There's an old story. I don't know if it's true, but it goes like this. Penguins mate for life. And there's a moment when some boy penguin is looking over that infinite expanse of black and white when one female penguin stands out. And he stands out to her. And then, well, that's it. Of all the penguins, these two are now together for life.
A couple months ago, Heather and I went camping with some friends. One morning, we emerged from our tent, bleary eyed. There were a number of dogs camping with us, too, and one of them came trotting over to me, happy as can be.
And I did what I always do. I reached out with both hands and gave him a nice hello rub. Slowly, in my early morning haze, it occurred to me. Something smelled bad. Really bad. I looked down at the happy dog and something in his eyes said to me, "Yeah, I met a skunk. Kicked his ass."
I brought my hands to my face and gave them a good sniff. The smell was intense. Skunk smell is bad from afar. But up close, it's like pure essence of death.
And my first thought, of course, was: I've gotta share this with Heather!
"Hey, baby." I said, walking to her, arms outstretched. "Smell this!"
And as she was bent over, hands on her knees, gagging and on the verge of vomiting, I knew I'd found my penguin.
The first week of August 2006 was hot in NYC. The hottest it’s been since 1936. Cars overheated. Power went out. People even died. And Heather and I were visiting New York City together for the first time.
Wandering the city with my camera bag, I soon discovered that the tape was melting off my Holga and my huge digital SLR attracted unappreciative stares. It turns out NYC is a Lomo kinda town.
The Lomo LC-A is a tiny brick of Russian camera awesomeness. It’s quiet and unobtrusive. And since you can set the focus (such as it is) manually, it’s easy to just walk around and shoot from the hip. So that’s what I did.
And my camera found New York in a rare moment. A city of incredible diversity, united in sweat. From Chinatown to the Village to Coney Island, New Yorkers were out in the world, doing their jobs, making the best of it. By the time the rain started to fall and the heat began to fade, we felt a new bond with the people who call New York home.
What is your current computer desktop image? Let's see it!
I whipped this up when I got my new Powerbook a few months ago and needed something new. The patterns came from somewhere online - I forget where. Feel free to grab it and use it if you like it.
