AES Power Plant (Redondo Beach)

Film: Fuji 400 speed
ISO: 1600

Location: AES Power Plant in Redondo Beach

Occasion: I got access to the site while viewing an exhibit

Reflection: All was calm and stood still where 50 years ago generators pumped steam through an array of pipes, creating enough power to light a city. If I dropped a pin you would hear it echo down the empty hallways where once deafening sound was king.

A few from the past: PA & NY

Film: Probably Kodak, 400 speed
ISO: Probably 400
Location: Pennsylvania and New York
Occasion: On a trip back to visit family and friends.

A few from the past: Japan

Film: Mostly likely Fuji Color and Black and White, 400 Speed
ISO: 400
Location: Japan, Takamatsu and Narita-san
Reflection: I came across a flash drive yesterday where - as it turns out - I had stored some of my pictures from my last trip to Japan (Takamatsu, Shikoku). I took one night out to ride a bike around town and take pictures with (obviously) both color and black and white film.

I had some B&W film left over in my camera when I got to Narita Airport and time to kill, so I took a train ride over to Naritasan and took the black and white images of the temple in the shots below.

TV and VCR Repair

If a picture is worth a thousand words, how many words is a picture worth that features a neon sign stating "TV and VCR Repair" in December 2012? Yeah...this one gets its own post.

Little Tokyo 2013 New Year Performance

These images are from the dress rehearsal of "Kotohajime" a New Year's performance put together every year featuring multi-cultural performing arts. The above image is of a Korean Dancer.

The set design was put together by JACCC's Artistic Director Hirokazu Kosaka

Another image of the Korean dancer

I enjoy shooting the dress rehearsal because it comes with a different energy than when with an audience, and it allows for images with a higher contrast. In this image are the Modern Level III Dancers from the Colburn School's Trudl Zipper Dance Institute.

Another image of the Modern dancers.

Near the end of rehearsal I ran out of black and white so tried to capture a couple of images with color. This may be one of my favorite all-time color images, it features a fellow writer and friend.

At the end of the Kotohajime performance, Mr. Kosaka emerges and performs a purification rite by the shooting of the first arrow of the New Year, a Zen Archery tradition. Again, this is from the rehearsal so the archers are not in traditional clothing, so it almost seems like a moment is caught that was meant to stay secret.

At the end of the Kotohajime performance, over 500 roles of paper tape descend to the stage at the moment the New Year's arrow hits the target.

As I have had the honor and great pleasure of pulling the cord that releases the paper tape for nearly 7 years  I was able to capture these images right after they dropped in the performance.