Paris Past

I finally unearthed these negatives from a box buried deep in my parents' garage this past weekend. They are all from my first trip to France, eight years ago, when I was fifteen. It was my first time out of the country and my first time to really put my newly acquired photographic knowledge to the test. Most of what I took were duds or typical tourist fodder, but I think these five images make the grade. They are mostly untouched, aside from some very minimal color enhancement. I left in the blurriness on a few images to give you a sense of how the images were first developed. Enjoy.

Typefacing

Looking for cool typefaces and letter design. Buenos Aires, 2009.

BLU TWO

The always amazing BLU.

Workmen Working

The city's busy with work, making things look spiffy for fall. Providence, Rhode Island 2009.

Faint Purple and Red Brick

Strolling around Providence worksites, September, 2009.

Library Lazin'

Gives you a sense of long nights spent in Bobst, reading and re-reading forever and ever.

Sneaky Building

Buildings hiding amongst themselves. Providence, Rhode Island 2009.

Maniacal Michael

Just unearthed this shot from my basement darkroom. I took this on a walk through the East Village on Halloween night in 2006. This man was just standing still amongst the crowd, not looking at anything in particular and breathing heavily. He was either hot and tired from wearing that stifling mask, or he really was who he claimed to be.

Composition Comparison

The first image is the original image taken in Toronto in 2006. The second image is a sandwiched negative print, combining the first image and a second image not shown here. The first image was simply scanned from the negative onto a disk, while the second image was made over many hours of tinkering in the darkroom. I think the compilation image has a noticeably different feel to it, aside from the obvious compositional differences. There's certainly still something to be said for darkroom processing.

Desert Dronin'

Salt pools on the edge of the driest desert in the world.

Parading Around

This blows any half-hearted Fourth of July parade clean out of the water. Our last day in South America, in Lima, we came across, or rather followed the ruckus to this amazing parade. It was full of troupes of dancing ladies, like groups of birds of paradise and old men, swilling beer between blows on the trumpet. It was loud, cheerful and felt like these folks were actually celebrating something, rather than setting up a folding beach chair on the side of the road and watching deteriorating floats glide slowly past on a sweltering July afternoon. And, as you can see from these photographs, they don't mind you getting up close and personal.

Meat Man

You really have to smell the chorizo to appreciate this scene. Imagine a hellish mob milling about a crumbling bus station, with wild dogs and wild children looking for scraps of meat and you start to get a feel for the mood that day. And then you pass by this man, grilling his sausage in a crowded corner, next to a crazy man hawking stolen cell phones and you just have to have one. You have to treat yourself to a delicious choripan, the signature street dish of Buenos Aires. Slater on some relish, hop on the sweaty subway and guard that heavenly hunk of meat from all of the jealous eyes you'll soon encounter. Enjoy.

Old Friend Big Up

This is another image that I have posted before, but I thought that if any photographs deserve the bigger treatment it is this one. You can almost hear this elephant scrounging for peanuts.

Three People

These three images are from my time in Europe two years ago. Thought they would look better in a larger format.

Close Up Mania

Two more photographs I have posted previously. I think they look much more dramatic at this scale, but they can't be seen without scrolling down. This might take away from the impact of the image if you have to scroll several times to see the whole thing. Even though I like the images this size, I might go back to the old style.

Testing II

It was successful, and I'll post in this size as often as I can from now on.

Testing

This is a test of new photograph sizing. If it works, I'll keep it up.