The day the camera died.

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I shook the rust off. I did it. I took new pictures. Then, my camera died.

Song of the second: No Name #2 by Elliott Smith
Book of the moment: Hot Water Music by Charles Bukowski
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Location: Niles, Michigan
Date: Thanksgiving Night 2007
Notes: Parking lot. K-mart. Snowstorm. Bright light.



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Location: Nashville, Indiana
Date: Summer 2005
Notes: The country really is a beautiful place.

"It's like, how much more black could this be? and the answer is none. None more black."
-Nigel Tufnel of Spinal Tap



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Location: Niles, Michigan
Date: Thanksgiving Night 2007
Notes: The snow had fallen, actually, still was falling. Everything seemed alive, held still by a cold shift. Limbs, leaves, flowers and bushes all in accompaniment said nothing. It was the first night that winter waved hello.

Softly spoken decibels.

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I want to keep this simple. Let the breeze carry these words. Catch them if you can.
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Location: South Bend, Indiana
Date: Thanksgiving 2005
Notes: It has taken me a while to realize, and perhaps see, that art lives within peoples faces. Whether it be perfectly crisp or crushed and blurred. It lives here, in these wrinkles and prickly beards.



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Location: Chicago, Illinois
Date: Summer 2007
Notes: With each spoke I follow a different path. This photo paints a picture made possible by Harry Nilsson's quote, which I will simply type and leave open for interpretation...

"A point in every direction is the same as no point at all" -taken from the book, The Point!

I'm getting into a habit.

Briefly, when the camera becomes slow and nothing moves smoothly. While the broken bolt of light that surrounds every line disappears. My theme of repetition slowly slips out of everything that isn't sealed. Such is this moment that must be remembered. Everything is there for a reason, for a glimpse of eyes to find it.

This feeling is what I have. It is what I need.

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Location: Bloomington, Indiana
Date: Fall 2005
Notes: I pulled into a lot, parked, stepped out. From the highway all I could see was a white building in a field. As I moved around the corner I saw this barrel and my camera and hands did the rest to capture it.



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Location: Chicago, Illinois
Date: Summer 2006
Notes: In Millennium Park there are two pillars with faces. These faces smile and laugh, yet make no sound. Below you can see what these children left behind without ever knowing it. These footprints lasted only minutes, but remain forever.



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Location: Key West, Florida
Date: March 2005
Notes: The best part about this guy, he was standing on top of an 11-foot ladder while juggling.



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Location: Lollapalooza 2006
Date: Summer 2006
Notes: Honestly, as I said before, I am not advertising Budweiser. For some reason it really enjoys being in my pictures, and who am I to say no?

Day two.

With today, comes three more pictures, and sadly, they are not new. My camera batteries are still charging, and my fingers need more yoga stretches before they will be ready to press down on that button that freezes time.

It's getting colder, and with the changing season comes an escape to music that I have forgotten about. The feelings of wintertime bring with them the need for repetition. I become more homebound during these days. Time passes a little slower. Sentences become shorter. I need less.

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Location: Chicago, Illinois
Date: Summer 2006
Notes: I live in Lakeview (for those not familiar with Chicago it is about a 15 minute train ride north of downtown) and this building, now being turned into upscale expensive condos, seems radiantly bright during this cloudless summer day.



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Location: Millennium Park, Chicago, Illinois
Date: Jazzfest - Summer 2006
Notes: There is an amazing outdoor amphitheater, Jay Pritzker Pavilion, located in Millennium Park in downtown Chicago. I have seen incredible bands there and spent amazing days sitting in the landscape, fingers wrapped in grass, admiring the skyline. The picure below shows no grass, but what it lacks in grass it makes up for in shadows.


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Location: Millennium Park, Chicago, Illinois
Date: Jazzfest - Summer 2006
Notes: This final picture is not an advertisement for Budweiser, there are so many better beers to drink. However, I did like the simple color scheme that resulted from this, quite American, image. The red, white, and green (I know, I almost said blue too) offset each other well, at least in my opinion.

Complexity does not equal genius, while simplicity does not equal idleness. Take each for what they are and take them as nothing.

I will begin.

Roughly stated, this is my cure for wintertime. Cure for my feeling of not doing anything artsy (for the record, I was going to put quotes around the word artsy, then realized I hate it when other people do that, it seems...unnecessary and over-used, cliché) with anyone, anything, for some time. The cleaner I needed to wipe the dust off my daily life. Simply stated, I need this more than you.

My goal with this blog is to mainly post new pictures. Nothing old, nothing borrowed, nothing that isn't mine. Below are two non-new pictures. Call it cheating, call it me not having enough energy to turn on my camera and make the lens freeze time. Either way, here is my first posting to a new blog world. More new photos to come...I hope.

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Location: South Bend, Indiana
Date: January 11, 2003
Notes: As I was driving I noticed this sunset, a fiery ball of warmness. I also noticed this beautiful sun slowing sinking behind a trailer park, in its essence, it seemed poorly placed but perfectly shaped. Such hot hues behind a cold scene.


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Location: Kokomo, Indiana
Date: Winter 2005
Notes: I was driving back to I.U. and Kokomo, IN had gotten hit by the meanest of ice storms. This picture was a result. Outside a Taco Bell parking lot, even the trees were to cold to speak.