Last week, during the period of sparse posting, I attended the funeral of a friend’s great uncle. I never met Grant Haist, who passed away at 93 in Naples, Florida, but I feel like I have known him all my life. Grant held a PhD in chemical engineering, and worked for 33 years at Eastman …
Tag: Photography
Jul 20 2013
Christian “activists” hating on trans kids
The Christian right just hates the idea of transgender children. Their specific target this time is a camp for transgender girls.
The camp, known as “You Are You”, is in its third year. It’s a place where trans kids and their families can gather to network with others in a similar situation. You can see for yourself just how obscene that can be as documented by photographer Lindsay Morris. Or, you know, you could choose to see kids being happy.
The camp offers itself as…
…a temporary safe haven where gender-variant boys can freely express their interpretations of femininity alongside their parents and siblings.
But there is a different view from those so-called “activists”.
There is a risk of locking children into a life course, which, if they had been left to develop naturally, they would have outgrown.
–Peter Sprigg, Family Research Council
Jul 04 2011
A Coney Island Greeting on the Fourth of July
Cross-posted several places but the Daily Kos post could use some support.
This started out as a gray day in New York City. Instead of a view if the Palisades and an armada of small boats slowly making their way down river for the Macy’s Fourth of July fireworks, my windows seemed like very large glasses of milk. it looked like a perfect day to enjoy a second viewing of John Adams on HBO and remembering what politics was once like in America.
Two years back I worked on the Fourth so I made a photo diary out of my lunch break. It was a celebration of the local farmers who also worked that day, The Lincoln Center Farmer’s Market on the Fourth of July. Ron Binaghi, a 6th generation farmer who really knows his product, explained the importance of being able to “Eat it raw.”
Last year on this date, I think it was about 98° and way too sunny. Because I was too busy enjoying the crowd and fun at the Coney Island Hot Dog Eating Contest, I did not write a Fourth of July diary. So on this day, as I enjoyed John Adams, I found some of those photos and put together a Coney Island view of the Fourth of July.
Nov 22 2010
Just Looking
Posted at Daily Kos and as “My Views from Last Week” at Star Hollow Gazette.
I have a few pleasant photography stories to tell from a week ago. Between the autumn color and the desperation of one last warm weather week, it was a good week for a photo buff. Now don’t go busting my bubble by just looking at the photos because you can learn a lot from a photographer. We see things.
Below you will find a Third Rock from the Sun brief encounter during an evening walk in the Village. I have several memories from a lecture I attended on photojournalism. There is a pleasant Veterans Day walk under the George Washington Bridge on the New Jersey side followed by a sunset from the New York side. Then a Friday afternoon walk in Central Park with some music videos I made and all day Saturday there too. There is even a little taste of Florence, Italy.
Nov 08 2010
My Views This Week
Cross-posted at Progressive Blue, Star Hallow and even the Big O.
What a tough week this has been, the Yankees were out of it and the Jets had a buy week. To make matters even worse the right wing corporate home team got the great shellacking by the visitors from beyond the right field wall. But I was walking around with the old camera and taking photos. Plenty of photos, plenty of back lighting.
I spent the week with a familiar song locked in my head, the lyric “Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.” After the past two years I could never again come up with a reason to support a Dem but without the tradition of photography I would be a shaky as a fiddler on a roof. So during that fabulous Jets win, I slapped together a few photos from the week.
Oct 25 2010
Sunset Week in Review
Cross-posted at Progressive Blue.
Good evening and happy Sunday to you. Working too much I’ve missed most of the news this week. I do have a logical rant over something I did hear. I would guess that most NPR listeners vote Democrat and well that’s good for the Party. I would also guess that defending NPR against right wingers would be like shooting fish in a barrel. If I was in the Democratic leadership I would have had some fun comparing the transcripts of NPR with the crap Americans hear on talk radio. Comparing the support for public broadcasting with other industrialized nations I would love to have heard some Democrat say “Hey wait, didn’t the Republicans already defund NPR in the name of Rush Limbaugh?”
But then this diary is not about politics. This is a little celestial seasonings and some pleasant views to start your week. I wasn’t home for too many sunsets this week but I still have some good views to share.
Before the views I have a question. Is there any fun left in politics?
Aug 15 2010
GULF COAST, END DAYS
Lately, I`ve been not so enthused about the progress in the gulf.
I see the ramping up of activism in diaries with multiple posters, that, great unto themselves, the collective impact is much more than the sum of it`s parts.
It seems there has been a lack of enthusiasm on the part of the government to push for a final & definitive push to do a bottom kill .
I would not expect the officials at BP to listen to us, but you`d think the government would.
I realize I`m a dreamer, but when I think of all the damage, seen & unseen, to plant & animal life, I seem to be in a constant nightmare.
OCTOPUSES GARDEN
I present to you these images to help encourage all of you who can speak more eloquently than I can, in all that you are doing , while thanking you for all you`ve previously done.
Jul 25 2010
GULF Coast, A reminder
I`m a day late this week, in posting reminders of what kind of life we stand to lose due to the oil gusher in the gulf.
I know it is presently capped, albeit temporarily, but I worry about the situation going south fast.
I feel that the decisions that were made in the last few weeks, are to hide to the public, the fact that they (BP) are not very confident they can stop this disaster, even with the relief wells so near completion.
But I post these images in hopes that people will never forget this disaster, man made, I should add, & never allow it to happen again.
It seems like greed has taken over, regardless of the consequences to the livelihood of humans, & the lives of all the defenseless animals above & below the surface.
CORA BANDED SHRIMP
Jul 17 2010
GULF Coast, A dedication
I`m back with more underwater images in support of the gulf coast, it`s inhabitants above & below the surface, & to all who`ve worked so hard to keep the daily developments on the front pages.
I would like to also mention a big “Thank You” to all the workers out on all the skimming boats, the oil retrieval crews on the beaches, & the crews out working on the rigs, tankers & the ROV operators who have worked nonstop to end this gusher.
I cannot blame them for the bad decisions of their managers.
Now that the gusher is stopped albeit temporarily, I think we can have a little breather.
Then we`ll have to get back to keeping this catastrophe at the top of the news, since we all know how the style of news cycles here can rapidly shift away the important issues to iPhones & Lohans.
PURPLE CONTORTIONIST
(An Anemone)
Jul 02 2010
Fashion, photography, sexuality and social anxiety?
I probably shouldn’t pull punches here. I find some of the rhetoric and claims in this video a bit suspect.
Perhaps the oddest part for me is that the videomaker is using imagery that she considers disgusting at least, while arguing (it seems to me) that the ads for children’s clothing used by American Apparel are somehow pornographic.
Now there’s a part of me that sympathizes with this view. And then there’s the part of me that thinks… didn’t you just manage to make an unpaid ad for this company by using the same images as part of your critique? Aren’t you also exploiting these children by showing the images, and not only that, but unlike the company that paid the models and their parents, you’re exploiting them without any compensation. (Then again, by embedding this and drawing attention to it, perhaps I’m doing the same thing?)
It strikes me as a very slippery slope, to say the least. Before I sound like a pontiff from a religion that doesn’t institutionalize child sexual abuse, let me just embed the video I’m talking about, so you can make up your own mind before I continue my rant.
Don’t view the following video if you think it might contain soft-core pron.
May 29 2010
The New Lion Cubs at the Bronx Zoo
Sort of cross-posted at DKos as Friday Evening Photo Blogging: Lion Cubs Today!
I took a little trip to the African veldt today.
Oh okay, I never made it out of the Bronx. Today I went to see the three new lion cubs that were born on January 27th and made their public début this week. So give a roaring welcome to Nala, Adamma and Shani as they get used to their new digs. Their big sister Moxie is a very good baby sitter for these 25 pound kittens.
May 22 2010
Friday Evening Photo Blogging: Wave Hill Edition
This diary is for curmudgeon who asked in last week’s post of FEPB “are there other gardens that you’d include in a must-see list for visitors to your fair city?” As a matter of fact there is.
A few here who enjoy my flower fluff from the New York Botanical Garden might be surprised to learn that I live just a couple of blocks from another Botanical Garden. Wave Hill has a view that is similar to my many sunset diaries. Wave Hill is a truly fascinating legacy and this is a good time to remember some American who once held a deep respect for nature.
The Wave Hill grounds were not opened to the public until 1960 but before becoming the newcomer to public gardens, this New York City oasis had a long and very rich history as a private garden. The perfect location, rolling hills down to the Hudson River and vistas of the Palisades also holds two historic houses. Wave Hill was once the residence of “Darwin’s Bulldog” Thomas Henry Huxley and Theodore Roosevelt spent summers there in his teen years. Both Mark Twain and Arturo Toscanini lived and were inspired by the sights and sounds of Wave Hill.
Below are some photos from this spring at Wave Hill and a few little stories about this New York City respite that seems so far from New York City.