Photography: Randomly in Spring

 

I finally have that FujiFilm XE-1 camera that I have wanted for so long... Bit the bullet and spent the money on it and I can't say that I am disappointed at all! It really is like using an old manual SLR (a lot like the Canon AE-1 film SLR that I have been using over the past few years), with all of the additional DSLR settings that you could wish for, including a "film simulation" setting, which produces photos that look like they have been taken with a film SLR. It's kind of like the best of both worlds for me, who still prefers to shoot film rather than digital, but don't have the time to develop rolls of film anymore. Or even the space really to store all of the prints I have.

The only issue I found was that I randomly got a "lens control error" the other day and couldn't take any photos anymore. I let the camera sit for a day, removed the lens and put it back on, flipped all the switches and dials, turned it into the fully manual mode, and the error message disappeared. It appears that this is a regular issue with this model, which is a little disappointing, but if you can't fix it yourself Fuji will service it pretty fast for you. I am just glad I took out an extra warranty on the camera, especially as it's not as sturdy as the Canon Rebel.

Anyway... Here are some of the first pictures I have taken on my new camera (see set below). I need to take it out more and play around with it, and find the perfect settings, but for now I am pretty happy with what it can do. I am still wondering if I should bring it with me on my trip this weekend, or just take the Canon. I am worried that I will get another lens error and be stuck taking photos on my iPhone all weekend. I may just go with the trusty older camera and leave the new one for other adventures.

Randomly in Spring, a set on Flickr.

Photography: Foothills & Lake (California)

Foothills & Lake, a set on Flickr.

I've been back nearly two weeks now, but here are the last of my California photos... I took a trip up through the hills with my mum, past farms and houses and unicorns (I still think they were real life unicorns). Then we went down to Folsom Lake to see the sun set, watching the dragonflies swarm over the trees and put my feet in the cold water.

However much NYC is my home, I will always miss California (and unicorns).

Music Review: Marillion at The Fillmore, SF

 I was blessed growing up with young parents who had amazing tastes in music. While other kids my age were listening to pop music, I was doused in artists such as Tim Buckley and Michael Chapman, Bob Dylan, T-Rex, The Sisters of Mercy, Joy Division, The Clash, David Bowie, The Jam, to name a few. We never really had that much money so I just have to assume that record shopping for my mum was just the same as CD shopping was for me in my teens - a lot of browsing and choosing very carefully; saving up just to buy that one coveted album, sometimes making a mistake and sometimes being blown away by something new and amazing.

In 1985 my mother was looking for a new record and came across Misplaced Childhood by a band called Marillion. The record artwork inspired her to buy the album, and that started a 27  year love story that is most likely to continue until they decide to retire from music. I think I see Marillion somewhat as part of the background music of my childhood, a band that I would never really listen to as a personal choice, but would enjoy whenever my mum played them. About 6 months ago they finally decided to tour the US again, after 12 years of not touring here, so my mum decided to buy us all tickets, and also to fly me over from NYC for a vacation that coincided with the show. She also managed to win meet and greet passes, as well as a couple of photo passes for myself and her. Bear in mind that she has waited about 27 years to see them live as she was never able to see them before for multiple different reasons, so this was all pretty huge for her.


Not only was I blown away by an absolutely tremendous live show, with a setlist that spanned their entire catalogue of 17 albums, but seeing the anticipation and happiness on my mother's face all through-out the night was totally priceless. She is still grinning today while uploading her photos, and I am trying to write this so that I can not only do the band, but her, justice as well. There really is something special about going to a show where you really don't know what to expect, and walking away feeling like you have been pulled and tossed through a musical magic house. Magical just because for nearly 3 hours I felt like I was hearing an old friend play for me, while simultaneously it was as if I was seeing a band with completely new ears and eyes. H (Steve Hogarth)'s voice rips over the crowd and soars through the air - from the moment he appeared on one of the side balconies for the first song, til the end of the third encore, where finally he let the audience do most of the singing. While H is a purely natural performer, at times reminding me of Peter Murphy in the way that he is so expressive with his whole body, the rest of the band are just as energetic and expressive in their own ways. Guitar tunes that are emotional, going from light melodies to incessant screams, pounding drum beats, eerie keys and beautiful bass lines, surrounded by that voice that fills the entire venue = Jade music heaven. And the rest of the audience seemed to think the same way too!!

In addition to all of the above - it was my first time at The Fillmore in San Francisco - what an awesome venue! I want to work there (although that would mean moving to San Francisco, and I don't think I could leave NYC just for a concert venue). There are original concert posters framed all around the walls of the upstairs auditorium - from the 60's to today's date. I wanted to take a load of them home with me and hang them in my apartment. Gorgeous psychedelic artwork. I don't know if they do it anymore, but apparently there was a tradition where they would give the audience free copies of the posters when they left the show. Really cool idea.

All in all a really wonderful experience. You can see the rest of my photos HERE, but for a lot more, and much, much better photos (as my mother also happens to be one of the best photographers I know), check out my mum's gallery HERE (link also below). Now I'm going to get her to listen to Spiritualized so that she can join me next time I see them, and experience them live in the same way that I experienced Marillion last night.

Setlist:

Splintering Heart
Cover My Eyes
Slàinte Mhath
The Other Half
Fantastic Place
The Great Escape
Easter
Afraid of Sunlight
Power
King
Sugar Mice
Man of a Thousand Faces
Neverland
Encore:
The Invisible Man
Encore 2:
This Strange Engine/Ocean Cloud
Encore 3:
Happiness Is the Road

More information:
Alison Toon - Marillion at The Fillmore photo gallery
Marillion.com
The Fillmore

Photography: Lake Tahoe

Lake Tahoe, a set on Flickr.

Summertime road trip with my sister and our good friend Tiffany. 100 miles east of Sacramento, on the California/Nevada border, through the mountains. Heart-shaped sunglasses, coffee pit stop in Placerville by the highway, jokes about bath salts and zombie apocalypses, up, up to the 7,000 plus feet summit where the views are blue on other blue on green on rock. Down towards the lake, a stroll through two casinos where we were asked for our ID by a woman who laughed when she realised we were really 34, 33, 32. Put $3 in a 1 cent machine and won $9.22 back, grabbed huge sandwiches at a deli and had a battle of the wits with the geese at Pope Beach. Cold, cold water and hot sun beating down on us, cigarettes under the pines and along to Baldwin beach where the air was quieter but the sun just as hot.

Backtrack with the car the other way, through windy roads and into bear land, pine woods and bird song, out to the hidden gem of Fallen Leaf Lake. Cooler breeze, the smell of fresh air, cold cold waves lapping our feet, snow-tipped mountains and cabins stuck deep in the forest. Getaway land, a place to retreat and find pure rest again. Striking colours and clear air - I miss being in the mountains again already. Sunshine in our eyes all the way down with Varsovie and The Kills in our ears, temperature rising with each drop, back in the valley again.

Photograhy: California Garden

California Garden, a set on Flickr.

Back to colour today! My mother has an amazing ability to take any garden and turn it into a beautiful area full of colour and comfort. I first saw this new house in California when she moved back here about a year and a half ago, and it was pretty bare apart from the pool, some grassy areas, trees and oleander bushes. When I came back last July she had already done some work on it, but now, a year later, the place is looking stunning, all types of flowers everywhere and a huge vegetable garden in one section, with everything you really need to survive (beets, lettuce, carrots, zucchini/courgettes, radishes, artichokes, beans, squash, pumpkins, tomatoes etc etc). If you also include meat as a staple, there are a bunch of wild turkeys strolling around the place, and unless they get eaten by the coyotes they are fair game if you can catch them.
The garden is part English, part French, part American, part Secret Garden. Oh and did I mention that there is a little creek running alongside it and the property is surrounded by trees? Pretty paradisaical for a city property! I love coming here to relax and rest.

You can see more about the actual gardening process on my mum's blog HERE.

Photography: Sacramento Cemetery

Sacramento Cemetery, a set on Flickr.

I have always loved cemeteries. When I was a child in England we used to pretty much live in a cemetery, and that's where I would play with my sister every day. As a teen the village cemeteries used to be our meeting points, the places where we would hang out and smoke,watching the time go by until we could go and have a drink at the pub. In France we lived down the street from the large city cemetery and would go there at night to see if we were scared, and usually end up getting chased away by a guard (or what we imagined to be the guard). Apart from the beauty of many of the tombstones, there is also something so peaceful and restful about a cemetery, somewhere where you can hide from the bustle of the city and where time seems to stop for a while.
I love old cemeteries, where the dates go back to centuries gone by, where moss has grown over the gravestones, and where you can imagine stories of families long gone.

Yesterday I went down to the Old City Cemetery in Sacramento, where the founders of the city as well as the first settlers are laid to rest, and also the governors of the state of California. There is something special about seeing beautiful, well-preserved old tombs amidst large California pine trees and palm trees. What caught my eye the most where the array of statues on the tombs, dotted all around the cemetery, warriors and weeping women, swords and cloaks, standing proud under the California sun. I've been working on getting that same over-exposed, black and white print look on my digital camera that is always much easier to get on my old manual SLR film camera, and it works especially well when the sun is so bright. Perfect for an old cemetery in my opinion, but I think for the rest of my stay here in California I will be going back to colour for a while - I want to make sure I get many shots of the contrasting dried-brown hills and the lush flowers of the oleanders that grow everywhere.

Photography: Store Fronts

Store Fronts, a set on Flickr.

I started this project earlier this year when I realised that I kept taking photos of random storefronts in Brooklyn and Manhattan. I started putting all the photos together and realised it could be quite a cool collection... I've been on a bit of a photography lag lately, not really feeling inspired, or too tired to go and find something to spike my interest. I woke up way too early this morning and just decided to go out for a walk, and found some interesting places.
This is just a small collection - I'm sure I'll be adding a lot more to it over the next few months.

Photography: Harlem etc

Harlem etc, a set on Flickr.

When I moved to NYC 7 years ago it was the first time I had ever set foot in the city. After a short-lived sublet on the Lower East Side I found a much more affordable sublet in Spanish Harlem, on First Ave, between 119th and 120th. The first time I was actually living alone, without roommates, my own tiny one bedroom with a little concrete backyard. At the time it was still pretty much affordable, albeit not the safest neighbourhood in the city. I never had a problem though, the guys who were always hanging out on my stoop looked out for me, the deli next door picked up my deliveries and the only time the walk to the subway was a problem was after my first NYC blizzard during the Winter Olympics in 2006.
Needless to say, I ended up moving to a much more expensive tiny box studio in the West Village 10 months later, and never really went back up there to visit. I decided to make the most of the beautiful weather today and made my way up to 125th Street to take some photos...
The place has changed a lot, but is still so similar at the same time... There are new shops, a couple of Starbucks, a Target and a TD Bank; but it's still as loud, interesting and diverse as it used to be. Nowhere else have I seen a car rushing down the street with a guy holding a megaphone and blasting music, making the whole street stop, clap and start dancing. I suppose it's cleaner and safer, but still as energetic and colourful. I wonder how much small one bedroom apartments go for up there now...

I then made my way downtown and took a few shots of the new Occupy Wall St terrain in Union Sq, and my favourite church, Grace Church, on Broadway and 11th St.

Photography: Through My Eyes - Jan & Feb 2012

Through My Eyes - 1, a set on Flickr.

Taking a little break from novel writing today and compiling some random shots I have taken over the past few weeks. I found myself with a lot of photos that don't really fit into any category (area, place, show etc), but are all images of something that caught my eye when I was walking around.
I feel so lucky to live in a place where there is always something to take a photo of, however fleeting or permanent it may be...

Photography: Little India, Jackson Heights, Queens

Little India, Queens, a set on Flickr.

This week has been a mix of really good days and really bad days. Today was one of the latter, with an early start over to Jackson Heights where there is a small Indian community. I love it there, but don't make it out there often enough. The colours, the smells and the sounds, bring me right back to the time I spent in India. I love that country so much and can't wait to go back again.
I spent the morning walking around with my friend Holly, taking photos, enjoying some excellent conversation with sweets and chai.
I know I have been on a black and white kick these past few months, but this was definitely a day for colour, as there was so much of it. If one day I were to leave Bushwick I would maybe consider moving to this neighbourhood.

The only thing missing were tubs of grains to stick my hands in... Oh and maybe a delicious samosa. Maybe next time. I am considering buying the green tunic one day though, it was seriously gorgeous.