So I took this picture about half an hour ago. In Rio. Well, Renata is in Rio and I am at home alone in Carolina talking to a black cat. Renata is a character in my book about to go to press in Italy which was shot in Rio. My not so secret fantasy night in Rio. (based on a true story). Yes the real title. Go figure. Presses roll in 20 days. Hmmm, maybe I put this in? Blending fact and fiction all the way.

What about you? If you are a documentary photographer, ever think about fiction? In photography fiction and non-fiction tend to be done by different photographers . Writers cross all the time. My work in Rio is all “real” but real only to my immediate surroundings. For this book I did not “go anywhere” to take a picture. Wherever I happened to be, was where I was going.

There will not be one word in this book. Zero text. Almost no title. That is why I want you to read it very very carefully.

 

-dah-

408 thoughts on “(based on a true story)”

  1. Carlo

    Well….I’m actually thinking about writers, funny you mentioned that. I’m wrestling with the concept of “time” in telling a story or actually presenting a current project.
    I want to tell it without the limitations of time. Writers transcend and bend time to tell their stories and it all makes sense in the end. I would like to do the same.

    About RIO…I still think of it as the blurring of dreams and reality.
    Can’t wait to hold it in my hands and a get a real good feeling of it to immersed myself in it.

  2. Gordon Lafleur

    That is one killer picture, I hope you put it in.

    I seldom think about fiction and photographs. I don’t often associate the two. With Rio, I have the same take as Carlo. It seems to me that truth, reality, dreams and fiction can be somewhat blurry at the best of times. More so here. How delicious. I’m extremely curious to see what you have come up with.

  3. Gordon Lafleur

    I have been thinking a lot about portraits. Formal portraits are perhaps hyper-reality, or, fiction some people would argue. I am slowly pulling an essay together, it’s evolving.

  5. Paul

    Oh yes to fiction, to get away from my surroundings perhaps even my life, although not those who are beside me.
    Fly me away…

  6. Paul

    I continually observe how those who don’t pursue a creative endeavor be it photography, drawing, painting, writing, music are never as aware of their surroundings – life, as we, who do live by whatever creative expression drives us on. So when their eyes are “opened” by something an artist has seen which was always there right in front of their noses which is a fact and non ficticious is for them some kind of fiction.

  9. david alan harvey

    CARLO

    i cannot remember exactly at what point you showed up at the loft…but i think you know i was crossing every kind of line that i could find to cross….our experiences in life are not linear in our memory or even in the moment lived…life seems much more multidimensional than the calendar shows…this is what i too want to explore..

    JOHN

    yes yes, it comes down to PICTURE….when pictures are used in a book or show, a narrative may or may not develop…IF a narrative is part of the way you are using photographs as language, then surely exclamation marks, commas, and periods play a part in the overall “telling”..i.e. some photographs in a narrative may be in fact serve as punctuation…nobody remembers Hemmingway because of his punctuation. Yet for sure his use of the “period” was a part of his style. Always. Still in the end it will the pictures absorbed remembered. Yet for sure the context , the presentation plays a part. The table must be set. A clean well lighted place.

    POMARA

    hey Paul ready to talk to you anytime…i am a bit hard to catch these days..between now and May i am in full on production…yet let’s give in a try..

    PAUL..

    i always always think the same…just because of my camera i feel that life is way way more intense because of it… i feel my primary job as a mentor is in getting people to link in to that idea…once photography becomes in your life, an integral part of your life, then it flows….any situation increases in value the minute the camera comes out of the bag…

    i have earned a living “bearing witness”..but i never did like the burden of feeling like what i was showing was “the truth”…i felt like i had integrity of intent and a sense of being honest about whatever was being portrayed, but i knew surely that it was not the ONLY truth…merely a perspective….with (based on a true story) i like the release of energy that came from still bearing witness yet perhaps adding some mystery…

    i would like to have somebody say to me after reading my labeled fiction, “hey there was a lot of truth in that”…there is

    GORDON

    i await with great delight for your portrait portfolio…

    EVA

    i feel like a made you a little crazy in New York etc..the “behind the scenes” is not always a pretty picture….i only wish for a final result so compelling that you see the smelly engine room of this ship as part of the beauty of sailing the high seas… :)

    cheers, david

  10. cubafoto

    DAH….I love it! Although you have not heard from me as often as others have contributed……I follow every word and image daily for inspiration and education. Burn is my muse. I love the idea of fictionalized realties with images only and your RIO project as a launching of something special to look forward to. Using still images without words in a fictionalized dream like realty narrative is certainly challenging. I am currently working on a project involving nostalgia and memories being fictionalized by the Cuban Americans in Little Havana, Miami used to form their life/reality as they thought it was/is and to continue Cuban pride to new generations of Cuban – Americans. Thanks to all for Burn.

  11. Carlo

    David,

    I was there in the early stages…I saw groupings of “moments”…your memories as you say on the wall.
    You said very few of them will actually make it. All I could think was the amount of pictures you had to put on the wall and take down from the wall, put some aside and do the whole thing again. In a way I was shocked and fascinated by the sheer amount of work going on and had to be done. I did not get to see the dummy so it will be a total surprise when I hold the book in my hands.

    Blending time and even places are worth dismantling. There’s a big chance you will not succeed but then there’s the bigger reward of having tried.

  12. eva

    David..

    I’ve never been a girly girl.. always wanted to deconstruct to see how stuff works.. to me the most fun is to build the sandcastle, not to look at it, don’t care about getting dirty.. :)

  14. Mike R

    For documentary photography, for me it’s fact: in the sense that it has to be a reality of the situation that I photograph. It can be a portrait that I choose the setting, lighting for, or a moment that triggers me to make a photograph of someone at a later date but the impetus must come from the reality that I am documenting.

    That said, once a photograph is out there and published in books, magazines etc. I can see how the original purpose of the photographer can be lost. I read recently (BJP I think) of a photographer who integrated his captions onto his photographs (a text layer I presume) to make sure that the photograph could not be printed without his caption. Neat.

    Let’s not forget that the reality we show in any documentary work is self-edited and that the reality we show is, to a greater or lesser degree, ours.

    Great question.

    Mike.

  15. Ross Nolly

    Recently I took a photo that had the look of a children’s fairy story about it. So the next time I was at the farm I decided to shoot as though it was for a fairy story; and it worked. For me it was a way to break from the pure documentarian way of shooting…. Not fiction per se; but shooting reality as though it was fiction…

  16. Carlo

    I still think that stories can work even if they are presented out of sequence. Think of Gaspar Noe Irreversible.

  17. panos skoulidas

    FICTION: the only thing that is REAL!
    theres no reality, only our interpretation of it..
    whats “real” for me it could be pure fiction/fantasy for the guy next to me..
    in other words: its all in our head..
    theres no such a thing as :true fact (unless you’re a cop or a lawyer or a scam-back of that nature )

  19. panos skoulidas

    let me share my experience (3 hours ago)
    i was walking my little doggie Lola (black color dog) and i was wearing a “Suicidal Tendencies” BLACK t-shirt, my earphones/ipod and shooting on Instagram in a park close by..to make a long story short,next thing i know im surrounded by police..Two cop cars and a police Van cornered me…I really thought something going on so i stopped in case a photo could pop out..i was looking around for the “crime scene” but i was all alone in the park, so i felt that knot in my stomach…”they” were here for me ..!!??? i was the only one in the”crime scene”..but what was the crime? my tattoos? my black anti-police t-shirt ? my fierce (laughing) 6 pound poodle (Lola)?
    it was just profiling..
    now listen what that uneducated cop told me:
    “Do you know why you are surrounded”? i said ” nope”!!!!???
    He was like: listen , we got an ANONYMOUS call by SOMEONE that you harassed “SOMEONE” in the park!
    “Someone”??? there was NOBODY in the park at that point…it was around 9am and everyone at work..i was ALL ALONE playing with my poodle in the park…thank god my iphone recorded through the app Edmondo my exact route so i can prove that there was no way for me to be in that particular location (behind the park ,in the parking lot that that fictional “harassment event” took place ..
    The cop realized that he was talking to someone that finished school unlike him obviously…He didnt expect that i could defend myself…
    SYNOPSIS:
    He admitted in the end that he “watches” me for days, walking my dog and he couldnt figure out who am I!
    So he decided to PROFILE me i guess as a drug dealer or something… He CREATED A STUPID LIE about somekind of anonymous phonecall and bullshit stories that make no sense..when i asked him “what was that crime that this “ghost wearing black tshirt had done, but that set him off…
    1) He asked for drivers licence.
    2) i complied of course.
    3) he said it wasnt enough.i needed to carry a second form of ID with me, but that uneducated cop didnt know is that i ALWAYS CARRY MY PASSPORT CARD WITH ME…not the actual passport but the passport card (size of a credit card)..He freaked out of how “prepared” i was and started mumbling , sorry, its for your protection, its a nice neighborhood- obviously telling me i dont look good for his standards and his low IQ obviously)…and i thought im all good and ready to go..
    well., yeah right..the other officers were giving him weird looks, we all knew the captain was humiliated literally HARASSING ME and my dog, EMBARRASSING ME IN FRONT OF THE PUBLIC…people were looking at me like i was Al Capone…sure that i must have done “something”…really really embarrassing im telling you ..
    then he turns to me and acts like he was doing me a big favor:
    He said: im gonna run your shit on my computer and if you have NO WARRANTS against you (which i definitely dont…i mean geezus…) then i will let you go!
    And of course he did run my “shit”, and of course im clean., and of course im sitting home with my laptop sharing all that with you, sipping my 11th coffee , still shaking of how badly i got treated for something i didnt do and honestly accused for something that NOBODY ELSE DID EITHER…scary stuff.. He never explained to me what that “other criminal did”, all i know is he made everything up so they can stop me and interrogate the “weird looking stranger (which was me)..Again the only common thing according to that cop i had with that FICTITIOUS CRIMINAL was that we were wearing BLACK T-SHIRT!
    BULLSHIT…Anyway im ok now, very pissed off, i want to go after that guy and sue the whole police department but i cant afford a lawyer but worst is then i’ll be severely targeted, pulled over all the time etc…So…. he shook my hand in the end for me being cooperative (why wouldnt i??)and did me a big favor of letting me go “this time”!
    oh my god…he wanted me to “say something” he wanted me to “react” but i refused to play his game so he HAD to let me go..
    True story based on a fictional event…and then its my fault i play song like this below:

  22. Carlo

    Just read these interesting statements by Torbjørn Rødland:

    The only photojournalistic images that remain interesting are the ones that produce or evoke myths.

    A photographer in doubt will get better results than a photographer caught up in the freedom of irony.

  23. Justin Smith

    “…riddles and bullshit………….. a wonderful combination”

    Very true, Imants – and one can’t get elected to public office without ’em!

  25. Micaël Martel

    ___any situation increases in value the minute the camera comes out of the bag___

    So much truth in that, as soon as you start taking pictures you enter a sort of state of pure focus, it’s purely living in the moment. You’re doing nothing more than living that situation 110%, it’s a very beautiful thing nothing else matters except that moment in the present. Of course it’s only temporary, but that moment become a lot more real, because you participation reach a different level.

    PANOS

    Couldn’t agree more, your fiction is the non-fiction of the others. I love that because it gives a whole new dimension to any body of work, it becomes a living thing.

    MIKE R

    I see what you mean, but even with the caption a photograph can be seen in a really different way by someone. It doesn’t change the original purpose of the image, but it’s just a way to show that sometimes there more to one picture that what we can see at the first look. Some people can go to far in the interpretation of an image, but in the end it all comes down to what it means to your own eyes. Of course documentary photography works with facts,but even a fact can have a different interpretation based on our own understanding of the situation

  28. panos skoulidas

    lol…she has her ID too around her neck, with her name address vaccines everything legit….anyway ok, sorry for that, back to our regular programming…

  29. Carlo

    I’m only teasing!
    that’s a horrible experience you had to go through for nothing really….and now it all probably feels like a dream.

  30. pAtrIcIO m.

    @ PANOS:
    Funny and sad story… I imagine the cop: The same as in the Simpsons… fat and eating donnuts.
    Got two questions:
    1. What happened if you don’t have your ID in your pocket in US?

    Nothing to do with that scene, more in relation to Burn.
    Remember the SA exhibition “BurnED Garden” some time ago?
    Well, I have the chance to make just a little one here, where I’m living, so presentation is this Saturday, and the idea is to have fun, meet people and sell some pictures…
    2. What was your strategy to sell photographes in the wall? How you negotiate prize?

    Thanks!! Shine an have a nice day with your dog!
    Abrazo
    P.

  31. panos skoulidas

    Carlo..i know i know :)))

    pAtrIcIO..
    no strategy really except from heavy advertisement on local press..
    price wise..if you can collect more than $200 for an 11×14 inches then consider yourself a great successful salesman..but if u can try to make folks happy..i gave my Beyonce print for free…create friendships..its even more important than sales..
    but we did a silent auction..not prices…biding like ebay…start low from $100 and let people “compete”..
    its way more interesting than price pictures in an absolute way..some photos ask for donation..play around..have fun and you will succeed! good luck
    again: silent auction is the way to go!

  32. panos skoulidas

    . What happened if you don’t have your ID in your pocket in US?
    ————————–
    dont even try it.. they can arrest on the spot no questions asked..
    now if one happens to be undocumented???? years in prison awaiting deportation.very simple and very frightening…(btw all that happen to me, and im an American Citizen…imagine if i wasnt;(

  35. panos skoulidas

    now if one happens to be undocumented????
    ——————-
    here political incorrect to call someone “illegal” immigrant nowadays!
    “Undocumented” is what they like now!
    Arizona targets Hispanics with violent methods..searches and if no “papers”? bye bye…
    but police in general especially when bored then they start power tripping on anyone that doesn’t wear a suit and a tie:(

  36. panos skoulidas

    but i saw the same methods in Greece, Zurich airport ,everywhere in europe and the rest of the world..its universal :(…police brutality is a wide world phenomenon i think..

  39. Micaël Martel

    Give a guy that kind of power and you can be sure he’ll eventually abuse it.

  41. panos skoulidas

    Micaël, Imants :)

    i dont know about you guys..to me its not even about a cop police or anything..when im playing with Lola when i have my new Frusciante song on me earphones i wanna be left alone…i dont wanna be touched, interrupted, questioned, interrogated…nothing..thats why exactly i chose to play with dog…but those “blue men” keep getting on peoples asses noses etc etc..they are strangers to me and i wanna keep it like that…in my little universe they dont exist..i refuse to acknowledge them..one love!

  42. Imants

    It doesn’t change the original purpose of the image …..but if that cannot bei communicated the original purpose becomes null and void

  47. Micaël Martel

    Oh thats true, they always come at the worst of time, next time you’ll probably be on the can at a restaurent reading a good magazine.

  49. Paul

    Day off from work today! Kids are on holiday also, some new holiday the local schools have evilly conceived. So I’ve decided the three of us and the dog are going up into the local sierra and see if the only natural creek on this island is full of water. It will be the first time in two years I pull out a camera and try out some landscape photography, so I’m interested in seeing if my way of seeing has evolved. Tripod is a no! Feeling slightly apprehensive because of my injury and because my expectations are running too high and that’s always a bad start…

    “Expectation is the root of all heartache.”
    William Shakespeare

  51. david alan harvey

    PAUL

    the doing what you love piece was terrific and EXACTLY what i have believed since i was about 20…well, i always believed it, but only realized i could actually DO IT at about 20….felt at first like i was “getting away with it’ and then realized i could make it a life course, a philosophy for doing what i HAD to do….i thought your link was for Paul Graham the art photographer, but alas no….no matter…good piece for all to read….surely blending your work with your life is the only way to go….

  58. Paul

    David…

    I also thought it was Paul Graham the art photographer until I started searching round the website!! :)

  59. Paul

    Thodoris…

    “Trees in the field” is the kind of landscape photography I keep feeling in my soul and heart. That for me is a good example of half way between fact and fiction. It takes me somewhere you could never reach in real life without stopping and letting go of all current daily distractions. Everyone sees these kind of trees, flowers and fields by roadsides but no ones usually pays any attention to them.

  64. pAtrIcIO m.

    @ PANOS,
    Thanks for the advice, will try to do that private meeting…and let the people bet by their own. Will tell you. The idea is not to sell, the aim is to know people, know people related with art/photography and have a good day. I put a lot of energy in the exhibition, will tell you the result.
    Thanks dude.

    P.
    PS: I’ve been controled by cops twice in my life, both without ID in my pocket… He said to me: Well… you are not cooperating with us, and bla, bla, bla, but cops in Argentina or France are not like cops in US… You can negotiate…

  66. Paul

    John…

    Thanks for Mr Garlington’s video. BTW I noticed you have one of Mr Garlington’s images on one your walls.

  67. Frostfrog

    Hi, folks. I’m here in Bangalore, now, but not in a very good situation to keep up or communicate. I can’t send out emails, and I can’t use my phone, can’t Skype.

    Vivek, if you read this, once I get this phone situation resolved, I will try to call you at the number you left and see if you happen to be anywhere along my route of travel. I would like to meet you, if it can work out.

    Mark, if you read this and will be in Mumbai, I will arrive evening March 19 and spend March 20 there.

    Other than that, Howdy, everyone.

  68. a civilian-mass audience

    Thank you for reporting MY BURNIANS…as FROSTY says Howdy:)

    two computers are crashed…BUT hey,our spirit is UP…
    and based on a true story…
    I LOVE YOU ALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL…

    keep BURNING…
    I will be back

    your civi

  70. ron

    Hello all, and David, I have been reading Burn but not writing.. I have been taking pictures but not really showing them to the broad audience.. just very curious what real photographers and other visual people here would think about the pictures that I took in Colombia http://photo-essay.photoshelter.com/gallery-list

    As far as i know most people here make a living by taking pictures and video… not unique, but one time I wanted too:) however, to me seemed like all the doors in a photojournalistic field were closed for me… and people told me that now being good at taking good pictures isn’t even enough… Yes, i understand, if you have enough money and passion you can work, publish yourself, make a book yourself, make gallery shows yourself… I see enough example of this.. but this way doesn’t really match my personality and i don’t like pushing my work too much when I don’t see the interest from the industry… I don’t have that capitalist nature i guess:)

    Best wishes to all

  71. vivek

    frostfrog …….. am on a train towards gujrat …scheduled to b bck in Mumbai on th 19 th ……. anyways … look fwd to ur call

  72. eva

    Hi Ron..

    not a photographer here, but my experience, if you are great at something over a period of time, not just once, and you have passion, and you believe in yourself and work hard, you will get there, IF YOU RELLY WANT IT!

    Just my two cents.. am old enough to have ’em.. :) can’t look at your essay, sorry, am browsing on the phone and stumbled over your comment..

  73. ron

    Eva, thank you for your comment. I absolutely agree with what you say… but I also believe, if one can’t afford to do photography, or almost any kind of activity, full time or at least 70 % of his time, then it’s impossible to show your maximum, and if you don’t show your maximum… I believe only in total commitment here… it takes too long to get a decent image… but who will provide you with food and pays for the place you sleep??

    Some people in general are modest, and are not that confident by their nature.. and if they see this activity doesn’t pay their bills.. for how long one is able to believe in himself??? three years, five years???…:) Cheers

  74. Imants

    There are musicians, artists, grandfathers, great grandmothers, photographers in their 80’s committed to their craft and producing great work and alive and involved in whatever life throws at them. ……………….. don’t get fame and fortune mixed up with what one does.

    If you want your work to be out there you will have to push that is the nature of the communication/media beast …………just like burn here if there were not people pushing its content and responding there would be no burn for you to read

  76. ron

    Imants, yes absolutely, no doubts… but that fame and fortune??… well, at least in my case, if I liked or even needed fame and fortune there would be way more productive and quicker ways to achieve it in my home country:).. by the way, I don’t know any photographer who could be considered a financially rich person or even close to that… and that fame is a very relative thing – ask the majority of people outside of visual arts field who was HCB or who is DAH, I have done it many times:)…

    OK, but I don’t mix those f&F things with a personal self-expression… to each his own, but to me photography is about other things than f&f.. and probably why I don’t even use my own name together with my work. If anyone ever were interested in my pictures I would most likely to use my pseudonym:)… and if I ever were forced to make a gallery show, I would not be there either – I would just ask someone to shoot video of the event, and I would make sure in advance there wasn’t a lack of vine and snacks:).. that’s who I am.. I want to be invisible, let me alone – that is my attitude… I know, in capitalism culture and environment it sounds insane… Cheers

  77. Imants

    .. I want to be invisible, let me alone …….that’s bullshit otherwise you would not bother to post links to your images and ask people to comment on your work

    statements like” don’t see the interest from the industry…” contradict what you are saying and of course there is no interest as you want to be invisible

    fame and fortune was stated in reference to photography not other quick fix related fields

  78. Imants

    On your site you write …………….≥≥≥≥≥≥…….. I am available for photojournalistic assignments around the world ……………. a tough call for someone who wants to be left alone

  80. david alan harvey

    RON

    i do not think we have met, nor do i know your work…however i did just take a quick look at two of your essays from your link here and saw imo some very interesting work..classic photojournalism yes, yet good classic…now i must sleep.but i will take a closer look tomorrow…i and out of whatever thread is going on here and the conflict ..i do understand your disdain for commercialism, and not quite relating that to anonymity, but as i said i am sleepy and i was reading fast and i might have missed your point entirely….

    cheers, david

  82. a civilian-mass audience

    Welcome home RON…!!!

    keep working my BURNIANS…

    as IMANTS says…”If you want your work to be out there you will have to push that is the nature of the communication/media beast …………just like burn here if there were not people pushing its content and responding there would be no burn for you to read”
    YES,yes,yes…keep Pushing my People…

    sooner or later…we will all push daises,azaleas,wild greens…therefore…let’s push OUR vision,our dreams…let’s push something…whatever works for YOU…
    BE YOU
    work Hard
    let the Universe be with YOU…all of YOU…EPF 2012 is here…Focus!!!

    good morning from beautiful Greece…BURN is the place to BE!

    P.S…I would love a report from ALL of YOU…ASAP…helloooo:)))

  83. a civilian-mass audience

    Thank you MR.HARVEY…for pushing…the envelope!!!

    and a big hello to our RIO people…RENATA,ROBERTA…and RIO CREW…
    Viva!!!

    back to my aisle…where are you… JUKKA:)!!!

  84. Micaël Martel

    Ron

    Keep the faith and continue to work hard and who knows what will happen. Like Imants said, I don’t think you would show your work here if you didn’t wanted to make it as a photographer.

    Civi

    I love how happy you are in the morning, it brings joy to the world hahaha.

  85. ron

    … unfortunately it’s impossible to be just completely black or completely white in this life… ideally, I would like my work to be visible indeed, especially if it in any way affects the audience. I see this as a self expression, I have to do something during my short existence on this earth, and at this stage of my life I like doing this the most… but still, I do not want to be visible or known as a person physically because this isn’t part of my self expression… and I am not too philosophical about my pictures and I have nothing to say about them except the basic capture, I am just a photographer… I don’t see a contradiction in this at all, and in a world of artist and writers it used not to be that uncommon… and yes, I am available for assignments.. and yes, your honest opinion about my pictures matters to me a lot…

    As i have already said, I enjoy the work of taking pictures, and if it payed my rent and food I would be a very happy man, because I have the rest I need in my life… what’s wrong with that? On the other hand, if a couple of people like David Alan Harvey say – “you are not going to go that far with your talent and pictures you take…” that would be OK with me, I would just have to regroup myself, and would not waist too much time (I would, but just way less:))… I doesn’t look tasty to me at all when untalented people pushing themselves and their pictures.. I would like to avoid being in such a position… but no one has ever told me – “I don’t like your pictures”… but seemed like no one wanted to pay though:))..

    David, thank you very much for taking a look at my pictures, and as you said you will write me more later, i will wait… thank you

    P.S. Forgive my written English, I am not a native English speaker, and I didn’t even learn this language at school:) And please, NO personal attacks, I am who I am.. if you don’t understand or it seems contradictive to you… then you have to be me to understand it…

    Best wishes to all

  86. Paul

    Ron…

    Just do your photography to make you feel good. If you’re really committed to it and even if fame and fortune pass you by you’ll be out on the streets taking pictures. BTW I swear I’ve seen these images before, they keep ringing a bell in my mind, although I’m sure they were in color. I like your images, there’s something slightly atypical about them all. Anyway you do seem to have the ability to tell little stories.

  88. eva

    Ron..

    had a quick look, same as Paul, I remember some of the pictures, and also remember who had linked to them a while back here on Burn.

    And will repeat what I said a while back: stories and photography is everywhere, no need to travel far, our backyards are somebody’s exotic destination.. it is the eye that counts, not the distance we put between our home and the pictures. That is an excuse.

    You are available for assignments all over the world.. but want to make a living out of photography.. that means somebody must pay for your service.. I think it is hard for anybody to hire someone without knowing more.. contraddiction is ok to some extent, I guess we all have that within us, but if you are not out there in the world (your work), nobody will be aware and willing to pay, that is for sure.

  91. ron

    Paul, Eva,

    very strange to hear that you have seen my pictures and that someone linked to them here on Burn… while ago I have send just some of them to one street photo competition and that was about it.. but no one knew this gallery except for two of my none photographers friends, and actually for the last about eight months the gallery has been closed and not accessible.. i just reopened it two days ago.

    Imants,

    critique?- yes. Honest opinion? – even better. To sell my images here? ha ha:) – I don’t think you would buy them even if you liked them:)… Somehow I think in real life you have a very good sense of humor, while on internet probably it isn’t always easy to get it:).. Cheers

  92. john gladdy

    Ron. I quite like some of the first set of images and I do like the ‘traditional’ treatment you have given them. Nothing makes me go WOW, but nothing makes me cringe either.

    The Vilnius images are perhaps stronger in themselves, but the whole bleach bypass/partial de-sat treatment does them no favours at all from where I am standing..Not quite sure why you would choose a treatment like that for these.(truly interested if you wish to share)

    Both sets seem to come from someone who knows what a picture looks like.
    Curious as to why the anonymity.

    EVA. As you know, so do I. But it does mean a lot that you do too.

    Paul. Only that I do not share Mikes love of sharing the fact behind the fictions of my images (only with a few people anyways). ..

  94. ron

    John Gladdy,

    thank you very much indeed for your time. It seems that probably I am not that completely useless as I thought about myself eight months ago… probably that was just my crisis.. and I even sold all of my camera equipment… i didn’t take a single shot for about a half year till now… and now I take pictures only with my mobile phone camera:)…

    I think to make you say “wow” would be way too much to expect for me:).. and I would need more time to get involved there deeper… while back then I had “only” about one month in Colombia, first time, no Spanish… on one hand it’s good, on the other it’s not enough to get involved deeper… it would take me more time, or maybe a second time and after a good Spanish class, to come out with something stronger.. but i saw the potential there, and now I even have my good friend and own interpreter in Colombia..

    As for color and general picture treatment, you know John, I am way more a hunter than a cook.. I would rather give my pictures to a good cook, tell him what I would like, and see what he would came up with:) seriously, but I don’t have such a person yet… I used to have though when I shot B&W film, and that was my father:) who liked cooking as well as taking pictures… but in general, I don’t like too much color maybe because I am very boring and nostalgic person… I might experiment some other color versions one day though… I see, some people make nice color stuff…

    As for anonymity, I just need my privacy, and on internet it’s very easy to become too public nowadays so everyone can trace you, even people that you don’t want them to know about your current life…

  95. Gordon Lafleur

    Ron, welcome.

    Your pictures show that you have some talent and skill. Unfortunately, talent and skill alone does not translate into a living. As you have found out, there is not much of a market for traditional street photography.

    A musical analogy. I do know musicians who make a living as musicians, but the majority of them are very poor, work very hard, and make many sacrafices. I do know several who make very good livings as musical academics/teachers. Then there are a few superstars.

    I pay my bills with photography, but my other passion is playing music. While my group occasionally get paid to play, mostly we play for the love of it. I have no illusions about the level of my playing, or aspirations to become a professional musician. That is fine with me. It enriches my life.

    Yes, if a passionate and talented young photographer works hard and persists, recognition and financial success could follow. It also cannot be denied that luck, obsession, ego/self confidence, good health and means play a huge role. Like all the young painters, musicians, athletes, would be.com millionaires etc, very few will “rise to the top”. Does that mean one should give up? No, but it does mean we need to enter the race with eyes open.

  96. ron

    Gordon,

    yes of course, that’s imho how it approximately works almost in any kind of field, except those “real” jobs. I have been in sport boxing.. but sport is at least way more functional to everyday living, makes you tougher, fitter, less vulnerable physically and psychologically in this dangerous world, and even better looking:)… photography itself isn’t that functional until it becomes functional and it becomes to very few as we know it well. The act of taking pictures is a very good meditation though… I respect and admire those passionate and committed “amateur” photographers from 60’s 80’s who kept documenting world around them all their lives but never get published.. some of them get published after their death though…

    I believe, my personal live on this earth has no meaning what so ever, and I know I need to live here and now.. and thinking realistically, I see my personal photography being just as a form of meditation that i really need sometimes, as well as I need some yoga stretching for my spine after I lift heavy weights in a gym… While taking pictures just a half time as a hobby it isn’t about going somewhere up because this way you will be able to show just about 1/3 of your potential or even less… kind of sad but that is reality as we know.

  103. ron

    Imants,

    no, I don’t even think that I am completely anonymous, nor really care that much:)… but seems other people here do care, and asked me “why”, I just answered the question:)

  104. eduardo sepulveda

    20 days, wow! nothing more real than that. the most phantastic photographic experience, though.

  105. mw

    Interesting questions between this and the other thread. I’ve always thought that pictures, or any kind of work of art should have some meaning. But then sometimes I can love something that’s only purpose is to be visually interesting, or more commonly, simply beautiful. And I like stories in which each element is meticulously crafted to make a coherent and insightful whole. But then sometimes my favorite works are just random things that somehow fit together.

    Within my own work, I’ve recently become fascinated by the mini-essays that happen when I search for an original and the Find command returns several photos with the same name. It’s funny how so often these entirely random groupings manage to form a meaningful narrative, at least for me.

  108. Paul

    Thodoris…

    I love the black sun image, again the sort of style I constantly see in my mind. Nothing wrong with the snow pictures, it’s just I’m a little over saturated with snow images as I see we weren’t the only place in the Mediterranean who’s suffered the cold this year :)!

  117. pAtrIcIO m.

    @ PANOS:
    Thanks for the advice about the exhibition. I will do a private guided visit this Saturday, and then I will send you some pictures of the event.
    In the vernissage/presentation I have sold one with dimensions are 30 x 90 cm, (XPAN Format) here we have the metric system…remember Pulp Fiction dialogue when Travolta comes back from Europe…) at 150 Euros. Not Bad! I’m happy. More to come.

    Wish you a great “super” Wednesday.
    P.

  118. Paul

    Thodoris…

    “Descriptive”; that’s the perfect word to explain my perpetual problems I’m suffering with my landscape work. I keep coming back with far too much information as I’m convinced I need something slightly more ambiguous which is bringing me to the conclusion that a digital camera is probably the worse device for this elusive image.

  120. panos skoulidas

    Ron Artest or Metta World Peace,
    Anthony RZ and now with new ID: “Ron”,
    it’s still same for me.. You can change clothes, troll names etc, you can fool
    everyone ( not easy to fool
    Imants though ;) for a day or two but then?? What then?
    Does it matter? But then again Prince turned himself into a “symbol”..
    Ways to go
    Anthony …
    Laughing!!!!
    Greetings from FBTI ( Federal
    Bereau of TROLL investigations )
    Ps: stop playing games and get into
    the point !
    I’ll let you go with a “warning” this time but don’t abuse it this time:)
    Your faithful friend : panos

  123. Thodoris Tzalavras

    Paul, you can always post process your digital files to imitate the inherent visual “elusiveness” of pinhole, holga etc, but I prefer the “real thing”… in the end though—as John would say—it’s the picture that counts, not the technique… cheers

  124. Paul

    Panos…

    Imediately I went to “Ron”‘s gallery I knew I had seen them somewhere before on Burn and then I remembered they were all by Anthony RZ. Of course I wasn’t 100% sure, but quite close. In someways Anthony Ron RZ should take it as a compliment… :)

  125. pAtrIcIO m.

    @ PANOS/CARLO:

    I’d prefer: “They don’t even know what the fuck a quarter pounder is?” LoL.
    Yes, yes of course, Messi & Co tonite.

    P.
    PS: Berk! not Royale with cheese, pasta is 1000% better than that…

  126. panos skoulidas

    Paul,

    oh yes absolutely i agree…some nice work indeed by Anthony….no doubt…
    its just..no need for that extra “trolling/name changing” touch if u know what i mean…

    pAtrIcIO m,
    lol…..:))))

  127. Paul

    Thodoris…

    This is the closest I’ve ever been to a successful digital landscape image…
    https://adesirecalledcamera.wordpress.com/2012/02/10/glow/
    (Eva I haven´t forgotten the picture!)

    Well, like you, I think for that elusive sometimes “possessed” or “haunted” feel you need film and a “Crap” lens! You’ve got to leave it up to serendipity and bad luck.
    BTW have you ever seen the extras from the Sally Mann’s “What Remains” documentary? There’s one chapter where she’s going through old photos from Immediate Family and she comments something like now that time has passed and the kids are all grown up how she regrets having used those blurry lenses. Wishing it was all in focus to remember with more clarity those years.

  129. Paul

    Panos…

    I wonder if Ronnie RZ is also the mysterious “Latvian wolf dog” who complained last summer about a little tech talk?

  130. Paul

    Here’s a nice quote from a Greek poet…

    “All the words are not enough to get anything said.”
    Yannis Ritsos

  131. Gordon Lafleur

    Paul
    How did your creek foray landscape photos go?

    I don’t think it is digital technology that gets in the way of capturing the “illusive”. The random and surprise element that is the reality of shooting film, especially with low tech cameras is perhaps what is missing. Certainly this is magnified when using cameras with marginal viewfinders, or in the case of most pinhole cameras, no viewfinder at at all.

    One could always put duct tape over the screen on the back of our dslrs, save the surprise for later. I’ve been having fun lately with an old 2mp Canon point and shoot. It has an optical viewfinder and the screen on the back of the camera is tiny, pixelated and next to useless. Low tech can be fun.

  132. Imants

    Panos I get fooled easily initially but then it is just a matter of seeing the first mistake ………it is like fishing in a bucket. The rons should not look at the links(lure) provided

  133. amelie

    Paul, as Gordon said, I don’t think that shooting digital hampers landscape photography. I love to shoot landscape, and sometimes I do mix it up with a pinhole lens, but for the most part I just shoot straight digital.

    I think it’s more of a mindset of what you’re looking for in your images. Have you read The Zen of Creativity by John Daido Loori? He took a workshop with Minor White and shares Minor’s instructions in his book:

    “Venture into the landscape without expectations. Let your subject find you. When you approach it, you will feel resonance, a sense of recognition. If, when you move away, the resonance fades, or if it gets stronger as you approach, you’ll know you have found your subject. Sit with your subject and wait for your presence to be acknowledged. Don’t try to make a photograph, but let your intuition indicate the right moment to release the shutter. If, after you’ve made an exposure, you feel a completion, bow and let go of the subject and your connection to it. Otherwise, continue photographing until you feel the process is complete.”

    I know this approach won’t be for everyone, but it is a good exercise.

  134. Thodoris Tzalavras

    Paul, I really like the picture you linked to…

    As for “What Remains”, I’ve only seen the regular version but I do get her point and it’s one I’ve spent time considering…

    Actually, if you’re anything like me (second guessing yourself and over thinking things) this can easily become a debilitating thought… “what might be the best format, lens, camera, film, developer, paper, etc for this project?”… and it’s a valid thought to have… after all if you’re gonna put the time, the effort and the money (that you don’t have) into this-or-that project, you’d like to avoid (if you can) looking back a few years down the line thinking you should have done it differently… well, right now (and after years of thinking otherwise) I’m thinking it’s better to actually go and shoot the project the “wrong way” than to put it in the drawer, waiting to be “ready” to take it on “properly”…

    Sally, can second guess herself all see likes after the fact… she still has the PICTURES…

  137. Akaky

    What I like about landscape photography is the way the landscape never tells you to hurry up and take the picture, for crying out loud.

  138. mw

    What I like about landscape photography is the way the landscape never tells you to hurry up and take the picture…

    Ha, you just haven’t learned to listen to the landscape.

  141. Akaky

    Balderdash. I have learned to listen to the subtle whisperings of the landscape and what the landscape wants more than anything else is twenty dollars to tide them over until next payday. Frankly, if I want this kind of aggravation I can go visit my relatives.

  142. david alan harvey

    AKAKY

    i am not a landscape photographer, but i have made a few landscape pictures…what i noticed in my forays into landscape photography was that landscapes moved just as quickly as people rushing down the street….split second timing is required….the wind whips a tree limb, the sun coming through the clouds casts light patterns moving oh so quickly, a wave breaks at sunrise and there is only time for one frame with the spray just right, falling leaves do not give you a second chance, storm clouds race ahead of lightning bolts bam and gone, and a black crow lands oh just so on the fencepost never to return and on and on….yup, bad news, you gotta hurry up and take the picture no matter what….

  145. Paul

    Gordon…

    My two kids, dog and I had a brilliant time at the creek, which was luckily full to the brim with water. There’s only one man made bridge throughout the 4km of streams, lagoons, and a couple of beautiful waterfalls which run through a beautiful oak and pine tree forest. Every so often we had to cross from one side to other by jumping across large boulders and rocks and of course my foot had to finally let me down and I ended up in the river doing my very best to successfully save my 1ds2. Anyway, photography wise I think there maybe a couple of interesting images, but as I’ve already complained the digital camera just captures too much information. I don’t know how, but I will finally get the type of image I keep seeing in my mind. It’s well over two years I’ve been struggling with this search and I’ve become so dissatisfied with all my landscape stuff I’ve even given up the few commercial landscape jobs I had. Not that I regret it one bit.

  146. Paul

    Amelie…

    “The Zen of Creativity by John Daido” was the first book I ordered once I was out of hospital after my first unsuccessful foot operation. Great book but I must admit I was already feeling extremely despondent towards all landscape stuff. I can see it on bookshelf right now and I’ll pull down once I finish my current book.
    Now if you enjoyed that book, there’s a good chance you may enjoy these… :))
    http://www.amazon.com/Chased-Light-Jim-Brandenburg/dp/1559718005/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1331160955&sr=8-1

    http://www.amazon.com/Zen-Art-Archery-Eugen-Herrigel/dp/0375705090/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1331161002&sr=1-1

    http://www.amazon.com/Free-Play-Improvisation-Life-Art/dp/0874776317/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1331161092&sr=1-1

  149. Carlo

    Nice one! thanks Sam.

    To reach him I must penetrate the gauntlet of others competing for his attention: curators, editors, friends and the countless young photographers he advises via workshops, Skype, Facebook and his immensely active blog, Burn. “Just let me get a cup of coffee,”

  153. ron

    Panos Skoulidas… obviously you are not busy enough in this life… it looks weird but you enjoy so much digging and chasing someone who hasn’t done any harm for you in this life… you don’t know me but I am just a poor, homeless and miserable guy, what’s funny with that??.. Yes, with your personal attacks you did me a harm, but that was your intention wasn’t it?… David Alan Harvey told me he would write me back but after your attacks, as well as some other people on this site, of course he will not… everything comes back in this life… Panos, you might remember my words sooner or later… One thing that is very fortunately for me, in real life I can protect myself from people like you very effectively, and I am almost sure you would be scared to look at my eyes. While at the moment, here online, I have no other choice but just let you be a local internet hero.

    to All.. my pictures never been linked here on Burn by me.. you might have seen them in a different place or maybe someone linked them without me being aware of this.. doesn’t matter.. However, I am very glad that in general you liked my work.. this really inspired me to continue.. and now my good old friend in New York is going to ship me his spare camera so I have a tool for taking pictures..

    What is unfortunately that deep in yourself you aren’t able to tolerate people who think and live differently than you do… I am a very solitary person and I have only two friends in New York and in Bogota, I see them very rarely, and one of them doesn’t even use internet at all… I wanted to be your friend here… but it didn’t happen… and I love and admire DAH’s work and his insight on most things, but he obviously doesn’t want to be involved in this shit… well, I got attacked here even when I used a new nickname, way before you traced the site registrations…

    On the other hand, I can’t believe that you are such an insensitive people in real life.. maybe this is just internet forums that makes you to act this way, or maybe just the fact that someone isn’t able to reach you physically and smash your nose?? I don’t know, but I feel very sad…

  155. a civilian-mass audience

    Good morning from beautiful, broken Grecolandia…
    oime…

    this is my aisle and in my aisle…there are no sad feelings BUT I can take the smashed noses:)))

    RON,my BURNIAN…you sound sincere…and we do love TRUE BURNIANS…
    If you are a troll,a fly or a hero…makes no difference here in BURNLAND…
    and all these years that I am around in this dysfunctional but lovely family…
    this I have to say:
    We have to be strong,we have to be open…we have to be true to our vision and to our Intentions…!!!
    for the rest …we need to let go

    I strongly believe that MR.HARVEY and fellow BURNIANS deserve more credit…but I am Greek and I can’t talk about credit…oime:))))))

    I know, I make no sense, as usual but let’s forget our differences (we are all one) and let’s celebrate
    OUR LADIES who are next to US…

    OUZO on me…olives on PANOS…beer on RON…wine on MESSI…tumbleweeds on TOM…books on EVA…iparanoid on IMANTS…long posts on BOBBYB…everyday faces on THOMAS…APOEL on THODORIS…British laugh attacks on JOHNYG…
    oi,oi,oi…you are so many…

    I LOVE YOU ALLLLLLLLLLLLLL…keep BURNING…and AKAKY 200 is mine or else…

  156. a civilian-mass audience

    wowwww…amazing shots…bring it on MY BURNIANS…!!!

    P.S…I am out of coffee but I will be back …
    don’t you dare to mess with my aisle:))))))))))))

  157. Imants

    ron there is no need to search pretty easy when you log onto eg my link country, place, ip, etc come up on stats counter( used to figure out if my sites are being looked at so I can tell if I am just pissing in the wind) ………you seem to be as judgmental of others just like rest of us your aronymous

  158. david alan harvey

    RON

    i have been off this thread only because i am working 25 hours a day on my upcoming Rio book…i am sure you can appreciate this….so i am unfortunately lost on the thread, but not intentionally uncaring….i do all i can to be here as much as i can and answer as many questions as i can…but alas, i just can only do my best which is of course never enough…being here in the comments section is of course the secondary Burn job to just looking around for new work to show my readers here, run the EPF (a full time job) and do my assignments and now my Rio book…

    i just don’t know what you mean by i did not write you back after a Panos attack…??…really lost on this one…i am supposed to defend people here against Panos attacks? please please….and i am sure you can always communicate with Panos one way or another…i don’t know you, but i do know him , and the boy shoots pictures all the time, chats all the time,and reads all the time….he is aware i would say..smart…caring….hey he is Greek, so he is theatrical…fine!! but definitely not evil….this i guarantee….

    somehow , somewhere, i did click on your name and saw some photographs i like a lot and said so….as far as i can recall that is the extent of our communication…if i have missed something let me know…

  159. ron

    David, it’s fine:).. seems that those “problems” are now over… I don’t go online photo forums too often but when I do I do it for my own relaxation, nice read, and a good time only. Of course, I understand you are busy with your Rio book which I am also waiting impatiently:).. You have already given me a lot of your attention and I really appreciate that. David, the fact that you say that you like my pictures a lot, to me means a lot a lot… and inspires me to continue this my hobby:) and now I am much more confident the way I photograph. Best wishes

  160. mw

    Interesting photo, Gordon, beautiful place. Not how I would have chosen to shoot or develop it, but therein lies a lot of the interest. I should play around more with high ISO and small aperture. Usually when I contemplate 3200, I’m at f2 or thereabouts and the noise is too much. I’ve been thinking about selling my Canon crap to buy the new interchangeable lens fuji when it comes out, I love the x-100, but alas, have apparently waited too long. There were something like 1800 5d mkII’s for sale on ebay last I looked. In more realistic camera news, I ordered a new IPad yesterday so I guess I might find myself on the camera phone bandwagon before long. I can see how it could be useful for subway shots. Has anyone ever done a project where they took candid photos on the new york subway? Has anyone not?

  161. Carlo

    MW,

    Stunning landscape shot!

    You asked:

    Has anyone ever done a project where they took candid photos on the new york subway? Has anyone not?

    I have seen people do it in instagram on and off…if that’s what you mean.

  162. panos skoulidas

    “All the words are not enough to get anything said.”
    Yannis Ritsos
    ———–

    Paul, thank you for the quote…Yannis Ritsos (amazing poet- a very sensitive soul)

  163. panos skoulidas

    , and I am almost sure you would be scared to look at my eyes.
    —————————————————–
    or maybe just the fact that someone isn’t able to reach you physically and smash your nose??
    ————————————————————–
    Ron or Anthony or whatever the name is (ive no problem with your work, the problem is that i dont know to “whom” exactly talking to..now thats the scary part: you know where i live, my name, everything, but i dont!!!??? see where the real threat lays?
    but hey,
    here i am: Lets give it a try outside this forum, you never know, we might end up being best friends in the end, but please please do not CONFUSE my ideas with Burn or Harvey..or Imants on anyone here.
    When i write i ONLY REPRESENT myself, not Burn, not America, not Greece nor Barcelona..
    So here i am, lets go out in the alley and lets talk in private:

    panos.skoulidas@gmail.com
    or Skype me at:
    venice10001

    lets keep it “outside” the Burn room

  164. pAtrIcIO m.

    @ PANOS:
    I love that game! Pure pleasure! 7 – 1!!! Keep watching it, take a look to Napoli and the Cavani troop. That guy rocks.

    @ RON & PANOS:
    I don’t know you (both). What about if you have a Burnian skype??? Sure that you can manage that…

    @ ALL: -About Landscapes-
    Here is the direct link to some images of “Abandoned Patagonia”, B&W panoramic landscapes pictures of my (liitle) ongoing exhibition till April 4th, here in Lyon, FRANCE.

    http://www.patricio-michelin.com/abandoned-patagonia

    Shine
    P.

  165. panos skoulidas

    Patricio..
    Especially here in BURN, if “someone” wants/needs/demands immediate attention , what to do:!???
    Easy! Oldest trick in the book: just mess with that panos guy..(laughing….)
    Attention is a strange “animal”
    Wants to be petted all the time..
    And that was a funny accusation ( I can harm someone’s career ? … Laughing.. But let’s pretend it’s true, how can I harm a career of an “anonymous” person???
    Pure silliness !!!

    Anyway , Messi is a phenomenon that I “follow” couple years now…
    He inspires me so much that I like going shooting photos right after any of his performances..
    The kid is a pure inspiration and motivation..
    And believe me I’m
    Not the typical sports fan that pays CABLE TV ( 1000 sports channels- actually we do not have any form
    Of tv in the apartment except from a $10 Netflix subscription..
    For me at least to go out and shoot I don’t necessarily open
    a photo book to jump start me.. Sometimes one Messi’s goal will
    Do it or a great tattoo, or an antique car.. Doesn’t matter..
    Whatever motivates me is what I need!!!

  166. ron

    mw,

    interesting.. actually I have started mobile phone camera series of NYC subway a year ago, when I stayed in New York for two months… unfortunately it isn’t so easy to get back to a Big Apple and continue my shooting which I actually enjoyed:).. I don’t have many pictures, and now I don’t have too much time to look at my archive and process them, but just quickly opened one more very little gallery to show how it looks like, maybe nothing special but it was just a start and I was getting used to photograph with my new phone:), if interesting you can take a look by clicking on my name…

    Panos,

    now you talk like a man, and I like you.. I also think we could become friends:) or maybe we are already friends:)… I understand you well and where you come from… unfair situation… but my background is a bit different and I am used to a bit more privacy:).. Ok my friend, it would be pleasure to talk with you, but I never used Skype in my life:)… now I am moving around Asia, tomorrow I will get back to Bangkok and I will think about that Skype:)… and I would have to get headphones:) etc… we will see:), but I am glad that our tone has changed, and I think that it’s already a big achievement! We might even meet one day in real life, somewhere in David’s loft in New York:)) Best wishes

  167. panos skoulidas

    Ron, like i said and i mean it..my info above..
    feel free to contact me if needed, and you wrote you feel sad..well i dont like sadness, i definitely do not want you to be sad and ive no problem help “fix” anything i broke, if i broke it and even replace it..
    Again definitely did not wanted to make you feel sad nor threatened or anything…plus i said numerous times, and Paul/DAH confirmed i (we) liked your work…
    anyway lets move on…or if still “bugs to fix” feel very free to contact me…
    peace

  168. panos skoulidas

    and good luck on your “whereabouts” in Asia and feel free to post links, photos…
    we all need more photos here and less of my rants (which i thought i was kinda doing ok/controlling it for a while…lol)
    anyway, you are part of BURN, as much as i am and its a privilege for both of us and ALL of us..lets use it right and benefit by expressing ourselves through photography coz the day that DAH will pull off the plug, we will all be “homeless” and trust me, i tried it for a while and its not fun at all…!!!!:))))))
    biggest hug

  170. Gordon Lafleur

    Patricio
    I love your pano work. Way back in the seventies I played a lot with panoramic, most often shooting multiple frames with a half frame Olympus Pen EE.

    http://www.pbase.com/image/141953003

    I also did a bunch of stuff then with an antique Kodak Panoram #1, which had a swinging lens and made 2 1/4x 7 in negs. I had a Russian Horizont for a while, but I liked using the Olympus the best.

    Cheers

  171. Akaky

    I like to watch TCM [Turner Classic Movies, for those of you without basic cable], first, because I like Hollywood movies from a time when Hollywood knew how to make movies that people wanted to watch, and secondly, to indulge my habit of taking from one movie and stuffing them into the movie I’m watching at the moment. This is a vile habit, akin to cracking your knuckles in front of your mother or breaking wind during the more solemn parts of a funeral, and it is a habit that makes it difficult to remember movie trivia, since I’m never sure if the factoid I am trying to dredge from the noisome sinkhole of my memory is something that actually occurs in a movie or whether it is something I made up. On the other hand, such a habit can make life interesting at times, as when you watch The Right Stuff and you start to wonder how the movie would turn out if Michael Corleone broke the sound barrier instead of Chuck Yeager. Certainly, the change of characters would have improved the quality of the cinematic cuisine; Gordo Cooper’s burned hot dogs are simply no match for Mama Corleone’s lasagna.
    I suspect that the same guy who put a bullet through Moe Greene’s eye did the job on the sound barrier; no one else in The Godfather was anywhere near Edwards Air Force Base, and, let’s face it, the idea of Clemenza in the Bell X-1 rocket plane causes cognitive dissonance on a massive scale; there wouldn’t be enough room in that plane for Clemenza, the gun, or the cannoli. I also have a hard time imagining what the sound barrier could have done to the Corleone family that Michael would feel the need to have the barrier whacked in such a loud and grotesque manner; causing a sonic boom in front of a bunch of eyewitnesses, most of whom work for the government, is not particularly subtle, unless the lack of subtlety is the point of the exercise.
    The barrier’s loud demise must have had something to do with the narcotics business, which Don Corleone did not want to get involved with, but this is just speculation on my part; everything I know about the mob I learned from the New York Daily News; but it’s what makes the most sense to me. If the sound barrier got mixed up with dirty cops and the Tattaglia family in the drug trade, then the hit on the barrier may have been simple justice, an example of someone who should have known better becoming involved in a dirty business and then getting what was coming to them. That’s a terrific story, or at least Tom Wolfe thought so, but then again, what do I know?

  173. amelie

    @Paul Love the suggested titles; added to my reading list. Where you’re shooting sounds like such a promising place.

    @Imants A life disappointment?? Well, while I didn’t find all the content applicable, I’ve found that even one sentence or phrase can spark an idea or be developmentally helpful; finding just that is worth reading…Anyway, I have found two new spots for some landscape shots, and I’m off to see if I can strike up a conversation with them. ;)

  174. Paul

    Amelie…

    I’ve been living over here in Mallorca for the last twenty years and the landscape is pretty well unexplored when it comes to photography. I don’t know if you’ve ever seen any of Michael Kenna’s landscape work, but if you haven’t it’s worth looking at…
    http://www.michaelkenna.com

  175. Paul

    Patricio…

    Patagonia looks like a stunning place and I’d love to get in close to that abandoned ship with a camera. Hope you get to visit again I want to see more of your work. BTW I see you enjoy shooting panoramic, I think you’d of loved my Linfof 6×17.

  176. amelie

    Paul, lucky you! Kenna (who I hadn’t seen before) has some stunning work. After the discussion yesterday about landscapes changing, I just saw a scene this morning that will only work before the undergrowth and trees grow out. Rained out this afternoon, and now I’m worried that warm weather + rain will cause a lot of growth and hamper the view. Maybe not, but I’m impatient.

    @mw What I love most about your shot is how the tonality makes me think I’m looking at a paper image instead of a monitor. That’s the first I’ve seen a photo online that looks like a book page.

  177. Imants

    Amelie…….. I guess it all did ommmmn-ed me to sleep.

    I’ve found that even one sentence or phrase can spark an idea or be developmentally helpful; finding just that is worth reading………that is applicable to anything even an advertisement to toilet paper or the stats to how many beer cans of rain falls a year in the Gobi desert annually

  178. amelie

    “……that is applicable to anything even an advertisement to toilet paper or the stats to how many beer cans of rain falls a year in the Gobi desert annually”

    exactly! That’s why I try to be open-minded…

  179. Imants

    It has nothing to do with being open minded reading books that one finds irrelevant or trivial for that magic sentence is counterproductive and a waste of time. Three pages into the book the cliches and feel good schmaltz just didn’t stop…….

  180. a civilian-mass audience

    Thank you ALL for not messing with this aisle…

    WE ARE ALL CRAZY here in BURNLAND…
    AKAKIOUS …200 is mine,you don’t you want a smashed nose,do you…?:)))

    ok,back to our regular program…EPF is almost here…and PSI too…!!!
    FOCUS my People,FOCUS…

  181. a civilian-mass audience

    oime…I can’t even write a decent sentence in proper English…:)))

    oh,well…I leave that.. to MY ACADEMIANS…

    VIVA BURN !!!

  184. Akaky

    “…how many beer cans of rain falls a year in the Gobi desert annually”

    ————————————————————————–

    This is an uninteresting statistic when compared to knowing how many beer cans full of beer fall on the Gobi desert annually, or to knowing that the people of Hawaii are number one in the United States when it comes to the consumption of Spam. You may not care one way or the other, but I’ll bet the people who make Spam care about that statistic big time.

  185. Ross Nolly

    Panos; “Japan is the number one country in suicides as of today”

    The scary thing is that NZ is right up there too; especially for 15-25-year old males…. A really sad indictment on our country….

  188. Ross Nolly

    Paul; I’ve been playing with a kids 1.7mp camera. Probably not much better than an early cell phone camera. I gave my ex’s grandkids one each for Xmas; and like the ad said “liked it so much I bought the company”; well maybe not the company but the $14.99 camera anyway… No LCD; only takes 25 images (each about 130kb). It has been an interesting “loosening up” experiment…

  190. Akaky

    Narrator: There was a demon that lived in the air. They said whoever challenged him would die. Their controls would freeze up, their planes would buffet wildly, and they would disintegrate. The demon lived at Mach 1 on the meter, seven hundred and fifty miles an hour, where the air could no longer move out of the way. He lived behind a barrier through which they said no man could ever pass. They called it the sound barrier.
    ________________________________________
    Tom Hagen: It would be like trying to kill the President; there’s no way we can get to him.
    Michael Corleone: Tom, you know you surprise me. If anything in this life is certain – if history has taught us anything – it’s that you can kill *anybody*.

    Okay, I think I’ve milked this for all it’s worth.

  191. mw

    Sorry to go back off into tech stuff, but I got a new camera today and you know how that is… I’ve been interested, re-interested, in black and white lately and have been looking around for an additional black and white camera. I like my primary, but it only works in very bright sun, so I’ve been looking around for one that works in low light as a compliment, or something like that. Anyway, was working on the Bronx project today and got in a couple test shots. Kinda liked this one:

    http://mwebphoto.com/picOday/picOday6.html

  195. Gordon Lafleur

    I’m another step closer to shooting some film again.

    I sold almost all my darkroom stuff several years ago, four 6×7 colour enlargers and an Omega D2v, plus tanks, reels, trays washers, etc etc. We took the 20″ colour paper processor to the dump. I did keep one colour enlarger and my lovely ancient Leitz Valoy 11.

    I sold most of my film cameras as well, a huge sack load of Medium format and 35mm cameras and lenses. I kept One 35 body with three lenses, and my lovely little Rolleicord Vb which I bought new in the late sixties.

    I keep buying 35mm cameras at our local thrift store, just can’t resist. They are usually priced from $5 to $20. This week I bought a nice Minolta X series and an Olympus OM1 for $5.99 ea. I mean, how can I pass that up? I did pass on a nice Chinon slr as well as a Ricoh slr for the same price. It’s getting out of hand. (anyone need a 35mm slr? I’ve got a cupboard full)

    At the same time as I got the Minolta, they also had a grain focuser, graduates, Paterson tank, dial thermometer etc for a couple of bucks. I’m just waiting for trays to show up now and I’ll be set. Eh, what the hell, keeps me out of the bars, and I’m having fun.

    cheers all

  200. a civilian-mass audience

    Here I am …200 going for 300 …Spartans…!!!

    ok,now back to our regular program…

  201. a civilian-mass audience

    Happy Birthday PATRICIO…!!!

    and to All MY BURNIANS…Viva!!!
    where are u EVA?!!!

    I will be back for the OTHERS…

  203. eva

    Civi…

    body is home for a few days.. brain is all over the place for a little longer.. hugs.. watch out for the wind! :)

  204. eva

    A piece of information about Skype and the iPhone:

    after 32 minutes of video chat the phone will shut down all applications except for emergency calls, and on the screen you get a WARNING.. phone TOO HOT.. kinda scary, thought the thing was going to explode.. not sure if the reason of this might be that you sit under the sun in a closed car somewhere on the highway down in Italy.. or if it depends on who’s on the other side of the chat!!!

  205. mw

    I was mostly joking about the new camera, at least that it would be anywhere near a main camera. It’s just a $60 digital video camera with no controls that also takes low-res stills. I kind of liked how it handled that low light scene I linked to, but doubt it can be counted on for much. I notice on FB that Ross Nolly’s experimenting with ultra-cheap digital cameras and getting some interesting results. Not sure how much these things are different than using a digital filter on a camera phone, but it can be kind of fun.

  206. Gordon Lafleur

    mw
    Low tech can be liberating and fun. Hipstamatics, Holgas, pinholes, vga keychain cameras old box cameras etc. Low res makes us concentrate on the nitty gritty graphics, lack of accurate viewfinders force us to rely more on intuition and reacting to gesture. Taking ourselves less seriously and not trying so hard can reward us with more spontaneous results. Puts the phun back in photo doesn’t it?

  208. Paul

    I think low tech lets us relax and opens the door to recovering the fun a beginner always has. This is precisely something I need desperately righ now. It’s been one of those photographic weeks where I’ve very, very nearly decided to give up photography and I still have these bloody doubts right now. The only reason I keep on is pure bloody stubbornness.

  209. ron

    … since at the moment I don’t have any “real” camera, only my phone camera which in fact is a quite capable photography tool… but still, for more intensive and serious shooting, I am missing a real camera’s ergonomics and a bit faster speed… Although my friend from New York is shipping me one of his spare camera Canon S95 which I am familiar with and really like it because I can set it for my style the way I like taking pictures.. but still, recently I have been walking around Chiang Mai and Bangkok shops playing and studying new equipment… so far the most suitable camera for my style of photography, that I have had a chance to play with, probably is Panasonic GX1, but I haven’t had a chance to play with Sony nex7, Fuji pro1… something nice about Nikon V1… I also like Fuji X10 a lot, but there is information that its sensor has problems – i don’t know much about that.. but it seems that for a while my main camera will be Canon S95, and I get it for free, I like things for free:).. Best wishes to all

  211. eva

    Paul…

    you can give up..

    for a week.. perhaps two.. the moment you put down the camera and decide you’re done.. it starts all over..

  212. Paul

    Eva…

    Yes you’re right, I’d just like to have one sure theme to photograph, something definite and not be out everyday searching for a striking image. But anyway I can like it or not but it’s my way of working.

  213. Imants

    ” Australian based circus, Circus Monoxide present superb & broken:
    All in the dead of night. For no-one. For themselves…
    A homage to the power of fantasy to get to the truth (heart and soul) of the matter, and a celebration of three characters’ unabashed eccentricities observed quietly through the eyes of a child. ”

  214. david alan harvey

    GORDON

    i swear wall space is it….i am always attuned to nature of course, but i was really excited to i think (fingers crossed) have found a very cool space for a workshop or workshops and an amazing gallery venue…a bit “off broadway” so to speak, but i think we can fix that….anyway, i hope i can announce soonest some neat stuff…

    cheers, david

  219. Paul

    Thodoris…

    Bloody hell!! Another stunning landscape shot, you seem to be having fun and you’re on a roll. Is this all shot with a Pinhole camera?

  221. Paul

    Thodoris…

    I like the look of that hand made camera! Always wanted to build my own camera, just never got down to it. BTW did you actually buy the holes or did you just drill them? I think I better get my 8×10 and buy some of that Harman paper, because that’s the sort of stuff I keep seeing my mind.

  223. pAtrIcIO m.

    @ PAUL & GORDON:

    Thanks for taking a look at my pano work. Yes I have wonderful time shooting in that kind of format. Need to improve a lot, but having fun however. I will tell you more… still to come.

    @ CIVI
    Thanks for the message for my birthday, 3-2 and loving it :-) More, more to come!! Hope so…

    @ DAH
    Gracias por el mensaje de cumpleanos!! Si espero verte otra vez en algun lugar (Europa) dentro de poco por unas cervezas with a lot of pleasure!
    Enjoy MI AMI-go (my friend)
    p.

  226. Thodoris Tzalavras

    Paul, I make my own pinholes—and there is no “just” in making a totally round hole on very thin metal with a diameter of say 0.36mm

    If you’re interested in readymade pinholes though, let me know… I know of a guy on ebay who’s selling precision drilled ones for something like 10Euro each… as for the Harman paper is a bit expensive, especially the 8×10 size, but if you’re interested the factory has set up a website where you can order directly from them at a lower price than from retailers…

    In any case, if you need any help let me know… cheers

  231. emcd

    thanks guys <3

    hope everyone here is well

    just ordered some film – kodak is going to need to raise prices a bit, will probably notice the change in a couple of weeks, so you might want to put in an order now.

  267. Paul

    “I talk about the things people have always talked about in stories: pain, hate, truth, courage, destiny, friendship, responsibility, growing old, growing up, falling in love, all of these things. What I try to write about are the darkest things in the soul, the mortal dreads. I try to go into those places in me that contain the cauldrous. I want to dip up the fire, and I want to put it on paper. The closer I get to the burning core of my being, the things which are most painful to me, the better is my work.”

    HARLAN ELLISON

  268. ron

    After taking a look at the recent photo-essay I asked myself – why so many, actually almost all photographers published here, go so different way from that of lets say Magnum, or so called traditional classical photojournalism or whatever we call it genre of photography??… I understand, it’s very hard to shoot and get that decisive moment + form + light + content… and it’s actually quite easy to be just creative, poetic (without being a poet) and shoot whatever… because nowadays I see that with a decent written concept, and presented as a conceptual photography – essay, anything will work.. and no one even pays attention nor questions a very weak visual material anymore…???

  269. panos skoulidas

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2112960/90-students-Iraq-stoned-death-having-Emo-hair-tight-clothes.html

    in the meantime symbols everywhere”

    “Stoned to death for a haircut:(90) NINETY Iraqi students killed for having ‘strange hair and tight clothes’

    The killings have taken place since Iraq’s interior ministry drew attention to the ‘emo’ subculture last month, labelling it ‘Satanism’ and ordering the community police force to stamp it out.
    Fans of the ‘emo’ trend – short for emotional – wear tight jeans and have distinctive long, black or spiky haircuts.”

  271. a civilian-mass audience

    VIVA BURN…VIVA BURNIANS…VIVA LIFE…VIVAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!

    I LOVE YOU ALL…to be continued…

  274. Paul

    Jack Kerouac’s advice for writing and creativity in general….

    1. Scribbled secret notebooks, and wild typewritten pages, for yr own joy
    2. Submissive to everything, open, listening
    3. Try never get drunk outside yr own house
    4. Be in love with yr life
    5. Something that you feel will find its own form
    6. Be crazy dumbsaint of the mind
    7. Blow as deep as you want to blow
    8. Write what you want bottomless from bottom of the mind
    9. The unspeakable visions of the individual
    10. No time for poetry but exactly what is
    11. Visionary tics shivering in the chest
    12. In tranced fixation dreaming upon object before you
    13. Remove literary, grammatical and syntactical inhibition
    14. Like Proust be an old teahead of time

    15. Telling the true story of the world in interior monolog
    16. The jewel center of interest is the eye within the eye
    17. Write in recollection and amazement for yourself
    18. Work from pithy middle eye out, swimming in language sea
    19. Accept loss forever
    20. Believe in the holy contour of life
    21. Struggle to sketch the flow that already exists intact in mind
    22. Dont think of words when you stop but to see picture better
    23. Keep track of every day the date emblazoned in yr morning
    24. No fear or shame in the dignity of yr experience, language & knowledge
    25. Write for the world to read and see yr exact pictures of it
    26. Bookmovie is the movie in words, the visual American form
    27. In praise of Character in the Bleak inhuman Loneliness
    28. Composing wild, undisciplined, pure, coming in from under, crazier the better
    29. You’re a Genius all the time
    30. Writer-Director of Earthly movies Sponsored & Angeled in Heaven

  275. Imants

    ron lets see you put an essay together that is not formula based eg “decisive moment + form + light + content…” Sure you will get a couple of pictures that look good as per your link.Beyond that the viewer has little to nothing to do visually or conceptually.

    Most of the stuff here is work in progress not all of it is fully resolved, not all works Burn is about exposure.

    and no one even pays attention nor questions a very weak visual material anymore…???…….. how about qualifying this back it up, spend a bit of time on the comments and you will see that itis not the case

  277. ron

    Imants, thank you for your respond… it did’t give me the answer yet though:)… As for my own pictures.. well, I am not that conceptual, nor have the ambitions to be one… I am a hobbyist, and i just like seeing how that life moment looks like photographed… even though I take series of those moments, my approach and intention basically is just to take a single shot that would tell a little story and had balanced lines.

    But you cannot, and I don’t want you to put me in the context of artists who get published here, or other serious places, because my intention when I photograph neither is deep enough nor conceptual.. just please don’t get confused when you see “photo -essay” name on the page for my galleries, probably I have to change it for something like “random moments”. While by asking such questions I just want to understand about modern photography more, and broaden my horizons, so I can go to galleries and enjoy photography, which unfortunately nowadays I very rarely do… Cheers

  278. Imants

    No ron it is your dismissive attitude comments like “anything will work”…….no one even pays attention nor questions a very weak visual material anymore…??? .you will never understand if that iss your attitude

    No matter how one approaches their work it is not easy thogh working to a set formula diminishes the variables encountered. It is like maths you can use it to work out what something costs or you can go beyond and transcend and go beyond.

  282. ron

    Imants, this isn’t my attitude, this is just the way I understand it now… it might change, it might not… I know several old and internationally recognized eastern European photography masters who share very similar opinion about all of this.. so, I am not sure…

  285. john gladdy

    I love the Internet.
    Just found this.
    …and yes I did direct a video called seven cent cotton, with all these guys in it.
    The old guy with the hat and the pointed ear is the wonderful jazz photographer Tim Motion.

  287. a civilian-mass audience

    Happy St.Patrick’s day…!!!

    MIKER are you there?…

    JOHNYG is back…oime…don’t WE all love OUR BRITS…:)))

    Saturday and I am working hard…damn you IMF…BUT I believe in the Universe
    and and and

    I LOVE YOU ALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLllll !!!

  305. a civilian-mass audience

    why?…why?…tell me why AKAKIUS…why did you have to take my 300 away?
    BUT it was St.Patrick’s day…hmmm…well,I am Greek and I don’t know what u are talking about…:)))))))))
    therefore I will let go this time :))))))))

    Come on MY BURNIANS…please report and don’t forget to submit …
    cause BURNLAND is the place to be…
    I am going out to chase a chicken…
    ~~~”What will civi have for lunch?”

    P.S…the winner will receive a hug…hiiihiii…I am a happy civi today!!!

  306. a civilian-mass audience

    “… I want it to be beguiling , mysterious and who did what to whom. Figure it out.”
    MR.HARVEY

    regarding RIO BOOK…

    oime…what did what to whom?…don’t we all love DAH…when he writes like the Delphic Oracle…!!!

    VIVA BURN!!!

  309. david alan harvey

    ALL

    my sincere apologies to everyone for not being here!! i am caught in my own self made vortex of having built about three or four fires at once…Rio book, Sydney show,Burn show, and EPF all at once…who would think THAT was a good idea?? honestly most of the scramble is on the book…just the building of it…the manufacturing of it…like building a house…this time from the ground up and involved with every single piece…building the pieces and then putting the pieces together…learning so so so much …all of it will come back to this audience one way or another ..in terms of sharing knowledge (as soon as i get it) and in real terms of being a potentially better publisher for you….

    many thanks for your patience, and yes i still love you all..(mostly)

    cheers, abrazos, david

  310. Akaky

    And it is the 18th of March, the feast day of Saint Cyril of Jerusalem, who, through the effect of chronological propinquity with Saint Patrick, if nothing else, is the patron saint of hangovers. And I trust everyone is having a good day.

  311. panos skoulidas

    Digi or film?
    Is digi using pure enough to satisfy the purists??
    Lol

    Here is what Bruce Springsteen had to say:

    “Mr. Springsteen gave the convention’s keynote speech, retelling his own musical evolution and rejecting any restrictive notions of authenticity. “We live in a post-authentic world,” he said, then added: “The elements of what you’re using don’t matter. Purity of human experience and expression is not confined to guitars, to tubes, to turntables, to microchips. There is no right way, no pure way of doing. There is just doing.”

    http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/19/arts/music/springsteen-gives-keynote-at-sxsw-festival.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20120319

  312. panos skoulidas

    My new RIO book coming in a few weeks feels to me like I did it like a musician walking out on the stage bla http://t.co/FDJ9dtmc 3 days ago
    ——————————————

    All Eyes On You! We All Holding our breath…..:))))))))))
    Promising Spring coming up!!!
    good day y’all

  313. pAtrIcIO m.

    @ DIEGO, DAH:
    How many prints?!?? I bet that it will not be enough… it will be sell out the first week, even better than Olympics game tickets! I’m in the list, por supuesto.
    It’s in english and portuguese or only English?

    Happy sprintime to everyone, Feliz primavera, boa primavera… oops, sorry, in Rio, autumn is coming, Joyeux printemps a tout le monde.

    P.

  320. Jeff Hladun

    Thanks for the link, Justin. At first glance, I’m wondering if Maestro Gilden decided the ultimate male fashion statement is the “Bad Boy” look taken to the extreme?

    “I loved Johnny when I first saw him. He looked so good in leather, dead.”

  322. Akaky

    I’m sorry, but isn’t the point of fashion shoots to sell the clothing the models are wearing? I hardly think that looking good at my autopsy is a reason for shelling out money for a new wardrobe.

  323. Justin Smith

    Akaky,

    I guess it depends on your priorities:

    “Live fast, die young, and have a beautiful looking corpse” – James Dean

    Of course, he was wearing a Porsche 550 spyder at the time of his departure…

  325. Akaky

    Justin, as all three of those options are not available to me, I think I’ll just keeping wearing my dirty Dockers and sneakers.

  326. panos skoulidas

    Gordon,
    Same here (US) .. So far Greek
    Government “decided” not to tax..
    But we all know by now that the Greek government they are nothing but silly muppets ..
    They’re not actually making ANY decisions .. So let’s see what the Euro Central Bank/IMF
    will actually really decide..

  327. dellicson

    Hi all,

    I’ve teamed up with Hungarian photographer Emese Benko to run an Orthodox Easter Documentary Photography Workshop in the village of Valeni, Maramures, Romania, 13-18 April. Come spend a few days in a fairytale with us witnessing the last peasants of Europe living a way of life forgotten in the rest of Europe more than a century ago. There will be plenty of celebrating with homemade plum brandy and delicious traditional Romanian food and pastries. Promises to be epic!

    http://benkoellicsonworkshops.blogspot.com/

  328. Ross Nolly

    Went down to Sanson with John (from the farm) today to do a delivery. On the way back we came across a house with fire billowing from its windows. The Fire Service ute was at the gate and we were unsure whether it was an exercise or not. If not; we expected the trucks to be right behind the ute, so waited a few minutes just in case.

    Well; the officer got to the house and a person came from the rear of the building. So we both took off down the track to help in case anyone else was inside. Turned out the only occupant was an elderly lady; who we helped to the ute. Her hair singed, and pretty shaken up.

    I stayed to comfort her & John checked the water tanks; bone dry… Turned out the fire officer was passing when he saw the fire; so the engines were still at least 15 minutes away. They arrived and put what was left of the house out.

    The lady had lit a candle in the kitchen instead of turning on the lights. Well; she accidentally pushed the curtains against the candle, setting them alight. She tried to put the fire out with a pot of water; but the fire was by that stage too strong, and the smoke too thick. After feeling her hair on fire she decided to get out of the building… She was very lucky to get out unharmed… All in all a sobering day…

    And no; I didn’t take any pics…. Comforting an elderly lady who had lost everything was way more important….

  332. a civilian-mass audience

    VIVA BURN…!!!

    ROSSY…wow…wow…that’s what I call a true BURNIAN…

    I am back and furious…I got a new computer…yes,I will pay it back by 2022…
    BUT hey,this is life and we do LOVE our life!!!

    Come on BURNIANS…where are YOU…?

    tick,tock,tick,tock…I need reports…NOW!!!

  334. mw

    As happenstance would have it, I ran into the remnants of Occupy Wall Street last night at Union Square just as the police were about to evict them.

    Sad. sad. sad… on so many levels.

  336. a civilian-mass audience

    MW…yes, with music…it goes well with music…thanks for sharing…

    WAKE UP BURNIANSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS…geez, you do sleep a lot;)

    we are sending good energy to our Colorado people…MAMA HARVEY,our Socrates…
    all our love to you…be safe out there…

    and yes,I DO love you ALLLLLLLL….thank you BURN,thank you Universe!!!

  338. david alan harvey

    ALL

    off this morning to Italy to print my book (based on a true story)…again sorry for my lack of participation here…

    we have a whole bunch of new stories and interviews to publish so your patience appreciated…the EPF is rocking…we will be presenting some amazing new photographers….

    i will make a new dialogue post from Italy….after i go to Paris and maybe London, so those of you nearby, let’s have a beer….

    cheers, david

  342. Frostfrog

    Civi –

    I will now report in. I’m back in Wasilla after my five week absence that took me to Arizona and India. Jet lag is really strange thing. I did not seem to have it that bad when I first got home, but now that I have been home for a couple of days I can hardly function.

    Vivek –

    sorry I did not get a chance to call. My phone did not work in India and I was totally dependent on other people to use a phone and so I almost didn’t use a phone, plus, I had little time left after I got to Mumbai and it went fast.

    David and Diego –

    Just before I left, you invited me to do a couple of things but I had no chance. I have thought about it a lot, though, and will follow up shortly, before this week is over. I will send you an email and will let you know after I do. Maybe sometime shortly after that, we can skype.

  344. Paul

    Yes I need a new book, haven’t seen any photobook I’ve felt like to purchasing since Magnum’s Contact was published, so I can’t wait to see David’s latest.

  345. Paul

    I am a very proud owner of a brand new Panasonic GX1. I’ve been playing around with it for very nearly three weeks and in my opinion it’s a damn amazing camera. I owned a GF1 for about 48 hour and although I found the autofocus to be quick I don’t recall it being as lightning fast as this GX1. As much as I love my Canon 1ds II, it really is a relief to carry something so much lighter and probably the only weak point is the battery which doesn’t last very long.

  346. Frostfrog

    “As much as I love my Canon 1ds II, it really is a relief to carry something so much lighter.”

    Oh boy, Paul! Having just drug my 1Ds III all across India, along with a 7D, I can second that. Originally, I was going to leave it home and take my 5D MII which is much lighter and I like it much better, but the damn thing got a few drops of water on it, is on the blink and Canon wanted $500 to fix it and I can’t handle that right now.

    Thanks for the info and I must look into the GX1. Trouble is, if the battery doesn’t last long under normal conditions, it probably really dies fast in cold weather and that’s not so good for me.

  347. eva

    Paul.. all photobooks lovers..

    Steidl has republished some of Bruce Davidson’s work, a five volume thing.. cannot do a link, am on the road.. but as much as I love his work and was waiting for some of it, I’m saving up for David’s book.. trust me, this will just.. well.. let’s finish.. then you see…

  348. Gracie

    i havent been here quite awhile. so howdy folks?
    reason im checking in is that i was flying out of philly
    and i saw someone an awful lot like frostfroggie.
    i was going to say hi but this one didnt look as nice as the one from BURN.
    and i wasnt so sure.

    looks like this gig is still rocking.
    and fire is still burning.
    hope everything is still topsy turvy.

  349. a civilian-mass audience

    MR.HARVEY…in Italy,the Italy in Europe…oime…bravoooo,bravissimo…!!!

    and I thought I was a frequent flyer:))))))))))))))))
    be safe,be cool…stay away from the IMF:)))

    FROSTY or FROSTFROGGIE …oime…another frequent flyer

    MYGRACIE…you are right…the fire is still BURNING…!!!
    I hope you didn’t forget my ice-cream…

    LOVE YOU ALLLLL…bring it on…RIO BOOK IS SOLD (OUT) and ROCK ON !!!
    What not to love !!!

  350. a civilian-mass audience

    AKAKIUS…where are you AKAKIUS???

    I am turning the page 350…yoho,yoho…400 will be mine:)))

  352. Frostfrog

    Gracie, I’ve been in several airports these past few weeks, but Philly wasn’t one them. Maybe we will bump into each other in another somewhere, sometime.

  353. a civilian-mass audience

    FROSTY …GRACIE and some other BURNIANS helped me …few years ago…
    so,if you see her…give her a big hug!!! you know…the WASILLA way:)))
    now,with my new laptop…I will come over…I missed the kids and my cat;)

    JUSTIN…WaiT…DID YOU SAY PHOTOBOOK-LOV’ BURNIANS?
    oime…oh,no
    EVA…

    I hope she is drinking espresso with DAH,BRYAN,DIEGO…hmmm…
    can you hear me EVA…
    no more books for you…hiiihihii…

  354. eva

    Civi.. sorry, but this is so much fun, so “no more books” is a no no :)

    Busy busy busy day, David and Bryan after a long travel day with very little sleep had a long long day at the presses.. but OH MY, this will be one heck of a great book and more.. soon.. not done yet.. as David says: stay tuned!

  356. pAtrIcIO m.

    @ DAH:

    Nevermind… we apologize for not being here… \
    THIS is an absolutely love story: Starting in Milan, now in Verona, land of Romeo and Juliette, then you are going to Paris, London and come back to New York, moving around like fashion events!
    One Night in Rio, Spring-Summer ’12 Tour!!

    Shine to everyone
    P.

  358. Frostfrog

    David – don’t know if you will be by anytime soon to read this, but I just looked at your Twitter Instagram of the book proofs coming off the press and I am a bit amazed.

    What has it been now, about 2.5 months since you left Rio? And you are already running a proof?

    What an intense time you and those who have assisted you have been experiencing.

  359. Jeff Hladun

    Roberta said: “Yes.”
    Eva said: “Yes.”
    Panos said: “Yes!”
    James and Christopher said: “$&#*, yes!”

    I’m jonesing for One Night In Rio…

  360. Roberta Tavares

    Jeff…
    YES!YES!YES!!!
    Exciting times!Great to be onboard.Hello and hugs to all the burnians.See you in One Night in Rio
    …as usual…(based on a true story)
    p.s:all the best vibes and love to Eva,Diego,Bryan and Dave .Go soldiers! Go!

  361. eva

    Jeff.. make that a big fat loud one of a YES!

    Bill.. to your last sentence: intense is sure one if the words that I would use to describe it, one very fitting word!

    Roberta.. right back at you.. taking care, at least I’m trying to.. :)

    Another day at the presses.. next step.. not final, but closer and closer..

  362. david alan harvey

    ALL

    i am hours away from seeing the final pictures off the press from (based on a true story)..i often teach, but this has been all a learning experience…i am always involved in production of my work on book and even at magazines, but never to this extent…this baby i have been in on every tiny step…we built this house from the ground up….so i am sure you may imagine i will share all of this with you…so that you may use this experience for yourself at some point….i have learned a few things the hard way, and as i do here on Burn in general, and is my job as a mentor, try to make what was hard for me , easy or at least easier for you…

    just a quick note that will be interesting for some on a camera tech note…i just came off the printing floor fresh from approving a sheet of 8 pictures…..by coincidence this last sheet had Leica M9, Panasonic GF1, Nikon D700 and iPhone pictures on it…..on this particular sheet which contained all daytime pictures, almost anyone would be hard pressed to tell which was which…in the daylight at least there was no difference to be seen with these pictures…sure on a computer you would see a file difference between the Leica and the iPhone…and a larger size would also show a huge difference …yet in this 13 x 9.5 inch size, a pretty average reproduction format, with pictures shot in daylight , not any diff….in low light of course the iPhone lost….but those pictures are in the book too, looking grainy but of subject matter that looks good grainy….for sure as soon as the iPhone is developed to the point where the sensor works in low light it will become a very interesting tool for many …already is i guess….Apple is not making cameras…they probably don’t care really beyond a certain point…they just want you moving pictures through their system…anyway, just thought you might be interested..of course these Heidelburg offset presses don’t have the resolution of your iPad…but ahhhhh the tactile feeling cannot be beat…ok , gotta go…more to approve….back soonest….

    cheers, david

  363. tom hyde

    Nothing like standing in the press room with the floor humming under your feet and seeing your work roll off the machine. The best press foreman I ever knew told me, “Never settle!” Of course that was newsprint on a Goss Community, not book sheets rolling off that massive Heidelberg I saw in your photo. Very cool.

  365. pAtrIcIO m.

    @ EVERYONE NEAR Lyon and Clermont Ferrand AREA (FRANCE):

    I’m just back from an incredible exhibition, named “Face au Silence” by a frech photographer based in NYC: Christophe Agou. The exhibition lasted until late April, in the Roger Quillot museum in Clermont.

    About: He take pictures of his homeland during 2oo2 until 2oo8. Daily life in the farms. Very, very strong 55 coloured pictures, size 120 x 80 cm, matt, without glossy relfexion, very well mounted in the wall.

    I have the feeling of being there, between them, inside of the houses, having lunch with that kind of people!
    Simply awesome exhibition, beside VISA’s in Perpignan, one of the best one in my life!!!

    So if you are nearby, you MUST to go.
    Below the link to the web site:

    http://www.christopheagou.com/

    Have a nice WE everyone!
    Shine
    P.

  366. Akaky

    When I was a boy, my brothers and I would go sled riding down Mr. McGonigle’s driveway. Mr. McGonigle was our next door neighbor and he lived with his wife and son on the top of a tall steep hill, and his driveway swerved down that hill in a long backwards S, and if there was anything in the world more exciting than sledding down that driveway on a cold winter’s night then we could not imagine what they might be. For my brothers and me and every other kid in the neighborhood, there was no such thing as fun in the winter without the McGonigles and their driveway.

    Mr. McGonigle apparently agreed with us, because he went out of his way to make his driveway the place to be in the winter. After the first snowfall of the year, he’d encourage all the kids in the neighborhood to bring their toboggans over and go riding down the hill. Tobogganing down freshly fallen snow was not a lot of fun, but we did it anyway; we did it because we knew that every slow ride down the hill was packing the snow down bit by bit, until the new powder of late November and early December became the dense packed snow and ice of January, and on that densely packed snow and ice a kid with a good sled could go flying down that hill faster than we could anywhere else in our happy little burg. The other thing we liked about Mr. McGonigle’s driveway was that if we were going fast enough, and we usually were, we could go zooming across the road and down the embankment and end our juvenile Walkürenritts up to our necks in snow in Mrs, DiPietro’s back yard, which was a lot of fun for us and didn’t bother Mrs. DiPietro at all, mostly because she was eighty-nine years old at the time and deaf as a post. There were no guardrails along the sides of the roads then; our neighborhood was the forgotten butt end of the city at that time, and things like sidewalks and guardrails and other municipal improvements that people in other sections of town took for granted were wholly unknown to us.

    Just to make things even more interesting, Mr. McGonigle also piled the snow high at the bends of his driveway’s backwards S so the older kids and the adults go could zip up onto those bends like so many NASCAR drivers and pick up more speed. He even put up spotlights all along the driveway so everyone could see where they were going. Still, even with the lights, many mothers did not like the idea of their kids’ sled riding at the McGonigles. The kids were going too fast, they complained, and it was too easy for them to get hurt, but I suspect there was more to it than that. There was a general feeling among the women of our neighborhood that Mr. McGonigle did not do right by his wife. During the winter, the McGonigles parked their cars at the bottom of their driveway and off to one side so the cars wouldn’t get in the sledders’ way. This in and of itself didn’t bother anyone too much—if you’re parking your car on your property then where you park it is pretty much your business—but what I suspect what roiled the collective feminine gut was watching Mrs. McGonigle having to trudge up her driveway in the dead of winter pulling a sled with the week’s shopping piled on it. That grated on our mothers’ collected sensitivities, as did the free beers and the discreet bottle of Scotch that Mr. McGonigle passed around to our fathers at the top of his driveway. Mr. McGonigle kept fires going up there in a pair of old fifty-five gallon oil drums, one for the kids and another for the dads, whose job was to keep us kids from hurting ourselves too badly, and the beer was plentiful around the dads’ drum, so much so that sometimes a father left and forgot to bring his kids home with him.

    Our mothers’ concerns were not entirely imaginary—accidents do happen, after all, especially in any situation that combines kids, snow, speed, and prodigious amounts of beer. I, for example, did not have the fastest sled in the neighborhood, a fact that put me at a disadvantage when there was someone faster coming up behind me. I remember once coming out of the first turn in the driveway at what I thought was a reasonably high rate of speed when Mr. McGonigle slammed into my side. Mr. McGonigle owned a Flexible Flyer that travelled at light speed, if not faster, and so when he slammed into me my sled immediately shot out from underneath me and went flying over the embankment into the woods. I followed the sled a moment later, using that very short moment to make a complete 360 degree turn in midair before landing next to my sled in a bush that came complete with its own set of thorns. This was annoying, to say the least; I had to spend the rest of the week explaining to people that no, I did not wash my face with ice picks and razor blades, despite the evidence to the contrary. Still, flying through the air with the greatest of ease was awfully exciting, even with the misadventure with the thorns, but my mother did not see anything exciting about my flight at all and neither did most of the other mothers on our street. I do not know if what happened next occurred spontaneously or not, but I do know that one or more of those mothers decided that enough was enough and that something ought to be done.

    There are few phrases as fraught with potential peril in any language as something ought to be done. There is no end to the enormities that someone sufficiently high-minded can commit in the belief that something ought to be done, no end at all, especially if they think they’re the ones to do the something involved. I think we kids knew that something was up when we got home from school on a Wednesday afternoon and found our mothers hard at work cooking food that had nothing to do with our dinner. Nobody we knew was sick or dead, and it wasn’t somebody’s birthday, so our mothers’ behavior was suspicious to the nth degree. We learned the ugly truth that night when our mothers followed us up the McGonigles’ driveway with covered dishes in their hands. They told us kids that they were just going up the hill to see how Mrs. McGonigle was doing, but the disgusted looks on our fathers’ faces when they our moms coming up the hill laden with hot food told us everything we needed to know—one more happy male preserve had foundered upon the treacherous shoals of tuna casserole.

    New regulations began spewing forth almost as soon as covered plates covered Mrs. McGonigle’s dining room table: small children could not sled all the way down from the top of the hill anymore, the definition of small being entirely based on maternal whim; going across the road into Mrs. DiPietro’s back yard was forbidden, as was going too fast on the corners, trying to bump one other off the driveway, and cutting the little kids off so the older kids could have fun watching them crash became a felony on par with murder in the first degree. This was a rule I didn’t care for; watching those kids crash was funnier than hell, but then, as I’ve mentioned, I am easily entertained. The mothers also banned beer on weekdays and the discreet bottle of Scotch, well, the bottle became so discreet it vanished altogether. This annoyed our dads no end, but they went along the return of the Volstead Act for the sake of familial peace and quiet. The kids went along with the new rules because my mother bribed us all with her freshly baked brownies, a payoff she learned early on would usually work with kids. Learning that you are corruptible at the age of eleven is not a good thing for any growing boy, and I’ve avoided careers in politics and law enforcement so that I would never endure such temptation again.

    There must have been something in the air that year, for the spirit of something ought to be done spread out from our neighborhood like chickenpox at an elementary school, a cultural reference that only shows how old I’m getting these days. In the late summer of that year, a hurricane meandered its way up the Atlantic coast of this our Great Republic, inundating everyone in its path, including the denizens of our happy little burg. On our street, the pond where we played hockey during the winter overflowed and poured over the road and down into Mrs. DiPietro’s backyard in what I thought at the time was an excellent imitation of Niagara Falls. I had never actually seen Niagara Falls, but I’d seen pictures and this looked enough like the real thing to make life interesting. Mrs. DiPietro, on the other hand, saw nothing at all interesting about her imitation Niagara or the new lake forming in her back yard, especially when the water level kept climbing inch by calamitous inch and she had to call the fire department to pump her cellar out before her house floated off its foundations and drifted downriver to the sea. In the days after the hurricane headed out the sea, the better to pound the Canadian Maritimes, men from the highway department came and saw the threat our hockey pond posed to life, liberty, and the pursuit of higher property values. They were strong men of stern mien, men who wore hard hats even when there was no reason to, and they determined that something ought to be done, and having decided that something ought to be done, they stood around their orange pick-up trucks wearing their hard hats and nodded sagely about the wisdom of their decision and drank truly prodigious amounts of coffee.

    Over the course of the next year and a half, the various responsible departments of our happy little burg’s municipal government, a phrase I never thought I’d use to describe any department of our municipal government but there’s a first time for everything, I suppose, surveyed our street, put in a new drainage system, and installed guard rails along the sides of the road. For us sledders, the guard rails were the worst, the avatar of the maternal mandate against zooming across the road made manifest by municipal metal. It was not until the following winter that we discovered the other consequence of all this boondogglery. The new drainage system had lowered our hockey pond’s water level to the point where we couldn’t play hockey on it anymore. And our hearts were sore then, and filled with bitterness.

    Yes, something ought to be done, and so it was, and everything changed as a result. The McGonigles moved to Idaho a few years later, where the hills are higher and I assume the sledding is better, and the old McGonigle place has had several owners since then, none of whom had any interest in sledding. No one plays hockey on the old hockey pond anymore and the guardrails are still in place. Nowadays, of course, kids do not want to sled down a hill faster than they can anywhere else in town; they want to stay indoors and play computer games, or talk or text their friends on their cellphones. For that minority of youngsters still interested in traditional winter pursuits, the city provides a hill in the middle of a large park for the kids to sled down. It’s not a very big hill and you really can’t go very fast down it, but it’s better than nothing, I guess, and all the mothers approve of it. They would.

  372. Paul

    “You have to go to considerable trouble to live differently from the way the world wants you to live. That’s what I’ve discovered about writing. The world doesn’t want you to do a damn thing. If you wait till you got time to write a novel or time to write a story or time to read the hundred thousands of books you should have already read—if you wait for the time, you’ll never do it. Cause there ain’t no time; world don’t want you to do that. World wants you to go to the zoo and eat cotton candy, preferably seven days a week.”
    Harry Crews who died last Wednesday at the age of 76.

  373. a civilian-mass audience

    AKAKY…AKAKY…IRL AKAKY…wow!!!

    ok,I believe that the right time is now…after all these years…
    yes, I have to reveal my true identity

    you may have already guessed it…

    I AM BOB BLACK…yes,MR.BLACK…

    thank you for all your support…and I hope that our family will keep “BURNING”…

    I will be back and I love you ALLLLLL…!!!

  375. Gracie

    Akaky,

    You didnt mention helmets… of owning one and wearing one.
    All small children, by any mandate as defined by height and waistline should wear one.

    :)

  376. Gordon Lafleur

    “I AM BOB BLACK…yes,MR.BLACK”

    Boy, this better be an April fool’s joke.
    I’ll never stop believing that Civi is anything other that an eccentric, wizened, perhaps alcoholic Greek woman, living in an ancient tiny house, with her chickens and a small garden surrounded by olive trees. She also perhaps owns a donkey.

  377. a civilian-mass audience

    and the winner is OUR GORDON…you got me GORDON…

    you just won a bottle of ouzo!!!

    it was my April fool’s day…oime,” perhaps alcoholic Greek woman…owns a donkey”

    “A friend is one before whom I may think aloud.”
    Ralph Waldo Emerson

    Viva GORDON,MARTHA…MY BURNIANS…

    P.S…we need report from Italy …helloooooo…:)))

  378. eva

    Hellooooo Civi.. it’s nearly 9 am here, and the first time since NYC that I’ve been sleeping in.. weather seems to be nice out there, all I want is to either go back and sleep some more.. or work on the next book.. hmmmmmmm….

  379. david alan harvey

    AKAKY

    we gotta get this stuff published somehow , somewhere…..you have everything you ever wrote here? backed up, saved?

    PAUL

    great Crews quote…the one about the world expects nothing…wait for something to “happen” and you will be waiting for a long time…exactly..

  380. david alan harvey

    CIVILIAN

    nice to get a call from you this morning….Burn really isn’t an online blog is it?? it is something else ..not sure what it is but whatever it is has manifested itself in a rather unique way…out of all the friendships, all the wrangling, comes real work…the collected best from comments is a book for sure…and the photo work too….i always wish for more of course, but that is just me….anyway, whatever we are here, we are THAT to an amazing degree…will hang Vissaria picture as soon as i get home…which is where i am going…dropped Paris from my schedule…no Greece either…what looked ok on paper, on the calendar, just was too too much….i do that sometimes…just stop….turn around….don’t go…really look at the reasons, and come up with better reasons not to do it….my old adage…no wine spilled on the ground…we only got one bottle….

    cheers, hugs, david

  381. david alan harvey

    YOUNG TOM

    oh yes, it was just amazing…the vibration..the hummmmmmmmmmmm…and these pressmen…amazing craftsmen …can tweak those big machines in ways you cannot believe…oh yes the days of photoshop and the computer and the iPad are just amazing, yet the physicality of those presses and the paper ….i mean off those Heidelberg’s were rolling some of my iPhone photos!!!! mixing tradition with contemporary works..in design , and in life….

    by the way, more valuable than the book will be the double run proofs…the warm up the machines proofs when they put paper through twice…oh wow!! talk about one of a kind limited editions….particularly for this book which is playing with doubles in the first place…stay tuned….book printed but book not assembled….hand assembly ….i will never be able to return to mass production…not for love anyway….

  382. a civilian-mass audience

    MR.HARVEY…we love YOU…whatever we are here…this I know :

    WE ALL ARE INCREDIBLES…or shall I say,we are all Greeks…!!!

    By the way, we have more bottles…hiiihiii,right GORDON?:)

    EVA…thank you for reporting…I ALWAYS COUNT on you!!!

    BURN, BURN ,BURN …the Universe is working…

  383. Jeff Hladun

    Civilian:

    My layman’s understanding of statistics led me to believe you were playing with the truth, but it went right over my head that it was an April Fool’s joke…but exciting that you could potentially be a neighbour. I know which part of Toronto Bob lives in, and I know that the keeping of chickens in the backyard is unacceptable amongst his type of neighbours, never minding it contravenes the municipal by-laws. Besides, we all know that if Bob had one backyard chicken, he would have hundreds, if not thousands! Right?

    David:

    Artist’s proofs are one thing, and are collected feverishly by some, but printer’s proofs are something almost no one knows of. Let me be the first to call dibs!!!

    I too would love to see Akaky’s ruminations in print…on paper, that is.

  384. eva

    Jeff..

    some of these printer proofs are not only double, but even triple prints.. amazing stuff!

  385. eva

    Civi..

    I’m never far away.. only BURN can keep me off BURN.. and I still owe you a snail mail envelope! Not forgotten!

  386. a civilian-mass audience

    EVA…the old good days are gone …post office not reliable…
    when we will meet …then,wine on you…
    I am still waiting for the picture of your new shoes…
    I repeat NEW shoes…not another book:))))))))))))))

    JEFF,
    you kept your mouth shut and you didn’t spoil my fool’s day…hiihiii
    therefore,wine on me

    See,MR.HARVEY…we have many bottles here in BURNLAND

    P.S…Please,ATTENTION…don’t forget to SUBMIT…I already have done it…
    I submitted to the IMF:(…oime…

  387. a civilian-mass audience

    THOMAS…maybe we can skype…are you still in Athens?

    I got a new computer…aha,I sold 10 chickens…oime,I am turning vegetarian…not by choice…hiiihii

  388. Thomas Bregulla

    CIVI,
    I am in Athens right now. Will leave on Wednesday, however, for two weeks.
    One week vacation, the other week is a training for the job.
    Yes, let us Skype – usually I am online around 21:00/22:00, but I definitely get online, while I am here :)

  389. david alan harvey

    JEFF

    well i never heard of one either….all i know is that when we saw them we forgot about the book and like scavengers were scooping them up….because they are of course printed on both side and with multiple runs they are amazing …i was imagining them as a hanging show..plexi…suspended in the middle of the room , not on walls….really like a piece of sculpture or something besides a mounted photo for sure….

  390. Akaky

    EVERYONE, thanks for the kind words. I hoped you’d enjoy it.

    MR. HARVEY, Yes I do.

    GRACIE, I refer you to the opening five words of this screed: When I was a Boy. When I was a boy, no one thought of using helmets because, first, they were unavailable, second, the idea of using helmets for sledding in those halcyon days was entirely unheard of, which probably explains why the helmets were unavailable in the first place, and third, we wouldn’t have worn them anyway; remember, we went zooming across a street at high speed despite the risk of getting squashed like a bug by oncoming traffic. In such circumstances, a helmet would not have helped, so we wouldn’t have worn them anyway. ;-)

    CIVI, you’re Bob Black? Really? I would’ve sworn you were Imants. Ah well, live and learn.

  392. a civilian-mass audience

    AKAKIE…??? IMANTS,our IMANTS?…hmmm…long live your Wild Imagination!
    ouzo on You:)))

    Houston, we have NO problem…oime,don’t we all love our GrecoTexians…hiiihiii

    Good morning from Europe…THOMAS,tonight…!!!

  393. tom hyde

    David, very cool. Hand assembly? Yes! Yeah that wastage at the front end is kinda high I imagine for a precision press like that but proofs are cool.

    We used to screw around with the used plates when they came off the press too. Warhol like possibilities. They also make decent roofing material, especially for chicken coops. :))

  395. a civilian-mass audience

    I don’t know,hmmm…I don’t know…no clue…
    maybe a lost tumbleweed…?
    maybe a chicken coop?
    maybe TOM YOUNG…???

  396. Paul

    “Write to please just one person. If you open a window and make love to the world, so to speak, your story will get pneumonia.”
    Kurt Vonnegut

  403. a civilian-mass audience

    TOM HYDE…maybe,maybe…;)

    oime! AKAKY…are you for real? …are you?

    thanks ROSSY…

    Good morning MY BURNIANS…life is beautiful!!!

  405. Akaky

    Am I for real? Are any of us real?

    AKAKY IRL: I’m for real, bubba; I know that because I’ve got killer gas today. I’m still wondering about you.

    AKAKY: Too much information, dude.

    AKAKY IRL: Such is life, guy.

  406. a civilian-mass audience

    KATIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE…

    OIME…speechless…

    I have so much to say…but for now…I will say this:

    where the freak@#$%^…have you been???:)))))))))))))

    love,love,peace and photography…I love you MY LADY…and thanks for everything…
    Viva!!!

  407. a civilian-mass audience

    AKAKY…no comment…I am pissed off…

    400 yours? why? tell my why?…pisser:)))))))))))))))))))))))

    bouhaha…my arsh

  408. a civilian-mass audience

    TOM HYDE is a fun of organics chickens…!!!

    yeah,babieeee…I am in!!!

    Goodmorning from beautiful Grecolandia!

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