Bill Daniel – Tri-X Noise

Over the past year, I've been fortunate to befriend and collaborate with Bill Daniel. Bill has done pretty much everything I've ever wanted to do. Seriously. He's published zines. He's made films. He's been in dank basements watching my favorite punk bands play their earliest shows. He's tracked down the most famous hobo boxcar artist; Lived in amazing cities all over the United States; Has been featured in major art exhibits at the MOCA.... ...breath... And to top it all off, he's also won a Guggenheim. I'm not exaggerating. He has literally done all of those things. Needless to say,...

Mark Neville – Pittsburgh

Shortly after the opening of "Between Day Jobs and Hangovers", I was lucky enough to get the opportunity to assist Mark Neville while he's here in Pittsburgh. For the past three months Mark has been working on documenting the legacy of the steel industry in Pittsburgh. The end result is a collection of nearly 50 images which compare and contrast Braddock and Sewcikley. If you're already familiar with Mark's work, you won't be disappointed. His ability to capture and light candid group shots is remarkable. By shooting medium format film and consciously documenting social groups, Mark's work...

Between Day Jobs and Hangovers

We're really looking forward to the release of issue #3. We've teamed up with Bill Daniel and our good friends from OneGiantArm to bring you something killer. If you're in the Pittsburgh area on April 7th, make sure to come by UnSmoke Artspace for the opening reception and release party. We'll be exhibiting prints from the zine. Shawn Watson will be spinning records, and thanks to brillobox, we've got free beer for you guys!

RSVP – OneGiantArm

Last week we received a copy of RSVP from our friends at One Giant Arm. This is zine is rad. Seriously, I've been flipping through the pages over and over again since last week. These dudes killed it. The layout, content, paper and image quality are really remarkable. You should definitely head over to their site, and pick up a copy before they're gone. Limited print of 60. I've said this before, and I'll say it again. Making a photo zine is a work of passion. It's a project that will take a lot of your time and money. However, for every minute or dollar you throw into the project, you're rewarded...

Sometimes someone answers back

Yesterday evening I receive the photo you see above. The woman in the photo, is our new friend Mahsa. She's a photographer and a really nice person. That little gesture, really put things into perspective for me. Let's face it, starting a new project can be nerve wracking. You willingly sacrifice your money and time. You re-prioritize your life. You revaluate and reflect upon past decisions. And no matter how confident you may be, you're a liar if say you don't spend a little bit of time wondering how you'll be received. Wondering if you'll just be yelling into the wind, talking to yourself. Shutterclank!...

water matters

it may seem a bit jejune, but i think water is not talked about enough in photography. as film photographers, we are so picky about the film we shoot, developers, fixing methods, rinsing techniques- but it can all be for naught if using impure water. tap water can have all sorts of minerals and disinfectants or old pipes can leak rust; the best chemicals and most adroit methods of processing will not impact the finished product if the water is not pure. beginning with developing the film to printing the image, distilled water is the best stuff around to use. how it works is such: regular untreated...

just like the player piano…

"ANYONE CAN BE A PHOTOGRAPHER" blah, blah, blah... "EVERYONE HAS A CAMERA TODAY!" whimper, whine, snifle... If you've ever picked up a camera and held yourself out as a photographer, I'm sure you've heard those lines before. I know I have. Unfortunately, I've heard this far too often lately, and most of the time it's coming from other photographers. The people who are supposed to be passionate about this form of art. This is truly disappointing. A bunch of fucking sissies. "Cameras are so automated, they do everything for you, anyone can take good photos" wha, wha, wha.... Don't...

straddling the divide

i struggle with the concept of digital. i mean, i love the instant gratification, the speed of communication, the sheer volume of information available. but, the nostalgia for hand writing and mailing a letter, spending hours in the darkroom, and the lackadaisical lifestyle of old europe makes me crave a time when life wasn’t so rapid and fleeting. its this very divide, the digital divide, i find myself navigating and it makes me uneasy. at Shutterclank! we celebrate traditional photography, which can be arduous, tedious, and time consuming. and we love it. its so tangible and tactile, and worth...

Uh oh! Hacked!

so there i was minding my own bidness when inmotion hosting got its servers hacked by TiGER-M@TE. seriously? after spending countless hours putting all this together some dude posts up a script through some exploit and replaces all my index.php files with his ones. mad ups for finding huge security flaws in my hosting provider, but dude. not too cool. i went back and fixed it, but inmotion says they are going to try and replace my files with backups. i hope they dont screw up what i already fixed. also, in doing this, i realized that the online store was having trouble with paypay so i had to make...

We've been working really hard on issue #2, and we're so close to sending that lil guy off to the printers. I can't wait to share this next issue with all of you. I've been reflecting a lot on how American culture is conveyed through photography. Obviously, this isn't a discussion that can be resolved in a single blog post. I'm not sure this topic can even be resolved after years of graduate school and a 500 page book. Regardless, it's something to reflect upon. Something to inspire. Something to speak about through our images. This past weekend I was fortunate enough to work with Echo...