New York June NYC Meet-Up

[Calzone]

June is being a hectic month and flies by, so not checking in so often. Good life style discussions earlier.


Scandinavian summers are very nice, long warm days and no night (twilight from 22 to 03). Though light during noon is hard and there's the occasional rainy day.


There's an amusement park here that offers concerts with a $35 season pass. Basically been to as many concerts as possible and it's a great location to do varied shooting, as well as practice telephoto with the stage.


Only squeezed a couple days of darkroom printing. It's a bit of an antithesis to the ethos of the season (seek outdoors as much as possible!) but that's when no qualms to get into the darkroom during rainy/boring days.
Quite enjoyable and I'm starting to get good in printing. Got surprised with a straight print from HP5 without even using a test strip.





As of what you say with Maggie, Malta really surprised me during a short visit. English was great, and didn't feel lost like in italy (despite me speaking spanish and a relative cross-compatibility).


Your observations of different character are interesting. I have a friend who is just about the greatest person I met recently, and his sister is a jetsetter. If I only could marry the sister, if she had his character!

Jorde,

I find that being a printmaker makes me a better shooter. I think John has it right when he stated the best asset is a trained eye when it comes to being a photographer.

Lately I have been embracing color, so now I have yet another rabbit hole to explore.

In the end the lower Hudson valley seems like a good place for me to spread out a little so I can print. I may never be able to do a "Dan" and max out a darkroom for wet printing.

Might never have the studio space to exploit my digital negative capabilities with Piezography and contact print limited editions.

If I go into urban gypsy mode and do suitcase traveling, then I might have to shoot digitally exclusively for a while. I'd be hard pressed to downsize the analog cameras and darkroom I already have in Public Storage.

One thing I learned from my different kind of homelessness is to remain forward thinking and to not box myself out.

This is how I remain with 4 very cool vintage bikes, a herd of great cameras, and a darkroom for when the time is right.

Maggie found Mad-Rid politically too conservative, and stated she would be unhappy there. Pretty much she requires Barcelona or nothing.

In my life I have had to become a Cam-eel-leon and had to blend in even if I stand out. Not un-natural for me to adapt and be flexible like bamboo. I think Spain offers a lot. So what the politics are evil just like here in the U.S.

Although Barcelona is 25% less cost of living than NYC, it is no bargain, Mad-Rid is 30% less than NYC, and for that 5% I like Mad-Rid more. I understand that a jet-setter requires good access to an airport.

30% less cost of living than NYC is about the maximum for me financially, but that means I could afford living in Seattle, another expensive city, although that is living at my maximum which might not be sustainable.

Back in the day I enjoyed flight benefits through my sister who worked for TWA. Pretty much everything bad that could happen to me flying has happened to me except a plane crash or a hijacking. Flying around gets tiring after a while.

Although I had VIP treatment for Mad-Rid for the three days I stayed at the Palace of the Dukes, eating 5-star like a king, this trip was five days of my life if you account for time zone and travel time. Kinda like seeing a hot looking woman, not even getting a first kiss, and no sex. For me I find this frustrating.

I find no satisfaction, gratification, or reward from such teasing. Makes little sense to me, especially since this taste was not real life.

A trip to Cold Spring I happen to find like doing my due diligence. It seems like time well spent, is not costly, and motivates me to make something happen that seems practical.

Christian made a good point when he said, "Any city is a great place to live if you can more than afford the luxury of living there."

Cal

 

[Prest_400]

Pretty much what I percieve Cal.
Quite ironical I moved out from the Barcelona area, to the Stockholm one. I often get asked why. It was hard to get some solid career footing there and growth is elsewhere for me. Went to school for a bit which revitalized me a lot, despite it not coming from the study part but changing lifestyle. Just moved a year ago...

I've started to have a meaningful social circle here and I don't really think or want to move out again. I recall that you wrote something about NYC being great is it being a melting pot. A university town sort of offers the feeling, but people are much more transient. Basically I feel like the only one that put the hard effort to become local, as I am not staying for short.



Despite in my mid 20s I feel a need for settling down, find a meaningful other. I don't really think about those exotic longer trips and kinda need to find a meaningful other. But there seems to be some evil that makes this hard.

The seeing hot women around that are indifferent, I got used to here!



Talking about full equip darkroom, I am very happy to have joined a great photo club that keeps one. The largest enlarger takes 8x10 negs...

So in the foreseeable future I don't really think about doing my own darkroom. Also, I see that large silver printing is quite cumbersome. Although I find that the camera part of photography is quite mobile and able to fit into a gypsy lifestyle.

 

[Calzone]

Pretty much what I percieve Cal.
Quite ironical I moved out from the Barcelona area, to the Stockholm one. I often get asked why. It was hard to get some solid career footing there and growth is elsewhere for me. Went to school for a bit which revitalized me a lot, despite it not coming from the study part but changing lifestyle. Just moved a year ago...

I've started to have a meaningful social circle here and I don't really think or want to move out again. I recall that you wrote something about NYC being great is it being a melting pot. A university town sort of offers the feeling, but people are much more transient. Basically I feel like the only one that put the hard effort to become local, as I am not staying for short.



Despite in my mid 20s I feel a need for settling down, find a meaningful other. I don't really think about those exotic longer trips and kinda need to find a meaningful other. But there seems to be some evil that makes this hard.

The seeing hot women around that are indifferent, I got used to here!



Talking about full equip darkroom, I am very happy to have joined a great photo club that keeps one. The largest enlarger takes 8x10 negs...

So in the foreseeable future I don't really think about doing my own darkroom. Also, I see that large silver printing is quite cumbersome. Although I find that the camera part of photography is quite mobile and able to fit into a gypsy lifestyle.

Jorde,

Bravo for the adventure and challenge.

I say, "I never knew anyone with a complicated life that was happy."

I had a trophy wife that was high maintenance and also was kinda useless.

I say hold out for someone that is worth sacrificing part of your life for, otherwise it is best to be alone. Also find someone who is developed enough to be happy alone. This avoids someone being dependent on you for their happiness.

The world of fashion and blogging has made things complicated. On one hand the money is vast, but you don't know how long it can be sustained. Not so sure if Maggie is happy, even though she has become wealthy, famous, and has accomplished a lot.

The way I look at things after decades of being active in the art world and having been part of NYC culture and history pretty much I don't need or require any glory or recognition.

In a way I'm rather proud and happy I did make my art a commodity and a way to make a living. I find it mucho rewarding just pleasing myself and doing only what I want.

As far as being famous or a celeb, I see it as a liability and something I would rather not be bothered with. I don't see any benefit.

I don't want a complicated life because it makes at least me unhappy. I don't like being cronically busy, I would rather just do one thing well and really experience it, and it seems an excess of money does not ensure more happiness.

In my current austerity mode I'm living on a fraction of my salary. I am both saving a lot of money, and also unwinding a lot of debt. In a ways I'm already living on a fixed income that is well below my retirement entitlements, yet I still have a rich life, while living in NYC (One of top ten most expensive cities in the world).

Perhaps the only other time I felt more carefree was when I was 17 and hitch hiking to Florida with $14.00 in my pocket. I was with my friend Richie who left New York with $25.00. We were on the road for over ten days before returning home.

It is really interesting how people get caught up in things and how they loose their sense of freedom. Hard to realize unless like in that song you have nothing to loose and nothing-nothing is free.

Cal

 

[Prest_400]

This younger friend I have reminds me on how you said you met Chris (?) as that kid in the guitar store. Great kid but I percieve some naivetée and simplistic view, but it's also a different upbringing. I feel the slaps and hits that life gave me just made me simple. Perhaps is that little antisocial-artistic part we have. Anyhow in the long run, lifestyle should be simpler given the way how the environment is bearing our excesses...
As of being a celeb, it's interesting how kids nowadays want to be influencers and youtubers. IDK, think I could handle being one but would need space and air. Many stories of the famous kids having problems eventually due to the overexposure.



Back to what the NYC meet up tends to be about, I shot some of this 1996 TMX that was in a bulk loader at the camera club and was given. I just shot it with a thrift find mju I.

Damn film printed straight really good!

Makes me think of your collective Super XX deal. Not a bad idea to have a load of well keeping film for years to come.



I say 35mm is like the Hotel California of formats. You might want to leave it but it eventually comes back in some form or other. Whether through some found film, thrift or adopted camera. 😛

 

[Calzone]

This younger friend I have reminds me on how you said you met Chris (?) as that kid in the guitar store. Great kid but I percieve some naivetée and simplistic view, but it's also a different upbringing. I feel the slaps and hits that life gave me just made me simple. Perhaps is that little antisocial-artistic part we have. Anyhow in the long run, lifestyle should be simpler given the way how the environment is bearing our excesses...
As of being a celeb, it's interesting how kids nowadays want to be influencers and youtubers. IDK, think I could handle being one but would need space and air. Many stories of the famous kids having problems eventually due to the overexposure.



Back to what the NYC meet up tends to be about, I shot some of this 1996 TMX that was in a bulk loader at the camera club and was given. I just shot it with a thrift find mju I.

Damn film printed straight really good!

Makes me think of your collective Super XX deal. Not a bad idea to have a load of well keeping film for years to come.



I say 35mm is like the Hotel California of formats. You might want to leave it but it eventually comes back in some form or other. Whether through some found film, thrift or adopted camera. 😛

Jorde,

Although I admire large format, I love shooting a M-body for wides or a SLR with a fast 50 for speed shooting and for taking lots of shots.

With medium format the cameras are slower and of course 8-10 or 12 shots per roll gets more costly.

Pleasing an audience in a sustainable manner is not so easy. It takes its toll. Some people need the attention to feed their ego.

Anyways there is a lot of mediocrity in the world, and I would not want to contribute to more of it. Perhaps that is why I advocate artistic solitude and a bit of anti-social behavior. It is pretty hard to "stand alone."

For me artistic freedom for me is its own greatest reward. I only have to please myself. I don't need the admiration of others. At this point I don't even want it because it really does not matter.

Cal

 

[Nokton48]

"I say 35mm is like the Hotel California of formats. You might want to leave it but it eventually comes back in some form or other. Whether through some found film, thrift or adopted camera."

Agree, Agree!

I spent over an hour in the dark, rolling 100' of 5222 XX onto a Kodak Daylight film reel (which came with a roll of real Tr-X). Bulk loaded four rolls of XX and loaded all the 35mm camera bodies. I haven't picked one up in over a year.

SRT with 21mm F4 MC 2 by Nokton48, on Flickr

 

[Calzone]

"I say 35mm is like the Hotel California of formats. You might want to leave it but it eventually comes back in some form or other. Whether through some found film, thrift or adopted camera."

Agree, Agree!

I spent over an hour in the dark, rolling 100' of 5222 XX onto a Kodak Daylight film reel (which came with a roll of real Tr-X). Bulk loaded four rolls of XX and loaded all the 35mm camera bodies. I haven't picked one up in over a year.

SRT with 21mm F4 MC 2 by Nokton48, on Flickr

Dan,

That ultra-wide Minolta rig has lots of style.

"I love it."

As much as I love my Monochrom and Piezography, 35mm B&W film seems to me like coming home.

Shooting digital BTW has made me a better analog photographer.

Something about making great negatives is mucho rewarding. Also no Lightroom or Photoshop to rescue images. Making negatives that are easy to print is real skill.

Cal

 

[Calzone]

Next weekend I booked for babysitting a 5 year old. Therefore no June Meet-Up.

"Maggie" and I went to Cold Spring, 45 miles north of NYC, and an hour and 10 minutes from Grand Central. Cold Spring is a tiny village with about 2000 inhabitants, but was filled with tourists doing day trips.

On the other side of a mountain park just north on the Hudson lays Beacon. The Cold Spring real estate guy told us that in Beacon the redevelopment is like in NYC: tear down and build new, while the redevelopment of Cold Spring and Garrison one town just south is basically more controlled and restricted in not building what I call "Ghetto Busters."

What I find interesting is that Breakneck Ridge is close by and serious hiking possibilities abound. Peekskill with its mountain biking and Bear Mountain State Park is not far away.

BTW West Point is opposite Garrision and not Cold Spring, although Cold Spring had a foundry that built cannons and rifles during the Civil War.

Cold Spring seemed too tiny. Looking forward to doing an overnighter in Hudson further north. Hudson gets compared to Brooklyn.

I'm reading a book by the physicist Stephen Hawkin that came from Philippe's library that is really two books combined into one: A Brief History Of Time; and The Universe In A Nutshell. While not for everyone it connects a lot of dots for me. An interest in Astrophysics and Quantum Mechanics allows easy reading and the ability to process lots of abstracted thinking.

The concept of a forth dimention of time-space evolved from Heisenburg's uncertainty principle is interesting to me. In a way it relates to my photography. I can re-frame my time-space and uncertainty as a gentrifier and ethnographer. Interesting how I could easily warp these abstract ideas into my own work.

Cal

 

[Range-rover]

Did they have any of those antique shops I spoke of in Cold Springs?

 

[Calzone]

Did they have any of those antique shops I spoke of in Cold Springs?

Bob,

There was a fair amount of antique shops, but I'm holding out thinking that Hudson will have more and will be bigger.

Hudson missed by one vote being the capitol of New York State. Mucho historical houses.

Ideally less of a tourist trap than Cold Spring. Also ideally if I could rent a studio in NYC to have a place to sleep or overnight as well as having a place in the Hudson Valley.

On the way home the train was overloaded with drunk Yankee fans that were heading to a game. Also the train was about a half hour late. Oh-well.

Cal

 

[Prest_400]

Next weekend I booked for babysitting a 5 year old. Therefore no June Meet-Up.

Cal

Sounds like fun adventure.


I've always lived off-city and commuted. The advantage in Europe is that smaller towns tend to have their own history and attraction (ie. not boring artificial suburbs) and then you tend to have much more nature around. I miss a bit of mountain boondocks.



Getting anything in a large city center seems quite off hand nowadays. I've settled in a 200K pop city next to the capital, so it works quite well. But the expectation of eventually commuting that hour for work is there, unless being lucky to get some local work.


Scenery Biking this friday with a friend. Turns out that my current definition of biking is old-school relaxed fire trail riding with lots of stops for photography. Supposedly I would drive most bike people mad with this style and they are the worst people to ride around for scenery 😀



Will be taking Medium format for a spin and perhaps try Delta 100. I wanted to do more fill flash stuff and got a Canon Speedlite in a trade ($5!) but the damn thing doesn't have an auto thyristor mode for EZ-PZ fill flash

 

[slowbicycle]

On the other side of a mountain park just north on the Hudson lays Beacon. The Cold Spring real estate guy told us that in Beacon the redevelopment is like in NYC: tear down and build new, while the redevelopment of Cold Spring and Garrison one town just south is basically more controlled and restricted in not building what I call "Ghetto Busters."
Cal

Cal, which day were you guys in Cold Spring? Saturday I was actually up at Dia:Beacon and stopped by Cold Spring afterwards for ice cream😀

It's true about Beacon, cause I was surprised by the multiple new developments going up! Thankfully, the main drag so far seems to have maintained much of the old local businesses including Quinn's Lounge, a live music club that serves Japanese style food. Unfortunately it was closed during the daytime, but the overall vibe reminded me of Tokyo 7-7 in Culver City. A decades old hole in the wall establishment seemingly run by a Japanese grandma, it served quality Japanese-American diner fare for cheap. It has sadly since shut down🙁

Overall, Cold Spring was more crowded and did seem more tourist friendly with all the retail shops.

Sunday I went up to Mohonk Mountain House, and that was very scenic with great views. Hiking trails and I believe biking also, so right up your alley, Cal!

 

[Calzone]

Cal, which day were you guys in Cold Spring? Saturday I was actually up at Dia:Beacon and stopped by Cold Spring afterwards for ice cream😀

It's true about Beacon, cause I was surprised by the multiple new developments going up! Thankfully, the main drag so far seems to have maintained much of the old local businesses including Quinn's Lounge, a live music club that serves Japanese style food. Unfortunately it was closed during the daytime, but the overall vibe reminded me of Tokyo 7-7 in Culver City. A decades old hole in the wall establishment seemingly run by a Japanese grandma, it served quality Japanese-American diner fare for cheap. It has sadly since shut down🙁

Overall, Cold Spring was more crowded and did seem more tourist friendly with all the retail shops.

Sunday I went up to Mohonk Mountain House, and that was very scenic with great views. Hiking trails and I believe biking also, so right up your alley, Cal!

Dunstan,

My latest style of biking I favor are long solitary rides that pretty much is just time in the saddle.

I like New Paltz. Nothing like an old hippy town that is not far from Woodstock. I like the Gunks and Lake Min-A-waska. In the fall we would go up and ride the "Carrage Roads" along the cliffs to take in the fall foliage. On the road we would head into town using the long descent to hit terminal velocity (close to 50 mph on a mountain bike).

Mohonk is cool for me. Pretty much you can attain great speeds, and care has to be taken not to go off the cliff.

We were in Cold Spring on Saturday. We too got ice cream at a shop close to the train. I liked the ice cream a lot because it had great flavor and was not over sweetened. Because I avoid sweets whenever I do eat anything with sugar it seems overly sweet.

It has been a while since I was at Beacon. Back then they were converting the real old industrial buildings near the falls and the "Roundhouse." Parts of Beacon I would say were "shabby."

It seems both Maggie and I love the old houses and buildings the most. The new builds are kinda sanitized and sterile.

Seems like we need to head further north.

I remember seeing a listing in New Paltz that pretty much was a glass cube that had about 1200 feet of square footage on a few acres bordering state land. Built by an architech as his own getaway it was not for a lot of money a decade ago.

When going up on the through-way it makes sense to have a crash pad in NYC. Seems evident that we have to get out of commuting distance.

Cal

 

[Calzone]

Sounds like fun adventure.


I've always lived off-city and commuted. The advantage in Europe is that smaller towns tend to have their own history and attraction (ie. not boring artificial suburbs) and then you tend to have much more nature around. I miss a bit of mountain boondocks.



Getting anything in a large city center seems quite off hand nowadays. I've settled in a 200K pop city next to the capital, so it works quite well. But the expectation of eventually commuting that hour for work is there, unless being lucky to get some local work.


Scenery Biking this friday with a friend. Turns out that my current definition of biking is old-school relaxed fire trail riding with lots of stops for photography. Supposedly I would drive most bike people mad with this style and they are the worst people to ride around for scenery 😀



Will be taking Medium format for a spin and perhaps try Delta 100. I wanted to do more fill flash stuff and got a Canon Speedlite in a trade ($5!) but the damn thing doesn't have an auto thyristor mode for EZ-PZ fill flash

Jorde,

Seems like Fuji has released an Acros II in Japan. Hopefully this makes it way to Europe and the U.S. Pretty much no grain on the old Acros. Only 100 ISO, but no reciprocy failure making it great for tripod night shooting.

The problem I'm seeing is that NYC has gotten so big that one has to really get somewhat far away to get that out of NYC escape feeling. Pretty much I don't want to deal with tourists.

Cal

 

[jszokoli]

The problem I'm seeing is that NYC has gotten so big that one has to really get somewhat far away to get that out of NYC escape feeling. Pretty much I don't want to deal with tourists.

Cal

Cal,

If you want to escape tourists you need to go somewhere that no one wants to go, like Queens...

Joe

 

[Calzone]

Cal,

If you want to escape tourists you need to go somewhere that no one wants to go, like Queens...

Joe

Joe,

Would you want me as one of your neighbors?

Cal

 

[Range-rover]

Bob,

There was a fair amount of antique shops, but I'm holding out thinking that Hudson will have more and will be bigger.

Hudson missed by one vote being the capitol of New York State. Mucho historical houses.

Ideally less of a tourist trap than Cold Spring. Also ideally if I could rent a studio in NYC to have a place to sleep or overnight as well as having a place in the Hudson Valley.

On the way home the train was overloaded with drunk Yankee fans that were heading to a game. Also the train was about a half hour late. Oh-well.

Cal

Oh no that's pretty bad, not as bad as a train full of drunk santa's.