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It’s been three weeks since my last post. With Instagram as my witness, I was recharging down in Baja. The fish tacos, jellyfish stings, manta-ray hunt, whale-shark mind-meld and beach-camping all served to refresh body and brain.
Let normal blogging resume.
Above: Scorpion we picked up in our firewood, Ligui, Baja California Sur.
I recently sent out the last of the goodies to the Prison Photography on the Road (PPOTR) funders. The packages included the PPOTR Mixtape (actually a CD) and I wanted to share its content with the wider world too.
On the road, I went through hundreds of CDs while driving those 12,500 miles, but I kept coming back to a compilation of soul put together – shortly before my departure – by my good friend Brendan Seibel. He used to work at Amoeba Records and in the realm of music, has forgotten more than I will ever know. Thank you Brendan.
Enjoy.
Track 1
Lette Mbulu – Kube
Track 2
Jean Wells – Have a Little Mercy
Track 3
Fabulous Denos – Bad Girl
Track 4
Betty James – I’m Not Mixed Up Anymore
No Youtube clip for this one, but some background here and MPS here.
Track 5
Johnny Watson – I Say, I Love You
Track 6
Lee Shot Williams – You’re Welcome to the Club
Track 7
Apagya Show Band – Kwaku Ananse
Track 8
The Psychedelic Aliens – We’re Laughing
Track 9
Horace Andy – Skylarking
Track 10
Jennifer Lara – Consider Me
Track 11
Angela Prince – No Bother With No Fuss
Track 12
Burning Spear – Fire Down Below
Track 13
John Holt – Strange Things
Track 14
Charlotte Dada – Don’t Let Me Down
Track 15
Rosemary – Not Much (Do You Baby)
Track 16
Albert King – Had You Told It Like It Was (I Wouldn’t Be Like It Is)
Track 17
Johnny Knight – Little Ann
No Youtube or MPS for Little Ann, so Knight’s Rock ‘n’ Roll Guitar acts as substitute.
Track 18
Freddy King – Now I’ve Got A Woman
Track 19
Sinner Strong – Don’t Knock It
Track 20
Little Willie John – I’m Shakin’
Track 21
Sam & Bill – I Feel Like Cryin’
Track 22
Marion Black – Who Knows
Track 23
Ken Boothe & Stranger Cole – Arte Bella
Track 24
Freddie McGregor – Bobby Bobylon
Track 25
Jerry Jones – There’s a Chance for Me
Track 26
Mahmoud Ahmed – Gizié Dègu Nègèr
Listen here.
Track 27
Oscar Sulley & The Uhuru Dance Band – Bukom Mashie
They’d probably get in the England squad.
I’ve seen Bettina Hansen a few times in recent months (she’s a recent transplant to Cascadia) but never once did she think to mention this awesome photo.
Maybe I got sucked in by the fact it is A FRIKKING MONKEY RIDING A SHEEP DOG IN SOME MUDWORLD MAMMAL OLYMPICS! … maybe the photo is a document of animal misuse. It’s mad-bonkers.
Either way, this photo of animals being forced to do unnatural things under the watchful eye of humans seemed to say more about the Angola Prison Rodeo than the thousands of images I’ve seen of people at the Angola Prison Rodeo. It’s a weird event.
See Bettina’s full set from the Angola Prison Rodeo.
(All of this explains the title to this interview with me from ages ago. I never understood the title at the time.)
Simple, but makes the point well.
Geographer, photographer, Doctor of Philosophy and artist, Trevor Paglen on the cross overs between manifest destiny, early landscape photography and military surveillance.
There’s something quite beguiling about George Awde‘s photography. There’s no information accompanying the photographs (which for me is a problem; I always appreciate context, and certainly geographical context). Some of his series are quite short (again, possibly just my problem). What does exist on his website is a consistency of aesthetic and his curiosity to identify the quiet, incongruous scene – so much so, all his works could be rolled into one portfolio.
George was a recipient of a 2012 Aaron Siskind Grant.
The above image is from Awde’s series Windows.
It was 75 degrees Fahrenheit at 7:30am as I stepped out the Delta Airlines terminal at JFK. I sweated my way through the subway to pick up a friend’s bike, on which I would only sweat more.
83 degrees.
Cycling down to Brooklyn Bridge Park would have been more enjoyable had I cleaned off the excess degreaser I’d applied to the chain and sprockets; the brakes were less responsive with every heaving, muggy second that passed.
Cruel and Unusual is to be inside two 40 foot containers slap-bang-wallop in the middle of the Photoville grounds. As installers and photographers busied themselves hanging work, moving hardware and swilling gallons of water, I sat in one of Noorderlicht’s two empty containers. FedEx says the work will be here by 3pm Thursday “at the latest.”
The plans, PDFed by Marco weeks ago, were open in a window on my laptop. A virtual reminder of the install not getting done.
It’s not actually a huge issue; we’ll just move quicker tomorrow.
84 degrees.
After milling around a bit and checking out the other exhibitors’ works, I decide to take some photos. If inaction is the order of the day, then I might as well blog about it.
Inside the containers are lights, wires and one of ours had a table.
88 degrees.
I met Nicholas Calcott who is part of the Tierney Fellowship show. We *met* years ago through the photoblogosphere. And there he is in the flesh, Ray Bans and Levi’s.
Aloys Ginjaar explains that his “Wonder of Woman” show is the fruit of ten months labour searching on the internet, Facebook and magazines. 64 prints all by Dutch photographers.
Wyatt Gallery‘s Tent City looks great and big, but not too big. The PDN showings are a mixed bag but hold my attention.
It feels a bit strange getting excited about pictures on a upright surface when there’s a monster cityscape around and over every container.
89 degrees.
Photoville is providing all things necessary to stave of hunger, dehydration and UV rays. Of all the Photovillers, Alexis Percival is the one I met with today. Friendly faces abound.
I have to say, I am well looking forward to hobnobbing with photofolk on opening night (Friday) and over the weekend for the talks and lectures. I get this giddy feeling every time I come to NYC.
The surroundings are pretty awesome. If you ask the city, we’re at Pier 3. If you ask me, we’re in the midst of one of the world’s greatest skylines (albeit hazy).
A glance to the south and you’d see the statue of liberty.
Turn 90 degrees and you peer north to the Brooklyn Bridge. There’s certainly still a lot to be done on site, but there’s no doubt it’s coming together impressively.
Another 90 and there’s two elevated (noisy) roads.
See what I did in the photo below? Visually, I mean? It’s a visual pun. It’s Pundemonium
91 degrees.
The view from the restrooms is smashing.
The day topped out at 93 degrees. The forecast for tomorrow? 96 degrees.
Stay tuned.
Prison Photography 