My early years were documented with a Vivitar 110, a modest camera with built-in flash and stylish wrist-strap. Later, my dad gave me his father’s Nikon S-2, a 35mm rangefinder introduced in 1954 with a 50mm f/1.4 lens. With it, I calculated proper exposure without the aid of a light meter and did experiments with depth of field. 50mm lenses are great for portraits, and I found myself getting closer and closer to the subjects of my photographs. I’ve used a Kiev-made rangefinder in recent years for similar purposes.
Lately—well, for perhaps the past 7-8 years—I’ve been shooting with a twin lens reflex (TLR) camera made by Seagull. I take it with me nearly everywhere.
I use photography to document my life. As a result, the subject matter varies widely: from toddlers and grandparents to interiors and botanicals. I take advantage of available light in order to depict these subjects as I’ve found them, and aim to represent a moment, event, or place through multiple details (not unlike the Cubist’s notion of depicting multiple viewpoints to represent the subject in a greater context).
Rising 5,468′ (1,667 m) above sea level, the summit of Mount Helena overlooks the city of Helena 1,300′ below. Montana’s capital city was founded in 1864 after a discovery of gold in what was soon called Last Chance Gulch. By 1888, Helena had more millionaires per capita than any other city in the world.
Tags: Helena, Montana, Mount Helena
Photographs—featuring employees of Elixir Design—were taken at an industrial kitchen in Emeryville, California. The recipe (for Chewy Orange-Almond Cookies) was hand-drawn.
Tags: Elixir Design, Emeryville
Long life with blessings of family & friends is yours is the fourth entry to a recently initiated series on fortunes. Photographs were taken in Mammoth Lakes, California, in December 2008.
Tags: fortune
Also known as Canada Geese, members of the species Branta canadensis are known for their V-shaped flight formation and seasonal migrations (the honking of large flocks overhead marks the transition into spring and autumn in the Arctic and temperate North America). Once threatened by over-hunting and loss of habitat, the geese have proven remarkably adaptable to human-altered areas (e.g. golf courses, parks and beaches) and are now the most common waterfowl species in N.A.
Sing and rejoice, fortune is smiling on you is the third entry to a recently initiated series on fortunes. Photographs were taken in Golden Gate Park (San Francisco, California), in October 2009.
Tags: fortune
Everything will now come your way is the second entry to a recently initiated series on fortunes. Photographs were taken on Stinson Beach, California, in August 2009.
Tags: fortune
I’ve lived in the Richmond District for 12 years, not far from a section of Clement Street known as San Francisco’s “other Chinatown.” The location provides easy access to fortune cookies, often sold in quantities of 50-100. There has been little price inflation since I first started buying them for $0.99 a bag. Cheaper than chips, and with equal nutritional value (not much), these cookies have made a great accompaniment to many a lunch. The happy by-product of all this? I’m the luckiest guy around.
Photographs were taken at the Whitmore Pool, a public swimming facility fed by natural hot springs just south of Mammoth Lakes. The text, as I expect you’ve guessed, came from a fortune cookie.
Tags: fortune
This series of photographs was taken in Tuolumne Meadows, looking back at traffic on Tioga Road (aka Highway 120) which runs along it’s southern edge. The meadow is a well known feature of Yosemite National Park and the road is an undeniable feature of it, taking travelers up and over 3,031 m Tioga Pass when open in the summer months. Facebook’s photo tagging convention and the names of Facebook friends (through September 8, 2009) were hand-drawn.
I love Maurice Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are, and feel so fortunate to reexperience it with our boys; at ages 3 (“I’m 3-3/4!”) and 2 (“I’m 2-1/2!”), they can recite every line. The story is reenacted daily at our home, and it is not uncommon to hear a terrible roar, the gnashing of terrible teeth, or see the baring of terrible claws en route to the kitchen. As such, it is a great pleasure to contribute to Cory Godbey’s wonderful project Terrible Yellow Eyes, a collection of artwork inspired by the book. View as slideshow (below) or click here to view as a single composite image.
Tags: Cory Godbey, Maurice Sendak, Terrible Yellow Eyes, Where the Wild Things Are
