The Night Skye

Congress street bridge, Boston

2008-03-01T21:38:00.001-05:00

congress street, originally uploaded by Skyephoto.

Super Tuesday Blues

2008-02-06T09:35:00.000-05:00

I thought about going to the Obama rally in Boston Monday night, but didn't have the time or energy. I had also just read Paul Krugman's comparison of Barak's and Hillary's health care plans, which was pretty critical of Obama. Reports in the Daily Kos yesterday have largely refuted Krugman's concerns, but it made my allegiance waver for a moment, although I did vote for him in the end. I really wanted to vote for Kucinich, but I also wanted my vote to count. I've taken several of the online vote by issue tests, and I agree with Kucinich about 90% of the time, Obama 55%, and Hillary 50%. It's hard to get excited about a candidate that only shares 50-55% of my values.

Obama certainly is inspiring tho, and that does count for something. Wish he had the gonads to stand up for gay marriage tho. I realize it is a political death sentence, but how can we criticize Romney for his blatant pandering, and then accept our own candidate's downplaying (or denying) their progressive positions? Perhaps he really is against gay marriage rights, but I hope not. It is an important issue for me because I see it as a harbinger of a person's stance on human rights in general. I believe that we cannot accept any discrimination in any form.

Darkness Darkness, an Exhibit of Contemporary American Night Photography

2008-02-01T18:10:00.000-05:00

See the website for more information: www.darknessdarkness.com

Cat Pee Misadventures

2007-07-13T12:20:00.000-05:00

I thought I'd share a little incident from the recent Scotland trip. The place where we stayed on Orkney has a resident white cat named Thorfinn (Named after some bad ass viking from the 10th century, his nickname was Skullsplitter). Anyway, Thorfinn the bad ass cat got into my room and decided that my open camera bag on the floor was an invitation.

I didn't realize it until the next day when we were photographing in a little chapel, and an old man who happened to be the caretaker walked by. I thought to myself, "That old dude had better take a shower soon, or he'll scare away all of the tourists..." I went back to my camera, which I had just mounted on the tripod, thinking, "boy, that old dude had better take a shower or the paint is gonna start peeling off of the walls in here..." Then I realized that he was long gone, and the smell was stronger than ever. Having recently showered myself, and then having a bonus shower outside as we ran for the chapel, I realized to my horror that I was smelling my own $3000 camera just inches from my face.

Needless to say, Skullsplitter and I are no longer friends. The camera seems mostly ok, but the strap, bag and memory card case are stankin, even after a half a bottle of febreeze and a soak in the sink. Yech!

For the Brag Board:

2007-05-25T23:06:00.001-05:00

For the Brag Board:, originally uploaded by Skyephoto.

One of four large prints of my work recently aquired by the Boston Public Library through the Pepper Gallery. www.peppergalleryboston.com.

New Acquisitions: Works of Art on Paper -- Through June 30 in the Wiggin Gallery. A selection of works of art on paper acquired by the Boston Public Library Print Department during the past year Included are a wide range of prints, drawings, photographs, and watercolors from the 18th through the 21st century.

www.bpl.org/news/upcomingevents.htm#exhibits

Lowel Noir

2007-05-03T08:45:00.001-05:00

Lowel Noir, originally uploaded by Skyephoto.

My new favorite image.

Fore River Bridge, Quincy, MA

2007-04-26T20:33:00.001-05:00

Fore River Bridge, Quincy, MA, originally uploaded by Skyephoto.

My first successful attempt at stitching, or combing multiple images to make a panorama. Follow the link for a full description of how it was done.

The model found herself in hot water

2007-04-23T20:38:00.001-05:00

The model found herself in hot water, originally uploaded by Skyephoto.

and the photographer never missed a shot.

Darkness Falls, an exhibit of my Night Photographs

2007-03-15T15:20:00.000-05:00

The Gallery at the
Narrows Center for the Arts
presents:
Darkness Falls

Lance Keimig / Becky Haletky
photographs and watercolors

March 28 to April 29
Opening Reception
Sunday, April 1, 1:00-4:00 p.m.
With acoustic jazz by None Of The Above

From points north, take Rt 24 S to Rt 79 S to Davol St. Right turn onto Anawan Street at flashing yellow. A few blocks to the NCFTA on right, parking in rear. www.ncfta.org 508 324 1926

Where I almost bought a sashimi knife...

2007-03-08T15:21:00.000-05:00

I would have bought a sashimi knife from this fellow, but was worried about being labeled a terrorist at the airport. Instead, I bought a pair of nippers for Brooke.

Naritasan Buddhist Temple

2007-03-07T14:26:00.000-05:00

On the way home from Manila, I had an 8 hour layover at Narita airport, and Michael came down (with my heavy suitcase that I left with him while I was in the Philippines) and we spent the day at the unexpectedly pleasant town of Narita. There is a huge temple there, and we were able to catch a buddhist ceremony complete with chanting, fire, and the blessing of pocketbooks. We had a great sushi lunch, and browsed through the many traditional shops along the main street in town. It was a great way to end the trip. Thank you Michael!

Why I don't trust Chinese medicine

2007-03-05T15:18:00.000-05:00

This lovely scene was found in a Chinese Medicine shop in Narita, Japan. Yes that is a jar of preserved baby snakes in the foreground, and some kind of stuffed mongoose like thing in the upper left corner. Despite being the airport town for Tokyo, it had a very impressive Buddhist temple, and lots of interesting shops. Michael and i had an excellent sushi lunch there too. No baby snakes, just baby eels for lunch tho.

One course of many

2007-02-25T18:15:00.000-05:00

This is just one course of an average of 5 or 6 that Junko prepares for dinner every night. It is broiled buri, a small tuna related to yellowtail. It is served with grated daikon radish, and a green flowering vegetable called nanohana. Both came from Michael's garden.

Off to Manila tomorrow. It sure has gone by quickly.

New Photographer's Yoga workout

2007-02-24T00:02:00.000-05:00

Warrior pose while under the "hood" at Hachiman-Jingu Shrine in central Kamakura. Before the tourists, and amongst the morning walkers and worshipers, Michael and I set out to take some photographs of this 1000 year old shrine. I managed to get in a little yoga too.

Brooms

2007-02-22T20:17:00.000-05:00

Beans!

2007-02-22T19:57:00.000-05:00

Does eating Japanese food make you sprout mushrooms from your ears?

2007-02-20T18:59:00.000-05:00

Tuesday was a shopping day. Michael and I road bikes to Ofuna, the next town closer to Tokyo from Kamakura yesterday. We went to what can only be described as a cross between Home Depot and Walmart, Japanese style. Michael was checking out the garden supplies, and bought kitty litter and fire extinguishers for his wooden house. I bought a few kitchen doodads.

Then we went shopping for presents for me to bring back home, and of course for Sake. Can't forget the sake.

Well upon return, we had a soak in the ever ready bath (a truly wonderful thing), a beer, and some crunchy beans while Junko proceeded to make dinner. Dinner started with an apetizer of cod roe, pickled vegetables, and more beans, this time not crunchy, but sweet. The next course was some of the largest oysters I have ever seen, covered with Panko, and deep fried. Yum. Next was Oden, a traditional meal of variously textured and shaped foods cooked in the ubiquitous mixture of dashi, sake, and soy sauce in a ceramic pot on the stove. This is served with very hot mustard, much hotter than wasabi! Finally, we had miso soup with little clams. Of course we had to wash it all down with more sake.

This, according to Junko, is a casual, simple meal...

A traditional Japanese house- on the inside

2007-02-19T17:47:00.000-05:00

Micahel and Junko like the simplicity and elegance of traditional Japanese houses, and are wary of the toxicity of modern buiding materials, so they wanted to build an all wood house in the tradtional style. They found a piece of land high up a hillside at the top of a valley, and it was perfect. No one would be building above them, so they have privacy and nature on three sides- a rarity in Japan. As I sit here at the computer, I can look out of the window at hawks soaring above the valley, with the rooftops below, and Kamakura Bay in the distance. It's a beautiful spot.

The first picture here shows their living room and formal dining room, which also doubles as their bedroom. Each morning, the futon is folded up and put away in the closet, or hung outside to air out, and the sliding screens are opened to reveal the clutter- free space. The other picture shows the view when you first enter the house.

Koko and Dodo, the Kamakura kitties

2007-02-18T19:26:00.000-05:00

Dodo is getting old, so Junko and Michael decided that he needed some companionship to keep him active. Little Koko is a real ball of energy. Pretty cute too, and I'm not even a cat person.

Farmer Mike and his Organic Mini-Farm

2007-02-18T04:06:00.000-05:00

My first day in Japan started with an introduction to organic farming Kamakura style. After making a new compost pile, and reworking th older ones in Michael's back yard (grown men making mud pies) we went around front to harvest some veggies for dinner. Michael's pictured here pulling up a monster daikon radish, (which we had grated and mixed with shoyu on grilled sanma, a mackerel like fish) and with a stalk of brussels sprouts, a head of cabbage, and the aforementioned giant raddish.

A Night in Fall River

2007-02-13T12:40:00.000-05:00

This image of the base of a smokestack was taken in November, 2006 at the Durfee Union Mills in Fall River, MA. It was shot with an Ebony 23SW camera on Fuji Acros, and developed in Diafine, my standard film and developer combination. The exposure was about 15 or 20 minutes at f16.

Just out of the frame on the left were several packages of Portuguese muffins left by some previous visitor.

Technophobia justified...

2007-02-09T17:15:00.000-05:00

Well, I've tried several times to post an image froma recent night shoot, to no avail. After wandering aimlessly around the help section for quite a while, and then the help forums, it seems that I'm not the only one with this problem. A friend suggested having a go at it with Wordpress. Wish I'd known about it this morning.

I'll wait a day or so and try again...

A Humble Beginning

2007-02-09T11:23:00.000-05:00

I suddenly feel like a techno-phobe, but here I am testing the waters of the blogosphere in order to keep in touch with my family and friends while away on my upcoming trip to Asia.

Here goes...