Santa Brings Some New Wheels...

So maybe not some new ones I can drive, but there's something really cool about hot wheels. I think it all goes back to being a kid faced with nothing but possibilities and the chance that one day you could actually drive the real deal. Plus cars are just cool, period.

Working in my studio today on some more serious and of course profound images, I needed a break and lo and behold sitting on my desk were a brand new '67 Camaro and '70 Challenger. So I took them out for a spin at one of my old spots...

Side Projects

Sometimes you need to work on a project just because it is fun. Most of my work has either a political or personal attachment to it. Even my illustrations are rooted in the history of American tattoo, Irish history or the art of photography. This one started out simple. Swimming with my dogs, tossing a tennis ball and taking pictures from under water. It is one of the most fun and freeing projects I have ever done. Perhaps it has something to do with the alien feel of the world obscured by the reflections, refractions, bubbles, ripples or truncated limbs of my dogs hanging in a blue limbo. Or it could just be that it is fun to swim with my dogs.

Sunset Hotel Fire

Back in 2002 a very shady hotel in a very shady part of San Berdu caught fire. Actually it caught fire a couple of times, but the last time when a cigarette met a trash can four people died. On top of that nineteen people were hospitalized, and everyone who lived there was left with out a place to live. Sure it wasn't the Ritz, and they weren't all what most would consider upstanding citizens, but they were people nonetheless. Most of them were a bit mental and needed medication to be some where near "normal".

I was working at The San Bernardino Sun at the time, and only for about four months into what would ultimately be five years when this happened. I didn't see the blaze as it happened, so I never actually made a photo of the hotel on fire, but this is how I imagined how it looked. I never went inside of the building either after the fire. One of the other photographers Gabe did go inside however, and he said it was not only visually horrible but smelled worse that you would expect. There was a mix of burnt flesh, burnt building materials, that nauseating scent of an extinguished fire and of course the overpowering smell of urine. I believe he even had to change his clothes after he left the scene due to the smells attaching themselves to his garments.

I was asked to go back the next night to get photos of some of the people who were now basically homeless. I was ready and prepared to face what Gabe had told me about. I have a strong stomach so it wasn't going to be a problem. When the reporter and I got to the hotel we were told that the one time residents were being put up in a near by hotel. One of the same caliber as this one, only not burnt down. I was a little relieved to not have to go inside of the building, I won't lie. We met with a man whose name I believe was Emil but I could be wrong. After hearing his story and how hard his life had been, and how much he depended on medication to control his schizophrenia I began to wish I could have just photographed the crime scene.

Before this more often than not I would drive by this area of town and think about how these people need to do something with their lives. I grew up in the same city and I managed to make something of myself. Why couldn't they? Well we aren't all the same. I didn't have schizophrenia, or wasn't addicted to meth, or wasn't abused by my parents or a whole slew of other things that many of these people had to deal with. They were people too, like me and that night I felt for them. In fact every time since when I drive by that area I still think of Emil and how he made me feel more for humanity that night in a dark, dingy seedy hotel in one of the worse parts of San Berdu.

Coffee and Light, Not Light Coffee

Sometimes in the afternoon you need a little coffee. Sometimes your kitchen counter can have good light. Actually, thinking back now I've made a lot of pictures on my counter. I'm sure Andy and Manny can remember the punk rock orange and the Homer Chia Head.

My Dogs Really Don't Like Batman...

A while back my dogs raided my book shelves and annihilated my copies of "Hush", a Batman mini-series. Mini, meaning a year long storyline. This was my favorite series done with the Dark Knight, mainly due to the artist Jim Lee. Well my beloved pups thought it would be more fun to cut the bat down. Over, and over and over again. Pretty much ripped all of them to shreds. I couldn't really be mad, I mean they're dogs come on they do shit like that. In turn what I saw were a bunch of clippings of violent actions both in comic story form and in a complete destructive manner. I gathered them all up and scanned or photographed these pieces of broken violent narratives.

Well it's funny how history repeats itself. I left out a few comic books of old to go through for some drawing inspiration, and the dogs struck again. So now it's back to not only re-contextualizing their destruction, but keeping the books out of reach.

Polaroid E81301

Found this picture in an antique store in Minden, NV. It cost me a cool 25 cents. Actually there was a stack of pictures of people posing with their new cars ranging anywhere from the 40's to the 70's. Being not only a photo nerd but a car nerd enthusiast as well, I don't know as much as I want or need to about cars yet to be anything more than just an enthusiast, I of course was nothing more than excited to buy as many of these as possible. Photos have a funny power that way. To some they are priceless and could never be gotten rid of. While others think nothing more of them and would sell a gem for a quarter. I guess the later is good for me seeing as how I only spent about 4 dollars that day, and got a bunch of gems.

Cliff Diving

Way back in around 1994, a life time ago I know, my brother-in-law took us to place up in Running Springs simply called "The Water Hole". To get to it we had to take a short hike through the forest. Once we got to where the water cut through the mountain we had another short hike down a rock face. Seriously not that extreme, no ropes or pulleys or anything of such, I mean some people did it in their flip-flops. My favorite part though was that first time we got there and Jeff walks to the edge of the cliff face and said, "There it is." My brother and I walked over and looked down. What we saw was this great stream with a pool large enough for us to swim in, a ton of plants and trees and of course cliffs for us to jump off of into the water. This place soon became our new favorite get away from the smog below. We brought friends, and our friends brought friends. It became a pretty regular spot for many years.

When I took my first photography class this was one of the first places I went to. I mean everyone has to get that slow shutter picture of running water right. But what has really stuck with me all these years was that first look down. It all just seemed so vast and full of potential. We all found out later that the locals referred to this spot as "Deep Creek." Which seemed to be a bit misleading because it wasn't really that deep. Every time we jumped in off the cliffs we would hit the sandy bottom. Not too mention that the actual area we had to jump into was surrounded by rocks and was maybe 10' x 10'. To this day though, we all still refer to it as simply "The Water Hole".

The Ramones Are Dead...

Now that I have had some time to kind of cool down from the Vans Warped Tour I photographed back on Aug 11, (both from the heat and the painful realization that this show ain't what it use to be) I can finally talk about it.

Joey Cape said it best, "The Ramones Are Dead". Well not completely in the physical sense Marky is still around, but as far as the old days of punk are considered this carton of eggs has expired. Sure some people will say that happened a long time ago, but i jumped on this ship back in the early ninties when Bad Religion and Pennywise where the captains. And yes both are still around. Bad Religion is putting out a new album and Pennywise has gone through a line up change, but still around.

I've been going to this circus called Warped since '96 or '97. I've been lucky enough to have photographed it since 2006. And I've seen the decline in not only the quality of bands but also the side shows and booths. I mean come on really? A tent promoting Hannah Montana? I almost vomited all over the hipster in cutoff neon green jeans and ripped up American Apparel t-shirt who was all of about 15 walking by me. I didn't mostly because i had a good breakfast and didn't want to waste it on someone who most likely didn't even know who The Casualties are.

It wasn't all bad. I did get to photograph The Casualties again, and at least one person besides me in the audience knew who they were. I consider that a win. Jello Biafra was there dong the Green Jello gig. After his first song he says the crowd, "Do any of you know who I am?" Most of the kids just laughed, signaling that no they did not. Both Jello and The Casualties where not on the Main Stage. Some how I thought this is important to point out.

Face to Face was my highlight of the day. They played a great set and was one of my most fun experiences photographing a band. It took me back to when my brothers and I saw them New Years Eve at SOMA in San Diego in '98 into '99. That was a great show and was a great thing to recapture. Given how unhappy I had been most of the day. Dropkick Murphys too was a really great set. I had a blast photographing for those first three songs. My favorite part with the Murphys was when Scruffy Wallace would drink his Miller High Life between and during songs. Very San Berdu. I think we connected.

My other main complaint was the level of disrespect that went on in the photo pit. I have never been around so many damn photographing assholes. Pushing, elbowing and even sticking their cameras right in your way. I know this is a common practise at many major news events. I've heard plenty of stories about that. But I have never had this problem before at any concert I have photographed. Good news for me though I'm not some poser there using an iphone, and I punch back. I also have really long monkey arms so when someone put there camera in front of mine, I turned and looked at them as I reach my camera out futher. They moved away. Good choice. Oh and the fat guy who not only tried to push me around but also did the same to my wife, I hope his ribs have healed up by now. Well not really but he got the point to, and by point I mean my elbows are pretty hard.

So to wrap up not enough good bands, too many hipsters, asshole photogs oh and The Ramones Are Dead...

Photo-No-Shop 7.0

Real quick, maybe.
Funny how you can shoot just about any type of film, in any type of camera and still most likely be able to develop the negatives. Doesn't matter if your film is old, or your camera for that matter either. But in this wonderful thing called the digital age we must keep updating or buying new programs to be able to keep working.

I recently went to Las Vegas with my wife, and took a digital camera. When I got back to edit I had to use our laptop which only has good old Photoshop 7.0 on it. Well this version, at least mine, doesn't read raw files. So just cause the camera says you have pictures doesn't mean your computer will. Could you imagine if you loaded up a canister to do some devo and it said, "Sorry your film is not compatible with this chemistry." Now that would be really weird...

Digital Grab Bag

I was going through some folders looking for some images when I found a folder that had a real generic name, and each folder inside was labeled with only camera info. So seeing as how I had no idea as to what was inside each folder I thought I'd play a little game with myself and see if I could identify what and when was in these folders by opening just one from each at random. Kind of like Russian Roulette but way more safe. And Clean.

The first one I opened was the blurry picture and immediately I thought, "Ah crap, what the hell is this?" I managed to piece it together when I opened the second one of my wife and I at the gas station. The first one is at the horse show grounds in Laughlin. What or why it was shot, no idea but that's the game. Now the second one is interesting cause I coud tell right away that is was over two years ago because my arms are so damn white. Not a whole lot of good looking tattoos on them like now.

The third one is pretty easy, my dog. Like pics of people's kids I have too many to count of my dogs. Told you I would post some up. That didn't take long.

The last random photo I opened was the one of my brother sitting on the motorcycle. It isn't his, and in fact he was just being my light test dummy. The one I ended up shooting was a throw back to Elvis, but I actually like this one a little better.

Photo Roulette, who knew...

A Tale of Two Cars

Jack - "Can you follow me to drop off my car?"
Me - "Yeah" (Thinking, um really do I want to go to the shop that you have your cars worked on? Are you kidding? Fuck Yeah!)

If Jack and I were in the movie "Cars" this is a pretty close facsimile of what we might look like. Well except we'd both be black, him matte and me glossy. Oh and he'd be a '32 and I'd be a fastback. But like I said, close.

Pond Scum... Well Sort Of

Sometimes it takes a couple weeks of planning and building to create just one photograph. Then when you get down to your studio and set all the lights up, turn on the tunes and pop open a beer you think, "Yeah this is going to be an easy one." Right. I've been working on setting up this diorama for quite some time now. Gathering goodies to help recreate a scene I came across four years ago. So since I spent so much time prepping and gather I thought it would be a fast and easy one. Nope, guess not. After a few hours of burning up in my studio, my 1985 fan just ain't cutting it any longer, I decided to call it quits. As I'm going through my "contact sheet" I'm thinking yup it'll be a re-shoot. Then I see this one frame. And yes that is all you need, one frame. This is exactly what I was thinking when I wanted to make this picture. Funny how when I did I passed right over it. Anyways here is "James and Janice's Backyard Pond, Shelbyville, TN 2006".

We All Live Within a Mile of Home

I shot this back in March as I was waiting to board my plane to fly to Sacramento and visit my brother for St. Patrick's Day. I had never been to my brother's new place. He had recently moved in with his girlfriend and her two kids, yet somehow it felt as if I was going home. It wasn't because I have ever lived in Sac Town, or that I have any plans of moving there either. As I sat there in my airport lounge chair listening to my ipod playlist, Flogging Molly comes on with the the tune of this post's title. This is one of my favorite track by my most favorite band. (Side note, I'm such a FM fan that I have a tattoo for them as well. Perhaps that's a later post. Joe understands that one.) So I'm sitting there waiting for my airborne chariot to take me away from my Cucamonga and my amazing wife, and yet I'm going home? I hear Dave sing as I have many times before, "We all live within a mile of home" and I get it. It was never about where we live. It's about who we are with, and what we do.

I was reminded of this experience and this photo yesterday while I was at the home of my grad school adviser. Of course he is more than just that, he is after all one of those scared into my leg in the form of a tattoo as mentioned in the previous post. After 40 years of teaching, and 25 of those in the same house he is leaving So Cal and heading to the Great North West to enjoy his retirement. Sure it would be easy to be sad and think about how I won't get to hangout with him, listen to the blues, drink Guinness and Jack Daniels and of course squeeze in some art talk. Well, yeah sure I did do all that, but not for long. I came across this photo and realized that I'm not loosing all this, I'm gaining a home where we can still do all this. Just not in the winter. And it's a little more than a mile, but you get the idea.

It doesn't matter if I'm in my garage, cleaning the ranch, drinking on a bar stool at Roxy, freezing in Reno, or even god forbid in Bakersfield, where ever I am it's only within a mile of home...

Slainte

The first post is of course never the first post...

When ever we do something new, or venture into something new, we want our first endeavor to be something really profound. Well we are, as I am, a culmination of all we have done and of what we have been taught, learned or experienced. This is a photograph of a tattoo that pays homage to a few people who have had a great influence on me. It is not my first tattoo, nor am I the first person to be motivated by these individuals. But somehow for this first I thought this image would be fitting. So to all the new firsts to come thanks again to these mentors.