SCHMUCK IS FUNDED!!!

 

SCHMUCK IS FUNDED!!!

Okay, now that the good news is out of the way, let's move on because there are still 2 days to go in the campaign - AND, I'm told I'm not out of the woods quite yet.  Apparently people will sometimes cancel or decrees their pledge at the last minute, which would be disastrous. 

Let's talk STRETCH GOALS:

STRETCH GOAL #1: If we get to 18K everyone with a physical pledge (not digital) will get a free limits edition print of artist Tony Wolf's ADVENTURE COMICS / THE LEAGUE OF EX-GIRLFRIENDS SCHMUCK PARODY COVER, printed on heavy stock watercolor paper. 

STRETCH GOAL #2: If we get to 20k everyone will get a free copy of the limited edition SCHMUCK DIARIES (downloads for people who ordered digital). It will be a small lit mag type book, featuring essays by me that act as companions to the comics in the book. It will be designed by Eric Skillman (who's designing the graphic novel) and feature original illustrations by Pierce Hargan (who's drawn one of the comics). 

STRETCH GOAL #3: If we get to 22.5k I will add pages to the book and include a new story, (maybe more than one!) contents and artist TBA. 

I sit here quarantined in my bedroom, where I've been since Thursday. I have a combination of flu and bronchitis and it's the worst I've ever felt. My doctor ordered lots of meds and REST.  No work, he said. With 103.4 fever and what felt like a Mini Cooper parked on my chest, I was in no position to argue. My first thought was my kickstarter would probably fail without me behind the steering wheel. I spent most of Friday in fever induced sleep and when I came out of it on that night I reached for my iPad, and I was humbled and outright touched by all the social media posts about SCHMUCK by friends, family and complete strangers. I was out of commission, but you all kept it going. And, the backers came rolling in. That's support. That's community. That's crowdfunding. 

I thank you all from the bottom of my heart for supporting and believing in my schmucky project and in me.  This SCHMUCK feel very fortunate. 

Support the kickstarter here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/sethkushner/schmuck-a-graphic-novel

Above art by James Smith from SCHMUCK

MORE PRESS FOR SCHMUCK

Check out this great piece of art by Tony Wolf, which is an homage to Adventure Comics #247.  Tony generously donated his talent to the book.

There's been a bunch more press this week, including:

CBS MAN CAVE ran an exert from the book:
http://mancave.cbslocal.com/2014/03/26/preview-seth-kushners-schmuck/

COMICS BULLETIN did a nice interview along with this great intro:

"The world (I include comics) needs truth-tellers like Seth Kushner, artists who are willing to be their own WikiLeaks and admit their faults, foibles and fuck-ups. Somebody's got to do it, glad it ain't me.

Kushner (apparently) has no shame. He seems like a bit of a (over) sharer and let's not forget, honest. So he's ready to admit to the world: he's a SCHMUCK or was, he got better. SCHMUCK is a 168-page trade paperback of one schmuck's awkward, embarrassing and far too relatable quest to find love and evolve as an artist and as a man. As part of (I'm sure) some multi-step process Kushner has written everything down and found twenty-two cartoonists to share in this best-drowned-with-whiskey part of his life; if it were so easy.

To get his SCHMUCK on wheels -- that's a Goodfellas reference, every intro needs at least one -- Kushner needs schmucks (reformed, at-large and women) to help him out and back his Kickstarter. Kushner is more than a schmuck, far from it. He's a guy who wants to make a comic and realize a dream of telling his story, our story and to make the world (again, comics!) safe for (former) schmucks"

http://comicsbulletin.com/interviews/6645/schmuck-it-up-seth-kushner-on-semi-autobiography-dating-and-how-mark-hamill-changes-lives/
WE THE NERDY - interview
http://wethenerdy.com/schmuck-an-interview-with-seth-kushner/

COMICBOOK.COM - interview
http://comicbook.com/blog/2014/03/31/seth-kushner-on-schmuck/

BOING BOING - Kickstarter review
http://boingboing.net/2014/04/02/kickstarting-schmuck-a-comics.html

SCHMUCK KICKSTARTER UPDATE

Dean Haspiel's cover art for the Kickstarter exclusive edition of SCHMUCK

The first 24 hours of the campaign for SCHMUCK were amazing with $3,965 raised, which is 27% of the total amount for which I'm asking! I'd say that qualifies as a successful launch. But, very reliable sources told me the first days are the strongest and I should expect it to trail off once it's no longer "new", which is what has happened.  As of today, with 19 more days to go, SCHMUCK has raised $7,066 from 127 backers.  That's no small amount of money, but it’s still quite a ways from my goal of $15,000.

There are two ways one can help. The first is to back the project, which many wonderfully generous folks have already done. The second way is to share the project on social media or forward to a friend you think might be interested. Or, even retweeting or sharing my  facebook updates would be great.  So, if you can find a moment to do any of that, I’d greatly appreciate it.

See the Kickstarter campaign here:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/sethkushner/schmuck-a-graphic-novel

Several different articles have gone up online about the project:

Bleeding Cool posted a review, along with exerts from my book intro and preview art by all 22 artists: http://www.bleedingcool.com/2014/03/17/seth-kushner-and-twenty-two-artists-bring-a-schmucks-love-life-to-kickstarter-plus-bleeding-cool-exclusive-image-gallery/

13th Dimension posted my words about the making of Dean Haspiel's art for the exclusive Kickstarter edition of the book: http://13thdimension.com/exclusive-the-tale-of-dean-haspiels-variant-cover-for-schmuck/

Mental Floss listed SCHMUCK among their Most Interesting Comics of the Week:
http://mentalfloss.com/article/55649/most-interesting-comics-week

I wrote for 13th Dimension about my reasoning for publishing SCHMUCK independently. I think anyone who's had a book published will completely relate. "My situation is not unfamiliar to any of my friends who have published books with traditional publishers. In fact, I work at a studio in a warehouse building filled with cartoonists and comic-book makers where we often share publishing war stories. Without naming names, I’ve heard about major publishers who pay late, who don’t promote the books or the artist, who take covers away from the artist, who move up deadlines and hold off publication of completed works for years. The list goes on and on." http://13thdimension.com/an-independent-schmuck-by-seth-kushner/

An interview with me went up at Robot 6 by Tim O'Shea, which focuses specifically about the autobio nature of SCHMUCK: http://robot6.comicbookresources.com/2014/03/seth-kushner-on-his-schmuck-kickstarter/

CBS Man Cave Daily previewed the book with a posting of my comic collaboration with Nick Bertozzi, "SCHMUCK: Raising The Bar:
http://mancave.cbslocal.com/2014/03/26/preview-seth-kushners-schmuck/

Broken Frontier interviewed me on the making of SCHMUCK:
http://www.brokenfrontier.com/the-making-of-schmuck-photographer-seth-kushner-growing-pains-graphic-novel/

It feels great to have so many in corner who want to see my project succeed. I thank you all greatly for your support!!!

My Kickstarter campaign for SCHMUCK, the graphic novel

I've just launched a Kickstarter campaign to fund the printing of my SCHMUCK graphic novel.  This has been a several year long labor-of-love project and your support of this campaign will not only help me make the book, but also allow me to distribute to retail stores, Amazon, etc., while keeping the whole thing independent.


https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/sethkushner/schmuck-a-graphic-novel

Please see attached cover for the mass market version, illustrated by Joseph Remnant (Harvey Pekar's Cleveland) and designed by Eisner Award winning designer, Eric Skillman (Tales of Sand).  Details about the 168-page book, including a list of all 22 amazing contributing artists can be found on the Kickstarter page, along with a listing of all the reward incentives.

One final thing: I would greatly appreciate if you would share with anyone you think might be interested.

Your support means a lot.  Thanks!

MY NEXT BOOK

I'm very excited to announce the upcoming release of my next book, NEW YORK COMICS, which is also my second collaboration with Christopher Irving and the follow-up to our 2012 book, LEAPING TALL BUILDINGS: THE ORIGINS OF AMERICAN COMICS.  This new book is being published by Muttpop, the same French publisher who last year put out DES COMICS ET DES ARTISTES, the French language edition of LTB.  The book is scheduled to be released this coming fall in France.  It's being printed in both French and English, with the plan to find a US publisher to release it here in the States as well.  

How is this book different from our previous one? It's actually very different.  This book will focus on iconic locations in NYC that have been prominently used in comic books, superhero movies and in comics history.  The location photos will all be shot by me and the essays will be written by Chis.  Plus, there will be comic art throughout and my photos of comics creators with their quotes about NYC.

The schedule is tight for a fall release, so we'll be working had to meet our June deadline.  I've already started my part and I'm enjoying the hell out of traversing the city with my camera, Peter Parker-like.  I'll post some photos along the way.  In the meantime, see the press release Muttpop put together using my photographic impression of Hell's Kitchen, which has been utilized so vividly by such artists as Frank Miller in Marvel Comic' Daredevil.

MICHAEL KALUTA

Last year I was commissioned by Jon Cooke to photograph renowned cartoonist Michael Kaluta for Comic Book Creator Magazine.  Since the feature has been put on hold, I thought I woild share these photos.

I went into this shoot without a plan, but knowing I would do something on the artist at his home.  I had been informed Kaluta's Upper West Side apartment was "filled with cool stuff", but I was not prepared by what I would find; antique toy ray guns, aviator goggles, old airplane instrument panels, art supplies (of course!) and the man himself.  Kaluta was gregarious and inviting as I walked him through my various photo ideas, which was basically having him pose in different fascinating spots in his apartment.

The photos, inspired as always by Arnold Newman's (my one time employer - long story!) environmental portraits would certainly fit right at home with my long series of comic book creator photos in my book, Leaping Tall Buildings: The Origins of American Comics.  Perhaps one day, Chris Irving and I will do a new edition of the book and include folks I've covered after the publication, like Kaluta, Bryan Lee O'Malley, Robert Kirkman and more.  For now, thanks to John Cooke for allowing me to continue my series in the pages of his magazine.  Also, thanks to Gregory Benton for tagging along the day of the shoot and lending a helping hand.

SPORTS ILLUSTRATED FOR KIDS SHOOT

It was a beautiful autumn day when my assistant Kathleen Ching and I drove down to West Chester, Pennsylvania to photograph 10-year old runner, Nikolas Toocheck for SI For Kids. Photo editor Annamrie Avilla's directions were to make it "colorful and fun" and shoot him somewhere "beautiful."  I spoke with Nickolas' mom weeks in advance and asked her where her son usually runs and she described a park by a lake.  Perfect.  

While I tried all kinds of posed shots, I knew THE SHOT had to be one of him running.  But, it had to be a portrait not an action or a sports shot and it couldn't be taken from across the lake with a super-long lens.  So, my concept was to have him run towards the camera, so I'd catch him close and he'd be relating with the camera.  Kathleen and I marked a spot on the ground and set up portable strobes on either side of the spot.  I pre-focused on the spot so Nikolas would be in focus and "frozen" when he hit his mark.  I also had an on-camera flash to add some front fill on my subject.  I had Nikolas run back and fourth about 20 times, which he was more than happy to do, and happily, most of the frames were pretty good.  The above selected image which ran in the magazine provides, for me, (and I assume the photo editors of SI) the perfect balance between portrait and action shot.

Thanks to the Toocheck family for taking great behind-the-scenes photos!

Caits Meissner's Saga of Daisy Skin

Poet/performer/writer/designer and all-around renaissance woman Caits Meissner designed a nice piece based around my portrait of her for her new project 'The Saga of Daisy Skin: Jan '14.' Check it out here: http://www.rekordr.com/journal/

Also, the photo originally comes form my photocomix profile on Caits, which illustrated a lovely poem she wrote called, "Dear Roger", which can be viewed here: http://welcometotripcity.com/2011/11/culturepop-caits-meissner/

New Year's Day thoughts

I have high hopes for 2014. 2013 offered many challenges both personally and professionally.  There were hard times for my family, which we will continue to struggle with in this new year, but I'm confident we will persevere. I struggled with my career as a freelance photographer in a still down economy and dwindling publishing industry. Not to say it was all bad. I got some plum assignments and my work made the cover of a national magazine. Turning 40 helped me remember how lucky I am to have so many supportive friends and family members.  2013 was also the year where I made major leaps as a creator of content. Over the past few months I began developing five exciting new comics projects, (with some excellent collaborators) some or all of which I hope to see come to fruition during this new year. A big book collection of my Schmuck webcomic is in the works for this year.  It's also looking like I'll have a new book (which I can't yet discuss, but can say it will feature my photos) out in time for next holiday season. Things are looking up. 

Today, I spent New Years Day ice skating with my family. It was a great way to start the new year.  

A happy, healthy and prosperous 2014 to all!

13th DIMENSION ARTICLES

 

I've recently been contributing articles to a new comics/pop-culture site called, 13th Dimension, founded by Dan Greenfield of the NY Post and cartoonist & convention organizer, Cliff Galbraith.  My most recent piece was "Seth Kushner's Hanukkah 1978" where I reminisce about my favorite holiday memory of my father taking me to see Superman: The Movie for Hanukkah.

 

I did a one-on-one interview with cartoonist pal, Nick Bertozzi about his recent works and our recent collaboration on my SCHMUCK Comix series.

"Communal Creation: A Day in the Life at Hang Dai Studos" was my chronicle of the studio where I work and an intro to all the artists who share the space.

Finally, I did a "What I'm Reading" where I discuss my current favorite comics.

PATRICK STEWART FOR OCEAN ALLIANCE

I was recently asked by the Ocean Alliance for usage of my photo of their supporter, Patrick Stewart for their website.  I happily agreed, given the worthy cause, and I've long wanted the photo to be utilized in a more high profile way, since I'm quite proud of it.  I hope to be able to photograph my favorite actor again someday.

NY Comics & Picture-story Symposium covered by The Rumpus

Gregory goes over his layouts for B+F, and I look excited about being introduced by the great cartoonist, Ben Katchor.

Gregory Benton and I  had a great time speaking at The sixty-sixth meeting of the NY Comics & Picture-story Symposium (hosted by Ben Katchor.) last Monday night at Parsons. Gregory spoke about his process of making his new book, B+F and I gave a talk about the history of Fumetti/Photonovellas and on my own history of making Photocomix.

Keren Katz wrote up a thorough and compelling piece on the event for The Rumpus, complete with a plethora of images for the presentation. Highly recommended reading.

Artist, Chelle Mayer (granddaughter of the legendary cartoonist, Sheldon Mayer) was in attendance and drew this wonderful interpretation/distillation of my presentation.

The New York Comics & Picture-Story Symposium is a weekly forum for discussing the tradition and future of text/image work. Open to the public, it meets Monday nights at 7-9pm EST in New York City. Presentations vary weekly and include everything from historical topics and technical demonstrations to creators presenting their work. Check out upcoming meetings here.

COMIC ARTS BROOKLYN

Gregory Benton, Dean Haspiel and I had a fantastic time at Comic Arts Brooklyn this past weekend. Our day was filled with looking at inspiring work, having great conversations and being surprised by all the old friends who showed up at our table, out of the blue. We were thrilled about the interest folks had in our new imprint, HANG DAI Editions. Thanks to everyone who came by and supported our efforts. Thanks to Hannah Menzies for covering our debut for Bleeding Cool, and to Beth Scorzato and Calvin Reid for focusing on us in the Publisher's Weekly article on CAB. This all went a long way in helping us build a buzz for our new imprint. Thanks to Gabriel Fowler for organizing an excellent show. Thanks Christa Cassano for helping with the booth and to her and Jess Ruliffson for bringing us dumplings. Can't wait till next year!

The New York Comics & Picture-story Symposium at Parsons

The sixty-sixth meeting of the NY Comics & Picture-story Symposium will be held Tonight, Monday, November 11, 2013 at 7:00 PM at Parsons The New School, 2 West 13th Street, in the Bark Room (off the lobby). Free and open to the public. Presentations: Gregory Benton will discuss his new book B+F, winner of an Award of Excellence at this year’s MoCCA. Seth Kushner will be presenting his Photocomix work and discussing his fascination with fumetti and how he plans to use sequential photographic narrative in the future.

HANG DAI Editions launch

Benton, Haspiel and Kushner launch HANG DAI Editions.

HANG DAI Editions was founded in Brooklyn, NY by Gregory Benton, Dean Haspiel, and Seth Kushner over their mutual dedication to comix art. The imprint focuses on limited edition comix, graphic novels, and art books, with an emphasis on personal interaction at events, conventions, and signings.

The three principals each have long histories with traditional publishing venues and have now decided to take on the challenge of publishing independently, under the HANG DAI Editions imprint, in order to retain full ownership and control over select personal creations.

The HANG DAI Editions line will debut at Comic Arts Brooklyn on November 9, 2013 with three limited edition comic books. Benton unveils his man vs. nature tale, FORCE OF NATURE, Haspiel brings forth his one-man anthology, PSYCHOTRONIC COMIX, and Kushner collects three shorts from his autobio web-series in SCHMUCK COMIX.

The three New York City based creators, who share a studio in Gowanus, Brooklyn, plan to evolve the line into self-financed and crowd funded hardcover books, and are actively seeking distributors with which to partner.

HANG DAI Editions - creator owned, independently-produced signature works.

Read an interview with Benton, Haspiel and Kushner about the new imprint at Bleeding Cool, by Hannah Means-Shannon

www.HangDaiEditions.com
Follow us on twitter: @hangdai_comix

Gregory Benton has been making comix since 1993. He cut his teeth on the political anthology World War 3, moving on to writing and drawing stories for Nickelodoeon, Vertigo, DC Comics, Disney Adventures, Watson-Guptil, Entertainment Weekly, as well as contributing to numerous alternate-press comix anthologies. A graphic novel, Hummingbird, was published by Slave Labor Graphics in 1996. Gregory has also produced numerous limited-edition mini-comix. Hopefully you have some. His illustrations have appeared in The New York Times, The Village Voice and Fortune, among others. Most recently, his book B+F was awarded the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art’s inaugural Award of Excellence at MoCCAFest 2013. An expanded version of B+F has been released through Adhouse Books (USA) and Editions ça et la (France). GregoryBenton.com

Emmy award winner and Eisner Award nominee Dean Haspiel created BILLY DOGMA, and THE RED HOOK, illustrated for HBO's "Bored To Death," was a Master Artist at the Atlantic Center for the Arts, is a Yaddo fellow, and occasionally teaches comic book storytelling. Dino has written and drawn many superhero and semi-autobiographical comix, including collaborations with Harvey Pekar, Jonathan Ames, Inverna Lockpez, Stan Lee, and Jonathan Lethem. He's currently collaborating with writer Mark Waid on THE FOX for Archie/Red Circle Comics. DeanHaspiel.com

Seth Kushner is an award-winning photographer and writer.  His photography has appeared in The NY Times Magazine, Time, L’Uomo Vogue, Sports Illustrated, The New Yorker and more.  His published books include Leaping Tall Buildings: The Origins of American Comics, (2012, co-authored with Christopher Irving) The Brooklynites (2007, co-authored with Anthony LaSala) and the recently released, self-published fumetti anthology FORCE FIELD FOTOCOMIX VOL.01. and his semi-autobio comic SCHMUCK Comix #1. Seth's comics work can be seen at TripCity.net and for more info, visit SethKushner.com.

SPEAKEASY SURPRISE 40th BIRTHDAY

This past Saturday night, My lovely wife Terra concocted an elaborate scheme to surprise me for my 40th birthday.   I'd been feeling kinda bummed about my birthday for a while because I was trying to think of something different to do this year, but couldn't come up with any ideas.  Also, it'd been a bit of a tough year and I hadn't been great at keeping in touch with many of my friends, so I wasn't sure everyone had such positive feeling towards me.  So, I was truly touched that so many frineds, some of which I hadn't seen in a long while,  traveled from far away, got sitters, came pregnant, dressed in 1930s garb and devoted their Saturday nights to surprising me on my birthday.  I've never felt more loved.


Thanks to Cynthia Von Buhler for opening her incredible Speakeasy Dollhouse to us and pretending to hire me to take press shots as a ruse to get me there.  I highly recommend seeing Cynthia's fascinating family history played out as immersive theater.  We saw the show once before, last year and it's brilliant.



A special thank you to my wife, Terra, who somehow planned this whole shebang in secret, got me the best and schmuckiest birthday cake ever, (thanks for the awesome image, Gregory Benton!) feigned an ankle injury on the way there so we wouldn't arrive too early, and for just being an all-around wonderful wife.

Thanks to Carlos Molina for taking photos.  A full gallery of photos by Carlos Molina can be seen here.
 
Also, thanks to Hannah Means-Shannon, who will be reportied on the event for one of my favorite websites, bleedingcool.com in her beautifully written article, "New York’s Immersive Theatre Speakeasy Dollhouse Wows Comics Folks on Seth Kushner’s Birthday."
Here's an excerpt: "I run up the subway steps with only two minutes to spare until my appointment. Turning the corner, I start looking for some indicator of where I’m going but don’t expect to find any since the place isn’t really on any maps. But then I see an unusual number of people on the street trying to look casual about a block away. I mentally “tsk” them—not very subtle. If we get raided tonight it’ll ruin Seth’s birthday. The one he doesn’t know he’s having. Unless he sees all these people. I thought everyone was supposed to go around the back.  But the problem, I realize as I get closer, is that there are too many people. Seth has too many friends. And they are all here being unsubtle. Thankfully, his wife has noticed too, just in time, and faking a sprained ankle, has slowed things down. I cut the line to ask a bootlegger in the know what’s what. A fine lady in a very pale lace gown with an even paler complexion asks if my name’s on the list. I say some magic words, jumping the list. Suddenly everyone’s moving quickly. I keep getting pulled by the elbow, come this way, come that way. It’s getting confusing already until I’m not even sure how we got inside. It’s dark. We try to be quiet, but every so often there’s a solid metal thunking on the door and someone has to open it or Cynthia, who’s trying to keep us all in hand, says, “Don’t open it!” in sternest tones."
 Read the rest of the article here.
 

 

This past year had its challenges, but I've got lots of good things in the works for the upcoming one, so I'm feeling positive and looking forward to making 40 the new 39!

WRESTLER PORTRAITS

Sgt. Slaughter

I was a huge wrestling fan when I was a kid. I even wrote an essay about it recently, called Wrestling With Big Fat Freddy.  I spent many a Saturday morning following the colorful, soap opera-like antics of the larger-than-life men seen in these photos.

Throughout my photo career I've always try to photograph the things that interest me, whether it be comic book creators, people from Brooklyn or indie film personalities.  This modest series of mostly close-up portraits of wrestlers has been something I've been pursuing these last few years whenever I've been at an event like Comic-Con or Chiller Theater, where wrestlers are appearing.  I took the photo above of Sgt. Slaughter and the one below of Mick Foley at New York Comic-Con this past weekend.  While I've posted the others in various places previously, I though these new addition gave me a good excuse to present the series all-together.  

My concept for this series is simple.  I want to take photos of these cultural and familiar icons from the past and present them as they appear today, in an honest way.  I'm hoping to shoot more soon.

Mick Foley

Bruno Sammartino

Ric Flair

Iron Sheik

Jerry "The King" Lawler

Nikolai Volkoff

George "The Animal" Steele

Greg "The Hammer" Valentine

DES COMICS ET DES ARTISTES

The French edition of LEAPING TALL BUILDINGS is here! Christopher Irving and I are proud to have our book published internationally. Thanks to Nicolas Forsans and Muttpop for doing a great job.

Great review here:
http://www.bedecine.fr/2013/09/coup-de-projecteur-comics-sur-des-comics-et-des-artistes/

"From Google translate:
This is the French version of Leaping Tall Buildings, a book of 240 pages written by Christopher Irving and portrays fifty major artists Comics universe and to discover or rediscover those who did and continue to the American comics.

More than just a compilation of interviews and portraits quickly brushed the author is here accompanied in his work by photographer Seth Kushner, and quite honestly his work gives a real character to the whole.
Whether portraits of various artists or iconic New York City, Seth Kushner manages to create a real atmosphere and it is more than just
"Big Apple" (birthplace of Comics) in either case.

Christopher Irving then narrates a History of Comics through the ages and distilled to our delight many revealing anecdotes with privacy, modesty and enthusiasm the report Comics encountered by different authors.

No need to sugarcoat it is neither more nor less than a Great Book.
In summary it is a beautiful and essential for all lovers of the great writers and Comics at large book.

A great success and a real favorite in our case!"

WADE DAVIS FOR SPORTS ILLUSTRARED

Back in July I was assigned by Sports Illustrated to photograph former NFL player Wade Davis for the article, "Gay in the NFL."  I wasn't given a whole lot of direction other than to "make a beautiful portrait."  

I met Wade in Astor Place in Downtown Manhattan at the end of the day when the light is beautiful and golden.  I was glad when Wade arrived a stylishly attired and willing subject.  The published photo was highly cropped to fit layout, so I'm happy to be able to show my favorite images from the shoot here.

 

Dean Haspiel and I will be at Baltimore Comic-Con on Sat & Sun, Sept. 7-8 at the Baltimore Convention Center. We'll be tabling with cartoonists Reilly Brown and Christa Cassano at table 2207. Come on by and get our new comix! 

   

Aunt Rose on her 100th birthday

The photo above is very different from the work I usually post.  It's stripped bare of lighting, retouching and any and all artifice.  It's shot completely with natural light.  It's a very personal photo and I wanted nothing to get in the way between photographer and subject and photo and viewer.

The woman in the photo is my great aunt Rose and it was taken this past Sunday on the occasion of her 100th birthday--a momentous occasion, which my family and I were honored to attend.

I hadn't seen my great aunt in over a year. The last time, she was noticeably frail but still walking and still basically herself.  When I first approached my family's back porch, where she was sitting surrounded by loved ones who were all there to celebrate with her, I wasn't sure it even was her.  Maybe it was another older women attending the party?  But as I got closer, I knew.  I was a bit shocked at first because she now sits in a wheel chair and she is totally blind. 

Aunt Rose is my father's aunt and my grandfather's sister.  They're both gone, but I'll always remember how close my grandfather was to her, and how much my father loved her.  I was basically hardwired to love her, but regardless of my programing, as I grew up and got to know my great aunt, I got to love her on my own for the the kind, patient, creative and remarkable woman she is.

At one point during the day, I sat down with my Aunt Rose and talked with her.  I was so happy and relieved to find she is still relatively sharp, especially for 100-years old.  She clearly knew who I was and we talked about my father and grandfather and about how much she misses them.  She mentioned the extreme heat of the day (92 degrees, still less degrees than she has years) and about how in her day there were no air conditions and people slept on their fire escapes for relief.

I was upset when I arrived at the party, but my great aunt Rose made me feel better.  After we talked for a bit, I told her I wanted to take a beautiful photo of her.  I came prepared with my "real" camera, not just the iPhone I usually use at family events these days.  I snapped about 40 frames quickly and I chose the above image to show because it looked and felt the most like her to me.  Other frames were caught moments, but in this one she is aware of me and the camera.  She was being a subject and thanked me after I was finished.

I like to think I caught something "real" in the photo of a beloved family member on her 100th birthday. 

CITY POINT EXHIBITION

This past weekend, I wad tipped off to the fact that there is an exhibition of my work in Albee Square, in downtown Brooklyn. The photos are all a part of a campaign I worked on during the spring of 2011 with the award-winning branding agency, Co-Op. The project was to brand the soon-to-be developed City Point, a high-end mall in downtown Brooklyn.

The concept of the campaign was to cast real Brooklynites to represent the future shopper at the mall, and to shoot them in real Brooklyn locations. The project was right up my alley, since I co-authored the book, The Brooklynites, where I photographed over 300 real, live Brookynites, and having worked on several Brooklyn-centric projects over the years, I can confidently refer to myself as an “expert” on the borough where I was born, raised and proudly reside.

After several rounds of casting, the subjects were narrowed down to 24, including; singer/songwriter Maya Azucena, poets Caits Meissner and Tishon Woodcock, stylist Belinda Martin, DJ Jason Jinx and many, many more great subjects including some old friends and even my god-daughter.

I love that my photos are being exhibited in a very public space in Brooklyn. I’ve long believed art should be available to everyone--every man and woman on the street--and this display does just that.

If you happen to be in downtown Brooklyn, please have a look at my work in Albee Square, at the edge of the Fulton Mall, on Decalb Avenue, just off Faltbush Avenue.

Get a closer look at the photos here.