Thursday

Filed under: General — Artflux at 1:23 pm on Thursday, August 31, 2006

For several years now I have been enjoying non genetically modified foods supplied by CSA ( Community Supported Agriculture) at The Sixth Street Community Center located in the Lower East Side of Manhattan. The mission at SOS FOOD is to challenge destructive practices of industrial agriculture and offer sane and sustainable alternatives. This year’s crop has been extra bountiful with the rain we had earlier in the season. Purchasing either a full share or half share enables you to weekly fresh produce from local farms that grow their food organically. I put in one of two required terms of duty this week helping set up the market. SOS Food is a grassroots organization and the largest of it’s kind in the New York metropolitan area. There are currently about 66 members who participate.

In addition there is a greenmarket four times a week at Union Square that provideds organically grown foods from farms in the tri state area.

Heat Wave

Filed under: Portraits — Artflux at 8:17 am on Friday, August 25, 2006

After a long sabbatical of sorts I’m back. I’ve been working on a new web site on my new domain that will host the blog eventually. Stay tuned. At the moment it is in the development stages. The url is artflux.org/gallery. If your interested in seeing the favorite photos from a recent session of Ralph Perkins I have a gallery at the above link. I met Ralph in the early 90’s in Vegas where he was based for many years.

My cycling is primary my early morning activity before the heat of mid day arrives. I’ve biked 1464 miles so far this year. Last year at this time I had slightly more at 1529. I suspect that we have had more rain days this year. The rain has slowed meaning more favorable conditions for long early morning rides.

At the moment we are in the midst of a New York heat wave that is pushing the envelope of comfort tolerance. The temperatur has inched up to nearly 100F two days in a row The New York Triathlon was well attended this year Sunday morning. The finishing link was in Central Park so I was able to catch the finishing run to the line of some of the elite athletes were in the lead. I didn’t take any photos as I tend to not carry a camera with me on my road bike.

I’ve actually been surviving the heat although working in the studio tends to make me a little lethargic at times. I managed to print in the lab this week of some negatives of Ralph that I took back in the 90’s I’m in the process of transferring old VHS video to DVD. Some of the tapes are nearly 30 years old so I thought it was about time to convert them to digital. I’ve been using the Pinnacle MovieBox DV that works great with my new Nec DVD burner. I’ve also bought a new Seagate external drive to store some of the digital files that have filled both of the internal drives. The canon digital tends to eat up space. And gradually I’ve converted most of my CD collection to mp3 before more of them are lifted. It’s discouraging to find that several seem to have mysteriously vanished perhaps from disgruntled roommates or drunken party guests that may have barrowed them 5 finger discount style.

I’ve been watching the Tour de France over the internet live on T/2 Danish TV. It’s pay for view but well worth it. The European Sports Network has live audio that’s free. Now that the riders are in the mountain stages of the race the climbing may be testing the endurance to the 10th degree. Michael Rasmussen seems to be hanging in there in 1st place. The Australian Robby McEwan is in the overall lead. I saw him race a couple of years ago in the New York City Pro Cycling Tour a couple of years ago. So adios for now.

Elizabeth Parkinson

Filed under: Portraits — Artflux at 4:03 pm on Thursday, August 24, 2006

In 1992 I photographed Elizabeth Parkinson. At the time she was dancing with The Joffrey Ballet Company. She has danced with Twyla Tharp Dance as well. Elizabeth has received the Tony nomination for Best Actress in a Musical, Movin’ Out . She has received the Drama Desk nomination for Outstanding Actress. In 2003 she received The Astaire Award for Best Female Dancer. She was also featured in Fosse from 1999-2001. It was a pleasure to have worked with such a talented dancer.

Ralph Perkins Dance

Filed under: Portraits — Artflux at 2:20 pm on Wednesday, August 23, 2006

Ralph Perkins Choreographer

Some Polaroids

Filed under: Portraits — Artflux at 9:11 am on Friday, August 11, 2006


Break the Addiction

Filed under: Movies — Artflux at 2:23 pm on Monday, August 7, 2006

Hello again. I’m checking in from the home front for another stimulating post. I saw a couple of movies this weekend. Break the Addiction: An Inconvenient Truth, the Al Gore documentary about global warming was scary. It’s ironic that the movie theatre was so cold that I should have brought along a jacket. Talk about energy wasting. Anyway if the charts and predictions are true things don’t look too hopeful. I actually take this all with a grain of salt since the film is narrated by a politician, and probably exagerated somewhat.

Then Sunday night I took in an old 40’s movie at Anthology Archives in the East Village titled Rome: Open City A tense Resistance story, set during the German occupation of Rome, with subtitles in Italian. Shot newsreel style on Roman streets ravaged by war, the film still packs an enormous emotional punch, with fine performances from Anna Magnani and Aldo Fabrizi. Again the theatre was ice old. And Anthology is supposed to be a non profit arts organization. I wonder where they are getting all the funding to run the AC. The only way to beat the inevitable global warming scenario is to eject from Western civilization as we know it.

Heat Wave Reprise

Filed under: General — Artflux at 4:03 pm on Tuesday, August 1, 2006

Buenas mis amigos. There’s a lot to catch up on since my last post so I apologize for not posting more regularly. I’ve been working on various photographic projects in the studio and lab. Yes I am still using film although the thought of going into the darkroom on frightfully hot days like today is not a pleasant one. So I’ve been transferring an old Calgary 88 Olympics video to DVD to remind me of the colder months of years past. The old VHS tapes are beginning to fade so I thought it was a good idea to compact them to DVD format.

Eventually I want to purchase a super 8 projector on ebay to transfer the family’s old 30 some year old movies before they dissolve away. The editing process is actually lots of fun. Stay tuned.