Oct 21, 2019 | Blog
It is an interesting question (to me at least) why I stop where I stop to photograph, why I photograph what I photograph. After all these years I have realized that I seem to be attracted to a certain type of subject matter. About fifteen years ago it became clear to me that I was attracted to and lived on the Frayed Edges of life both in my actual life and in my mind. In urban areas (where I have lived more than half my life) I have always lived on the Edges: in NYC I lived in Red Hook before it was groovy and cool and it was literally on the edge of Brooklyn, on the harbor and definitely frayed: full of run down houses, broken glass and wild dogs, among other things. For the last 13 years, I have lived in the Sodo neighborhood of Seattle, very industrial area in South Sodo with no place to shop or get coffee. My building, in fact, is the only one designated as a legal live/work space in this area. This subject matter is not about people per se. Instead it is about the what people have discarded and what they live with on a day to day basis. This detritus contains mostly all the aspects of life both urban and rural. In the one rural area where I lived in the nineties, the house was an old hunting cabin up a dirt road. We heard cougars in the ravine in the middle of the nigh and worked hard to keep the woods from encroaching on us. It was seven miles to the nearest store. It was mostly scary to be outside and I did not photograph outside much there.
I have been collecting these Edges photographs and lately mulling them over and over in my brain. I have gone through many many folders and picked out some of the best from the past 20 years or so. I present them to you as both still lifes/landscapes and a visual celebration of the daily walk with a camera. They are a diary, a notebook for me. These images never made it into a final portfolio but have become this a blog post. I may do a portfolio soon called Frayed Edges, done either with the digital camera or on film. There are many more; I shoot daily. These have endured for me.
Trailers, Georgetown near Lucille Street, Seattle, WA
Georgetown, Seattle, WA
My Grandmother’s Attic, South Dakota
Near Oysterville, Willapa Bay, WA
From my Grandmother’s Attic, South Dakota
Craig, Alaska
Greenhouse Door, Gig Harbor, WA
Banner Forest, Near Port Orchard, WA
Little Shack Along the Columbia River, WA
Featured Image is a detail of a trailer near Westport, WA.
Dec 11, 2018 | Blog
As most of you know I was a high school photography teacher for 24 years. I loved the job, working everyday with young people who were intrigued by and creative with photography. Teaching them was fun. I have now retired from that job. I hate that word retired. It sounds as if I am off to bed to do nothing for the remainder of the days I have left. For me retirement is not about that. I developed a good work ethic over the years as a high school teacher which continues to pay off now: I get up and drink coffee with my work. I honestly do not know how I had time do the high school job. I spent at least 60 hours a week working including with the commute (which involved a 30 minute ferry ride). On top of that I tended to my studio and did what I could with my personal work. I had shows and grants and sold photographs but it was “on the side.” Now it is all about simply producing for the pure joy of it.
So what am I doing right now? The Pinhole Landscapes of course. The Innards Portfolio as I have come to call those images. I am also working on a cookbook of my Mother’s recipes, the DSLR images I randomly take, the Pinhole Project, and two personal pinhole projects called Getaways and Home (a future post is in the works) and I of course am updating my two websites and applying for grants. The Pinhole Landscapes involve a lot of post-processing: the negatives are very dusty and the color is off. Sometimes I reverse them horizontally. Sometimes I change things in photoshop: the aspect ratio, the background among other things. I want these images to knock me for a loop, just like the darkroom has in the past. I refuse to be judgmental about post-processing decisions.
I just spent 17 days in November in New York City photographing the archive of my dear deceased mentor from graduate school, Judy Seigel. Many things amaze me about her work. She produced a huge, incredible body of images from the about the time I met her (in the early 1980s) until about 2015. Her work ethic was so strong. She was not always easy to be around. She asked me hard questions and got impatient when I did not have an answer. Yet I learned so much from her and I have continued to learn from her looking at her images while I photographed them. She produced a strong and unappreciated, odd body of work. She had an unique vision. She was experimental and fearless. She thought a regular silver print without any “post factory manipulations” was boring. Her work inspires me to go into the darkroom with the Innards Portfolio. They are film negatives after all. I have an idea to transform these images and make them both about process and the image. I will let you know how that works. Meanwhile, the studio is glorious, depressing, exhilarating, Some days I do not go out: I mean I do not go outside at all. Forgive me if I have canceled a date with you. But now that I have the gift of time, I am using it.
In the past I eschewed the DSLR. But in fact I am shooting with it now and again, especially when I am on a road trip. Here are some photographs with the DSLR from my recent trip to the Grand Tetons. I did shoot a lot with the pinhole camera as well, and I took along a telephoto lens (a rarity for me) for the DSLR. I used it to make studies for the pinholes. Maybe you will see some sort of relationship between the two types of shooting. Maybe not Let me know. You can see two of the trip’s pinholes in the More Innards post. Another post on them later.
To the Grand Tetons and Back, 2018
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These images are but a few of the 500 or so that I made with the DSLR. It will take some time to sort them out. The images above have popped out as favorites. The featured image is from inside a cabin near Jackson Lake with the Grand Tetons in the background.
Feb 25, 2013 | Portfolio
I don’t know why I have taken so many self-portraits or what meaning they might have as photographs. But I have been taking them steadily since I first started out as a photographer in 1978. Many of them were/are reactions to conscious or unconscious stimuli, moments presented when the camera was ready. Others were set-ups, experiments with equipment and/or printing processes, attempting new techniques. And some were made out of reflex and habit to satisfy the urge to click the shutter, not to make any type of statement.
Self-portraiture confuses me. Like many people, I rarely like a photograph of myself and feel self-conscious when a camera is pointed my way. I would much rather take responsibility for making my own image and the consequences incumbent upon it. As I edit the self-portraits, I try to forget that these are in fact photographs of me and choose images that I like, that are able to stand alone. I continue to make self-portraits and will post new ones as they are made. These images were made with a wide variety of cameras and printing techniques. Some are one of a kind and have been sold. Many were printed from black and white negatives and are available in limited edition silver gelatin prints. Many are digital based images and are available in editions of 15. If interested, please inquire about pricing and availability.
