travel-ology

voyage du jour -december 8, 2011

2011-12-09T05:11:00.001-06:00

preface: below are the color photos from our day trip- i have not posted the more arty 'sepia' ones here- i might do a 2nd "photo only" entry of them.

DD & JT- @ BIELER SEE

HOTEL JEAN JACQUES ROUSSEAU


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ah bon... yesterday was sunny & bright, so Jackie and i decided to day trip around the Bieler See [Lac Biel/Lake Biel] and enjoy the sunlight, blue skies, water and fresh air.

We 1st drove through Biel [no fotos in this entry] drove to La Neuveville & stopped at the Hotel Jean-Jacques Rousseau- and sat on a bench watching the sun set. JJR lived on St Peter's Insel/Isle St. Pierre [island]
which is in the 'see'. J&I went there years ago with musicians i was working with @ the time- very interesting place.

i really wanted to get to Le Landeron before sunset - it's such a beautiful sweet small walled ancient village- with allee of chestnut trees in the center. it was totally deserted, except for a very few people. they were decorating for Christmas, which for some reason felt more like Christmas to me- [unlike all the US commercial Christmas crap]- very French- more traditional- simple folk type, natural [green] ornaments etc.

LE LANDERON:

i think Le Landeron would be a wonderful place to have a small atelier/studio/apartment. a place to draw, paint, do collage, write, do photography. have the absolute bare necessities- just a bed, chair and table- coffee machine- very basic cooking junk- my Hermes manual typewriter & Moleskine journals. no tv, internet or phone [other than my cell, for emergencies] - just room enough to work, create, make a big artistic mess; be the hermit monk in absolute solitude & silence- eat, drink in small local cafes, et souvien Francais, apron encore; mais, un beau reve... mais possible? pas maintenant

after, stopping and making a few fotos, as i have done there before, we headed back, stopping along the way in Erlach [below] at a cafe for coffee and 'sweeties'

i had apfel strudel w/vanilla sauce- jackie had some maroni stuff w/schlag rahm- also saw more Christmas decorating 'ideas'

and landscapes -showing snow on the Jura- on the way back around the lake en route to Biel and onward to home.

it did me a world of good to get out- and go around- and remember where i am- considering i have not gone out at ALL except for my concerts, and the occasional accompanying of jacqueline to do errands or shopping.

it's amazing that only 15 minutes from here -[which is primarily German speaking, and w/more modern architecture & buildings mixed with the old]= are tres vieux villages like La Neuveville & Le Landeron [both tres Francais] and like going back in time: OLD historical, funky & beautiful. getting out [especially on such a beautiful day, like yesterday] is something i absolutely need to do more of.

i have been obsessively/incessantly working on [writing/recording] music from the time i was here in august, all the while i was home, and ever since i came back on November 14th to the point that i have reached burn out. So i am stopping for a while; reading a lot; writing in my journal; and plan to begin art work [since writing/art/photography is just as necessary to my 'uber alles' well being/my life as music is] - even so, i have got to stop, take breaks, get out [especially with winter here] and see and do- instead of "staying on that damned computer" as my mama always said.

[c]2011 DOUG DUFFEY

FACEBOOK, SWITZERLAND - ITALY AUGUST 2010

2010-08-26T08:34:00.007-05:00

Ever since i got on facebook i have almost ceased blogging, or even writing in my journal, which is a drag; but everything seems so time consuming. there seems to be so many projects, so little time. Fb seems to be the fastest & easiest way to communicate.

i just got back from several weeks touring with the band in switzerland, and a short vacation with jackie to the condo in italy, mid tour. of course i carried cameras to europe with me, and shot a lot of film; took my old workhorse the Canon AE1, and Canonet QL17 GIII as well as my casio exilim [digital snapshots] w/which are immediate to upload. i have to hand processed the true black and white film- but the 'color process' B&W can be done anywhere. i used both, with various cameras: my betters slrs, rangefinders, & cheapo plastic cameras. i like the results of film in a plastic camera. i also bought a canon eos 650 [film] the 1st day i arrived, at a brockenstube [thrift store] - which i left in Switzerland so i dont have to wag more cameras back when i go: i already have an arsenal there, too. the less i take, the more i can bring back, whats with all the new luggage restrictions.

at the moment the only fotos i have online of the trip are the digital snapshots are on FB ... and a few in my "foto mondo" blog which i shot with my favorite vivitar plastic fixed focus panorama 'toy' camera.

i realize that the only way i am going to be able to keep up this blog is to do it daily when i am traveling- and not succumb to the convenience of FB- voila

[c] 2010 doug duffey

entrance ticket stubs

2009-08-11T00:25:00.003-05:00

above: luxor, egypt 2000 below: the vatican museum rome 2002

[c] 2009 doug duffey

buren on the aare, switzerland 4.9.2009

2009-04-09T13:16:00.005-05:00

some shots made this afternoon- after shopping- in Buren by the Aare- a small beautiful village nearby. i also made some very short video clips of the moving water to possibly make a music video w/ solo piano accompaniment.

it's been very cold the past few days- but today felt like spring- and spring in switzerland is absolutely glorious! one of the most beautiful countries on the planet... and my 2nd home

all photos [c]2009 doug duffey
[c] 2009 doug duffey

switzerland-denmark- switzerland

2009-04-09T07:49:00.008-05:00

allo allo! i have been remiss in posting any travel blurbs due to the fact that i have been jet lagged all week- AND- been editing video from our denmark concert and uploading to youtube. as my friend michael rasbury says: "life is too short for video."- and as my friend mary says about facebook: "it's like crack... i cant stop!" and i have been doing both: editing the videos and posting them on youtube, facebook and myspace! that is VERY time consuming.

i came over here [switzerland] dec. 8 and worked up until the 1st of march. jackie and i went to the US march 5-31 -during which time we & my mama went to memphis for friends wedding-20-22- then flew back to switzerland, arriving on april 1st.

we had band rehearsals the 2nd; the 3rd i spent all day/night burning cds/printing labels etc [because i couldnt get the cds done professionally in the states before i left]- i needed them for the festival in denmark. i didnt sleep all night [jet lag] so stayed awake, packed, we drove to the airport [on the 4th] in zurich, flew to copenhagen, then to aarhus. then the bus met us and took us to the festival site, we dressed, did sound check, played, did an interview, partied a bit, slept a bit at the hotel. got up at 4AM and the bus drove us to the airport in aarhus, we flew back to copehnagen, then zurich then we drove 1.5 hours back to Lengnau. so... i have had jet lag all week.

the gig festival show was great. we had a great time. unfortunately we only had an hour, so didnt get to do some of the songs on the list! had to leave out about 4, plus some encores i'd planned. but everything went smoothly- the organization and the crew were great- as were the audience. i definitely want to go back and play Denmark again- well, as for that- i want to play EVERYWHERE!

i've posted a quite a few fotos on facebook- but not here. so am adding some from this trip back...
they are in reverse order:

on stage- djurs bluesland festival- aarhus denmark- 4.4.09

backstage- djurs bluesland festival- aarhus denmark- 4.4.09

the hall during sound check -djurs bluesland festival- aarhus denmark- 4.4.09

aarhus airport- aarhus denmark- 4.4.09

copenhagen denmark airport- 4.4.2009

the doug duffey international soul band- copenhagen denmark- 4.4.2009

flying into copenhagen 4.4.2009

arriving in copenhagen- the cars drive down into a tunnel at the end of this peninsula looking thing- strange- 4.4.09

two old swiss barns/houses- 4.2.2009

moi- en route from atlanta to zurich - 4.1.2009

to see more fotos and videos of the band and the show in denmark - check my youtube and facebook site.

[c] 2009 doug duffey

memphis, the delta, etc

2009-03-27T02:11:00.003-05:00

all photos shot during march 20-22, 2009 [c]2009 doug duffey

blues city cafe which touts itself as the best meal on beale- which is total false advertising. i've eaten there before and it was ok- when i was still eating meat= barbque- but this time not only was the food horrible- so was the so called service.

beale street by night- [bourbon street it aint!]- memphis

the peabody duck show

bubbas in a buggy- memphis

memphis sky at dusk

a remnant of the old & disappearing south-mississippi- highway 61 south

"be led by the holy spirit" mississippi- highway 61 south

a juke joint-mississippi- highway 61 south

a church in the cotton field- mississippi- highway 61 south
[c]2009 doug duffey

monroe, louisiana- march 2009

2009-03-07T11:49:00.001-06:00

flew in from zurich [where it was snowing!] may 5th- below are some shots of the clouds [between atlanta and monroe] from the plane... obviously

running around doing errands, yesterday [after being away for 3+ months] i had my camera in my pocket and shot various stuff: below guys bar-b-que-ing on the street- typical louisiana scene

we had lunch at the cypress inn on bayou desiard: below: me & my mama; jacqueline & mama; boiled crawfish on a table; people eating; a shot of bayou desiard
nice to wear short sleeves- and be able to sit outside - and after the long cold european winter. although some trees and plants are in bloom others are not... like these cypress trees.
[c] 2009 doug duffey

solothurn, switzerland feb12, 2009

2009-02-12T21:47:00.002-06:00

[c] 2009 doug duffey

meiringen, switzerland 2.1 & 2.2009

2009-02-01T23:13:00.007-06:00

ferdinand as sherlock holmes

meiringen from my room

sherlock holmes statue

self portrait in hall mirror

the main bar

above: 2 of the dining rooms

hallway

street scene meiringen

hotel du sauvage- meiringen, switzerland- feb.1 & 2, 2009

we played friday and saturday in meiringen, in the hotel du sauvage [downstairs bar]-which is managed by my old friend ferdinand salverda [from the old days in gstaad- hotel bellevue]- i unfortunately didnt photograph. it's a great bar, and we had big and enthusiastic crowds both nights. it is much more modern than the rest of the hotel; but has lot of nice local art work, wood sculptures, etc.

the main floor, and halls of the hotel still has a lot of old european elegance [mosaic tile floors, art deco murals on the walls, etc.] about it- which is fading away fast in most places- for the sake of modernity... which i hate. too many sterile, cold, renovations going on in what were fabulus old buildings.

arthur conan doyle, author of the sherlock holmes stories, frequented this hotel, and had SH killed off behind the hotel in one of the books. thus all the SH references and fotos.

[c] 2009 doug duffey

self portrait- reflection- zermatt- 1.13.09

2009-01-13T16:16:00.000-06:00

[c] 2009 doug duffey

walkies- zermatt- 01.13.2009

2009-01-13T11:15:00.004-06:00

i decided to get out of my hotel today and take a walk. i needed some sunshine and exercise... so walked up the hill into the town center, had a whole wheat bread from a bakery, walked, shot some pix, then came back. i stopped at a antique/junk store, which had some great things, but it was overall too expensive. i did buy some reproduction antique postcards and an old photo book from 1953 of mountain life, by willy wagner; which has some great photos. below various shos of zermatt:

morning matterhorn shot

beautiful downtown [empty] zermatt

beautiful downtown [empty] zermatt 2

very old barns

another shitty day in paradise - w/reflection

landscape

poster board zermatt

[c] 2008 doug duffey

zermatt- 01.09.2009

2009-01-09T06:13:00.012-06:00

one of the little electric trucks here- only electric cars are allowed in zermatt

in the entrance of the hotel style- having a smoke and coffee

morning finger exercises

at the piano in the bar

my morning shot of the matterhorn from my balcony

january 9, 2009/zermatt- we're back... we got here 2 days ago but due to the unforseen lack of nouveau riche russians throwing their gazillions about, the town is empty; which is very unusual for zermatt at this time of year.

we begin playing tonight, after 2 nights rest and acclimation, here in the hotel; it was good to have those 2 days rest, as the thin dry air and this high altitude makes everyone tired. i was ready for sleep at 9PM last night but forced myself to stay awake until 3AM, since we normally start playing at 10PM. i wanted to get my body clock set.

it's nice to be back. everyone here is 'tres gentil'; it is also not as cold as it was last time [-12 below zero] and today the sun is shining, and the streets are clear of snow and ice. hani, sebi and i are going into the town center in a while to "faire le commission" or "make the groceries" as is said in new orleans [direct translation from french] - i need 'room food'

fotos from later:hani & the matterhorn- on my balcony before shopping

beautiful downtown zermatt

happy sebi w/burger- mcdonald's lunch after shopping

happy hani w/fish sandwiches & veggie burger- mcdonald's lunch after shopping

happy dougie w/veggie burger- mcdonald's lunch after shopping- thank you, america!

eric in the streets

street shot

horse & man leg shot

rauchen frau mit pferd shot

schweizer polizei shot - maybe giving the man a ticket for driving too slow?

later:
hani, sebi, and i walked to the town center and got food/goods for the room, then hit mcdonald's for lunch. thank god, they had veggie burgers. normally i dont eat white bread [or food] and would have not have had mayo on mine, but forgot to tell them "ohne mayonnaise, bitte"- and WTF, i won't burn in vegan hell for a dollop of mayo! so had that and a salad. sebi and hani had about 3 sandwiches each; we were ALL happy campers.

poor hani schlepped my grocery bag for me, because of my recently arthritic right arm which is killing me; nothing seems to help. my new pain meds knock me out, then wake me up. if i take them at bedtime, forget it! my others wire me up; but... dragging & schlepping luggage onto and off trains 2 days ago didn't help. but i'll survive this like i've survived everything else in my life...or not... c'est la vie

there seem to be people in the town today- so maybe tonight- our 1st night to play- will be good. i KNOW the band will be good. i just hope there's a crowd to enjoy this special magic we make together.

i got some cute little paper tubes of instant coffee while out, and since the tap water here is boiling, it beats going downstairs every time i want a coffee. it w/some soy milk, and a cigarette on the balcony while the sun is still shining and it's somehwat warm [so i dont freeze my cajones off] will be good... life aint so bad; nothing but luxury problems...

[c] 2008 doug duffey

smoke & coffee break

2009-01-06T14:51:00.002-06:00

i'm packing to go to Zermatt for 7 nights, and am already kaput; so i'm taking a smoke and coffee break. i go tomorrow morning but want to get all my merde in a pile. as my friend Luella always said, "its the dribs and drabs that kill ya" -in my case camera cables, computer & external HD cables etc.

traveling light has never been one of my virtues or in my vocabulary. i have however decided to leave most cameras [i never go outside there anyway- too cold] so what's the point? i am taing a nice Minolta 35mm point and shoot with a zoom which should be good enough; and a few digitals.

i'm also taking all my files from all my cmputers and HDs at home on one, to try and organize some of the files, and possibly find enough fotos for a show i am doing in april. the gig is at night so have the day and some of the night to do this. last time i had jet lag and didnt do any of it; as Liza sang "maybe this time"

[c] 2008 doug duffey

general rant - january 4, 2009- switzerland

2009-01-04T07:05:00.008-06:00

I've been house bound ever since new year's eve, because it's been below freezing every day, and i don't give good freeze. i'm trying to stay in and stay warm and avoid catching a cold or flu if possible; considering that would not be so good for the tour. we begin a 7 night stint in zermatt starying wednesday... plus we have dates booked through to march. so i have to stay healthy.

J & i went to an oriental food store, yesterday, which sells all kinds of good [and weird] stuff, like curry paste, tofu, fresh mushrooms, bean sprouts, and unusual vegetables, which is good for making 'hot as hell' soup- which is always good medicine against colds- especially if it's filled with a lot of fresh garlic, onions and red peppers [the holy trinity of louisiana cooking]

i wanted to go to the 2nd hand shops yesterday, but after doing some shopping, i didnt feel like it. i came in to take a nap and ended up sleeping about 4-5 hours! so maybe all this cold/flu paranoia is validated; my head feels fuzzy.

i haven't been posting many fotos; especially considering that every time i go out, or we go do a show, i make about 200+ fotos. i made a lot at the new years eve gig, but havent posted- and probably wont post- them. there were a few that could be edited in photoshop and might qualify as art- but then, they would be on my "foto-mondo" blog.

i began doing some collage a day or so ago, but havent really gone into the frenzy i need to. zermatt might be good for that. i will take about 1/2 the drag & cameras & computer crap i did last time, and instead take art supplies. it's good therapy; any of those will be on my "art, etc." blog.

[c] 2008 doug duffey

to engelberg- for new years eve

2009-01-03T05:26:00.008-06:00

on/from the train from grenchen to baden 12.31.2008- took the train from grenchen to baden to meet everyone and drive on to engelberg with the van-for our new year's eve [silvester] show

strange angels in baden

shots from the van -to engelberg [angel mountain?]

et voila: engelberg

[c] 2008 doug duffey

happy 2009

2009-01-02T03:37:00.002-06:00

[c] 2008 doug duffey

shots from Arosa, etc 12.28.08

2008-12-29T20:54:00.007-06:00

self portrait [reflection] w/shop window santa & legs-Baden, Switzerland [stopping to get sebi]

hani pre-gig

in my room at the Grand Hotel Tschuggen, Arosa- post gig

the smoking lounge- grand hotel tschuggen- arosa

very large stained glass building from my window- Arosa- couldnt figure out if it was some kind of sport place, or church, or part of the hotel; shot from my room on the 8th floor

my morning breakfast tray

the view from my window this morning [Arosa]

portrait by sebi-outside the hotel- arosa- ready to roll

sebi and kelvin in Chur

streetcar zurich

entering Baden [were sebi lives]

[c] 2008 doug duffey

my boudoir shots

2008-12-23T22:16:00.004-06:00

switzerland- december 24, 2008

[c] 2008 doug duffey

biel was a bust

2008-12-22T10:17:00.013-06:00

self portrait while driving in biel- not happy

shots from downtown biel- where there was some kind of christmas market

after my GOOD morning, my trip to biel this afternoon was a bust. the traffic was horrible and people were driving like maniacs- and were rude!- on my ass 1/2 the time, or honking, or zipping around me like idiots. there was also no parking, as it is the day before the "3 holy days of christmas" when everything around here shuts down completely. there would be riots in america if everything closed for 3 days!

i finally found a parking place, which i don't think was legal, but other cars were parked there. i was paranoid about parking there but did anyway, and walked to the HIOB. 3 drunks were standing around a garbage can, smoking, babbling incoherently, slugging liquor from the bottle. i wanted to photograph them, but was afraid they might get aggressive. when i went to the stairs that leads down to the shop, it looked like they'd been pissing in the stairwell.

the whole city was like a circus- i saw tons of cripples and crazies- people whizzing by on hover-rounds and electric wheelchairs, old women rambling along talking to themselves [or was it blue-tooth?] drunks, stoners, weird characters, etc. too bad i was too stressed from traffic and parking to walk around and shoot stuff, bcause it was all SO george grosz!

there were no cameras or lenses- only 2 polaroids [i have about 10 already!] and an old point & shoot. i did see another autoharp looking thing... in better condition...but for about 300 chf! so... the trip was absolutely NOT worth the aggravation.

i'd planned to take some of my film cameras and walk around shooting, finishing off rolls of film i left here; but decided at the last minute not to. didn't feel like hauling the heavy metal cameras around. good thing, too... because i did not hang out long, nor did i want to. the energy was too chaotic, stressy and nervous; really bad vibes. merry christmas, indeed!

[c] 2008 doug duffey

bread and coffee

2008-12-22T06:41:00.008-06:00

self portrait- reflection in a 2nd hand shop window- switzerland 12.22.2008

i finally went out today because i HAD to run some errands. miracle of miracles when i woke today the sun was shining, there was no snow on the ground or streets, or anywhere except way UP on the Jura... so i dressed, and jumped in the car, and hit the streets. it felt great to be out-i haven't been out of my hotel or the house except to travel to gigs- and as soon as the brown rice cooks, i am going out again.

it's amazing how good simple things like a sunny day- OR fresh baked bread and coffee can be. while out i got some incredible "pane rustico" [rustic bread] -came home and lobbed off a big chunk, made a triple espresso w/soymilk, rolled a DRUM cigarette- and am now happy as a clam. in the Migros [swiss wal-mart] the bakers were making bread by hand behind the counter, and nobody paid one iota of attention to them; mein gott, they are really ARTISTS!

i had hoped to hit the brocante/brockenstube and look for lenses/cameras- but found only 1 open. i really looked at a VERY old autoharp looking thing [as was another guy] but decided to pass, even though it was only 30 chf. it might've been an antique and worth some money, but i didn't figure i needed more old instruments i cant play... even though i could've just made/recorded weird sounds with it. but i did find an old small lino print making kit for a few centimes.

now, i am headed to Biel to the HIOB, since all the heils armee [salvation army] stores are closed mondays... and with the 3 days of christmas upon us [when everything in this region is shut down] today is my only day to get out and look.
[c] 2008 doug duffey

gud mawnin sick call

2008-12-20T04:04:00.014-06:00

i decided to try and wake up at a normal time today... and stay up- even though i went to bed around 6AM- i've been on jet lag schedule for way too long; gotta change my clock somehow. i'm sick of feeling like Dracula!

i was installing programs on jackies' laptop [in german] from about 2-6 AM, after the monitor on her regular pc went out. i just hope the laptop works for her... and hope i can figure out what's up with the monitor; i tried two and neither worked.

i keep having sniffles and chills and hope to hell i am not getting a cold or worse- even though this would be the best time to get sick IF i have to, as i have the week off... but i dint get a flu shot before i came over. i am hoping to stay healthy and eventually get out and use some of my cameras i left here [see foto, below] and some i brought with me [not shown] this week.

the biggest black case [bottom] holds my Cosina, which is one of my favorites; i have about 4 of them, and buy every one i find. i've also been finding some killer lenses for them over the years.

i've been experimenting with B settings at night [mostly in new orleans] w/a nikon - and think some shots around Bern or Zurich could be very cool- i like to shoot people moving, which makes them looks like ghosts, but the buildings stay stationary- and the train stations and streets might be just the ticket; very titarenko. but... it's sooooo cold. i'm a wuss when it comes to cold. [below: my soymilk, for my coffee, which i keep in the window refrigerator!]
anyway, time for more espresso/soymilk and cigarettes- time to wake up and move- eat vitamins, and maybe even dig around for magazines to begin chopping up to start making collages- a nice indoor sport- which i can shoot with my digital camera or scan... and stay warm.

[c] 2008 doug duffey

2008-12-19T11:24:00.004-06:00

en route to the gig- in luzern

a mini shot of the hotel astoria lounge

[c] 2008 doug duffey

i'm baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack

2008-12-18T00:07:00.008-06:00

well... i'm still crazy. jackie picked me up in biel around 2:30PM this afternoon- and then drove us home. i'd gone to bed at 4AM but woke at 6AM in zermatt, and began packing and getting organized to take the taxi to the train, and then the train to visp/bern/biel. it was a long trip. but beautiful to see everything white and frozen from the train; everything looked sugar coated, very mystical and magical... frozen trees, everything covered in snow, even the air was hanging with frost; looked like vintage christmas cards... i shot a lot of digital fotos from the train, through the window which was flecked with rain drops, or thawing snow?- which made them even more 'vague'- which i think, once i gray-scale them, and enhance the levels, will look great.

en route a' la maison, yesterday, jackie reminded me that i have a solo gig at the Astoria in Luzern tonight! i had completely forgotten, and was thinking/hoping i had the week off, after going through jet lag [which i am obviously not over!] for a week in high altitude and thin air! oh well, time to call on the inner spirit, which never fails me.

we had some coffee- then later, vegan pasta and salad, watched some of "cold mountain" [which seemed apropos] and i said, 'i have GOT to go to bed- i am exhausted'- so hit the sack before midnight... BUT... then woke, wide awake, at 4:30AM... couldn't go back to sleep... so, decided to just get up.

so i dug through my stash of cameras in my room- and found i'd left a ton of great ones here- especially some of my beloveds: a cosina; a kowa; and a few russian leica copies, and medium format agfas. thank god, i didnt bring all [from home] that i had planned to: i brought the Nikon, some digitals, polaroid sx70, a few video cameras and toy cameras. but, way too many considering i have these here, and KNOW i will acquire more, while here. guess i'll just leave a complete 'copy' set here, and most of my clothes [which are getting too big anyway] so i can haul some treasures home.

i also pulled out "les liaisons dangereuses" from my book case to read over the next few days; set up my laptop and wrote a few emails home; smoked [god, what luxury- after 7 days in non smoking zermatt!] and finally went upstairs and had a peanut butter and zopf sandwich and came back and began blogging.

it's 7.30AM and i am NOT sleepy. i don't know what will transpire. i just went upstairs and made a double espresso with soy milk... and am having another smoke... [which does not make sense if i plan to TRY and sleep]... am going to turn on Arte [the german/french Art channel] without sound a try to zone out...

one more gig, then a week off to start working on some collages, some photos, editing a lot of my old writers tapes [some of which i transferred to a 1.5TB external hard drive before i came] and possibly begin recording some solo stuff with my beautiful old hand made piano from 1880! now.... to TRY and sleep.... too much stuff in my head...

[c] 2008 doug duffey

bern to biel

2008-12-17T23:49:00.002-06:00

shots between bern and biel this morning [december 17th]

[c] 2008 doug duffey

bern haupt bahnhof

2008-12-17T23:42:00.002-06:00

off the train from zermatt- and lighting up! sebi and rootie going on to Baden- me to Biel- but they hung around to help me get all my [too much] merde onto my train before catching theirs, god bless 'em!

and... away we go

[c] 2008 doug duffey

down from the mountain- zermatt to bern

2008-12-17T23:24:00.007-06:00

our 7 night gig at the Hotel Style in Zermatt ended; so this morning we were all up early, packing and leaving- these are some shots of the ride down/through the mountains from zermatt to bern.
above- last shots of my balcony this morning! it had been snowing all week, so the snow kept encroaching!

sebi outside the train window- zermatt train station

me with my ticket, in the train- shot by sebi- too early!

rootie on the train

ticket, please

men working as we left zermatt -COLD!

st.niklaus - big santa!

various shots from the train

[c] 2008 doug duffey

december 15, 08 -zermatt

2008-12-16T01:18:00.003-06:00

another night when i went to bed around 4AM after the gig, and woke wide awake at about 6:30AM... what gives? i thought the jet lag was over. so decided to blog and go back to bed.
some shots from last night- in the foyer of the hotel style.
from top to bottom: the place across the street; the christmas tree reflection in the window; me making a dumb self portrait; rootie and sebi.
[c] 2008 doug duffey

zermatt 12. 13. 08

2008-12-13T14:17:00.004-06:00

i went to bed at 3AM but woke, wide awake at 7AM- walked outside and shot the lights coming on, and the sun on the face of the matterhorn- then went back to bed and slept until 6PM; dressed, went to dinner; stepped outside on the foyer for a coffee & smoke with the guys. the foto of me [below] was just made there.
now, time to dress again... and go do the show...
[c] 2008 doug duffey

morning shots of the Matterhorn

2008-12-12T03:02:00.004-06:00

for some reason i woke before 10AM, which is highly unusual; i've been sleeping until 5 or 6PM due to jet lag. i opened the shades and saw the sun shining [also unusual] and over the top of the "Chalet Bargblick" ['mountain view"] saw the Matterhorn, so grabbed the camera. now... only a few minutes later... it is hidden by fog.
[c] 2008 doug duffey

a room w/a view

2008-12-11T10:16:00.004-06:00

jet lag has me waking at weird hours. even if i wake at noon, i try to go back to sleep, because i am not very social when i 1st wake; not the type to leave my hotel room, and am certainly not going outside! i hate cold and snow.

i stuck my head out the door to smoke- and took these shots.

[c] 2008 doug duffey

the trip - a smokers hell

2008-12-09T18:49:00.005-06:00

my friend doyle jeter kindly driving me to the airport this morning [he doesnt smoke, but owns a bar where it's allowed]

non smoking flght- monroe to atlanta

non smoking flight- atlanta to zurich

jackie and albert met me in zurich [they dont smoke]

we had coffee and gipfli [croissants] in the non smoking airport cafe [which was smoking last year]

BUT i smoked in one of the very civilized and clean glass booths they provide

they got me on the train: zurich to visp -[also non smoking] there used to be smoking cars- but, no more

view from the taxi [also non smoking]: visp to zermatt

in the "non smoking" prison room i'll occupy [unless they can put me elsewhere] for a week.

dressing to go outside and smoke- but 1st making a document of it

view of the famous f-ing Matterhorn, looking like Vesuvius smoking- from my balcony

me, at the smoking section of my hotel room in Zermatt, Switzerland-on my snow covered balcony in about 20F weather! not only is the whole hotel non smoking, but, so is the bar; a non smoking bar? what is goddam world goming to? this will be a week of absolute hell!

[c] 2008 doug duffey

new orleans- frenchmen street- 11.23.08

2008-11-25T22:12:00.007-06:00

uncle lionel batiste & al "carnival time" johnson

al "carnival time" johnson- doug duffey

[c] 2008 doug duffey

jackson/star, mississippi- october 11, 2008

2008-10-12T01:30:00.008-05:00

my friend doyle and i went to jackson, ms. yesterday- specifically so i could make fotos at the state fair- and to drop by and see our friend george in star, ms. we drove to the fair, but it was too early; because i wanted to make night shots. we went out to george's house 1st and had a few beers, to wait until dark.

after a few hours visiting, we went to eat indian food, and afterward didn't feel like fighting the crowd/parking, going to the fair, so drove home after a quick drive around downtown. but a good time was had by all.
[c] 2008 doug duffey

2008-10-09T03:20:00.002-05:00

giza, egypt- 2000

[c] 2008 doug duffey

state fairs!!!! yee-haw!

2008-10-04T17:05:00.003-05:00

found out today by looking online that there are 4 state fairs going on this month-one in mississippi [jackson], in texas [dallas], arkansas [little rock] and in louisiana [shreveport]- so damn! what a foto op season. i'm doing a titarenko-ish series of blur/motion fotos- did a lot in new orleans last week- but want Ferris Wheels and rides and all the BLUR i can get. stay tuned!
[c] 2008 doug duffey

doug and sebi road shots

2008-10-04T01:08:00.004-05:00

a shot of me [by Sebi] on Bourbon St. checking a shot on my Casio Exilim

shot in either shreveport or new orleans [by Sebi] - september 2008

[c] 2008 doug duffey

shreveport, louisiana- municipal auditorium

2008-10-01T13:08:00.005-05:00

some shots done Thursday [9/25/08] in Shreveport at municipal auditorium where they used to broadcast the "Louisiana Hayride" - many stars 'got their start' there- i.e. hank williams, elvis etc.- there's some elvis [and other] memorabilia on display w/o the crass commercialism/greed of graceland [where they want to suck every penny they can from elvis's memory]- some interetsing stuff from the hayride, and other stars. the building in itself, is a treasure. hopefully it wont get torn down, like the rest of OLD downtown shreveport. it's being razed in the name of progress.
[c] 2008 doug duffey

natchez drive through

2008-10-01T12:54:00.007-05:00

mammys cupboard- she used to be black but has been painted politically correct "pink"

malt shop

abandoned row houses

mansion on the hill

the old and beautiful cemetery on a bluff by the mississippi

old house with tons of junk [decorations] in the yard and on the porch

details of the junk

yet another mansion on a hill

it was getting late sunday [9/28/08] by the time i reached natchez- so only had time to do some drive by shots with the digital camera from the car. natchez in the fall [and it felt like fall] when the light is
softer and more golden, is beautiful. of course i also love 'the funk' - the falling down buildings and old things in the disappearing old south- i'm trying to preserve images of those things while i can.

[c] 2008 doug duffey

st. francisville, louisiana

2008-10-01T12:44:00.004-05:00

stopped off in st. francisville -sunday [9/28/08] on the way home from new orleans- drove around the town and made some 'drive by shootings' from the car w/my little digital camera. the two bottom shots were taken by an old school-house and church, where i/we got out and walked around. i made some great Polaroids there, as well as some 35mm b&w shots. i saw lots of houses for sale and as my nephew always says "i could live there"- beautiful little town.
[c] 2008 doug duffey

new orleans shots

2008-09-30T15:53:00.010-05:00

some shots from this past weekend in new orleans. although the quarter & faubourg marigny seemed normal, when you get outside of the tourist areas things STILL do not look good. there are still vast areas of devastation.

BUT... i noticed there are a LOT of young people in the city now- back to bring it back- and it reminded me of being there in the 1960s. bohemia seems to be back in abundance... which is a good thing.

dancing in the spotted cat- frenchmen street

man asleep in a lawn chair- frenchmen street

musicians- jackson square

abandoned house- mid city

mandina's- still good- still air conditioned- and still packed & still loud as hell!

tipitina's- a rip off show- supposed to be a "new orleans all-stars" event- but there were some 'no shows' and the few 'all stars' were tired as hell, doing the same old schtick i've seen them do since the 70s!

lower 9th ward

the "famous" saturn bar

i shot this house during mardi gras 2006- after katrina- but from the car. i got out this time and shot it. before it said " no fema help" but someone has painted over 'fema'... so now it says "no help new orleans"

blowing my diet at cafe du monde- but i only had 1 beignet instead of the normal portion of 3! but kept the 'au lait' in the cafe!

inside saint louis cathedral

preservation hall- i love those shutters- always have

mmmmmmmmmmmmmm- lucky dog!

sidewalk drink seller- reading on the job

these were all shot thursday- sunday [9.25.08-9.28.08] w/my Casio Exilim digital

[c] 2008 doug duffey

more moscow 1991-1992

2008-08-20T20:04:00.004-05:00

in front of st. basil's- which i actually got into one day- and took photos, which was NOT allowed at the time. normally all the tourist sites were never open, but one day i lucked out. i saw some people in front of a little ticket kiosk, so got in line and got a ticket. they pointed at my camera and said "nyet nyet" and i said " da... da" but once inside made some 'non flash' shots anyway:

me in my quasi religious pose- inside st. basils- with self the timer on my AE-1

self portrait- sitting on the bridge, with the kremlin behind me [moscow]- during my day of walking around making photos. i wasn't supposed to go alone... but did.

playing piano in a music store in moscow- the piano says "mockba" - russian for moscow. my trusty canon AE-1 is on me. i shot everything with it. great camera! very small and lightweight. i still have/use it.

in an art gallery- in front of the largest of 2 lithographs i bought - and brought home on the plane in their huge hand made wooden frames! those were the days- but i did have to fight every step of the way to get them in the cabin and bring them home! they're 2 of my most prized possessions.

playing piano in the u.s. ambassador's residence- moscow, russia- 1990 or 1991. this must've been taken the day of the show we did there.

outside a monastery in moscow

shooting at the u.s. ambassador's dacha- outside moscow july 1991 [foto: chuck davis]

me and jimmy messa- possibly zagorsk [foto: chuck davis]

[c]2008 doug duffey[c] 2008 doug duffey

more moscow-1991 and 1992- in black and white

2008-08-20T01:57:00.006-05:00

i've been going through my negatives from moscow-again- scanning them. even though i had actual photos printed from the negatives, years ago, some didn't get printed; some might've been too dark, or totally screwed up, or there might've been just a bit of an image on a negative strip, or for whatever reason, just didn't get printed; also, if the negative was too dark, they didn't print it.

i actually printed some of the bits and pieces, the screw ups- in the darkroom- a lot of trial and error-but got a few good, interesting prints. things i never would've seen if i hadnt printed them myself. BUT i've found, scanning them now, that i was missing even more images; some that didnt even come out when i tried printing them, but the scanner picks them up. some were blurred or double exposed or under exposed, but with my scanner and photoshop, i can fix a lot of them.

also the negatives seem to be changing color-due to age- and probably bad storage habits- but that's rather cool for some things- it makes them look even older than they are! but i can remedy that also in Photoshop- brighten them up- and also do them as B&W or sepia or whatever; and scanning black and white film as color yields some nice results.

on red square

in Gum department store

in the embassy compound

in hotel metropol

in front of Tass newspaper

[c] 2008 doug duffey

Polignano di Mare, Italia

2008-07-20T16:48:00.006-05:00

a shot of me in Polignano di Mare, Italy- earlier this decade

i've been sorting through fotos today-trying to box them up and organize them as i am over-run with them from doing some picasa online albums of old polaroids. of course, i will only box them up, move them... and then take them out, scan and sort them... again! the story of my life. always sifting.

this shot was made in Polignano di Mare, Italy- it was/is incredibly beautiful there. It was shot on a day-trip when i was working in Italy one of the various times. i spent months at a time working there, different years. On the back of the foto is printed august 7, 2001- but that doesn't sound right... it had to be earlier.

[c] 2008 doug duffey

cotton gin- baskin, louisiana

2008-07-18T19:11:00.007-05:00

this is one of my favorite subjects- an old cotton gin in baskin, louisiana. every time i pass it, i shoot it w/various cameras. i went to winnsboro to do a private party july 5, and shot this en route. i shot it with an old broken Polaroid i have [the flash mechanism was broken off- i got it at goodwill for a few bucks] and normal Polaroid 600 color film. i scanned it and cropped it in Photoshop, then sepia toned it in Picasa- then added more contrast in Photoshop.
[c] 2008 doug duffey

Moscow 1991 & 1992

2008-06-21T14:52:00.005-05:00

i was invited to play for the US Embassy two different times- 1991 & 1992 for 4th of july celebrations. they flew the band and all our equipment from new orleans [thank you, delta!] we played at the ambassador's residence and at his dacha. we also got to go out and jam/play a few places- which was interesting. luckily we have some video from it all.

the band: doug duffey-keys/vocal; lee scott thomas-guitar; chuck davis- drums/vocals; jimmy messa- bass/vocals

i shot quite a bit of film- mostly color- but unfortunately, i opened my camera exposing a whole roll of b&w film![maybe the only roll of b&w i shot!] in the airport as i was leaving.

it was a real trip going there; the first time was when it was still communist and the 2nd time was after perestroika. i said at the time it was like "the wild wild west on acid on another planet" and it was!

[c] 2008 doug duffey

egypt 2000

2008-06-19T09:39:00.010-05:00

some shots from egypt done in 2000

[c] 2008 doug duffey

time flies

2008-05-19T21:29:00.004-05:00

the time is zipping by... and i'll be back in Louisiana in 9 days. we did the cd in the first days i was here; then listened and mixed and edited for several days before Michael went back to the states. now my gigs have begun, but will soon be over. as always just when the time comes to leave [wherever i am] i want to begin a lot of projects...

i found some collages i had begun a year ago, and left- as well as some 'sample' music projects i'd begun and left... as well as having brought cameras with me to make photos [and i have only been shooting snapshots with the digital cameras]... i found some great lenses in several brocante... but i have NOT been making any real photos. the plan is to go out and shoot some today when i get up...but it's 4.30AM and i have been burning dvds from the sessions, making clips, as well as from the MIA show... all night... so... i fear i wont be getting up early. but then, the magic hour for shooting is never "en plein jour" [in broad daylight] ... i missed an opportunity today as it was very cloudy, which could have made for some dramatic shots... but got lost in digital media land. voila!

i have a few days off to play around- have been interested in doing some transfers, ala' rauschenberg... but then, i'd do better to do that at home when i have more time. right now, the focus is on the music... and photographs, of course...

[c] 2008 doug duffey

zurich and solothurn

2008-05-15T13:53:00.004-05:00

zurich: a shot from the airport window- with some pasted-on bird on the glass

below: solothurn- from the car

we got up at 5AM and drove michael to the airport. he flew over with me to make the new cd- and was here for 10 days. while he was checking in, i shot the top shot- afterward, driving home, i made some random shots.

we hit some thrift stores en route and i found some great lenses & filters for my 'real' cameras; some old 8mm movie; and a very old reel-to-reel tape of what looks like "field recordings" recorded in Africa in a very nice old metal cannister which says "eastman kodak" - there again it might be a movie, i didnt go past the 'leader'- and some cool old black and white foto books of europe, sicily, switzerland, etc. those finds made getting up early nicer.

[c] 2008 doug duffey

shots from bern & interlaken

2008-05-13T13:09:00.002-05:00

we went for a day trip to show michael [rasbury] some of switzerland before he went back to the USA. he and i walked around bern and shot some things- here are some of mine done with my little exilim [the older one]
bern:i didnt shoot much in interlaken:

[c] 2008 doug duffey

shots from the hood

2008-05-10T04:42:00.002-05:00

we've been recording daily since i got here may 6- and haven't been had time to do anything else; but did manage to get out yesterday and go around to show Michael some local color.
[c] 2008 doug duffey

DAY TRIP APRIL 5, 2008

2008-04-05T22:20:00.015-05:00

made a day trip to Shreveport with my friend doyle jeter; en route we stopped to check out the tartan days festival around minden. below are some shots from the day

TARTAN DAYS [SCOTS FESTIVAL] BY MINDEN, LOUISIANA:

a scene of the grounds and stage

a bag-piper piping

some guy in a leather jacket that had "Christian biker association" & "riding for the Son" on it! [and wearing chaps!] oh, those crazy Christians!

SHREVEPORT, LOUISIANA:

outside municipal auditorium; statues of "homeboy" james burton and elvis, who along with many more, got his start on it's stage, when the "louisiana hayride" was in full swing.

below: some shots from "the bottoms"- [st. paul's bottoms- renamed "ledbetter heights" in honor of huddie ledbetter aka leadbelly] - a historic black area which will unfortunately all be gone soon to make way for progress. what were once culturally rich neighborhoods have fallen to poverty, neglect, abandonment, crime, etc. and are now too far gone to save... plus nobody cares about preserving the history [this was a major blues area] or the remaining buidlings [many of which could be salvaged]

this church sign was out on w.70th street

while driving around downtown shreveport [where i lived in the mid to late 1980s] i noticed many of the remaining great old red brick buildings had been boarded up, or worse, broken into, windows smashed. obviously the homeless or derelicts are squatting in them, or using them to crash or get loaded in, etc. trash was all around them, and in some places where the doors had been kicked in, i could see it inside, which was trashed as well. this is a real shame.
those are beautiful old historical buildings. supposedly a lot of them [and the downtown area] are on the national historical register, but it doesn't look like anyone is planning to save them- or do anything but tear them all down to build more casinos and soul-less glass and steel structures.
[consider they tore down the old railroad station area to build that massive eye sore of a convention center!] these old buildings should all be green-ovated and salvaged.
[c] 2008 doug duffey

catfish and gumbo- yum

2008-03-24T17:55:00.001-05:00

shot 3.9.2008 at middendorf's- manchac, louisiana- [great catfish and gumbo!] on the way home from new orleans/mexico/new orleans.
[c] 2008 doug duffey

memphis, baby

2008-02-16T14:18:00.006-06:00

a shot inside the memphis airport: one whole wall.

i flew to & from zurich via amsterdam and memphis this trip; which is 1 extra stop too many. i normally do mlu-atl-zrh which means only being tortured 2 times instead of 3.
the last time through memphis i got the cool sign that said "hip long before the hop was added" which i loved- very true statement. old memphis soul is still waaaaaaaaaaaaaay cooler than 99% of the crap you hear today.
this time i shot this wall- which looks like beale street at night.
i had a smoke [actually about 5 Gauloises] in the 'blue note cafe'- but didn't get my obligatory corky's barbque sandwich, which was too bad. but since they've outlawed smoking in zurich & amsterdam airports as of january, 2008- i had priorities!

[c] 2008 doug duffey

fasnacht luzern .01.31.08 - 02.01.08

2008-02-02T11:32:00.000-06:00

[c] 2008 doug duffey

luzern- afternoon walk

2008-02-01T23:36:00.000-06:00

got out of the hotel today and walked across the bridge in luzern into the old town [altstadt] making some fotos w/the casio [these] and 2 toy cams.

[c] 2008 doug duffey

fasnacht - store windows

2008-01-28T14:42:00.000-06:00

shots from downtown grenchen- getting ready for fasnacht [mardi gras]
[c] 2008 doug duffey

mardi gras -fasnacht

2008-01-27T21:02:00.000-06:00

i found this mardi gras -fasnacht- drag backstage at a gig and made a polaroid self portrait.
[c] 2008 doug duffey

back to life... finally!

2008-01-25T07:54:00.001-06:00

i haven't been blogging much this trip. after a few weeks with "la grippe suisse" [the swiss flu] -which hit me like a ton of bricks after zermatt-[from about jan.13th until now!] i am finally beginning to feel like i'm getting back to normal. it was rough! one of the worst flu[s] i've ever had.

i'd planned to do so many things while here; i brought cameras & film, art supplies, music/lyric files, etc. to work on- but like the old saying goes... "the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry..." amen. the big plan was to go in the studio and do some recordings... and it might happen yet ...

luckily, we recorded live at the blue note last week- and got some great recordings. we will record tonight and tomorrow nights gigs- and next week in luzern, where we'll be 3 nights for fasnacht [mardi gras] - and possibly pull enough material from all the sessions for a 'live' cd. it's time we made a cd that sounds exactly like we sound live.

[c] 2008 doug duffey/ switerland 01.25.2008

a room with a view

2008-01-07T09:16:00.000-06:00

shots from my room- which has 2 balconies. [hotel post- zermatt, switzerland]
it's been snowing, which keeps me indoors; i'm always afraid i'll catch cold or flu and not get through the gig... and we have 3 more nights here. it snowed a lot yesterday- just as i was thinking of finally going out of the hotel- and it's snowing again today- so, that ends that idea. i don't give good snow.
[c] 2008 doug duffey

Drei Konige Tage

2008-01-06T20:18:00.000-06:00

today was Drei Konige Tage [3 Kings Day- as in the 3 wise men; also the origin of "king cakes"]- however, there were no king cakes... just "rhythm & business" as usual.
[c] 2008 doug duffey

fasnacht in zermatt- gugge band

2008-01-05T13:31:00.000-06:00

outside, this evening, the swiss Mardi Gras [Fasnacht] was going on... each region in switzerland has it's own specific date for carnival. a gugge band [carnival marching band] was playing in the street. seems they go from bar to bar, play some, drink some, play some more, then go on to the next bar-from one end of town to the other. the bands used to be very thrown together- unrehearsed and musically ragged- more fun- now they're much more polished.

the tuba player was dancing and spinning

below: parts of the drum section

[c] 2008 doug duffey

en route to zermatt... and there

2008-01-04T10:08:00.000-06:00

waiting between trains- hauptbahnhof- bern; to get to the gig in zermatt entailed changing trains 4 times, with luggage- on in grenchen, off and on in biel, off and on in bern, off and on in visp, then off in zermatt, and to the hotel.

a shot from the train between Visp and Zermatt; i've shot this scenery many times over the years w/different cameras, but only took a few digital shots w/my casio exilim this trip.

hani and sebi at soundcheck- the pink- hotel post- zermatt; the hotel has been renovated. 'the pink' which was an institution... is now purple & black... very Prince.
[c] 2008 doug duffey

some shots from the trip

2008-01-02T04:15:00.000-06:00

above: a sign for the stax museum in the memphis airport. it says "hip long before hop was added" -AMEN! memphis soul music is still my favorite- Stax and HI records rule!
above: i finally found a use for the cup in my carry on [when the handle is up]- it's a perfect fit for a corky's bar-b-que pork sandwich, which i got & rolled through the memphis airport to the plane.
it was a good thing i had it, because for some odd reason my in flight 'meal' got messed up and i got a bad/bland vegetarian one.

above: schiphol airport, amsterdam, where i sat and smoked and drank coffee for 4 hours... thinking everything was cool- that my flight would be stress free.... and almost missed my connecting flight because the monitor ONLY showed 1 flight to zurich @ 3pm- which happened to be the wrong one!
i was at what i thought was the right gate to board; but, as i handed my boarding pass to the guy, he said "you have a KLM ticket; this is Swiss air" -so i had to literally RUN to the other end of the airport; my flight was for 3:15! i got to the gate i thought he'd said -D6- but he'd said D56- so i had to run another 50 gates- another mile! i thought i'd have a heart attack, and miss the flight... or both. BUT i managed to get to the gate just at the last second, and luckily just made the flight. i'd had to take out my laptop from it's bag 3x- at security checks- and finally just threw it in my carry on!

above: engelberg, switzerland-where we played new years eve- the 1st gig of the tour. the view is from my hotel room.
[c] 2008 doug duffey

red square- saint basils- moscow 1991-1992

2007-12-08T14:26:00.000-06:00

ran across this shot in my files... it was shot in 1991 or 1992. i went to russia 2x to play for the american embassy; the 1st time was when it was still the soviet union in 1991; the 2nd time after perestroika in 1992.

there was a little ticket kiosk by st. basil's and once, while in red square, i noticed a queue of people lined up, and realized they were buying tickets. the museums had been iffy at best to get into; i'd gone to several only to be told they were closed [when the guide book said they would be open]-i was amazed that tickets were available to go inside st. basils.

i bought a ticket w/my with rubles, and went in. they said a definite "nyet" to my camera hanging around my neck; i said "okay okay" - BUT- i shot fotos inside, anyway. unfortunately a lot of the ones inside the chapels didn't come out. not enough light. i made some self portraits sitting on stairs inside , which did.

anyway... this was shot in red square at a different time from that day.
[c] 2007 doug duffey

UNION HILL REDUX

2007-09-10T11:48:00.000-05:00

i haven't been traveling since i got home from europe, so i'm shooting some local color. this is turning out to be my favorite new sign to watch. it changes about weekly.
[c] 2007 doug duffey

no air conditione! in hell

2007-08-17T11:08:00.000-05:00

we did a gig in biel on the 14th- got home around 10pm and i finished up my packing by midnight. i slept off and on [mostly off] until 5.30am, got up, made coffee, loaded the car, and jackie drove me to zurich; had to check in by 8am.

the flight home was the usual: interrogation and torture at every airport [only on flights coming to america] - in zurich i was interrogated [as was everyone going to atlanta] at the 1st security check before i even got to the ticket counter- i know the routine and the questions so well i should just make and hand them a paper. plus you have to schlepp all your bags while standing in line. no carts allowed; really f-ing dumb, when you have 2 big check ins, a carry on, and computer bag. then i had to pay 25$ for 1 'overweight' bag, but the computer at the ticket counter wasn't working [as usual] and couldn't accept my credit card- so i had to walk elsewhere to pay, schlepping my crap with me. if i'm going to be tortured i expect better service.

i went through passport control, then onto my gate. but before getting to my gate, had to go through another security check. take out the laptop, put all the crap on the table,etc. thank god switzerland has hi tech x-ray machines which can see everything; no problems. went to the smoking lounge and smoked.

i'd requested window seats when i got my ticket. however, i got an aisle seat in the exit section, which was better than a normal section, but still not good. put in my ear-plugs, put on my sleeping mask, and took a sleeping pill and slept about 5 hours, except when either the food or drink cart came by and knocked into me, or undisciplined unruly children were running amok. [there should be a special place in hell for people who let children run wild... especially on planes! "children should be seen and not heard" did not become an adage for nothing!] i didn't even wake for the 'lunch'- even when i smelled it passing- better to sleep and escape some of the 9 hours of the butt-numbing seats. i dozed off and on, woke maybe 2 hours before touchdown and the next tortures.

passport control wasnt bad- never is, really, except for the lines- the guy working at the booth i went to was rather funny. i had 8 boxes of Samson tobacco [enough to last a few months] and he asked if i was going to sell it. i said "no, i'm just not going to pay american prices to smoke!" [especially considering the majority of the cost here is taxes- and yet everywhere you go is now non-smoking here- tax me for smoking, but don't allow me to. duh!] he asked if i'd bought any liquor or chocolates and i said no- because i hadn't- but said, "well, i have some small bars- that were given me" to which he said, "aha mr. duffey! so you DO have chocolates... why did you say you didn't?" but waved me away...

next stop baggage claim: my bags were the last to come off the carousel. then when i went to re-check the 2 checked bags, it was a bordelle. trolleys and bags in heaps everywhere, and people yelling "leave the bags and get outa here" --- so, i did. then on to the fun part. a mile long line of people having to go through yet another security check. and this is what i dont get: you've been checked in zurich 2x, have only been on the plane, and then through passport control, and then baggage claim, and [if you're in transit] recheck- but yet... again, another control: take out the laptop, put all the junk on the table, take off the shoes, etc. and rude people barking orders- like WW2 Germany- very stressful to do all this with people in front of and behind you, pushing and stripping, and so on- and rude pushy TSA people hollering at you. this time, i forgot to take off my shoes... god forbid... had to go back; some surly bastard snarling at me from beyond the . then their machine couldn't SEE into my carry on [unlike the swiss machine]- so i had to unpack everything i'd tried to pack so carefully, while the conveyor belt was pushing other people's scheiss at me. scream time! afterward, i immediately went to the smoking area in terminal E [where i arrived] even though my connecting flight was at C.

above: a huge flying corn-cob dildo thing hanging in the atlanta airport. quite a metaphor! welcome to america!

afterward i went to C- which means schlepping bags down the mile long corridors, taking the mile long escalator, getting on the train, getting out, going back up the escalator and down yet another mile long corridor= exhausting. i checked in and as i had over an hour to wait- went to the smoking section. amazingly, during my absence, my time in europe, they have added more smoking areas. [unreal. incomprehensible. bravo!] when i went back to wait for boarding i was told the gate had been changed to D... Merde! now i had about 48 minutes... so... that meant schlepping bags down the mile long corridors, taking the mile long escalator, getting on the train, getting out, going back up the escalator and down yet another mile long corridor AGAIN= more exhausting.

i sat down and re-packed everything in my carry on bag [like always] in the wide open- i always take delicate items, like cameras and external hard-drives, ect. in my carry on, but because the plane to MLU is smaller there is no overheard bin room for a normal sized carry on. i've seen the way the baggage handler THROW the carry on bags... so always take an extra bag, in the carry on so i can re-pack. the overhead speakers are always saying [about the security/threat level] "the level is orange" or "for security reasons, dont leave baggage unatttended", "report any suspicious behaviour" etc. always some scheiss. people watched me strangely as i re-packed. i'm surprised i wasn't reported. i'm sure i looked crazy, from stress and all the running i'd been doing. if i've said it once, i've said it a million times, "travel, which used to be a pleasure, is now total torture!"

eh bien, finally we boarded and winged homeward. friends had emailed me in switzerland saying "stay there! don't come home... the heat and mosquitoes are unbearable!" and i wasn't really looking forward to either. but... home is home; even if summer in louisiana IS hell.

i had many great moments in europe- but, one thing i relished in particular was that i NEVER watched/saw FOX news [especially- what fascists!], CNN or any of the US news programs. i always surfed right past them to something cultural; something intelligent/intellectual; the kinds of programs that are sorely missing on even american cable tv. it was such a pleasure to be away from all the propaganda, political rhetoric, and non-stop horror stories. i ONLY stopped and watched CNN 1x when i saw that Karl Rove had resigned from W's [dub-yuh] cabinet [read: regime]... another rat fleeing the sinking ship.

so... i'm back! back to the land of propaganda, paranoia, and religious fanatics; 100F heat, mosquitoes, west nile virus, encephalitis, snakes etc. oh well...

i made a few random shots from the car with the digicam: below is part of what's left of the monroe skyline; they ripped down all historical buildings in the 60s when they began building shopping centers and malls in the suburbs. it was shot from the car, on a bridge, while driving. [with reflections]... "frances towers" [sounds like the name of an old film star] sticks out like one of stalin's "7 ugly sisters" [buildings] in Moscow; telephone poles look like crucifixes... another metaphor.

i saw this church sign [below] en route to my house and it says it all: illiterate religious nut cases.

they can't spell "air conditioning" [conditione!] but they sho nuff can preach at and condemn you!... [or maybe they're mocking cartmen on "south park"... "dont question my authoritei!"...nah, probably not!]

yesterday, in wal-mart, i saw a young teenage boy wearing a tee shirt that said "in jesus name"- [what the hell does THAT mean? good gawd]- if i hadn't already been damned near arrested once in wal-mart- for taking a foto [ages ago]- i would've snapped him w/the digicam. i should have anyway... it was a total diane arbus moment. "he who hesitates is lost"

[c] 2007 doug duffey

bern baby bern

2007-08-07T19:18:00.000-05:00

made an afternoon trip to Bern to the kunstmusem [art museum] to see the paul senn exhibit, and the "expressionism from the mountains" exhibit. we also took some time after the exhibit to hang out in the marktplatz, have a beer and some snacks at an outdoor table, people watch, and yes... I made fotos. i shot unsuspecting passers-by; and some city and street shots posted here.

bern [for those who don't know] is the capital of switzerland. it was founded in 1191! it's a beautiful old medieval city...with tram tracks, and flags hanging, and fountains and an old clock tower... the sidewalks are covered, like long caves... lots of great 'show windows' in the shops... it's old... but it's totally modern. they're doing a lot of street work at the moment. this is a shot of the main street -from one side of marktplatz- which isn't being worked on

and this is the opposite side, where they've gutted the street... although i do see the tram line and cobblestones down the center...

below are the doors of the kunst museum. they're really massive carved wooden doors. these are just the wrought iron grates over the windows in the doors!

below: posters for each show are outside the museum on the street... the little rectangles all over the posters are the stickers you get [and are to wear while in the museum] when you buy your ticket. the color indicates if you are seeing one or the other exhibits; they say "kunstmuseum bern". people stuck them on the posters when they left and passed by them... even more art being created... on top of art... i like the fact that each 'sticker' is from an individual person; adding to the 'work' in progress.

i've been a big Paul Senn fan for years. i particularly like his fotos of swiss village life; i love old things/antiques, etc. i love the old farm houses and barns here; you still see many of them, especially up in the alps... to see the people, in their time, in those settings... to see their daily life, and the unspoiled landscape, in his fotos, was beautiful... and sad. the alp scenes: the farmers, workers, villagers etc. all such little time capsules. life must have been very hard then, but i think it was probably much better than this soul-less, stressed out, hi-tech, modern age we live in.

Senn was from Bern; he was a home-boy. it was great to see his Rolleiflex camera [beaten to hell and back]-and some of his papers and his passport. i bought a Rolleicord [cheaper version of the Rollieflex] at a 2nd hand shop in Bern a few years back... seeing his camera and the show made me want to start using it. how he made voyeur shots with it -on subways etc- seems difficult, considering the way TLR cameras work- to focus you have to lift the lid, and look, twist a knob on the side of the camera to get the image in focus- and after the shot, roll the film forward. when i compare them -the big box- to my little digital camera, which i try to conceal when making street shots [catching people off guard is the whole point] it seems impossible. then again people probably weren't as paranoid as they are today. i have actually been stopped and asked why i was making fotos [in louisiana] even when i was shooting buildings [not people] many times... and laws today are insane. i've heard of photographers in the US being arrested for making photos in PUBLIC places... that's crazy! anyway, Senn's voyeuristic shots are great.

go to his online archive- http://www.paulsenn.ch/ -and in the box that says "online archiv" click on "alle" to see a lot of his fotos... many which were in the show.

the second exhibit i saw was the one below "expressionism from the mountains"- again the poster and the museum entrance stickers-

i've always been into german/austrian expressionism [and dada ]: mainly otto dix, george grosz, egon schiele, john heartfield, max beckmann---but, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner was a founding member of Die Brücke [in Dresden in 1905]... so, he's rather like "the godfather of expressionism" ... i've been to the kirchner museum in davos [years ago--- but don't remember much of it] but this was a group show, so i wanted to see it.

this show was from the "rot-blau" [red blue] group... artists who hung out with kirchner -in a sort of hippy commune in davos- and obviously artistically fed each others creative flames. they did many portraits of each other. from a few fotos i've seen they must have been the forerunner of hippies- running around naked in the wild, partying and making art... ETC.
[i have to laugh when i think of any group of struggling artists even visiting Davos these days... much less trying to live there. again... it was a much different -and less expensive- time... ]

the woodcuts were incredible; the time, patience, knowledge and technique involved in doing them is amazing. [they did this stuff by hand! no dremels and/or power tools]--- and most of the drawings were really good, if not great--- but the paintings were [for me] really primitive and garish. kirchner was by far the best of the artists, but even so, his woodcuts and drawings were/are much better than his paintings. i didnt even linger in the paintings sections, but rather power walked through them, stopping only to really look, in depth, at the woodcuts [see some here] and drawings.

below: the bern city jail... just across the street from the kunstmuseum. even the jail is arty.

and in my "there goes the neighborhood" series: starbucks! smack dab in the middle of bern.

but to even it out... a nice blurry shot of marktplatz [made while walking; w/o flash] as we were heading to the car... [c] 2007 doug duffey

shots from the hood- switzerland august 2007

2007-08-05T13:17:00.000-05:00

shots made around Bettlach and Altreu this week

little chapel build in 1379

a field of sunflowers

a swiss barn

the schon river Aare

storks on their nests @ "the green monkey" restaurant

[c] 2007 doug duffey

Prague in July 2007

2007-08-05T08:29:00.002-05:00

dd self portrait on charles bridge [Karlův most] prague

jackie and i spent 4 days in Prague [july 28-31] which, now that i'm back in Switzerland, seems like a dream. i think flying in and then flying out again has something to do with that... plus the fact that we did 3 concerts-one nighters- back to back, then went for a day to Europa Park [Germany] prior to going; stayed 4 days, then flew back, slept, and went to do another show near the German/Austrian border the next day. so basically it was running non-stop for about 8 days... but the thing about that is: you dont feel it until you stop!

i didn't write many journal entries in my little 'tagbuch' while there, because i was too busy walking, looking and making a gazillion fotos with about as many cameras. i normally try to write down events as they happen during the day/night when i'm somewhere interesting. but after walking around all day, you get too tired to scribble. i didn't take my laptop [to blog] because i didn't want to schlepp any extra stuff, due to weight limits, and the fact that i had 6 cameras with me, already. AND... because everyone warned me what a criminal city Prague was. it absolutely wasn't... plus we were staying at a 4 star hotel [beautiful] which was perfectly safe. later i wished i had taken the laptop and downloaded the 539 digital fotos off my little casio digital camera, because on the last night, when attempting to make a shot, the 1GB card froze, and gave up the ghost. it read "card error" which just about gave me "heart failure"! read the outcome of the saga at the end of this blog page!!!

i also made fotos with my 2 toy plastic vivitar 35mm cameras; my Agfa Isola [medium format film]- none of which use batteries; and 3 SLR 35mm cameras: Cosina, Kowa, and Zenit [bought it there] ... [i have a huge plastic bag full of film which will have to be processed when i get home]... and last but certainly not least i used my Polaroid Land 210 camera. I took about 6 packs of b&w pack film, and got maybe 60 Polaroids! people were amazed by it and gawked as i pulled the film out, waited, then peeled it apart. cant wait to scan them and see the BIG results. i usually shot the same scene with every camera, to have different perspectives/shots... but the Polaroids are very special.

it's hard to remember the sequence of events unless i look at the digital pic files on my laptop. they're mercifully in sequence... except for the last day... but on to the trip:

day 1: we got up very early and took the taxi to the train to the airport in zurich... then flew into prague w/ czech air. upon entering the airport [after passport control] the first thing that hit me was a huge KFC sign in the terminal! i thought, "there goes the neighborhood"; bad enough that McDonald's is everywhere.
we took a shuttle to the hotel U Krale Karla [click on the link to read about it] but were so tired that, after checking in, we napped a few hours. the hotel was beautiful, the walls and ceiling were painted with murals, and there was stained glass in every window. the above link shows some fotos of the interior.

after napping we walked down to and through the old gate, and across the famous charles bridge Karlův most [click and read more], which is amazingly beautiful. it was packed with people. most of the statues [saints] are black from centuries w/o cleaning; it was cloudy and the sky was really surreal, which just added to the overall magical and 'mystical' feel of the place; all the serious religious overtones everywhere.

we ate at some touristy cafe on the water by the bridge. then wandered through streets until we wound up in the "old town square", where we had coffee outside at the grand cafe praha [which reminded me of Venice's San Marco, except smoking is still permitted in the Czech republic, thank god!]- i tried some "B setting" night shots with the Agfa, which i hope will come out. below is a small snapshot with the casio... the square is huge... [cant tell anything from this pic] but all around the square are umbrellas and tables from the various cafes... the square and all cafes were packed with people. we wandered around a while and finally found a tram back to the big square by the hotel... but had to walk UP the very steep cobblestone street... something we didn't do again! from then on we took taxis up the street.

like all tourist traps- and prague is no exception- there were tee shirt and souvenir shops everywhere. their big things to hawk are amber, old soviet memorabilia, tee shirts and caps, of course, and anything with "prague" on it- AND billions of little statues of the "Infant of Prague", whom i'd completely forgotten about until i saw the 1st one; then shop after shop filled with these little kitsch ceramic dolls.
day 2: we walked down the hill and took the tram... and walked to nemesti republiky [replublic square] to take a city tour. i shot a lot as we walked or rode -and later from the bus; we rode around [what seemed like] the whole city--- but, i later discovered that we were basically just going in circles, that the old part of prague really isn't that huge! we stopped and got out to see a panorama from prague castle [which i later discovered was just up the hill from our hotel] - walked down to the palace to see the changing of the guards, and a big church [also just by the hotel] got back on the bus and rode around some more.

we went inside nowhere; most tours at least take you into a museum or something; this one only told us anecdotes about landmarks as we passed them, let us out at 1 square, walked us down a hill to another, and told us more anecdotes, and that was that. using a map and tour book, going it alone, would have been better!... and more time efficient.

instead of them [tour company] dropping us off where they picked us up- at nemesti republiky- they let us out at "old town square" - and having seen bits and pieces of the city already, from going by foot or tram, and riding around all day, i semi knew about where we were.

it was drizzling... but, i wanted to shoot the old jewish cemetery... i left Jackie at a cafe and walked to the cemetery, which was about to close. i told the guard i did not want to tour the jewish museum, that i only wanted to see the cemetery; i had to pay him 100 cz krone to enter the cemetery- which i thought rather weird!- i've never paid to visit one before. all the headstones are jammed up together, tilted, etc. i shot a whole role of b&w film there [maybe more, as i used 5 different cameras] and did a few digital shots...

i walked back and found jt at cafe franz kafka [she had moved from where i'd left her] and had a beer. it was interesting to watch people passing by, even though it was off the beaten path. 2 policemen were standing around over the street; i went and asked if could photograph them, and they refused; then they left. it reminded me of Russia [1991 and 1992] when i was told/warned not to photograph police or soldiers...

we took the tram to our square, then ate at a restaurant [typical czech food] and met an American businessman who told us he comes to prague at least 1x a month. i asked, "if you only had one thing to see here, what would it be" and he said "the best is to just walk around and look"- so that was the next days plan.
day 3:
i woke early and went downstairs and had coffee and breakfast while Jackie slept. i waited for a 2nd hand shop across the street to open so i could buy the zenit camera i had see the day before. while J had her breakfast i went back and checked it out [and bought it] and looked at several other OLD cameras. there was an Exacta i wanted... but not for the asking price. the guy said he had some Leica cameras and would bring them the next day. i asked, "are they real Leica or Russian copies? he assured me they were real.

i absolutely wanted to see the real "Infant of Prague"- so we took the tram to the church. there were signs saying no cameras etc. but everyone was snapping like crazy, so i did likewise. unfortunately the digital doesn't do well in dark; i tried B setting on a few of the slrs, and hope i got something, but wont know until i have all the color film processed at wal-mart! i did get 3 shots w/the digital but the flash reflected off the glass casing covering the "Infant"

after seeing the infant, we decided to tram it to wenceslas square. i offered my seat to an elegant woman on the tram, who refused it. but then, after a while, came to me and said "because you were so nice to offer your seat, i want to help you... where do you want to go?" she said we were on the wrong tram... so we got off... just by a bakery and got some czech pastries, then caught another tram. this time a businessman who had friends from san francisco [and obviously from all over] told us where to get off, told us stories, and then walked with us a few blocks. but wenceslas square was/is just like an major shopping area in any major city... except that there are amazing facades on buildings here and there... after a while, and some coffees in old town square [again] we decided to walk back to the bridge so i could 'polaroid' it... which had been the main reason we went. i also wanted to get a lot of shots of 'billboard collages' in places i'd seen from the tram and tour bus... so again, jackie waited while i ran crazy, snapping every torn up sign i could find. i really should have used 100ASA slide film in an slr or rangefinder camera... but too late... the smaller digital shots will have to suffice. they're all i have. i find this billboard stuff to be abstract ART... especially when blown up poster size.

we walked across the bridge, and i shot almost every statue w/the polaroid Land 210, the toy cameras, and some with the slrs. it was quite an event, and a lot of work. as said earlier, people [i'd met a korean woman, and german guy, earlier] were amazed by the old Land 210 -the peel apart film- the whole trip. a japanese man, with his family, stopped me on the bridge and wanted to see the camera, the results, etc.; he even shot some fotos of me with the camera.

as beautiful as the polaroids came out, i am hoping the ilford b&w film in the toy cameras [which usually do amazing things to clouds] came out equally as good, if not better. the clouds were again, amazing... even the 2MP digital captured a hint of them...
after the photo session on the bridge -which took all afternoon into evening- we were kaput. J had helped me by taking the polaroid backs and stuffing them in a plastic bag as i shot and we walked. it was a long process- and one i am sure she tired of, but didn't complain of.
we had drinks under/by the big gate, then had dinner at the same restaurant we'd gone to the night before. i was about to take a foto of an old foto in the restaurant, when my camera stopped working, and read "card error" -that was the end of the digital fotos. my elation from all the shots i'd done earlier was over... the thought of losing 530+ fotos was frustrating and depressing. i remembered that i had shots if the Infant of Prague on the memory card... so... "talked" to Him and asked him to "save my fotos!"

day 4: we had breakfast and waited for the taxi to take us to the airport. while waiting, i decided to walk up the hill to check out the castle and the view. i shot fotos all the way up the VERY steep street [Nerudova] w/all the slrs and toy cams--- the castle turned out to be the one we'd gone to via the tour bus. i went around the little square, and shot as much as i could with the 3 slrs, and toy cams [as the digital was non functioning]. i walked back down, and j&i had coffee at a cafe just on the corner from the hotel; i went to see the Leica guy, but didn't buy anything; then i decided to go UP the hill on the corner and what was what. it was the palace we'd been to to see the changing of the guards etc.! i went back and shot the guards w/film, and some street scenes, went back and had another coffee w/J, and then the taxi came. so... almost everything we'd seen by 'tour' was already right under our noses! so... now i/we know...

we had lunch in the airport- which was maybe the best meal we had while there- although the restaurant we went to 2x was very good-i think i ate goulash 3x while in CZ- we flew to zurich, then took the train, then the taxi home.

my 1st thought was to try and get the fotos off the card, but my laptop didn't recognize the card-and the foto programs i normally use wouldn't recognize the card or the camera- so my petitioning to the Infant increased! i went online and found a program [which had to be bought by credit card] to "retrieve data from memory card" [the 'search' phrase i typed in]--- had to wait for a password to be sent to email address, then type in the very long code, etc. but eventually the code was cracked and miracle of miracles, the program sucked almost all of the images off the card. it was a miracle! ... and i chalk it up to the Infant of Prague... but then the Holy Trinity, st. Anthony, and st. Jude were also petitioned- [i asked for and got a lot of help] -

i bought a new 2GB memory card the very next day in switzerland... and also bought more ilford b&w film--- and while out, bought some more SLR film cameras & lenses at 2nd hand shops here [a praktica which uses NO batteries; a porst, and a konica, which do] so i can always have every version of film with me--- a roll of 100/400 b&w AND color AND slide film in each camera. digital sucks! the biggest problem i had [other than the digital nightmare] was that i didn't bring any zoom lenses w/me- and therefore couldn't get any close ups from distances [like facades and things high up on buildings]... and low light was sometimes a problem... 'B' [bulb] setting w/a cable release, using a tripod, could have fixed that... but did i really want to schlepp a tri-pod? no!

we didn't go in a single museum while in prague, but then, i've been to venice many times and never went in any there, either. the thing about prague is that it [like venice] is itself a work of art; a living museum. the architecture is amazing, and surprises- a mural, relief, statue, or mosaic on a building- are at every turn.

[c] 2007 doug duffey

shots v Lengnau, Pieterlen, and Buren a/Aare Switzerland

2007-07-21T04:50:00.000-05:00

have been dealing with jet lag [going to bed at 4 or 6AM- waking at 3 or 4PM] plus due to summer heat [which is like spring compared to louisiana] have been inside during the day- with all windows, doors and shutters shut, to keep the house cool- only venturing out in the evening. so i haven't been out much and haven't made many fotos.

day before yesterday there was a huge hailstorm... seemed like it lasted forever... and the hail was literally the size of mothballs! some bigger.

below:a shot out the front door where the hail landed.
yesterday, due to cabin fever... we finally went out around 5pm [it stays light until maybe 9.30 PM!] for a little drive and foto safari. i took about 4 cameras [2 film, 1 polaroid film, and my little digital] -all these were done w/ the small casio exilim...

below: a man in lengnau makes these windmills and puts them all around his house.
below: a field of flowers [and i saw some yellow squash] in Pieterlen where you can cut your own flowers and pay the farmer.
below: a shot of Buren on the Aare
below: another shot of Buren on the Aare
below: a field between lengnau and buren... rather dark but almost like a painting.
today we are headed to bern. i want to shoot some things there i haven't before. i've been coming to switzerland, and this region, for 15 years or so, and still haven't shot a lot of things is this area. there again, i have thousands of negatives, almost never make prints, so am not even sure what i have or haven't shot since 1992 or so. so many fotos, so little time...

i got some great shots with the old polaroid 210 land camera that uses b&w 'peel apart film' but havent scanned them yet. they'll go in the foto-mondo blog.

[c] 2007 doug duffey

"smoke free" torture travel... for 1500$ a ticket!

2007-07-16T11:39:00.000-05:00

going through "security" in the monroe airport, some weasel faced, reba mcintire looking, TSA cow took my zippo lighter [which i could carry on before!] - which was the beginning of my travel rage, before i ever set foot on the plane! travel into and out of america has become so paranoid and ridiculous; nowhere else in the world do people have to go through all the crap that they have to to enter/leave there. i expect everyone will have to be strip/cavity searched, or fly nude, in the near future.

mercifully, i had 2 seats to myself, got a seatbelt extension so i could strecth out, and slept all the way from atlanta until about an hour and 1/2 from zurich. i woke and had some of what passed for breakfast.
arriving in zurich... the 1st thing i saw when i got off the plane [before having to walk 1000 miles or go through customs and baggage claim- as we have to do in the USA] was a nice clean smoking lounge [unlike the nasty one they keep hidden in the bowels of the atlanta airport]. i thought to myself, "how civilized" -but then i always think that whenever i arrive in Switzerland. all the people inside were talking about how ridiculous the over all non-smoking and security scenario was/is in america. here, you de-plane, go through passport control, show your passport, get your luggage, and go out... with NO crapola. again... "how civilized" ...

after smoking, i went through passport control, got my luggage and went [as i always do] to this little cafe [above] for immediate good coffee. another smoking booth is to the right... it used to all be totally open- but ever since america started the non-smoking bullshit, europe has followed suit. whatever america does, the rest of the world eventually does... unfortunately.

[above: jackie and i in the smoking booth- shot by an anonymous smoker]

jacqueline met me and we loaded my luggage into the Jaguar and drove to Zug, where i had my 1st gig. the shot below is outside from the city

driving back we got stuck in a huge traffic jam close to the gotthard tunnel... traffic was backed up for miles. everyone is on holiday here and many were headed south or to italy. mercifully the Jag has a/c. we went through solothurn [below] - unfortunately there was a bridge hiding most of the shot... so i cropped it.

i brought my small digital camera with me this trip, after finding out it can use either 110 or 220 electricity. so, this makes the whole foto- blog thing much easier. there again, i also brought 3 plastic 35mm cameras, my old 210 polaroid, and had several russian and german cameras here. i also bought several more at the 'brockenstube'/brocante saturday: yet another agfa 120 film camera, and a polaorid for 5 chf [maybe 3$]= cool.

[c] 2007 doug duffey

louisiana highway 80, highway 145, highway 4 etc

2007-07-03T00:18:00.000-05:00

i've been running the roads lately; going to gigs here in louisiana. even though it hasn't really been travel, it's been good to get out and see local things. i've made a point of not taking the interstate [freeway/autobahn] just so i DO get to see things. i totally love the back roads.

when i went to do my gig in Tallulah [the 23rd], i drove highway 80; stopping to make fotos all the way there. after the gig, the next morning, i drove over to Vicksburg to get a few shots, and then drove back home on highway 80- stopping to shoot when i saw something that caught my eye. i got a lot of great shots in Rayville, Delhi, and Tallulah... and along the route. highway 80 used to be the ONE big road that ran from Savannah to San Diego across America; all the towns along it were booming; but, it has unfortunately gone the way of route 66- [without the magic attached to that name]- the interstate has made it obsolete; businesses and people that once thrived along it are now gone. the towns are like driving through ghost towns. i passed ruins of old stores and things that were/are, as i say, 'tragically beautiful' -in their decay- but, that can be said of the whole state... i think too much emphasis is placed on new orleans and south louisiana and not enough on north louisiana. it has it's own unique history and culture... and beauty.... and, after all, natchitoches [northwest louisiana] is the oldest city in louisiana.

defunct power station- delhi, louisiana- highway 80

coming home after a visit to my dad recently, i drove highway 145 which i'd never been on. again, i saw the ghosts of old barns, houses, past lives and ways... it's really rather sad. our old historical buildings and culture are almost gone. as usual, i had several cameras with me and stopped and shot what i could. there was almost no place to pull off the road, and trucks and cars were flying by. i wonder if anyone else sees and appreciates the beauty of these disappearing old things?

old house- around sibley, louisiana- highway 145

i spent the last 4 days in franklin and tensas parish; up and down and around highway 4. again...i shot everything i could. i had a good SLR camera, some crap plastic cameras, even a little funky digital key-chain camera [which actually made some cool but blurry [therefore:arty] shots... so i went for the rusted cotton gins, grain storage buildings, old farm equipment, old stores, barns and houses, cemeteries, etc ... and went a few places and saw a few things i'd never seen.

hwy 4 -shot w/a vision quest mini key-chain digital camera, while driving!

i shot most of the highway 80 & 145 trips using an old Polaroid 210 Land Camera- polaroid 664 b&w film- and got great results; the fotos are darker and richer; but, i only made 2 shots with it on the highway 4 trip. having to wait and peel apart the film and try to find some place to let it sit and dry in the car... is a rather slow process. you have to be careful. plus, getting in and out of the car in 100F heat got to be too much... all these shots [made at the same time as the Polaroids] were done using a Nikon AF slr - Ilford xp2 [400 ASA] film- [EXCEPT for the one pic above, which was shot with a tiny toy digital camera] i didn't edit these, which i normally do. it was really too bright for 400 film

i usually take about 4 cameras w/me on shoots. sometimes i test out ones i find in junk stores, and 2nd hand shops, and get some good results [and sometimes NOT!]... but this is something i really enjoy.

old store- tensas parish, louisiana- hwy 4

it's amazing what is just outside the door, or down the road, that we never see, or else we see so often that we take it for granted. i've felt for some time that it is my duty to try and preserve what is left of these disappearing things before they are all gone. it's now a quest...

[c] 2007 doug duffey

shots from the road

2007-05-24T13:06:00.000-05:00

i haven't been blogging due to a million things. i also haven't been anywhere except New Orleans and back up through Mississippi [after jazz fest- may 8,2007] since i returned from Europe on march 1.

i really don't like color photos OR digital cameras or digital photos, OR most travel fotos, OR landscapes, unless they're REALLY interesting... digital is ok for snapshots and travel shots, and such, but for ART... it's got to be FILM.. and i prefer b&w film.

BUT...these weren't/aren't intended to be ART: it was spring and these things looked nice to me... as we passed by... below are some random digital shots from the road- from NO to Monroe via Mississippi... ah, the beautiful south...