New blog address

Please visit my blog now at:

http://johnnelsonphotographer.com/blog/

Fair Color

Back down in San Diego for a few days covering the San Diego County Fair. Last day is July 5th.

Robert Frank

PHOTOGRAPHER:Robert Frank San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
A contact sheet of some of Robert Frank's 1955 photographs includes his shot of riders on a segregated New Orleans trolley, second row from top, far right.


Nice blurb in the Los Angeles Times about photographer Robert Frank's exhibit. The exhibit, at the Museum of Modern Art in San Francisco, celebrates the 50th anniversary of his book "The Americans."


Frank's work was panned at the time. Part of the criticism had to do with his style. He broke the rules: he blurred images, did some strange cropping, shot in low-light situations. Popular Photography magazine described, at the time, the work as "meaningless blur, grain, muddy exposures, drunken horizons and general sloppiness."

With time Frank's work came to be recognized as a masterpiece, and has influenced generations of photographers. (This is a mixed blessing, as more often than not a blurry muddy photograph is just a blurry, muddy picture).

The S.F. exhibit includes lots of contact sheets and work prints. Looking at the contact sheets gives a glimpse into the mind of the photographer. On the proofs you see the the iconic image (often circled with a grease pencil) -- but you also see the images that were taken just before and after the 'iconic' moment. You can see how Frank worked the situation.

You can also start to understand the editing process: It's mind boggling to realize that Frank made more than 27,000 exposures as he crisscrossed the US in 1955, of which 83 made it into the book. One might argue that the editing process is more important than the actual photography. It's certainly more grueling, time-consuming, and above all crucial to the success of the body of work.

That's not to undervalue the importance of a good eye in shooting: Frank's 27,000 images were on film. In this age of digital photography it's possible to make 27,000 captures in a very short time. But even if those images are tack sharp, perfectly exposed with no grain, I'm pretty sure it'd be impossible to find 83 images worth looking at.

Impromptu

Invited to a small gathering with some friends in Venice Beach on a holiday weekend. The family of four decided to walk along the boardwalk and to the beach. I tagged along, one camera, one lens, one roll of delta 3200 black and white film. Impromptu family session. Gritty, grainy, fun.

Flipped

When a couple or more photographers get together you can be relatively sure that photos of each other will be taken. Not just of each other but of each other taking the photo of the other. Why? Because that’s what we do. Because we’re insecure and we like to hide behind our cameras. Because, like you, we’re uncomfortable when someone points a camera at us. So we duck behind our cameras and fire back. Plus, it’s our way of flipping the other photographer off. Photographer Daniel Milnor photographed photographing me with his Flip.

Happy

Venice Beach, CA

Whatever

I met up with Leonard at a bus stop here in Pasadena. He was headed east.

Thought interrupted: “Oh man, there goes the 31 bus.”

Great for me, bad for Leonard. I get to make a few pictures. He is a captive subject. So he tells me this story about his tattoos: Once I get to the tat store, the guy asks, “you know what you want?” and I say, “whatever.”

Talkin

There are many benefits to riding a bike for transportation. There are the obvious things that I won’t mention. So here’s something not as obvious: You can hear people talking. I’m traveling at my usual s-l-o-w pace and I see a guy walking on the sidewalk. He looks at me and I look at him and wave (that would be another benefit of riding a bike. Establishing eye contact, waving and nodding hello are not that uncommon). Then he says “hey you look just like Robert De Niro.” I laughed, smiled and coasted along. Then about a block later I came back with this line. “You talkin to me?”

I am s-l-o-w.

From the Wings

A scene from the wings of the Spring Dance Concert.

Dance Performance

Trudl Zipper Dance Institute - Spring Concert
Aratani Japan America Theater in downtown Los Angeles
Saturday, May 16 7:00 PM and Sunday, May 17 3 PM
Admission: Free

8 Piece

Los Angeles, Ca., 2005

Winston Byrd

Every now and then I feel someone let me in on a very cool secret. That’s how I felt tonight when I went to see jazz trumpeter Winston Byrd and his Jazz Orchestra “blow the top” off Jerry’s Flying Fox in the Crenshaw district. There are all these (about 16) incredible jazz musicians in this funky little jazz lounge. I could practically pat Winston on his back as he was conducting the orchestra. Great jazz!

Grey

Ruta's new dress.

Please Turn Off All Cell Phones

Recital. The Colburn School of Performing Arts.

Vapid Hollywood

Spring is in the air even here in the southland.

Those Eyes

You may have seen this little one before. But this shot didn't make my website (yet). I was out waiting at the bus stop (I enjoy using public transportation when possible) when one of my clients spotted me. Turns out my bus stop is located at the same place Alexandra goes to school. I got this email from mom a short time later: "Alexandra seems to think of you often too since she is convinced we should ALWAYS see you at the bus stop :)". Now this may not seem like such a big deal to you parents but I don't have kids of my own so it really warms my heart that little ones remember me... and seem to look forward to seeing me at the bus stop.

I also like that mom liked this unsmiling photo. Sure there were plenty of Alexandra smiling and laughing. But how can you argue with those eyes?

Stormy Weather

Del Mar, California 2008

Paradise Found

Hollywood

I love our overcast days in SoCal.

Rain

Sometimes it rains in LA.

Palm

Palm trees.... I just don't get it.

Neighbors

Cynthia (right) and Terry have been neighbors in Pasadena since Terry moved in next door in 1987. And it’s not unusual to find them chatting in their front yards.
Thought interrupted:
"My gardener had just lost his mother” that’s what I was telling Cynthia before you walked up.

Cynthia: My two kids are back home. I love to cook. It gives me pleasure.

Terry works as an entomologist.
Terry: “My favorite thing is mud. My license plate is ‘Baumud’”

Strange Sights

You see the strangest things in LA. I mean, a bicycle in Los Angeles?

Banned

I enjoy photographing writers. More accurately, I love listening to writers as they discuss their work and their lives… and then I occasionally snap a photograph or two after the interview. This is a portrait of Rudolfo Anaya, a Mexican American writer from New Mexico. He writes both fiction and nonfiction and has written many books for children. Yesterday he was part of a story in the Los Angeles Times. His novel “Bless me, Ultima” was recently banned from Orestimba High School’s required reading list in Stanislaus County, California. A parent complained that among other things the book’s theme would “undermine the conservative family values in our homes” and that it was “anti-Catholic.” Never mind that the book has been part of the school's curriculum for more than a decade. Other interesting points from the Los Angeles Times’ article: The book is a critically acclaimed piece of literature, is required reading in many English courses and was spotlighted on former First Lady Laura Bush’s must-read list.

There’s plenty of discussion going on various forums on the internet including at the site of the American Library Association, host of the “Banned Books Week.” But I will just say that I find it sadly interesting that books like “Bless me, Ultima” are banned while the mindless drivel that is on TV every night goes on.

The portrait session with Mr Anaya was short, probably about five minutes, and came at the end of a 45-minute interview. I set a chair in the middle of a long hallway near a bank of windows and made several standard mug shots with Mr. Anaya looking directly into the lens. I sometimes fiddle with my camera gear in the middle of a session to give myself a few seconds to think about what I might be able to do that would be different. When I glanced back up, Mr. Anaya was staring out of the window. I quickly brought the camera up and squeezed off a frame and captured the writer as I remembered him -- a warm, quiet and thoughtful gentleman.

A month or so after the session I received a package in the mail containing a copy of "Bless me, Ultima" inscribed with a note of thanks and signed by the author.

Side note/shameless plug: Late last year, the University of Oklahoma Press requested permission to use this photo on the cover of a book of essays by Rudolfo Anaya. I feel it a great compliment that Mr. Anaya liked the photograph enough to consider it for the cover of one of his books. You can find it here.

Show

I'm pleased to announce that two of my photographs will be part of a group show at the Perfect Exposure Gallery in Los Angeles. I'm honored to be part of the show, which includes Eli Reed of the legendary Magnum Photo Agency, Pulitzer Prize winning war photographer Nick Ut, Antonin Kratochvil of the VII photo agency and several other photographers.

I'm traveling right now and don't have access to the photos to be able to post them, so to see them....you'll have to go to the show. (It runs January 29 to March 12.)

Woman in Hat

Grain is Good

“It isn't the mountain ahead that wears you out; it's the grain of sand in your shoe.”
Rodan of Alexandria




Two from Santa Cruz, Ca.

Woman in Hat

Everlasting

True love vs Nature.