The Killers Musical

That's right. Someone needs to do it. Setting? Las vegas. Characters? A heroin addict, a stripper, a gambler, a student, and a homeless man. Plot? In one word? Escape. In many? The tale of five people unconnected at first but slowly drawn together by their need to leave this "two-star town".

Wow, I totally already have a mini plot in my head. If only I could write.

I have random flashes of what I'd want to do.

The homeless man lives near the "Welcome to Las Vegas" sign in a drainage tunnel.

I'd basically take the final scene from my post "I walked out of town today". It would be very touching and involve one last look back at the twinkling lights. And I'm not sure whether or not the group (minus a couple of people) will drive off or if it should end with them standing around the car looking back at the city.

Words and an image.

I have found recently that my photographic philosophies are being solidified. I had previously crafted photographs because of some unspoken understanding of these philosophies. Now I tend to have real concrete words to describe the reasonings for things.

I'm starting to think I want to teach photography. Because from what I hear, a lot of things that I find important are being overlooked and flat out forgotten. With film quickly being augmented from the art so are a lot of the practices and beliefs that come with it. Someone, actually a lot of someones need to preserve these traditions. One thing that I fear greatly is the "shoot till it looks good" mentality that comes without a film background.

I could go on for hours about my philosophies about photography, but I won't. I'll simply leave you with a pretty rectangle. I have seen this photo, well the idea of the photo in my mind, many times. Ryan playing his guitar in his room. I finally decided to snatch the moment. And here it is.



Three quotes for you tonight as well:

"Go then, there are other worlds than these"
-The Gunslinger (Dark Tower I)
"Silently reflection turns my world to stone"
-The Killers "Tranquilize"
"And I am a master of this nothing place"
-The Smashing Pumpkins "The Beginning is the End is the Beginning"

Las Vegas Wash

Here I am again talking about the Las Vegas Wash. I took some more photos when I went out with Steven the other night. I think I'll discuss how hard these trips have been. I really enjoy cities and structures and decay. So these trips into nature can be compared easily to culture shock. I find myself stumbling around (metaphorically and sometimes literally) with my camera. Water? Trees? Nature? Grass? Fuck, where's the subtle comment on the frailty of society, the crumbling relics of our time, and for that matter the impermanence of things? All I see is an affirmation of the renewal of life, the dominance of life over hardship, the strength of nature.

Oh, I'm being told that those are some of the points of nature photography. My point is that this is all very hard for me. It's another mindset you have to fit into like a new pair of shoes. Please enjoy what I was able to come up with.

Creative nonfiction is a pointless subcategory

Seriously. I will fight this till I die. There is fiction (not real) and nonfiction (true events). It's easy. (Sparing all the metaphysical arguments about how one determines what is "real")

Creative nonfiction is simply nonfiction written well. You don't need a subcategory for that. That's like saying we need creative photojournalism. It's a pointless subcategory to make people feel special.

And if a nonfiction writer 'only changes some things to fit a greater storyline' that's what I call "bullshit". That's a fictionalization of true events. Calling it creative nonfiction is misleading and wrong.

Rant over.

No! No no no!

My actual reaction was quiet disbelief actually. I stood outside my truck just staring down at the thing lying on the ground. The light spilled out of the drivers side door illuminating the scene. The street lamp above made the scene isolated. The irony of the situation was that it would have made a great picture if the broken thing on the ground wasn't my camera. Don't fret too much. It was just the lens on closer inspection. I hope to buy a new lens in the very near future.

I have photos for you from today, but I'm too tired and probably sick with sadness, fear, apprehension, self loathing, and nausea to do much of anything.

Update

I'm emotionally confused, but if you read my myspace blog you're aware of this already. But putting that to one side, there are other things. I posted some of this on Twitter, in fact if you want to know about my daily goings on you should look at that from now on (twitter updates displayed on the right-hand part of the blog).

I have a drivers licence. It is quite fun. I also own(ish) a truck. Gas prices make me want to die. I also have a job. Not a glamorous job, but a job nonetheless. I bus tables at Club Fortune, the local's casino near my house. It should be a nice expirence as the people there seem nice enough and the job should be easy enough. I took my drug test and I start sometime next week. There's not much else to say. You might want to look out for some photos from Goldfield Nv. in the near future (Not this Sunday but the next).

My fucking god.

Seriously. With the tears.

I never noticed how "tears" and "tears" are spelled the same. In that respect, I guess this post works on two levels.

My grandest canyon.

We walked into the park late. It was too dark to really see much of anything, and we were just out of range of those pesky streetlamps (for the most part). The wetlands park is just off Boulder Highway. It's relatively tucked away. it's where all the rainwater goes before it drains into lake mead. the wetlands park is simply stop two in rainwater redistribution. Drainage tunnels lead to here which lead to the wash which leads to lake mead. First we photographed a small pond. Then we walked past a pipe sending water out in a great stream. We photographed this. then, in the distance we heard something. Like huge outlet pipes letting out hundreds of gallons of water. We crossed the barricade. I approached the sound. And promptly found myself at the edge of a small canyon. Whitewater ripped through the middle in a continuous flow. It was beautiful. It was the grandest canyon I'd ever seen. It amazed me. It was constructed out of rock and poured cement that the water had cut through. With flashlights, ambient light from the city and the moon we photographed. Here is what I will share.

The Dark Knight

Yes, this deserves its own post. This movie is quite simply one of the greatest things I have ever witnessed. The story of an epic and the visual realization to send chills down a photographers spine.

Ah, employment.

For those of you who don't know, I now have a job. Or I will very shortly. I went to Club Fortune, and within a few minutes I was offered a job. So that's awesome. They sent me home and told me to come back at hree to go get a drug test. I got there and then they sent me to the drug testing place. And i promptly got myself indescribably lost in downtown vegas. This map shows how I view this "shithole where street names switch like a funhouse".