A walk through the park

Otherside of the tracks c.2009

“Always remember to slow down in life; live, breathe, and learn; take a look around you whenever you have time and never forget everything and every person that has the least place within your heart.”

Blink

Civic Center c.2011

"A hundredth of a second here, a hundredth of a second there - even if you put them end to end, they still only add up to one, two, perhaps three seconds, snatched from eternity.”~ Robert Doisneau

Walking with baskets & carts

Mobile pic 2011

I stayed home from work recently. It isn’t often that I take full advantage of a sick day because 9 times out of 10, I’m actually sick. But I needed to clear my head, badly. In an effort to be practical before embarking on my own version of Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, I decided to go to the laundry mat.

Doing laundry probably isn’t the most therapeutic activity for most. Actually, I think most people hate it. I remember somewhat hating it as a kid too. My mom would often let the laundry pile up until we were forced to make these trips to the laundry mat an all day event. She’d rarely give me quarters for video games, which didn’t make it any more fun for me. But I also remember the good things that came along with those trips. It was one of the few times we’d eat donuts from the Chinese food/Donut shop next door, tacos from the taco truck on Hicks Ave, or a ¼ lb burger with the fat fries from Jim’s burgers a block away on Rowan Ave. I’d be in charge of a few loads while she managed another set of loads. I'd be the lookout person for an empty machine, folding table or basket. Although she was slightly (very) obsessive over the way our laundry was separated and washed, she didn’t make me hate it. If anything, I couldn’t wait to do laundry MY way one day.

So I started my day off by going to the laundry mat. I rarely see this place completely empty since I usually go on weekends. I have to say it was nice. Just me, my thoughts, and scattered memories. 

A walk alongside abandoned tracks

Mobile pic 2011

“You know, the camera is not meant just to show misery. You can show things that you like about the universe, things that you hate about the universe. It's capable of doing both.”

~Gordon Parks

Walking by broken sounds

    

 


I develop prints the same way I cook

I rarely measure or keep time. I'll stop if it looks right.

Occasionally, it actually works.~ V.F.

These prints are a sample of a strange collection I began back in 2008. Over 100 developed B&W 35mm images are under my belt, as well as plenty of undeveloped rolls of film. I also have a load of random digital and mobile pictures, although I prefer to use film for this project.

I like to choose one major street to walk along for a few miles and attempt to find as many pay phones as I can. Over the last few years, I've searched along sections of Whittier Blvd., Sunset Blvd., Central Ave., Florence Ave., Skid row on 6th St, 7th St, & 8th St. It's been awhile since I've gone on a pay phone mission, equipped with rolls of film and appropriate shoes. I'm going to resume where I left off...

A Saturday night ride

Mobile pics c.2011

"Photography is an immediate reaction, drawing is a meditation."
~Henri Cartier Bresson

Walking with too much

Gateway shadows c.2009

When I was a child, my mom and I would always pass by the Whittier Blvd. arch on our walks to the Commerce shopping center. Everytime I pass by that arch now, I'm reminded of her forgetfulness. 

My mom would constantly forget we didn't have a car to put our purchases into. She'd always buy too much, and would often use me as a sort of shopping cart. Carrying five grocery bags on each arm was normal for me. The most embarrassing thing she and my grandma ever made me do was to "wear" an extra grocery bag as a backpack by putting my arms through the bag handles.

Some habits are hard to break. Those experiences are exactly why you'll find me carrying a massive amount of things from a car at once rather than making multiple (and more practical) trips. Sometimes if I walk or take public transportation to a store, I might forget I didn't drive there... just like mom did.