Some Photo News

In contrast to yesterday's summery photos, here's an autumnal one. This cherry tree (I think?) on my walk home from work is already showing hints of color in its leaves. Fall is right around the corner.

Speaking of pictures, yesterday I finally settled the question of which image to use in the faculty/staff art show at work. I decided to stick with the very blue "Sky, Land and Sea" photo. The print looks good, and since I'd already submitted an artist's statement to go with that image it seemed best not to change course. It took a long time to make this decision because I had to wait for the art teacher who's coordinating the exhibit to print the picture so I could proof it. She offered, and it saved me some money to go that route, but she's so busy that if I had it to do over again I'd have had it professionally printed.

Oh, I got some other fun news about my photography. Ten years ago I wrote about John, the guy who sold used books on the West Hampstead railroad bridge, and his dog Sugar. After John's sad death I wrote about the murals that went up commemorating his life (and homelessness in general) on the same bridge. Those murals became a flash point for some community controversy, and now a documentary film has been made about the art and the community response. I allowed the director to use my photos in the film, and I've just received a free ticket to the premiere on Oct. 8. How cool is that?!

I'm looking forward to seeing it because I'm not sure I ever got the whole backstory about how the murals were created and why some people were so upset about them.

In other news, I rented another Barbra Streisand movie last night -- "For Pete's Sake," from 1974. It was fun and kind of zany, as if the producers were trying to recreate her success in "What's Up, Doc?" from a few years earlier. But this movie didn't have Peter Bogdanovich, Buck Henry, Madeline Kahn and the other critical participants that helped "Doc" become such a phenomenon. I wouldn't have felt cheated if I'd bought a ticket, but I'm not sure I would have remembered much after I left the theater, either. The most memorable scene involved a real live bull licking Streisand with its gigantic tongue as she's trying to drive a motor home -- that was pretty funny.

In her book, Streisand called the movie "a piece of fluff," which is accurate. But it was also an important turning point in her life, because it's how she met Jon Peters, who wound up being her romantic partner for the rest of the 1970s. A hair stylist, he designed the pixie-haircut wig she wore in the film. She also confesses she was terrified of the bull, but when it licked her arm she had to laugh, too.