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As part of my recent trip to New York City, I visited the 2008 NY Photo Festival, which was held from May 14th to the 18th in the DUMBO section of Brooklyn. I attended Thursday morning, just after the festival was opened to the general public. This had an advantage in that I was able to avoid the crowds, but a disadvantage as there were a couple exhibits that were not yet set up and I was unable to view. Even so, the majority of the exhibits were completely set up and on display, and I spent about 3 hours viewing the works of contemporary photographers from around the world.

One of the standout exhibits of the festival was “Beurochratics” by Jan Banning, part of the “New Typologies” exhibit. This is a series of photographs of government workers from around the world. Each of the subjects of the photo were seated behind their desks, surrounded by the tools of their trade and various objects that they had accumulated over the years. I eagerly read the brief stories that accompanied each image, which included the salaries of each of the subjects, calculated in Euros. One fact I found interesting was that the subject with the highest monthly salary was a secretary from Texas, nearing retirement age. Banning’s prints in the exhibit were large and colorful, measuring about three feet on a side. The images were presumably taken with a medium format camera. The images displayed in the exhibit, as well as others, can be sampled on Jan Bannings’s website, www.janbanning.nl.

Another exhibit I personally enjoyed and found interesting was “Various Photographs”, curated by Tim Barker. The exhibit consisted of seemingly random photographs, from different photographers, printed in 8×10 format and hung in a grid on the wall. There were over 200 photographs in the exhibit, and in my observation, they all appeared to be simple snapshots of everyday things and events. What was unique about them, however, was that each image had something unique, bizarre, or otherwise eye-catching in them. As the curator noted in the Festival Program about this exhibit, “This show is a series of questions, an equation of symbols, a list of riddles - None of which have an answer”. It was fun browsing through these images, and experiencing the wide and varied emotional reactions I had to each.

As with any collection of contemporary art exhibits, I found a couple that I just didn’t understand. For example, one exhibit consisted entirely of photographs of camera flashes reflecting off of TV screens. The reflections had all been cropped out of photographs of Television sets posted on local Craigslist listings. The images all looked like grainy telescope images of distant celestial bodies and were organized on the wall so as to appear to build collection of stars. Another series I did not quite understand was displayed in the Chisel exhibit. It was a series of images of matted-down meadow grass. The meadow grass had presumable been matted down by animals, such as deer, making a place to sleep for the night, though I couldn’t find any information on how accurate my guess was.

There were many other exhibits, displaying a wide range of artistic and photographic styles, as well as post-processing and presentation techniques. Some of these included:
Chisel, which included a series of abstract images of shredded tires, and another featuring photographs of crumpled horse racing betting tickets. The latter was much more interesting than its subject matter would imply, as you could see the emotions that were experienced during the crumpling of these tickets.
The Ubiquitous Image, which included a wall of 5×7 prints of the sun and the moon, Images made from narrow slices of magazine prints, and large re-prints of old magazine advertisements.

There was also a series of satellite shows in the Tobacco warehouse, which highlighted photographs created using new, creative, or otherwise interesting post-processing techniques.

Talks, demonstrations, and presentations also occurred throughout each day of the festival, though my student pass did not grant me access to these events. Overall, attending the festival was certainly worth attending. Though the Festival may not be for everyone, I found it inspiring to see what contemporary photographers are doing and how new technologies and techniques are being used by professionals.

Through more-or-less pure chance, I’ve been to New York city twice in as many months this Spring. My most recent trip, which I signed up for back in January, was through the University of Maine Augusta, where I take a couple classes each year. I didn’t know anyone on the trip, which was great, as it gave me the opportunity to meet some new and interesting people, as well as explore much of the city on my own. The trip was also a very good deal at less than $300, which included a bus ride down and back, 4 nights in a hotel on the Upper West Side, a Broadway show, and and a day ticket to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Of course, I took lots of pictures, the best of which can be found on Flickr:
Photographs from my trip.

Here are some of the things I did while I was down there:

Wednesday
The bus left Augusta at around 8:30, and took about 8 hours to get to the hotel due to heavy traffic encountered as we entered the city.

After checking and dropping my stuff off in the room I would be staying in, I met out with some people I met on the bus and some other people in the group in the hotel lobby. We all decided that a trip down to Times Square for a walk around was in order. They city is definitely more spectacular at night, especially in Times Square, Rockefeller center, and anywhere else there is bright lights.

Thursday
Thursday was a solo day in the city, which was nice. In the morning, I took the Subway to Brooklyn for the NY Photo Festival (I’ll have an entry focusing on this in the next couple days). After that I got some lunch and ate it in Brooklyn Bridge Park, between the Manhattan and Brooklyn Bridge.
After that I took the subway back up to Time Square, where I stopped off for a bear and spent a few minutes going over my notes from the photo festival. After that I walked over to 5th Avenue, then up 5th Avenue past some of the most expensive places to shop on the face of the Earth. I continued up 5th Avenue, along Central Park, before cutting across back towards the hotel.

The Park was beautiful. The leaves were out and it was a warm sunny day. I walked passed people rowing in the pond and walked along some winding pathways. Eventually I made it back to the streets, and walked the 5 or so blocks back to the hotel, where I met up with some people to head out to dinner with.

I’m very greatful that these individuals (Jon, Rachel and Sarah) were all open to the idea of having Indian food. I love Indian Food! We went up to Amsterdam Avenue where I had spotted a nice looking Indian restaurant the night before. After eating we headed across the street to bar that just so happened to have 50 cent beers that night. Needless to say, I stocked up, as beer is about $5 or more per glass or bottle in the City.

Friday
This was the lest fun of all the days. It was pouring rain, windy, and I walked around for about 5 hours outside in this mess. I rode up to the Bronx zoo with some other people to got to the Zoo. When we got there it was pouring rain, so I opted to head back to Manhattan to see if I could get into the Guggenheim.

When I got to the Guggenheim, there was a line around the block to get in. Being the impatient individual that I am, I kept walking to see if I could get into the International Photography Institute, which according to my map was 2 blocks up 5th Avenue. After walking in circles not being able to find it, I finally asked a door man where it was; It had moved to 42nd street.

Frustrated, but not deterred, I decided to walk across Central Park and head back towards to hotel to eat some lunch and re-group. By the time I got back, I wasn’t felling so hot, so I ate my sandwich and took a quick nap. I got a cold (which I’ve seen to have shaken today), so that sapped my energy for the rest of the trip, though by no means did it put me out.

After the nap I headed down to the Financial District to hit up Century 21 and see if I could grab a nice shirt for the Broadway show. The Broadway show that night was great, though my cold and lack of sleep were definitely taking their toll at this point. I crashed as soon as we got back to the hotel.

Saturday
By Saturday morning the weather had turned nice once again, and it was our day to got to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Since it was such a nice day out I felt it would be wise to not spend the day indoors, but do some more walking around the city. The hour or so I spent at the museum was rewarding. I took the “Museum highlights” tour, which allowed me to view several works of art while having them described in detail by one of the Museum’s curators.

Walking around the Museum was a surreal experience. We walked through many rooms, and every time I looks over my shoulder I saw a famous painting or sculpture that I had seen somewhere, sometime before. There they were, right there. If it had been a rainy, miserable day like Friday had been, I certainly would have spent most of my day here.

Before leaving the museum, I met up with a couple who were interested in doing some more City exploring, which is what we did. We went further up 5th Avenue, then back into Central Park. The Park was much more crowded then it had been on Thursday. After a quick stop at the hotel, hopped on the train and headed down to the Village. We walked through the Village, making our way to Little Italy, where we planned to have dinner.

Once we arrived in Little Italy, the streets were blocked off for some kind of festival. There were tables on the side walks in front of all the restaurants. I got a beer and sat, watching people go by, while we waited for a couple other people to catch up with us.

We finally made our way into the back of one of the many Italian restaurants. Fuck the Olive Garden; this was the real deal. Our waiter was Italian, with a thick accent, and we were surrounded by tables full of Italian families. Two men came buy with a guitar and a violin and serenaded our table with song. To be honest, this was the first time the entire trip where I really felt like a tourist, but nonetheless it was a highlight of the trip.

After dinner we back-tracked through the village back to the subway system. There were a lot of gallery openings and other various parties. I looked in the windows and saw people in very dapper attire, sipping wine, apparently enjoying themselves very much. The streets were also very crowded.

We took the subway back as far as Lincoln Center, where we walked around for a bit. Unfortunately they were doing construction, so the fountain and lights were not visible. After that, we walked the 10 blocks back to the hotel. At this point I was both exhausted feeling the extra fatigue of my cold. My brain was mush. I went to bed.

Saturday
Saturday I slept late. Although it was the last day in the City, I was burnt out due to the cold I caught. I woke up, packed all my stuff, had something to eat, and took one final walk around the City near the hotel.

Although I had a great time, I was happy to get back on the bus and head back to Maine. I was impatient to get back, and exhausted, and I ended up sleeping most of the way back. I got back to my apartment around 9:00 and immediately went to bed in preparation for work the next day.

It was a great trip, which I’m still digesting now a week after it started> new York is an amazing City, and now that I’ve experienced it a couple times and realize what it has to offer, I hope I can keep going back.

Installing a FRD04-AUX Adapter for Ford CAN-BUS Factory Radios

NOTE:These instructions can probably be adapted to any Ford, Lincoln, or Mercury vehicle of the same vintage, and for any device that plugs into the AUX port in the back of the factory CAN-BUS radio.

Last winter I purchased my first iPod. I love it, but there was always a problem when I used the FM transmitter I purchase to listen to the iPod through my car radio. I live in Maine, which is not a large radio market, but there was always hissing and popping in the audio from the iPod, and the volume didn’t go high enough. Also, if I drove more than 20 miles, I would need to change the FM band to find one that was clear of 70’s rock, conservative talk radio, or whatever other crap happened to be within range.

This was a serious annoyance when I drive to NYC in April: It was at this point that I made up my mind to find a solution to directly connect my iPod into the factory radio in my Focus. The solution I finally settled on? The FRD04-AUX Auxilary Input adapter for Ford CAN-BUS factory radios.

This is a unit can be had for around $75, and has the added bonus of being compatible with any device with a standard audio output, not just iPods. Here are the other items I used to complete the installation in my 2006 Ford Focus:
- Ford factory radio, already installed in my vehicle (free)
- FRD04-AUX Adapter mentioned above ($70)
- Littlefuse Add-A-Circuit for ATO/ATC Fuses ($12.00)
- RCA to micro stereo adapter ($5)
- About 3 feet of 16 gauge wire
- 3 or 4 wire ties

DISCLAIMER: The following instructions described the installation of this device in my 2006 Ford Focus Wagon and is for information only. Please do your homework on your specific vehicle before installing this, or any similar device. You could void your warranty, blow a fuse, burn out your wiring harness, etc. Please make sure you know what you’re doing.

Prep:
1. Read the instructions that come with the adapter.
2. Disconnect car battery.

Removing the factory radio:
This is relatively easy.
1. Carefully remove the plastic bezel around the radio and heater controls.
2. Disconnect the cigarette lighter port from the back of the bezel. Let the bezel dangle out of the way.
3. You will now see the radio exposed. There are 4 screws, one in each corner of the radio. Carefully remove these with the proper tool, being carfeul not to drop them into the dash somewhere .

4. Pull the radio forward out of the dash once the screws are removed.

Connecting the FRD04-AUX to the radio:
NOTE: The instructions provided with your FRD04-AUX will provide more detailed instructions on this part of the process.
1. Connect the unit’s wiring harness to the radio is easy. Simply plug the appropriate end of the harness into the open port on the back of the radio. It’s the port in the center. The picure below shows the harness plugged in.

2. Feed the wiring harness more-or-less behind the glove-box area.
3. From the glove box connect the other end of the harness to the FRD04-AUX logic unit.
4. Connect the RCA to micro stereo adapter.

Connecting the FRD04-AUX to +12v power source:
1. Connect a wire the to the Add-A-Circuit with enough length to each wherever the FRD04-AUX will eventually reside. This will become the +12v Line. Follow the instructions provided with the Add-A-Circuit for information on how to install fuses in the unit.
2. Connect the Add-A-Circuit to an unused breaker on you passenger compartment fuse panel. I used the moon-roof circuit, as it is unused on my car.
3. Before hard wiring the FRD04-AUX into the circuit, connect the car battery and test the circuit to ensure it is working and providing the appropriate voltage.
4. After power to the circuit is confirmed, run the +12v line to the FRD04-AUX wiring harness and connect using you method of choice (please check FRD04-AUX instructions for the color coding of the +12v line)
5. Add a 7.5 AMP blade fuse into the 2nd fuse port (this is the fuse that will blow if there is something wrong with the AUX unit. NOTE: The picture below shows a 3 AMP fuse installed)

5. Connect the Ground wire from the FRD04-AUX wiring harness to a grounded point behind the dash. I did this by connecting an alligator clip to the ground wire on the harness, then connecting the alligator clip to a ground point, though I would recommend a more solid connection.

Testing and cleanup:
1. Before tucking everything neatly back behind the dash, reconnect the car battery and turn on the radio.
2. Push the “Aux” button on the front of the radio. If the FRD04-AUX is connected properly, you will see a “PIE AUDIO” or “CRYSTAL-LINE” message, plus some other information on the display. If it is not connected properly, the display will read “NO AUX AUDIO”.
3. If things are working, go ahead and hook up your iPod or other audio device and give it a listen. If it is too loud our quite when the volume on the radio is turned all the way up, there is a POT volume adjustment screw on the FRD04-AUX logic unit. (I didn’t feel the need to adjust mine). Be careful here - remember that the volume can also be adjusted from your iPod and you don’t want to over power your speakers.
4. Put the radio back in the dash and re-connect the mounting srcews.
5. Re-connect the cigarette lighter power connection.
6. Using the wire ties, mount the wiring and the FRD04-AUX logic unit neatly under the dash; make sure the logic unit is easily accessible in case you want to adjust the POT or connect another type of adapter into the RCA plugs.
7. Gently replace the radio / heat control bezel.

Rock and Roll baby! It’s done!

It’s a seamless installation and sounds great. My FM transmitter is now nothing more than a convenient iPod cradle and charger.