TRUCK PARTS

Waterbury, Connecticut 

My car neeed exhaust work.

Isfahan, or Shiraz?

Iran, 1970

In the recent posting of pictures from the IHP scholarship trip in 1969-70, I somehow overlooked two of my favorite pictures from the year. For thirty years they've been in my 12 shot super tight edit of work from the trip, so here they are in this sequence one more time. The group spent six or seven weeks in Tehran. Partway through we made a side trip to the cities of Isfahan and Shiraz. I made these pictures in a spooky covered market area, but I don't remember which city I was in.

Thirty years ago, when I showed this picture to the great photographer, teacher, and writer David Vestal, he immediately shook his head and said, "Hard way to make a living."

An Orthodox Rite Wedding

Belgrade, Yugoslavia, 1970

The IHP group spent over six weeks based in Belgrade, and I once again lucked into finding a wedding ceremony to cover for my thesis project on religious ritual. There was a fair amount of tension in the air since the communist regime at the time just barely tolerated religious practice. Getting permission to photograph took several difficult discussions in broken English (theirs) and very poor French (mine). Somehow I got across the reason I wanted to make pictures of the wedding and in the end everyone was very cooperative.

The vestments were just about as elaborate as at the Hindu wedding and the pageantry was highly dramatic. Also the chanting—my impression was that one of the requirements to become an Orthodox priest must be to possess a basso profundo voice. The interior was also very dark, mysterious and murky. There were electric lights in a hanging chandelier and several wall fixtures, but they were barely brighter than the candles. The overall mood was solemn.

At the Ashram

Pondicherry "New Village," India, 1969

The IHP group flew into Madras airport in late December and took an interminable bus ride to the Aurobindo Ashram near Pondicherry. The ashram was fascinating but I didn't get many pictures, really just these two portraits. The young woman above was living in the "New Village"—an avowedly modern utopian community connected to the ashram. A fellow student who was with me on this visit remembers her as European, maybe French, but I don't recall. I photographed the gentleman below at the ashram itself, where he was combining Jungian psychology theory and traditional Indian meditation techniques. Another westerner, he was from Vancouver, Canada.

Aurobindo Ashram, Pondicherry, India, 1969

At a Shinto Shrine, 1969

Japan, 1969

I'm going back to the archive for a few more posts here. This year is the 50th anniversary of a traveling scholarship that I was part of. A reunion is planned for September, and it has caused me to revisit fifty year old work. The faculty let me concentrate on a text and pictures, mainly independent study, study of religious ritual in the places we visited. The study theme of the whole trip was utopian thought and communities. During six or seven weeks in Japan divided between Tokyo and Kyoto, we made several field trips to utopian communities. This one practiced traditional Shinto ritual.

In the Lobby

Abilene, Texas

Best Western, Abilene, Mall South. The rooms are a lot less fancy, though entirely adequate, even without the, er, elaborate, decor.

Abilene, Texas

Hats!

Woodbury, Connecticut

Another Christmas crafts show, this time in the middle school gym.

Woodbury, Connecticut

Brazen Betties at the Armory, I

Torrington, Connecticut

Backstage at the Brazen Betties Vintage Expo, fashion show, and Bettie Page Look Alike Contest held in the Torrington, CT, armory yesterday. You might remember posts earlier this year from another Betties event.

New York Again this Weekend

New York, New York

We spent most of the day in Midtown Manhattan with Tina's French cousin, Vero, who was in transit from visiting other relatives, and off to JFK for her flight home.

What was once the Huntington/Hartford museum has devolved into a weird sort of mall called "The Shops at Columbus Circle." There are apparently a couple restaurants with astronomical prices, a couple places where you can get some coffee if willing to wait forever on Saturday after Black Friday, and precious little else. On the top accessible floor, a bunch of, one supposes, dance students, were playing games and trying to get a picture of themselves leaping. They may have gotten it.

As always, a click in the picture will bring you a much larger and more legible view. Use your browser back button to return.

Window

New Milford, Connecticut, 9/17/09

Hospital corridor window.

Hot Topic

Waterbury, Connecticut

Doorway in a service corridor at a shopping mall.

Shrine

Naugatuck, Connecticut

In the lobby of the City Hall.

Organic Bananas

Woodbury, Connecticut

Self Portrait with Bayeux Tapestries

Woodbury, Connecticut

Cactus

Bridgewater, Connecticut

Basketball at the Armory

Torrington, Connecticut

Field House Doors

Waterbury, Connecticut

Waterbury, Connecticut