birdhouse

And peoplehouse pieces, too.

jungle gym

Jungle gym thing in my old backyard. I came close to breaking many an ankle jumping off of it.

parking garage

Top of a parking garage stairwell. Shot on a 4"x5" negative.

pink insulation

Continuing the rectangles-cut-into-walls theme from yesterday.

skylight/Christmas lights

From my brother's bed. The skylight faces east. Summer mornings are blindingly, burningly terrible there.

mother & child (taken)

Solarized version of this one.

here's Johnny & Chris

Christopher Mullins and me: great minds.

millwheel

Millwheel in a park in the South End, Boston.

Highlander series: looking right

Another Polaroid print from the 50's. (more)

Highlander series: new dress

My current Mad Men obsession has brought me back to these Polaroid Highlander photos.

red stove

What do you think, do kitchen appliances like stoves and refrigerators count as "furniture"? Is "furniture" only something you sit on/at, like a chair or table? Or put stuff on/in, like a dresser or a vanity? Large kitchen appliances could fit those criteria. I could look up the definition of "furniture", but I can't think of anything else to talk about for this post, so there you go.

Ben: Polaroid peel pt. two

The other side of the Polaroid from yesterday.

Ben: Polaroid peel pt. one

One side of a peeled-apart Polaroid.

sawhorse

This is in New Hampshire, but it's very old-west feeling.

barn door

Is there a technical name for a barn that is also a garage?

Deconstructure 03 (exhibit version)

The fifth piece I had in the Various Perspectives show.

This one was originally in the first Mansion Show in June of 2008. Part of the Deconstructure series.

The Skull (exhibit version)

Fourth of five photos from Various Perspectives.

I posted this one here before in a different form. That first one is a scan of a print that I made in the darkroom. For this new one I scanned the negative directly. I melted and scratched up the negative, so it's all rippled and bent. So the point of focus may be different every time you put it in a darkroom enlarger or negative scanner.

Ghost Rider (exhibit version)

Third piece from Various Perspectives.

This is the first photo I ever posted here! I scanned the original negative and ended up having to digitally extend the bottom and top to make it fit a 16"x20" format.

Window Girl (exhibit version)

Second out of my five pieces from the Various Perspectives show.

David Prifti is in possession of this original print, which he uses in his classes to show kids how to be adventurous in their photography. He could easily just show them his own work exclusively to demonstrate that, so it's certainly an honor to have my work used for that purpose.

The process of how this image came to be is a long one: the picture of the girl is taken from a book or a magazine, I can't remember which. I made a print of that, and then scraped up the paper and burned it with a lighter. Then I took a slide of the piece (which was part of my college application portfolio. It worked!) I recently found that slide, scanned it into the computer, removed a few distracting dust spots, changed it to black and white, and printed it out 16"x20" for the show.

In hindsight I can't decide if making it black and white was the right choice. And then I smack myself in the face, because somebody liked it enough to buy it, so don't worry about it, stupid. But something just seems off about it to me, I guess because I've been living with the color version all these years. But even printing it out in color wouldn't have captured the tactility of the burns and scratches anyway. So in the end I think the black and white works just as well in a digital print medium, and it fit in better with my other pieces, which were all black and white as well. For the record, here's the original, with yellowed burn marks and all, mounted on a white board which I "smoked" with a lighter:

Celebrity (exhibit version)

First of five pieces from the recent Various Perspectives show at the Beebe Estate.

I didn't have time to make any new pieces for the show, so I went back through my old prints and negatives and selected a few to fix up and reprint.

I posted this piece, "Celebrity", previously on the site. This new version is basically the same, just cropped to be printed out at 16"x20".

Various Perspectives: success

Big belated thanks to everyone who came out to the Beebe Estate in Melrose for the Various Perspectives show. It was great fun as usual. Above are some of my pieces from the show. I'll be posting them individually here over the next few days.

oceanside rocks

I can't remember if this is Portsmouth or Maine. But both of them... rock.

Eric with a chair in the snow

This was New Year's Eve 05/06. I found that folding chair outside a Back Bay apartment and brought it all the way home. I set it up in the middle of the aisle on a sardine-can-packed Green Line train and sat my butt down for the long ride.

the brook pt. three

The brook behind my house growing up. The paper got a little fogged on the right side there.

orange power goo-splosion

Black and white print with neon orange paint. Seemed like a good idea at the time.

Various Perspectives show, TONIGHT

Final reminder for the reception at 7:00pm tonight over at the Beebe Estate. I'm adding one additional photo to the show.

See yesterday's post for the pertinent info.

See ya there!

plane on a windowsill

The band-aid is a thoughtful touch.

Various Perspectives show, this Friday

I totally forgot to mention that I'm exhibiting in a new group show at the Beebe Estate this month.

The reception is tomorrow night, 7:00-9:00 PM at the Beebe Estate, 235 West Foster St., Melrose, MA. Free admission, free parking.

As always, there will be a bounty of snacks and booze. Also, art of all kinds. I'm showing four large photographs, samples of which are above. Last night I got a sneak peak at most of the other artists' work, and there's some really great stuff.

Artists include:

Adrienne Belyea
Joe Boo
Sharon Bradbury
Aaron Morris
Christopher Mullins
Bo Petran
Mike Polcari
Anna Salmeron
Chris Spuglio

Hope to see you there. Mention you heard about the show here and I'll hold a cluster of grapes over your head so that you may feast on them in a decadent manner.

melted flowers

A black and white negative that I melted a little bit over a flame and then printed. This is actually a scan of a slide of a print. So that makes this particular image the great-grandchild of the original. I think? Whew.

flower & butterfly couch

Friend of the elephant vortex couch.

ear to ear

Slow exposure. Turned my head. Bad haircut.

Salty

UNICORN CAT.

deconstructures pt. four

See similar ones here.

Advent series: INRI

Big J, hangin' out. With a very, very tiny old man. Also known as a "homunculus"! I love that I just got to use that word.

waves of grass

I like to take pictures of this house.

French crazymobile

What are you waiting for Detroit? You've got nothing to lose, let's make this happen.

dino mountain

This is my first-ever photo shoot, taken around the time I first saw Dino-Riders, at age 6 or so. And now I'm a photographer. Which I think means I owe this all to the sublime genius that is Dino-Riders. Which is awesome.

Harvey Milk pt. two

Harvey Milk at the Middle East Downstairs, 7/25/09.

record shelf

Another creation by my dad. This time it's his record collection.

reaching wooden hand

My dad carved the sculpture. I printed this on a 4"x6" photo postcard, meaning it's regular b&w photo paper, but the back looks like this.

Advent series: imperialism

This is one of my favorites of this series, visually.

magical murder room

See also -----> :O

Cave In

Cave In anti-hiatus show at Great Scott, 7/19/09.

Alfred #3: older & almost gone

Poor Alfred. The world is unkind, and so are mildew stains.

Alfred #2: old & tired

Alfred in later years. Not looking too spry.

Again, I mainly just fixed the brightness and contrast on this photo digitally, because the time this print spent in the bathroom really took its toll. As I imagine was the case with Alfred himself.

Alfred #1: young & strong

One of several photos of this man -- who I'm arbitrarily going to call Alfred, because he just looks like an Alfred -- that I found while archiving the contents of musty old boxes at a temp job. After four years tacked to my bathroom wall (why not?), I scanned it and retouched it slightly.

Isis

Mike Gallagher from Isis, at the Middle East Upstairs. I think this was in 2002.

Advent series: sickbed

Burned silver print.

rock block

Every day at sunset.