Photography by Ian L. Sitren

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Sepia Dreams From 2004

I first met Matthew Jordan Smith at a photographer convention and trade show in Las Vegas. He was doing a presentation and promoting his book “Sepia Dreams”.  In the ensuing years we would see each other again at photographer conventions and smaller photo industry events in Los Angeles.

Then just last week, we met up again, this time online, in a zoom presentation in a weekly series being done by photographer educator John Cornicello. So if there is a positive to the current world problems, it has forced us to find a way to become closer in some ways. Matthew is now living in Tokyo.

“Sepia Dreams” is an extraordinary work…. “a collection of wise words from and beautiful images of fifty black celebrities from the worlds of entertainment, art, sports, and more. Speaking candidly about the motivations and qualities they believe have made and kept them successful, each celebrity interview takes the form of a lesson-one that is useful in our daily lives, one that shows us that dreams can come true…”

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Photo Excursion Old Downtowns

A photo excursion on May 29th. Scenes and places we would often overlook, like a cleaners that many decades ago was the police station. This is the second half of this excursion exploring through old downtown areas. I have been doing photo excursions for a few years now. Others who have joined with me have been successful in their art of photography, painting and printing their works. This series shot on my Fujifilm X-T3 and XF16-55mm F2.8 lens.

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My Bunny Mask

I like my mask better than your mask! Just had a couple made for myself. From one of my photographs of “Bunny”, the Palm Springs Air Museum P-51 Mustang dedicated to Tuskegee Airman Lt. Col. Bob Friend.

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Annenberg Closed

Very sad news… The Annenberg Space for Photography today announced that it will be permanently closed. This was an extraordinary venue for photography and related events.

Annenberg

Photo Excursion

A photo excursion on May 29th. Scenes and places we would often overlook. I have been doing photo excursions for a few years now. Others who have joined with me have been successful in their art of photography, painting and printing their works. This series shot on my Fujifilm X-T3 and XF16-55mm F2.8 lens.

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Hasselblad Masters Passion

Published in 2008, I finally got a copy. I was one of the original subscribers to the extraordinary Hasselblad publication “Victor By Hasselblad” and collected the biennial Hasselblad Masters series. However Hasselblad Masters Vol. 1 “Passion” long out of print was not available. Until recently…

A search found Gregor Halenda, who is one of the photographers featured in that very first volume. He had a few new copies in original packaging for sale. I immediately purchased one and Gregor was kind enough to autograph it. An example of his feature in the book is here.

I am a huge fan of Hasselblad and it’s place in history. So on a personal level this is very exciting for me. And photographers are all fans of incredible photography.

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Open! Palm Springs Air Museum

OPEN! Yes the Palm Springs Air Museum is back open as of today June 1st. Truly one of the best air museums in the world.

If you follow me, you know I am closely associated with the PS Air Museum in multiple roles from photographer to the actual flying side of things.

So come visit and check it out. After all this Shelter In Place you will find it a great place to be. And you can still fly with us through June. Check it all out on the website at https://palmspringsairmuseum.org

And yes I shot this photo. Camera was a Fujifilm X-Series. Thanks!

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Photo Excursion Post Shelter In Place

My buddy Dennis Johnson and myself cancelled a photo excursion that was scheduled for the day the Shelter In Place went into effect back in March. And here on the day it was lifting we did do a photo excursion. Photographs here on my Blog this coming week. We were both shooting Fujifilm X-Series cameras.

Photo Excursion

Memorial Day Flyover

Many of you saw it on the news across the country. And many of you saw it in person. Sixteen World War II aircraft traversed Southern California over Memorial locations, hospitals and landmarks honoring Memorial Day and those people on the front-line of the pandemic.

I was honored to be on the crew with the Palm Springs Air Museum flying in the World War II C-47 “What’s Up Doc?”. Starting out the day we flew over the Coachella Valley with the C-47, the P-51 Mustang Red Tail “Bunny”, the P-63 Kingcobra “Pretty Polly”, a Vietnam War era T-28 Trojan, and a T-33 Shooting Star.

Along with the C-47 we broke off with the P-51 Mustang to join the other aircraft flyover twenty locations in the Inland Empire, out to Pacific View Memorial Park in Corona Del Mar, up the coast past the USS Iowa to National Cemetery in Westwood, east over USC Medical Center, finally landing at Chino Airport.

A huge Thank You to Threshold Aviation for hosting us and providing lunch and relaxation. Your hospitality was very appreciated by all.

Departing Chino, it was back to Palm Springs going up with the three other Air Museum aircraft for a flyover again of more locations in the Coachella Valley, out to the Patton Museum, back up through Twentynine Palms, over High Desert Medical Center, Yucca Valley, Desert Hot Springs and finally back to land at Palm Springs and back to the Air Museum.

Thank You to everyone for being so very supportive, those who cheered us on the ground, and to those to whom we owe so very much. Here are a few photographs of the journey.

Photographed on Fujifilm cameras, X-T3, X-H1, 50-140 and 16-55 f2.8 lenses. Thanks!

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