Hidden Washington, DC

Flickr is a demonic time-wasting wormhole totally loaded with cool shit.

Like this photo set that I found while browsing through pictures of old signs (don't ask).

From 1985 to 1988 I wandered the streets of Washington DC photographing the unseen and vanishing moments of the city. These images lay dormant in the archives until I realized that they needed to be brought to life before the persons and spaces are totally lost to entropy and time.

These images depict the hidden parts of Washington DC rarely if ever traversed by tourists. Here are the places and some of the people trapped in their own world while the rich and powerful swirl around in a seemingly separate world a mile away.

It is amazing what you can uncover during a quick afternoon browse.

Motorcycle Diaries

Daniel Espírito Santo is a Portuguese photographer based in Lisbon.

I'm really digging this photo set he calls Motorcycle Diaries, although the classic Ariel definitely takes second billing to the achingly beautiful mulher riding tandem.

See the rest here.

A Well-Suited Man...

Edward C. Gauvreau surveying 40 calling cards from businessmen in one day. April 1948, Washington, DC. Francis Miller. LIFE Magazine.



I started employment on a new job last week that carries with it a snazzy position title, and today I had to oversee the final edits to the business card.

Allow me to restate that salient point: MY BUSINESS CARD. A prospect thrilling enough all by itself, if it weren't for the fact that I was unemployed for a year and a half. Yeah, ouch. But, I began to think about the underlying meaning of this little 3 X 2 piece of weighted paper. Definitely one of the oft overlooked tools of the modern day business trade.

My new position will take me, literally, across the globe. With a firm handshake and a slight flip of the wrist my contact info will be distributed to the world.

I was curious about the history of business cards and fished around on the web to find suitable info. I found this:

In European Society:

...with the rise of the middle class during the Industrial Revolution and an overall lessening of social formality, a class of private entrepreneurs emerged in both Europe and the United States that had a constant need to exchange contact information...these were handed out widely at presentations and exhibitions but were looked upon with disdain by members of the upper class.

In the United States:

In the United States, however, business card use became widespread in the 1890s (the so-called age of the Captains of Industry or "robber barons") and the cards achieved their current level of ubiquity by the early 20th century.

Modern Business Card Etiquette and Format:

...Cards should not be carried loose but in appropriate card cases and should be maintained in pristine condition. The general rule of thumb is that the card should be presented in the condition in which the owner himself would appear for a high level business meeting -- immaculate and behaving according to the manners of the host nation.


That last bit is important. I am now on the search for a slick new card carrying case. Preferably something with vintage appeal. A well-suited man always needs...

Original Design © Copyright Cosmic Firefly. Via Etsy.

Original Design © Copyright Cosmic Firefly.

A bit too intricate for my purpose. But, you get the point. Via.

Not suitable for ALL businesses, but a conversation starter for sure. Via.

SoBe

The Clevelander

The Ocean Five

The Avalon

Buick 1

Buick 2

The 11th Street Diner

Metropole - The Jersey Shore Season 2 Cast House

Automobiles d'Art Deco

"Life imitates art far more than art imitates life."
-Oscar Wilde

If you are a lover of classic automobiles and you find yourself in Oxnard, California it would be worth a visit to the new Mullin Automotive Museum.

According to the museum website:

The French Curves Collection exemplifies the zenith of the French automobile. The collection includes some of the most beautifully styled and amazingly engineered French-built cars covering several decades: Bugattis, Delages, Delahayes, Hispano Suizas, Talbot-Lagos and Voisins.

Many notable cars in this collection have won prestigious awards at concours d'elegance throughout the world. In addition, a number of the race cars have been past winners of historic races, such as the Grand Prix de Pau and Le Mans.

Gorgeous.

Photo credit to eXtravaganzi.

Luke

"Yeah, well, sometimes nothin' can be a real cool hand."
-Luke

Newman. Hopper. These names are synonymous with the 1967 Oscar-nominated film classic, Cool Hand Luke.

But these screen grabs are taken from a lesser known movie. A short 8mm film shot simultaneously by an avant-garde artist/director by the name of Bruce Conner. His version is known simply as Luke. Conner was a buddy of Dennis Hopper's that was allowed to pal around on set during the making of the picture.

It is a 22 minute behind-the-scenes glimpse of one of those iconic moments from the film. Convicts shoveling dirt along the blazing hot tarmac. Cameras setting up. Positions shifting. Empty director chairs. And through it all an affable Paul Newman.

The release of this flick is closely guarded by the Conner family and is generally viewable only during artist gallery openings.

I saw a boot-legged copy of it many years ago during a party. It's a real cool hand.

The Goat

The car in the above photo is a snapshot of my dad's highly revered '67 GTO. If asked about the one car he wishes he would have never sold it would be this silver beauty. Now forever lost in the annals of time.

So for his recent birthday I assembled an old AMT model kit that I had lying around and presented it to him as a gift. The car is still sexy as hell, even in 1:25 size.

The Art of Surf Photography: John Severson

Big Surf Event


"In this crowded world, the surfer can still seek and find the perfect day, the perfect wave, and be alone with the surf and his thoughts...."
- John Severson

I received my first subscription to Surfer Magazine when I was 18 years old. It was an event when it arrived in my mail and I'd turn to those gorgeous full page spreads of colorful reefbreaks in far off distant lands. My college dormmates and I would argue over who had the sickest shreds and the gnarliest wipeouts; checking out the boards and racks as if we were speaking of girlfriends. In a way we were because we loved surfing.

Severson's vision created that publication and his legacy lives on through millions of people that wait patiently, each month, by their mailboxes.

PHOTOGRAPHY

The Curl. 1962.

Sunset Beach Drop. 1961.

Standing Island Pullout. 1959.

Rincon Cruise. 1960.

Mickey Munoz "The Quasimodo". 1959.

Kemp Aaberg at Rincon. 1959.

Hang Ten. 1959.

Hammond's Reef. 1964.

Greg Noll. Pipeline. 1964. "Da Bull".

Banzai Beach. 1959.

SURF ART

Wild Angels.

Ranchlands.

Soup Arch.

Golden Age.

His bestselling book, Surf Fever, is out of print. A few copies may still be available for sale on his website.

Here's a short preview of his legendary surf movie, Pacific Vibrations: