we did say hello to her

I remembered the long walk under the sun. Each step felt like I was about to sink in the sand under the weight of my backpack, or collapse for the unbearable heat, blinded by a salty flood of sweat. I remembered the huge ikea bag getting heavier and heavier as I dragged it along the beach. I remembered John and Yoko and Linda far ahead on the shore waving towards Paul and me. They ran back to help us, yelling “There it is, we’re almost there!”. I remembered the Fire Island High Dunes Wilderness sign and setting up the tents and the bonfire at dust and our toast to George and Pattie, who couldn’t had come with us. I remembered Paul drinking too much and jumping in the ocean. We went to check on him but he had already run out of the water and was now yelling “Ba-Bha, Ba-Bhu, Ba-Bha”. I remembered falling asleep looking at the bright white rocky balloon floating in the night, and then waking up under a full-blown mosquito attack and crawling into the tent as fast as I possibly could.

I remembered all that, then took off for a lone morning stroll. I walked for a while and saw a little dead shark on the shore and a skeleton of a huge marine turtle. I found a shell with a beat wet dollar bill in it. I slipped the dollar bill into my pocket and threw the shell to the ocean. A perfect example of redistribution of wealth. I smiled at some funny-walking sea birds chasing after the receding waves in search of unwitting baby crabs to eat. I walked a long way, then headed back to our tents. I had not encountered any sign of human presence – except some artsy remains from an old campsite made by wooden sticks, crab shells and a broken cooler – but it was friday and I knew people would turn up soon and crowd our little deserted corner of heaven. When I finally got back, John was having canned pineapple for breakfast while Yoko and Linda went for a swim. Tired from the walk, I laid down and ate some sandy pineapple. It tasted so good.

“Aawwh! Why am I naked?” yelled Paul from inside the tent. “You couldn’t find your pants, so you just passed out in your birthday suit” “Aawwh”. We spent the rest of the day swimming in the ocean, running around the beach, taking tons of pictures and countless naps. A highly-needed rest after four intensive years of stressful New York City. A rare chance to breathe clean air and listen to the refreshing melody of the ocean waves, instead of smelling the trash-filled city sidewalks deafened by car honks and subway brakes. If there is a paradise, it has to look like Fire Island. Then, in the afternoon, some uninvited guests showed up. First, some evil biting horse-flies charged us. Then, swarms of mosquitoes joined in. Finally, two-footed beings carrying heavy backpacks could be seen approaching the vicinities of our campsite. When the sun set we were all exhausted, covered in bites and annoyed by the people camping few feet away from us. Still, the view of the immaculate starry night sky and the whispering of our bonfire made us fall asleep like a baby who had just heard his favorite bed-time story.

Saturday came and brought more people with it. We walked to the closest town and talked to an old lady who had been coming to the beach for thirty years or so. She told us about the biting horse-flies and how they come from behind the dunes whenever the wind blows towards the ocean. She also complained about the weekend visitors, making us all laugh. She had a beautiful New York voice and clearly had a crush on me because of my Italian accent. She could have definitively been my type, if I were fifty years older. We went back to our tents and met some kids from Brooklyn and hung out with them for a while. Yoko and Linda had an animated fight over nothing, but John and Paul remained friends. Sunday morning it wasn’t a seagull who woke me up, but a constant delicate tapping on our tent. It was raining. We packed as quickly as possible – it actually took us a while – and ran back to civilization.

Monday morning I woke up confused. I was in my bed. A squeaky creepy sound resonated through the air. It was my alarm. I turned it off. And kept dreaming of Fire Island.

Fuma

Photos by Konrad Buczek

Photo by Max Kelly.

Shot with Canon 5D Mark II with a Canon 24-105mm F4 L

Not only is Eric Alba my next door neighbor in Bushwick and a dear friend of mine, but also a hell of an actor as well as the creative director of an exceptional theatre company, EBE Ensemble.

I always appreciated theatre but I rarely attended shows and I have to thank Eric for sparking my enthusiasm for theatre when he invited me to his show back in March. The Elephants on Parade 2010 festival featured six new one-act plays and took place at New York’s Teatro IATI. I was extremely entertained by the plays and remarkably impressed by the high quality of production, let alone the talent of the actors.

A few months later, when Eric told me that EBE Ensemble was working to bring free Shakespeare in Prospect Park in the summer, I was stoked! I went to see them rehearsing at the beginning of July and got really excited watching them practicing the machete fights for Romeo & Juliette and Julius Cesar, the two plays that the Ensemble performs in a magnificent Pagoda under the fresh shade of the park’s sky-scraping trees.

My mom arrived in New York last week and we went to watch the shows on Saturday. We enjoyed them a lot and had a great time. Foley sound effects are played live while the actors athletically jump up and down the stage, run around the park and involve the audience in a 360 degree experience. Eric died twice on stage so I checked on him after the shows, but he reassured me that he was fine and the machetes didn’t leave any scars nor bruises on him. Good.

This upcoming Friday, August the 6th, and Saturday, the 7th, is the last chance for the public to attend the shows. I highly recommend everybody not to miss this unique opportunity to enjoy EBE’s amazing performance. Check out their website for details.

Fuma

Since the mid-1990s, Canon USA has collaborated with many talented photographers in creating a program called Explorers of Light. The program asked the photographers to share insights on their creative profession and their passion for Canon equipment.

As Canon DSLR cameras added a stunning HD video recording mode to their capabilities, many top notch cinematographers started utilizing them to shoot feature-length films and TV shows: the Explorers of Light have expanded from the world of still photography into the universe of motion pictures and mainstream television.

Blue Barn was asked by Canon to fly to Hollywood and film some of the most outstanding Directors of Photography of our time and conduct intimate interviews with them. The result is an intriguing collection of stories that can be now watched on the Canon USA website.

Fuma

Behold; fifty-something rolls of film which I intend to burn through as quickly as possible during my upcoming vacation in France. Stay tuned for details.

by Max Kelly.

Photo by Castillo

Lissie’s debut release, “Catching a Tiger” comes out August 17th.

The original tune by Kid Cudi, featuring MGMT and Ratatat

Oh if you really dig Lissie’s ‘Pursuit of Happiness’ you can get the mp3 here. Now, who said I didn’t love you.

Castillo