Untitled

Hi Marc, I saw your posting in a forum about your recent disappointing trip to a gallery where photographers felt the need to impose so much photoshop triviality into their photos. I agree very much with your comments, so thought I'd check out your portfolio and am very impressed. Overall, your work captures real life and very good moments. You have a great eye for what feels compelling about life and for how to compose quickly and interestingly. This first folder and this shot in particular stood out to me so I thought I'd comment. This is a very real, very natural portrait and street shot. It is eye-catching and seems to really capture the guy being who he is. It tells a story and that's great. I love the way the skateboard kind of screams at us with his somewhat more innocent face and pose providing a nice counterpoint to that. I will be back to visit as I think there's a lot more to look at carefully. Nice to meet you. --Fred

Hi Fred,

Thanks for your kind words. This shot happens to be one of my favorites too; it's a straight print and yes the skateboard has a nice glow to it although how it got that way beats me! It was taken at Union Station in LA. I recall that day every well. It was the first time I tried any shooting in there. To my surprise when I checked with the info booth regarding photography I was told I could shoot to my hearts content just no tripods allowed. However, that day the AC must have been out since it was so horribly hot and humid it was like being in a greenhouse. I only took a few shots in there and went back down to the nice cool subway. I plan to go back to Union Station for more shooting once I get my camera back from the shop.

Thanks again Fred.

Regards,

Marc

On a recent street/doc thread you posted some beautifully done portraits and I missed my chance to say so. Your documenting life in southern California gives me a chance to see places I'm familiar with, but more importantly, there are gems of portraiture in your portfolio: the boy with the net shirt with the belly-button ring, the arms or a black man wrapped around his white lover at the Pride Parade, the boy with sombrero, and this one--his face looks like it could have been from the 19th century, but his skate board has all the glow of now. Nice work. As time passes, these photos will no doubt take on another look, I hope to see that happen. Emily

Thanks for checking out my work and for your kind words Emily. One of the reasons why I'm shooting film is because I will always have the negatives. As you mentioned, time has a funny way of changing ones outlook. The negatives I passed on printing for one reason or another may take on new meaning in the future. If people shooting digital wouldn't be so quick with the delete key they would have more images that might grow on them too.