Alan has helped me out a few times over the last couple of weeks and during that time he got to fill the traditional assistant roll of being the light test model. Except the traditional light test model doesn't have a mustache that will kick your ass. Mustache May, get ready for this dude.
My friend Philippe Cheng makes great unexpected photographs. I was shooting a factory in Piedras Negras, MX and saw an opportunity to tip my hat to him.
(p.s. the link is to his blog where he posts abstract photographs)
Out take of a shot from yesterday. It's a crop but I sort of liked how it looks this way. Still on the road. Ready to be home for sure.
En route back from the Whiskerino Throwdown (super blast!) we dropped into a Tennessee gas station and grabbed some Lotto tickets. I think Alan won biggest by getting like two bucks maybe? I lost 10 bucks maybe—but then if pressed I'd say I was still drunk in order to justify it (it'd be a lie but I'd feel 1.3% better).
Anyway...there was light there that was glorious. GLORIOUS I tell you. I grabbed this frame of David and am pleased, more or less, with its outcome. Granted it is just a floating head. BUT I TOOK IT AT A SHELL STATION.
On my way home a couple of weeks ago I saw a HUGE plume of smoke over my city (above).
So I got closer.
Fake cheesy band photo, courtesy of shooting yesterday.
(note him holding the meter)
Today was really an incredible day of shooting. I was working on a promotional project for a local manufacturing company and I was super impressed with how genuinely great everyone working there seemed to be. There was a dude there who'd be working for them 41 years! And another dude 30 years. Amazing to me.
I can't wait for the project to be public so I can show some of these images...the film goes to the lab tomorrow and I can't wait to get it back. Cannot. Wait.
Caleb was there today helping me out. I left him alone for like 5 minutes and the jerk fell asleep. Pff!
(He was a great asset today, in all seriousness)
Another shot from the vault, around the same time as the last one. This is from a commercial shoot a couple of years. Looking back on it (which I do far too often, I think), I really learned a ton on that job and made a lot of work I'm proud of, most of which never saw the light of day. Makes me want to remind myself to take seriously ridiculous risks on important jobs. I'm trying to remember the last major job I shot Lomo on. Maybe I'll slip it in the bag for my next couple of jobs. We shall see.
Also, I updated the photo wall that lives at my house. I can't decide what to do when the wall is full. Maybe I'll give the prints away and start again.
And the wall as seen in the last three updates (reverse order):
This is a hallway from a building I used to live in. It was pretty much this creepy all the time. It didn't help that the place was so busted you had to break into the basement if you blew a fuse (yes, a fuse, not a break) since the sketchy-ass landlord kept all that stuff locked up and more or less refused to come out if he wasn't really close.
I feel weird writing in ALL CAPS and super enthusiastically about MYSELF shooting POPtPOps.
Backstory: Whiskerino, bowling day, bowling alley, LARGE FORMAT fest.
Now, technically, I'm focusing here, but that to me falls squarely in the POPTPOP qualifications. Other parts that are more rare, but that I love, are photos of the SET UP and photos of the post-shot REVIEW.
I found this one, also residual from whiskerino*, of David shooting me shooting HIM.
I PROMISE NOT TO POST ONE OF MYSELF FOR A LONG TIME.
Which means I either need to dig up other shots, OR YOU NEED TO SEND SOME IN
The Wire is one of the best shows ever. I'm not sure this one is even up for debate. While watching it at Bottletree, ALAN BARTON grabbed this shot of
WES FRAZER shooting a girl DECIDEDLY NOT LOOKING AT HIM at the bar.
But who is she looking at? I DO NOT KNOW.
GO WATCH THE WIRE!
Yeah, more Whiskerino. Ben Frank. Classic.
This adorable lady is Liz and was one of the shots from today. She thought she looked a bit young but I really dig it.
One of the Whiskerino crew, Andrew Barefoot.
There isn't much to say. No all caps can sum up the nonsense that was the Whiskerino Throwdown.
I blew through all my Type 72 4x5 Polaroid and it was totally worth it.
Above is a versus between me and Nathan, aka wondermade.
Jason got in touch with me about an old photo of mine from something like 2006. There is an area in Birmingham called Gate City and it is not a place I'd like to find myself after dark, or really near dark. The area is known to me as a place that is not only a set a of Projects, but one with only one way in and out. Anyway...this was nearby said projects and, in fact, it is still around today and just as impacting. So since I dug out the negative and rescanned it I figured I'd post it too.
I still have no idea what the sign is in reference to. I will never ask.
It reads (for the sake of it being text on the page instead of just an image):
WE BEG YOU WITH TEARS IN OUR EYES TO PLEASE LEAVE US ALONE
This dude rode his bike through my shoot yesterday so I stole his soul. He totally deserved it, and I'm gonna pawn it for some Leica gear.
Anyway I like this outtake. So here it is.
(Progress being made on the whiskerino front too, btw. May it RIP)
