopped and withdrew just as quickly- knowing what it was not was plenty enough for me...

(Of course, had I taken this with a D800 (Nikon still refuses to send me a free one- I know, go figure; probably too busy harassing photographers) instead of an FM3 w/Tri-X, you could easily read the finest print, load it in the latest number/letter configuration of Photoshop (whatever that might be these days), zoom it up, make a digital hologram and open the damn thing yourself...)

Nikon Continues To Play The Scared Bully!

Why doesn't NIKON act like the leading professional camera company of the world that it so desperately wants to be again- and stop acting like the kowtowing lackeys of racist, ultra-Right bullies that exemplify everything that ever was, and still is, so desperately wrong in Japan?

They should exhibit this amount of consternation when it comes to Customer Support!

The Home For Independents

A while back I wrote a couple of posts reflecting on how the world of independent photo books, as robust and productive as it currently is, is in danger of unleashing a torrent of orphans out into the world- soon to be forgotten, if ever heard of, or from again. Thankfully, there is a place that introduces them in the virtual world- but what was so sorely and obviously lacking was a refuge to actually appreciate and house them as the physical entities that inspired their very creation. Absent any known photographic organization to catalog, store and exhibit these photographic transients, along came Larissa Leclair who decided to set up shop and provide proper shelter and sustenance for these beloved photographic mongrels in Washington, DC.

The Indie Photobook Library will hopefully one day be given a more permanent and substantial home base by a more prominent and established photographic/academic/art institution. For now, Ms. Leclair continues to collect and regularly exhibit her ever expanding collection (both onsite and off w/guest curators). It certainly doesn't level the playing field with commercially published and distributed books, but it's a full step further in helping to acknowledge, legitimize and publicize their existence well into the future....

Ahn Sehong Update...

A Culture Of Madness