documentations of light

Washington Park

2011-11-14T16:43:00.001-08:00

These are two more photographs from Portland Oregon's beautiful Washington Park

Nude Ascending

2011-11-13T17:15:00.001-08:00

This is another photograph from my Meditations series. I will have this body of work, in it's entirety, on my website as soon as it is completed. Thanks for looking!

Edge

2011-11-12T11:56:00.001-08:00

Edge, 2o11

Untitled

2011-11-05T20:25:00.001-07:00

Portland, OR 2011

When The Streetlights Come On

2011-11-04T21:21:00.000-07:00

These two photographs are from an ongoing project entitled When The Streetlights Come On. Much more to come from this series, thanks for taking a look!

Untitled

2011-10-29T10:58:00.001-07:00

Portland, OR

Summer 2011

Meditation #8

2011-09-15T18:37:00.001-07:00

Night at Couch Park

2011-09-05T20:13:00.000-07:00

Untitled Diptych

2011-09-04T18:52:00.000-07:00

Atop Mt. Washington

2011-07-12T20:21:00.000-07:00

Summer Day

2011-07-05T22:44:00.000-07:00

Miss Sarah Idean and Iris

Time Leaks Away

2011-06-30T14:59:00.000-07:00

Newbury, Massachusetts 2009

2011-06-26T11:15:00.001-07:00

Brooklyn. Summer 2008

2011-06-19T20:19:00.000-07:00

Badlands

2011-06-15T00:01:00.000-07:00

Back in early April of this year I made a quick five day road trip across this vast country. Just me and my favorite canine companion for company. As my time was somewhat limited, I had to choose from only a few places which I could stop and spend my time in this truly remarkable land that I live. One, however, could spend a lifetime exploring and seeing and photographing and experiencing all corners of this world and still only see a fraction of the beauty it has to offer so I'm very grateful for the experience I had, however short it may have seemed.

I made a point to take some time and go to the Badlands National Park in South Dakota, inspired by the recommendation of a friend. It was the highlight of my journey and breathtaking to say the least. These are a just a few of the photographs I made while there, I hope to post more soon. Thanks for taking a look.

Washington Park May 2011

2011-06-01T18:21:00.000-07:00

It's been a long time.

2011-04-28T15:20:00.000-07:00

Greetings from the Pacific Northwest!

I've been sorely lacking in the scanning and sharing of photos for some time but I hope to change that now that I'm finally settling in a bit.

These are a couple of test shots basically to see if my Crown Graphic from the 1940's was functioning properly. I have many a photograph still in need of scanning and developing including some sheet and 120 from my road trip that spanned this gorgeous country. I should have those up soon but until then... here's something.

Thanks for taking a look.

View of Mt. Hood. Portland, OR

Washington Park. Portland, OR

thought.

2010-09-26T22:39:00.000-07:00

Without the abstract withdrawal from life, the ability to analyze is rendered useless.

Secret Spot Made of Chrome

2010-07-30T11:51:00.000-07:00

Back around March and April of this year I decided to experiment with some chromes. I brought the 4x5 out to, perhaps, my favorite place in the world (shhh, it's a secret) to shoot some landscapes. Little did I know how exceedingly difficult it is to shoot landscapes with chrome when you only have three stops of range and the seemingly softest of shadows disappear into pools of black voids on the film. I shot with expired film which, as you can see, caused color shifts that I wasn't really expecting. Until just recently I had more or less disregarded the shots I took altogether but looking at them now I am much more pleased with what I see. These images certainly weren't what I was expecting but like I said, I was experimenting. Now I rather enjoy the way the film captured the light on these days and how it reacted to the color. It somehow echoes the way I feel about this spot when I call into memory. This is my secret spot. My secret spot made of chrome.

Meditations

2010-05-20T15:48:00.000-07:00

One more week of school and it's all over. The New England School of Photography's intensive two year program has been a test of, not only my photographic and creative ability, but (and perhaps more importantly) it has been a test of almost all facets of my very being. I have been challenged mentally, emotional and physically while relationships have been stressed, to the point of disrepair in some circumstances (due to my own shortcomings). Anxiety, stress and coping abilities have all been pushed to the limit. With all that being said, I can say with confidence that I am not only a better artist because of NESOP, but that I am a stronger person for what I have been through. As the last week of my 60 weeks quickly approaches, I am scrambling to finish all that needs to be done to be ready for Portfolio Review and ultimately find out whether or not I graduate. It is quite daunting to know that my two years of hard work all come down to a twenty minute presentation in front of the faculty. I am confident in my bodies of work and I believe that they will be well received, however, right now there is much work to do before I am ready to stand before my judges. Website must be finished, business cards in order, prints printed and matted among a listless number of tasks to be completed. So, back to work I must go. I would like to share a few images, a small sampling of my Black and White Fine Art portfolio, entitled Meditations. The work that has been consuming me for the last school year and the work that I am extremely proud of. When my website is finished I will have this complete body of work, as well as my Color Fine Art portfolio, up for viewing in their entirety. I'll be sure to let you know when that time comes.

A few notes about these images: These are scanned silver gelatin prints, enlarged from 4x5 negatives. They are each a single exposure (myself being the subject) ranging from 30 seconds to 2 minutes without any digital manipulation (the only digital editing was done in order to make the prints look as true to life as possible when viewed on the web). Thanks for taking the time to look.

Streaming Hyper-Ventilation

2010-04-18T08:27:00.000-07:00

Raving mad lunatics spewing disgusting tricks

Ticks of time they smile and whine

Crimes against nature encased in a glacier

Face to face with screaming false prophets

Profiteering leering demons spreading their seed, soaking in semen

Evil hands touching pure soil, gloating and cheering while drinking more oil

Take your claws from Mother, my Brother and all other

Turn the gun to your head, forsake yourself instead

Dreaded days of black and poison

Spewing from your mouth, more lies more noises

Screeching, searing, screaming!

Screeching loud noises

You say nothing as words drool out

Filling the air, corrupting, polluting

Delusional followers, heads washed, emptied and drilled

Consciousness dulled, beaten and pilled

You've spilled enough blood, soil and lives

Be gone now and quiet the tides

A Day at the Aquarium

2010-03-27T14:01:00.000-07:00

When one takes a hobby and tries to turn it into a profession, something to make money from, something to live off of, there is an inherent danger of ruining the enjoyment of such a hobby. When the relaxation that was once derived from the leisurely fun of free time activity becomes work, it is quite easy to lose what once kept your mind off things, kept you sane, to the other stresses of life that were trying to be eased in the first place. While it is everyone's dream to be paid doing what they genuinely enjoy and are passionate about, these problems must be considered before any major life decisions are made.

I was aware of this before attending the New England School of Photography and it is something I still struggle with from time to time. Focusing so intensely on two bodies of work (Fine Art Colour and Black and White portfolios) has left me in a state of apathy and disdain towards the art world and processes at times. The simple fact remains however that I love to make photographs. In order to find a balance, new outlets within the medium have let me keep and hold dear simple ideas that made me fall in love with photography from the beginning. My sentimental nature still holds true to the concept of capturing a moment on film, to be frozen in time indefinitely. Documents of memories of which I wish to remember and hold close to my heart for as long as possible. Time spent with my family and friends. Times I hope to look back upon with something more concrete than the human memory, which can be quite flawed if not completely absent during some moments of this life.

So it is almost out of necessity that I have found myself resorting back to the faithful 35mm camera which I so easily cast aside for medium and large format negatives. It's ease of use and portability has brought some sense of hobby back into my life without the pressure of making "Art Photography". To once again simply shoot because I want to, to shoot for me and for no one else. Photographs to be shared with loved ones for free, not to be hung on gallery walls, matted, framed, priced.

So I share these photographs with you. I have recently discovered the beauty of slide film and the gorgeous colours that it can capture. The preciousness of these objects I feel are the most suitable for photographs of this personal nature and follow in the tradition of family slide shows. Collecting memories in small boxes to be cherished and perhaps one day passed down. If I am lucky, thirty or forty years will pass and a relative will find these objects, just as I found a shoe box full of my Grandfather's slides a few months ago. Time will continue to move on without us, however I hope to leave something of beauty behind. Even if it is just a few photographs.

These images were all shot with 35mm slide film. They are from a day in February, of this year, that my family and I spent at the New England Aquarium in Boston. I hope you enjoy them and thank you for taking a look.

The Aquarium

A view through the seal tank

My niece was fast asleep upon arrival

Penguins hanging out

Jellyfish

Glowing Jellyfish

Green habitat

My sister and niece in front of the large tank

Giant Sea Turtle, over a hundred years old or some absurd age

We ended our day with lunch in the cafeteria

Minutes Taken

2010-03-16T11:17:00.000-07:00

Wisps of smoke, so our skin will fade

From paper and pages, the wars we have waged

Ages of time, mere minutes of man

In the end we'll hope we've done all we can

Flesh to sand, fall silent our hand

Gone from us now, taken from land

External wounds and internal scars

We have kept each other caged and barred

Set free at last, carried away with the wind

Our people have no feathers but surely are tarred

Marred by our intentions and promise of life

Fallen by the wayside, to greed and strife

Love

2010-02-06T16:25:00.000-08:00

Olivia, 2009

Not Giving Up. Moving On.

2010-01-21T09:22:00.000-08:00

43 weeks and $50,000 later I finally figure out this is not where I belong. I am incapable of making a living as a photographer/artist without destroying all that drove me to be so passionate about it from the start. I will need a way to support myself in this society and forever remain an amateur/hobbyist photographer. I enjoy it immensely but the state of contemporary art will never be suitable for the work which I enjoy producing. I will finish this program at NESOP. I have no choice. After I will move on and leave the study of art to those who wish to pander to the overeducated curators and critics and consumers who wish to perpetuate yet another aspect of culture permeated and ruined by money. Art should permeate and influence/critique society, which it does to some extent, however the truth in fact is the inverse. Society has clasped it's cold hand on art and over-saturated it to the point of rendering it useless. I am not giving up, I'm moving on. There is no transcendence in art. No truth. It is a business and like all businesses, it is about the bottom line. The dollar bill, that is where our culture finds the illusion of transcendence and instant gratification. Where fleeting pleasure is ignorantly mistaken for happiness and the Truth lay hidden beneath a sheet of marketing and consumerism which is then locked tightly in a closet. Left to collect dust.

And as American Idol continues to rein in the masses and glue their eyes to an illuminated piece of glass, we will fall. We are falling. This failed experiment we call Humanity has seen it's peak and shall only decline from here. Sit back and watch it all burn for you have been given a front row seat. Enjoy the fireworks if you are informed enough to see it for what it is. Mass produced drivel churned out for consumption, for profit, for the perpetuation of greed and gluttony that is paramount in American society. I've given up on Us but not myself. I will try and do my part to make it sting less. Self-indulgent focus on a process that serves only myself must fall by the wayside, life is too short for such preoccupations. I'm not giving up. Just moving on.

Alone With a Camera 3

2010-01-07T11:23:00.000-08:00

Alone with a Camera 2

2009-12-21T13:07:00.001-08:00

Alone with a Camera 1

2009-12-19T16:41:00.001-08:00

Thought

2009-12-04T22:06:00.000-08:00

It's difficult to see the beauty when you are too numb to feel.

Big Boss Brewery

2009-11-29T13:47:00.000-08:00

I went on a road trip to my friend Steve's wedding in Florida back in April(?). I made a stop in Raleigh, NC on the way back, where I once lived for a year, to see another good friend of mine, Mark. Mark just became Head Brewer at the Big Boss Brewery, which produces some of the best beer I've ever had (and I'm not just saying that because my friend works there). Unfortunately you can only find their beer in NC so if you're ever there, get some! The Brewery does tours and has a bar where you can drink their delicious beer, so go on in and check it out! Big Boss Brewing was also mentioned in a design magazine recently (which I stumbled upon accidentally and now I can't remember the name of the magazine) for their outstanding product packaging design.

So these are some images I shot with my Hasselblad while I was hanging out learning about beer and such. I was clearly drawn to the industrial feel of the building and really enjoyed all of the steel and large equipment, the purposes of which i don't know for the most part.

Comments and critiques are more than welcome. Encouraged in fact. If you think they're terrible, tell me! Just let me know why. Hope you like them.

Some color.

2009-11-21T22:17:00.000-08:00

I'm finally able to scan negs and oddly enough they are color, not black and white. This is some 120 stuff, some cross-processed, from first year at NESOP. Thought I may as well get the ball rolling and post what I got.

Raleigh, NC

Boston, MA

Newburyport, MA

documentations of light

Washington Park

Nude Ascending

Edge

Untitled

When The Streetlights Come On

Untitled

Meditation #8

Night at Couch Park

Untitled Diptych

Atop Mt. Washington

Summer Day

Time Leaks Away

Newbury, Massachusetts 2009

Brooklyn. Summer 2008

Badlands

Washington Park May 2011

It's been a long time.

thought.

Secret Spot Made of Chrome

You Are Here

Meditations

Streaming Hyper-Ventilation

A Day at the Aquarium

Minutes Taken

Love

Not Giving Up. Moving On.

Alone With a Camera 3

Alone with a Camera 2

Alone with a Camera 1

Thought

Big Boss Brewery

Some color.