Back To The Streets

May 12, 2024

It has been a while since I grabbed a camera and went out with the specific intention to make photographs. So much time in my own head, in my studio, using my hands and my head… but maybe not so much my eyes…

Albuquerque… it is not New York or Paris or Tokyo…for sure… but it is my city and it is a place I know well, even if it confuses me, or frustrates me, or scares me (sometimes, it’s true)…I feel safe in a place I don’t know well, in all honesty (not recognizing threats, perhaps, or ignorant to them, or maybe Albuquerque is genuinely more dangerous than other places???)

Grabbing a big, serious camera and my trusty prism, I headed downtown yesterday for a few hours of wandering. At least during the daytime downtown’s bark is worse than it’s bite. And as is the case for as long as I’ve lived here, things are generally deserted during the weekend, as most storefronts are vacant and the government offices are empty of weekday workers. Add a cloudy, windy, threat of rain sky and conditions were right up my alley.

Using the prism has rejuvenated my enthusiasm for shooting in the streets… it bring a nice degree of serendipity and happenstance to the process, while still staying anchored (albeit very loosely) to reality. I find that complete abstraction ends up being of passing interest to me, in a photograph, anyway. And the truth of the matter is that an image made with a camera does in some way stay connected to the “real world.” Which ultimately is fine with me, as I myself need to stay connected to the “real world,” too.

New Zine Release: Réfracté

December 8, 2023

Excited to share the news about the release of my new zine. It is the result of a whirlwind week in Paris. I took to the streets, with a camera in one hand, and a “secret weapon” in the other. Voilà! Here is a teaser video to get you excited. You can order the new zine now via my BigCartel shop, click on the button below.

PLEASE NOTE: These will not ship in time for Christmas arrival, but consider it instead for
a New Year / 2024 gift for yourself or someone you know who loves Paris.

order now!

Paris: City of Photography

November 19, 2023

I recently returned from a trip to Paris, France, where I attended Paris Photo, the largest annual photography gathering in Europe. This was my first visit, and thanks to my podcast, I was able to secure a press pass. The show itself was overwhelming, with numerous galleries showcasing a wide array of work, including classic photos, new photography, and digital photography. There were also booksellers and book signings, and to top it all off, an installation by Daido Moriyama.

The Paris Photo show spanned four days, and I found it so overwhelming that I attended three times. However, the city had many other photography-related events taking place simultaneously. One such event was Polycopies, an independent publishing photo book event held on a boat stationed on the Seine River. Polycopies served as a “punk rock” response to the larger, corporate attitude of Paris Photo, and I personally found it more to my liking. Another noteworthy show was OffPrint, focusing on books, not limited to photography but encompassing various printed matter. It drew a diverse crowd and added to the cultural richness of my experience.

The Pompidou Center hosted a photography exhibit well worth attending, titled “Corps à corps - Histoire(s) de la photographie” featuring an impressive array of work spanning the history of photography. I also had the pleasure of attending a photo exhibit by Julia Margaret Cameron, showcasing beautiful Victorian glass plate prints at the Jeu de Paume museum. However, one of the highlights of my time in Paris was attending a Michael Ackerman photo exhibit at the Camera Obscura Gallery in Montparnasse. I even had the opportunity to meet Michael and engage in extensive discussions about his work.

In addition to savoring delicious meals and indulging in a bit too much smoking, I immersed myself in the photography that surrounded me. The experience left me inspired, and I found myself compelled to capture many moments through my lens. More on that front will undoubtedly come in the future. I've already marked my calendar for next year's Paris Photo dates, eagerly anticipating another visit to this vibrant city that truly shone as the center of the photographic world during a wonderful week in November. I consider myself fortunate to have been a part of it.

Smoke and Mirrors

October 19, 2023

Another family obligation visit to New Jersey this week. Thankfully, I was able to carve out time for a visit into New York City. They say that it’s easier to photograph in NYC… there is certainly no shortage of subject matter, and the cacophony and chaos of the urban environment is a never ending sensory overload. That being said, I also find it challenging to make photographs that aren’t trite or cliche. It is a fine line between the best and the worst of “street” photography. I wanted my photos to have some unique character to them, so I brought along a pocket-sized mirror to play with while I shot. Pushing my lens up against the mirror allowed me to combine reflected scenery within the same frame as scenes directly in front of me. The juxtaposition of front and back merging into one exposure, for me, captures the complexity and energy of midtown Manhattan in a unique way. I’ve been toying with this approach for a little while now, but I now believe it is tailor made for the city streets. This might be the start of something new for my work. We’ll see if the novelty wears off, or if creative horizons broaden… reflected or otherwise.

Ice studies from an alley in Downtown Albuquerque

2021: 8 ........ Get Closer

February 20, 2021

Winter came down hard on the US this week, and New Mexico was no exception. Thankfully, we never lost power or water or internet… count your blessings, right? The snow cancelled my weekly sojourn to the bosque on Thursday, depriving me and my fellow photographer our time to talk process, to vent about sundry frustrations, and to make some photographs. Luckily, snow doesn’t stick around too long in these parts, our dry climate and abundant sunshine melting away most snowfall by midday.

I wandered Downtown Albuquerque on Friday for a few hours, expecting it to be fairly quiet, thanks to ongoing pandemic restrictions. The plus side of course was plenty of parking. Gear alert: I put extension tubes in between my lens and camera, allowing me to play a bit with extreme close up photography. Technical issues and approaches are not usually a big concern of mine. The end justifies the means, ultimately. I don’t care what tricks it takes to make an interesting image…most of the time. And I gather that with the exception of a few peers and inquisitive photo dweebs, most viewers don’t really care how you made your photograph.

This set up forced me to focus on small details, bending and kneeling and getting in within a few inches of my subject matter. Added bonus to this approach was the fact that I was doing this in a fairly barren back alley in the middle of the city. Not too worried about being smacked in the back of the head while setting up a shot…or getting run over by a distracted delivery driver, but you never know what’s lurking behind that dumpster. To my point, while I was hunched over a frozen pothole filled with ice and water, a random dude rolled up on his bicycle, with a full bottle of St. Germain in his hand. He asked for help unscrewing the cap, as it apparently had gotten gummed up from dried liquor and was impossible to open. I guess that’s why it ended up in the back alley, and then in his hands.

Anyway, the exploration taught me a few things. First off, there’s nothing wrong with playing with different approaches in my image making. I generally don’t likely “macro” photography. I find it a bit of a gimmick, and the whole idea of seeing a miniature world up close feels slightly cliche and predictable to me. But the process did force me to challenge those biases, and fight the urge to give up. I certainly wasn’t expecting to do a series of ice crystal studies behind a barber shop in downtown Albuquerque, but that’s where I landed. No harm, no foul. It was a fun diversion, and I’m not against the idea of pushing this approach further. “If your pictures aren’t good enough, you’re not close enough,” Robert Capa famously said. It’s been repeated ad nauseam. I guess it took a detour in my usual approach to discover the truth to it, after all. A lesson learned.

Words to Ponder

July 1, 2017

My photos, above. Not my words, below.

“Of all the means of expression, photography is the only one that fixes forever the precise and transitory instant. We photographers deal in things which are continually vanishing, and when they have vanished, there is no contrivance on earth which can make them come back again. We cannot develop and print a memory. The writer has time to reflect. He can accept and reject, accept again; and before committing his thoughts to paper he is able to tie the several relevant elements together. There is also a period when his brain “forgets,” and his subconscious works on classifying his thoughts. But for photographers, what has gone, has gone forever. From that fact stem the anxieties and strength of our profession.”

—Henri Cartier-Bresson, The Decisive Moment

The allure of the city

June 19, 2017

I guess it doesn't really matter if it's Paris, New York, Los Angeles or Albuquerque, for that matter... if I'm in a city, I will invariably be visually overstimulated. I love to walk the streets with my camera, just looking for small bits of information, small clues to a mystery I'm trying to solve. This past weekend I found myself in Chicago, and here is a bit of what I saw.