The Daily Grunge

I’ve posted this image before, but it deserves another look. I love acquired texture, the patina of life. This parking lot was once a busy scene of commerce: businesses were thriving and serving customers, until a fire wiped out most of it. Now it’s a field of rubble, but amazingly, there are a few buildings still standing, and commerce is still going on, in different forms.

But unfortunately, I don’t think this area will ever thrive again, and in my head I hear an anthem for rural American, the center of industrialism that nourished communities, that are gone and will probably relocate someplace else, and maybe provide jobs for other people who probably deserve it. But, one can feel the grief of this bygone age.

This image is from Liminal. We had our once-annual snowstorm here (Asheville, NC) in December, and my yard buddha statue was up to its neck in snow. (It is about 36 inches high which gives you an idea how much this storm produced.)

Since there was nothing else too do, being snowed in, I wandered around the yard taking pictures, and spotted this, half in shadow and half in sun. it seemed so serene and totally representing what Zen means to me: not one thing or the other, not dark nor light but both at once – hey, that’s exactly what Liminal is all about.

This image was produced with my Sony RX100III, and cropped and curve-adjusted in Photoshop.

This is a page that didn’t make it into Liminal, although it defines the concept of the book. these are some of the transitional states that I explore, themes of not being quite one thing or another. And also, the page gave me a chance to play with typography, which is one of my favorite ways to spend time.

This is one of my favorite images from Liminal. The original inspiration was the door of a painter’s studio in the River Arts District, which was layered with paint, comics, playing cards, and general wear.

After layering the images, it was a matter of applying filters and adjusting blend modes and opacity until I got the effect I was after.

Link here:

This book is an exploration of techniques that have appealed to me for a long time, images I see in my head that are crying out for release into the greater world.

i love watching people leaf through the book; I can see where they pause, where they move the book closer to see it better, what pages they go back to.

I attended a hot air balloon festival recently in Auburn, Maine. The best view was from this suspension bridge over the Androscoggin River.

The graphic design projects have been taking up as much time as photography lately. This is a sign I designed for my tiny house.

This is a shot of a beehive taken through glass. You can see my reflection, in a black t shirt, behind the bees.

So far, “iPhoneography – where reality intersects with imagination” is only available on Blurb. But far more exciting is the fact that it is DONE and published and available.

Blurb link here: http://www.blurb.com/b?ebook=673004

Amazon link to follow, which will include the print version.

Just wanted to give you all a heads up that it is on its way. This volume includes my favorite photos from TheDailyGrunge, as well as a few newer works that have never made it onto the blog.