Diane Arbus: Secrets...

A photograph is a secret about a secret. The more it tells you the less you know.

- Diane Arbus

One More Shot From "Here and Now"

Andy Mattern, one of the new Graduate Students in the Photo Dept at the University of Minnesota, documented some of the work at the "Here and Now" Contemporary Photography Exhibit at the Katherine E. Nash Gallery. He grabbed a photograph of my work, and it's nice that he did that in the evening when the light isn't streaming through the window just to the left of my pieces. Here's the photograph he made:

(Click the image for a slightly larger view)

The show just came down, so if you missed it, you missed it.....

Robert Frank: Criticism

Above all, I know that life for a photographer cannot be a matter of indifference. Opinion often consists of a kind of criticism. But criticism can come out of love. It is important to see what is invisible to others - perhaps the look of hope or the look of sadness. Also, it is always the instantaneous reaction to oneself that produces a photograph.

- Robert Frank
U.S. Camera Annual, 1958

SPE Midwest Reception

This weekend, the Society for Photography Education (SPE) has it’s Midwest conference in Minneapolis.

This Friday night (Oct 30th), there’s a special reception for the SPE members at the Katherine E. Nash Gallery. (If you’ll look a few posts down, you’ll see that I’m in the current show at the Nash.) So swing by the Nash this Friday from 5:30-7. I wasn’t able to make the opening reception 10 days ago, but I hope to make it to the reception on Friday.

Click here to learn more about SPE Midwest.

New Layout

I spent part of Friday and Saturday tweaking html code and playing around with the layout of this site. What do you think?

Robert Adams on Making Photos

No place is boring, if you've had a good night's sleep and have a pocket full of unexposed film.

- Robert Adams
Darkroom & Creative Camera Techniques, May 1995

Work Up at the Katherine E. Nash Gallery

Yesterday, the photography show “Here and Now” officially went up. And it looks GOOD. It’s on display at the Katherine E. Nash Gallery on the University of Minnesota campus. The opening reception this is Friday from 6-8:30 pm, but unfortunately, I won’t be able to make it. So I snapped a few photos of my work at the Nash when I stopped by yesterday:

My work next to Caroline’s

So I won’t see you at the opening, but make sure to swing by and see the show between now and November 12th. Gallery hours are Tuesday through Saturday, 11 am - 7 pm.

Why Did I Ever Stop Doing This?

I haven’t built my own frames since undergrad. It was time to give it a whirl again. Man, I missed it. I needed 6-8 frames that were 24” x 24”. So I got to work.

. . . . . . . . Day 1 . . . . . . . .


Stairs to the CVA Sculpture studio


90 feet of 1x3 inch poplar "rabbited out"


36 two-foot mitered pieces


“Manly” blood blister
(from a not-so-manly tape measure... oops.)

. . . . . . . . Day 2 . . . . . . . .


Frames taking shape


9 frames (before puttying and sanding)


After putty and sanding
(with enough left over for a tiny frame)

. . . . . . . . Later Days . . . . . . . .


Applying tung oil in my garage


Picking up matboard and foamcore at Tradewinds


Framed up


Installing D-rings and wire


Delivered to the Nash for installation

- Lumber: $91
- Glass: $64
- Foam core and mat: $140
- Tung oil: $9

- Total: $304
- $50.66 / piece (with 3 frames to spare)

So for that price, I have 6 framed pieces ready to hang. AND I have 3 extra frames all ready to use in the future.