You were one of the most original, creative, unique entertainers that this world has ever or will ever see.
Sadly the more amazing you are in this world the more shit people give you. People can criticize your looks and call you a molester (even though you were found innocent and you must be extra skeptical of accusers who stand to gain a LOT with their accusations.) But none of that can overshadow the fact that Michael gave more to this world than almost anyone. I grew up with him, and even now that I live on the other side of this planet I still sing his songs along side Japanese people at karaoke who know him just as well as I do.
It’s ironic that just this past Monday my 7th graders watched a video about the making of "We Are the World" a project that Michael played a significant role in.
I will definitely do a lesson about Michael Jackson to ensure that my students, who grew up after his era, understand his great contributions and don’t just see the distorted images that the media loved to paint.
I’ll miss you man … お疲れさまでした。さようならポップの王様。
William Milberry
This photo is from the same roll of film as the previous. A roll of TriX 400 that I shot in the sunlight at 1600 and pushed 2 stops for a contrasty, grainy, artistic effect.
This statue is one of many around a Buddhist temple at the waterfall in the previous shot.
One could imagine that this photo was taken on the moon where, due to no atmosphere, there is no bright sky to fill in the shadows making sunlight surfaces bright and clear and shadows as black as night. In actuality, the sun was coming in from one angle, while the fill light from the sky from the opposite angle was blocked by trees. I didn’t take notes, but I don’t recall using any filters on this shot.
I felt like artistically experimenting so I loaded some TriX 400 and went out on a sunny day to shoot it at ISO 1600. I went to a pretty nearby waterfall and took some shots. I then pushed it 2 stops in HC110 dilution B by doing 1.4 * 1.4 times the nominal development time.
In general increasing development 1.4x is equal to increasing the film speed by one stop.
Normally this is done to achieve better speeds in low light situations, but I found the effect it has on contrast and grain to be artistically pleasing for selected shots in bright light. It has a kind of vintage look to me.
The Grand Palace
The Grand Palace is a major attraction in Bangkok. Thailand is the only Asian country with a monarchy. The Thai people love the king. Everyone speaks highly of him saying how he never stops working for the country and people. There are large photos of him displayed everywhere. Meanwhile he lives and operates in an opulent palace (only a tiny portion is represented in these photos), while I saw countless poor people suffering and begging on the streets…
I had my Yashica MAT-124 TLR at school a while back to show the students (they always ooh, and ahh over it.) I wanted to finish a roll of film so I went for a walk and found this seldom visited, forgotten corner of the school where an old desk had been put between two barred gates at the top of an outdoor set of steps that go to a 3rd floor entrance.
Wat Arun is one of my favorite temples I have visited in my travels around Asia (Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Thailand.) In my limited knowledge I would say it is heavily Hindu-art influenced. It is very different from the many other beautiful temples of Bangkok. It is extremely tall with very steep and scary stairs that you can climb and walk around high levels of it for a stunning view. The outside is mostly stone and some form of concrete with extremely ornate etchings, carvings, statues, and such. It sits along the river and makes a lovely scene from a boat. You pay a nominal feel of 50 baht (hmm, about $1.50) to enter and can walk around freely. There is quite a nice gift shop too where I bought some traditional Thai color/pattern fabric table cloths for a steal compared to the inflated prices I would pay in Japan for similar items.
I visited this temple twice, once in a rush as a 15 minute stop of a boat tour and once for several hours on an afternoon.
Photo of Bangkok taken from the top of Wat Arun with a telephoto lens.
There is a white stupa on a hillside that I have wanted to go and check out for 1.5 years now, but have been too lazy to. The other weekend I finally hopped on my scooter and went. I also took my Nikon F601 film SLR loaded with color film which I intented to cross-process.
I shot the film as normal, but then developed the C41 color film in B&W chemicals myself.
When you develop film in the wrong chemicals you often get very interesting (and artistic) results. In this case developing color negative film in B&W chemicals gives a grainy negative B&W image of degraded yet artistically appealing quality.
The negatives are also so incredibly dark that they probably can’t be printed the traditional way and need to be scanned. My strips of film look almost black, yet I was able to get some lovely vintage looking images off of them by scanning. The color comes from the orange base of the film and the unprocessed dye layers in the color film.
This is the view of the town as seen from the hill where the stupa is.
Wat Pho, Bangkok, Thailand
Wat Arun (aka "Temple of Dawn") along the banks of the Chao Phraya River in Bangkok was one of my favorite temples. It is very tall, with very steep steps that you can walk up. It is extremely detailed and ornate with countless carvings and decorations embedded in the outter walls. In my limited knowledge of Asian religeous art it struck me as very Hindu/Indian influenced. This temple is a MUST SEE if you visit Bangkok.
Another candid photo of some monks in Bangkok.
I really loved the scene of the setting sunlight and the two looking contemplatively out over the water. Before I could take the shot however the one guy looked at me. I think the fact that he is looking at me adds to the photo.
I gave them a smile and a little nod and they gave me an amused smile back.
