New York Thruway
It has been a busy few days. I was at Yale on Monday speaking about the suitcases to Jessica Helfand’s class. Peggy Ross came over Tuesday morning and we worked all day on suitcase stuff and that evening I shot a play at UMASS, then immediately hopped in my car and drove west toward Brockport, NY. Stopped just west of Syracuse for what was left of the night and was shooting at the College at Brockport by 9.00 the next morning. / I liked the early morning light on the Thruway early Wednesday. It was very fleeting though; about 5 miles down the road it was totally cloudy.
Small Fir
I think I posted a shot of one of these a few years ago. I can never remember what this small plant is called but I seem to remember seeing them in terrariums back way back when. They are all over the woods above my house. I’m pretty sure my sister will chime in with the correct answer. Anyone else care to enlighten me?
Bluebonnet Diner
I am getting a new battery in the Element and having the snows put on. I should really be doing some work answering email or going through the to-do list in my notebook. The dealership has great WiFi and it is a good excuse to do a quick post and avoid actual work. / The Bluebonnet diner on King Street in Northampton is pretty classic. An original Worcester Diner with an attached restaurant. I like pictures that show prices. Maybe someday someone will look at this and say “Liverwurst sandwich for only $4.29. Amazing”. My mom used to love liverwurst with a slice of sweet onion on rye bread.
Saturday, 17 November 2012
A bit of a melange here.
I have always liked fountain pens (something I share with my dear friend John Wilson). And ink bottles are a big part of why I like them. I think I bought this bottle in Berlin when I lived there.
Cris and I went to the Amherst Farmer’s Market this morning. Lots of root veg. And something I had never seen before except in a bottle.
Turmeric!
We then went up to Blue Dog Leather in Orange where Keith is making a one handed belt for Peter. Got to hang out with his donkeys and his two American Bashkir horses. They grow this coat in the winter and shed most of it in springtime. They are such beautiful animals.
Thanks again Alex. I love the camera.
Jack Gilbert 1925-2012
My friend Karen Miller sent me a note today about Jack Gilbert’s death this past Sunday. The time I spent with him is among my most cherished memories as a photographer. He was an amazing man and poet, and I feel so lucky to have met him. Here’s a link to one of his poems.
Willard Suitcases Update
Since Hunter’s “Collector’s Weekly” interview with me came out earlier this week, a lot of attention has been drawn to the suitcases project. He did such a great job capturing my voice and I am really grateful for his interest. It has suddenly opened up some very interesting new doors, and has driven a ton of traffic to this blog. Occasionally when people come here expecting to see suitcase photos, they see my other posts and get confused. It has been intentional on my part to mix up the suitcase updates with my other stuff because I want visitors to get an idea of who I am as a person and a photographer. But when someone comes here looking for Willard suitcases and sees a picture of my dog in the back of the car, they might be thinking something along the lines of WTF (as the kids say). I have been giving this a good think, and here’s my solution. I still want everyone to see everything, but to make it easier on people I will link to some of the earlier updates. So here we go: Dmytre, Frank, Flora, and some earlier ones: Charles, and the first one I ever shot which explains the genesis of the project, Frieda. For those of you new visitors who are adventurous and have some time on your hands, just click on the archive links to the right and wander around a bit.
I have received so many notes from people saying that they came to this site to look at the suitcases but were excited by what else they saw. And I want to thank you all for being interested in my work and my life.
Here’s a link that my friend Tom Bollier sent to me earlier today when it popped up on his Google reader. I had no idea that this was being done, but she did a nice job. More news to come soon, I hope.
Boy at Beach
Here’s another one of my postcard photos from a long time ago. I’m not really sure why I’m drawn to this image, but it strikes a chord.
Voting and Willard Suitcases
I like voting in my little town. Paper ballots, and it usually goes pretty smoothly. I asked if I could photograph in the booth but they said it was against the rules.
Just a note of welcome to all of you who read about my Willard suitcase project on the Collectors Weekly site. Those who haven’t seen the story can check it out here. Hunter did an amazing job and he asked great questions. I am very pleased. It even made it to Digg for a while yesterday. If you are new here and just want to see suitcase posts, check out October and work your way backwards. But I hope you will be interested in my other posts as well. Thanks, Jon
Utility Workers
As I drove up the New Jersey Turnpike yesterday on my way back from DC, I saw lots of FEMA trucks heading to the Jersey shore. There was a large group of workers in front of the Woodrow Wilson service area waiting to find out if they could get fuel for their trucks. I talked to these 3 guys for a bit. They are from Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Kansas, and have no idea how long they will be in Ocean Port, NJ getting utilities back up and running. The DOE has the huge task of coordinating crews from all over the country and it is great to see workers from so far away arriving to help out people who are really hurting.
Soccer (Football)
I have always liked soccer. As a kid I first played it at Camp Dudley and then in high school. My junior year at Kiski the JV coach was Ed Schuster and at the end of the season I didn’t travel to the last game. He told me that I was the only kid he ever coached that went from starting at the beginning of the season to being at the bottom of the roster at the end. And I honestly couldn’t figure out why. Another case of me not being able to understand some of the adults in my life. I didn’t play in college but continued to follow the professional game. / Jürgen Kracht was a (very cool) colleague of my fathers at Allegheny College and in the summer of 1968, he and some of his friends asked me to join them to go to Municipal Stadium in Cleveland to see Pele’s Brazilian club Santos play the Cleveland Stokers in a friendly. It think we went in his lovely little red Fiat 850 Special. It was a memorable game in that the Stokers won 2-1 in what seemed a massive upset. Looking it up on the net I found the exact date to be 10 July of that year. We sat quite high up in the stadium, and even though capacity was around 80,000, I seem to remember it being mostly sold out.
Peter is in DC doing an internship with DC United and he was able to get me a ticket for Saturday’s first round playoff match with the Red Bulls at RFK. It was a pretty good match; ended up 1-1 and the crowd at the stadium was really rockin’.
Salvatore is the “12th man” and moves around the ground beating on his drum. I just love the matador get-up. I was hoping to get a shot of him looking at the camera, but I think he was leery of a flash going off. The return match is scheduled for this Wednesday at 8 (NBC Sports Network) at Red Bulls Arena in Harrison, NJ. Go United!
Jon Crispin's Notebook 
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