This and that, here and there

References to my photography have been popping up in different forms at different locations.

One location might be your local bookstore. The picture "Post no Bills" that I took last winter in New York is now on the cover of a book called Loving Mailer. A memoir by ex-supermodel Carole Mallory about her (very sexual) relationship with Pulitzer Prize winning author Norman Mailer. To be honest, I never heard about these people before. Maybe I'm too young and too foreign. So this is for sure not a book I would usually dig out in a bookstore, but now I'm curious - will read it as soon as I get my copy.

As a new resident, I kind of got introduced to the San Diego community on a website named Stand For Less.

Last but not least, a reference to my street photography on a German website named Farbwolke.

What else I could show off with? An art dealer sent me a contract for a collaboration. Sounded cool, but the fine-print didn't. Obviously, it's not a good idea to talk bad in public about companies that initially try to work with you. I won't speak out names, but I want to warn you my fellow photographers to make sure you read contracts thoroughly. If someone offers you a share of 6% of the money they make with your work, that's simply not acceptable. If the same contract states that you should also pay a fine of $5000 in case you offer any of your work to any of their competitors for the next four years, that's not a good thing either. From my experience a 40/60 to 50/50 share is very common. 6/94 is not. A company should also only get exclusive rights for the work you offer them, and not simply for everything that you create.

Have a nice Sunday!

Cross Country - Days 12 & 13

Is it two weeks already? I cannot believe it. What did I do all this time? I remember what I did on day 12: nothing. At least I didn't drive anywhere, which was good for a change. I figured out that there is nothing better than an outdoor jacuzzi after long days of driving. While I was sitting in there I thought about founding my own church. One that worships heated outdoor whirlpools. However, I'm pretty sure you don't want to read about this.
In the morning of day 13 I was undecided between staying in the area and drive the Apache Trail, or moving on and drive a bit of the Historic Route 66. I decided to move on. Too bad it is winter. The sun sets too early, and once it's dark there is not so much to see anymore. That's when I switch from slow sightseeing to driving in tunnel-vision mode. I don't wanna know how many interesting things I passed by at night without noticing. It has one good thing to it: I reached California.

Cross Country - Days 9 - 11

The last three days I have been at several places in New Mexico and Arizona. The main stops were:

- the Very Large Array (VLA),
- Roswell,
- the White Sands National Monument,
- and Phoenix.

The Very Large Array was a very nice treat between all the dull driving. Roswell in my opinion was a wasted day. In one of the Motels I stayed I had breakfast and chatted a little with this older lady that took care of the buffet. When I asked her about Roswell she made these big eyes and just whispered "it's different!". At that point I decided to check it out, but as it turned out, there isn't really much to see - unless I missed something. Okay, there is the UFO museum, But it looks like it hasn't been updated in any way since the 1980s. Maybe that's what she meant. The whole town seemed to got stuck 15 years ago. But that's not even much compared to many other parts of New Mexico. The most entertaining thing in Roswell was watching the History Channel with a documentary about ancient aliens. But you really don't need to drive all the way to Roswell to watch the History Channel. It was just a coincidence that this show was on.

White Sands on the other hand is a really interesting and photogenic place. I managed to get up very early and be in the park before anybody could pollute the landscape with their footsteps. Results will follow soon.

A couple of hours ago I arrived in Phoenix. Before that I explored some scenic back roads here in Arizona, and ran into a border patrol checkpoint. It's funny: a scene you usually only know from the airport took place there somewhere in the bushes. I had to show my passport and got my whole car X-Rayed. A guy from Germany with a car from New Jersey packed with boxes and suitcases somewhere in the landscape of Arizona? I would scan him too if I would be border patrol. I would scan him twice.

But how do you X-Ray a car? They have this X-Ray truck that they move back and forth next to it. It must be some sort of backscatter technique as they had no device for ray-detection on the other side of the car.. I asked for the image, but they couldn't give it to me.

When approaching Phoenix I saw the very first sign that said San Diego. I could basically go "home" any time now.

Cross Country - Day 7

The hide and seek with the snow is over, it finally found me in Santa Fe, New Mexico. I got up very early today to take pictures of a freshly snow covered town. Because of the weather I chose to take the bus to downtown. For my taste I arrived a bit too late. There was way too much daylight by the time I got there. Still, I spent a couple of hours hiking through the snow and listening to music. Because the music fit the scenery so well, I got an idea and started to do some sort of still-life filming. Now I would need to cut this and add this particular music. Who knows when this is going to happen...

White Christmas in Santa Fe. That was the plan, now I have to admit that I don't find this town that interesting. I might be gone before Santa Claus gets here. Just waiting for the right moment to leave - weather wise.

Cross Country - Day 4

Before leaving St. Louis I tried to get a better view of the Gateway Arch and went across the Mississippi to East St. Louis. Turns out that this place is something between slums and ghost town. It was very intense for me driving around there. As much as I would like to photograph such a place, as much I am alert about the fact that it might be dangerous to do so. Maybe it is not. It's basically very hard for me to estimate whether or not I'm really in a dangerous place.

Cutting through Missouri on the other hand was very nice. Nice landscape, sunset in front of me, good music...the stereotypical road trip setting.

Now I'm enjoying Oklahoman hospitality crashing on a friends couch.