Last Photo of the Year 2011

Christmas Day 2011

The beach is beautiful. The weather magnificent with views throughout the basin. Friends abound. It is good to be home today with the way - and weather - in which we Southern Californians understand the holiday.

The Happiest of Holidays

Thanksgiving Day 2011

Our plans turned around on Thanksgiving Eve and we were unable to join family out of town today. Disappointed not to be with others, yet it was a stunning day in Los Angeles and we drove up the coast for, what else does a Californian do when the weather turns magnificent? And magnificent it is in the Southern California fall: no fog, no rain, the ocean and the mountains reach for forever.

With dog and husband, we drove for 120 miles from the Santa Monica beach up through Oxnard. Not that far. There and back. But what a range: from black lava rocks at the beach below Pt. Mugu; to the end of the '50s/'40s? Wagon Wheel Restaurant & Hotel, the old road tourism passed by and forgotten by concrete freeways and finally demolished to make way for condos; to the Missile Park by the Pt. Mugu Naval Air Station - a somewhat surreal reminder on this American holiday of that which we wish to forget - the air power and missiles of our defensive world - standing stationary and silent.

In the end, a day perhaps not of family but certainly one of thought. An American road trip of sorts.

Community/Halloween

8:08 on Halloween by the beach in Los Angeles. Weather probably in the 70s and free of the now seemingly omnipresnt fog. Three cats and two dogs closed in upstairs. Gates open. Pumpkin carved and lit. Luminarias with votive candles, lights framing the walkway, scary toys and candy in place since 5pm. Ridiculous headbands set on head and lipstick polkadots around the face.

Yet so few trick-or-treaters.

Dark houses all around.

Halloween has become disappointing for those of us without the young kiddies in our nest. Even more so since parents now take their children elsewhere, in search of the greatest gain or the greatest entertainment. Behind our gates we may exist but on Halloween the portals open up to ghosts, scary beasts, cinderellas, pirates, Frodos, lions and tigers and beasts, oh my, on All Hallow's Eve. But what is the use of the open gate if none cross through?

What those who take their children elsewhere do not realize: the treasure hunt for the "best" can too quickly turn into loss. When Halloween becomes a time of acquisition - the greatest amount of candy - but not of neighborhood connection, it becomes just another event. Connection in a block is about character. About individuals who chose to live in the next apartment, in the next home, in the next block. It is about getting along with/getting to know those around you. Asking something from them - the candy - but also giving of oneself - the pleasure an older neighbor takes in the costumes and enthusiasm of children grabbing those handfuls and handfuls of sweets. It is a moment to visit, albeit oh so quickly, and to admire and talk.

And for the neighbors who avoid the holiday: their loss as well. Their aging or avoidance should not exclude their interest in the newcomers. Halloween is one of the few times that we all can come together in a ostensibly non-religious, non-political, just "neighborly" event.

At the turn of this century when working on my book for teens on civic activism, I was equally enchanted and dismayed by Robert Putnam's book, BOWLING ALONE, where he comments on the decline of social intercourse and that the opportunity for communication with our fellow societal participants in this great scheme of life was waning. The more we converse and associate only with "like" fellows, Putnam says, the less we understand the greater scheme.

When neighbors choose not to participate in the one communal holiday of the year; when parents take our children where they can find the greatest material gain or for "safety" even when children have been scaring each other and themselves down the neighborhood streets for generations, we all lose. For real gain is best measured in meeting their neighbors and interacting with each other.

This is community - for the good and occasionally for not - but this is what holds us together and helps us understand how to go forward with a diverse population. Today with protestors down at your neighborhood OWS, with educators, family and friends wondering what has happened to our American society where we cannot seem to find a common ground that works for specific solution notwithstanding the grander ideological differences, and with generations lost in a world narrowing each day as others categorize our "likes" and preferences, community becomes all the more precious. Halloween, candy, scary cats aside, somehow seems like a good idea in so many ways these days.

A Photo Book: The raison d'etre and then, what it is...

For quite some time now I've been thinking about a little essay on the purpose of a photo book and how one chooses the book to be.

I am a published author, primarily in children's illustrated books although I also have a critically reviewed non-fiction book for youth. I am also an exhibiting fine art photographer.

My three books for youth - not photographic - were published by well-known major trade publishers.
I have two photographic magazines self-published in a POD format via the magcloud HP printer interface.
I have one self-published exhibition catalog published as well POD in a softcover format, limited to the work in my first solo photographic exhibition.

and the issue of a book, or no, recently came up in connection with my first solo show of my long term project photographing in the Chinatowns of the US & Canada. My gallery preferred that I have a book out to accompany the show. A writer first before a serious career in photography (although I have always photographed), every photo project I've done has always been intended by me to have a complementary publication attached to it. It is the way I think and the way I work, for arranging a group of prints first into a portfolio, then into exhibition on walls and then into a thematic publication is part of my entire reflective process and feed the work even as I go about the photography.

I am on a variety of photographic lists but the most comprehensive one these days is the Flak Photo Book discussion, a closed list on facebook (you will have to ask to be invited on) filled with some of the smarter minds out there among photographers today. And so today, a link to one of the main questions about photo books was posted: Why Does Everyone Think They Need a Photo Book? http://www.aphotoeditor.com/2011/10/11/why-does-everyone-think-they-need-a-photo-book/

It does seem time to post my small thoughts, some of which are already on this blog, covering primarily the need for photographers to edit their work. I say this because for me, putting my photographic work into a cohesive narrative (a literary term in truth) is the best way in which I can challenge myself to focus on a story, abstract or NON-narrative that it may be. A publication is one of the best formats for this, even if never seen, for narrative requires a dramatic flow, an introduction, a continuing passage and an end. Just like an essay or novel. It requires a completion.

So when one wants to "publish," the first question arises: is the work complete enough for publication?

In my case, not all of it is "finished," BUT there may be a portion, in the manner I am doing with my "issues" for my Detroit project, seasonal, that there are completion of verious moments of my journey. For this project, I publish primarily for myself on the magcloud magazine format so that, by putting down my thoughts, inspired by my photos, I can see where I am at and where I may be going. A photographer and often a writer has to just start, often without clearly defined goals, so creating a document - with or without words - can be an incredible aid to the process of projecg definition. It can also serve as a powerful self-promo.

Downtown Sunset and all the art.

Amazing light while driving Downtown after an unexpected short rainstorm to a number of Art Events including the VIP openings of ArtPlatform, a new contemporary art fair in Los Angeles, Pulse (which I never made but will this weekend for it is the introduction of PULSE New York/Miami into LA), and MOCA's opening of a serious new exhibition, UNDER THE BLACK SUN, all about political art practice in California from 1974 & 1980



Some quick pics of downtown Los Angeles and from the art fairs. With all the imagery surrounding, it was perfect that LA itself shone. We saw the sunset waning but pics of last night are all around the web, a lot on FB, for all of us LA are captivated by that incredible moment when the city is washed clean, the marine layer lifts and the mountains themselves are spotlit. Brings us all to the moment we or our parents fell in love with this perfect geographic space to be.

From the car (for it IS LA and isn't that where we view almost everything?):



From the art fairs:

It keeps getting better!

On Friday, my gallerist Craig Krull called to say that Peter Frank, an art critic & curator whose words and views I so respect, had written a review of my just closed show FINDING CHINATOWN in the October issue of Fabrik Magazine. (pg. 54).

So honored! Also delighted that Peter really seemed to have "gotten" what the work is about.

At ArtPlatform last night (next post), I walked around after gathering approx. 10 copies of Fabrik.

International Photography Awards

I just discovered today that I received TWO honorable mentions in the IPA International Photography Awards! Both were for my 747 WING HOUSE submissions in the "PRO" categories: Architectural/Buildings & Architectural/Other.

Since thousands submit to these awards, including many well known photographers, being among the few "honorable mentions' is itself such an honor.

747 Wing House

The summer has been spent so involved with preparation for the FINDING CHINATOWN exhibition, still up at Craig Krull Gallery, and meeting several other project deadlines that continuing the photography at the 747 WING HOUSE has been put aside as the owner slowly decorates, the landscape continues to change and grow. However, I was fortunate to spend an overnight there, the first of several I hope for the opportunity to watch the light within and without the house as the interaction of the windows' transparency, the glimmer from the wings and the added interior color will instantly highlight an image only a moment past still unseen, and then it will change.

It was also an opportunity to catch those first and last moments of the day reflected in this most striking subject.

It is a new type of photography for me and some experiments worked. Some did not. I'll be reviewing what I've shot for a while but here are the first two. At a black mountain midnight, out in the landscape with a waning but bright moon casting ambient light that the camera picks up even if I do not, the coyote packs howling and moving through the canyons, it was magic.

Above: in the first light of day.
Below: the last.

FINDING CHINATOWN reviewed in LA TImes!

And with almost one 1/2 page in the print edition!

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/culturemonster/2011/08/art-review-sara-jane-boyers-at-craig-krull-gallery.html

and a "Critics' Pick" later in the month!

GRIDLOCK

Capturing the message....and the sound, from the New York Times today, Thursday 11 August..
https://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/11/arts/music/when-gridlock-is-music-the-streets-provide-a-serenade.html?_r=1&ref=music

The Art of Summer /The Contrapuntal Sounds of Gridlock

I know those sounds too well from my multi-year photographic study on Gridlock

FINDING CHINATOWN, Opened At Craig Krull Gallery

With three blogs, I always have to figure out where to place news....

That said, the fact that the opening of my first solo show of my decade-long photographic project, FINDING CHINATOWN, was absolutely packed is worth placing on all three! More on my FINDING CHINATOWN Blog.

Kite Day with Tyrus

Beautiful day at the beach with Tyrus Wong and his family and friends.

Tyrus brought out his swallow kites, one of his earliest: "35 years old," he says, from his kite-making 40 years. "When I flew it, I had approximately 25 swallows up in the air." The hand painting of the swallows, the claws still beautifully depicted on the body, possibly with felt-tipped pens, take the appearance of a lovely watercolor. On each swallow, Tryus' name and phone number, probably if the kite ever broke away.


While I was there, the delicate nature and natural destruction of the bamboo structure made the kites at first hard to fly. But after I left, I hear that they were up. Tyrus promises to bring 20 of them next time, August. I cannot wait.


Below, a centipede just about to lift off.

Lines at Bergamot for Chain Letter Exhibition

Arriving at 9am to check in at 10am, hard even then to find a parking space as Martin Cox, my sometime co-curator, and I stand at already the 109th in line of an expected 1,000+ for Doug Harvey and Christian Cummings' show, CHAIN LETTER. In the chain letter/email that I received, the show is "based on admiration," sent by a photographer friend who tells me to send it on to 10 additional friends, all of us who are willing to then bring an artwork on today, Friday 22 July, to the Shoshana Wayne Gallery for exhibition.

And so we did, taking it for what it is, a piece that will possibly piled upon for it is a large gallery but not for 1000+artists with, as we saw, a huge and immense and often VERY LARGE variety of work. Our work is flat, a photograph, "Here's looking at you."

Some pics from the art/social day as we stood.



Don't know if I will brave tomorrow night's opening....

YouTube

My first YouTube video: On the 405 on Carmageddon Weekend. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gc3Zg0cn9kA
Driving ALL ALONE through the Sepulveda Pass.

Watch for louder noise as I lift the little Leica D-Lux5 out of the open sunroof .... freeway wind noise is loud. It quickly leaves.

Carmageddon/FirstPicsSaturday

From the Sunset Boulevard Bridge looking North.
Home by 5:30 after being out and about in WLA since 1pm. No traffic. Not on Sunset Boulevard which is usually a nightmare as it narrows before the 405. Not on North Sepulveda, the main artery through the pass other than the 405, the one I am old enough to remember taking from the beach to the ever-so-distant San Fernando Valley before there was a 405.

I was racing up (but not too fast. There are HUNDREDS of police and CHP out there!) Sepulveda because of a kind offer from Officers Karen Fowler (sp?) & Sara Faden of the Media Relations Section of LAPD who invited me to join the 1:30pm "Media Walk" on the 405, right south of the Mulholland Bridge. And there at 1:30 I was, walking down the exit ramp North of the Skirball Bridge, onto the north side of the 405. First pics downloaded here, including some on the south side of the 405 (I sneaked over).






For someone who has spent her life since age one in LA, this was like being in a candy store. I photographed and photographed with both my larger Canon as well as my trusty Leica D-Lux5, the camera I've been using throughout the Gridlock series.

And then, what I did not realize: the public could still enter the southbound side of the freeway from the Skirball Bridge and enter I did to find myself alone on this immense landscape of yellow and white stripes. I resisted the urge to weave but was in this state of heightened awareness as I rolled along the vacant concrete both north and south; the hewn mountains that formed both the natural and the later widened Sepulveda Pass; and me.



Alone I remained until Sunset Boulevard when a second car entered and with only one more addition around Wilshire Boulevard, we danced the freeways until south of the E/W 10. I was in an adrenaline rush.



Above: first pics from my walk on the freeway and a moment on the Sunset Boulevard Bridge, also in transition/widening. More to come. Still downloading.

GRIDLOCK

CARMAGEDDON/LA 405 is upon us. The freeway, a major N/S route through the Los Angeles basin is closed for the weekend to provide for the demolition of one side of a major bridge, the same closure to be repeated in six months for the demolition of the other side. All to improve traffic flow in my city.... or so they say.

I will be out photographing on the 405 today/tomorrow in connection with my long-term project, GRIDLOCK, a project that is very much about being a Californian, about being in a car, about being stuck in traffic. It was first exhibited in 2010 MOPLA Pro'ject LA 160 Photographers Photograph Los Angeles.

From my website: "I am photographing from my driver's window, mainly with my viewfinder-less Leica D-Lux3/now D-Lux5. Stopped. Crawling. Trapped. Riding on the clutch as I stay in 1st should the flow move on. Immobile in a place of presumed mobility. Hoping to catch that elusive abstraction even while those behind me glower and gently nudge my car along."

Due to a knee injury last summer I recently had to abandon my 5-speed standard shift car and in so doing, although I have continued the series, a major element of the chance and risk of the project has lessened and it feels like the project may be coming to an end. So.... I have decided that Carmageddon seems like a good time, the possible ultimate GRIDLOCK.

Thus today and/or Sunday, I plan to try to be somewhere in my car on the freeways or highways, probably on the 405 south of the 10, to experience and document what is happening in the same manner as I have conducted the series. Again, it is always about chance and as is seen so far, it could be a Y2K bust or, I may never get off.

So far, traffic seems to be light but I'll see firsthand in a couple of hours. http://www.405la.com


I will post some photographs during the weekend!

FINDING CHINATOWN: The Exhibition Catalogue

It's out and available at Craig Krull Gallery, even before the show (Opening Saturday July 30th)!
info@craigkrullgallery.com

See more at FINDING CHINATOWN blog.

On Photography Projects & Books

photo from Schilt Publishing Catalogue 2011
I picked this up on the FB Flak Photography Book page. I had met Donald Weber at a FotoFest review and have been a fan of his work. That said, his clarity about his intentions and the actual process of creation of his new book/project INTERROGATIONS on the linked interview from dvafoto and his book website http://interrogationbook.com/ is instructive.

I've written about editing before. As a writer and photographer I, like Donald, understand the symbiotic nature of both, even when a book is not the ultimate goal.

747 WingHouse on the Architect's Newspaper Blog

Featured by Sam Lubell in their "Sneak Peek" last week: some of my photographs from the Wing House. It's getting there!

747 House Sneak Peek
http://blog.archpaper.com/wordpress/archives/18210#more-18210

Here are several new ones that I really like as well: