I never did know if the selective hand coloring on this image was Mike Rider's suggestion or that Robby Aceto was pinched for time when he did the work. I do know that when he was doing these for American Demographics he was also very active as a touring musician. He has worked a lot with guitarist David Torn and quite a bit with David Sylvian. When I saw Robby recently he talked about doing a gig in New York City and then coming back to his hotel room to work on photos for the magazine. It is always possible that he just ran out of time before this issue went to press. I look at this and imagine the sky being blue and the grass green, but the more I look at it, the more I like the fact that only the banners are colored.
The exhibit opens up in about a month. I am really looking forward to it.
I really like this image a lot. This is Dan who was a friend of Don who was a friend of Herman's when we all went to a Mets game at Shea. If I remember correctly, Dan was a scientist of some kind and I think he might be an academic somewhere. If I can track him down, I'll give him this print. Today Herman sent me Don's phone number, so I'll text him to see if he is still in touch with Dan. Robby Aceto did a great job hand coloring this one.
We are in the process of finalizing the Hope and Feathers show. Looks like the opening will be on 5 October and I will be giving a gallery talk sometime later in the month. Details to follow. I am really excited about this.
This photo was taken in Columbus, Ohio in late December of 1981. I almost felt compelled to knock on the door and see if they wanted to interview me. It was an unsettling time in my life. / Those Millar Mitts do go way back.
I'm working on my statement for the exhibit and will continue to post here whenever Hope and Feathers start putting details online. Have a great weekend everyone and thanks for following.
I'll write more about this later, but I wanted to start posting some of the images that will be in an exhibit at Hope and Feathers Gallery in Amherst this October. The photos were all featured as illustrations for articles in American Demographics Magazine and were hand colored by the amazing Robby Aceto. I put this photograph up on my Instagram a few days ago (jonkcrispin) and got a great comment from "thepunchandjudyman" identifying this fellow as Percy Press II. Check out this amazing clip. Classic Punch and Judy with a Christmas theme.
The exhibit opens on 4th October and runs through the month. Opening reception on the 4th. Hope (and Feathers) to see you there.
I bought 3 Paul Buff White Lightning Ultra strobes sometime in the 80's. I always liked the company and Paul Buff designed them to last forever. He was a really interesting fellow who started out on the West Coast doing recording and engineering work with Frank Zappa. He saw a need in the photo industry to have a strobe system that was simple and powerful, so he moved to Nashville and started building these. I still have my original 3 units, and they work fine.
At some point during the time I was shooting the suitcases my dear friend Alex Ross gave me 5 of his Ultra 1800's, which are 3 times more powerful than my original set. I used them for the majority of the project. Yesterday, I pulled out one of them to do some quick shots and saw his somewhat cryptic notes on it. It is never a bad idea to thank the people in your life who have made a continuous and positive impact. I wouldn't be the photographer that I am without Alex's influence and support, and he might never really know just how much he means to me. Thanks Ace.
Herman G was featured in the 2004 New York State Museum exhibit on the suitcases. His story is interesting in that he was a patient at the "Craig Colony for Epileptics" before he came to Willard. I had posted about him around the time we photographed his box of photo gear and correspondence in 2015.
I have just uploaded the complete edit. You can see the collection here.
I'll start work on Rodrigo L. tomorrow. His story is amazing. Thanks for following.
Several months ago I was contacted by the Brazilian publisher Compania Das Letras about the suitcases project being included in a book by Dorrit Harazim. They have been really great to deal with, but I wasn't entirely clear about the nature of the project. When I got back from Nepal, a copy was waiting for me in my post office box. It seems to be a collection of essays about photographs (it is in Portuguese so I am not sure), and I was amazed to see the other photographers that were included. Several Magnum photographers are involved along with Gordon Parks and Vivian Maier and some other illustrious names. I am thrilled an honored to be a part of it. "O instante certo" translated roughly to "the right moment". It is available through Amazon, so if you read Portuguese it might be nice to get a copy.
The article on the suitcases translates to "travel without return". I would be happy if the book was translated into English at some point, but in the meantime, I'll ask for a pdf and plug it into google translate.