labor ready

mostly undocumented immigrants make themselves available for work on the fringes of big box construction superstore parking lots. outcast from society, predominantly hispanic and well below the poverty line. a tough life for sure, not to mention the struggle to enter the US.
my approach in this set was to describe the undocumented work force in a way that does not explain how they interact with their work environment, but to show their physical appearance, their surface. i refrained from close ups and deviating from the formula of full body shots and spacing in order to describe the topography and subtle continuum.
general communication and contact with this community by the public seems to be avoided.
the irony is that the community is known of and called upon if needed, but otherwise ignored and stigmatized if not.
for this series i used fijifilm provia 100F 4x5 color transparency

an ongoing project.

not from India

i used the four bi and some stobes and shot through a slit of foam core against this neat mural of the taj mahal for luke and teresa on their very special day. i think these are my favs

echo park avenue

I originaly started with an edit of around 4 -5 images, but I have been adding to the edit every couple of days.
I have a few b/w photographs that i will be adding also.
if you notice that there are some shots that are a little dark, the reason is that I am trying to present the film in its purest form. I wanted to show how the sheet film really looks, without homoginized photoshop adjustments.
I love PS, but it can have the affect of removing the unique quality that a sheet of film may have.

hurray !!

I am back online!!!
so fucking stoked!!!
tomorrow i will connect with images.
yes!!!

m i a

sorry to all who have wondered what had happened to me and the blog. I have been off the air due to quiting my studio space in downtown Los Angeles and moving to Echo Park, but the main problem is our internet hook up is really not very good. AT&T.
so in January we are going to have a Time Warner hook up, mega fast cable connection and I will be back online.

see you soon!

a tea leaf

a girl was sitting in a truck cafe the other day, having a cup of tea. she was of no fixed abode and just drifting, working in clubs and bars and anything else that could help her get by. as she was drinking her tea she was spied out by a truck driver passing through. they talked and she liked him, thought he was cute. next thing you know they are hooking up. she did'nt stick around after though. could'nt.

mike and cara

I actually had my camera set up to shoot mike and cara a couple of weeks ago. I think this is my favourite of their pictures. they are an awesome couple with such interesting lives and I am always fascinated by their stories.
mike has an incredible history in the music indusrtry and cara leads in frank gehry's studio, the architect responsible for the Disney Concert Hall in downtown LA.
it was a great night except that I had to wait till after using the view camera before i had a drink. one thing is for sure and thats booze and view cameras don't mix.

roots

when I was up in Merced last month I photographed this fellow who had chopped down a tree in his front yard and at this point was struggling with the roots. it seemed to me that he had more of a task that he bargained for, but it turned out that he was fairly relaxed about the depth of his roots.

lystra

from time to time my friend eric kroll will come over with his friends, and I will oppertunize the moments with camera booth portraits. described here is lystra.

pam

after the vonn sumner shoot, kristen and I stopped off at pam's house to say hi
and take some photos and jam in her music room. she is a most excellent
human being, and a truly wonderful host, not to mention she rips on the drums!


sending out a prayer to you pam and all the plants and life around you.

vonn sumner

vonn had me take photographs at his studio, and surrounding environment.
the photographs are to be used in the catalog for vonn's solo show at The Riverside Art Museum,
from September 9th through November 15th.
thanks vonn, its an honor to work with you.

many thanks to kristen for helping out.
thanks darling.

( click on post title to visit vonn's site. )

a golden heart

over the 4th of July I went with my girlfriend kristen and her dog franky and her kitty tulpa to Yosemite.
the picture at top is kristen with her mom nancy.
many thanks to nancy and don for being so wonderful and kind.

church of fashion rollerskate affair

charon had a really fun event at her art center/creative work house on north broadway, and I got some snaps to show.

shelly, where are you?

from 93 through 01 I lived in San Diego. Its a nice place if you want to retire, and spend the rest of your days looking out the front of your garage. I lived just east of downtown in Golden Hills, a pretty old neighborhood, and about four blocks from SDCC, also nice. anyway at the foot of Golden Hills, where the trolly makes a 90 degree turn, is this cool old diner. a nice family spot with a horse shoe counter top, and ladies running everywhere behind it. I shot a few folks in that diner, and I had this shot at hand.
this is shelly, she was with jetset in SD, I photographed her for cindy and we became friends. she would pop in every once in a while. but I totally lost touch with her, since around the time of this shot. funny how that happens. I wish I could communicate with everyone I lost touch with.

point lobos

mounds of cosmic dirt. in orbit.

franklin

I like taking photographs and then sharing them with people. and if they like the shots, well then I think thats about the most precious thing of all. if the people that are in the photographs like the photographs or are fascinated by them, then there is not much I can really put into words to express how vital that is to me.
i am so stoked on these shots of franklin.
hope you like them franklin

family of Inger

this is the family of Inger.

nexus

portraits from the marriage of inger and chris in Carmel.

earthwork

pabulum, food for thought.
just south of Oxnard, California is a lovely grove of walnut trees, apple trees and organic vegetable plots.
this set was taken with the Rollie 3.5 planar around three years ago. my dad bought me that camera in Glasgow in 93.
I guess the reason why I posted these up is from the inspiration that I recieved while looking at extremely beautiful photographs of English and Italian Gardens by beth dow and her husband keith taylor's fascinating architectural work, all produced in the palladium process with absolutely exquisite control.
so I thought warming up this greyscale set would work nicely.
"faux palladium" as Mrs Deane calls it.

origins

the enchanting forest cradles the origins life.

constellation

a couple more stars shimmering in the light from the photobooth.
adrianna and robert chouraqui.

family of Chris

chris carter's side of the family

along side the river

carmel river

just behind The Mission in Carmel, California, runs the Carmel River.

chris and inger

chris carter and inger lund, just back from their honeymoon in Lanta, Thailand, came by today and picked up their cds.
photographs from their wedding in Carmel, California. they were married at the Mission Ranch, directly behind The Mission, on the same acreage bot not associated. the Ranch is beautiful, but like a golf course, very well manicured. maybe a little sterile. however, inger had hired me based on the work I did for john and sarah kosinsky, in Maine. in particular the informal portraits. so that was the assignment, obviously cover the wedding, but the emphisis on the informal view camera portraits.
fortunatly on the periphery of the lawns, was an untouched hidden primordial thicket. extremely rare insects that have existed for tens of thousands of years busy themselves in this place.
I tried to step over all the life forms as I took photographs, tried to be as gentle as a lamb.
this one of chris and inger was taken pretty late in the day.

traction

so I am sitting at ground works on traction in the "arts district", out of cash, out of smokes, just scrounging around like a bum. these guys at the far table are rolling cigs, so I go up and ask the dude if he has another. I get one and walk back to my table. as I turn I hear this heavy scottish accent, "robert angell !". I stop dead in my tracks. turn around and make eye contact with the mystery voice. the wheels slowly start turning.
dust and cobwebs falling through rays of golden sunlight.
look who it is!!
my neighbor from the small village in scotland where I spent my teen years, Kirkliston. right here in downtown LA.
I had not seen graeme since I was 15. quite some time ago.
turns out he is having a great career as a drummer, formerly of swervedriver, now touring the world with his long time girlfriend bojena. ( not sure if thats correct spelling, sorry if not )
He was in the year above me, but closer to my late brother william, who was four years my elder.
man that shit sent me spinning. so naturally I insisted that they come through for some portraits.
a bum with a photostudio. priceless.

green carpet to a hallway

oscar at the top and milo below.

portrait room

numa,
steve diet goedde,
aaron hawke.

I've got computer eye, from staring at my monitor for the last week. I am working on the view camera portraits I shot in Carmel. in the primordial thicket.

grace kelsey

I was really enjoying the memories from "la fresqueria" when I thought, "I should post up one of my most treasured shots"
also, sorry for lagging on the current batch of photobooth portraits, I know that people are waiting to see their shots, but I just got back from shooting the wedding in carmel and I have to finish that now, so please, hang on a bit.

family of Albert

pulled these from the vaults. a portrait session I did with my old compadre Albert and his family. I took these at La Fresqueria, a while back. I mixed the beautiful window light from that old spot with those flourescents. same ones in the photobooth.
Man they really screwed up that beautiful spot. when I was there, I had complete control of that loft space, but when Wayne's friends sold the lease to the pizza dork, that was that, and I wept, literaly. the place had the most incredible window light, facing west towards a 100' white wall. it was truly the sickest. now, the bright spark douche bag building management divided up that incredible space for a bunch of mini offices, all in the name of profit. little did they know what they had. fucking idiots.
I suppose I should add in parenthesis, ( that I was lucky enough to utilize that spot for a good few years, and I would like to express thanks to the gods for that, or pour water on the plants or something. )

guy

this is my friend guy. on this particular day he was a little sad because debbie his girl friend had left for ny.
perfect thinks me. not only was I looking forward to shooting guy, but to also find some emotion or longing in his eyes was a great reward, as far as the photograph was concerned.
but she's back now and he is pretty happy again

orbital celerity device

the Velocity Tour 2008 came through Encino Velodrome last saturday, the 12th, I went up there with Derek and Brittany, and brought along the view camera. here are some of the shots I took. everything was pretty cool until Dave's bike got pinched, and then somebody was going to get dusted. somebody that we could not find.
fortunately the LA riders all chipped in and Dave's got a new set of wheels.

terry noise

Terry Noise is a really quiet fellow. We had a great time drinking tea, smoking and just shooting the breeze.
I should also add that I was so fortunate to be taken on a short sailing voyage, of which I also have some snaps, around the small Islands at Sorrento, and one that we dropped the anchor at and had some really fine delectables.
Hope to see you soon Terry.

rendez-vous fiancailles

Chris and Inger came over on Saturday, and it looks like I am going to shoot their wedding.
So I got them started here.
Weddings are fun for me, coz I get to mainline the 4x5. Its portrait city, and I really enjoy that.
just praying for the right weather, please God, what ever the hell you are, please be really gloomy so I can shine

its you

well, here are more pics from the photobooth. I was at bar 107 the other night and I got this warm and fuzzy feeling, coz guess what? they have a photobooth!! I thought "Yeh, I really love these things", it was kind of like seeing a long lost uncle. where have you been? who have you been shooting lately? got some good work that you are happy with?


top, derek, matt, and caesar

virginia

this is a portrait of virginia, murshid's mom. I took this shot around 99, in the nalanda art colony. virginia was amazing, she had a nice room there, with all this fairy-tale furniture, painted with flowers and bright colors. with all the madness going on around there she was always moving rather slowly and in a relaxed sort of manner. she really loved my daughter, who was around seven then, and I thought, " shit, sona could really learn something from her ". it was cool for a moment, but after a while I really had to get the fuck out of that place. a lot of fruit loops.
one thing virginia did though, with out fail, was to swim every day.

cycling around downtowners

bicycle life of the downtowners, scooting around, some at inmo gallery.

indoor velodrome racecars

I have been riding around with my friends in downtown Los Angeles, they all have bicycles. its a lot of fun riding through the streets. beats driving by a million miles, you have just got to watch out for all the maniacs and phsychotic bus drivers. I tell you, those bus drivers...
these are all taken with my crack shot point and shoot Minolta 35

friends

Family and friends portraits from John and Sarah's in Maine

excerted from the Bechers conversation with Michael Kohler

MK.
How did you develope that specific view of objects which has become typical of your work?

HB.
...and at the same time a view that makes the objects comparable-as long as we stick to it. because its only really when you have the same vantage point that you can lay the photos along side one another and realize what they have in common, what is specific to the basic form of a blast furnace or a cooling tower and what is individual variation.

MK.
But in that case the photographer completely abandons personal expression in favor of subservience to the particular object?

BB.
That's right, the object is in the foreground and not the photographer. The more precisely you get the object in the picture the more its individuality is highlighted. And that is what we, at least, consider to be most important. It allows us to excesise our subjective preferences in the choice of object we photograph; we then use these in tableaus or include them in exhibitions or in our books.







What Hilla and Bernd Becher are talking about here really strikes a chord with me in my portrait series. I definately regard their methodology as a key understanding and approach. With this in my mind, I think I would like to present the portraits in this style of grouping, in sets of three, a total of 9 images per set, and in accompaniment large single shots.

eric kroll and friends in Detroit

kroll in the basement of C pop gallery, Detroit



les barany and kroll



kroll solo



dirty show Detroit



anne-marie



on route from bt's to Detroit



kroll and bt in niagara and colonel's house

more photobooth portraits

from the top

brittany
david
maecello
davy
mellany

submission for D.A.H. (objective portraits w/ statement)

this is the work that I submitted to the David Alan Harvey project
for emerging photographers.

brenda & ken

i put a slight warm tone into these portraits.
Rollie 3.5 w/ tmax 100. everything pushed.

ceysha

sand

this cluster are shots from a western short film.

audrey's house

snappers from Krolls

Dinner party at Eric Kroll's

confluence

avoir l'intention de faire objectif

My friends, Jimi and Steve.

il va faire beau aujourd'hui

objective portraits

more from the photobooth series. I did not reduce the image size on these , so you can have a close look. they are fairly large jpegs, and may take a moment to download.
from top,
Vonn Sumner,
Hugh Williams,
Collin Rae.

Sorrento

Some friends in Sorrento, Maine

ELLEN DEVINE

Hi Ellen,
I really had such a wonderful time in Maine,
and it was great fun taking your photographs.

more portraits from the series...

from top,
francesco,
graciela,
micky,
richard.

Leah and Jessy...

Hi Leah and Jessy.

matt...

Homage to R. Avedon, In The American West.

c. french...

Christy French at la fresqueria,
in those days life was sublime.
thanks C. Dominguez.

pere...Sergio..

I was lucky enough to photograph a
Christian Orthodox priest.

ally...

Here is Ally, she was so slim, and with
her beautiful eyes, I had to open the bubble-door.

facile------Eric Kroll

This is my friend Eric. He came over the
other night, it was fun.

INVASION

These are some shots from the reshoot of a Nicole Kidman movie called "Invasion".
this is the second unit working on Broadway, maybe about 4 months ago.
I used a Rollie 3.5 planar w/ tri x 400, and ran it w/ Rodinol.

mon ami proprietaire

This is my landlord Abraham, let me tell you that
he is the sweetest guy you will ever meet.
I took these shots on Thursday.

BIANCA

Derek and his blue fixy

my good friends Audrey and Derek

tea and cakes

Hi and welcome to this new place. Here I would offer you tea or coffee, and
cakes, treats that I adore, and perhaps music, like Miles, right now Spanish Key,
Bitches Brew.

SARAH ROEMER

these pictures were taken in SD at my old studio. doug from nouveau used to send me tests and it was always good fun. but I have to say that I think sarah was my favorite. she was a good sport. i remember the last look we shot, at the end of a long day I asked her to put some lipstick on. so she brings out from her make up bag about 25 colors, all the same brand i think, and sets them in a perfect straight line on the table in front of me. after they were all neatly arranged she looks up and says "ok, which one"
i don't know why but for some reason that memory stuck with me.