Tin Building

Broken Fingers, 2005
Classical sculpture seems to embrace flaws; Fingers, heads, arms, legs are just some of the sculptural appendages that go missing over time. These imperfections only seem to add to their stature. Does anyone even know what Winged Victory looked like when it had a head?

Buy and Save, 2005
Sooner or later cities get around to sprucing up their image. Signs are seen as eyesores and attempts are made to regulate their size, placement and sometimes aesthetics. The sign that goes with this business has survived such clean up efforts. Interestingly, the business it advertises was run not by Chinese but by a Japanese family. It was recently sold and is now a gourmet market with another name--still the sign stays. As it stands, the aesthetics are distinctly primative; The paint is faded and peeling and it sports the crude efforts of amateur sign painters. The word 'market' is in a font which sure to inspire legions of graphic design professionals. And yet, it remains undaunted by state of the art contemporary signs. When signs like this are removed we'll wish someone thought to gather them into a museum of signs.

Pontiac, 2005
Back when cars were moving towards maturity, when they saw themselves as more than basic transportation, they became conscious of the emotional power of lines--more properly, curves. Color hadn't made much of an impression for the more pedestrian models, but seeing the shape of a car gliding past could evoke fond thoughts. To be seen driving an especially sensuous car made adults work harder, save quicker, cherish longer. Cars move though a cycle that has them going from new and different to familiar to tired to old fashioned; It's difficult to know when the corner is turned, but sometimes they begin to work their way back.

Complex, 2005
1. A whole composed of interconnected or interwoven parts.
2. In psychology, a group of related, often repressed ideas and impulses that compel characteristic or habitual patterns of thought, feelings, and behavior.
3. An exaggerated or obsessive concern or fear.
4. Medicine. The combination of factors, symptoms, or signs of a disease or disorder that forms a syndrome.

Apartment 201B, 2005
Except for a straggler getting off to work late, it's unusually quiet. I have an errand to run for a friend. I walk down the driveway and take the stairs to the second level. At the landing I follow the walkway to the middle apartment overlooking the parking area. Judging from the lone car occupying the carport below, the out-of-state license plates and road grime says it's a new arrival. I knock on apartment 201B and hear a muffled shuffle from inside. It stops abruptly. No one comes to the door. I knock again...its quiet. I haven't been back.

Big Tent, 2005
I have a curiosity about large tents. Yes, as a child I did go to the circus held under 'the big top'. Mostly I remember a sweltering atmosphere smelling of straw and animal dung. The performers seemed to be unusually 'up' for people who travelled in trucks from city to city and slept in trailers surrounded by blinking lights and children up past their bedtime. Still, the tent was the very symbol of exotic living.

Nowdays tents are bright white and made of shiny vinyl material instead of musty canvas. Where once the only thing a tent meant was that the circus was in town, it now functions as an all-purpose portible venue. What happens under the tent is unknown unless you've been invited--invititations are rare. Being in the tent is one thing--standing alongside a tent can be satifying in its own way.

Fine Arts, 2005
Some things fight change. Regardless of the vagaries of the business this movie marquee hangs on, even though it no longer operates as a theatre. The marquee was erected was to promote 'art films'. You could go broke in that market. Lucky for fans of nostalgia and the art deco style the marquee itself will live on long past the desire to huddle in the dark and watch incomprehensible foreign films.

Plastic Bag at Stanford, 2005
The Quad at Stanford University is bordered by nearly endless rows of arches. It is an orderly and formal place.

The visual focus of this setting is the Stanford Memorial Church whose facade is decorated with a striking mosaic mural of Christ and his diciples. The modern university is a secular place and when people stop to consider the mural they understand it to reflect the religious impulses of the Stanford family, and yet, for modern sensibilities, it seems misplaced. But it is an artifact too well done to undo.

Into this a ghostly translucent plastic bag blows through and stops at the entrance to the church. A breeze holds open the bag and suggests contents no longer there. A photographer stoops to photograph this fragile intrustion. It will be gathered up and discarded.

Elena, 2005

I noticed this sign passing by one day. It belongs to an apartment complex with that name. Other apartment complexes dot the same area and are identified by such names as Crown and Willow. At the time these were constructed--probably in the 70s--it was understood that these names represented something that would cause potential renters to consider moving in. Nowdays, the naming protocol has shifted to represent different sensibilities, such as Heritage Park or Avalon at Creekside. The signs that advertise these new apartments are more elaborate and reflect a a refined appearance. When chosing the sign for the Elena Apartments they went with cutout wooden letters that paid special attention to the letter E--almost as if taking it's cue from the poodle bush below. Fonts were very expressive back then. For me the name has a more personal association; my daughter's name is Ellen.

Heart Fence, 2005

The side fence of a house near downtown Palo Alto, California is painted white and every other board has the shape of a heart cut into it. A fence, by its nature, isn't a welcoming presence. It tells us to keep out. Perhaps in acknowledgement of this the owners decided to add the hearts. Hearts give another message; 'We love you...here, look through our hearts and see what nice people we are on the otherside--the side you're not allowed to be. Mind you, we aren't saying come in--just take a quick look and then move along." In addition, the fence is painted white. Instinctively, this informs us that the owners are neat and orderly as well as being pure of heart. White fences are a reminder of Mark Twain's story about Tom Sawyer who deviously conning others to whitewash a fence for him. We admire Sawyer's skill in getting the job done by trickery. But aren't we also fooled into thinking the Palo Alto fence is something that its not?

Castro Street tree, 2005
Trees as subject matter occupy a large branch in the historical archive of photography. Trees exude calm and soothing. They represent nature seen large and often imposing. in an urban setting they stand in opposition to forces of development. Each has a personality--unique in shape and setting. The tree shown here is located in an awkward plot between a commercial street and a parking lot in Mountain View, California. The building on which the shadow falls is a failed cocktail lounge. It too is irregular--a cement block building with a forbidding facade. Fleur dy lys imbedded in its walls offer the promise of cultured activity which is voided by the rusted sign in the shape of cocktail glass (off camera). On that, the late afternoon light casts an irregular shadow of one forlorn uban tree.

Flamingos, 2005

A business exists nearby that will come to your home, stick fifty or more pink plastic flamingos in your yard and put up a sign to announce your birthday, wedding, anniversary or what have you. I stopped by mid-morning to shoot this photo and returned twice more. On the second visit I was told that I was the second person to shoot pictures of the flamingos. On the third visit--for this photo--I was again informed that I was the third photographer to shoot them. Obviously, I was the only one, but it's interesting to note how I'm able to travel about without leaving an impression.

Hoover Tower, 2005

Along with the impulse to raise a camera to take a picture come the mental calculations about where to stand and what to include in the frame. At some point the primary question has to be resolved--does this subject have meaning to me? Meaning can come from an association with an event or people or from a consideration of beauty. It can also come with what truth is revealed by the subject matter. In this particular photo, taken at the top of the Hoover Tower on the Stanford University campus, the meaning comes from considering the question. Monuments are built so that we appreciate how monumental they are.

SRI, 2005

Contrasts are important in the visual world. This photo shows the interplay between natural and man made, rigid and loose, straight and squiggly, organic and mechanical. I think of how necessary one aspect is to the other. Apart from one another they are less.

I've driven past this scene hundreds of times without noticing it. Only by walking past in the late afternoon light did I allow myself the opportunity to consider it worth shooting. The lesson in that is the value of slowing down.

This was the last frame of the roll and after it was exposed I inserted another roll and continued shooting. If I were asked at the time, I would have bet that the second roll would produce the best picture. I would've been wrong. Memory is only a close second to evidence.

Shadows from the tree in the foreground are falling on a building that has the look of a modern prison. Rows of tall narrow windows seem to be designed to allow a minimum of light and a maximum level of security. Despite those appearances this is one of the buildings that make up SRI International in Menlo Park.

Bird Door, 2005

Out walking, I noticed a sign offering free stuff at a house that was being cleaned and painted. By the time I'd seen the sign most of the free stuff was already gone, however the front and screen doors of the house were open in order to air the house from the painting being done inside. It wasn't clear whether the owner or a painting contractor was working inside or if the open door was an invitation to see more of the stuff being offered. A truck in the driveway looked more like what a contractor would bring to a job so I figured that the contractor wouldn't care. If it was the owner I didn't want to be discovered on his porch shooting a photo--I'd have to explain.

Horizonal lines of the siding and the rectangles framing the doors provided a contrast with the decorative scrolling on the screen door topped off with a silvery bird. After shooting a couple of closer shots with the Holga, I backed away to allow the screen door to be seen in its entirety.

Web Gate, 2005

While driving through a south Palo Alto neighborhood I noticed this interesting gate. I seldom have a reason to be in this particular location but for whatever reason I decided to drive and look. This usually isn't a very productive way to find photos and I worry that someone will see me jump out of my car, snap a photo, hop back in the car and drive away. People usually associate taking a picture like that with suspicious activity. Police will be alerted...I'll have to explain the whole art/photo thing while a cynical cop imagines the worst. This gate I liked enough to risk all that.

Back Stairs, 2005

I like form in my photographs. I also very much like what others do with color and atmosphere, but my photos most often respond to shape--like the contrasting zig zag pattern on this stairway. I've shot the stairs before and something or other kept me from liking it. On this particular day I was shooting with a Holga camera and with that you're never sure what'll show up on the film. When it works you feel lucky--even when nothing moved and I had time to consider it. These stairs are behind a building on California Avenue in Palo Alto.