Man on Wire

Saw Man on Wire last week in New York. It is one of the most beautiful, moving films I've ever seen. But it took me a while to figure out why.

It's just a guy on a tightrope, walking back and forth. Big deal. But the passion that he brings to his craft reminds me that pleasure in life quite often comes from simple, frivolous things.

To see 60-somethings talking about crazy stuff they did when they were 20-somethings was very emotional. Phillipe Petite's love for his craft is a reminder to pour ourselves into the people and the things we love.

nyc iphone pics

So far I'm loving the iphone not so much for the phone, but for the camera. It's great to be able to shoot and email photos instantly. Hopefully video is not far behind.

NYC

Just got back from New York -- 3 days of subways, walking, and meetings with Art Buyers. It was a lot of fun, although it felt weird to be looking for work when the economic meltdown is on people's minds.

People seemed to like the new book edit, and they also liked the China / Blurb book. I think I'm sold on using Blurb, or something like it, to present a separate body of work.
The print quality and color is ok, but with one round of proofing, should be easy to correct.

Really enjoyed meeting Amber Terranova at PDN, who just moved to NY from the Photo Department at Outside in Santa Fe, and also worked at Review Santa Fe. Another thing that I am hoping to check out.

more stuff for the book

I am scrambling to get my new book edit done before I head to New York on Sunday for a bunch of meetings. Keeping my fingers crossed that fedex delivers things on time this week. Also keeping my fingers crossed that the economy doesn't implode.

More pics from the new book that I am fired up about:

Kevin Van Aelst -- Still Life done right

So I've been following this guy's work in the NYT Magazine. I love his approach to putting elements together in clever, conceptual ways. No fancy lighting or crazy styling. Just good ideas. Even his website is no frills. What's up with the rust brown background?

Clearly he is a fan of this guy. (I am too)

Still Chained to my Mac

Yup, I'm still sitting here staring into my monitor. I was up until 3am working on the China Book, and I think it's going to be pretty cool, assuming the print quality at Blurb is ok.

Also spent a lot of time working on about 15 new images to drop in my regular book before heading to New York on the 20th. It's good to see that some of the work going in my book is stuff I shot for jobs. A few that I am really liking:

Personal work from the Sunset project (Irving St.):

From a shoot for Corbis, with AD Peter Schnaitmann:

Parkour for Outside Magazine:
And my new favorite shot of all time, freshly retouched. From a job for Sony / Deutsch:

Chained to my Mac

I'm coming off 8 days of work. Highlights include: Shooting at Google with Peter Birch of Google Maps, 2 days of street shooting in SF for Sony PSP, Espresso from Bob's fancy new machine at Oliveto, and wasting Rob Prideaux at indoor Kart Racing in San Bruno.

But the fun is over and I am now under a massive pile of digital work. I'm also updating my book, making a new one on Blurb with work from China, and hanging a show in 2 weeks.

Needless to say I am on lockdown in front of my computer for a while. This is the part I don't like. I already feel like one of those little old hunched over ladies from Chinatown.

On another note I just got a new typewriter. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it. But it's from 1940 and it's awesome. No plugs or wires, just a beautifully made machine that works. No correction ribbon or anything. If you fuck up, you start over. I love it. Maybe more than the mystery photo.

Why am I totally obsessed with this picture?

I shot this image last weekend and I can't stop thinking about it. I am totally in love with it and I have no idea why. The light is interesting, but nothing out of the ordinary. It's a pretty typical street corner and there's nothing special going on. I haven't even retouched it and I already love it so much I might not even do anything to it, just leave it as a crappy jpeg.

What is it about this picture that has me so obsessed? I have absolutely no idea.

Maybe because it feels so real, or something about the colors, or the shapes, or that thousands of people have walked by this place, and chances are that no one has ever taken a photo of it?