Can't Take Pictures Here

I finally heard the words, "Excuse me. You can't take pictures here." And yes I thought I was in the right too; I asked, "How about the art?" "No, You can't take pictures here."

I didn't push any further although I felt I should have. I mean it was done by WPA workers paid for by tax dollars. Then the ironies struck me: A mural of workers working with their hands in the lobby of the Financial Times Building in Rockefeller Center; A high school history techer can't take picutres of these historic pieces of artwork to bring back to his classroom; I'm firing the camera while being told to leave the joint; I'm taking a picture of this mural celebrating work as the Ford Motor Company is announcing the laying off of tens of thousands of employees and that their stock is rising rapidly because of the layoff...

Next time, I'm going to bring 30 annoying teenagers with me to that lobby.

He Got Me

armed with a point-and-shoot with a considerable delay in low-light situations i missed the shot i wanted.a young girl with multi-colored hair stood on the other side of the pilar and he looked as though i was talking to himself. it was one of those great new york moments people talk about during thanksgiving dinners.she saw the camera and turned away, i moved to get him alone and by the time the camera focused he was loking dead at me.i guess i can't run with scissors all the time.

a quickr pickr post

Why Is Queens So Freaky?

My ability to get lost in Queens may be unparralled.

This Sunday afternoon I thought I could walk across Astoria from Ditmars Boulevard to Steinway Avenue and catch the G Train back to Brooklyn. WRONG!

Because of construction I eneded up on a local train to Jackson Heights. There I jumped on the F train thinking I could transfer for G Train at Queensboro Plaza. WRONG!

Before the train ended up going on to Roosevelt Island and on to Manhattan I jumped off at this weird looking station. Not I'm I unfamilar with Queens, but I think someone went out of their way to make the subway stations there look completely different than all others.

I walked through Long Island City to Court Square for the G Train and got to see how quickly that area of New York is changing.

I'd Take Your Camera

So the guy sitting next to me says, "How'd you like if someone took your picture?". "I'm alright with that", I said. "Well it's not with me. I'd take your camera if you took a picture of me." Then I surprised myself by saying, "Yeah. I heard that before."

I took a few more shots, put my camera away and looked into his dark relective sun glasses, "I like to think of the joy my pictures bring to people."

He said nothing.

Blood

Although the 'gang situation' on New York City and in the schools has cooled off from several years ago, young people still do join the crips and bloods.

While I have met many "wanna bes" the real deal often shocks and surprises me.

Schools smarts, musical talents (voice), polite and personable ought to be some of the ingredients for solid citizenry, not criminality.

from the first roll shot with my used canon f-1

The Teacher's Voice Wins Again

I was out with my point-and-shoot digital this evening shooting in the subway when I came upon these ballons.


I wasn't thinking much about the people holding the brightly colored ballons in the drab and dull subway as it's difficult enough for me handling the camera whenever i'm shooting moving objects in lowlight. then I heard, "Why you takin' pictures of me?! You betta not put dat on a Internet!"
Sternly i replied, "They're going on the Internet!"

"Oh" she replied, "Let me give you a sexy pose."


The 'teachers' voice wins again.

mi segundo cuidad

My second city, a city with soul.

It was the spring of 2000. I was worn out from three and half years of going part-time to graduate school, working weekends, changing careers, going through divorce, not dating, getting fat an not doing too much of anything. I was fatigued and it showed.
I was a wonderful srping day in Williamsburg, Brooklyn and i was walking with a neighborhood friend Simon. He's English and well travelled and when we cam upon a particular flyer posted on the window of the local health food store his eyes lit up, "You need to do whatever you can to do this!"
The flyer advertised a proposed apartment swap, a summer along La Rambla for a chance to stay in Williamsburg for that time. Within two months it was a done deal. I got my passport and tickets and was to leave in early July and not see New York City until the end of August while some woman who I didn't know would live in my apartment during that time. It turned out to be one of the best things I've done for myself.
So you're saying to yourself, 'Ken, you were 35 and you didn't have a passport yet?' Yep and i was going to get on a plane by myself too and go somewhere I hadn't been before.
I signed up for a language immersion class for the first weeks I was in Barcelona and befriended a group of college-aged people from a variety of European countries. I drank and danced nearly every night. Swam in the Mediterranean naked, lost 30 pounds, got tanned in a heart beat, learned enough Spanish in a week to go out and get my hair cut and buy new clothes and meet people.
Soon I began to fit in. People woudl ask me for directions or for drugs when I was at clubs.


Just yesterday my wife and I begun to long to go on a vacation to somewhere tropical and different and I began to think about my time in Barcelona. a time when I re-created somewhere far away and came back into my own world anew.