Every Photographer Wants To Be Bruce Davidson



Photographer Kurt Jordan bought this vintage 1996 TA photograph from an Ebay seller specializing in mexican cultural artifacts. See my post on this sale HERE.

So curious and wonderful to see the image hanging in his home, below, under a print by Danny Lyon. I had to dig out my print, scan it and post it.

There is a time when every photographer thinks he or she is Bruce Davidson, Danny Lyon, maybe even Robert Frank. ( These days, substitute Cindy Sherman?) For me, this was that time. Eventually I grew out of it and found my own voice. But at the time, 1996, this photograph was a crowd pleaser of sorts: everyone loved it, and I liked it too.

So thankful that Kurt was caring enough to snap a photograph and bring this all full circle. Great experience for me, and I hope he enjoys the print just as much.

Fanboy

Well of course I had to ask.

Artists need to be fawned upon...especially by other artists.

Amen.

Dali Wasn't Hard To Find, Was He?

I was real excited to work on the recent Rick Smolan / Jennifer Erwitt project The Human Face Of Big Data. Editor Mark Rykoff had a great vision for the project and seemed to trust the photographers to address the myriad of subjects however they wished. Total freedom, really. My spread of the company Code For America is above- shot as a 9 image composite.

I was happily surprised to find out the cover was created by fellow Tidepool Reps artist Michael Tompert of Raygun Studio. Michael and I found ourselves across the table at dinner last month.

At dinner we were talking about Salvador Dali- his work, his persona, his theatricality. I took the stance that I thought Dali's work really held it's own. I thought it was great, it deserved to be part of history as it is, and that his theatricality was unneccesary. Tompert paused, thought about that, and responded: 

Don't you think there were other surrealist painters working at the time? They probably were just as good or better but you wouldn't know where to find them. Now Dali, he wasn't hard to find at all, was he? And he was not someone you were going to forget.

Why is that relevant to this book? It isn't. But it was such a dead on universal quote, it has been in my head for months now. And now I'm sharing it with you.

Peace.

Today's Location / Gift From God

Some days you simply show up.

The prize is handed to you.

You simply need to receive it.

And take note.

And then there are the other 364 days.

Today I just closed my eyes and received it.

Thank you.

I needed easy.

New Scientist 1/12/2013

Interesting essay on the Uncanny Valley by author Joe Kloc in New Scientist this week with an inspired edit from my Robots Are Real series by photo editor Kirstin Jennings.

 

The Ebay Economy or The Arc of a Photograph

This was a suprise to find on Ebay. A collector of Hispanic ephemera is selling one of my photographs from 1995. Bad news / good news it is 50% off! Here is how the seller, username "Nachomamma" defines the photograph:

TOUCHING, ROMANTIC, MOVING. THESE ARE WORDS TO DESCRIBE THE EMOTIONS IN THIS PHOTOGRAPH. A YOUNG MAN AND WOMAN, OR BOY AND GIRL, OBVIOUSLY FARM LABORERS. IN AN ORANGE GROVE, CALIFORNIA? THAT IS WHERE I BELIEVE WORLD FAMOUS PHOTOGRAPHER, TIMOTHY ARCHIBALD TOOK THIS PHOTO, IN 1995. COULD JUST HAVE BEEN AS EASILY TAKEN IN 1945. MAKES ME WONDER WHEN THINGS MIGHT GET EASIER.

THANK YOU FOR VIEWING MY LISTING.

Get it, see it, buy it for $100 HERE.

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UPDATE as of 1/21/2013: The photograph was purchased by L.A. based photographer Kurt Jordan for his personal collection. It ended with an auction price of $200.

Muttville

photograph by cynthia wood

Well...hard to complain when you are assigned to shoot in Muttville.
And really, there is not much more to say.
Peace.