the american south/new orleans and kudzu

Here is another image that shows what I mean by the vegetation and the structures in the South becoming one...I guess to rather detrimental effect for this particular house. The guy in the upper left, Francis, had the lovely job of pulling all this kudzu off this house. I think they were going to just rip the house down after that...brutal job.

the american south/a location begging for a portrait

Sometimes I run across a place and it is just begging to have a portrait shot here. I JUST SEE a person there....This porch in South Carolina was one such place. I was on a job for Atlantic Broadband and this house was empty, but owned by one of the people I was photographing for the job. I fell in love with the way vegetation was beginning to take over the porch. (This is something I love about the South in general. It is so lush and the landscape and structures are so entwined, it is impossible to separate the two.) I offered to do a portrait of the owners son on the porch - it seemed fitting. So here is the portrait. I shot it really quick because we had about 100 miles to drive to the next location (at least it felt that way...) I really like the result. He thought I was a little weird wanting to photographed him at the old abandoned house next door...

the american south/graceland

I thought I would continue with more images of the South this week.

Something about it being summer just makes me want to go on a road trip. But since I am in "Staycation" mode this year until the book comes out, I am traveling through my memories of road trips past. This one was actually taken on the tour of Graceland in Memphis, TN. This little shooting range (if you can call it that) was in a tiny room at the back of the house next to Elvis' office. I love the colors in this, though, and the fact that it was SO small and strange makes me like it, and Elvis, more. I wonder what all the hooks in the ceiling were for.

wanderlust/i've got it bad....

Another beauty from South Carolina. I love the South.......

wanderlust/i've got it bad....

Sometimes I get to point when I am just aching to take a road trip or travel somewhere new. I crave the feeling when everything you are looking at is new and slightly strange. Sadly I have no travel plans for awhile so I have been looking over some images I took when I was in South Carolina last year (or I think it was last year). The Village Inn is a favorite. I was lost when I passed it so I will never be able to find it again. Wish I could drive by when the doors are open the Village Inn is full...what a room of characters that would be!

my morning walk/fort miley

I have to admit, I shoot these types of images a lot. There is something that fascinates me about these overgrown places that feel like a cave or animal's home. It feels wild and at the same time hidden - like a secret discovery. I have learned not to look inside because once I interrupted someone sleeping (which freaked us BOTH out). But I still have some romantic notion about them. I think it goes back to making forts in the summertime with friends...or tree houses. Anyhow, this seemed fitting because it is summer.

kay sekimachi/fiber artist

All over Kay's home are beautiful little groupings of found objects from nature and artwork by friends. This first image is what happened to one of her perfect little arrangements when I walked by too quick....whoops!

See how it was originally arranged below.

kay sekimachi/fiber artist

Last Thursday and Friday I began my new project on American craftspeople. There is such a resurgence of craft right now, but I feel like much of it is really trendy with no knowledge of the incredible tradition it comes from. Kay Sekimachi is a master fiber artist. She is in her 70's I would guess and still works everyday at the loom or on other projects in her home studio. I am continuing the work I started with Handcrafted Modern, documenting houses, so I shot the entire house. But today I thought I would give you all a little taster of Kay's work. These are all hanging in the upstairs loft studio. I have included a detail of this long hanging piece. It is made entirely of fish line. The result is incredibly beautiful. It almost feels like some amorphous creature from the sea....

sunset

What is going on in the sky out in Davis? Look at this - completely otherworldly. I love it out there!

color/my morning walk

Sometimes mother nature knows best about color. I stumbled on this on my morning walk. This shade of green almost seems unreal, yet there it was, just off my path.

color/ray kappe

An other from Ray Kappe's home. I also love the royal blue with the avocado carpet.

color/ray kappe

I have been working with a color consultant on a job recently and it has reawakened my fascination with color - namely the combining of interesting color combinations. So many of the houses I have shot for Handcrafted Modern have a unique color sense, but two in particular come to mind. Ray Kappe's home in Pacific Palisades is one of them (more on the other home later in the week). Although it is not in the final version of my book, I wanted to share some of the images here. I love the royal blue with the wood.

henry varnum poor/

These last couple of images  am going to show from HV Poor's house are self portraits. Yes, I know...I am so vain...taking pictures of myself...but sometimes I just need to take a silly picture, or I catch a glimpse of myself in a mirror and it looks interesting. Usually I am the only person there, so self portrait it is! I have probably taken pictures of myself in the mirrors of most of the homes I have shot. These two that I shot at Poor's home, are two of my all time favorites. I went to photograph there twice, so there is one shot from each visit.

henry varnum poor/

Two details from HV Poor's studio today. Notice the cobwebs on this first one. Many of the places I shoot have not been tended to or touched for awhile so I am very well acquainted with cobwebs. Sometimes I kind of hate them...mainly when I am covered in them...but most of the time seeing the cobwebs in a house just makes me more excited to shoot it. I guess it tells me that time stopped in this place some time ago. No one has touched that beautiful little teapot in Poor's studio. Maybe he set it there himself...who knows. Seeing cobwebs just makes the narrative in my head run wild, and I love that.

henry varnum poor/

Another from HV Poor's studio. He clearly played a lot of darts....

henry varnum poor/

This is honestly one of my favorite pictures that I have ever taken. It is in HV Poor's studio looking out to a little chalet-like outbuilding on the property. The summer day I was there it had rained and although it was rather nice outside, the inside of the house and studio was a bit of a sauna. But I love the condensation that formed on the inside of this big window. I think it really adds to the feeling of this image.

henry varnum poor/

More from Henry Varnum Poor's Crow House this week. As I have said, this is a magical place. I think this image expresses that perfectly.

I ended up here on the suggestion of Wharton Esherick's daughter, Ruth. She remembered going to visit when she was a little girl (she made a special mention of the "crazy bathroom" as she put it). Wharton and Henry were friends and would spend a week or two at each other's place in the summer months. So Ruth gave Henry's son, Peter, a call to see if I could stop by and check it. Of course this was not on my shooting schedule and I was catching a plane later that day, but I ended up photographing the house that day for about two hours. At the time, it was about to be sold. I felt a sense of urgency about needing to document this house before it was gone. Happily it has now been saved, but those two hours that first day of shooting are really special in my memory. An unexpected gift....

henry varnum poor/

Another from Henry Varnum Poor's studio.

henry varnum poor/

What is it about a potter's studio? This is one of the shots I took of Henry Varnum Poor's home and studio in NY state. A magical place, even in its chaos.

ah san francisco.....

June has arrived and with it the fog....this was taken at about 3 in the afternoon (maybe a little later?). Still...there is a beauty and melancholy in this fog that I enjoy.