ignite ~ july

July 30, 2014 in group projects

on a day at an arcade with my nieces, i noticed these two kids with a rather large pile of tickets. considering each game turns out like maybe four of them, seeing a pile of them en mass all connected together was odd. even stranger was their casual contained excitement - like no big deal here. so, i moved a little closer and looked for the right angle to photograph them and the pile of tickets when they picked them up, placed them on their heads and posed for their father and grandfather (who were off to the right) taking an iphone picture for their mom. i was going to pass until the one kid turned to me and smiled.

while i'm mindful that the image quality is lacking (this is when film would have delivered a more exacting result), i like the story going on here, particularly as they left a strand of tickets coming out of the machine.

and so next in our little group which always leaves me inspired is January Skye, Melbourne photographer.

twelve portraits ~ july

July 28, 2014 in group projects

so this was the day my camera literally crapped out after five years. the focus was shot (no pun intended). the timing wasn't so great as i was in boston with a client/friend who was visiting and we'd planned to spend the morning together photographing in various areas of the city. i mention this as my only means of focusing was manual, which doesn't present as much of an issue with a single adult or couple but for me, i've become a bit reliant on it for street work.

anyway - during our time together, we'd walked over to the Esplanade and as we were setting up for one image, i see saw a man lift up his dog and gently place him on top of a column over looking the water. it seemed funny and loving and strange and as i was there somewhat in place, with my camera, i was ready when he turned around and they both unknowingly posed. while i walked in closer to introduce myself and get another, he put his head down, quickly removed the dog and left.

while this was taken later in the morning, the heat and brightness of the early july sun is apparent for its starkly blinding and has in ways muddied the tones. i also think a different angle may have helped but i like the indicators here - the water, the steps, the text in behind the man. i like his casual stance and that both are looking right at me while the leash connects them together. so - it'll do for this month.

now it's onto the rest starting with Stacie Ann Smith, Denver, CO.

set of threes

July 25, 2014

three weeks ago i took this picture filled with the gifts of summer - the heat in the air tinged with the scent of the sea. the stretch of days laid out before. a time that clears the system in ways that's as simple and uncomplicated as the wonderment and joy children find in water sprinklers. but then it all shifted into a series of annoying pokes that gurgled and sputtered before erupting into a wild and unconstrained blow.

as i'm prone to a mercurial persuasion, i can fall into a hole of shadow mirrors ... that of sadness and futility, of complaints (all i don't have & don't get to do), of a longing to be like others who's lives are illuminated into a blissfully artful arrangement with ample opportunities to create and be inspired with beautiful soulful children.

it's a dangerous place to slide for complaints and comparisons are like a rip tide holding me hostage while tearing my being into shreds.

yet it is precisely at times like these that i discover what i'm made of.

it's easy to be inspired and create and go further when life is uncomplicated, when i'm surrounded by beautiful people, when my needs of health, income, and stability are met. but when life cracks at the seams and begins to fall apart, times when ideas are evasive and opportunities dry up that my mind can get tangled.

in talking to a close friend who's in a similar paradigm, i was asked to consider the micro mirroring the macro. that the world has gone mad and in ways, my connection to it is showing up the way it is.

i was also asked what i'm not noticing ... what opportunity this presents.

so i'll leave it at that for now, three weeks later.

we are the point

July 01, 2014 in documentary projects

a narrative of a community

It's been said that the "Point is Salem's most diverse neighborhood, home to places and people that you won't find anywhere else. To outsiders, it's also one of the most mischaracterized and misunderstood."

When I moved to Salem in 2006, I heard bits and pieces of the Point neighborhood and in honesty, none of them were positive. Yet the times I walked through the area, I noticed children who played outside, people who talked to one another, and parents who seemed to engage with their children.

A few years ago, I met Claudia Parashniv who reached out to me to photograph her wedding. We quickly became friends and talked long and hard about our interests as artists. As she was just getting started with Salem Public Space Project, I've had the opportunity to document her work including (re)Framing Lafayette Park, Share a Chair and reImage a Lot. In between, I've spent my own time meeting residents and photographing, and what I've experienced is warmth and openness.

While the photographs below are sketches for a larger project Claudia and I are developing, they represent a greater narrative - the people's stories and experiences. While neighborhoods like the Point are vulnerable to gentrification, our real hope is to help preserve the richness and community that exists there today.

ignite - june

June 30, 2014 in group projects

i've been keeping track of the photographs selected and shown within this group so far, and at midway, i think perhaps i've begun to get a little understanding of what i'm showing month to month. i've kind of lost my steam for the group shares and find the only way i can maintain enthusiasm and inspiration is to understand what i'm doing at the onset. that way, each month seems to add to a collection of the whole. so with this group, i started out rather flat and directionless. the first picture of the year in january of two views in a cafe sort of set the tone; but as i wasn't clear on that direction, february's now looks kind of odd. i think maybe in march i started to get clearer and since then, april and may begin to make sense. which brings me to june and this.

this photograph was taken as a test shot during a client session in boston at the courthouse. (client is an attorney and i was commissioned to photograph portraits, headshots and documentary images for a website we're developing for her). the idea here was to photograph her coming out of the courthouse - thus, my test.

what i didn't plan on were the three men (presumably attorneys) who were beginning to exit at the moment i set my test shot. being that i was already there and in place, i photographed them as they exited.

while i love everything about the story here - the three poses, the expression of the man on the left along with the connection of those in the middle and right - the exposure was incorrect. in fact it was seriously over exposed. a hard image to photograph (high noon, clear, cloudless bright early summer day). so while i almost didn't show it for those reasons, it fits with the series i seem to have going.

with that & my long winded outline....i will send you onto one who's creativity and imagination is as beautiful as her name: January Skye, Melbourne Photographer.

american summer

June 25, 2014

there is something about what is still the early parts of summer that fills me up with a hopeful inspiration - it is a looking forward to days at the beach to linger, to wander, to meander, to reflect. i think in part it has a lot to do with my upbringing. we were rather blessed to be able to spend a few weeks every summer at the jersey shore, and to this day, it is something i simply need to do. when i lived in seattle, i actually saved my pennies all year to be able to travel to nj in the summer - that's how deep the pull is. and while this year finds me a little busier and not as free to spend endless hours in the place i love, i have pictures to take me there. and this is one of those.

i fall into this photograph every time i see it. the pointed toe of the girl on the left, the string of the board that leads me to the next who leans into the third in profile - his board tilting to the last who stands in a pose that is moving forward. this photograph for me is at once moving and motionless. it's a frozen stolen quiet still of the film that plays in my mind - reels of memories and emotions. it takes me there every single time.

while i've yet to get this printed, matted and framed on the wall, it is one of my most favorite photographs from American Summer - a series I began a few years ago that i've pulled together into a book which is currently in production and will be available in the coming weeks through the Peabody Essex Museum and a few galleries.

faceless

June 20, 2014 in documentary

And then there comes a time when some girls at around age 10 see themselves in comparison to others. As I was one of those girls who despised what I saw in the mirror, it's a hard photograph to take....knowing I've caught a moment in ways of self rejection. Here, this one didn't want her photograph taken at all and with a heavy heart, I did anyway - because for me, it told the story of that summer.

Why this works? Though it's taken fairly close in the camera frame, her position is an arc, a half circle - the remainder filled in by the position of the chairs in the background. I see soft figures in the background and know this is some kind of street event. i see her fingers pressed heavily onto her face, the bits of nail polish that remain on her fingers and the conviction of hiding.

a pivotal photograph

June 18, 2014 in documentary

this is one that pointed the way forward. i remember the day - what i was seeing and what i wanted to photograph. what i felt. the moment i wanted to remember. the story i wanted to tell. i didn't understand how or even what i was after at the time, as up to this point (and into the next year), i'd fallen into "following" rather than creating from my own insides - mirroring what i saw others liked rather than what i liked. i was twisted in conflict - one part trying earnestly to be "successful" - to photograph in a way that landed clients, attention, acknowledgement, comments, likes; the other struggling to surface - to show another way, to create art.

i couldn't for the life of me feel things that i saw others creating and was fairly miserable in my attempts. i remember that feeling of dread and disappointment and confusion.

and then i photographed this.

...a complex composition formed by inverted parenthesis; in a way, it's two pictures in one connected by hands: the girl on the left sliding out of a dark tunnel draws my eye to her face, then her hand to her leg. but then i catch a hint of a person exiting on the right - part of an arm, a bit of leg. it's a tension of entering and exiting. of colliding shapes and yet, the emotion on the girls face tells the story of being a kid, of a playground. it is a first understanding of a decisive moment.

at the time, i had no idea really what all this meant...i just knew i liked it. and so did others. it was the beginning of a new path that i walked. guided by work that was great work; maybe not popular or trendy or commercial, but work i could feel in my heart admire.

so i revere this photograph. i understand its significance. and i honor its gift in gently pointing the way forward.

twelve portraits ~ june

June 16, 2014 in portraits

sometimes i just see a face and i know there's a story and i was right with this portrait of one who's spiritual wanderlust has taken her across the globe and back again. as one of the most stylishly elegant and poised women i've ever met, i chose to take her portrait on the sofa with a teddy bear that she had fashioned out of her mother's mink coat. as she reveres animals, she could think of no finer way of paying tribute to the spirit that gave its life and the person who wore it in warmth. for this month, i give you cassandra.

next is the color filled lightness of Linsey Stuckey, Houston, TX.

Creating Community

June 11, 2014

Creating Community is a project created through a collaboration between Salem Academy Charter School and Cohen Hillel Academy and guided by Facing History and Ourselves which brings together eighth grade students from each school who embark on a journey together towards building community with each other and within their larger communities.

For the 2013-2014 school year students investigated issues of identity and belonging as they pertain to themselves personally and to those who carried their stories on their journeys to America throughout history. By studying three key moments in American history, students reflected on the tension between assimilation and acculturation and what different cultures and specifically new immigrants have personally struggled with on their journey towards becoming American.

Students monthly at alternating schools to engage in a variety of learning through the use of film, literature, guided activities, presentations and discussion to gain a more nuanced understanding of the experiences of newcomers to America.

One of the key project goals was for students to interview an “immigrant” in the community and during an extended session in April, nine immigrants were invited to Salem Academy Charter School to share their stories on becoming an American with students. Participants were asked to bring an object of importance to them - one that told a story about their their immigrating experience or a keepsake that reminded them of their country or origin.

Utilizing the object as a starting point, students talked with participants and listened to their stories and experiences on becoming an American citizen. The interviews were recorded, and in the final two sessions, students composed an essay about each story.

Each participant was photographed with his or her object, and their portraits were presented alongside the essay written by the students.

The partnership between Salem Academy Charter School and Cohen Hillel Academy provided opportunities for students to begin to see that they are part of a shared enterprise and that learning about each other through story telling is a powerful tool towards creating community.

An exhibition of student essays pared with a portrait of each person interviewed will be on display at the Salem Visitors & Exhibition center June 12-30.

drums for funds

June 10, 2014 in documentary projects

as i mentioned yesterday, i was asked if i'd be open to documenting a segment for a "Drums for Funds" event at the newly opened Ames Hall in Salem...one that told the story of the kids and what this facility and guidance mean to them. i admire the commitment and dedication that others put into this program (namely Aaron Katz & Callie Lipton) and how their contribution inspires and alters lives as you can see...

summer vacation

June 04, 2014 in documentary

at ten years of age, there is nothing sweeter or freer than the beginning of summer with what feels like many days ahead to fill with swimming and snacks and sleepovers and playing outside with what feels like forever friends.

three years ago watching my nieces in the pool playing a synchronized jumping in together with a friend, i remembered all those feelings i had at their age and wanted to pay homage to that. this photograph is the result.

as for the image, i liked how the girls stood out against the woods - framed by tall trees and wild growth. i have clear sense of the season and with the light shimmering on the pool, i know it's later in the day (it was actually after 4pm). but it was their individual pose - the different jumps - that made this particular image work: the two on the ends reach towards left and right and frame the one in the center who's stretches upwards.

connection

June 02, 2014

another portrait i've held onto because it epitomizes why i believe in photographs and their value over time. while the little one here may have fleeting impressions of what this time with her grandmother & great grandmother felt like, this image of her with them conveys how much she was loved and enjoyed & represents all those other times of play and laughter and quite. while we all will change and fade, photographs remain & live live on as representations of a certain time and place.

ignite ~ may →

May 30, 2014 in portraits

sometimes i am so drawn into what's in front of me...that i miss the a tiny yet profound detail.

here, on my way to the train, i noticed a car idling near the platform, which isn't a common sight these days as the station is closed to all vehicles except those with HP place-cards, so it was surprising to see a car let alone what i found.

as i got closer, the music got louder and there was a couple presumably enjoying the last moments before a goodbye together. i decided to get close and take a few images; then when they turned around, i asked if i could take their portrait. as i did, i checked everything inside the view but...i was so focused on light, lines and the surrounding elements, that i overlooked a tiny face peeking up from inside the car, so when i pulled the image and viewed to edit, my jaw dropped.

veda & christopher + child | salem, 2014

this friends is that wonderful kind of surprise i couldn't stage or even conceive of & one i view as a gift that draws me back in again & again, and it's this aspect of photography i find most rewarding.

next in our little group of talent is one i always look forward to seeing - particularly her Rockwell-ish vignette type of photographs: Katie, Kate Suzanne Photography, Asheville, NC photographer.

end of day look

May 28, 2014 in lifestyle

while our weather didn't quite cooperate enough for this kind of day, it is right around the corner. and anyone with children know what i'm talking about.

after a long hot sunny day at the beach...running, jumping, digging, laughing....exhaustion takes hold of tangled windswept hair and sun sweat skin. for this little one, she collapsed onto her mama who rubbed her back. little girl turned and looked at me with bright tired eyes and a mass of ocean spray hair. while looking at this now i wish i'd had the sense to pull back just a little to get those little hands, it still works for me. i like her mama's soothing hands covered in sand enveloping her. i like the light in her eyes and the sheen on her face. but more than all that, it's THE moment of delicious exhaustion that somewhere within, i think we all remember.

a salute to you

May 26, 2014 in portraits

"A hero is someone who has given his or her life to something bigger than oneself. " Joseph Campbell

on my way into the neighborhood market, i turned the corner and there, sitting in a lawn chair selling buddy poppy flowers was a scene i'd seen more than a few times as a kid - one that felt nostalgic. while there's more to this portrait that i can't speak to quite yet, it felt fitting to share a little bit on this day when we honor the heroes who serve - for what you give and sacrifice and stand for, we are grateful.

high noon & high tide

May 22, 2014 in documentary

and so we begin that time of year when days are long and skies are bright. when for a moment on a particular day, i can almost remember that feeling of being a kid on the last day of school with the long stretch of summer days ahead. when i can look forward to days with my feet dug into warm sand and occasionally in water that's warmer (relatively speaking where i live).

while this photograph wasn't taken anywhere near memorial day, it's light and bright. the lines of the swings and the girls riding them caught mid-air hold my attention with feet flying and ponytails riding in the wind. i like that one turns to the water and the other to the sky for their gestures within the composition hold that feeling of being a kid in summer & the freedom of wearing a bikini and swinging high.

the double portrait

May 21, 2014 in portraits

while listening to a panel at the flash forward festival a few years ago, i heard a gallery owner and collector talk at length about the "double portrait." while the first image that came to mind was that of Twins by Diane Arbus, when i searched the term, i was surprised to see a famous work by 15th c painter Jan van Eyck - the Arnolfini Wedding.

i came into art and photography through art history and actually specialized in northern renaissance painting. as such, i'm well familiar with the work of Flemish & Dutch painters from 15th to 17th century.

when i looked through my portfolio, i found more than a few double portraits and over the years, i've kept this in mind. last year on the train back to salem, i found myself in one of the older cars - the ones where two rows of seats actually face each other - and met Danny, and knew immediately i wanted to photograph him. we talked the way back and i learned about him and his boyfriend mike.

we met a month later and spent a little time on revere beach parkway which is where i took this portrait: positioned on the wall of the causeway with the grasslands and the ocean behind them, and a ledge on the right leading back to their home. the light, the soft smiles, the openness, mike's hands in his pockets while danny's hands are out and loose, the touching knees. this to me is one of the finest examples i have of the double portrait.

twelve portraits - may

May 18, 2014 in group projects

i wasn't sure which photograph to choose for the month as i've been pushing myself further than i thought possible with this project and this month i actually had a variety to choose from. seeing a face that interests me is getting harder to just walk by. sometimes i ask first, sometimes i don't but in both, i try to spend a little time with the person after if it's possible.

so - this is kenny. at the salem visitor's center. i was there looking at the space for another project, when this interesting man walked by inside. everyone there seemed to know him and with the gloves on his hands, i thought perhaps he worked there. when i saw the shirt he had on, i knew i wanted to photograph him & was thankful to see him standing outside on our way out. i asked if i might take his portrait and he thankfully graciously agreed. so for this month, i give you keen in a salemized rolling stones t-shirt.

i'm happy to welcome new members to our soiree this month starting with a good friend in new england - Phyllis Meredith.

giving back

May 17, 2014

early on in photographing, i've found a need to give back with photographs that contribute to something bigger than myself. and what i'm finding as i go along here is how connected the projects are without any intent or pursuit on my end. having started out with images of lewis hine, dorthea lange and walker evans in my head, sometimes the projects i've longed for were a bit grandiose in hindsight. or at least beyond what i could manage and i'm thankful for the opportunities that have surfaced....one begins without photographs at all.

last week i heard an advertisement on the wbur (local npr station) from horizons for homeless children - specifically, for volunteers to play with with the kids in a program called playspace. when i got home, i went to their website and signed up for training which just so happened to be taking place within a week.

kids playing basketball | "share a chair" poetry reading  at mary jane lee park, 2012 — kids playing basketball | *"share a chair" poetry reading* at mary jane lee park, 2012

so i begin today in official training to be a "PAL" (playspace activity leader)...no camera, no intention of photographs, just making one's world a little lighter for a moment.

i know many around me give of their time to helping others in different ways, and while i'll continue to give back with photography, i've come around to the value of just giving in any way i can at any time i can.