RIP Irving Penn, I’m a fatass, and I need to get better at this…

Ok, so far I have been unable to maintain anything resembling consistency as far as blog posting goes, but hopefully this one changes the game for me.

People keep telling me that my blog has to be a photo blog because I’m a photographer.  I’m going to go with no on that one.  This blog will be about whatever it is that interests me at a given moment.  Granted that will usually be photography and so I will be posting a bunch of images…but sometimes it will just be my thoughts.  I hope that’s ok with you, but since it’s my blog I also don’t give a damn!

Ok, so first and foremost I must send out my condolences to the Penn family as photography lost another legend yesterday, Mr. Irving Penn.  A tremendous fashion and portrait photographer, Mr. Penn influenced thousands of photographers, and he will be missed for sure.  Read more about him here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irving_Penn

Finally, I was out in Omaha a couple weekends back for the dedication of my father’s final project.  It was a bit of an emotional time, as well as a time of significant self-discovery.  I’ll be posting more about that later, but one thing I realized is that I no longer fit comfortably in my favorite suit.  Embarrassing to say the least, but more like soul crushing if you want to be honest.  You see, I’ve been on a gradual gain around the midsection for quite some time, and I’ve been too lazy, distracted, or both to do anything about it.  Well, I love that damn suit, so I went to the Doctor and asked what to do to lose weight.  I know, I know…it should be simple right?  Just eat good shit, exercise, and bam!  Yeah, but I truly had no concept of how to eat right, outside of knowing that a diet straight out of Supersize Me (Great flick by the way) was not going to cut it.  So doc put me on th South Beach Diet.  I’ve been on it about a week now and have dropped 6 or 7 pounds.  It also is supposed to be one of the few diets that is truly heart healthy, so I recommend it.  For my fellow fatasses go here:

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/South-Beach-Diet/Arthur-Agatston/e/9780312315214/?itm=2&USRI=south+beach+diet

Of course you can find it anywhere, but for those lazy enough to just want to click I figured I would pass it along.

Alright, I need to go edit some images so that I can post to this non-photo photo blog!

Best,

wrr

So what next?

My documentary on Nathan Huf and his family was my first real body of work.  Now that I’ve finished it I’m left wondering…what next?

Obviously the first thing to do is try and get as many people to see the work as possible.  The entire point, in my mind, of doing this type of work is to give a voice to those that have none.  That said, if their voice isn’t heard by anyone what’s the point?  With that in mind I will start submitting the Nathan work to museums, galleries, and online venues.  I am also working on a  book and exhibitions, which will hopefully all work out.  I’m not convinced that traditional print outlets have much value anymore in this regard, and certainly won’t for much longer if they do, although I may still pitch it to one or two.  Besides, I’m not a photojournalist.  I am a documentary photographer with a fine art twist.  One thing I learned from Alec Soth was that you have to be honest with yourself about who you are and what kind of work you do.  I have no desire to bounce from story to story, showing the world what is happening at every given second.  I prefer, in fact, need, to work on projects over a long period of time. Part of the reason for this is I am not typically attracted to “hot” news stories, or those that are considered breaking news for CNN or whoever.  Rather, I prefer to find my stories after the journalists have left and start digging into the why of the story, as well as show how people continue to deal with life’s problems after the newsworthiness has gone.  Don’t get me wrong, I totally respect those who do this type of work, I just realized a long time ago it wasn’t how I could work.  So I’ll let the news guys do what they do and I’ll do what I do…world’s big enough for both of us!

The entire point is simply to expose as many people as possible to Nathan, his family, and their situation.  My hope is that someone will see it and possibly want to help them out.  Caring for Nathan is a 24 hour a day job that has extreme costs involved, and they must do so largely on one below average salary.  Anyone who doesn’t believe in universal health care ought to have a conversation with the Huf’s and have a look at the stack, yes, stack, of rejection letters for coverage from various agencies.

This desire stems from why I became a documentary photographer in the first place.  After having tried to be Ansel Adams for a few months and taken more than a few crappy pictures of trees, a friend (James Koo to be exact) showed me Paul Fusco’s “Chernobyl Legacy” and I knew immediately what I needed to do with my life.  If you haven’t seen it, grab some Kleenex and check it out:

http://inmotion.magnumphotos.com/essay/chernobyl

I was moved so powerfully by this essay that I decided that if I could make even one person feel the way that essay made me feel, then I will have been a success.   So my hope is that someone will see it, be moved, and take some sort of action to help.  Naive?  Probably, but I’ve always felt that if man were exposed to the struggles of his fellow person, then he would do something to help.  If this happens even once in my life because of something I’ve done I can be happy…but I’m hoping for more than once right?!?!?

Which leads me to the other “what next?”, the “What project is next?”.  This is the tougher what next in my mind.  Anyone in any creative field has to go through a process of finding their next piece of work, and I think the beginning of that process is the most challenging aspect of being an artist, or a creative, or whatever.  You’re not certain what to do, and you have to ignore the desire to compare it to the last project (which is silly after all since you haven’t even started the new one!).  For me, I think it’s important that I not try to force anything.  I need to make sure my mind is open, and that I’m listening to what the world wants to tell me.  I make lists of things that interest me, chew on them for a bit, and if something ends up stirring my soul…I go shoot it.  Then hopefully it continues on and develops into a workable documentary.  If not I go back to my list!  The most important part for me on any given project is it has to stir my soul and inspire my curiosity.  Without that it’s rare that I can do more than a half-ass job, and I owe it to the people who let me into their lives to give them everything I have.  I’m working on a few things right now, and if any of them develop into something serious ‘ll be sure to let you guys know!

In the meantime, I think I’ll start doing some kind of picture of the day or week type thing.  Keep me shooting, and more importantly EDITING, you know?  Also, I’ve been doing a photographer of the week type thing on my twitter.  For those of you who missed the first three, they are Shiho Fukada, Dorothy Hong, and Matt Lutton.  I’m trying not to focus on people you may have heard of and rather show you those up and coming talents that I truly believe you WILL hear about soon.  These three are incredibly talented individuals who make amazing images.  Enjoy!  Ah, and here’s that pictur eof the day/week/whenever…

Jason

Best,

wrr

Anne Tucker is awesome and so are you!

So some of you already know this and some do not.  This week I dropped off prints to the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston for their permanent collection!  This was the first time I had shown my images with any hope of a sale and it just  happened to be to legendary curator Anne Tucker!  Those of you who know me know that quiet is not a word associated with me, but when she said she wanted to buy some of my prints I almost passed out!  Seriously, I do not know that I have ever been so excited.  To me it is the most amazing feeling that someone else appreciates your work, and I honestly don’t think I will ever grow tired of it(If I do I need to hang up my lenses).   I honestly make my images to express something going on within me, and to have it resonate, even a little, with another person is just plain incredible.

More importantly, a major part of my mission as a photographer is to give a voice to people who do not have one in this world.  It is mind-blowing to me that some of those who have let me into their lives will have their story told again and again, long after I am gone.  I think it is an important first step in getting their voices heard.  People make change slowly, and I think that it is important that images remain in society for as long as possible in order to continue to remind people where we came from and where we need to go.

To those of you who don’t know Anne Tucker, allow me to enlighten you as to her awesomeness.  Anne has worked for the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston since 1976 and is pretty much single-handedly responsible acquiring their now prestigious collection.  When she arrived there were few images in the collection, and she has overseen its growth to now possessing over 24,000 images (as of 2008).  It is a collection that rivals any in the world, and has earned her the distinction of being one of the most respected curators in the world.  Personally, I would have to throw her name in there with John Szarkowski, Nathan Lyons, and Beaumont Newhall (All of whom she studied under interestingly enough) as one of the best curators ever.  Seriously.   She’s just that good.

I had the unique pleasure of interviewing Ms. Tucker last December.  An amazingly kind person, she allowed what was to be a 20 minute interview surpass 2 hours!  During that time I was in constant awe of the knowledge she possesses.  If there is a photographer out there who has taken a picture worth talking about, she knows the image, and probably the photographer.  She is also largely responsible for bringing Japanese photography to American eyes, having penned the incredibly thorough, and quite massive, History of Japanese Photography, as well as curated its exhibition.  She is about to do the same for Korean photography with her upcoming exhibition and accompanying book, Chaotic Harmony: Contemporary Korean Photography.  For more info., check out the MFAH site:

http://www.mfah.org/exhibition.asp?par1=1&par2=1&par3=610&par4=1&par5=1&par6=1&par7=&lgc=4&eid=&currentPage=

Her contributions to the field of photography are seemingly limitless, and for her efforts she has been awarded a laundry list of achievements and awards that this poor blog couldn’t begin to list.  If this was your introduction to her and her work, then I would highly recommend googling her name and spending a few minutes looking at her career.  I obviously have a tremendous amount of respect for the work she has done, and hope she doesn’t stop anytime soon!

I’d also recommend making the trip to Houston to have a look at the Korean exhibition.  To my knowledge it is the first time a major show has been done on contemporary Korean photography (although I may be wrong here), and I’m sure it will be amazing.

wrr

Alec Soth is a ninja…

So for those who don’t live in Austin (or those that do but didn’t go), Alec Soth is a certifiable badass. In fact he may very well be the Dean of Photographic Badassery. He dropped in on our little city for a presentation of his work and book signing as part of the ACP’s (www.visitACP.org) Icons of Photography series.

Thanks to the big man himself (Eli Reed, another of Magnum’s ninjas), I got to sit down with Alec and hang out for a few hours. We met up yesterday morning and spent the next three hours talking photography, its future, our futures, and so on and so forth. And then we shopped for boots…yeah…boots. I can say without hesitation that this man is two things: an amazing mind as it relates to photography (and most likely other things, but we talked shop) and a phenomenal person. Seriously, he’s just a great guy, and it truly was a pleasure to get to know him. His wife Rachael is also an amazing person, and I was happy she chose this time to come with Alec as she apparently doesn’t travel with him often.

I am most grateful to him because during the course of our conversation I was able to resolve a number of the issues that I had been struggling with, and was able to clarify my own direction, both with regards to my existing work and the direction I plan on following. Apparently only 2 people actually read this, but if Alec ends up seeing it somehow, thanks a ton man.

The evening came and it was presentation time. If he ever comes to a city you’re near, go see him. Most photographers simply put up their work and ramble on about I was here taking a picture of this. Alec actually went into the process of how he develops projects, what he’s thinking and trying to accomplish, and it was a rare and intimate insight into one of the great young photographers of our time.

Someone reading this please explain how to post images within the text of the blog? I upload them into blogger and it puts all the pics at the top (a la the Soth pic above), and it looks whack. I took a bunch of photos but having them randomly scattered at the top of the page isn’t cutting it for me…

Ok…enough for now. Go see Alec if he comes through your town. Maybe next time I’ll actually post pretty well composed pictures…but don’t hold your breath!

Best,

wrr

Gettin’ my blog on…

Ok ok ok….So I’m late to the blog game…but at least I made it here! As a photographer I have a feeling precious few of my posts will actually have words on them, and will instead rely on my images. That said, this first post will be completely devoid of images, and rather will deal with my current thoughts on photography…

Actually, it will deal more with my recent struggles with photography. I am in the midst of a crisis so to speak as to what kind of photographer I want to be. Documentary photography was where I initially started, and continued until last year where I started exploring the dreaded world of commercial and fashion photography. Truth is, I love all aspects of photography and the idea of labeling myself as this or that was disturbing to me. I’ve always believed that the only limits we have are those that we impose on ourselves.

While the fashion and commercial exploration has been an exercise in creativity and has been fun, it has taken me a bit away from my true passion, which is indeed the documentary work. The past several months I have struggled with this as all of us in the realm of documentary and/or photojournalism know that it pays less than nothing. As I enjoy things like food and shelter this was a concern to me and perhaps pushed me more towards commercial work…which pays obnoxiously high. Then I read a book, “It’s Not What You Sell, It’s What You Stand For” by Roy Spence (of GSD&M for my ad people). By the middle of the first chapter I knew I was doing things wrong. Roy espouses the idea that all great and successful businesses are founded on a purpose…and it is a purpose higher than money.

This woke me up and made me realize that everything I had ever done and succeeded at was based on purpose, not money. When I was a teenager my best friend and I started a company that peer educated teens about HIV/AIDS, STD’s, teen pregnancy, and other teen issues. When I started as a sports agent it wasn’t about money either, I simply didn’t want my (then) girlfriend to be treated poorly, and I felt that most agents at that time couldn’t care less about their clients best interests. The more successes I looked at in my life, the more I saw that they were all based on having some purpose I was passionate about…

So I looked at my photography and realized that quite clearly my best work is the Nathan project, and the work I am most passionate about is the documentary work I am just now starting. So I took Roy’s advice and wrote a purpose. My purpose as a photographer is “To photograph the best and worst our world has to offer with the belief that man will strive to achieve the best and take action to correct the worst.” As naive as it may sound, I honestly believe this.

So now I have a purpose! Trouble is there still isn’t a viable way of supporting this work at this time. The good news is, every moment in history that has seent his much turmoil (as is currently seen in the journalism industry) has been the most rife with opportunity. So I plan on spending the entirety of this summer looking at the broken business model photojournalists are forced to work within and see where it needs to be fixed, and whether or not it needs to be scrapped entirely for something new. I would encourage my fellow light chasers to let me know their thoughts…either here, via email, phone, smoke signal, whatever! I’m interested in paying my rent while I change the world, as I imagine many of you are!

That’s enough for post #1 I suppose. I sincerely hope some people check this out, and even more I hope that people exchange their thoughts with me. In the meantime, I am preparing to re-launch the website (http://www.wrrphoto.com). At the moment I just have some rough edits of the Nathan story up, but will be taking it down and putting new galleries up soon. Thoughts and comments are always appreciated!

Best,

wrr