A Change In Scenery: 2012

12 November 2012

Veteran's Day

My maternal grandmother, Helen Jane Byers, was born in Wisconsin on December 31, 1916. She passed away in Ohio at age 84, November 3, 2001. Before she met and married my grandfather, a widower with 5 children with whom she'd have two children of her own (including my mother, their youngest), my grandmother served in the US Navy.

I have inherited hundreds of photographs of my grandmother's family -- her siblings and parents and uncles and aunts -- over the years. I have her Navy ring and some of her documents, official photographs and snapshots of her and her friends goofing off around New York while they were in training at the Naval Training School in the Bronx. It's a time of her life I never remember her discussing, and I'm fascinated by it.

In honor of my grandmother's life and service on this Veteran's Day, here are a few photographs and postcards from her time in the Navy.

05 November 2012

Downtown signs

All images © Monika Seitz Vega, 2012.

21 October 2012

a tribute to pinkiestyle

For three and a half years in my mid-twenties I lived and worked in Columbus, Ohio. I grew up in San Diego but I had traveled extensively, always looking for something new. My family has strong midwestern roots that go back many generations and Ohio was precisely where I needed to be at that time.

Shortly after I moved back to California, I came across the analog photography of Angie Harris Lindley (aka "pinkiestyle") on Flickr. She lived in Columbus, and her photographs reminded me of places that I had seen and loved and introduced me to parts of the city that I hadn't had the opportunity to experience. Through her photostream, as well as her website, I felt that I still had a connection to central Ohio. Angie was a terrific photographer with a unique and talented eye. She inspired me greatly in both tools and technique. I fell in love with her photographs of the Ohio State Fair. My heart swelled when I saw an image of something I had photographed myself. I kicked myself when I saw a picture of a place so close, but I never knew was there, or one I had never made time to stop and photograph.

Two months ago today, Angie Harris Lindley passed away from cancer. I was significantly impacted by her passing. The morning I found out that she had died, overwhelmed with sadness, I wept in my car on the way to work. I felt so much sorrow for her family. I thought about how we are the same age, which frightened me. I considered how she was creating such beautiful images while fighting illness, and felt terribly grateful. I realized completely her contribution to not just taking photographs, but preserving pieces of our world that are fragile. I was tremendously moved by Angie's photography and will always be grateful to her for contributing to my connection to Ohio, which is so valuable to me.

I've since revisited some of my own photographs from the time that I lived in Ohio, and am sharing them here in tribute to pinkiestyle. Thank you, Angie. Your work has left an indelible impression on me.

Columbus, Ohio © Monika Seitz Vega, June 2006

Columbus, Ohio © Monika Seitz Vega, May 2006

Columbus, Ohio © Monika Seitz Vega, 2005

Columbus, Ohio © Monika Seitz Vega, August 2004

Capri Lanes, Columbus, Ohio © Monika Seitz Vega, 2004

Downtown Columbus, Ohio © Monika Seitz Vega, August 2004

Downtown Columbus, Ohio © Monika Seitz Vega, February 2004

Downtown Columbus, Ohio © Monika Seitz Vega, August 2004

25 September 2012

4 Polaroids from Wednesday

Wednesday morning I took a trip east in search of adventure. Here are four Polaroids I took that day.

Fox Theatre, Banning, CA © Monika Seitz Vega, 19 September 2012

Banning, CA © Monika Seitz Vega, 19 September 2012

Beaumont, CA © Monika Seitz Vega, 19 September 2012

While in Beaumont I stopped to photograph the 1939 Beaumont Theatre, which is now home of the Beaumont Antique Mall. The ladies running the place were lovely, and how could I resist "instant relatives" at two for $1?

07 September 2012

Formal shop diptych

The same Broadway formal shop, but a year apart and with two different cameras and films.

(January 2015 update: This dress shop is now a Gap Outlet.)

01 September 2012

You Can Always Go....

We weren't alone, and life wasn't making us lonely, but my sweetie and I hit the streets of downtown Los Angeles nonetheless. It was a warm August evening and absolutely wonderful.

Clifton's Cafeteria is undergoing an in depth renovation, which recently uncovered what is being considered "The World's Oldest Neon Sign".

The 1913 Rosslyn Hotel buildings are now lofts. The neon of both buildings is tremendous and visible nightly.

29 August 2012

The Lost Roll

About a year ago I came across an antique store in a town I don't frequent. I came across a basket of cameras, mostly modern film point and shoots, but also a Spartus Full Vue twin lens reflex. Priced to sell at $10 (it's insane what people price mid century cameras at compared to what they're really worth), I was excited to take it home and give it a whirl. At the bottom of the basket of cameras was an exposed roll of 120 film. I assumed it was from the Spartus, so I put it in the camera, excited to see what developed (heh) when I processed the film at home.

photographer and date unknown

The roll clearly wasn't from the Spartus. The negatives are not square, and whatever camera this is had aperture and shutter controls, unlike the set settings of the Full Vue. This image of the humming birds in my favorite. There were 6 bird feeder pictures of the 10 exposures on the roll.

photographer and date unknown

A quick search informs me that Griswold's Inn was in Pomona, CA. It seems that there is Double Tree Hotel there now.

photographer and date unknown

Who are these ladies, that (at least) two people are photographing them? It was the 1980s, so who knows. I like to imaging that it's Mia Farrow on the left, chatting with Sharon Stone on the right.

09 July 2012

Four photographs of arrow signs

Less talk and more rock on this warm July evening.