The South hasn’t been on my radar much recently. But last year after racing the Shenandoah 100-mile mountain bike race I headed to Boone to see a close friend.
3 Photos- Boone North Carolina
Category: 3-photos
3 Photos- Milwaukee
3 Photos- Portland Oregon
Last year I spent a lot of time in Portland and it’s the perfect city to contrast Los Angeles. I’m way too East Coast-y angst-y to live there but visiting is like a vacation from reality. The cars are made of vegan cake and you can usually find me riding down the middle of the street with no helmet while eating tofu scramble with nutritional yeast sauce.
3 Photos- New York City
3 Photos- Bethlehem, Pennsylvania
I use Bethlehem pretty loosely to include Easton, Allentown, etc.
3 Photos- Philadelphia 2010
3 Photos- Minneapolis
After diligently collecting photos from all the cities I visit for my 3 Photos project I have been very undiligent about posting them. After spending time in over a dozen cities this year I think it’s time to bring it back.
Each of us experiences space in a unique way. Everything we have done and seen leading up to our time in a new place sets up how we will interpret it. I spent much of my teenage years visiting new places- but mostly BMX trails, skateparks and street-riding spots. I could tell you where a great wallride or handrail is in Chicago, but have no idea about where to eat or what else to do. Then food became my obsession and each new city meant new places to eat! Even now when I visit a place like Pittsburgh, where I have been dozens of times, I see it in a new way depending on my most recent experiences. I started this project to force myself to take a minute and evaluate my environment and the emotions they trigger. Some are obvious, some are silly and some will only make sense to me, but I’m joyed to share them all with you. Thanks for looking.
3 Photos- Bernal Heights, SF, CA
Farmers market art on art at the Farmers Market
I love the way tiny cherry tomatoes look in a giant pile. And the way they taste, duh.
There are more salons than I can count in Bernal Heights and they all have advertisements for ‘vegan nail polish’. Isn’t all nail polish vegan? Is this a pressing issue for salons in this neighborhood?3 Photos- Mountain City, Tennesse
After racing the Shenandoah 100-mile mountain bike race this year I headed to Boone, North Carolina to see a close friend. Instead of the highway I opted for the through-the-mountains-and-Tennessee route. In Mountain City my obsession with grocery stores beckoned me to take a short stop.
Tea Party Propaganda, not unexpected. Later while listening to a call-in radio show, expecting the worst of fear-mongering conservative politics, I was pleasantly shocked by not one, but two callers. The first talked about the economy and how the blame is on the rich and the working-class need to learn all the DIY skills we used to know. Also that the economy shouldn’t return to what it was because that was exploitative. The second talked about hunting deer-with a camera! Seriously. Said it’s better cause you don’t have to kill the animal. Think of that next time you want to stereotype rural folks.
Tiny bottles of Chubby soda.
All grocery stores should have recipes from employees.3 Photos- Bay Area
When I was in Philadelphia early this summer I hung out with my college friend, Tara. Tara is a school teacher and I happen to get to her house, which she awesomely opened up to me for the entire weekend, the first night of her summer vacation. We were leaving to go to some fixed/urban/cycling thing and she grabbed her camera on the way out. On the ride over there she told me how she received a picture frame with space for three photos as a gift and her plan was to have it filled with the three photos that best represented her 2010 Summer. She kept saying, ‘Will I get one of those photos tonight?’ as she snapped away. I thought this was a great idea and since I often take photos wherever I am I had the idea of making it a city project. Three photos from my experience when I’m in a city. I go to Portland and SF often, but each set of three will be specific to that time. You can be assured it will include food and bikes! But also other funny/interesting/odd stuff I find along the way.
Here’s the first set, from my first trip to the Bay Area this summer.
Ate dinner at Manzanita which I mentioned previously cause a friend called it ‘Food Not Bombs food for $20.’ It’s one of those stuck in the 70’s vegetarian restaurants that’s super simple: grain, bean, vegetables, salad. It has that weird new-age/hippy/buddhist vibe strong. But I like food like this. When I saw this sign, I thought, “Really? ‘Love’? That’s the best you can do? Of course the ‘mindful word of the day’ is love!!” I wonder how many times it has been. Just seems so obvious.
Cinnaholic peanut butter and jelly cinnamon roll. Nuff said.
Whole Foods vegan pig in a blanket. I only bought it cause I was starved and had already eaten a bunch of donuts, wanted something closer to real food and it was on sale. It was fucking great. Flaky dough, melted daiya cheese, pesto sauce and the Field Roast sausage was grilled before it was wrapped. So good.