Sunday, September 19

road

Up


This image is from my recent trip to Reno. The photos ive started taking of poles and roads are somehow also related to this stuff. I am really enjoying playing with the constructed human landscape and how it contrasts and is mimicked natural forms. It was only after I worked on the photo sometime later that I realized the weeds were repeating the forms of the streetlights, and in the background hides a telltale electric pole. the plot thickens...

I am hitting the road this week and heading to the boarder of Oregon for shooting. The last time I went out of town there was no internet in the mountains, hopefully this will not be the case. In any event, I am bringing my whole kit, in the chance that I will get to do some good landscapes, I am also busting out the holga after its triumphant return from the deserts of burning man. I got to take some great shots off hours last trip, this time, I expect, will not be an exception.

needle-in-the-hay


Ive been taking a lot of self portraits lately, mostly because I feel that is what young photographers are supposed to do. I suppose at some point I will collect them up and see if there are any patterns, but for now, I am just having fun. This photo was taken in a hay bale (duh). I've noticed the color yellow showing up a lot in some of my recent work. When discussing this with Leanne, she pointed out how green vermont was, by contrast california is so yellow. everything is all dry and dusty, yellow fields spreading to infinity. Its a completely different pallet that what I am used to, it makes me both miss the east, and be happy for a shake up.

Its been great that I have still recived so much support from my east coast crew during my stint in Cali. Raffi sent me this link the other day to Julie Blackmon's photography.



I am not so much interested in her new color work as I am in her black and white serious called "mind games" you can check it out here
the forms and framing in these shots are spectacular, my personal favorite "trampline" a dark figure flys through the trees in a very sureal dreamlike way. To me this struck me with a real sense of summer ending and the fall, harvest and the family life. All things I can relate to in my current position. Def worth a peek.

Finalized some stuff with the naked lounge, show will commence on the 2nd, I hope you can make it:

DarkPostcardDemoFront

teaser flyer


til next time

for the wild...

Saturday, September 11

manic

road to oz 2010

I shot this photo after working a job outside Reno on Thursday. I am constantly driving places and wanting to pull over and stop to take a picture. If I did, I’d never make it anywhere. It was so rad to stumble upon these old lines in the middle of this empty field. This photo makes me just want to follow those tracks and find out where they lead…

power hay 2010

Catlin told me to stop taking pictures of power lines, but I cant. I see them everywhere and I am always intrigued by how they have become kinda this antiquated part of the landscape. Where as before they would be seen as foreign or in contrast with the landscape, now, for the most part, they blend seamlessly into the background, becoming a standard part of the great American landscape. Furthermore, these are interesting because they suggest that we are still very much bound to hard technology and energy. Our phones, and ipods may be wireless, but the infrastructure that supports them is still very much rooted in a system of non-sustainable energy. With all the wireless inventions these days, it is easy to forget where all that power comes from, and come out with a sense that we are somehow more sophisticated then a bunch of naked apes with headphones.

est dans la rue 2010

Richard and I had a conversation the other night about the role of art in society. I lamented over the tough life of a starving artist struggling to make his art, and how a visual artist has so much competition from a saturated free image market, that is barely possible to make a living. Richard said that the role of artists isn’t to self-sustaining, but to awaken the souls and senses of the populace. To get society to think about things in new and different ways. It stands to reason that the difference between an image creator and an artist, is that the artist uses his point of view to say something. These images of power lines and roads and train tracks speak to me, they resonate, they point to an emerging American aesthetic but im not sure if it is all the way formed yet. I hope to travel the roads in the spring and delve deeper into these…

closet apt 2010
Other than that, I sit in the cupboard under the stairs, plotting my return to media fame…

Tuesday, September 7

reno

Tonight I am leaving for a shoot in Reno. I’ve decided to leave my computer behind to be serviced, and hence will remain incommunicado for a few days. I am looking forward to the time away from the computer and the possibility of hunkering down to a good book. It will be like a mini vacation, except I’m getting paid. Ive never been to Reno, it’s the worlds biggest little city, or so they say. I’m looking forward to doing some gambling on a business trip, its like I am actually an adult…

Wagon Wheel

I am very close to setting up a studio space in the garage. I just need to get my but in gear. Its so easy to just waste away like a waif in the California heat, plus I haven’t really been feeling that inspired lately. I am inspired to say that I should be having a show in November, where I will show the “in the dark” collection. Ive been working with the art director at the Naked Lounge and it all seems to be going smoothly.

On a final random note, I am beginning to explore the idea of having my own personal web page, anyone out there know how to design one? I can't pay much, but perhaps we can work something out...

More detailed and fun post upon my return from reno, until then…


internet do your thing!