Sunday, December 30, 2007

The Man Who Fell To Earth


Nic Roeg's 'The Man Who Fell To Earth.' Bowie, at his most extraordinary looking.

With Candy Clark. Whose beauty is more feminine here?

It's a strange, complicated film, full of beautiful images.

Bowie, with one of the great hair-cut/colour combo's ever. His visual presence is astonishing throughout.

The contrast here of Bowie, the alien - red, and all else - blue. Brilliant scheming.

Shot in New Mexico, this image could be straight out of John Ford. It's a remarkable film.

Wednesday, December 26, 2007

Five Weddings - Christmas Day.


A bike ride at noon, Christmas Day, Prospect Park...

Past the boat house...I counted five - FIVE! - weddings within 100 yards of one another.

All five were Asian couples. All five grooms wore white tuxedos.

Ever since, I've had Billy Idol running through my head. I can think of nothing to justify such torment.

Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Sunday, December 9, 2007

Father.


My Dad's an old time fight fan, a boxing guy, and whenever I watch a big fight - such as Ricky Hatton's bout last night - I always watch it through his eyes, and maintain a running dialogue with him in my mind. When I say I watch it through his eyes, in a sense I mean this quite literally. My Dad lost roughly seventy per cent of his vision this year, and can no longer follow the fights as closely as he'd like. Nor is he able to read or paint, two passions (and gifts) I developed through him.
This image was taken in Williamstown this year, a casual snapshot. But in taking it, I wondered what, and how much my Dad was seeing as he stared out. I wondered what he might be thinking, gazing into a hazy future at the end of this most difficult of years. Once again, I was struck by his enormous dignity in the face of hardship... as I have been so many times before. And finally, I was aware in the moment of how grateful I am for all I've been able to absorb from the great reservoir of knowledge and learning and kindness that he has afforded me.

Saturday, December 8, 2007

Friday, December 7, 2007

Queensboro Bridge, Colour.


"The city seen from the Queensboro Bridge is always the city seen for the first time, in its first wild promise of all the mystery and the beauty in the world." Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby.

Thursday, December 6, 2007

Some Buildings.


I suppose if something bothers me about these images in particular, it's their lack of originality. They are versions of stock, well-worn images we've seen before. Aren't they? You tell me...

Though the play of light on the window frames here works. I can't account for the odd colour of the sky.

Wednesday, December 5, 2007

Wednesday, November 28, 2007

A Tree Grows In Brooklyn


I know...more leaves. These are to be found on Saint John's, yards from my front door. Brooklyn, I tell you... (Incidentally, the tree in the background - great shape, crying out for a rope to be thrown over it, and a kid swinging from it.).

The changing of leaves is late this year, as I discovered in Vermont a month or so ago. It's almost winter now. Naturally, climate theorists blame global warming.

Tuesday, November 27, 2007

My Manhattan: Woody, Diane Keaton and Me.


Manhattan is probably my favourite film of all time.
Years ago, when I lived in LA and was visiting New York with my pal Rono, we spent an afternoon trying (unsuccesfully) to locate exactly where the iconic film poster (and scene from the film, featuring Woody and Diane Keaton) was shot. It's a fond memory, even tough we got it completely wrong.
Then, fast forward a few years, when my late, great ex- would often compare the two of us to Woody Allen and Diane Keaton. Naturally, I balked at the idea of comparison with a small, red-headed and bespectaled Jewish bloke (being none of those things), though in fairness, she was trying to do me a favour. She was boldly offering herself up as impossibly neurotic and eccentric, while suggesting I was somehow brilliant, if not a little neurotic myself. Unfortunately, we never got around to hunting the locale out ourselves.
But today I did so.
And, the scene was not set in a park, as it seems, but at the dead end of a residential street. I couldn't replicate the shot as I'd have liked since a) it was a bright afternoon and not 4 am, b) I didn't have my wide angle lens, c) unlike when Woody was filming, a car was blocking the road, and d) in a particularly unsporting gesture, one doubtless meant to frustrate the likes of me, a potted fern has been planted close to where the famed bench ought to have been.

But anyway, this is it at last: My 'Manhattan.'

Friday, November 23, 2007

Moral Dilemna: 36W x 30L


He's on his way, presumably, to a Thanksgiving dinner. He's wearing his new pants....but he's forgotton to take the size label off them: 36W x 30L. Should you tell him, prevent familial embarrasment? Or should you take a sneaky photograph, and show it to your friends?

Tuesday, November 13, 2007

Off the market....


Not that she was really on it. This is Caitlin, newly engaged. "It was all a bit of a whirlwind,' she said. This from a girl who's been with her bloke for ten years. Blondes, bless 'em.

Tuesday, November 6, 2007

Thursday, November 1, 2007

Halloween Scene, NYC.


Positively Sixth Avenue. A movie set, or a Prada ad? Before the parade...


And so it begins...


Angel..


Always a drag...


'Everybody dressed so brightly and had so much fun..!'


Although you can't see him/her, this drag artist dressed scantily - as Britney Spears - drinking and smoking and dragging two 'babies' (dolls), around, dropping them repeatedly...
Clearly a Superstar though.

Friday, October 26, 2007

Space is the Place (Falling Man)


I keep thinking Don Dellilo with this one. Anyway...somewhere mid-way between Seattle and NYC.

Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Stop At The Light




In England, traffic lights sit on posts at the side of the road. There has always been something specifically alien to me about traffic lights swinging out high across the road...