New Work, at Last

Thank God it's not all kudo-gathering, paperwork, color-correcting, backing up files, and sending out packets. Some of what I do is make new pictures. Well, the kudo-gathering is also okay. But I like looking out my window for five minutes (top), taking pictures of tourists at the Boston Public Garden (second), listening to tour guides shout as I take pictures at the Granary burial ground (third), and my favorite occupation, standing on the Mass Ave bridge for half an hour (bottom). None of these pictures are quite finished, but I think they're close.

ICA/Foster Prize

I opened up an email last week, and it began, "You have been nominated for the ICA [Boston]’s James and Audrey Foster Prize..." 

This is a big honor, and what I like about it especially is that what the nominators (50 area art professsionals) are looking for is innovation, not just for who's best. The field is winnowed to 20 by January, and early in the year, 4 finalists emerge who will get solo shows at the ICA. Out of the 4, one gets the prize itself, 25 large. Nervous! Happy! Plenty of time later to be disappointed!

 

Caleb Cole

Caleb Cole

Caleb Cole uses a picture of mine on his blog Existing Light to make a comparison of fake v. real. I posted my thoughts over there on his very interesting blog. Also, Caleb's work is really good and funny. He poses in used clothing, imagining himself in the previous owner's original setting. (Sidebar: the above picture seems to be taken just a few blocks from my house, in front of the VFW post.) Look at his photo web site here. What I like is that, while his pictures might be said to "examine identity," his identity stubbornly remains, despite the odd trappings and scenes. The overwhelming feeling I get is that I am looking into the soul of Caleb himself (or the character played by Caleb in the pictures) as he moves through various incarnations.

More Press

My work was featured on Gazeta.ru, which, according to Wikipedia, is the fourth largest Russian-language online news outlet. I got hundreds of hits on my Web site from it. This recurring culutre feature is apparently sponsored by a liquor company. It's called the Dewarist. I'm big in Russia!

The Boston Globe

The show I'm in at the Danforth Museum in Framingham, MA, was reviewed yesterday in the Boston Globe. That's my picture taking up most of the lefthand page. Mark Feeney describes my picture as a "glorious cacophony." I'll take it. Click here to read all about it.

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

(click to enlarge)

It's a sad fact that I don't feel quite alive unless I've got a new picture going. So it's both pleasure and a relief, after a month or doing other things, to be in the middle working on this one, which is of the MFA near closing time on a Sunday. I took about 400 pictures over an hour or so to make this composite, which is not done yet. My wife (that's her with the luscious hair, just to the right of the last column on the wheelchair ramp) and I had  intended to go to  the Greene & Greene exhibition, which was of special interest to Margaret. I stood outside taking pictures instead.

Planning and Preparing

I've stopped taking pictures for the moment to get ready for my show at Gallery Kayafas early next year. The picture above is of the scale model I made of the gallery. It is kind of helpful, at least to figure out how many pictures to include. I'm getting ready so early because 1) I have to rent a printer at NESOP (New England School of Photography) to make thse 24 x 36 inch prints, 2) I'm going to Yaddo for the month of January and the show starts at the end of January, making my deadline for having the show printed and framed December 1 so I have time to plan for Yaddo, and 3) I have no experience in planning for two major events at once.

The practical upshot is that I'm spending my time color correcting and printing tests and fidding with my little model instead of doing new work, which drives me a little crazy.

Danforth Museum

I'm in the Danforth Museum's photo biennial. I'm very pleased about it and hope to see you at the opening on September 12, 6-8 pm! Click on the screen grab above for more details.

Also coming up: the Photographic Resource Center's auction in October and a solo show at Gallery Kayafas, Boston, in February. More about these later.

Crosswalk Two

My previous crosswalk picture is about waiting and boredom, men and women. This one, from the same set of a couple of hundred exposures, is about families--clusters and strings of them. In the very same space and period of time, two very different dramas happened.

Crosswalk

(click to enlarge)


I've always liked crosswalks. First, I like the word, which is backwards: you walk across. I always see an "X" when I hear the word, and for a time, I usually said "let's X the street" instead of "let's cross the street." I like the way people look when they are waiting, at their most static. Gather enough boredom together and it's pretty dynamic. These people are simply waiting for a a walk sign or perhaps a break in traffic, when the real drama begins, I suppose. (I am working on such a picture, using the same set of 200-odd exposures that went into this image.)

Pilgrims

Here's the Pilgrim monument on the edge of Boston Common. Most of these people are tourists, and I really like the pastel palette of their clothing. Pilgrims and tourists? Some relation, I suppose. (click image to enlarge)

Basketball

That's my son with the red hair. He's a pretty good player, although I beat him in a game of one-on-one last summer (he smoked me all the other games we played) and I always beat him in horse, which is a stationary shooting game. This picture was tricky to photoshop because the shadows were moving so quickly. I think all the hundred or so pictures I took to make this only represent about ten minutes.