And I ask you, what better way is there to ring in The New Year than with some new pics from this year's SF leather fair(s)? A little bit o' levity to ring out the old year before it starts raining indictments in the new... Be there- will be wild!
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| All Photos: © S. Banos |
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| All Photos: © S. Banos |
1) Not getting a motorcycle in my youth- dead of a drunken joy ride within two weeks... guaranteed! Somehow, someway, I actually had just enough self awareness then to realize that fact- still give myself considerable credit for the light speed certainty of acknowledging that most basic reality, no questions asked. Reason for being #1, fairly obvious.
2) Never enrolling in an Aikido dojo, always thought it the "intellectual martial art;" dug the way cool aesthetics of the B&W gets ups too. In fact, it's little more than a dance class where participants concentrate on practicing well rehearsed, choreographed counter moves, often in slow-mo, meant to subdue and make short work of your opponent- I fell for its subtle, less is more, turn their own power against them approach! Unfortunately, it's more WWE make believe than anything else- but don't take my word for it!
3) Not getting a digital (pigment inkjet) printer- even if I had the room and money, it would have no doubt hastened the demise of my marriage considerably more efficiently than anything my already inherent failings would eventually unravel. What with: paper profiles, clogged inkjets, jammed paper, and software I would never quite master in a desperately futile attempt to make the print match the ideal screen image- all the while gushing wasted inks (worth more than their weight in gold) in the process... Oh, the wailing and gnashing of teeth would have rendered anyone within a twenty mile radius senseless!
I hate tear jerkers, not because I'm so manly (I hate football too)- but because I don't appreciate the attempt at being so obviously manipulated, emotionally or otherwise. And everyone in The Whale, and I mean everyone, has the reddest, teariest eyes in all Hollywood, all deep within the weight of their own personal suffering. That said, this is one of the best flicks I've seen in a long, long time...
Brendan Fraser plays Charlie, a morbidly obese, failed father struggling for redemption while slowly but proactively committing suicide. We're thrust into his claustrophobic world and never leave it for the entirety of the movie- and we are never bored. The movie does an incredible job of recreating a home dominated by one's chronic illness: the age long grime and creases in the furnishings, the monocolor gloom- you can smell the staleness of the air...
Eventually, it becomes clear why Charlie's devoted nurse and friend (Hong Chau- the stem maitre d' in The Menu) is so forgiving and understanding; he has a face (oh, what a face!) that simply defies animosity, and a personality to match- despite his major fuck up(s), like neglecting his relationship with his daughter (Sadie Sink- a major acting tour de force in her own right).
It's amazing how a whole lifetime of hurt and experience can be encapsulated into one small apartment already bursting at the seams from its one occupant, all in one week's time, but Darren Aronofsky achieves just that.
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| Walk, SF- Photo: © S. Banos |
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| Walk, NYC- Photo: © S. Banos |
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| Garage, SF- Photo: © S. Banos |
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| Garage, NYC- Photo: © S. Banos |
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| Selfie, NYC- Photo: © S. Banos |
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| Selfie, SF- Photo: © S. Banos |
And if I could have made a contribution:
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| Photo: © S. Banos |
Ashamedly, I've looked at wasted waaay too much time on "street photography" videos. It's a bad addiction, like obsessively eating food without really enjoying or tasting it. It's gotten to the point where I watch them just to revel in how obviously and uniformly bad they are- actually, the production values are usually quite high, as for the content... Photograph of man crossing the street, photograph of man on phone, photograph of man in front of sign and/or billboard, photograph of bits and pieces of somewhat randomly matching colors hither and yon- all presented as genuinely successful examples of... street photography!
So I was delightfully surprised coming upon this Nick Turpin video, not only can aspiring photographers learn valuable tips from someone who actually knows what they're doing- it also contained something that was actually revelatory! I've always considered "spray and pray" an affront to anyone trying to achieve consistent, quality results- and yet, right there (start around 7:45) is living proof that it can, in fact, be an occasionally useful tool. Proof positive of a rather wonderful photograph that wouldn't have existed otherwise- it just occurred too damn fast for normal human reaction, make that too fast even for human sight!
Then again, it should be noted that he employed this tactic in a content rich situation where something that good just may occur, it's just amazing (least to me) to witness it happen in real time. And ya can't argue with real time results. Am I now switching my shutter button to "Continuous?" Hardly, but I am going to consider it on certain occasions, more than I have before ...
Thought about doing something on this for a coupla years now, certainly been in the news enough- just couldn't get a handle on how to actually... do it. That is, how to present it in a visually compelling way, since broken car windows are not all that intriguing once you get over the initial shock. Finally realized one had to concentrate on how each individual dealt with the aftermath of their "Smash and Grab" auto break in. And since I started, things have gotten crazier... and crazier... and crazier still- particularly when it comes to photographers!
Of course, some will seek to selectively politicize this and pontificate on how San Francisco (and CA as a whole) is drowning in crime because... it's a Blue Lib state! Somehow they seem to forget that Red states have the most violent crime and highest murder rates- you'd think that all the "good guys with guns" would have things in check there! But I digress...
Yeah, things are off the hook here in SF, it both saddens and angers me- we have to honestly confront and enact (without the now mandatory gaslighting and name calling) effective reforms and parameters that will specifically address and curtail our local problems no matter the color of our politics. Windows On The Bay is literally just a small (broken) window into an ongoing problem endemic to the San Francisco Bay Area, but universal in how such crime(s) affect, demoralize and... hopefully rally citizenry to appropriate problem solving solutions.
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| Photo: © S. Banos |
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| Photo: © S. Banos |
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| Photo: © S. Banos |
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| Photo: © S. Banos |
The Menu is one of the more singularly imaginative movies to come down the pike in quite some time- not a cinematic masterpiece by any means, but clever, original, revelatory and for the most part... enjoyable. Billed as a: horror, drama, black comedy, and then some; it savagely satirizes the cult of: celebrity, class and privilege- not to mention the very nuts and bolts of cults themselves. The career induced veneers are gradually exposed and revealed, no one escapes unscathed, and everyone is guilty as charged to one degree or another. Kinda like life...
And the food looks good, real good, including the cheeseburger!
ADDENDUM: A much more erudite review...
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| W. Eggleston from The Outlands |
Now, mind ya, this seems to be the second book titled with more or less the same name- the first seems to be some $300 trilogy from Steidl that you can still get at Amazon, the one I saw was the current offering from Zwirner at a third that price. And let's just say, The Outlands is big and beautiful! If you're a fan of Big Bad Bill, as am I, it will certainly not disappoint. The reproductions are just gorgeous- deep, saturated... and while you have a few less than memorable shots, the majority are quite good, many as good as anything he's ever done! And I never quite got his rep for the "snapshot aesthetic," it's his imaginative, well thought out compositions that make his signature style far as I'm concerned. And there's one thing that really struck me while perusing through this book- the absolute joy he had sticking his camera here, there, wherever and seeing what he could come up with. And come up with them he did!
And if you're lucky enough to be NYC way, don't miss the show... till 12/17.
