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June 03, 2007
Welcome (back) to the Bronx, My Mofo Martin
My friend Martin Fuchs from Vienna, Austria is visiting the Bronx again. If you click on his name anywhere on this posting you can check out his photoblog. On the day of these pictures we went out shooting. There is a sign when you enter the Bronx from the Triborough Bridge that says : Welcome to the Bronx. It lights up after dark in red neon. Martin mentioned taking a photo of this sign and if I could take him there to get a good shot of it. I said that he couldn't go there with out me because I've been wanting to take a photo of that sign for the longest. So we set out to meet up and photograph this sign.
We walked around and tried to get a place that had a good angle of this sign and couldn't. I just took this photo of that sign just incase that would be the best spot we could find that day. It turned out that it would be. We asked these guys that worked as security guards on this open lot next to an old factory of some sought just across from Randal's Island, but they couldn't let us on the lot. Martin took down "the bosses" name and number and will follow that lead to get permission to shoot the sign from that spot.
The next morning remembering that Martin also had mentioned shooting from the roof tops of Co-Op City I gathered some information and we were up on the roof tops shooting away. Again I shot a few shots of which here is one of them but I hope to go up another time and shoot better ones.
In the other photos you see Martin using a Hasselblad, medium format camera. The film is expensive and it brought about a conversation with Martin about watching him shoot with it. Each shot is carefully measured, takes concentration, and care not only because the cost of the film but shooting under those circumstance, slow shutter speeds he has to take his time even use a tripod sometimes. I remember even using my dad's 35mm Canon when I didn't have much money and black and white film was expensive for me being a student and not working. I'd by rolls of 24 or 36 exposures or when I was using bulk film I'd have about 30 exposures a role. But I remember how precious each shot was. Now it seems we've loss that preciousness of each photo snapped. Not to mention the time between shooting and seeing the finished product. Sometimes in the dark room sometimes in the mail and sometimes at the foto processor shop. I remember feeling man I think I took some good photos today. Today there is still that magic but I know that if I fill up my 2 gig memory card that I have two more 1 gig cards and even then a half gig card as backups.
Any how I look forward to hanging out some more with Martin and shooting in the Bronx or NYC.
Posted by Victor at June 3, 2007 10:49 PM
Comments
Yea thats right, Call the number and see how much they want. That would be cool!
Posted by: victor at June 4, 2007 04:43 PM
everytime I drive by there I think that I want to rent that bulleting board
Posted by: Mon at June 4, 2007 03:42 PM
I wasn't sure if I should write down our illegal activities of sneaking by sanitation workers, jumping fences, and going up on rooftops and construction sites that we're not supposed to be at.
Posted by: victor at June 4, 2007 01:30 PM
yeah, welcome back my mofo victor! it was fun hanging out with you that day, jumping over that fence... and the light became just so beautiful that evening. i am looking forward to see the portraits i made of you that day.
i rarely like a photograph of myself but i have to say that i do like the two photographs of me which you posted here. thanks man!
Posted by: Martin at June 4, 2007 12:32 PM