Saturday, October 31, 2009

|| JODY AKE || mindblowing work

Jody Ake creates portraits, nudes, still lifes and landscape images
using the wet collodion process,an historic photographic technique which
involves using a large format camera and glass plates.

WEBSITE

INTERVIEW


Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Monday, October 26, 2009

ThinkTank dinner

Two days ago I had dinner with the designers/owners of THINK TANK PHOTO (the makers of the finest photo bags around),and photographers Bill Eppridge, David Burnett and Melanie Burford. We bounced some bag ideas back and forth and just had a really great evening, talking about photography, telling stories etc.
Bill and David are LEGENDS, meeting these guys and hanging out with them was a great honor. It's weird how life works, one day you are looking at somebody's work, or read about them in some prestigious publication, and the next day you're hanging out and drinking with them. And then you realize they are actually great, normal people. And in my opinion, truly normal people are rare these days.
I took a couple of snaps that night, but since I shoot film (and I was the only one with a film camera that night), you'll see them in a few days, if my tight schedule allows for some film processing .... here is one of me and David Burnett shot by Bill Eppridge.

Saturday, October 24, 2009

Friday, October 23, 2009

A MUST READ --- EMPIRE OF ILLUSION by CHRIS HEDGES

just finished reading it, it's an amazing book .... it summarizes the state of the world, especially the US. And it's not good.



excerpt:
"Hour after hour, day after day, week after week, we are bombarded with the cant and spectacle pumped out over the airways or over computer screens by highly-paid pundits, corporate advertisers, talk-show hosts, and gossip-fueled entertainment networks. And a culture dominated by images and slogans seduces those who are functionally literate but who make choice not to read. There have been other historical periods with high rate of illiteracy and vast propaganda campaigns. But not since the Soviet and fascists dictatorships, and perhaps the brutal authoritarian control of the Catholic Church in the Middle Ages, has the content of information been as skillfully and ruthlessly controlled and manipulated. Propaganda has become a substitute for ideas and ideology. Knowledge is confused with how we are made to feel. Commercial brands are mistaken for expressions of individuality. And in this precipitous decline of values and literacy, among those who cannot read and those who have given up reading, fertile ground for a new totalitarianism is being seeded."

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

JCVD kicks ass

I know I'm always late with movies, I never go to the cinema, hate the smell of popcorn. Not the popcorn itself, but the smell of fake butter they put on it ... gross.
I always loved Van Damme movies, LIONHEART, KICKBOXER, BLOODSPORT, c'mon, perfect flicks for guys. You drink beer and watch him kick bad guys' asses, and you don't have to use too much brain power.
But this is different, AMAZING and better than anything I've seen in a while --- you realize how the guy is REAL, and as cool as it gets. You just HAVE to see it. Here is the part where he makes a confession ..... amazing.



And, muchas gracias to my friend Jasmin for recommending it (actually he did it a year or so ago:)

Sunday, October 18, 2009

an excerpt from an interview with Christopher Anderson

JC: Sounds like you're really not all that concerned about the future of photojournalism (both as far as the business and the craft are concerned), which I find rather refreshing given all the brouhaha that is currently produced about the end of newspapers and the struggles of photojournalists. Is this correct? Or are you panicking inside, while remaining cool on the outside?

CA: Not cool, just that I have already shed my tears. The death of journalism is bad for society, but we'll be better off with less photojournalism. I won't miss the self-important, self-congratulatory, hypocritical part of photojournalism at all. The industry has been a fraud for some time. We created an industry where photography is like big-game hunting. We created an industry of contests that reinforce a hyper-dramatic view of the world. Hyperbole is what makes the double spread (sells) and is also the picture that wins the contest. We end up with cartoons and concerned photographer myths (disclaimer: yes, there are photographers doing meaningful work)

Of course I am worried about how I will make my living now, and I worry for my friends and colleagues too, but I don't really care about the future of photojournalism. The soul of it has been rotten for a while.
---------------------------------
and it all makes sense ...

for the full interview, click HERE

Thursday, October 15, 2009

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

crazy good

CRAZY GOD is an amazing book by YVONNE DE ROSA, published by DAMIANI in spring 2008. All photos were shot in an abandoned mental asylum, and are amazing. Mindblowing. I know every photographer at some point in his career wants to shoot mental hospitals or similar so it's kind of a cliche, but this is something different. It's color, no people, and it says a lot ... so go buy it from your local bookshop if it's still in business, it's time to stop feeding the corporate beast.




Thursday, October 8, 2009

there's a great new photo zine out there - BAD BOY RACING CLUB

I just got it the other day, really great.
Check out their blog HERE, and hit them up HERE for the PayPal info. The price is $8, get it while you can. I love it, who knows, you might too.



...

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Monday, October 5, 2009

once again

Blame it on the villain in the street
Truth is they wanna heard us like sheep


Saturday, October 3, 2009

Maya



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