Bruce Manor/ She Bears

I'm just going to keep posting details from my magazine project. It deals with the lifestyle of young artists in Athens. I was inspired by The Fader, but feel like there are so many towns filled with a great arts and music culture that they all deserve their own space. So this is going to be my take on Athens. There are far too many artists and musicians to cover so I'm being a little selective, but also trying to cover the broad spectrum. Artists are wonderfully welcoming and eager to talk about what they do, so this is a nice break from running around trying to get access, granted I am still running around trying to meet up with everyone. Here are two shots from Bruce Manor, a great house filled with musicality from basement to roof. I'm going to spend some time there in the next 10 days trying to show what it really is to be a musician.

Draped With Beauty

Sometimes the places people live represent them almost too well. This is an artist's home whom I talked to and photographed this afternoon. It was beautifully filled with things created, lost and found again. Portraits of where we live are just as telling and important as a portrait of the people who live there.

What Was That Noise?

I had the great pleasure of spending the evening with a local noise artist. I would call him great, but I'm really not sure what constitutes a truly great noise group, so I don't want to miss label him. He is on the one hand very knowledgeable of noise and abstract musical genres, so I it would safe to call him good at what he does. Here are a couple little details from around his house.

Reflection

It's been a while since I've felt like I have anything worth writing on my blog, but as I sit on the cusp of what might be the hardest 10 days of my life (my Vico 587 magazine shoot) I decided to do a little retrospective on myself and my photography. I've spent the better part of my night (and what soon became morning) going through the last few years of my blog. While this may have begun as a way to avoid writing a film shot analysis, it soon turned into a lovely experience of watching my own stop motion film of my life. Ever the pessimist on my own work, I try to always look at my photography for what it isn't; the mistakes I've made, the moments I've missed, the time I've wasted worrying about getting rejected instead of plowing ahead and fearing that I have. . . dare I say it. . . wasted too time with friends and loved ones rather than making frames of other, more important things. Going through my blog has, in no way, given me confidence that I am a great shooter i.e. an ego. That is one thing that I feel has no place in photography. Humility has always been the highest virtue a photographer can have, in my mind. So while this personal reflection has in no way given me a big head, it has made me feel as though I may have accomplished some small feat, if that feat is to have only made a great attempt at providing myself record of wonderful memories and set in stone/html that I have been to beautiful places, seen great events unfold, and met wonder people. I will have stories to show my children and constant reminders to myself as my mind grows too old to house them all. Realizing that I have only kept a blog for about two years, I'm wondering what the next years will bring.

I suggest all you in the blog world/photo world take a little time to take step back (on your own work of course). Learn who you are, how far you have come, and prepare for what might come next. Shoot everything in your life as if it were anything else. In a few years when you look back and find the people and places you all but forgot about, you will thank yourself.

As always this is a photo blog so I will post a photo. I can't count how many frames have been fired by my bony hips as I walk from here to there. Blurry photos of the ground have taken refuge in many of my folders, and I think that I will start to save them from now on as little reminders of where I've been... or as nothing more than reminders of the shoe trends in years gone by. Here's one from tonight.

Fathers' Weekend

I came across this accident while walking up Court Street on Saturday night. I heard his head hit the ground from about 30 feet away, luckily the police were at the next bar over and came in a couple of seconds. When I told the kid carrying the man that the police were going to be there in a few seconds and everything was going to be alright he responded, "Ah shit that's the last thing I want right now." As he patted the man's daughter on the back as she cried hysterically, I guess he was pretty pissed about not getting to make it to Goodfella's pizza.

When Will It Be Spring Again?

Winter Walks Home

I am alive, and I swear that I still take photos of things besides grocery store shelves and houses I pass by on my walks home after class. My lovely, talented, and musically in-tune girlfriend Erica turned me onto one of her favorite bands The Jesus and Mary Chain recently and it struck me as very fitting as I leisurely strolled through the side streets of Athens on this classic winter day. It may have been the combination of my corduroy blazer with the 80's-esque tunes in my ears, but I felt a little like John Cusack. And then I found five dollars.

Welcome Back

This is a certain unnamed superstore the night before classes began. I guess wheat bread is the new thing.

Moon Over My Athens

The hordes of Ugg boot bopping, North Face flaunting, pajama pants patrolling, Natty nymphos are back in town. I'm glad I took a few quiet steps and filled my lungs with the bitter cold and calming air of empty Athens while I still had the chance.

A Belated Ho Ho Ho

Better late than never. This is how I spent Christmas.