April

March 25, 2005

This should be one of my final entries for about a week. I'm sitting at Koo's. Last night they had a punk show and they had to take down all my photos in fear that they might not make it through the night of loud music and head banging. I came in this morning and put them all back up. I still have Annie's level, thankfully, and everything looks alright again.

So I've decided to bring the Rollei. I bought some 120 film today and a table tripod with collapsable legs. I'm going to leave the 85mm Serenar, as I don't really see myself using a telephoto too much. I think between the 85mm and 21mm, the 21mm will get more use.

Hoping that I'll get some good snaps in NY.

March 24, 2005

I'm going to NY for the first time next week. This past week has been about getting ready. I spoke to an old professor of mine from UCLA with whom we're staying with. She said it was snowing the other day. Ugh. Laura and I went to REI and I picked up a water-proof jacket.

A few days ago, I was searching around for a good photo backpack. I have several shoulder bags, but I envisioned all the walking we would be doing and knew that I needed something that would distribute the weight better. I did some research and found that the LowePro Trim seemed perfect. It could be accessed from the top, it was relatively compact and it didn't look too much like a cheesy photo backpack. Unfortunately, it's no longer in production. I thought about eBay, but there was no way it would get to me in time. Through some stroke of luck, they had one at Terry's. It costs about $100 but it seemed too good a stroke of luck to pass up.

What I'm planning to bring:

M2, M4-p with the following lenses - 50mm Hexanon, 35mm VC Classic, 21mm Avenon, 85mm Serenar

Canonet QL-17 with it's fixed 40mm 1.7 lens

30 rolls of bulk rolled HP5

4 rolls of TMAX 3200

8 rolls of Fuji Press 400

I'm still debating about bringing my Rollei. I want to bring it, but I'm afraid it would kill my back walking around with it. I think I also may pick up a roll of slide film if the weather clears up out there.

March 21, 2005

Shot by Annie when she was helping me set up for my show.

March 21, 2005

Just got my roll of slide film back. I've never shot slide before and am supremely impressed by its colors! I've heard people go on and on about how great slide film is but never shot it myself until yesterday. Now I can see what all the fuss is about. Here's from my first roll of slide, Provia 400.

March 21, 2005

Busy weekend of shooting. I photographed a NOW event on Saturday and today I photographed at Santa Monica. I shot my first roll of slide film, so we'll see how that goes. Tired. Busy day of developing tommorrow.

March 19, 2005

I'm sitting at Koo's as I write this. So far only one person has come in today to see the exhibit. I made a sign and taped it outside to draw some foot traffic in. I think the venue tends to intimidate because the most visible events that take place here are punk shows. I sat at the gallery yesterday and I had a few people come in who were interested in the work.

I figure that it is my space for the month and I have spent over $1,000 to prepare the show and over 200 hours printing and developing film that I'm going to take advantage of the space. Volunteers are usually signed up to sit in the gallery but no one's really signed up this month which is sort of upsetting. I didn't go through all the work and spend all the money for my own self-gratification. I want the work to be seen.

Anyway, atleast there is a wireless connection in the space so I can pass the time. Here are some pics I shot this week and another pic from Thomas McConville with me in it. Nice to actually see myself in a pic or two :)

March 16, 2005

I'm in better spirits. It's just odd not having a big show to work towards. I feel momentarily without purpose. I went to Portfolio's tonight and they were having their open mic. I took a few snaps. I haven't shot there in a while so it was nice to take some pictures in a familiar setting. The lighting in there is always hit or miss. Sometimes the spots are right on the performers, other times, like tonight, they're not positioned very well so it's hard to get a good shot.

I'm going to shoot a small event at OPEN tommorrow. Some music and a film. Have to remember to pack some color film so I can put some in the Gazette

Here are some random pics. One is a self-portrait. I got off the bus and found a wall of mirrors in front of a second hand store. The other is a cute little scene that unfolded at a coffee shop a few weeks ago.

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March 14, 2005

I just came back from an EVA meeting. It is the first meeting of the new board and although it was run with a bit more tact and ease, my stomach sank again at the talk of the planned development. It seems as if I'm watching a train wreck in slow motion. Property values will rise, chains will move in,small stores will be forced out. Progress.

What is an Arts District with no artists? All the artists that are called to contribute their creative energy to raise the cultural capital of the area can't even afford to live in the so-called Arts Distrcit. It seems like the same story everywhere. No one will take a stand and say no to the money. My fear is that everything that I have documented will be replaced with yuppie consumerism. This is what the city calls progress.

I feel a bit naive I guess. I thought my show and my work might bring about some change but now I know taking pictures isn't enough. Just hearing them talk at the meeting, at how easily accepted everything as if it were some unchangeable force with frustrating.

March 13, 2005

I survived!

The show, I think, was a success. There was good traffic all night long. I spent three days before the show installing the photos. Annie helped me hang the photos, which I had no clue how to do. This was my first solo show and the venue more or less painted the walls and gave me a key to the space.

I think I had a knot in my stomach for the first half of the evening. I really began to doubt my work. Would people like the photos? Would they understand them? Would they just walk by casually thru the exhibit and not stop to really pay attention?

I tried to speak to as many people as I could. Asking them what they thought. Perhaps the best compliments I got were to the effect that they could tell that I cared about the community and that there was a lot of emotion in the photos.

I had a guest book out for people to sign in and one of the best comments was "please save the village from conformity and neon." It just about broke my heart to see that.

I also found it fun to see people staring at my contact sheets that covered a whole wall in the back of the space. The layout of the show was pretty deliberate. As people entered they were first confronted with a short wall of about 7 portraits of different business owners and artists. On their left was a longer wall which contained photos from different events in the Village. As they worked their way down and past a curtain, a large wall of contact sheets was revealed. I got a kick of watching people's faces light up as they followed the photos down to the contact sheets.

Well. I developed some film, but none from the show. I ran out of my standar developer but luckily I had a small bottle of Kodak HC-110 that I leave for emergencies. Here are some snaps. I know I haven't posted in a while.

The boy with the balloon was taken literally minutes before I opened the show. We were running late because of the bus and saw the little scene and was able to snap three quick shots. The shot of me setting up was taken by Annie a few days ago when we were hanging the work. The last photo was taken by a local photographer Thomas McConville during the show.

March 9 , 2005

3 more days until the show. I won't be able to install tommorrow, so I'm cutting it a little close. My business cards are suppose to be done on Friday. I'm still working on captions, creating a guest book and I'm planning to have a sign made today.

Whenever I think about the show I'm starting to get a slight twinge in my gut. Not quite sure if it's excitement or absolute fear. I was talking to Annie about it a few days ago, this feeling of vulnerbility whenever you have an exhibition. You can't help but feel people will be making personal judgements about you when looking at your work. I suppose it's inevitable.

Laura and I have booked tickets and a hostel in NY. I guess I'm suppose to be excited about that as well, but it's not even on my radar until this show is over.

I did my final batch of prints last night and will place in mats whatever loose images I'm going to use.

March 4 , 2005

Holy cow...haven't updated in awhile. So the show is in less than a week. I have 25 images printed and matted. The matts have been a nightmare. I ordered 40 matts and foamcore backings from a place in Glendale. When they arrived none of the matts matched up with the backs. The backs were sloppily cut. Not only that, but half the matts were a different color! Christ. They recut the entire job. The new ones were slightly better, but I still basically had to trip down the foamcore to match the matts. 6 of the 40 they gave me were damaged in some way.

I've printed about 600 flyers and have put them in various stores throughout the city. I've posted info about the show on photo.net, craigslist and whatever other random sites I can find. I've redesigned my business card and ordered 1000 made.

I still have to write captions for the photos and mount them to foamcore to place beneath the photos. I'm also trying to come up with explanatory text to mount on the wall as people come in.

February 15, 2005

Not too many entries this month (see reason below). I've been busy printing like crazy. I've already gone through about $300 worth of paper and chemistry. I just ordered 40 16x20 8ply archival matts cut to my specifications to the tune of $400. This is not counting the 90 rolls of film that I have shot since I first got offered the show. Nor is it counting the 6 hour nights in the darkroom for the last two weeks. I've decided to take a break tonight. Went to the museum with Laura, got some dinner at the local Thai restaurant and read a few chapters from this book I got on the photo agency Magnum.

I shot a portrait of a friend and restaurant yesterday that I printed last night that I'm pleased with. I took probably the equivalent of 2 rolls of film to take the photo. It's the third to the last photo that I chose. I think my meter is acting funny because the neg seemed a little under so it took quite a bit of printing to bring the print up to snuff. I think I spent almost 2 hours and half a box of paper on that one image.

In other words, I'm tired. I'm hoping this show will lead to something. ANYTHING. I feel like I've found something that I would like to pursue but need some way to make it profitable. It doesn't help that with digital everyone and their mother is now a photographer. It isn't so much that more people are taking photos that is irksome, as it is that I think the value of a photograph is going down. A photo is disposable. A photo is only alotted a few seconds of casual perusal. The act of photography seems to be reduced to the acquiring of expensive equipment. I love that more people are drawn to photography because of the ease of digital, but I think it's this seeming facility of the image that will be the ruin of photography's value.

February 18, 2005

What I'm working on:

February 14, 2005

Some snaps from this weekend:

February 14, 2005

My back hurts from this weekend. On Saturday, the last Art Walk before my show in March, I shot about 14 rolls of film. I carried around 2 Leicas, the Nikon and my camera bag for about 6 hours. My lower back is killing me. I developed half the rolls of film tonight and plan to develop the rest tommorrow.

I'll be busy the next few weeks printing like mad for my show. Ack. I can barely stand to think of it. I feel a bit rushed but I think it's still possible to print about 30 more prints in 2 weeks.

Below is a shot from Friday. I was walking on 2nd Street and noticed a store was closing down. I convinced the woman there to let me take a quick shot. I saw the naked mannequins and the clothes in the mirror and found the shot I wanted.

February 10, 2005

I've been busy printing. I haven't printed in quite some time so I'm still trying to get in the flow again. I've made four photos so far for the show. Ugh. Only

February 8, 2005

I shot some local artists installing their work for the upcoming Smithsonian Week today...here are some snaps:

February 7, 2005

I finally got my darkroom set up!!!!!

It's been a pain to get together. First, one of the retaining screws that holds down the column of the enlarger came loose because the wood had rotted out. We had to glue down the wood and hammer in a metal doohickey with new threads. Then, once we got the column mounted the carriage that goes up and down and holds the light source was not gearing correctly with the column. That took some tinkering. THEN, the head wouldn't go down past a certain level because the carriage was getting caught at the top. That took about 30 minutes of untightening and tightening screws.

After all that, the enlarger was really misaligned. I had to shim my easel to level it and do fine adjustments on the negative stage. Well, it's finally all set up. I spent two hours last night testing it out and working out a workflow. My enlarger is in my studio and to get the paper to the trays I have to walk through a small hallway. The wet side is working well. The small bathroom I'm using has a built in exhaust fan that seems to do a good job of sucking out the fumes. I have to make contact sheets of everything I've been shooting the last few months which is no small task, probably about 100 rolls of film. Ack!...My goal for this week is to make contacts of everything I may print for the show in March and slowly whittle things down...

February 5, 2005

Some snaps from the Belmont Shore Chocolate Festival today...shot it on NPH...love the colors..a lot less garish than regular Fuji Superia..also tested out my flash for fill...dialing down the flash to -1.7. came out pretty good i think...

February 3, 2005

Testing out the Nikon. I borrowed my dad's 28mm 3.5 nikkor and shot a quick roll of 24. This was shot at the Long Beach Museum of Art in their outdoor patio.

February 2, 2005

This was at the House of Hayden this past weekend....I'm surprised that anything was recorded on the film at all it was so dark. Testing out Tmax 3200, or what use to be dubbed "magic" film by old photojournalist because it could be used in extreme low light situations...

January 2005

December 2004

November 2004

October 2004

September 2004

August 2004

July 2004