Broad Channel...(The Boonville saga #2)

For you Minnie, Broad Channel, 2006 (Study for Boonville project)

This last July I spent 3 days in Broad Channel, Queens shooting images for my Boonville project.

Broad Channel is a very bizarre place. It is basically an island between Queens and Rockaway Beach. It is separated into two parts by Cross Bay Boulevard. Many of the homes are on the water and almost everyone has a boat. On my last day shooting I spent over 4 hours with a woman named Mary-Anne. She fed me a burger and a Bud while she spoke about the history of Broad Channel and the small amount of people that inhabit the island. She recently sent me a letter inviting Laura and I to her waterfront home for dinner. Broad Channel is very unique place.

Midwest Photographers Publication Project Panel Discussion in NY

Tonight I attended a discussion at Aperture in Chelsea. Brian Ulrich, Kelli Connel, and Justin Newhall all spoke about their work that appears in a three-book-set published by Aperture and the MoCP.

Brian and I have been in contact for almost a year now, although we have tried to meet up a few times in NY and in Chicago our schedules have not allowed it. He was by far the best speaker of the group, his talk was very fluid and captivating.

All of the work, although very different, was very intriguing and inspiring...



Justin's images are stunning portraits of places that recall Richard Misrach and Stephen Shore. They follow a conceptual path, recalling the route of the Louis and Clark trail. The series is titled "Historical Marker".


Kelli Connel uses digital manipulation to achieve her effect. I have always thought, as I guess many do, that they were self-portraits. They are not. Taken from her Statement... This work is an honest representation of the duality or multiplicity of the self in regards to decisions about intimate relationships, family, belief systems and lifestyle options.



Brian's work is great, I've always been a big fan. He touches on a political and social matter that I am very aware of. Fear and Consumerism. He does it in a very subtle way that we can connect to rather then roll our eyes at. I see myself in his work and I believe that's his point, we can all see a part of ourselves in his candid captures.

Advertising these days is unstoppable. Only 2 out of 50 states in the US have banned billboard advertising. It's a start but is it really likely that more will follow suit? Probably not.

See Brian's Blog here

Along with meeting Brian for the first time I met Jon Feinstein and Amani Olu tonight. These two guys are the brains behind Humble Media and Group-Show.com which have both been extremely beneficial too me.

Now that is a trifecta...

'Working next to a Portrait'... (after Jason Lazarus)

I took this photo today at work. This leads me into...

Artist of the week #2 - Jason Lazarus...


Copyright Jason Lazarus, 2006

Jason Lazarus is a photographer living in Chicago. I was first introduced to him because of his show at the 12x12 Gallery at the MCA, Chicago. He has a wonderful website and he has got himself a great Photoblog. Normally I am not a fan of "art on art" or "art about art".

Not all of his work is "Art on Art" but much of it is extremely conceptual. The first series of his I fell in love with was "Self-Portrait as an artist". The concept of these pieces, like most of the stuff on his blog is explained in the title. For Example... My favorite "self portrait as an Artist" image is titled "under the same moon as barack obama (self portrait as an artist series)". Most of these are on his site, JasonLazarus.com. Be sure to check out "Self-portrait as an artist (Burning down the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, IL" It's a good one!


Here are a few images from his new works...

Living with a Portrait series... One Two

Soundtrack series... One Two

See all of them on his Photoblog.

Thank you Grandpa...

In the early 80's my parents and my grandparents built a summer home in Howard City, Michigan. It was my favorite place in the world. I learned to fish, play cards, camp, swim, hide and relax at this magical place. It was a 3 hour drive to this beautiful lake front cabin from my home in Indiana. Every time we got to the main street of Howard City my heart would start to race and I would slobber all over the windows in anticipation of the dirt road that lead me to the big yellow "Bike House". A name I gave it in the 80's because the garage was not yet completed and we had to store our bikes in the house. It stuck. To me it was without question, I was so young when I named it that I forgot I named it. The Bike house was always and will always be just that.

In the early 90's my grandfather was painting the garage when he fell and broke his leg. It was so bad I probably shouldn't describe it. He was using a cane for a very long time and he was limping and had trouble with stairs up until his sudden death in 2004.

Today I received something in the mail from my grandmother (pictured above with my grandpa). It was his cane. A beautiful cane. Such a beautiful cane.

The fact that I get to use his cane after I have knee surgery almost makes it worth it. I'm honored.

Artist of the week - Christopher Reiger

Christoper Reiger is now showing at AG Gallery in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

The Boonville saga - Part one...

#1, Boonville, NY, 2003 (Study for Boonville project)

About 4 years ago Jason Covert and I went on our annual photo excursion which in turn was the beginning of the Boonville saga... My girlfriend at the time had access to a great house in upstate New York in a small Village named Boonville. We spent 5 or 6 days shooting, exploring and drinking. This time around I did most of the shooting while Jason was kind enough to pose for me. Thankfully he dealt with me and my shooting process, a slow and tedious one.

Cannery Works, A NY non-profit arts organization has really helped me massage the idea, and is helping with the funding and proposal process. I recently shook hands with a private source who says they will cover about half of my total expenses. Huge!!

After about 2 years of research, the project has come a long way since Jason and I were hanging in parking lots at 4 am, trying desperately to get rid of this crazy old lady that kept repeating "you'd like my Rachel". She kept us there for probably 2 or 3 hours.

FDR...The New Deal

About 3 weeks ago a good friend of mine handed me a beautifully packaged three disc set by FDR called 'The New Deal'. Towards the end of 2005, FDR wrote, produced and recorded 50 songs in 50 days. Maybe not as ambitious as Sufjan Steven's 50 Albums for 50 states project but ambitious nonetheless. I have found two major differences between Sufjan and FDR, other then their sounds. First being that sufjan has made 2 of the 50 and FDR has made 50 of the 50. The second being that Sufjan is 50/50 in my book. 'Greetings from Michigan' was OK, 'Come on feel the Illinois' was breathtaking. FDR has sold me on almost all 32 songs that made it into the trilogy that is 'The New Deal'. The 3rd disc falls just a bit short for me. By that I mean that only 6 of the 11 songs blow my mind unlike the 1st and 2nd disc in which every song hits me hard. I haven't been so interested in a album since my girlfriend introduced me to Bright Eye's Lifted or the story is in the soil...

I was fortunate enough to see him perform an all too short set at Arlene's grocery last night. My good friend is actually a good friend of his, or so they say they are working on that part. So after the show I was able to have a few beers with him and his friends along with my friend Jason and my girlfriend Laura.

Here is a unauthorized video I took last night of him performing 'One More Summer In the Sun (Willie Nelson)'.