Me on Nymphoto

The lovely ladies at Nymphoto asked me a few questions recently. You can read my answers here.

While you’re at it, check out the Nymphoto conversation with the fabulous Emily Shur, whose photograph of the Hollywood Sign I used to illustrate my last post. That photo is not only my favorite Emily Shur photograph, but also one of my all-time favorite L.A. photographs. To me, it expresses so much of what it is to love, and live in, Los Angeles.

Sad/exciting

Copyright © Emily Shur

It’s been a while in the daydreaming, debating, thinking, and planning, but yesterday I finally signed a lease on an apartment in Los Angeles. What this means is that S. and I are no longer together in the boyfriend-girlfriend sense, but we are still very much together in the love-and-friendship sense, and that’s important to me.

I’ve been thinking along these lines probably since last fall, when the fires came to Santa Barbara and I had to evacuate. I was on my own that night, with Boo Radley, and I realized that when the shit hits the fan, I don’t want to be alone and that I always would be with S. I tried to ignore it—and succeeded in that for a while—but time has a way of making things impossible to ignore.

I was tentatively thinking fall for a move, but I was having coffee with a friend last week, and she mentioned she was looking for a tenant for her upstairs apartment. I had to look at it, at least, and once that ball started rolling, it didn’t stop. Her apartment turned out to be too small, and the others I saw that day weren’t quite right either. But yesterday I found the perfect place for Boo and me, in Beachwood Canyon, and I’m so excited to get down there.

On the other hand, I’m sad to be leaving Santa Barbara and, most of all, S. I’ve cried enough in the past few months, since what I needed to do finally became undeniable. So, for now, the excitement is outweighing the sadness. But I know that, although we’ll see each other a few times a month, it’ll never be the same, and that breaks my heart.

Michael Jackson, 1958–2009

I’ll always remember the first time I saw Michael Jackson. I was in an electronics store in Benton Harbor, Michigan, with my family, and the “Thriller” video came on one of the TVs. My two younger sisters and I were transfixed. I was 9 years old.

That spring, we drove down to Florida for spring break, and “Billie Jean” must’ve come on the radio a dozen times as stations faded in and faded out. My awareness of the music world was limited, but I knew this guy was something different. He proved that in so many ways—good and bad—over the years.

I was never a Michael Jackson fan, but his music makes up an important part of the soundtrack of my childhood, and I wonder if I’ll always remember where I was when I heard he died—driving on the 101 back from Los Angeles, having just rented an apartment, getting news of his death on Twitter.

Erika Larsen

A huge congratulations to Erika Larsen, the winner of the Women in Photography–Lightside Individual Project Grant! Erika’s work is quietly powerful, and I’ve been in love with it since I first saw it in 2006. I don’t think there could’ve been a more deserving recipient.

The grant was awarded for her latest project, Sámi, The People, which you can see on Women in Photography. The work I fell in love with several years ago was The Hunt, and I’ll leave you with some of my favorite photos from that series.

To listen to a beautiful little interview with Erika, check out Pause, to Begin. (By the way, last fall I downloaded all the Pause, to Begin interviews and I’ve kept them on my phone and my computer ever since. I’ve listened to them more times than I can count—they’re an invaluable resource for any photographer. If you haven’t listened to them yet, you should.)

Copyright © Erika Larsen

Copyright © Erika Larsen

Copyright © Erika Larsen

Copyright © Erika Larsen

Copyright © Erika Larsen

Copyright © Erika Larsen

For girls only: My favorite bag

Photographers’ search for the perfect bag is legendary. My main camera bag is a discontinued Lowepro Omni Pro. But the bag I carry with me every day, the one I keep my camera in everywhere I go, is a purse handmade by Crystalyn Kae Kokorowski in Seattle, Washington. It’s my one-size-fits-all bag. It holds all my typical purse stuff (my wallet and sunglasses and lip gloss and Advil), plus a book and my Canon 5D with a 50mm f/1.2L or 85mm f/1.2L lens. And there’s room to spare—I shoved a bagel and a trashy magazine in it (on top of all this other stuff) at LAX recently. To top it all off, it’s vegan-friendly. (I like me a good burger, so that’s not a concern of mine, but one of my sisters is vegan, and that’s how I happened upon Crystalyn Kae in the first place.) The interior of the bag is a super-soft ultrasuede, and the exterior, made of glazed fabric, is easy to keep clean—you can spot-clean it with Windex. The whole thing is incredibly durable. And my camera is always safe and sound inside. Plus, Crystalyn is a sweetheart and she loves what she does. If you’re looking for a good purse/camera bag, you can’t go wrong with the Soirée Messenger Bag.

Photographs copyright © Christina Domingues

Collect this: Tiger Rug, Cabrini Green

Somehow I was sure that there weren’t any Colleen Plumb prints available through 20x200 anymore. She’s had three 20x200 editions, and two of them sold out in the small size, but I was lucky enough to grab the one remaining one, Tiger Rug, Cabrini Green, which happens to be my favorite of the three. Call it luck, call it fate, call it whatever you want, but grab yours here.

P.S. Congratulations to Colleen on being named one of the two Hey, Hot Shot! Ne Plus Ultras for 2008! Very well deserved.

Copyright © Colleen Plumb

Collect this: Idaho Springs, Colorado

20x200 is having a sale. Enter the coupon code RIDONK between now and Saturday, June 13, to get 20 percent off your order. Or, if you’re a dork like me, get so excited about the sale that you forget to enter the coupon code, thereby rendering yourself as ridonk as the sale itself.

I picked up this Justin James Reed print. Well worth the full dub. Get yours here.

Copyright © Justin James Reed

P.S. If you’re in a Justin James Reed frame of mind, check out my interview with him from back in the day (i.e., last year).