Rebecca Horne Photography

Report from behind the scenes..

2012-01-27T09:56:00.002-05:00

Photo-editing has been interesting lately--a few weeks I had a shoot of bathing suit designer Malia Mills with four of her models, shot by Francois Dischinger. Which reminded me of why working in fashion can be so err..umm..time-consuming. Making small changes was like attempting to reverse the earth's orbit, and almost as complicated. I had to keep reminding everyone that we were making a portrait, not a fashion shoot.

On Monday I was at the Metropolitan for a shoot of third generation master florist, who was being shot by John Huba. The florist was a tall, handsome and articulate guy who is more comfortable on a ladder than anyone else I've ever seen. From the top rungs of the ladder he arranged the flowers in the alcoves in the Met's Great Hall. I had the pleasure of interviewing him on video after the shoot, and I re-discovered how much better an interview can be in person, rather than over the phone or via email. Incredible how busy it is at the Met even when they are closed to the public..This was one of those days where I again felt very lucky to have such and interesting job.

Holly Andres

2012-01-25T16:30:00.001-05:00

Met with Portland-based photographer Holly Andres today--she has an exhibition opening tomorrow at the Robert Mann gallery in Chelsea. I feel lucky to have seen so many of the images that will be in the show in her book today..

Another photographer, Corey Arnold suggested I meet Holly, who's work I already knew, telling me she had assisted him on a recent shoot for the WSJ that I was very happy with. Turns out that the dry ice was her idea..I think Corey's ease and humor and Holly's attention to detail and color make a great combination. Will be following both of them with interest.

Feeling It

2012-01-22T16:25:00.000-05:00

Worked more on levitating and some shots with a candle this weekend. Had some trouble staying focussed, but I didn't worry too much when pretty much everything I shot came out looking ridiculous.

I've been just incredibly happy since the beginning of the new year, and I'm thinking surely something must be wrong with me! I'm enjoying winter, work, my friends, my dates.. go figure.

Levitating Over Bed

2012-01-08T21:18:00.002-05:00

Turns out levitating is hard, even when you are only faking it. After some experimentation with the 12X12 " backdrop, I think I've figured out a better way to do this. Will have to wait until next weekend.

On Saturday I saw Judy Chicago's Dinner Party at the Brooklyn museum--amazing to finally see this iconic work in person. It was somewhat hilarious to be perusing these depictions of vaginas on plates while on a date with a guy--but no matter.

Happy New Year. Welcome, 2012!

2012-01-02T13:51:00.004-05:00

I had a real spirit lifting on the first day of the new year. My brother and I headed out to Coney Island for the annual Polar Bear swim. It was just amazing. Really. It made this homesick California girl fall in love with Brooklyn all over again. My brother filmed the whole thing on his waterproof camera-- grizzled guys smoking cigars, hipsters, triathletes, mobs of men in striped bathing costumes circa the 1910's, pirates, mermaids. Moms, pretty girls in bikinis with their boyfriends, kids in bathrobes, drunk dudes, you name it, everyone was there. Afterwards we had noodles with pork belly and a fried egg..

It was a profound feeling of renewal, and blasting out the cobwebs of the old. In with the new. Happy New Year, y'all!

Fishy Christmas

2011-12-29T13:00:00.001-05:00

Well, Christmas is over and the last of the relatives have filed back home. I found myself with the holiday blues this year, despite throwing a big party and eating a lot of good food. I hope I'm not having an existential crisis, but it felt a little empty for me.

What rituals are left for the non-believer? It takes more work if you don't go with all the ready-made meaning and ritual provided by a belief system. And I didn't have the energy to re-invent meaning for myself this year. It could also be partly that I dearly missed being in California, and running on the beach as in Christmas's past.

Bracing for a look at my new year's resolutions traded with Sean last year at this time. I have his and he has mine..we are going to crack them open this weekend and see how we did in 2011.

Above by Paul Klee. Expect to see my own interpretation of this still life at some point in the not too distant future.

Sharon Core Blows Up

2011-12-21T18:37:00.002-05:00

Alex and I went to see the Sharon Core show at Yancy Richardson on Tuesday. It was so fantastic I almost drooled on myself. I can't remember the last time I enjoyed something this much in a gallery. Why not just look at Dutch still life, you ask? Well, because this is better.

There much subtle and delicate play going on with the sets--luscious paint and real life all mixed up so it is hard to see where one ends and the other begins. I felt I was falling into the pictoral space as I peered and peered into them as they gave up more and more secrets. The compositions and colors are stunning. I am fairly sure that Sharon grew all these plants, because that is her process, as with the vegetables in the Early American series, and the baking she did with the Thiebaud series..

This kind of insane attention to detail and level of obsession can be off-putting, but not here. We are invited in, and the perfection seduces, and winks at us. This may be her best yet. Show is over at the end of the week. Hurry if you haven't already seen it.

Take Me Back, Blogger?

2011-12-19T20:30:00.003-05:00

Well, I was hasty. As usual. I am not sure I can live with Tumblr. It is pretty useless with text. You can't even make a live link in text the High Res template I selected. And there's no menu! As Carolyn pointed out, that is super-lame. I'm really not finding the perfect photo-blog solution anywhere.. Thinking I'll do what Timothy Archibald suggested, and continue to use this blog for process stuff, but post the finished images on Tumblr. I can actually do that, and without too much procrastinating. Yes! Expect links to finished work on Tumblr sometime early in the new year.

In other words: I'm back. More soon. Sorry for the confusion.

Above photo shot last weekend, part of an experiment coloring in the shadows..Last time I tried black, this time yellow..

Goodbye Blogger. I'm in Love with Tumblr.

2011-11-27T18:58:00.004-05:00

Blogger, it's been fun, but I've had to move on. I've really had about all I can take of your limited format. I've gone batty over the teensy images, and tried everything I could think of to remedy it, or to ignore it. But it's just sad to have a photo blog with tiny images when better options exist.

Henceforth, I've officially migrated the blog to Tumblr.

Please visit Rebecca Horne Photography blog in it's new home. Rebecca Horne Photography/Blogger will remain here as an archive for now.

Black Old Sun

2011-11-19T13:36:00.001-05:00

This started as one thing and ended up as another, as often happens! I experimented with a hand mirror reflecting direct sunlight--I was amazed to see that the sun seems to actually burn into the film and shows up black in a reversal.

I had a giant scan made of a polaroid image recently, because it was selected to be on the cover of a forthcoming book. More on that later. Turns out it makes a pretty good big image, after all. I've been wondering how to incorporate some of these polaroids that I love and that can never seem to be repeated in a film version, no matter how hard I try. But now I see, I can just let them be. I'll just make big scans of them, clean off the dust, and have them printed, eventually..

Recent Favorite Pari Dukovic

2011-11-10T15:36:00.000-05:00

I went to Atlanta last weekend overnight to be on a panel speaking to students at a small school called Portfolio Center. The panel featured three of the PDN 30 from this year; Justine Reyes (who I've blogged about here before), Pari Dukovic and Matthew Kristall. It was so refreshing to be at a school where people are making things just for the hell of it. The students were great, and it was a pleasure to see the work of these young photographers more in-depth. Pari Dukovic's work struck me as bold, emotional and raw in a way I really liked...He mentioned welcoming mistakes, and going against what he was taught. When he was told to develop the film for seven minutes, he developed it for 20 minutes...
Hope to work with him in the future.

Barfing Salt, again

2011-11-09T07:46:00.000-05:00

I worked on this barfing salt shot again this weekend. It was hard to see what I was doing. However, now that I have the contacts in hand, I see that I need to shoot this with a flash, or more light for a faster shutter speed. The only thing really moving in the shot should be the salt. The figure is too soft..

I'm hope all the blog format changing has not been disorienting for readers of this blog. I reverted back to the simple Blogger template as the new "dynamic" templates from Blogger do not allow any kind of homepage information, and I need my disclaimer and note about what the blog is.. One result of trying the new templates was that it encouraged me to post more widely on other topics.. and I think I will keep doing that.

Scissor Hands

2011-11-02T15:37:00.003-04:00

Daniel Murphy is one of the nicest people I've met at The Wall Street Journal. Danny also freelances as a prop stylist, artist and general creative smarty-pants. He makes things out of paper- two examples shown here. Yes, out of paper! Kind of makes my paper props look like work by a three year old. He came in very handy on a recent shoot-- when, once again, I had a photo shoot set in a kitchen. (For some reason there have been a lot of kitchens that have needed photographing lately..) He built some stunning props for the kitchen portrait shoot that added pops of color and interesting shapes to the shoot. It's great to know someone like Danny when you are running low on ideas and need something a little extra. Photos by Daniel Murphy.

Mail Chute? Roller coaster? Art Installation? You decide.

2011-10-29T15:40:00.002-04:00

I got into this crazy contraption on this past Tuesday, Oct 25th at the New Museum's press preview. I didn't really WANT to get into this 102 foot slide that runs from the 4th floor to the 2nd. It was something I did only because I felt it would be extremely lame not to do. Yes, it was scary, but I didn't regret it.

It had a lingering effect on me all week-- I kept wishing that instead of getting into the elevator I could simply hop into a slide that would take me directly into the lobby, or even drop me out on 6th Avenue. It does have a sneaky, subversive feeling, this traveling through buildings by giant slippery slide. You can see see more photographs from Carsten Höller's survey exhibit "Experience" by clicking here. Photograph by Benoit Pailley

California Scrapbook

2011-10-24T20:08:00.003-04:00

Aly and Glen having coffee in the morning, Highland Park, Los Angeles.

Helping Jimmy zip into his wetsuit for a night surfing session in Rincon.

Sean Gilleran at home in treehouse, Mount Washington, Los Angeles.

Sunset from Mount Washington, Los Angeles.

Newly-weds Nathan and Gloria, beloved cousins Esther and Eric Delmas, Santa Barbara.

There sure are a lot of cars here.

Welcome home. Brooklyn.

Lotusland

2011-10-23T17:04:00.000-04:00

The week before last, I watched my brother getting married for a second time in front of friends and relatives in California. He is seen here with palms at Lotusland in Santa Barbara.

Smoking Shoes

2011-10-23T12:44:00.000-04:00

Started the day with a run with Carolyn, then immediately got to work trying to shoot something. It has been weeks since I've been in the studio, and it was beginning to really bum me out. I've been traveling and concentrating on another project that is monumental and somewhat terrifying. This all has been keeping me away from my camera. Feels good to be back, even if I am not sure about the results yet.

The Liminal Life

2011-10-13T01:20:00.002-04:00

I'm in sunny Los Angeles this week, after driving down here from a great weekend in Santa Barbara. Last night I forced myself to sit down and count the years I've been in NYC. I've been living on the East Coast for between 16-17 years! I can't believe it.

The landscape here in Southern California is both familiar and strange to me. I can see that I have become an in-between person. While never able to give up on my California identity, or even my California driver's license, I've become used to lush summers, rainstorms and lightning, brick buildings, snow, cramped cities..the subway. And even more that is much harder to get used to.

And still I've always thought of myself as a Californian. But here I am, and I feel like a rabbit in an open field under the burning sun. So much space, provisional architecture, suburban lawns, freeways that go on forever....

New Look

2011-10-03T19:47:00.000-04:00

I've impulsively given my blog a new look-- the old one was getting tired. It was really lame how limited the image sizes were on Blogger! Just when I was thinking I would have to migrate the blog to Tumblr...Blogger comes up with some nice new templates. If you click on the photos, they come up larger.

Apologies for not posting more. I've been on a little bit of a hiatus--working hard but not in the studio. Have a lot going on at the moment, but I have some ideas simmering that I think are good. I'll be flying to Santa Barbara on a private plane this week-- that should be interesting. I can't wait-- I will be in California for long vacation week. I plan on seeing lots of friends, parties, swimming, running and the rest. Will be leaving Ollie behind this time, and I know I will hardly recognize him when I get back. He is growing now at a pace where I see almost daily changes. Going to miss him terribly.

Above is a scan from a recent shoot- more with the paper people-- this is close to what I wanted from the photo.. but not quite. I like the scale shift with the figure, but there needs to be more of a sense of movement, a more animated feeling..

DUMBO Open Studios

2011-09-27T16:42:00.003-04:00

One of my favorites from the open studios in Dumbo this weekend was The Dumpster Project. Besides giving you the feeling you were "inside a Joseph Cornell box" as my friend Cadence put it--the dumpster had a prime location, smack under the archway. And you could touch everything!

This is a profoundly pleasing installation, which is indeed inside a 'dumpster'. It contains objects both storied and mundane, historical and elliptical. The objects are bolted securely in place, creating the feeling of a kind of loony dashboard, or a control panel of personal history. Artist Mac Premo has mounted an impressive PR campaign about his project. You can take an electronic tour of the dumpster on your mobile device.

2011-09-23T16:57:00.009-04:00

This image from Cornelia's doppelgänger II series ran with my artist profile on her a few weeks ago in the newsprint edition The Wall Street Journal. The article is only accessible to subscribers on the WSJ, so I thought I should post the text here. I link to more photos from the show, currently up at the Klompching gallery.

Into the Storm

2011-08-28T20:02:00.002-04:00

Had a great hurricane weekend here in Brooklyn, despite the disappointment of not seeing even a stick of furniture blowing by. Went running both days, caught up with friends and worked in my studio. I had most of the day to work today, and pushed hard on some new stuff. This work I'm making right now is pretty hard work emotionally. It feels still very autobiographical and raw. I burned some things and it felt dark and vaguely like voodoo. I just hope this means the work will be cathartic, and going forward it won't be as intense.

Before Irene

2011-08-27T09:35:00.000-04:00

Went for a run this morning with Carolyn who was visiting for a few days. The streets are eerily empty and quiet, few people, few cars. No trains or busses really seem to be running. The air is freakishly still. I now understand the phrase "calm before the storm" in a more literal way.

Carolyn just left for Maine, and I'm now getting ready to weather the hurricane at home. My house is in the white zone--well outside of flooding or evacuation zones. My brother went out to the end of Long Island and asked me to come, but I don't want to be on the roads. I think I'd better stay in case something happens to my house that needs attention. We cancelled Oliver's flight home from Oregon for today and rescheduled for after the storm. Which means I'll have more time this weekend, and during the storm, to catch up on stuff. Looking forward to that. Hopefully I'll get something done in the studio.

This is my first hurricane, but not my first tropical storm. I'm a little nervous, but I'll be disappointed if there isn't some drama in the weather when this is all done. At a loss for what photo to post for today so here's another Montauk vacation photo, when I was so relaxed and happy..

History's Shadow

2011-08-22T17:04:00.001-04:00

David Maisel has a breathtaking brand new book called History's Shadow coming out. I'll be creating posts and an extended gallery about it on the WSJ blogs very soon, but couldn't resist showing one here! I hope to be interviewing the curator in the Getty antiquities department about the objects, and what kinds of histories are revealed by the X-rays.

Montauk Sunset

2011-08-18T09:20:00.000-04:00

Having a great time in Montauk this week. Trying hard to take a lot of snapshots. Even allowed myself to take a photo of the sun setting. Paddle-boarding, swimming, running, story-reading..

Kyoko Hamada

2011-08-12T10:24:00.001-04:00

I've admired Kyoko Hamada's work for years, but only recently had the chance to work with her directly on some shoots for the WSJ.

Kyoko's work employs humor and intimacy with a determined and consistent delicacy. She has a light but unwavering touch. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do. Flies and bows is from a series, work in progress titled Pineapple Under the Bed, and The pink bed is a photograph of Kyoko's bed in a former apartment. About her own process, Kyoko writes:

"Sometimes I photograph what I find, but more often I photograph by reconstructing images based on from memories, thoughts and observations. This process ( or some kind of a habit ) of observing helped me to understand my new surroundings when at age fifteen my family moved from Japan to a small town in West Virginia. Without having any knowledge of English, I spent my time looking and privately digesting what was happening around me through my own internal dialogue."

Talk to Me, Sputniko!

2011-08-09T14:01:00.001-04:00

A visit to MOMA today to see the Talk To Me show was well worth it. A favorite from Talk To Me was Sputniko!, an artist born in Tokyo in 1985. Above is an image showing her "Menstruation Machine."

Sputniko!: "What does Menstruation mean, biologically, culturally and historically, to humans? Who might choose to have it, and how might they have it? The Menstruation Machine – fitted with a blood dispensing mechanism and electrodes simulating the lower abdomen – simulates the pain and bleeding of a 5 day menstruation process. The machine was developed with research support from Professor Jan Brosens at the Department of Medicine, Imperial College London."

Also saw Boris Mikhailov's exhibition of photographs of homeless people in the Ukraine on the way out, which gives an entirely new meaning to the word "gritty."

Accidental Portrait

2011-08-07T19:36:00.000-04:00

This is a scan from a contact sheet. Shot this of Cornelia when she was helping me out with some modeling and shooting..
I like it as a kind of casual portrait. Took a few photos today, working on something involving a "doorway" to another world. Have to give the Small Man a rest. I feel I have to step away from that work for a while until I figure out what I want from it.

Sleeping with the Little Man

2011-07-25T20:48:00.002-04:00

This was one of the images from the last little man shoot that Cornelia helped me with. This particular image has given me another idea for a little "animated" sequence. Also shot some low resolution video for fun. Hope to post that soon.

More Little Men

2011-07-12T21:40:00.001-04:00

Shot some more with this concept and some others over the weekend. I even shot some video. Really need help with this and the other shots- they require close-ups which are so impossible to do by yourself, of yourself. I've got a bunch more cooking but not sure about how much of it I'm ready to show yet. Tried many different silhouettes, but the guy in the upper left is the one I like best. My favorite direction for this shot is also the upper left, holding the figure as he looks like he is standing in space, with the fingers holding the head.

Had dinner with Cornelia tonight, and she is going to help me by modeling and shooting this coming weekend in between shooting her own projects. Serendipitiously, it turns out we are both doing work involving cut-outs at the moment.

The Small Man

2011-07-03T18:16:00.001-04:00

Great day in the studio today. Got quite a bit of time in between breaking up fights, making lunch and buying transformers for Ollie and his buddy. More to come.

Lydia Panas, Santa Fe Review Find

2011-06-24T18:16:00.003-04:00

Lydia's giant prints made a lasting impression on me at Review Santa Fe, and I'll be blogging for the WSJ about the upcoming US publication of her new book. What I liked the most about the work was her canny way of getting at the tension and connections between people. This is a hard thing to do in still pictures, and devilishly subjective. Lydia Panas on the above photo:

"There is something lyrical, a bit like a dance, and also a kind of strength, about this image for me. They had come to my house for dinner one night and we did the shoot. I watched them arrange themselves, like I always do, and then added a little direction. I noticed that the mother had a very strong influence, so when I saw her arranging her husband's hair slightly, I asked her to keep her hand there. The photo presents them in two groupings, the girls boldly in front, fierce and independent, supported by a strong parental bond. The mother lends a directing hand behind the scenes."

Hand Grabs Water

2011-06-19T21:06:00.003-04:00

Great day shooting--the above is a test from something I worked on today. This morning I made coffee and went straight to the studio and started working. Ollie was over at his Dad's, so I got an early start for a change. It really felt good to be back in the studio. I'm afraid I recently came close to becoming one of those people that just makes a lot of convincing excuses about why they aren't doing the things they should be doing. Damn it all. I won't let that happen to me.

Last night I went to a Tom Stoppard play called Arcadia that was surprisingly good. The play alternated between modern times and the early 1800's. The set was spare and sketch-like in it's simplicity--with a long table at the center of the room. Carefully chosen props worked for scenes from both time periods. One unforgettable scene has the characters from both time periods occupying the same space. Two actors read the same book, side by side, in two different time periods, with the same pacing, in a ballet of page turning. This moment was more than just story telling. It was a taste of what I'm after.

Impress my Soul

2011-06-13T21:05:00.001-04:00

Psychologist and philosopher Nick Humphrey has some interesting ideas about the source and function of consciousness. He suggests, among other things, that consciousness is needed to impress the soul. Being enchanted with the magic of experience may provide a reason to live in itself. I can sympathize with this idea.

Chiara Tocci and Life After Zog

2011-06-07T11:45:00.000-04:00

Chiara Tocci is one of the more intriguing photographers I met over the weekend in Santa Fe, NM at the Center portfolio review. Her photo essay "Life After Zog" tenderly combines reportage, elements of a personal story and hints of folklore to create a lush and mysterious photo essay on High Albania.

High Albania is a mountainous territory that has been described as "The land of the living past", and is still one of the most isolated areas of Europe. Zog I, Skanderbeg III of the Albanians, was King of the Albanians from 1928 to 1939.

Distraction

2011-05-24T20:03:00.000-04:00

Here's a portrait I made a month or so ago of myself and a guy who is capable of driving me to distraction. I also took some photos of him while he was sleeping, but they didn't come out quite the way I wanted.

This week my brother is getting married and I turn forty years old, and I'm going out of the country over this coming holiday weekend.

Haruki Murakami on Writing

2011-05-10T20:49:00.000-04:00

The problem with talent, though, is that in most cases the person involved can't control its amount or quality. You might find the amount isn't enough and you want to increase it, or you might try to be frugal to make it last longer, but in neither case do things work out that easily. Talent has a mind of its own and wells up when it wants to, and once it dries up, that's it.

From What I Talk About When I Talk About Running by Haruki Murakami

How Great is This Kid?

2011-05-02T21:26:00.002-04:00

Answer: REALLY, REALLY GREAT. A few weeks ago Oliver was helping me out in the studio-- for the first time ever I had him actually helping me with a shoot. I was struggling for space and places to put things as per usual, and probably swearing in a mostly child-approved way. Oliver then suggested that I take his room for my studio, and give him my studio for his bedroom.

I was blown away by his generosity. This suggestion of his was totally unprompted or hinted at. In fact I was reluctant to consider it at first. As it turns out, this weekend I primed and painted my studio to make it a nice clean space for Ollie's new bedroom. I'm going to have a much, much bigger studio now, with more light, in Ollie's old bedroom. And he's going to get a new bunk bed in the bargain, which seems only fair.

Photograph of Oliver Beck-Horne at his grandparents house in Winston-Salem, NC taken by his sister and talented SVA photo student Chloe Beck.

Moon Doctor

2011-04-25T19:16:00.000-04:00

Entered the studio gingerly this weekend. I had lots of ideas, but felt really distant from them. I have a little book all about the moon in my studio--and I read part of one chapter about a "Moon Doctor" from the 1780's. He treated patients at night by having them hold their afflicted body part out of the window, towards the moon. His wife worked with him-- she used the south-facing window and he used the north-facing one. This I loved, and thought of various ways I might mine this scenario for my own purposes..

Caleb Charland Show at Michael Mazzeo

2011-04-20T11:49:00.000-04:00

The show opening May 5th at Michael Mazzeo Gallery is Charland's first solo show, and it's about time! I'm a big fan of his work-- I was able have him shoot some very creative stuff for me when I was at Discover (some of those images will be in this upcoming show), a couple of times, which was exciting. I especially love the above of palms with ink spots. Michael Mazzeo gallery represents some of the most interesting contemporary photographers working today-- and I have to hand it to Michael for his risk-taking with new photography and curating. Mazzeo's gallery was a regular stop for me on my monthly gallery tours, and I've really missed it since starting at the Journal.

Barfing Salt

2011-04-19T20:34:00.000-04:00

Here is a rough test. Working on refining this one. Need to get another backdrop- a black paper one. The fabric one I have keeps needing to be ironed, and it is 12x10 feet. I can't stand it when I end up doing tasks that are like housework for my artwork. It makes me crazy! SO. One black seamless coming up.

Hand in Glove

2011-04-05T21:00:00.000-04:00

Working away at finding the best expression of this glove image I'm still struggling with. This one I like, but I don't think it is the most interesting of them so far. Need a female hand model for this weekend's shoot.

My Hedcut

2011-03-31T18:02:00.000-04:00

Have begun blogging again in the big media-sphere, this time as a contributor on the Ideas Market blog for The Wall Street Journal. I'll be covering some of the same kinds of topics I covered with Visual Science, so I hope you'll follow my posts if you are interested. This week I wrote about the multimedia artist Aaron Koblin whose work I've been following with interest. It is amazing how much better I feel about life when I can do some writing. I just need it to keep things interesting.

I Wrote You a Letter

2011-03-27T18:32:00.002-04:00

More from the studio. More to come. Worked on the vomit photo a bit more today, and it seems to have some real possibility. Used a handsome neighbor today for a model- will see how this shot works differently with a man modeling it. Was unable to stop myself from taking a few plain portraits in addition to the other more deliberate images I had in mind. All this while roasting a chicken and more or less supervising Oliver and a pal having a play date..

Rope Version 2

2011-03-23T21:35:00.003-04:00

Literally wrestled with this rope for long minutes to make this shot. Carolyn Drake shot a video of me doing it, which was funny to watch later. Carolyn modeled for me again for some tricky shots, including one involving faking vomiting, which is going to be good. It is not ready for unveiling yet.

The week before last I gave a talk for a photo class at SVA which was interesting. It has been a long time since I've had to think about presenting my work to a group. Overall they seemed engaged, but there was that one guy in the back who seemed to be sleeping the entire time, so who knows?

I'm super pleased to announce my First Blog Post at The Wall Street Journal. It features oddly compelling video content. Click here to check it out.

Sebastian Bremer at AIPAD

2011-03-18T16:52:00.000-04:00

Great to see some new work from Sebastian. It has been too long since I've seen his work, or his smiling face. Above is Cat and Sleeping Puppy in the Atelier, inks and acrylics on C-print, 2011.

Sohei Nishino at AIPAD

2011-03-17T15:27:00.003-04:00

One of my favorite finds at AIPAD this year was the Japanese artist Sohei Nishino. These large collages are made from hundreds of photos taken over a period of time at the location, then they are put together in a giant collage. They reminded me of early maps, with perspective flattened and liberties taken with dimension and scale. I'm also reminded of the kinds of whimsical art you find in children's books. Hope you get a chance to see it. Look in the London based Michael Hoppen Gallery booth at AIPAD.

Above is "Diorama Map, Istanbul" October 2010 - January 2011

Gilbert Garcin, King of the World

2011-03-10T17:31:00.004-05:00

Saw prints of Garcin's work in person for the first time at AIPAD yesterday. The prints on exhibit included the above image, "Le maître du monde." I have Garcin-like images in my mind all the time! But I've never been able to bring any of them to life. We'll see. I'm going to have a model this weekend, so I'm planning to shoot a lot.

Guilty Pleasure

2011-03-05T21:20:00.003-05:00

Just scraping the surface here with this image from last weekend. I'm dying to get into my studio tomorrow again to shoot some new images.

The highlight of my professional week was watching the Thierry Mugler show live on streaming video with an art director friend at The Journal. We had a shoot with Lady Gaga's stylist, Nicola Formichetti, a day or two before his Paris show. This week he was presenting his ready-to-wear collection for Thierry Mugler, and his pal Gaga walked in the show. So fun to see the clothes we had seen being prepped during our shoot, and then to see the final looks on the runway. Amazing clothes--fetishy materials like latex in flesh tones and a nude leather corset under a cropped boxy jacket. The girls try hard to look louche, but the shoes make that impossible. There are three near falls in the show. It is kind of a thrill to have even a little bit of fashion in my professional life again-- after years of coaching scientists about what to wear to a shoot--I am welcoming it! Fashion is a guilty pleasure for me, but I think needlessly so...
Watch to end to see the appearance of inside-out man...and Gaga, of course.

Carrie Levy at Daniel Cooney Fine Art

2011-03-03T17:10:00.003-05:00

Carrie Levy is one of the few people I know who is successfully straddling both a career as a photo editor and teacher and that of an artist with regular, well-deserved shows..I've followed her work with interest for years-- she is also a friend, and we've been co-workers, going as far back as our days at Newsweek magazine.

In general I really don't like nudes, but what Carrie is doing is different. There is an undercurrent in the work that keeps me coming back, and looking closer. The new work is no exception. What I see here is a mish-mash of intense intimacy, fear, penetration, drowning, trust..

Carrie Levy writes about this series:
"You Before All questions the line that separates pain from pleasure. The work magnifies how in the moment it is hard to decipher between these two very different emotions. Both are intense, but are very much the opposite of another. The aim in this body of work is to ask the viewer to uncover which one of these emotions is behind a single frame and where he or she is more sympathetic. Throughout the series, my role as the photographer is to play the part of the predator. I contort my subjects to look like victims. However, whether they are victims of pain or pleasure is up to the viewer to decide....
One of the themes of this work is about collecting and archiving images of men. Therefore who ever is willing to sit in front of my lens is welcomed. At the moment there are over 50 subjects in the full series."

You can see her work in person right now at Daniel Cooney Fine Art, at 511 West 25th Street, Suite 506.

Winter 2011

2011-02-21T20:40:00.000-05:00

It is amazing to see my son learning to read and write. He can now form and write sentences all by himself. His drawings are also so super. Above is one I really like from this winter. The past few weeks have been especially hard to get into the studio as I have a major renovation going on in the garden rental apartment below us at my house. Ollie's dad is doing a lot of the renovating, so I've been keeping Ollie busy all weekend. Hopefully this construction will be wrapping up soon and I'll be able to get back to my studio.

One Step at a Time

2011-02-20T20:19:00.000-05:00

This shot is from a few weeks back-- I need to buy some new seamless so I can execute this the way I want it. I didn't have enough space here, but I liked the greenish cast of this test shot. Got a few hours in the studio on Saturday while Ollie was at a friend's house. It was the first time in a few weeks I'd been able to get any studio time and it was so great. It is usually hard and scary to get going again after a break, but things were flowing, ideas were happening, and I was working them out. Bliss.

michel szulc krzyzanowski

2011-02-18T16:25:00.000-05:00

I have followed Michel Szulc Krzyzanowski's work for a few years- one of my first blog posts was about his show in NY at Robert Mann in 2008. Just looking at his work today while running though ideas for an upcoming shoot at the WSJ, and was reminded just how interesting and flexible he is as an artist. Above is one I particularly like.

Happy Valentine's Day

2011-02-13T20:55:00.000-05:00

In honor of valentine's day, I'm posting this photo of my Grandfather Phil and Grandmother Doris, on their wedding day. They knew each other a very short time before getting married, and then my Grandpa was off to the Navy to fly planes in WWII. Their marriage produced four sons, and ended only with my Grandmother's death, when I was thirteen. The dress my Grandma is wearing in this photo is hanging in my mother's closet in Santa Barbara, it is dark blue velvet with cream colored lace details. I remember being allowed to try it on when I was a girl, and I didn't want to take it off.

Kinky DYI in Los Angeles

2011-02-09T18:05:00.000-05:00

A short visit to Los Angeles over last weekend came with a round of gallery viewings. One of the best things I saw was at the Nicodim Gallery on Cienega Blvd, by the Romanian artist Alex Mirutziu. I love the weirdness of this sculpture that seems to be a DIY fetish mask and ball gag. And the mundane pull strings on the head covering in the other shot.

And now for something completely different

2011-02-06T18:51:00.000-05:00

Last weekend instead of shooting in my studio I went to a big hotel with a friend who was modeling in a fashion shoot, and took some behind the scenes shots for her. It was so much fun, it was ridiculous.

German Herrera

2011-02-01T16:50:00.002-05:00

Today I had a few moments to breathe at work and started in on clearing my desk and building up my bookmarks of photographers. I came across the above image of German Herrera's that I hadn't seen before. I love German's work-- it is maddeningly subtle and suggestive. It kind of makes me crazy that I only half-know what I'm looking at, I'm often left with scraps of my own fancies to complete my understanding. I met German at the Center for Photography at Woodstock some years ago, and had a chance to see his work in person in his solo show there. The prints are lovely and smallish, and I found myself peering into them like portholes...

Several limited edition, hand made artist books of Herrera's work are available for purchase, and a monograph is currently in preparation and will be published by the Antonio Saura Foundation in 2011.

Lauren Fleishman

2011-01-28T16:51:00.002-05:00


"We have lived in Brighton Beach for 11 years. Before that we lived on Ocean Parkway and Kings Highway for 4 years. We walk on the boardwalk 3 miles each day. At 2 o'clock we watch the news. I like to read books and he reads the newspaper. What is the secret to love? A secret is a secret and I don't reveal my secrets!"

I met with photographer Lauren Fleishman this week, this was the first photographer meeting I've scheduled since starting at The Wall Street Journal. I was happy to see her "Love Ever After" project in person. I really enjoy this series- and it made me a little weepy. This work is showing at the Brooklyn public library now. I also love her project "you would have loved him too", which is very personal narrative. Lauren is a relentless hunter of the intimate in her work..
Address of show:

The Brooklyn Public Library
Central Branch
10 Grand Army Plaza
Brooklyn, New York 11225

Opening is Wednesday the 9th from 6-8PM

iPhone photo of slip and ink double

2011-01-23T18:22:00.000-05:00

This is a terrible photo of one of last week's set-ups--I shot in on a friend's iphone so I could post it here..But I think you can get the idea of what I'm after here.

Walking Shoe

2011-01-23T17:07:00.000-05:00

I've been shooting a lot, but not able to scan any of it to post. The above was made with a digital camera I rented for the weekend. I'm just posting it to show that I've been working--it is only a sketch. This shoot came out of last weekend's photo of a black slip and it's twin as an ink drawing. Really interested in these inky blacks right now, and stark contrasts. Tomorrow I'm going to buy some more seamless for two new shots I'm hoping to finalize. Giving my rope pictures a rest--still not sure what needs to happen with those, so I'm giving that some time.

Working at the Wall Street Journal has been at lot to get used to at once. I've never worked at a newspaper before, and even though I work only on the weekend edition, there is a lot going on, and all of happening really fast. It is hard to get used to seeing the photos in newsprint. There is something simultaneously disappointing and exhilarating about seeing your efforts reproduced in such a disposable medium. It is also exciting to be working at a publication with a print run of two million.

Rinko Kawauchi

2011-01-16T20:43:00.002-05:00

Photo by Rinko Kawauchi

A link to Rinko Kawauchi's work was sent to me by a photographer friend Andres Gonzalez. The above is one of my favorites.
Andres made an insightful comment about my own work back in December, pointing out that I was interested in problem solving in my art work. Of course I've thought about this before, but it was good to have it pointed out. Took exactly one picture today. Tomorrow I plan to get up early and shoot more before Ollie comes home. I'm working on a few things I'm excited about, so that is a good feeling.

I've really been missing the writing and thinking that was going into my old blog, Visual Science...I discovered yesterday that NASA's Chandra blog linked to my post about artist Kevin Sudeith, and re-posted the photo. That made me a happy blogger!

Hedcuts

2011-01-09T21:00:00.002-05:00

I had my photo taken this past week at The Wall Street Journal photo studio, to be the basis of one of those famous WSJ woodcut/prints, called hedcuts by those working on the pages. Which is partly why I was caught unprepared for the photo shoot.. Also my own head was spinning around all week from trying to learn the new systems and just finding my way around the building. The purpose of the hedcut is for when I start doing some blogging for the Journal. Which I hope will be soon. My blogging fingers have been itching since I left Visual Science.

At any rate, pretty exciting. However, I had forgotten how soul-crushing midtown is. Actually, I didn't forget. I just forgot what that crushed soul really feels like. The Wall Street Journal shares the building with Fox News, so there is the additional tension of feeling like you are rubbing elbows daily with the enemy. Fox News plays in the elevators, so at any point you can be subject to a crazed right winger, foaming at the mouth and denouncing science.

The photo below was made with paper, held at varying distance from the lens. Another one from my landscape period. I have been shooting new work, but I won't be able to post it until I can sort out a new scanner.

The New Year

2011-01-02T21:21:00.001-05:00

I'm starting a new job tomorrow as photo editor for the Wall Street Journal. I'm really looking forward to it. Doing the science beat for Discover has been great, but I'm ready to go back to mainstream media. I won't miss the press announcements about new measurements of earth's magnetism or the latest exoplanet, and worrying about how to art these discoveries. I look forward to never, ever doing another astronomy story. I'm still negotiating about the future of my blog for Discover, Visual Science. Not sure if I'll be able to continue that work.

This is an older photo of mine. It is one of my favorites from my abstract-landscape phase. I really worked hard during that time. My mom has this one on her wall. This Christmas, one of the kids in the house asked if it was a shark fin, and that was cool.

When I made this photo I was thinking about that landscape genre of collapsed barns in prairies. Those barns somehow that became a ship, and also about a re-ocurring dream I had about a shark swimming under me and running its fin along my spine while I floated in the water above. I often awoke from this dream with my back locked in an arch.

Rainy Christmas in California

2010-12-27T23:00:00.003-05:00

Our flight to back New York on the 26th was cancelled yesterday, and the next available flight wasn't until the 29th. So Ollie and I are missing the storm, and calling on friends to clear the sidewalk in front of our house back in Brooklyn. It is warm and sunny now at my mom's place in Santa Barbara, and I'm finding it hard to get upset about the cancellation. I am getting antsy for my studio, my notebooks, and the rest of my life. I don't even have a camera with me.
I went running everyday with my brother, even on the first five days of our visit when it rained non-stop. Each day, we'd look out at the colorless sky and churning brown ocean from the cliff. Each day, my brother's response after looking at the cold and forbidding water was that he wanted to go surfing. And surf he did. Here is a photo of my dad and my brother after another rainy session.

The Heart Trade

2010-12-27T22:35:00.002-05:00

I had a dream this week that I think was influenced somehow by looking at Adrain Chesser's work. Two men who were deeply and dramatically in love decided to trade their hearts, surgically. Each would take the other's heart and give their own in exchange. One of the men died during the operation, and the man who survived had to have his own heart re-attached.

All Tied Up

2010-12-20T14:59:00.000-05:00

I shot this over last weekend when Carolyn was visiting, and a willing model. My new giant backdrop is a lot of fun, and this is one of the scenes I shot with it. I'm really happy with this one, but I'm aware that it will live or die based on how the black on black looks in the print. I want just a suggestion of the figure and hand..

Adrain Chesser at the CPW Review

2010-12-15T12:54:00.002-05:00

As one of the most startling and intriguing bodies of work I've seen in a long time, the work of artist/photographer Adrain Chesser defies definition. Some of Chesser's photographs come from a collaborative process. Chesser and his partner, Timothy White Eagle and friends decide on a concept like "the sacred hunt." They research the idea, then they have a "camp" where they perform ceremonial rituals around this idea. The resulting photograph is not an artifact or document of the performance-based work, but instead it is thought of as a spell to be sent out into the world. The above is titled "AIDS Boy Takes One for the Team" from a series called The Hunting Party. I was very drawn to the vitality of the work, the process and the idea that the images themselves could be thought of as spells.

Center for Photography at Woodstock Portfolio Review

2010-12-14T13:51:00.000-05:00

At a portfolio review last Friday for the Center for Photography at Woodstock, I saw two remarkable portfolios. One belonged to Abigail Feldman, a photographer based in Vermont. Some of the freshest photography I've seen of children, period. Feldman avoids cliche and sentimentality, and any over-wrought self-consciousness, but still managing to make compelling photographs. Above are two of hers from her on-going series: The Savage Maddoxes.

Rope Charming

2010-12-08T11:45:00.001-05:00

Trying to figure out how to animate this rope. I locked myself into my studio over Thanksgiving, and sent Ollie off with his dad. I wasn't happy with anything I did--there were no final shots that emerged from the round of shooting. However, I'm not too discouraged about it because I did seem to start scratching the surface of some new ideas (the above is an example). I bought a 10x12' muslim backdrop and spent a lot of time moving furniture around, experimenting with it.

"Becoming Chinese" – A photography exhibit by Carolyn Drake

2010-12-02T16:30:00.001-05:00

I'll be asking Carolyn some questions about her work at this event at the Half King--hope to see you there! "Becoming Chinese" – A photography exhibit by Carolyn Drake.
Artist reception and slideshow: December 7, 2010, 7:30 p.m.

Drake is the recipient of a Fulbright fellowship, the Lange Taylor Documentary Prize, and a Guggenheim fellowship, as well as awards from the POYi and World Press Photo competitions. Her work is published in numerous publications, including The New Yorker, National Geographic, The New York Times, and Newsweek. Recent exhibitions include solos shows at the Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford, UK and The Third Floor Gallery in Cardiff, Wales.

ALL PHOTOGRAPHY EVENTS ARE FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC

Spinning Plate

2010-11-23T16:16:00.002-05:00

Carolyn Drake arrived from Turkey this weekend, and we had some fun- running to the park and then having brunch with some writers she's worked with. I also did some time in the studio. But I found that things weren't flowing easily. I'm still thinking about the Houdini exhibit I saw last Friday at the Jewish Museum. Trying to figure out what I loved the most: The vintage handcuffs? The trunk? The straight jacket? The footage of Houdini hog-tied, hanging upside down over Times Square in a straight jacket is worth the trip alone. It is suggested that this feat may have symbolized the desires of immigrants-- to escape the bonds of the old world, or to escape the war..
I think the symbolism goes even deeper than that, and I think that the inversion of the figure is an important part of the meaning, but I'm not sure how. In art school I made a tarot deck that included the Hanging Man-- a very game friend let me hang him by his feet from a tree in Dolores Park in San Francisco.

Josh Quigley at Michael Mazzeo

2010-11-21T08:26:00.005-05:00

This past Friday's art tour was a month's worth of noteworthy shows crammed into one day. A giant plate of fries and an egg sandwich from a greek diner helped Randi and I get through it all. The above is from the current show at Michael Mazzeo Gallery, "A Shameless Longing." The provocative photographs feature subjects from Josh's personal life and strangers found on social networking sites.
The photo above is of Josh himself and his wife reflected in a cabinet of knick-knacks. This is one of my favorites from the show--of course I like the humor. I also enjoyed seeing a photo depicting female sexual pleasure that offers the naked man up to the eye first, for a change. Also the push and pull of this image--is there anything less erotic than a clutter of curios and kitchen curtains that look like they were picked out by Grandma? I admire the bravery of this work, it can't be easy to hang a giant photo featuring your own bare ass in your first solo show.

A Big Hand

2010-11-16T12:27:00.001-05:00

This is a test image I made over the weekend during the brief time I was able to steal away to my studio. It is based on a propaganda poster I found doing some photo research. Occasionally I come across real gems that way, another perk of my job. I like the total shift in the compositional frame-- there is no horizon. This is another place where using a flash might make things a lot more interesting.

Hat Drink Take Two

2010-11-10T09:54:00.000-05:00

From the past weekend's re-shoot of the hat pour. The model here is a guy from California who I have a big crush on--just look at how good he is at pouring wine from a hat!

Laurent Millet at Robert Mann

2010-11-09T18:59:00.000-05:00

Somehow I missed this show even though it got a lot of press. These are my favorites from the exhibit--I like these ultra stripped down images the best. The more colorful images feel non-essential to me. I've been getting very little studio time, and spending a fair amount of time on homework for some classes I'm taking. This weekend will find me in the studio with the door closed, come hell or high water, trying to make a ghost out of talcum powder.

Worshipping at the Bryce Wolkowitz Gallery?

2010-11-03T20:50:00.000-04:00

Photography Hero Abelardo Morrell is having two shows in NYC right now, one at Bonni Benrubi uptown and one at Bryce Wolkowitz in Chelsea. I found the transcendental moment I was looking for standing in front of the huge print of the image posted here, at the Wolkowitz Gallery last Friday. There is something church-like about this work, in this gallery, for me. In a good way.

The images are like windows--stained glass, only better. Lot of white space in between the images lets them hum. They are vibrating with possibility--is the world more interesting than it appears? Can you be in two places at once? How much of the outside can come inside without rupture? Are time and space a continuum?

Red Hat Drink

2010-10-25T15:58:00.001-04:00

This weekend I repainted my background wall from blue to yellow and purged my studio of old rolled up mural prints, other people's artwork, a Nick Cave concert poster peeled off a wall in St. Petersburg, Russia. It was hard to see it all go, but my studio is tiny, and the situation had reached a pitch with me reaching for backdrops and almost getting hit on the head with a hammer or spray bottles. It was impossible to get something off the shelf without knocking something else over. Now it is a good place to be again, and I can look forward to working there. Here is a test from my shoot on Sunday.

Plate and Tea Bag

2010-10-21T14:22:00.001-04:00

Last weekend I worked some more on one of these scenarios I've been trying out that require more than one model. This weekend I'm planning some nice quiet studio time with inanimate objects that can be moved around without apology.

I thought about this photo of mine recently when I was at the Letinsky lecture, and I saw my favorite shot of hers, one that contains a plate that appears almost to levitate. I would post it here, but I can't find it online.

Laura Letinsky Lecture

2010-10-14T10:11:00.001-04:00

This image is from the series The Dog and the Wolf, after the Aesop's fable of the same name, but that also refers to the phrase L'heure entre chien et loup. This translates to "the hour between dog and wolf." This is the hour when dusk becomes night. This is a mysterious time when day and night exist together, when a dog is no longer a dog but not fully a wolf.

Going to the Laura Letinsky lecture at ICP last night was almost like a pilgrimage for me. Amazing just how different this lecture was from the Adam Fuss lecture. Letinsky's lecture left me more interested in the work than ever, which was good, especially after feeling slightly underwhelmed by her current show at Yancy Richardson. The beginning of Letinsky's 12 year project in still life began when she was in Germany, as a non-German speaker. During this time she felt she needed to turn more to visual language, as her ability to communicate with words was severely limited. This is telling, because her works can read like poems. Objects scattered deliberately like text on white, like an E. E. Cummings poem. Giorgio Morandi came up, and that was great. I also love his work.

I was not surprised to learn that Letinsky likes to cook. When she got her first studio, she solved the problem of what to photograph (she had previously always worked in her home) by picking up trash that she found on the way to the studio. This makes me think of her work as an archeology of modern life. For those who are interested, this lecture series at ICP is streaming live on every Wednesday night through December 15th.

Adam Fuss Lecture at ICP

2010-10-07T10:42:00.001-04:00

Highlights of the Adam Fuss lecture last night included a fantastic UFO photo shown by Fuss and the longest pregnant pause by a public speaker EVER. When Fuss showed the UFO photo, people laughed. He said "Ha Ha" with derision. People laughed again and the stone faced Fuss said "What's funny about that?"

I'm of two minds about this. Perhaps believing in UFO's could be a mark of authenticity- the artist's way of showing how crazy they are- a kind of pissing in the fireplace. On the other hand, maybe not. What we now know about the sheer scale of the cosmos can be a convincing argument for intelligent life from elsewhere. So maybe he is just up on his science.

Fuss answered his own question "What is art?" by saying that for him, it was a kind of mix of the above and below. Also that the artist is "trying to find the door." All of which made a lot of sense. In the Q&A period I asked for examples of painters he liked, after hearing his comment that he is more interested in painting than in photography. Jackson Pollack was foremost. However, what I really wanted to ask was why in his current exhibit at Cheim & Read the single photo of the vagina was on the floor. But I chickened out. Current show announcement above.

Paper Experiment

2010-10-05T11:30:00.000-04:00

I got my film back from last weekend-- here is sample from the shoot. I like a few of the images, but I'm not sure where I'm going with this yet or what is the most interesting aspect.. Will post a few more soon.

White Paper

2010-09-27T15:42:00.003-04:00

This effort is from yesterday's shoot in the living room. I had to adjust my original idea after some optimistic experimentation due to the laws of physics. So I decided to make the best of it. I'm not sure if this Polaroid came out so murky because of underexposure or bad film stock, or both. But I kind of like it.

Julie Blackmon at Robert Mann

2010-09-24T16:18:00.003-04:00

I met Julie for the first time in person at her show at Robert Mann gallery last night. She admitted that it is a bit of a struggle doing her work and balancing her family life--she has three kids! Kids or not, the work is impressive. Meticulous without being uptight, narrative without being melodramatic, her images are refreshing in the crowded field of conceptual and staged photographic imagery. One of my favorites in the show is the above High Dive, 2010. There are two Barbie dolls in mid flight from the balcony (you can click on image to enlarge).

Blackmon is great at utilizing sets with a frame within a frame-- often a window. I love the depth of some the these images, the tableau keeps on going in the second framed image. See the above image Snow Day. Obviously I am a big fan of her work, but I have to admit that I do find myself alternately impressed by and annoyed by all the chic set dressing and props- and sometimes I wonder if I'm seeing the work of a frustrated interior decorator. But in the end, she wins me over, with or without the zebra rug.

Courtesy Robert Mann Gallery, New York

Echo

2010-09-23T16:28:00.003-04:00

This is the first time my personal blog content has overlapped with my Visual Science blog for Discover. Under the expert guidance of my super smart, super sexy editor Kat McGowan I wrote a piece on photographer Timothy Archibald's Echolilia project for a special issue on the brain. Watching Kat crunch raw information into an elegant paragraph was awe-inspiring. I swear I heard violins.

You can see the gorgeous photos from Echolilia and my intro about it in the Discover Fall special issue on the brain on newsstands now for three months, or you can see it online now.

Above is one of Tim's lovely photos from Echolilia.

Hot Air

2010-09-23T15:40:00.002-04:00

I was really very disappointed by this shoot at first, and just amazed by how boring it was. It just didn't have the tension I was hoping for. Now I'm starting to like it a little better. Think it might be worth a second try- with a smudgy white balloon, or maybe a plastic bag instead of a balloon.

Claudia Kunin from Review Santa Fe

2010-09-17T09:58:00.001-04:00

Claudia Kunin was another artist/photographer that caught my eye at Review Santa Fe over the summer. I thought she might be a good fit for illustrating an article in Discover one day. She is using a 3D process that I really like the look of. I've always liked the way the reds and greens look on the edges of things- but only without the glasses. At any rate, her work is very intriguing, and I should mention she is having a show here in NYC. Claudia writes:

"I am happy to announce that I will be presenting my anaglyphic series "3D Family Ghost Stories" as well as a few from the series "3D Theoretical Ghost Stories" in the library of the Salmagundi Club from September 24-30. The hours for the club are Monday-Friday, 1-6 pm, and Weekends, 1-5 pm. I will be giving a talk on Sunday, September 26 at 3 pm at the Club, which is located at 47 Fifth Avenue, New York City. I will personally be at the club the 24th, 25th, 26th, and the 30th.

Thanks for looking,

Claudia"

Brooklyn Bridge Swim

2010-09-12T19:28:00.001-04:00

September 11th, 2010

Today I swam up to the Manhattan side of the Brooklyn Bridge stanchion and touched it with my hand. Looking up at the Brooklyn Bridge span from the water was exhilarating. It feels really good to know that I was able to do this swim and enjoy it, especially after all the fear and worry I had about it. When I arrived at the starting point this morning I felt so anxious I was becoming nauseated. Looking out at the river I saw a busy shipping lane, with massive boats plowing through a terrifying expanse of turbulent water, and wished I could just watch the race instead. In the end it was a lark. The happy news is that I am braver than I thought.

In previous open water races I had terrible panic attacks at the start that were exhausting and frightening. This time I swam the whole way with my brother, Nathan. We also started late to avoid the crush at the front. Starting late worked out fine, the only drawback was having to swim with slower swimmers --it was a very crowded course all the way through. I found myself doing breast stroke most of way under the bridge to avoid running over people, and I never came close to finding my pace. Next time maybe I'll do a longer race.

Dying of the Light

2010-09-08T10:03:00.004-04:00

The luxury of the light and time of summer is over. It is incredible how much less light there is all of a sudden. I'm celebrating fall already, but I'm sad that my time is up for certain shots I was working on. I shot this one on Monday- Ollie helped me by staying out of the frame, and playing star ships in the hall.

This photograph is for CH. On the difficulty of being where you are at any given moment- among other things.

Gilbert Garcin's "Le bon diagnostic"

2010-09-02T13:53:00.006-04:00

I think we've heard enough about me and my ridiculous photo projects for a while. This seems like a good time to show the work of a photographer I admire intensely. Gilbert Garcin came to my attention when a friend gave me a book of his work. Looking at his work was like eating food. It gave me nourishment. Also inspiration, along with the soaring feeling of the boundless possibilities of the human imagination. I don't know of anyone else doing work like this. Next time I go to France I might try to get an introduction, perhaps bearing a miniature baguette..

Honey-Catcher Take Two

2010-08-28T15:25:00.008-04:00

A few things became very clear to me doing a long shooting session today with super hero and friend Toto modeling. My clunky Mamiya RB67 is fine for tabletop work, but for anything that involves people there is just not enough flexibility. I like to be able to move around the subject. Also, I realize that I'm so ready to go digital. I need to find an affordable digital camera that can perform like a true medium format film camera. Today I shot each scenario on film AND digital.

I have several shots I'm working on or sketching that involve people coming up, including this honey-catcher shot, and I'm trying to figure out how to handle it. It looks like I'll need to include the human face, which for me is problematic. I've been thinking a lot about how to approach this and I haven't come up with any clear answers. So I'm experimenting.

Photography Portfolio Fatigue

2010-08-27T10:17:00.012-04:00

I've been seeing a lot of photographer's books, as usual. There are some themes I keep seeing repeated. Everyone seems to have convention photos: rabbit lovers conventions, furry costume people conventions, porn conventions, big women conventions, super hero conventions, etc. These images are usually presented as portraits, but rarely are convincing. Another theme I see in many books is nighttime urban landscapes. These always look good, but anyone can do them well. It is kind of hard to go wrong with an empty parking lot lit at night. But what can be done with these photos? And what do they tell me about the skills of the photographer? Not much.

This week I was struggling to find the right photographer for a choice but complicated assignment in the Bay Area. This shoot requires a window of time, so I can't fly someone to LA and pay them to hang around all week until conditions are right. I have a strong and reliable group I use regularly in the Bay Area, but I wanted to try someone new. I did in the end find someone, but it is kind of amazing to me how limited the supply of experienced commercial photographers is in the Bay Area. Los Angeles is fairly bursting at the seams, as is NYC. But San Francisco, no. See photo above of Randi looking at my file of photographers for the USA. You will see how fat the folders are for NYC. I have THREE folders of photographers in NYC. Two for LA, and one for everyplace else.

Training at K Pool

2010-08-25T19:47:00.020-04:00

I'm swimming in a race from Manhattan to Brooklyn on September 11th with my brother and his fiance. As the date rapidly approaches the reasons why this seemed like a good idea are becoming increasingly obscure. Nonetheless, paperwork is required, so I decided to have my time clocked by a lifeguard at my favorite pool in NYC, Kosciusko Pool. This Olympic sized outdoor pool is in storied Bed-Sty, about 20 minutes on foot from my house. My time was a very respectable 23:48 for one mile. I was very pleased, especially because I have not been training. I was also happy to be swimming in the cold, with the dark clouds overhead. Of course I had the place to myself as it had been raining most of the day.

Today I went back for another rainy day swim after work. I found the women's locker room was filled with NY Parks and Recreation staffers smoking and playing cards at big table. After I announced that I did in fact need to change into my bathing suit the men were kicked out. On deck, the lifeguards were larking about, riding bikes and wrestling. According to my lifeguard, I was the third swimmer who was there all day. When I returned to the locker room after my swim I had to bust up the party a second time, the male staffers had to be booted again. I didn't stay in the water long because I had forgotten my swim cap and all my body heat simply escaped. I found myself getting progressively colder no matter how fast or how much butterfly I swam. When I got out I was chilled to the bone, and now I'm wrapped with blankets up to my chin. Maybe there's a reason people don't usually swim in the rain.

Hot Honey Drip

2010-08-23T10:57:00.006-04:00

OK, I've been on holiday. That's why the blog has been so quiet. Is an explanation really necessary for checking out in August? I hope not.

I shot this the week before leaving for Nova Scotia. This is a test- I really need a model to do the final shot for me- but it is one of those things that I feel bad asking someone to do: "I know you agreed to model for me- now could you lay on the floor and catch hot honey in your mouth?" It sounds like a preposterous proposition, and I guess it is. The honey needs to be hot because it flows more reliably when heated, and it does not taste good. I have to figure out a way to light it so the flow of honey shows up better.

I wonder how much of this theatre of real life is a part of the work, sometimes I think it might be more important than I realize.

Milk on Stairs

2010-08-13T12:12:00.002-04:00

Shot this a few weeks back during one of the crazy heat waves. House smelled like sour milk for days despite intense clean up efforts. After shooting this I decided I needed to make the milk and cup closer up in the frame, and tried various other set-ups, but never got anything I liked better than this one. So maybe I'll keep it.

Shoe-in

2010-08-03T08:56:00.005-04:00

Cleaning up my studio the other weekend I found a slew of old polaroid test shots. This one is practically ancient- I made it when I was 18 or 19 years old, and working towards my BFA at the San Francisco Art Institute. This image shows me that I have been looking at some of the same ideas and concepts for a long time. Expressions of weight and lightness still captivate me. Also in this photo is the notion of traces, things left behind. And also perhaps entrapment..
Will I ever tire of these themes? Am I really getting better at expressing these concepts, or is my execution simply more refined? Maybe less refinement is better.. I do like the rawness of these early images.

California Über Alles

2010-07-29T12:23:00.003-04:00

I've just been homesick for California all summer- and finally got a visit in over last weekend. I have not been in Southern California for a long time, and it was the perfect antidote for a relentlessly hot, humid and claustrophobic New York summer. I didn't do a lick of work, and barely managed to fire off a few snapshots. It was great. Above is a giant Aloe.

Teacup Final

2010-07-17T13:26:00.003-04:00

My favorite aspect of this one is also how the gesture seems to animate the negative space- and of course, the absurdity.

Lipstick final

2010-07-17T13:21:00.002-04:00

As far as this one goes- I hope it is obvious what this image is about.

Necklace final

2010-07-17T13:12:00.003-04:00

Last weekend I forced myself not to shoot, but to instead spend my studio time going through old test shots, placing them into a book, and generally making a stab at organizing my studio. This weekend I'm doing more of the same- this time working on color balancing and dust removing from some newly scanned work. Above is a final from a three image series shot last summer. I've never printed this work, but I really want to. Not sure I'm getting the skin tones right- I don't have a lot of skin in my work and it is always difficult for me to get it looking right.
This is one of my favorites from the past year- I think what I like the most about it is the way the shape of the necklace seems to draw a body into the negative space.

My Eye

2010-07-16T13:46:00.010-04:00

Yesterday at the McBurney YMCA I was swimming along minding my own business when a giant muscle bound guy decided for whatever reason to swim against the pattern and ran right into me- knocking my goggles off and cutting the skin right under my eye and on my eyelid. Bleeding and stunned, I made my way to the side of the pool and filled out a useless "accident report" and applied an ice pack. During all this the dude (not a very good swimmer, of course) continued to swim as if nothing had happened. Before leaving I went over and stopped him. This was the conversation:

Me: "You got me pretty good.."
Dude: "What do you want me to do about it?"
Me: "How about an apology?"
Dude: "That has happened to me dozens of times and no one has ever apologized to me."
Me: "So everyone else has bad manners so it's OK for you to have bad manners too?"
Dude: "I'm born and raised in NY, this is the way we do it, baby."
Me: "Well, that's something to be proud of."
Dude: swims off

Sigh.
Sometimes I just hate New York.