T.A.

Runner's World 2 / 2012

2012-01-29T19:46:00.000-08:00

Just got a copy of Runner's World's February issue in the mail today. Right in the middle of Thanksgiving we were trying to put together this very affordable and very story-boarded photograph and I was reminded really just how hard it is to produce anything around any holiday. But...it landed.

Lot's of sketches, lots of fedexing of clothing and juggling of dates and wow...by the time we arrived in the studio the hardest part was behind us. Andrea Maurio of Runner's World handling it all with charm and patience. Me? I was just trying to find a way for it not to look like a stock photograph. And once you get that in your head it's hard to shake it. Tyler Wood, starring as the interview-ee, tapped into his acting skills and brought his character to life.

Micah Bishop, always elegant, managed the wardrobe and Studio 308 SF was our location. We rented a natural light studio and then set up a bunch of strobes to look like better natural light. Can you fool Mother Nature? Prolly not.

For me...this is the year of the Commercial Photograph, so every opportunity is one that I jump on....

Below are the sketches that led to the end product above. Enjoy.

The Year Of The Commercial Photograph

2012-01-27T09:19:00.000-08:00

So this is the Year of the Commercial Photograph.

Brooke Embry of Tidepool and I have been discussing the year past, and have been pondering the idea that all the attention that ECHOLILIA has gotten, and that we have fueled for sure, may have derailed the commercial career a bit.

Is this true? Hard to say...especially in these current times when every consultant and every creative is asking to see "personal work". But it's a balance...once these images are identified with you, they become your brand...they become you, for better or worse. Alec Soth, in his first blog, wrote about this insightful sentence in 2007 in a post about a visit I paid to his class. He was referring to the book Sex Machines : Photographs and Interviews:

"After publishing this provocative book, Archibald’s “sentence” was pretty much carved in stone. This seems to be one of the side effects of photographing something especially juicy."

His words actually rang true for years. But I kinda think ECHO eclipsed it, and my sentence may have gone from being the Sex Machine Photographer to being the guy who photographs his kid. The Dad Photographer. And of course there is now a new project that is odd and about family and really there is nothing commercial about it at all, but my energy is flowing there.

But oh...let's forget all of that work. That doesn't put food on the table. Let's now close our eyes, focus on craft, and steer our efforts toward the pleasure and joys of Commercial Photography. Will it rewrite my sentence? No. But balance is the goal that keeps all of these things afloat.

ECHOLILIA : Copies Still Available

2012-01-25T12:35:00.000-08:00

I get so many notes these days from people looking for ECHOLILIA at their local bookstore and they are leaving in confusion. Sorry all, we never thought anyone would want it in the first place.

But for the record, the books are in stock here in our two car garage, ready to be signed and gift wrapped if you need that service....

Buy ECHOLILIA from us HERE.

See ECHOLILIA at Photo Eye Bookstore HERE.

More Real Life Science Fiction

2012-01-24T10:31:00.000-08:00

Been away from the blog for a week working on all sorts of things, really. It'll start cooking again, don't worry...

Walking into our location and finding a audio engineered robot in a cardigan always makes us think the photograph will go well. More on this shoot in the week ahead.

Singular Beauty : Cara Phillips

2012-01-17T09:24:00.000-08:00

Cara Phillips' project Singular Beauty is on Kickstarter and almost has reached it's goal...but it needs a little more. I've always respected this project, but the Kickstarter video tells the backstory in a way that makes it almost as fascinating as the project itself.

Write what you know...isn't that what they say?

Watch the video and learn more about the project HERE.

Sunday School

2012-01-17T06:27:00.000-08:00

It kind of feels like Picasso's Guernica, but the After School Special version.

Details of a large scale public art project currently in progress at the UU church we go to. Dipped into the ever flowing river of parenthood, the one that never stops, and pulled these pieces out.

Scraping together some other bits and pieces of the year ahead and trying to tie up loose ends from 2011 this week...so maybe nothing to report on the blog...it may be quiet?

Stay tuned to Stereoscopy Photographs, it seems like all my attention and energy flows in that direction these days. And commercial photography of course...

Stereoscopy Photographs Have White Space

2012-01-12T10:18:00.000-08:00

Remember to visit Stereoscopy Photographs.
Words and images and a shout out to the work that is inspiring it.
Visit it, see it, read it, follow it HERE.

Little Brown Mushroom : On Marrying A Photographer

2012-01-10T15:34:00.000-08:00

Great dialogue...priceless really, on the complexities of being married to a photographer over on Little Brown Mushroom. It's all good, it's all required reading no matter what role you are in. Here is a well thought out glimpse into the life from Alec Soth's wife Rachel:
I knew that I wanted to leave a comment on this post (first time ever leaving a comment on the blog), but it has been really difficult figuring out what to write. Being in a relationship with a photographer can be a wild ride no matter your gender.
When things are going well it is fantastic! The creative juju is flowing, work is being made, and praises are being sung. We have been lucky enough to go on adventures to amazing places, and see wonderful things.
For those of us in relationships with artists, and for those familiar with the creative process, we know that there are times when it doesn’t go well. There are times when the juju stops, and work becomes really difficult to make. This may happen for a variety of reasons, but when it does, it is not a happy time.
It has been hard for me to accept that for Alec to make photographs, he has to go out and become engaged in the world without me, sometimes for long periods of time. If he didn’t go out on his wanderings and look at things, he would be miserable. I would be miserable, because Alec would not be Alec. Having said this, it is lonely sometimes.
It’s easy to lose yourself, especially when your partner is successful. I think the goal is to be passionate about something, keep your life rich, fill up on things that make you feel good and are meaningful to you. Ask for what you need. It has taken me a while to understand this.
Marriage is a puzzle. This life is crazy and unpredictable, but so is everyone’s! We are not different or special. We are all just figuring it out as we go along.
I have become a stronger woman. Our marriage is well rooted, and still growing. We have two beautiful children. I am married to a complicated, amazing man that I love. I am grateful for this wild ride we share.

-Rachel Cartee Soth

Soth ( Alec) has always been interested in the balance between family and the creative path. He acknowledged it a bit in a brief entry on the time I went to his class as I was wrestling with what became ECHO, and hit it solidly in this post about fatherhood. This is the stuff that people really have ignored discussing for so long, its great to see the dialogue opening up.

Read it all HERE.

JUXTAPOZ

2012-01-09T09:48:00.000-08:00

Back when this project came out the publishers and I had hoped and kind of expected some type of blessing from the powers that be at JUXTAPOZ. Then it was not meant to be.

I was happily surprised to see this on their site Friday nite. Sometimes things take time.

See it HERE. Buy Sex Machines : Photographs and Interviews HERE.

American Photography 27

2012-01-05T22:12:00.000-08:00

American Photography 27, bigger than any phone book if you all still know what those things look like, came in the mail the other day.

Happy to see ECHO, as well as so much fascinating stuff, too much really to do justice to. Here are some great spreads I grabbed from Peggy Sirota, Tim Flach, Tony Fouhse, Michael Lewis and Balazs Gardi.

Good Morning, Mr. Gehry

2012-01-04T15:03:00.000-08:00

Good Morning, Mr. Gehry.

I think I used that line back in 2011.

Well...here we are, first spam of the year.

Onward.

Best Photo Books Of 2011

2012-01-02T09:05:00.000-08:00

Oh...I almost forgot. It's January 2nd and everyone has come out with their lists of the best photo books of the year...from every different angle and every different author. Here, we live very simply: we choose one book. This year...we chose two.

Cruising by Chad States and Low Life by Scot Sothern.

A book about marriage, secrets, parenting and giving voice to the voiceless, Sothern's book feels a bit like Studs Terkel, but the person confessing this time is the author. Shot between 1986 and 1990 but blown into the publishing stratosophere in 2011. You'll never forget where you were the first time you dug into Sothern's story. I already wrote about it HERE. Buy it HERE.

Cruising by Chad States first came to my attention as a self published Blurb book. Next thing I know it's out via powerHouse and is stately and beautiful. The publisher for once describes the book better than anyone with the following intro:

Sit in your car in your car and wait or take a walk through the trees.

“Cruising” has always been a part of gay culture; the word itself is a code, innocuous to outsiders, but representing an incognito hunt for sexual partners to those in the know. Over the years, men with particular desires found spaces—certain parks, public restrooms, and roadside wooded groves—out of sight and yet in plain view, where they could meet, and with the use of silent signals and cues, pair off for intimate encounters. It is these spots, nationwide, and the men making use of them, that Chad States photographs in Cruising.

Buy CRUISING by Chad States HERE.

Predictable And Hackneyed To...

2011-12-28T21:59:00.000-08:00

The Old Testament of the industry, Communication Arts Magazine, did an easy breezy interview for no apparent reason a month back that got released to the masses this week online. Here are some of what we spoke about:

Aside from your camera and lighting, what item could you not work without?
My toothbrush is a deal breaker. I carry extras in my glove compartment and my camera bag. I really can’t focus on a photo shoot without having my mouth clean and minty. Brushing your teeth before a shoot is like brushing your brain—it clears everything out.

From where do your best ideas originate?
The good stuff comes when you’re not trying really…when your brain is occupied with something else. That is when the raw idea bubbles to the surface. But then, it all gets polished and solidified when you bounce it off your peers. The collaborative moment is when something goes from predictable and hackneyed to utterly inspired.

How do you overcome a creative block?
Drinking coffee and taking pseudoephedrine. Collaborating on projects with my kids always seems to allow me to see things anew.

What’s one thing you wish you knew when you started your career?
This whole idea of a career in the arts is fascinating, and really only works, because it doesn’t have a map available to guide you. The idea of wandering with a flashlight, in the dark, to find your path is terrifying, but it leads to these things feeling so special when they work out. So of course, I like to say I wish I had a map to guide me in the beginning, but honestly, I wouldn’t have had it any other way.

So it's pretty clear I love to talk. About myself. Duh.

Read the interview in all its splendor HERE.

Special Holiday Issues

2011-12-22T07:23:00.000-08:00

The holiday is here.

It arrives like a brick thrown through my office window. Sometimes I duck. Sometimes it hits me in the head.

So much going on in the months ahead that I'm excited about: working on an audio spoken word piece for Daylight Books for the forthcoming book "The Photographs Not Taken", curated by Will Steacy. Then there is a photography/design neutron bomb being cooked up by Kate Osba at This Is The What. Of course we don't want to let the cat out of the bag, but we want to get you all curious.

Yes, print lives....at times. And sometimes better than ever.

Then still building the Stereoscopy Project, curious name and all, on my elegant new Tumblr space. Please join and follow it at http://timothyarchibald.tumblr.com/ or HERE.

Things may be quiet around the holidays...but ya never know...

Guy Walking In Nature With Technology

2011-12-19T23:15:00.000-08:00

Guy Walking In Nature With Technology was essentially what we needed to create for this think-piece in Forbes last month. The wetlands off 101 in Palo Alto really could not have been kinder to us, as was Michael Woelk, CEO of Picarro.

Turn Your Dial To Tumblr

2011-12-14T05:23:00.000-08:00

It is dark so early these days. I needed something to get me through the winter.

I wanted a place to collect images I am playing with and I wanted to see them with size and splendor.

When ECHO became this viral entity that was shared among the visually hungry high school / young adult tumblr crowd, it led me to their visually savvy world. The kids are using tumblr as an art gallery, a mood board, a way to toss things out and see them and think about them. Kind of like push pinning your photographs to your wall so you can think about them and keep them or kill them. This is what I need.

Now it's called .Stereoscopy Photographs.

It is located at http://timothyarchibald.tumblr.com/

Why did you call it that?

Follow it and find out. See it grow and evolve HERE.

Royalty Time Machine

2011-12-13T14:13:00.000-08:00

Got a strange thrill the other day when I got word from Process that there were royalties headed my way from my book Sex Machines : Photographs and Interviews. In this day when artists are paying greatly to have their monographs published, this simple note and check from an esoteric book seemed like something from another era.

I had long written off that project as something that did many things to define me and alter the shape of my career, but never really was a publishing success story. I cherished the collaboration with the publisher Process / Daniel 13, and did feel bad that they didn't have the home run on their hands that we all had hoped for. But together, we did makes something we all thought was special.

See the book/buy the book Sex Machines : Photographs and Interviews HERE.

ERFINDER : Zeit Magazine 12/2011

2011-12-11T19:57:00.000-08:00

Ever since shooting The Nerd Convention a million years ago, these inventor stories always seem to find their way to me. I almost always welcome them.

Spent a totally enjoyable few days meeting inventors at TechShop in SF and Menlo Park last month. Everybody wants to know, of course, about Team Phoenicia. Here are some pages from the photo essay in Zeit Magazine, Germany.

Wilson Archibald : born 12/11/2004

2011-12-09T06:52:00.000-08:00

The boy with the spirit of adventure deep within him.

The one who teaches us all how to chase and catch a cat.

Happy Birthday Wilson Archibald, age 7!

One Last Letter To The Editor.

2011-12-06T06:27:00.000-08:00

And then this came in on Thanksgiving, of all days:

Hello Mr. Archibald,

My name is Jacqueline, I'm 17. Just like your son, I am autistic. I was diagnosed as moderate to severe when I was around three years old. I just wanted to say that I am touched by the National Geographic photograph of your child in the living room, it was truly astonishing. And the curtains was a nice touch.

You have truly crossed a threshold that people have been trying to cross for many years now. This is exactly how we see the world. All of us are caught behind this bubble with white and grey fog. Please, if you can, I would like to speak to you more about it. But I understand if you can't, you are quite a busy man.
Sincerely:
Jacqueline

Read other Letters To The Editor HERE.

Frank Gehry 11/2011

2011-12-05T08:26:00.000-08:00

Q: Have you ever shot Frank before? Do you know what it's like?

A: No, I haven't. What can you tell me?

Q: Well, he'll just walk in and you'll push the button...it can't really be more complex than that.

A: I think we can handle that.

Elijah Archibald : born 12/3/2001

2011-12-02T06:45:00.000-08:00

You never know who will teach you the big lessons, do you?

You never know who is going to be on your path with you either.

Happy Birthday to Eli!

Ten years old tomorrow.

A Hole And A Wall

2011-11-30T22:58:00.000-08:00

Let me show you what I'm working on.

Sure. What is it?

It's a hole and a wall.

The deeper we dig the hole, the taller the wall will be.

Working For A Living

2011-11-29T08:40:00.000-08:00

Great time at Studio 308 yesterday.
Sz, Micah, Erich putting it all together.
Coffee filtered thru a napkin makes the day on this foggy morning shoot ...

Thankgiving Gift

2011-11-26T10:40:00.000-08:00

Had a quick trip to LA last month where I got to visit with Jonathan Saunders.
Time passed and life caught up with me.
On the day after Thanksgiving I discovered his gift to me.
On 11.11.11, a date that echoes itself.
Thank you.
See the gift HERE.

BLACK FRIDAY SALE

2011-11-25T05:01:00.000-08:00

Buy ECHOLILIA / Sometimes I wonder, the award winning book that has been celebrated in more places than we can enumerate and traveled to more countries than we could ever hope to visit.

Eli and I sign every book.

We both write in cursive.

We are open 24/7 during this holiday season.

Now available via Photo Eye and directly from us as well.

Buy it HERE.

Sick Day, 11/2011

2011-11-23T19:15:00.000-08:00

Letters To The Editor

2011-11-22T06:29:00.000-08:00

If you do a project and it gets in National Geographic, the audience it hits is massive. Not just people in the world of photography, but Moms and Dads and teachers and students and doctors and friends of friends finding it in supermarkets and waiting rooms and on and on and on. ECHOLILIA was in the November issue and the letters came in from all angles all month. I'm used to people not liking what I'm up to, so criticism is really always part of the bargain...and that is there for sure. Curiously the high school photo students have grabbed onto it and embraced it and shared it in their Tumblr world...and that felt good to see that spread around. Screenshot above from Cheers, Butterfly by Sam.

But in fairness, here is a collection from the mailbag:

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Timothy,

I work as a behavior therapist and when I saw this photos you took of your son, it was very disturbing. Don't you wonder what these photos will do for him in the future?

Being a behavior analyst, we all who have seen these photos find it appalling that you would even consider taking these photos.

Sincerely,
Bernice D-----

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mr. Archibald-

At kuala lumpur airport I am reading your article in photo journal coupled with Eli's photos. My heart goes out to you and am impressed by your courage and how you have managed to deal with the situation.

The one thing I didn't like maybe it is solely because I am a very sensitive person, is the fact that the photos are quite disturbing! Pliers in his mouth and his bare body... Another one where he is completely naked and in a plastic box was more disturbing than any amount of words can describe!

Where he has the vacuum cleaners hose next to his ear is appalling - again his chest is bare and he is laying on dirt... Am thinking any small insect can crawl up his neck, go in the ear... Bit his lip or ear....

I applaud however your confessing in the National Geographic and saying working with him, I find myself questioning boundaries! Am I his parent now or his collaborator?

I think enough with realizing and about time to act and do something about it! You are a parent first, and you honestly don't need a random reader to remind you that fact!

Regards,
Anonymous

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Hello Timothy

My name is Joshua and I stumbled across your website via a blog site. I'm an aspiring Photographer and not much work truly catches my eye but your set following your son is beautiful. I felt almost intrusive scrolling through such personal photographs.

To me, and I could be wrong, it felt as if this was your form of communication and understanding of one anothers lives and the connection between photographer, father and son is literally breathe taking. The way you capture each fragment of his life is amazing, thank you for sharing those.

Joshua J--------

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hello Mr. Archibald -

I just wanted to contact you and let you know how moved I was by your photographs. As soon as I saw the spread in National Geographic this month I went to your website and looked through the rest of the "echolilia" collection. The work is absolutely stunning in its composition and your relationship to and love for your son comes through in each print.

I am a college student currently studying autism spectrum disorders; I feel that "echolilia" has captured something about ASD and the family members of people with ASD that every other piece of writing - in the field or creative/personal writing - has not yet encapsulated for me. In addition to studying the disorder I have two cousins with ASD, and your work touched me on both a personal and intellectual level.

I've never been compelled to contact an artist before but I wanted to briefly share with you how deeply your photographs affected me.

Sincerely,

Jessica L------

British Journal Of Photography / Collaborations

2011-11-18T11:02:00.000-08:00

Any story that starts with the line " Timothy Archibald used photography to escape from real life..." and ends with the line " ...or will I be putting Eli into a three-ring circus?" is um, well...very ambitious?

It certainly isn't pulling punches. And that intensity is so appreciated when done intelligently, as it is done here. Written by Colin Pantall in the November 2011 British Journal of Photography.

Great story with new insights on everyones work it seems. The story focuses projects by Tony Fouhse, Chris Cappozziello, Arlene Gottfried, Klaus Pichler, Anthony Luvera, T.A. and We Are The Youth.

People suspect that Tony, Colin and I party together all the time. But truth be told we really have never met. Except for that one time...oh, never mind.

Enjoy some spreads from the series below.

Seasonal Favorites

2011-11-16T22:16:00.000-08:00

There is the peppermint stick ice cream, the pumpkin pie ice cream, the harvest ale, the yams with marshmellows...you know, the seasonal favorites? Only for a limited time?

I shot these images last year, put them in the freezer, and am bringing them out for a month only.

See the Seasonal Favorites HERE.

Real Life Science Fiction

2011-11-14T07:21:00.000-08:00

Spent some days last week working on a story for a client in Germany. Details and communication for the subjects were few and far between...they kind of needed me to track down the subjects to an extent and work out the details myself. After shooting the story I felt this one subject had something special in his shop we really had to go see. He had a window for me to visit last nite and this is what I saw.

There is something special about raising my camera phone and pointing it at something otherworldly. Suddenly I'm the astronaut who landed on the moon, realized he forgot his camera, and just takes a snap with what he's got.

Tales Of The City / PDN

2011-11-11T10:06:00.000-08:00

Photo District News came out with their City Guide on San Francisco. Essentially it is supposed to spell out the pros and cons of the local and national market from the perspective of those living and working here. In the end it read like a big puff piece to me, but from the vantage point of Manhattan, I guess it seems like The Garden Of Earthly Delights out here. Happy to see new Dad Jeff Singer grab the opening spread with a great portrait as well.

I'm super thankful to have some images included in the story, very thankful that I'm remembered as a commercial photographer with projects shot for Duncan / Channon and Crispin Porter in the mix . But of course, you can't look thru the story and not think of all the killer talent the bay area is packed with who are living and working and kicking ass here on a daily basis.

Print Lives.

2011-11-08T10:26:00.000-08:00

Happy to get my hands on the elegant October issue of UCLA magazine designed by Charlie Hess. Big beautiful images printed on thick coated paper and it feels good when you hold it. Inspiring work by Amanda Friedman, Everard Williams and Max Gerber as well. No links, nothing on line...this is all about the printed piece. Amen.

Beautiful Boy, 11/2011

2011-11-07T09:15:00.000-08:00

My son Wilson with spray color in his hair...

Atlanta : Immediate Family

2011-11-03T05:00:00.000-07:00

I find myself crammed into the back seat of a Lexus sedan.

Driving is Mary Catherine Johnson from the Emory Visual Arts Department, Brian McGrath Davis, the show's curator and brain behind this experiment. To my left is photographer Sandra-Lee Phipps, to my right is Jefferson Holt, a man of all sorts of artistic endevors. On my lap, all 105 pounds of him, is my son Elijah Archibald. As often occurs in the worlds of art, we all seem to form immediate family. We are here to discuss ECHOLILIA.

The idea was essentially to create a series of lectures that put ECHOLILIA in front of a variety of disciplines....the least important of which was photographers. Eli and I busted out the slide show and fielded questions for The Department of Ethics, The ILA Colloquium, The School of Medicine, The Visual Arts Department, and then a public lecture as part of Atlanta Celebrates Photography, all based around an elegant exhibition in the Emory School of Medicine. Rather than any insights from me at this point, I thought I'd run this story written by Alfred Artis for The Emory Wheel:

Echolilia by Timothy Archibald. The exhibit is displayed in the Emory Medical School lobby until Nov. 30. The pictures, featuring Eli Archibald, the photographer’s son with Asperger’s, focus on what he deems the dreamy aspects of the autistic mind, while alluding to the relationship between father and son and artist and subject.

The photographer and subject are even more engaging than the photos. In a series of six lectures culminating with a talk at the Emory Medical School, the Archibalds brought wit, personality and whimsy to an otherwise fantastical and captivating exhibit.

“At first I asked why Emory wanted me to bring [Eli],” Archibald said. “Now I couldn’t imagine it any other way.”

Eli’s presence brought to life aspects of autism that film could not capture. He was given a laser pointer, which he shot at audience members and shined in the eyes of the sign language interpreter during the lecture. The interpreter ignored it, but audience members winced. These distractions occurred during the first part of the lecture when the elder Archibald discussed previous work.

Archibald explained his philosophy, found in a newspaper clipping, reading, “If it doesn’t seem like an interesting story, that’s the failure of the listener. I was fascinated with the idea of using the intimacy of photography [to listen to stories],” Archibald explained. “And there was a story in my own home, and I just had to listen.”

Enter Eli, subject and co-creator of the exhibit. He sat on a stool and faced the wall. His father asked him to face the audience. He tapped his microphone to see if it was working. He asked, “Is this thing on?” It was. But with startling aplomb, he said, “Boy, I’ve done this a hundred times.”

The effect of seeing the subject of the pictures candidly discussing himself brought a new dimension to the work. The exhibit features a maze with no ending that Eli drew. Eli, aware of the flaw, pointed out that “It’s a weird maze because it doesn’t have an ending.” He claims, “I just drew it because I was bored.”

His father, seeing a metaphor, scanned the image. This maze exemplifies their creative process. Eli would do something, whether drawing an endless maze or picking up a stick that looked like a gun, and his father would see a deeper meaning or a good picture and photograph it.

But not every image is spontaneous. Referring to a portrait of an early morning scene Eli said, “My dad didn’t just wake up with the camera on him. He made me recreate it.”

Subtle frustration is present, but it is not the focus, “[just as] it isn’t the focus of any parent-child relationship,” Archibald said. A scanned note reading “I dote like you” and “I hATE you,” written by Eli, captures the tension present in any family, stated in the unpolished voice of a little kid who, due to age, cannot grasp the gravity of his words.

In another picture of Eli, clad in a white oxford shirt, no pants, bending over, face obscured, arm inside a cardboard cylinder propping him up, one sees the surreal that is Archibald’s daily life. The camera’s lens not only shows Eli, but it indirectly shows the father, who was captivated by this pose. In knowing the father is the photographer, the image challenges the viewer to look not only at the picture, but back through the lens at the photographer.

This relationship gives the real weight to the pictures. These are not just slick, fascinating photos, they are a strained view into a dreamy landscape, that, like the father-photographer, the viewer cannot enter but only see through a lens.

Their chemistry displayed this connection. During the lecture, Eli leaned his torso over a stool while talking, unaware of his body, making an L shape. His father, watching off to the side, leaned his torso over the podium, making the same shape.

Their mirrored body language echoed the relationship shown in the pictures. More than any words, this pose brought to life their bond forged with photographs.

-Alfred Artis, The Emory Wheel, October 31, 2011

Halloween 2011

2011-11-01T07:23:00.001-07:00

Anonymous Computer Hacker & Ninja, 2011

2011-10-31T08:38:00.000-07:00

Back from all of our ACP/Emory events of the week in Atlanta on Saturday night. As we rode the BART train home from the airport we realized that Halloween was waiting for us upon our return.

More on ATL later this week, but needed to share the splendor and curiosity of these wonderful costumes our kids dreamed up: Wilson is a vicious Ninja, and Eli is a member of Anonymous, the computer hacking entity / civil dis-obedience entity that took over SF a few months back.

Any questions?

ATL / ECHO Day One

2011-10-26T07:42:00.000-07:00

There Was A Moment

2011-10-25T07:20:00.000-07:00

I'm reading a book about songwriter Warren Zevon. At a challenging point in his life, he joked "My career has all the promise of a Civil War leg wound." I loved that phrase with all of it's honesty and irony. With photography, as everyone knows, there are times when really no one wants to hear about you...no matter what you do, you are invisible. And there are other times when you are a magnet. The key to survival is not to invest too much brain space / heart space in the highs or in the lows.

Here I am in a stylized black and white room, the penthouse bar of a SF ad agency. The namesake of the company comes up to me, he is wearing a lucha libre mask. He greets me as if he knows me, explaining to me that he owns a copy of my first book, his voice semi muffled by the mask. I'm stunned and excited. The book he is referencing sold terribly...I thought it was long forgotten. I'm embarrased and flattered by this mix of art and commerce. It leaves me feeling very good.

Someone catches my attention and asks me what I'm working on. I immediately cringe. I'm working on nothing really...I hate when people ask me that...I'm always so dead, but catch myself and realize the truth, for this moment, and speak it. The words surprise me as they come out of my mouth : Oh...in LA to photograph Frank Gehry on Monday, then grabbing my son and flying to Atlanta for our opening and lecture for the book we did together. The project is also in National Geographic...I just picked it up at the supermarket, want to see it...?

I'm shocked at how together this all sounds...as if I actually have a plan. But everyone will have a moment...even for 30 seconds...where they seem to have become everything they always felt they were meant to become. I had that moment there...I think it lasted 20 seconds really. I sounded like a player! Art and commerce, the elusive mix we all hunger for...it's all working there for a moment!

And I do appreciate it, and am so thankful for it, cuz those seconds tick away. But there, above, is a copy of this month's National Geographic, laying on the supermarket parkinglot.

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This week at Emory University in Atlanta:

A Conversation with Timothy Archibald
Thursday, October 27th at 6:00pm / Center for Ethics Commons, Room 102
Moderated by Dr. Rosemarie Garland-Thomson, with introductory remarks by Dr. Paul Root Wolpe, Director of Center for Ethics and Dr. Ami Klin, Director of Marcus Autism Center.

Timothy Archibald / ECHOLILIA
Friday, October 28th at 7:00pm / Emory University School of Medicine, Room 110
Exhibit Opening, Artist Talk, and Reception

Read more about the event HERE.

Jonathan Saunders by Alison McCreary

2011-10-21T09:21:00.000-07:00

These 7 Days, These 7 Nights, In This Order Of Things from Jonathan Saunders on Vimeo.

I was in NYC for a very simple photography story I was sent there to work on. Sitting in a booth at the Howard Johnson's in Times Square, I stand to shake hands with Jonathan Saunders, meeting him for the first time. The evening ends at The Carousel Club, and I then walk back to my hotel when that place closes. I still have some money left...I'm going to stay out a while, he says as we say goodbye.

Jonathan moves to Texas and I try to interview him for my blog. The results are unpublish-able. Too personal, too complex, nothing that really seemed to fit into some idea I had of getting into his head about the move. Too many thoughts and ideas and I wanted like...the elevator pitch, the sound bite.

Allison McCreary reaches out to Jonathan for Photographers On Photography and really does what I could not: gets into his head and heart and deep into the creative process. I think it took them a year.

A year well spent. Read it all...every last word... HERE.

Aiming At The Spider

2011-10-20T12:11:00.000-07:00

National Geographic / November 2011

2011-10-18T10:21:00.000-07:00

Sarah Leen, Senior Photography Editor at National Geographic approached me about doing a story on the feelings and ideas behind ECHOLILIA earlier last year. I really never thought it would see the light of day...I couldn't envision this kind of curious personal story about my life and my son, all shot in our home, to fit in with the global vision of National Geographic. In April I got a chance to visit Sarah and see everything she was up to at the magazine: great stories with a contemporary sensibility, interesting features by unexpected photographers, humor and irony and all of these curve balls thrown in amidst all that is classically National Geographic. I left there inspired by what photography in the mass media could really be.

So happy to have ECHOLILIA celebrated so elegantly in the pages of the November issue of the magazine. I haven't got my hands on it yet, but saw a sneak peek of the production online last night. You all can see it HERE.

It Is So October

2011-10-14T09:52:00.000-07:00

It is so so October.

The leaves are decomposing in the backyard and we smell them.

The moon is giant. The sun is low.

We watched a deer walk down the center of the street yesterday.

A Dollar Store Rat?

We found this giant spider at night.

Photographer Slugging Nazi With Camera

2011-10-13T12:50:00.000-07:00

Was enjoying Tony's blog DROOL last night and could not resist ~~blantantly ripping off,~~ sharing the wonder of these photo literate comics created between July 1944 and 1946. The goal was to capitalize on kids interest in the growing hobby of photography, published by The U.S. Camera Publishing Company.

Any kid would love to see a girl braining a Nazi with an SLR, but I don't think even the most intense photo nerd would savor a comic version of the life of Matthew Brady or William Fox Talbot? Gimme the Riddler or something....geez....but there it is, part of history.

See the rest of this collection HERE.

What Is Going On In Atlanta?

2011-10-11T13:04:00.000-07:00

So...what exactly are we doing in Atlanta? Isn't it a big Atlanta Celebrates Photography month? Is it true you are being tried for art crimes or some ethical violation? Well...yes and no...here is the deal:

Brian McGrath Davis, a grad student at Emory University approached me in the late spring about putting together a series of events at Emory based around my book/project ECHOLILIA/Sometimes I wonder, with both Eli and I in attendance.

Over the course of the summer we put together an expanded ECHOLILIA installation and a series of talks co-sponsored by ACP, Emory School of Medicine, and the Emory Center for Ethics. We are doing a bunch of stuff with various departments, but the two events open to the public are as follows:

A Conversation with Timothy Archibald
Thursday, October 27th at 6:00pm / Center for Ethics Commons, Room 102
Moderated by Dr. Rosemarie Garland-Thomson, with introductory remarks by Dr. Paul Root Wolpe, Director of Center for Ethics and Dr. Ami Klin, Director of Marcus Autism Center.

Timothy Archibald / ECHOLILIA
Friday, October 28th at 7:00pm / Emory University School of Medicine, Room 110
Exhibit Opening, Artist Talk, and Reception

Read more about the event HERE.
ECHOLILIA for sale HERE.

Portfolio and This Is The What

2011-10-10T10:49:00.000-07:00

Tidepool is hitting the road later this month. Always a good time to purge stuff and add stuff to the dinosaur that is the printed portfolio. A dinosaur in all places except the rep road show, really.

A few months back Kate Osba interviewed me on her blog This Is The What. The interview covered a bunch of stuff that kind of took me of guard, and once it was published it had me spouting out about how we were trying to make the portfolio more "bloglike". So...now I guess I need to follow thru, you know?

Dig into This Is The What. Read my piece, but read the rest of it too. Big things may be on the horizon for TITW...just trying to get y'all ready. See TITW HERE.

Tidepool's Embrace Essay

2011-10-07T10:21:00.000-07:00

After R.M. 1989

Tidepool Reps asked all of their photographers to introspect a bit and try to find something, from way back, that connected their early way of working to what they are up to now. The Tidepool blog has been featuring these over past month, starting with a great essay by photographer Bill Cash. Mine is out today, and copied here as well. See it all on the Tidepool Blog HERE.

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When I went to college, I somehow convinced my parents to allow me to be an art major. I never liked art classes in high school….I never really liked art at all. I had a long relationship with photography and my camera, but art was kind of a mystery. The art department at Penn State had no interest in commercial concerns…it was all about teaching the students expression, teaching the the history of art, the history of photography, and giving the students an awareness of the depth of their medium. No internships, nothing commercial was ever brought up. It was all about keeping expression pure, and learning how to tap into where that all came from.

At the same time I started working at the school newspaper. That group of people laughed at the art department…they couldn’t understand the esoteric concerns of that little subculture. They were all about communicating, the craft of photojournalism, and all the students had jobs at big papers lined up for their summer vacation. These folks were into the functional form of art…as functional as it ever really could be.

I was giving a talk to a bunch of students last month and they asked me about my education. I told them about the two sides of my backround, and confessed to them that I really didn’t think my formal education in photography amounted to much….I felt I learned more on the job than any where else. One of the students pointed out that the model I explained to them, this idea of having one foot in something esoteric and dada-ist, and the other foot in a world very funtional and logical, seemed to be a model I have followed throughout my career…even to this day! Looking at the patterns of my career, that observation really has held true: personal projects such as “Sex Machines” and “Echolilia” have been nurtured and blossomed with no commercial concerns whatsoever, while my efforts for hammering out a career with commercial photography were being nurtured with a similar amount of dedication and attention…all going on at the same time.

The happy news here is that the dynamic has shifted…the commercial clients don’t laugh at the art personal projects, they actually have started to embrace them.

Tethered, 2011

Things To Do In Denver When...

2011-10-05T13:03:00.000-07:00

I called up my friend LeRoy on the phone
I said, Buddy, I'm afraid to be alone
'Cause I got some weird ideas in my head
About things to do in Denver when you're dead

LeRoy says there's something you should know
Not everybody has a place to go
And home is just a place to hang your head
And dream of things to do in Denver when you're dead

-Warren Zevon 1991

Picture Society's Inagural Show 2011 goes off tommorrow night in Denver, curated by Sarah Lavigne and Julia Vandenoever, two great photo editors that I've had the good fortune to collaborate with. The show is also graced by the genius that is :

Annie Marie Musselman
Michael Lewis
Sara Forrest
Noelle Swan Gilbert
Susana Raab
Matt Slaby

Raab is a bff ( still...i think...we haven't spoken in a while?) and Lewis is a spirtual brother ( i hope...i thought he was at least..?). Everyone else? Well they are great artists whose work speaks for itself...and I'm priviledged to discover their work. Tommorrow night it goes off, with prints by Dave Woody.
Enjoy a Michael Lewis self portrait below.
Read more about Picture Society HERE.

Hansel & Gretel, 10/1/2011

2011-10-03T08:34:00.001-07:00

Why I Love Scot Sothern's Low Life

2011-09-30T10:24:00.000-07:00

For a moment or two I was Philip Marlow, Robert Mitchum, but then for a moment or two I was the writer I was always meant to be and this was my story.- Scot Sothern from Low Life

In my mind, Scot Sothern essentially went from nothing to everything in the year 2011. These images from his project Low Life seeped out into the photography blogosphere and people really did not know what to do with them. The photographs were harsh but also intelligent, and the words he wrote displayed a self awareness and honesty that just really couldn't be denied. Of course everyone wanted to see what he looked like...and there he is, at openings, on Facebook, appearing as charming and gentle as one could be.

Photography critic and writer Colin Pantall went from baffled and confused to openly celebrating Sothern's work...after sharing all of his apprehensions in early writings. Myself...I didn't know what to think, but the honesty of Sothern's writing voice drew me in. I couldn't decide if I loved or hated this work, but I knew I wanted to know more and more and more about it...and have more of it.

Sothern knows what makes a great interview...and really no two interviews with him seem redundant. His writing seems to get you into his inner voice, the voice in his head at the time the images were made. His voice in interviews has maturity and some reflection, and he is aware of his audience. In a gesture of brilliance, he finds a way to have his son interview him about the project. More honesty, more gestures that make us question him and get into his head all at the same time. Here his son Austin Wolf-Sothern asks him the question everyone wants to know:

AS: Do you consider the photos exploitative? And if so, is there anything wrong with that?

SS: Yes, I do think they are exploitative and yes, there are things wrong with that. However, in spite of all the wrong things about the pictures, I think there is somehow a greater good that comes from them. If someone looks at a picture and goes, Whoa, that's fucked up, then isn't that a good thing? There are many many whores, all over the world and I don't think any of them are having a very good time. I'd like to help out a little more, but you know, life is tough. Maybe that's just my justification for being a lowlife in the first place. I like to think I can be a lowlife and also be an artist and a pacifist, a leftist and a scofflaw, and yet Pollyannaish and idealistic. A fine upstanding citizen. Exploitation, well I guess that's what it takes to say what I want to say.

.................................................................................................................................................

A fellow photographer shared a project he was working on with me around the time I found Sothern's work. My friend was photographing prostitutes in Las Vegas: getting the card on the street, calling the number, ordering the prostitute and photographing her in his room. His photographs were polished and stylized, the lighting and the colors all working together for a polished effect of these kind of hard life subjects...it was a great combination of style and content. I told him about Sothern's work, shared a link with him and he reacted viciously: he hated the work and it seemed like he really was repulsed by it. I wondered why he reacted so strongly...and I'll never really know. I do suspect that Sothern's work had this honesty that didn't hide all the lust and attraction he may have felt. There was nothing stylized to hide behind...no hip snappy packaging, everything was raw. I suspected that my friend was having a hard time wrestling with his own attraction/repulsion to his subject and was kind of frightened by Sothern's admittance of everything. The push and pull that Sothern admits to makes me take stock of my own feelings as well.

Why do I love this project? I look at his photographs, read his text, and I simply find it inspiring. Is the idea of this guy facing the struggles of life by running to the comforts of prostitutes inspiring? No, but his honesty totally is. Is the fact that the work was ignored for years, he worked on it in anonymity, and he had the belief in it to find a time when the culture would embrace it inspiring? Absolutely inspiring. Again, Sothern's words from the interview with Austin Wolf-Sothern:

SS: To be honest, I've always loved just about every picture I've taken. Now that I have so many of the images scanned, I like to smoke a little pot and fill the computer screen with my pictures. I'm the same way with my writing. I've always been my biggest fan. How else could I face all the rejections, without knowing they are wrong, I'm right.

Buy Scot Sothern's book Low Life HERE.
Visit Sothern's website HERE.

All photographs copyright Scot Sothern.

Today's Spam : The Twins

2011-09-28T10:28:00.000-07:00

Come On Feel The Noise : ACP 2011

2011-09-26T09:14:00.000-07:00

Atlanta Celebrates Photography festival sprawls all over the fall in Atlanta, bringing all sorts of artists to town: Emmet Gowin, Martin Schoeller, Zoe Strauss and so many more great shows as well. The end of October opens ECHOLILIA / Sometimes I wonder at the Emory University School of Medicine with a lecture on the evening of the 28th by Elijah Archibald and myself. The event is sposored by a collaboration between the School of Medicine, ACP, and The Emory Center for Ethics. Wow.
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More details to come as we put together the expanded show and figure out what we are going to do with this experience....what are we going to talk about?

Stay tuned HERE.

2 Things On A Friday

2011-09-23T08:45:00.000-07:00

Above is a painting of a cat my son Wilson just did this morning after breakfast. I drew the cat and he did the stain glass painting treatment. Kinda looks like cubism to me.

Busy week this week culminating in the neat experience of having my AA grad student Emily Sevin accompany Sz and I on a very make-shift portrait shoot we tried to pull off in the early hours of San Francisco's bustling financial district. SF is not LA, thus you can try to pull off guerilla style photo shoots in various knooks and crannies and alleys and foreclosed storefronts and business facades...really now more than ever. The snap below is from our class / shoot. Grecian columns appreciated by all.

October has lots of big stuff going on...so we are getting ready for that and thankful and amused by every assignment we are getting to do as well.

Peace.

Autobiography / Fourth Grade

2011-09-21T06:28:00.000-07:00

My son had to write an autobiography for fourth grade. He had weeks to complete it. I sat down to help him get organized and we realized it was due the following day.

Don't worry. I think I know what I want to say.

It couldn't be easier.

I'm just writing about me. I'll just sit down and type it.

Sophisticated, With A Touch of Gnarly

2011-09-19T08:34:00.000-07:00

The creative team at Duncan Channon brought us in to create this ad for Gnarly Head Wine in the early spring. Alot of times there are projects that seem to hinge on one crucial element. With Gnarly, I really can't envision it without the character of our talent Lawrence Clark. Lawrence never showed up for our first casting. We spent the late afternoon coaching prospective models thru our method acting approach:

Ok....so you are like....elegant....well bred...you've always had the best of everything...given to you and earned by you. Amidst this all you are tough...you live life to it's physical fullest...you can still rip it up outside, get eaten alive by your environment...crash your mountain bike...and still savor life and toast the sunset....got that?

Time and time again we ran thru these words...these words of motivation...to get the talent into our roles. We had a Tony Danza look-a-like. We got a guy who could smile. We got another guy who had the rough, but he really had no elegance. The next morning we had agreed to come in and cast again, Lawrence would be there.

Lawrence arrives a bit flustered. The receptionist follows him into our room with a glass of orange juice. People wait on him, people clear the way for him, simply out of instinct. We give him our pitch, in a lazy half hearted way:

Ok...you're the rich guy, but rough guy too. Got that?

Lawrence looks at us and becomes the role: A subtle eyebrow lift. A sneer that falls into a smile. A bit of arrogance, a bit of charm. His body starts to inhabit the space with a sense of privledge. We snap a few photographs of him there in the crowded office and look at each other silently.

I walk him out and thank him for coming. I come back to the room with the creatives and the feeling is universal: he was everything we wanted....we have our talent.

Wilson Archibald At Work

2011-09-15T12:59:00.000-07:00

Wilson Archibald is my youngest son. He has no blog, he has no book about him, he has no Facebook identity. He was doing his homework one night, I was helping him, and I snapped this photograph with my phone.

The next week we made a cake for his Mom, and he decorated it with the football, baseball and soccer themes, acting simultaneously.

Sex Machine Time Travel

2011-09-13T10:47:00.000-07:00

Tom Griggs of Fototazo asked me to write an essay about an image last week and suggested this image from 2004 when I was so wrapped up in the project that became Sex Machines: Photographs and Interviews. It really had been a long time since I thought about that world...and really I had to kind of think back, collect my thoughts and travel back to get into the mind set of that project.

In this internet hungry time, where there are so many photo blogs, so much of an internet community in our photographic world, this Sex Machine project suddenly has enjoyed a rebirth. A few months back Russian Esquire assembled a web gallery of the story that they originally and bravely published back in 2006. Then it got super busy when popular site Design You Trust published a big book excerpt in August, with words and images, that really delivered the vibe of the project. At first I didn't know how I felt about DYT laying it all out like that...but realized this project is meant to be shared, the wonderful book published by Process is meant to be celebrated, so yes...bring this to a new audience.

For me, I took the work off of my commercial site years ago. Images of giant phalli attached to hardware was not always awesome for the clients to see. The creatives...now they appreciated it...but the actual clients did not. So it was gone...never to return again, really. I just simply allowed the work to exist quietly elsewhere...and in the book...but not on my site. But of course, these things were easy to find.

Just in case anyone is now curious...here are some links the spell it all out:

Conscientious published the best interview ever on the book's reverberations on HERE.

Fototazo essay is HERE.

Dig in to it's excerpt on Design You Trust HERE.

Buy it HERE.

Mike Disfarmer, meet The Wear Twins

2011-09-12T06:28:00.000-07:00

Art Director Charlie Hess and I were discussing the forthcoming story on the Wear brothers, a set of twins now playing and attending UCLA. He wanted to know if I had any ideas for the shoot. A quick search revealed a these mirror-imaged, 7 foot tall young men. They seemed like they could have been from any time period, nothing looked trendy about them at all: solid, steady, all american good looks and deadpan expressions. Our conversation went like this:

CH: So...do you have anything you'd like to do with these Twins?
TA: Well, they kind of look timeless to me. They look almost like someone who would be living in the 1940's. Do you know the work of a photographer Mike Disfarmer?
CH: I own a Disfarmer.

So there, that was our start. After securing a location that had a feeling of...oh...Hogwarts maybe...we did a series of images with the Twins. But like many things, our simple ideas were the keepers. Does our shot look like a Disfarmer? Not even close. Yet, to the amazement of Charlie and I, our Disfarmer-esque attempt ended up as the magazine's cover. See the shots in all their splendor HERE.

Choose A Robot Please?

2011-09-09T09:15:00.000-07:00

Just messing around with some direct mail possibilites earlier in the week and realized I had never created any cards with these images created at Hanson Robotics in Texas last year.

I have a very commercial card going out at the end of the month and wanted to spread this imagery out as a follow up.

Thought I'd throw these out and see if anyone has any favorites here? Do any work better than others? Are they all lame or all they all equally interesting? Please enlighten below.

A Commercial Ecosystem

2011-09-06T09:36:00.000-07:00

Just got the Workbook and was psyched to see the entire Team Tidepool section kicking off with the Commercial Ecosystem page illustrated by Amy Dresser. See our stuff on Workbook online HERE.

I Found This And Was So Happy I Liked It

2011-09-01T22:49:00.000-07:00

So this book I discovered earlier in the year, Maske by Phyllis Galembo was so consistently mind blowing that it is easily going to be the best photobook of the year...from this blog at least. I really have cut myself off from collecting photography books and now try to buy one book a year...and this one was it. I wrote about it HERE.

Like with discoveries in music or art or anything, you immediately try to go back and see what else is available that the artist has done. Here I find Dressed For Thrills : 100 Years of Halloween Costumes by Phyllis Galembo...and it is selling for $7.58! I had to buy it.

Is this an art book? Kind of...subversively. Is it historically important? Kind of ...alot of the stuff looks like it should be in some campy wing of the Smithsonian. Who is this aimed at...crafty soccer Moms going to Michael's or photo literate intellectuals? Well...both I think.

There is this unexpected thrill with this book, for sure. It is the experience where you are expecting the book to simply be a chronicle of the costumes, and boom, there, suddenly, is the most thought provoking photograph you've seen all week. The image at top depicting Red Riding Hood ( circa 1941 ) and Brown Bear (circa 1940) is one of those photographs for me. I really can't stop looking at it.

Find this and other books by Galembo HERE.

First Week of School

2011-08-31T12:43:00.000-07:00

And then this picture keeps surfacing over and over again in my sub-conscious. I found my son's pencil in my office after the homework kicked in.

Photo Eye Sells ECHOLILIA

2011-08-29T08:57:00.000-07:00

Photo-Eye Bookstore in Santa Fe and online joins forces with Echo Press ( me and my kid in our garage ) to promote and market ECHOLILIA / Sometimes I wonder.

The good folks at there were super helpful in selling Sex Machines : Photographs and Interviews and really sold more signed copies than anyone. Now they have set up a beautiful web prescence for the book that displays it more elegantly than ever before..the BookTease they put together really captures the arc of the book.

See it and love it HERE.

Last Spam Of Summer

2011-08-24T10:27:00.000-07:00

This is our email campaign being released this morning.

I never really thought much about snapshots...for me they never really transcended, but this one was that, and this one everyone seems to respond to. I like it too.

One day Shannon Amos was over and we were looking at a photographer's sappy photographs of their kids: cute and coy images, kids with food on their faces, kids looking perfect, and then this mushy sentimentality coming from the photographer in their written words. Total Hallmark greeting card stuff. I turned to Shannon and said "These parents should never be publishing this stuff on the Internet. They need to keep these sentiments to themselves."

She pointed out that I do the same thing, time and time again, just packaged in a different way.

I really couldn't argue. I just kind of embraced it, and here is just another example.

See The Last Day Of Summer HERE.

First Days Of School 2011 + 2010

2011-08-23T10:21:00.000-07:00

EA & WA, 2010

WA & EA, 2011

Landing

2011-08-22T05:06:00.000-07:00

Q: Can you explain what you are trying to do?

A: Oh, easy. I'm trying to land the Space Shuttle. But the wheels have fallen off. And one of the wings has a crack in it. And then the fuel is leaking out too.

Q: Do you think this is going to work?

A: Yup.

Two Things My Son Wanted To Photograph

2011-08-18T10:21:00.000-07:00

Family vacation is over, summer is almost over, school is starting next week.

Just editing some family snapshots and I came across two image my son either photographed himself or he set up for me to photograph. At this point, I really forget who pushed the button on the cameraphone.

" Wooden Gun and A Collection Of Coffee Creamers, 2011 " is the shot above.

"AMPM Snack Packer Hanging By Pushpins On My Wall, 2011 " is the shot below.

Keepon : Robot Holiday

2011-08-15T14:24:00.000-07:00

Thankful for the opportunity last month to photograph the robot Keepon, along with it's inventor Dr. Marek Michalowski and Richard North of WOW Stuff, all of us juggling for space at the beautiful Bloomberg Business Week editorial office in SF.

There is the therapeutic robot, seen above, and the toy version, which will hit stores this holiday season, of course. This line from the story, written by Ashlee Vance, stuck in my head:

While testing the gizmo in day-care centers, Kozima found that autistic children made more eye contact with the robot than they did with people. Behaviors they rarely expressed toward humans, like touching and nurturing, became more commonplace. “Using a robot can be a real ice breaker for children and clinicians,” says Anjana N. Bhat, a researcher at the University of Connecticut , who is conducting clinical trials with robots and autistic children.

Read the whole story HERE.

Doppelgänger

2011-08-12T07:55:00.000-07:00

Doppelgänger: a tangible double of a living person in fiction, folklore, and popular culture that typically represents evil. In the vernacular, the word has come to refer to any double or look-alike of a person, often viewed in melancholy emotions.

The word also is used to describe the sensation of having glimpsed oneself in peripheral vision, in a position where there is no chance that it could have been a reflection. Doppelgängers often are regarded as harbingers of bad luck. In some traditions, a doppelgänger seen by a person's friends or relatives portends illness or danger, while seeing one's own doppelgänger is an omen of mortality.

Anyone who saw the Mr. Anderson short film series created by Thomas Broening immediately identified the main character as Thomas' doppelganger. T.B. sums up the project and speaks frankly about his intentions and the final product in this insightful interview. View it HERE.

Mr Anderson: An Interview with the Film Maker from Thomas Broening on Vimeo.

Everywhere Art

2011-08-11T07:41:00.000-07:00

Here I am, sitting in the dark on the rooftop of the Los Angeles Athletic Club. The LAAC is a curious hotel located right in the heart of the Jewelery District, the post apocalyptic zone of downtown Los Angeles. The buildings around me are quiet and empty, the zombies come out at night, the police walk the streets and people randomly stand at bus stops in the dark, waiting for buses that never will really arrive. When the sun rises it once again is beautiful in an old world way. I can walk to our location in the early morning light.

We ran into some space issues during the shoot and I couldn't resist snapping this photograph of the room we were stashing our gear in, dominated by the striking and beautiful photograph Spaghetti Suitcase, 2010 by Rebecca Horne holding court in the messy room.

Американская мечта

2011-08-06T15:30:00.000-07:00

It spells out the words "American Dream".

Russian Esquire put together an elegant online gallery from my project "Sex Machines : Photographs and Interviews" that is up and live this week.

I really haven't thought about that project in a while, except for the folks whom I've stayed in contact with here and there in the years since that project was alive and kicking. I took the entire series off my website once I started getting serious about my commercial career...just too much of a potential speedbump I didn't want to force clients to wrestle with. But...it is there when you want to find it.

Follow the link and get out your Russian translating program. See and read it HERE.

Kwikset At The Airport

2011-08-05T09:07:00.000-07:00

Kind of got a kick out of hunting for our Kwikset ads at the airport gift shop last week...and somehow found both of them.

Leonard Susskind / Scientific American

2011-08-03T08:20:00.000-07:00

I've been wrapped up in this family vacation for the past few weeks for so long I forgot I knew how to work for a living...or that I even had a job.
Coming back I realized I had some stuff to share from the world of commerce, so here we go.

Sz and I showed up to the office of Leonard Susskind one spring day in Palo Alto. Polite and courteous with a calm exterior there was a quality that Susskind emitted that she and I both felt. Strong intellect, total focus, centered and humming at full speed...I can't really put my finger on it. It's like the feeling you get when you can feel the electricity flowing thru an appliance: it is silent, it is unstoppable, its not tangible, but you know it is there. And it is very inspiring to be around.

When I left I wondered why I made such a simple portrait of him...I didn't really ask him to do anything. Was I afraid? Was I intimidated? Not either of thoese things, I don't think. But I do think I felt like his presence was so strong, I really only needed to focus the camera.

The Last Day Of Summer Vacation

2011-08-01T06:00:00.000-07:00

Bees, honey, eggs, hummingbirds and a sun so harsh and hot you really must hide from it when it is out and toast it's absence when it sets.

Visiting family north in Oregon and getting to see things thru kids eyes that they are never gonna forget.

Time to return to my own bed, my own Wii, see California again.
-E.A.

Summer Snapshot Redux / PDX

2011-07-28T18:29:00.000-07:00

And this is Wilson Archibald, age 6. Never really enjoys having his photograph taken, but today he was showing me some new swimming techniques and we made this shot over and over 'til we got this one.

I think I like it better.

Summer Snapshot / PDX

2011-07-27T22:16:00.000-07:00

Eli and I don't make photographs with any degree of seriousness these days. All the work of ECHOLILIA really started and ended in a bubble, but the kind of learned communication still exists. It is like he learned how to be in front of my camera and I learned how to bring whatever he gives me to life...or at least interpret it.

On a family vacation in Portland and made this image. In person I don't know if Eli would really catch your eye at all. He appears like a messey nine year old wearing a baseball hat like a trillion other kids. But in front of the camera, or my camera...he is just striking. Long hair catches the light and thick lips and curious eyes and it's really like...breathtaking. Or maybe it just is to his Dad? I dunno. The project may be over but images of him will always surface and always be stirring.

So Many Things All At Once: Some Related, Some Not

2011-07-25T21:26:00.000-07:00

One day in 2010 I was driving across the Bay Bridge during some day of career turmoil: a shoot had gone bad, the client was angry, I was losing the client and the friendly vibes I previously shared with them...the easy breezy nature of our relationship was fading. People were getting fired. New regimes were taking over and they were no longer enjoying what I had to offer.

At that moment my car's rear view mirror snapped off and fell on the dash. Wow...a moment of clarity. Everything looked clear ahead. No looking back. No chance to linger on the past. Just look out into the wide open space before you...no mirror to distract the view. What did it mean? Maybe nothing? But maybe a sign to just keep moving forward.

I was walking on the sidewalk to Dogpatch Studios in SF for the lecture on Social Networking. I feel a pull of rubber and glue and feel the strange disorientation that occurs when your heel breaks off of your shoe. Uh oh. What does it mean? Is it a sign? Should I go home? Is there just too much going on right now...too many lives being lead? Is this telling me something? Most likely no. I loved the shoes but they were $20 dollars...sometimes things fall apart.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Heather Elder, Miki Johnson, Josh Bob and Christian Peacock all worked to put together this event. Originally I feared this event would rub me the wrong way. I was afraid the vibe of greed and capitalism would taint the creative medium that this social networking thing has always seemed to me to be. Sitting there listening to Miki introduce the concepts of the event and of her philosophy, you realize that this Social Networking thing isn't very new at all. It is deep and rooted in what makes us human. These ideas and concepts it is based on are universal...and touch on things that are universally satisfying. Miki and Heather were on the same page here and seemed to echo these points in various forms. Me? I just tried to talk about what I knew. Here are some points that stuck in my brain and still resonated in the days following:

Humans have a need to communicate that never goes away.
Everything of value in your life has grown from a conversation...whether that was via a phone or cave writing or a note passed in class.
The hunger for the "story" is a constant over time and nothing is more powerful.
There are as many stories as there are people, and all of our stories are uniquely important.

As I'm taking this all in Brooke Embry of Tidepool sends me a snapshot via text of the ECHOLILIA event she is hosting in LA. Here is a gallery, filled with people, thinking and looking and discussing the images my son and I put together for our project. Here in the gallery it isn't the whole installation, but a short sentence of 7 big and bold images, melancholy and fleshy all at once. I can't be there..neither can he...but someone can, and we can now peek into their experience. Our life can be shared there in LA, shared here in SF, and really you never run out of things to share. A real time real life status update. Please share!

I take in this moment and swallow it, cherish it. It is not epic and it's not mundane either. But it'll never really happen just like this again.

Top: APA Social Getworking Panel, Miki Johnson, Josh Bobb, Heather Elder and TA.
Bottom: Hazelle Withers at the ECHOLILIA show, 728 Alley in Santa Monica.

Dear Madison Bumgarner

2011-07-24T22:45:00.000-07:00

I haven't had the yearning to grab something Eli has done and put it under a scanner in years really...not since the seeking evidence days of ECHOLILIA. Even now the stark form and tone of the scanner image doesn't seem appropriate because so much has changed. But I read the note and wanted to share it so I just used what I had to get it out there. Included in the envelope was a photograph of the ball on our kitchen table that Eli shot and printed out.

Enjoy.

In LA : A Shot Of Echolilia

2011-07-19T22:11:00.000-07:00


In LA on Thursday evening: Watch the sunset, stroll along Montana Avenue. Stop by 728 Alley. Drink in the art and do a shot of ECHOLILIA. In the north alley off Montana Avenue Between 11th and 12th St., Santa Monica, California. Also showing prints by Kerri Parker. Come join us for food, drinks and conversation. Nourishing snacks compliments of holistic dietitian & yoga teacher Beth R. Sobel.

The Social Network / Thursday, July 21st at Dogpatch

2011-07-17T15:00:00.000-07:00

Heather Elder, Miki Johnson and I are featured in Thursday's APA event unfortunately titled "Social Getworking". The name implies that this blogging, Facebooking, Twittering thing is not just fun...but is a serious tool used to leverage your business, stand out in the market place and somehow "get working"? Is it or is it not? Oh...it is different things for different people and that is really what I'm trying to figure out how to express as I'm preparing for my part of the talk.

Friday afternoon I posted a call out to FB essentially wondering what people were interested in hearing about. Generating buzz, creating an identity, getting followers, finding topics, separting personal stuff from business stuff...all of these thoughts came to the surface and all of these things made me realize just how I am so not the one to handle this lecture....I really have the answers to none of these things. But I better make something up quick.

But...it has helped me answer a few things by pushing me. Like the obvious question...what is your blog about? For me it is about the mix of things that make up my life: the creative path, parenthood, commercial photography, and the work of other great photographers I discover.

Why do people tune in? They most likely like the other photographers I celebrate and they are on a creative path themselves.

What price do they pay? Oh...well they have to endure me promoting my commercial work and art work and my various forms of self celebration.

What is the end goal? Build a community, get hired more, and share my creative path.

Is it working? I think so.

But more work to be done so I do not blow it at this event. More to come, I'll share it all here...as well as these two shots of my kids. Cuz with this social networking world, I'm nothing notable without those kids.

Buy tickets / more info on the event HERE.

The Wear Twins / UCLA

2011-07-13T09:38:00.000-07:00

Working for a living in the most wonderful way.

The great team of photographer Paul Bennett, art directors Charlie Hess, Alicia Patel and Mallory Guillemette. We all got together with The Wear Twins in the splendor of Royce Hall at UCLA.

Daniel Lee / Tablo

2011-07-07T09:39:00.000-07:00

Daniel Lee was an honest and true sweetheart of a human being on this shoot we put together back in early June. He showed up with a posse...as did we: Art director Amy Shroads, writer Joshua Davis, makeup artist Veronica Sjoen, and The Sz.

A great day of image making, made all the better by this inspired spread.

Read the story The Persecution Of Daniel Lee HERE.

Summer Sabbatical

2011-06-30T05:35:00.000-07:00

Summer Sabbatical. Shifting into a lower gear for a few weeks. Happy to produce a few forthcoming projects and listen to the cicada's buzz once the sun goes down.

Tied up in some messy logistics and my day was made by the late discovery, via Emily Nathan, of We Live Young. The words and photographs of Nirrimi, whose voice is that of an old soul and whose photographs of children seem to be processed with amniotic fluid.

Just wanted to share her work while I'm discovering it. More about her voice from me I'm sure...

Communication Arts Photography Annual 2011

2011-06-27T08:29:00.000-07:00

Just got this copy of CA Photo Annual in the mail yesterday, so I wanted to bust it out here. Is anyone sick of hearing about ECHOLILIA? Ha, I might be. But I am so thankful for the attention and the doors it continues to open.

But what about the subject? Is this attention good for him? Does he love it? Hate it? Is he bored with it? I don't know. For the most part, he doesn't really know about any of it. Things come into the house regarding the project and he doesn't really take note of it at all. Forthcoming are speaking engagements that we are trying to wrestle with...would this be fun for him again? A learning experience? Or is it just like....a show, for all the wrong reasons? No answers now, but just food for thought as things evolve on this project.

None the less, the CA Annual was real interesting. Shout-outs to work by Christopher Capozziello, Montalbetti + Campbell, Chris Crisman, Erik Almas and Gregg Segal, all represented by great work that seems to have snuck in the contest thru the back door and subverted from within the expected norms.

fyeahcommercialphotographers

2011-06-23T10:37:00.000-07:00

There is the Black Book...there is Workbook.

Then there are the contests....what would photography be without contests?

We got American Photography, PDN Annual, The Lucie Awards, then of course Communication Arts.

But never was I so psyched to stumble upon my work in ( while self-googling of course ) fyeahcommercialphotographers: an ongoing project for the search to find the greatest working commercial photographers.

Why thank you!

See fyeahcommercialphotographers HERE.

Shannon Amos Q & A on P.O.P.

2011-06-22T11:03:00.000-07:00

Allison McCreery has a great interview with stylist Shannon Amos on her blog Photographers On Photography. It just hit on Monday and has been quoted and referenced on blogs throughout the week. It is no secret that there really wouldn't be a commercial career to T.A. if it wasn't for the hand and eye of Amos. I pulled a great quote here, but read the whole thing HERE.

I wish someone would have come to career day and talked about being a stylist. That would have been an Ah-Ha moment. It also would have made my parents understand a little better why I was compelled to redecorate and paint my bedroom on a weekly basis.

I am completely visually driven and have been since I was a kid. I would find a way to skip math class and go sit all day in the art room. Otherwise I was always reading design, fashion and art books in the library. Luckily, I went to a very liberal high school and actually felt a great deal of encouragement.

I finally put all of these interests together and started working at our local theaters doing wardrobe and building sets. And let me just say there is nothing that will teach a stylist to work on a budget like live theater. After high school I moved to San Francisco and got a job at the New Lab developing film. I had no idea when I took that job how greatly it would effect the rest of my life. Suddenly I was spending eight hours a day viewing the work of the photography world greats. It was a usual Saturday afternoon to sit around with Jim Marshall while he waited for his film and hear all the stories behind the legendary photographs that he had taken.

In the process of proofing film I started developing an eye for what works and what does not in a frame. How color and texture are effected by lighting. And how much is needed or not to tell the story or sell the product. There was also a lot to be learned from what photographers were leaving on the cutting room floors.

Subscribe and tune into Photographers On Photography HERE.

The Tree Of Life, Etc.

2011-06-20T12:18:00.000-07:00

THE TREE OF LIFE by Terrence Malick is the impressionistic story of a Midwestern family in the 1950's. The film follows the life journey of the eldest son, Jack, through the innocence of childhood to his disillusioned adult years as he tries to reconcile a complicated relationship with his father . Jack finds himself a lost soul in the modern world, seeking answers to the origins and meaning of life while questioning the existence of faith. Through Malick's signature imagery, we see how both brute nature and spiritual grace shape not only our lives as individuals and families, but all life.

A couple days after Xmas last year I got a note from photographer Gabriela Herman with a link to this trailer. She had seen this preview and it reminded her of Echolilia in some intanglible way. I watched the trailer and was drawn to it right away. The world of boys, visited thru the memory of the eldest brother. Curtains, drapery, screen doors, lanky limbs, shirtless and fragile, these kids all seemed to carry the weight of family and all it's complexities with them.

Sunday was both Father's Day and my birthday. A strange intersection of holidays that happens once every ...oh...I don't know how often really? What better day to escape the family and buy a matinee seat to The Tree Of Life by myself and just try to take it all in. Before heading out the door I rediscovered a blog post written about ECHOLILIA by Angela Auclair, from her blog titled "From The Dock":

many people photograph their children.
photographers are no different.
but not all photographers photograph their children honestly.
you know what i mean. always clean, always happy, always perfect.

that is just not reality.

others feel that there is more beauty in the imperfection of childhood, but not just the umbrella of childhood...in the imperfection of the actual child. because none of us are perfect, for whatever that word means.
it is the very qualities that make a child different that makes that child so spectacularly beautiful to their parent. and frustrating.

and in his collection, echolilia, timothy archibald is both father and photographer and his son...well, he is just eli in all his wonder.

this series is a collection of photographs sharing eli's world.
it is much more than that...but i want you to discover it for yourself.
i can stare at these photos for hours. i see my kids in these photos. hell, i see me in these photos. i see a parent's struggle and i see a photographer using his medium to survive something really freaking hard in his life.

i see innocence, confusion, love...so much here.

So well stated. Thank for all of that, Angela and Gabriela.

So Many Things

2011-06-17T08:57:00.000-07:00

So many things in the works right now that all will blossom in the fall. I'm wrapping them up now so piece by piece I'll share 'em here. Some of them on such a grand scale they kinda scare even me.

ECHOLILIA as a multi media presentation with imagery and audio introduction to the work by Eli Archibald and myself is in the works now for the Inaugural Show at Space Gallery in Denver. Curated by Sarah LaVigne and Julia Vandenoever, with works by us, Annie Marie Musselman, Michael Lewis, Sara Forest, Paolo Marchesi and Noelle Swan Gilbert. I think its ~~really gonna be a blowout party to the likes of which we have never seen~~ evening of art and culture.

More stuff coming, please stay tuned. Learn more about Picture Society HERE.

Kwikset Finals , Finally.

2011-06-15T08:17:00.000-07:00

I almost forgot to post these final image from the Kwikset "There's A Smarter Way" campaign that we shot in LA back at the end of March. Great retouching by Rebecca Bausher or Pixel Chick Studios that really tied the whole project together. Super thankful to work with creative Kevin Cimo of VITRO as well as the Black Solid crew who really came in and took care of everything. I was so enjoying it all I took photographs of everyone I worked with on the set. See behind the scenes shots HERE, but linger here longer and enjoy these finals...right where you are.

Last Day Of

2011-06-09T05:14:00.000-07:00

Summer is kicking in...

The Last Day Of Kindergarten, 6/7/2011 ( top)

The Last Lap Of Baseball, 6/8/2011 (bottom)

This is the stuff we gotta try so hard to preserve...try so hard to appreciate...even when it doesn't seem to let you.
Peace.

fototazo : What Makes A Great Portrait 2011

2011-06-07T08:36:00.000-07:00

Tom Griggs of the online magazine fototazo dropped me a line last week asking if I could contribute and essay to his series " What Makes A Great Portrait". A great collection of interviews, including essays by Cori Pepelnjak, Anastasia Cazabon, Margo Ovcharenko, Shen Wei, Lucas Foglia, Susan Worsham, Steve Davis, Elinor Carucci, Mark Powell and Jess T. Dugan.

I was so enthusiastic by the copy of Maske by Phyllis Galembo that this essay really just flowed out of me. Hopefully it wasn't too easy. Here it is:

A great portrait is like a great book or a great song....it has the thing that it is supposed to be about, but then, at closer inspection, it can be about anything, everything, things that are personal to your journey and things that are universal.

It can be this thing you can project into and learn things from all at the same time.

How does a photograph achieve that? That...well that is the hard part...its just too hard to explain how to create it...one never really knows how to do it, but you know it when you see it.

A recent book that was filled with what struck me as great portraits is Maske by Phyllis Galembo. The attached image is titled "Surprise Box, Jacmel, Haiti 2004". There is no question that I would be able to look at this image time and time again and get something from it. The content is candy coated...the color and lighting gives us some visual splendor to suck us into the image. But look closely: a hooded man, shiny body, holding a box with a plastic E.T. in it. It's folk art, and pop art, and anthropology all wrapped up and presented to us...but that is just the candy packaging. Look at it long enough and its like looking at a Rothko painting. Is that guy me? Is that guy the photographer's alter ego? The body language and gesture...the act of giving a gift. Is it generosity...emotional and spiritual generosity....or is it simply American junk? And the pose...is it Madonna and child esque? Baby Jesus in the shape of E.T.? Really...I could go on and on and on. When that feeling overtakes me...the sheer enthusiasm in which I could really just spit out a stream of consciousness list of all the open-ended things in an image and their possible meanings and references...that is when I feel a portrait is great.

Explore all the is fototazo HERE. See my essay HERE.

Kwikset Campaign Online / Vitro

2011-06-06T08:27:00.000-07:00

Just a sneak peak of the web ads created from the photographs we produced for the Kwikset campaign. Comedian John Little delivered the goods for the Hiding Place ad while Hunter did what he does best...and on command...for the Housekeeper ad. Print ads appearing over the summer on news stands and on this blog as well. Great retouching on these shots by Rebecca Bausher of Pixel Chick Studios.

Untitled from timothy archibald on Vimeo.

Untitled from timothy archibald on Vimeo.

Father's Day Is Coming

2011-06-02T05:46:00.000-07:00

Editions of the second printing of ECHOLILIA / Sometimes I wonder are still available and can be shipped in time for Father's Day. This book has been celebrated in The New York Times, Time Magazine, Discover Magazine, CNN, Zeit Magazine in Germany, Photo + in Korea, Communication Arts, American Photography, Photo District News Photo Annual and blogs all over the effing world!

What do the critics say?

It’s free of any sense of frustration and reverberates with love, acceptance and humor.

-Anastasia Cazabon / Fototazo

Echolilia is one of the most intriguing and revealing photography books on children. It goes beyond the lyrical and the physical to examine how his son Elijah, and children as a whole, think, see and behave.

-Colin Pantall

As an artist, Archibald easily slips into that half-world of alternate reality --the space between the echos-- appreciating and documenting. I've always felt autism's gift was the redefinition of language, and I've never seen if so beautifully expressed than here.

-Shanna Philpson

There is a very faint sentimentality in the photographs and a sense of eccentricty that result in an unusual beauty; you can tell that these are dear subjects to him, without feeling as if he is imposing his affection on the audience. The emphasis of form and shape and the anthropmorphic quality of the young boy's gestures and activities make for some of the most interesting photographs I have seen in a very long while.

-John Edmonds

Buy ECHOLILIA/ Sometimes I wonder HERE.

Makeshift Sculpture / SF

2011-06-01T08:38:00.000-07:00

Just a snap while we are working for a living...

PDN Photo Annual 2011 / Online

2011-05-30T05:44:00.000-07:00

See images from Photography Book winner ECHOLILIA and a bunch of other great work from killer photographers I luv and admire. The winners of the PDN Photography Annual 2011 are all at the online gallery HERE.

Mother Nature

2011-05-27T06:20:00.000-07:00

Q: It's breathtaking isn't it?
A: Yes...just totally beautiful. But...I don't smell the nature...I don't hear the nature either...but it looks almost the same.
Q: Can't you be happy with this? You must admit it's pretty close. We tried our best.
A: It is close. I can try...

Richard Muller / Scientific American

2011-05-26T05:26:00.000-07:00

Physicist Richard Muller let us into his house on a hill in Berkeley and invites us to make ourselves at home. His place was filled with books, art, dinosaurs, photographs, macarame, everything a life can and should be filled with. I gravitated to a photograph on the wall, a younger version of Muller and his wife with two kids on their laps...taken in the room I'm standing in. The lighting, the style, the print quality of milky blacks and reflected highlights looks familiar...it looked like Norman Seeff. He turns it over and there is a note "Photo by Norman Seeff, for GEO". It hangs in his house in two different places. He explains:

I knew he was creating a picture for the ages as soon as I saw it: the un conventional pose, separating the couple, the kids, our home. I knew Norman had something in mind that day and I was thankful to be able to be a part of it.

Muller takes me over to another giant photograph: a close up of a dandelion, so close and so big and so epic, it looked like you were staring into the universe.

Do you know the photographer of this photograph?

I tell him I'm pretty sure I do, I think the photographer is Richard Muller. I am correct!

We get back to work and set up our gear. Once again, like many photographers before us, we begin to photograph Muller, at his desk, in his house, surrounded by his life.

More In Production...

2011-05-25T11:46:00.000-07:00

Now In Production

2011-05-24T15:06:00.000-07:00

Sad to say or happy to announce?

Breaking new ground or driving the plane into the ground?
Camera phone images appearing on the pages of my new portfolio.

I Love Photographers

2011-05-22T22:11:00.000-07:00

Went to The Looking Glass in Berkeley for some Moab Entrada and came across this snapshot in the bathroom/film changing room. I took a picture of it, all props and apologies to the original photographer, to the subject and to the tatoo artist...it was just so special I had to share.