07.24.08
Explore photos
I have been pleased a number of my photos and the Shinjuku and Luzern videos were featured on the Flickr Explore page. This is one of the recent photos:
07.23.08
Basel 2008
I made this the same night as Luzern. I think it has merit, but I will likely redo it. There is more footage of the Rhine and Basel that I could use.
07.22.08
Luzern, Canon HV20 HD
I finally uploaded my January 2008 Canon HV20 HD Europe footage. Tonight I put together a Luzern video. I took the train from Wetzikon to Zurich and then to Luzern to shoot for about 90 minutes. After non-stop walking and setting up the camera I had no lunch and returned to Zurich and Wetzikon for rehearsal that afternoon and the performance in the evening. It was quite a day.
This video so far has made #58 on Explore in Flickr. I am pleased with it.
07.19.08
Elements
I put together a video combining West Texas, Chicago, a homeless man from Shinjuku, and a short electronic score. It is 88 seconds so it can fit on the flickr website. Although flickr has the time limit, they retain better video quality than YouTube.
07.15.08
NY trip
I am back from Rochester, Ithaca, and Durham NY in the Northern Catskills. I had a nice time with the MacLean’s and also was able to see my friend Richard Carlson and his wife in Ithaca for dinner. Ithaca holds no charms for me, but I would love to have a place on the eastern side of Seneca Lake. It is a magical place with a special quality of light.
I did find where Aubrey Tobin lives..I think…but there was no sign of anyone:
It is very secluded, overgrown, and covered with tall grass. It is not easy to penetrate the property. The writing on the mailbox is the same as that of the letters I received. I walked around and found a doublewide up on a hill behind a very old farm house:
The Town of Durham was settled around 1784 and has many old houses. Highway 145 is an old trail from the NYC metro area north, past curative baths in various cites and into the Mohawk Valley. I enjoyed the drive. I was nervous, expectant, unsure what I would find. It appeared a car had been on the driveway in the past couple days, the mailbox was empty but had bear paw marks on the top, and fresh-cut wood was in an outbuilding close to the end of the driveway. But someone would have to park a car and walk past the old farmhouse, up the grass covered hill with no driveway, no path. It takes effort to go to the doublewide. Perhaps my father is house-riden, people come and bring him things. Or perhaps he knew I wanted to come by sometime in early July and decided to be elsewhere. I may never know.
I do understand how this secluded location would make one less accustomed to people, to responsibility. He may have gotten scared, ran off, or was simply avoiding contact with me, assuming I would tour with the Austin Eurythmy Ensemble in the fall and perform in Copake, NY. But the tour is cancelled, it is expensive to fly 1800 miles one way, and I spent $90 on gas driving to see him. It was the chance to meet for the foreseeable future..
I will send a letter and a picture. I have not received anything in 2 months. I may never hear anything. But after visiting this place I am content with things as they stand.
07.05.08
Imke Jelle van Dam: Fugue Take II
Terry and I recorded this today. We rearranged the piano and cello a bit and have rethought the piece. It is one more step.
07.02.08
Nikon Nikkor 50mm f1.8 lens.
I continue to enjoy the new lens I got just a week ago. I ran out of battery power this evening just when I was getting started, but I did manage to take a few decent shots. Nancy Schiesari thinks I should apply for the MFA film program at UT Austin. If I were 15 years younger I very well might. But there are jobs and a female life partner to be found. I am applying for an exciting job in LA that would involve the high school for the arts. I will keep you posted. In the meantime I am editing the Tokyo film and am thusfar pleased the the Japanese translator. Below you see a photo from tonight with lots of “bokeh”, a Japanese term for clarity in one part of the frame and diffusion in the rest.
06.28.08
Shinjuku Electronic Music Video
This is a 90 second short taken in Shinjuku during June 2008 with the Canon HV20 HD camera. I put together a short electronic score for footage from Kabukicho, a Yakitori restaurant, and flashes of the JR railway line. Motion of people, traffic and light prevail.
06.25.08
Tokyo Translation and Frost Bank Building
I continue to be very pleased with the 50mm 1.8f lens I am using with my Nikon D40. I really enjoy composing shots in a new way and the possibilities this lens allows for light and depth of field.
This is a series of interview segments I will have translated from Japanese for my Tokyo Raw documentary:
Thomas Joiner will do the translations for me. I am eager to see the results of his work. He will be translating The owner of the hostel in Minami-Senju, a book-shop owner and his employee, a banker who takes quite stunning photos, and a photographer who is very engaging and uses the Ricoh GX100.
06.24.08
Nikon Nikkor 50mm 1.8f Lens
I took over 200 photos last night with my Nikon D40 after this new 50mm lens arrived. Many people wrote how it adds clarity, the ability to shoot better in low light ( my favorite) and “bokeh”, of the ability to blur a background.
I must say I am impressed. I must focus this lens manually, it has no zoom, and I set aperture and shutter speed manually. But it is an amazing tool that allows better control over light and depth of field. I am so glad I got it. and it was only $109. It is far better than the 18-55mm “kit lens” that came with the camera.
I found a translator and am excited to send him the interviews and see what develops.
