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.

CantersI

If you live in Los Angeles, you've been here at least once...right? If you haven't I suggest going late at night, that's when the people watching is at its best. Post midnight movie is prime time.

 

Two words: Poppyseed Strudel

Lights, Camera, Chinatown

Foo Chow. I once wrote a short story that opens up on two characters finishing lunch at Foo Chow's while discussing plans for a bank robbery.

In case you were unaware, these are all pictures from Chinatown in Downtown Los Angeles.

I'd been meaning to come here to see what I could do with my camera loaded with 400 speed black and white film pushed 1 stop to 800.

I don't know if I actually captured the essence of night in Chinatown, but it was something I needed to do.

Oddly enough, this is one of my favorites from this roll of film.

I'm not meaning to sound hard on myself, but this is practically the same shot I took in Pittsburgh a couple years back...at least the same composition. I think I need to start to expand my subjects beyond lights, books and rusted out, old buildings to include people.

But with that said, oh how I love lights and how they show up on film.

If you haven't been to Chinatown lately, a lot (not all) of the old retail shops have been transferred into galleries. This is particularly true of the shops that are along Chung King Road, just west of N. Hill Street.

An alley along Chung King Road (L.A., CA)