read a good poem: my sad self (excerpt)

trying to tilt-shift my way out of a photography rut...

may 8, 2010. photo by anita aguilar

To Frank O’Hara

Sometimes when my eyes are red

I go up on top of the RCA Building

and gaze at my world, Manhattan—

my buildings, streets I’ve done feats in,

lofts, beds, coldwater flats

—on Fifth Ave below which I also bear in mind,

its ant cars, little yellow taxis, men

walking the size of specks of wool—

Panorama of the bridges, sunrise over Brooklyn machine,

sun go down over New Jersey where I was born

& Paterson where I played with ants—

my later loves on 15th Street,

my greater loves of Lower East Side,

my once fabulous amours in the Bronx

faraway—

paths crossing in these hidden streets,

my history summed up, my absences

and ecstasies in Harlem—

—sun shining down on all I own

in one eyeblink to the horizon

in my last eternity—

matter is water.

--read the rest of allen ginsberg's poem at the poetryfoundation.org

inspiration: the tilt-shift

handsome writer friend is particularly gifted at creating intimacy through his writing. i could be having "a day," be in "a mood", or stuck somewhere (like port atrocity) with chaos swirling all around me, and within a minute or two of reading his work, i am quieted and the rest of the world just falls away...i tried to describe it to him once-- "it's like in west side story, when maria and tony meet at the dance...."



i know--it's a cornball comparison. i kinda can't believe i said it--and that he's still talking to me. but i think he understood what i meant, or at least, that i meant it most earnestly as a compliment.

but i've been thinking about it a lot lately--and it's been cracking me up--because a few friends of mine have become enamored of "tilt shift photography," a technique that alters the depth of field and perspective to interesting effect, including the rendering of "minis" like this...

mini eiffel, via smashing magazine and flickr

neat? but best if used judiciously...

but i really like its application to sports photography, which vincent laforet has mastered (and this is where it sort of reminds me of tony and maria at the dance). it creates a specific focus for the viewer--as he explains it, in a typical sports photograph, there can be a lot going on...on-field action, crowd reaction, all of which can make for a compelling photo. but this tilt-shift allows him to direct the attention toward what he wants to emphasize. again, maybe not something you want to see all the time, but still fun and dramatic.

i like the blur and the clouds of light...

i love that he found the guy in blue in the foreground

what do you think?

more minis via smashing magazine here.
and more vincent laforet...