Bad Ass vs. Boxer

A lot of people think boxing is just about two brutes going at each other till one drops or gives up. The video above features two guys of approximately the same weight, height and build. One is an amateur who has received a modicum of training, the other a street hard ass. It doesn't take very long, nor require a trained eye to see who's who (ie- calmer, more poised, in control)- and although both seem in relatively good shape, it's also pretty apparent who is expending far less energy for far greater results... But yes, no mistake, it is a vicious, brutal "sport."

Addicted...

It's just... so-goddang-sexy!

 

I've had this love/hate thing going on with the Leica Q for years now- came this close to pulling the trigger on the damn thing just the other day (a used one in primo cond at a good price). Really, really... close. Looked at the damn thing on eBay for five days straight hoping someone, anyone would buy it and put me outta my misery. It's an absolutely stunning looking camera capable of producing absolutely stunning results- and I love the 28mm focal length (particularly for color). It would be my first (and only) entry venture into the Leica universe of veblen goods. So why don't I just break down, put down and get it over with? I know I want it!

Well... A coupla things, even $2,500+ is quite a vacation in and of itself with the promise of many a photo op with my current equipment- which by the way, serves me just fine with a 14mm on a Fuji X-T* and the 18mm on my GR** (2 light, compact and capable performers w/very fine optics indeed). Despite the lack of an EVF, the GR's stealth for everyday has netted me shots I wouldn't have ordinarily managed; in my jacket pocket, or in my hand, it's just there- unnoticed and unencumbered... till ya need it; then it can be pretty fast and nimble indeed, with results that punch far above its (lack of) size and weight. It was actually hard for me to take it seriously at first- the results just kept saying otherwise! Why would I be so willing to replace the one camera that has netted me the most keepers in my lifetime? The Q's EVF would be a most welcomed asset when covering an event since the 18mm f2 Fujinon pancake*** is probably the worst lens in their system- but a very expensive, seldom used asset at that since I mainly use the 14 (21mm~e) on those occasions.

Would I love having one? Absolutely. Would I take it out every day? Shit, I'd be terrified of dropping it, scratching it, attracting veblen thieves with it, and... taking pictures (FF, no less) not worthy of the mandatory Leica fame and glory! The pressure alone would reduce me to a quivering mess, and although the results would definitely have higher IQ, my hit rate would be no higher than with a Fuji. So why would I possibly want or need a Q? See caption above...

 

Event photos approx 10:1 (21~e to 28mm~e)          GR Photo:  © Stan Banos

         

*Got an X-T1 and a recently purchased Like New X-T2 ($550).
**Did I mention I already got a 2nd Mint GR ($350) waiting in the wings since the GR3 launched?
***Yeah, the new Fuji 18mm f1.4 is phenomenal optically but one Big Bloat in terms of size (and price).

He Is Risen!

 

 Posted a tad late, but... what the hey- Rejoice!      Photos:  © Stan Banos

Actually, believe I've written this post before, maybe even more than once... which (at least in this case) kinda speaks to its validity. Whenever I go to an event or visit a famous site, I always check the sides and rear, or just turn around and do a 180 (see below), cause... ya never know. Sometimes, even the event or site itself is a complete fizzle, but ya get lucky and grab the shot on the way there, or on the way back home...

How many Christians condemn our homeless while supposedly worshiping a god... born one?

Go Girl!

This is what Truth To Power sounds like: clear, direct, unapologetic- cutting through The Bullshit in short order and setting the record straight. It's not boastful, bombastic self aggrandizement- just honest, factual observation and assessment. In a time when a morally bankrupt party defines itself by automatically calling everyone else a child pervert- we desperately need more like her willing to remind us how we have allowed reality itself to be perverted by those with little else to offer.

Jo-Anne McArthur

When we think of "animal photographers," someone like this never comes to mind- and one has to ask... why not? Because it make us feel uncomfortable? It should- and for good reason!

I love bacon, but the way they treat pigs in factory farms is inhumane, immoral and well beyond cruel.

 

War Criminals, And... War Criminals

Most rational, civilized people realize Vladimir Putin is a war criminal; a war criminal who starts completely, unnecessary wars that result in untold destruction and the deaths of countless innocent men, women and children. Not exactly a hard call.

And yet, where were all these rational, civilized people throughout the world when it came to George W. Bush starting a completely, unnecessary war that resulted in untold destruction and the deaths of countless innocent men, women and children? A war that was so obviously and transparently fabricated on a swollen mass of lies and innuendo. UN weapons inspectors, in one of the few instances where anyone from the UN actually had the authority, manpower and resources to legitimately achieve their stated goal of determining whether Iraq had WMD or not, were ridiculed daily by the likes of FOX News. The manly voices at FOX (like that of Big Ass Bill O'Reilly) were practically calling the diligent inspectors flaming pansies for being the only people on earth not capable of finding the purposely rumored WMD. These freakin' UN girly girls were actually trying to stop the US of A from getting it's goddamn war on!!! And it only took $2 TRILLION and up to a million deaths to prove otherwise...

Of course, after NO WMD were found, W actually joked about it, pantomiming looking for WMD under furniture- people dying by the hundreds of thousands for-no-goddamn-reason always makes good fodder for jokes. And while the sycophants laughed, the Bill O'Reilly posse of FOX News claimed they couldn't possibly have known there were no WMD, after all- "We were lied to!" Of course, they conveniently left out the part that they constituted the most dominant contingent of... liars.

Now we reminisce about Ol' W like a kindly ol' uncle with his quaint little hobby of painting in his bathtub. Wonder if those who forever lost: children, parents, limbs and minds feel the same?

April Is Confederate Heritage Month!

And Genocide Awareness Month- as The Honorable Gov. Tate Reeves of Mississippi reminds us. Which balanced together, reminds us all of the genteel folk who were so rooting that those who actually survived The Middle Passage would make better slaves than the Indians who were slaughtered for their land. 

That Critical Race Theory jive they're brainwashing all our kids with in our schools starting in Kindergarten is gonna be the death of us al!!!

Ya Can't Hide...

from life, or death! First thought maybe (s)he was just losing a few pounds (micrograms?) and was reinventing itself as it rapidly escaped it's wee past of overindulgence. Alas, it's bad habits finally caught up!

 

 And from seeming death... LIFE!

Life Is Beautiful

 

I published San Francisco 2.0 on Sept. 2019 to give people a somewhat well rounded, if fleeting, glimpse of what contemporary San Francisco was like- warts, fading glory and all. Life Is Beautiful, however, concentrates on the everyday sights and visceral gut punches that compromise the homeless debacle of today's downtown San Francisco- an ongoing problem that has only metastasized during the era of Covid. No one is immune from its effects. By the grace of god, I have been spared that particular fate, and can only imagine the hell once removed that is homelessness; but no one escapes unscathed- the daily deluge of mental illness, drug addiction and neighborhood filth and squalor assaults then wears down the senses, gradually poisoning the psyche of all who venture forth,* until soon we find ourselves cursing the very sight of those most wretched amongst us.

Like the blatant high crimes and misdemeanors committed in public view by a former executive in chief, the scourge of homelessness in a cash flush town will continue unabated long as we continue to ignore what's in plain sight.

*Whac-A-Mole  The preceding video concentrates on the Tenderloin; NONE of these photos were taken there- which kinda tells ya something. As for the mayor's much publicized "Crackdown," as everyone predicted, yet another series of band aids in a long series of hoaxes... Those interested in learning more about the problem(s) that constitute homelessness (in San Francisco and elsewhere) can find more: here and here. Or click on "homelessness" under Labels on the blog's lower right hand column. And if this guy can actually make this work... I'll never shit on him again.

PS- Usually, I urge anyone interested to view the pdf of my books and zines, which are cheaper, more convenient and of decidedly better image quality- not this time, for several reasons. While most of the images have been seen previously (there's a dozen new photographs), this time 'round, I wanted viewers to actually notice and pay attention to the people and content in these images- unlike how we've conditioned ourselves to look elsewhere in real time. So I had most of the images printed... LARGE- horizontal images printed vertically to take full advantage of the full page magazine real estate, and force the viewer to make the effort to flip the zine vertically and hopefully view those pictured in a more measured and conscious manner (unlike a book, one can bend the magazine's spine and it's no big deal). And I never thought I'd say this about a Blurb production, but these full page photos were printed quite handsomely indeed! 

Priorities, Priorities...

Yup, always gotta admire someone who's got 'em straight...

Know Thyself

 

First picture taken in SF Chinatown in 20+ years. Photo:  © Stan Banos 

   

OK, so maybe he was a perv (Found In Brooklyn remains one of my fave photo books), but Thomas Roma had it right when he told his students to stay the hell outta Chinatown. Something about treating certain ethnicities as exotic, and therefore premium photographic fodder; it's not even about being racist- more the danger that the foreign exoticism itself becomes the actual raison d'être for the photo's existence, rather than the actual content, composition or uniqueness. And basically one ends up with little more than... well composed travel photos. The same danger also persists should one end up traveling the thousands of miles to capture that exoticism in its actual country of origin. 

Of course, some people are more than happy with photos striving for that Nat Geo look, but even in Nat Geo one would get treated to that rare individual photograph that manifested a core universal humanity- or an instance that seemed to transcend our very humanity...

How $120k Beat $4.3 Miillion

Or how a “not smart, or articulate” worker beat Amazon and formed its first ever Union!
More on anti-union tactics, here.
-Stan B, Union Steward- SEIU 1021

A Little Late For April's Fool Day, But...

 It appears genuine and am only providing a link since they have a licensing clause.
Well Worth the 1:09 of your life!!!

Can Only Imagine...

How absolutely radical these few chords must've sounded back in '58! Enough to get Rumble (an instrumental no less) banned in several states. An Indian named Link Wray had made his mark- and how prescient is this...