02.28.07
Posted in Media, Photography at 12:41 am by thomas
James Lileks’ site is one of the biggest time-sucks that I ever encountered on the Web. I can spend hours doodling around in the copious archives full of the old, outdated and wonderful (for a good time, check his collection of vintage Motel post cards!).
Here’s a section of his site called Must Credit ACME where he uncovers long-forgotten newspaper photos from the ACME agency in New York. James has access to these old photos through his job at a newspaper and he dives deep into each of these detailed shots of the life of New Yorkers in the 1940s and 50s.
The photos have an intense aura of lost innocence and are dripping with nostalgic street signage, vintage cars and people wearing suits and dresses. Good Stuff.
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02.27.07
Posted in PhotoBlog: Found Photo, Photography at 2:49 am by thomas
About a month ago, Brooks Cameras in San Francisco closed its doors. I was a customer there for several years and already miss the store a lot.
The store often had portraits of stars of the 1960s in their window, usually without much of an explanation, other than the obvious implication of “we’ve been here for a while”. One of the frequent stars to appear in the window was Sammy Davis Jr.
As it turns out, he actually personally visited Brooks Cameras on a regular basis in the late 60s and through the 1970s. As one of the staff explained it to me, Sammy was a friend of the owner of the store (which at the time must have been Mr. Brooks Jr. Julius Bloch)
In 1976, Sammy seems to have come to the store on one memorable day to shoot a TV ad for Brooks Cameras, probably as a favor for his friend. And a photographer, Jerry Valente, took what looks like a dozen rolls of films on that day in the store and later presented a rough collection of the clipped photos to Mr. Brooks – it is signed on the back “Love, Jerry Valente, 1976″. The board with the photos then probably hung on a wall in the back of the shop for many years and resurfaced on the day when the store finally closed after being in business for more than 70 years.
I bought the board during the final sale, and here it is (link opens 360K jpg):
Here’s a couple more details of this rather unique collage:
Sammy attracting a crowd in the store during filming…
Deep in thought with Mr. Brooks Jr. Joe Dee, contemplating cameras under the counter…
Sammy with a camera. The oversized button on his jacket says “Brooks – SAMMY – May I Help You?”
Sammy in control…
He seemed to be enjoying himself on that day…
Update May 2008: Changed names of store owner and manager as identified by comments & emails…
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02.21.07
Posted in Photography, Sad Stuff at 8:19 pm by thomas
San Francisco still has an amazing number of corner stores. I can probably walk to about half a dozen little markets and liquor stores in a three block radius and I thoroughly enjoy buying at least some of our groceries there. The prices are not much higher than in the overpriced supermarket down the street, but it feels so much better to actually support those stores. Most of the owners are friendly and enjoy a little chat and the city feels much more like a small village in those stores.
Sadly, every now and then one of the stores closes, and not all of them find a new proprietor to take over. I noticed a few months ago that one of my favorite little corner stores, the New Russian Hill Market has closed its doors. It’s now all boarded up and I took this picture of its gloriously grubby signage as a little memento. Probably another one for my collection of lost store signs…
Shot taken with a Nikon N80 on Kodak Gold 200.
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02.19.07
Posted in Photography at 6:31 pm by thomas
xRez is a site maintained by a group of ambitious panorama photographers that have specialized in gigapixel-sized panoramas and photo experiences way beyond what most of us have stitched together from a view photos.
Their Yosemite images for instance are breathtaking in their scale and beauty and convey more than most other images I’ve ever seen what a great place that National Park really is.
Also of note are their interesting Special Effects demonstrations that integrate gigapixel images with 3D rendered objects.
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02.18.07
Posted in Culture at 12:34 pm by thomas
Yesterday evening we saw the Yoshida Brothers live in Oakland at Yoshi’s and it was all around a great experience. We actually hadn’t been to Yoshi’s before and it’s not just a great venue, they also have some really good Fusion-Japanese food.
And the Yoshida Brothers are fantastic musicians who can make playing the Shamisen look cool! Their music is an interesting blend of the traditional Japanese three-stringed Shamisen with some Blues and Jazz. Several of their pieces were long, dreamy melodies that start very simple and slow and then advance towards the end into very percussive and wild extravaganzas.
And you already know part of one of their songs very well if you’ve been seeing any of the Nintendo Wii advertisements on TV lately – that catchy theme music is based on a song by the Yoshidas which I’m happy to report sounds even better live on stage.
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02.16.07
Posted in Culture, Media at 1:10 am by thomas
We just watched Baraka – a film very much in the same tradition as Koyaanisqatsi and other nonverbal films.
Baraka is amazing. It’s a ninety minute trip around the world to the most beautiful and the most horrifying places that one could possibly find. It’s a meditation on Earth and on how we are part of life on this planet. The film has a very strong rhythm and conveys its message without any words with glorious pictures and a very good mix of music from all around the world.
If you liked Koyaanisqatsi, you’ll love Baraka.
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02.12.07
Posted in Photography at 11:01 pm by thomas
Here are two more night shots I’ve taken with my seventy-year old Jiffy Kodak Six-20. These are from one of those foggy nights in autumn when cold, wet wind from the ocean pushes the fog through San Francisco’s downtown.
In such nights many corners in our neighborhood transform into scenes from late forties noir detective movies and one would not be surprised to see Sam Spade in a trench coat following the subject of his latest investigation down along the darkened streets.
The first is a photo taken facing south from atop the Stockton Tunnel entrance, and the second shot is facing north above the other end of the Stockton Tunnel into Chinatown.
Incidentally, the building on the very right in the first picture is the location where in the novel “The Maltese Falcon” Sam Spade’s partner, Miles Archer, is shot.
Oh – and if you’ve never read “The Maltese Falcon“, what are you waiting for?
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Posted in Good Stuff, Navel Gazing, Photography at 2:23 am by thomas
Kazumi Atsuta, an aspiring and talented photographer – who also happens to
be my lovely wife – just re-launched her website at imkazumi.com.
And while I’m clearly not objective about this site, check out her gallery of black and white pictures. There’s some gorgeous photos in there.
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Posted in Photography at 1:59 am by thomas
Ookpik is a great collector of vintage film negatives and his site, Ookpik’s Negativity is a treasure trove of lost moments.
I thoroughly enjoy the posts were the readers actually identify one of the many mystery scenes, sometimes even accompanied by a new picture of the same place.
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02.11.07
Posted in Photography at 4:47 pm by thomas
One of the best things about working in downtown San Francisco is the view.
Here’s a shot I took a couple of days ago with my Nikon N80 on Kodak Gold 200 of the beautiful early evening scenes we get looking across Sutter street with Nob Hill in the background.
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