the photography:

Portrait #23 is Steve

when i started this project i was going to photograph only the people i knew. well i broke out of that slump with Bob. when i started this project i was going to only use my 50mm 1.4 prime lens. well i broke that lens 10 minutes after shooting Andrew. i guess things are always going to be different than the way you envision them. the best advice i can give? sometimes you gotta let it go, sometimes you gotta go with the flow. speaking of which,

holy shit.

i just went with the flow and i photographed Mr. Steve Albini. did i mention holy shit? steve is one of those “holier-than-thou” (and i mean that in a wayne and garth “we’re not worthy” sorta way, not in a “hey man, albini’s stuck up” sorta way. cause he’s not. he’s a sweetheart) musical figures whose bands, writings, productions, and quotes speak for themselves. without gushing too much, steve is somewhat responsible and/or has had a hand influencing much of the indie (and not so indie, does anyone remember Nirvana?) post punk rock you hear. bands like Big Black, Rapeman, and his latest (although they have been a band for more than 10 years) Shellac set a tone for many a young kid listening to music that doesn’t get played in the radio. this weekend i went to a set of hometown saturday-night-and-a-sunday-matinee Shellac shows. after sweating his ass off on stage, steve was kind enough to spend a quick spell in front of my camera. the first half of the pics are from the beginning of the sunday matinee show (which was indeed kid friendly). the second half are just steve being steve. it was awesome. thanks steve for being a nice dude. and thanks for gracing us with your music and criticism and wit and production and…. sorry, i was just gushing. my bad. SIDE NOTE: i shot this series entirely with my Canon EF 28mm f/1.8 USM which is the second fastest wide angle in the Canon arsenal. i bought this lens second behind the EF 24-105 4L USM that came with my 5D. i love it. i hadn’t used it in ages. in a rare act of OCD, these photos are being displayed in chronological order. DOUBLE SIDE NOTE: i was just informed, via a note from my own personal editor Vann, via Twitter: “I desrv a producers credit for tickts & making u go to the show. Also I’m fairly sure u wouldn’t have be born w/out me either ”

entire post produced by @vmg2. thnx 4 tha tix.

the music:
jawbox is one of two bands to leave dischord records for a major label. it’s probably one of the most unforgiveable acts that an indie band can do. leave a powerhouse underground indie label for the big time? and a righteous and ethical label to boot. but you know what? “selling out” allowed for j. robbins to create the music that he wanted to create for not only jawbox but also for many of the bands that j. recorded as a recording engineer and record producer. did jawbox make any more money on atlantic? who knows. but disoto records bought back the two atlantic recordings and have re-released them. that’s totally awesome. artists should have control over what happens to their art no matter what. this song pretty much sums up the pace, urgency, and power of jawbox. one of my big regrets in my late teens was not taking someone up on the chance to see them live. damn damn damn.

the photography:
not 35 minutes before i started walking home after shooting these photos and the portraits of andrew (50PP #21) did i drop my camera on the sidewalk thus temporarily destroying the usability of my 50mm 1.4. a shame really. it’s my favorite lens. relatively inexpensive, fast, caring, loving and light, this lens had it all. sometimes when i think about the times we shared together, the cold nights huddled in the corner after long walks on the beach in the rain, crying while screening fried green tomatoes, eating pate and toast crisps, i just want to sob hysterically in the arms of my 24-70mm 2.8. ah…. the memories… am i cheating? when i figure out if it’s fixable, i’ll keep you posted. these photos are of and from the gallery with which i am a member. one of the members found an old ceiling section made of tin in the dumpster. before you could say, Ro Sham Bo, it was cleaned up and attached to the ceiling in the gallery. it’s pretty sweet.

the music:
must stop listening to this record… must stop myself… must… can’t… won’t…

the photography:

Portrait #22 is Bob

so one thing that you might not know about bob is that he has an extensive collection of polaroid pictures. and not just any old polaroid pictures, bob has a never ending polaroid picture. it’s quite fantastic. bob started with one polaroid instant portrait. after the first photo was developed, it would be held by the next portraitee so as to show off the previous portraitee. do you get the picture (snarky pun, my bad…)? either way, the project is a fantastic realization of the uses of polaroid film which is becoming extremely hard to find and expensive. as bob scans and posts new photos, the list of people popping up in the photographs is becoming a who’s who of american indie musicians. you will probably recognize at least a few shiny famous faces along the way. to check out his never ending polaroid, CLICK HERE. it’s impressive to say the least. this link should make you want to make something. so why dontcha? go make some art, you’ll feel better. side note: bob lying down on the skateboard ramp clutching his cast hand in #2 was his idea and i love it. also, the t-shirt he’s holding up in #4 reads “Rock is Dead, Paper Killed it”. amazing…

the music:
as far as movie soundtracks go, this one is a doozy. i have bought this record on vinyl no less than 5 different times in my life. it is an essential reggae album as well as an essential struggle/oppression/good_vs._evil album. the title track is jimmy at his best. the subsequent movie that this song appears on is also quite good if you can make it past the erratic editing, poor sound quality, and less than mediocre acting. cliff was trying to tell us something and man, we should have listened. amazingly, my brother brought me to a jimmy cliff concert when i was just 13. life has really not been the same since. and it wasn’t the smoke in the air that did me in, it was the music.

the photography:

Portrait #22 is Bob

first off, i did something i thought i would never do. i dropped my camera about 2.5 feet above a concrete sidewalk. i’ve never done that before. and before you get all up in arms, the only thing that broke was my 50mm 1.4 lens. THE ONLY THING? i need a vacation from myself… but more importantly, i got to meet and photograph the most excellent, bob nanna. bob is a musician who works at threadless t-shirts and he has had numerous previous lives in the bands, certain people i know, the city on film, hey mercedes, braid, and friction. now if you are thirtysomething who has a slight love for all things 1998 kick-ass post punk, (gasp) emo, chicago mathrock, than you already know who bob is. i first heard bob’s name after a get-up kids show in worcester, mass. as i was smoking a cigarette outside someone was talking about him and his guitar gear (Gibson SG, Marshall half stack, etc…). i asked the question “who is bob nanna?”. and someone retorted, “you don’t know? he’s the singer for Braid… duh.” my bad. i knew the music, never the name. i know who he is now. as i start to get into the heart of the 50 Portraits Project, i decided to push the boundaries of my own shyness and ask people that i respect (a whole hell of a lot) to sit and be photographed. andrew huff was the first (as i once started a website that really wanted to be Gaper’s Block but never got off the ground) and i’m already on to mr. nanna. who’s next? well… you’ll just have to come back and see. bob and i had so much fun cruising around the very photogenic threadless offices that i had to split this portion of the 50PP into two parts. as you may notice in these photos, i spent a good amount of time battling the lighting. as the 50PP is done without the use of external light sources attached to the camera, i ended up using both the natural and unnatural light in threadless. all in all, it makes for some fun saturations and skin tones. enjoy. every shot here was taken with my EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM. shed a tear for the 50mm.

the music:
this album pretty much sums up the end of my college career. a friend gave it to me and it’s never left my side. i was once told that i would never be able to listen to this song in my friend ashley’s volvo ever again. i pretty much beat this album into the ground and it still holds all of the energy and insight that it did more than 10 years ago. as the promise ring started to call it quits in the early 2000′s i managed to catch them on their last tour through boston. it was a fantastic swan song show with all of the energy that i expected from a band that was playing for the fans. i quite enjoyed the hell out of it. i look back and wish i was hearing this record for the first time. and in some ways, i hear something new every time i play it. just a side note but J. Robbins produced this record. you should google him. he’s worked on some fantastic records.