Neon Sanctuary

Another neon sign from California in America in a tourist spot. Felix the cat- not necessarily one of my favourite cartoons as a child I think that humour was a level above my little toddler mind. I liked the neon signs of that place and the way there were all together and the giant American flags are car dealers and balloons of colours red, blue and white.

Kings of Neon

I love taking photographs because it's like a reminder you can keep for your memory; I haven't thought about this photograph for a while since I looked through my photographs taken on my holiday at the start of January 2011 for two weeks. A tourist spot was a lot of shops all clustered together close to Universal Studios all light up with neon signs everywhere and as far as the eye could see. As I remember, my friends and I ate at Johnny Rockets and the burgers were big and mean with a whole lot of flavour.

This is what dreams are made of

Last year my ex-hippie and eccentric Literature who my class suspects of once coming to teach us young impressionable youths while under the influence of some illicit drug (and who might have forgotten to teach us a few times due to this troubling problem as well) while lecturing us about Edwards Scissorhands gave us all this little gem of wisdom: Every village square, in every corner of the globe sees the life of an actor on screen and aspires to have the life they lead and live glamorously and comfortably. Of course due to my memory mimicking that of a goldfish (I don't even remember what I did three days ago) and the fact that anytime she lectured our class on anything we had difficulties comprehending what she was saying and I am paraphrasing; she had a point. My short little tourist stint in Hollywood taught me three things: there are many eccentrics and weirdos in Hollywood, the people in costumes expect money and can get aggressive and that some of the most beautiful houses are in Hollywood.

King Kong

When going past a miniaturised set of King Kong which just had the basic landscape and the boat, I was caught off guard by some of the things that directors choose to do. I never really think about these things in too much detail; my main folly is that I over analyse things and predict what will happen in a plot and ruin in for myself since I don't stop and take time to enjoy it. Nevertheless I really enjoyed taking a great photograph of the miniature island from King Kong (the new version). We weren't going past all that fast but we didn't stop moving either and my digital camera managed to instant focus within an instant and captured it. I was very pleased; the reflection of the window of leaves makes it also look like a double exposure shot on film cameras; very cool indeed.

Jaws

The thing about movie sets is that they can seem large when you shoot at various locations but some of the more important places where the action takes place can be really small; all about effective use of camera angles and shots to create and bring to life the creative imagination of the director I guess. One of the favourites of mine on the Universal Studios tour was the Jaws set, but my timing was off for some of the photography where I've missed the shark snapping at our tour shuttle and only gotten the tale. The one that got away in a manner of photographic and maybe fisherman senses. I was feeling a little sore about that but the fantastic colour and distortion effect of the explosion and fire using natural gas is one of my favourites since all the colours are bright but the silhouette of the oil drums and stuff on the deck gives it that unnatural industrious mood to it.

Whoville

Movie set of How the Grinch Stole Christmas aka Whoville! The tiny town resting in the depths of a snowflake. Set at Universal Studios in California. I was really intrigued by the smooth lines and the design of the cars and the buildings; smooth but asymmetrical and in pastel muted tones. I was let down by the position of the sun since it wasn't in the best place for this movie set at the time we took the shuttle tour.

The Bates Motel

They have vacancy at the Bates Motel. Photograph taken at Universal Studios in California, America January 2011. I had seen the movie before we came here; as the tour shuttle chugged past an actor holding a knife walks out of the door dragging a body bag towards the car. He looks at his audience and begins to run brandishing the knife above his shoulder advancing towards the back of the shuttle. We pick up speed and leave him staring at us, eyes pierced with concentration. It was sort of exhilarating hearing the other tourists scream with delight and fright even though I knew it was an actor. The surprise ending of Psycho really did scare me; I didn't expect it to be as psychologically thrilling as the title suggest and for the effects they had at that time they did manage to scare their audience.

Back to the Future

I just had to take this photograph; I love pretty much anything to do with time travel including Doctor Who as well as Back to the Future. Given the opportunity I would jump a young Micheal J. Fox especially if he had those sweet Nike shoes on as well as the red dorky vest. It must be part of the charm I suppose.

Krustyland

The only way that I can really give an accurate description of what Krustyland in Universal Studios was like in California would be to call it 'it's own self-contained universe'. Sort of a mesh between the the very new; flat screen televisions, pop culture references to Ghost Busters as well as that sort of The Simpsons movie style of cartoon characters. Combined also with the sort of 70's atmosphere I guess you could say feel of the giant clown mouth of Krusty himself (some sort of allusion to Luna Park back home in Melbourne perhaps?) and as you waited in line there were television screens with extracts of mainly old episodes that were amusement park related in short sporadic bursts. Itchy and Scratchy land episode being of of my favourites amongst them. I'm really glad I also captured that giant Krusty the clown head on disposable film and that it came out beautifully when processed.

Jurassic Pack

Or maybe they should rename the ride at Universal Studios JuraSICK Park. Or maybe I should just keep my stupid comments to myself and concentrate on taking photographs at various tourist attractions around America and posting them on my blog with funnier puns and better titles. I'm being rather unimaginative lately, but I'm getting sick of not being able to remember the content of each post. It makes things just a little easier. 

Lights, Camera, Action

Universal Studios, front entrance. Taken in January 2011 in California America. On holiday for G'Day USA student exchange from Australia to America for 20 days.

Shoelace String Fries

Obviously I felt so very super proud of myself when I bought super size fries that I just had to share it with the world and take some photographs. I like the second photo a lot better but I'm not sure I printed it off, though really should have done so. Would look even better in a brown bag and the light not bouncing off the container but Maccas in the USA doesn't swing that way I guess.

Flags of Patriotism

Every day at least there would be the American flag as well as the California State flag spotted somewhere on our day of sightseeing and tourism. Compared to Australia where your lucky to see them around the suburbs... There might be more in the inner city and places of interest to tourists but I don't really seem to catch sight of them.

Silhouettic

My favourite photograph I've ever taken just for the way my subject, a friend of mine, didn't seem to notice me take this. I'm not good at taking photographs of people since I'm not too good with them myself but when I can get a decent or good looking photograph of a person I consider it to be a personal triumph for myself.

Ugly Trees

Interesting contrast of the soft sky with broken up fluffy clouds strewn across it and the bare gnarled tree branches reaching up into the sky in American Winter. I have no idea what plant it is but if I asked my father I bet you he would know what it is but I'm too lazy and a little proud of the composition of this quickly snapped photograph.

Local Cuisine

The American creation known as the corn dog but I fail to see where the dog comes into it and there might be a little corn underneath all the saturated fats and the deep fried mystery meat. I actually missed vegetables and foods that weren't full of sugar after a week of living with my host family... I ate the younger boys vegetables in a swap because I needed assurance I wouldn't contract scurvy while on holiday.

San Francisco Cityscape

Since we were busy running around shopping and also getting a wheelchair down at the better shops in San Francisco there was little time for me to take pictures of the building and architecture of the area. The place was also packed with street performers and a drunken woman who one of the boys on the trip said he saw earlier that day; only the second time he was sore she had gotten a shiny new bruise all around her eye...

Vignette Disposable Kodak Film

First attempt in scanning 35mm film and it is a little bit of a shambles. These photographs have featured on this blog before but I had to take photographs of the developed results which I thought was pretty dodgy. Then when I saw how these came out I wondered what the hell went wrong... It's a little good for some of the brighter photographs where the colours are dominant and it looks like it has a vignette affect. Some of the others look awful and full, like there's a dominant sepia tone affect and nothing is bright and stands out. My Diana Mini and Canon A1 scanned film turned out a little better, with varying results.