Categories: Architecture, Photography, losangeles

farm_life.jpg

City living comes with frustration.  This morning I woke up to move my car as to not get another parking ticket on street cleaning day (I know it’s a holiday, but you can never be too safe).  I had to park a few blocks away on a little side street, though a busy too narrow side street.  Too narrow to be a two-way street.  Someone had driven too close to my car and ripped off my drivers side rear view mirror.  No note, of course.  Just another $300 morning.  This isn’t farm life.

Other than that, all is good.  The photograph above is from my trip to Texas (not processed the way I would like, the horse is a little dark, but I’m busy.  See below.).  A different world.  Horses & haystacks.  I think I am having a Green Acres moment.

My life is full.  I am taking several GE classes that I put off until my final semester, along with my degree project.  My project is an LAX expansion / Butterfly Reserve.  I’ll be uploading data / images / research / design as it is generated.

The class I am teaching begins soon.  I am finishing the syllabus and course outline today.  It’s Rhino / Digital Fabrication / Architecture.  Email me if you are interested in taking it and I will give you details to enroll.

I graduate in 4 months.  Decisions to make…

Darling I love you but give me Park Avenue. 

Tags:
Categories: China, Photography, Travel

Tongli is a small water town outside of Suzhou, known as Little Venice.  The best way to get around is, obviously, to hire a boat and a gondolier to maneuver through the canals.  Below are a few thousand words.

tongli-boats-s.jpg
There are plenty of boats to take you around, Tongli isn’t a huge tourist destination, yet.  I think they are trying to make this into a resort town, which seems a little odd.  But I saw several renderings of resorts and condos featuring some very happy German Looking families in the renderings.

gondolier.jpg
All boats come with a free Chinese Gondolier.  She was strong and somewhat intimidating, and I said “xie xie” a lot.

lady-washing-s.jpg
Tongli is still very simple and traditional.  But this water seemed a little dirty to do your laundry in.

crawfish-s.jpg
We had just eaten crayfish 30 minutes before I took this photo.  They came out of the dirty river, and were sitting here alone (aside from the flies) for god knows how long.  Bon Apetit.

tongli-roofs-s.jpg
Just some roofs.

healthy-fam-s.jpg
“Healthy citizens, happy families and harmonious socicty (sic)”.  My favorite sign in all of China, it makes communism seem so quaint.

And then in the middle of this quaint and simple old town, I ran into this sign:

tongli-sign.jpg
Hmm, restaurant, garden, toilet, sex museum….which one should I go to?

yep-that-one.jpg
Yep, that one!

tongli-big-dick-s2.jpg
Well, there goes that stereotype.

womens-dependence.jpg
This one was titled “Women’s Dependence”.

dick-and-bush.jpg
Dick in bush.  These things write themselves.

dildo-text.jpg
Number one is supposed to read “after the death of husbands“.  But the reduction of men to a sex object through this typo is great.  And the dildo selection at this museum was impressive.  There were double headed dildos made of stone dating back 2000 years.  There were also some other very bizarre sexual contraptions that my innocent mind has never even dreamed of, such as a saddle with a giant steel dick welded onto it.  I was later told that this was a torture device.  Sexy.

dick-and-chanel.jpg
Words can’t describe how much I miss those Chanel sunglasses.

There are two strange things about this museum.  The first is the location.  This really seems like a sleepy, conservative, traditional town.  The fact that there is a very freaky sex museum within it is confusing.  You expect it in Amsterdam, LA…the debaucherous cities.  But Tongli?

Secondly.  No one seemed sexual to me in China.  Apparently they were 2000 years ago.  And judging by the 1.3 billion people in the country, somebody is fucking.  I would speak to 26 year old guys about sex and they would giggle like little girls.  I don’t understand how their ancestors were inventing things that would make Belladonna blush, but people in their mid 20’s today seem to have no sexual desire.

Tags:
Categories: Architecture, Photography, Travel

jin-mao.jpg
Looking up in the Jin Mao Tower on the Pudong. Shanghai, China.

shanghai-flag-s.jpg
Rooftop bar / restaurant on the Bund. Shanghai, China.

pudong-water-s.jpg
Looking down the Bund, across from the Pudong in Shanghai. I had to go for a drink here after Shanghai Shopping all day. Holy shit, I didn’t think it would happen, but I miss China.

Tags:
Categories: Photography, Travel
Categories: Photography, Travel

gernika-mural.jpg

I’m in Texas. Relaxation. Reflection. With a dash of confusion / frustration.

I have had to reformat my computer because of the crazy Chinese viruses. I thought I had every program I needed, but turns out that I didn’t have Adobe CS2 on my external hard drive; kind of an important one. But thankfully LN was abler to Windows Messenger it to me and now everything is fine. I rememebered how to install Maya, quite a task. And now it is time to work again.

I am also editing photos as quickly as I can for my photoblog. I have been trying to decide how to deal with images on this site and on my other one and have decided that this site will just be home to snapshots and the “I was here” Stonehenge-y photos. Also, maybe some architectural photos that are relevant to whatever I am writing about. But, my other site will house the Photography.

I went to the Larry Clark / Ralph Gibson exhibit at the Helmut Newton gallery in Berlin. The Ralph Gibson stuff was ok, but I was more interested in Newton and Clark’s work. Very similar on exact opposite poles. The images themselves were beautiful by both men. But the content was what struck me. It was the same debauchery, only one group were rich, recognizable and some had old world titles like “Countess” that meant something until the mid-1980’s. But both of them had provocative sex, Newton shot blowjobs in the French hotels by women in Halston, Clark shot blowjobs in the Oklahoma woods by girls in jean shorts. And both groups used things to help them get through their lives, the rich always had champagne, the poor chose to shoot amphetamines. Granted, there is a huge jump from champagne to amphetamines, but I can’t help believe they are both being used for the same reason; reality is difficult no matter who you are. On a lighter note, it really made me want to be a better photographer.

Hello again all. Enjoy your lives. Answer your fucking telephones.

Tags:
Categories: Photography, Travel

The summer is almost over. I fly home in two days, and now I want to stay longer. If I tried to tell you how incredible this summer has been, I would fail miserably. So I will let my photos tell the story.

Segue. I have a new site dedicated to photography. My photoblog can be viewed here. I am pretty hooked on photography, and excited that my camera isn’t just a heavy, expensive necklace anymore. I actually can kinda use it. But I have a feeling this is going to break me. I need to buy new lenses, and a couple more cameras… less expensive ones off eBay, but lenses are pretty damn expensive.

Today was a photography day. I only had about 30 minutes of sunlight. Berlin isn’t a sunny city, meteorologically or metaphorically, so maybe the grey sky photos are actually more representative.

I am sifting through 3400 photographs to figure out which ones to edit and put onto my new site. But I have a few days off soon…

I will also write a thing or two about all of the cities I have been to, which include:

  • Nanjing
  • Shanghai
  • Tongli
  • Beijing
  • London
  • Salisbury
  • Barcelona
  • San Sebastian
  • Gernika
  • Bilbao
  • Berlin
  • Leipzig
  • Dessau

I feel like there are more….. maybe not.

Go to my new site, leave a comment. I will populate it shortly.

Say word.

Tags:
Categories: City Life, Photography, Travel

alexanderplatz-u.jpg
Alexanderplatz U-Bahn, Multi-Exposure.  Former DDR, Berlin, Germany.  No gas faces for plugs one two and three.

Tags:
Categories: Architecture, Photography, Travel

berlin-stadium.jpg
Berlin Olympic Stadium. One of a few remaining Nazi buildings.
olymp-stad-2.jpg
Inside the stadium.
me-corbu.jpg
Me with Le Corbusier’s modulor man at his Unite Berlin.

Tags:
Categories: Architecture, Photography, Travel

mvdr-new-gal.jpg

Mies van der Rohe’s New National Gallery, Berlin.

Tags:
Categories: Photography, Travel

basque-mountains.jpg

…this should explain it.  (Photograph from June 26)

Tags: