2009 March - All Narfed Up

Archive for March 2009

A skeptic

In $1 Portraits, Photos on 26 March 2009 tagged Los Angeles, male, man, portrait with no comments

I’m taking $1 portraits as long as money permits. (See Thomas Hawk with his $2 portrait project and Justin Korn with his $1 portrait project.)

What’s the premise? I’ll offer $1 to anyone who asks me for money in exchange for their portrait. I’m a shy person, but I’ll do my best to find out a little about the person. You never know if it’ll make someone’s day for at least talking to them a little bit.

While I was on the escalator at Wilshire/Normandie, this man asked me if I had a dollar.

“What do you need it for?”

“I’m need to get a ticket for the bus, man.”

I awkwardly told him about my $1 portrait project. At first, he hesitated. I reassured him that it was only a photography project, allowing me to interact with people.

I noticed his eyes were slightly yellow. Jaundice? Sad.

At the top of the escalator, he finally agreed. He walked to a spot away from foot traffic, then I snapped his portrait.

“Where you off to now?”

“I gotta get some food, man. I’m hungry,” walking in the direction of the bus stop.

“Alright, take care.”

I never did get his name.

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Rick

In $1 Portraits, Photos on 25 March 2009 tagged homeless, Los Angeles, male, man, people, portrait with no comments

I’m taking $1 portraits as long as money permits. (See Thomas Hawk with his $2 portrait project and Justin Korn with his $1 portrait project.)

—–

Rick stopped “briefly” talk to me while I was waiting outside Regent China Inn. He told me that someone took his photo a few days ago, even though he didn’t give him permission.

Trying to decipher a myriad of his tangents (over the course of 10 minutes), I learned that he was from Culver City.

A Metro bus driver refused to honor a monthly pass he just purchased. (No idea how long ago that way.)
He had $2,000 while in Glendale. Down the street was a Shakey’s, but he told some guy that he wanted to go to the one closer to home.
Save that card from Surf City because you can get a free smoothie.

Rick was on his way to a facility down the street to see if they were giving out food.

He never did ask me for money, but I offered him a couple bucks anyway because he seemed pretty nice. Other than that, I didn’t really get a chance to get a sentence in. He was a talker.

Before we parted ways, I asked him if I could take his photo. He positioned himself in a better light – and away from the front of Phillipe’s – but the bill of his hat blocked most of it. Oh well.

Sidenote: My cousin, Cheryl, is a psychology major. She suggested that he could have a mild case of schizophrenia.

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Happy birthday, Carol

In Life, Photos on 25 March 2009 tagged female, people, portrait, woman with 2 comments

This is one of several photos that I took of Carol [yesterday].

I think this was the best out of all of them.¹

We had a tasty dinner at Regent China Inn, across the street from Philippe’s.

Los Angeles, CA

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Still, neither her or her sisters ever truly like any of their photos. ↩

Couldn’t plan it any better

In Art, Photos on 24 March 2009 tagged Chantry Flat, light painting, road, Santa Anita Canyon Road, Sierra Madre with no comments

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Cleaned the sensor myself, baby

In Photography on 23 March 2009 tagged camera, cleaning, sensor with 7 comments

After being disappointed with Canon’s sensor cleaning, I finally did it myself.

I bought Sensor Swabs¹ and Eclipse E2 sensor cleaner. After watching a video of Thomas Hawk cleaning his sensor, I carefully followed suit.

I took a before photo, made one pass with a fresh swab, took another test photo, made a second pass, then a last test photo. Finally, I took the above photo of the box of Sensor Swabs and Eclipse E2.

There’s still a couple dust spots around the edges, but I’m 99% sure it’s because I didn’t emphasize those areas in my swabbing.

Don’t be scared. It really is simple. Just exercise caution and you’ll be awesome².