Robert Duvall died last week and I was lucky enough to get to photograph him a few times. I was a huge fan of his work and I was so grateful for the brief moments I got to spend with him. I wanted to write something in his honor, but you can read about his incredible career anywhere and I didn’t know him well enough to tell you about who he truly was as a person. Instead I will use his passing to tell you a few stories about my handful of interactions with him as well as a few unrelated stories about one of my all time favorite jobs which gave me access to some of my favorite actors …
My last B-Sides post was about the impact Larry Clark, specifically Kids and Tulsa had on my work, and today I am back to talk about another photographer that had a massive effect on my work, but this time much later in life. Most of the photographers who had a profound impact on my work I discovered in my teens — people like Clark, Bruce Davidson, Diane Arbus and maybe more than anyone, Glen Friedman who made me want to pick up a camera in the first place to photograph the local DC punk bands I was going to see every weekend. The early 2000’s Vice aesthetic got me shooting film again in my 20s and had a big impact …
Earlier this year photographer and filmmaker Larry Clark had a photography show of his early 90’s documentation of the skate scene that led to his seminal film Kids. I was actually in NYC at the time for my now fiance’s knee surgery, but I wasn’t able to make it over to the show because I was taking care of her. Not only was there a show, but Leo Fitzpatrick put together a zine with photographs from that time period and interview with Clark and Tobin Yelland. I am a photobook/zine collector, a Larry Clark collector, and Kids had and outsized impact on my life so I needed that zine. I sent my friend Ronen down to the gallery for me, …
I thought I would die in my NYC apartment. I had lived there for nearly twenty years, I outlasted more than a half dozen roommates and the rent was so affordable eventually I was living in a big two bedroom in Williamsburg by myself. When my girlfriend Shannon moved in in 2022 we sort of had this dream of one day owning a home, but obviously we weren’t going to be able to do that in NYC. When my new landlords raised the rent by $800 in one year and $400 the next, I realized it was time to make a change. In March of 2024 we moved to Wilmington, NC. We kept my office in NYC because I was …
This weekend I am going back to LA for the first time in way too long. I have a few photos in the Superchief Contagious Culture show on Saturday night (7-11pm at Superchief Gallery). The show is curated by LA photography legend Estevan Oriol and I was so psyched my photos made the cut. Not only do I love Superchief (been doing stuff with them for pretty much as long as they have existed) but it means a ton that Estevan dug my stuff. Anyway, when I sent in my photos I mentioned that I wish I could be there for the opening and it made me think, maybe I can be there? I looked up flights and I had …
