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Posts tagged ‘photography’

Wildflowers

02/24/2014

Rufus Mangrove

wildflowers by rufus mangrove

I’m just trying to get it, each and every day.

Delegating

02/20/2014

Rufus Mangrove

delegating by rufus mangrove

Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. But I’ve been smoking endo and sipping gin n’ juice since the early eighties. And I still have healthcare, even before all this Obamacare shit went down.

My open letter to peanut butter

12/17/2013

Rufus Mangrove

my open letter to peanut butter

Dear Peanut Butter:

Often times as parents we get a lot of advice, either from books or from our parents. But noticeably absent in any chapter or advice columns about parenthood is the importance of peanut butter, not necessarily for the child, but for the parent.

You have solved about 99 percent of all problems I have faced with my child. Don’t want to eat your broccoli? Well, here, have some fucking ants on a log. Don’t want to do your homework? That’s fine, but you won’t get a piece of toast with peanut butter. You sound a little grumpy? Here, a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup will make everything better.

Parents have a hard job. We are taught that the “in” thing now is to talk to your children all the time. Some of the uncles or single guys or ladies out there writing these advice columns must think that talking to their favorite niece at a birthday party for fifteen minutes proves their point. But stay at home with the child for at least a year and then come and tell me that children make great conversationalists.

I think you understand that more than anyone or anything. Unlike parents that have replaced peanut butter with hummus or some vegan/gluten free concoction, I have free space in my life where my kids know NEVER to enter. And I couldn’t have done any of that without you, peanut butter.

Thank you.

Sincerely,
Darlene

You know you have too many cameras when . . .

12/08/2013

Rufus Mangrove

G.A.S. by rufus mangrove

You know you have too many fucking cameras when you can turn on any camera and know how to use it in less than thirty seconds.

The Main Thing I learned about Street Photography I learned in the bathroom

11/19/2013

Rufus Mangrove

Here's the thing about street photography

All I wanted was a well written ‘top ten reasons to do THIS in street photography.’ But every time I came up with a list, I found out that someone like Erik Kim or Steve Huff had come up with a much better list three years prior. So I gave up on lists and for a while I wasn’t sure what I was going to do. And then one morning I decided I was just going to say one thing about street photography like I’m some kind of Buddah, and then to title the whole journey, “The Main Thing I learned About Street Photography I learned in the Bathroom.”

I think it would intrigue some people, and to add a little more incentive, I’d have maybe a webinar, and then when no one expects it, I’ll yell out, “Visit my page and I’ll give you secret codes for cool black and white presets and my thesis on the connection between street photography and solar power!”

Don’t get me wrong here like I’m angling for a scam. There is something to be learned by all this, and to show I’m not a phoney, I start every meeting by repeating three times, “Street photography is like peeing,” and I say it at different speeds so that no one knows when I’m going to say something or jump out at them. When it’s time to seal the deal, I know they’re ready to accept that premise. I have everyone repeat the following at least seven times a day.

Don’t let anyone tell you how or where to pee. That is the art of street photography

Bagged

11/13/2013

Rufus Mangrove

bagged

One of these days I’m going to get myself my own train. I’ll have it connect to all my secret hideouts so I don’t have to go through all the trouble of squaring the blocks or hacking into the mainframe of certain large law enforcement organizations. With all the new spare time, I’d probably start collecting animals like zebras which as some of you know aren’t horses. When it’s not a horse, you don’t have to worry as much about all those regulations.

Laundry

10/25/2013

Rufus Mangrove

i do it by rufus mangrove

You can read just about every book in the world about parenthood, but none of them will really explain to you how much fucking laundry you’re going to be doing. When you start the whole endeavor, you’re going to invariably volunteer to do the laundry rather than having to deal with the children; let the mother figure those buggers out. But soon that one laundry bag you and your wife had when you got married morphs by necessity into two laundry bags, then six months later, morphs into four of those fucking blue IKEA bags that you can carry pumpkins in. It’s going to be up to you not only to bring all those clothes down the elevator to the washer and dryer, but to bring them back in the next hour, so that you can spend the next hour trying to fold the clothes, then another half hour putting them away without fucking with the drawer system that you had no say in creating. The whole thing is completely thankless like you’re some kind of bass player. No one gives a shit if the laundry is done or the clothes aren’t on the floor or left in the washer overnight. But when you fuck with the laundry, somehow the whole house becomes a mess, and then everyone starts feeling that you’ve caused a god damn squalor. Heidi Murkoff will be the last one to tell you this, but don’t volunteer to do the laundry under any circumstances. Learn some nursery songs and how to have tea parties and other diversionary tactics when you still have a chance.

the cat

10/21/2013

Rufus Mangrove

the cat by rufus mangrove

i hate it when i’m doing something real focused, like hanging clothes in the closet, and then turning around to catch my cat by the door staring at me. i hate it mostly because it happens pretty much all the time. i could be surfing the internet and turn around and in the corner of my eye, my cat is staring at me from underneath the table or on top of the ten foot bookcase. not a lot of people stare at me when i’m on the street because i am trying to go through life completely anonymous and i’ve worked hard to go mostly unnoticed by everything and everyone. but then this whole cat thing puts all the work i’ve done into question. i stay up at night worrying about it. i know cats are skilled and everything but if i can’t hide from my own cat then i might have a real problem. but what i really hate is when i think my cat is staring at me and when i give a double take, it’s my unfolded boxers or a hand towel discarded on the floor. and then i’ll see my cat staring at me from some other place in the room. sometimes i pick up the boxers or hand towel and throw it at her.

got a little bit of money

10/15/2013

Rufus Mangrove

Got a little bit of money

a few days ago i was being chased again by a pack of squirrels that mistook me for some kind of bread product. i ran past bedford avenue, took a right on 23rd Street, and ended up somewhere on Farragut Avenue underneath a truck.

space invaders

10/10/2013

Rufus Mangrove

space invaders by rufus mangrove

they’ll probably come down when we’re all sleeping. maybe on the night before christmas or when the earth is engulfed in a massive hurricane and everyone is huddled inside behind taped windows. i’m guessing they start in the forests and other heavily wooded areas, to get their footing and work on their balance. since they’re careful, they’re going to spend maybe a year or so hiding and sneaking about, watching our movements. there might be a report here or there, nothing national, about “sightings” up in the “mountains,” but we’ll probably just talk about that when we’re drunk. and then when all the ducks are in a row and they control all the machines, they will come through our doors, five for every one of us, and lock us in cages for a few years. in those years, there would be a big debate amongst the invaders of what to do with us, like keep us alive underground or use us for entertainment. but then it becomes clear, after most of us become brainwashed and unable to do anything, that the invaders are going to smash us and use us for crude oil to power their new machines. the population is eliminated except for small bands of humans, hiding in tunnels under the ground and in the rock faces.