The Last Watch

Charlie and the moon.

 The gibbous moon looks down a final time on you. Her waxing shape reflecting in your waning eyes. She will set early never to return to them. It is I however, who will knowingly see you to that endless sleep, all the while visualizing our past, and how you nightly use to watch over me. Now, even as you exhale the last intake of life, your constant gaze keeps true to its charge. Goodbye my dearest Charlie.

Charlie (2001 ~ 2017)

There's a grey pall over the house today. We had to put our beloved Charlie down as she was terminally ill and fading rapidly. She was sixteen. Here's a collage of our majestic feline.

Charlie (Monday, March 5, 2001 ~ Monday, June 5, 2017)

A Friend's Birthday (image rollover)

Jose Ramon Lerma: April 12, 1930 ~ December 23, 2016

Nearing Super Perigee (Moonrise)

Nearing Super Perigee

"Not-So-Foggy Opposition" (second night)

Sunday, May 22, 2016

With only one teeny tiny cloud to threaten visibility, here is a photograph from the following night. The moon has slipped into position to form a rhombus or parallelogram with the planet Mars, the star Antares, and the next largest gas giant in our solar system: Saturn.

"Foggy Opposition"

The Moon and Mars in opposition earlier tonight, with Antares and Saturn in close pursuit!

"In the Afterglow of El Chichón"

Remembering mom this Mothers' Day with a little twist.

This is a picture of my mom looking out her back window. Nothing extraordinary there.

However, it is April 1982 and the strong, porphyry afterglow illuminating the Bay Area, so late into the dusk, is being produced by the voluminous amounts of sulfur dioxide temporarily suspended high in the atmosphere.

El Chichón in Mexico is the cause, having spewed out approximately seven times the sulfur dioxide in its ash plumes than Mount Saint Helens two years prior.

I had my mother oblige me with a peek at the western skies.

;-)

"Mettle"

"Mettle" Friday, August 8, 1986

 

       I just now thought of a name for this Kodak Ecktachrome still-life I photographed back in 1986:

     "Mettle":

 

     I found the paint-splattered, metallic composition rusting underneath the backyard staircase at my parents' home.

"Sutro"

"Sutro"

I chanced upon a Playboy image* and early one Tuesday morning, on March 16, 1993, decided to re-contextualize it. When I saw the projection upon the wall, I immediately liked the pearlescent quality of the wall paint, but doubted the use of my reflection at the window. I wasn't trying for an obvious metaphor. That read among others is there nonetheless. Still, the disparate elements all seemed coalesce.

*Photo accreditation pending.

"Usurpation"

Circa 1982

    It's mid-afternoon and I am north-bound to San Francisco aboard the CalTrain. Somewhere along the SF peninsula, between San Jose and the destination city, an audibly exhausted, CalTrain employee slumps into the seat before me. His hands, thrown almost in my face, prove an irresistible, wide-angle study and I only hope the sound of my camera shutter doesn't give away my appropriation of his "expansion" into my personal space. Who is the more entitled I wonder? The toddler below nor the young person across the way asked to be included in our contest.

"Telling Time"

    Here's a selfie I took of myself some decades ago. I never bothered to date it. However, the slide itself provides many clues. The camera is pointed due south and is trained on the ecliptic. The waning moon was just out of view to the left, appearing almost equally spaced with the planetary conjunction being photographed (albeit out of focus). The bluish star Spica in the constellation of Virgo is left of my left elbow.

    With the aid of http://www.stellarium.org/ (see graphic below) I was able to go back in time to find the date and nearest hour of the San Franciscan night.

    Jupiter, Saturn, and Mars span the image. The date is April 11th, 1982; a little after one in the morning.

    I took two more slides that morning as I noticed the clothesline and decided to hang the planets and star on them!

Sunday, April 11, 1982

"ruth"

"ruth" 1995

    This is my signature art piece. I created it for a Valentine Day Exhibit at the Galeria de la Raza in 1995. It was for me, my most successful marriage of conceptual, minimal, personal, and performance art. The work (not including the pedestal) consists of three found objects: a rose, a nine inch tall bud vase, and the last, taking just over a hundred hours to produce and collect: my tears. "ruth" is the title I named it.

    The photo documentation is among the slides I've recently transferred to the digital medium.

'Crossword'

"Nohemi Marquez Sanchez"

Saturday, April 10, 1982. My mom, Nohemi Marquez Sanchez at one of her favorite pastimes: crossword puzzles.

So Within (second and third versions)

So Within

Dream a Dream

In Memory of a Man...

Peter Johannes van Kleef and Cynthia Reeves
Photo by Ali.

Peter Van Kleef (July 12, 1950 ~ September 8, 2015) pictured here with his adoring wife and business partner, Cindy Reeves.  Tribe photo by Ali.

810 Silliman

Slide photo by Manuel Rubio Sanchez

Yvette Sanchez sitting on the back steps at 810 Silliman Street in San Francisco, CA circa 1951/52.

Conjunction of the Third Kind

Celebrating the successful camera capture of two planetary bodies!
Oh, and photographing Venus and Jupiter's conjunction as well...

Tonight's Conjunction

Venus, Mars, and the Moon.

Plus...Tribute

Tribute delivered.

Its Own Observance Plus...

In memory

Sammy and Jane Cano (2014)

In memory of my cousin-in-law, Jane Cano. Your warmth and humanity will be missed, Peace be with you.

To Sing the Angels

Phil Keaggy

 Since 1972, I have always admired the artistry of Phil Keaggy. Were belief as real as his sincerity and musicianship, I would almost be tempted. Nevertheless, last year, I happened on this footage of him in performance.

100th

Nohemi Marquez born January 2, 1915

Commemorating the 100th anniversary of my mother's birthday today.

1956

'Le ballon rouge'

Two Works and a Wish

I happened on two works of art ['Moon Reflections:Through the Window' (2011) Tapestry by Felicity Griffin Clark and 'Explore #17c (third revisit, by moon and morning light): Severalls Asylum, Colchester, Essex' (2014) Photography by Adam X] and thought to appropriate their beauty and similarity in order to make a wish on a very special occasion. The incantation is mine. (Roll mouse over the image. Clicking on image as well will take you to yet another work 'n' wish.)

Happy Merry You know who! ;-)

If I had to describe myself...

Virginia Walker and Cary Grant 'Bringing Up Baby' (1938)

The Moon and the Seventh Planet (backdated)

 That faint greenish spot to the left of the eclipsed Moon is the Planet Uranus.

A Comparison Shot , Half a Century Apart.

 (The overhead lines in front of 988 Potrero Avenue haven't changed.)

 [Photos: San Francisco Examiner / Google Street Level View]

Fire's Fiftieth on Facebook

Post by Manuel Antares Richard Sanchez.

Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela 1918 - 2013

 Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela

 July 18, 1918 - December 5, 2013 

Photo: Associated Press

'The Outer Limits' 50th Anniversary

 

http://archive.org/details/TheOuterLimitsTheOriginalSeries1x01-TheGalaxyBeing



"There is nothing wrong with your television set. Do not attempt to adjust the picture. We are controlling transmission. If we wish to make it louder, we will bring up the volume. If we wish to make it softer, we will tune it to a whisper. We will control the horizontal. We will control the vertical. We can roll the image, make it flutter. We can change the focus to a soft blur or sharpen it to crystal clarity. For the next hour sit quietly and we will control all that you see and hear. We repeat: there is nothing wrong with your television set. You are about to participate in a great adventure. You are about to experience the awe and mystery which reaches from the inner mind to... The Outer Limits."

She

An Out of These Limits Birthday Wish!

It's an established fact that my twin is years younger than am I! Nevertheless, it is that time of year again to send her my felicitations.

I thought I commemorate her special day by also paying homage to my favorite television series. Come this September 16th, it will have passed a milestone of its own.

The TV pictured in my presentation happens to be the 17" portable Zenith Y222Y our parents use to own.

For those into astronomy or the anthology series, the galaxy you see is Messier 81. It appears in reverse under the show's end credits.

Happy Birthday, Georgene GR!

First season end credit theme by Dominic Frontiere.

Self Portrait (2013)

Just updating my portraiture.

Manuel Antares Richard Sanchez

By the Light of the June Super Moon

 

Night visitor.

 "What's a Super Moon compared to me?" asks Charlie at the window. "Indeed, what's the heart of the Milky Way compared to my silkiness?" She senses my little camera is aimed almost centered with our galaxy. That star just over her back is Kaus Australis in the constellation of Sagittarius.

She Rises

June's SUPER moon.

That's Mount Hamilton and Lick Observatory, 23 miles dead ahead on the horizon.

Oh, Countess DeLave...

"Oh, l'amour, l'amour. Sometimes, I wish I could be totally 'transparent' instead of invisible."

-antaresrichard-

Actress Mary Boland (Countess DeLave) center, being directed by George Cukor. From: 'The Women' (1939)

Brian Vouglas via Picasa (part 2)

Some more photo manipulation.

Brian Vouglas via Picasa

Just a little photo manipulation.

Cole's Graduation Celebration

From my Facebook page:
Next stop for Coleton: Middle School!

Oakland Museum of California

Gallery of California Natural Sciences

From my Facebook page:
Goodness, I'm more than a week late in posting this. It's June 8th and Birdie Roy is already across the pond. Well anyway, she and I had a lot of fun at the Oakland Museum of California a week ago last Friday, May 31st, 2013 which is when and where I shall place it on my Facebook timeline.

The occasion: Friday Nights @ OMCA, the reopening of their Gallery of California Natural Sciences, and the second screening of the Great Wall of Oakland's Internet Cat Video Festival.

Person(s) in Common

From my Facebook page:
 In 2003 I happened on two artists in Oakland, actually make that three, whose works I've really ejoyed. Here is the craft of Marco Cochrane and Peter Van Kleef at a particular nexus in Uptown Oakland. Dan Fontes also lent his talents, but I've got to capture a better shot of the mural he graced.

This Evening's Planetary Dance: Venus, Jupiter, and Mercury

Clockwise from the brightest to the dimmest: Venus, Jupiter, and Mercury. High to the right of  Mercury, on a line with it and Jupiter, you can also glimpse the star Alnath coming into view. Alnath is the second brightest star in the constellation of Taurus.

Brian Vouglas: hosting the Local Vocals Variety Show

Brian was in the midst of addressing the audience, when he chanced to look in my direction.

'Flail"

Its Own Observance.