the photography:
i had a chance to sit down and chat with another photographer here in chicago about all of our likes and dislikes of the current state of the photography world. our long list of things we chatted about sounds a lot like overheard conversations from beneath a porch at an old people’s home. almost every sentence started with, “kids these days” and finished with “and then you know what he did? he asked if i had ever used film before…” it was fun to blabber on about storage needs (filled last week), digital shortcomings (can’t push and pull, sucks in low light, easy to ruin files, etc.), film’s pains (waiting, hours in the darkroom, silver poisoning, etc), and the cost of crappier products made of plastic and not metal (all camera gear on the market today). but we both agreed that photography will improve and digress like it always has with new equipment and new ways to adjust photos. like the ebb and flow of the tides, we just have to deal with it. and i’m really ok with that! it’s just fun to chew the fat with someone who has been through the same experiences. the four verticals today are from the archives. my grandfather, dirty windows, a foot, and wires are all fun subjects. i also took some much needed advice from bones and i added the camera information back underneath each photo so you can now know the specifics of each shot. ah, the digital world meets traditional film techniques. some things never change.

the music:
billy bragg is one of the most meaningful and under appreciated songwriters in all of musical history. i hold his canon higher than dylan. bragg slips in there amongst the soul giants and great reggae musicians, right above the clash and right below fugazi. this record was originally released with 7 songs, a play time of almost 16 minutes, and it played on 45 rpm as opposed to 33 rpm. it’s fast, witty, poignant, pensive, and straight up bad-ass. a man, his telecaster, and his fender reverb amplifier. that’s it. billy carries the torch of woody guthrie with pride. bragg gets better with age although he has slowed down his torrid pace of anger towards facists. now that bush is out of office, he might have to stop touring and retire in spain. who knows. this is the first real song that i learned to play solo and i belt it out whenever i get on stage.

the photography:

Portrait #6 is flynn

flynn might be the most photographed of my friends. he’s so sick of me at this point that he doesn’t even notice when i’m photographing him. it’s the perfect working relationship for this project. it was so flipping bright out today. maybe too bright. and yes, that is possible. but all that sun allows for all of those shadows… especially the big dark ones caused by buildings. i’m a big fan.

the music:
i am still stuck between gears on the musical front so this will have to do. every time i go to the gym, i forget to bring my ipod headphones to work afterwards. now i look like a DJ with my old school gigantic sony headphones. the visual is too much. dance rock and big headphones, a perfect equation for neck strain.

the photography:
today has been a long day. we spent most of last night listening to the party that our tenants downstairs were throwing. i didn’t fully fall asleep until well after 5 am this morning. it was bad news. but it was nothing a good home cooked meal couldn’t fix. eggs, bacon, waffles, coffee, orange juice, and a citrus fruit cup. divine. no photos today due to the awkward stress that sleep deprivation plays on my head and my hand eye coordination. i trudged through the files and found these four photos from various times in my career. i don’t know why i threw in the photo of the guitar. the photo itself is nothing to write home about but there is something special about the homemade box light that i made out of 2×4′s and fluorescent tubes. it about 2.5 feet wide and tall and had a mounting bracket on the bottom so i could stick it to a light stand and shoot through it. you can see it’s effects on the eyes in the first photo posted. with today’s ability to adjust your white balance to meet any light, these lights become cheap alternatives to expensive strobe driven ring lamps. the 50 portraits will continue this week. some volunteers have sprung up along the way. i am really excited to dive even deeper into the process. expect to see some unexpected things come out of this. if anything, shooting 50 different people is pulling me out of my comfort zone and making me think hard about what’s coming next. and who…

the music:
this recording is the last record miles did with coltrane. it’s not one the most highly touted records, though it is one of my favorites. people always point to kind of blue and in a silent way but i am quite sure that this record bests them both. amazingly orchestrated and superbly recorded, this record is smoother than anything before and since. it also reminds me of my dad and i playing records while my mom would be working in the kitchen. i love that the bass and trumpet are centered in the mix (left to right, stereo sound) the piano is pushed right and the drums and saxophone all left. it’s an amazing listen on headphones. it transports you.

the photography:

Portrait #5 is kelsey.

some people bring out the best in me. my subject for this post does just that. i think of kelsey as the slightly younger brother that i never had. we communicate much like siblings, in snippets and in pop cultural references. i like to introduce kelsey to music he’s never heard, and he likes to call me out when i’m full of bull. we work really well together. it’s especially good since kelsey and i have travelled by car to detroit and back to chicago more than 4 times in the last two years. lots of beef jerky was consumed on those road trips. he’s one of the great and interesting people on this earth. and his love for instant noodle bowls will never die. just multiply.

the music:
somebody please help me. i am addicted to this record. i now currently own the instrumental version as well as the normal version with vocals. will the insanity ever end? for crying out loud… just try to pry it out of my cold.. dead… hands. sorry. it’s just too good. this specific song is more than 13 minutes of melodic guitar, fantastic (in the truest sense of fantasy) lyrics, and every time you think it will end, they change the beat and build it back up again. sigh….