DREAMLAND WITH DELTA SPIRIT

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 up here.

I made this photograph a couple nights ago of the studio.  It is an old church turned recording facility.  I'd love to post some of the session pictures of the band but I should probably wait until we get it all together on art direction.  I don't like to spill the beans too soon.

TWITTER

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.

UPSTATE NEW YORK

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 now!  As opposed to most of the time, where I honestly have convinced myself I'm half Costa Rican and half Swedish. Here is a shot I snapped from my friends apartment of midtown on July 4th which either proves I'm a proud American, or looks like an outsiders photographic analysis of America with dubious intent (see Robert Frank, "The Americans").

UPSTATE:

Delta Spirit records from 5pm to 5am every night. I cut out at 1am or so.   This works out for me as I am up by 9am daily to get some personal time.  I used to always journal as a kid, and it's strangely therapeutic and focusing to be able to collect my thought here.  

I'm just sorting through the first photos, I will post a couple as soon as I figure out what the overall vibe is. 

OVERWORKED, IN A GOOD WAY

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 Diver".  The music of Jessica Dobson and her husband Peter.  They are both insanely talented, and intermittently annoying. I am nearly done producing, recording and mixing a full length record with them.  I'm not sure who will put it out, or exactly when it will be released, but I can tell you it is really good.

Here is a picture I snapped at one of our recording sessions in Seattle.

 

FUTURE ROAD MAPS MAY 7th EXHIBITION

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

Going Solar - Sex Sells

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 anyone who may be interested in building their own solar panels and sticking it to the man.

So in my search for solar cells, I came across this solar retailer on ebay. I am confused, I know sex can sell cars and motorcycles, and makeup, but solar panels?  Really? I guess that panel does look pretty enticing.

My Iphone and ATT

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 California, not exactly a small city. I had Sprint for 5 years and dropped 2 or so calls in those 5 years. I am dropping nearly every call I make and I think your company sucks. I cannot wait until I can move to Verizon but sadly my new iphone locks me into your useless frustrating company. You ruin my life every day. I hate you and will take great joy in seeing what will surely be a mass exit to Verizon iphones. I have never been more frustrated with any company than you losers. You call yourself a phone company? What a joke. I could do better with a string and 2 cans.

WINTER

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 lala land.  I tend to end up over thinking it all, I don't know what the tree means, why we put lights on it, why the government makes firemen take down their snowmen, how a societal convention around a random winter day can suddenly make Walmart attractive, and further more, cause 5am stampedes to buy mass produced, cheap ass, made in China crap.  People get trampled every year, people get offended every year, and I keep silently making photographs, that without trying to, somehow paint a picture of my feelings on the whole thing.  The innocence of an exited dog, the exhausted santa.  I don't know what it all means, but I've decided to lighten up and get a tree this year.  It's a live spruce in dirt with some little colored lights on it and it sits 2 feet tall.  I want to be more like the exited dog.  Here are some images taken this year and last.  Merry Christmas and/or other holiday that does or does not offend you.

FUTURE ROAD MAPS

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 have

started 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 accompanying exhibits that make up our contemporary survey of American life.  We are on the first week of trip 1.  The Southwest.

www.futureroadmaps.tumblr.com

Many kind people have already offered us land to camp on, and towns to visit, and people to share a meal with. We love that and we will likely take your photogarph.  So please follow, and meet up with us if we are going your way.

To check in on the project, and find out more info, you can check our road trip blog.  I will also continue to post various works and rants on this page.

www.futureroadmaps.tumblr.com

STOCKHOLM, AND MANDO DIAO

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 finally, took the band all the way to MTV unplugged.  As it happens, MTV in Europe plays music videos, and has a thing called MTV unplugged.  Strangely it's not just girls without jobs, making out with each other in hot tubs, with douche bag white trash onlookers.  MTV, in Europe, as it was in America, is an honor to perform, and can quickly have a profound affect on an artists career.  We were brought here to document this unplugged concert, and the lead up to what will become the high point of our documentary, and perhaps the high point of Mando Diao's career.  Slated to appear are Ray Davies, of the Kinks, and Juliette Lewis, of... well, Juliette Lewis.   Here is a couple snap shots of the band from some of the documentary scenes.  This film has turned into something very special.  I will post some notes on this shortly, once the ideas are sorted out in my head.