(Berlin, 23:43pm, May 19, 2008, f 3.6 - 1/80 - ISO 800)
|
|
||||
|
Monday, June 30
World War III has been cancelled
by
Alexis Byter
on Mon 30 Jun 2008 09:12 PM BST
When I was a kid, we honestly believed that World War III – between the Western Allies and the Soviet Union – would start here at Checkpoint Charlie. That's the little white-painted wooden hut, in the middle distance, with the ersatz sandbags in front of it and sitting in the middle of what is now a busy shopping district in the centre of Berlin. Back then is was the border between the US and Soviet zones – but now the Soviet Union has gone, Germany has been reunified and Checkpoint Charlie reduced to a tourist destination. I took the picture late at night, using a far too small camera and holding it in my hands rather than of a more substantial support – but that is the nature of the genre. I was also intrigued that there is now a museum dedicated to the Stasi – the old East German secret police – which, at the time I was visiting the city, was holding an exhibition looking at the surveillance techniques they used to employ.
(Berlin, 23:43pm, May 19, 2008, f 3.6 - 1/80 - ISO 800) Wednesday, June 25
Fetching in the lines
by
Alexis Byter
on Wed 25 Jun 2008 04:11 PM BST
 (Scarborough, 17:07pm, August 1, 2007, f 4.0 - 1/250 - ISO 100) I took this picture on a visit to Scarborough last year. I was there again a couple of weeks ago and the building is in the same derelict state – OK there's a different car blocking the entrance but you get the picture. The building is one of the few remaining stores that used to support a once thriving fishing industry. In fact you can just see the words Emulator on the wall – this was one of the last steam trawlers to sail out of Scarboro, tho it would have been scrapped (no heritage funds to turn old ships into museums in those days) about 50 years ago. One of my uncles used to skipper it. Another had a trawler torpedoed beneath him (he and his crew survived) back in 1915. (Better make that a great, great uncle.) Now, all that lies in wait for these buildings is a revival of the property market when no doubt they'll be turned into trendy living accommodation for weekend visitors. where long lines once hung now apartments and loft space for the nouveau riche It also reminds me of my old Aunt Margaret FETCHING IN THE LINES My Aunt Margaret was a fisherman’s wife who spent most of her adult life working in the warehouses on the Scarborough Fish Pier. When I was young, she was my baby-sitter and evenings would be spent listening to her holding forth on her two favourite topics. These were the Old Testament, with a strictly fundamentalist, Elim pentecostal interpretation – and the Soviet penal system. She admired the fact that Joseph Stalin, like the Lord Jehovah, was quick to smite down anyone who opposed him. After discussing the metaphorical symbolism of Adam and Eve’s nakedness, or some other tale from my Children's Illustrated Bible, we’d have a supper of soup, accompanied by large hunks of bread. It always annoyed my mother (whose idea of a rigorous physical workout was – and still is – taking her mink coat for a walk) that Aunt Margaret would hack the loaf into wedges, rendering the leftovers impossible to toast the following morning. I now realise that the long years spent in the raw cold on the pier, mucking the salt-slaked long lines clean of debris, then skaning the mussels from their shells to provide fresh bait, had turned the knuckles of Margaret’s hands into arthritic claws, incapable of wielding a more subtle knife cut. Sunday, June 22
Still life at the 11th Street Diner
by
Alexis Byter
on Sun 22 Jun 2008 07:45 PM BST
 At the 1950’s style, chromium-sheathed 11th Street Diner, on the corner of Washington Avenue in downtown Miami Beach, the short-order cook looks like Samuel L. Jackson would look, if he were playing a short-order cook in a 1950’s style, chromium-sheathed diner in downtown Miami Beach. Except the white’s of this cook’s eyes are permanently bloodshot and inflamed from the long hours spent working in the hot fat and steam-filled atmosphere of the diner’s kitchen. The 11th Street Diner is just around the corner from the Wolfsonian Foundation, the home of Miami Beach’s premier collection of art and artifacts celebrating the city’s Art Deco heritage of the 1920s through to the 1950s. On a slack Saturday lunchtime in April, there are still more people in the diner than there are in the museum. Perhaps the people here prefer to live out their heritage in realtime, rather than view it through the toughened glass of museum exhibit cases. In Camera Lucida Roland Barthes writes that the essence or ‘noeme’ of photography is its ability yo captures ‘that-has-been’ – the brief instant in time, between here and infinity, when the camera lens snaps shut. Look at this photograph. Has the diner finished eating? There is still some sesame-seed bun on the plate, along with ketchup splattered fries. The angle of the fork suggests the diner has just paused to take this shot and will soon be returning to his meal. But this debate is academic because minutes later the meal is over. What we are seeing now is ancient history. The table has been cleared, the diner has left scene, the detritus has been trashed or recycled, and the plates long since washed, stacked and re-used by further generations of diners. Out of sight of the camera, the short-order chef is speaking on his mobile phone, interceding on behalf of one of his customers, remonstrating with her boyfriend that he is not paying the mother of his child the respect she deserves. On the diner’s sound system American Woman by The Guess Who is playing. (Miami Beach, 12:49pm, April 12, 2008, f 2.8 - 1/60 - ISO 100) Thursday, June 19
Street Life #13
by
Alexis Byter
on Thu 19 Jun 2008 09:34 PM BST
I took this picture earlier this week in Old Compton Street in London's Soho. The subject I was focusing on was the woman working on the laptop in the coffee shop – I'm intrigued by this idea of coffee shops (usually a Starbucks or somewhere similar with wi-fi) becoming the so-called 'third place' – a halfway house between working from home and working in an office.
Here's an aside... My favourite image – inevitably taken when I did not have a camera to hand – was in another coffee shop, this time a French themed one in a side-street in the fashion district near Oxford Circus. There was an elderly Tibetan-looking buddhist monk, dressed in crimson robes (there were no crowds so he was not the Dalai Lama) he was drinking hot chocolate from one of those big French-style bowls you usually only see in Continental Europe – and in front of him was an Apple Mac laptop (the cafe had free wi-fi access). Perhaps he was surfing the web, looking for enlightenment in cyberspace. On the internet nobody knows you are a dog (or even a god). Anyway, back to this week in Soho. It was only after I'd taken the picture that I spotted the guy on the right, glugging wine straight from the bottle – no glass, perhaps he'd not been having a very good Monday morning. I say I spotted the guy – in fact he'd spotted me first and it was his wild gesticulating (not caught on camera) that attracted my attention. As he looked angry (and possibly drunk) I decided not to push my luck by taking any more pix and, in the words of the old-style News of the World reporters, I made my excuses and left.  (London, Soho, 12:42pm, June 16, 2008, f 4.0 - 1/400 - ISO 400) Tuesday, June 17
Street Signs #7
by
Alexis Byter
on Tue 17 Jun 2008 10:38 PM BST
Another picture from Miami Beach, snapped through a coach window and showing a traffic violation sign – however in the background is another sign promoting an upcoming convention with the snappy tagline of 'Welcome to Miami - where spinal expertise is hotter than salsa dancing'. Hmmm...
 (Miami Beach, 22:04pm, April 11, 2008, f 3.6 - 0.3 - ISO 400) Saturday, June 14
Street Signs #6
by
Alexis Byter
on Sat 14 Jun 2008 03:08 PM BST
There was a time, not that long ago – alright, it was in the 1970s and early 1980s – when the only person to be seen in London's Oxford Street shopping district carrying a placard (or sandwich board) was a militant vegetarian pacifist (if that's not a oxymoron) who urged people not to eat meat because he believed it stoked our animal passions and led on to war and cruelty. Today, by comparison, Oxford Street is filled with latter-day hawkers advertising English language schools, tanning & waxing salons, sushi bars, mobile phone unlocking, body piercing, tattoos and a host of other equally essential, can't live without 21st century needs and services. In case you are wondering why everyone is wearing heavy coats in April – it was unseasonably cold weather.
 (London, 14:36pm, April 2, 2008, f 4.9 - 1/640 - ISO 400) Friday, June 13
Street Life #12
by
Alexis Byter
on Fri 13 Jun 2008 07:39 PM BST
The Royal Academy of Arts' annual summer exhibition is currently taking place in London – here's a picture I took on Piccadilly (that's the London Street on which the RA is located – it's also the street on which you find The Ritz and Fortnum & Masons but that's another story) a couple of months' ago. You'll have to attend the show to see if this street artist's work made it into the exhibition.
 (London, 12:39pm, April 2, 2008, f 4.9 - 1/200 - ISO 400) Wednesday, June 11
Street Life #11
by
Alexis Byter
on Wed 11 Jun 2008 07:58 AM BST
We're back to that old street photography trope of men in wheelchairs – however when I first saw this gentleman, I thought "Oh, mi gawd – he must have had a heart attack or something" as he was apparently slumped forward and motionless in his chair. And then I realised that he was actually peering at his mobile phone. Not merely peering at it but texting – I thought texting was a lost art to anyone over the age of 35. Note the backdrop of a cut price sale in a shop carrying designer label clothes
 (Norwich, 15:06pm, April 4, 2008, f 4.5 - 1/125 - ISO 500 huh, ISO 500!) Monday, June 9
Despatches #6 - Red Dress
by
Alexis Byter
on Mon 09 Jun 2008 08:08 PM BST
I know... the phrase 'red dress' summons up lachrymose images of Chris de Burgh singing Lady in Red to Princess Di (although to me the words remind of the line in the old Tommy Tucker 1964 track Hi-Heel Sneakers where he sings "Put on your red dress baby, you know we're goin' out tonight" – the song was also covered by just about everybody who was anybody in the Sixties music scene) however what caught my eye here was the bright red dress with its every decreasing price tag – reduced from £750 to £250 to £125. It was only later, when I was looking at the image on a large screen, that I clocked the board at the side of the picture, with its long list of cosmetic beauty treatments. I guess for many women that is the downside of wearing a posh frock – the expectation (or maybe even the requirement)that it will be wrapped around an artificially toned and enhanced body. Bring me a rocket leaf salad without any dressing – and go easy on the leaves. Nah, not for me, crack open another tub of Pringles.
 (Norwich, 14:25pm, August 25, 2007, f 3.5 - 1/125 - ISO 80) Sunday, June 8
Despatches #5 - The Diving Belle
by
Alexis Byter
on Sun 08 Jun 2008 05:19 PM BST
OK, so it's not Christ the Redeemer above Rio or even Antony Gormley's Angel of the North near the A1 at Gateshead but it was jolly nice of the good burghers of Scarborough to erect this statue in a prominent position at the end of the Lighthouse Pier to celebrate the resort's long association with sea bathing. However the devil is in the detail – or the context – and nobody seems to have noticed that the backdrop to the statue is a lighthouse in grave need of a lick of fresh white paint.
 (Scarborough, 17:33pm, August 1st 2007, f 6.3 - 1/400 - ISO 100) Thursday, June 5
Street Life #10
by
Alexis Byter
on Thu 05 Jun 2008 09:02 PM BST
Eating fish & chips during the holiday season at the English seaside is not just a way of taking on food. It is not just a tradition or a way of life – it is a religion. Consider the concentration and enrapt look on their faces – they are like celebrants at a mass taking communion. For one brief moment in time, all the troubles of the world has been blotted out and there is just fish and there is just chips. (And, in the case of at least one of our alfresco diners, there is also mushy-peas.) Contemporary cultural note: the plastic forks are a recent innovation – it used to be a little wooden fork; and, fish & chips were never ever served-up directly into a newspaper – any fule kno that would just get the food stained with printers ink.
 (Scarborough, 18:40pm, August 1st 2007, f 3.6 - 1/100 - ISO 100) Tuesday, June 3
Street Life #9
by
Alexis Byter
on Tue 03 Jun 2008 07:57 PM BST
We're back in Scarborough for this picture – altho I'm not sure whether it should be one of my street life or street signs pictures. This is one aspect of the English seaside that remains as strong as it always has done – the cockles and whelks stall – but would you play seafood roulette with a place (no fishy pun intended that's claim to fame is that it is the cheapest source of fresh fish? Actually these people have been in business for years and their food is perfectly safe – and probably the best on the coast. But, for the summer holiday trade (and note the copious amounts of salt and vingegar available) price is king so they have to emphasise cheapness rather than quality. The picture also shows one of the perils of street photography – being spotted by your subject (and I was standing on the far side of the street about 60 feet away) – tho fortunately in this case she has a big smile on her face.
 (Scarborough, 18:12pm, August 1st 2007, f 3.6 - 1/100 - ISO 100) Sunday, June 1
Street Signs #5
by
Alexis Byter
on Sun 01 Jun 2008 09:56 PM BST
In the United States, some judges have to stand for election and re-election just like politicians. And they buy ad space just like politicians – so when I saw this campaign poster, I could not resist taking a picture. I also liked the way the bright blue of the poster contrasts with the red of Do not enter - wrong way sign – which could almost be a comment on Judge Faigin's campaign.
 (San Diego, 15:27pm, May 14th 2008, f 2.8 - 1/1000 - ISO 100) Friday, May 30
Street Life #8
by
Alexis Byter
on Fri 30 May 2008 06:28 PM BST
This is positively the last pastry/bread-product/donut related posting – at least for some time. I found this image buried in a old folder – I was walking past the Tesco supermarket on the corner of Jermyn Street and Lower Regent Street – and there was a line of barren window-boxes bereft of any vegetation and just about anything else except this abandoned donut. I'd like to think it had been left out for the birds or as some latter-day libation to the gods or faerie-folk – but I doubt it.
 (London, 09.55am, June 21st 2007, f 4.5 - 1/80 - ISO 200) Wednesday, May 28
Honeymoon in Vegas
by
Alexis Byter
on Wed 28 May 2008 05:52 PM BST
My earlier posting about the 'Berlin Buns' struck a note with a number of people with a interest in techie matters (What are you doing reading this blog, you should be working? – Actually, what am I doing writing this bog, I should also be working!) as it appears that cakes, pastries and sundry bread products play an important part in their lives. So, I thought I would dig out another cake-related photograph – taken with a pretty basic point-and-shoot digital automatic. The picture was taken in the shopping arcade of the Wynn Hotel, which is currently the top venue for weddings in Vegas, and shows a wedding cake that appears to be decorated with icing-covered donuts. Here is a haibun I wrote about the trip...
Honeymoon in Vegas They always tell you Las Vegas is the wedding capital of the United States – if not the world. On my short trip I encounter two brides. The first, clad in traditional long white dress and veil, is standing in the queue for a cab outside the Bellagio at midnight on a warm June evening. The second is when I’m on my way back to the airport. I’m standing outside the Wynn, waiting for another cab. But, there’s a delay and a plane to catch so I order a limo – not as flash as it sounds as they are cheap to hire. A couple, waiting in the queue next to me, ask if they can go dutch and share the limo as they too need to get to the airport in a hurry. “No problem,” I say. Turns out they have been in Las Vegas to get married and took a honeymoon suite at the Wynn that had a floorspace of 1800 square feet. “That’s bigger than many people’s homes in the UK,” I say. “That’s bigger than many people’s homes in the United States,” they reply. Vegas honeymoon – in a bridal suite bigger than the home they’ll share.  (Wynn Hotel, Las Vegas, 20:24pm, June 26th 2007, f 2.8 - 1/60 - ISO 200) Tuesday, May 27
Street Life #7
by
Alexis Byter
on Tue 27 May 2008 01:48 PM BST
Do Americans have a sense of irony? Currently there are a lot of complaints that the rising cost of gazoline (petrol) means that it now costs about $100 (£50) to fill up the tank of a big gaz-guzzling SUV compared with $30 just five years ago. Now look at this picture. It was taken earlier this month in San Diego (shot thru a chain link fence if you were puzzled by the blurry bits) showing a local stretch of freeway (it's the San Diego Freeway where it runs under 5th Avenue as it happens) in the mid-afternoon. The main road is busy – and so is the filter lane/ramp in the centre of picture. But looky here – there is nobody using the carpool lane for cars carrying more than one person. Go figure.
 (San Diego, 15:31pm, May 14th 2008, f 4.9 - 1/400 - ISO 100) Monday, May 26
Despatches #4 – 7 miles high
by
Alexis Byter
on Mon 26 May 2008 10:49 AM BST
Ok, technically this is not a great picture but it intrigued me – it was taken from the aisle of an NWA passenger jet (while leaning over a large Armenian gentleman) flying at 37,000 feet (about seven miles high) over the ice-packs of the Greenland/Davis Strait/Hudson Bay area of North America earlier this month. The metadata on the JPEG file says it was 9:40am in the morning but I'm not sure if that was UK time or US time – mid-flight you are in the middle of so many different timezones that it's all a bit academic. I had to tweak the image a little in Photoshop to overcome to contrast and glare but this is pretty much what I saw with my own eyes. Have the ice-packs melted earlier this year?
 (Seven miles high, somewhere over Greenland/Canada, 09:40am, May 11th 2008, f 4.9 - 1/1000 - ISO 200) Friday, May 23
Street Life #6
by
Alexis Byter
on Fri 23 May 2008 02:45 PM BST
I took this picture in San Diego earlier this month – the city has an excellent tram-car/mass transit system running all the way down to the Mexican border. I took this picture because I was fascinated by the woman with the suitcase and bags – why was she wearing the overcoat and those thick boots on what was a stinking hot afternoon? Was she homeless or just eccentric – there were plenty of both about in San Diego, including an elderly guy in a motorised wheelchair, sporting a luminous pink mohican haircut on his head and flying a pennant on his chair saying he was 'bad to the bone'. He zoomed past me so fast on the street I couldn't get my camera focussed on him before he was gone. Bad to the bone and fast to the bone.
 (Mid-town, San Diego, 17:52pm, May 13th 2008, f 4.9 - 1/320 - ISO 100) Thursday, May 22
Despatches #3
by
Alexis Byter
on Thu 22 May 2008 10:01 AM BST
This week I was in Berlin with the day job, attending another tech show. In
terms of the freebies, all delegates got the Berlin equivalent of an
Oyster card for unlimited free travel on the city's public transport
system and a dinky little backpack/wheelie bag. The latter proved
particularly popular, with grown men devising all manner of schemes to
obtain additional bags. Plenty of food available – altho it was of a
peculiarly Germanic nature, comprising mainly of small animals and fish
fried, stewed, baked, pickled, sliced, diced and/or turned into
sausages served up with sauerkraut and cream cheese. Still, the
doughnuts (donuts ?) were nice.
 (Messe Centre, Berlin, 16:52pm, May 19th 2008, f 4.0 - 1/60 - ISO 100)  (Messe Centre, Berlin, 15:39pm, May 19th 2008, f 3.6 - 1/25 - ISO 400) Sunday, May 18
Street Life #5
by
Alexis Byter
on Sun 18 May 2008 08:03 PM BST
I don't do early mornings – takes me all my time to get my shoes co-ordinated, never mind my socks – so there I am, early one morning last summer, walking across the concourse at Liverpool Street Station in London, when I see this immaculately dressed women in front of me, wearing a killer pair of high heels – a pair of killer high heels that were the brightest thing to be seen that morning. End of story.
(Liverpool St. Station, London, 07:39am, July 24th 2007, f 4.9 - 1/200 - ISO 80)  |
Recent Photos
Recent Articles
Search
Year Archive
|
|||
