pushing the film in hamtramck

PUSHING THE FILM



the sky and its fragile light

those cloudy skies were directly overhead in hamtramck, the old polish enclave of the detroit metro area. this is what the skies looked like on 666 - june 6, 2006. i came into town to see my friends, and since mike walker's new band, cuckold were playing with steve nawara's new band, a sort of rocket 455 reunion on this date 666...how could i not attend?

my friend, eugene strobe not only picked me up, but he put me up in his cute hamtramck house for the few days that would be in town.

eugene is a host with the most hospitality...he took me around on photo safaris, and i took some photos of him, and also of our friends, marty morris and dave shettler of the band, SSM when an "s" and the "m" came over to borrow a kick drum pedal. the other "s," john szymanski aka johnny hentch was not around that day. too bad! he's pretty photogenic.



i like to take pictures at twilight - at the moments before sunrise, and after the sun sets...the light is fragile and changes quickly. when you shoot at those times, you really push your film, your camera and your skills to their limits. i like to shoot with the iris wide open. it makes for a shallow depth of field, and allows me the focus on a narrow vista within the frame. everything else is soft while one specific part of the frame is sharp.

that's kind of the way i see. i have astigmatism in my right eye, and i don't know if that's why i see things that way, or if i just look at the world as if i'm shooting a movie. i understand that the painter known as El Greco suffered from astigmatism also and that's why his paintings look the way they do. it makes sense to me. el greco, though he painted in spain, and is considered a painter of the spanish school, was actually greek.


eugene on his porch after sunset


dave shettler with eugene’s kick drum pedal

the twilight is flattering to everyone – and although these guys are handsome, young and photogenic and would look good in any light…the twilight makes them seem younger, softer and even more photogenic.


Genie’s Wienies

i don’t think Genie’s Wienies is in business anymore… at least not by the same people who have been operating it since it opened. there were all kinds of real estate signs on the side of the building last year. now i wish we’d had a Genie’s Wienie. what did we have instead? probably pierogies