Thursday, May 30, 2002
Sauvie Island, OregonHomelessness is many things - dehumanizing, tragic, unbearable, but today I was reminded of something else.
We attended a talk tonight on "Dispelling the Myths of Homelessness" where a number of people experiencing homelessness talked about their lives. I knew the people personally, and their stories made me further appreciate their strength, and the challenges to very basic life necessities that they face each day. When the talk ended, we talked to a friend of mine who is homeless, and who was one of my first supporters when I began taking photos documenting homeless issues in Portland.
Afterwards, we said goodbye, and drove over to Alberta Street where all the galleries are open on this last Thursday of the month. Driving back over the Broadway Bridge, the fireworks for the Rose Festival opening began going off, and their spiraling, dying light lit up against a clear sky, and reflected off of downtown building windows.
Expectedly, parking near the festival was unavailable, so we began driving home. Not far from our apartment, we passed my friend again. His head was down, and he was carrying his pack, walking briskly up the street. And as we drove home to our apartment, with a bed, our own bathroom and a door to lock behind us, I thought about my friend, walking to the place he slept every night, outside, just a couple of steps off of the sidewalk. Tonight I remembered simply how sad homelessness is.
11:17 PM PST
Tuesday, May 28, 2002
» Frank Van Riper's new photography column, There But For The Grace... covers a photographer who takes photos of people living on the steam grates in downtown Washington, DC.
09:46 AM PST
Saturday, May 25, 2002
» "I like beautiful melodies telling terrible things."
"It's kinda like borrowing the same ten bucks over and over again."
"We sharpen each other like knives."
"I couldn't wait to be an old man."
"I like songs with weather in them, and something to eat."
"He [Louis Armstrong] is like a country to be explored. He came out of the ground like a potato..."
"I like hearing things incorrectly."I love, love Tom Waits. This past Tuesday, he was on NPR, humble and growling out memorable words and songs.
11:23 PM PST
Thursday, May 23, 2002
Israel, reading poemsI remember Ben Aqua as a little kid whose house I went over to hang out with his older brother, Sam. Ben would sometimes tag along, but I think he was usually doing his own thing. These days, he's working on his BFA in Design, and he recently launched his new portfolio. I'm going to recommend having a look at the whole damn thing, but especially the 'Foto' section... Ben's got eyes.
10:24 PM PST
Monday, May 20, 2002
John Samson, Weakerthans12:51 PM PST
Friday, May 17, 2002
» Picked up my new car (fun to drive and fuel efficient as all heck) today. It's blue, but looks silverish when the sun's bright. With that said, anyone want to buy a Volvo wagon in great shape, 135K miles, and two roundtrip treks across the country?
11:22 PM PST
Monday, May 13, 2002
Any time there is a man-made disaster or a war, you have to ask yourself: How do I approach this? How do I edit? Do I edit nature, the sun and beautiful mist? Can such beauty exist alongside the destruction? Do I say nature and natural beauty are careless, nature doesn't know what is going on? I have taken pictures of color and light, often they are beautiful to behold and they reflect the passage of time and work to erase the horror. So, I take a romantic point of view, that nature is a force to reckon with just as man is.Interviewing Joel Meyerowitz, the only photographer with "unimpeded and unconditional access to the site."
09:48 AM PST
Sunday, May 12, 2002
I put up some of my favorite photos from the May Day Parade in Portland. They're available here.
01:58 AM PST
Tuesday, May 7, 2002
» Few people would say their lives haven't changed since September 11th, but for some, the effect of those events was to take action by joining the armed forces. Men and women enlisted and were sent to boot camp. The juxtaposition of normal high school girl scenes and the rigors of boot camp are stunning in these photographs.
10:18 AM PST
Saturday, May 4, 2002
May Day (photo essay soon)Weakerthans and Promise Ring were fantastic in Portland last night, and even better in Seattle tonight. Around 1PM, we decided we wanted to try and catch the 4:30 show in Seattle. A quick 3 hour drive up I-5, and we arrived.
The Weakerthans were good, but the Promise Ring stole the show. I'd heard many negative things about their new album, but the music was so great, they played A Picture Postcard (that's an mp3 link for you), and lots of music off of the new album.
Davey von Bohlen, who sings for Promise Ring, is hard not to look at. He's dancing, mock-posing at the microphone, and so clearly excited to be singing and playing music.
I was reminded that stupid ideas you might have, (to drive three hours to and then three hours back for a show, for instance), are sometimes worth it.
And I'm not sure that life experience is always right there in front of you, but that it sometimes needs to be sought out, and may be found in unlikely places.
It's Saturday night of the best weekend I've had this year.
11:36 PM PST
Friday, May 3, 2002
05:35 PM PST
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