Everything has already been done

I am working on a landscape project so I had to go to Yosemite. I had only been there once in the middle of winter on a high school trip and we drove into the valley, got out of the van, got back in and drove out. This time I went there with my gay boyfriend, Kurt. If you ever go camping bring a gay boyfriend. The menu was fabulous. On the first night we had wild mushroom stuffed quail with wild rice and butternut squash. Remember, we were camping. The first night it rained till dawn and it was one of the best nights sleep I've ever had. On the second morning after the fog had cleared we realized that we had a view of Yosemite Falls. Kurt asked me if I though that when the light hit the mist just right it might create a rainbow. "Probably," I said. Seconds later I heard him making noise with a mouth full of turkey, bacon, tomato, and avocado sandwich. I turned and he was pointing at the falls. There was the rainbow. I'd wanted to go to Yosemite, in part, to photograph a waterfall in black and white so I could add a rainbow with paint over the top of it. But nature did it for me. My friend, Joel, said if Disney made a national park it would look like Yosemite. I think he's right.

It's All The Same

I saw this photo in the paper yesterday. It is an image of all the men working to solve the European Union's debt crisis. It says they are four different men but to me it looks like they are all the same man.

Thoughts

I'm sitting here waiting for my new digital camera to arrive so I can go out and take pictures. I'm waiting for my new technology so I can get back to nature. Something to ponder. I'm working on a landscape project and as I am doing it two doctors have told me that I shouldn't be living in the city. That I should go live in the country. Does art copy life or life copy art? I've said this once and I'll say it again, "Usually my photographs are smarter than I am."

Crabby

I couldn't think of anything to be for Halloween so I asked my 4 1/2 year old nephew what I should dress up as. He told me I should be a crab but I don't know if I feel like going out tonight. My friend Kurt says I'm a hermit crab.

Passport Photo Pass or Fail

If you were going to choose a passport photo which would you choose? Crooked face number 1 with wide angle lens and florescent lighting from Wallgreen's or crooked face number 2 with flash from Wolf Camera? Damned right. Screw Wallgreen's. I'm not going to Brazil looking like that. Brazil here I come!

Confusion Hill

I recently stayed in a motel in Placerville. The heart of the Gold Country. I was there for a wedding at Sutter's Mill. The hotel manager treated me like a princess and gave me the suite. It was the only room with a patio and it had a view of the creek. To the right of the creek was a cute little shack that was made to look like it was falling down the hill but now it really was falling down the hill.

No Post Post

Nothing to report. All projects covert.

Nerding it up

George of the Jungle

George Kuchar, one of my film teachers, passed away recently. When I was in school for photography I took a few classes with a guy who was in the film department. He had come to the San Francisco Art Institute to study with George but couldn't get a class with him for a year. He had never met George and when he finally walked into George's classroom he was confused. He'd seen this homeless guy hanging around the school who carried a plastic bag with him and took showers in the bathroom. Turns out it was George. George was one of those teachers who would remember everyone's name on the first day of school and he never forgot it. Ever. Here is a letter to my friend Francis sent 18 years after I took his class.

Moving Up

I recently graduated from a meditation class that took up three nights of my week. One of my classmates asked me what I was going to do with my free time. "Maybe I'll go on a date!" I said.

"I thought you already had a boyfriend," she said. I looked confused so she went on. "I thought you were dating that man that I've seen you with around here." I had no idea who she was talking about. Later it came to me. Gerald! She thought I was dating a 24 year old black man. 24 is not a man that is still a boy. I do think black men are the bomb but I like them about 26 years older than 24. Like, say, Idris Elba.

Deja vu or just bad genes

I didn't realize this till afterwards but the same thing happened to me last year. I woke up the other morning to a Bluejay making a whole lot of noise. Later in the day I went out to deliver the rent check across the street and all the gangstas who smoke pot on my front stairs were sitting there. I said something about the noisy bird and on of them said, "Yeah. And there is another one down there." He pointed to the stairs by the mailboxes. "The other one keeps feeding it," he continued. He had pointed at a big baby Bluejay puffball sitting on the edge of a flower pot. "Oh, no!" I said. "Something is going to eat it." "Don't pick it up! It will bite you!" Yelled one of the gangstas. I picked it up and put it in the pocket of my hoodie then went and got the ladder from the back yard. The gangstas held the ladder for me while I put the baby Bluejay in the tree. A week later he is still there. Now he has a tail and wings and is practicing his flying techniques. Last year was not such a happy story. This baby Bluejay is much smarter than his brother.

A Real Hum Dinger

Today I went to Rainbow Grocery, the local natural food store, and I parked next to a Hummer in the garage. I can't believe the parking attendant even let it in there. Rainbow is so militant they don't even sell meat products at that store. Except for the dog and cat food. But don't tell them. I don't think they know it.

The Great Flood of York Street

Workers broke a water main up the street from my house. It was exciting. Something out of the ordinary. But most of all it made it look like someplace else.

Fourth of July

I went on a camping trip for the fourth of July weekend. Before I left I went and got my legs waxed. The woman asked me all the normal questions. Do I have kids, do I have a husband, what will I be doing for the holiday. As I was leaving she said to me, "Maybe you will get a boyfriend on your camping trip." I kind of did. I got a pain in my neck. From sleeping on the ground. Three twisted vertebra that were pinching two nerves. I totally have to break up.

Better Than Fair

Yesterday I went to the fair. This is what I ate:

1. Corn Dog
2. Lemonade
3. Ice cream
4. Nachos
5. Pizza
6. Hot dog

Twins

I have two sisters. Right now one is in Mexico and the other is in New Mexico.

When my nephew was learning to talk he called my sister Whitney Te Te. My brother Virgil called her Teats for short. Whitney is the sister who is in Mexico and and nobody where she is staying can pronounce her name so they call her Weenie. Her two nicknames are Teats and Weenie.

Irony

Finally

Finally I went somewhere different. I went over to my friends apartment for dinner and here are some photos of the view.

Dong

The other night my brother was at the bar. He had a few drinks and was talking to some hot chicks and this guy in a white t-shirt wedged his way in between my brother and the hot chicks to get a drink. My brother happened to have a Sharpie on him so he pulled it out and drew a cock and hairy balls on the back of the guys t-shirt. He never even felt it.

Sac Show

Here are some images from my show in Sacramento. I'm looking at the death of photography, the death of the landscape, and the death of landscape photography. I'm combining photography and sculpture. Well, they uploaded backwards and I could only upload 4 images but you get the idea.

1. Timber, 2011. Redwood and gelatin silver prints
2. Structure, 2011. Wood, found and gelatin silver print
3. Kindling, 2011. Found gelatin silver prints
4. Heavy Metals In The Air #1, 2011. Found gelatin silver prints
5. Heavy Metals In The Air #2, 2011. Found gelatin silver prints
6. Heavy Metals In The Air #3, 2011. Found gelatin silver prints
7. The Sky Is Falling, 2011. Found gelatin silver print and photo card
8. Land Slide, 2011. Thirty-six Ektachrome slides
9. Positive Negative, 2011. Negative film in slide mount
10. Tumble, 2011. Gelatin silver print, rocks and found frame
11. Re(f)use, 2011. Pinhole camera made from garbage and gelatin silver print
12. Mistake, 2011. Gelatin silver print
13. Negative Impact, 2011. Gelatin silver print

Aura Update

Last year I went to the New Living Expo (a.k.a the Psychic Fair) and got my aura photographed by this guy who had me put my hand on a metal plate that was connected to the camera. Then took a Polaroid. Next I waited in line for one of his hot female readers to tell me what it all meant. The pink aura is from last year. The only thing I can remember from that reading is I was told that I had some heart ache because of the magenta over my heart. It was true. This year the photo looked very different. Green, white, yellow, AND orange. The reader told me I have a shield over my heart that I put up but I forget to take it off. There is an empty space over my throat where my voice is being herd. The white over my head represents enlightenment while the yellow shows that I have great personal power. She looked at the orange and told me that I would make a good teacher. This years picture is progress from last years but I like the pink better.

Champs Again

We were the league champions once again this past season. We would have really kicked ass if the kid in the front of the photo had been playing. I'm not kidding. One time the other team didn't show up for a game so we just had a scrimmage with our own team and that kid made more goals than anyone else. And we weren't being nice and letting him win either.