Brooke Eva, Digital Tests...

After several unsuccessful attempts I was finally able to connect with Brooke Eva for a quick shoot last week at a new space I've recently found. Great model, totally comfortable, can either take direction or riff on her own. She's all over the place online, but you can check out her work at http://www.brookeva.net/.

I've also just recently picked up a new light, after going back and forth for months, I finally just pulled the trigger and ordered a DigiBee 400 from Paul C. Buff, and the thing is absolutely rad. Super compact with a ton of juice, I also grabbed a 36" octabox and 56" strip box to round it out. Seriously contemplating picking up a second head.

Posting a few digital tests here, film scans to come shortly...

All test shots done with a Sony A7, Voiglander Nokton 35mm f/1.2, Nokton 50mm f/1.1 and 21mm f/4. Processed with RawTherapee / GIMP on Ubuntu Linux.

Ashlyn, Take #2

Last take from a shoot with Ashlyn way back when up in Mariposa... The places we stay up there are kinda funky, this one has a full on cowboy motif happening, at least in half the house. All the couches have the same cowboy upholstery, it's pretty random...

Not entirely sure how I feel about a few of these images, they're a bit more revealing than I typically shoot, and I don't know if that's a good or a bad thing. But here they are for what it's worth... You can see more of Ashlyn's work here: https://www.modelmayhem.com/2352803

New Year's Resolutions Are Dumb...

I'm not one of those people that stick to New Year's resolutions. Hell, I don't stick to most things, as is evident by the metric ton of unfinished projects on my desk... But I make them, sort of, why not, I know it's early, here it goes...

Break less bones. Should be easy, stop acting like you're still 20 years old. Here's to 2018 being a fracture free endeavor. Seriously. I'm super tired of this crap.

Shoot more pictures. Seems like a no-brainer. Gotta get off the internet and outside and shoot some more stuff. Feels like I live out my life in front of a screen sometimes. Might explain the vitamin D deficiency. Looking to do a bunch more portrait work this year. Drop me a line if you want to collaborate... 

Get more tattoos. Been saying this for years. Haven't been under the needle in probably 5 years. Need more ink. Lot's more. Just covering up the boring. I see another sleeve in 2018...

Make more prints. This is important. I'm really tired of looking at work, my own in particular, on the web and instagram and facebook and all the other platforms that we create the content for for free only to have it digitally trashed and stolen and re-published and our reach throttled and our accounts banned and ads plastered all over them. I want to see prints, in my hands, and turn them over and smell them and examine the signature look at the grain, like a photograph is supposed to be appreciated.

So here's to prints in 2018. Bottom's up...

 

Word On The Street...

We ended up on a twin masted schooner in The Bay back in September. I specifically forbid all my students from photographing the Golden Gate Bridge for my class, so this first one's for them...

The Golden Gate - 2017

Tourist, San Francisco Bay - 2017

And a few more pre-injury snaps... working on getting back into the groove, looking forward to getting back on the street. Hoping to ditch the cane by the new year and get back to shooting on a regular basis.

For the time being it still takes me all day to do what I used to do all day...

Trying to spend a little more time in the darkroom, should be adding some prints to the shop in the near future. Also working on some mock ups for a new book for next year.

Not that I'm making any new year's resolutions, but I really need to get back to work...

 

Mendocino Coast - 2017

Market Street - 2017

Mission Street - 2017

Market Street - 2017

New Montgomery Street - 2017

Ashlyn, Take #1

Worked with Ashlyn quite a few months back now, an ex-pat model way out in the sticks in Mariposa, outside Yosemite National Park. She's got straight up hippie dreads and a huge personality. It was good fun, you can see a bit more of her work here: https://www.modelmayhem.com/2352803

Threw in a few color shots from the digital tests just for giggles... more scans to come...

Should've Got Me A Rolleica

So I'm in line at the little shop down the street from school picking up a bagel on my way in and this guy in full construction garb and a hard hat comes up behind me...

Guy: Is that a "Rolleica?"
Me: Say what?
Guy: A "Rolleica" you know, like the old "Rolleica" cameras.
Me: It's a Leica. Maybe you're thinking of a Rolleiflex? 
Guy: That's film right, not digital?
Me: This one uses film, yes.
Guy: I shoot pictures with an iPad now.
Me: That's nice.
Guy: I got me an old Canon. Those worth anything?
Me: Eh, depends what it is.
Guy: It's a AE-1, that worth anything?
Me: Not really.
Guy: Wanna buy it?
Me: Um, no.
Guy: I got all the stuff for it, like the zooms and the light thing.
Me: I'm good, thanks.
Guy: (Pauses, shakes head) Should've got me a "Rolleica..."

Scene.

Lucy Hilmer And The Dry Mount Press

Every now and then I randomly search Craigslist for the term "darkroom" and just see what comes up... Sometimes you find something interesting, though it's usually futile but often entertaining. "I was cleaning out my dad's house and need to sell all his great darkroom gear cheap!" Which usually translates to about 2 trays, an easel, 2 broken film reels and a burned out enlarger bulb, 50 bucks, cash only, no delivery.

This time around I got lucky and found a big old heavy virtually indestructible 16x20 inch dry mount press for a $125 bucks, which I've been keeping an eye out for for years, and is dirt cheap considering most places would charge you $100 bucks just to ship it. Still can't believe it didn't get snatched up... and as it turns out, the lovely lady that sold it to me is none other than San Francisco photographer Lucy Hilmer, whose work I've seen around for some time...

You can have a look at Lucy's work at http://lucyhilmer.com.

 

Black & White Challenge...

I somehow got roped into the whole 7 day black and white challenge thing floating around facebook... No captions, no explanations, no people, seven days, seven black and white photographs. So here it is, in Polaroid no less (or Fuji-roid as it were). Thought I'd put it all in one place, for what it's worth...

Got Books...?

For this years obligatory Black Friday post... here's a selection of small books I've published over the years. Signed copies are available in the shop, on demand copies available at Blurb.com.

Fragments: A collection of rather personal photographs. Originally published in 2015.
Signed Copies | On Demand | Excerpts

Midnight: Originally published in 2012.
Signed Copies | On Demand

Gallery Update: Portraits, Figures, Et Cetera

Dumped a new batch of images from the past couple years into the Portraits, Figures, Et Cetera gallery. Below is a few excerpts... see more in the full gallery at left... 

Nicole, Take #3

Posting the last take from the swamp up in Inverness with Nicole... you can see more of her work on Instagram here and on Model Mayhem here.

Something about the skin tones with the giant leaves and the wood grain, especially with the contrast of Ilford FP4, I just love it...

#0542_21A

#0541_18A

#0542_27A

#0541_21A

#0541_34A

#0542_32A

Word On The Street

A collection of somewhat random frames, in no particular order, that didn't seem to make the cut, or the web, or whatever. For what it's worth...

#0566_08 - Tourists, Lincoln Memorial. Washington DC 2017

#0533_22 - "Diesel" San Francisco 2017

#0565_34 - Metro, Washington DC 2017

#0534_15A - Nursing Mother, New Montgomery Street 2017

#0532_35A - Market Street, 2017

#0566_36 - Washington DC 2017

#0567_31 - Civic Center Station, San Francisco 2017

Catalina, Take #3

#0549_10A

Last take from a shoot with Cat way back when up in inverness... you can see more of her work on Instagram and Model Mayhem...

Threw in a few polaroids from the land camera and the instax for good measure. I'm almost completely out of the black and white FP3000 film. Think I've got about 6 boxes left in my stash and then it's gone forever. Still can't believe nobody is making pack film for instant cameras anymore. Seems it really is the end of an era.

Anyone who wants to shoot a box with me, drop me a line...

#0549_05A

#0550_09A Catalina, Inverness 2017

#0549_18A Catalina, Inverness 2017

#0550_32A Catalina, Inverness 2017

#0550_18A Catalina, Inverness 2017

#0550_36A Catalina, Inverness 2017

Word On The Street

#0568_02 - Market Street, 2017

In Technicolor...

Or Kodak Portra, as it were.

Finally getting through the backlog of scans that have been languishing on my hard drives, starting with some local color around The City from August and September.

All images shot with a Voigtlander R3m and a Nokton 35mm f/1.4 on Kodak Portra 400 film with an 812 Warming filter.

#0569_32 - Howard Street, 2017

#0568_21 - Market Street 2017

#0568_14 - Fourth Street 2017

#0569_03 Market Street 2017

#0568_34 - Fourth Street 2017

Catalina, Take #2

#0548_21A - Catalina, Inverness 2017

When you ask a model, currently sans attire, to climb under a picnic table that is basically in a swamp, and she doesn't bat an eyelash, you've basically won the model lottery.

Catalina is, in fact, that model. Check out her Instagram here and her model mayhem page here.

May post one more take from the swamp shoot / location. Have a few interesting polaroids that may deserve a second look. Still have a few more things on deck with other models I'll be posting soon. Hope to be back to shooting in a few more weeks when the leg starts to feel a little better.

#0547_20A - Catalina, Inverness 2017

#0548_19A Catalina, Inverness - 2017

#0548_04A - Catalina, Inverness 2017

#0547_08A - Catalina, Inverness 2017

#0547_31A - Catalina, Inverness 2017

I Should Probably Stick To The Darkroom...

Left leg, pre-op, September 2017.

Seems I have a real hidden talent for breaking bones...

I grew up playing hockey in Michigan, but gave it up when everyone else got bigger and I stayed the same size. I missed playing for sure, but it was never that important, I was never very good, and at the time I was getting more interested in the arts, music, substances, the like... I didn't play for almost 20 years, and then on whim, sort of fell back into it not long after I met my wife. She said let's go ice skating and it was all down hill from there.

Left leg, post-op, September 2017.

I started playing pickup on the weekends again and promptly began to injure myself unfortunately... strained the tendons in my wrist, pulled a muscle in my back, a partially torn hamstring, then a clean break through the tibia and fibula above my right ankle, and a year and a half later, last weekend, a really bad tibia fracture that cracked my left leg into about 6 pieces, bringing my total hardware count to 1 rod, 2 plates, and 14 screws.

Right ankle, post-op, May 2016.

Not going to be shooting much in the next few months. Will be posting some older work from the back log soon. Seems like I should stick to the darkroom... I'll miss playing for sure, but it's time to hang up the skates.

Hashtag Metal.

Notes From The Road...

A few polaroids from the long weekend... we wandered up North to Humboldt to escape the heat wave... Was still 98 degrees on the coast, but a far cry from the 112 degrees on the drive up through Santa Rosa...

Drove through the redwoods on the 128 out to the coast, you forget how amazing Northern California is sometimes, living in the city.

We stayed in a cabin made out of an old wine barrel, which I had no idea was a life goal of mine until now...

Word On The Street: Washington, DC

I'd never been to Washington, DC before, and I'm more than a little pissed that my first experience there was during the rein of the buffoon the donald... the sea of make American great again hat's at the Air and Space Museum was enough to make you nauseous...

#0564_29 - Tourists, Supreme Court of the United States 2017

The entire place feels overwhelmingly fortified, and I don't think I've been subjected to so many searches, x-rays and metal detectors in my entire life than I was in the week I was in DC. None the less, it was a good time...

#0564_07 - Metro Station, Washington, DC 2017

#0565_37 - Metro Train, Washington DC 2017

#0566_03 - Foggy Bottom, Washington, DC 2017

#0567_10 - Tourists, the Washington Monument. Washington, DC 2017

#0564_15 - Protestor, Capitol Hill. Washington, DC 2017

#0565_20 - Protestor, Capitol Hill. Washington, DC 2017

Word On The Street: NYC

I hadn't been out to the East coast in probably a decade, but things worked out and I tagged along with my wife to a conference in Washington DC by way a New York for a few days...

#0563_14 - Brooklyn, New York 2017

New York has never really been my bag, nice place to visit, wouldn't want to live there. It was good to get away, we stayed in Brooklyn and rode the subway to the Whitney, walked the High Line, people sleep there a lot, found a dead mouse, drank to much, ate even more, then hopped a train to DC...

#0563_06 - High Line, Manhattan 2017

#0563_08 High Line, Manhattan 2017

#0563_21 - Mouse, Brooklyn 2017