Earl’s Court Tube Station
I have taken this very same photograph multiple times. I was looking through my contact sheets for an earlier version and realized just how much has changed over the years in terms of photography. Shoot film>Develop>Dry>Cut>Put in sleeves>Contact sheets>Edit>Enlarge>Make some postcards>Mail to 3 friends. Digital is so much easier for me now. Shoot>Download>Edit>Upload>Write post>Get great response from loads of people I have never met. I understand why some still prefer film, but for me this is so much better.
Chick’s in West Haven, CT
After I left Yale yesterday I went to Chick’s in West Haven to eat some clams. Peter and I have been making a bit of a study of fried clams in the Northeast, and he had encouraged me to check it out. (See previous post) I had originally hoped to go to Stowe’s, which is just down the road, but they are closed on Mondays. Chick’s is big, and was quite empty at about 4.00 pm, which made me a bit nervous. But the clams were very good.
They didn’t have that real ocean taste like ones from the North Shore of Massachusetts, as I assume they came from somewhere in the Sound, but the breading was very light and they were quite hot. It was nice to be able to sit outside and enjoy the late afternoon light.
Cushing Center
The suitcases project has opened a lot of doors for me. Jessica Helfand teaches a freshman seminar at Yale called “Studies in Visual Biography”. She is interested in (among other things) how ephemeral objects can tell a lot about the individual who owned them. Very early on she noticed my Kickstarter page and invited me to come down to New Haven to talk to the class. I went today and it was a blast. Afterwards Jessica took me to the Cushing Center at the Yale School of Medicine where neurologist Dr Harvey Cushing’s collection of brains resides. There is an amazing story about how the center came about, and the representation of his work and life are housed in a beautifully designed space. It is all very scientific, and not at all macabre. Well worth a visit.
Pizza Hunt
On my way to Albany yesterday to do more work on the suitcases, I drove past this abandoned Pizza Hut on Route 9 in Hadley. I have always wanted to photograph it in the fog, and the conditions were just right. This building is odd to begin with, and the fact that it sits empty in the middle of an otherwise highly developed area makes it even stranger. I think it has been empty for at least 5 years. When Peter was a little boy, we once went there for one of those kids birthday parties, and even then it was a bit other-worldly. I wonder if this was the bog standard corporate design for smaller New England Pizza Huts. As Peter was learning to talk, he would often add consonants to words where they didn’t belong; hence this building was, and still is the Pizza Hunt.
JFK Terminal 4 again
I drove down to JFK again early this morning to pick up Cris and her co-worker Kate. As we walked out of the terminal, the sun was just coming up and the sky was wild. There is something about airports and light. / I just want to take a minute to acknowledge all of the new subscribers to this site. The suitcase project has brought many of you here, and I really appreciate your interest and comments. Thank you all so much.
JFK Terminal 4
I drove Cris and a colleague to JFK last night. They will be teaching at Al Azhar University in Gaza for the next two weeks. I am a bit anxious about the whole thing, but it should be very interesting work for her. She arrived safely in Tel Aviv this morning and we’ll see if she can make it through the crossing into the strip. / I love airports, especially in the early evening.
Cornelius Krieghoff
My childhood was almost completely happy. There were very few times when I was troubled by much, but one thing that bothered me from time to time was my middle name. My sister’s is Louise, my brother’s is William and most of my friends had basic “normal” names. Carol Lee Thomas, Alan Jeffrey Radov, John Joseph Bowman Jr. (Oddly, I can’t remember Mike Hogan’s, but I am guessing it was probably Robert. In fact he might have been Robert Michael Hogan; named after his dad who was a famous University of Pittsburgh football player.) My middle name is Krieghoff. Maybe it was the proximity to the end of the second world war, but to me it just seemed weird. My mom’s maiden name was Krieghoff, and I guess she had reason to be proud enough of it to pass it along. It wasn’t until I was in my teens that I started to understand what a cool thing it was to be named after the most famous Canadian painter of the 19th Century. Read about him here.
I had known that he was buried in Chicago, and yesterday I called the Graceland Cemetery to find out exactly where. A lovely woman called Max gave me lots of information and since Cris and I are here for a couple of days I made the trek out there this morning.
It is interesting that in 1980 the trustees of Graceland paid for and erected a new stone for his site. Max walked me through the rather complicated directions to the section where he is buried (section g, resub, lot 178). Being directionally challenged, she gave me some landmark stones and once I spotted the one below, I knew I was in business.
I was told his stone was facing East, and after wandering around a bit I found it.
It is on the west side of the cemetery, just off Western Avenue.
Max had told me that he was laid to rest (what a funny phrase for being put into the ground in a wooden box) on 8 March, 1872.
Look, somebody (me) stuck a number 6 artists brush into the ground next to the stone (seemed more appropriate than flowers).
A very cool day. Something I have wanted to do for a long time. / Chicago is such a great city. Lots of amazing architecture.
Erie Canal Lock 8
I was photographing some of the damage to Lock 8 on the Erie Canal on Wednesday. It is pretty impressive, and I hope to get back soon to do some of the other locks. They are magnificent structures.
The river is still very muddy from the flooding and the clean-up will take some time.
Sox v Yankees
This is my great nephew and godson Crispin Duryee who is an avid Yankee fan.
He and his dad had planned to go see the Sox/Yankees game last night but Burr had a schedule conflict and couldn’t make it. I was more than happy to step in take him, and it was a blast. I hadn’t gone to a ballgame with an eight year old since Peter was little, and it definitely brought back memories.
It was a beautiful night for baseball and the Yanks/Sox rivalry meant for a crowd that was really into the game. Crispin is amazingly knowledgable about the Yankees and was fascinated by all the statistical information displayed on the new jumbotrons. He was a perfect companion at a game; never bored, always in tune with the action and unabashedly rooting for his team. The Sox won 9-4 which made me happy but was surely disappointing for him. We’ll see what happens tonight when Burnett goes up against Lester.
Jon Crispin's Notebook 
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