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Long Day

April 13, 2011 / neoblog posted in Day in the life, Photography / No Comments

Stupid. That’s me. I spend all day being stupid at work, and then go to have dinner with dear friends where I really crank up the stupidity on topics ranging from perfect pitch to commodities markets. Display ignorance, too. The good thing about friends is that they forgive you, at least the first few dozen times.

The upside is that when I left work this evening the light was reasonably nice and I decided to shoot a couple cars that are often parked nearby, such as this stylish hearse. Once I get settled a bit more and start making some progress at work, I’ll be ready to start exploring the neighborhood with camera.

And just for the heck of it, I’m going to create this post from within flickr’s share tool. I used to use it and didn’t like it that much, but it looks like maybe it has changed over the last couple years–which is like 14 in web years. So, maybe it will display properly.

And then, i’m going to review some regex concepts. And then I’m going to install Tiki Wiki on my laptop to see if it will work well at work as an in-house wiki, and then… I’m going to… get… my few hours… sleep… … before …. zzzzzzz

[Untitled]

April 10, 2011 / neoblog posted in Day in the life, Photography / No Comments

Ace Lincoln, El Cerrito, CA. © Neo Serafimidis

Procrastination. Mine knows no bounds. Sometimes it kicks in at the metalevel wherein I put off doing a task that I only began in order to avoid what I really ought to be doing in the first place. This could be a virtuous chain if I could bend it back around to the thing that started it off.

Tonight, I seem to avoiding finishing my taxes and doing the work I brought home on Friday, among numerous other things. And why would one bring work home unnecessarily unless there was something else waiting that one was avoiding at all costs. To be honest, I did manage to send off a couple emails, shuffle some papers, and by golly these photos are not going to process themselves, you know. So, I’m getting something accomplished. Maybe after this I’ll go bury the dead pet mouse stored in the freezer. Dang, why didn’t I think of that while it was still light out?

Continental Divide

April 4, 2011 / neoblog posted in Photography / No Comments

Lincoln Continental

One might suppose that on the day before I start a new job I would be focused on preparing myself. Such leisure would have been most welcome. Instead, it was a crazy day of non-stop errands too numerous to list here, but ending at midnight with the completion of the dessert item for the international potluck in Theo’s second grade class tomorrow. Somehow, I managed to get this shot of the Continental in between taking my mom back home and getting parts at the hardware store. So, all that running around was good for something after all.

Childhood Relived, part 2

April 3, 2011 / neoblog posted in Culture, Day in the life / No Comments

Still from It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World.

Having purchased the DVD in a bargain bin a few months ago, I managed to pass on to Theo another small part of my own childhood experience just last night: It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World. I first saw it on TV when I was about 8yo. Unfortunately I never saw it in the theater, since this is shot in some crazy-wide Ultra Panavision.

I had not seen it since I was a child, which is to say, a long, long, long, long time. Consequently, this film held an exalted place in my idealized memory of childhood and of comedic film. In that sense, seeing it again after 40 years was ever-so-slightly disappointing, though I still enjoyed it a lot. (I would have enjoyed it more if we had a decent size flat screen. What we have is a small 30″ diagonal, and every once in a while, the size matters.) But more importantly, Theo enjoyed and managed to get through it despite it’s 2-and-half-hour-plus length. He even awoke this morning talking about it.

I’m still not sure who among this ridiculously huge and incredible cast steals the movie: Phil Silvers or Dick Shawn. Ok, or maybe Jonathan Winters. Or maybe it’s the automobiles! I was in awe of the array of vintage vehicles, from modest Dodge Darts to Chrysler Imperials, and most of them destroyed during the course of the film!

Still from It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World.

Still from It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World.

Streetscape

February 14, 2011 / neoblog posted in Photography / No Comments

Jay-Vee / © Neo Serafimidis 2011

Today was such a day of photography, it was almost like work. It started this morning with Albany Cub Scouts Pack 3 Pinewood Derby. That was over three hours of shooting. Then, after a little lunch, I went out to make some progress on the Albany Commercial Streetscape project. I started shooting the east side of San Pablo at the El Cerrito border and made it down to Solano Ave, before it was time to get home. My guess is that this is about half the length of it. I was pleased with the progress made today in terms of quantity. It remains to be seen what was accomplished in terms of the images themselves. Right now, I’m predicting that the two liquor stores are the most interesting subjects on the side. I thought I’d play with this one in black and white, even though I keep saying that the series won’t be. Maybe I’ll have to rethink that, too.

Old Habits Die Hard

February 12, 2011 / neoblog posted in Photography / No Comments

Blue Rambler / © neo serafimidis 2011

I left work just a bit early today in the hope of getting to the computer repair shop across the street from UC Berkeley, Fix That Mac, to pick up my revived laptop with the new hard drive. It went quickly enough that I decided I would try to get to the lighting shop, Metro Lighting, and pickup two pendant lights we ordered for our kitchen. I was guessing that they closed at 5 pm, and it was now 4:48. I could make it if I didn’t dawdle. I was doing well enough until I passed this guy somewhere about Bancroft and Sacramento. I pulled over, jumped out, and took a few fast photos. This was my favorite, which has me relying on the same old formula I’ve been beating like a dead horse for a couple years now. I can’t help it. I try to do something else, but cars just beckon. Then I got back in my car and drove. Yes, I made it just in time.

Dingbats and Matadors

February 3, 2011 / neoblog posted in Photography / 2 Comments

Matador and Apartment Building

Today is another day of nothingness. But as I wander through piles of photographs that have yet to processed and catalogued, I can’t help but smile when I come across something with as much charm as this. It’s got everything one could want: hollywood junipers, rock facade, decorative concrete blocks, googie styling, and of course a thrashed Matador. Ahhh, Albany.

Lucky me. Either the AMC collector in El Cerrito sold his collection or moved into my neighborhood. Three beat Matadors and a Javelin are constantly showing up parked in different places, trying to avoid the three-day limit on parking before towing happens. They are always somewhere new, but I never seen any of them actually in motion. Maybe he does it with a Star Trek transporter. The only downside is that there are no Gremlins or Pacers. C’mon! Are you a collector or what?

Second Guessing

January 5, 2011 / neoblog posted in Photography / 2 Comments

Truck and Trucker, Berkeley CA. 2010.

Predictably, I have problems with any creative activity I engage in. It usually boils down to two things, which ultimately are two forms of the same thing. First, a nagging feeling that if the work is not something totally novel, then it has little artistic merit. Call it the curse of modernism. Since pretty much everything has been done, or at least everything that a working parent might have time to do, that seals the deal on the possibility of artistic merit. And so every result feels inadequate.

Second, there’s a lack of commitment or willingness to see something through to its logical conclusion, to really try different variations and different approaches with a given idea until I have turned it round and round, and really analyzed it from every angle. I think that’s what good artists do. They don’t get bored with say, painting lemons, after painting 4 or 5 lemons. They are not done until they have made dozens and dozens of paintings and visualized lemons in every conceivable way. That kind of thing always impresses me.

But it’s hard for me to do.

On the other hand, I still seem to be making photos of partially cropped cars parked in suburban neighborhoods. It is not that I’m eagerly exploring new conceptual terrain in this theme. It’s just that it’s so easy to do. Old cars basically make the shot on their own, making my job easy. And there are so many of them around here that I can’t go a day without passing at least one or two worthy subjects. For the time being, I suppose I’ll keep going, as long as I don’t get into any fights in the process. If only I could turn a couple upside down and see the underside…

Corvair Square

October 4, 2010 / neoblog posted in Photography / No Comments

I recently changed the route of my bike commute to work. I was simply trying to get away from San Pablo Ave, which, while it is the straightest shot to my workplace, is also very bike-unfriendly. There are lots of cars, obstacles, freeway on/off ramps, and debris.

I decided that I would try to slide over to Hollis Ave through Emeryville, and this took me into west Oakland. The result is a new crop of photos, and some incubating ideas for future series.