Blog
I’M HERE March 14 2012
I’m in New York for the week. The last time I was here was in 2009, and prior to that was 2007. Between those two years, I saw NYC as a tourist, acclimating to its disarray for a few days. I appreciated the hustle of the city - the foot traffic, the cabs getting to point B, the street vendors selling anything and everything. I braved the cold weather and the rain as I made my way through Times Square, Soho, and Midtown. This trip is a little different, though, and I’ve surrendered to the experience. I’m staying in the Bronx without a set plan; it’s quiet, it’s warm, and the food tells a story. I went from JFK into BX and just learned the rhythm of things. Day one kind of looked like this.
Tweet
WEEKEND WARRIORS March 13 2012
I’m leaving LA for a little bit today. So in the spirit of “making it count”, I had a Sunday Funday with the squad.
It started at one of my favorite places to eat, LGO in Pasadena. You need to know two things about this spot: (free) cookies and sangria. Trust. Actually, three things. Because you should also know about Tony, our waiter that morning. He wears the number 2 on his name tag. He also gives away lots of (free) cookies.
Then off to Chinatown for Beat Swap Meet. We caught the tail end of the Laker game, heard some of LA’s best DJs, checked out the stuff for sale, and ran into the fam - Ralph M (Funkdoobiest), ErnDogg (Soul Assassins), Fredwreck (super producer in case you didn’t know), and Josh (Native Instruments).
It ended at Baek Ha Chong in K-Town. Jonathan Gold cosigned on this hole-in-the-wall spot known for its BBQ pork ribs. I personally enjoyed the stir fry squid more. But you can’t really tell because either way, that last picture looks more like a murder scene.
Tweet
SUPPORT SYSTEM March 12 2012
Last Friday, some of us made the trek to Agoura Hills to see Jon (Rhythm Natives) open with The Dirty Deuces for J Boog at The Canyon Club.
Jon surprised us when he dropped 32 bars over a Deuces track. He started with Like This and ended with Move. #BANG
We stayed the night and caught the entire show. The next band was Hot Rain, straight outta Hawaii. They did an island cover of Blackstreet’s “Before I Let You Go”. Too dope.
And then JBoog closed it out. Nice ta nice ta know ya.
As I mentioned in the past, Jon is working on a new project. Stay tuned for that…
Tweet
OLD LA March 10 2012
The Ansel Adams Los Angeles exhibit is happening right down the street from my office at drkrm. I’ve always correlated Adams to nature and to Yosemite, so when I heard that he documented the city for this one, I wanted to go. The story is that he was commissioned by FORTUNE magazine to take this set of photos, he met his commitment, and then later donated the rest to the Los Angeles Public Library.
I’m convinced that all creative, right brained types think that they are their own worst enemy. Adams was no different. This letter from Adams to the Los Angeles Public Library is testament. He wrote, “The weather was bad…and none of the pictures were very good…I would imagine that they represent about $100.00 minimum value…At any event, I do not want them back.”
This one was one of my favorites. It was Santa Monica Promenade in 1924.
And my other favorite is on the left. It was taken around the Angel’s Flight and Angel’s Knoll. Two friends were photographed on a bench. Times may not have changed that much.
Tweet
NOAH March 9 2012
Tomorrow night, Backside Echo Park will be hosting an exhibit by Los Angeles based photographer, Noah Jashinski. The staff over there asked me to run a little interview on him so that all of you can be familiar with his passion and with his work before Saturday.
1. What inspired you to become a photographer?
It honestly was something that came to fruition pretty organically. After playing music for a living, I studied film at NYU and focused most of my energy on writing on directing. It wasn’t until a trip to the Middle East almost a year and half ago that photo become a main focus (my eye and my general ascetic had been forming since film school). I brought a toy camera and some film and got a really positive response from my results. I then put together a couple shoots with my friends just for fun and based off two of those, I got offered a solo show. It has just built from there.
2. What was it about the Middle East that brought you to that decision?
There wasn’t anything specific that inspired me in Israel - i had been numerous times before, so it wasn’t all that new. It was more just taking the time to try and capture the trip in my own way.
3. Your bio says that you only shoot in film. And no Photoshop. Why do you choose to work with that medium?
I love the warmth and imperfection and grain. I love the happy accidents from light bleeds, out of focus shots, etc that I would never get with digital. I also like shooting on film because it makes me pause; it makes me think and be deliberate with every shot. Because film is so expensive, I can’t just shoot hundreds of pictures and sort it out later. Sometimes I wait a minute in between each photo, waiting for a certain emotion or moment to come through.
4. When looking through your photos, I realized that the primary focus is women. Is that your main subject when taking photos?
I feel that intimacy and vulnerability is the general subject matter of my work; I just have an easier time getting there with females. I have begun to shoot some males recently and it is definitely and new and exciting challenge. Women tend to have a higher range of emotion and facial expressions versus males. A women can do coy, sheepish, scared, sexy, etc in a way that often reads creepy for males. And as a straight male, it is more difficult to get men to let go and let their guard down with me one on one. Actually Elaine said it perfectly in an episode of Seinfeld – “A woman’s body is a work of art. A man’s body is a utilitarian. It’s for gettin’ around. It’s like a Jeep.”
5. I also noticed that you only shoot in black and white? Why?
The world just makes more sense to me in black and white – not sure why. There is something more emotional and beautiful about black and white. Also, most of my inspiration and shooting style comes from the French New Wave films of the 1960’s, so it seems appropriate.
6. Is Backside your first solo showing?
Backside will be second solo showing. I did one last year at “Stories” in Echo Park. This show will be moving to Intelligentsia for the month of April and I have another solo show opening May 13th in West Hollywood at STAG of all new material.
7. Are you doing anything with music or with film these days? Or are you just doing photography?
These days, I’m just doing photography. I’ll do some music or film once and a while to help out a friends or something, but that’s about all right now.
As I’ve said before, inspiration is everywhere. All it takes is one trip outside of home for you to realize what’s worth investing in. This interview is timely, too. I was just telling my best friend that I wanted to pick up a film camera and start playing around with it. After hearing the kind of experience it warrants for Noah, I’m definitely going to do that sooner than later. To see some of his work, check out his website: http://noahjashinski.tumblr.com/. Opening reception starts at 8p tomorrow.
Tweet
Page 10 of 239
« First < 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 > Last »