Easy Rider Down

Dennis Hopper
May 17, 1936 – May 29, 2010

Actor, Artist, Director, Painter, Poet, Photographer, Sculptor,
Father, Grand-Father, Human Being

"It's not who you boys are or what you look like,
it's what you represent that scares these people."
George Hanson quote from the movie Easy Rider

Struggled to find words for this, and put off posting it as I thought about it. I'm a fan of his art and his movies. Easy Rider is in my Top Ten Favourite Films of all time. It was a film that changed me. Whether that was a change for the better is debatable, but it helped shape who I am. Don't bother to post a comment if you haven't seen it. If your excuse for not seeing it, is a preconceived notion of 'biker movie', shame on you. Even if you can't get into the plot, it is still some of the best wide open vista road footage ever, and one of the top 3 counter-culture films of all time.

Rest In Peace Billy

Reckless Restless

Having trouble getting jump started today. Coffee isn't helping at all. Reflective, somber and sense memory overloaded.

Now that I've gone to all the trouble of digging out this gear, I'm surprised by how much camera gear is in my possession. It's sad because it should be used, that's what it was built for.

Every piece of gear, has it's own history. Whether it started with me, or has ended with me. I have a great old, circa late 1920's box camera.


A Kodak Rainbow Hawkeye No.2. Red. Uses 120 film, it's still available. On a good day it's worth maybe $35. And yet it's still usable for what it was designed for, taking photographs. Solid mechanical design, nothing fancy or complex, but it works... 90 years on.

Wait and see if there are any first versions of an iPhone 90 years from now. Things are disposable now. It helps fuel consumerism, if you make product with a finite lifecycle.

Braincase Query
Do we ever truly own something, or are we merely caretakers of it?

Kijiji's Late 'n' Lowballin' Douchebags

The Kijiji sale fell through. Wanker.

I think I'll take it over to the eBay place, and see what they think they can get for it. They have some darkroom stuff on eBay now, so it may work as cross promotion, save on shipping sales. Their commission is kind of steep at 30% of the final price, but I've emailed them to see about selling it anyway. They take all the photos, post it all, answer all the retarded questions, so maybe it is worth 30%.

Now that I've dug all this stuff out, it's in the way, as opposed to stuck in unlabeled boxes, and sort of out of the way. So it's going somewhere, goddamnit, first of the week.

I'd list it on Kijiji, but I don't want to hang about, waiting on the no-shows and lowballing douche bags, like today. I know you wanted $300, but I just got one that used to belong to Sherman Hines for $30. BTW, Sherman Hines has owned every bit of photo gear made. Ever. And if you buy a used piece of photo gear in Nova Scotia, the guy selling it to you will swear on his dead mother's grave that it used to belong to Hines. FYI, I was shitting in this outhouse when Sherman Hines took this photo. I left the light on when I was done, just to piss him off. So now you can say you met me too.

I don't think Kijiji is worth the grief... or my time, n'est pas. Waste of half a day, thanx for nothing a$$h*le.

Got a Kijiji story? Leave a comment!

Old School v. Tech Cool

Tuesday, garbage day. 7:30 AM

A better nights' sleep, but I still don't feel rested. And, again this morning, my stomach is upset. Most of that's caused from the looming ethical issue surrounding yesterday's post, in particular the second paragraph. At least that's what I'm telling myself. It started around the same time, and the more research I did, the worse it got.

So, Tuesday, bloody, Tuesday. The list of things I should have well underway, has grown by one item.

There is a 'new-ish' photography club is town, they have an ad on Kijiji looking for darkroom equipment. Not the run of the mill amateur gear, medium and large format. In a previous career, not only did I work as a freelance photographer, but also, as a darkroom technician. Black and white photography is a passion of mine, and around the age of 13 I was smitten with it. Hook, line and sinker, I was lured to it. Later it became a career. Yes, there was a period in my life, when I got paid to do what I loved. It was always just enough to pay the bills and eat, but it was 1000 percent better than any McJob I had ever worked at.

There's lots of gear packed away... somewhere. Most of it was going to get binned, so I took the decent stuff home when the 'digital revolution' started. I found most of it a good home, and the rest became mine. So I need to make a list for the guy in charge of acquisitions. So he can pop 'round see if they want to buy any of it.

Hopefully they have a need or use for most, or all of it, because that's what it was built for, to be used. Not hoarded away gathering dust. This stuff takes up a lot of room, I could use the space and the money. I won't sell it all though, I'd still like to keep enough to have a working darkroom, should I ever wish to return to the dark arts.

I'll be keeping cameras, aka the retirement fund, in the hopes that it will eventually pay off, and that my small collection, will be worth something.

Does anyone even 'print' photos or is it a post thing now. I have negatives, a tangible archival hard copy, from which to make reproductions, until my estate gets them and my rights of copyright for fifty (50) years after my death.

Braincase query: In an age of digital photography, and the pre-planned or built-in obsolescence of technology (e.g. hard drives, memory cards, etc.), will there be a generation of kids that have giant gaps in their photo history? Sorry honey but the photos from when you were 5 to 9 were 'lost' in the hard drive failure of 2007.