Two of my photos were chosen for the upcoming DCist Exposed Photo Show at Civilian Art Projects, March 7-15.

Check check out all the images here in the Flickr pool. All of the photos submitted for the show may be seen right here.

More details to come…

Press Release

“black and white and… all over”
A group exhibition of Washington, DC-based black and white photographers
Curated by J.T. Kirkland
February 27 – March 29
Opening reception: Saturday, March 1 from 5–8pm

H&F Fine Arts is pleased to announce a group exhibition of Washington, D.C.-based photographers. Taking its name from the old standby about newspapers (“What’s black and white and read all over?”), the show presents a survey of black and white photography from the D.C. metropolitan area.

The exhibition features dozens of photographs hung salon style throughout the gallery. The artists themselves will assist the curator in hanging the show, collectively attempting to author a visual narrative that explores the voices and concerns of today’s Washington photographers by constructing a mosaic of styles and perspectives. To highlight the joint articulation of the various works, the identities of individual artists will be subordinated; the price of each piece and the initials of its creator will be presented on a brightly colored sticker meant to contrast with the dominant black and white palette. With the names and reputations of the artists subtracted from the exhibition, the work of seasoned veterans will hang alongside that of newcomers just finding their footing in the art world. The curator challenges viewers to try and tell the difference while posing the question of whether the distinction is even significant.

Artists included in the exhibition are Erin Antognoli, James W. Bailey, Danny Conant, Max Cook, Stephen Crowley, Justin Hoffmann, Michael Dax Iacovone, Nick Jbara, Jane Jeffers, J.T. Kirkland, Angela Kleis, Prescott Lassman, Thomas Paradis, Aleksei Pechnikov, Susana Raab, Alexandra Silverthorne, Jim Tetro, Bryan Whitson, and Lloyd Wolf.

High resolution images are available upon request.

I was interviewed by Amanda Hess at the City Paper for an article she wrote about DC art in alternative spaces, specifically, Second Life.

Can read it here.

Here’s an interview I did last year about the whole thing.

A few years ago, I participated in JT Kirkland’s One Word Project, was included in his book, and then in the One-Word show in September 2007 at the Arts Club of Washington.

Coming up next month, I will have photos in another show he is curating:

“black and white and… all over”
Curated by JT Kirkland

H&F Fine Arts
3311 Rhode Island Avenue, Mount Rainier, MD 20712

Feb. 27 - March. 29
Reception: Sat. March 1st 5-8PM

This post is a continuation from a thread on artdc.org regarding the rise in medium-format camera prices on ebay. Rather than hijack that thread, I’ve decided to post my own thoughts based on the observations I’ve made over the past 6 months or so.

Film is becoming retro and so are the medium-format cameras, particularly box cameras, Twin-Lens Reflex (TLR’s), and Bronicas. I’ve also noticed the prices steadily going up from 2-3 months ago. The starting prices are much higher, as well. Might be something to do with the post-Christmas shopping but I really think a lot of the photographers who started with digital are looking more into the roots of photography and seeking out more interesting cameras to do so. I’ve noticed on Flickr that many of the die-hard digital photographers who started with digital are starting to shoot film, now, as well.

Film is not dead.

Until about Sept 2007, 100% of everything I was seeing was digital. I was reading articles about the demise of film, Kodak ending production on printing paper, people not understanding why I was still shooting film and coming damn close to ridicule.

While photography is photography, film and digital are two totally different types of the process and require different skill sets. During the height of the digital revolution, people for the most part seemed to be closed off to the idea that film was still a viable form of photography. The amount of shit that’s come my way from digital photographers, all unsolicited feedback, by the way, from random people to even sales people in various camera stores. Film? Why do you want that? Digital is the way to go, blah blah blah.

When my website was redesigned in June 2006, all of my photos were transitioned to Flickr. They then stream in through a type of RSS feed to my website. I never really spent much time on Flickr until about a year ago when I realized that there was such a large community in the area. Most of the photos on flickr were digital. Then, something changed.

More retro films started to appear through a company that I order film through. More film cameras started to appear in places cameras seemed wierd, like in Urban Outfitters; I think I even saw some on Gap’s website last summer, things like that, etc.
These were novelty film cameras that were “fun” and offered a more retro/vintage feel, an alternative to the digital that had already saturated the market.

I started to see people on Flickr who had only ever shot with digital start to buy used film cameras from ebay and start shooting in black and white. Older harder to find cameras began to appear on Flickr. Medium-format photography has come to the forefront and seems to be more novel at the moment than 35mm, particularly with the populous becoming more familiar with the $20 Holga.

My view is that digital has been overly saturated, everyone has a digital camera of some type, and it’s really so very different from film….it may be light reflected through filters but that is where the similarity ends. It is so far removed from traditional photography that those who started with digital are searching for the meaning of photography. To do this, you kinda have to go back to the begining and learn about the process and how photos were taken with film.

Photographers are returning to the roots to learn more. There needs to be a way to separate your work from the deluge of digital snapshots showing up every where you turn. Alternative processes, multiple-exposure Holga images, Polaroid processes, pinhole cameras, even pinhole cameras made from things like matchbooks, paint cans, and cardboard are being used to distinguish photographs from the point-and-shoots of birthday parties and wasted bar gatherings.

It’s just really funny to me that many of the die-hard digital photographers who poo-poohed my choice to stay with film rather than jumping on the digital revolution are now looking at film differently.

I am not bashing digital photography by any means, nor am I targeting any group of people. This is simply my interpretation of the transition I have observed over the past six months. Digital is great; it’s just not for me.

Welcome to film! Enjoy your stay!