Influences: Wong Kar Wai

I haven't yet seen "My Blueberry Nights" by Wong Kar Wai. I've been dismayed that it's receiving some decidedly mixed and outright negative reviews. Of course, when I see it, I won't much care about plot or story line because the magic of Wong Kar Wai and his director of photography Chris Doyle are in the lush images, the blurred beauty, and ethereal color. He's been an influence and inspiration in everything I've seen of his but especially "In the Mood for Love," "2046," and "Chung King Express." I always hope my images can capture the tension or moodiness, the unspoken emotion, the small gesture rendered epic. Though... he gets an immeasurable assist from his music choices. I particularly love the use of "California Dreamin" in Chungking Express.

I'd have to put the duo of Wong Kar Wai/Chris Doyl in my top five influences. If I was to count them...


Chungking Express


Chungking Express


2046


2046


In the Mood for Love


In the Mood for Love

April Fools

God I love April. The still chilly wind outlined by a thin but warming sunshine. Longer evenings. Trees blooming in a blush of pale greens and pinks. There seems to be more laughter, people lingering outside, activity - a brittle brightness that feels new - each and every year. April reminds me of falling in love. How fun it is, how restless you can be. How anything seems possible and portentous. I feel that way every April – as if I’d never experienced it just the year before.

Spring, of course, is time for rebirth and renewal and so I suppose it’s not so very unusual that I'm reminded of falling in love. But I don't mean to evoke its universality. It's a very specific feeling for me, a sense memory.

various states of bloom in my neighborhood



prospect park over the weekend




more park




lovely illuminated petals - they always seem like they're glowing


a fullish moon nearly a week ago

Roman fever

For most of last week, I kept thinking of Henry James' poor Daisy Miller, becoming gravely ill after visiting the Colosseum in Rome. Not that our situations were remotely alike. I did not catch malaria whilst flirting with an Italian gentleman in the chilly evening. I merely came down with a severe head cold and sore throat from tramping around in Rome's pouring rain with my mother and sister. But the romance of the place and that particular story - it's late realizations and regrets - influenced everything I wanted to shoot, to see, to think about. That subject, though, is probably one of my main artistic influences, regardless of where I happen to be.

What I did do while there - was continue the Egress work. (I wonder if that's the right title? I chose it because I wanted to reflect how these reveries or daydreams out of the window are both an act of departing or leaving, but also the means of doing so. So far, it holds up.... Perhaps I should explore what I'm - or the viewer - is leaving - and where the reveries take me. I have to think how that would manifest itself. )

Some of my favorites.










Sometimes I wonder if - through my images - I come across sadly morose. But one of my favorite things in the world is a good laugh. We had a few last week.