nonprophet photo

for Fall...(some spooky things)

2006-09-29T15:11:00.000-07:00

(if any of you are even checking this blog anymore... Sorry! I promise to get better... These were taken on my recent trip to Scotland. EOS 1D and a Lensbaby.)

migo's house. (st. louis)

2006-08-07T15:32:00.000-07:00

2006-06-30T12:42:00.000-07:00

RIP... Johnny C.

2006-06-14T17:35:00.000-07:00

I was a wide eyed fresheman, having just started a new school district when i went to high school. I didn't know anyone and i was taking it all in. My first PE class we were all assembled, listening to Coach Portis talk about what our semester would look like. And, rolling up late to class with his schedule in hand, was Johnny.

He was cool. He was a junior i think, and all i could think was that guy is cool. He had the long hair and chicks loved him. He got along with everyone. He was also notorious for having the loudest, deepest bass in any sound system in any car i had ever heard... a ride in his car meant having your intestines massaged by Rob Bass. Keep in mind, this was a time when this wasn't the cliche it is now.

Over the years i would get to know him better, and i'm sure he probably saved my life at one point, as he was always the designated driver keeping an eye on all of his younger brother's friends (us). He was a kind person, and a softy, no matter how cool he wanted to come off. It is with profound sadness that i publish this post. We will miss him.

May 1 2006

2006-05-31T15:18:00.000-07:00

kids dancing

2006-04-27T00:45:00.000-07:00

taken with a holga. 120 film

these were taken in South Africa (i wish i could remember the name of the place right now...) I was on a trip with ten artists and my two teachers, Rose and Claire. We were visiting the home/studio of Noria Mabasa, a 68 year old woman and venda artist. (more with her later)

The children were from the village, and if i remember correctly most of them were related. Funny if i think about me and my 11 cousins getting together to dance in a circle... The kids put on this dance for us, which worked also as a bit of a fundraiser for them as well.

It's always interesting to me that people can seem so different when they are still, or from a "distance", but as soon as they do something, eat, laugh, dance, talk, write, it is again revealed that we are all the same. Sure it's a different dance than i know, to a different kind of beat, skin color, location, all that... but the people inside these appearances, the confidence, the fear, the clutziness and agility, eagerness and boredom. The same as any dance recital with any children in the world (my guess).

Ah, springtime in Oside

2006-04-19T19:45:00.000-07:00

and all the shopping carts are in bloom...

where i live...

2006-04-18T15:05:00.000-07:00

you see this.

the Paddle Project

2006-04-15T12:26:00.000-07:00

These are the hands of Julia Turner. they are magic hands. some jewelers make jewelry, some make art. Carrie and Julia taught me that.

This photo was taken for this project. A great idea for a great cause (with more longevity than a colored rubber band).

China

2006-04-06T01:23:00.000-07:00

whole bunch of people in china... here are some photos without any.

2006-04-06T01:19:00.000-07:00

2006-04-06T01:13:00.000-07:00

2006-04-06T01:09:00.000-07:00

september protest in DC

2006-04-04T02:44:00.000-07:00

apathy is a luxury many (US)americans seem to be able to afford these days. i'm not really sure how, considering how much we already pay for fear and ignorance...

still protest can be an odd thing sometimes. screaming and finger pointing is not my cup of tea sotospeak. it can tend to remind one of a family gathering gone bad.

that said, it does have its place and i went to DC to check it out. my mom and I decided to make the trip out on a whim, just to join the numbers and watch it all go down, and of course take some photos. the best part for me was to be there with my mom... reminiscent of the days when i was little and she would take me to marches having to do with the arms race.

the thing i will take with me forever from that day has to do with the photo of the man sitting on the curb (below)... i was dead tired. i'd flown on a red eye to DC from San Diego. I'd gotten one hour of sleep. a few hours later and after about 50 speeches about every plight from palestine to uganda, we were marching with hundreds of thousands. I was freakin exhausted and in pain. I'd run a marathon before, but never experienced anything like this.

I turned to my mom at one point and asked if we could sit down. The man you see in the photo overheard me and asked if we would help him find a spot to rest as well. Turns out he was blind. This blind man was protesting in this hoard of people, all by himself, carrying his cane and this tiny blue flag.

as i sat next to him on the curb i snapped this shot. it's not the best photo, but i did not feel good about setting up some perfect photo or exploiting the situation past necessity. I really just took it so i would never forget him.

my favorite photo

2006-03-30T01:27:00.000-08:00

a quarry in wisconsin. 120 film.

well there it is, my first photo (below) and my favorite (above)... end of blog.

i guess the question is why is this my favorite? the most real answer i can think of is the one that sounds the lamest: almost every part resonates inside me. it plays all my chords. and beyond that, on the "technical" side... it came out exactly the way i saw/felt it, which i think is usually the aim of every photographer from the pro to the tourist.

quite honestly the more digital photos i take the more i long for film. the chemical reaction. and i hardly ever print out digital shots because the idea is ridiculous in my mind. the medium is light and numbers. a print out is a thin layer of ink translated from that code onto paper. and as soon as that happens it is the same as a print of a painting. film is chemical, even in the print.

this photo was also important because it was film. when i started getting into photography, it was with a digital camera. But as a painter i couldn't stand how instantly gratifying or how non touchable it really was. again, that chemical reaction. so i dove back into film cameras in order to get the "feel". i bought every old camera i could find from brownies to broken polaroids, which i would convert to working order (brownies shooting outdated 160 film could be bent and pried to fit a 120 spool if careful enough) just to see what sensibility each little box would reveal.

my first photo

2006-03-30T00:52:00.000-08:00

why not start with the first photo i ever took. i was probably 7. hell yes it was a polaroid. i fell in love instantly (get it?).

this is mom and dad. we had been given this camera for free if i remember correctly... for going to look at a timeshare opportunity. It was an "incentive giveaway". It had a rainbow strap and i thought it was the most high tech thing there ever was. I remember being honored to be given an opportunity to actually take a photograph. Such responsiblity. You can measure that responsibility by the look of uncertainty on their faces.

I'm six and i'm holding the incentive, aiming it at my parents, trying to prove to the world that i am capable.

It would be another 20 years before i would even recognize this pattern...