tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-62461244068459205692012-02-12T12:22:01.658-05:00PHOTOGRAPHY, MUSIC, FOOD, AND OFF THE GRID.Matthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09701311785452566409noreply@blogger.comBlogger291100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6246124406845920569.post-75841067137244225902011-07-18T12:19:00.000-04:002011-07-18T12:19:32.000-04:00

I'm almost done with my stay just outside of Woodstock NY with Delta Spirit.  I have been making photographs and moving pictures daily to make a series of short films, and their eventual CD artwork.  The music is fantastic, Chris Coady, their producer is great, and the band, who I've known casually for a couple years, has been great to span some quality time with.  It's all lollipops and rainbows

Matthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09701311785452566409noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6246124406845920569.post-68574944490104642262011-07-11T11:32:00.000-04:002011-07-11T11:32:21.039-04:00

A couple friends suggested I start a personal twitter account.For photo tips, short rants, social commentary, and notifications when I photograph immature naked musicians, join here: @wignallworld An example of what you can enjoy: Matt Vasquez just took his pants off, put his face in cake, and then kissed me nearly soiling my camera. Or advice like:Don't tie tin cans to cats tails.

Matthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09701311785452566409noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6246124406845920569.post-67556384208946781032011-07-11T10:48:00.000-04:002011-07-11T10:48:30.956-04:00

DOWNSTATE: It's a lovely week for New York.  I'm 5 miles from Woodstock, photographing for Delta Spirit's new album which they are currently recording in a vibey old converted church.  Having just experienced 4th of July with a nice view of Manhattan, and now photographing and filming one of the better American rock bands in the country, I'll tell you what, it feels good to be an American right

Matthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09701311785452566409noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6246124406845920569.post-35088428143044629472011-07-10T14:09:00.000-04:002011-07-10T14:09:24.793-04:00

I've been totally overworked for most of this year.  7 days a week.  Photography and photo/video editing during the day, and in the recording studio at night, followed by 1 episode of 30 rock at midnight and do it all over again.  I'm sort of going crazy. That said, I've also just completed, or am still completing some of the coolest projects of my life. Probably the longest running is "Deep Sea

Matthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09701311785452566409noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6246124406845920569.post-17061369526437925642011-04-22T01:17:00.000-04:002011-04-22T01:17:37.049-04:00

On May the 7th next month Neil and I will be having the first Future Road Maps exhibit of our southwestern portfolios.  See www.futureroadmaps.tumblr.com for more details. On

Matthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09701311785452566409noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6246124406845920569.post-76411721318162309602011-03-29T11:51:00.002-04:002011-07-11T09:54:33.313-04:00

I'm taking on a doosy of a new project.  I'm going solar!  I've been obsessed with getting "off the grid" for a while, Judita and I have Mercedes Benz diesels running on veggie oil, and the new thing is trying to figure out how to run my recording studio and dark room off of the sun.  I'm really excited about this, so I will commit to doing a couple of weekly postings once things get rolling for

Matthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09701311785452566409noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6246124406845920569.post-16860195010780894692011-01-23T17:50:00.000-05:002011-01-23T17:50:53.682-05:00

I just hit my wall.  I have dropped every call today on my iphone.  AT&T is the worst phone company in the world.  I just emailed them this note.  Anyone who has AT&T will marvel at the amount of polite restraint I have used.  I will get back to photography on the blog soon. To Customer Service: I had an old iphone, now I have the g4 iphone. I drop every other call and I live in Long Beach

Matthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09701311785452566409noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6246124406845920569.post-78054438021101962342010-12-20T17:25:00.000-05:002010-12-20T17:25:45.756-05:00

Every year for most of my adult life, my mom gets the whole family together every Christmas, and we drive 20 minutes down Katella Blvd. to the "happiest place on earth".  My siblings and I are far too old to be anything but generally amused and lightly annoyed by the park, but it is nice to get together with the family.  In a way it is kind of nostalgic, after all, we are Americans, we live in

Matthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09701311785452566409noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6246124406845920569.post-3656474502418684322010-10-05T22:35:00.000-04:002010-10-05T22:35:30.568-04:00

Neil Harrison and I have started a 3 year project to document the sociology, topography, and recent history of the USA. We will hit every state as we travel in a diesel converted LandCruiser with a tent system built into the roof rack.  We havestarted a website and twitter account in the event that anyone is interested in following the project.  The eventual goal is a coffee table book and

Matthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09701311785452566409noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6246124406845920569.post-43298189101018070152010-09-07T10:54:00.001-04:002010-09-07T10:55:56.131-04:00

So Vern and I have packed it up again, and headed to Stockholm, Sweden to once and for all finish filming the documentary that was started 3 summers ago when I, the humble Mando Diao photographer/art director, was commissioned with the task of filming a "making of" album documentary.  The album documentary quickly turned into something much bigger as the album hit number 1 across Europe, and then

Matthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09701311785452566409noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6246124406845920569.post-62240956580716535682010-08-18T13:22:00.002-04:002010-09-21T10:57:31.340-04:00

Here is a cool thing, at the Project Las Vegas fashion trade show, my photographs are displayed as the part of theme of the show, they are roughly 15 feet x 30 feet, 16 of them in total. The show was styled by Michael Conti.  

Matthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09701311785452566409noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6246124406845920569.post-56931725651717099872010-08-16T12:57:00.000-04:002010-08-16T12:57:44.160-04:00

OK, ok, I will be getting back to photography and road trips shortly here.  There is a lot on the horizon.  I'm currently in NYC at my sublet apartment preparing to depart for Stockholm and Berlin to finish a Mando Diao documentary I've been directing for almost 3 years now with my crew at Long Beach Film Company.  I am also leaving for an extensive American road trip in the fall with artist Neil

Matthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09701311785452566409noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6246124406845920569.post-62055154383518404722010-08-09T19:17:00.000-04:002010-08-09T19:17:14.095-04:00

Just buy Twin Peaks and watch it if you don't know. Television has never been better and likely will not be again.

Matthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09701311785452566409noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6246124406845920569.post-36722073416953563592010-07-24T10:32:00.003-04:002010-07-24T10:35:25.847-04:00

This is one of my favorite music videos in the world. My friend Mike Aho made it with some found VHS footage from a thrift store. It's pretty much the best thing ever. It is for his band Sounder, I really dig this record.

Matthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09701311785452566409noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6246124406845920569.post-24764310827503391452010-07-12T12:29:00.005-04:002010-07-12T12:48:45.445-04:00

Here is something fun. The Fling are one of my favorite local bands. I mixed their new album, "When The Mad Houses Appear" a couple months ago. They gave me a call to do a cover photo recently and set up this crazy set in a local garage. Listen to their music. It is great. And here is the final album cover picture I was able to knock off.http://www.myspace.com/thefling

Matthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09701311785452566409noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6246124406845920569.post-17753044232308676672010-06-10T15:52:00.007-04:002010-06-11T22:16:37.878-04:00

Hi Diane, Ok I concede... digital technology is not all bad. I will always prefer the look of film and a substantial camera, but in a pinch, when I feel like taking a couple of cool pictures for posterity, I have found the ShakeItPhoto app to be kind of fun. I'm currently producing an album in my recording studio with the band Two Guns and I've started snapping a few frames with my Iphone, I'm

Matthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09701311785452566409noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6246124406845920569.post-28073641271352835592010-06-01T15:16:00.010-04:002010-06-01T18:33:18.071-04:00

I started photographing when I was about 13 with a camera I lifted from my dad. I was really into skate boarding and I lived around the block from Remy Stratton who eventually became a hell of a pro skater. I used to shoot him and some of the other local guys skating backyard pools around our hood. I took this photo in 1987 when I was a punk ass teenager and developed the negs in my parents

Matthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09701311785452566409noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6246124406845920569.post-4746590591553774812010-03-20T13:54:00.014-04:002010-03-22T01:29:57.219-04:00

Many of you know that I like to rant on occasion. I've gotten going on tooth health numerous times in the past months and everyone in ear shot wants to know more, so here it is...I was once a dental train wreck, 1 cavity after the next for years. Then I got smart.About 8 years ago I was walking down the street in Tijuana, on pain killers, with my Mexican American friend and translator Ivan

Matthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09701311785452566409noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6246124406845920569.post-26254169055183664542010-02-08T12:10:00.020-05:002010-08-11T10:15:32.509-04:00

On January 29, 2010 Marian Barnet passed away. When I was 16 years old I met Marian for the first time. She was sitting at her kitchen table reading a book with some sort of whiskey concoction and a More 100 cigarette. I don't ever remember the cigarette being burned down, they always seemed to just burn at the end. Probably because those Mores are like 6 inches long. Marian was always

Matthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09701311785452566409noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6246124406845920569.post-74004350242899409112010-01-11T15:55:00.003-05:002010-07-06T09:43:42.532-04:00

Hey Diane, here is a fun little video from the recording sessions of the new Cold War Kids "Behave Yourself" EP which I had the pleasure of engineering, mixing and producing. I did not know this existed and someone called us the other day to say they saw it on Current TV. It's always fun to see my back yard on TV. It's like Jersey Shore or something, except I've got better abs.

Matthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09701311785452566409noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6246124406845920569.post-23363074494811697552009-12-25T14:12:00.006-05:002009-12-25T14:36:50.217-05:00

Merry Christmas Diane, I am sending you this on Christmas morning because it's the first chance I've had to sit down with a little free time. It's been in insanely productive month. I made a new Mando Diao video for their winter single, "Nothing Without You". This was a break through for me, I've been directing videos for a while now, but this is the first one that I did everything on, shot it

Matthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09701311785452566409noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6246124406845920569.post-10883891294062317602009-11-24T15:24:00.003-05:002010-07-06T09:43:02.958-04:00

Hey Diane, sorry to be a flake. Here is the info for the DEC. 20 WWFA exhibit. I could not be more exited about this. I've been working on some interesting printingtechniques and alternative means of presentation, and this exhibit is the one I've wanted to do since I captured these images. I was able to curate this event too, so I of course invited a few of my favorite artists to join me,

Matthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09701311785452566409noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6246124406845920569.post-56097065874375685092009-10-15T10:55:00.005-04:002011-07-10T14:11:20.957-04:00

First off, Diane, you were right. I should not get so worked up over parking tickets, and traffic, and high taxes, and building codes, and lazy contemporary strip mall architecture. I say this without a hint of sarcasm because I am sitting at the Lido Palms hotel in Desert Hot Springs, California. I am in the open desert. I feel nothing but open space and peace. Neil Harrison and myself are

Matthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09701311785452566409noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6246124406845920569.post-27520866316812199632009-10-02T15:20:00.003-04:002010-03-16T11:15:20.901-04:00

I've always had a problem with getting ticketed for parking in front of your own house, especially when we are already taxed so much. I got 2 parking tickets in one day, and just enclosed this letterwith the payment:You people are the filth that make America a bad place to live. You are the ones working for the man to rape the American public while they steal our money and buy bigger houses and

Matthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09701311785452566409noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6246124406845920569.post-25872855374279626472009-06-06T07:05:00.006-04:002010-07-25T14:35:02.807-04:00

Diane, today I am in Cologne, Germany on the 5th floor of a more than acceptable hotel. I'm listening to Scott Walker sing "Johanna" at this exact moment, it is raining outside, and I am beginning the selection process of footage and stills for a music video I am directing for Mando Diao and their UK single on Island Records called Mean Street. The last video we did, which was for the first

Matthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09701311785452566409noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6246124406845920569.post-63530265806151348992009-04-17T16:10:00.022-04:002009-05-04T10:24:15.136-04:00

BIRTHI like to think my birthday is special. Herein lies my dilemma, I've been called to Berlin by Mando Diao, on the week of my birthday. A week where I would rather do anything other than take an 11 hour plane flight. I hate flying, I hate flying more than Mr.T from the A team. I carry a case full of mostly legal drugs in and around my travel gear at all times, just so I can have back up

Matthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09701311785452566409noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6246124406845920569.post-61306167809146249492009-04-11T13:20:00.001-04:002009-04-14T09:10:43.159-04:00

Over the last year Wignall and I have talked several times about creating a forum for his photography road journals. The first and only one he ever did, which chronicled photographing and traveling with the artists Mando Diao throughout Sweden, followed by a week in the UK with the Cold War Kids, and lastly, a trip to the bush of Malawi Africa, instantly tripled the amount of hits his website

Matthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09701311785452566409noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6246124406845920569.post-33328095079659410572009-04-04T15:05:00.002-04:002009-04-14T09:12:16.992-04:00

Diane,I have hunkered down for 2 days and completely over-hauled my website. I am a light to moderate control freak, and as such is the case I have always been reluctant to hand it over to someone else so it has largely looked like crap for most of my life as a photographer. Anyhow, it is up and running, please make note of it. You should be happy to know that I havefinally made it easy for

Matthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09701311785452566409noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6246124406845920569.post-5212173931018093412009-03-04T12:31:00.001-05:002009-04-14T09:08:03.081-04:00

PART 1Featuring MANDO DIAO , COLD WAR KIDS and DIVISION OF LAURALEEDAY 1 IN ROUTEI'm stuck in a pub in route to staying at a friend Nate Rose's place. He's a friend of a friend who I've met a few times. He recently got some kind of American stock related gig in London so he works screwy hours. Someone was supposed to meet me at his flat in Notting Hill and let me in but of course my flight, the

Matthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09701311785452566409noreply@blogger.com0