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Mommie Hummingbird on her nest, <1m outside the front window of my flat in a bottlebrush tree, shot with a very old f/5.6 200mm lens with an extension ring at wide open at 1/60sec through the window screen. It was dark and hard to focus through the very dirty window screen, but I don't think she could see me behind the screen. Her nest is ~2.5m from my front door, but she generally ignores my comings and goings, except that loud shirts upset her, especially bright blue.
Rollei 3.5f and the Danger of Butt Photos...
Here is a photo of the Rollei 3.5f, the first camera I bought with my own money.
I bought this at a garage sale for $25 in 1963 with Christmas and birthday money,
when I was 13. My father used it occasionally, but my stepmother never noticed it.
Anyway, I took it to my cousin Debbie's birthday beach party at Zuma, that
spring, and it got several of us in trouble.
Debbie had just turned 13 and looked like a dirty yellow mop, turned shag end up, with 2 large blue buttons and 2 fairy
cakes with pink frosting in the appropriate places in a red and white 1 piece with
ruffles on chest and butt and about 4' 6" tall. My cousin Billyjoe was 11. He and
I were both very small pudgy boys in blue shorts. My cousin Butchie, a majestic
highschooler in his own mind, was there with his date, a large, brunette, bottom
heavy girl, wearing a red and yellow polka-dot bikini, too narrow for her
butt-crack (bigger than him, and her name is forgotten). Her mother was there (and
was absolutely colossal in a hibiscus muumuu) along with Uncle Neil (who was drunk)
to chaparone all of us and several other innocent children. Also there was a large
OD colour tent.
When we were together, Debbie was Moe, and Billyjoe and I were Larry and Curley.
Debbie hated Butchie's girlfriend and insisted we needed a photo of her butt-crack
for future use.
I had the Rollei, loaded with Tri-X. Butt-girl was bent over, head in the food
basket, butt-crack wonderfully displayed. So, we snuck up behind her, Debbie
pushing on me, and snapped the photo.
Butt-girl noticed and came after us; we ran, but butt-girl was fast, so, I
lateraled the camera to Billyjoe, who threw a 40' Hail Mary pass to Debbie for
perfect reception.
Debbie then ran full tilt into butt-girl's mother, who took the camera away from
her, and stuffed it in her muumuu, down her decolletage (it fit). Debbie, Billyjoe,
and I were herded into the tent and told to stay there for 1 hour for "meanness and
egregious rudity". About 15 minutes later, butt-girl's mother kicked us out of the
tent and shoved butt-girl in there with a sweater covering her butt and told her
to stay 1 hour for "whining, butt crackage and egregious piggery". Butt-girl's mom
had, apparently, looked in the food basket and liked the word "egregious".
I didn't get the camera back that day, Butchie said he'd steal it back. About 2
weeks later, Uncle Neil drove over to our house (sober) and gave me back my camera.
It was empty. Butt-girl's mom probably shot the rest of the roll (about 6 left),
and that butt shot is in some forgotten photo album, 45 years in the past. I still
have the camera. It works great.
Butt shots are dangerous. Butt-girl could have caught us. She was about 5' 10"
and about 190lb.
In the US of A most buildings don’t have a long history, considering there are churches in old Europe telling a story stretching over a thousand years. Basically everything in the states has the charm of something new and fresh. And they made a great twist out of it, because everything is convenient and tries to hit the need of the one that uses it. Take stadiums or convention halls. While in Europe football stadiums tell a lot of stories, but it’s freaking cold and you might don’t see the whole picture. There it’s more about the glory instead of the functionality. But with every new stadium we are learning and by now we have a lot of those very practical Multi-Purpose-Sport-And-Convention-Thingies. And we learn from the best there is: The Staples Center.
The Staples Center was build and is owned by the Anschutz Entertainment Group. A multinational company that not only owns various sport teams in the USA and Europe but they also own ... aeh….how can I say that….well bits and pieces of Michael Jackson. Hence they tried to do these fabulous shows in London and he deceased shortly before they tried to make money with everything left. So the “This is it”-movie was there idea and you could even keep the entrance ticket for the shows in London for a little fee. But let’s come back from bones to stones. The final farewell of MJ was celebrated in the Staples Center. But what is good for the king of pop is also good for the queens of basketball: the LA Lakers. I was lucky and Microsoft paid me a ticket for the final series last year. Quite exciting, not only the match against Orlando, but also the architecture of the center. In these halls it is possible to change the interior design within hours. There are also NHL matches and concerts. Quite contradicting actually. But everything’s possible in LA. Highest capacity is 20.000 visitors. And still they have built the center in 1999 in a way, that every show, every match is looking packed. It is almost 100.000 square meters big, but it looks that there are many tens of thousands spectators. For the Lakers, the stands are assembled very steep under the roof. Therefore you have from almost every spot a great view. The seats up front are reserved for celebraties like Jack Nicholson or Heidi Klum. Most of the stands is covered in Black shadow, the plentiful lights are all directed to the court. Like a coloseum, where the gladiators meet. It is actually quite a challenge to get a ticket, which are often sold out for years. So what happens is, that groups share a certain capacity of season tickets. And they are shared among them like a trophy. So seeing a match is a priceless treasure. The Staples Center is close the Convention Hall where many fairs are held. You get there by car on S.Figueroa Street 1111, though it might be tough to get a parking lot, at least if you travel in a limo, like most people do.
