BASEBALL SEASON
“What I write here is a description of what I have come to understand about photography, from photographing and from looking at photographs. A work of art is that thing whose form and content are organic to the tools and materials that made it. Still photography is a chemical, mechanical process. Literal description or the illusion of literal description, is what the tools and materials of still photography do better than any other graphic medium. A still photograph is the illusion of a literal description of how a camera saw a piece of time and space. Understanding this, one can postulate the following theorem: Anything and all things are photographable.” - Garry Winogrand
Family name
#Reading steps?
The Beams
16!
:)
The Orgels
20
Poop
2 familys
1,600 steps
Connor
Kallie
Quite Fun!
WalkIng around
The great thing about photography is when I find a thing and want to photograph it, those split second moments I have no thoughts other than taking a picture.
Not everybody will get it
“Not everybody will get it. People will misinterpret you and what you do. They might even call you names. So get comfortable with being misunderstood, disparaged, or ignored -- the trick is to be too busy doing your work to care.” - Austin Kleon
If you’re not happy
“You have to change your life if you’re not happy, and wake up if things aren’t going the way you want.” - Keanu Reeves
Just having a camera in my hands puts me in the best mood. I could be anywhere, even I don’t want to be there at all, wouldn’t matter if I had my camera. The direction I’m taking my day to day life is to have my camera in my hand photographing as much as possible.
I’ve been shooting quite a bit. One thing I can admit, while glad I’m taking note of this now.. is I need to create content of the process, I’ve been slacking big time on that. It’s a simple task but can be easily looked over but by not getting any process content done loses a ton of potential of consumption and grown not only on the social distribution channels but more importantly.. My platform.
Even more to come. 📷🖤
first newsletter going out next week!
The curse of being a photographer
"I can get obsessed by anything if i look at it long enough. That's the curse of being a photographer." ~ Irving Penn
THE SEARCH FOR THE ZONE
This summer has been something. Within time, and then over time I will look back at this summer knowing this was the time that I really took over my path. Years where I was always dealing with “windows of time”
F*ck a window of time
I want to search for the zone of time
Summer days in cleveland
As I am making changes to have a better quality of life which as taken some time from the art life it felt so great to be out for hours walking the streets of Cleveland photographing with friends.
Martin Parr
“I get cabin fever if haven’t been shooting for a few days. I just want to get out there and start photographing because that’s really when you’re free to be yourself more than other activity we do as photographers.” -Martin Parr
Upon selecting photos Martin Parr photographed after a event he asked himself..
photo: Martin Parr view website
“So, what’s going to be around in 5 years time?”
This, if you haven’t noticed matched my theme of how i’ve been working, being perennial. To me it’s become a huge part of my creative process. While in act of photographing i’m not just trying to find a photograph that will be perennial, I would never get anything done, because all I would be doing is questioning myself. The act is just keep making new pictures, I always think and know I should be making more, and more.
The Magnum Photos agency - My two cents
“Everything is becoming the same, if we want to survive we have to go after some other things.” -Magnum Photographer Josef Koudelka 1998
In 1947, following the aftermath of the Second World War, four pioneering photographers founded a now legendary alliance. Combining an extraordinary range of individual styles into one powerful collaboration, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Robert Capa, George Rodger and David Seymour started, over a celebratory bottle of champagne, the most important artists’ cooperative ever created: The Magnum Photos agency.
Magnum Photos represents some of the world’s most renowned photographers, maintaining its founding ideals and idiosyncratic mix of journalist, artist and storyteller. Our photographers share a vision to chronicle world events, people, places and culture with a powerful narrative that defies convention, shatters the status quo, redefines history and transforms lives.
For nearly 70 years Magnum Photos has been providing the highest quality photographic content to an international client base of media, charities, publishers, brands and cultural institutions. The Magnum Photos library is a living archive updated regularly with new work from across the globe.
Magnum has documented most of the world’s major events and personalities since the 1930s; covering industry, society and people, places of interest, politics and news events, disasters and conflict.. In short, when you picture an iconic image, but can’t think who took it or where it can be found, it probably came from Magnum.
Magnum photographers are a rarity and the agency is self-selecting; membership is a minimum four year process and is considered the finest accolade of a photographer’s career.
Magnum Photos reaches a global audience and has established itself as the authentic, storytelling photographic brand. It remains loyal to its original values of uncompromising excellence, truth, respect and independence.
above is from Magnum Photos here
I have so many thoughts on Magnum Photos, what it means, and what direction it should go in my opinion. It was announced that more brand deals and adding video to Magnum, the brand deals make sense for business and awareness, having deals like that can open opportunities for income, books, travels, overall enhancing the agency. I actually am not against video, my suggestion though would be Magnum Videos. A completely rebranded business. It’s not the same and it would just clutter the website situation even more.
I have previously submitted to become a nominee, and will continue to do so. I could just be crazy but I think Magnum needs to start branching off in other directions photographically. This isn’t a selfish thought that it should be me, but in general, and has been noticed by members over 20 years ago as seen in this blog. Generally it seems like i’m continuing to looking at the same subject. Which to all of the photographers defense, it could just be how it is presented to us, the viewer.
This is from Magnum Photographer Constantine Manos in 1998:
“One of the depressing things about the portfolios that were submitted to us is that I feel that this is mediocre work basically, that we’ve seen and I feel that we are not attracting the young cutting edge photographers because they have maybe the same vision that we had, which is traditional photo journalistic group so we are getting clones of clones of clones and so we get these pictures that are trying to please us and I think we have to refine our vision of who we are.”
Constantines quote couldn’t be more accurate in my opinion.
Last month the first global director of brand partnerships for Magnum Photos Christopher Peregrin said “I’ve had this conversation with so many people — young people in media and culture, they don’t know what Magnum is”
To get young people, or anyone knowing something comes down to marketing, and more marketing. Obviously brand deals is in the right direction, I could see great potential in that. For example a deal with a camera bag that has Magnum Photos on it, which by the way need to somehow retool the logo that to have it MagnumPhotos.com (or @) because a lot of people may just disregard the word “Magnum Photos” on a product if they don’t know what it already is.
This is my huge idea though.. Well, it’s not huge, but an idea that I think would change the game…
A face.
If Magnum had someone who was the face of Magnum Photos, specifically to host social media/website so much more can be done. It doesn’t have to be so literal where it is just one person that only does it, but to have it feel more involved and eventful, having a person or persons giving content in the sense of talking about it in the social stories, videos, ama events, etc. also Magnum Photos Podcasts where they host it and from time to time have a member on the show because of the simplicity of the call in for the show. These are the things.. and I’ll reference a part of the quote above from Josef Koudelka “..if we want to survive we have to go after some other things.”
If this post came across as negative from me to you, that is not the intention at all, these ideas are just my thoughts which are actually optimistic and forward thinking on how to make Magnum Photos break through todays landscape. Magnum, I believe could end up being the place that majority of people online would follow. I 100% mean that. With the right execution i’m talking 100+ MILLION followers just on instagram alone.
visit magnumphotos.com
Sincerely, a crazy minded photographer who loves photography so damn much.
Strangely beautiful
“I find it strangely beautiful that the camera with its inherent clarity of object and detail can produce images that in spite of themselves offer possibilities to be more than they are … a photograph of nothing very important at all, nothing but an intuition, a response, a twitch from the photographer’s experience.” – Joel Meyerowitz
Photography is strangely beautiful. Photography is disturbing. Photography can be cheerful. Photography can be haunting.
It is so fascinating to me how photography can be seen in different ways, or how it can give you a feelings like chills, goosebumps, or even anxiety. Some photos are straight forward, or are perceived so. Sometimes a photo with some barrels in it is just a photo with barrels in it, sometimes it’s a photo with some barrels that that holds many secrets.
Live in the now
I set up a new page titled “HIRE” I plan on adding a bit more to the page but the main content is there. I wanted to see something up where it would be easy for anyone to contact me for photography work.
I also am planning out this top secret thing. I’m super excited for it. I have a couple options I’m going over on how I want to pull it off and possibly involving other artists. This top secret plan will be seen online… but also/maybe spilling out into the real world. Again, it’s top secret because I want to make sure it’s going to happen the way I’m intending or if it will be online only or what not before I talk about it.
Keep checking out my blog every day! New post daily 6:00am
The Rubber Clown Suit
“I call that depression and anger the Suffocating Rubber Clown Suit of Negativity. It’s suffocating, and the rubber stinks. But once you start meditating and diving within, the clown suit starts to dissolve. You finally realise how putrid was the stink when it starts to go.” - David Lynch
I think we all end up knowing, or having a sense that something can be off at times as an artist. It can lead to second guessing, comparing, putting things off, maybe tomorrow, these to me are early signs of a creators depression. I hesitate to just say depression, many things can have us thinking different since we all have our own unique lives and handle things in our own way. This is my own thoughts about “creators depression” to me it is explained best by David Lynch and it being like a suffocating rubber clown suit and it stinks… I will add to that is that its also hot and sticks and hard to peel off. When you realize these negative thoughts on your work is like a rubber clown suit, you will begin to think differently. It’s funny to write and think that, but it’s so true. For example I’ll think about an idea for my site or a print or book, and I start to worry about how it’ll do.. some negative thoughts will come, I stop. Really think about it and know that I will only know if something will go will if I actually DO the thing that I am thinking, to feel off about something that isn’t even a actually thing yet is insane if you think about it. Well, it’s not insane… It’s putting one foot into that rubber clown suit.
Shake that thing off before you end up wearing it.
1985
photo: Miller Mobley visit website
I am a big fan of Stranger Things, not surprising because many are. When first images of Stranger Things season 3 I made the decision to distance myself from everything, I even unfollowed certain accounts until after release so the new content wouldn’t surprise me. This may sound crazy but that is one thing that I miss from back in the day is the element of surprise. Obviously they don’t show everything but when you can thoroughly enjoy a thing in its entirety and soak it all in, nothing is better. Scenes that are funny from a clip or trailer are 10x more funny during the show or movie because its designed for that specific moment.. again, element of surprise. Stranger things is for sure one of those once a generation shows, this will be looked back on as one of the highlights of this decade in film/television.
image: uncredited on Stranger Things Twitter page here
We planned on binge watching the entire series on release date, which we did. That Is the upside of being 8 episodes. The show was brilliant, I love the music and sound design from Stranger Things. If you haven’t watched this with a decent speaker setup or with some quality headphones you should try to. Definitely a show to turn off the lights and crank up the audio. I'm happy I didn’t watch or consume anything before watching season 3, the only thing I seen was the above images with the fireworks setting that was shared by someone on Facebook, which didn't ruin anything luckily.
photo: uncredited on Stranger Things Twitter page here
This show is a great reminder that great work is always capable, so much is deployed. A staggering 300 HOURS are uploaded to YouTube every MINUTE. Over 100 MILLION photos are uploaded to Instagram DAILY. Work like Stranger Things is something to take in, and learn from. Congratulations to the cast and crew, who are breaking records on Netflix.
And yes, I have followed those accounts again, finding great content like this.
image: uncredited on Stranger Things Twitter page here
Born in 1985. Thank you for taking me back.
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