Elise just got a new job and came by for a head shot. It is funny seeing my good friend all corporate, but Elise is really an HR genius. Just as I started shooting, her husband Shlomi ducked in. I gave him reflector duty – then pulled back. I loved seeing both of them in the frame. Elise got her head shot. I got these.
When I was growing up in Pittsburgh, it never occurred to me to me that I would ever create something that would hang in the Carnegie Museum. I understood art, I just didn’t understand being an artist. Didn’t understand it at RISD. In many ways, still don’t understand it.
Today I got a note from Ellen Fleurov of the Silver Eye Gallery that the Carnegie Museum of Art has acquired a print of mine for their permanent collection. That must mean I have become an artist. It makes me very happy.
I do not try to be an artist.
I try – always – to do work that is me.
Now I have to become a better artist.
or…as Bob Dylan says,
“An artist has got to be careful never really to arrive at a place where he thinks he’s at somewhere. You always have to realize that you’re constantly in a state of becoming. As long as you can stay in that realm, you’ll sort of be alright.”
Your choice on Spotify.
As for me….I am listening to Maggie Hamilton today. I had my head out the window talking to her. Watching the clouds’ indecision of what kind of day they wanted to give us. Watching the parking lot squeeze tight. Trying to zoom out into the big picture. And breathe. Breathe. Breathe…..
A client last night asked if they pay me more, will I work harder? We both laughed hard at that one. I don’t even know less than 1000 per cent. The compensation is great, but not the motivation.
Listening to this old Warren Zevon song which was the soundtrack for the last blog post: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQWUdtU1t4k
Watching Will Epstein’s thesis from Brown – http://vimeo.com/41809923 Will is an old friend. This piece is so soulful and beautiful. Like Will.
Then the new King Charles album – which I am not sure I love….. – although my 1 year old is singing Bam Bam NON-stop! Is that okay?
This was the scene at Jazzfest last Sunday in New Orleans.
This is the shot from my phone
It is always funny to me when a stranger hands me their camera and asks to take a picture. I like taking pictures. A family on the beach. A couple in the park. I do my thing. Hand the camera back. Keep going on with my day.
The next day on the beach, that same stranger will come up to me and ask, “What did you do when you took that picture of us yesterday? It is the best picture of us ever. It looked completely different than any other shot we have taken.”
Those little moments are how I see the world. That is what I do.
This past Sunday at Jazzfest in New Orleans, there were 100,000 of us all out in an open field, taking Bruce Springsteen in. Listening. Singing. Crying. Dancing. All pointing our phones at one point or another at Bruce. I had scored tickets for the front section which gave me an advantage. I took 5 pictures with my iphone. This is my favorite.
I posted it on Instagram and Facebook – and got more likes and comments than any image I have posted. It made me alittle crazy – how is it this is my most popular picture posted in social media ever?
Then I thought of the anonymous family on the beach.
Bruce Springsteen is at the height of his powers. Not his most agile. Maybe not the most daring. Still – he has a toolbox of songs, a trunk load of experience, and a clarity that he can summon at will. He is in front of tens of thousands of people every night – mixing it up live, using his band like a finely honed blade to cut through all the clutter in our heads – able to steer the show down different roads as he feels it. He came out a couple of nights ago in LA an hour before the show was to begin. He brought his family out on onstage to take some pictures. Only a small portion of the audience was there. Then he picked up his guitar and played, “For You” and disappeared. In New Orleans he summoned ghosts, wove “When the Saints Go Marching in” seamlessly into a new song of his, and made us all imagine our personal and shared losses then how to take the next steps together all in a single song (City Of Ruins). He plays his 30 year old chestnuts as gifts that somehow seem just as vital as when you first heard them. He doesn’t embarrass himself. That is a big one. Rockers in their early 60’s either evolve or make us wince. It is amazing the place he has found to work out of.
I told a friend I find that way he leads his life really inspiring – not so much the music and the way he can still burn hot with dignity. She said the songs are my way in.
First, I apologize. I try to do this everyday. You are busy. It is okay. I am busy, too, but I am always thinking about you. Wondering if you saw this. When I sit down there is so much to share that the post gets much longer than you have time for. Take a little bite. Sip some coffee. Come back when you can. I will be here.
Started the year off meeting with Stephie in New York on January 2. No one was working. The city was cleaning up and quiet. The office in NY was empty but really bright and sunny. We needed a plan. I have never planned. We needed to keep a promise. Needed to shine a light. So we made a plan. It was not that hard. Stephie loves maps and has become a master cartographer for this ship.
Subalehka and Jonah whose two brains make a very balanced wonderful one – came in and helped us part on the left and comb everything into place.
Then…over the next weeks everything became wonderful and rich. I can’t show the pictures yet – but soon. I can’t talk about the videos we are doing – but so excited the new projects involve the leap to directing. I can say the book we are doing for Workman is going to be totally amazing! I can say the next weeks shooting in LA, in Utah, in Columbus, in Boston will be the best I have ever done.
Last night I stayed in NY writing for the book. I don’t understand why some days I have such crazy energy and everything just comes pouring out. I took a late train home. Walking up the hill I heard this song I knew coming out of a bar. A bunch of women were having a great time singing Karaoke. The song was so familiar. Then they came to the chorus of “Thunder Road.” I kept walking. Thought about the night a couple of years ago my mother asked me about Bruce Springsteen. We sat down on the couch and I played her several videos of Bruce singing Thunder Road – acoustic alone, with the whole band. I gave her a sheet with the lyrics. I looked over and she was really moved. She said, “I didn’t know he was so emotional.” Months later she went to see him in Colorado with my brother. They snuck up to sit close.
Links:
Great article in the Times yesterday on eating mindfully. Hard to imagine slowing down this much, but does make eating lunch at your computer sound alittle insane.
Odd segue, but sticking with food – if you are in Nashville, visit Burger Up. Love everything there from the room, to the staff – and onion rings stacked like a perfect mountain. But go there for the coffee. It is crazy that something we are pretty sophisticated about in NY they can rewire your body with in one cup.
Discovered the most amazing band in the middle of the night in Nashville over the weekend. Could not sleep in the middle of the night. Plugged my ears with a show called, “Acoustic Cafe.“ Not as Starbucks as it sounds. They played, “King of the World” by, “First Aid Kit” that had Connor Oberest (Bright Eyes) singing on the track. I checked out their videos. I listened to the album they just released. They are sisters, in their early 20′s – from Sweden. I am so happy to share. Here is music to take February back with
I saw a clip of Bill O’Reilly (which is a weird thing to say since I have never watched him before) DEFENDING JC Penney and Ellen Degeneres. Then I did something I also have never done, I wrote to JC Penney supporting their support of Ellen. They wrote this back, “As we focus on being in sync with the rhythm of our customers’ lives and operating in a ‘Fair and Square’ manner that is rooted in integrity, simplicity and respect, we couldn’t think of a better partner than Ellen DeGeneres. We are extremely proud to have her on our team.”
The rhythm of our customers….. Maybe there is hope.
One last video for if the snow ever comes……from the Head & The Heart
