Too Cool for Dancing

Sometimes I am thankful I have an outdated, clunker for a camera. Well, that is how others see it, anyway. To me, the horrible noise if I raise the ISO above the minimum setting divulges the unique and unheralded character of the Nikon D100. I have had several chances recently to push it past the “recommended” limits, and what I often find is photos that (thankfully) do not look like all the others out there.

So, setting aside my ISO envy for a moment, because I do not write this as some subliminal reaction to my feelings of inferiority to all those cameras that take beautiful, low-grain photos at ISO one million, I simply want to revel in the grain, the color awkwardness, and the general feel of the photos I have after taking my primal digital camera into the dark no-mans land of light.

Ok…I will admit it…I still want a Canon 5D with a Nikkor Ai-S 35mm f/1.4: not too high ISO tech, certainly sufficiently non-conformist, but solving the core limitations I face with my cropped D100!

Scrap Iron Office

This week, due to changes in the fire code, I have had to remove the wooden staircase from my coffee house and replace it with something non-flammable in order to obtain my fire permit. So, I have had several visits to this little metal-working store front to order a metal staircase to be made, though “store” is a little misleading. This place is more like a man-made cave connected to the street.

Here they are, writing out the receipt for my deposit. That light is the only light in the dismal, iron powder coated, cavernous work space. I just love these kinds of places. You sure can find them back home, but if you walk around in the right parts of town, you can find all kinds of interesting trades. I still have the cave-like barber shop to photograph, but I will save that for another day.

Some kind of photographic lightbulb has clicked on in my head; somehow this place just feels right. So much of my experience in China has been in the countryside in these parts, and my archive reflects that. For the past two years, I have been shooting big cities, different countries, portraits for friends, and just about everything but that main interest.

From those very early trips into the Chinese countryside, something about the towns, villages, customs, and people absolutely fascinated me. Then, I stayed long enough that it became normal or as if I was in some kind of race to understand the locals better than anybody else. It became old hat and academic. Having been away for two years, though, and now reentering, much of that original fascination (mixed with some very new passions as well) is coming back.

We have only been here a few days, but I am just itching to shoot. “Patience, Grasshopper.” Right now, it is time to clean house, settle in, clean the coffee house, and prepare the paperwork to open business. The time will come.