hong-an tran

m.wells and the national (sort of).

22 May 2013

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It was barely noon. There was no way we were going to have leg of lamb at noon.

So a few weekends ago, The National was going to take part in this slightly nutty performance at PS1, playing their song ‘Sorrow’ for six hours straight. Mike and I, we bought tickets, because I mean, why the hell not? And we figured we’d eat a nice lunch at M.Wells beforehand, since the restaurant is now located inside the museum itself.

So we headed up to Long Island City early that Sunday morning, and got to PS1 just before noon, as both the restaurant and museum were opening. The lunch was great. Not so great: the ever-growing crowd assembled to see the band, who had started their epic set inside the giant white dome on PS1 grounds. Mike and I, we’re not so good with crowds. And during lunch, we could hear the song play over and over again as it was. So we stuck around outside the dome to hear ‘Sorrow’ one last time, and left without going inside. But hey! I managed to sort of get a photo of the band. Sort of.

M. Wells, though: as glorious as always.
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The band! Sort of!
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Look at those crossed arms and smartphones held aloft! Oh, New York. I love you.

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prints! for sale!

20 May 2013

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Yup, I’ve finally gotten around to setting up an Etsy store where you can purchase some of the prints I’ve been making recently in the darkroom. You can click on this link here, or just on the photo above, to check out the store. Enjoy!

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at home.

14 May 2013

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My parents’ home, that is. Ah, Surburbia!

Above: Blinds, early morning.

Below: Sprinklers, late afternoon.

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I’m trying to get out of my 35mm b&w comfort zone (portraits! street scenes!) and think more expansively about grey tones (thanks, darkroom!) and light in general.

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my darkroom boyfriend.

12 May 2013

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A few more of the prints I’ve made in the darkroom over the last two weekends. Goodness me, my return to the darkroom has been like reconnecting with a long-lost love; I cannot — CANNOT — get enough of spending time in a windowless, lowly-lit room on perfectly beautiful weekend afternoons, rediscovering a passion that remained dormant for over a decade. I can’t believe it took me that long to look you up again, Darkroom. I’m glad I did.

You can see the full (and hopefully, slowly expanding) gallery over at my portfolio. I have been trying to figure out if I can/should/will sell these (very limited) prints, so if you’re interested in any of these, please email me at ruinista@gmail.com to inquire further.

Top: Stockholm, 2011. Above: Between Campbelltown and Islay, Scotland, 1997. Below: Tokyo, 2013.
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mr. comedy.

6 May 2013

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My pal Justin.

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the prints.

29 Apr 2013

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I took a darkroom class this weekend at the International Center of Photography. If you don’t see me around here much over the next little while, it’s because I’ve decided to restart my torrid affair with the darkroom. Goodness, I can’t believe it’s taken 15 years for me to return to this most happiest/frustrating/satisfying/impossible/wondrous of places.

Above: the finished products, scanned directly as prints made on Ilford RC glossy paper. Below: the original negatives, as scanned into my computer.
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los angeles | april 2013

24 Apr 2013

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So. Much. Food. And family. And, though thankfully not pictured, *a lot* of Law and Order marathons. (And, in a post to come, friends! Expecting friends!) It was a relaxing wee little trip, just four days long, but long enough to clear my head and reclaim some lost sleep. And the food. Good lord, the food. Mom’s birthday lunch at AOC, then a birthday dinner at Lukshon. A lazy late lunch at Obika. A soupy, laid back lunch with Dad at a place I can’t remember, but which had some great banh canh tom.

A highlight: in the third photo below, taken at Hinoki & The Bird, the centerpiece is black cod with pistachio and sweet potato. Atop the cod: a piece of hinoki — Japanese ~~cedar~~ cypress — set ablaze. The whole thing smelled amazing. My aunts joined me in taking photos of the wondrous madness.
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The weekend before I left, I also made some miso ramen, with chashu pork. From scratch. (Well, everything but the noodles, which were fresh from Sun Noodles in NJ.) I was pretty pleased with the results, I have to say.
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good / meh.

16 Apr 2013

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Good news: after being on the fritz for the better part of a year (maybe longer?), my Nikon FE finally got fixed. I’m happy to have it back; it’s been my constant companion for 15 years now.

The meh news: the lab where I get both color and b&w processing done has been incredibly inconsistent with their b&w developing. These photos, shot on the Nikon with Fuji Neopan 400, seem a bit off to me. A bit dulled, maybe? Grrrrr. Also, I paid the lab to have the negatives scanned for me, since my home scanner is on the fritz (everything is falling apart around me, it seems like), and good lord, these are terrible scans. Dusty, weird cropping, and I’m pretty sure they were scanned in color, by the looks of the tones here. Double grrrrrr. NYC folks: who develops your b&w film?
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our idiot photographer.

4 Apr 2013

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See that boomerang-like streak running through these top four photos? Yeah. Don’t put your undeveloped, unused film through airport xray scanners. Twice. Mystery solved. I am an idiot.

In happier news: I can apparently keep a Hasselblad relatively steady at 1/8 shutter speed, as these photos of Ryan and Shane attest.
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The fellas showed up just after 6:30, as the Half-Past Project afternoon was winding down and the bar started getting crowded, so I grabbed them, found an empty table, and took a couple of quick shots. Below: Before all of the festivities, when I was the lone patron at the bar. This was the chair and table where much of the afternoon’s activities unfolded.
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the half-past project (test run).

3 Apr 2013

Megan | 1:48 pm

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Mike | 2:20 pm

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Lindy | 2:49 pm

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Shannon | 3:21 pm

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[yours truly] | 3:48 pm

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Abdul | 4:13 pm

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I had a glorious project planned for the weekend, something I’d decided to call the Half-Past Project. Last week, I emailed some friends, asking them to stop by Marshall Stack on Sunday afternoon anytime between 1:30 and 6:30, and sit for me while I capture them in the afternoon light — the bar’s got great, tall windows along two sides. Armed with a handful of positive responses, I prepared for Sunday’s drink- and photo-fest with glee.

Only, well, the weather didn’t get the memo. Though I’d read on Saturday night that there was a chance of rain on Sunday, I shooed those predictions away, believing that with an already beauty Saturday, the weekend surely wouldn’t go south. It did. Though the rain didn’t start up till the early evening, Sunday afternoon was awash with bright grey light, the sort of light that produces no elegant shadows nor a sense of the passage of time.

But folks showed up to the bar anyway, some of the regulars and staff even sat for me, every half hour, from around 1:40 until just after 6pm, when the darkness and rain started to take over. I’d wanted to capture the slow movement of warm, golden light across the same space over the day, and while that didn’t quite transpire, I do like the results anyway: you can sort of see the bar, and faces, get ever so slowly swallowed up by the darkness. And I’ll think of this as a practice run for next time, when I look a bit more carefully at a weekend weather report and — AND — buy a tripod for the Hasselblad. Those late afternoon photos, between the dying light and, well, we were at a bar, could use a bit less blur and more stability.

Thanks to everyone who stopped by and sat and had a drink and turned a grey day into a very productive and most convivial one.

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