jess brown/martha stewart living

I am excited to say that a couple of my favorite jobs from last year are finally out in print for you all to see! At the end of last year the lovely people at Martha Stewart Living sent me to Petaluma to the studio of doll maker Jess Brown. This is my personal favorite from the day. I feel like it speaks so much to what craftspeople's lives are really like. When you work by hand, a lot of time is spent toiling by yourself in your studio. It is a solitary thing a lot of the time. Somehow this image captures that. See and learn more about Jess and her wonderful handmade dolls in the February issue of Martha Stewart Living Magazine. Or check out Jess here.

dirt roads/

I have realized lately that I have been on more dirt roads  this past year than I have in my entire life. This is saying something because I am one of those people that tends to turn down dirt roads on a whim...just for the adventure.

This past weekend was another old logging road, but damn was it pretty...well worth the mud caked car that was a result.

darkroom day/

Yesterday I spent in the darkroom and I have to say, it was absolutely delicious! I never get to print anymore. I think the last time I was really spending time printing regularly was getting all the images ready for Handcrafted Modern to go to the printer - I printed quite a few of the prints myself. But since then, it is computersville.

I spend a lot of time with creative people in their spaces while they are working. My friend Maria Moyer lets me just sit with her as she makes breathlessly beautiful things out of porcelain and T1. I can sit there for hours. I realized while working yesterday that the darkroom is my equivalent to maria's pottery studio. It is my happy place. I love everything about it. I love having to feel around for the focusing aid and cutting RA paper in the pitch blackness and the smell of the chemicals and paper. I love having to announce myself in the darkness to make sure I don't bump into anyone and other odd bits of darkroom etiquette. Hell, I even love bumping into people in the dark! It is always so weirdly startling and awkward.  And how sublime is it to have to do everything by feel because you are in the darkness. It is primal somehow. You are working without one of your senses - an odd and ironic fact considering that photography is all about seeing! When I work long enough in the dark, I love how I start to be able to see just fine. My eyes adjust and I fancy myself some nocturnal creature, like an owl.  All these wonderful things don't exist when you are working at a computer. Don't get me wrong, there are great benefits to shooting digital. But all these weird, eccentric, slightly archaic rituals aren't there. Yesterday I was reveling in them and the joy that they bring me. A really good day.

blunk residency/

I ran across this images yesterday and I just liked it. Something about the wrinkles on the canvas bag...

PS - loving this song by Sharon Van Etten right now.  

nakashima/on their bookshelves

Ran a across a cabinet of George Nakashima's books that I shot while working on Handcrafted Modern. How I love this shot with the flare in the corners...

patrick dougherty/

I keep driving by this amazing piece by Patrick Dougherty in Palo Alto and I finally stopped an took a few shots this past weekend. It looks like Where the Wild Things Are!

kodak/

Last week I shot 35mm film. It has literally been ages since I did that. But when I saw where Kodak had taken it's design of the film casing my heart literally filled with joy. Isn't it perfect? Simple. Generic. Like those weird generic grocery stores from the eighties. I am in love with it. And then the next day I find out that Kodak has declared bankruptcy. Ugh! Not a complete surprise but still...I love me my Kodak film!!! I've never been able to form the same attachment to Fuji and let me just say, Kodak and I have had a trying relationship from the start. When I was in college (and later), every kodak film I fell in love with was discontinued within four months of my discovering it. Granted it was always obscure, weird stuff...recording film, VPL (a weird green cast film...), but damn they made me work for it. And I have rolled with the punches, to the point that now I just use their basic Portra 800 and am happy when I can get it in quantity. Hope Kodak figures a way to evolve and continue to produce film. With everything digital nowadays, it is an uphill battle to say the least. But we are losing a beautiful art form. How many college photo programs even teach how to process and shoot with film? Less and less. It makes my heart heavy.