Category Archives: carry a camera

April 10, 2012 · 6:17 pm

Land Shark on Mott

Just another sunny afternoon walking through Soho. Hey, even a land shark needs to shop once in awhile. And this one was trendy at that… a Calypso bag! Gotta love a shark with a big budget. I am sorry I did not catch the full twitter handle on his shirt.

I love NY indeed!

I consider it a gift of the universe when I walk out of a parking garage, rushing between meetings and I come across something like this. This happens to other people, right?

I am pretty sure I heard him muttering under his breath ‘Plumber, ma’am’, but I could be mistaken.

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April 9, 2012 · 9:03 pm

Time to Cry Tuesday – Childhood Artifacts

On a recent trip to visit my parents in Florida, I came across this charming little artifact of my youth. Sitting on the back of the stove was the mouse and cheese salt and pepper shaker of my childhood.

I remember playing with this at the table as a little kid. I never tired of how the little mouse fit so sweetly in the cheese. And that goofy little pose was always just perfect.

I put this on the counter and took an Instagram shot, then showed it to my brother. I told him this was the only item from the estate that I would ever really care about. My still very much alive mother looked at me and said, ‘Why don’t you just take it home now?’

I admit I did think about it. But there was something about taking it out of their house that did not seem right. For now, this picture will do for me. It is both bizarre and comforting at the same time.

I know, I am most comfortable amongst the bizarre.

Of course I had to do a little searching to see if I could find these anywhere. Sure enough I found them on Mood Indigo and Mr. B’s Attic. These suckers are going for between $40 and $45. Perhaps my brother may fight me for them after all. We thought about a Solomonesque answer… one of us takes the cheese and one the mouse. But really, who wants a mouseless cheese or a cheeseless mouse?

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April 3, 2012 · 11:00 am

Summer Camp Fortune

What is the shot my family would get this fortune in their Sunday chinese food order? We are the quintessential camp family. My son, as my daughter did before him, is going to attend his 11th summer at sleep away this year. They both beat my record of 9 years (same camp).

Gary had an idea to make xia ling ying t-shirts for the camp this summer.

The kids voted that down.

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April 1, 2012 · 4:32 pm

Diaper Lab

A big thanks to Uncle Neal for sending me this photo. (please don’t ask the origin of the Uncle, I do not know and no he is not a relative… of the traditional sense, anyway).

This came with the following explanation – of sorts – “we were leaving a tequila bar and saw this”. At first I thought perhaps he was afraid it was an hallucination so he took the picture to document its existence. Then, when he woke up and saw it on his phone, he thought who better to send this to but the MFTA?

Googling it, he found out that Diaper Lab  is a diaper service. The lab part sort of grosses me out. It makes me think that they are doing experiments on the contents of the soiled little nappies in the middle of the night. Maybe it is the way the shot was taken; in the pitch black with just the spot lights shining on the signage.

Ok, again, vivid imagination.

Of course, this picture has won the MFTA approval, for sure. Thanks Neal!

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March 31, 2012 · 10:54 pm

Catalog Jew?

This direct mail piece came today from Express.

Gary: Hey there is a Jewish guy on the cover of the Express catalog

Me: How do you know

Gary: Look he’s wearing a yarmulke

Me: What?

Then I looked at the picture above. Positioned just in the right place to look like he was, in fact wearing one, was placed a wafer seal.

For those not of the tribe, a yarmulke is pronounced: yamikah and it is a scull cap worn by observant Jewish men. For those who are not in the direct mail business, a wafer seal is the little round annoying sticker that the Post Office requires printers to put on a folded piece of promo material to keep it closed.

If all that description killed the visual joke for you, I totally get that. But it was totally worth that risk to make sure everyone got it. Now go back to the beginning and look at the picture and realize how funny it really was.

Or just tell me to give it up.

 

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March 11, 2012 · 9:03 pm

Flea Market Cutie

I spent the afternoon at the Chelsea flea markets last Sunday and I almost got whiplash trying to capture all the bizarre images of the day. This particular image spoke to me on so many levels. There she was… the quintessential 1950s paper doll, posing Carol Merill style next to a treasure trove of old photos. I love her foundation garment (hey, my first job out of art school was with Maidenform – that is what you call any type of underwear).

What struck me about this shot and the angle in which I captured it, were the categories of images the vendor had chosen to feature. Some are not that easy to read, or are covered up, so I will list them here:

  • Interiors
  • Post-Mortem: Death, Funeral, Memorial
  • Costumes
  • Holidays, Weddings
  • Parades
  • Disasters/Accidents
  • Fishing

Some commentary (what, you thought this would go without my thoughts?)

Ok, I can see why you would collect period interiors. I am sure there is a market for that. And costumes, ok, that makes sense. Holidays, I get that and I suppose throwing weddings in with them goes with the celebration theme. Parades, yeh, that could have an appeal on some level. And fishing? Well I suppose if the images were of some big fish there would be those lovers of the sport who might find these interesting.

But Post-Mortem?! I shudder to think who would want to purchase these. Why on earth did I not think to browse through these photos to see what the hell was in there that illustrated death, funeral and memorial? And Disasters/Accidents (love the slash), this was probably the pay dirt of the bizarre.

Now I HAVE to go back and check these out. And I am pretty sure I will have to buy some of them. Stay tuned, this could surely have a great follow-up post in the coming weeks.

Ok, so other people actually SHOP when they go to these things. Me? Not so interested in owning other people’s junk, I just like to photograph it.

 

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March 7, 2012 · 10:52 pm

Pee Wee’s Playhouse?

No, I did not set this picture up. What kind of pervert do you take me for? This gift from the MFTA gods just happened to be in a little store window in Williamsburgh as we were walking from drinks to dinner the other night. I love the Mac Mini box he is sitting on.

For those who are not familiar with Pee Wee Herman, he had a kids’ show from ’86-’91 called Pee Wee’s Playhouse  that was a big hit. That crossed over into my early child-bearing years but for some reason I remember us watching this before we had kids. He had sort of a cult following of 20-somethings that were simply amused by his humor.

His other claim to fame had to do with a popcorn container with a hole in it at the movies.

Unfortunate.

Whoever set-up the gnome in the crotch window display surely remembered that scandal.

And to think, I almost passed right by this one!

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March 6, 2012 · 9:46 pm

oops

20120306-214555.jpgI know, my neighbors –  hands down –  have the best garbage on the planet.

I love this sentiment. And the logo is just perfect. To find out more about (oops) wine you can read about it here.

I took this picture more for the sheer joy of seeing (oops) in the garbage. Like someone threw this out by mistake.

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March 1, 2012 · 7:18 pm

Kosher Dog Biscuits?

The first thing I will say about this shot is, only on the North Shore of Long Island.

This, my friends, is the bakery case at a local pet store. Yes, a bakery case. And these would be dog biscuits sporting messages in yiddish and hebrew. Both are fairly common slang that even those not of the tribe would probably recognize, but just in case, these are the definitions.

Oy vey! Sort of like OMG for Jews. In a sentence, “Oy vey, these people are selling dog biscuits with yiddish sayings on them”.

Shalom: Hello. Goodbye. Peace. Jews like to conserve and recycle. Contextual clues usually give this one away. Yet when someone says, “Shalom, my friend’, you might have no idea what he really means.

I must not forget to point out the half off sale price. Because, you know, we Jews love a good bargain.

No, I did not buy these for the puppy and yes, people did watch me take the picture. I am guessing it might have discouraged sales that day.

 

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February 9, 2012 · 11:04 pm

South Florida Visit – Volume 2

This is a quirky place, I will give you that. Where else would you see…

1. Crematory Services in a strip mall. (this is not one of those sign generator website images… this is real.

2. An ambulance in the parking lot BOTH nights that you went out to dinner.

3. Second night it went something like this:

Me: What’s with the ambulance outside?

Waitress: Someone at the bar had a seizure.

My aunt and I (simultaneously): What was he drinking?

The waitress did not get it.

4. This super sensitive billboard:

Can’t make this stuff up.

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