December 18, 2004
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PhotoPost: Bus photos
The First Shot in this edition of PHOTOPOST shows up on the newly redesigned “NewsPage” of the AllThingsMike Webhub. The “NewsPage” is the “original” start page for my website, and includes some of my early graphics, presents some “history” of ATM, and has a guestbook, hit counter (that hasnt’ worked for ages) and some of my “early” philosophical ramblings about what I intended for my website in 1999. If you have the time, visit the “NewsPage” because I believe next year I will dismantle the earlier site in order to save some money.
There are a couple of programs my roommate and I do like to watch together on television, and those are documentary programs on The History Channel like “Modern Marvels” which sometimes features “Mega Machines” like large earth moving equipment, cranes, etc., and I think there is a chromosome or gene in all men which makes us find such large vehicles very interesting. I have driven trucks and forklifts in my retail career before I became a manager, and I love big vehicles.
The shots of the Monster Bus above were taken last week on the same day I shot the GoodYear Blimp featured on the Dec. 14th entry of WhenWordsCollide. The Blimp is in Carson, and I see it every day on the way home from work from the 405 Freeway. The Monster Bus is parked in a speed shop about five blocks from where I live. The bus is a 1957 Chevrolet (I believe: I’m guessing from the headlights, as I used to be able to name any make, model and production year of any car or truck on the road up until they all started looking alike in the late 70s) I think it makes for an interesting “photography subject” and I shot it over a carrier trailer, which does show up in the first shot.
At least the guys working on the trailer got out of the way. These were shot right after I took the pictures of the blimp. Both subjects are “Mega Machines” and both are on the way home from work. The sun was low on the horizon, since it is late in the year, even at about 4pm when these were shot. You can see the glow of the sun during “pre-magic time” on the fender of the bus in the photo immediately above. (And clicking on any of the bus photos shows the full size in another window)
There are always interesting subjects of all kinds in our immediate vicinity. Sometimes I just throw the camera in the car and drive down familiar streets, and something catches my eye which would look good as a photograph.
In 2005 I plan on taking photography with people as subjects. I don’t know yet whether I’ll just surreptitiously try to “snap” interesting subjects or actually approach them and ask them to sign a release form and then to pose. I’m always seeing interesting photos. A while back I chased an ice cream truck around town to get a shot of the driver, who looked to be eighty years old, but I missed the chance. A few years ago I spied an elderly black woman sitting on a bench at the Getty Center, and she looked beautiful. I still think that would have been the most wonderful photograph, but, alas, I wasn’t holding on to a camera at the time. Below is a single frame from some video I shot in 2001 during a Christmas stay at Disneyland. I have an hour or two of footage, and created the Website “Disneyland in December” on the Travel section of AllThingsMike. The “photo” captures were all obtained at 480×320 and I want to “blow them up” in the new videocamera and then “capture” selected shots for another PHOTOPOST before Christmas arrives. The shot below will serve as a “preview” for that future post.
