Baseball in May
It was a lovely day for a ball game. The Nats had a 4:05 start and looked good until the 6th. They ended up losing 3-1 to the Padres. The weather was perfect and Peter and I were in our usual section 401, row M seats.
I think the Nats were running the special “Pigeons in the Park” promotion.
White Lightning /Alex Ross
I bought 3 Paul Buff White Lightning Ultra strobes sometime in the 80’s. I always liked the company and Paul Buff designed them to last forever. He was a really interesting fellow who started out on the West Coast doing recording and engineering work with Frank Zappa. He saw a need in the photo industry to have a strobe system that was simple and powerful, so he moved to Nashville and started building these. I still have my original 3 units, and they work fine.
At some point during the time I was shooting the suitcases my dear friend Alex Ross gave me 5 of his Ultra 1800’s, which are 3 times more powerful than my original set. I used them for the majority of the project. Yesterday, I pulled out one of them to do some quick shots and saw his somewhat cryptic notes on it. It is never a bad idea to thank the people in your life who have made a continuous and positive impact. I wouldn’t be the photographer that I am without Alex’s influence and support, and he might never really know just how much he means to me. Thanks Ace.
Roosevelt Island Talk
The Roosevelt Island Suitcases talk went really well. Took this photo from the Tramway on the way back to Grand Central.
I made it back just in time to get the 9.06 to New Haven.
Thanks to Judy Berdy of the Roosevelt Island Historical Society for inviting me back. It was a lovely evening.
Julianne Wick Davis / Grand Central Station
The evening at Joe’s Pub was amazing. Julianne Wick Davis’ song cycle based on my suitcases photos was really incredible. I was completely blown away by her talent and drive to get this going. The project is still in the early stages of development, but it is so exciting to have been an inspiration to her. / I was so thrilled that my buddy from Wittenberg, Chris Brigham came out from Chicago for the event. It was so great to see her.
I am on the Metro North train heading back to New Haven which goes in and out of Grand Central Station.
It is quite a place.
The suitcases site has been having a slew of problems of late. We are close to getting it sorted and it is currently back up and running. It appears that it has been innundated with bot attacks attempting to take over the site. Thanks to Steve Fox at Born Digital for all his hard work. It has been very frustrating and costly, but fingers crossed we are working towards a resolution. Cheers all, and thanks for following.
Jon Crispin's Notebook 
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