evenings and cats

These are more or less random, just things that happened. No narrative, no metanarrative. They're all with the new camera, a Sony R100v4. It's really really good for a pocket camera. Like, way better than my first couple dslrs, in every way but maybe durability. It's already got quite a few dings. We'll see.

the week of magma conf

I know I should break this into several posts or whatever, but I really don't have the time or patience. I also feel a little bad about these photos, in that I hung out with a ton more people than are pictured here, and none of them are in any of my pictures, because I was kinda busy getting to know them and talking about exciting stuff that wasn't photography. Also, it's hard to carry an SLR in swim shorts. I was going to name a bunch of names here, but I'd be sure to miss someone and I don't want to do that. So: If I talked to you, it's safe to assume that I valued that interaction. Everyone there was pretty rad, from the organizers to the other speakers to the attendees. Things that happened, in no particular order: I got lost (several times). I broke my watch, then broke the programmer, then gave my talk anyway. We walked to a black sand beach over the hill, and went in the water untill the jellyfish came. Swimming in safer waters. Swimming in a pool, most days; afternoon naps. Many, many good ideas were floated, and some of them maybe even ran with (Use rust! build hardware! Change the future, and do what you can to include everyone in it!) Midnight tacos were had. I spoke to a room of ~100 people about how to build their own smart watch. I sat all day at the airport, because I got the cheapest ticket and then couldn't change it. I was chased out of the Guadelajara airport by mosquitos, only to return hours later, and finally get home. That about covers it.

lakes in the eastern sierra

There's an idea that's been rattling around all day today: The photograph as anecdote. That is to say, they're not really evidence, but just a thing someone saw one time. It dovetails nicely with things I think/believe about truth, objectivity and the possibility that they don't exist in photography. "A photograph is neither true, nor false, just as a sentence is neither red nor blue." A smartass will go print a red/blue text on a color printer, but you get the point: Photographs are not vehicles for truth. They are vehicles for telling stories. The story here: I got on a plane bound for Santa Fe from SFO. I tried to sleep for the first twenty minutes or so of the flight, then resigned myself to being awake, and started looking out the window. I've always been addicted to these views, snapping pictures whenever I can see anything at all. This time, it was a bit shocking. Tiny mountain lakes, no snow, and every reservoir has at least a bathtub ring, some that look so wide and have been there so long it's getting hard to distinguish them from the landscape. All visible from 27,000ft. We landed, and as you could maybe tell from the previous post, Santa Fe has been good. But these pictures need to get out there. maybe next I'll post my stuff from pride, something upbeat. We'll see.

santa fe again

In Santa Fe again. A lot of memories here, and a lot of things that have changed since I was here last, some seven or eight years ago. It's still an amazing place. I keep getting these flashes of memory as we drive by places; the car dealership one of my friends got arrested in front of, supposedly because he was hitting all the cars as he walked by, going home from the bar. Burrito Spot and all those times after last call. Breakfast at the Pantry. Wandering past roads I used to live down. I dont know if this is supposed to make me feel old or what, but I do. Drink one for the things that are gone, and enjoy what's here, that's all I can do. Yes, these are photos from last night. No, this does not mean I'm abandoning five months of photos. I'm on the road, and the majority of those photos are at home. Felt like blogging these.