The weather is turning for the worse here, quite grey today and rain expected tomorrow. In Seattle? Oh beautiful sunny weather all week; of course. So with the grey dark day today I had to pick and choose my subjects carefully and hence I took fewer photos than previous days. 
Greetings from New York City. No, I didn't bring my bike, although I wish I had, it would be great to have a bike here but then I would be busy riding not walking and getting all the people pictures I am.
I didn't scan a single negative today, instead I was busy getting ready for my Sunday departure for NYC. 
Uh oh, didn't I just rant about people thinking it rains here all the time? Well it rained a bit in the morning and threatened to rain the rest of the day; but the rest of the week should be sunny. 
Rant. Ok, I already made a post today but after getting off the phone with LLBean I just had to rant a little. So I call them to place an order for new flannel sheets for my VW Camper. The first thing out of the woman's mouth, once she hears I'm calling from Seattle is, "is it raining there?". Uh, no, it's not raining, in fact it hasn't rain but a few drips for months and months; I would venture to say we had, as usual, one of the nicest summers in the U.S. here in the NW. No need for A/C, no bugs to mention, just nice mild sunny days. No doubt Maine has triple the rain Seattle did during the summer, and no doubt New England had as much rain last June, when things were floating away up there, as Seattle had in the last 12 months. 
What camera to take? That question has been on my mind for the last week. What camera to take to NYC next week: the Leica, 500cm, or my beloved Mamiya 6. I worry about losing my Mamiya (a difficult camera to replace), the 500cm is heavier but actually quite good for street photography (with the mirror pre-released) and easily replaced (in the current digital world used Hasselblads are pretty cheap), and while I love my Leica I'm not that crazy about 35mm negatives; they're simply too small. Well, now the Leica is off the list any ways, as my 35mm lens got knocked off the shelve it was on (off the camera both caps on) and now the barrel is stuck!!! So it is off to the lens doctor leaving me with the choice of just two. 
Made more minor adjustments to my new black and white page, scanned a few more images, got in a 21 mile bike ride. The days are really too short though. I can never do as much as I need to do. I have piles of black and white images to scan, old color transparencies to scan, digital images for stock agencies to upload and annotate. I guess it's a good thing, the day going by fast. I know it can also go by really really slow if one is doing something boring; so I won't complain.
Alright then, I got all the new links working, I think, and add a few more galleries. I still want to make a few changes, like the "flash" images need redoing and expand my painting tab. At least it all works. 
So late this afternoon I started the switch on my website www.RonGreer.com creating black and white tab, combinning architectural with commercial, and my artwork will have it's own tab as well. Yes there are some bad links on the renamed "artwork" tab. It was a perfect sunny afternoon so I had to leave early for a bike ride, and I needed to pick up beans at Vicacé as well. Tomorrow, I'll work on those bad links, and redo the "artwork" page. That will pressure me to start painting again! Not that I don't want to or don't have ideas for paintings it's just that I've been so bent on scanning my old black & white images I haven't had time. But fall and winter are coming which is typically when I do my painting any way.
I am getting ready to re-organize my web site, combining Architectural and Commercial into one tab (and correct that spelling error that been bugging me for over a year) and separating my personal photography from my art work (paintings). First I don't like the tab called "fine art". I have a problem with term like that. I also don't like it when people call themselves an 'artist'. I believe you can claim to be a photographer, painter, potter, etc. and that it is up to those that look at your work to decide if you're an artist or not. But I 'm getting off course here. 
Took a few days off and climbed some mountain passes with my bicycle. 30 miles up to Chinook Pass and then over and up to Sunrise on Mount Rainier. Beautiful late summer weather, did some blueberry picking ontop of Chinook Pass even. 
As I scanned this photo I had to laugh. You see, I'm married to a German and every time we go for a visit to Germany it never fails that people we meet have these crazy ideas (stated as fact) about America that I get to listen to. There are only Mcdonald's for restaurants, all people are fat, we drive everywhere (that may actually be true for parts of the U.S (like San Fernando Valley.), and crazy questions like "can one walk in big cities (or just drive)?". These statements are, of course, made by "experts" who have never been to America. Here is proof it's not only Americans that can get fat. As for Mcdonald's, I think Dresden, a city 1/3rd as big as Seattle, has as many if not more Mcdonald's outlets. 
A world record was set today. I scanned something like 32 images (all can be seen at my site, www.rongreer.com). I've never scanned even half that many in a day! I keep this up I will be caught up and need to get busy and shoot more. 
So! It's here! My shiny new Mac Pro: 2.66ghz, 3 gb memory, 1.25 terabyes of storage. I had just ridden a very fast 10 miles so I don't look the freshest in the photo but doesn't my new baby look great! It looks beautiful inside too, like a work of art. The interior is amazingly clean and well thought out. I added two 500gb additional hard drives and 2 additional Gbs of memory in about 5 minutes. Now for the task of creating the RAID1 configuration and loading all my software and files. Then the fun begins.
Took the day off and drove down to my favorite Bar, The Olympic Club, in logger-chic Centrailia. A "must stop" for anyone driving between Portland and Seattle. Wonderfully preserved 1902 interior, a dozen pools table, big big big pot belly stove, good food, and of course good beer. Kids welcome!
The universal Trabant, or Trabbi. In its time one had to wait upward of 10 years and fork over a years pay (and prove one had a garage to keep it in). In 1992 I bought one for $110 and drove it three times to Paris and thousands of miles through Germany and the Czech Republic. It's air cooled 2 cylinder 2 stroke engine put out something like 30 horsepower and had a top speed of about 70 mph (at that speed one needed nerves of steel and a steady hand on the wheel or you would find the "car" on its roof!). The body was made of a formica-like material. Sadly most of them ended up like this one and it is now quite rare to see one of the road.
Had a productive day of scanning and a very nice BBQ of wild Sockeye salmon this evening. While most of the nation bakes in record temperatures while the NW temperatues were perfect. Soft defused light during breakfast this morning, just right sun in the afternoon and a rosy sunset over the Olympics this evening. 
This photo is from my 2002 Lisbon trip. I spent a week walking around Lisbon. I didn't think so at the time but I realize now that I came back with many great photos. I spent 8 to 9 hours per day walking the narrow winding hilly streets searching for images to be had. I spent about an hour every morning at this intersecion, hanging around with the locals who didn't seem to mind or notice that a guy with a Hasselblad on his shoulder was standing 1 meter away.
Still scanning, got a few new images up on my People2005 link, like this one from the 4th of July. I took this photo around noon meaning these people were going to be sitting/laying in the sun for another 10 hours before the 20 minutes of fireworks. I brought my children along to draw attention away from me and my camera. The chatterbox twins did great!
ah, the temperature has dropped 10 degrees since our heat wave of the last two days; back to normal thank goodness. Still haven't made it downtown to take photos but I did get a few nice bike rides in during the last couple of days. Riding was one of the few ways to keep cool. I got a few new scans done too. Rode my bike over to Alki Beach for Lunch with a friend up from Tacoma today; great ride. I averaged just under 20 mph over the course of 25 miles! Tomorrow I head off with the family for a few days of camping. 
Here's a photo from my 1990 files, my first real year of shooting street photography. At the time I felt I was onto something really new. Little did I know there were a few photographers before me, like Cartier-Bresson and Winogrand. This was shot with my Plaubel Makina W67. A very compact camera that developed a film loading problem and was a bit too loud for my close-up work. I also didn't care for the 6x7 format. I sold it and started using my 500cm, which is much quieter (when the mirror is pre-released).
I'm just finishing up a 4 night stay in Los Angeles where I have been riding all over central L.A., about 30 miles per day, and have been shooting only color. I have my Mamiya 6 along, and used it quite a bit on the drive down, but for around L.A., on a bike, I packed very light; just took my D200, and a 24-85 and 12-24 zooms. I focused on color for the most part, and also architectural details. It's been great but it has also taken a lot of looking (and pedaling) to find what I got. I passed up on many images because I didn't feel comfortable bringing my camera out. 
I'm geting mind and bags ready for a holiday trip to Germany. I will take my Mamiya 6 and Nikon D70s but I worry about the weather. Berlin, as is most of Germany, VERY dark and grey in winter; and cold. I fear it will be too dark for much street photography of people and so I expect to focus more on store fronts, signs, and patterns; where I could use a tripod. Photo: Hasselblad 500cm, New Jersey
Well, my goal was to upload photos on a regular basis, like daily or at least weekly. Mmm. I bought some off brand films not long ago: adox, astra, all East european brands that have nothing imprnted on them. Can't say I'm impressed and it now all seems silly considering I could have bought Fujipan or Ilford for little more! Photo: Hasselblad 500cm, Munich, Germany
