some weeks ago i sent this email to the santa barbara knit group:
subject: photo crawl
hello everyone!
i hope the fog lifts this weekend. even if it doesn't, would anyone
like to join me for a photo crawl around town? right now i am not
sure when or where. i'm up for suggestions. i just want to get out
and take pictures. i'm hoping for images that are quintessential
santa barbara and may be some portraits. anything really. i know
a few of us have nice cameras that are begging for a good use.
come with me.
thuy
much to my dismay, i got no takers. it's very sad being friendless.
it was beautiful this past weekend so i decided to set out by myself. i covered four destinations, took pictures at three, and only about two polaroids turned out decently. but it won't stop me from posting all of them.
destination two:* santa barbara courthouse, where i parked around the corner from three tour busses.
from courtyard
from anacapa street
overkill
from tower looking west
north
east
i didn't bother taking a polaroid looking south because it's all red mission tiles. plus it was too hazy to see the water, like this:
after the courthouse, i had no idea where to go next. i am sad to admit that i do not know santa barbara as well as someone who has lived here for seven years should. the only place i could come up with was alice keck park.
turtles+unsuspecting subjects
jacaranda tree, i'm guessing
poor execution
i walked around the block wide park for an hour and i took a total of four polaroids. one of them, the one at the beginning of this post, was actually taken outside of the park.
i was going to hit shoreline park next but i got hungry and gave up. after a late lunch i decided to walk up eucalyptus hill. it had gotten way too hazy for polaroids.
looking south east
pacific ocean out there somewhere
blue agave
that monster plant is actually taller than me. each leaf is about six feet long, fully lined with talons and equiped with a very hard sharp point at the tip. i try not to come too close lest i accidentally fall and get sawed in half and skewered to dry.
i really enjoyed my photo crawl (albeit lonely). i hope to set out a few more times around town. i would like to expand on the destinations. i drive by a lot of fun places to and from the bay area so it should be effortless. question is: who would i send all these polaroid postcards to?**
*destination one was saddle rock trail. no polaroids but lots of jpgs.
a panorama, even.
**give me your mailing address and i'll send you one.
this installment of the polaroid tourist series was taken on my way to san francisco last friday. it was very windy, which made for a very clear and sunny day.
as seen from 101 north bound
poor execution of sky, tiles, and adobe
garage doors
garden gates
windmill on adjacent property
leaving mission san miguel
there is a steep learning curve for me in using polaroid film and camera. saturation seems to vary from shot to shot even when the film is from the same cartridge. and exposure is just a mutha.
anyway, i have three more sets from easter weekend to add to the pt series. i'll try to post them all this week so i can get moving on batch four of polaroid postcards.
yesterday was a memorable day for me in a funny sort of way. i'll share one part of it. it's a bit long winded; please bear with me.
my boss and i were slated for a meeting in downtown santa barbara yesterday at 2 pm. i decided that it would be a more efficient use of time if i didn't go. my boss agreed.
at about 1:30, as my boss was getting ready to leave for this meeting, he fell under a dizzy spell. he didn't feel stable enough to drive. the only option was for me to take him to the meeting. in his giant ford f150 pickup.
in a hurry i gathered up my stuff. i had the wits to toss my hair brush into the bag. by now the boss said the room is really spinning. so i grabbed a trader joe's paper bag in case he vomits in the car.
yarn+rooster from mary
unidentified cliffs from unknown sender
polaroid from gracie
i could barely reach the pedals. i had to hug the steering wheel in order to drive. i zipped around in the lunch traffic and all the swerving nearly killed my boss. i took the paper bag and put it on the dashboard in front of him.
i decided to use the new parking structure next to coffee cat. i had to drive round and round up three stories before i found a parking space. my boss was borderline dead by the time we got out of the car.
i still hadn't brushed my hair. i was going to sneak into a restroom to tidy up before the meeting but i didn't want to risk being seen with unkempt hair by important people. so i brushed as i walked. and i noticed that my boss had started to walk with increasing distance from me. he must have been afraid to be seen next to someone with a bird's nest on her head. which was fine. because i didn't want to be seen with him and his trader joe's bag anyway.
very cool stamp
if you are the sender, please drop me a line.
our meeting was in a building just across the street from the parking structure. we made it in plenty time. sure, it was a waste of time for the both of us to be at this meeting. but i was so glad that i didn't have to speak in front of a dozen strangers.
the meeting went on for 90 minutes. the total amount of time my boss spoke: 90 seconds.
text from sign in gracie's polaroid
boss was still feeling lousy when we left the meeting. the weather was magnificient so i was happy that i got to be outside. i couldn't help but gawk around, wishing i had my camera with me. i noticed that one of the small trees on the sidewalk was mulched with wine corks.
thuy: hey boss, wine corks. clever...
boss: [loudly] watch out don't hit the lady with...
it was too late. i ran into the lady with... the baby. she was walking in front of me and decided to stop. by the time i took my eyes off the corks and turned around, my face was right in the baby's face. i was surprised that the baby didn't cry.
boss: watch your steps.
thuy: i'm not used to all these people. no one walks around in carpinteria
except me and waffles. we rule the sidewalks.
batch three, into the blue
on the way back to the office, we were stuck in traffic. i decided to distract my boss from the stop and go motion with: did you know that the guy who heads the human genome project believes in god? we bantered about various religions and it led to the mormons. he told me a little bit about his experience, how he went to the temple for the first time at nineteen.
boss: i was given a password to get into heaven.
thuy: i want to go to heaven! please tell me the password!
boss: [pause] it's one of the deciples' names, but i don't remember which.
[started to laugh really hard] oh dear, i don't remember!
it would have been a lot funnier if he vomited. but he didn't. still, i hadn't laughed so hard in a long time. i hope hell will be just as funny.
i wish waffles was here to pose with my new ebay acquisition, the polaroid spectra onyx. it's essentially the same camera as the one that was sent to me from ireland. the only difference is the clear housing and a few more buttons on the back. the extra functions will give me the impression that i can control the image quality.
erkan saw me take pictures of the spectra and asked how i like the camera.
thuy: it's in really good condition. i'm surprised.
erkan: how much did you pay for it?
thuy: three dollars!
erkan: really? i thought it cost more than that.
thuy: no, ebay. it cost $11 to ship though.
erkan: [puzzled]
thuy: here, check out the see through top.
erkan: oh, i'm not talking about that [the spectra]. it's a piece of junk.
i'm talking about this [points at my fuji finepix].
the spectra's counter said 8 but the seller didn't mention anything about film being in the camera. i went to bill's office to do a test shot.
bill, hard at work
expired film, it appears. but i like it. nothing beats a film-ready polaroid camera.
it was very foggy in sf this past saturday. the sun came out for about an hour and jg talked me into walking over to the botanical garden. we spent about two hours walking around inside golden gate park. i got six polaroids.
couldn't get enough of the colors
trying very hard to capture the white conservatory building
i wish i had pointed the camera a bit higher. jg did a better job of capturing the blossoms and the confetti.
schmee, poorly dressed (as usual) with polaroid camera in hand
deyoung museum observation tower
251 balboa street
jg was checking out the lamps made out of hollow core doors. i was more interested in the posh doggie set up.
i wasted a couple of cartridges of spectra film messing around with the 'new' polaroid camera this past weekend. erkan got it right; the onyx is a piece of junk. very few of the pictures are in focus. autofocus my a** (as erin would say it). and the exposure, despite all the extra buttons (or may because of all the buttons), is the lousiest i've ever experienced.
anyway, here are a few salvageable ones:
jg with oak tree reflection on dirty kitchen window
jg watering the side yard
drum circle on east beach, take 2
that's the onyx at its best, a 1 in 20 chance. at its worst, every 1 in 3:
drum circle, take 1
i could live with blurry images with spotty exposure, but i can't live with totally ruined pictures. the seller offered to refund the $14 but i decided to let it go. i've gained a lot of great things on ebay. i want to think that this is just a way to keep life equalized.
anyway, this is the reason i got the onyx:
jg+jg
multiple exposure capability. i really wanted to mess with it. i still do. so off i go. to waste more money. on ebay.
i can't believe how hard it rained this morning. i heard that it snowed on the santa ynez. wish i could have seen that.
waffles usually stays home when the weather is wet. it was a treat to get her for a few hours in the afternoon today. i took a couple of polaroids of her to tide me over the weekend.
that's batch four of my polaroid postcards. i dropped them off this morning bright an early at the main post office, downtown carpinteria.
hail mary
batch three was a total failure. not one polaroid got delivered. i think it's because i dropped it off at the box near my office instead of the one downtown like i did for batch one and two. it hurts to gamble with the usps.
i need to get batch five movin'. there's a load of addresses burning a hole in my pocket.
karen is loaning the office her starbucks barista machine. it's the first time i've used an espresso maker. it took me almost half an hour to make that cup of coffee. plopping down $4 at starbucks is beginning to sound like a deal to me.
i showed that picture to jg just now and he commented: you need to work on the foam. it's supposed to look like a leaf on top, not doggie piddle.
the love and support he has for me, it's overwhelming.
