About Atmospheric and Miscellaneous

The title of this page might lead one to believe that it's sort of a "catch-all" for stuff I couldn't think of anywhere else to put. Not so: In fact, several of what I think are my best photographs are on this page. You decide.

Left: Catalog Number: 411-18a; Title: Icon No. 3 Right: Catalog Number: 411_26a The first of these is one of those personal bests. Doug's minimal dress and the desert clicked in my mind, and the image jelled: isolation, desolation, hopelessness. I'm delighted with the result, not only because it's an excellent photograph but also because it turned out to be exactly what I had envisioned. When that happens it's a wonderful thing. The second shot is along the same lines, and just as effective in its own way ... but that is of course for you to decide; perhaps (hint, hint) you would care to buy a print of each? The first of these was shot on Amboy Road across the street from the Wonder Valley Community Center, the second on the dirt road leading to my house. More shots of Doug will be available by and by. Note: There was a flaw in my wide-angle lens, which can be seen as a "hair in the gate" in these shots ... so they are not piss-elegant "museum" quality. Big deal, say I. (27 July 1993.)

Left: Catalog Number: 111-43; Title: Icon No. 1 (White) Center: Catalog Number: 367-33a; Title: Icon No. 2 (Black) Right: Title: Icon Diptych [16x20 L.E. prints of both, framed together] These shots speak for themselves: either you like them or you don't. For those of you who do, the Diptych version (both shots in 16x20 Limited Edition prints, framed and mounted together) is highly recommended: I print them high-contrast and you can almost feel the leather and skin. More shots of both of these men will be available by and by. (Left: 11 August 1991, North Hollywood; Center: 15 March 1993, 29 Palms.)

Left: Catalog Number: 43-23; Title: No Magic Center: Catalog Number: 101-03; Title: Child's Play Right: Title: Bench Diptych [16x20 L.E. prints of both, framed together] The left photo (another of my personal bests) was shot at Lankershim Boulevard and Cahuenga West/Riverside Drive, North Hollywood, 4 March 1991. Universal Studios is just across the Hollywood Freeway from this corner and the KPFK Radio studios are just down the block. This man was a fixture in the area for some time; like many homeless people, he lived in his own world, largely aloof from and indifferent to the attentions of others, although he would not refuse donations of cash, food, etc., provided they were just given to him, with no attempt at personal contact. He eventually disappeared from the neighborhood and I have no idea what became of him. The individual on the right (photographed at the southwest corner of Santa Monica Blvd. and McCadden Pl., Hollywood, 29 July 1991) probably comes from a somewhat different walk of life: This area has been notorious for years as the hangout of male prostitutes, many of whom are addicted to either crack cocaine or methamphetamine ("speed"). This corner has been cleaned up a little since then; the abandoned building behind him is now occupied by a successful business and the trash has been swept up. Despite periodic clean-up campaigns, the hustlers are still there -- now with many Hispanics and a few Blacks added to the mix.

Catalog Number: 329-41 This is either a storage tank or a refrigeration unit; whatever it is, it's behind a store on Highway 62 in 29 Palms. 16 December 1992.

Catalog Number: 338-34 This is really complicated and difficult to explain, but I'll give it a go. See, Los Angeles used to have this really horrid football team called the Rams (aka the Lambs). They moved to Anaheim and were still terrible. Then they moved to St. Louis and were still terrible ... until the 1999-2000 season, which they capped by winning Super Bowl XXXIV, go figure. Anyhow, meanwhile, Oakland had a football team called the Raiders, which was also terrible. Their owner, Al Davis, got pissed with the City of Oakland and moved the team to L.A., scarfing up a lot of bucks in the process. But then Al got pissed because the City of L.A. wouldn't build him a new stadium and his team was stuck with playing in the Los Angeles Coliseum, which is a really terrible place to play football, but that was probably just as well since his team still sucked rutabagas, and poorly at that. So Al moved his team to Anaheim Stadium, home of the California Angels, but retained the name L.A. Rams, and they were still terrible. Then Al got this bee up his butt that he could get a lot of money from the City of Oakland to move the team back to Oakland, with the dubious hope that maybe his team would play better there again cuz they were (once again) in a different and maybe better place. But then they turned out to be (still) just as bad playing in Oakland, and Al wasn't happy about them being in Oakland and wanted to move them somewhere else -- say, to a converted gravel pit in Irvine -- and he got a lot of money from Irvine to get him to do that, but then he didn't do that and Irvine sued him and -- I forget what happened next; as I said, this is all very confusing. Now a bunch of other sharpies and the NFL are trying to get an expansion franchise into (you guessed it) the Coliseum, which they propose will be rebuilt at public expense, the better to line their pockets. (Well, that's not all of it: they were in competition with another group which wanted to put their L.A. team into a really bizarre-looking stadium-cum-strip mall in Carson, but then good sense prevailed [amazingly enough] so the competitors decided to go in with the other guys in the Coliseum deal ... and so much for good sense.) And: Y'know that big sign up on the hill in Hollywood? Well, don't tell anybody I told you this, but it's for sale, and cheap, too; wanna buy it? ... The point of all this ... what, the point? Oh yes: the point of all this is that Mother Nature apparently had her own opinion about the Raiders, whose motto is still (snigger, guffaw, choke) "Commitment to Excellence," and here it is. (Photographed somewhere in Hollywood, 24 December 1992.) --I made up some of that, but only a little.

Catalog Number: 407-32 Scene at a structure fire on Homestead Drive, 29 Palms, 22 July 1993. I was hanging out at a coffeehouse a block or so away; a number of us there saw the smoke and called the Fire Department, which was joined by a unit from the Marine Base. According to the Desert Trail, our local newspaper (which ran this shot on its front page, 29 July 1993), the blaze killed two cats and heavily damaged two rooms of the house; nobody was home at the time. Note: This shot is very grainy and high-contrast -- Kodak TMax P3200 (with flash), pushed two stops to ASA 12,500.

Catalog Number: 582-6a My side yard in 29 Palms, ten-minute time exposure with the pool light flicked on very briefly, just at the beginning of dawn twilight, 2 July 1994. (There's a fair amount of ground detail in the negative, but I print this high-contrast to eliminate that ground clutter so that you see just the zaps and the pool.) The storm is over Yucca Valley and Landers, about 20 miles to the west. Let me tell you: this shot is absolutely spectacular  in a 16x20 print--you want one! (This shot has been published in the Desert Trail and in the Wonder Valley Times.)

Catalog Number: 104-39 Looking south on Tujunga Avenue, just north of Kittridge Street, North Hollywood, California, early morning 31 July 1991. I lived in the area at the time, was up late, heard the storm approach and got out on the street with my camera and tripod fast. This shot (about a two-minute time exposure) was published in the Los Angeles Daily News (formerly the Valley News and Green Sheet), Van Nuys, CA, 31 July 1991. They paid me for it, too! And now you can, too! Ooer!