barry burton

currently suffers post Sigur Rós withdrawal, offset by the early acquisition of the new album. eat it!

After solely photographing using my POS Canon PAS* for the last year and half, I finally admitted to myself that I had a problem: I no longer had the patience for film, I couldn’t afford a decent DSLR, but it was simply unacceptable that I never had manual control. Enter the Ricoh GR Digital II. I know, I know, there is plenty of hype surrounding the camera, its predecessor was much loved by hipsters everywhere, causing others to hate it, and this, the successor, was then hated by some because it was new and different and easier to acquire, and gasp, maybe, just maybe, too many people had caught on to the hipness, which is rumored to be a known hipness carcinogen. Nevertheless, thus far the camera is shaping up to be the ultimate modern day rangefinder—small, full manual control, and beautiful SLR / TLR like results (which is merely to say, closer than any other non-interchangable lens camera out there, and if you ask me, quite surprisingly close). The next few weeks will see a more rigorous test, as I put the camera through the paces of normal use in differing environments. All I can say is that I so love yet again controlling shutter speed and aperture (and there are 2 dials for this, in the same location as on real Nikon SLRs!); everything in its right place.

* I should note, that as far as push a button, get a decent picture (documentary, but not artistic), Canon SD cameras are definitely the way to go—their interaction design is so far beyond every other manufacture and model series it is ridiculous, and as far as normal consumer products being used by normal people are concerned, the usability of the product is the primary contributor to the quality of the end result, features and other gizmos having absolutely no bearing.

p.s. — anyone want to buy a used Nikon N80? C’mon, it’s so retro!

was gorge swimming!

…with Jeremy Enigk too! I saw them last weekend (only once). It was one of those great shows where you buy the ticket on account of one band and then realize that another great band is playing as well.

Jurado opened, and despite the fact that I have several of his older albums, I only recognized a single song. He is quite prolific. Luckily his open, acoustic, story teller songs are almost as enjoyable and accessible on the first listen. As he played the set, just him and a guitar, I came to the realization that he was doing something very similar to the Iron and Wine thing long before Sam Beam burst onto the scene (no disrespect of course). I’m not sure, but the difference maybe being the lack of a Postal Service cover which was featured on a commercial or movie or whatever. It does seem odd to me that after all these years he is still working out of such obscurity. Perhaps because there are too many good songs, with none of them being marketed much. Not that I’m complaining.

Enigk next played an acoustic set, although he also made use of keyboard in some songs, but with the single instrument, and one that was attempting to sound like strings, it still felt acoustic. I lack all his solo stuff, but I do have some Sunny Day albums, and since he played a few songs off of those (as he informed us, carefully chosen ones limited to those he wrote and those which worked without a band) I ironically ended up knowing a good number of the songs he played.