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Valdovino, Spain or Surfing with the Seekers

Back In Madrid, I think I could live here.  This is such a sweet city.  I have been out on the Celtic coast of Galicia for the past week, surfing with my old friend Marilyn Poon at the Seeker Surf Camp.  It felt so good to be in the water again (even if we did have to wear full wetsuits).  Getting into Madrid was such a temperature shock today.  Galicia is pretty cold and windy for the most part, and today it was really a gloomy drizzly Irish day.  By contrast, Madrid is hot, I mean really hot, I think it was around 35c today.  This temperature thing really played into how few images I made while I was at the coast, not to mention I was totally exhausted after surfing all day.  There was also the daylight factor, as Galicia really does not get dark in the summer until 11:30 at night.  By that time, we were eating dinner and falling into bed, dead to the world.

I was feeling pretty lousy about not making any images, so last night I grabbed Marilyn, just at twilight and went out to the beach right in front of the house.  This big sandy beach is in the tiny town of Valdovino, and although that is what most people call this beach, its official name is Praia de Frouxeira.  The tides were swinging really high and low, and we just happened to be out there during low tide, so we were able to get some really nice images with the reflections in the tide pools on the sand.  Not to mention that we were able to get really close to the tiny island of Percebelleira.  Known for this strange edible barnacle, the Percebes, or “pinky finger.”  I missed out on trying this delicacy, but maybe when we are back up north in the Basque country, I will run across a few.

It felt good to be on the beach, and it was actually the warmest night of all.  For which I was very thankful.  I think we got some really nice images, and I am happy with the outcome.  I even reverted back to what I have now deemed the “ghost dances.”  I have had some resistance to these images, but I am really drawn to them.  I like getting out there, dancing and moving, it feels so natural and yet ritualistic.  They are not nearly as static as some of my images, which have a different kind of rooted strength.

Tomorrow my sister comes, and I have no idea if I will be making many more images on this trip.  We shall see.  (P.S. If you don’t already know, just click on the images to get a full sized view)

The Episcopal Chapel at the General Theological Seminary

Well, It has been almost a week since we did this, and I now know why I always try to write these things the next day.  Alas, here I sit in a train station in Salamanca, Spain on my way to Madrid, I have a few hours to kill (I totally missed my train), and I need to get our final New York shoot on the web.

So, after the Times Square debacle, we shot on campus at the General Theological Seminary.  This was one of our favorite evenings, and we really wanted to come back and shoot in the chapel.  I was hesitant to just go in there and start shooting, because in general we make the places we use sacred by the act of being there.  This is a spot that is already sacred to many and I wanted to give it the respect it deserves.  So we had our good friend and student at the school, Mac Brown, send a note to the higher ups asking permission to use the chapel.  We were warmly welcomed.

The chapel is Episcopalian and was built in the late 1800’s.  It is warm, inviting, and smells of old books.  It is really wonderful place for contemplation and a very special place to make art.  Aloyse has been working for the Episcopal Church for a few years now, and has been following her own path with their guidance.  I think for her, getting the chance to make art in a personally sacred place was really important.  We had a lot of fun working with Mac Brown.  As I have almost never attended church services and did not know any of the traditions, he helped us with a lot of the staging.

We started buy creating several images of our own design, the most successful being the act of bowing to each other and ourselves with respect and devotion.   Next, we approached the altar as if receiving communion, and then did a version of the lector reading to the seminarians.  The final image was Mac’s idea and involves the Orante.  This is an ancient position of prayer, the Orante referring specifically to the female with her arms out stretched and palms raised to the heavens.

This was such a nice shoot to wrap up three weeks of hard work.  I am now on my own without a partner in crime.  I am planning on working a lot, but there is nothing like the act of collaboration to inspire great work.  If I am not traveled out, I might stop in NYC on my way home for another two weeks and a few more chances to make art with my bestie.  We shall see… “God willing,” as they say.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

For some reason this project seems like an endless series of follies. Last time it was the tripod, this time I had to race across NYC in a pouring rainstorm because I forgot the extra battery, and in the next post I will forget part of our costumes, forcing us to be kind of naked in an Episcopal Chapel (more on that in the next post).  I wonder what that brings to the project?  Obviously it creates a bit of tension and forces us to have even greater time constraints.  Yet why are we always running into these kinds of issues?  Its not like we are rookies at this, and yet we never seem to have it completely together.

Somewhere deep inside, I know that this is who we are, Aloyse and I.  We are spontaneous, and creative, and always on the edge of not having it completely together.  This is not necessarily a negative trait, because it forces us to be resourceful.  In turn, I believe this allows us to create beautiful images in often less than optimal conditions, and gives the project a more human feel.  We are not setting out to create over perfect advertizing-esque images.  There is something so much more authentic about two friends coming together, night after night, to create art.  It is not a perfect process, but is an honest process.

On this day, we met at New York’s famous Metropolitan Museum of Art.  This museum is such a treasure.  Everything about it is just brilliant, from the staging to the actual works of art.  With a little help from our wonderful friend Jennette Mullaney, we were able to bring in a tripod and photograph at will around the museum.  What a treat!  Even with the battery shenanigans, we were able to get a lot of work done.

We brought some white dresses and some draping fabric because our intension was to shoot with the marble sculptures.  We quickly found that the museum is very popular on a summer Friday and hard to shoot without getting other people in the images.  In fact, one of our biggest problems is drawing crowds.  In every public shoot, others have surrounded us, taking photos and asking quesions.  This unnerves me a bit, but Aloyse seems right at home.   This shoot was no exception.  I mean who can resist taking photos of girls doing fake ballet in the Met?

The Highline

I’m not really sure what my problem was last night.  Maybe it was the full moon, maybe it was the fact that I have not slept in my own bed in weeks, or maybe I was just being crabby.  Nonetheless, when we got to our shooting sight last night and I realized that Alyose’s tripod’s quick plate was practically welded onto my camera, and would not work with my new tripod, I started cursing like a sailor, and tried to give up on the shoot.  Aloyse would have none of it!  She made me rig up the camera with books, Luna bars, eyeglass cases, and we actually got a few really nice shots, despite my lack luster attitude.

Last night we shot out on the new Highline Park, an elevated abandoned train trestle, turned walking park, through the Chelsea neighborhood.  This beautiful new addition to the city makes for great views, and a lovely shooting backdrop.  The full moon behind herringbone clouds in the background was not too shabby either.  I really want to return to this space for a re-shoot, as I feel like we could greatly expand what we started (especially with a tripod). Unfortunately, I am leaving NYC in 4 days, to head to Spain for a month, and we have a pretty full schedule until then that does not include re-dos.  It is possible that I will be returning here for an extra two weeks when I get back from Spain, we shall see.

We ended the night with some white wine at the Drunken Horse and continued the theme of ‘drinking with friends is the greatest art of all.’  Taking over the back of the bar, and generally irritating our polish bartender, Aloyse, Mark and I did a bit of musical chairs for the camera. A special thanks goes out to all of our collaborators last night, Mark Schultze, JP Magenis, and Justine Evans.

Documented Binge Drinking at the Mafia Mansion

There really isn’t much to say…  this was shot in my old apartment in Brooklyn, a four-story brownstone just off the Gowanus canal.   There are many stories and myths about this house, mostly regarding the Italian mafia.  From the looks of the interior this is possibly true.  The place is decked out in gold lame wallpaper, orange diner booths, wainscoting, mirrors everywhere, and an equal bar to bath ratio.  The owners are said to now reside in New Jersey, and occasionally show up to sign leases in tracksuits and gold chains.  There are even rumors of Frank Sinatra himself partying in this house.  Many of these stories were recounted at Anthony’s, a 100-year-old Italian restaurant across the street.

At the turn of the century, a huge flywheel did come apart from a nearby factory, flying thousands of feet through the air and crushing the top floor of the house.  That I know happened, as I saw the microfiche myself.  When I lived there it was a real co-op, we shared food, cooking responsibilities and many other chores, it was a total pain in the ass, but I loved it.  Now my wonderful friend Marela Zacarias lives there… the chain of friends never ends at the Mansion.

On this evening, it was far to wet to shoot outside and Marela invited us over for happy-beer drinking-playtime.  We set up a rigorous schedule that included shot gunning a beer, changing costume, and getting ready to take the next photo every 30 minutes.  Needless to say things got sloppy, and after a while we didn’t really follow the shooting schedule too closely.  These are the images of debauchery at the Mafia Mansion.

Coney Island

Last night’s adventures took me down to the land of the Russians: Brighton Beach and Coney Island.  We spent the evening strolling up and down the boardwalk as evening fell, stopping for giant beers, pickled cabbage, and Nathan’s hotdogs.  It felt otherworldly down there, and a big part of me really could not believe that I was even still in Brooklyn.  What a crazy wonderful place, and how have I never been there before?

Getting caught up in the ambiance, I let too much time pass and had to beg the gatekeepers in the park to let me in for one quick shot, before the park closed.  Nothing like two ghostly creepy twins in blue dresses haunting a run down carnival.  In fact, I think it would be really fun to do more of these types of shots in different carnivals, as two headed ladies, Siamese twins and such.  Ghost carnies.

As we were shuffling out, we stopped to watch this ride where they slingshot a chair on bungees way in to the air.  In the image it just comes out as a streak of sparkles like a firework.  It was an odd scene with people giving me very strange looks as I waved my flashlight around like a crazy person.  Good thing they moved fast enough not to register on the image.  Without much time to work out a concept and shoot multiple images, I opted to let just the light stand in for myself: thus the ribbon of light.

Brooklyn Bridge

Sometimes after a night of shooting, I wake up with a photography hangover.  Today is such a day.  I think back, things are fuzzy; I wonder what happened the night before.  Did I get the shot?  What that the right exposure?  And then I look at the work.  Like a long night of drinking, moments I thought were brilliant were total flops, and moments of blah, turn out to be the most meaningful.  Part of me craves a re-do, but like any great party there will be another one soon, so I try not to worry. Second chances abound.

Not that I was truly disappointed with the work last night, it is just that I can see how much better we can do.  Along with seeing how much better we can do, I am also starting to recognize the art of collaboration.  My natural instinct, for some reason is to stand square to the camera, like we are facing off, a duel per say.  Aloyse, has a natural propensity to dancing in front of the camera.  It must be the obsessive compulsive in me that desires such rigid symmetry and fears messy images.  In last night’s work, you can really see when Aly was directing, and when I was directing.  Not that either style is better than the other, and actually it might be why we work so well together.  Ultimately, I feel that one of the final images we did, a dance image, was the strongest.

Finally, a word on clichés: I am still struggling with subject.  I know this work is about spirituality, spirit, ritual, the goddess, dance, religion, and more, but how to bring that to the image?  Well, sometimes there is the need to explore clichés.  Possibly to just get them out of the way.  If you do it once, then at least you don’t have to do it again unless it is really working.  Last night for some odd reason, there was a lot of Hindu and Buddhist symbolism in the work.  Chakras and many armed goddesses.  I have no idea why the Brooklyn Bridge brought that out in the work but there it is.  Ok, sorry I am a little rambly today heat does that to me.  So with out further adieu…

Second night at the farm


After a rough early morning, the work we did last night was far more successful.  First we shot at dusk out in the field, while the light was falling, and it seemed like we just did more of the same.  I was staring to worry.  There are not too many successful images from that shoot and the storytelling aspects are really not there.  Not to mention that when I looked at the photos this morning I saw that we had irreparably bad exposures.  When shooting this type of image you have to push your iso a bit and then you risk a serious degradation of the images when you try to fix them up in post.  The blacks block up and there really isn’t much information there.  It’s a tough balance between iso and f-stop, either you get blocky blacks or you loose depth of field and focus.

We started by playing on a large grassy earthen mound on the edge of the field, women in white lined up on top.  I was having issues with my remote properly triggering my timer, so while the light was good we really were not able to get the best images.  Once I finally gave up and hand triggered the timer we had basically lost our light.  We tried a few dancing poses in the field, but the sky was still too bright and we could not seem to coordinate our movements.  It looked really stiff and uninspired, again with bad exposures.  I was beginning to worry, that we were really not going to get anything out of this trip.

Finally, after a few mishaps, we acquired two kerosene lanterns and were able to use those as our light source.  This was the inspiration we needed.  We headed out to the field and were able to shoot three different scenes.  The first is a goddess dance around a fire, the second is a bringing of the light, and the third takes place at the edge of the forest, a mysterious encounter.  I am quite happy with this work.  I only wish we had more nights to work out here.

Old Green Farm

Last night Aloyse Blair and I headed out to the forest on her fathers beautiful farm in New Jersey.  Sunrise was at 5:30am, so we had a 4am wake up call and were out in the forest by 4:20.  We had scoped out the forest the day before and found a few sights that we thought would make good locations. Finding them in the dark was actually easier than we thought, avoiding the poison ivy as we went.

We ran into a few problems right off.  First, I need to get an actual tripod for this work, using my Gorilla Pod just does not give me the flexibility I need to get the shots I want.  Some of our locations really didn’t look very good without the elevation a tripod would have provided.  Second, there is currently no moon and the forest was so devoid of ambient light that it was almost impossible to get anything done with out using alternate light sources.  Tonight we are going to take some old kerosene lanterns out into the forest with us, which should provide an interesting light source and potential creative aspect to the images.  Third, as usual, I really need to figure out the best ways to deal with focus issues, between focusing in the dark and being able to stop down the camera.  I feel some of these shots might have been quite successful if they had been in focus.  As the sun came up we were eventually able to use the dawn light, but it felt rushed, and to be honest, a bit uninspired. Aloyse and I have been doing this type of work for years now and it is easy to fall back on what we know.  I am hoping over the next few weeks we will be able to really push things to the next level.

Given the absolute darkness, I felt very rusty out there and unsure of what I wanted to accomplish.  I am working on exploring the aspects of location and self, but I am still having a tough time deciding what this means.  I feel pretty confident in my ability to create strong images technically, but establishing solid content is proving to be more difficult.  I need to spend more time on the ‘who, what, where, why, when,’ aspect of this project.  Part of the beauty of these images lies in the spontaneity, but I also really need to get out there and be able to direct the scenes.  Thankfully, Aloyse has a great natural feel for this type of performance work and we were able to get something accomplished before the sun rose.

After all was said and done these were the strongest images from last night.   I personally feel the last image works best, but I include all so that you can compare and see how the project comes along over the next few months.