Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Newsweek holds a party for American Lion.



Sorry I haven't updated in awhile. Last time I attempted to update I fell victim to a vicious attack of censorship. But we shall not speak of such things. I just want to move on.

These pictures are from an event I shot over a year ago! Unfortunately I have a serious backlog of pictures and with each post I say that I am going to attempt to pick up the pace with my editing. This time is no different. I sincerely want to move forward because I have been shooting some extremely fun and exciting new projects. These pictures are from a book release party for American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House. Jon Meacham, editor of Newsweek, won the Pulitzer Prize for Biography with this book. I have not been able to read it because of all my other obligations as an English teacher. However, I would like to get a chance to pick it up. The New York Times loved the book. I've included a review of it above. I also want to add that if Mr. Meacham or anyone from Newsweek reads my lowly blog please do not censor me. When giant media companies become scared of a high school English teacher's blog, I feel like I've entered the twilight zone. And I don't mean the movie with all those model-esq vampires.



Brian Williams from NBC's Nightly News was also at the party. I had to do my paparazzi impression and grab some images of him. This is the closest I will ever come to experiencing Anchor Man. By the way, clicking here or on any of the above pictures will take you to the whole gallery of images that I have uploaded.

I know that my work needs to move beyond just having rich people making funny faces at the camera. These images prove that to me. I do think that these pictures are important and perhaps one or two of them deserve a place alongside a larger project like American Pastimes. But alone, these just do not cut it. I have also heard that I need to get closer to my subjects. I'm not sure that is the problem. I'm more convinced that I need a better context with which to place the images. Another way of saying it is that I need a larger idea.

I hope that some of the newer work I have shot will address that. I've been traveling with Matt Baum in search of pictures. Some of the work from those trips I feel will address this issue. I just need to catch up enough with my editing to begin to work with it.

Last but not least, I will be in an upcoming group show called No Hands. It will be at Hiding Gallery. More information about submission to the show can be found here.

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