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Flickr Assignment #2

In the 1st Flickr assignment, I often found myself responding to the story behind the picture. So for assignment #2, I want participants to tell a short story. But to get the story going, I’ve added the following steps:

1) Find and photograph a stranger
2) Ask the stranger to show you something (their house, their car, their cat, their body, etc).
3) Based on what they show you, make another picture, or series of pictures.

For example, photograph a man you meet you meet on the side of the road. Ask the man if he has any hobbies. If he tells you he builds model airplanes, go to his house and photograph his airplanes. Then go to a model airplane club.

The only rule is that all images should be new. The deadline for posting is October 25th. Post all of your images together in a set marked ‘From Here To There: Assignment #2.’  Add text captions to the images when necessary. Winners will be chosen by November 1st.

To join in, go to the “From Here to There” Flickr page. (and be sure to check in now and then to the Walker Art Center Visual Arts Blog).

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TBW Books

Exciting news from Oakland! Paul Schiek and his lovely home brewed publishing company, TBW Books, is releasing its third subscription series with books by Mark Steinmetz, Elaine Stocki, Dru Donovan and Katy Grannan. I was proud to have my book published in the 2nd series and can’t wait to get this new quartet.

Visit TBW and also check out their new blog.

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The Auckland Project

In a recent interview in the Telegraph, I was asked whom I’d like to work with? My answer was as follows:

I’m a terrible collaborator. I’ve worked with someone I’ve idolized as a young photographer – John Gossage. I found the process nerve-wracking. So if I was going to collaborate again, I might have to wait a couple of decades until someone idolizes me.

Working alongside John was stressful, but it was also life changing. After learning so much from this master of the medium (and friend), I began the process of dismantling my career. My experience in Auckland got me away from large-format work and was the precursor for projects like ‘The Most Beautiful Woman in Georgia‘ and ‘The Loneliest Man in Missouri’.

I’m happy to announce that this work is now being published by Radius Books. Entitled The Auckland Project, the result is something quite unique. My contribution is a half-book, half-poster creation that functions as a dialog with John’s virtuosic book. The project is also being presented as a special edition with prints by Gossage and myself.

More info here.

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On Lists

For the Flickr Pool I created in conjunction with the Walker Art Center, the first assignment was a sort of photographic treasure hunt. The subjects of the hunt are: Pilots, Amateur Paintings, Unusually Tall People, Museum Guards, Sleeping Children, Neighborhood Bars, Supermarket Cashiers, Sheep, Sedans, Suitcases.

This list was derived from my business card circa 2002. This was the card I used while I was photographing Sleeping by the Mississippi (and is reproduced in the Walker’s exhibition catalogue).

As I said in the introduction to the Flickr assignment, I like these lists because they are excuse to get out the door. But the reason I used the list on my business card is because it explains my photographic practice. I don’t want to just photograph Weimreimers. I want my subject to be, as Robert Frank put it in his 1954 Guggenheim Fellowship proposal, ‘broad’ and ‘voluminous’.

For the record, Frank himself was a list maker:

If you wanna take a crack at my list, come join the Flickr Pool. We’re taking submissions until September 27th. Happy Hunting…

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Winner takes all.

Hey, Les.

Glad you liked my package. Damn that rain; it was clear when I dropped it off at 3 a.m.

Liked Alec’s entry on America, the get-rich/skinny/smart/laid-quick-with-no-effort nation. Left a comment for the masses there on the NYT. Hooray for democracy!

Yrs,