Wednesday, November 24th, 2010
Sunrise over grazing horses in Texas
acuous is the landscape that rises to meet me in the morning, yet surprisingly, most people I meet are often astounded to hear how far away from town we live. Coming from Los Angeles I relish the ability to traverse 15 miles in less than 30 minutes; a heretofore unknown vehicular pleasure that I could not have imagined over five years ago before we moved. Pictured above is the scene that frequently greets us five minutes after we leave our house on our commute to town. And by us I mean Bodie and I who roll along mist drenched hillsides under dramatic fiery cloudscapes that scorch the sky as we drive to town. I can’t imagine a more inspiring start to our day.
Friday, November 12th, 2010
Hannah waits patiently for a pool party.
came across this quote years ago but despite ample searching have been unable to properly credit it. I recall it being attributed to a game designer at Nintendo who said that, “The best games are those that are simple to learn yet difficult to master.” I think this is one of the most apt and accurate descriptions of photography. The principles behind photography can be learned in an afternoon, but what happens next can barely be fit into a lifetime. The image above was taken at an empty pool in town with an 80 year old box camera; the simplest camera to use but the most difficult to focus. What initially seemed impossible turned out to be quite easy with the assistance of my trusty clamps, a cannibalized ground glass and a tape measure. I spent a dark evening a few weeks ago setting the focus for all my vintage and antique cameras. Once calibrated and recorded they prove divinely easy to use on location. My gratitude to my good friend Hannah who obliged me in testing my new applied theory of fixed focus calibration.
Saturday, October 30th, 2010
Skull of the Canis latrans
ometimes one of our four dogs will come home from roaming the adjacent empty property bearing a decomposing treasure of a particularly ripe vintage. On the rare occasion that something not of the bio-hazardous sort winds up in the vicinity of the back door it gets cleaned up and put on a shelf. The collection has grown and faded over the years as pieces are given away or acquired. The skull pictured above is one of three that I have collected. At the moment this one resides by the back door; aging and weathering until it reaches the ideal level of bleaching and patina.
Thursday, October 21st, 2010
Ian Ingram up close
ortraits were the subject of both the session and conversation of my recent shoot with Mr. Ingram. We spent a remarkable time together outside making some very dramatic images of him and getting in to lengthy exchanges about the history and lineage of this particular form of expression we both find ourselves in. Above is another scan from the sumptuous Fuji FP100c45 that is always such a surprise to work with. I was shooting 8×10 black and white and exposed this one to confirm the bellows factor in addition to a new set-up for checking focus. After all was said and done my depth of field moved into the neighborhood of 4 to 6 millimeters so I wanted to be sure that things were all lined up. If you are unfamiliar with Mr. Ingram’s work I highly recommend seeking out some originals to experience. I have been exceptionally fortunate in seeing much of his new series as he completes it. There is nothing like it and certainly nothing like seeing it up close and in person; his self portraits are staggering in their complexity, intimacy and size.
Thursday, August 5th, 2010
Behind Bars in Aisle Five, Currently On Display at the L. Nowlin Gallery
was recently excited to discover that one of my submissions to the first group show at Austin’s L. Nowlin Gallery was accepted. It is the image above and is on display at the gallery as part of the show “The Portrait” through August 14th, 2010. It is from a roll I shot with my Leica as part of my “Day in the Life” series. This is an ongoing time-capsule project where I shoot one roll across one day, of our boys and often focus on the more mundane aspects of childhood; for instance, shopping at the local grocery store. My hope is that many years down the road these more candid images will provide our family with an intimate look at our lives in years past. In case you are wondering, the cans in the foreground are one of the things our four dogs look forward to the most at meal time.