Five Years

2010-02-04T16:15:00.003-06:00

Well, this is the 371st post, and probably the last here on blogger. It's been a good run; with this and other blogs, I've been using blogger for going on five years (ha ha), but now they're stopping ftp uploading, and while I understand that, it's something I need, or at least that I really want. for the time being, I'll be posting at photomattmills.tumblr.com, and in the long term I'll be trying to extract the posts from this blog and put up something here that is more or less a redesigned and better Five Years. We'll see.

ICEPOCALYPSE

2010-01-29T08:29:00.003-06:00

Yes, I'm annoyed by my own title.. but I do it because I know so many of you will also be frowning, and that makes me laugh.

So I went for a walk, down to Grant's house to make coffee, and he had some interesting news which I'm not sure I can share yet, not the big Ruby news, but something else really cool for him personally. All I can say is damn.

Just another wanderer. "I'll be all right, as long as I have some traction," he told me.

This was rush hour, on 23rd street... never seen it this dead at that hour.

And yeah, there was all this white stuff on the ground. god's cocaine party. Mostly sleet, though, not the fine white powder all kids and skiers love. Blowing wind, sleet in my face, and there I was, taking pictures. It's a 15 minute walk that took me about 20 due to detours.

I do love these lights.

Good coffee at Grant's, Then I walked to dinner at Mcnellie's. I kept drinking after dinner, getting drunk and thinking about hard math problems in my head. I always know I've had a long day at the computer when I'm thinking about math, drunk. (was it three or four pints? I was only there an hour and a half, must have been three). Yeah, Snow and Ice and everything nice. I'm going back to bed.

A typical sunday night...

2010-01-25T22:24:00.002-06:00

As usual, these are a week delayed, so from 8 days ago. Sundays up at classics are pretty excellent though. More (and less blurry) pics from this last sunday coming soon, I promise. I just realized that none of these are in classics, which is just where we start, after all, not always where we finish.

Boring club in Bricktown.

Exciting moment in the boring club in bricktown.

Random encounter outside the club.

I love Winogrand

2010-01-25T14:16:00.002-06:00

From American Suburb X:

Interviewer: If you don't like "street photographer," how do you respond to that other ætiresome phrase', "snapshot aesthetic"?

Winogrand: I knew that was coming. That's another stupidity. The people who use the term don't even know the meaning. They use it to refer to photographs they believe are loosely organized, or casually made, whatever you want to call it. Whatever terms you like. The fact is, when they're talking about snapshots they're talking about the family album picture, which is one of the most precisely made photographs. Everybody's fifteen feet away and smiling. The sun is over the viewer's shoulder. That's when the picture is taken, always. It's one of the most carefully made photographs that ever happened. People are just dumb. They misunderstand.

You should read the whole thing.

One Long Saturday

2010-01-22T19:10:00.002-06:00

Last saturday was a very long, very good day... it had phases, I did things. I walked the dog with Damaris, then hung out with her and Grant and some other kids for sdinner and drunken fry, and then down to makers and bricktown for fog and fun. Makers is where god would hang out, if he was looking for a jazz club in this town. And the Fog... yeah, it gets a capitol letter. Good stuff. The fog outside lifted the fog inside, if you will. And if you won't, well, too bad.

New Digs

2010-01-22T18:59:00.002-06:00

Bedroom french doors:

Living Room:

Dining Room:

Kitchen:

The View:

Since I can't sleep

2010-01-22T03:28:00.002-06:00

I'm gonna post some photos. Two wednesdays ago, I found myself at hooters. No, really. Talk about the ass-end of the restaurant business... I'm told the girls that wait there at least make a lot of money. Good for them, now they just need to work on the food. (These girls, for those of you that don't know them, aren't hooters girls, just friends). Then I went to the new Blue Note. It was weird times 20. Times 10^100. Maybe not that weird; there were no green monsters or invading Persians. Not even any mild-mannered persians. But weird. And cleaner. Anyway, photos:

More from early January

2010-01-19T09:04:00.002-06:00

Because if I don't just do one big post with these, I'll never get them all out, and that would be a tragedy. These are somewhat random; I find myself going out a lot at night. It's the insomnia more than anything; since I'm going to be up anyway, I figure I might as well not be sitting at home bored to death. And I know I've been saying that I want to get away from the 'photos of drunk friends' (or drunken photos of friends) thing, but here they are again anyway. I drink, I take pictures, it's bound to happen. The last photo Kat took, by the way.

Starting off right

2010-01-19T08:52:00.002-06:00

So, this is how we brought in the new year, with chicken pot pie and soup and baked goods. I was so full after that lunch, I didn't eat until lunch the next day. Yes, these are cutesy family photos. I DO WHAT I WANT. Nyah.

yes, I'm aware...

2010-01-15T14:31:00.002-06:00

that it's two weeks into the new year, and I'm just now posting these from NYE, but whatever. You'll take what you get and like it. Or not. Here:

Midnight Countdown: (there's an app for that)

Last photos from 09

2010-01-13T10:31:00.001-06:00

yeah, the title says it all. I just rode my bike to work, pretty proud of that. The best part: I wasn't once afraid for my life as cars passed. So that's better. Anyway, photos:

Back in Blog

2010-01-12T00:13:00.002-06:00

Yeah, i had another one of those lulls. Always happens. NYE and the surrounding weeks found me unable to drink without getting massive hangovers and as usual, some depression, which wasn't helped by my inability to shoot photos, so the whole thing kind of spiraled downwards so much so that I don't want to be the man with the camera anymore. This is what I feared the most when I took the programming job; by filling my head with something else, there isn't room for the photography.

Look at this hipster.

Of course, we all know that's bullshit. I'm as much a photographer as I was then, and this is just a temporary setback. I'm gonna get my chops back, by hook or by crook, and all will be well with the world. And for the record, I have taken a few good photos, just not as many as I'd like.

Before the freakin' blizzard, or maybe after. Shit conditions to be out in, though.

fucking snow...

2009-12-27T20:26:00.002-06:00

yeah, I'm not one for news pictures so much... the news is all fake anyway, or at least 90% bullshit to 10% truth... but I do like the snow. So, for once, a topical post.

It's been four days since...

2009-12-27T20:23:00.002-06:00

I was at the blue note... this was the night I found out someone new was buying it, definitely bittersweet... but the sweet was good, too, Hanging out w/ Kat and Sigrid and Kat's fam (her dad is a pool shark, watchout), and then just the drinking, oh, the drinking...

the last december birthday

2009-12-27T14:21:00.002-06:00

Mike J's. At the Sipango. And you might think, from these pictures, that it's not a bad place to hang out. You'd be wrong. I wouldn't go there again unless it's someone's birthday, and they won't see reason and come to a bar with less dudebros. The things we do for our friends. Actually, I only stayed for half an hour, everybody was already pretty well wasted by the time I got there. Although I did have dinner and some beers earlier at Mcnellies that night, I wasn't drinking, if you know what I mean. Tuesday, you know?

It's been seven days since...

2009-12-27T08:25:00.002-06:00

I took all these photos. Ok, in that last post, where I said I hadn't taken any good ones of Ali when we were celebrating her bday? I lied. There's one here that I really like and another that's all right, but it's not her face. What else? That was a dfry night, which is becoming more and more common now that blue note has changed the jukebox. My favorite bar is changing owners very soon... this has happened once before, and that change brought us ladies night and free pool afternoons, but we lost good show coming out of there, so maybe this time we'll keep the free beer and get back some awesome shows.

Then there are the two pictures in here that aren't portraits. I'm becoming more impulsive with my photography, and that off ramp was an extreme example. I glanced out of the bar door, saw something, and had a compulsion to go out and shoot it. That's all I came up with; although there are several frames, I only like that one. What else? Holly, you'd better be treating my hat well. Regular walks, exercise, hand wash only. Now I have to get photos off the camera.

two fridays ago...

2009-12-27T05:24:00.001-06:00

This was the night of Ali's birthday... sorry ali, didn't get any of you, as you were in tulsa... the following night I also didn't get any, because the light in the dfry is shit. Also, I'm not shooting as much as I used to. it ebbs and flows, just like everything else, and right now, I'm at an ebb... I've just had an idea for a new project, though, one that's been staring me in the face for months and me not even noticing. The working title is 'hackers in the heartland'... a hacker in the sense of 'maker' or 'expert'. You know who you are, expect emails soon. Anyway, on with the photos.

Office christmas party, pt 1

2009-12-27T02:03:00.002-06:00

You know, you;d think the office christmas party would be boring, and nothing would really happen. And I suppose I did end up driving myself home that night, so it wasn't that crazy. But still, it requires two posts to get all the photos in. Here:

office christmas party, pt 2

2009-12-27T01:59:00.000-06:00

This is the second half, and because it happened later, was more drunken.

two wednesdays ago...

2009-12-26T22:29:00.002-06:00

nobody could believe what was happening... I could scarcely deal with it myself... I mean, look at these girls... and I wasn't on my game, just imagine what was actually happening...

seriously though, I need to do some catch up on photos... these are seriously stale... expect a post every three hours until I'm caught up to what's in the camera right now. no promises that the front text will make any more sense than this one did.

Chris' b-day

2009-12-23T12:39:00.002-06:00

This is what happens when you get in a fight with a truckon one wheel. And win.

The two group photos we took:

And my own version of a group photo. Didn't get everyone in though.

And now lunch is over; back to the grind.

I think this was that one night...

2009-12-22T16:52:00.002-06:00

Remember? The night that I drank far far too much? Excessive amounts of excess. So hungover in the morning I couldn't move? Yeah, well, there was this artshow, and I was broke, and a lot of other people fed me booze, but I wasn't really keeping track. I started counting in the morning, and the number of drinks I had was some where in excess of way too many. I think my short term memory shorted out there at the end, I have a lot of the same picture, like I took it and then forgot. Not that I remember now, but the photos at least tell something. Artifacts. Thank god for autofocus.

I know, deadpan images are dead, but I liked the asshole tax.

Husband...

and wife.

five minutes for a blog post...

2009-12-22T12:56:00.003-06:00

first one will be brief. This is from two wednesdays ago, for once I wasn't out at blue note, and Chelsea came down to get a cell phone (I have spares and hers was spastic). While I was looking for the charger, she says, "Why don't we go to norman and see my friends play a jazz set?" and of course I went. I always have some fantastic luck when I hang out with her; I met a former South African paratrooper at one party, or there was the time we came across fire-dancers just before a rock show, etc, etc. This time, one of the professors from OU showed up and asked to sit in, and dude was cool. Didn't hog the stage, played a couple good numbers, and left. And my five minutes were up a while ago:

Trumpet playin' man.

More later.

Pearl Goes Away

2009-12-15T14:11:00.002-06:00

It seems like every weekend, we have and excuse to party... and if there is no party, we at least have a reason to drink. Anyway, I know these are like a week and a half late, but I really had far too much fun at this party and the day after... I've had a lot of good days in the past moth or so, and this was one of them (or at least that night and the next morning). The kind of good time that makes me want to hang onto certain pictures, even though they're not as good. When I rush to post, that's when you see 40 pictures split into two posts; when I wait, you get 7 pictures in one post, but I think they're the best 7. Anyway, on with the show:

Return to the Fry

2009-12-11T11:40:00.002-06:00

So, a couple weeks ago now, I was in the Drunken fry and some dudebro tried to steal my hat and then start a fight with Cody. This was a mistake on his part, and, well, nothing happened, not really. But I'd been avoiding the fry after that, because who wants to deal with that shit? Anyway, last friday a bunch of us started the night getting smashed and playing dominoes, at which point going to the fry sounded like a good idea. And then there weren't enough seats in the car, so I said "Fuck it, I'll ride my bike." And it was awesome and cold, but mostly awesome. And then drunken, and then fries, in phases.