But first it’s time to be silly.

Getting back to business. This is my uncle.

He’s doing that.

Hi, I’m having a nice time in the sun.

See I told you.

Hotdogs ready in 5 minutes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Impromptu ‘on our way to havin’ hotdogs’ dance!!!

Those people in the background were very loud and disturbing. Sorry, but some people came to the beach for some relaxation not listen to the twenty most fabulous stories about your stupid dog.

But wait, what’s this? Is that…

Look, it’s coming this way!

The Canadian Coast Guard hovercraft.

Now I must admit that this had me excited, and I will explain.

But first, a bit about rocks.

Standing on them is a good idea.

Ah, see. Satisfying, isn’t it?

Okay, that’s great. Can we go look at this hovercraft now?

I don’t know. Once you’ve seen one hovercraft, you’ve seen them all.

Well, when I was a boy I was treated to the same surprise on the same beach. I remember this fascinating experience quite fondly. That caused me to go in to snap mode. The perfect time to have a Nickelodeon Photoblaster hanging off the neck.

Hoping that doesn’t end.

But all things do, and we relive them on our point and shoot LCD displays.

Well hello. See that phone on the table? It would never take another call. How’s that for mysterious.

One day when I was sitting in the park I took a picture and a guy in the background looked very unimpressed.

Getting some fishing in.

Coffees. I can tell that I was reading Gravity’s Rainbow at the time, because there is also a dictionary on the table.

Hm, I wonder what will come next.

After the patio lounging episode on Sunday we made our way back to Manhattan and brought ourselves to 30 Rockefeller Plaza, Top of the Rock.

Now that you’re looking at this web page I think that you deserve advanced notice. In this entry I will visit the Statue of Liberty on Liberty Island. I arted the shit out of that place. Just so you’re aware… just so when it happens you won’t be able to say you were not warned. There’s some serious art up ahead. It is not the standard product I push, but trust me when I say that you’ll be back for more.

Weather was great. Still hot and humid, but smoggy.

Switched to some 125px.

Sure why not.

70 stories above New York. To the north you can see most of Central Park. To the south is the Empire State Building and further south is downtown and the financial district.

Back on the ground I got more interested in what I had been on top of.

We’d spent a long time up there and become hungry again so we went searching for a good place to eat. Passed up the M&M store…

125px was starting to get a bit slow.

How about that?

After wandering in circles for ever we managed to find a Thai restaurant that was cheap and delicious. Then we wandered back towards the Times Square area to take in the beauty.

When I saw these guys pull up to the light I was thinking I might have a great photo in front of me so I bent my elbows and waited for something interesting on the massive screen across the street. It seemed totally irrelevant, even ugly, and discouragingly I lowered my camera. At the same moment they all noticed me and got excited. Click. There’s no evidence on the negative that the girl was wearing anything at all on her feet. Interesting choice.

That was at Starbucks.

Such is the value of space.

On Monday morning my first stop was at the post office to send some post cards home.

Monday was forecast as being dodgy weather wise. A bit of a storm passed through in the morning but it cleared up quickly and so we decided to head for Liberty/Ellis island in hopes that it would be a little less busy that day.

When I got to Battery Park, that was happening.

I guess that’s something horrific meant to inspire hatred of unknowable foreign enemies and encourage a patriotic support for war. The Statue of Liberty on the far left and Ellis Island mid-frame.

What I wanted to capture was the degree that the boat suddenly leaned the moment we were within proximity of the statue as everyone rushed to that side of the boat. But I couldn’t seem to get a good frame of it at the time.

Yeah.

That’s totally what it looks like when you put the sun behind her torch.

Here is the icon of freedom in America, complete with black helicopter.

A group of boy scouts pass through the Registry room at Ellis Island. Between 1892 and 1954 twelve million immigrants were processed at Ellis Island. Most of them passed through this room.

Off to the side of that room was a room of tiny bunks where children slept. The room seemed creepy and rather claustrophobic. The bunks are smaller and tighter than they look here. I thought of how scary it might have been to spend nights there as a child in a foreign place, but for many it must have been such a comfort compared to the journey that lead them here.

For some reason the crank to operate the windows was fascinating.

That was a long day out in the heat of the sun through the queue to the ferries, the ferries and the islands. We went to do some more shopping on Broadway that evening and then found a place to have some greasy food. I had a bacon cheeseburger and Randy enjoyed a Reuben while we listened in to a conversation between the waiter and this fat kid who was sitting at the bar with his dad. The kid’s like “ey! Amigo! How about that chocolate deep fudge cake and I want a raspberry sauce on the side.” I almost spat out my beer and I’m like Randy did you hear that?

When we paid our bill and walked past to exit, father was asking him how he liked that dessert with the raspberry sauce and encouraging him to finish all that, and in a fabulous New York accent that I hadn’t heard too much of. Priceless experience.

Maybe it’s not the typical time to be doing so but I did a lot of reading over the summer along with a lot of coffee drinking. Here is a summary of my cirriculum.

• Watchmen, by Alan Moore. Glad I read it but I felt let down for all the hype. On the other hand it lowered my expectations for the movie and ended up enjoying it unlike the fanatics.
• A Singular Man, by J. P. Donleavy. This guy is a virtuoso. I can’t wait to read more Donleavy.
• Beautiful Losers, by Leonard Cohen. Some great stories in here but something about this book felt dated to me, as if culture had moved on or at least I had. I bet it was amazing to read 30 or 40 years ago.
• The God Delusion, by Richard Dawkins. Not sure what to say about this but I think everyone should read it, especially you fence-sitting agnostics. As awkward as Dawkins comes across when speaking publicly, in print he has a charm which reminds us that he’s probably the most passionate and outspoken ultrageek we’ve ever known. (Note: It should go without saying that when we read books, especially books like this, we don’t read them to be told what to think, we read them to challenge and re-evaluate what we’ve thought and will think)
• The Runes of the Earth, by Stephen Donaldson. Book 7 in the Chronicles of Thomas Covenant. It was terrible and yet I’m still attached to the series for some reason. I guess it’s just because Thomas Covenant fucking rules.
• What is the What? by Dave Eggers. The story of a Sudanese refugee and his coming of age. It is disturbing and also humbling.
• Platform, by Michel Houellebecq. If he’s not my favourite author he’s the author I most wish will write more books.
• Blood Meridian, by Cormac McCarthy. One book where I feel insulting to think of using mere adjectives as description. There is a quote from this book I might talk about in a future entry as it relates to photography. Some of you may have already figured out what quote that’s going to be!

But of course I do actually have some photography to share.

Down the block from my apartment this was happening.

But that evening in Yaletown something involving a bit of drinking was also happening.

By the way, many of these wides are from my little plastic Nikon Series E 28mm f/2.8.

In most entries you’ll see them playing instruments, but this time you’ll see them chewing chicken.

We both laughed after that and I said “you know what I got, right” and he said “yes, I know what you got.”

The next thing to do was to take a little walk…

And to get back just in time to witness Jonathan extract a shot from somewhere between Tanner’s legs.

By now you might have guessed that this was Jonathan’s stag.

We continued to drink into the evening outside on the patio. f/1.4 at 1/6th. Later we went to see dancing girls and due to my camera I was refused at the door. When I eventually got inside I realized why, the girls performing at that venue bored me sober.

How to transition from the peelers to hanging out with my family gracefully? No idea really.

This photo is best without context…

Shifting gears a bit, aheh. And films, shooting 125px in the Leica and Tri-X in the F100. On the first weekend of August my mother was giving her new dragster some break-in runs at Mission Raceway.

Catching the launch.

That was the first time I really wanted to have a rapidwinder on my M.

Here’s the crew before heading down to the end of the track to guide the dragster back. That’s my grandfather on the right wondering why she didn’t hit 3rd gear on that run.

I followed him back to the trailer. My grandfather made a name for himself racing in the 60′s with a car that he built himself, the Syndicate Scuderia.

He brought the car to put on display and it was difficult to get a moment when it was not being crowded with digital cameras.

My sister was camped down near the end of the track, the only place you’d ever find some shade, but it was a long walk back and forth.

The shutter on my M drags at 1/1000 so I made one at 1/500 just to see what I could catch of a nitro funny car. That car ran 6.739s at 207.08 mph.

It had been forever since I’d seen my nephew that weekend. He loves the cars but the sun was intense, it was one of the hottest weekends of the year.

Then my mom sent us a text to let us know it was time to drive again.

When I caught up with her they were in the staging lanes. I’ve never seen my F100 overlap a frame like that before but it hasn’t happened again fortunately.

The one time I brought my F100 to the line to make use of continuous mode, she was placed in the opposite lane. Sad face.

This is almost comedic, especially if you haven’t tried to shoot something like this before. Anticipating a bit too quick, but it is a barrage of the senses, feels and sounds much more beautiful than it ever looks.

Looks like she bounced there.

And the crew setting off to meet her at the end again.

Mom wanted to run alongside him but their crew told us their car wasn’t running straight so they did seperate runs. He ran straight, but slower. Good thing for his ego I guess ;].

Lady spectating in difficult light. f/2.8 @ 1/4000.

Bringing the car back after the burnout.

Catching some air again.

Pulling back up to the trailer. She was running pretty consistently about 140mph that weekend, but I don’t remember the times. Right around 9 seconds I’m guessing.

Went to watch the funny cars from another angle. Even in the first half of the 1/4 mile you can’t stop them at 1/500.

I think my good man maybe needs some shades.

Getting some shade again with my sisters friends.

Finishing off the roll back in the city.

We had some lovely mini-taco things.