When I’m sick I hold up in the basement. Thanks to my new laptop I can do both work and watch an ass load of movies since I can’t sleep when I can’t swallow. When I was studying for my Fine Arts Degree (I switched to Advertising after two quarters) I did a project where I photographed exploitative films and used stills to wrap a series of judging emotions. I loved the slight blur and warm colors photographing the television produced.

I’ve recently switched the resolution on my camera to the lowest possible setting. I’ve starting shooting specifically for online display. While sick, and pouring over work emails, I looked up and became absorbed in a film my wife rented for me – Lucky Number Slevin. Great film. Highly recommended. This shot I grabbed on the fly. I held up the camera and clicked. I find it haunting. More questions surrounding it then provided.

Other films I’ve been watching while unable to sleep:
Alien Resurrection
The Constant Gardner
Superman Returns
Kingdom of Heaven
Lucky Number Slevin
Scoop bad
The Transformers Movie
The Bourne Supremacy
Multiple Futurama Episodes

I was diagnosed with Bronchitis yesterday afternoon, and this morning I’m having a little difficulty with swallowing – which makes it difficult to talk. I choose to sit out todays radio show which sucks because the topic was all about “drink marketing.” SoftDrinks, EnergyDrinks, RegionalDrinks…you name it. I sent Rick a bunch of emails (none of which he responded to on the air), so I downed a hot cup of tea and called in. I had to mention my favorite marketing ploy to date concerning energy drinks: Cocaine Energy. Cocaine in a can. I know it’s not politically correct. I know a lot of people are upset by it. From ABC News:

“It’s just a bad idea and has all the same downsides of too much caffeine plus a very bad name,” says Dr. Charles O’Brien a professor and vice chairman of psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania.

The drink touts 280 milligrams of caffeine. I remember when Jolt Cola was all the rage, and that has only 72mg of caffeine.

I might have to drive to Texas and get me some (it’s not nationally available yet).

Allison asked me on the show what regional drinks I missed from the East Coast? Saranac Root Beer. Made by Saranac Brewery in upstate NY. They micro brew this amazing root beer. If you ever have the chance to try it, do!

I think we survived Thanksgiving. 2 meals, turkey, ham, rolls, wine, beer, pies, cookies…good god there was an ass load of food. We started the day out at the country and ended it back here for a nice quiet evening of Chiefs football and, you guessed it, more food.

I let the wife have the day after off to spend with a friend. Black Friday.

Kids and I went to the gym, then to drive way too fast on twisty roads, then to the park, then to the lake, then back home for leftovers. Because I had them in the 911, I had to take a bunch of photos (see, I am that kind of dork), so I’ll post them to my 89c4.com site later this weekend.

I think it was while I was still in college when my grandfather gave me his Zeiss Icon. I didn’t use it much while in school (I tested a roll or 2) because I was too busy in the studios. When I graduated, and became too busy shooting satellites, I was looking for something to spark the creative side. I broke out the Zeiss with a plan: keep it with me till I shoot an entire roll (12 shots on a roll of 120 Ilford Delta) then come home, process it in my basement darkroom, dry it, sleeve it, contact print it, develop it, dry it, scan it, crop it, and load it into a flash site I built – visualencounter.com.

I’m reminded of a lecture I heard where Ken White (I believe) was talking about the “disposable image” philosophy. As photographers (prior to digital becoming the standard) we shoot countless rolls of film. Thousands of frames. I know personally I’m happy when I could get 1 decent shot off a 36 exposure roll. I was going to school during the digital revolution. Now, as opposed to rolls and rolls of film, we had Megabites and Gigabytes full of images. Digital representations of film – to which we held sacred. Now, with the push of a button, we could shoot, check, keep or delete. Gone. Not a drop of chemicals used. Not a series of steps to preview a negative/positive, simply a click of a button. As photographers we had to come to grips with the concept of disposable images.

I came across visualencounter when I implemented recent tracking analytics to a number of my sites. It hit me that what took me hours to accomplish 6 years ago takes me 3 minutes now. I shoot a low resolution image on my Canon 20D, connect via USB to my wife’s MacBook, make minor adjustments in iPhoto (sorry, i don’t have PSCS2 on her Mac), and upload to my Blogger page. Instant “digital”darkroom. Instant gratification, not unlike Polaroid used to be for those that could afford it (I’m talking SX-70 days).

I collect these cameras to remind me of where photo has come from and where it’s headed. I also just like old cameras. The simple truth that I can pick up any of these cameras today and find film for them, process them using chemicals I can get via mail order, and print them on silver based paper is amazing. The way things are headed, that simple truth will be a story I tell my kids when they ask “so, you used to soak paper in chemicals to get pictures??”

I need to do this. I started the process last time and let it fade. I need to do this. Do this. DO IT TONIGHT FOOL!!

From CBS News:

Touching off the demonstration were new restrictions that limit households to one dog and ban larger breeds. Police in recent days have gone through city neighborhoods, seizing unregistered dogs and beating some of them to death, witnesses said.

I heard about this on the drive into work on NPR. My favorite was the claim that the Chinese Government had gone and erased online positing, bloggings, and any references they could find.

I’m going to get Sammy a nice treat on the way home tonight. Talk about f’ed up.

Seems when you turn a camera on my wife, she gets all “provocative” and stuff. It could just be me. Or, it could just be the camera. Or, it could just be the smell of sick kid and husband to drive that animal hunger alive. Or she could just be drunk (as she usually is by 10:30am).

Seems like we did a lot of stuff for a family of 2 sick kids (me being the other kid). The game was on, we actually ventured out for a walk, and at one point during the game C, K and T started building towers to see just how high they could build them. Kind of a cool shot here with the tower just starting to fall.

So my son has taken to practicing shooting darts. We have a board in the basement. He can’t shoot from the line yet (well, he can, but he hits my wall), so we have him at half distance. Last night, while I was zoning out feeling sorry for myself (still sick), he proclaims:

I hit a bulls eye! My first BULLS EYE!!

Needless to say, the pride I feel pales the endless knowledge he seems to absorb, the countless kind acts he performs, or the respect he has for both K and I – no, the proudest moment I can recall is that my son has hit his first bulls eye!

Back to sleep.