You can read an interview on LOVING and learn about her secret blog.
She is an excellent photographer: Listen to her speak and see some of her work for Oxfam. Thank you Helena!

He talks in a limo while driving through the desert, applies makeup, plays with Burroughs’ cut-up technique, mimes, talks death… The Ziggy Stardust-era footage of dressed up fans alone makes it worth the watch.

It was never officially released so you should see it while it’s up:

I’m pretty happy with the almost Northern-European soft light I got out of the bulbs though. Vellum works!

Josie hired me for a portrait and now you can too!

Here’s a shot (I apologize for the crappy cellphone photo off my tv) of a nice looking scene from HBO’s Boardwalk Empire. The way the sparks lit up (shown here in the lower left) when the Michael Pitt character flicks a cigarette against a wall really jumped off the screen. The episode was shot by Jonathan Freeman (he splits DoP duties with Kramer Morgenthau) and it is a very good looking show that mostly sticks to a slightly desaturated, but contrasty, warm color palette.  (Read Luc Sante’s take on Brown as the color of nostalgia in Cabinet Magazine.)

If you haven’t seen it I recommend it. It isn’t up there with the pure genius of The Wire or the brusque charm of The Sopranos but I really enjoy it so far and every episode grows on me.

On the Electric Circus site you can see, and vote for your favorite including shorts by Duncan Cargill, Rachel Macaulay, Ben Gutteridge, Sean Gray, Lee Ford, and Achim Bornhak.

In the spirit of ranking here is Empire Magazine’s list of The 100 Best Films of World Cinema.

There is some “what would this look like photographed?” language, but it rarely gets overly descriptive. The writing is mostly in service of the storytelling and you can read the whole thing in a couple if days if you get hooked and stay up late like I did. (It has a post-The Secret History vibe in a smart people/page turner kind of way.)

There are, however, many parts worth thinking about photographically. If you need some inspiration here they are:

• Murray flipped a slab of steak with his greasy tongs. Fat spattered on the front of his shirt. He felt this in itself was manly.
• She stood, when he approached, and smiled her big, goofy smile. “Did you ever think, Daddy, that I’d come from my office to meet you for lunch? Did you ever think I’d have a job?”
• They were quick about it, grasping, opening, panting, both of them slightly off their heads [...] at first he didn’t realize that David was in the room, in the stall, was dragging them both by their skin, viciously, out into the bathroom, their trousers flapping open, dicks out, and he was pummeling at Julius…
• [...] but she remembered him, too, as saturnine in his plumpness, with eyes that, behind their smeary glasses, seemed to peer all too intently [...]

It looks like Noah Baumbach is all over it. (Maybe Harris Savides will DP… if not, I hereby nominate myself!)

It inspired me to post an exceprt from Dviga Vertov’s “Man With a Movie Camera.” Make some popcorn because it’s a stone cold classic. I must have watched it 20+ times in school. (This is the popper we use and my wife makes a butter with Worcestershire sauce, blue cheese, cayenne and salt topping. It positively slays.)

Please excuse all the film posts but I’m on the warpath with nailing down video on my Canon 5d Mark II.

I came across the 4×5 work of Dannielle Nelson Mourning recently and I am particularly captivated by the open-ended quality of this picture. There is much to read into the filmic nature of the gesture (she is casual, yet determined and I have to wonder what happens next). The look on her face (deep in thought, yet aware of the camera) is one I’m sure I’ve had during many a late night snack. The hanging garlic and the hair style strike me as funny mirrors of each other but the picture isn’t humorous. The open pantry suggests there might be more eating to do. What I particularly love is the color scheme represented by the freedom and wildness of the dress fabric against the solid dependability of a well built house.

Perhaps such a color scheme isn’t surprising given the landscape near Marks, Mississippi where this picture was taken. I’ve traveled across the US many times (I am only missing Arkansas, Alaska and Hawaii in my 50 state quest) and I always check the map for places I don’t know about. If you find yourself near Marks it will unbelievably look like this from above (just one more bit of inspiration to kick my butt out the door for a good road trip):