Month: June 2024

June 23 – Tony Awards, Hiking, Pride at my old high school

Started the week, and ended the weekend, watching the Tony Awards. Few things were as elusive and sacred to me as a teenager than the Tonys. These theatre artists that lived mainly on CD cast recordings and The Rosie O’donnell Show would perform genuine numbers from their shows and accept their awards humbly. To a kid in suburban SoCal, New York City was about as far away of a land as could be. So many years later, and having lived in Hells Kitchen, NYC, and having given trying to get on Broadway a shot, watching the awards is different, obviously. But it still brings me back to the wonder of my theatre kids days. I still aspire to be like them, but I see them all as much more human than I ever did back then. And like any Broadway fan, there’s always a feeling of “it was so great back then…”

I was happy to get back on it with my workouts this week, even if I managed to mildly strain my back in the process. I went for a lovely hike in the chapparel trails by my house. The spring surge in growth has now become a landscape of flowering and bolting plants, some native and many invasives. The ever-metastasizing invasion of black mustard on the California hillsides has almost taken over everything. While hiking, I whisper small encouragements to the native plants still surviving.

Drove by my old high school and saw on their digital marquee “CHS Celebrates Pride Month” with a rainbow flag background. This is the very same school where I experienced a lot of intense bullying my freshman and sophomore years. It was a nice feeling to see that, and I like to think that these kids have it at least somewhat easier than I did. Many of my teachers and coaches back then did basically nothing when kids threw f-slurs at me, I hope these kids at least have more support from their administration.

Finished the week off back at the Fairplex in Pomona shooting their annual Cheers! event. A very SoCal evening of wine tasting amidst their beautiful, bountiful farm site. We had a heat wave move in, but as the sun went down the breeze picked up. I somehow always forget just how hot it gets in summer in SoCal.

Some reading:

Interesting New Yorker article on the photography of Laura Webb Nichols in rural Wyoming. I hesitate to play into the constant myth of women artists as lone geniuses, except for the fact that the history of the photography greats is basically handed over to men. This is truly some fantastic work by Nichols, who seemed to have been frustrated that she couldn’t fully realize her artistic career with her domestic life.

The Seminarian by Hart Hanson, a friend and part of my late stepdad’s work family for many years on the TV show, Bones. Happy to have picked up my copy at Vroman’s in Pasadena.

Some watching:

Ripley on Netflix. I don’t know any millennial who isn’t a fan of the movie The Talented Mr. Ripley. I also like the original novel by Patricia Highsmith, so I was excited to see this remake. It may be the photographer in me, but I just love that it’s shot entirely in black and white. Beautifully composed shots in every scene. Reminds me that I need to get back out and think black and white while shooting.

Photographing WeHo Pride 2024

I took my camera (Leica MP TYP 240) to West Hollywood this month to photograph Pride on my own. Pride is a special time of year for me, although like many LGBTQIA+ people I’ve had conflicting feelings about it over the years. The partying, the substances, the corporate sponsorships, the rainbow-washing–all of these seem to take away from the original message of the original Pride marches. It took me a long time to understand Pride as both a party and a protest. Pride is both rage and joy. Pride is over-the-top because Pride is about saying “I am not ashamed, and I’m here.”

And, like many, I’d rather use this celebration as a creative opportunity and to act the documentarian. Here are some of my shots. I hadn’t done street photography style shooting in a long time, so it felt a little bit like getting back on a bike again.

June 16 – Back to feeling human

We are definitely full speed into summer around my neck of the woods. The days have become long and warm. The evenings remain cool, which is nice. The upstairs part of my home tends to warm up in the heat of the day, then takes a few hours to release that heat into the cool of the evening. Our windows stay open, welcoming that release.

Since being sick last week, this is the first week I’ve felt human again. I took a quick trip down to Little Ethiopia in Los Angeles to meet my friend, Charles. We’d intended to try a bunch of food and visit the vintage shops along Fairfax. As ever, my timing was off and the shops all seemed to be closed. We did hop into a restaurant called Rosalind’s and ordered a dish called Vegan Glory, which we promptly devoured. Very tasty.

I was also happy to do some thrift shopping this week. Thrifting is my only hobby I haven’t tried to make into a career. And I’m quite aware just how much the thrift/vintage world has changed even in the last few years. What used to be a fairly cheap hobby has been turned into a so-called treasure hunt by online resellers. Grandpa’s 501s and Grandma’s depression glass are increasingly harder to find. These used to be the cheap collectables. Now they’re hot items on reselling sites. I didn’t find any of my usual treasures. I did pick up a few books. Being a gay uncle to seven-year-olds, I pick up books that are slightly above their reading level so that we always have reading as an activity when they’re over for a visit.

Friday evening was a trip to the Ahmanson Theatre at the Music Center in LA, to see A Strange Loop. I saw this musical on Broadway a couple of years ago, and I was interested to see how I’d react to it this time around. My brother, who was with me this time, didn’t particularly enjoy it. I’ve heard mixed reactions from friends as well. Personally, I find it reductive to leave an experience and simply stamp it as “I liked it” or “I didn’t like it.” I’ve studied theatre my entire life (I even have a degree in it) and I have to be okay with allowing a piece to make me think. Just because I’m not humming the lyrics on my way out, doesn’t mean the show is a failure. In this case of A Strange Loop, I really like the music and the ensemble cast. Parts of the show I find challenging probably in the fact that they weren’t particularly meant for me to consumed easily. Theatre is meant to make you think.

I ended the week with family over to enjoy the lengthening evenings. I grilled a bunch of vegetables that had been sitting in the fridge, and even experimented grilling tofu on a cedar plank. We poured rose and sat outside. The world is chaotic right now, but I’ll take good days with my family while I have them. Nothing but gratitude.

May into June

Funny thing about this blog that basically no one reads is that I feel free to update this corner of the internet with whatever I want, while also feeling like I have no obligation to actually keep the updates coming. I’ve been on-again-off-again with this blog/webpage for nearly 25 years now. This year, however, I decided to keep the posts coming, mostly as a log for myself and to be of use for any future developments that may arise.

As it happens, the last month since I posted has been a marathon of work, busy-ness, and rest, followed by a week of being completely on my ass due to a nasty cold. I rarely get sick, and certainly a cold wouldn’t been manageable while still leaving me able to work. This was a lovely combination of cold and flu symptoms. I’m not quite sure what I had contracted, but I had to proactively make myself stop and focus on recovery. Powering through such things can actually put you at risk for even worse health moving forward.

Finishing up the month of May meant finishing up my run as official photographer for the LA County Fair. This is definitely one of my defining gigs of the year. A treat and a challenge. I loved the Fair this year, and everyone I knew who came down to experience it talked about how impressed they were. I actually miss the fun once it’s over.

Post-Fair, I drove to the desert house for Memorial Day weekend to cook vegan food for our annual neighborhood barbecue there. This was much anticipated for me, and I had practiced making my whole roasted cauliflower on the smoker many times. On the big bbq day, I was met with quite a few curious glances as I loaded in and prepped the cauliflower. The gentlemen grilling meat right next to me snuck over for a taste. Apparently it was a hit, with almost none left once the line had come through. I was happy about that.

Coming back from the desert meant running headlong into June, Pride month, and the start of summer activities. I spent the day at WeHo Pride doing my own street photography, which as a nice change from my constant work photography mindset. I’d like to share a few of those shots in a separate post. A few days after Pride, began to feel sick and that’s when I signed off. I’m feeling much better now, and back to my grind.

One thing I’ve learned over the past many years is knowing when to stop. I don’t often like doing it, but I’d rather do it voluntarily rather than have the universe force me to.