Harbour Island Locals

So as I mentioned in a previous post I was on a gig in Harbor Island and was lucky enough to have about a 1/2 hour to and an hour most afternoons to go and make some pictures. It was a lot of fun and is something that I probably would have not done a few years ago due to the fact that I used to not be comfortable shooting strangers. I've gotten over that now and it has expanded a whole world of possibilities of picture making. Here's 12 proofs from the trip.




Hotel worker on his way to his break.
Harbour Island, Bahamas 2008








Chico hanging out during a break from the shoot.
Harbour Island, Bahamas 2008








Men on their way to the boat dock.
Harbour Island, Bahamas 2008







Painter taking a cigarette break.
Harbour Island, Bahamas 2008






I've learned that kids can be tough. They almost always want to pose and smile but I think this one works.

Children on their way home from school.
Harbour Island, Bahamas 2008







My favorite landscape I've take in a long time. Notice the dead chicken to the lower left of the frame.

A clothes rack and a dead chicken.
Harbour Island, Bahamas 2008









A man on his way home from work.
Harbour Island, Bahamas 2008









Old cemetery
Harbour Island, Bahamas 2008








Sun breaks through after a storm.
Harbour Island, Bahamas 2008











Older man watching the sunset.
Harbour Island, Bahamas 2008









Young girl eating flavored frozen ice.
Harbour Island, Bahamas 2008









A little mixup for myself, a tight portrait. I've been getting tighter lately, something I plan on doing more of.

Portrait of a young man.
Harbour Island, Bahamas 2008


So I am now caught up on proof scanning all my latest processed film. I've shot some 4x5 portraits lately, so new negs are piling up for processing and now that the weather has been nicer I plan on shooting a lot more. I also have a new webpage in the works that I'm pretty excited about. I don't want to talk to much about it but I'll say right now that its not another portfolio site. Stay tuned.

The MassArt 20th Annual Benefit Art Auction

I donated a piece for the auction this year. They selected my Chuck Close portrait. It was nice to see it big and framed. Here's some little iPhone snaps I took of it at The Framers Workshop. It had been a while since I'd framed something myself but once I walked through the door I felt like it was 2003 again. You can see the listing for my piece here and take a peep at the rest of the work for auction here.

Contax and some books

So I've recently been shooting a bit with my Contax g2. What a beautiful little camera. So fast so compact it feels so good to shoot with. I've often shy away from shooting with it because I think that I might as well use my Canon 5D, but I get so much enjoyment from shooting with that thing. My friend Stephen Schuster uses it a lot. Check out his blog and website. I've picked it up again and started shooting some b&w, I plan on processing and scanning it myself to keep costs down. Its a nice camera for me to "sketch with". Here is an example of s shot from a year or so ago that I just scanned. Another thing is that the on camera flash looks great as well.



Kate waiting for the L train
Brooklyn NY 2008?


On some brain building stuff I've been reading two photo books lately. One is Image Makers, Image Takers by Anne-Celine Jaeger:

The sub title really bothers me, but the interviews are pretty interesting. It's been kind of like hearing lectures except you can't ask your own questions. I'm about half way through and even the David LaChapelle interview didn't bother me too much.

The other book I'm slowly getting through is Why Photography Matters as Art as Never Before by Michael Fried:

Damn this is a incredibly dense book, but I'm making it through slowly and its has brought some thoughts on contemporary photography to light that I haven't thought of before. It too has an annoying title.

Scannin'

So I've finally finished doing some quick Epson scans of the negs that I got processed a few weeks ago. This first batch is kind of random stuff I've shot and the second post will be stuff from Harbor Island, when I was there for work. I have to say again, I still truly love shooting film for my personal work. I feel like I get something out of the creative process that I miss when shooting digital. I never mean to down on digital, I think there are many advantages to digital over film, especially now with the high ISO shooting cameras that have come out. Also in editorial and commercial shooting digital has become an necessity. We're going to start seeing photographs in low light that could have never been made before, a huge advantage to anyone working in a documentary style. Working with film is just a different experience that I think everyone can learn from. I really like shooting with different formats and cameras which cause you to shoot differently.
Almost all of these are of Kate, god bless her on her being my constant subject. These are some seasonal photos of different times in New England.








Kate & I going shopping at a strip mall
Seabrook, NH 2008





I did a really wide portrait of Derek that I posted a few months ago. I really liked the feel of it so I've been experimenting with that style a bit more. I guess its an extreme version of my usual full length environmental portraits that I make. I really like this one a lot too.

Kate in the dunes
Salisbury Beach, MA 2008








Kate & Shug on a walk 1
Amesbury, MA 2008

Kate & Shug on a walk 2
Amesbury, MA 2008







Kids taking a break from jumps
Fremont, NH 2008









Dunes Motor Inn empty in the off season
Hampton, NH 2008

Show in Dec.

I was going to keep this on the down low for a while but I just got informed by my friend fellow Mass Art Alum Kim Beury that she received an email promoting this years shows at Eastern District which is a new gallery in Bushwick Brooklyn. So I guess this is my first informal, save the date post about the show I will be having. Like I said, I was going to hold off for another few months or weeks to post an anouncement, but if people are already hearing about it I might as well confirm. So the scheduled opening is for Dec. 11th from 7pm-10pm and the show will run from Dec. 11th-Jan. 10th. It will be selected images from my personal work that has been shot from the past 6+ months and pictures I have yet to make from now till probably early fall. I will be pushing this show pretty hard when the time comes so keep an eye out toward the end of the summer.

another quote

I apologize for all these quotes. I've just been scanning and while the epson does it's thing I've been catching up on a lot of blog reading. Here's another great one.

"Nothing is original. Steal from anywhere that resonates with inspiration or fuels your imagination. Devour old films, new films, music, books, paintings, photographs, poems, dreams, random conversations, architecture, bridges, street signs, trees, clouds, bodies of water, light and shadows. Select only things to steal from that speak directly to your soul. If you do this, your work (and theft) will be authentic. Authenticity is invaluable; originality is nonexistent. And don’t bother concealing your thievery—celebrate it if you feel like it. In any case, always remember what Jean-Luc Godard said: “It’s not where you take things from—it’s where you take them to.”

via Tim Gruber's Blog and this quote was taken from here

Quote

We drink too much, smoke too much, spend too recklessly, laugh too little, drive too fast, get too angry, stay up too late, get up too tired, read too little, watch TV too much, and pray too seldom. We have multiplied our possessions but reduced our values. We talk too much, love too seldom, and hate too often. We’ve learned how to make a living but not a life. We’ve added years to life, not life to years.
-George Carlin

R.I.P.

via activateyoself blog

Wandering Wayfarer Word which to wonder about: Precarity

precarity

I'm sorry I can't remember where I got this from, my apologies to the source.

Quote

"It seems to me more and more obvious that there is no reward in art worth seeking, other than doing the work." - John Szarkowski

Seen on twitter from consumptive

Scannin'

Just got some film back. I'll be scanning it over the next few days. Keep an eye out for a new post.

Muy importante

"Quincy Jones has started a petition to ask President-Elect Obama to
appoint a Secretary of the Arts. While many other countries have had
Ministers of Art or Culture for centuries, the United States has never
created such a position. We, in the arts, need this and the country needs
the arts--now more than ever. Please take a moment to sign this important
petition and then pass it on to your friends and colleagues. "

http://www.petitiononline.com/esnyc/petition.html

Seems like it, no?

stolen from CONSTANT SIEGE

1 Snaps

I felt like I had to post something. Been a while. Winter kind of sucks. I love the change of seasons but making pictures outside in it is tough, I do make pictures indoors and I do make portraits indoors but I prefer wide open spaces for my personal work. I recently made this landscape, which I also shot on 4x5, I'll post that and probably repost this shot as well as a comparison. This was definitely the first time I've really used my canon as a "polaroid" for something I shot on film, in particular the with the 4x5 camera, which I really want to do more in the future. I've also pushed the color a bit here which is a continued experiment.


Snow mound in a mall parking lot.
NH, 2009

Color

So I've been really playing with my color files a lot lately. Here are a couple of tests I've done. I think I want to head in this type of direction, really push how the color feels a bit. It's funny cause I've really hated photoshop for such a long time but now (it was like an necessary evil) but in the last couple of months I've started to feel comfortable enough to start playing a bit almost feels like I'm back in the darkroom again. Love any feedback.



Kate & Shug on a winter walk 2009







Hugh with the flag on the fourth of July 2008








JS New Years Eve 2009

Great quote to start off the year...

"I had been sitting by Hoan Kiem Lake one day in June 1995 when the thought took hold that I had to go home to photograph. It was not so much that I missed home, but that I was, at long last, ready to face the challenge of photographing in the United States. I wanted to make the American landscape my own again.

My first American project after my travels was, looking back, preposterous: to make a body of work of New York at large. Preposterous because New York had been monumentalized in photographs in seminal ways during the last century. After Diane Arbus, Walker Evans, Robert Frank, Lee Friedlander, William Klein, Helen Levitt, Weegee, Garry Winogrand and others, who needed more pictures of New York? But once you start down that road of thought, you might as well ask yourself, who needs more pictures period? I gave a nod of appreciation to my predecessors, then forced myself to forget about them."

Mitch Epstein. From "Work".

Stolen from: http://peterhalupka.blogspot.com/

Happy New Year!

Sledding

Just thought I'd do a quick post of some pictures of I took today in the snow up in NH. Kate and I took her niece and nephew sledding. Wasn't a ton of snow but just enough to get a few rides in. My postings of my own flicks have been somewhat scarce due to shooting film lately, but here are some digital pictures I took today.

Harbour Island, Bahamas

I just recently came back from an assisting gig in the Bahamas working for Ben Watts. Was a great time with a new group of people I had never worked with before. Everyone was super nice and I made several new friends. I also took advantage of my time there, we usually had about an hour of daylight left at the end of the day and I went out and photographed the locals as well as a few landscapes. I'm super psyched to get the film back. Probably won't be scanned and posted for a month with the holidays and all. It was great to take the snaps I usually make on my travels a bit more seriously and hope I made some keepers.

Thanks so much to Raegan and Ben for giving me my first shot at working with them on such a long gig. Also thanks to Andrew Stinson for hooking me up those guys and vouching for me.

Can't say I agree with it all...

but he definitely brings up some valid points and some interesting critiques on photography, especially in relation to the web and "party" photography. Definitely worth the read.

Stop Making Sense an essay by Brad Troemel.

Adorama "ONES TO WATCH" party

Here's the party info. Unfortunately I won't be able to make it, I will be out of town working. If you go let me know how it went.

Hova brings it back

I'd almost given up on the old chap...
oh yeah and video is sick too...

Jay-Z on iLike - Get updates inside iTunes

Adorama "ONES TO WATCH" book

I just received an email that I have been included in the first edition of "Ones to Watch" book put out by Adorama. Happy to be apart of it. Psyched for the free publicity and hope to win one of the fancy prizes which they haven't announced yet. In the email they sent to me they included all the other winners emails. So being the nosey person I can sometimes be, I went through the emails to look for url's to see who else will be included in this book. Not everyone had their url in there email but most did. I have to say it was the usual mix of good, bad, and few I was impressed by. The best work I saw was from Ben Roberts. His work is really, really good. Check it out when you have a moment, you won't be let down.

I'll put up a post when they send out promo emails for the party and book, which will probably be in the next week or so.

Quote

“You can capture life, but you can’t control it.”

- Robert Frank
via The Constant Siege

Two people I'm feeling right now...

Check out the work of Greg Miller. From what I read briefly he just finished his Guggenheim Fellowship. Amazing body of work that I'm still making my way through. Also really feeling the "Cruel Story of Youth" project by Jennifer Loeber. Her other photographs aren't too bad, but this particular project is pretty nice.

Not sure if you've noticed but I've streamlined the blog a bit, thank you Nick Haggard for the help and tips. If you've never seen Nick's pictures before its definitely worth checking out. He's also started a blog.
Just purchased my own 150mm lens for my Toyo so I'm hoping to make some new photos over the holidays and working on the "People You May Know" (working title) project. Feels weird about titling it but I can't just keep calling it "the project".

UPDATE: I just received a super nice email from Greg Miller thanking me for mentioning him on my blog. He had some very nice things to say about my work and also mentioned that he's only halfway through his Guggenheim Fellowship (6 months more). So definitely keep an eye out for new work from him over the next year.
As well as being a great photographer Greg teaches large format photography at the ICP in NY.

New 4x5

Here are some quick scans of two new pictures I made a week or so ago. Super psyched on the large format. Still need to get used to it a bit, want to be able to add some light so I can make my shooting times more flexible.






Lilla and her daughter Bliss waiting for grandma.
Plum Island, MA 2008








Aidan his wife Olivia near the end of her 3rd trimester
Rowely, MA 2008

Skateboard Decks

A little while ago my good friend and sometime collaborator Zach Johnsen called me and asked if it was cool if our first t-shirt collaboration (see them here, here, here, and here) could be used on some skateboard decks. "Of course", I said and that was it. I kind of forgot about it till recently. Check them out here. I haven't seen any in person but I think they look pretty cool. Also, I just did product shots of Zach's new belt buckle company, Death Metal Belt Buckles. Not sure what the url will be for them but I'm sure through Tank Theory or Tank Theory's blog you'll be able to see them in a week or two.

Here a peek of the two designs they went with:







In other news I just got my first sheets back with the new 4x5 camera, hope to scan them over the weekend!

James Nachtwey

I had the honor of shooting James Nachtwey. Who is one of the most famous living war and conflict photographers. There is a great documentary on him called War Photographer. This isn't what ran in the mag, they ran a different version of the close-up. You can see it in the new Swindle Magazine Icons issue 3. I have a couple other portraits in there as well, should be on newsstands now.






James Nachtwey
NYC 2008

Richard Renaldi

Some nice large format portraiture here. I suggest looking at "figure and ground" first.

Nice, new online photo mag

From the guy who brought you the We Can't Paint blog is a new online photo magazine called Wassenaar. Check it out when you get a sec. I think it is something to pay attention to.

More Hasselblad stuff...

Finished some quick scans of the rest of the film I had, here's a few more I'm feeling. A mix of strangers and friends I've photographed. I also added that picture of Michelle to my regular site. Check it out when you get a sec. I've edited my site down a bunch, love to get some feedback.



Clay Patrick McBride showing off his gold tooth and trusty Super 8 camera
EAW, Upstate, NY 2008








Revolutionary War Reenactors in front of home
Upstate, NY 2008








Teens with prizes
Topsfield Fair 2008








David Hartman finishing a cigarette
LES, NYC 2008

Film + Hasselblad = some new portraits

It's been a while since I've posted my own work. It's mostly because I am shooting film for my personal stuff and the whole process takes a lot longer for obvious reasons. Here are two that I scanned last night. I'm thinking of adding the one of Michelle to my site, I did a high res scan as well that I'll do a final retouch on tonight. But for the most part it will look like this. As for the other portrait of my brother, I really like what is going on there, I think its an idea to use for the future. I also have some stuff scanned from this summer shooting up at the beaches, I'm on the fence about posting them yet. It's not that I don't like them, I just think I want to hold off on them to be shown within a larger edit or when I have a more concise idea of what I plan to make them into. I have 3 more rolls to get through tonight. Maybe I'll do another post before the weekend is up.

I also got a 4x5 camera again. This time its not a frankencamera like the last one. This is a real deal Toyofield camera and has been really fun working with. I'm getting some sheets processed this week. I'm really enjoying shooting from a tripod again, which was something I was trying to avoid with that last nightmare of a 4x5 camera I had tested. In college I shot 99% of the time on a tripod and tried to break that habit and loosen up once I was shooting 35mm digi, but lately I am realizing it is a better way to work with how I make my photos these days. I swear its always a push in a new direction that in the end brings back some aspects of my past, especially right now with the 4x5 and tripod.






Michelle Clark on her birthday
Boston, MA 2008






This one of Derek almost takes to an extreme the environmental portrait style I've been doing the past year or so.

Derek Amengual with a glass of milk
Newbury, MA 2008
He's been showing some great landscapes on his blog lately.

Patriotism

St. Marks, NYC 2008 Election Night

Great quote

“It is not from the sons of the millionaire or the noble that the world receives its teachers, its martyrs, its inventors, its statesmen, its poets, or even its men of affairs. It is from the cottage of the poor that all these spring.”

- Andrew Carnegie

via The Constant Siege

Yes!

In other good news Question 2 passed in MA, decriminalizing possession of under once ounce of weed, a.k.a..

In sad news Question 8 was passed in CA, banning gay marriage.

War

"Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed.

This world in arms is not spending money alone.

It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children. The cost of one modern heavy bomber is this: a modern brick school in more than 30 cities. It is two electric power plants, each serving a town of 60,000 population. It is two fine, fully equipped hospitals. It is some fifty miles of concrete pavement.

We pay for a single fighter plane with a half million bushels of wheat. We pay for a single destroyer with new homes that could have housed more than 8,000 people.

This is, I repeat, the best way of life to be found on the road the world has been taking.

This is not a way of life at all, in any true sense. Under the cloud of threatening war, it is humanity hanging from a cross of iron. These plain and cruel truths define the peril and point the hope that come with this spring of 1953.

This is one of those times in the affairs of nations when the gravest choices must be made, if there is to be a turning toward a just and lasting peace. It is a moment that calls upon the governments of the world to speak their intentions with simplicity and with honesty.

It calls upon them to answer the question that stirs the hearts of all sane men: is there no other way the world may live?”

Dwight Eisenhower 1961

I stole this quote and post idea from The Constant Siege. I've told many people about the movie Why We Fight and seeing up on Mr Cubitt's blog gave me a kick to repost it on mine. I think it is one of the best documentary films I have ever seen. You can catch it in clips here on YouTube. Even McCain makes an appearance. I was actually very blown away by him and remember thinking, "Wow, for a Republican he's not that bad." Its funny how the pursuit of power corrupts. You do actually see him turn into a bitch when he gets a phone call from Bush, so I guess that was just a hint of things to come. Please watch it. For the conservatives out there, I promise this isn't a "Michael Moore" type "documentary".
Also, I just found the full film on google video:

Bill Eppridge

Bill Eppridge
RFK Ambassador Hotel on June 5, 1968

Bill Eppridge's work is a legacy of photojournalism. The access and trust that he has been able to get from his subjects is incredible. I've had the privilege of hearing him talk several times at the Eddie Adams Workshop and I am blown away each time. Here is a little bio, although the gallery link there doesn't really do him justice, look here instead.

and this clip of him talking about Obama's energy, which I find pretty inspiring...

Erika Larsen

I'm really feeling her work right now. Check it out here.

I'm not a huge fan of...

all street art. Sometime it just tries to hard. But a new guy on the scene, Mr. Brainwash, has got all the necessary elements for good street art: Its bold, its political, it's not too artsy, its smart and a few more I can't think of right now. Check out how great this image is:



See more of his work here.

So this is where Superman lives...

Photograph by Carsten Peter

Simply amazing. Read more here and here.

Great photographers

So I just put together this list for some students I had at The Eddie Adams Workshop. I'm often asked whom are my favorite photographers, that has changed over the years. Looking at my photo books on the shelf right now I am realizing that I am forgetting some people, but this list is mostly made of people who don't have books, whom are not the usual names people throw around. Some, I'm very proud to say, are close friends of mine.
Too many to make hot links for, so I apologize for you having to cut and past. The first third is more documentary and photojournalist. Enjoy!

http://www.matteichphoto.com/display?enter=true
http://jamesrexroad.com/index.htm
http://farahnosh.com/index2.html
http://www.simonnorfolk.com/
http://www.pieterhugo.com/index.html
http://www.carldekeyzer.com/
http://www.joakimeskildsen.com/
http://rafalmilach.com/
http://www.andresgonzalezphoto.com/index1.html
http://www.simbapix.com/
http://www.davidrochkind.com/main.php
http://www.jocelynbainhogg.com/Portfolio.cfm?nK=2502&nL=1&nS=2
http://dylanvitone.com/
http://www.peterbeste.com/houston_grp1.html
http://www.syewilliams.com/main_bodyslam.php
http://www.weepingash.co.uk/links/trj/trj01.html
http://www.simoncroberts.com/site/movie.html
http://www.coreyfishes.com/#/fish-work-norway/4/
http://www.andreadiefenbach.com/
http://www.digitalrailroad.net/borotov/Default.aspx
http://www.billcharles.com/index.html (so many great photogs rep'd here)
http://stevenbrahms.com/
http://www.dannyclinch.com/
http://www.joshualutz.com/#a=0&at=0&mi=2&pt=1&pi=10000&s=0&p=0
http://www.thomasprior.com/
http://alecsoth.com/
http://www.ahetherington.com/#mi=2&pt=1&pi=10000&s=0&p=1&a=0&at=0
http://marklikosky.com/
http://www.earth-talks.com/ (diptychs)
http://www.melanieschiff.net/slideshow/1.htm
http://michaelschmelling.com/
http://www.chrisbuck.com/Default.aspx?MenuItemID=47
http://www.briansorgfoto.com/main
http://www.emilianogranado.com/
http://www.rjshaughnessy.com/
http://davidblackphotography.com/index.html
http://justinhollar.com/#
http://www.mcatanese.com/index.html
http://www.markhartmanphoto.com/#a=0&at=0&mi=1&pt=0&pi=1&s=0&p=-1
http://www.francescaromeo.com/
http://www.josephrynkiewicz.com/
http://www.jasonlazarus.com/
http://www.mitchepstein.net/
http://www.joaocanziani.com
http://www.keirnanmonaghan.com/#
http://www.andersonhopkins.com/kereszi/lk_reviews_articles.html
http://www.anthonyblasko.com/
http://www.ianbaguskas.com/
http://www.adamfedderly.com/
http://www.rachelbarrett.net/
http://www.barneykulok.net/
http://boruobrien.com/
http://www.knotan.com/index2.html
http://www.gretaanderson.com/
http://www.brianfinke.com/
http://www.granser.de/granser.html
http://vincentskeltis.com/home/
http://www.thesearemypictures.com/
http://www.mattguntherphoto.com/
http://www.michalchelbin.com/chelbin.htm
http://www.flickr.com/photos/senyoriguana/
http://www.edelmangallery.com/misrach.htm
http://www.whitneyhubbs.com/index.html
http://www.nathanbaker.org/rupture
http://www.kategreenephotography.com/index.html
http://rehearsalsfordeparture.com/index.html
http://www.brianbermanphoto.com/
http://www.luhringaugustine.com/index.php?mode=artists&object_id=67
http://www.magnumphotos.com/Archive/c.aspx?VP=XSpecific_MAG.BookDetail_VPage&pid=2K7O3R151HV4

please let me know who your feeling.

interesting point

I'm a super hater of "referencing", of course I have a a lot of influences but still I've seen some much "referencing" it drives me crazy. But this take from one of my favorite blogs Conscientious is a good point,

"Interestingly enough, what gets people so riled up in photography is taken for granted and widely accepted in many other art forms. For example, in music certain artists are just accepted as influences for generations of later artists - without the endless "ripping off" or "just copying" "discussions" that we see in photography. There are occasional discussions about someone ripping off another artist, but these are fairly rare, and usually, they are usually also very obvious (and, often, it's all about money)."