Project: Upon turning 50 years old on August 16, 2020, Dave Olson (me, hello) is posting a photo (or maybe photos) a day / per year – starting with 1970 with intent of chronicling existence through various primary evidence sourced from studio portraits, class photos, ID / passport photos, or occasionally other “casual/group/random” shots when the above don’t exist in my archive (note: not “artificial intelligence,” really me, pulled from shoeboxes, journals, wallets and whatnot – diligently scanned and dated via glasses and haircuts, lightly annotated).
Category Archives: Photos + Snaps
photo essays, stitched panorama, and other (often analog) photo-centric projects
Diamond Fork to El Cortez (2016) – Lomo photos (colour)
Whilst in Utah in autumn of 2016, I took a trip with my pals Marty the potter and Rod Ash (RIP), and his son and nephew, to beloved Diamond Fork hot springs (6ixth water, Spanish Fork canyon area).
Indeed a special place to me. I hadn’t visited in many years and since then, the umm… cultural traditions had changed somewhat (nekkiedness not as prevalent or accepted, nevertheless…).
Anyhow, along the journey (beginning at Marty’s place in Provo) I snapped these pics with a Lomo La Sardina (Sardine can) camera loaded with expired film.
A few snaps ensued as evidenced in this assortment (unedited)…
A few days later, I made my way to Las Vegas to visit brother Anders and stay at the classic El Cortez hotel in Fremont area of town (off-strip).
It was a slice of going back to the 1960s or something like that, my favourite part was walking down in the middle of the night in pyjamas and robe to the bar and no one batted an eye as they were all focussed on sticking another coin in another machine.
Items: Sewing Machine & Scissors (Pokhara, Nepal)
#daveo50 “Personal Archeology Project” (Lomo camera)
Personal Archeology Exhibit – #daveo50
Pre-scheduled Daily Ephemera / 2020 6.26 ~ 8.16
In creating the 200+ posts for this personal archeology project, I’ve used all sorts of different tools (analog and digital) to capture the artifacts and ephemera sourced from creations made from other analog and digital tools… Like a recursive mirror looking at yourself – ha! #meta In doing so, to add an extra layer of meta, i’ve documented (some of) the tools used to create original projects.
In this case, a Lomo “La Sardina” sardine can camera – modelled after cameras used for espionage and intrigue by erstwhile spies for clandestine operations – this one, a special cork covered limited edition and uses 35 mm film.
For more fun, i use whatever old crusty expired film i can get my hands on (tip: look at the bottom shelf of dusty old drug stores), and has a battery powered flash with some snap-on filters for weird effects.
Sometimes the film loads rather *incorrectly* so the images get split across two frames, further, a night in a psychedelic Volkswagen bus sauna seems to have melted a lens somewhere to make things even fuzzier – there are a few other tricky features built-in, (by tricky, they’re very simple but create tricks like long or double exposures).
When traveling, tend to stay away from snapping at a lot of pictures and instead feel like a third grade Ansel Adams in that I carefully consider each frame, that said, the results are very different then a master photographer using a large format camera, so really, the point doesn’t stand whatsoever… but what I mean is: I make scrapbooks, paintings, sketches, poems, occasionally some ambient audio recordings and a few digital reference photos when needed but enjoy the fuzzy hazy unpredictable snaps from the 35mm camera… I especially enjoy when the exposed roll of film is lost/ stashed/ possibly forgotten for a period of time and then I need to track down somewhere to develop meaning the results are known months or years after the shutter snap.
The results from this Lomo camera are scattered throughout this archive, specifically from Kerala, India (on Remembrance Day), a train ride through the length of Thailand (co-mingled with poems), collections from Grateful Dead concerts and driving across the US Midwest (time-lapse-ish), oh yeah, Big Cottonwood Canyon and the aforementioned VW bus to Diamond Fork hot springs to Las Vegas.
Dig in for your own amusement, that’s the point. Snap click wind wait.
fondly, dvo/uw
#daveo50 ~ 2015 / 50 years > days > photos
Project: Upon turning 50 years old on August 16, 2020, Dave Olson (me, hello) is posting a photo (or maybe photos) a day / per year – starting with 1970 with intent of chronicling existence through various primary evidence sourced from studio portraits, class photos, ID / passport photos, or occasionally other “casual/group/random” shots when the above don’t exist in my archive (note: not “artificial intelligence,” really me, pulled from shoeboxes, journals, wallets and whatnot – diligently scanned and dated via glasses and haircuts, lightly annotated).
Grateful Dead “Fare Thee Well” (2015), Lomo photos (colour), vol. 1 (people, mostly)
In Summer 2015, the “core four” of legendary rock ‘n’ roll band “The Grateful Dead” did a series of five concerts (two in Santa Clara, California, three in Chicago, Illinois) to close the book on their storied career. With brother Dan, we fantastically scored tickets and made the journey to all five shows, travelling by road in various vehicles and staying a various hotels, campgrounds, crash pads.
And, I had a notion to roll like it was still 1990 and that I kept a massive scrapbook of ephemera and eschewed technology (aside from a few logistical purposes) and took a little cork “sardine can” Lomo camera with expired film to capture a few hazy images.
The results are very pleasing because well, they are not crisp and clear in any sense, rather fuzzy and weird like me at the time… I was coming out of the long hard stretch, well I didn’t realize how far I still had to go but that’s neither here they are there. #rough
This assortment contains selected snaps of people in-and-around the shows and on the road trip. Worth noting that with our gaggle of pals, we also stopped at Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Colorado on the way back from Neil Young and “The Promise of the Real” at this legendary venue in some cold bewildering rain. Again, neither here nor there.
Note: there’s another collection of an “prairie time lapse” meaning a photo snapped every 15 minutes for driving across the US prairies capturing the redundancy and consistency of the landscape.
Another collection may follow with shots almost psychedelic in glorious hazy sloppiness from inside the concert venues – eventually, maybe.
Remember to check massive scrapbook of ephemera, the prairie “time-lapse” and this is the camera Lomo “Sardine Can” camera (cork covered):
Midwest USA roadtrip time-lapse (2015) – Lomo photos (colour)
Driving across the United States mid-west region (Iowa and Nebraska, July 2015) I snapped photos with Lomo La Sardina (Sardine Can) camera loaded with expired 35mm film, directly out the moving vehicle window each :15 minutes for a full roll.
The results are here, unedited, glitches and all – order is unintentionally scrambled but that’s not really the point.
There is beauty in the redundancy and fade.
Advice: print em, stitch em, remix em, etc, carry on
See also: #GD50 massive scrapbook of ephemera & Grateful Dead “Fare Thee Well” (2015), Lomo photos (colour), vol. 1 (people, mostly)
#daveo50 “Personal Archeology Project” (lighters, various)
Personal Archeology Exhibit – #daveo50
Prescheduled Daily Ephemera / 2020 6.26 ~ 8.16
“Personal Archeology” project heads into the stretch run towards 50 on 16.8.20 / just shy of 200 posts of artifacts > From elementary school report cards to fake IDs, newspaper clippings to folk legends.
I’ll tell you a secret: there’s another 100+ in the “draft/pending“ folders that I didn’t quite finish up to get into the flow so maybe a bonus round in the autumn.
Also, I barely started the deep digging kura grain barn studio stash so really have enough to keep going another 50 years. #goal
Hope you found some interesting evidence of where our lives intersected and/or found some inspiration for digging into your own remarkable past and sharing your story in a unique way.
I’ve had a notion to do a little “musings & tactics for personal storytelling” video / Might get to it eventually but I’m pretty busy kissing a little baby’s head over and over again. If you have questions though, hit me up.
fondly, dvo/uw
Artifact: Bad Wougar album, 2014
Bad Wougar is/was a hard rocking band in Vancouver BC with four fine gentleman who practised diligently in a room called the “the Den” which I’ve visited several times – occasionally playing some drums, especially extended jams to “Cortez the killer”. The name “Bad Wougar” came from a campfire myth about a dangerous animal which was a mix of a wolf and a cougar.
On a trail walk one day, I recorded a myth about the creature for the bands use and amusement. They then invited me into the glorious brand-new Monarch Studio (which has an origin story to share another time) to record a few snippets from the riff for the songs. In all, my voice/words appear in two tracks on this final release which was distributed on CD with a paper gatefold cover (i have 2, Mac Kobayashi has 1).
For the record, released: February 28, 2014 (noting this was a high point in an otherwise tough tough year). As mentioned, the four members of the band (including a non-related Olson) were each fantastically kind, interesting fellas as well as quality musicians and it’s a privilege to know them.
So it goes, folks have other commitments and adventures in life so they don’t play anymore but I hope this CD/album is more widely distributed in future / Kind of band that would be big in Europe.
You can check the Bad Wougar Bandcamp or Soundcloud + Youtube Discogs + a review in UberRock, a snippet:
… every time I sling this album on the stereo I can’t but feel like I’ve been transported to a wood-panelled backwoods bar where the band are plying their gnarled rock ‘n’ roll trade in such a fashion that the venue’s customers are worried that the whole place will go up in flames, the sounds so incendiary….
There’s a grubby charm to this band and its self-described brand of hard charging rock ‘n’ roll. It’s garage rock by way of the forest and you can’t really ask for anything dirtier, earthier than that.
As the stoner-like riff of final track, ‘Spoke Too Soon’, rattles the fillings out of my teeth I’m left wondering if maybe what I just listened to was part of a crazed fever dream. Then I look up and see the album cover, the eyes of the Bad Wougar appearing to follow my every move…..
Another review in Permanent Rain references my spoken-word bit, ergo:
This spoken kick off made me realize I was in for a fun ride, just as if I was watching a movie–and I was not disappointed. …
The album itself has a delightfully punk element to it, often mixing with elements of classic and progressive rock. It could have been released in 1984, 1994, 2004, or 2014 and reflected the music of its time period.
#daveo50 ~ 2014 / 50 years > days > photos
Project: Upon turning 50 years old on August 16, 2020, Dave Olson (me, hello) is posting a photo (or maybe photos) a day / per year – starting with 1970 with intent of chronicling existence through various primary evidence sourced from studio portraits, class photos, ID / passport photos, or occasionally other “casual/group/random” shots when the above don’t exist in my archive (note: not “artificial intelligence,” really me, pulled from shoeboxes, journals, wallets and whatnot – diligently scanned and dated via glasses and haircuts, lightly annotated).