Why Were So Many US Afghan Allies Stranded?

 Because of this Shit Fuck Goebbels Reincarnation...

An Innocent Man

Everyone agrees he's... INNOCENT- so he continues to rot in jail (going on... 44 years)!!!

Check That Box...

 

Portrait of Man in Decline...           Photo: © Stan Banos

Don't know about you, but I've never been comfortable with the way I look. Some people are-  no matter what they may particularly look like, and I kind of envy them. I would never be able to look upon myself on a billboard or a movie screen- a computer monitor proves difficult enough. Yet, most people regardless of their physical attributes relish the very sight of themselves- the bigger the better, often in more ways than one!

The past (now almost) two years have been difficult enough trying to find things to photograph, with vacant streets all around and travel so strictly limited; many a photographer has been searching for subject matter. I've taken my share of pandemic related photos, even tried my hand at stitching a coupla digital panoramics here and there; and now in this indecisive, are we winning yet scenario, the desperation continues...

So I figured I'd try and take on my personal photographic taboo- the self portrait. I've now had a work smartphone for about half year- not one food shot or selfie to be found anywhere. But I got to thinking that I'm at the age where what I looked like for the vast majority of my life will (very) soon be permanently obliterated by the ravages of time, which granted, would not be that bad if only the resulting consequence isn't almost guaranteed to be... far worse. So, after decades of resistance, the challenge was finally accepted- create a portrait of yourself you would not be ashamed to include in your portfolio (more or less). 

I started with some evenly lit shots in my living/dining/bed room which had a distinct old, lost guy motif. Which might be a good theme in five or ten years, but the very antithesis of what I was presently trying to portray. Usually, I'd stop right there telling myself this is exactly why I never indulge this lost cause. Instead, I heard myself saying that this is just part of the learning curve, besides... the very reason you're doing this now is because there's little else left on the to do list at this particular time!

Then I somehow got to thinking about Rene Gelpi's portraits, and how only some 0.5% of my photographs are vertical. Yet another challenge. Could I somehow wrangle something worthwhile somewhere within those aesthetics? So I tried again... This time, I uhhh... switched venues, eventually stacking three books atop the toilet lid no less so I could get the needed elevation. And although I can't say I'm 100% satisfied (not even quite sure it's really in focus), the composition's fairly strong, and it at least strives for something more than just an adequate representation, which any worthwhile portrait should.

One thing became obvious in the process- the real time feedback of one of those side twisting, flippy screens would be infinitely helpful for this kinda project! And being that no one knows when this goddang thing will end (if only we had some magic cure that could nip it in the bud with a quick one-two), maybe (as in, maybe, but I really doubt it) I'll try it again to get everything down just right... just that- I'm really sick of looking at myself...


PS- The real artist is in the background- Julie Wilson!

Nine Days

This is not like any movie I've ever seen; chances are, not like any you've ever seen.
It's also one of the best movies I've ever seen.

TWIMC

I sent the accompanying comment (and photos) to the San Francisco Chronicle out of long standing frustration: frustration at how long this problem has persisted, frustration at how it has grown and metastasized, frustration as to how all concerned have proved so inept and ineffective at combating it. And this is just from the point of having to observe it on a daily basis, not live it as a recurring, personal reality.

I included the photos as a point of reference and emphasis. Some may call it homeless porn- yes, absolutely, 100%! If you know a better way to make someone look at and (hopefully) acknowledge something that we naturally divert our eyes from and strive to ignore- please, pass it along... These are but a small scenic handful of the multitude of examples of palpable misery beheld daily, as the city applauds itself for the bandaids it spews out annually, while the gaping wound continues to fester and grow.

 

Photo: © Stan Banos

 

Photo: © Stan Banos

 

Photo: © Stan Banos

TWIMC,

How long do we continue to ignore this, turn our heads, throw piecemeal, self absolving, non-solutions at a problem that has metastasized all around us, swallowing up whatever remains of our own humanity just as surely as it obliterates the lives we step around each day? How much longer do we ignore it, deny it, curse it and wait for someone to do what needs to be done? Every year it gets worse, while we're told not to believe our own eyes because, because... it's getting better! People literally incapable of taking care of their most basic of needs, defecating themselves, left to fend for themselves- in a city awash in money.

How long do we continue to ignore this?

Stan Banos

Addendum: No sooner had I clicked SEND, when a vague recollection came to mind- that of doing the same exact thing just a few years prior... sending an equally alarmed commentary along with a few illustrative photos. All of it ultimately garnering the same amount of feedback and reaction- silence.

The End of Democracy...

Republicans are no longer satisfied with gerrymandering extremes and suppressing the vote at any cost- they are now actively pursuing and effectively passing laws meant to legally and directly subvert, negate and overturn our votes.

This-is-no-exaggeration!

"Why? Why? Why..."

It's the 4th "Why?" that haunts my dreams...       Photo: © Stan Banos  

Granted, it does take a certain, particular kind of low life villain to pit their vengeance against an inanimate tire and an anonymous plant, but... on the grand scale of worldwide atrocities against man and nature...

Americans On Parade

 

Photo: © George Georgiou

I've written about American Parade twice before although, steel yourself for the reveal- I hadn't actually pulled the trigger, until... now! And no, it-does-not-disappoint.

First off, it's a lay flat book, every image spread double truck on heavy stock which can be spread out without any obvious, unsightly seams and appreciated as the 12X18in print equivalents that they are in glorious B&W (and highly detailed from corner to corner at that). They appear as if taken with a short telephoto, but the thing that really kills- it's as if every person, in every crowd pictured is actively adding to the overall gestalt and dynamic of both content and composition... multiple little dramas and decisive moments in each and every shot! Anyone who has photographed crowds or large groups of people knows that it's particularly difficult to capture (let alone control) everyone pictured so that they are all contributing to the success of that particular image: no dead spots, blinking eyes or odd, confusing, ambiguously distracting juxtapositions. And yet, George Georgiou appears to do just that, over and over again- and it's more than well worth a look, and purchase...

Easy-Peasy!

“Just say that the election was corrupt + leave the rest to me and the Republican Congressmen.”  -DJ Trump

Cause Repubs are All About... The Constitution!

Bargains & Consequences

A while back when I had an excruciating case of GAS, I did what I often do to ward off this perennial nightmare- I bought a camera bag... a pretty decent bag... at a drop dead bargain price of just under $20.00! I was all set to review it- but I then noticed it had gone up to... $45.00! Still a fair price for the overall package- but nothing to jump up and down about as before. Then I saw it for... $15, and realized that it was probably gonna fluctuate wildly in price for the remainder of its existence. As I write this... it's back up to $40.00! A little patience and it'll be back down to peanuts, again...

The thing is, this medium sized package is a whole lotta bag for $20. Well constructed, well padded and pockets and sleeves galore to stick in iPads, water bottles and innumerable small accessories- the camera/lens compartment is actually detachable as a padded and self contained, zippered unit! In fact, my only complaint is that it's perhaps a little too well constructed for protection, at the cost of room for an extra (or larger) lens or body. But for that price- go cry on someone else's shoulder! Did I mention the handy-dandy top zipper that lets you dive into the main contents without undoing the top cover? Nice. And I've currently taken the separate camera compartment out and use it as an excellent day bag... 

PS- As with any Amazon purchase- I'm torn between saving $$$ (if I'm honest), and supporting one of the few venues for readily available, if stupefyingly petty, sources of employment in the US of A. Why does the richest bastard in the world insist on being the biggest fucking miser in the world?* Why can't he treat his workers in a humane fashion, instead of as non-biological androids? Even Henry Ford made his workers feel as if they were, at the very least, needed. Bezos can more than afford: decent bathroom and lunch breaks, workers benefits, health care and... unionization!  

BTW- Why did workers recently lose a Unionization vote? Because even if one ignores the behind the scenes shenanigans with worker intimidation... turnover is so fucking high at Amazon that by the time they're finally set to vote, the people who originally organized and set things in motion, have already long burned out and left!

* Yeah, I know- I answered my own question.

"Disgraceful!"

A very much needed and yet still understated bit of emphasis towards the end. And 99.99% of Republicans will deny, obfuscate and yada, yada and... yada!

Say it AIn't so...

Is it honest? Hell no! Is it any better or worse than Eugene's slight of hand? Hhmmm... I just don't understand why they didn't just say that they used AI on three different instances and provide transcripts of those instances at the end. Problem solved, if ya ask me- not that...

Just Do It!

MAGA folk have yet to realize that the more of them that don't- the less of them there are...

The Bay Bridge Flock

 

Snapshot of the foraging herd!     Photo: © Stan Banos

I live on the outskirts of downtown San Francisco now, and one of my usual cruise patterns has me going from South Park,* past the entrance to the Bay Bridge and on to the Embarcadero, where I usually purchase a loaf of any of a variety of delicious ACME breads at the Ferry Building. It's but one of my well established routines that also contains Pier 24. Now on this particular weekend afternoon, I almost swallowed my stogie whole as I casually glanced to my left and saw the side of the on ramp swarming with... GOATS! What the?!?  

But there they were, buzzing about the incline doing their thing, musta been around a hundred of the critters- I kid you not! I just stood there, gobsmacked, mouth agape... Eventually, I gathered myself and proceeded with my daily constitutional (if only every promenade was so delightfully interrupted) and noticed an animal transport truck and police car at the entrance to the fenced off area. The scene was calm, the police not even visible, so I surmised the herd had been brought in to ingest the debris strewn hay and grasses that accumulates around said on ramp to reduce the possibility of it igniting during our ever expanding fire season- certainly can't mow something that steep and irregular, and a prescribed burn... don't think so.

*Yes, a real place, not a cartoon! It's a lovely little 'park' nestled amidst the surrounding industrial gridlock that had a real forgotten by time, Victorian feel to it- unfortunately, it was modernized of late and a cement sidewalk was routed through the middle of it! Still nice, but...

God Bless Him- God Bless Us All!

I don't see what the problem is here- I mean... I live in CA and I'm still gonna vote for him!!!

 Still doesn't beat the 1/06 insurrectionist who thought he was at... The White House!

The Hoax Exposed!

I have two near and dear friends who are vehement, rabid anti-maskers/vaxxers. And let's be clear- they're not Trump supporters. One is a vegetarian, one a vegan- so you see where this is headed... both believe that a strong immune system is the key. And frankly, I wanna believe that- I really do! There's just one little itty, bitty problem...

There are a group of people who for centuries lived 100% organic lives, healthy, active lives since their very existence, not as a voluntary lifestyle, but outta necessity, simple survival... Native Americans, American Indians, First Peoples. All as healthy as could be, until the White man came along with a host of viruses their robust immune systems simply had no defenses for- and they died by the tens of thousands.

Now, for the sake of argument, let's say that these modern day, immunity proponents have figured out some vitamin, mineral, food supplement/diet that can suppress, ward off, even kill the Covid 19 virus.  How long will fickle willed Americans adhere to this magical formula- months... years? And how about the rest of the world- how are vast impoverished parts of South America, Asia, Africa, etc going to obtain and sustain the life giving, magic ingredients? If only we had a simple, quick and easy, one-two solution that would let us get on with our lives...

But... don't you see the political aspects, the government control that our one world overlords are forcing upon us? Funny how these same people don't have any qualms whatsoever about volunteering the most intimate aspects of their lives to their Smart devices and online social media that have already collected their entire life histories for government inspection. Do you really think they actually need to go through all the trouble of creating such an elaborate hoax- that will ultimately rely on voluntary public compliance to succeed when they can't even get most people to vote? These days though, logic is not logical and brand trumps science!

But you don't have to take my word on this- let this expert explain in no uncertain terms:

Oops- I Did It Again!

Photo: © Stan Banos

 

When Photoville announced they were having a National Parks Competition, I thought nothing of it. But then, when I discovered and realized that The Presidio at San Francisco was part of The National Park Service, and that the exhibition would be displayed at... The Presidio, itself- well, then I got mucho excited, because I had documented something truly unique to our National Parks, and 100% native to The Presidio, SF. What better opportunity to exhibit the Pet Cemetery photos- fourteen of which were taken right in their backyard?!? So, I allowed myself... to hope, yet again. Surprisingly, they allowed replies, so FWIW:

"Frankly, I find it astounding (actually, I could think of a few better terms) that you rejected photos of such character and caliber taken right here... at The Presidio... in San Francisco. Not only do they celebrate something that can be found at no other National Park, ANYWHERE- but what better way to celebrate and honor that uniqueness, than at the place of their origin... particularly since that site will NEVER be restored to its original state--- as we were promised and reassured around a decade ago!

 

I'm sure you'll have more than your fair share of photos depicting sunsets, scenics and happy faces; shame you couldn't recognize and acknowledge something of such truly unique: geographic, historic and humane character."

 

If not sincerely,

Stan Banos

Busted- Dems Caught in Flagrant Voter Fraud!

Well, well, well... How are Dems gonna talk and weasel their way outta this one.. Hhmmm?

Jeez- Was I Wrong!

Photo: © Stan Banos

I thought, quite mistakenly, that with Trump outta the White House, America would gradually (gradually) return to some semblance of normalcy- I hesitate in using the word "sanity." But like the virus born during his regime, his insanity festers and lingers on in some communities and intensifies beyond all semblance of credulity in others.

At first there was some reason for hope, Republicans seemed to sense the public's conception of their complicity in the blatant, all out attack on our nation's Capitol building, and the police and legislators within. They oh so, very temporarily seemed to realize the inherent hypocrisy of their law and order platform as their most ardent supporters attacked, pummeled and hospitalized police as they interrupted and sought to overturn our republic's democratic process. They uhhh... also sought to kill the Speaker of the House and Vice President, after 45's rousing go get 'em speech.

That hope dissipated as Trump's undeterred loyalists hang on to every ludicrous, fallacious audacity imaginable... from a lawyer, whose very own lawyer said you'd have to be outta ya ever lovin' mind to believe anything that comes outta her mouth, to Trump's own personal lawyer (one of legions he's since distanced himself from) Rootin' Tootin' Rudy, who when asked by a federal judge if he had any of the mountain chains of "evidence" that  he declared proved the election a fraud, demurely replied, “This is not a fraud case.” Of course, at that point sanity would have demanded... then what the fuck is this shit about!?!

But it hasn't stopped there- one level of insanity begets another in Trumpland! Not satisfied with eviscerating voting rights laws, they are now actually trying to overturn repeatedly proven legal voter audits with their own extrajudicial fraudits. And with all their sensationalist claims of Democratic voter fraud- the only only proven case has been... a Republican Trump supporter! 

But these anti-democratic, pro-Fascist practices don't stop with voter suppression and manipulation. Two bit, White Nationalist, Brown Shirt Replicants are now marching throughout America in Trump's name as Q-ANON reminds us that Democrats drink babies' blood. And his cultists continue to attack Biden as senile- while conveniently ignoring their leader's own blatant dementia! Our former "Law and Auto" POTUS (see below, 5:50) could not remember "the brave man from Ohio who went to a plant..." Went to a... wha (4:12)?!? And then, relying on his trusty Con Man instincts went on to work the crowd to try and solicit the name he could not for his life remember (Neil Armstrong) like a magician asking for a volunteer from the audience! This is the man who more than once, suggested neutralizing hurricanes with a nuclear device and ingesting bleach as a Covid cure- accidental poisonings rose 121% the very next day...

 

This is the Fascist, racist, con man criminal that 40% of America would love to illegally reinstate as Supreme Leader of The Former United States... And if it doesn't happen by 8/13- there will be (more) blood... Want the game plan?

Beyond Caring- Paul Graham

One of Paul Graham's seminal works, Beyond Caring, has been republished- I caught a glimpse of it the other day at the Leica Gallery in San Francisco and the reproductions looked luscious. I wanted to spend more time with it, but I was approached and advised that they were closing. At first I thought I was just being harassed again... recently I was deemed suspicious (I still got it!) and diligently followed by the security guard at a Container Store- apparently I was gonna jet with a coupla 30x40x20in plastic containers beneath my armpits! But they're (surprisingly?) very polite and courteous at Leica- guess I'm forever scarred from frequenting NYC photo galleries.

Copies of Beyond Caring could be found in every bargain book bin like discarded, overflowing sardines in just about every NYC book store in the eighties and nineties. You could pick one up for about $15 bucks- now they're going for well over... $500, and the reproductions suck next to the new $70 version. Beyond Caring and Troubled Land were Graham's formidable one/two knockout combination that shook the art and documentary worlds to their foundations by the innovative and previously verboten use of... color! It's also nothing short of a minor miracle that his photos are even in focus (not to mention creatively composed- no flippy screen then) since he had to shoot many of his pictures: from the hip, in relatively poor light, and with a medium format camera! And they still retain their raw power, beauty and urgency!

After Troubled Land, Graham feared repeating himself (understandable) and went on to produce more experimental work (to say the least), including a book that consisted solely and completely of close ups of film grain. I-kid-you-not... wouldn't have believed it myself unless I'd seen it with my own two eyes- and someone actually paid to print and publish it!

Good Ol' Chuck!

Charles Bukowski led a colorful, sometimes bleak and pretty anonymous life until fame blessed his latter years. These are but a handful of his pearls of wisdom:

An intellectual says a simple thing in a hard way. An artist says a hard thing in a simple way.*

Writers are desperate people and when they stop being desperate, they stop being writers.

In my work, as a writer, I only photograph, in words, what I see.

We're all going to die, all of us; what a circus! That alone should make us love each other, but it doesn't. We are terrorized and flattened by trivialities. We are eaten up by nothing.

Find what you love and let it kill you.

Beware of those that seek constant crowds; they are nothing alone.

You begin saving the world by saving one man at a time: all else is grandiose romanticism or politics.

People are not good to each other. Perhaps if they were, our deaths would not be so sad.

* Reminds me of the conversation which led John Lennon to his succinct conclusion:
  God is a concept by which we measure our pain.