Some Photos

Man, I wish I was a better photographer, or better understood my how my camera works, or had a better camera, or was just plain smart enough to know which of these I needed to be true.

I was fucking around during rehearsal yesterday, and snapped this picture of Jay O'Berski, which I think had the potential to be one of the coolest portrait type shots I've ever taken - mostly because Jay is such a great subject... the background leaves a lot to be desired! But when I downloaded the shot to my computer, this is what I ended up with; it's all grainy and not very bright, and it just pisses me off, because otherwise it captures so much of what Jay is about - at least what he seems to me to be about judging from the short time and little I know him. Irreverence, humor, and a skewed way of taking in the world.

Yesterday was a good day all around, though, for potentially good shots (the fact that I can't consistently follow through in getting them is the definitive statement about my ability as a photographer.

I was on my way to meet Jay for dinner before rehearsal and I looked up and saw this sign/graffiti combination on the side of the building I was passing, and it just struck me as really funny, so I snapped what turned out to be the best picture of the day, I I think. I'm kinda dying to know, though, just who Jesse is, and why his or her arse warranted billboard size graffiti right below this sign. Although, upon reflection, it was probably the best possible location for the graffiti, since it's smack on top of the one thing on the building that draws your eye... the "for sale" sign. Even when it comes to graffiti, it's all about "location, location, location."

Finally, as the evening wore on and I looked out the windows of the rehearsal hall, I saw this amazing play of color and light on the brick buildings across the street, with the mixture of threatening and bright white clouds passing behind... so of course I surreptitiously snagged my camera and snapped a shot while Andrew was fixing something in the scene with which I was not involved. Here's the result... shot through a large double-pane glass wall. The really remarkable thing about so many of the buildings on the South Side of Pittsburgh is that you really can't see the most interesting architectural features (like that spike, which is what really caught my eye, contrasted against the clouds) from street level... you have to be on the upper floors of the buildings along the street to see this stuff.