In the image above, my grandparents Harriet and Clarence Oldenburg, rest on their couch in Bangor, Maine in 1969. My grandfather, Burgie, as we call him died suddenly this past summer while in Florida. He spent many years living by himself after my grandmother passed away many years earlier. It was quite a tough summer, for my mother and aunt especially.
When my mother was cleaning out their house in August of this year she stumbled upon a small metal box. It contained hundreds of Kodachrome slides which detailed her childhood and family life. I have spent the last week scanning every last one of them. These images above are just a small glimpse at what I would love to become a full gallery of photos. It has been just a pleasure to work with these images. Perhaps it’s because of my personal connection with the photos, but I think it may be the opportunity to be a part of place and time that has long since departed.
I have been saying for some time that I would like to return to Greenville and Bangor, Maine to make photos in the cities where my parents grew up. I think these slides have been an inspiration to make this trip happen. I hope that in the coming months I will be able to post some of this new work along side my grandfather’s slides.
On the subject of family, my brother Tyler is a wonderful writer. We worked this past summer to set up a site for him to publish his work. You should all check it out, its called We Speak In Miracles. Happy Haloween…
So, I have successfully made the move to Brooklyn and have all good things to report. I know there was a lag here in my posts, but now that I have a desk I hope to update more often. I found a wonderful collection of old slides this summer that I am working with now and will post with some thoughts sometime soon.
Can A Good Thing Last Forever? - Joshua Redman (2002)
I posted some new work in the portraits portfolio yesterday, here is an alternate image from the shoot as well. I have to admit I have been a little hesitant about this one, but I’ll let you decide. Any thoughts?
In two weeks I am moving to New York and am getting very excited to be back. I’ll be living in Dumbo, Brooklyn and working on my own. Another adventure begins…
Photographer: Geordie Wood Stylist: Leslie Steinberg Model: Claudia Eve Beauchesne
Last weekend NYC stylista Leslie Steinberg, Montreal’s own Claudia Eve Beachesene and I went through a 40-hour gauntlet of shooting for OAK’s fall collection. OAK, originally of Williamsburg, Brooklyn, just opened a new store on Manhattan’s Bond Street and is truly the source for the hottest threads around.
It was a exciting shoot for a final collection of twelve images. The photos now live on OAK’s homepage, on their blog, and will soon be found in their websites editorial section.
This was one of my first full fledged fashion editorials and it proved to be very exciting and challenging. God knows I love documentary photo but there is something refreshing about the control that one has in this venue. It’s nice to have a blank canvas on which to wander, freely molding, modifying, erasing and playing with the piece. I hope to do more of this work soon.
Some of you may have noticed that last week I added a new section to the site called, Tearsheets. I have posted a few clippings from recent publications and will add more as I gather them.
The tear above is a special one because it was my first assignment for The FADER. Who would have thought they would send me to shoot one of my personal favorites, Collie Buddz, in the summer of his hit single ‘Come Around’. I have to give a much deserved shout out to my close friend Clayton Burke for traveling to Queens with me to back me up on this one, respek Clay.
On a side note, I just got off a long weekend shooting whats going to be a killer editorial for a little known Manhattan boutique. I am not going to say anything else for now but check back soon to see the new work.
Last August, my close fried Alex Ojeda invited me to his sisters wedding outside Mexico City. It was only a brief visit, but one that left a great impression. I hope to visit again very soon. Above are a few images from our stay.
Today, I posted five new images to the Nepal portfolio. When discussing the work with a few photography friends everyone said the same thing, fill the gallery out with a couple more images. So here they are. What do you think?
When I first checked the results of Jen Bekman’sHey, Hot Shot! 2008 competition I was quite dismayed when my new work from Nepal didn’t make the cut. This year there were only five winners in the now very prolific art photography competition.
But, upon checking the blog post of winners one more time I realized that I had received an honorable mention! I guess I can’t complain too much about that. The competition is always a beacon of talented and innovative work and this years competitors was no exception, check out the other winners at heyhotshot.com.
My entry was comprised of three images from Kathmandu (one, two and three) and the work statement below.
WORK STATEMENT
In August of 2007 I moved to Kathmandu, Nepal where I spent three months walking in the valley. Through daily wanderings and conversations I made honest portraits of my new friends. I was struck by the feelings of uncertainty that linger within those who call Kathmandu their home. To live in a constant state of transition with no notion of how to escape a society rife with political corruption and social inequalities. Through revealing quiet and contemplative moments of Nepali men and boys I aim to discuss the underlying pain of history and present in this patriarchal society.
After months of procrastinating I used the past couple days to catch up on scanning hundreds of abandoned slides from the past two years. The film is from a variety of trips domestic and abroad, I hope to have more images uploaded in the coming weeks.
But for now I posted five new images in the portraits portfolio. Two photographs, made for The Globe Magazine, are of documentary film-maker Katrina Brown. Her seven year project, ‘Traces of the Trade’ debuted on PBS last Tuesday, June 24th.
