In My Head is a sort of autobiographical rumination, constructed of ephemera I have collected throughout my life (photographs, home movies, letters, writings, clips from favorite movies growing up, etc, whatever & whatnot … you know, stuff). It began with my postcard collection, then my movie poster collection, then it got sentimental & nostalgic. Although deeply personal, I must warn viewers that I am a very unreliable narrator.
Category Archives: ephemera
Hill 88, revisited
PHOTO ESSAY !! Hill 88, located in the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, in Marin County just north of San Francisco, an old abandoned military radar monitoring base, stunning views on a stunning day: March 3rd, 2018.
Catalogue: a visit to the American Museum of Natural History
Shooting with a digital SLR, I sort of animate my way through portions of the American Museum of Natural History (New York City). Entire sequence was edited “in camera”. Each of the 16 tiles contains the same movie, but offset in time, if you watch it long enough, this becomes apparent.
Gould, Bernstein & Bach
Here’s a great little gem of a video featuring famously eccentric Canadian pianist Glenn Gould performing Bach’s Keyboard Concerto #1 in D minor along with Leonard Bernstein conducting the orchestra. Bernstein introduces the performance with a brief talk about interpretation in musical performance, quite instructive and fascinating in itself. Gould performs with precision and clarity in this 1960 television broadcast.
Mother’s Day
Here’s a nostalgic photo from 1922: my Mom, my GrandMom & my Great-GrandMom navigate this river known as life (actually, it’s the Little Miami River in Ohio). What more can I say? I owe my very existence to them.
April 20th (4/20, 4:20, 420, whatever)
Let us reflect on the madness of reefer.
R.I.P. Kodachrome (1935-2009)
Kodachrome was introduced 80 years ago by Eastman Kodak, first as a 16mm movie film, and later in still formats, notably 35mm slide film (anyone remember family slide shows?). Prized by photographers for its color rendition and rich, deep blacks. Photographer Steve McCurry sums it up: “If you have good light and you’re at a fairly high shutter speed, it’s going to be a brilliant color photograph. It had a great color palette. It wasn’t too garish. Some films are like you’re on a drug or something. Kodachrome had more poetry in it, a softness, an elegance. With digital photography, you gain many benefits in post production (but) with Kodachrome, you take it out of the box and the pictures are already brilliant.”
Kodachrome is also known for its archival stability, outlasting other types of color film, which, while easier to process, will noticeably fade over time. My Uncle was an amateur photographer, he shot a lot of Kodachrome beginning in the 1940s, and into the 1980s. A couple of years ago, my Aunt entrusted me with my Uncle’s slide collection to have it digitized. For over 30 years, the carousels containing the slides had resided in a garage in the California desert, surviving 120 degree heat during the summers. In all, over 9,000 slides were scanned, with stunning results, images that look as vibrant today as when they were shot, some over 65 hers ago. Click here for a sample from my Uncle’s collection.
SF Giants pitcher Tim Lincecum interviews Bruce Lee
Produced to help promote the upcoming “Bruce Lee 75th Birthday Celebration” (Bruce Lee Night) San Francisco Giants vs New York Mets at AT&T Park in San Francisco on July 7, 2015. Giants pitcher Tim Lincecum interviews Bruce Lee about, well, pitching! The footage of Lee was taken from a 1971 television interview by Canadian Pierre Berton (from his self named show).
Thanksgiving 1946
Here’s how my family spent Thanksgiving in 1946. Picture includes my Mom & Dad, my Grandparents, my Great-Grandmother, Aunts & Uncles and various others. I had to wait another 4 years to be born.
Boris Karloff’s autograph 1934
My Mom traveled to Los Angeles with her Mother & Father in the Summer of 1934. They visited the Universal Studio lot and my Mom carried her autograph book with her (I guess this was a common thing back then, to have an autograph book). She got 4 autographs while at Universal Studios: Edward McWade (actor), Neil Hamilton (actor, appeared in several Tarzan movies), Franklin Pangborn (comedic actor, appeared in many Preston Sturges movies) and lastly Boris Karloff.
Below is a picture of my Mother and my Grandmother in front of the Notre Dame set from The Hunchback of Notre Dame.