just some random shots

January 2, 2008 - Hackensack, NJ. Red-nosed VW in the parking lot of Target. I'm sure I could have found a better composition for this subject. You can barely see the antlers. Man, do people go nuts for Christmas.


January 4, 2008 - 175th Street station of the New York Subway system. This far north, I think only the "A" train comes to this station. It's where I go to/get off because it's where the George Washington Bridge is. I take a bus to cross the bridge, or sometimes walk. Why am I talking in the present tense?

iTunes soundtrack:
1. Trimmed and Burning (Built to Spill)
2. Vigil (Fish)
3. Pale (Kristin Hersh)
4. Creatures of Love (Talking Heads)
5. Eleanor Rigby (The Beatles)
6. Imamura Jane (Southern All-Stars)
7. Welcome to the Jungle (Guns 'N Roses)
8. Cracked Actor (David Bowie)
9. Dead End Job (The Police)
10. Trees (live) (Rush)

more Edgewater

January 10, 2008 - Probably around the same area as the previous post, but a couple days later, meaning I was probably down there watching movies. I remember "Sweeney Todd" came out about then. I forget what else I saw. I'm looking forward to the new "Batman". My co-worker already saw it to review it for the paper, although I didn't think we did movie reviews in house, we usually pull them from a U.S. wire. He said it was really good, mind-alteringly good. He said I'd really like it. It opens here a day earlier than in the U.S.. Strange.


Garbage can in the Hudson River, with the New York skyline bending with the horizon.

iTunes soundtrack:
1. Gypsy (Fleetwood Mac)
2. Two Soldiers (David Byrne - "The Catherine Wheel")
3. Aeroflot (20 Minute Loop)
4. Koufukuron (Shiina Ringo)
5. Sweet Depression (Deadweight)
6. Macavity ("Cats")
7. Letter to a John/Tamburitza Lingua (live) (Ani DiFranco)
8. Bang! Bang! (Le Tigre)
9. Lazy (Suede)
10. I'll Be Back (demo) (The Beatles - Anthology)

Series shots

(1)

January 8, 2008 - Edgewater, NJ. Hudson River at sunset. New York City across the river.

(2)

A little further down the "pier".

(3)

Wake ripples, after a boat sailed past.

iTunes soundtrack:
1. The Difference Between Love and Hell (Sahara Hotnights)
2. Like a Lady (The Sounds)
3. Rock Me Now (Metric)
4. Assassing (live) (Marillion)
5. Hey Bulldog (The Beatles)
6. In the Rapids (live) (Genesis)
7. The Stars are Projectors (Modest Mouse)
8. Cello Suite No. 1, VI - Gigue (J.S. Bach - Yo-Yo Ma)
9. Say Hello to the World (Makihara Noriyuki)
10. Arabian Knights (Siouxsie & the Banshees)

Oh, and all Shiina Ringo muxtape. I think I'll upload a new muxtape every month or so. Wondering how that site will develop.

December 31, 2007 - Philadelphia church, same old theme, leaving Philly on New Year's Eve, car shot on the drive back to New Jersey below, blah blah blah, god, I gotta move on. Although you gotta admit that was pretty good light that day.

Well, I finally got a new roll developed today. I can't believe it took me half a year to finish a roll, that is seriously uninspired. So I'll blast through the rest of this roll and hope there's something worthy on the new roll.


This is probably still in Philly or in New Jersey before the Turnpike. It all looks the same.

I've had insomnia for a month, getting worse and worse. Now I'm either gonna cure it or accept it. I guess something's gotta change. It's weird. I'm not stressed, I don't have anything on my mind, I just can't sleep for more than 3 hours. But I did have this problem when I was working in San Francisco, so maybe the problem is work!

iTunes soundtrack:
1. Risky (Ryuichi Sakamoto)
2. Ripple (The Grateful Dead)
3. Not for the Life of Me ("Thoroughly Modern Millie")
4. I Never (Rilo Kiley)
5. Night On the Sun (Modest Mouse)
6. Driven to Tears (live) (The Police)
7. Fly on a Windshield (Genesis)
8. Other Side of the World (KT Tunstall)
9. Hey Ladies (The Beastie Boys)
10. El Flaco Funk (John Pena)

December 31, 2007 - Daytime tunnel. Car shots, train platform shots, it looks like some serious typography on this last roll of developed lomo shots I have. But it wasn't intentional. Ah, unintended typography, the final bastion for the uninspired. Along with photo essays.

Don't worry, I'm not gonna subject anyone to another photo essay, especially myself. I think this shot was right after crossing into New Jersey from Pennsylvania on route. . . whatever, I don't remember. I'm almost done finishing the one roll I've been working on since this roll. It's bound to be disappointing or pleasantly surprising.

iTunes soundtrack:
1. Good Times, Bad Times (Led Zeppelin)
2. Your Dirty Answer (Kristin Hirsch)
3. Ionizes & Atomizes (Modest Mouse)
4. Soul to Squeeze (Red Hot Chili Peppers)
5. White Sun (Takeshi Yamaguchi)
6. Blister in the Sun (Violent Femmes)
7. Obscured (Smashing Pumpkins)
8. I Don't Want U (Blonde Redhead)
9. Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love (Van Halen)
10. Believo! (Enon)

December 31, 2007 - Leaving Philadelphia on New Year's Eve. Urban skylines. Winter blue skies. Contrast to the sub-tropical Taipei drear, but it's all wonderful. What a great planet we have. Hope we can take care of it.

iTunes soundtrack:
1. Symphony No. 8, II. Tempo di menuetto (Beethoven)
2. Five to One (The Doors)
3. Thinking of No One But Me ("My and My Girl")
4. Bodies (Smashing Pumpkins)
5. Sin in My Heart (Siouxsie & the Banshees)
6. Kathy's Waltz (The Dave Brubeck Quartet)
7. Listen to What the Man Said (Wings)
8. Tainted Love (Soft Cell)
9. Disarm (live, English TV 1993) (Smashing Pumpkins)
10. Them Heavy People (Kate Bush)

December 20, 2007 - 42nd Street station, 8th Avenue line, New York City. I take the "A" train in New York. But not because I'm going to Harlem, which is what I assume is the significance in the Duke Ellington song, but because I come from much lamer New Jersey. My, but this lomo makes New York subways look clean. They're not.

iTunes soundtrack:
1. And God Created Whales (Hovhaness)
2. You're Gonna Get Yours (Public Enemy)
3. Melt the Guns (XTC)
4. Driver 8 (R.E.M.)
5. Story from a Thin Wall (Marillion)
6. Raga Parmeshwari (Ravi Shankar & Ustad Alla Rakha)
7. Desafinado (George Michael & Astrud Gilberto)
8. Room for the Life (Kate Bush)
9. Indoor Fireworks (The Costello Show feat. the Attractions)
10. Only Us (Peter Gabriel)

December 31, 2007 - Sunny, New Years Eve morning, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

iTunes soundtrack:
1. Victoria (live) (The Kinks)
2. Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Parts I-V) (Pink Floyd)
3. Dumbells (live) (Mission of Burma)
4. Love Love Love (Dreams Come True)
5. Custom Concern (Modest Mouse)
6. Where Am I Going? ("Sweet Charity" 1986)
7. Tremor Christ (Pearl Jam)
8. Pump (The Sugarcubes)
9. Burnin' Love (Sing Like Talking)
10. The Power of Crappy Music (A-Mei)

January 6, 2008 - AIX Bistro on the Upper West Side, New York City. There's a jazz combo playing in this long exposure.

I'm down in Kaohsiung now, where I have legitimate internet and "The Sopranos" on a functioning cable line. Makes me think I'll get TV and internet once I get back to Taipei. It was nice not having them, but let's get real, yo'm sayn? Come on, I missed two episodes of "The Sopranos". That just won't do.

Tomorrow's the Presidential election here. Should be interesting to say the least.

iTunes soundtrack:
1. Social Studies (David Byrne - "Music for the 'Knee Plays'")
2. Ain't Nobody Home (B.B. King)
3. Amy's Theme (Martin Denny - ultralounge)
4. The Boy (Smashing Pumpkins)
5. Arlington Girl (Shivaree)
6. Ol' 55 (Tom Waits)
7. Freddie Freeloader (Miles Davis)
8. Shatter (Liz Phair)
9. Torch Song (Marillion)
10. The Bewlay Brothers (David Bowie)

January 8, 2008 - Edgewater, New Jersey. This must have been a dock on the Hudson River, across from New York City. Now apartments and condos and a multi-plex behind me.

I still don't have internet at home. I'm posting from a bagel shop that under Taipei Main Station that happens to get someone's wireless. Too bad this isn't near where I live. I still have to look for a place near where I live that gets free internet.

I totally love my new place and the neighborhood. I can't believe I had qualms about moving, everything is so much better, even the slightly longer distances to every where. At least there are places to go now. Here's a pic of my new place. It's a photostitch panorama, a nifty feature of my new Canon SD870 (I think, I mostly know it by its Asian model number).

I'm going to Kaohsiung next Friday for a few days. I should have internet down there for those few days. And I might crack any day now and have internet installed.

iTunes soundtrack:
1. Who Needs Information? (Roger Waters)
2. Samukhela (Eyuphuro)
3. Goodbye Caroline (Aimee Mann)
4. Guhyasamaja Tantra, Chapter II (Monks of the Gyuto Monastery)
5. Straight (Deadweight)
6. Museum Song ("Barnum")
7. Who the Cap Fit (Bob Marley & the Wailers)
8. 真實 (A-Mei)
9. I Want Your (Hands On Me) (Sinead O'Connor)
10. People (King Crimson)

DWL

January 10, 2008 - Driving While Lomographing. River Road, Edgewater, New Jersey.

We actually had a sunny day in Taipei, and I still didn't make any headway on the roll that's currently in the 2.

iTunes soundtrack:
1. Expresso Love (Dire Straits)
2. Funky Monks (Red Hot Chili Peppers)
3. Blow Wind Blow (Tom Waits)
4. Sora Yori Umi Yori (Puri Puri Samba '91) (Princess Princess)
5. Rider on the Stormy Sea (Mary Timony)
6. Suite for Flute and Jazz Piano Trio No. 2, VI. Affectueuse (Claude Bolling/Jean-Pierre Rampal)
7. Let the Loser Melt (live) (Archers of Loaf)
8. Pick It Up, Lay It In the Cut (Sharon Jones & the Dapp Kings)
9. Rock and Roll With Me (David Bowie)
10. Time Stand Still (live) (Rush)

shadows and tall trees

December 31, 2007 - Philadelphia, PA. Random posts of random lomos. Furthermore I'm not shooting anything new. I might run out of shots to post, but actually I think I have a roll of black and white from last year that I never posted here.

I visited my brother, arriving the day before, and thought he had New Years Eve off, but alas he had to work so I didn't get to spend time with him before I headed back to New Jersey. I walked a bit around his neighborhood before taking off. I saw this shot as I walked up to it, and knew I was going to have a problem with the sun behind me, so, well, that's my shadow at the bottom of the tree. I stood behind the tree and wrapped my arms around the tree and shot, trying to be inconspicuous.

iTunes soundtrack:
1. Call Me (Throwing Muses)
2. Milk It (Nirvana)
3. Mending King (Three Mile Pilot)
4. Tag Team (Noriyuki Makihara)
5. (Meet) The Flintstones (Dirty Dozen Brass Band)
6. Candle (Matisyahu)
7. Lola (live) (The Kinks)
8. Everybody's Got the Right ("Assassins" - Sondheim)
9. Another Nail in My Heart (Squeeze)
10. I Know a Girl ("Chicago")

December 20, 2007 - Bryant Park skating rink, New York City. It feels like about this cold in Taipei now, but really it's only 56 degrees. Inside! I'm pretty sure this is unusually cold in Taipei, even for Winter, and it's as cold as I've felt here. At the store today I saw a lot of people buying ceramic space heaters. I was buying Scotch. Someone left a space heater in my apartment, so I have one, but I already have a dehumidifier running most of the time to keep the ceiling from dripping. I only want to imagine what a space heater would do to my utility bill.

iTunes soundtrack:
1. Funky Li'l Party (Paris)
2. Face On Your Head (100 Watt Smile)
3. What's Ya Take On Cassavettes (Le Tigre)
4. Koi wa I MY ME MINE (Bubble Gum Brothers)
5. Three Hopeful Thoughts (Rilo Kiley)
6. Flying Saucer Dudes (Bela Fleck & the Flecktones)
7. D.J. (David Bowie)
8. Jet Airliner (Paul Pena)
9. Kiseki no Wedding March (Blow Up Mix) (Nokko)
10. The Sinister Minister (live) (Bela Fleck & the Flecktones)

The Lonesome Crowded East

December 31, 2007 - New Jersey Turnpike, around Exit 13, approaching Newark Airport. I am so uninspired by this roll I have no idea what to do with it. I have a few more shots taken from the drive from Philadelphia to Englewood Cliffs, none the more inspired. But, there is an airplane in this shot!

iTunes soundtrack:
1. My Conviction ("Hair")
2. Hell In a Handbasket (20 Minute Loop)
3. Straight to the Top (Vegas) (Tom Waits)
4. Fuck and Run (Liz Phair)
5. Here's to the Atom Bomb (Smashing Pumpkins)
6. Get This Party Started (Pink)
7. Neal and Jack and Me (King Crimson)
8. Breathing (Kate Bush)
9. The Continental Way (Casiopea)
10. Tidal Wave (The Sugarcubes)

Finally From New Jersey

July 27, 2007 - But I didn't sneeze! Fort Lee, NJ. Probably my favorite New Jersey lomo.


This is my elementary school! It's so little compared to how I remembered it, and not just because it's in fisheye. Oh, the rotten childhood memories. Never want to do that again. Never want to put anyone through that. I guess there were some good ones in there, too. I liked band. I played tromb-b-bone until I started playing bass, and then the music director formed a Stage Band to *ahem* accomodate me. It was probably more of an excuse for him to jam, but it was fun.

iTunes soundtrack:
1. Even Better Than the Real Thing (U2)
2. Palladium (Weather Report)
3. White Ashes (Peter Gabriel - "OVO")
4. Jelly Belly (Smashing Pumpkins)
5. The Audience is Listening (Steve Vai)
6. Everything But Blue (Nokko)
7. Down And Out (Genesis)
8. Tradition (Stanley Clarke)
9. Dirt (live) (Mission of Burma)
10. Morning Glory (Versus)

New York in Reds

July 27, 2007 - New York City West Side. Piles and piles of salt, used for melting snow . . . in the middle of the Summer. OK, I have no idea what this is.


Hudson River - I think those are fire department related, used for fighting fires . . . in the middle of a river. OK, I have no idea what those are for.

iTunes soundtrack:
1. Candy Everybody Wants (10,000 Maniacs)
2. Tomorrow ("Annie")
3. The Trial (live) (Pink Floyd)
4. Save the People ("Godspell")
5. Please! (Southern All-Stars)
6. Pardon My French (Unwound)
7. Symphony No. 40, I. Molto Allegro (Mozart)
8. Yoky (Fatala - "Passion" Sources)
9. Yamagoe (Katsuya Yokoyama - shakuhachi)
10. Sold! (Enon)

car vs. bike

July 30, 2007 - Driving on Route 4 East in Paramus on my last day in New Jersey before leaving for Taiwan that night. Weird being in one place at one time, suddenly you're in another at another time.


July 27, 2007 - New York City, West Side Riverside Bikeways, they have cute little bicycle streetlights that most people seem to ignore. They're more cautionary than mandate it seems. I try to obey them, seeing as they put so much effort into making all those cute little bicycles. They're really high, though, I was stretching my arm all the way up trying to get the bicycle in the shot.

iTunes soundtrack:
1. Icarus (Borne On Wings of Steel) (Kansas)
2. Get 'Em Out By Friday (Genesis)
3. Again and Again and Again (Wings)
4. Add It Up (The Kinks)
5. (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman (Carole King)
6. Pussy Cat Dues (Charles Mingus)
7. Assassing (alternate) (Marillion)
8. Driven to Tears (The Police)
9. One After 909 (The Beatles)
10. Hayfoot Strawfoot (Duke Ellington)

view from my brother's apartment

July 25, 2007 - Fort Lee, New Jersey, the view from my brother's apartment looking north of the view-obstructing building, with the George Washington Bridge in view. . .


...and the view south of the view-obstructing building, looking across the Hudson River to New York City. The apartment is pretty cool. Whenever they drive into New York, they pull out the binoculars to check the traffic situation.

iTunes soundtrack:
1. Reckoning (Ani DiFranco)
2. Ellen West (Throwing Muses)
3. Cracked Actor (David Bowie)
4. Symphony No. 2 "Romantic", IV. Allegro Vivace (Rachmaninov)
5. Sora Yori Umi Yori (Puri Puri Samba '91) (Princess Princess)
6. A Pile of Time (Ryuichi Sakamoto)
7. Beeswax (Nirvana)
8. Chloe (Song of the Swamp) (Duke Ellington)
9. Nobody Home (Pink Floyd)
10. The Wedding List (Kate Bush)

July 25, 2007 - Yea, right, so what? A building. A department store. But malls and shopping are a New Jersey characteristic. What else do we have? Mullets? Bruce Springsteen? Bon Jovi?!! I make no apologies for shooting this. This Kohl's Department Store is on Route 4 in Paramus.


July 30, 2007 - Garden State Plaza interior, Paramus, N.J., at the intersection of Route 4 and Route 17. Paramus probably has more shopping malls along these stretches of highway than anywhere else in New Jersey. Garden State Plaza is the one that has transformed and grown the most over the years. While I was growing up, it wasn't covered, and walking through it now, I still remember the outdoor thoroughfares in the same locations of the halls here now.

This is a long exposure and there are plenty of people walking through this shot, but since the Lomo Fisheyes don't capture low light levels well, none of them registered. I'm holding the 2 against a railing to keep it steady.

iTunes soundtrack:
1. Worse Than Detroit (Robert Plant)
2. Stay Free (The Clash)
3. Live Wire (AC/DC)
4. Tremelo (live) (Mission of Burma)
5. I Can't Do It Alone ("Chicago")
6. Chinsagu no Hana (Ryuichi Sakamoto)
7. Quicksand (David Bowie)
8. Shinshi Raika (Chitose Hajime)
9. Thought I Was (live) (Rainer Maria)
10. D'yer Mak'er (Led Zeppelin)

Bud Weis Er

July 24, 2007 - Riding up River Road from Edgewater to Fort Lee, New Jersey. That's a Budweiser can. Occassionally, something catches my eye, regardless of which camera I'm carrying, and begs to be shot, even going out of my way to shoot it, like this shot. My bike is further on up the road and I actually walked back to this thing to shoot it. Nutty. A lot of times these instinct-type shots are worth it. But this is like "what the . . . ?"

iTunes soundtrack
1. INS (Archers of Loaf)
2. Whole Lotta Love (Led Zeppelin)
3. Corcovado (Quiet Nights) (Cannonball Adderly & Sergio Mendes - ultralounge)
4. Smile (Pearl Jam)
5. My, My Metrocard (Le Tigre)
6. Pride (In the Name of Love) (U2)
7. Next! ("Pacific Overtures" - Sondheim)
8. Clones (We're All) (Smashing Pumpkins)
9. Sometime (Sweet Honey in the Rock)
10. Hot Rock (Sleater- Kinney)