There Was Only Ever One Way Out

I held out as long as I could manage but one day recently I put on the first episode of The Walking Dead and have been thoroughly hooked on its dismal plot-line since. The mood of the show has sunk into my mind and, oddly enough, made me want to get out and go camping, get away from technology for a while. There is something strange in the way you are unable to get attached to any character because you can only assume anyone, no matter their significance, could be killed off from the plot at any given moment. I bring this up because when I posted these photos to YWO I had just finished an episode of The Walking Dead when I did my usual ‘first thing that pops into my mind’ way of titling images I was left with this ambiguous title that seemed fitting of the mood considering the lonely mood of these photos.

I shot them last week while I was out running a few errands and needed a photo for the day. I stopped by this abandoned rail road that I remembered was nearby for a few photos before the sun left the sky completely. I ended up with a nice series that I thought would make for good wallpaper pack, hope you guys enjoy them!

Object No. 8

Heres an odd one. If my distant memory isn’t playing tricks on me, I got this Wienermobile whistle at a Ford Auto Museum long ago. I have no idea how old I may have been at the time, memories this distant tend to loose certain factual detail. For those who have no idea what they are looking at, this is a tiny promotional whistle which is the likeness of the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile, a vehicle that has seen a number of revisions over the years and still to this day gives out these whistles as far as I know. They even have a name, albeit an unfortunate one, Wienerwhistles. Interested in the history of these driving wieners, have a gander at the Wikipedia entry here.

Breakspiracy Theories Vol. 1

Malcom Kipe may not be a widely known name these days but in the heyday of the now defunct Merck records he released a couple of fantastic albums I consider to be classics in the realm of instrumental hip-hop. At the time, Merck was releasing music way ahead of the curve right along a handful of other small labels at the forefront of pushing electronic music forward in new directions. A few names off the top of my head that you may recognize who got their start in the Merck camp are Tycho, Helios, and MachineDrum. Merck may be gone but are certainly not forgotten to those who know the part they played in the evolution of electronic music.

Give Breakspiracy Theories a spin if you are in the mood for good old head nodding boom bap influenced hip-hop beats, some of my favorites from that era, right up there with the likes of perfuse 73, Daybre, Madvillain and others. Considering this was released back in 2004 I think it has held its ground well and can easily recommend it. The vinyl version was released in two volumes, which you can still find through Discogs, for reasonable prices but it’s also on iTunes and streaming services for those of you who have not yet been bitten by the vinyl bug.

Day One Journaling

The great folks over at Bloom, creators of the best journaling software out there, Day One, reached out to discuss my journaling habits using their software in interview form on their company blog. I have been using it for close to two years now and have grown to really love it. I have lately been using it more and more as my go to app for most of my writing both personal and for 50ft related writing. Head on over to Day One’s blog for the full interview here.

Focus

East of the mountains North Carolina doesn’t see a lot of snow but from time to time things line up and we end up with a few inches on the ground. Last week saw the most snow we have had in ages and we took advantage of the weather and took a trip out to the lake to shoot around. Outside of one lone runner out on the trail we were the only ones who braved the slippery roads to head out. This lead to me having to dig the car out with a shovel after it got stuck spinning in place in an empty gravel lot near by but we managed to get back on the road eventually.

While YoungDoo had more luck than I did with her long lens I caught what I could and this shot seemed like it would make a nice desktop for those who aren’t totally sick of the snow or those down under where they may need a little cooling off in the heat of the summer. Either way, enjoy!

One Year

Most of you know by now that last February I started a project to share photos every day as a photographic journal, not limiting myself to one photo a day or any particular theme, I set off with the simple idea to capture and share my life as a means to closer examine and remember the day to day happenings in my life.

At this point, one year has passed and a limited run book is on its way featuring the images selected to share with everyone on Yesterday Was Only from day to day. Speaking of which, only one week left of pre-orders, that’s it! If there are any additional copies available beyond pre-order it won’t be many so if you would like a copy, now is the time!

In the process of finding nice enough photos of my life to share there were plenty that did not make the cut. Piles of photos that theoretically would never be seen by much of anyone at all unless you happened to be looking over my shoulder as I scroll though my Aperture libraries.

The thought crossed my mind toward the end of the first year of the project that maybe some of you would be interested in seeing the uncut version of my photographic output from 2013 so this is exactly what I have prepared in the most chaotic way possible, at 24 frames a second in a quasi stop motion video. (I tried 15FPS which allowed you to actually make out individual frames here and there but it drug on for too long)

The end result is a six minute video that you may or may not be able to sit through to the end without your eyes rolling into the back of your head. 8,212 frames in total it may be a bit on the indulgent side of my bright ideas but I figured why not. No scheme or theme like some self portrait photo a day guys pull off, this represents my entire photographic output for one year.

So, aside from a handful of personal photos and commissioned work that were omitted, have a look below to see every single photo I took last year. The good, the bad, the embarrassing, all of it.

A clearer, full definition version can be seen over on Vimeo.

Watching it is almost overwhelming for me in some ways. It represents one year of my life of which I only am allowed a finite amount of, so seeing it all compacted into this frantic rush of images makes it feel both small yet exponentially expanding. It’s like having my life shoved down through a funnel.

My reason for sharing this is not to show off a bunch of photos. Most of these were never meant to be seen, they are the test shots, the trash bin, the debris left on the cutting room floor. My reason for sharing is to illustrate how much, as a photographer, I don’t share with the world (and I know I’m not alone here). Photographers have this trick where we only share our best work, our best light, the brightest and most welcoming side our lives. There is a lot that gets brushed under the rug as we put our best foot forward to come across as a well adjusted, unique personalities on the web worthy of your time and attention.

There is a lot that gets embellished in the viewers translation of an image, what you see is not always exactly what existed in front of the photographer. The photographs we see and love represent the peak of what life is able to show us, sometimes to impossible levels of perfection. It’s often a showcase of almost imaginary moments even more grandiose than life can honestly give us. A photograph is not life itself, but a photo copy of it which this isn’t a bad thing, not at all. I think that photography, as a modern trend that has all but consumed our day to day lives, is a gift. Not particularly because we get inspired by the photos we see but because in the act of making photos we are driven to live better lives in order to capture and share amazing things.

Whenever you take the long way home, crawl into weird positions with your camera to get just the right angle to make a scene more unique, or prepare your food as beautifully as possible so it will look delicious when photographed, remember that photography drove you there. Just don’t forget to look beyond the viewfinder from time to time and soak in these beautiful things that pull you, camera in hand, along in life and on occasion set it aside and do something just for yourself from time to time.

I look back through these photographs and I remember just how many places I have seen not only because I happened to be in the right place at the right time, but because I took the time and energy to put myself in these scenarios in the name of finding great photos. I owe a lot to the fact that photography has taken me to such beautiful places in my life and sharing this passion with my wife, YoungDoo, has multiplied this magnetism ten fold as we explore together. For that, I am thankful.

The life of a photographer has long been thought to be one of adventure, travel, and privilege. It’s easy to look on with envy as you see other photographers that always seem to find such amazing places to photograph. There is no big secret to this though, these amazing places, people, and circumstances are all around us. The only way to turn these stories into our own reality is by getting out there and getting lost. Go ahead, buy a ticket, shut down this device and grab your camera, I’ll wait…

Object No. 7

These two framed woodcuts appeared one day around my parents home and for one reason or another I asked if I could keep them them because I had never seen such a thing and this kind of kitschy art is fun to have around. In looking around for an object this week I came across these dramatically lit by the setting sun so I figured I would take advantage of the moment. Enjoy.

Shure 55

This was taken at the same church I was working in while I took the piano photos I shared recently. Stained glass gave everything in the room this beautiful shine. While we were checking stage inputs I noticed they were still using an old model Shure 555w mic that I immediately took a moment to pull over into the colorful light to shoot. The colors give iOS7 a nice purplish hue.

Seemed a fitting tribute to a classic microphone and I wanted to share it with all the audio geeks in the audience. Many people refer to this as the “Elvis mic” which is not entirely true, he used a number of different mics through different phases of his career, most notably various Electro-Voice mics, the 55 series mic just happened to hold such an iconic shape that is stuck along with his image over the years more so than others. I remember years back we had a corporate gig in Nashville where an Elvis impersonator was performing and he carried his own mic with him to more accurately replicate the look of the singer. If I remember correctly it was an EV RE-15, one rumored to be his personal favorite. OK, enough random Elvis microphone trivia. Enjoy the new desktop!

The Glow

On Saturday I was greeted with a warm afternoon sunset on a particularly quiet afternoon and, naturally, I couldn’t pass up a couple of photo opportunities in the blueish twilight that followed. The colors feel exaggerated here yet my memory remembered the room having a beautiful deep blue tone late in the day. I was boiling some water for a pot of pour over coffee and as I took  the kettle from the stovetop I loved the way the orange glow so perfectly balanced the temperature of the light late in the day and because it was a nice, subtle glow the exposure was almost perfectly balanced leaving me with these beautifully simple photos. Perhaps a little unusual subject matter wise I thought it would be fun to offer them up as wallpapers. Enjoy!