I originally posted this image fourteen years ago, when Kim and I were working on the ambulance, neither of us at our final occupational destination, but on our way, headed in the right direction.

Back then it was occasionally exciting, often boring, at times insane. It was a good way to help people, earn a living, and collect stories you'd be able to tell the rest of your life.

And every day was different. Cardiac emergencies, inter-facility transports, psychiatric emergency calls, fires, shootings, stabbings, diabetic emergencies. If I didn't see Everything, I sure saw enough to hold me over until Everything got there.

After reading THIS today...just last week I had to work for forty minutes to convince a crew member on set that the hospitals really Were full, that ambulances really Were waiting hours to drop off a single patient.

Back then, Kim and me in the ambulance, we'd pick up a patient, head to the hospital, and once there, drop them off. It'd take around 10-20 minutes (depending on how quickly we wanted to get back to work). We'd hand over paperwork to the nurses, we'd explain what was going on with the patient, we'd transfer the patient to a hospital gurney, and we'd be on our way.

We'd normally run between 7-10 calls. We were efficient, having a good time.

But now...waits lasting several hours...I can barely imagine what it's like. Having to stay with a single patient for hours while they're stuck on an ambulance gurney, they must becoming intensely uncomfortable.

The possibility that the patient has covid.

Not knowing when the hospital will be ready/able to accept your patient, forcing you to wait in limbo.

The physical and emotional drain of having to do that day after day, not knowing when things are going to improve. On top of the constant worry about contracting Covid.

Those days, fourteen years ago, they seem so simple as to be a fantasy. If I told the Kim in this picture what was to come, she'd have slapped me, then fled for the hills.

Tags:   1.8.07 Kim Van Groos Los Angeles polaroid sx70 polaroid 600 film portrait

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i was going to start slow, lead up to the good shots, but why fuck around?

had three photo shoots this weekend, used loads of film, several cameras, had to use a bigger bag to carry it all, two girls i knew, one girl i had only met a handful of times. it rained, it was hot, it was cold, there was trespassing, a bit of dancing, and i watched one girl devour a breakfast burrito,

first is Ricki, who is getting married this fall, one of four weddings i will be attending. next to her house is a construction site, where a new house will soon appear. but for now there is only a bunch of dirt. and an empty pool. it was worth the messed up pants and the pulled muscle, just to play around in what will one day be a place far too expensive for me to even look at.

and not to worry, those shots are coming.

Tags:   polaroid sX-70 Sonar OneStep portrait los angeles time zero ricki backyard 1.27.07 photo shoot Lou O' Bedlam louobedlam.com one of my all time favorite shots Lou Noble

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For some reason, the fact that Natasha, despite her fair features and lack of any discernable accent, is Basque fascinates me.

Perhaps because not too long ago I read a shitty spy book that featured a Basque sidekick, whose main purpose was basically to declare how superior the Basque people were to the French.

Maybe it is because the Basque people are at least as old as the Roman empire, are the ancestors of an estimated 75% of those living in Britain, speak their own language, and have their own form of violent revolutionary clandestine organization, ETA.

and who doesn't want to be in one of those?

perhaps it is because she is trilingual, whereas i really struggle to keep one language straight in my head.

but of course, natasha is much more than just Basque. she's full of stories. but this is only the first photo.

Tags:   Polaroid Big Shot portrait los angeles natasha 1.28.07 photo shoot Lou O' Bedlam polaroid louobedlam.com Lou Noble

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I've lived in the same city my entire life, which makes Natasha something of an oddity in my eyes. Born in Spain, moved a few times, lives here in L.A. at present, but often goes back to Spain to visit.

I rarely understand why someone would want to leave this city, but she showed me a photo of her hometown, an idyllic beach town, and I can imagine it, Almodovar-style, everyone speaking spanish with a lisp, the days passing easily, and without hurry, everyone looking as beautiful as Natasha herself.

And I can almost understand wanting to go there.

EDIT: okay, she was actually born in Northridge, CA, not Spain. but isn't the story much better my way?

Tags:   polaroid 680 los angeles portrait 1.28.07 photo shoot natasha basque top-f25 Lou O' Bedlam polaroid louobedlam.com Lou Noble

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While at a party last week, some guys I know were looking at my Flickr page, found Natasha's photos and immediately wanted to date her. Most people would leave it at that, a few humorous remarks about finding someone hot on the internet, some private sighs at how unatainable said person is. But not this time. This time they told my girlfriend, who was at the party, to tell me, who was at another party, that they would very much like to take Natasha out sometime.

And so the message passed from Tamara(my lady), to me(me) and finally to Natasha herself, who was, at the very least, incredulous. So I had to tell her the whole story. The party, the two dudes scrolling through my site, basically trolling for hotness, the game of Telephone that resulted in the email from me to her.

Will anything come of it? Does that really matter? My page is turning into Match.com, that's what's important here. I feel like a Russian crime boss, posting pix of the girls I'm having sent to america by shipping container.

"Natasha! she make very good wife! she cook! she no talk back! smoke with her, is okay!"

I should get some kind of commision if she ends up with a boyfriend out of all this.

Don't say Lou O' Bedlam never gives back!

Tags:   polaroid sx-70 onestep time zero film expired los angeles portrait polaroid 1.28.07 photo shoot natasha top-f25 Lou O' Bedlam louobedlam.com Lou Noble portrait

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