Orbits of a deluded mind

Just feel like it from time to time.

I keep telling myself and everyone else, I'm going to update more and life keeps jumping in front of traffic and I have to chase it down to keep it from getting hit by a bus.

Family - Chris is overseas visiting his mom and seems to be having fun. His grades came back and pretty much had straight A's for 7th grade. He's now gotten very tall for a 12 year old (5'7" already) and growing. He even has the wisps of a mustache. Brenna's home from college and working on a B average. Now we're trying to figure out how we're going to afford sophomore year. My step son Michael is also doing decently well too.

Work - there's too much of it? I'm apparently the go to person at my full time engineering job. Its scary when you consider that as a contractor in the place I work, I don't have the authority to tell anyone to do the stuff they need to do. When I don't come home brain drained from that, I either can look forward to a heaping helping of photography related work (catalog sets for small businesses or private requests). I took my assistant and well adopted daughter (for all practical purposes) out to a local rock show and showed her some of the finer techniques. The bands loved having two professionals shooting their gig. When not dealing with that job, I'm helping Tammy try to keep our sewing machine store afloat. Oh yeah, when BERNINA USA closed all their corporate stores, like hers, we were recruited to open it as a dealership. Yeah, we bought the store...

On another note, I've been increasing hearing the siren's call from California. Soft and steady but there none the less. Little things keep reminding me of the place and the people there. For example, two weeks ago a pair of F-16s came roaring over my house. I've not seen an F-16 in four years here, let alone two running in full afterburner. Reminded me of Edwards. Songs keep popping up on XM Satellite radio that are not part of the normal rotation. Even the insanely hot weather here now. It's a dry dusty heat.. Sound familiar? I won't even go into the dreams and visions. Too many people already question my sanity. I keep wondering if it's a sign of things to come or my past calling me back. Don't know... It's like lingering over an old photo. I have to live in the now while treasuring the good memories of then.

SCA - nada. I've effectively stopped playing in the past 6 months. Despite my best attempts to get motivated and go play, it's just not there. Either the weather thwarts my desire to go to events, or I'm dealing with work related scheduling issues (it hurts trying to be in three places at once), or I'm dealing with things at home. In each case, my motivator isn't powering up. I'm not going to fool myself and force the matter. I'm probably going to play at the edges for now and at least stay engaged but not be the active SCAdian I once was.

Misc. My Sony Alpha 350 is slowly giving up the ghost. Its got over 40,000 exposures run through it and some of the functions aren't working the greatest. Some of it can be fixed with a cleaning and service (which I'll do soonish) but much of it is wear and tear. I found a great deal through Amazon for one year no interest financing so I jumped on it and bought a new Sony A65 medium format digital camera. It is incredible. It's got the same incredible color as my old cameras but its faster and more sensitive in low light. I'm still learning its in's and out's but I'm a happy camper there.

There's a quick update. I'm not sure who's left out there beyond a few regular readers and several passers by. If it's any consolation, I do read through the friend list posts pretty much daily. I comment here and there where time and available brain cells still permit.

I wanted to get this set finished before this weekend. I'll be in Atlanta presenting on Abandoned Site Photography for the third year at Frolicon on Saturday (4/7/12).

The remaining two sites my kids and I went to that day back in 2008 were much older but increasingly battered. The desert was actively wearing them down as evidenced by the rapidly increasing winds around us that day. The 3rd house was rapidly decaying. The 4th showed signs of ‘recent’ use, but in the desert, recent is a relative term.



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I've been terribly silent about posting recent modeling sessions here. That is about to change.

This set is the retained images from the "Beautiful Darkness Weekend" Model-Photographer meet-up in Atlanta in the late summer of 2011. While there were some issues and problems event wise, I had to opportunity to photograph and network with some great folks.



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A few years ago on a family visit, we stopped for gas at a station along the interstate highway. Across the street, was this derelict. It appears to have been closed for at least five years or more but because it was across the street from the 24 hour, super station, it hadn’t been vandalized.



( The great American driving experience [10 behind the cut] )

This brings back memories from my desert days. When I saw this CNN article on night photography of 'Lost America,' I knew I had to share it. The photographer is legendary in the US Southwestern deserts.

http://cnnphotos.blogs.cnn.com/2012/02/03/night-photography-reveals-lost-america/?hpt=hp_c3

I’ve been away for too long… I hadn’t planned to take the long break from posting photos here. If the backlog of sites that my companions and I have explored over the last 18 months is any indication, the hunts and photo explorations have been good. My problem has been having the motivation and the time without distraction to edit and post images of late. That has changed since setting up my own office/studio.

Over those last 18+ months, I’ve explored three abandoned schools, a haunted children’s home, two factories, several gas stations and more houses than I care to think of. After recovering an external harddrive, I’m also editing and planning to post a number of images from 2007 and 2008 that have never seen the light of day.

Let’s start off with a survivor from the rural American South. The area I live is at the base of the Appalachian Mountains and is known for some fiercely independent and until recently relatively poor people. These were people who made due with small shacks and limited resources. While searching the area last year, I spotted this very old and battered shack on nearby Green Mountain. From the materials and construction, it dates to the 1880’s or earlier.



( Memories and moss [17 behind the cut] )

OMG, I have this fond dream of relaxing, updating on life, posting photos and being creative. The reality is I'm now so busy that I frequently pass myself in the halls. I'm now scheduling when I need to make my schedule.

Too much...

Heading back to work from lunch shortly.

Yesterday, my son and I went on an abandoned site hunt. Even with the shoulder not at 100% we needed to get out of the house and be a bit less stir-crazed. I went back over several leads I've accumulated or places I'd seen off the side of the road decided on a routing to the west of town. We loaded the car, started the ignition and the satellite radio came up playing Incubus - "Dig." I sat there in stunned disbelief at the song that played during so many of my explorations in Southern California with Angie and the kids. Even Chris looked a bit surprised as the connection was made. Folks, I'm pagan. I strongly believe in fate, so perhaps this was a blessing of good hunting or a reminder of past joys. Either way, we scouted four locations and explored two and took around 75 photos. I'm working on possibly doing another hunt today (since I'm off for the Federal holiday).

On Tour or events in the area:

October 30th
The Huntsville Zombie Walk. Gather at the Clinton Street Garage at 2pm.
Whether you’re a freshly killed body or a risen corpse, shamble down in your finest funerary attire. It doesn’t take a lot of braaaaaaaiinnsss.. to support this a charity event. Just bring a bag or cans of pet food to donate to local animal shelters.


November 5th
Rasputina plays at Crossroads Music Hall, Huntsville. Doors at 8pm; tickets $13.50


Where’s JJ?

Folks, I’m still alive and out here, but I keep discovering that less and less of my time (and money) is really mine. Let’s see, where to start...

Huntsville Home –
We’ve been steadily plowing through the various repairs and modifications to the house we moved into in July. For example, we’re still working on finishing the guest bedroom. There, the painting is 99% done, carpet is out and we’re doing the last repairs on squeaky floors. Likewise, we pulled the carpet out of the basement studio. As it came out we discovered they installed it over the original linoleum tiles which also have had to come out. Many were loose, stained, cracked or damaged. In about a week or less, I’ll arrange to have commercial grade carpet put down there. I’ll also be installing the first set of track lights in there this weekend. The place has been keeping me very busy.


The “other” Huntsville house (Tammy’s) –
A few weeks ago, we agreed to have vinyl siding and such installed. The job is done and looks pretty good. The hope is the renovated outside, will allow us to get the house on the market and sold in a few months. If anything, I may make it a more attractive rental. Either way, we need the income.


Lancaster house –
I swear about this place a lot. Remember that we had to evict the previous tenant this time last year? Guess what, we’re about to file the papers to do that to the current one too. She hasn’t paid rent for September or October. This one had been good, but when her mom was killed in a traffic incident (hit & run) Labor Day weekend, she completely fell apart. She believes that she’s going to get an insurance settlement soon, but hasn’t figured out that the insurance and legal issues will take months. Months I don’t have to wait. Needless to say, this has once again stretched my finances to the breaking point. I’m only paying essentials and even stretching out payments. It’s damn’d frustrating, but until the housing and job market gets better, I don’t think the place will sell.


Personal stuff in brief –
We’re probably having a friend move in with us “officially” this weekend. Amy was originally one of Brenna’s friends from high school. Over the last year, Tammy & I forged a friendship that endured after Brenna left for college. In June, I took her on as a photography assistant / student and she’s accompanied me on a number of shoots recently. Given that her family lives way out in the back country and that they’re in worse shape financially than we are; we decided jointly to offer her a place with us. This wasn’t all my decision; it was a family discussion and decision. After previous experiences with housemates and long term guests, I wouldn’t have made the offer except that she’s impressed me. She’s motivated to better herself, willing to help us around the house and she gets along with all of us. If anything, the extra set of hands around the house is a very welcome benefit.


Photography –
I’m making some fundamental changes. Yes I’m still shooting. That being said, I’ve done a shoot of some manner or form over the last couple weekends. I’m also getting product delivered to models and catalogs. The difference is the method. First, I’m sending most images out via www.DropBox.com which is an FTP site. It means I don’t have to pay shipping for CD-Rs or wonder if they’ve gotten to the intended recipient (I’ve had my problems with packages going into oblivion over the last few years). Second, with certain exceptions, the modeling images are going out unedited for review and so the subject can select images they like or want. Too many times over the years, selecting images to work with has been too difficult. Either I don’t think they meet my standards or I think they ALL look incredible. Normally I want the added input and feedback. Since only the model and I have access to the images (thru DropBox), I can be assured of privacy and copyright security as well. Third, my motivation has been returning to be able to work on artistic shots. Given that, I’ll start posting nature, abandoned site and other art shots again to my blogs in a few weeks.


Halloween –
The house is mostly decorated. The graveyard is built and figures are out and set up. Lighting and the fog machine will be tested tonight and tomorrow. I’ve got some minor adjustments and additions but I think we’re in good shape for the weekend. The nice thing is the neighbors are also decorating or at least supportive. I’ve gotten more than a few positive comments. Costuming for myself and Chris is now the challenge. I’ll work that issue today. Tomorrow is Tia & Chris’s party and Sunday is the Zombie Walk downtown.


An odd note,
I tend to take hints and messages from the powers that be thru the music I hear and the things that reach out to grab my attention. Over the past few days, I've increasingly noticed more and more references to California and to some extent to Angie. Since she appologzed and I'm not complaining about the past, I'm wondering what it all means.

Garden of the Gods, CO - 2010

It's all a matter of perspective..