also, Tiny Showcase and Josh Keyes are killing it this week. Check out this time limited-edition print Tiny Showcase released on tuesday to benefit Stand With Haiti:

“Totem II (Raven Steals the Light)” is an 8″x10″ giclee for $30. $15 from each sale will be donated to the charity (as of right now, they’ve raised $23,805!!). The prints will be on sale until this Tuesday.

It really is a steal for a Keyes print, and a nice affordable way for people to purchase one without the stress. the last time I bid on one of his prints the gallery’s website kept crashing from the shitstorm of people and they sold out in a confusing 15 min or so.

so i’ve been doing a lot of thinking lately about the pure and simple idea of physically making and producing objects. it sounds like an elementary notion, but I’ve only really discovered recently that a large part of why I often find myself feeling down on myself or discouraged about my level of “success” or self-worth is often connected to the level of productivity in manifesting physical objects. I would call it “making art”, but it’s not even that necessarily. I’m talking cookies and keychains even. I think sometimes I just need to produce physical objects to reconfirm my own existence or something. I know, crazy.

The main neurotic obsession usually manifests itself as “YOU ARENT MAKING GOOD ART. YOU ARENT EVEN MAKING ANY ART. WHY HAVENT YOU DRAWN? WHY HAVENT YOU TAKEN YOUR CAMERA OUT?” – which, let’s be real, is only going to push the feeling of being blocked or in a rut even further, because the continual focus is always on quantity measured by quality. basically, I psych myself out of working half of the time because I’ve already decided it isn’t going well. Which is where making comes in as the ancestral relative- the cause and also the therapy. Because making cookies and making a good photograph can be easily linked into a basic relationship of  knowledge/idea into process into execution. The only reason that art takes up the main portion of my judgment of myself is I deem my art as a more important and accurate way to judge my self-satisfaction than my cookies. But sometimes it’s good to get back to the root of things, instead of obsess about the big picture. And that’s exactly what I’ve been trying to do lately.

So I’ve been taking a break from my “fine art photography” and getting back to the good basics: learning new materials, putting my hands to good use, and enjoying some of the more elementary and less ‘serious’ forms of making. This really has included an awful lot of baking lately, a ton of Christmas crafts, some drawing, the pottery wheel (my first cereal bowl up top!), and soon to be woodworking tomorrow. So yeah, just a few thoughts when you’re getting a little crazy and low. Or maybe I’m just trying to cope with the fact that I’m only 23 and enjoy a good few hours cutting out paper to make gift tags.

Had the chance to snap a few relaxed fun shots with the guys and gals from A Cat Called Cricket the other day.

alright, so maybe i just think that one is just sorta cute.

I’m really happy to announce that Pianos Become the Teeth have officially signed to MA’s Top Shelf Records. It’s an awesome opportunity for the guys and everyone is really excited for them to be getting the recognition. Top Shelf will be releasing Old Pride in January 2010 which is also pretty exciting for myself since I had the opportunity to work with Pianos for their album artwork again (along with Mr. August Schwartz). Above is the cover after August’s editing and layout work, and below are some of the featured photographs in their original states.

It’s always an amazing experience to work with a band on creating an image that really fits them or their music but this album ended up resonating really strongly with me on a personal level. All of the images were from a trip in which I traveled alone in Eastern Europe last summer working on a photography series titled Regain/Regrowth. We were originally going to shoot all new images specifically for the album, but after reviewing a few of these, we figured out pretty quickly that they were exactly the direction we wanted to go. The trip was intensely personal for me- and being able to share it with other people, or find new ways of interpretting the work is so rewarding.

Amazingly, after speeding up to Towson after work on Saturday, I managed to catch Ruiner’s set at their release show. It was a blast. There were even themed cupcakes.

If you’d like to see photos from the show, you can visit my flickr account HERE.

Front Cover

I am excited for this! Ruiner is gearing up for their record release show for “Hell Is Empty” this approaching weekend. I was priviledged enough to have the chance to work on the album artwork with the guys for this one and I have to say it turned out better than I could have imagined. All of the photographs were done in and around Baltimore by myself with the kind help of Rob, Steve, and Dustin trading off as art directors/camera protectors.

On top of my images, Linas Garsys (artist behind their “Prepare to be Let Down” release and artist for AFI, American Nightmare, etc) created some stunning illustrations that are printed in a clear spot UV coat. The images are printed on a heavy matte cardstock so the effect is really satisfying.

The LP’s are limited to a first pressing of 1,500 with 500 in clear vinyl and 1,000 in pink/blue vinyl. They also come with a 12″x18″ twelve panel poster with full color/clear varnish on one side and black & white illustrations/lyrics on the reverse. It’s so amazing to do work for a record label whose bands got me into hardcore in high school and with an artist who was behind a lot of the art of those same bands.

(*Images courtesy of Bridge Nine)

Info for their record release this Saturday:

HELL IS EMPTY RECORD RELEASE/CELEBRATED SUMMER ANNIVERSARY
SEPTEMBER 26th
10 CAR PILE UP- 511 York Rd. Towson MD
Doors at 7, FIRST BAND AT 7:30
RUINER (RECORD RELEASE)
SURROUNDINGS (BALTIMORE)
TITLE FIGHT (PA)
MAGRUDERGRIND (DC)
BLACK SS (NY)
BRICK (MD)

hear the album streamed HERE. Preorder their release/merch HERE.

Part of my interest in photography is the collection and documentation aspect. Reaffirming and examining my own existence- or maybe proving something about it- I’m not really sure. It’s makes it easy for me to place an emotional attachment to images, or even to assign them a job to act as my surrogate memory (I think part of me is fearful that my family history for Alzheimer’s is going to kick in and maybe this is my lifeboat to saving my existence). It’s nothing new to consider photography in this way, but I don’t think many people consider how this sort of mindframe can also manifest itself as a small ailment in daily life as well. Without going into details, it sort of results in placing a lot of significance in objects as memory markers as well- and this results in holding on to far too many things and sometimes subconsciously assigning them too much responsibility.

Anyway, with this incredible Fall weather and the support of my amazing significant other, I’ve started an attempt at purging some of the junk out of my home and detaching it’s emotional weight.  So far the biggest accomplishments have been 2 trashbags full of various photographs and negatives (not an exaggeration at all) and a cardboard box full of skateboards (or pieces of) and trucks, along with tons of smaller knick-knacks of course.

Why any of this matters at all to the internet is that I’d like to start this whole virtual existence over again also. The post-Undergraduate blues has seriously had me by the throat for the past several months as job hunts prove unsuccessful and I still don’t have a clear-cut view of where my goals lie.  I feel like I have to gut out my internet clutter- so here we are.