Hopeful Monsters

Book Arrived!

2012-02-12T12:04:00.000-08:00

Hot Off The Presses (Almost)

2012-02-03T15:05:00.000-08:00

Leaving Looks Like This...

First photo book in the Sky Between series (more of those to come soon too).

This was started a year ago, and is now at the publishers!
(and below is just a little preview of a 70 page book)

poodle-shaped explosion

2012-01-30T18:35:00.001-08:00

Gregory MacGregor, Poodle-Shaped Explosion in Vicinity of Cumulus Clouds, U.S. Route 80, Utah, 197

obscura

2012-01-30T11:06:00.001-08:00

in my sister's eye

2012-01-25T23:38:00.001-08:00

studio visit tomorrow

2012-01-25T23:14:00.000-08:00

can't tell if i'm nauseous because i'm excited or anxious to show work... thanks to future islands for getting me through my edit

this is a weird photo that i'm unsure of

2012-01-25T10:24:00.001-08:00

might be a little too harsh for my tastes..

all judy all the time

2012-01-22T23:41:00.001-08:00

just how she likes it!

judy

2012-01-21T11:32:00.001-08:00

teresa on film

2012-01-20T11:23:00.000-08:00

oh film i love you so. and screen shots.. love a good screen shot.
you too teresa.

teresa

2012-01-18T23:10:00.000-08:00

girl's got talent.. and weird tea. yesterday she offered me "evening in missoula." it had sticks in it.. but was actually quite nice.

dear Janna Washington

2012-01-17T00:16:00.001-08:00

I love your work too.. and you have the same first and last initial as Jeff Wall coincidentally. (Except I now realize you've changed your last name so this is no longer true..not the part about loving your work..)

dear Jeff Wall

2012-01-17T00:13:00.001-08:00

I can't help but like you.. and your new work.

google maps

2012-01-16T00:29:00.000-08:00

depending on how well you know me, you might know that i make compulsive google maps for almost every place I visit. These maps often prominently feature the best ice cream, coffee, or bookstore in a given city. This map however was a map of places I wanted to photograph back in 2008. Though there is no ice cream marked on this particular map a lot was consumed in between these various locations. Along with Icelandic chocolate covered raisins.. one of my favorite things on earth. Yes, they are better in Iceland, a small, but true fact.

land before time

2012-01-13T17:36:00.000-08:00

film from turkey that went overlooked in light of the cross-country move.. woops!! hello pictures i haven't seen in six months!

contacting deux

2012-01-12T15:09:00.001-08:00

contacting

2012-01-12T14:33:00.001-08:00

writer's portrait

2012-01-12T00:17:00.000-08:00

this is my step-mom! she is a writer!

i heart film

2012-01-11T14:52:00.000-08:00

my sisters are not sisters... continued.. five years later...

2012-01-09T22:37:00.000-08:00

FIVE YEARS AGO

two weeks in pictures.. ready, set, go!

2012-01-09T22:28:00.000-08:00

iphone pictures. you're welcome. real film (yes you read right) pictures to come soon.. proof in the next post.

michixplosion

2012-01-07T21:32:00.001-08:00

just 'cause

2011-12-26T22:58:00.000-08:00

by garrett

2011-12-22T22:07:00.000-08:00

photographers hate being in front of the lens... can't you tell? thanks, gar

lena la

2011-12-22T21:54:00.000-08:00

sleep sweetly

2011-12-22T20:50:00.001-08:00

Cali kinda day

2011-12-21T00:50:00.001-08:00

nature v. city

2011-12-19T23:30:00.001-08:00

too handsome

2011-12-18T21:54:00.001-08:00

and too talented: Garrett

too pretty

2011-12-18T21:52:00.001-08:00

and too talented: Janna

Nerds at LACMA

2011-12-18T21:51:00.001-08:00

love them nerds

outtakes

2011-12-14T15:22:00.001-08:00

NEW EVERLANE

2011-12-13T12:01:00.001-08:00

its pretty fun having an entire website filled with your pictures.. even if its just pictures of stuff..

hunts house

2011-12-12T21:23:00.001-08:00

this is real

2011-12-09T00:42:00.001-08:00

An unexpected side-effect of the 2010 flooding in parts of Sindh, Pakistan, was that millions of spiders climbed up into the trees to escape the rising flood waters; because of the scale of the flooding and the fact that the water took so long to recede, many trees became cocooned in spiders webs. People in the area had never seen this phenomenon before, but they also reported that there were less mosquitos than they would have expected, given the amount of standing water that was left. Not being bitten by mosquitoes was one small blessing for people that had lost everything in the floods. (© Russell Watkins) #

drifting

2011-12-08T02:10:00.001-08:00

trip-tick...

2011-12-08T00:01:00.001-08:00

j

2011-12-04T15:42:00.001-08:00

not too bad 5d...

i think i need this

2011-12-03T13:17:00.001-08:00

http://www.dezeen.com/2011/12/03/new-refuge-gervasutti-by-leapfactory/

away you turn from me

2011-12-02T02:46:00.000-08:00

a snowy guilt trip for the first of december

2011-12-01T02:28:00.000-08:00

I took these almost two years ago and I still haven't dealt with them yet... sigh...
I still consider this to be one of the best days shooting I've ever had. I was completely alone with my 4x5 camera, in total silence, in the middle of no-where Iceland... just how I like to be.

Dear Alec Soth, thank you for your lecture at SF MOMA the other night.. you lit a fire under my photo-ass...

made pitchfork's year in photos...heck yeah!

2011-11-30T12:54:00.001-08:00

Along with my girl Charlotte Zoller... one bad ass b*tch!

BOOM (link here)

100'000 people

2011-11-30T03:00:00.001-08:00

i think the biggest audience my photographs will ever have will be as a result of everlane.com

According to the SF Chronicle 100'000 people are waiting to get in...

so strange to find you and your shadow here

2011-11-30T02:52:00.001-08:00

so bright it burns

2011-11-30T02:25:00.001-08:00

holding

2011-11-30T01:34:00.001-08:00

grammy

2011-11-30T01:25:00.001-08:00

excellent tumblr

2011-11-30T00:34:00.001-08:00

http://uglyrenaissancebabies.tumblr.com/

need I say more?

love

2011-11-29T12:36:00.001-08:00

http://www.blommers-schumm.com/portfolio.php

glow

2011-11-29T11:47:00.001-08:00

hitchcock stairs

2011-11-28T21:52:00.001-08:00

Everlane Shots!

2011-11-22T18:58:00.001-08:00

so silly but so fun too! whenever I tell people I'm a freelance photographer, they ask "so what do you shoot?".. and after telling them about the stuff I love to shoot (pictures I'm hardly ever paid to make) I always tell them about all the other (pictures I'm paid to make) things I'll shoot (save weddings, done with that... probably)...
here is another classic example.. the products are lovely however... and I've got the worlds best creative director on my team. And yes, those faces you'll see below... we made those out of ties.. f***ing rad.

Everlane...

2011-11-22T16:41:00.001-08:00

here is me shooting for the launch of their website! All pictures on site soon to be by me!

visitor

2011-11-22T16:19:00.001-08:00

loves purple something fierce

2011-11-21T00:18:00.001-08:00

Real Estate

2011-11-19T00:00:00.000-08:00

Mondanile gives it a thumbs up..

Big Troubles

2011-11-18T17:19:00.001-08:00

they are all big trouble...

Studio shot

2011-11-18T15:39:00.001-08:00

going through old pics

2011-11-16T03:59:00.001-08:00

sometimes pays off...

Angel Deradoorian

birthday girl

2011-11-16T02:08:00.001-08:00

Edo

2011-11-16T00:51:00.001-08:00

classmates

2011-11-15T01:15:00.001-08:00

A Little Gem

2011-11-14T02:35:00.001-08:00

Joshua many years ago...

Scenes From The Day's Shoots

2011-11-12T22:16:00.001-08:00

fashion shoot tomorrow.... o la la

2011-11-10T10:41:00.001-08:00

i have an assistant picking up all my gear.... nbd....

everlane.com shit's rad

kaboom

2011-11-10T10:40:00.001-08:00

Kite Photography

2011-11-09T11:26:00.000-08:00

Photo from 1906 showing the city in ruins after the major quake!

Artists of the 99%

2011-10-30T22:15:00.000-07:00

Scenes from Saturday's poster making/meeting of Artists of the 99%....

Another Auction! WhAT?!?

2011-10-28T13:13:00.000-07:00

Very excited to be included in another auction.. and with lots of other talented photographers.. curtosy of Dan Cooney Fine Art in Chelsea!

Check it out!! Bid if you're feeling bold (or rich)..

Weird and Natural??

2011-10-28T11:59:00.000-07:00

Academy of Sciences SF... weird..

I Wish I Took This

2011-10-22T16:40:00.001-07:00

Vers Portofino, 1977
Bruno Réquillart

More Weirdness

2011-10-20T22:45:00.000-07:00

Weird Pictures of Josh & Ginger

2011-10-20T09:53:00.001-07:00

I took weird pictures of Mag and Josh this weekend..

Booze Makes People Bid

2011-10-19T13:36:00.000-07:00

Scenes from Aperture party... Rachel Barrett and Paul Colarusso pictured below

Double Snap! Auction Success!

2011-10-18T11:23:00.000-07:00

Too much fun @ Aperture!!

Here is my piece, FRAMED! Sold for nearly twice what it was listed as... horrah!
Thanks to those nice Fuji reps for giving us free polaroid film to make stupid pictures with all night. And to the kind collectors who bought my work. And to Paul Calarusso and Will Steacy, just 'cause.

ps- that huge white spot is not in the actual picture... that's my rad flash

SNAP!!!

2011-10-16T21:54:00.001-07:00

Free buffet!!!! Oh yeah... and I get to watch my picture be auctioned off, that's cool too.
http://www.aperture.org/2011snapbenefitparty/

Big Bike Ride

2011-10-13T09:51:00.000-07:00

30 miles! Over the Golden Gate, to Sausalito, and back through the Presidio.

Nerdy Class Trip!

2011-10-12T00:48:00.000-07:00

Mountain View Cemetery...

Larry Sultan...

2011-10-11T11:00:00.000-07:00

I write about pictures as well as take them...

Empty, dark, still: evocative of a sacred space. In this silence ten large-scale
chromogenic prints sing in harmony. Each individual image possesses a distinct voice
and a pervasive color scheme. Each individual image separated by wall and white space,
by light and shadow. But in unison these pictures pose deeply philosophical questions
about place and home. Before knowing the subjects in the photographs are posed migrant
workers, without identifying when in Larry Sultan’s career the pictures were made, the
photographs plead softly: where are we going and from where do we come?

Antioch Creek is one in a group of photographs by Larry Sultan, on view as part
of the exhibition Here at Pier 24 (the title providing a vague and malleable thematic
umbrella). The interior of the site was holy: the photographs treated as religious icons,
the rooms as small shrines. This constructed sense of sanctity in a converted warehouse
was pervasive. Lighting effects and scale undeniably elevated Antioch Creek to the status
of higher being. But these superficial enhancements were unnecessary to underscore the
weighty conceptual ideas and queries at work in Sultan’s photographs.

A man wearing white sits under a blossoming tree. At face value, the scene is
ripe with banality. The image is flat and depth of field is eliminated, forcing and coercing
all subject matter to the front of the photograph. An overwhelming plentitude of petals
emphasizes this attention to surface, creating a texture or fabric-like quality. This kind
of Rococo floral fussiness makes for a pretty picture. Sultan has invariably created
something quite lovely and a superficial reading of the photograph ends here. But upon
wrestling with the image a bit more, which Sultan effectively invites a more patient
viewer to do, an unsettling experience is unearthed.

The man in white is seated, gently clasping his hands together, captured in
a moment of thought and repose. However, the absence of depth in this photograph
visually shoves the figure to the face of the image. The man is seated, but on a strange
incline. His presence in the image is precarious as he is pushed and pulled along multiple
axes. This seemingly docile moment of solitude is subtly charged with anxiety and is
wholly unnerving.

Simultaneously, it is an image of total stasis and pure explosiveness. The tree
blasts petals all over the image, its branches extending beyond the top of the frame of the
image, the blanket of petals rolling out well beyond the bottom. The image attempts to
expand into the viewer’s space, only to be thwarted by the frame. This energy is kinetic
and the movement is only implicit. Ultimately, it is just a still photograph. But Sultan
quietly builds pressure; a deep breath preceding an occurrence, a profoundly pregnant
pause. The pink tones complicate this elusive tension. On first glance, the photograph
is practically darling, the baby blush pink of the blossoms teeters on saccharine. This
warm, comforting palette subverts the sense of displacement of the subject, the oddity of
the image. Yes, a man wearing white sits under a blossoming tree, but whether or not he
should be there is entirely unclear.

His clothing is white and benign. But his skin is not. He nearly blends in to the landscape; another decorative element on the surface of the photograph, but his racial
identity and the aggressive tree actively expel him outward. Visually he and the tree compete for the viewers’ attention, but he is in the submissive position and the tree
dwarfs him in scale. This competition is endless and perpetual. The subject cannot be
expelled from this moment locked in time. So why is he here? Why is he outside of the
home and not in it?

Ethnicity complicates questions of displacement. The man’s race is suggestive of
his status as alien in a geo-political sense, an “other” in a foreign land. Yet the technical
and formal components of the photograph illustrate and visualize the feeling of being in
transition or without home. It seems that Sultan aimed to illicit something more universal.
That the questions he implores us to ask about place cannot be defined by boundaries
drawn on a map, that they are just a means to an end. This incredible equilibrium between
seductive formal qualities and the ambiguous banal content is the dynamic that compels
us to linger. The viewer is incorporated into these visualized moments of limbo, these
staged scenes of the uncanny. Though his lens, Sultan sheds light on what we already
know. But like the man dressed in white, Sultan places us on unstable ground, caught in
pursuit of what we can’t quite recognize or answer, that which dislocates us.

Just In Case You Want To Bid For Me!!

2011-10-11T00:01:00.000-07:00

Aperture Gala & Auction on Monday!!

http://aperture.auctionanything.com/AuctionHelp.taf?S=N&R=2&C=2&m=3&sort=7&ST=0&days=30&category_id=5701&skipkw=1&status=&_start=1&_UserReference=D1D0771346B5A43BC0045BA12BE34514043F

ocean and bay

2011-10-10T23:55:00.000-07:00

Just As It Was

2011-10-06T10:40:00.001-07:00

Agnes

2011-10-05T13:13:00.001-07:00

I Live Near The Beach

2011-09-27T00:39:00.000-07:00

And now have frequent existential crisises thanks to grad school...

Morning From My Window

2011-09-16T08:35:00.001-07:00

First San Fran Exhibition... Well.. Kind Of!

2011-09-14T23:58:00.000-07:00

!!!!!!!! Link HERE

Oliver

2011-09-13T02:05:00.000-07:00

Rene & Georgette Magritte Holding Hands Behind a Tree, 1965

2011-09-12T20:59:00.001-07:00

by Duane Michals

Elena

2011-09-12T02:03:00.000-07:00

Anelina

2011-09-11T14:02:00.000-07:00

It's Hard Being 15

2011-09-09T12:56:00.000-07:00

Jake Stangel... Good Photographer, Bad Portraits of Me

2011-09-07T12:43:00.000-07:00

Jake is super talented. But I'm way more comfortable behind the lens instead of in front. What results.. super awkward pictures of me looking fucking exhausted which I was as these were taken on the day I moved. Nice views of my roof though!

Me Being Awkward

Miss These Faces

2011-09-07T00:08:00.003-07:00

Agatha

2011-08-31T10:42:00.002-07:00

This is one of my oldest friends. We met when we were roughly 6 in a modern dance class. As Agatha recalls that we choreographed a dance to a song from "Cats" together. I apparently took it very

seriously, while she was easily distracted. Sounds about right. I am sure I thought this was the most important thing I'd ever done, and wasn't going to let this blondie screw it up for me, and so bossed

her around. And yet she still wanted to be my friend, for 20 plus years. Agatha is now a doctor, a resident OBGYN.. so she delivers babies. Yea, who is serious now.

Disorienting Orientation

2011-08-31T10:19:00.003-07:00

I played nice with all the other new kids and look what it got me: free beer! After orientation, a competition was held to see who could make buddies and know their new buddies the best. In 120 seconds or less, Jess, Teresa and I learned the intimate details of each others lives, such as our last names, the colors of each others bicycles, and what cities we lived in before moving to SF. Our outrageous, mildly-pathetic song and dance routine underscored just how badly grad students want free beer.. but in the end.. we did win. So it wasn't all in vain.

First Day of School

2011-08-29T22:24:00.000-07:00

(sort of... ) Orientation at 10am tomorrow. Yikes bikes.
I hope they hand out something that looks like this:

I also hope I don't cry in front of all the other students.

Hilly But Pretty!

2011-08-29T20:44:00.003-07:00

Need An Animal Suit ASAP

2011-08-29T13:25:00.002-07:00

Sontag in bear suit.. amazing. Need animal costume for grad school immediately. Not for furry convention which I'm sure is held locally in SF.

Mariposa

2011-08-28T23:28:00.006-07:00

New Sibs Work!

2011-08-27T15:50:00.002-07:00