within reach: jammy

iced coffee remains in jam jar glass © kjm

[within reach is a series of photographs examining the environment of home in detail]

a city

W. Burnside Street Location, #1 © kjm

Portland is a palpably good town, I think. By good, I mean good people, a good, laid back vibe, good local coffee and beer, good public transportation, and the general feeling that good things are happening. And by good, I actually mean great.

Add a bunch of full archival clamshell boxes with photographers+curators+gallerists all talking about photography, and it makes for a fun weekend. The icing on the Stumptown cake: this closed-down Burger King a few blocks from my hotel.

I'm home now and processing my thoughts on Photolucida, which was fabulous, to say the least. Stay tuned.

send off

sky (iphone), just after the lecture © kjm

I know, I'll stop with the sky pictures after this one.

Off to Photolucida today, and I'm a bit nervous, having never been to a review like this before. But Thursday was as good as it could be in preparation, with a dry run showing the prints to local photographer peeps Mel and Dan, Sonja and Jonathan. Then it was off to see Stephen Shore give a lecture for a show of his work at Marquette University. He was smart, thoughtful and inspiring, to say the least. Several points he made will stick with me, but I was most impressed by how he described his life long drive to make pictures: a result of wanting to learn more about the world.

update

© kjm

Updates on the Camp Home project:

I made a broad edit for the studio visit relating to the Nohl Fund Fellowship show, which will open in October. We further culled the pictures to a working set of 33, which are now the selections that appear on my website.

I'm thrilled to say that Karin Higa from the Japanese American National Museum has agreed to write the essay for the show catalog.

And I have a straight-from-the-printer set of 20 prints that I'll be taking Friday to Photolucida in Portland.

as seen: everywhere a sign

high noon, today © kjm

Phoenix is a great city for signs of a certain age. They're especially clustered on streets like East Van Buren Street, fading and baking in the ever-present sun.

many happy years

Sky for Chris and Kirsten © kjm

Today my friend Chris Kessler is getting married. I can't make the wedding, unfortunately, but here's my gift to them - the sky as seen over Elmira, Michigan.

normal/hot

Lombardi Avenue Location © kjm

Back from Michigan, where I photographed some beautiful food and local produce. The tally: 6 days, 1400 miles, 2400 photos and about 3 million cherries. At one farm I was shooting at, I mentioned sheepishly to the owner that cherries weren't my favorite food. Her reply: "Funny, you look like a normal person."

Tomorrow night, a show of my Fast Food work opens at Modified Arts, both the coolest music venue in Phoenix and a great place to show work. The owner, Kimber Lanning, is the unofficial Mayor Of All That Is Cool And Progressive in Phoenix. If you happen to be in the area, the opening is from 6-9 pm. I'll have some of my booklet/prints to peddle, and will likely be the guy who looks like he's about to pass out from the heat.

Marilu and I found the above Wendy's recently, in the shadow of my state's capital, Lambeau Field.

empty/plenty

Okemos Road Location © kjm

And another one on Friday...

fast found

Pipestone Road Location © kjm

I'm in Michigan working on a story about food and restaurants for the state's tourism magazine. This closed-down Hardee's, found today in Benton Harbor, is not part of the story.

a dark and stormy

sky for cheryl © kjm

A while back, my brother-in-law Mark read one of my posts about photographing the sky. He suggested that if I ever captured a stormy scene, my sister Cheryl might like a print. Cheryl loves weather, especially the dramatic variety, and I think she secretly monitors the dew point of the locales where I'm traveling. We had a few more storms roll through in the last few days, and this was the sky from my front walk. It was a creepy sight, with the clouds swirling and changing form quickly. Sis, a print's at the lab.

within reach: discs

© kjm

Discs of refracted sunlight, shining through a tree, and landing happily on the back window yesterday.

within reach: not sleeping

© kjm

This dead moth was discovered not on, but very near a small Sophie Calle book on my bookshelf.

as seen: correction

© kjm

One last picture from Italy.