What we see, how we are seen, what we do, how we are seen as we do is how we are to take life into our own hands.
Neighborhood Funders Group - NFG 2016 National Conference in Oakland /
Spent three days recently at a national philanthropy conference.
On June 14-16, over 300 national and place-based funders gathered from around the country for Neighborhood Funders Group's biennial convening Philanthropic Strategies for People, Place, and Power. This year's conference created a space for funders and field leaders to understand the dynamic moment we are living in and rethink grantmakers’ role in building long-term community power. It highlighted the issues our communities are facing, and community-based strategies for economic, social, and racial justice.
Light Scratching with Black and White Film /
With instant gratification at our fingertips constantly, observing and delving into the past has never been so refreshing. Here are some more shots I enlarged, printed and eventually scanned.
I look outside, I see outside myself, I hear and feel outside myself, I am outside myself. Aren't we always inside and outside of our own selves?
Print Film Scans /
Some of the latest photos developed, enlarged, printed and scanned. This is a different medium, a medium of time, a medium of meditation.
Solo Show /
First ever solo show! Can't thank my friend Eva enough for setting this all up. It was down in Menlo Park at Click Diagnostics where they hold a show once every few months in their office. Gotta love the alternative space. It was great talking and meeting a bunch of new people and speaking about something I put so much work into. The mix of photos was a little repeat of the past and a mix of the recent. It was only 4 photos that were all from South America.
The thing I strive for most is the personal connection that I have with the subject. This is an integral part in my process when shooting anything. Whether it be someone cooking and I get to sample what they have made, someone working and I get to see how they get through their day, or a form that somehow blends into my own life in a more abstract sense, the connection is what I am always looking for.
With this I hope for people to be able to relate emotionally to my work and to be able to be sympathetic to the imagery they are viewing, therefore connecting unknown subjects and objects with themselves and connecting people to themselves throughout this world. By accomplishing this I hope people will become more empathetic on a daily basis as they walk around earth. Taking that extra few minutes to talk to someone you don’t know or going out and learning something new.
Black and White Film /
I was gifted by a great friend of the family and professional photographer and mentor a lot of film gear, and have finally decided to start pursuing the art of film. Developing my own photos is a very introspective experience that brings nuances and hinders nothing. The portrait I chose was a double exposure that I took of a guy I met on the street named Joey. He was a professional skateboarder for 25 years and has found himself in a lot of high ranking business positions in life and has decided all that is just a strange way to live life and is just hangin' out these days. He gave me some valuable information into the human psyche and was nice enough to allow him to let me snap a shot. Look closely, as maybe you'll find yourself.
Out with the old, in with the new! /
Sometimes letting go of the old can be the best thing that you were forced to do. The light of the new is so much more brilliant than the old. Flexibility gives you unlimited creativity.
“You can only lose what you cling to.”