YOU'RE THE STAR OF MY MOVIE

The only way of expressing emotion in the form of art is by building an “objective correlative”; in other words, a set of objects, a situation, a chain of events, such that when the external facts, which must terminate in a sensory experience, are given, the emotion is immediately evoked. –T.S. Elliot in “Hamlet and [...]

I recently paged through Rizzoli’s “Man Ray / Bazaar Years”. I love photographers that manage to split editorial and fine art careers (Edward Steichen is a current obsession). Dear Career Gods, Sign me up for that split. Love, John I missed MOMA’s “The Original Copy Show” but an Art Blart post contains a large selection [...]

Here is the amazing part: “You’re a very good photographer.” That, Dear Reader, is very nice to hear. Especially when it comes from Dionne Thornton, Jed Root’s Director of Exhibitions and Publications and she says it to me (yes, I just high fived myself). Like everyone else at the third floor bar of The Norwood [...]

Need career advice? I do. (I’m pretty sure Steve Jobs doesn’t read this blog which means everyone else should answer accordingly.) I took advantage of my proximity to the Brooklyn Public Library, checked out some books, and dove right into Charles Churchward’s “Herb Ritts: The Golden Hour” to see what I could learn from Herb. [...]

This George Hurrell photo of Gene Tierney is a good answer to a lot of questions about portrait photography. I find it pretty much perfect.

The last post mentioned German hippies… I worked at Tower Records when I was 18. I thought working there was a better idea than going to college. I changed my mind around mid-September but not before I learned this: reggae buyer at a record store isn’t really much of a launching pad into any real [...]

Amelia Bauer is kicking my ass. I came across her photo work but her found wood sculptures are even more compelling. Check out the veneer work on this piece: In an interview for the Cairo Blog she states: “One of the most consistent themes in the decorative arts (and to me the most compelling) is [...]

This (NSFW) video for El Guincho’s track Bombay has got a million lo-fi tricks up it’s visual sleeve and is a perfect pick-me-up for this late Sunday afternoon’s winter  “white skies / coffee cups /strewn newspaper /photo editing / trying to decide which documentary to watch on Netflix ” kinda vibe. If you want a [...]

There is a John Cohen photo hanging on the door to my local supermarket! It’s a flyer for The Dust Busters, a band that he collaborates with, but finding it amongst the fruits and vegetables was a rather shocking place to see such an esteemed photographer’s work. Here’s a link to Yasha Aginsky‘s 2009 documentary [...]

I’ve told people my lesson for photography—which I probably stole from you at one point. [...] Frame the picture. Make the greatest, most prefect composition you can… and then take a step forward. It skews it a bit and makes it more interesting. –Larry Clark, in conversation with Ralph Gibson, Interview Magazine, Oct 2010.