This is the current design for my editorial promo card. As you see I used two images from my recent hunting assignment. I really appreciate how the images work together. If you have an opinion speak now or forever hold your peace. Card design by Brad Holderness.
Meet Kabir and his friend Enamul. Both are Bangladeshian - Americans living in New York City. I have had the pleasure to meet and photograph several families from Bangladesh. This Sunday I will spend time with another Bangladeshian family.
I recently ran across Rinko Kawauchi’s work while visiting Dashwood Books. In 2001 Rinko released a series of three books - “Utatane” (catnap), “Hanabi” (fireworks) and “Hanako“, creating an overnight sensation in the Japanese photography world. Rinko has continued to publish with great success, becoming one of Japan’s most popular female photographers.
Kawauchi’s themes of family, human interaction with nature and the cycle of life are photographed in pastel colors. Her work reveals exquisite delicacy, achieved through sensate compositions, a careful attention to texture and the cultivation of a beautifully clear, clean, often whitish light.
When I look at Rinko’s work I often see a mix of Wolfgang Tillmans and Jason Fulford. Like Fulford, Rinko has a background in graphic design. Both also find the sequencing of images as important as the making of them.
‘For a photographer, it’s a necessity that you can shoot stuff magically. Accidents are necessary, but after I take a photograph, it is not all done. I continue to work on it.’ She suggests that the editing and presentation of the work is as important to the final image as composing and taking the photograph itself.
Pingmag has a revealing interview with Rinko here.
This image is from the archive. I was shooting near a fountain when I spotted this kid submerged in water. I asked him if I could take his portrait. He said yes.
One of my favorite books of 2006 is Jessica Backhaus’s Jesus and the Cherries. The book is an accumulation of images shot between 2001-2004 in the small village of Netno, Poland. Much of the beauty in this book comes from the terrific pairing of still-lifes with portraiture. Jessica Backhaus is represented by Yancey Richardson.
Check out the work of Barry Stone. I am attracted to the combination of playfulness and intimacy in his work. Barry is a participating artist in the J&L project “Paper Placemats.”
Just a few images from my city wandering. Both images where shot while I was working on Parks and Recreation. Much of my work at that time involved concrete and grass.
I had the chance to flip through Jason Schmidt’s new book “Artists.” I have been interested in Jason’s commercial work for several years, but was not aware of this project. Jason has spent the last six years traveling to galleries, studios, and biennials to photograph artists in their natural environments. What Jason has accomplished is not just portraits of people who happen to be artists. He has created some of the most considerate and reflective portraits of artists, both in and around their work.
Each portrait is its own self-contained world, full of the mythology, symbols and methodology that inform, and ultimately become, the subject’s art.
This book has found a home on my bookshelf.
A few years ago I started a project entitled “Parks and Recreation.” The idea came to me after reading an article about New York City’s 1700 parks. Every week I set out for a new park. This particular image was shot at a park on Randalls Island. I read earlier this year that Joel Meyerowitz was asked by the city to photograph many of the parks. I am curious to see his results.
I recently ran across Tim’s work in the April Group-Show exhibition. As I was looking through Tim’s site I noticed a project entitled “Boonville, USA.” The title caught my attention because I grew up near a town in Missouri named Boonville. Tim is in the pre-production phase of the project which will take him to 6 towns across the nation all named Boonville.
the idea is to explore life in small town America by not only capturing individual stories but by exploring each town as a whole.
According to Tim’s blog, he will spend close to one month in each town. What a Dream! Tim recently received a grant from Cannery Works for the project. Dreams come true! Here is a chance to watch a great idea develop. Tim makes regular updates about the project on his blog “HaveYouSeenMyDynamite.”
Here are a few portraits I shot while living in Kansas City. I often spent my weekends driving around town, with a 4×5, looking for willing subjects. It was always exciting to walk up to a stranger and ask permission to take their portrait. Getting that permission here in NYC is far more difficult.
This is an image from a developing project I started a few months ago. I am spending one day a month shooting Glenn and his “kids” (a dog named Fritz and a bird named Petie.) Glenn has given me complete access to his family. Tomorrow, I am spending another afternoon with the Redmans. I will post more images as the project develops.
If you have not seen Brian Ulrich’s project entitled Copia, then you must click here. Brian, a resident of Chicago, has been shooting our consumer-dominated culture by visiting malls and thrift stores. Aperture just published MP3, a three volume set which includes Brian’s project Copia. Brian also runs a great blog entitled NOTIFBUTWHEN.
Here is my first “image of the week.” Look for a new image to be posted every friday. I will post both current and previous work. This particular image is one of my very first shots after moving to the Big Apple.
