defrocked

Coon Rapids Blvd. Location © kjm

I don't see too many abandoned White Castles, but was told about this one today while shooting an assignment in Minnesota.

big/small

Starting this Friday, I'll have work in a group show, Big, Big Bangs / Small, Small Bucks at the Dean Jensen Gallery in Milwaukee. I'm pleased to be part of the show, which includes some of my favorite Milwaukee artists, as well as some from afar: Santiago Cucullu, Katie Martin, Susana Raab, Tema Stauffer, Lynn Tomaszewski, Sonja Thomsen and Jason Yi. There are 40 artists in the show, over 100 pieces, and all the artwork is priced at $750 or less.

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]

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...

patchwork

zenya's tiny legos © kjm

show-in-a-box

© kjm

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

Can't wait to install it Monday.

dusk, wednesday

sky for steve and jen © kjm

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]

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!

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.

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."

within reach: closet

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

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.

within reach: make

stray bead on marilu's table © kjm

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

(blue) skies

9:10pm MST, Nov. 4, 2008 © kjm

within reach: sweep

flies from the windowsill © kjm

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

within reach: change

because someone keeps stealing my yard sign © kjm

I have refrained talking about the election here, for several reasons. For one, my editorial clients include newsweeklies and a certain newspaper of record - and even though most of the publications I work for wouldn't care, my old, straight journalism roots discourage too much public expression. (I had the pleasure of photographing Michelle Obama for one publication, and she was delightful.)

Another reason, and Marilu will confirm this, is that if I started talking about the election, I just might not stop (this would be the "don't get him started" argument). Lastly, though it may not always appear so, I try to keep the focus of this space toward my artwork and the spirit of creation - by myself, and by others.

All that said, this sign in my window reads "Obama/Biden."

within reach: let them eat it

uneaten cake from the back of the fridge © kjm

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

close call

N. 76th Street Location, # 1 and #2 © kjm

I passed by this KFC the other day, and made it back today to photograph. Good thing - there were some contractors there tearing part the KFCness from the building ("we're removing the peak."). I'll be back to shoot this one again soon...

as seen: outside, in

conference room before a shoot © kjm

within reach: streaks

water marks on the southern windows © kjm

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

installation

© kjm

The opening of the Mary L. Nohl Fellowship show went really well last week, with a large and lively crowd in attendance. The catalog looks great - Karin Higa of the National Japanese American Museum in L.A. was kind enough to write an essay about the Camp Home work - you can read it here.

And I was really happy with the way the installation turned out (photographed today, while my mom looked at the work, above), and I'm happy I decided to have so many images framed. The idea for a grid, rather than a single line of photographs, was inspired by several things. 1. A map of the current farmland, which I use while shooting, details the homestead plots in large, mostly rectangular grids. 2. The original internment camp buildings were also laid out in large grids, and my aunt tells me it was important to remember your building number and section name (my dad's family section was called "Alaska"), in order to not get lost. 3. I like the physical experience of viewing the big group of photographs - most people seem to stand one place and take in the totality of the piece, before going in for a closer look. There's a subtle similarity to the way one experiences a historical monument.

big world, small world

stopped to make a picture, philip, south dakota © kjm

A week after the interesting vehicular experiences in India, I find myself on an equally bumpy ride with a rancher is his pickup truck. We're on a search for some of his cows, driving through beautiful South Dakota grasslands and silty streams. He's stops periodically to grab his binoculars ("that's either a tree top or one of my cows" ) and when we find some, he uses his curled fist to make an effective call, which gets their attention.

Earlier in the day, he mentioned that he had a roommate in college who was from Hawaii. I told him how Hawaii can be like a small town, at least to the older generations. If my mom meets another native of Hawaii, it only takes them a few minutes to discover mutual friends. So he tells me his buddy's name, and he's a little unsure about the last name (it's been 40 years), but it sounds similar to my mom's maiden name. So I ask him, could the last name be "Kimura?" Maybe. My mom says later, "Calvin Kimura? He's your relative." So Kenny the rancher, who I've just spent a long day with, was buddies with Calvin, my mom's second cousin, who I've never heard of or met.

One of the things I love best about my job is that I often find myself in places where I'm clearly out of my element. Being reminded of the underlying connections makes it even more exciting.

tinytinygroupshow #7

In pondering a tinytinygroupshow about my favorite season, Fall, which is upon us in the upper Midwest, I started to think about other uses for the word itself. Among others, one can fall asleep; into love; down dead, or from grace. And a bit of musical inspiration - one of my favorite songs of all time is Yo La Tengo's Our Way To Fall.

[ tinytinygroupshow is a mini electroexhibit of photographs based around a basic theme. There are no gallery hours, price lists, commissions, lengthy wall texts or attractive gallery attendants. tinytinygroupshow is a place to have a brief look at some photography, by photographers known and unknown, in a manner that hopefully provokes a little thought. View past tinytinygroupshows here. ]

Note: you might need to click on your screen a second time to enlarge the show

close (focus)

© kjm

I brought my point + shoot along on the recent canoe trip, with hopes of not working too hard, but with the possibly of making a picture I could submit to the Times' Why We Travel section again. But alas, I don't use the camera enough, and spent the first few days making out of focus images of my buddies. I realized my error at some point, and spent part of the last day making some details around camp.

on your left

© kjm

Here's another attempt at describing the fascinating traffic in India. I shot out my window about every 10 seconds, during a 15 minute traffic jam in Udaipur. Since jetlag is still effecting my ability to figure out how to post a video on the blog (with any amount of clarity or quality), click on the image above or here to see a short video. Song (thanks/sorry) by Radiohead.

home and awake

frames, Udaipur, India © kjm

Back home now and trying to catch up - with Marilu(!), on sleep (23 hours of travel to get home), and on lots of emails. I'm really excited about the Mary L. Nohl Fellowship show, which opens tonight (6-9pm, if you're in the area). There will be 27 pictures from the Camp Home project in a large grid, and I'm excited to see how the installation turned out. I hope to make it through the opening both awake and slightly charming.

Inova will host an opening and reception to honor the Nohl Fellows on Friday, October 10, from 6-9 pm. Inova curator Nicholas Frank will give a gallery talk at 6:30 pm. Address: Kenilworth, 2155 N. Prospect Ave., Milwaukee, WI

John Gresl, Mark Klassen and Dan Ollman (Established Artists); Annie Killelea, Faythe Levine, Colin Matthes and Kevin J. Miyazaki (Emerging Artists)

as seen: night and day

Jodhpur, India © kjm

buckle up

© kjm

Until yesterday, I thought my most interesting backseat experiences had been in Istanbul. Marilu and I were there together and shared one hair-raising drive in a taxi; she spent another alone, emerging from the cab looking like she'd seen a ghost (her own). The traffic here is intense, not for it's speed, but for density and variety of wheeled and hoofed participants. They are masters of the merge, with lots of chaotic traffic circles and scooters flying into traffic from side streets. Best not to look watch too closely.

ely to delhi (1 stop)

ride to the hotel in delhi tonight © kjm

I arrived in India tonight to start a travel assignment, after just a day at home following the week-long canoe trip in Minnesota. The 15-hour flight from Newark wasn't as bad as I'd thought - and I realized that it's not necessary to pre-order a vegetarian meal on a flight to India. But because I was able to sleep so much on the plane, I'm awake and it's after midnight here. I leave early tomorrow morning for the city of Jaipur.

Two great meditations on the topic of jetlag: the movie Lost In Translation, most specifically the scene where Bill Murray arrives in Tokyo and peers out the car window; and a wonderful essay by Pico Iyer titled, Nightwalking, from his book Sun After Dark.