July 13, 2018

So, this blog has become a little predictable. The routine is that I have some new pictures. I write about them. Sometimes there is some travel, sometimes I write about a show or something photographic. But few surprises.

That is about to change. Let me give you the circumstances: first of all, let's keep in mind I am 71 years old. Which may be too old for all this, we will see. 

At any rate. I am selling my townhouse in Cambridge MA. Next week all hell will break loose. We are tearing down my main computer, the big printer gets taken to my studio, the movers come and take stuff to storage, a crew come in to get the place ready for staging and an open house the 28th. I will no longer be so welcome in my own house. So, I am taking off for ten days.  

Loading up the car with kayak, bike, cameras, tripods, gyro stabilizer and heading off. Roughly photo-centric, slash kayak, water, biking through towns and cities to find stuff to photograph, shooting some aerials, staying in motels.That kind of trip. Staying in New England.  No clear destination.

Punch list? Head up to Connecticut River north of Brattleboro, VT to continue the River Project began last summer. Get at some smaller cities by bike with a camera to find neighborhoods to photograph.  Buy a new and smaller kayak as the one I've paddled for almost twenty years is too long (17 ft) and too heavy for this old guy.

Get away from the selling of my townhouse in Cambridge including an open house, the final indignity, with scores of strangers pouring over the place I've called home for 27 years.  Can't take being nearby for that. Hope it will sell.

At any rate, the objective is to chronicle what I do on this ten day road trip. Hope you can follow along.

July 20, 2018

Update: I wrote all the above before the upheaval. Now, on Friday, July 20 my photo production world has been moved to the studio (Epson 9900 printer, many hard drives and Raids, big display) most of my possessions have been put in storage and I am now in Portsmouth, NH. Bought a new boat, kayaked in the harbor and biked yesterday and I am headed to Greenfield, MA tonight for a couple of days. Will be in Brattleboro Sunday for music at Marlboro then I have no idea.

A few years ago I paddled down the Connecticut River for several miles with a company that takes you up river with your boat, lets you off and then meets you ten miles or so down the river. It was a blast. I wonder if I  can do that again.

So, staying at the Best Western in Portsmouth last night I noticed there is hallway art and they are black and white photographs. Let me show you: 

The top one, the mountain scene, is curiously flat:

I mean no disrespect to the photographer that made them, but this demonstrates just how far we've come.

This may be taking things too far but I doubt that imagery made now with good gear, skill and control, will look as dated as these do from the motel. 

Today to Greenfield, MA. Hope you follow along.