Restored

My faith in the youth of America has been restored, even while Kodak slips into obscurity. Today near Kezar Stadium, instead of the usual skate rat & digital movie cam crew was a 20something man setting up his Hasselblad to take shots of skaters on the entryway steps. The Hassy had a Planar and a Polaroid back for test shots before shooting on slide film. He had three remote-trigger strobes, one of which was the legendary Vivitar 285. Sigh. Play on.

The Best Photographer You've Never Heard of

Vivian Maier's work was discovered at auction in Chicago after her death in 2009. She was a nanny who was also a prolific street photographer, and as you'll see, was a talent on par with Weegee, Weston, and Imogen Cunningham. Amazing photos. Two links to her work:

http://www.cracktwo.com/2011/04/amazing-mystery-photographer-comes-to_28.html

http://www.vivianmaier.blogspot.com/

I hope there's a traveling exhibit someday. Wonder how many others there were out there?

Avedon at MOMA

I almost missed it but I managed to sneak in under the wire to the Richard Avedon exhibit at SF MOMA recently, excellent show! Avedon is one of my favorite portraitists, up there with Leibowitz and Demarchelier in my book. Maybe not as creative as Leibowitz but I've never seen anyone able to give such gravitas to a portrait as Avedon. And seeing his work in larger-than-life size just added to the atmosphere. Thanks Rosanne for the field trip!

And it's been awhile....

(someone's going to get that, I just know it)

Hey-ho, what's up everyone? I know I haven't blogged here in a while, clearly I haven't been shooting much, though I've been thinking about it more and more lately. I miss my little metal friends! Time just keeps getting away from me somehow....

As a fan of the film Iron Man and pretty much everyone in it, and a fan of the outstanding documentary photography of actor Jeff Bridges, I thought some of you would enjoy checking out this well-put-together virtual book documenting the making of Iron Man on jeffbridges.com. All black and white panoramic shots as he likes to do, with insightful handwritten notes scattered throughout. I particularly enjoyed the angsty haircut shots (how did he frame those, I wonder?) and the workshop shots. Check it out!

Happy shooting! And happy Holidays!

Matt