Starting off right...

The first blog of the year!!! I've already shot quite a lot this year, though i've been using several cameras so I haven't finished all of the rolls yet... BUT here are some images from one that I DID finish!

Originally "The Ice Bowl", the now named Ontario Ice Skating Center opened in 1957.
Route 66, Ontario, CA. Tower 120 200asa B/W film. ©Mike Vega

My wife and I took a little drive up to historic Route 66 to see what we could could come across and turned up some gems of vintage neon signs and a few interesting buildings.

The Grinder Haven, Ontario, CA.
Tower 120 200asa B/W film. ©Mike Vega

Since 1958, The Grinder Haven has been serving hungry travelers along Route 66. One thing that I really liked was that sales tax is included in their menu pricing. A $1.00 soda IS a $1.00 soda! Brilliant.

Sensations "Love Boutique" Upland, CA.
Tower 120 200asa B/W film. ©Mike Vega

I believe that if you drive far enough down historic Route 66, that you can find just about anything... Sensations (who's neon beckons in vibrant red at night) may be just what you seek on this storied road...

Vince's Spaghetti. Upland, CA.
Tower 120 200asa B/W film. ©Mike Vega

Originally a 6 seat open-air French Dip stand, Vince's Spaghetti has been a Route 66 Staple since September 1945 and serves up to 1,500 miles of spaghetti annually!

Taco King. Upland, CA.
Tower 120 200asa B/W film. ©Mike Vega

While we didn't sample the "Burrito Special", we couldn't resist the neon sign!

The portion of Route 66 that we sampled this day ran between a pretty seedy area of San Bernadino and Pomona, CA. It is littered (literally sometimes) with motels, restaurants, car washes, empty fields and all manner of people. It can be hard to travel, to see the levels of blight, poverty and decay, but if you are feeling optimistic and a little bit adventurous, you can come across some interesting buildings, signs and pieces of Americana. With good company like I had, it can prove to be a nice day out and a reminder of how quickly today's dreams can become tomorrows eyesores, ruins and oddities.

Here's to the spirit of entrepreneurship that created this historic thoroughfare and all those who travel it.

'Till next time...

-Mike

That's a wrap!

It is Saturday 12/29/2012. The New Year is nearly upon us. The weather is cold, the holidays behind, and the future wide-open ahead. In a way...
While I love taking photos, trying "new" old cameras, different films etc. I am woefully (seriously, I am nothing if not full of woe) guilty of being un-organized when it comes to filing and storing my negatives, prints etc.
Sometimes even developing... As a testament to this last point, the color images featured here today were shot using my 1950 Kodak DuaFlex camera, in January of this year (nearly a full 12 months ago) and I just got around to developing them a couple weeks ago.

Burlington-Northern pulling out of Corona, CA. Kodak DuaFlex 100asa Color 120 film. ©Mike Vega 2012

So for me, even with the new year ahead, I have film from this year anchoring me to the past. Sounds dramatic eh'? While melancholy it may sound, I know that when I do finally start getting things organized it will include much careful pouring over each negative, filmstrip or print, trying to recall dates, places, cameras, and details of each.

Dragon Ride and vintage Ferris Wheels. Parking lot carnival, Riverside, CA. Kodak DuaFlex 100asa Color 120 film. ©Mike Vega 2012

I am making a resolution for 2013 to get more organized with my film and photo archives. Sleeves and binders will be purchased, time will be made, and the hard work of sorting and cataloging will be done. Make no mistake, with my other commitments, this will easily take the better part of the year.

El Rey Theatre (and moon)  Los Angeles, CA. Kodak DuaFlex 100asa Color 120 film. ©Mike Vega 2012

I plan on working backwards through the material and I hope to post some of the images that I somehow skipped over when I originally shot and or developed them. 

As this will be the last blog post I do this year I'm going to include more photos than I normally do.

All that remains of what was once a home... Mira Loma, CA. Kodak DuaFlex 100asa Color 120 film. ©Mike Vega 2012

The black and white images featured here were shot in December of 2012 in and around Southern California.
Disneyland is at once, a favorite place and least favorite place to shoot. The scenes can be wonderful, the crowds can be unforgiving... 

The Tower of Terror. Disneyland's California Adventure, Anaheim, CA. Tower 120 100asa B/W film.

The Golden Zephyr. Disneyland's California Adventure, Anaheim, CA. Tower 120 100asa B/W film.

The above photo of the Golden Zephyr is a hand-held long exposure (approx. 5 seconds), using 100asa black and white film. Amazingly, this time it turned out exactly as I imagined it. This was the 4th attempt at this shot over 3 visits to the park. I really like it.

El Rey Motel. Historic Route 66. Fontana, CA. Tower 120 100asa B/W film.

I am always a sucker for old neon-signs, lit or not, still featuring the neon tubing or not...
In the mid-century when these signs became wildly popular, they were used as weapon in a battle for customers in the "auto-age" post WWII. 

Automobile vacations were the thing to do, and all those happy but road weary travelers would need lodging. One motel is as good as the next, no? Sometimes, it seemed that the only difference was the neon sign by the roadside.

Bono's Historic Orange. Route 66 Fontana, California. Tower 120 100asa B/W film.

The last photo today will be of Bono's Historic Orange. Even with it's two strange and uncharacteristic light leaks, I like it.

This particular "orange" was originally built in 1936. It was saved from demolition in the 1990's and moved to its current location in 1997.

These giant Oranges served as beverage stands in an age of non-air-conditioned automobiles. To learn more about their legacy, follow this link: http://www.parzanese.net/weird/location.php?location=134 .


While it is rare that I actually plan a specific photo outting (other than a general direction to head in with my cameras) I do have something specific in mind for next year that I am very excited about. It is going to take a bit of planning and if it goes well, I'll deffinetly be writting a blog post about it.

Thanks for reading.

See you next year!

-Mike

Los Angeles.

Los Angeles is more than a city, more than a county. Los Angeles is some kind of sprawling mess that has, since its humble beginnings, encompassed varied lifestyles and personalities. People from all over the world come here to imprint their identity onto it's landscape (sometimes literally), for better or often for worse.

Mural. Central Los Angeles, CA. Canon AE-1 28mm f1.4 100asa Legacy 35mm B/W film ©Mike Vega

There are so many unique neighborhoods that make up Los Angeles, but all are tied together, bound by the network of concrete arteries that traverse the landscape.
It's when you dare to get off of these arteries and venture into the unknown that you can discover the gems of individuality that keep drawing people here.

First St. Pool Billiard Parlor. Boyle Heights, CA. Canon AE-1 18mm f1.4 100asa Legacy 35mm B/W film ©Mike Vega 

Some of the attraction is steeped in celluloid history. So many images of this area, and more specifically, Hollywood have been seen by people the world over that when someone comes here for the first time they have an almost innate familiarity with the place.

Hollywood "Walk of Fame" star for legendary and controversial Silent Era Director/Actor Erich von Stroheim. Los Angeles, CA. Canon AE-1 28mm f1.4 100asa Legacy 35mm B/W film ©Mike Vega

There are of course equal numbers of legions of people who despise Los Angeles as there are those who adore it. Often though, even those who claim to detest the place come here. They come for the weather, the entertainment, and sometimes it's the very audacity and restlessness of the city that draws them in...

Tourists on Hollywood Boulevard. Los Angeles, CA. Canon AE-1 28mm f1.4 100asa Legacy 35mm B/W film ©Mike Vega

With its jumbled mix of fame, fortune, poverty, fantasy and stark reality the city is alive to those who choose to step out of their cars, and walk the streets, turn the corners and be open to discovery. On virtually any corner in the city you may find an architectural gem, a work of art, a famous face, a scene of urban blight, or mess of humanity... Anything.

Capitol Records building (modeled after a "stack of vinyl records"). Los Angeles, CA. Tower 120 110mm lens 100asa Arista B/W film ©Mike Vega

Do I love or hate Los Angeles? Yes.
Spend any amount of time here and you'll find that it can simply not be one or the other. It is too complex a place to assess in such simple terms. Find a rock or a gem, a flower or a weed, it is up to you.

Mels Drive-In Diner. Los Angeles, CA. Tower 120 110mm lens 100asa Arista B/W film ©Mike Vega

-Mike

The Clarus MS-35

A couple of weeks ago I posted to my FaceBook page that I'd acquired a 1946 Clarus MS-35 coupled rangefinder. This camera is wonderful to look at, a brick to hold(!) and has a somewhat checkered past...

Clarus MS-35 rangefinder. ©Mike Vega

The Clarus company was based in and manufactured it's cameras in Minneapolis, MN. in the good ol' United States of America. The Clarus MS-35 was the ONLY model of camera the company ever produced.
Originally designed in 1940, it didn't go into production until 1946 due to financial difficulties. The camera features a parallax focusing system, a cloth shutter, no light meter, no ISO/ASA setting and, unusual for an early rangefinder, interchangeable lenses (35mm, 50mm and 101mm).

The Mad Hatter, Main Street U.S.A. Disneyland, CA. ©Mike Vega

Due to several small design flaws, the MS-35 quickly earned a reputation as an unreliable camera. That coupled with a price tag of $122.00 ($1,200.00 in 2012 dollars!) made for slow sales and ultimately in 1952, ended it's production run.

Sand and Sage Motel Pomona, CA. @Mike Vega

Due to it's dubious reputation, suspect quality and pleasing aesthetics, this camera has become a oddly collectible.
While all of that is fine and good, what matters to me is ultimately the images produced by the camera. So, what else to do but clean it up, run a few tests and load it with film! The above color image of the camera was taken using my iPhone. The black and white photographs were taken with the Clarus.

Travel Motel, Pomona, CA. ©Mike Vega

It turns out that while the optics are not bad (these are taken with the 35mm lens), the color is well faded from the parallax focusing system and therefore it is very hard to focus in good light and next to impossible in low light and/or darkness.

Tea Cups nighttime long exposure. Disneyland, Anaheim,  CA. ©Mike Vega

I love looking at the camera, and it was interesting to shoot with, but it's definitely not a "daily driver".
So, welcome to the family MS-35. You are an oddity among oddities.

Rubidoux Drive-In Theatre. Rubidoux, CA. ©Mike Vega

-Mike

What's old is new again...

A couple of months ago, my wife Monika presented me with a gift. It was one of those sweet "just because" gifts.
It was a 1950 Tower 120 medium format film camera. Manufactured for Sears and Roebuck, it is a very simple, very basic "box" camera. It's design is elegant in it's simplicity and I was thrilled to receive it. I cleaned it up and gave it the once over straight away. I was especially excited to shoot with it because it features a 110mm fixed lens and being a box camera and not an SLR or TLR, looking through the primitive viewfinder offered what I imagined would be only an approximation of what the lens would capture...

Downtown Los Angeles 8-2012 ©Mike Vega

Unfortunately, I was all out of medium format film and it would be a few weeks until I had the opportunity to buy some (I try not to pay for shipping on things like film when possible, this hobby is pricy enough as it is!). 

As it turned out, Monika and I were lucky enough to have a relatively "free" day (no derby bouts) and we took the time to head up to Los Angeles to purchase some film (okay, a LOT of film...) and spend the day shooting around downtown and enjoying the eateries and shops.

The cooolest Ducks in town. @ Hollywood Forever Cemetery, Los Angeles, CA. 8-2012 ©Mike Vega

Based on the internals of the Tower, I was initially under the impression that this camera would produce a square negative, but was puzzled by the vertical rectangular viewfinder... As it would be revealed when the film was developed, it in fact produces HUGE rectangular negatives!

The Rosslyn Hotel. Skid Row, Los Angeles, CA. 8-2012 ©Mike Vega

As this first roll was a "test" roll, I took a lot of chances with my exposures and composition, and was more than pleasantly surprised at how well the little box camera performed (even during a hand held long exposure using a slow film in low light as pictured above).

Ponies. Mira Loma, CA. 9-2012 ©Mike Vega

Every now and then, you come across something that simply and strangely "fits" the way that you, as an individual, do things. Sometimes it is something like a tool, or a motorcycle, or in this case a "new" vintage camera. I have been lucky in this way most of my life. To find things to integrate into what I do that allow me to do them more naturally and closer to what I imagine them to be. 

Thank you to Monika for introducing me to this gem, which is sure to have a regular spot in my ever cramped camera case.

-Mike

The Magic Kingdom...

I talk to many people who tell me that they don't "get" Disneyland, and how people can be "all into it'.
As someone who grew up in Southern California that is kind of hard to imagine.
For me, going to Disneyland was as much a part of growing up as going to Grandmas house, or the beach, or shopping for school clothes...
That said, going to Disneyland now isn't about re-living my youth.
I take my daughter to the theme park to experience just that, the theme(s) of the place. The Imagineers at Disney go to pain staking lengths to ensure that every detail of an attraction is well thought out, and sorted before anyone sets eyes on it. It is that attention to detail that allows the visitor to become immersed in the experience.

The Columbia ©Mike Vega 2012

400asa B/W 35mm film

I wouldn't call it escapism, but spending a day or evening at Disneyland with family or friends can be somewhat of a re-charging experience. You are in a place where your only requirement is to enjoy being there. You are free to experience as much or as little of the entertainment as you like. That coupled with the myriad images and scenes created and re-created with exacting detail can be captivating.

Point Mugu Tattoo Gift Shop

Disney's California Adventure

©Mike Vega 2012

400asa B/W 35mm film

These things coupled with the right attitude can make for an oasis in the middle of the sprawling Southern California suburbs today, just as it has for decades.

Whether you are seeking thrills, or stepping back in time, the park is what you make it.

The Riverboat Mark Twain

©Mike Vega

400asa B/W 35mm film

Some of my favorite times at the park are spent between hustling to rides and deciding what to do next... 

Those moments when you see the people and the park as one entity, inseparable and complimentary.

Paradise Pier at Disney's California Adventure Park
©Mike Vega
400asa B/W 35mm film

-Mike

Urban Struggle

So, in my line of work, I spend a lot of time in urban environments. Most of the time, this can be pretty depressing... Ugly buildings, ugly streets, ugly advertisements everywhere... So, when I come across something unique I try to capture it in an effort to isolate it from the miles and acres of crud...

The Sands Apartments, Gardena, CA. ©Mike Vega 2012

The Sands apartments in Gardena, CA. features a wonderful mid-century entrance of blue tiles and amazing metal stars. I chose to shoot it with black and white (100 asa) film in order minimize the poor light and blight of the scene...

Water truck Riverside, CA. ©Mike Vega 2012

While on a school expansion site, I came across this hideously beautiful water truck. Equipped with over sized tires to tackle any terrain, "safari" windshields (they are hinged and "flip" upward and out of the way to allow for air circulation (I'm SURE this beast doesn't have any air-conditioning!) and a killer faded yellow and green paint scheme...

"FE5KA" Fontana, CA. ©Mike Vega 2012

While I am not an advocate of most graffiti, I do make exception for pieces on train cars. I'm not exactly sure why, but they do not offend me the way painting on walls, signs, dumpsters etc. I am especially drawn to the colorful or whimsical pieces...

"DIAR FOREVER!!" Fontana, CA. ©Mike Vega 2012

WWII Air Raid Siren, Gardena, CA. ©Mike Vega 2012

With Los Angeles being the largest Southern California city (population) and nearby Long Beach and San Pedro being ports for U.S. Navy warships during World War II the area was thought to be a natural target for the Japanese Naval fleet.

As such, the greater metropolitan area is littered with now defunct "air-raid" sirens. The one pictured here sits among the low-rent apartments of South East Los Angeles and is nondescript enough that I'd wager that people who've lived in it's shadow for years have never given it any thought.

Whenever I am in older (non-gentrified) neighborhoods, I keep an eye out for them. When renovating neighborhoods, the city usually removes the sirens...

I chose to shoot it with black and white (400 asa) film in order to define it from the grey building and grey sky...

-Mike