40 watt

InterviewProject.com

2009-06-01T10:26:00.001-07:00

of interest:InterviewProject.com

Shared via AddThis

shopping

2009-05-20T12:26:00.000-07:00

What I want for Father's Day

2009-05-18T08:24:00.000-07:00

Not Niigata by Andrew Phelps

Fall River Boys by Richard Renaldi

For those in the greater Los Angeles Area

2009-05-13T06:59:00.000-07:00

Affordable and handsome Lay Flat Editions

2009-05-03T11:20:00.000-07:00

Click here and go to "Editions."

You know, Mother's Day is coming up soon.

my major motion picture debut

2009-04-23T14:14:00.001-07:00

between 6:00 & 6:03:

Not to brag, but I've heard comparisons between myself and Deniro, Pacino, and Keitel.

It's a long story, I'll tell you sometime...

sexy

2009-04-05T09:48:00.000-07:00

hmmm... I woke up this morning to a barrage of spam comments from "sexy." I'm guessing that if you're linked on this blog, you did too. Sorry. If it was something I could control, I would. I'll try to enable comment moderation in the hopes that it makes our lives better.

it happened again

2009-03-09T12:38:00.001-07:00

One day it was fine. I opened it, resized it, saved it, etc. The next day it looked like this.

Could it have anything to do with squirrels? We've got a lot of squirrels here.

HOW MANY RADICAL FEMINISTS DOES IT TAKE TO SCREW IN A LIGHT BULB?

2009-03-05T09:08:00.001-08:00

Shut up, that's not funny.

Hey ladies, Women in Photography is offering a $3000 grant.

APPLICATION PROCESS OPENS: Wednesday April 1, 2009 12am
Link to online application will be made available on wipnyc.org.

DEADLINE: FRIDAY, MAY 1, 2009, 12AM

Apply, apply, apply. Well, when you can.

what just happened?

2009-03-04T13:20:00.000-08:00

yesterday this file looked like a picture. when I opened it today, it looked like this:

At Your Own Risk

2009-03-03T08:44:00.001-08:00

Damn... Mel, you had to go and post this. Then of course, it made me think of the last time I got sucked into a youtube background replay day. How come there aren't more crude rap songs about contemporary art?

Well, now that I've posted something I should be ashamed to spread around, let me bring attention around to two things I'm downright excited about:

Lay Flat

- I mean, come on, just look at all the great people involved and the exceptionally affordable price tag. I'm really just downright honored to be included in this one.

50 States Project

- this one too. 50 photographers and their different takes on one challenge/assignment. What I especially love about this one is that problem-solving aspect. I have to admit, when I was first approached, I was reluctant to take on any new commitments, but when I saw how many people were involved who I've been admiring for awhile now, I couldn't say no. This is a party I was excited to be invited to. Thanks Stuart.

my new favorite thing ever:

2009-02-25T20:24:00.000-08:00

just press it over and over and over.

oh wait, this one does it to photos. even better:

note: the photo is from my self-imposed studio lighting practice last weekend to see if I could make some sort of intense action-y basketball pictures. It was inspired by Sam's birthday gift- tickets to see the Harlem Globetrotters.

the random number generator

2009-02-20T09:40:00.000-08:00

is here.

While most of my work is shot on film, I do still have plenty of photos here that have been made with my Canon 5D. So, the premise of the game is simple: Use the random number generator to choose the photo to post.

today's number: 1531

happy valentine's day

2009-02-14T04:38:00.000-08:00

thanks Karen Eng.

cover songs: Justin James Reed sings Moonrise

2009-01-28T08:21:00.000-08:00

© Justin James Reed, Coeur d' Alene, Idaho, 2004

© Ansel Adams, Moonrise, Hernandez, New Mexico 1941

Awfully handsome. Both. Thanks Justin.

The List

2009-01-27T08:49:00.000-08:00

Each term in my intro digi classes, I force each student to draw a number out of a hat, and then give them an hour of class time to research the photographer that corresponds to the number on "the list." From that research, they're expected to give a 5 minute presentation basically covering the time frame of the work and the big ideas & images. I also schedule an additional 5 minutes for me to correct, add, blab, etc.
So basically we cram 170 years of photography into about 4 hours.

Each time I do this though, I can't decide on the list itself. In some cases, a photographer makes it on simply because their contribution must be noted. In some cases, because their work uses some important element that I feel like I should talk about and can't really think of anyone better. So, I guess I'm asking for input/advice/argument. Unless someone changes my mind in the next 6 hours, the list, this time around anyway, is going to be:

Niepce vs. Daguerre
Timothy O'Sullivan
August Sander
Lewis Hine?
Pictorialism
Paul Strand?
F-64 (Adams, Weston, Cunningham)
Man Ray
FSA (Evans, Lange)
The Family of Man
Robert Frank's The Americans
John Szarkowski's Mirrors and Windows
Eggleston's Guide
New Topographics
Richard Avedon's In the American West
Cindy Sherman's Untitled Film Stills
Gregory Crewdson
Maggie Taylor
Sherrie Levine and/or Richard Prince
Jeff Wall
Jason Salavon?

Who am I missing? Who am I including who I should let go of?

Also, keep in mind the academic context: community college, 4th week of class in an intro digi class.

Cover Songs: Brian Widdis

2009-01-22T09:56:00.000-08:00

Many thanks to Brian for being generous enough to send us a photograph that he'd made years ago, inspired by Ralph Eugene Meatyard's "no focus" pictures. Brian writes, "At the time, I justified it by claiming that since it was for a band and the style suited their music, that it was a legitimate choice. Fair enough, I suppose, but not something I would feel comfortable with today."

And a great post on Brian's blog from last Valentine's day to accompany it.

If you ask me, you're both just kind of honoring extra terrestrials:

alien-ufo-research

cover songs

2009-01-21T09:09:00.000-08:00

Years ago, while still in grad school, I had the good fortune to have my work reviewed by John Gossage. Moments before my scheduled session, painfully aware of the incomplete and foggy state of my work at the time, I mentioned to my good friend Mericle, that I really didn't want to have him even look at my work, but I just wanted to sit and hear him dispense wisdom. I didn't really want counseling, or advice even, I just wanted inspiration. I wanted a sermon.

Fortunately, for me, that's almost exactly what happened. At one point, fairly early on in the process, Gossage stopped at this photograph and said "You've got to get rid of that one. It's too much like the Stephen Shore picture. You know the one."

mine. forgive the color/sloppiness. This is the only one I could find and it's not worth the time today.

He was right. It was like the Stephen Shore photograph, but that was intentional. At the time, I felt like it was an allusion; a tip of the hat, a nod to a respected forefather, the recognition of my own life intersecting with that of the photographs that had inspired me or some such thing, but when Gossage came across it, he seemed to read it simply as some poor schmuck copying Stephen Shore. It left me feeling sheepish, as if I'd been caught trying to get away with something. Luckily, that photo led Gossage to some Stephen Shore story which led to some sort of Bill Eggleston-with-drink-in-hand-in-the-back-of-the-car story which led to some Bob Adams story, etc. and fortunately, we both just kind of ignored the work that I'd spread out before him and I soaked up his tales as if I were drinking beer in an Elk's Lodge.

Since that time, I've made the occasional photographic nod to other images, but never anything that sticks or seems to be anything more significant than blog fodder. Even so, I'm still really excited about the idea of "covering" other photographs, the way that musicians do. But of course, I guess the trick is that your work is good enough that it's got a voice of its own first (in hindsight, that was my problem with Gossage), but also that the original is recognizable enough that it's properly acknowledged & respected. Of course, you also need to be playing for the right audience too.

I don't know if there's anyone still out there, but if so, please, send in your "cover song" photographs or others that you're aware of. I know Aperture used to have a section devoted to this sort of thing: was it "Photo Echos" maybe? Something like that. How many of you have done a version of Eggleston's red ceiling /light bulb, or maybe even an Ansel Adam's Yosemite or some such thing?

Two reasons why I'm such a lame blogger anymore or How I spent my Winter vacation

2009-01-04T10:47:00.001-08:00

hmm... I guess you'll have to click to see it larger. From Buddha #6 by Osamu Tezuka.

the view from my room

2008-12-22T10:59:00.000-08:00

at the Holiday Inn LAX, while it's undergoing renovation:

My son and I have tried to fly back to Portland for each of the past two days, but the flights were both canceled. Unless something changes, we're crossing our fingers that we can get out on the 24th via Phoenix.

Photographicy Mystery: Strwberry Surprise

2008-12-13T08:04:00.000-08:00

This is pretty interesting.

One more thing to add to my Christmas List

2008-12-02T08:29:00.000-08:00

David Wright's print sale to support his upcoming trip to Uganda.

The photograph which was sealed

2008-11-23T18:20:00.000-08:00

Landscape Video Battle

2008-11-17T16:44:00.000-08:00

Good old Rocky Top

2008-11-07T09:21:00.000-08:00

When I was 13, about the time that that earlier photo of me freestylin' was taken, I was in a Junior High steel drum band known as "The Caribbean Drummers." It was the only steel drum band in Billings, Montana.

Because of this novelty, we were featured on the local evening news, and in an excruciatingly awkward moment, I attempted to "teach" a fumbling female newscaster how to play the introductory bass-line for our crowd-pleaser "Rocky Top." After she attempted, and failed, she made light of the situation and fumbled a transition to sports back at the camera. But within that six or seven seconds of transition, it wasn't clear to me exactly what it was that I was supposed to be doing? Looking at her? Looking at the camera? Looking at the drums?

By default, I subconsciously chose a hybrid of the three and looked downward, averting the camera, the drums, and her gaze, meaning I spent that entire period awkwardly staring at her breasts. Somewhere around here, there's a video tape. But I'm not going to go searching for it.

Since then, as I've previously posted, I feel like I've been perhaps a little extra self-conscious when faced with myself in a security camera, a reflection, or even a photograph. Is that really me? That being the case, it was with great trepidation that I took part in the video documentary portion of David Wright and Ethan Jones's "Pause to Begin". Well, today's the day that they've got the video podcast from our interview posted and fortunately, it's not nearly as embarrassing as I'd expected it to be.

See for yourself here.

It did seem though that there's some weirdness going on with the audio, but I wasn't sure if that was a technical glitch or could it possibly be the way I actually talk. Fortunately, I sent it to a friend and he reassures me, and testifies to you:

That is so weird. It is totally NOT your voice. It sounds like you've got an enormous aristocratic gourd attached to the bottom of your throat and your voice is sort of swirling around in there before it comes out of your mouth. How did they do that?

So, keep that in mind. Thanks Ethan. Thanks Dave.

UPDATE: My wife of thirteen years (yeah, really) just listened to it and thought that it was someone else talking. The audio's definitely been slowed a bit. Whew... I thought maybe that's what I really sound like.