Enjoy Yourself, It’s Later Than You Think

© 2019 Xiomaro.com

I recently photographed the British ska-punk band The Specials, which is one of my all-time favorites. With the experience still fresh in my mind, I’ve been casually listening to some of their songs again. One that I have not heard in a long time is a cover of a song popularized by Guy Lombardo in 1949 called Enjoy Yourself (It’s Later Than You Think).

The lyrics are funny, but — as is true with a lot of good comedy — deliver a truth:

“Enjoy yourself, while you’re still in the pink.
The years go by, as quickly as a wink. Enjoy yourself, enjoy yourself, it’s later than you think.”

The song brought to the fore many thoughts that have been floating in the back of my mind lately. For one, I’d like to spend less time with people who are stumbling blocks to my aspirations and suck away my energies with their pettiness and shallow thinking. I’d also like to spend less time doing work for which I am not best suited.

I don’t know if I will be lucky enough to live as long as Alfred Stieglitz (82), Paul Strand (85), or Imogen Cunningham (93). But I would like to spend as much of the remainder of my time with photography and like-minded allies who understand its power, with my other artistic pursuits, and — sometimes — with just doing nothing at all.

I’m not being dark or morbid. I’m just being realistic. I narrowly beat out cancer and I’ve lost several close family members in recent years. So I’d like to be a better steward of my time in this second go-round.

* * * * * * *

I patiently inched my way toward the quiet elderly man. I engaged in some misdirection by taking some shots of the foliage near him. Finally, I lifted my camera, framed the ancient gentleman within the viewfinder, and created my portrait of him.

I’m not sure now if I imagined it. But as I walked away, from the corner of my eye, I think I saw him pull a small camera from his pocket and photograph me.

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Street Photography: Perspective

© 2019 Xiomaro.com

Sometimes things don’t appear as they are. These two musicians were part of a band of Brooklyn hipsters playing ditties from the 1920s. They played very well and I took several photographs of them in action.

Now as a musician myself, I can attest that we tend to like loud volumes. The guitar player in one of my bands would actually get on his hands and knees, stick his head in the bass drum, and ask the drummer to slam the kick pedal as hard as possible. Why either of them would do that is still being pondered by philosophers.

He would also constantly ask me to crank the volume up on the amps. I would oblige by pretending to turn the knob until he voiced his satisfaction that his guitar was now sufficiently loud — this despite our rehearsing in a space about the size of a large bathroom. Ah, the good old days.

This photograph did some pretending of it’s own. When I looked at it for the first time in the studio, I noticed the illusion a two dimensional image can suggest that is not apparent when experiencing the reality in three dimensions.

At first glance, it seemed that my guitar player pulled a Dorian Gray and returned to stick the side of his head up against that trumpet. Fortunately, the man in black will not likely be destined to a life of repeatedly asking the question, “what”? He was, in fact, a safe distance from the bell of that horn.

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Street Photography: Caught Looking

© 2019 Xiomaro.com

I have a small camera and I’m pretty stealthy in getting my shots. But sooner or later, everyone gets caught.

It was not until after I viewed the photograph in my studio that I realized he was looking straight at me. And, thinking back at the occasion, I know why.

I was being extra bold. I was not far from him at all and — as a musician myself who has played the Irish penny whistle at shows — I took my time in framing the shot. It was exceptionally crowded with other musicians, dancers, and people standing around to watch. So I incorrectly thought I had enough cover.

Well, I’m pleased with the photograph and I’m just glad he did not mind. Or maybe he did but his mouth was too busy at that moment to object.

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Throwback: Father’s Day

© 2019 Xiomaro.com

This Polaroid was taken a long time ago before I was a father — taken by my own dad actually. It was in the small basement of our small house in Queens, New York, where I spent most of my non high school time playing my instruments, writing music, and recording.

My parents were very supportive. They put up with the loud racket of me and my friends clumsily self-teaching ourselves to become rock n roll musicians. Smells of burning incense cones I bought from black Muslims on Main Street wafted into the kitchen above the basement.

Other friends would come by and crowd the tiny rehearsal space to hear us play and hang out. I decorated the room into a little nightclub with colored lights and photographs of glam rockers like Alice Cooper, Todd Rundgren, and others I had torn from Circus magazine.

We didn’t have enough money to support my musical ambitions. Fortunately my father was skillful with wood and electronics. So he made my guitar, PA system (located at the right of the photo), bass amp, talk box, and even a synthesizer.

We’d also visit Manny’s Music on 48th Street in Manhattan and if something didn’t work, he’d buy it for less money and fix it himself in our basement.

When I listen to certain songs, my mind gets transported back to the time when they were first popular. Memories flood back. Sometimes even the smells of the season return. I wake up from the reverie several minutes later and many steps removed from the initial memory.

And the same can happen with an old Polaroid.

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Street Photography: Workin’ it on Times Square.

© 2019 Xiomaro.com

Like a hobo jumping on a boxcar to nowhere, I sometimes will take photographs of models and actors posing for commercial shoots staged on Times Square. I have no idea what the ads or commercials are about or what they’re for.

This model was working the platform for the photographer in front. I would never interfere with someone else’s shoot, so I went off to the side. For me, this angle was fine because I was able to frame the model surrounded by the arch of the Paramount Building window festooned with its rainbow banners.

It’s a busy image with a collision of colors. So I was going to convert the photograph to black and white to make the model stand out more. But then I thought better of it.

It’s Times Square — it’s supposed to be a busy collision. Plus I like the festive variety of colors from the shoes up to the blouse.

Even the colors of the advertisement on the bus in the back is fine by me. It’s as if the people in the ad are joining their flesh and blood counterparts on the street in watching this confident model strut his or her stuff within the center of everything.

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Welcome Lindsey Lightner

Lindsey, a graduate of Wittenberg University in Ohio, is interning with me this summer.  She has a diverse background in history, archaeology, and political science.

Part of her work includes identifying and researching antique technology objects and cataloging the collection for a possible exhibition I would like to present about how we reached our smartphone-centric culture.

My internships are offered year-round. I continue to maintain professional relationships with many of the over 40 interns I’ve had over the years. For more info, go to www.xiomaro.com/internship

 

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Street Photography: Illusions

© 2019 Xiomaro.com

Fire trucks, police cars, and other emergency vehicles are part of the scenery at Times Square. They are so ubiquitous that I hardly notice them. But not this time.

As I was about to cross the street something about the fire truck caught my eye. “Who the heck is in there?” It looked like a pair of twin aliens sitting side by side in the driver’s side and passenger seats.

Aliens are not so unusual. They are among the performers soliciting tips from tourists. Aliens inside a fire truck is another story.

As I moved closer in for a better look, the twins moved in synch with me. They were merely reflections from an electronic billboard somewhere. But how curious that the image happened to line up perfectly on the windshield — not once, but twice.

I don’t recognize the advertisement that projected these reflections. Does anyone know what it is?

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