Showing posts with label lists. Show all posts
Showing posts with label lists. Show all posts

10.02.2009

sans camera
















(partial map of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area)

Something I saw last week that I wished I'd been able to photograph: A closed-down Hardee's in Two Harbors, Minnesota.

Something I saw that would have made a wonderful stock photo: My friend Andy paddling his kayak, silhouetted in the sun and water.

Something that occurred, that no photo would have done justice to (ok, maybe video): A sustained wind for 20 hours, gusting to 50 mph, that kept us stuck on a rocky island for an extra day.

Something I experienced last week that I didn't need to photograph to appreciate: On the last morning of our 5-day trip, a short, solo canoe paddle in the early morning mist.

3.21.2008

stack






















My nightstand is lousy with new photo books. In the stack, to be devoured in no particular order (but listed here clockwise from top):

[Manzanar] Architecture Double by Andrew Freeman
The catalog for FOTO: Modernity in Central Europe, 1918-1945 (photo by Lotte Jacobi)
Allison V. Smith's second zine, An Issue With Lomos
The Castle & The Kingdom by Mikael Kennedy
Driftless: Photographs From Iowa by Danny Wilcox Frazier
The Polaroids by André Kertész
The catalog for the Archive Fever (photo by Fazal Sheikh)
Dog Days, Bogotá by Alec Soth

Note to self: Schedule time to curl up.

12.16.2007

lucky number?



















© kjm

It seems there's a slightly chainletterish game of tag going on in the photographerblogworld. The first I read of it was at Liz Kuball's blog and, slow runner that I am, I was recently tagged by Susana Raab. Not to worry, no Nigerian banks are involved.

I'll skip posting the actual rules, but basically, the tagette is supposed to list 7 strange/interesting life facts, and then tag 7 other bloggers to do the same. No pressure, but if you pass it along without breaking the chain, our President turns into a lump of coal. (OK, I just made that part up.)

So here goes:

1. A career test in high school told me I should be a park ranger. A guy in college once asked me to be a drug dealer. I chose instead the lucrative world of freelance editorial photography.

2. I was born with the name Jason, but my parents changed their minds, and I left the hospital as Kevin.

3. I was a member of a fictitious German disco tambourine band (but who wasn't?). It was reported in the press, so it must be true.

4. My nickname in high school, Gooch, came from a reoccuring bully character on Different Strokes. Some of the oldest peeps still use it and yes, it was meant to be (highly) ironic.

5. Acting on bad peer advice, the first album I ever bought was Foghat Live. Having evolved somewhat, the last album I bought was Rilo Kiley's Under the Backlight.

6. I have a slightly greater than normal fear of dog poop in the grass of public parks.

7. I am not related to Hayao Miyazaki. Or Kevin Bacon.

I won't take it personally if no one wants to play, but I hereby tag Mel Tritten, John Loomis, Thomas Broening, Claire and Jeremy Weiss, Timothy Briner, Kevin German, and Christian Patterson.

8.12.2007

a little sunday worship

On Sunday mornings, Marilu reaches first for Frank Rich's column, and I reach (sadly yet confidently) for the Sunday Styles section. I will always be fascinated with Bill Cunningham's work, but I especially like to start the Sunday Times with the wedding section. Here, for your enjoyment (keep score at home!), are Eight Shallow, Yet Entertaining Categories For Subjects Of The NY Times Wedding Section:

  • Couple Who Looks A Bit Too Much Like Father and Daughter (The Fred & Jeri Thompson Award)
  • Couple Who You'd Actually Enjoy Having Over For Dinner
  • Couple Who Probably Should Have Gone The "Bride Only Photo" Route
  • Heterosexual Couple Who Look Kinda Like a Gay Couple
  • Couple Who Snuck By Without Employment By Morgan Stanley (The Bootstraps Award)
  • Gay Couple Who Look Kinda Like a Heterosexual Couple
  • Couple Whose Mouths Are Exactly The Same (really)
  • Second-Tier Pedigree, But Friends With A Copy Editor Couple

5.04.2007

portrait sure things?












©Chris Buck

I don't photograph celebrities. It's not a policy, mind you - it's just that no one ever hires me to do it [attention-getting cough here]. I did share an elevator ride with Fabio, though, and George Clooney once opened a door for me (chivalry isn't dead in Hollywood). But if I were asked to photograph a celebrity, here's my list of what I think would be portrait sure things. Don't get me wrong - I'm not saying it's an easy niche - there are time restraints, publicists, egos, 2nd and 3rd assistants, and gigantic fans to position. And the photographers that do this work, do it really well. I once did a great workshop with Andrew Eccles, and I love the work of Kwaku Alston. Chris Buck is my favorite portrait photographer working. But anyway, here's a list:

The Top Ten Celebrities That, Given A Normal Amount of Time And Good Catering, Would Be Pretty Easy To Make A Great Portrait Of:
1. Beck
2. John Hodgeman
3. Tina Fey
4. Cat Power
5. Moby
6. Philip Johnson
7. Naomi Watts
8. The White Stripes (does that make this a Top Eleven?)
9. Yo Yo Ma
10. Bjork