BLOW-UP

While attending college at San Francisco State, I enrolled in a photography class for my art elective. I suppose I was influenced by Antonioni's 1966 film Blow-Up. I mean, what red blooded male could complain about taking photos of partially clad women in the name of art? So I cruised the campus with the camera strapped around my neck, just waiting for the opportunity to present itself. But it never did. Maybe because mine was not the typical 35 mm camera that everyone was familiar with. I had to be different, had to purchase a 21/4 Konica box camera, the type where you open the top flaps and look down onto a ground glass surface.
          By the time summer break came around, I was so into photography that my father built a darkroom in one corner of the garage for me to use whenever I was home. It was light tight but, unfortunately, air tight, too. You couldn't breath in the place after about a half hour of sharing oxygen with the noxious developing chemicals. And it was hot. No exaggeration that I would enter the room, lock the door, then strip down to my shorts in order to work as long as possible developing my photos. 

          None of those early shots still exist but one vividly recalled is of an ancient indian ruin just outside Sedona AZ. The red clay bricks in sharp contrast to the cloudless azure sky. The photo was taken around 1972, before the outside world discovered Sedona and transformed it into an upscale tourist destination. Then there was one of the Hollywood sign in stark, high contrast black and white that I had made for my uncle who lived and worked there. I had it mounted and framed and had presented it to him for his birthday or Christmas one year. When it became evident that he was never going to hang it anywhere, I stole it back. It ended up in the trunk of my car, then finally disappeared altogether. The last photo, and my favorite, was of an old bicycle tire, the spokes slightly bent, the rubber sadly deflated. It sat half in, half out of a pothole filled with brackish water. 

The video revolution, which coincided with the introduction of children into my life, signaled the death knell for still photography. The first video camera we owned had to be supported upon one's shoulder while shooting so I became, of course, the principle photographer/cameraman. There are very few tapes in which I can be seen. In fact, that just might be me hidden behind the camera to the left. I'm not sure. It could be me. I had dark hair then. Although it got grayer as the kids grew older. So it's been almost 30 years since I had a decent camera. The most recent photos I took were with a Canon Power Shot A590IS. A point and shoot, fully automatic camera. I take it with me everywhere I go- 

Monument Valley

Zzyzx Road

Encinitas

My best friend (we'll call her Lynn) got tired of me complaining and comparing to the old days. She finally said "Just Do It!" (Or maybe I'm getting her confused with that Nike commercial.) But I finally did it. And now I have nothing to complain about except for my own ineptitude when I don't get the shot I want. So here are a few of the first shots I took with my new Canon EOS Rebel t2i.

I think you can click on any of the above images to see them in a large size. Oh, and if I haven't bored you yet, I just want to say...

I LOVE MY NEW CAMERA!!!