sparkrobot

Hey October… It’s March. Yeah, well, better late than never. I had forgotten about these photos I shot at Hell’s Kitchen back in October of 2006 when I found them again recently while digging through hard drives. The Turn Ons (Seattle) brought their own light show and dressed up as cats for Halloween… Go on, see the photos of The Turn Ons.

I’ve posted a couple of submissions to JPG magazine for the upcoming issue, including an image taken in Fort Steilacoom Park in Lakewood last summer of the Western State Hospital ruins under the umbrella category “Entropy: Things fall apart.”. Another theme for image submission is “Breakthrough: Discovery, progress, and revolution.” for which I’ve submitted an image taken at the Hotel San Jose in Austin, Texas last summer. The themes are to be included in Issue 10, which closes in 18 days. So this is a call to you—my really-good-very-best-super-awesome friend—to vote for my images. This is a democracy. You don’t want to be responsible for its elementary breakdown. This is about freedom. So go vote.

If you haven’t heard of it, JPG magazine is a new concept magazine / community built around people who love photography. I have a few of the early print-on-demand issues and a purchased a subscription when it became their new offset press publishing model. Unlike most photography magazines, JPG is not one of those magazines with reviews of every new digital camera (gear gear gear) and ads that consume most of the available page real estate. It’s about photography and there are huge spreads of (believe it or not) photographs. There are some ads, but not the variety that are huge bargain price lists that clutter other mags.

The manifesto:

JPG Magazine is for people who love imagemaking without attitude. It’s about the kind of photography you get when you love the moment more than the camera. It’s for photographers who, like us, have found themselves online, sharing their work, and would like to see that work in print.

If you want to see more images of the ruins of the Western State Hospital facility in Lakewood, they’re online on my flickr account. Sorry if you’re reading this twice, WordPress is tripping out on jpgmag’s promo banner javascript…

A couple weeks back I was at Bob’s Java Jive and some bands bands were playing, presumably because it was my birthday. Both Tacoma bands, Waves and Radiation (photos) and Sons of Ivan each played. Waves and Radiation taps the instrumental space rock vein, reminiscent of Duster, but let’s say eating a Mogwai sandwich. (Mmm. Evil fairy sandwich.) Sons of Ivan (photos) had a droney shoegazer 60s pop sound.

The show was also a benefit to keep the Jive alive and there was a raffle between sets with lots of donated goods. Tacoma rock stalwarts Girl Trouble donated a bunch of stuff to the mix. The apex being a signed Estrus 7″ box set that went home with a lucky gal. Good reason to be jealous.

Surprise, I brought a camera and some film. I’ve posted some photos to the gallery.

I got a new Yashica today. Or maybe yesterday, I don’t know. I had a telegram from the home: ‘Yashica passed away. Funeral tomorrow. Yours sincerely.’ That doesn’t mean anything. It may have happened yesterday.

The half frame Yashica Samurai x3.0 (with Samurai Integrated Technology!) is by far one of the most interesting items I’ve picked up to date. Created in 1987-88, it shoots two frames on the width of one 35mm frame. It allows for interesting in camera composition on varying subjects. At first glance what I like most about it is the ability to create a pair of images with a permanent record on film. It’s and upright SLR that looks like a palm held camcorder with a 35-105mm zoom lens. The lens is threaded for a standard 49mm filter with f-stops from f3.5 at wide angle to f4.3 at telephoto. This is according to info I found on the intarweb. I got it at Goodwill and it didn’t come with a manual, so I’ve been scraping details from random sources. It came with a Hoya star filter installed. I’m going to leave that intact for a while and see what happens.

I added a 2CR5 battery and it was off and running. It works just like it came off the shelf so I’m feeling pretty lucky. I didn’t have so much luck with a Zeiss Ikon Contessa rangefinder I got a from Goodwill a while back which had an wicked sharp lens, but also a wicked light leak I can’t seem to fix.

The best part is the “Samurai Integrated Technology” indicated on the case. It delivered immediate authority when the camera was busted out, as if fabulous secret powers were revealed to me and The Power of Greyskull was just invoked.

I put a roll of cheap Kodak Gold 200 I got at Kmart through it and some of the results from the first roll up on Flickr.

I was up in Seattle last week and caught an indie pop rock show at the Comet Tavern on Capitol Hill. There were four bands on the bill, and if you actually read this blog, you know I never make anything on time. Ever. I missed the first band, Olympia’s The Mona Reels. I arrived just before Spanish for 100 set up to play. I hate to play favorites, but I was impressed. These guys were really well informed. Super cool sounds. Their music is available for download, check ’em out (photos).

The Sea Navy (photos) played next with a set of tunes from their recent record, “Oh These Troubled Times.” A final set with TW Walsh filling in on the drums was smart and poignant. There were a group of juiced up gals who couldn’t help but dance. I know…. At a rock show, it’s unheard of and unacceptable. Seriously. It made for a few awkward moments. In the end, who cares? It’s a rock show. If you feel it, go ahead and dance. Nothing wrong with that.

The last group featured Robb Benson (formerly of Dear John Letters) The Dept of Energy (photos) closed the show with a set of catchy pop tunes, though I spent much of the end of the evening lusting after a Leica I saw busted out near the end of the Sea Navy’s set. Gimme a break. It’s a disease and I can’t fucking help it okay? A couple previews of their record are available on the lately ubiquitous myspace.com.

Check out the photos.

I ran across this sane, rational post on the Flickr/Yahoo! merge “controversy”. These people are idiots. Fine, go. Get your money back fools. Better yet, build a better mouse trap if you think you can. It took me two minutes to switch over to a still-active Yahoo account that I haven’t used in 5 years. Was it annoying? A little. Do I want that two minutes back? Absolutely not. Let’s eat bigger fried fish.

I liken the whole thing to this sketch from 1975’s Monty Python and The Holy Grail.

The Witch: I’m not a witch I’m not a witch!
Sir Bedevere: But you are dressed as one
The Witch: *They* dressed me up like this!
Crowd: We didn’t! We didn’t…
The Witch: And this isn’t my nose. It’s a false one.
Sir Bedevere: [lifts up her false nose] Well?
Peasant 1: Well, we did do the nose.
Sir Bedevere: The nose?
Peasant 1: And the hat, but she is a witch!
Crowd: Yeah! Burn her! Burn her!
Sir Bedevere: Did you dress her up like this?
Peasant 1: No!
Peasant 3, Peasant 2: No!
Peasant 3: No!
Peasant 1: No!
Peasant 3, Peasant 2: No!
Peasant 1: Yes!
Peasant 2: Yes!
Peasant 1: Yeah a bit.
Peasant 3: A bit!
Peasant 1, Peasant 2: A bit!
Peasant 2: a bit
Peasant 1: But she has got a wart!
Random Person in the crowd: *cough* *cough*

I still heart you Flickr. We can still make out and such. If I decide we should break up later because of your big brother, you can keep my $24.

Last Sunday Tacoma’s new all-girl, flat-track roller derby team The Dockyard Derby Dames put on their inaugural bout at the Skate-n-Station in Parkland. For the first bout the four league teams (The Trampires, Femme Fianna, Hellbound Homewreckers, Marauding Mollys) divided up into two teams, the “Good” cued up to square off versus the “Evil”. The girls gave it their all for two twenty minute sessions of roller derby action.

I arrived at Skate-n-Station around 6pm after charging up my rechargeable battery all day for the event. When I pulled out the camera to get ready for the event, I realized the battery for the camera I intended to use was still on that charger… AT HOME. Suckage. And that’s why I’m not a professional. I did have a Nikon film body, but a slim selection of film in the bag. I had to shoot Fuji Neopan 1600 black and white film. This will stand as my excuse.

Here is my Dockyard Derby Dames slideshow on Flickr. My photos kind of suck but I’ve posted them anyway. If you want to see some really great shots of the bout, check out Type2B’s photos from the same night.

Though there was some hope for the girls in white, in the end, Evil prevailed over Good by a slim margin 86-72, and I sort of enjoy saying that.

There are more events planned. According to the League’s myspace site for instance one can meet “Tacoma’s most bad-ass women” at the following upcoming events:

Pajama Party at Bob’s Java Jive Saturday, January 27th, 9 PM! Featuring music by the Gold Teeth.

AND if you missed your prom, don’t miss out on our Valentine’s Ball. Scour Goodwill for that perfect 80’s prom dress or tux and come party with us… prom pictures, dancing, food, drink, and all the 80’s hits you can handle! Saturday, February 10th at Varsity Grill.

I had to drop off some film yesterday to be developed so I braved the icy roads and headed to Robi’s Camera Center & Labs in Lakewood to drop off a couple of rolls. Robi’s is one of the only photo labs left in the area where one can drop off black and white film by 10am and pick it up by 6pm same day. There are plenty of places that still do C-41 color processing, or that will send out black and white film to a specialty lab, but you can’t get it the next day. It usually takes up to a week.

On arrival, the first thing I saw was a huge clearance table loaded with film. Expired film. My favorite. Generic ASA 100 slide film for 50 cents a roll. Killer. One could expect perfectly unpredictable results from practically any film camera, but especially from the super-contrasty lomo lc-a variety which I’ve been using for couple years. I also found some brand name Fuji Sensia 400, 8 rolls for $18. Slide film is usually expensive, up to $10 a roll, so this was a great find. Considering I usually dunk the film in the wrong chemicals, essentially ruining the film to make it trip out unpredictably… Score.

Everyone’s gone digital. I understand this. Me too. Quite an assessment of the state of film vs. digital over at Photon Detector yesterday.

I began to wonder how long places like this will continue to exist. As photography completes the transition from a specialty goods/services business to a consumer electronics business, it seems more unlikely that these businesses can continue with the traditional models. That sucks. Sure we’ll still be able to cruise to the mega-warehouse-mart of our choice and find a stellar deal on the latest well-stocked gear, but the real loss becomes the guys and gals working behind the counter who have been shooting for 20, 30, even 40 years.

Don’t take my word for it, go into one of these places on a Saturday morning and strike up a conversation with one of these cats sometime. (Better go soon) In contrast, bump on over to the nearest overstuffed (Costco, Best Buy, Circuit City, et al) and ask the 18 year old kid working the counter there questions about photography. They can sell you whatever you want—and an extended warranty of course—but they don’t know shit about it. In the quest to acquire the most stuff for the lowest price few people win, and everyone else loses.

The remnants of Custom Black and White Photographic Lab downtown Tacoma taken in October 2006.

R&K Photo in Auburn was another one of these local shops until recently when they caved after 31 years. I was dropping off some film there a few months back and the sign in the window indicated they were closing “in a couple of days”. Ironically, the owner of the shop was magnanimous while describing to me the reason for the closure of the store. He explained they could not get the inventory because the large retailers who moved more volume of the product had priority. He stated in a modest, almost self-deprecating tone “if Best Buy could sell 100:1, they deserved the business” citing consumer need and a changed marketplace as the fulcrum in the dissolution of what was, presumably, his life’s work. He took it standing up—no small feat—but it was hard not to feel sympathy while overhearing the tale repeated almost verbatim to some of the last regular customers in the store.

Robi’s also has added digital printing kiosks (where the film refrigerators used to be) so digital photos can be printed in the store and they also offer digital photo printing services online and great deals on film, framing and photography services. They’re super-friendly, provide great services and I think most importantly, host a local wealth of knowledge and imaging experience. Tap in.

It’s snowing. Like mad. The weather is pretty incredible out there. The stars are out now, but it snowed nonstop for a few hours. I took a few long exposures out in front of my house. They’re up on Flickr.

I haven’t posted to this part of the blog in a while. I thought perhaps you needed—even deserved—a weather report.

Kirk Rundstrom, guitar player for the Wichita, Kansas alternative bluegrass band Split Lip Rayfield, was recently diagnosed with esophageal cancer. Though he endured four months of chemotherapy, the cancer spread and he was given only a few months to live. He decided best therapy would be to hit the road one last time, playing a round of shows before retiring to beat the cancer for good. They played the Tractor Tavern in Ballard on Friday, November 10th.

A couple of friends of mine, and fans of the band traveled up to Seattle from Tucson to catch the show. The Tractor was packed with fans and the band got a lot of support from Seattle. Also on hand were several family members whom I talked to briefly. I’d seen SLR once before in Tucson at the now defunct 7 Black Cats, probably 6-7 years ago. Their performance on Friday night was spirited as ever and it was good to see them giving it everything on regrettably, what may be their last tour.

Portland-via-Oklahoma’s “I can lick any son of a bitch in the house” opened the show played before SLR. I took photos of the whole show, but there was a red light shining on the stage the whole time. During ICLASOBITH, I didn’t use flash so I wouldn’t be annoying. My Nikon absolutely hates red light, and as a result, no photos of them. But I was actually encouraged to shoot photos during Split Lip Rayfield’s set, flash or not.

Here are some of the images taken at the show.

Best of luck Kirk. Hope you beat it.