In the middle of this big move east I have spent a lot of time editing. Editing my wardrobe. Editing my archive. Editing almost everything in my life. It requires combing through the same thing over and over again until you let go of everything that is not completely essential.
Editing who I am. Editing what part of my history stays and what goes. Editing the path I think I am on. Editing the message I put out there… which I tend to edit to non existence. One of the goals in packing up was to get a box of prints that I love from the archive printing project these past months. You should see how amazing that came out. The other was to get a new website that I did NOT over edit. I wanted it to be more generous with the body of work I have built, and also a lot clearer about what I do.
My assistant Russell Stone (Russell Stone Media) had infinite patience through all the iterations and in the end brought it all together. The great Boulder designer Jay Farracane (Angry Bovine) was crazy generous with his friendship and expertise. Jay is so well versed in design history and current design execution that every meeting was my own private class in contemporary design. My friend Erica O’Grady (Exceptional.Agency) held the keys to the code, which was really a core message she insisted on, “#wherejoylives”. It feels so corny to use that as a hashtag/tagline – yet…when you look at almost any of my images it fits.
The mobile landing page and the About Me section are my favs.
The mobile landing page has images from the capeman above pool in Maplewood, to Frank’s son playing basketball in Pittsburgh, to Dan Cavey and James Gilbey saying goodbye to The Agency, to that guy at Val’s farm who picks mint naked in the fields eating ice cream, to James who dances with Aszure Barton and with Cherice’s fingers, to Moe tied up to a fence at Jackson’s Little League game, to my head touching Duane Michals. That are all places where joy lives.
The About movie we did a couple of weeks ago. It was a stubborn idea I had in the shower and made that morning on the table with the white gloves. It is true that good enough is NOT good enough. It turned into a magic trick. I love magic, too. Magic is about reconnecting with the wonder we had as a child.
My friend Andy Clark of Moxie bakery in Louisville wrote last night, “I don’t have the privilege of many friends like you that have the vision, wisdom and courage to see through the crap fog storm. We need people who can look at us and say “that’s fucking boring, try harder”. So- please don’t stop being that friend even though you are in PGH. When WE make a video it’ll be a George Lange. Thank you so much for the poignantly beautiful Peter Schumann (of Bread & Puppet theater) photo. It went up on my bakery wall tonight.”
Boulder friends were so generous purchasing prints before everything got packed up these past weeks. I heard the same refrains many times. First it was how much the stories added to appreciating the images. I love sharing the stories – many are hidden in the archive section of new website. I also heard how they loved putting a part of ME on their wall. That is some kind of wonderful validation. Up on the wall I get to watch everything even when you forget I am there.
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