Sign, Sign, Everywhere a Sign…

Blocking out the scenery breaking my mind

Do this, don't do that, can't you read the sign
– Five Man Electrical Band

I went out photographing with friends John Prouty and Juan Garcia early Sunday morning on October 31. I had a few places I wanted to photograph before they disappear, as things tend to do after I photograph them.

We started out on McDowell Rd. just west of Rt. 51. I had been wanting to photograph this sign for some time as we are bombarded by "Gold" commercials on TV these days.

After I made the exposure on my 4x5 I looked a few feet away and saw this chain link fence with lock and chain.

After these two I drove down the road a block or two and got this image I had also been wanting to photograph. Three images in 30 minutes… not bad.

A few more blocks west was this building that John had been wanting to photograph. John used his 8x10 while I used my 4x5.

After that we went downtown and found a few more things before calling it a day.

This was the first day out photographing after a long hot summer and it felt good to just get out and have some fun. Coming soon, some 4x5 images made at City Center in Las Vegas over Thanksgiving week.

BINGO!

I will always remember those words. My Mom used to be a Bingo nut. Playing at five different places each week, including the Elks Club that was across the street from our home in Pompton Lakes, NJ. These old ladies can be a rough crowd, especially when cheap drinks are involved. "Shake up your balls!" they'd yell at the old guy running the machine. Then, he'd stand up and slowly gyrate his pelvis – as best a senior citizen could do without putting himself in the hospital.

Anyway, growing up in the 1970s, once in a while, especially during the summer months when nothing was going on in "Mayberry", as my late mother-in-law called it, I would accompany my mother across the street on a Wednesday night. I can still smell the cigarettes!

After I moved to Arizona and met Randy Efros, I found this Bingo Hall a few blocks from his home in Phoenix. I immediately fell in love with it and wanted to photograph it. A few weeks ago I finally found the time on one of my Sunday morning surgical photo strikes. I started out with the 8x10" camera in black & white, then switched to the 4x5" camera and shot both color and black & white. I still have to develop the BW negatives, but I have the color.

As it is Mother's Day soon, these are for Mom!

Red sky at night, sailor’s delight. Red sky in morning, sailor’s warning

I was driving around while my daughter was taking her painting class two weeks ago and I remembered that my mentor, Rod Klukas, had told me about a freshly painted building a few blocks away on McDowell Rd. near Rt. 51. I drove by and knew I had to make this image in color.

I went past it and turned around to see it from the other side of the street. I pulled in a parking lot and set the 4x5" camera up with a Fuji 450c lens which can bring me across the street with ease. This was a tough one to meter and I believe I metered for the magenta. Kind of reminds me of a rainbow.

Anyway, watch out sailors!