Spotted in Key West, FL.

“It’s been exactly a year since The Items We Carry, a flickr group, was started by designer and photographer Naz Hamid. It’s for photos of the small things we put in our pockets or on our persons — the essentials we need to function daily at a basic level.

This week, we’ve invited Naz to JPG, to run this interesting challenge within our community. So empty your pockets and show us what you have! We’ll play by his rules—if you don’t have pockets and say, are a lady, then your purse may serve as your pockets (no bags otherwise)—and Naz himself will be guest editing this challenge!

If you did this challenge on flickr last year, do it again, and link to your original photo. What’s changed since then?

This challenge will be open for one week and will close on July 30, 2008.”

Do it!

Update: The selections I made have been posted which are also available as a PDF download. Thanks to all who participated.

Last evening, I attended the Field Tested Books: Live in Chicago set of readings (NYC, Monday!) and had a great time. I’m not the biggest fan of readings depending on the pedigree of the reader or readers at hand and there are certainly some who delve into Freebird jam-band territory¹ but last night’s readings were on point.

The material at hand helps: short, brief, concise narratives held together by a common topic with a relatively similar structure. Easily digestible, easily enjoyed and no wankery.

That said, some writers are born to be writers and not readers. Or rather, public speakers — in the sense that there could be some showmanship involved. Years of live music and good showmanship have spoilt me in that regard. There were some definite highlights though: Bryan Bedell’s delivery and humour, John Tolva’s phoning it in from Ghana, Jonathan Messinger and Wendy McClure as always knows how to close a show down.

Much props and love to the Coudal crew as always.

My photos from the event are here on Flickr, as I field tested the rented Nikon 18-200VR lens (which I am decidedly not fond of) and the noise and blurriness get worse as the light gets super low. Apologies. My prime 28mm f1.8 should have been on deck.

¹ A zinester reading a few years ago scarred me when the reader used a candle to emphasize her point by lighting it then diffusing it. Bleah. ↩

Waiting in the parking lot two weekends ago. Hampshire, IL.

There’s a place where one should be able to disconnect. Away from the trappings of modern conveniences. No internet, no computers, no phones. No malls, no urban rituals, no desire or lust for material goods. For me, this place does exist. It’s a place I love dearly and it’s called Key West. It’s in Florida.

Continue reading »

Originally, the title, “The Shining” came to mind (with the movie firmly planted in mind) but opted for the above instead.

More here.

Continue reading »

Possibly my favourite two photos from this past SF Trip, for very different reasons. On the left, Adam Alpern Kogswell and on the right, Catano’s roommate has a media room that has a horror corner.

More photos from San Francisco on Flickr. Day Two (start here) and move right.

Judah holds court, undoubtedly telling tales of NAHBS the weekend before. More from SF: Day One.

The Girl and I took a break from the classic winter we’ve been having in Chicago by deciding to hop on a flight to San Francisco from Feb. 14th- 18th for some friend-visiting, bike-riding and general-relaxin’.

SF is like a second home to us. We have as many friends there as we do here and it’s a nice feeling to have. It also makes for a pretty hectic time of trying to see as many people as possible yet at the same time, having time for ourselves. We quickly learned that we needed to step back and slow down the last two days we were there and we did. Photos tell a better tale so I’ll leave it at that. More to come.

Today is the official launch of Patternclash, the site of photographer Francesca Tallone. We’ve been working together on the site in bits and pieces over the summer and amidst a few domain and host issues, have everything sorted out.

Francesca has in the last year, been featured as part of Surface Magazine’s Avant Guardian portfolio — a selection of stateside photographers who are recognized as pushing the boundaries of commercial photography.

Continue reading »

More from Seattle, on Flickr. Day Two starts here and Day Three, here (navigate right to move forward in the timeline).

Seattle is still a grungy town. The youth of Seattle still sport flannel, lace up boots and “vintage” clothes from the local Goodwill. This isn’t a bad thing — I’m just surprised that Grunge™ is still alive and well. My teenage years were spent wondering about this mystical place that had spawned many a band that I listened to intently. I watched Singles religiously.

Continue reading »

I’m back from my excursion to Key West, Florida. A few days before I left, I made a photo containing items I use and carry on a daily basis — the essentials to function. I made the photo with the intention to use it for the redesign I’m working on for Weightshift but did use it as a splash page for the temporary studio closure.

I had an inkling that it might be a decent group but it wasn’t until my SF brethen Daniel Dent and Gareth Spor proposed the idea in public that I decided why not?

The Items We Carry was born.

Continue reading »

I recently received the first four copies of Rouleur, the gorgeous black and white cycling quarterly put out by the British cycling gods of style, taste and elegance, Rapha.

Rapha has long held my interest — their aesthetic is exactly what I had been looking for in cycling clothing for a long time. However, their prices have caused some controversy, but I say that you’ll pay for quality anyway so while I can’t quite bring myself to buy most of what they sell, I do appreciate quality when I see it.

Continue reading »

If you’re a photographer who’s embraced the DSLR, you’ve no doubt heard of or work with RAW files.

I made the switch quite a while ago and have been working with them for some time now. The quality is unsurpassed in manipulating digital images. For a long while however, it seemed that the technology for working with RAW files was shoddy and turned many would-be-RAW-shooters right off. Including myself.

Enter Aperture. Enter Lightroom.

Continue reading »