The Long Emergency

Read this book. I am finding myself repeating myself so often these days because I am continually promoting this book or discussing the concerns that it presents.

Here is a short synopsis of The Long Emergency, by James Howard Kunstler, which was run in Rolling Stone. Basically, it is a chilling collection of thoughts as we turn the corner in our ability to pull oil out of the ground and what that may mean for everything from the suburbs to transportation to alternative energy to medicine to agriculture to social and political landscapes...

Also, I have recently read The Ominvore's Dilemma , by Michael Pollan, which serves up an effective indictment against large scale agriculture and what passes for diet and nutrition in this day and age.

Usually, I read fiction and am an escapist by nature but these books, and a couple others recently read, have me rethinking a lot of things. My son went vegetarian about five or six months ago and so I am really overhauling my efforts in the kitchen and have established a fairly ambitious garden at our new house. I am now vegetarian myself, though I will eat seafood on occasion, and though I don't much miss the meat, I do miss the variety of dishes but I have picked up a lot of new wrinkles in my cooking repertoire.

Naked Pilgrim ~ Opening Friday, April 6th

Here is the exhibition announcement for a show I have opening this week at 1708 Gallery in Richmond, Virginia. There is an opening reception this coming Friday should any of you be in the area for any reason. It will be Good Friday in fact which was coincidental but seems perfect somehow given the amount of religion in the show and the Naked Pilgrim theme.




This is the cover to the catalog for the show. The flip side gives the other artist, Gareth Jones, top billing and the book pages in both directions.

Gita Lenz, Project Begins

copyright Gita Lenz

Last week, I met with my interns for the first time, to begin the project of conserving and organizing the work of photographer Gita Lenz. Below, is a very loose chronology of her life as I understand it so far. There are some large holes but right now we are trying to read through old correspondence and notes and pay stubs, etc. in hopes of pulling together a better understanding of Gita's life.

Anyway, here is the Chronology:

Gita Lenz, Photographer, Writer

Born Gertrude Maslow October 9, 1910 to Louis Maslow (seamstress) and Yetta Youkeles (piano teacher), in New York City. Parents immigrants from Ukraine. One younger brother who later died in car accident in Los Angeles (date unknown).

Married George Zoul, a Czech immigrant, in mid 1930’s. He was a communist and later joined the Lincoln Brigade with whom he went to Spain in late 30’s to fight against Franco. He was shot in combat and was buried in Spain.

Married Richard Lenz in 1940. Marriage lasted 18 months or so.

Moved to 65 Carmine, in the East Village, in 1940. Lived there until October 2001.

Some correspondence with Mel Most (died 1990) a foreign correspndent and PR agent.

Friends with:

Julien Beck, founder of the Living Theatre
Bayard Rustin, a prominent civil rights and worker activist
William Packard, poet and playwright, founder of NY Quarterly
Aaron Siskind, photographer

Part of Brooklyn Museum photography show titled ‘The Third Eye’ in 1952
Part of MOMA ‘The Family of Man’ show
Published in ‘Modern Photography’ monthly periodical in a few issues early 1950’s.

Held odd temp jobs entire working career. I think was an officer with “NY Quarterly” from inception in the early 1970’s Wrote poetry and studied under William Packard in 60’s / 70’s.

Was interested in socialism and anarchism as it applied in the 30’s through 1960’s.

Only known travels were to Mexico in 1960’s (?)

Gita Lenz, Photographer

copyright Gita Lenz


Short story...

A friend of mine who lives in New york, called me a year or so ago and said that he was helping a friend of his into an assisted living situation. He said that she was a photographer and he thought a very good one. His friend's name is Gita Lenz and I had met her about four years ago at an opening for a show I had in New York in 2002. She is beautiful really. I made the trip to New York to take a look at the work and see what my friend had in mind. Gita has boxes of work, boxes of negatives, correspondence, the whole thing. It is a life in images. Well, actually we feel that she might not have been a photographer for much of her life. But the images are likely from the late forties and into the sixties. Since Gita was moving out of her place, we needed a place to store the work. Ultimately, we decided that I would make a good temporary home for them in Virginia.

So, jump to the present and I recently checked in with Gita again up in New York while taking down a recent show. She really is amazingly sharp and funny. I have begun to do some editing with the work and I took a lot of images up to her so that she could see them and talk about them and basically just to visit with her. It was very cool to see how much she enjoyed the photos.

For me, visiting with her, looking at the work, it stirs up all kinds of thoughts. Why is it we do what we do? When we are gone, is anyone really going to care? Gita has an amazing range of work... street stuff, abstracts, experimental images, portraits of artist / dancer types, documentary work. She was a student of Aaron Siskind's, she was in the landmark 'Family of Man' exhibition in 1955. She was also a published poet. And yet, here is her work, in boxes, in some random guy's house that she has only met a couple of times and the work is still trying to get noticed. It kind of tears me up really.

Anyway, I have only just begun trying to figure out what to do with the work but I will try to keep this online diary going because I think it will be an interesting trek. For next spring, I have a couple of interns from the University where I am teaching and hopefully they will help me get further along. Ultimately, I hope to get together some tight portfolios and see them accessioned into notable photo archives or appropriate museums. Then, if we can put together enough of the story, I could imagine a book might also be a possibility...

So, more later on Gita.

Holy Land U.S.A.

    Holy Land U.S.A.
    taken with Diana Camera

I took this a few weeks ago on Memorial Day. Was disappointed to see that the park was closed for renovations or something such but then while walking around I found this and it made my day. Sorry for the lack of updating but I have been working hard lately, trying to get my work done and actually have a lot of new images to get to. Hopefully, Gord is Dead may, somewhat ironically, come back to life...

Toy Camera Print Auction - Katrina Benefit

    Butterfly, 2004

    taken with Diana Camera

Here is the image that I have donated for an Online Katrina Relief Benefit Auction in conjunction with other contributors at toycamera.com and thanks to the efforts of Susan Burnstine. This is an excellent opportunity to collect signature images by internationally reknowned toy camera photographers and do a small something to help others as well.

Go to the Online Auction Page to place your bids!

Many thanks, Susan!

All Roads

    Hand of Constantine
    taken with Diana Camera

Sorry for the lack of updates but I have been on a couple of trips back to back and then haven't been doing much scanning / blogging this summer. The first trip was more of a camping trip with some rockclimbing thrown in and the second was a trip to Italy, kind of short but excellent. So, bear with me as I will probably draw out these images over the next couple of weeks. I did have a toy camera peculiar malady infect one of my Diana cameras. A light leak happened in a camera that previously had been light tight. So, I lost a number of images to a strangely shaped distraction but such is life with plastic cameras I guess. Most of the film was alright actually though as I had a second Diana with me. I am not believing this is terribly interesting but am just rationalizing to myself how I have so few worthy images after visiting such an amazing place.

Which reminds me of another trip, many years back where I shot up a lot of film and the images, while technically okay, were not very lively. I have started to believe that taking pictures as a tourist is a pretty challenging proposition. The severe gravitation of 'postcard' vistas coupled with the shallow comprehension of life's energies in a strange environment, I believe, set up the photographer to make ordinary photos. I would love to go back though without feeling the compulsion to walk ten miles a day to see as much as I could. And there appear to be a few good images from what I can see so far.

So, this image is the one that I actually looked forward to making. I am not sure why but having seen this statue in other pictures - one from Ralph Gibson maybe? - I have always thought Rome would be a truly awesome place with stuff like this strewn about. And it is. This was seen in the Palazzo dei Conservatori.

The Weather is Here...

    A Boy with his Tiger
    taken with Diana Camera

Staying with the summer drinking theme but reeling it in a little from my recent survey of would be rednecks. Kids + tigers. I call them Kigerds.

Searching for Mr. Write

    This would be my cousin, Sparky, all growed up now.
    taken with Holga Camera

I have been mostly offline for a couple of weeks. The summer is probably going to do that to me a few times. Anyway... after browsing the recent stats to my website, I thought it interesting to note what search word strings that some people have used on search engines to find my site. There have been a lot of people who have used my name or the blog title and this is to be expected I guess. What was unexpected was the strange combinations of words that have been mentioned somewhere on the blog but when combined in a search string, Gord Is Dead is actually one of the popular hits.

Here are a few of the more unlikely searches that have brought people here:

on Yahoo... "nice breasts"
on Yahoo... "lobster boy" + "florida murder"
on Yahoo... "waitress skinned knees"
on Yahoo... "mandolin teacher richmond virginia"
on Yahoo... "bulging breasts"
on Yahoo... "1001 things to do in your life"
on Yahoo... "sexy polyester pants"
on Yahoo... "motorcycle rally pictures"

on Google... "dorothy hammill photo"
on Google... "taking it from behind" + "art photos"
on Google... "mods holga"
on Google... "gibsonton florida circus"
on Google... "holga wideangle"
on Google... "linda connor pop toning"
on Google... "liberty in chains"
on Google... "dead january 2005" + "jazz"
on Google... "bonnaroo scanner"
on Google... "damion rice tour"

So, with these somewhat surprising search strings in mind, I thought if I added some other strategic words and celebrity names to my blog, then I would be sure to lure more quality patrons to my humble establishment so that they, too, might learn so much more about dynamic words such as these. Life is circular and so is my logic.

In no particular order, I give you my searchitifically designed collection of words.

Onomatopoeia, Charo, unscrupulous, splendor, Bourbon Street, chorus, lutenary, cog, Penn & Teller, Engelbert Humperdink, flouride, bang, redly, quark, Judas Priest, Mercury, no fuss, low fuss, fusspot, ablution, ziggurat, fawning, mackerel, yogurt, peppered steak, love handles, cowlick, irritable bowel syndrome + rockclimbing, PFC, ligatures, storied franchise, fatty acids, Okinawa, Cheetos, Paris Hilton + Arch Druid, Three Musketeers, champion of the undeserving, cockerel, repudiate, taste buds, imaginary friend, chlamydia, brown teeth, Venice Beach, lily-livered, leaping lizards, overgrown child, silk stockings, expatriates, Sonny Bono, Sammy Sosa, Big Band Collections, ginsu knives, deus ex machina, torpor, peripatetic, stencils, jewelry heist, forest for the trees, Toon Army, spake as a child, paint huffing, hypnotist collector, Twister + collapsed lung, Rosebud, stilted speech, bum, big bum, Britney Spears photos, Larry Flynt, pow, biff, charred to a crisp, armageddon + milk duds, high colonic, hair weave, good cholesterol, mean streak, Manny Moore, Hoovervilles, girl on girl action, Abba and clam bake.

Feel free to add your own dynamic words by way of a comment. I would be much obliged.

Sisterhood of the Polyester Pants

    taken with Holga Camera

This would be Marge and the Whiz. Cheer up, Margaret. More from last weekend. I have a lot of these photos actually but need to get out and shoot something besides hoedowns. Summer is here though. Swimming pools and Movies Stars. Black gold. Texas tea. Let me tell you a story about a man named Jed. Poor old mountaineer barely kept his family fed. Then one day he was shooting at some food and up from the ground came a bubbling crude...

Liberty In Chains

    taken with Diana Camera

Another image from the archives. A well-known symbol with a shot of cynicism. Funny but there wasn't even a hint of irony in the actual situation. A roadside stop selling statuary and such. Just simple folk worrying that their Liberty might be stolen. Pretty much like the rest of us really.

The Very Sexy Clemise

    taken with Holga Camera

This is Elroy's old lady, Clemise, as she wandered her tequila soaked pathway of sexy self-destruction.

Jarvis & Elroy

    taken with Holga Camera

From a party last weekend. Friends of mine looking very classy. Elroy drove us home which probably says something about how I was doing also.

Random Image from Archives #11

    taken with Rolleiflex TLR

I am running some film later today but felt like I should post up something... this is from a shoot with Bruce Hornsby a couple of years back.

Emmett

    taken with Holga Camera

Here is a portrait of a dog I met a few months ago. Seeing him, the first thought is 'damn.' But he is beautiful. Blind as well. I spent a few hours with him last week and he quietly raised hell in my studio. Dalmations are high strung and energetic generally but take away their eyesight and this guy was nose to the floor checking out everything. Bump and back up and go another direction. Not a great subject for lights and stands and a controlled shoot. But he is handsome. I have a couple more rolls to process but I hope to hang out with him again.

Wanted: Sidekick

If You Can Read This

    taken with Diana Camera

From a Motorcycle rally last weekend. Not too many people and the pictures are few as well... but this one is amusing somewhat.

When Hail Freezes Over

    taken with Diana Camera

Here is a just processed image but a few months old. From one of those rolls that was shot some time ago and I wasn't really quite sure what was on it any longer. For a landscape, I kind of like this one.

Random Image from Archives #10

Random Image from Archives #9

    taken with Rolleiflex TLR

Willie Wisely circa 1999. Excellent jangly pop musician who I believe is out there plying his trade in Los Angeles these days.

Also, thanks for the scanner recommendations. I may contact some of you offline to discuss the Epson 4870 especially. I did have the Minolta D'Image Scan Multi II which was excellent but it is becoming archaeic. Trying to figure if repair is an option.