Just checked the mail…a big, fat envelope filled with copies of this month’s Resource Magazine took up the entire mailbox and yours truly and my Number One Son, Kaz Sakuma, are featured prominently in a photo essay on photographers and their assistants!
Thanks to Alex & Aurelie at Resource…but I dunno if my ego can stand it!!!
Camille approves…..
THE SMITH WESTERNS
Weekend
DOWNLOAD: Weekend
I kinda started loving this song as soon as the opening watery, retro lead guitar fuzzed it’s way into my heart, and then Cullen Omori’s psychedelic Emo vocal slipped into my ears and visions of Gary Glitter, Marc Bolan and T. Rex, 70’s glam, velour bell-bottoms and tie-dye washed over me and all that was missing was a bong and a black light! Smith Westerns are from Chicago and all of the members in the band (Cullen’s brother Cameron on bass, Max Kakacek on that groovy lead guitar and Colby Hewitt on drums) are between the ages of 18-20…so I guess the whole 70’s-Retro thing is all new to them, right?!! No matter…every generation needs a bit of Glam Rock for fun and these guys seem to have it down. ‘Weekend’ is from Dye It Blonde, which dropped last week, and you can head over to MySpace for more news about the band.
Smith Westerns ‘Weekend’ from Spunk Records on Vimeo.
I want to start off by saying how glad I am that CNN finally got rid of that ridiculously self-important dinosaur Larry King and how much I’ve been enjoying the new Piers Morgan Tonight show! After watching the first four nights, it’s bloody refreshing to see an interviewer who doesn’t (overtly) pander to his guests and actually seems to give a shit about finding out something more than the typical publicist-driven crap you read in the tabloids without putting me to sleep. Hey, I love Charlie Rose as much as the next guy, but at times the high-handed tone and mental high-fives he trades with his guests can make you feel like you’re sitting through a Doctoral Seminar given in a language you don’t understand!
His first night with Oprah certainly got the most headlines, but his sit-downs with Howard Stern and Condi Rice were great and last night’s casual back-n-forth over a beer with Ricky Gervais was brilliant! And near the end of the interview, Piers asked a question that resonated with me as well…
Piers Morgan: Do you get to enjoy the fruits of your hard work?
Ricky Gervais: No…I enjoy the hard work! I wake up and it’s a privilege that I can have an idea…nothing gives me an adrenaline rush like an idea.
I have always felt the same way about what I do for a living. The idea that I can make a living at taking photographs of interesting people is mind-boggling, but the added benefit of actually loving what I do is a cherry on top.
Piers Morgan Tonight is on CNN nightly at 9:00PM and you can also follow his pithy thoughts on Twitter
SAY HI
Devils
DOWNLOAD: Devils
Yes…I know…we’re 21 days into the new year and this is the first new SOTD I’ve dropped on The List. It’s been so long I’m actually forgetting HTML codes! Sucks for you guys, but work has kinda gotten in the way of me pumpin’ out new tunes for your iPods! But never fear…I’ma gonna try to get back on the horse on a more regular basis, starting today…
Say Hi…Eric Elbogen to his friends…is dropping a new album, Um, Uh-Oh, on January 25th and you just know I’ll be first in line for a copy. Say Hi is right up at the top of my list of bands nobody has ever heard of, but I’ve been doing my best to change that. I’ve featured him on The List twice before (HERE and HERE), ‘November Was White, December Was Grey’ made it on the 2009 Songs of the Year and know that a number of your have shown the love and picked up some of his dark and spooky one-man-band recordings. And he’s even gotten a bit of mainstream play when Cadillac, of all things, used his song, “One, Two…One” in a CTS commercial a few months back! So let’s not let him down…head on over to The Official Say Hi Website and ‘Say Hi’…and make sure to check out the FAQ Section
And for you car geeks, here’s the short version of that Cadillac ad…
…Well, thank you very much!!!
Damn Ugly was featured this week on both culturedrop.com and sneezr.ca and I must say, while I’m extremely flattered by the opinions others have of me, all of this attention is gonna force me to get up off the couch and do something to prove them right!
Jenan Mujkic runs Sneezr.ca and he stumbled across my work late last year. One of the things he does is an ‘interview-via-email’ that usually asks a single, open-ended question. For me, he actually had two questions and you can read the interview here:
How to be undeniably good. How to be like Brad.
CultureDrop is a online magazine documenting the latest in culture, technology design and fashion, and their feature on me is here:
Here I was thinkin’ that just maybe I was a little hard on Kanye yesterday, when none other then Josh Groban kicks him in the nuts! I mean…JOSH GROBAN?!!
Top Ten Songs From 2010
We humans just love lists! Even the least-OCD person you know secretly appreciates the order and clarity of nice, neat End-of-the-Year Top-Ten List. Lists make it easier for our little human brains to organize all the garbage that gets thrown at us every day. Unfortunately, a lot of the lists that you’ve seen in the past few weeks in newspapers, magazines, on TV and online are mostly full of shit! We live in a World where Cee Lo Green singing, ‘Fuck You!” (New York Times ‘Best Song’ of the Year) and an even more self-indulgent-than-normal Kanye West hollering, “Let’s have a toast for the Douchebags” (“Runaway” – New York Post ‘Top Song of 2010’), is lauded as High Art. Call me an old fart if you want, but I hear this stuff and can’t help but think that even some of the worst songs I’ve put on The List in the past year are better written and performed!
With that little rant outta the way, I’ve culled through everything I tossed out over the past 12 months, tried to keep it real by touchin’ on all the food groups, and finally come up with a pretty good mix of indie, guitar-strummin’, singer/songwriter, power-poppy, electronica and alt-rock goodness. And I gotta say, it was bloody hard this year to keep it to only ten choices! Each year, it always amazes me at the sheer quality of the music I stumble upon that quite frankly, most people will never even hear! Cee Lo may get 50 million YouTube views and Kanye is washing the road grime off of his Lamborghini with Cristal, but I’m still gonna champion these performers because they’re turning out music I can actually listen to!
So even though this will undoubtedly be looked upon by some as yet another full-of-shit Top Ten list…I give you…..
The Damn Ugly Photography Top Ten Songs From 2010!!!
10. JOHANNA AND THE DUSTY FLOOR
Love Is A Breakable Thing
DOWNLOAD: Love Is A Breakable Thing
Original Post: November 16
Very good friends of The List, Johanna & the Dusty Floor, dropped The Forest EP back in November and it only makes me want to hear her new album even more. Keep your eyes on her MySpace and Facebook pages for the release date!
9. INU
The Bailing
DOWNLOAD: The Bailing
Original Post: February 15
The theatrical, Joy Division-like fuzzy vibe these guys have working must have been catchy, ‘cuz a lotta you wrote thankful notes to me back in February and said you coughed up a few bucks to buy the EP. You can follow INU over at Inu Music.
8. AUDRYE SESSIONS
Bad Day
DOWNLOAD: Bad Day
Original Post: May 18
It was indeed a very bad day when Audrye Sessions announced a few months back that they were packing it in…we were crying like babies here at The List…but back in May when Ryan sent me this song we were amped by the frenzy of fun ‘Bad Day’ laid down and so looking forward to more from would end up being the final ‘sessions’. But Ryan assures me his new EP will be out this month and you all know I’ll have a taste when it becomes available!
7. PHANTOGRAM
When I’m Small
DOWNLOAD: When I’m Small
Original Post: January 18
I loved Portishead, so it was natural I was gonna love Phantogram. The sad, drowsy guitars, the scratchy backtrack and even Sarah Barthel’s voice that’s a dead ringer for Beth Gibbons…’When I’m Small’ had me swaying side-to-side back in January. Check out Phantogram over on MySpace
6. ANDREW BELLE (featuring KATIE HERZIG)
Static Waves
DOWNLOAD: Static Waves
Original Post: October 19
I first found out about Andrew Belle after seeing Katie Herzig (#3 on the list this year) in concert and ‘Static Waves’, the duo they did together, showed up on The List in October. You can follow Andrew Belle on his MySpace Page or over on his website
5. SARAH BLASKO
All I Want
DOWNLOAD: All I Want
Original Post: June 21
It’s sad, it’s sexy and it’s simply beautiful. I can’t say it any better than I did when I originally posted it back in June, but do yourself a favor and check out Sarah on her MySpace Page
4. BOB SCHNEIDER
Changing Your Mind
DOWNLOAD: Changing Your Mind
Original Post: February 25
The first time I heard ‘Changing Your Mind’, it gave me an ache in the back of my throat…the kind of heartfelt ache that convinced me even back then that it was bound for the end of the year list. You can’t fake this kind of soulful singing. Check out Bob Schneider on his MySpace page.
3. KATIE HERZIG
Wish You Well
DOWNLOAD: Wish You Well
Original Post : October 6
I never knew when I went to see Brandi Carlile I’d come away with a bunch of CD’s from Katie Herzig, but that’s why we go to see live music, right? You never know who’s gonna pop up and grab you! Katie is a special talent and you can follow her on her website or over on MySpace
2. SCHOOL OF SEVEN BELLS
I L U (Phantogram Remix)
DOWNLOAD: I L U (Phantogram Remix)
Original Post: September 13
There was far less electronica on The List this year, but my love of dream-pop and the fact that this song stayed at the very top of my iTunes folder all year ensured it a spot near the top of this years list. And I could listen to Alejandra and Claudia Deheza trade off harmonies all day and night! Get more SVIIB on MySpace or on their Website
1. NADIA ACKERMAN
I Love You More
DOWNLOAD: I Love You More
Original Post: November 9
Over the past few months, Nadia has become BFF’s with The List…we even shot her new album cover package…so ya can’t be too surprised to find her sitting on top of this years heap, and nobody deserves it more! She’s such an amazingly gifted songwriter and that strong, expressive voice can melt even the hardest heart. Her second album, The Ocean Master, is due to be released this Spring…in fact, she and Harvey are in Wales mixing the record it as I type this…so please, head on over to her facebook page for more information.
A million years ago…well, back in 1995…I photographed Bud Greenspan. Bud, of course, is famous for his documentaries about the Olympics. One of those touchstone memories I have from my childhood is being glued to the TV, watching them whenever they were aired. How could I ever have imagined that years later I would have the privilege to photograph the man behind these wonderful time capsules of history, but there I was, shooting him for the 1996 Olympic Program! We did the shots the art director wanted and then, just before he had to leave, I asked for one more moment of his time. If you knew anything about Bud, you probably remember seeing him behind a camera on the sidelines of an Olympic event, with those heavy glasses he wore sitting on the top of his bald head…that’s what I wanted to capture. A few quick Polaroids and we got it. A partially solarized negative with the director staring back at me…almost looking right through me…it’s always been one of my favorite portraits.
KATE TUCKER
I’m On Fire
DOWNLOAD: I’m On Fire
This time of year it gets pretty damned hard to find anything new to put up on The List, so I was happy when Kate sent me this one the other day…
This is at least the second time Kate Tucker has covered Bruce Spingsteen’s ‘I’m On Fire’…the first was when her and The Sons of Sweden did it for ‘Sweetheart’, a Starbucks Valentine’s Day Compilation of covers. I liked it enough to put it up on The List way back in February of ’09…you can listen to it HERE…but that version, with it’s up-tempo country feel high-register vocal…pales in comparison to this much more somber version she recorded for Gary Benz, one of her benefactors who helped sponsor her Kickstarter campaign to release White Horses earlier this year. Quiet and haunting, with no production tricks getting in the way of her voice, it’s a much more fitting homage to Bruce’s original.
Check out more of Kate on her MySpace page or over on her website
Yesterday, David Hobby…The Strobist…dropped his annual list of Favorite Posts from the past year and the big news that knocked Mr. Damn Ugly on his ass was that the interview David did with me back in May…* Cue the Celestial Harps & Trumpets *…was his Number One Post of the Year!
The Strobist Top Posts, Ranked by Clicks
Now David predicted that this news would lead to me getting a big head…and he was right! I mean, by his own count 2,469,886 different photographers visited Strobist from 218 different countries and territories. That all added up for a total of 20,531,296 onsite page views, with another 12MM via RSS….my hat size is growing exponentially!!! Honestly, I don’t know how I’ll be able to live with my own fame…..
Damn Ugly thanks David and all of his readers at Strobist for the honor. I plan to live up to all the duties and obligations that come with such a title and look forward to my reign at the top of the Strobist hit-count heap in the coming year!
ASOBI SEKSU
Trails
DOWNLOAD: Trails
Yes, I know…..I haven’t been around much the past few weeks…work and the impending holidaze have simply gotten the best of me, but I promise to end the year with a flourish of posts that will inform, delight and entertain! And on the entertainment front, I’m happily gonna stay away from Christmas Carols by tossing out a leak from the forthcoming album from Asobi Seksu, the noisy dream-pop outfit from Brooklyn last featured on The List back in March of 2009. If ‘Trails’ is any indication, Fluorescence…scheduled for a February release…promises to carry on the duo’s signature wall of shoegazey noise and operatic melodies. I’ve always heard heavy doses of Slowdive, The Cocteau Twins and My Bloody Valentine in their music, but Yuki Chikudate’s trilling soprano vocals on this song have really tapped into a Siouxsie and the Banshees vibe! Her voice bounces and swirls around the layered, fuzzy arrangement with such abandon, it’s exactly what I would expect from a band whose name is Japanese for “playful sex”…! So head on over to their MySpace page for more playful sex, I mean…Asobi Seksu.
The other day I stumbled across what I thought was just one more way to waste serious time on the web, but instead really knocked my out…PhotoFunia Dot Com!!! It’s a site that uses an online photo editing tool that allows you to upload any photo of yours into one of a couple of hundred (and counting) stock images. Now this ain’t exactly new…I’ve seen plenty of other sites like this in the past…but what truly impressed me was the way PhotoFunia’s proprietary technology automatically identifies the face in the photo and imports it so damned well into the funny face photo montages….and it does it in seconds!
It takes about five seconds to upload the image and no more than five seconds more before you can download the finished montage to your desktop. And it’s all so well done…I’m not kidding when I say this is the kind of Photoshop work that some cases would take me hours! It’s kinda freaking me out with how this type of photo manipulation is advancing…but it’s still a lotta fun!
Check out PhotoFunia…I guarantee you’ll have a blast!
…nothing going on today…..just me paying bills and Camille sittin’ in the window watching the rain…
Click on any image for full-size
______________________________
I know how much some of you like seeing the behind-the-scenes stuff on my shoots, so as my tour of the Nation’s boardrooms and office spaces progresses, I offer to you my recent session with Gordon Fowler, the President and Chief Investment Officer of Glenmede. What follows is part lighting tutorial, part manipulating reality, but mostly it shows what can be done when you only have ten minutes to photograph a high profile subject and still come away with unexpected, arresting images.
On the location scout I did a couple of days before the shoot I was presented with two things. First, Gordon was extremely busy and wasn’t going to be able to devote a lot of time to a photo session, and second, there were really only two areas that would work as possible locations…
The ‘Art Wall’…
…and the ‘Wood Wall’…
The two spots were literally side-by-side, so by setting up both shots beforehand it would make it easier on Gordon’s time limitations…
We began with the portrait in front of the ‘Art Wall’…
It’s pretty obvious that I changed the overall look and feel by adding some moody blue drama to the scene, but the shot was actually pretty easy to light. Gordon was lit by a fresnel spot (with a full CTO gel) that was almost directly overhead and a second light with a 7″-40 degree grid skimming the wall behind him. The final light was a ringlight (with a full CTB gel) filling in the overall scene. After five minutes of Gordon in the chair, we went around the corner to the wood-paneled wall…
For this shot I wanted to keep things simple and just focus on his expressions, so I kept the lighting pretty open with a gridded beauty dish up high above his face, a couple of skim lights on either side of him and another ringlight adding not only fill, but a nice reflection highlight on the wood that separated him from the background. But the real beauty of the shot was the unexpected caught moment of him just enjoying his coffee and having a laugh before we actually got under way. I finished things off with that tight portrait at the top of the page, but the magazine went straight to Gordon and his coffee cup…
Two setups…ten minutes total shoot time…done!
THE BOTTLE ROCKETS
Nothin’ But A Driver
DOWNLOAD: Nothin’ But A Driver
THE BOTTLE ROCKETS
Hard Times
DOWNLOAD: Hard Times
The Bottle Rockets proudly call themselves ‘The Best Band On The Planet!’…..OK…obvious hyperbole…but I was in the mood for a bit of rockabilly grunginess and it just so happened that Bloodshot Records is giving away ‘Nothin’ But A Driver’ on one of their famous sampler albums on Amazon and y’all know I’m willing to listen to anything for free! The Bottle Rockets have been kickin’ it since 1992 and were one of the reasons the term ‘alt-country’ got a Wiki page! They even had a major label deal with Atlantic Records until the whole record business went into the shitter…since then they’ve been doin’ what all indie bands do…touring and releasing great music that few people ever get to hear! Along the way they put out ten albums…the most recent being Lean Forward, where ‘Nothin’ But A Driver’ originally appeared. And since I haven’t exactly been spittin’ out the tunes on a regular basis, I’ve included a second track, ‘Hard Times’, that I found on the Bloodshot website.
You should head on over to Amazon and download the entire Bloodshot Sampler, then check out the boys at their website
Last week I found about a new “…platform for creative professionals that covers all industries…” called the Behance Network and I figured I would take it for a spin. In the time it takes to brew a cup of coffee, I signed up for a portfolio, uploaded a selection of my work and sat back to see what might happen. Well…this morning I wake up to a boatload of emails from all over the World from people who had suddenly viewed my behance page…because the editors at behance had chosen to feature my work on the homepage of ‘Featured Projects’…! Now this has me thinking that just maybe I should have spent more than five minutes tossing those images up there!
You can sign up for your own Behance account at http://www.behance.net
JOHANNA AND THE DUSTY FLOOR
Love Is A Breakable Thing
DOWNLOAD: Love Is A Breakable Thing
It’s Tuesday and in the music biz that means it’s New Release Day and Johanna & the Dusty Floor are dropping a little five-song jewel with The Forest EP, her latest collection of heartfelt, beautifully crafted stories set to the sparest piano, shuffling percussion and subtle electronic beats. Backed by the beautiful harmonies of Dani Elliott and Anthea White, Johanna’s dark vocal on ‘Love Is A Breakable Thing’ creates a foreboding mood that sent a chill up my spine the first time I heard it and haunts me still. And tonight Johanna and the band are having an EP release party at Rockwood Music Hall, one of the best places to see and hear live music in the city. The show is at 7:00PM and I strongly urge any true Friends of The List to get your asses downtown for a bit of live music! If you can’t make it, let’s show some love and head on over to iTunes and pick up the EP…it’s only five bucks! You can follow Johanna and the Dusty Floor on their MySpace and Facebook pages.
After being called out at dinner last night for being too wired into my ‘Social Network’ via iPhone and not paying enough attention to my actual friends around the table, this just seems like a perfect way to say I’m sorry and I’ll try not to let it happen again…
Damn Ugly Photography 