Friday, September 22, 2006

Lux W Europe #7 Rome


Oh my god ROME! This place is crazy amazing. I'm sure for anyone that has been here you know what I mean but to explain further, down every cobble stoned alley you turn a corner and there is some monumentally unbelievable ancient structure. Trevi Fountain is not far from where I am staying and I cannot get over it. I am dumbfounded by this place at every turn and what a great city to wander through alone or with company...

I was a bit worried upon arrival that I would just not be able to figure out a way to shoot here. Mining my resources I met with Ezio Genovesi, a professor I had been emailing, who teaches part of the RISD Junior Year Honors Program in Rome, and Jan Baker, another faculty, who both offered some great suggestions including contacting the American Academy here (who apparently have an incredible view). No go with the Academy who needed more time to get me permission to access the building but further luck (Pink P?) offered me some help and I connected with my brother friends', Lila and Paulo's, friend Min. The generous and helpful native New Yorker, who recently moved to Rome to start a program in Industrial Design, was up for the random adventures my unique situation prompts. So we ate some great Italian food at a restaurant called "the Morgue" apparently because the tables are made of marble slabs, and then told a confused taxi driver to take us up to Gianicolo Hill, a beautiful park that looks out over the city. We found an empty slot on the Piazzle Girabaldi between many Italian lovers and took a foggy shot of Rome. Not sure how it will come out but have good hopes for it...Bed at 3am.
Covered the Pantheon, the Spanish Steps, the Vatican and Sistine Chapel today. Not enough time. Fly to Berlin tomorrow.

Wednesday, September 20, 2006

Lux W Europe # 6 Milan

My arrival in Milan was a sharp contrast to the recent experience in Madrid. No cutoms and my bags were the first to spit out both intact and untouched. Must be the Pink Panther. On to a taxi straight to my 17 story hotel the Michelangelo. Arrived late at night and was booked into a room on the 14th floor. Unfortunately it looked out onto the dark side of the city. No, I'm serious, really dark... made me wonder how Milan had made the map...
Snuck around the hotel looking for possible alternate spots to set up and found a large outdoor metal fire escape\ staircase climbing the height of the building. It still only looked out over dark Milan. Standing out on the metal balcony on floor 17 a sideways drizzle started and I decided to call it a night. 12am. The next day I asked to change rooms and was placed in the perfect spot on the front corner of the 16th floor which offered 2 different views of downtown. One especially nice, looked out over the impressive train station and a giant piazza with Milan spread behind. After a run in the park and a lazy day recovering from Madrid, I stayed up until 2am trying 2 hour exposures for each of two shots to see if I can push the scenes a little. We'll see. Nervous to experiment but better to overexpose than under... [a photo chant]

BREAK: Off to Cinque Terre for 2 days on the coast between Genoa and Rome to relax.Then back to work. Rome next.

Sunday, September 17, 2006

Lux:W Europe #5 Madrid

Arrived at Madrid Airport at 4:20 to see my camera bag floating around the baggage claim belt. Off to get a trolley and it dissapeared. 2 hours later I finally convinced an unhelpful airline employee to look outside. He found it. My lenses and tripod and flimholders had all been stolen by someone working at the airport. Not a good start to the mainland journey. The following day my parents' friend Fernando, the kindest man alive, help me find replacements for the stolen items at the only place in Madrid that carries large format equipment. The only lens board that Juan Luiz, the large format expert at the store, could find that would fit my new lens has a small sticker in the lower right hand corner of a sleepy pink panther in his pajamas holding a candle. A strange added emblem for something usually owned by serious folk but the PP is the perfect mascot for the rest of my project as I am always in the dark and eventually exhausted. Hoping he will bring me better luck... From the camera store Fernando and I headed off to find a place to shoot. After a lot of brainstorming we decided to first try a park near Fernando and his wife Cristina's apartment and it turned out to be absolutely perfect!! The PP prevails! A few hours later I set up a shot on the top of a hill overlooking all of the city with good company; Fernando, Cristina and Vicky (a childhood friend of my good friend Yolanda, both natives of Madrid). Got myself two good shots with perfect cloudy weather. Could not have asked for more good luck inside the bad... on to Milan.

Tuesday, September 12, 2006

Lux: W Europe # 4 Birmingham

Up at 9 and ready for the 5 hour drive back down to the middle of England to get to Coventry early enough to have dinner with one of my mom's oldest friends and her husband and daughter and to make plans for photographing nearby Birmingham. Proud to say I drove most of the way, my brain managing to flip everything around successfully. Two things might have helped my ability to switch to the English side of the road; my being a lefty and looking at the world upsidedown and backwards all the time through my camera... Mid-dinner at the Adams' a serious thunderstorm arrived breaking a few weeks of warmth the brits have been baffled by. A relief from the heat but another bout of interesting timing for my shooting schedule...Rain hammered and poured off the greenhouse roof that extended out from the house in a series of relentless shoots. I just gave into the idea that this was a city I might have to redo at the end of the trip or next summer... I had plans for us to meet a contact I'd made through my friend Anna in Southwest Birmingham at sunset (8pm). Hoping the rain might stop Neeta and I decided to just head over. I called our new friend Andrew who was 30 min away and he said not a drop of rain was falling where he was in Birmingham which seemed so strange. Low and behold 10 mins before arriving at his house the rain was no longer pounding on our windshield! A very nice and generous Andrew jumped in the car and guided us to an overlook called Lickey Hills which offered a view of the sprawl of Birmingham. Not spectacular but definitely workable. There were quite a few sketchy groups about but we set up the cameras on this funny castle structure in the middle of the hill which allowed for a slightly higher viewpoint.
Again I set up a 2 hour exposure which had a few showers squeezed into it during which we all took turns holding large umbrellas over the cameras. To get the chills out of our bones around hour 1:30 we ran around the ''castle'' in circles to keep warm. A wet but nice night on a dark green hill with good company and the silhouette of flying bats set against the orange glow of the city. A nearly full moon peaked in and out of the rain clouds, too high to be in the shots but as always welcomed company. Shoot 4 done. Recover at Neeta's in Hamstead Marshall and on to Madrid wed...

Lux: W Europe # 3 Edinburgh

One of my favorite cities of all, Edinburgh, is a stark contrast to the industrial aesthetic of Glasgow. It's castle is nestled a top a hill right in the middle of the city centre. Gorgeous Georgian architecture surrounds and nearby in Hollyrood Park stands Arthur's Seat, a tilt of a peak that over looks the city. After spending an unseasonably warm afternoon for a Scottish September walking along the Royal Mile, Neeta and I began scouting for our second UK shoot well before it was dark. We were determined to get some sleep. Via car at the end of the Royal Mile we followed the 5 mile loop around Holyrood park until we found a smaller one-way road weaving upward toward the Seat. After circling around the back of the park the road brought us back out toward a city view of spires, old buildings and the castle on the left and Athur's Seat on the right. There was no way I was going to find a better interplay of land and city for this shot. Relieved and happy to have found it so early we decided to take another lap around the park and just see what else was around. Within the 5 minutes we had made the loop back to the gate to our smaller one-way road, some how, unbelievably a fire had started and the gate was closed. Yes, A FIRE HAD STARTED. What are the chances? We had no way back to our spot...another pitfall. Luckily Neeta stayed calm and though I admitted I might lose my mind we brainstormed for a solution; we could either hike up the mountainous hill with all our equipment OR we could park by the exit gate to the road, wait until dark and drive up the wrong way to our lookout. We opted for the second. Around 8:00 we drove Neeta's Rav4 over a little curb past the gate and braved the one-way backward to our point. Luckily the park is open all night to the public which meant we could both shoot without a problem and but also that we were going to have some visitors. I set up the two cameras on an embankment sloping down from the road for another 2 hour exposure. So far UK cities are much dimmer than the US cities I've gotten used to shooting. The 2 hours should allow for some overexposure but this is a safer bet for getting enough information on my neg. It was a nice dry night with low clouds (which I like because they reflect the light I'm trying to record). Our only tense moment came when a jovial group walked by. Seeing the cameras one girl got curious and was about to climb down to see what they were. Both Neeta and I scared the hell out of her jumping out of the car yelling ''NO!!!'' A quick explanation curbed her curiosity and we all chatted a bit and laughed it off. Relieved for sleep we headed back to our B and B around midnight. No dew this time! Shoot 3, fin.

Lux: W Europe # 2 Glasgow

A long lovely drive brought Neeta and I up to Glasgow, Scotland, from the small heavenly village, Hamstead Marshall, Neeta inhabits with her similarly helpful and generous husband Paul. A tired team, we ventured up into the Campsie Fells North of Glasgow, as seen here,


to scout out a spot for the first shoot. Having stayed too long in the fine company of our hosts for the night (family friends) it was already dark when we began. This both had it's advantages and disadvantages for reading the land and finding a good place to shoot. Finally, weary and a bit frustrated we stumbled upon a location. Cradled between sloping hills we found the west side of Glasgow spread before us with electric towers running their lines across the hills in front. I decided on a 2 hour exposure for the dim orange light of this industrial Scottish city starting at 11:30 and ending at 1:30am. In the weeds on the side of a surprisingly busy road for a Sunday night I set up my camera and Neeta's (which she lent to offer a second shot). Side by side they soaked up the light while we camped out in the car fading in and out of fitful naps in the cold damp night. At 1:15 I decided to cut the shot a little short and came to find dew had formed on both the lenses. Not good...I'll only know once the negatives are processed if they will be usable. A frustrating first night but who said it was going to be easy or fluid....A test I decided. A reminder I am not in charge... I have to work with and take what I can get. On to Edinburgh.

Monday, September 4, 2006

Lux



So the travels begin... Western Europe: 11 cities in 34 days.

Last July, late into two summer nights and in one case well into the early morning, Lux was spawned on the London balcony and roof of two generous and curious friends of the great facilitator Neeta (http://www.purdyhicks.com/nm_images_1.htm) (The above image is from fellow photographer Stephen Gill's (www.stephengill.co.uk) studio roof).

Because London was technically the first shoot of the Western Europe segment, I begin with Glasgow, shoot #2...