for the next two and a half weeks i will be in Spain. my family is from Galicia, which is on the north western coast of Spain, right above Portugal. it is, in my opinion one of the most beautiful and amazing places on earth. i am excited to go, but will be missing my girls tremendously. i am hoping to bring back lots of new work….
the last time i was in Spain was 2004, right after i graduated school. I brought something like 100 rolls of film, half of which still sits unprocessed in my refrigerator. at the time i was still finding myself, photographically speaking, and was mostly inspired by photographers like garry winogrand, henri cartier-bresson, robert frank, etc.
about 6 or 7 years ago i purchased a 1964 Vespa GS from a kid in north jersey. completely original, no restoration, the engine was the same engine placed in her in italy, the cables, the tires, everything (except for the paint job, some moron decided she would look better in an off white brownish tan color, instead of its original white) had not changed since 1964. she was a bargain at $1400.00
i moved to philly in 2003, bringing her with me. The first day i rode her in the city, i blew the piston and sentenced her to years of disrepair and immobility. she would run every once and awhile but never the same. in the summer of 2004 while riding her to my school’s darkroom on broad street, while changing lanes i clipped the back end of a car and flipped the bike and myself half a block to finally rest in front of the double tree hotel. we were both bruised and broken. luckily i recovered, she on the other hand did not. for 3-4 years she sat dormant, would start and quickly die, and just wouldnt run. it was a shame. not having the funds or the time to put into getting her back into shape, i gave up. my friends constantly urged me to not give up and to get her running, but it was always put off. a few dire times almost forced me to sell her at a loss, but at the last moment i would change my mind, keeping her a little while longer.
i am glad i never sold her. this past weekend i dug her out of my old house, where she had been collecting dust, cat piss, and spider webs, and annoying my old roomates. i was under the impression that she wouldnt start and would need a lot of work to get her to start, but jeffrey decided to just give it a shot and try and start her. after a few kicks she turned over and started up. enveloping the backyard with stinky blue smoke. a miracle? a sign from the heavens? i dunno, but it definitely put a spark under my butt to finally get her into shape!
many thanks to jeffrey and lina for allowing her to take up space in their back yard for so long. and for jon geiger (vespa philadelphia) for never letting me give up!
she’ll be looking and running like this in no time:
tonight, two good friend’s of mine will be getting married in north jersey. I met frank awhile ago when he just moved here from california. we worked together for awhile at a vintage clothing store here in philadelphia, which is where he met his future wife laura. frank & laura, like most of my friend’s let me photograph them numerous times. this portrait was done behind the store they met and fell in love in. it is one of my favorite portraits. from frank’s giant feet and laura’s tiny feet, to the smoke coming off his cigarette, and laura not making eye contact with the camera, this photograph conveys so much about what i feel my work is about. and which i find so hard to put into words.
lately i’ve been drawn to signage, either hand made like this one, or old commercial signage. also odd placement of everyday objects like the second image, which was photographed in austin, texas and featured in this exhibition.
My first post through my iPhone and the new wordpress app will be this pretty photo taken at thrift fair in fishtown. (I got a nice pinkish button up there as well)
(unfortunately you cant change the size of the photo… yet)
so i finally put my $200 apple gift card (from my birthday in january!) to good use and bought the new iphone 3G. besides having to wait in line for 4 hours for it, i think i am very pleased to have one. i finally have a decent camera phone which i can send photos straight to my flickr with!
my last phone, a samsung, took the worst photos ever. but my phone before that, a motorola, although it was the crappiest phone ever, took awesome photos. here is one:
