Streetphoto of the Week  Exhibition* Number 157 through 208

 

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4
*STREETPHOTOS of the WEEK
Fourth Year
(#157 to #208)
July 14, 2009 to June 29, 2010
What is Streetphoto of the Week?

         It’s an Art Exhibit, a weekly sharing of a single street photograph (or five) from around the globe, and sometimes there’s an essay attached giving the back-story behind the photographs. Every five years, the Streetphotos of the Week and accompanying essays issued in the previous 520 weeks will be published in volumes called: Giving Up Lent For Cake.  But no worries, because Streetphoto of the Week promises to never try to sell you anything -- -- but instead to just sprinkle a little regular Tube Candy around -- -- Guerilla Art meant solely to get overworked folks like you to Stop and Smell the Street...

 

*Streetphoto of the Week #157/  Sleeping Off the Morning After on the Left Bank/ Paris, France 1990

Issued on Bastille Day/ July 14, 2009

  


 

*Streetphoto of the Week #158/  Street Mate Moments in South America/Argentina and Uruguay/ October-November 2008/ Issued on July 21, 2009

 

 

 

 

 

 *Streetphoto of the Week #159, #160 & #161/  Street Tango (part three)/ Buenos Aires, Argentina/ October 2008

Issued on July 28, 2009

*Special Announcement
Gary Mark Smith has been profiled at *Wikipedia 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_Mark_Smith

(Oh My!)

 

 

 

 *Streetphoto of the Week #162, #163 & #164/

Practicing street photography during a family gathering at the Mexican/USA border.
 
         *Three examples of the eventuality of featuring (dealing with) familiar clutter (beloved family members) as supporting characters in your work, because during a family gathering -- -- by definition -- -- you can’t get away from them… (#162-Wife Janet/ #163-Mother in Law Sharon/ #164- Nephew Jack) 

  

 

 


 

 *Streetphoto of the Week #165/  Trouble on the Border: The Streets of Disconcerting News/ Matamoros, Mexico/ August, 2009/ Issued on September 8, 2009

 

 *Streetphoto of the Week #166/  A Colorful Colorado Blow-by Totem: Warning of Things to Come #391328; Breaking the Chains; A Bizarre Case of Vigilante Repression: The Redneck Sheriff, the Whacked Out Civilian Defense Contractor & the Pitiful Camouflaged MP/ Leadville, Colorado/ August 26, 2009/ Issued on September 15, 2009

 

 

*Streetphoto of the Week #167/  Load-out at the Hotel Jerome (HST's Old Haunt)/ Aspen, Colorado/ August, 2009/ Issued on September 22, 2009

 

 *Streetphoto of the Week #168/  Whoa There Big Feller: Austin Sixth Street Parking Posse (with motorcycle blow-by)/ Austin, Texas/ August, 2009/ Issued on September 29, 2009

 

 

 *Streetphoto of the Week #169/  We'll Be Dancing in the Streets! (Mustache Dance)/ Matamoros, Mexico/ Reprinted from page #48 of the cool new book; The Road to Hell: Making Heaven out of Third-Class Travel/ August, 2009/ Issued on October 6, 2009

 

Friday Party!!!

The Road to Hell; 36 Exposures on a Global Roll

Everyone Welcome

          *Long time Lawrence couple and arts organizers, Janet M. Cinelli and Gary Mark Smith are proud to announce the culmination of individual art projects by holding a joint exhibition on Friday, October 9 from 6 to 10pm. At this event, Cinelli will be releasing her first book, a travel guide built for today's economy, and Smith (back from the wilds) will be premiering his first local art exhibition in 12 years. They will hold their joint exhibition and book reading at the iGlobal Network corporate office at 10 E. 9th (across the alley from the Bourgeois Pig) in downtown Lawrence. There will be live music and munchies and everyone is encouraged to come on out.

Book Release Party
The Road to Hell: Making Heaven out of Third-Class Travel

 by 
Janet M. Cinelli
                                                                       
photography by Gary Mark Smith

About Janet M. Cinelli:
(not just another pretty face...)


                    Janet Cinelli on Sugar Loaf Mountain above Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

          *After earning her bachelor’s degree from the William Allen White School of Journalism at the University of Kansas in 1990 (ultimately earning an MBA), Janet took a “job” at her family’s telecommunications company.  All these years later at the same company, Janet continues to build her career as a marketing/sales/training professional. Work aside, Janet’s passion in life has always been travel.  She wrote The Road to Hell: Making Heaven out of Third-Class Travel as a way to feed her academic nature.  Janet built her philosophy of third-class travel by experiencing it first-hand, over more than a quarter century on the road to the four corners of the Earth.

            Janet lives in Lawrence, Kansas, USA with her husband, Gary Mark Smith, a global street photographer, and their two cats, Rio (de Janeiro) and Quito.  Since their meeting in 1987, Janet and Gary have wandered to more than 40 countries and across the USA hand in hand... often making heaven out of third-class travel together. 

 

 *Streetphoto of the Week #170/  Buenos Aires Street Tango: Chapter Four/ Buenos Aires, Argentina/ October 2008/ Issued on October 13, 2009

 

 

 

 

 *Streetphoto of the Week #171, #172, #173 & #174/  Mexican Market/ Progresso, Mexico/ August, 2009/ Issued on October 20, 2009


Guitar Busker Head Shop

 


Progresso Flower Delivery

 


Veterinary Big Dog

 


Bigger than Jesus 
?
 

 *Streetphoto of the Week #175/  Halloween Salvador/ (Neither the Noise of the Downtown Saturday Market, Nor the Occasional need for his Bell-ringing Mom to sell Ice Cream on a Hot Tropical Day, Shall Impair this Tired Boy from his Appointed Slumber)/ San Salvador, El Salvador, Halloween Day, October 31 2009/  Issued on November 16, 2009

 

*A Very Special Thank You Goes out:

 To the members and guests of CLUB DE FOTOGRAFIA DE EL SALVADOR ASA 2000 who took part in the entertaining and rewarding November 4, 2009 San Salvador event featuring guest speaker Gary Mark Smith.

Your hospitality was greatly appreciated and both Janet and Gary were rewarded in turn by making the many friendships we made on this short exploratory visit to El Salvador -- despite the crime wave and safety concerns in progress -- still one of the most beautiful and friendly places on the face of the earth!

We can't wait to get back there again...

* Look for the Entire Portfolio from the Streets of Central America 2009 shoot (El Salvador, Guatemala and the Yucatan) to pop up in two or three weeks at www.Streetphoto.com

 
 

*Streetphoto of the Week #176/  Guatemala Market Morning Stock Up Toss/ Antigua, Guatemala/ November 2009/ Issued on November 23, 2009

* If you are an American, Have a Happy Thanksgiving!!!
(and wishing everyone else wherever you are in this world a bountiful harvest this growing season)

 

 

 *Streetphoto of the Week #177/  Guatemala Shoe Shine Commute/ Antigua, Guatemala/ November 2009/ Issued on December 1, 2009

 

*Streetphoto of the Week #178/ Sleeping in Central America DreamStrip x4/ Antigua, Guatemala and San Salvador, El Salvador/ October-November 2009/ Issued on December 8, 2009

*The entire Streets of Central America 2009 Portfolio by Gary Mark Smith
 can now be viewed at: http://www.streetphoto.com/CentralAmerica.htm
on www.streetphoto.com

 

 

 


(reprised from Streetphoto of the Week #175)

 

*Streetphoto of the Week #179/  Guatemala - El Salvador Border Merchant/ on the Guatemala side of the river/ November 2009/ Issued on December 15, 2009

 

*Streetphoto of the Week #180/ Hang Loose: Rio de Janeiro Holiday Advice/ Arpoador, Rio de Janeiro,
Brazil/ Christmastime 2005/ Issued on December 22, 2009

 

 

 

*Streetphoto of the Week #181/ Sun Baked Umbrella Kettle/ Suchitoto, El Salvador/ November, 2009/ Issued on December 29, 2009

* Happy New Year Everyone

 

*Streetphoto of the Week #182


* An Ode to Our Friend Matthew Moore
1953-2009
 

* Streetphoto of the Week #182
The Last Prayer Meeting:
The End of an Era for Lawrence, Kansas, USA

The Olde Hip-Eye on the Streets of The Big Easy
( a portrait made during a midnight run to Tipitina's... )

New Orleans, Louisiana
April, 1993
Issued on January 5, 2010

* An Ode to Our Friend Matthew Moore
                                                          by Gary Mark Smith
 

 

**Thomas Matthew Moore
November 9, 1953 to December 31, 2009

                  

    Thomas Matthew Moore was born in Lawrence, KS, the son of Robert J. & Marna Brewer Moore. He attended Lawrence schools and graduated from Lawrence High School, later earning a Radio-TV-Film degree from the William Allen White School of Journalism and Mass Communications at the University of Kansas.

    He sang with several bands in Kansas and in New Orleans, where he worked and lived in the French Quarter for 5 years between 1992 and 1997. His forte was the blues with driving Rock-n-Roll and country. However, Matthew was most well known for his radio show and persona; The Olde Hip-Eye --- who in it's time employed a radio playlist hell-bent to cause radiating non-commercial Rock-n-Roll flashbacks in otherwise commercially distracted ex-hippie listeners. He was a devoted music lover and a dedicated alternative music promoter for more than a decade in Lawrence, including being a founding father of the notorious pirate MegaKeggar and Omega outdoor music festivals thrown each year for more than a decade by The Committee For the Preservation of Wild Life in Lawrence --- (Dedicated to the Proposition that Wild Life in Lawrence Shall Never Perish...). And in 1988-89 he also became notable when he and a few of his loyal friends in the Lawrence Music Scene fought the powers that be (the journalism faculty at the University of Kansas and their minions, the Kansas Board of Regents, and ultimately the FCC) to save student-run radio at KJHK. Matthew would be quoted (as late as during the summer of 2009) as saying that, Fighting fascism at KJHK and helping to beat it back was the best thing I’ve ever done in my life…

    Many would disagree.
   
That’s because along the way, saddled with an acute sense of dignity and in an unconstrained battle with his own daemons (typically aggravated by either incompetent government or the annoying refusal of authority to realize the obvious difference between right and wrong) Matthew Moore became a grassroots American artist of poignant yet largely unsung merit outside the length of his genteel reach.

    Sure --- he sang on stage and was a fierce patron of the arts and he promoted local music and helped preserve wild life in Lawrence and free speech in America during the radio wars. But that was only a derivative of Matthew Moore’s art, not even quite one full share of his consuming overall methodology; producing and projecting a nearly constant free flow of good will to anyone in range of his considerable voice. Fully prepared to clutter everyone’s daily grind (everyone he encountered from a friend on the street to the comic book merchant to the waitress he’d surely be over tipping by the end of the meal) with a few minutes of sanity and order in an otherwise insane and untidy world.

    Some artists work in oils or with molten steel or inside the fine art camera. Matthew worked at being informed (a veracious reader who gobbled up three or four newspapers per day) and worked at being interesting enough (as other great art intends) to serve the community as a diversion from the mundane and to help teach his audience (guide them, really) how best to stop and smell the fucking roses

    His thought process for achievement in this regard was all encompassing, and aside from his many jobs as a younger man and his time and extreme labor spent building his Jefferson County farm (his largest enduring 3-D artwork) and his necessary sleeping and feeding times (both of which he also enjoyed) most of his energy was spent on the thought process of keeping at least one step ahead of pessimism, achieving tolerable optimism, and then putting it all out into the world on exhibition for the intended comfort of others.

    It wasn’t really performance art per se, much more eternal than that --- much more genuine --- comforting --- and… … … well… … real

    After dark he nearly always showed up to the house with tasty wine or expensive champagne and the necessary essentials for the over-inflicted, culminating in a booming group toast and the cheerful clink of party glasses --- optimistic and permeated with the stink of the rose, compelling everyone to achieve balance, and to appreciate the enjoyment of a life with Matthew Moore in it --- either intrinsically or alphabetically, or whatever as it artistically were…

    Although being a gentleman’s gentleman was a major determining quality of Matthew’s subtle art, don’t be misled – you didn’t want this hippie getting mad at you. He was a huge man and had a penetrating eye coming out of a full head of hair that could instantaneously accuseassault and condemn --- and he was blessed with (either for singing or yelling or just for saying hello -- HEY NOW!!! --) an absolutely booming baritone (some say basso profondo) voice.

    But without that passion and its intelligent resolve, Matthew might have turned out to be just another pissed off artist sitting alone in coffee shop corners, muttering to himself under his breath…

    Matthew Moore typically had great patience for fools, changing the subject after a scolding and never letting on to the poor soul who didn’t want to know the difference between sushi and sashimi or Cabernet and Merlot -- never letting on to the dolt the depths of their ignorant misery and instead changing the subject to accommodate their good mood and filling their glass to the brim. Because Matthew’s goal (his artistic objective) was to bring out the best in everyone he encountered, particularly those who didn’t know any better

    Matthew spent time doing six or eight crossword puzzles per week; he spent time collecting comic books (golf balls for a while) and primitive skull art, among many other things; he spent time watching fantasy and sports on TV and was one of the most avid KU Men’s Jayhawk basketball fanatics of all time; he spent quality time reading books and graphic novels and he spent quiet time writing his thoughts down, unassumingly trying to help save a world gone to hell in a hand-basket in those pages...

    Matthew Moore spent time in his artistic thought process maintaining balance and he spent time collecting friends just so he might invest his experience into leading his life and projecting his magnanimous inspiration into our daily grinds, creating community balance (Lawrence style) and leaving us all with a greater sense of ourselves

    Some artists work in oils or film or with molten steel. 

    Matthew worked with love and in balance and toward the promotion of a higher sense of being…                             

    Marna and Bob, you gave Lawrence a boy turned into a man who did well in his life by you and by Lawrence too. Kudos to you for investing in us this gentle soul. Many would say that the best thing Matthew had ever done in his life was to have entered into theirs, and You and Mel and Marty and all the extended Sullivans and Moores can rest assured that you have fostered a love that will continue to warm these parts and beyond for a good long while to come

    Yet, we already miss him more than we can tell…

                  
 

 

*NOTE :

          Matthew knew what was happening in my street photography career, knew this was the most successful year I’d ever had in the arts, and he relished my buoyancy and optimism during 2009. But he and I rarely talked about that part of my life, rather using our time together to chatter incessantly about national and international politics and culture, about the Lawrence gossip of the day, about food and wine, and at this time of the year about Kansas Jayhawk basketball !!!

            However, the last time we saw each other in person on December 17 -- over to the house for our regular dinner date and in honor of Janet’s birthday staying an hour longer than usual -- (of course he brought us a tasty bottle of very good birthday wine) -- and right near the end of the evening, the three of us huddled together upstairs in my office for a nightcap (as it turned out, a final sit down and sharing) he surprisingly turned the conversation toward the Streetphoto of the Week exhibit.

            “You know Janet, I get plenty of junk mail ... ... ... people all the time sending me things they think I should see,” he said directly to Janet, “And I always skim through it … … … but the one thing that comes into my in-box that I always look forward to is Streetphoto of the Week.”  And then he looked over at me and added the part of his speech that in hindsight of his death days later on New Year’s Eve accidentally completed a circle between Matthew’s art form and mine; “It’s become a Wednesday morning ritual to find it there, and because it’s always bold and smart, Streetphoto of the Week has become a touchstone for me that makes me look forward to waking up and getting going on Wednesday mornings…”

            Less than a week into our misery, that chance conversation gives me extreme comfort, knowing that on the last morning of his beautifully crafted life, Matthew may just have begun the day with this exhibition as an inspiration…

            Well, I’m back at it my dear old friend Matthew (I know you’re tuned in!), to let you know how many times that you've inspired me. 

            Dude! I promise to toast your memory more than once in every blue moon --- I’ll miss you like nobody’s businesses…

            
 

 

    

 

    

 

 

 

 

               

 

*Streetphoto of the Week #183/ Saturday Downtown Market: San Salvador Flower Vendor San Salvador, El Salvador/ October 31, 2009/ Issued on January 12, 2010
 

 

*Streetphoto of the Week #184/ Moving Day at Tufts University: A Lamplighter Towing Beer off Walnut Hill/ Medford, Massachusetts/ 2008/ Issued on January 19, 2010
 

 

*Streetphoto of the Week #185/ A special guest Streetphoto of the Week selection by American photographer Ann Dean Images from Ann's recent color work made on Isla Mujeres, Mexico/ Issued on January 26, 2010
 

*Streetphoto of the Week is delighted to present another guest artist to spice up

the Streetphoto of the Week Exhibition...

         About once or twice each year -- Streetphoto of the Week selects a praiseworthy photographer we know from somewhere out there in the world and we feature samples of their fine photography in an edition of Streetphoto of the Week, and we also provide the distinguished Streetphoto of the Week membership a resource of links to see what the Streetphoto of the Week guest photographer has been up to lately. Today's Streetphoto of the Week guest is photographer Ann Dean who has been exhibiting her collection of current work from Isla Mujeres, Mexico in USA galleries and Lawrence public spaces during 2009 and 2010. You can follow Ann's future endeavors and find out more about her work at:

http://anndean.zenfolio.com/
 

 

 

 

 

         
 

Ann Dean

  *Artist Statement:

          The images in this series are from Isla Mujeres, the island of women, a small island off Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula and home of the Temple of Ixchel, Mayan goddess of the moon, fertility and other worthy causes. Unlike most of what is now called “the Mayan Riviera”, there are still signs of authentic Mexico found here. I was inspired by the vibrant colors, textures and shapes on this island, and I have brought them back to Kansas to share. 

Born in St. Louis, Missouri, I have been interested in the art of photography since the age of 15. After receiving a Bachelor of Arts in English at the University of Kansas, I went on to pursue a graduate certificate from the New York Institute of Photography and have studied under several different photographers in the Lawrence area. I am currently teaching photography at the Lawrence Arts Center and working as a freelance photographer.

Although I have done wedding photography and portraiture, my focus is travel photography. It is important for me to visit new places and experience different cultures around the world, and to promote education and understanding between people through my photographs. With each shot I hope to capture a specific moment in time that resonates with the viewer as if you were actually there watching the scene unfold for yourself, thus providing the individual with a unique experience.

I love photography because it gives me a chance to savor the fleeting moments in time that we all take for granted and that give our lives meaning...

http://anndean.zenfolio.com/

Ann's Mexico: Color, Line & Texture exhibition is on display at Pachamama's Restaurant in Lawrence (800 New Hampshire St.) until February 8th. It will then be on display at Wheatfield's Bakery in Lawrence, KS (904 Vermont Street) from April 5th through June 7th, 2010.  

**Become a regular Streetphoto of the Week invited guest in less than 30 seconds at:

http://www.streetphoto.com/StreetphotooftheWeekregister.htm

**Note:

Streetphoto of the Week is inviting serious photographers from around the world to apply for a guest shout-out in a future edition of Streetphoto of the Week. Accepted photographers (artists) will be those who do most of their work on the streets (in public) and who have created an extensive collection of work from out there worth sharing...

Just send an eMail to: gary@streetphoto.com with the subject line: SPotWEEK Guest Request.

Streetphoto of the Week is read by an increasingly large and loyal audience including connected art and photography dealers worldwide; fine art academics and photography devotees from near and far; critics; curators; and a lot of just plain photography-loving folks from nearly 100 countries throughout the globe...


 

*Streetphoto of the Week #186/ *On February 2 in the Southern Hemisphere, if a beach dog carrying a coconut sees her shadow, there will be six more weeks of Summer... The Dog from Ipanema Rio de Janeiro, Brazil/ Happy Coconut Dog Day Everyone!! (Groundhog Day up North)/ Issued on February 2, 2010
 

 

*Streetphoto of the Week #187/ Primary Colored Window Curtain Knot Matamoros, Mexico/ August, 2009/ Issued on February 9, 2010
 

 

*Streetphoto of the Week #188-190/ An El Salvador Head-Carry Triptych Suchitoto and San Salvador, El Salvador/ 2009/ Issued on February 16, 2010
 

 

 

 

*Streetphoto of the Week #191/ Amsterdam Chauffeur-driven Boot-biker Girl Amsterdam. Holland/ Last Week/ Issued on March 2, 2010
 

 

*Streetphoto of the Week #192/ Amsterdam Muntplein Streetphoto Traffic Stop Amsterdam, Holland/ Last Month/ Issued on March 9, 2010
*
The Muntplein (literally "mint square") is a square in the centre of Amsterdam. The square is in fact a huge bridge — the widest bridge in Amsterdam — which crosses the Singel canal at the point where it flows into the Amstel river. All bridges in Amsterdam are numbered, and the Muntplein carries the number 1.
 

 

*Streetphoto of the Week #193/ Dutch Transport: Extreme Carbon Neutral Behavior on the Streets of Amsterdam Amsterdam, Holland/ Last Month/ Issued on March 16, 2010
 

 

*Streetphoto of the Week #194/ Deere Friends (in Red, White, Blue, Yellow and Green): Saint Patrick Day Parade Bead Buddies x2 (plus the Queen Too!), from the American Heartland... Lawrence, Kansas/ Last Week/ Issued on March 23, 2010
 

 

 

*Streetphoto of the Week #195/ Amsterdam Scooter Boat DreamScape (and three of it's sixteen images) Amsterdam, Holland/ Last Month/ Issued on March 30, 2010
*Made on Haarlemmerstraat (the umbrella shots) and at the edge of the Jaardan neighborhood (the canal boat images) while my friend Bart and I waited for a tram one evening...
 

 

 

 

 

*Streetphoto of the Week #196/ Looters Will Be Shot: (Then Absolved-:) Pearl River, Louisiana/ September, 2005/ Issued on April 6, 2010
*Made during the nerve wracking aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and the Flood of New Orleans.
 

*Streetphoto of the Week #197/ Amsterdam Winter 2008 & 2010 BootBiker DreamScape (with three of it's sixteen images, and another that didn't make the BootBiker DreamScape cut) January 2008 & February, 2010/ Issued on April 13, 2010
 

 

 

 

 


 

*Streetphoto of the Week #198
More Amsterdam Boot Art!

(Three additional x16-panel DreamScapes
from the BootWalker & BootBiker Blow-by Perspectives)

Amsterdam, Holland

* See Gary's Full-out Winter Amsterdam BootBiker Portfolio at:
http://www.streetphoto.com/AmsterdamBootBikers.htm 

All Photographs made in January-February 2008 & February 2010
... and Issued on April 20, 2010

 

 

*Also: 

A Streetphoto of the Week
XXX-tended EXHIBITION NOTICE recommendation
If you have the time and inclination...
*** NEW
 on the StreetPhoto.com WebsiteNEW ***
*Inside the XXX Amsterdam Red Light District
@: 
http://www.streetphoto.com/AmsterdamRedLightDistrict.htm

46 photographs from perhaps the sexiest
and most permissive streets on the face of the Earth...
(1982-2010)
&
*Global Police BeatCops in the Wild @: 
http://www.streetphoto.com/PoliceBeat.htm
33 photographs and four x16-panel DreamScapes from four continents
(1990-2010)

 

*Streetphoto of the Week #199
Shoeshine Commute: The Early Morning Hump

Quito, Ecuador

2007
Issued on April 27, 2010
Gary's 54th birthday...

And, if you have the time and inclination for extended exhibition viewing...
Announcing a brand new Latin American Shoeshincollection, now posted on the StreetPhoto Website at: 
http://www.streetphoto.com/ShoeshineVendors.htm
 
This series was begun only three years ago on an excursion to the streets of the Ecuadorian Andes, and the collection has thickened since then during subsequent travels and shoots through Argentina, Uruguay, Mexico, El Salvador and Guatemala...
 

 

Bonus!
Streetphoto of the Week #199b
... just because European air travel is in the Eyiafjallajokull Volcano news ...

A Typical Morning Sky Over the Netherlands

Amsterdam, Holland
2008
Issued on April 27, 2010

·    The good news was - - that for just a few days - - the morning skies over Holland were relatively pristine...

 

 

*Streetphoto of the Week #200
Elvis Spotted on the Streets of Las Vegas!!
Discovered In Hiding at his Day Job Delivering Produce ... 

Really - - if you were Elvis and wanted to fake your death, flee Hollywood, and melt into the real world - - what better place to hide in plain sight than on the streets of a city teeming with Elvis Impersonators?

Las Vegas, Nevada
USA
Issued on May 4, 2010

And, if you have the time and inclination for extended exhibition viewing...
*Announcing a brand new The Streets of Las Vegacollection, now posted on the StreetPhoto Website at:
http://www.streetphoto.com/LasVegas.htm

 



 

And, if you have even more time and inclination for extended exhibition viewing...
*Announcing a brand new HandTrucketheme collection, now posted on the StreetPhoto Website at:
http://www.streetphoto.com/HandTrucks.htm

 

Streetphoto of the Week #201
The Dutch Work-Bike DreamScape
(with four of it's sixteen images)

Amsterdam, Holland
Winter, 2010
Issued on May 11, 2010

And, if you have the time and inclination for extended exhibition viewing...
Announcing a brand new Amsterdam DreamScapcollection, now posted on the StreetPhoto Website at:
http://www.streetphoto.com/AmsterdamDreamScapes.htm

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Streetphoto of the Week #202
The Streets of Volcanic Fury
a 28-panel DreamScape and six individual streetphotos from the shoot:
the Streets of the Montserrat (Soufriere Hills) Volcano Disaster 1997
To commemorate the 30th anniversary of the eruption
of Mount St. Helens

May 18, 1980

Salem & Plymouth, Montserrat
West Indies
September, 1997
Issued on May 18, 2010

And, if you have the time and inclination for extended exhibition viewing...
You just might enjoy the Extreme Streetphotos in Timcollection, posted for your pleasure on the StreetPhoto Website at:
http://www.streetphoto.com/HistoryIndex.htm 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Two Volcano Book Excerpts
From the journal Molten Memoirs: Essays, Rumors, Field Notes and Photographs from the Edge of Fury
(1999) a very unusual street photography classic by Gary Mark Smith
(available in softcover from the author, or on Kindle...)

*Advice
about photographing a volcano from Harry Truman, the Mount St. Helens volcano holdout
who later became one of the 57 victims of the May 18 lateral blast, buried under enough material to be measured in cubic miles... 

       Now you boys (photographers), you’ve gotta’ put a human (element) in the g--damn thing,” he’d say.
“The public’s not just interested in that g--damn ol’ mountain.
Now ... you put the human element in the thing,
because a little human interest is what means so much to the g--damn public.”

 

*Vancouver, Vancouver, this is it!

            In the Spring of 1980, I found myself in the surprise position to make my first premeditated attempt to go looking for trouble by getting as close as I could to my exploding volcano daydreams. Overnight the phrase: As close as you can get, without going over became a serious career goal. Mount St. Helens in Washington had just come back to life in my own back yard and I had a schedule and a bankbook in that season, that in combination with my will and experience and the ability to surmount my fears, might finally allow me to stake out a threatening volcano for a week or two. I decided to confront the fourth volcano of my life (a hot one!) and to maybe get a daydream 50-mm view of all its fury. My first set of plans to go to Mount St. Helens fell through. If not for a sudden commitment I would have been nearby for the first substantial venting on March 17th. 

            I may well have been safe from that eruption with Harry Truman at Spirit Lake Lodge because I found him and his story fascinating and I wanted to know why he’d consider doing what he was doing. Harry was 84 years old and he lived with 16 cats and considered his Spirit Lake lodge his last home. He’d lived there since 1926 and although frightened, he said he’d rather die by eruption than be moved by a well-meaning but overbearing authority. And when the mountain vented on March 17th and March 19th he was unscathed and thereafter even more determined to outlast the rumblings above.

            I followed the activity at the mountain and with Harry through the rumors in the media and by consulting by telephone with the scientists in Washington. It was a serious situation, and I was treating it as such. I decided when I thought I should go, and then made my second set of plans and paid for the ticket on May 14th. I was to leave on June 1st for a two-week stakeout of St. Helens. I saw the geologic circumstances worsening, and this time I planned to get no closer than at least a mile or two further away from the mountain than Harry Truman’s lodge. I was expecting something big out of St. Helens. My gezellig meter had indicated such and it seemed the stars were aligning around those exploding volcano scribbles in my math class notebooks.

            Lucky for me, as it turned out, my hunch missed its mark by two weeks, and I didn’t die by my dream. Because at 8:32 am on May 18th a magnitude 5.1 earthquake occurred at Mount St. Helens and the mountain came apart and tumbled right down on Mr. Harry Truman and his cats. Anyone alive who has seen the film of the landslide, explosion, and lateral eruption must in the end salute the man for going out in great style and with such violent grace.  Most of the other people who died thought they were safe enough at the time, many ready with their cameras.  One man was reportedly found dead in his truck next to his melted camera wearing an “I Survived The Eruption Of Mount St. Helen’s” T-shirt.

****

             From the ridge I would have been standing on, had I made the proper prediction, I would have only had a few moments to consider the thing happening in front of me.  My cameras would have been rolling, but nobody would have ever seen my film. Through my viewfinder at six miles or so from the source of the fury, the mountain collapsing would have brought Harry Truman to mind and that probably would have been my last thought. About the old man dying by rock slide at his home for the last 54 years and now forever more.  That thought would have delayed the obvious answer to the next obvious question. What will the rock slide's effect be on the volcano? And that stunned question would have delayed my logistical thinking just long enough for the thing coming at me to have blown me at that moment off my feet unconscious with a 650-degree heated surge followed by a 700 mile per hour blast of boiling ash, pumice, and rock fragments. The camera on the tripod would have disintegrated in a blast unprecedented in the history of the United States. My soft unconscious body would have been hurled through the air, boiled, baked, popped, and fried, and would have been buried in an ocean of pyroclastic debris. I simply would have been disappeared.

             Blown to smithereens.

             Aside from Harry Truman, who I regretted never meeting, 56 other people died and many more were injured in the blast or as a result of the blast. The lateral explosion and rockslide took off the top 1300 feet of the previously picture-pretty symmetrical cone and reduced the gorgeous 9,677 foot peak to a nappy 8,350-foot flattop gimp.

              Some of the dead and injured in that resulting cataclysm were looking for trouble, such as sightseers, photographers, and scientists. For some, the event came out of the blue. But what the dead shared was the fact that they had gotten too close to a thing that they had vowed to stay far enough away from. All of the dead will take the beautifully horrible details of their experiences to their hereafter’s.

               One US Geological Survey scientist, David Johnston, was too close and had the first and most dramatic radio call of the cataclysmic event happening at his feet:

            “Vancouver, Vancouver, this is it!” ... ... ...

             ... ... ... and in another instant David Johnston was gone ---- the last thing he saw one of the most awesome scenes a human can behold in this universe. But he’d gone too far that morning, and he’ll never come back.

            However, his name and his haunting call will live forever in volcano watching history and lore.

            “Vancouver, Vancouver, this is it!” ... ... ...                      

Eruption Update:

For Molten Memoirs readers and others keeping up with the activity at the Soufriere Hills Volcano, here are the latest Montserrat Volcano Observatory advisories from the field.

(Note: more than a third of the island remains uninhabitable).

*Explosion and partial dome collapse--- December 02, 2008

An explosion took place on the western side of the lava dome (9:35pm LT). The event started with a small dome collapse which was followed, within 15 seconds, by a pyroclastic flow. It sent large blocks to distances up to a kilometre from the dome. Incandescent blocks were scattered over the north-westen side of Gages mountain, implying a vertical element to the explosion. The pyroclastic flow was on the western flank of the volcano. It travelled down Gages Valley and into Plymouth and appears to have reached the sea. Buildings were set alight in Plymouth and could be seen burning from Salem for several hours afterwards. The explosion and pyroclastic flow both generated ash columns, which reached a height of 40,000 feet above sea level. The ash was blown to the west over Plymouth and there was no ash fall in inhabited areas. There were no reports of air-fall pumice or ballistics in inhabited areas, and ash was blown to the west over the sea. The pyroclastic flow generated extensive pyroclastic surges that rose up to the south face of St. George's Hill, Aymers Ghaut in the south and Richmond in the north. The deposits from the pyroclastic flow appear to contain very little pumice, indicating the source material came from the dome and was not fresh lava. This is consistent with a dome collapse.

*Explosions--- January 03, 2009

After a period of heightened seismic activity, two main explosions occurred on January 3 (04:47am and 07:07am LT). Both explosions had a significant jet component reaching at least 500 m above the dome and the plume reached heights over 35,000 feet (~11 km) above sea level. Ash fall affected most of the island due to southwards winds from 4,000 feet (1.2 km) elevation upwards. All observed samples from the explosions are pumicious and indicate that most of the material involved in the eruptions was from new magma. Both explosions produced column collapses and resulting pyroclastic flows to the West of the volcano that reached Plymouth.

*Dome degradation and Residual activity--- February 26, 2009

Activity at the Soufričre Hills Volcano remains at a low level. There was one pyroclastic flow in the Tar River Valley on March 6 (10:30 am LT). This flow reached the sea. Seismic activity remains low, with rockfalls and volcano-tectonic events occuring at times. The average daily flux remains above the long-term daily average for the entire eruption.

*Activity at the Soufričre Hills Volcano remains low--- May 17,  2010

There have been seventeen rock fall signals, two long period, one hybrid earthquakes recorded this week. A moderate pyroclastic flow was observed moving down the Gages valley on the western side of the volcano on Monday 10 May. It had a maximum runout of about 2 km.

The average sulphur dioxide flux measured for seven days this week was 549 tons per day, with a daily minimum of 184 and a maximum of 1824 tons per day.

The Hazard Level is 3. There is no access to the terrestrial Zone C and daytime transit access to shipping through the maritime extension of the zone.

Additional information on the Soufričre Hills Volcano, the Hazard Level System and a glossary of volcanic terms can be found at can be found at the MVO website:  http://www.montserratvolcanoobservatory.info/

 And, if you have the time and inclination for extended exhibition viewing...
You just may enjoy the Extreme Streetphotos in Timcollection, posted for your pleasure on the StreetPhoto Website at:
http://www.streetphoto.com/HistoryIndex.htm

 

Streetphoto of the Week #203
The Amsterdam Umbrella-Walker DreamScape
(and four of it's sixteen images)

Amsterdam, Holland
2010
Issued on May 25, 2010

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Streetphoto of the Week #204
the Save the Wetlands Protest DreamScape
(and two of it's sixteen images)

Lawrence, Kansas
last week
Issued on June 1, 2010

 

 

 

 

Streetphoto of the Week #205 & #206

Because it's getting hot & miserable...
the Amsterdam Snowstorm DreamScape
(and one of it's sixteen cool images)

Amsterdam, Holland
Winter, 2010
Issued on June 8, 2010

 

 


 

*
And please see this image (SPotWEEK #192)
Now in Print in GUP (Guide to Unique Photography) June/July 2010, Issue #25
Available at fine bookstores just about anywhere...

 

Streetphoto of the Week #207
... As Oil Spreads Throughout the Gulf ...
News Matters

New Orleans, Louisiana
(USA Today)
June, 2010
Issued on June 22, 2010

 

 

 Streetphoto of the Week #208!!
*Happy 4th Birthday to Streetphoto of the Week!!!
208 weeks,
hundreds of visually bold and intellectually stimulating street photographs from dozens of countries on six continents - - - including a few from the anxious front lines of combat zones and from the mangled middle of several devastatingly-beautiful natural disasters, always in earnest and sometimes with a wry and playful sense of humor...

What more could one ask from a contemporary art exhibition?   Three cheers and a chorus of Vuvuzelas to our invited guests!

 

Streetphoto of the Week #208
Every Generation Needs a New Revolution

Soweto, South Africa

 Freedom Day
April 27, 2006
Issued on June 29, 2010

 

 

*World Cup Extra :

The quarterfinals have been set and the field has been whittled down to:
Uruguay, Ghana, Argentina, Germany, Netherlands, Brazil, Paraguay and Spain
*Streetphoto of the Week is watching every match and is extremely pleased with the quarter finals, pitting Uruguay (SPotWEEK's pre-tourney sleeper favorite) against Ghana and hard-not-to-like-to-follow Argentina against powerful Germany and our ORANGE Dutch against our immaculate and menacing YELLO Brazil and our underdog heros from Paraguay (population only 7 million!) against the mother country (imperialist dog) Spain.
WOW!
(Go ORANGE!!!!!, but watch out for Uruguay...)

 


Amsterdam

 


Soweto, South Africa

 


Soweto, South Africa

 


Lisbon, Portugal

 


Bottle Cap Ball
Tangier, Morocco

 


Quito, Ecuador

 

 

 

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