friday

Dea and I are heading out for the weekend to the Denali Highway for a bit of camping at Tangle Lakes. It will be a bit dead around here, but I'll post photos of the the great Alaska wilderness when I return.

Also, before we pile in the car to head South...

White Wall Collective, a photography group from Detroit, and good friend Shawn Gust, both highlighted some of my work this week.

Also, today, Mel at Cigarettes and Purity posted about my recent interview with Tim Briner. Her blog is a wonderful recent discovery. if you haven't checked it out yet, you should.

Thanks to Emily, Shawn and Mel.


listening to Tapes 'n Tapes

blogging and sleep

i didn't get much sleep last night. when i'm tired i always find myself in mindless tasks- spending time that would be better used by sleeping. tonight i went through old blog posts and assigned them labels. i can't believe i just said that out loud (well, in my head anyway). i've truly sunk to new lows.

as i was just doing one last cruise through the blog world to check feeds for any last minute bits of info that i couldn't possibly live without, i realized that with each new label i added it registered as a new post. so, if you frequent this blog, don't be alarmed - i did not post 100 new posts tonight.

thought for the night...


listening to Billy Bragg

blogging > print

surprised tonight to see Conscientious' Jorg Colberg interviewing Chris Jordan on the pages of the new issue of Orion. Conscientious has been on my daily list of morning blogs for quite some time. Jorg has become a well know authority on contemporary photography in the blog world, and i'm thrilled to see that prowess parlay into a magazine effort. he has kept the same general format that has worked for so many other honest conversations with the likes of Alec Soth, Jeff Brouws, Richard Renaldi, Brian Ulrich, Amy Elkins, and many others.

of course, the conversation can't be complete without mentioning Chris Jordan's work as well. he's been highlighted practically everywhere lately, most recently over at Jen Bekman's Personism, and rightly so. check out his work for yourself, and read his interview with Jorg in the April issue of Orion.

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Drinking with Loomis

i talk about photographers that i like quite often in this space. i don't, however, spend much time with the editorial photographers - today i have a fine reason to do so. i stumbled upon John Loomis' blog recently, and it's been like a novel that i can't put down. this weekend i read every post in his archive. apparently, i'm a dork.

there are many fine art photographers giving the blog world the fix it craves, but editorial bloggers are a little harder to come by. i'm hooked on Loomis.

other guys i'm liking lately:
Brent Humphreys
Dave Lauridsen - it seems every time i take a second look at a spread in dwell, it's got his name on it.
Chris Buck - the reigning king of magazine portraiture - you can tell one of his covers from aisles away.

also, the 50 photographers/50 states issue of pdn is on the shelves, but i've yet to have it land in my mail box. some of their choices for the 50 seem...interesting.

time for a change

i'm in the process of changing over to the new blogger interface, so if things look a little wonky, stop by later and the format will be a bit more solid.

in the mean time, i'll leave you with the ghost of Chitina


listening to slim cessna

there's much talk about blogging lately, mostly on blogs mind you, but it seems as though more and more people are viewing the medium as a legitimate form of communication in the coming year. it's funny, but i'm still astonished at how quickly things move about the blog world. one quote, one image, one opinion can be copied a million times to different audiences in a second. valid, bastardized, manipulated, honorable- it doesn't matter.

a couple, not threatening, places i've stopped this morning:
- American Photo holds blogging to the light
- Arts Journal blogger Tyler Green mentions my Figge post in his Around the Blogosphere column.
- AB Blog (the home of Denver marketing mind Andy Bosselman) has consistant insights on the design, art, and architecture in Colorado- and recently gave Vitamin Cottage (my old cycling sponsor) a little punch in the arm.
- designer/photographer Roger Cline doesn't have much time for new camera technology...he makes his own. stunning.
- Jay Cornelious has a tantalizing video of Stepehen Shore on his site. damn i love to watch photographers work.

neglect

i'm certainly neglecting the blog as of late. it seems as though i'm in a serious winter funk in regards to my work. i'm impressed by those that don't let the darkness get to them up here. i don't feel like i'm creating anything very solid- not seeing very well.

i've been spending more time reading about other photographers much more than i've been creating images. that's not all bad, but doesn't scratch the itch. some places i've found inspiration lately...

-Jorg Colberg has a good interview with Richard Renaldi at his blog
-group-show has a good new lineup of talent
-i'm enjoying Jeff Brouws work, and anxious to find a copy of Approaching Nowhere when i'm in Chicago.
-also i've cycled through every video on the new Magnum site several times
-new issue of SEESAW

counting the days until we head to the midwest- 12 days.

catching up

big news today is that my brother and his wife finally had their bouncing baby boy. Caden Benjamin was born this afternoon and is doing well. it's times like this that i regret the miles between us.

on the photography front...

i'm continuing to shoot images for my '...from here' series. it's becoming more coherent, and i'm restlessly content with the progress.

i got to thinking this weekend about the way we display work on the web, and what impact that has to our perception of the series. there are two camps- those that allow the viewer to follow a progression of a project, and those that keep a series under wraps until it's complete. i'm drawn to the the notion of watching a project evolve, but wonder what impact, if any, this has on the end result. does watching the images come at you slowly take away from the drama of seeing the entire collection? or do we appreciate watching the series progress, and the anticipation of where it will go?


on a walk

listening to the shins.

aftermath

Sept 11th has come and gone, and in its wake several discussions concerning the documentation of that day five years ago have taken place. One of the most interesting is still being debated on Alec Soth’s website about an image taken five years ago, but making big news this week. I’ll skip the recap, and let you read for yourself the two posts, and comments, that Alec has facilitated on the 13th and today.

For my part, I find it a fine example of the role one's bias plays in interpreting an image- the role that we as viewers take in establishing the image's success and failure- for us alone. It’s what we choose to see- what awakens an appreciation for the image that is powerful.

In this image I see people engaged in a true representation of public discourse. It’s the act of absorbing the events and talking about them.Debate, education, and relating one's experience and views-maybe even finding answers- in a place and time where the essence of these actions is being threatened. I see this, five years after the fact, because it's what I want to see.

Personally an image with those same people standing on the wall waving flags with their fists in the air wouldn't raise the same feelings in me, but I can see how, and why, it would in others. It’s not a matter of whether an image fails or succeeds, because what is true for me, may not be true for you- therein lies the rub, and the beauty.

The image is much more powerful for the conversation it provokes, as we see on Alec's blog, than the image itself. Even after reading a response by one of the men in the photo- I fill in the blanks with my own perception, my own ideals. Can I look at an image completely without bias? Can anyone? Doubtful. The danger is in believing that your perception is the only valid one.

listening to kexp.

Web Watch Friday

Cool web bits were brought to my attention this week- here's a taste:

Alec Soth is online with a new blog.

I'm probably the last guy to find this, but web radio doesn't get any cooler than pandora.

Magnum Photos InMotion is finally live.

Basnky does it again.

bloggin'

it's no secret that i'm addicted to blogs. one of the best new efforts recently is sugarfrostedphotos. published by friends jeff and joe over at the how forum, it's a collaborative of photographers and designers coming together to produce a rather ecletic body of work.

tonight i posted a few images from this evening, and posted a couple below...

blogs

the blog is the new thigh master. the blog will be good for our mental health we tell ourselves. it will be an outlet. we will use it everyday to make us strong. others will laugh at our attempts to make ourselves better- until they too succumb to the pressure. all to finally let it rest, out of use, with the commodore 64s and ankle wights. oh the blog- such possibilities.

warning: having a blog may lead to feelings of inadequacy and bouts of procrastination.