Tim Noble & Sue Webster for Freunde von Freunden

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I couldn’t be happier to share this work with you today.

In October of 2011, before I moved back to Brooklyn from London, I had the incredible opportunity to shoot photos for Freunde von Freunden at the studio of British artists Tim Noble & Sue Webster.  I had walked by their studio – a notable building in Shoreditch by architect David Adjaye – many times before (often looking at my reflection in their mirrored windows along the ground floor).  It was an honor to spend the morning with them, seeing their old work as well as a new series of work.  This new series would culminate in “Nihilistic Optimistic“, their first major exhibition in London since 2006, at Blain Southern in late 2012.

Click over to Freunde von Freunden to read the interview, see the full set of photos, and watch a video from that day.

If you don’t know Tim & Sue’s work, you can see their website (and read their Wikipedia page for a quick & dirty version).

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(Thanks to Timmi and Frede and the FvF team for asking me to shoot this one – it was my first collaboration with them and I’m so glad we’re still working together on good portraits.)

paa Lookbook

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Top to bottom:
Rawlston Charles of Charlie’s Calypso City in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn – wearing the hat in camel
Shinya Shibata of Shinobi Ramen in Williamsburg, Brooklyn – wearing the hat in jade
Minas Polychronakis of Minas Shoe Repair in lower Manhattan – wearing the hat in teal black
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My good friends Al and Peter have launched a new line of sportswear today, called paa.

It was an honor to shoot pictures for them a couple of weeks ago. For their first lookbook, I photographed 3 local NYC gents who own small businesses.  They are each wearing one of the hats in the first paa collection.

I have a couple of these hats and I love them — check out their website at houseofpaa.com and you can see the hats as well as the rest of the photos I took. Big congrats to Al & Peter!
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–(ps – sorry for the silence around here, I’ve been in California and have not been in front of a computer very much.  I have more new work to share with you tomorrow – stay tuned!  In the meantime, you can follow my adventures on Instagram)

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Film Photography Class at LDBA in Brooklyn!

(photo credit: Molly Wizenberg)

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Hello party people.

A quick announcement: I’ll be teaching an analogue film photography class at L’Ecole Des Beaux Arts (LDBA) in Brooklyn on Saturday, February 23 from 10:30-11:30.

You can find the class details and register HERE. I hope you’ll join me if you’re interested, it will be a lot of fun.

I’ve mentioned it here before, but LDBA is the brainchild of my super-talented friend Sara Moffat. There are an incredible selection of classes available in the coming weeks so check out the LDBA website (and sign up for my class if you’re interested!).
Thanks.

January 31

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Todd, Brooklyn, late 2012

In January

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During a busy and stressful day, looking at these photos has quieted my mind just a little bit. A sense of calm for a few minutes.

(Photos taken in Vermont earlier this month)

Candles

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I really hate overhead or harsh lights indoors during the winter. I am really sensitive to light and how it affects my mood, so I much prefer soft light and I often keep my apartment pretty dark, except for a small lamp or two around the house. And I light a ton of candles because I find that it helps me with the inevitable winter blahs that strike at this time of year. (also helpful: being able to spend 18 days in California very soon)

This year, I’ve been trying to use beeswax candles as much as possible. They are a bit more expensive than the white pillar candles I usually use, but they burn brighter, cleaner and longer so it’s worth it. For some reason, I’ve been snapping photos of my candles burning at different stages this winter – almost documenting the process from lighting a fresh candle to the very end.

I snapped the top photo the other night after dinner at home. And the bottom photo is a plate of beeswax candles after they had all expired. I love the weird blobs and patterns made by beeswax candles as they burn.

Heading to California

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TRAVEL PLANS!

I will be in California from January 31 until February 18.

I’ll be in Los Angeles until February 7 or 8, and then I head up to San Francisco with some stops along the way north. Please get in touch if you’d like to hire me or work together on something while I’m out west!  Thanks.

You and Me Both

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Thanks for your thoughts on the post yesterday. It was as much for my own benefit as anything, just putting some of my thoughts down in words. I think it resonated with a lot of you, too. And thank you for the encouragement.

In that vein, the photos above were all taken one weekend when I was feeling really creative – open and free and seeing things a bit differently. I love when that happens and I really like the resulting photos.  They feel new and interesting to me, and they explore some things I have been wanting to express in my work.  I look at these photos and I think, “YES.”

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Miscellaneous:

++  Please read this essay from Zadie Smith, “Joy” (via Jennilee). You will not regret it.  ( … the part about dancing to Q-Tip singing “Can I Kick It” while on Ecstasy in 1999 just kills me.  “The top of my head flew away. We danced and danced. We gave ourselves up to joy.”)

++  One of my favorite photographers, Renato D’Agostin, has just shared his newest series of work, “Shanghai Express“. I’ve had the opportunity to hang out with Renato a few times in New York and it has been such a pleasure talking to him about work and life over a couple of beers. Most recently, he was telling me about his process of creating this new body of work in Shanghai and about the photos he had captured.  Renato develops and prints all of his work in his own darkroom and I am fascinated by his process and his way of seeing the world.  The Shanghai photos will form a new book – do not miss this.

Ease & Grace

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(In honor of the freezing temps in New York today, some photos from last weekend in foggy & snowy Vermont)
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Some disjointed thoughts about working for myself that I want to write down:

Sometimes I spend so many hours stuck in my own head and working alone that I get all turned around. I don’t know if any of the photos I’m looking at are any good, or if they say what I want them to say, or if the colors and tones look right. Or I feel apathetic about my latest roll of film. Or a group of photos gets me really excited and I can’t wait to post them here, only to find that enthusiasm strangely dissipate as I look through them a few days later. I have always said that I only post here when I’m really into it, sharing photos that get me excited in some way. Why does my enthusiasm disappear unexpectedly sometimes?

It’s a constant struggle, I know. Creativity ebbs and flows and working independently can make you crazy sometimes. Thoughts that go through my head: how can I stay motivated and what do I want to shoot? How would I like to shoot it? Maybe I should just get out and shoot more. But when will I have some time? My to-do list is growing. I need to budget my time more effectively. I wish I had more time to take photos, to give myself small assignments, to finally start taking more portraits, or explore that project idea scribbled in my notebook. I should just do it. I should, I should.

People are right when they tell you that being a photographer is often about sitting at a desk editing photos, preparing invoices, worrying about how you’ll pay the rent, asking people 3, 4, 5 times to pay those invoices, struggling to make things work, giving yourself pep talks.

But then there are moments when it all clicks into place and you’re moving through the days with ease and grace. I’m hoping to find a bit more of that ease & grace soon. I suspect that it’ll be about finding balance. Working hard to balance the admin side with the creative side. And also: maybe I should stop thinking about it so much. More doing, less thinking. Maybe that’s the solution.

Shapes / Home

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Seeing shapes and geometry around the house.