11.30.2008

within reach: night light























back window with light from the kessler's © kjm

This is what my living room window is looking like at night these days.

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

11.26.2008

100 up



The show is up at MIAD and I'm really pleased with how it turned out. Sonja helped me pin up the prints, and while they're a tad curled today, I think it all looks great. I gave a gallery talk today for students in the photography department, which I really enjoyed. After I explained that these pictures weren't part of my larger projects, but were created with the intention of posted them on the blog, one student asked if I considered the small c-prints more valuable or important than their online versions. What a great question, and one that I hadn't considered. My conclusion: the online versions, in all their 2d, non-handleable, 72 dpi glory. Go figure.

*Note: you might want to mute the sound on the video...

11.24.2008

patchwork
























zenya's tiny legos © kjm

11.21.2008

show-in-a-box




















© kjm

Contents:
- (100) 4x5" c-prints
- (200) 1" t-pins
- gallery dimensions map

Can't wait to install it Monday.

11.20.2008

dusk, wednesday


sky for steve and jen
© kjm


11.19.2008

within reach: spectrum























kale plant after bringing it inside © kjm

A few months ago, someone stole a planter from outside my front door. It was an old aluminum flour bin I'd found at a used restaurant supply store, so I was a bit disappointed. But a few days later, a kinder someone from the hardware store next door (the thief stole their flowers, apparently to put in my planter) left a new pot at my door. Marilu planted some kale, which looked pretty lovely until recently.

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

11.17.2008

upcoming
















© kjm

I'm really excited about a small show of my photographs which will be installed in a week at the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design. I was invited to exhibit by Sonja Thomsen, who teaches at MIAD, and since the gallery is located in the photography department, I wanted to show work that might have some relevance to the photography students there. So I'll be showing pictures that have been created since starting this blog, and will talk about how it has become a home for personal work - pictures that are created outside the boundaries of my editorial or personal project work. More often than not, they were created with the intention of posting them on the blog, so as a result, it's a source of motivation and a reason to make more pictures. Blogs mean different things to those who write them, but for me, it has been a very real element in my growth as an artist thus far.

There will be 100 small (4x5") prints, and to bring the idea full circle, I'll be giving them all away on the blog in January. Stay tuned!

11.15.2008

peakless
























N. 76th Street Location, #3 © kjm

I usually go to great efforts to avoid shooting power lines in photographs, and fretted about these. But in black and white, I like the added graphic element. They're working quickly and neatly on this old KFC, so I thought I'd better make as many visits as possible - I'm sure it'll be a check-cashing store by the time I return next.

11.13.2008

i love this photo, #25


















© Dave Jordano

I love this photo by the photographer Dave Jordano. I only recently found Dave's work, and spent a great deal of time pouring over his website. Dave had a long career as a commercial photographer in Chicago, and for the past few years has turned his focus on his fine art work. He has several wonderful projects, including the series Marktown, in which he photographed people and places in a steel mill neighborhood in East Chicago, Indiana.

Of this particular picture, Jordano says, "Lee was a longtime resident of Marktown, having moved there in 1949 and lived in the same house for over 50 years. On my visits there to shoot I would often call on him to say hello. He was a widower and lived alone so my visits would sometimes last a few hours. We would just talk and shoot the bull until it got dark. He lived an extraordinary life, like riding a horse across the United States during the Great Depression looking for work. I didn’t get any work done on those days but I knew I would be back the next weekend so it didn’t matter. What did matter was that I spent some time with him. He had survived 4 heart attacks and was wearing a pacemaker when I met him. The portrait I made of him through his screen door gave his complexion a shallow washed-out look, almost ghost like. He told me he was always thankful that he had lived as long as he had considering his health problems. Last December he passed away."

11.11.2008

within reach: closet



















after purging the closet of clothes i wasn't wearing © kjm

11.09.2008

my so called collection, #9

















Another postcard - this one, a 50¢ antique photo postcard, by an unknown photographer. It's been up on my wall for so long, I'd forgotten how sweet and beautiful it was.

11.06.2008

within reach: make



















stray bead on marilu's table © kjm

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

11.04.2008

(blue) skies



















9:10pm MST, Nov. 4, 2008 © kjm

11.02.2008

within reach: sweep



















flies from the windowsill © kjm

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