Thesis

I had my MFA thesis exhibit for the past few weeks. It was at the AVA Gallery in Logan from August 1-16. I took it down this morning. Defended it last night, and I barely passed. They raked me over the coals. I sold one print from the show...the one Jon Long told me to swap out (the swimmer showering at Saltair). I'm glad I put it in. Anyway, here's how it looked. Many thanks to those who came and showed their support.

Ghosts

Went to Lake Powell last week to relax on the biggest houseboat I've ever been on. Jet-skis, kayaks, ski-boat, fishing, sleeping, sun-burning (I thought I was 'tanning'), etc... Went down with Polla and the kids, my brother and his family. A good...no, a GREAT time was had by all. I even shot a roll of slide film with my underwater Canon camera. Can't wait to develop them actually.

Shot a LOT of time-lapse, and only a few stills. This is one of them. I stared at this rock all week knowing I'd want to shoot it before I left. It is really the only still image I did all week. A nice break.

Gear

Call me a geek, but I like to look at the sidelines instead of the action sometimes.








This is an amazing panorama of the photo pit at the end of the 100m men's final. Ah-maze-eeeeng!

Secret

Charles' Secret Spot from Michael Slade on Vimeo.

Charles Uibel took me to one of his secret spots out near Great Salt Lake this week. He's shooting the lake also, but his style is quite a bit different than mine. He's been to places I didn't know existed, so it's good to get out to the lake with someone else.

I did take a still that I liked a lot too.

Swedes

Well, this past weekend was a busy one, the Anderson's from Sweden and the USA got together...well, at least the ones that are related on our tiny little branch on the family tree.

We met at Anderson Park in Pleasant Grove, which was the homestead site of the Anderson family. There is a neat amphitheater there that we all gathered together for the ceremonial family group shot.

Yes, I took it. Of course it had to be a panorama. The final image measures 10x30 images and can be downloaded HERE.

WARNING: THIS FILE IS VERY LARGE...57 MEGABYTES LARGE...IF YOU DON'T HAVE A HIGH-SPEED CONNECTION, YOU WILL BE WAITING FOR A WHILE. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

Mac users, option-click to download it, PC users, click 'save as' and you'll be able to get it too. If you have trouble downloading it, let me know.

Here's a small version. If your eyes are shut it's your fault, not mine.

Church

Since I didn't go to church today (spent the weekend in St. George...), I thought I'd share something about some Texas churches that some people I know from APUG are doing.



I have several photography friends who are working on extended multi-year projects. I think that the things that the participants in The Texas Church Project say will ring true.

Glass

I learned the most amazing thing about cutting glass. Allow me to pontificate...

I am making 60 (yes, sixty) frames for my MFA exhibit which opens on Friday, August first at the AVA Gallery in Logan. Come on by if you are in the area.

Whilst making my frames, I decided this round to cut my own glass. I am getting my matt board and foamcore from a local wholesaler who also sells glass in 32x40 sheets in packages of 6 lights (a light is a pane of glass...). $25 for 6 sheets and I can get 3 pieces for my frames out of one light of glass. So, not too shabby on the pricing, it is a lot less than what I paid for cut glass 2 years ago.

I have a Logan matt cutter, and discovered that they make a glass cutter. I bought it for $26 and can now cut my glass.

I started cutting and after one package I had worn through the pin, or axle, that the diamond glass-cutting wheel rides on. Snapped it right in half.

I found a 'repair kit' which consists of three extra wheels and two axle pins. I decided to look on Logan's site to see about any special 'instructions' they might have.

I scoffed, thinking I knew everything there was to know about cutting glass, but I learned something that has made all the difference.

Logan recommends using kerosene or lighter fluid as a lubricant both on the wheel of the cutter and liberally along the piece of glass to be cut. I got some Kingsford Charcoal Lighting Fluid (it was a buck cheaper than Kerosene), and went to town.

I sprayed it on a paper towel and wiped it along the area to be cut. I also lubed up the cutter.

The first cut was so smooth! I couldn't believe it! The cutter worked so well, it was amazing! No jumping across the glass, just a smooth even cut with not a lot of glass splinters after it was scored.

Snapping the glass once it was scored took very minimal effort, and I was amazed at how straight and even the final cut was. I didn't have to press down as hard as without the fluid. I am thinking that's why I broke the first cutting wheel axle initially. Too much pressure. With the fluid, you apply minimal pressure. A may zing!!!!

Anyway, Tyler probably already knows all the glass secrets, but this one had escaped me for all of those years. I haven't decided if I'll share it with my friends or keep it to myself. ;)

Sinking

...ship that is.

In my career I started out as a photojournalist working for nearly every paper in Utah in one form or another.

Started out in Tooele shooting half-tones at 5am for paste-up with a waxer and x-acto knife at 8. What memories. I've seen the digital revolution rumored and whispered about, then fully embraced. Darkrooms and stat cameras tossed out the windows. Hard-drives and sat. phones eaten up like candy. Big big changes in the industry during my career.

I've shot for AP, UPI, AFP, Newsweek, Forbes, Agence France-Presse, some unknown Asian business magazines, Runners World, and a smattering of magazines in the off-roading industry. A pretty varied career within publishing, and the industry has always captured my interest, even after I abandoned it 15 years ago.

Why did I jump ship? I didn't like the way things were going. Let's just say I was a round hole trying to fit into a square peg. I left and started shooting commercially and editorially, but no more hard news.

I held my breath, silently at times, at others not so silent, as I watched the news business turn more into business and less into news. Clearly it's been bad business, because things in the newsaper bid'ness just ain't what they used to be.

I don't think of myself as any kind of soothsayer, but as I saw newspapers shift and squirm and try to figure out how they were going to deal with cable TV and the internet, I wondered how they were going to survive.

Multi-media arrived with a subdued roar to the newspaper bid'ness, and the lines of print/TV were blurred even more. Being a 'Platypus' was beginning to be considered a necessary evil. What's a platypus? A newspaper PJ who was forced to carry a video camera and generate content for the internet. How in the world they expected even that small change to work is beyond me. For some it does work, for most it doesn't.

It's been sort of sad, but almost predictable to see the slow steady demise of the newspaper industry. Where it will go from here is anyone's guess...but not really.

Newspapers are slow and cumbersome, and some would even say cold-blooded. Kind of reminds me of another creature that went extinct en-masse.

This recent screen-grab from Drudge says it all:



These headlines have been trickling in for some time now. Unfortunately I think the flood gates might be opening.

Emergency!

Got back from Long Beach late last night. Polla and I went down for a wedding (it'll be a seperate post...), but since I was heading to LA, I thought I'd see if I could be a little 'touristy'.

I have had a fixation on the show 'Emergency!' lately, and I did some research on where it was filmed. Come to find that the original 'Station 51' was just about 15 minutes away from the airport! I found a fan site with instructions on how to go there, found that they actually do tours and aren't afraid of the occasional 'fan'. So, MapQuest directions in hand, we went looking for it and found it quite easily.



When I got there there were some firefighters outside sweeping up the place, doing yard work, making it look nice. It was pretty hot, so they were working up a pretty good sweat. Firefighter Tom offered to give me 'the tour'. They do this ALL THE TIME, and I have to say I apologized over and over for taking so much of their day, but he never even gave the impression that it was an inconvenience. It was weird to drive up and have this total 8 year old kid flashback as I looked at the building and realized it looked exactly the same.



This is their new ladder truck. It's an '03. That's all I really know about it. The original Dodge Squad 51 is in the L.A. County Firefighting Museum. Engine 51 has been in service at Yosemite National Park until recently (this summer I believe), it was retired and is going to be restored and join Squad 51 at the museum.



This is the radio room now. The original radio room is now the Captains Quarters. The tones that LA County Fire now uses are not the ones used on the show. They don't even sound close. They do get the warbling tones on occasion, but Firefighter Tom said they don't sound the same. He said he would have to kick me out and cut the tour short if they got a call. They have a couple of fun photocopied promotional photographs from the show that they hand out.





These two shots are the 'Day Room'. Everything is the same, except that there was a partition removed between the kitchen and dining areas. I asked if they ever watch any old episodes just for fun. "We do that every day man...why would we watch it on TV?" Firefighter Tom had an answer for everything.



In the Day Room they had a little shrine set up with this memorabilia. There were a few other knick-knacks around the room, a model of the building, a poster of the original Dodge Squad 51, etc...







This is the display that they have for tourists to come and see. The "Squad 51" phrase is trademarked and cannot be used, as is "Emergency!", so neither can be used on any marketing material from LA County Fire. Universal Studios has allowed the station to have this display up and that is all they can do. They do sell t-shirts that say "The Home of the Show" and LA County Fire has trademarked that so they can use it on their Station 127 materials. "The Home of the Show" don't quite cut it for me, so I didn't buy a t-shirt.



The locker/shower area hasn't been changed since the show. All original cabinets and woodwork. The sinks/toilets/showers are to the rear of where I am standing for the picture.



Now many of you may be wondering just why am I showing a picture of a brick wall and a treadmill? Well, this sets up an interesting story.

Several years ago, the station decided to put in an indoor gym so they could take advantage of the AC cooled facility in the summer heat. In order to put in the gym, they had to remove two small brick partitions that were originally used to seperate the sleeping areas from each other. They saved the bricks and put them out back behind the station. One day a 'fan' came and when they found out the bricks were in the back, asked if they could have them. They subsequently found their way onto eBay and Universal Studios got pissed.

Apparently Universal and LACFD had an agreement that when the show was done being filmed, that the station would remain in the same condition that it had at the time of the series. Hence the original shower cabinetry, kitchen, offices, furniture, etc... About the only thing that has changed are the sheets, mattresses and personnel. So, Universal is enforcing their agreement, and even if they wanted to, they couldn't change the building.

I wonder where those bricks are now???



This is a pair of turn-out boots and a wall map of part of LA County. Nothing particularly noteworthy, I just liked the boots and the light.



Here is me. My wife calls me a geek...she's a good sport putting up with me.

Journey

Alright, for all those die-hard Journey fans, their latest album, 'Revelation', is a little 'different', but heck, who said different wasn't good?

For the record, I LOVE Steve Perry, and all that he did for Journey, heck, there wouldn't be a Journey IMO if it wasn't for Steve Perry. But, he made the choice not to be with the band, not the other way around.

So, Journey wandered aimlessly for several years trying to get 'the sound'. Nothing worked, everything sucked, everyone was comparing the latest lead vocalist to Perry...rightfully so. We all have that voice stuck in our head and nothing else will do.

Along comes Arnel Pineda. Yep, an unknown discovered by guitarist Neil Schon on the internet. Breaking down any preconceptions of how talent is 'discovered', Schon and the boys flew Pineda from the Phillipines to America for a little audition.

Well, cut to the chase and Pineda is the new lead singer for Journey. Yes, Schon admits that he was looking for someone to recapture that signature Journey sound, and Pineda does a pretty gosh darn good Steve Perry impersonation, which is probably what got the attention of the band in the first place.

But, there is a difference to his sound. Is it good? Is it bad? I'll describe it as young and timid, and not quite sure he can pull it off. It's as if Pineda is waiting for everyone to discover the emporer is not wearing any clothes.

Pineda will have to wait a long time, because he can sing. I mean he can really sing. Sure he has a tough time hitting a few notes, a few are a bit flat when they need to be a bit sharp (to fit that memory stuck in our heads).

Disc 1 is full of new material, one or two will end up being hits. That's about all we really got from any single Journey album in the first place, so this one won't fall short in that regard. One is already destined to be a wedding reception/senior prom classic, "After All These Years", and yes, I do like it. It has that classic Journey guitar riff that will stick in your head. Also some good ol' fashioned '80's sappy lyrics that really do tug at the tender heart strings. A positive message with a singable melody that will endear itself to the 'easy listening' set immediately. Other than that single, they all are pretty run-of-the-mill soft-rock songs. A few guitar solos hidden in just so Schon can have some fun.

Disc 2 is all old classic material that let's Pineda show his chops for the old fans, and for better or worse, sets himself up for the instant Pineda/Perry cage match. Pineda can sing, but he's not *quite* Perry. But, I am an old-school Journey fan with a secret longing for Perry to get off his a#* and re-join the band. I'm not sure they'd have him, as they've waited for years and decided to take matters into their own hands. The classics are all there, with the occasional off-key soaring high notes and all. Pineda will have to tune his voice just a tad to satisfy the harshest critics.

Disc 3 is actually a DVD of their first US concert held in Las Vegas, Nevada. You can sense a bit of tense nervous energy from the crowd waiting to see if Pineda will crash and burn. Remember, these fans have been punished by not one, not two, but three previous singers between the Perry era and today. Pineda takes only one song to warm up the crowd before they jump on board the Journey memory machine. It is a good concert video, and a very good concert. Drummer Dean Castronovo makes a very powerful case for himself even being the lead vocalist on one tune.

All in all I'm pretty happy to see Journey rekindle the spark that they had back when I was a wide-eyed hormone filled teenager sitting like a wall-flower dreaming of dancing with Kim Skousen during 'Open Arms'. It seems most bands of their generation would be content to sing at the county fair and rest on their laurels re-hashing old material. The old material is what concert goers are going to want to hear, but it's nice that they're working on new songs as well and trying to win over a new audience.

I'll tell you how well Pineda sounds live if I can pick the cotton out of my ears after hearing them in concert this Friday. We're taking the kids and yes, I'm bringing a lighter.

Independence

Apu from 'The Simpsons' said it best:

"Celebrate the independence of your nation by blowing up a small part of it!"

So...we did.


A Small-Town 4th from Michael Slade on Vimeo.

An HD version of this video can be seen by CLICKING HERE.

Falcon

I saw this Falcon at the parade today in Riverton. I didn't have time to focus. I was trying to catch my family as they walked away from me. Sorry.