The Good, The Bad & The Ugly

With all apologies to illustrious spaghetti western director Sergio Leone for lifting the title of his classic 1966 film for today's entry, I present a quick rundown of all that's good and some that's not so good...


The Good:
The Maui County Fair kicks off this afternoon with a gala parade down Kaahumanu Avenue to the fair site at the War memorial Stadium Complex in Kahului. Afternoon rush hour drivers be advised that K Avenue will be closed... find an alternate route home from work. Food, rides, cotton candy, a midway, games, 4-H exhibits, a photography and art exhibition, the best orchid show of the year... it's all there along with all those friends you may not have seen since last year's fair. It's the perfect way to spend a warm autumn weekend's eve... and a fistful of dollars in the process. The fair runs thru sunday evening.

Steady workload continues unhampered... another good thing.


New gallery representation begins next week with the grand opening of Gallery Rinko Maui, located on Market Street here in Wailuku, in the space previously occupied by artist Pat Matsumoto's atelier. There will be an opening on Wednesday, October 5th from 4-6pm. Drop by and say hello if you're in the neighborhood. I will also be around on Friday, October 7th for the First Friday Wailuku activities. New work is being readied at the framers now!


The relatively new Daily Edit feature that began appearing at Rob Haggart's APE blog is pretty cool and features some stunning ( occasionally some not so stunning) editorial work culled from the news stands. Another thumbs up to Rob for his eye & effort.


The island weather for the past month or so has been not good... it's been exceptional! Clear skies, light winds, amazing sunrises & sunsets... the best time of year in Hawaii in my opinion, even with the increased humidity and heat that comes with tropical autumn.


Tickets are now in hand for the Asia adventure to commence in late November. A very good thing! So looking forward to being able to work at length again on a project begun several years ago... a series of photo essays and armchair anthropological studies on Ritual, Trance & Majick on the Island of Bali. We are now in cremation season on that island with ancient rituals in full swing and the island's graceful inhabitants at their best as they prepare the way for the liberation from the flesh for family and village members.

I may be moving the studio to a new location very soon. The new space is very close to the current one, has much greater traffic visibility and a large display window, suitable space for a working studio and gallery, all for less rent than I'm currently paying. This may end up, even with all the hassle of packing up 18 years worth of accumulated gear and miscellaneous crap, being a very good thing.

The Bad:
The American Society of Media Photographers (ASMP), once a leading advocate and business resource for photographers, has done the unthinkable. By teaming up with the Copyright Clearance Center to jointly produce a series of webinars to educate creators and users on copyright, licensing and monetizing of content, again gives a forum to those intent on undermining creative authorship and the rights that accompany that authorship. As photographer and consulting group D-65 founder Seth Resnick says in a recently published article on the matter:

Let me start by saying that I have been a long supporter of ASMP and have been a member since 1979. Having CCC as a partner being in the best interest of the ASMP membership  is akin to Having BP partner with The Florida Beach Association and present a program on the importance of clean beaches or for the AMA to partner with Camel and do a program on the importance of clean air or proper health care. 

I especially feel the first webinar called ”What Everyone Should Know About Copyright” makes a complete mockery out of copyright with this partnership.

 You can find Seth's full statement on this travesty here. If you're an ASMP member, now is the time to make your voices heard at National. 


New studio/gallery space I'm considering won't have a darkroom.


The Ugly:
My current commercial property managers... consistent targets of the Craigslist Rants & Raves section (all rant-no rave), continues to plague me with petty attempts at rent increases and lack of fulfillment of their maintenance commitments in a down and struggling economy. The building's owner is a lovely and generous man who has always treated me fairly. His middleman agents, however, are another story. May be time to cut & run... motivation is currently high to do just that very thing. I've been here 18 years now, never caused a problem and have only been late with the rent two months out of the entire time of my tenure. Fortunately, a new space (see above) may be actually more suitable than the current one, with the notable exception of no darkroom space.