Forgetful fish
terrified of the bird’s eye
Post card vision from Key West
leaky lifeboat
Rusting (oxidation) is a slower form of burning
…that you can be in control and magnificent in one moment and a complete goofball a split second later…all on the same wave.
Nikonos and Portra VC 400
“People sure do get good at funny things.”
The old fisherman’s statement made me realize that I’d spent much of my life learning a completely worthless set of skills.
I loved soccer. I would spend hours alone in the yard, juggling a ball around and trying out tricks. This is exactly what I was doing when the fisherman made this observation…foolishly running about the yard, thinking I was pretty awesome…and with an effortless stroke, he knocked the wind out of my egotistical teenage sails.
He told me what he’d seen on television the night before: stupid human tricks of sorts…spinning plates on sticks or juggling kittens. Something. He kept going on about moronic people that have gotten so good at meaningless things. It seemed a little rude but I couldn’t debate it. I nodded my head quietly while having a miniature identity crisis. My skills centered around kicking inflated spheres and running for inhumane periods of time. This man fed people for a living. He had been going out to sea, exposed to the elements while doing manual labor, for decades.
I just listened and digested as the conversation eventually wound down. I went inside for the evening, one part bewildered, one part deflated.
Over the years, this encounter transformed from an awkward moment into a lesson in not taking absurd things seriously.
You can be pretty good or even the best at anything in the world and may even receive much praise for it. And yet somebody, somewhere doesn’t care and thinks you are ridiculous. And you are.
That shouldn’t stop you.
You are not the doer of any action here, O Rama, so why do you assume doership? When one alone exists, who does what and how? Do not become inactive, either, for what is gained by doing nothing? What has to be done has to be done. Therefore rest in the self. Even while doing all the actions natural to you if you are unattached to those actions you are truly the non-doer; if you are doing nothing and are attached to that non-doership (then you are doing nothing) you become the doer! When all this world is like the juggler’s trick, what is to be given up and what is to be sought?
— Vasistha
The image that happens before the first official photo. 16th Street.
Nicky High Five
These were not shot with an SLR so compositions came out slightly different than they were intended too. More of this later.
Water drops, dropping in..a wonderful day in the neighborhood.
Another composition mishap. I read this as I'm Glide Fad. Which is essentially longboarding. Chris loaned me this board for a few months while mine was getting shaped. He is a true steward of the logging community. If you fall from this board, it pops up into the air and tells you to Trim, Glide, Fade and then catches the next wave in without you. You get to have a long hard think on these concepts while swimming for shore. We had many good rides and wipeouts together. Thanks Chris!
I split up documenting the trip between 3 cameras, the film camera, the digital camera and the little go pro for video. I started out digital for the first part of the trip because the shows were at night.
Matt, Jacob, Rich and Jeff on Sea Beach.
The first show was in Old San Juan. The people we met there were very passionate and full of questions about the music scenes where we’re from.
Bass drum holder, hat stealer, and host extraordinaire.
Denim clad rockers.
Bountiful subject matter for a photographer with an affinity for the absurd.
Film photographs and thoughts from recent travels…round 1
Puerto Rico + Kodak Portra + CVS photo CD scan
Puerto Rico (or Borinquen from its indigenous name) is a place of ambiguous identity. Originally inhabited by the Taíno people, Columbus arrived in 1493 and the typical colonization routine followed: settlements, enslaving and spreading disease to the locals and establishing a government. The US gained control of the island from Spain in 1898 and it has maintained a unique status as neither a state nor an independent country ever since.
Matt, Jacob, Rich and Jeff...Alligator, Tubers, friends on the surprise bachelor party/tour/surf trip for Jeff (who is getting married to the most excellent Genie).
“Leave it better than you found it.”
When I was a kid, my dad’s friend Otis used to take us out on boat rides to the uninhabited Otter Island in South Carolina. There was no one around and more sand dollars and shark’s teeth than we knew what to do with. There was one major rule and that was we had to collect trash before we left.
This rule has always stuck with me. Whether intentional or not, discarded wrappers, bottles and cans are a reminder of the human race’s often parasitic nature…consuming and leaving waste wherever we go.
The colors in Puerto Rico are vivid…iridescent fish, aquamarine water, brightly painted buildings and tropical flora. I thought I could stay underwater for most of the trip, fully absorbed in the diverse sea scapes. One of my favorite places was below the surface at the Tres Palmas marine reserve.
Swimming out, the first few yards of the reef at Tres were entangled in trash and bits of plastic. It is hard to determine whether the source is visiting spring break party types, apathetic locals or if the trash is just collecting in certain places due to currents and other unintentional phenomena…either way, it is disheartening to see such a beautiful place not given proper respect. The amount of trash we saw in certain places on the trip almost inspired a blindness to it…as if trying to pick it up would be to acknowledge it as a problem rather than just a part of the landscape or culture. Or maybe it just seems hopeless or that it will have no impact.
Getting further from shore, the trash thins and then is no longer present. The reef became more alive and interesting, with enormous tree like formations of elkhorn reef as well as domes of brain coral. One of the best parts of this was hearing how stoked Matt was, who had never been snorkeling before. He and Rich both said it made their trip.
As we rested on the beach, a local man approached. He worked at a small food stand at the beach’s entrance selling cold coconuts, smoothies and empanadillas. He was walking up and down the beach picking up trash.
—
Pause chatter, more pictures…
Body boarding is hugely popular in Puerto Rico
Creative coconut mission monkey
biodegradable packaging.
Feet could not imagine a more terrifying texture.
Final thoughts on round 1…honor your home and the places that host you. How many times have we stepped over trash that we clearly saw when we had a spare hand? Just because it wasn’t our water bottle we are going to claim “not it” in our minds and keep going? It takes just the smallest effort, the most minor inconvenience. It might seem like a small and futile practice that just makes us feel better about ourselves but collectively, could have such an enormous impact. End enviro-nerd rant.
Thankfully I brainwashed at an early age…
