I got to work on a shoot today with Mary Ellen Mark. I came home and just spent an hour or so looking through the collection of work on her website. I didn't realize she has photographed so many of the very smart and talented people of our time. Really made me wonder what it would be like to have met all of those people.

"Reality is always extraordinary"

Recent photos from Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland

Montage of clips of Richard Avedon on Charlie Rose

"I suspect it is for one's self-interest that one looks at one's surroundings and one's self. This search is personally born and is indeed my reason and motive for making photographs. The camera is not merely a reflecting pool and the photographs are not exactly the mirror, mirror on the wall that speaks with a twisted tongue. Witness is borne and puzzles comes together at the photographic moment which is very simple and complete. The mind-finger presses the release on the silly machine and it stops time and holds what its jaws can encompass and what the light will stain" Lee Friedlander via the pura vida gallery

one of my favorite portraits by r.avedon

"Our connection to animals today is often developed through assimilation and appropriation; they are absorbed in our lives, yet we no longer know of their origin. Most people are cut off from the steps involved in their processing or acquisition, shielded from witnessing their death or decay. I am interested in moving within these contradictions, always wondering if the notion of sacred will survive alongside our evolution."

Colleen Plumb

Asger Carlsen, also repped by Marge Casey

catss

More Dan Winters,

Dan Winters

Ohh Dan Winters, how I love your pictures. Ran into a lot of his work on Friday, and it reminded me how I always get that warm fuzzy feeling when I look at his photos. At work we had a visit from his rep, Marge Casey + Associates, and saw his newest book at the Aperture Slideshow Potluck. I look at what he has done and wish it were my own.

:: Here :: is his website for further exploration.

My Shoes

Charles Simic

Shoe, secret face of my inner life:

Two gaping toothless mouths,

To partly decomposed animal skins

Smelling of mice-nests.

My brother and sister who died at birth

Continuing their existence in you,

Guiding my life

Toward their incomprehensible innocence

What use are books to me

When in you it is possible to read

The Gospel of my life on earth

And still beyond, of things to come?

I want to proclaim the religion

I have devised for your perfect humility

And the strange church I am building

With you as the alter.

Ascetic and maternal, you endure:

Kin to oxen, to Saints, to condemned men,

With your mute patience, forming

The only true likeness of myself.

Ann Woo

nyc based photographer, Ann Woo -- in the mood for these on a morning free from work.

Land escapes

I barley ever read the Fader, but the photography in the oct/nov issue out right now is epic and super beautiful. See :: sweeping landscapes from across the US. I think these got to me because I'm craving for an escape out of nyc/reality.

Also. . .

Justin Venon interviewed in this issue about moving back to his hometown of Eau Claire, Wisconsin. Growing up in the Midwest, I think there is a lot of truth in what he says --- people tell me I am too apologetic ::

F: The Scandianavian influence has a lot to do with what people might call the Midwestern sensibility, a pragmatism and reserve that juxtaposes weirdly with the expressiveness or even romance in your singing.

J: Yeah, I think it's what gives Midwestern art its vibe. I think it's impossible for people from around here to express themselves dishonestly. That also mean they might not jump at the chance to express themselves everyday day to everyone they meet because they might not feel like burdening someone with really honest shit. That's where the reservation comes from I think. But it's rooted in kindness. My brother says sorry a lot. We're at McDonald's and he's saying sorry to everyone. I just notice it and Im' like, Why are you saying sorry? You didn't do anything wrong. But I think ti's about not leaving a mark or trying not to leave a mar. Trying not to take up too much of someone's time or space. It's inspiring. It's about loving each other and togetherness. At the end of the day, a little bit of it is about not sharing your own troubles. I guess that's why people drink beer here.