Murmurs: Life, Death, Memory
Route 524 Barn
It’s memory and history and faith and friendship and births and family and love and death and life.
Or maybe it’s just a barn on Route 524.
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William Christenberry. Often influenced by his eye. This photobook is amazing.
© Mark V. Krajnak | JerseyStyle Photography | All Rights Reserved 2024
JSP Visual Week In Review ~ 05.12.24
This is for all the mom’s out there.
Celebrating Mother’s Day here in the United States so this one is for the moms out there.
I took a quick trip up to Northeast PA to see my Mom. Just an up (yesterday) and back (today) to pay a quick visit. Mom’s really really good, happy to have my sister (who lives in Alberta, Canada, visiting for a couple of weeks.
Also took the time to do a few portraits of Mom…and to have my sister shoot one of us together. That’s my old bedroom window on the close right – where I could lay on my bed and watch the change of season happen on the mountain that less than half mile from the window. Swoyersville is an old coal town in Northeast PA that’s nestled at the base of the Endless Mountains
And, of course, I had to do some new portraits of Mom. This one is an outtake…but a fun one. If you ever meet my mom, you’ll notice she always has a smile on her face. So, capturing her here laughing at something I said while posing her, well, this is how I often see her in my head. Always with a smile.
Happy Mother’s Day to all the mom’s out there…but especially my mom, Frances!
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This Week’s Links:
What I Read This Week: Still working on a few…The Passenger by Cormac McCarthy; The Lobster Chronicles by Linda Greenlaw; Finished City of Glass by Paul Auster. Also dipping in and out of The Letters of Martha Gellhorn.
What I Watched This Week: Season 4 finale of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. Just because.
What I Listened To This Week: Jackie Gleason – Today’s Romantic Hits / For Lovers Only Vol 2 on vinyl
Favorite Photo I Saw This Week: Via @SeanTucker on IG
Sing, Gabriel, Sing: War photographer Gabriel Micalizzi on being in tough spots via Inside Hook
Scene Stealer: The Map of Scenius via Austin Kleon
From the JSP Archives: May 10, 2011, talking about mothers that day, too. A time, too, before my youngest son was born so I was a dad of just 2 then.
“I feel like goals are quite counterproductive. They give you a target, and until the moment you reach that target, you are stressed and unsatisfied, and at the moment you reach that specific target you are aimless and have lost the lodestar of your existence. I’ve always tried to see everything as a process.” ~ Steve Albani, RIP.
Photobook: Walkers In The City: Jewish Street Photographers of Midcentury New York
Remarkable book.
In this time of rampant anti-Semitism, as just denounced by President Biden (while another ex-president/presidential hopeful [just writing that makes me throw up in my mouth] sat in a courtroom listening to a porn actress detail his extramarital liaisons and subsequent hush money scandal = what a surreal script of our times) this book is an incredible book that look at a number of photographers, Jewish photographers, that have lent so much to the rich tapestry of documentary photography in New York.
In the middle of the twentieth century, good cameras became smaller and lighter, enabling street photographers to roam alleyways, ride elevated trains and subways, and stroll beaches in summertime to capture daily life with urgency and intimacy. Walkers in the City showcases the distinctive urban vision that working-class Jewish photographers produced with these new cameras on New York City’s streets and in public spaces. ~ Cornell University Press
If you have the time, here’s a 1-hour book talk interview with Deborah Dash Moore. Some really great insight and perspective.
Ugh, I had more photos of elements of this book that I liked, but I just can’t find them as they are deep on my camera roll. Take my word for it…head to the library and try to find this one. Great read and look!
© Mark V. Krajnak | JerseyStyle Photography | All Rights Reserved 2024
JSP Visual Week In Review ~ 05.04.24
Do you shoot with your phone over your “regular” camera sometimes?
If so, is it because of convenience or the phone now does “just a good a job” as your regular kit?
I read an Instagram Story post by Sean Tucker this week and he noted how sometimes he forgets what a good job his phone camera does.
I don’t know if we forget about that, but if you’re used to carrying around a camera – even a point-and-shoot – you may not use your phone camera the same way you do your kit.
There are some times when I feel my phone camera actually DOES do a better job of capturing some scenes than my regular Canon or Fuji.
Well, maybe not better, but comparable to.
You know the scenes I mean…the quick snaps to visually journal a scene…. That plate of carbonara in front of you. A shot of a group of family or friends where you don’t want to make a big production out of pulling out the regular camera.
Even walk-around street photography images…though these are less so for me; the camera on my Samsung Galaxy is slow to focus and I’d miss the scene. Prefer my Fuji XT3 for that.
But, last weekend, after my daughter’s Jazz On The Town event at school, I shot this with my phone and am really happy with it.
Why my phone? Because…I need to be agile and quick and not “make a scene”. While Liv is usually cool with me setting up and doing portraits, this was after the performance, her friends were around…but I still wanted a quick portrait. Here’s another, which ran small in last’s week VWIR.
Yes, super vertical. But, in this case, my phone camera got the job done and I’m happy with the results.
How are you using your phone camera? As an afterthought or a forethought?
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This Week’s Links:
What I’m Reading This Week: It was weird…the other night, I just started reading New York Trilogy, by Paul Auster. I was about 25 pages in when I saw a NY Times alert on my phone saying Auster had passed away. I didn’t know much about him before starting this books, but in the wake of his death, I’ve read a number of obits and listened to interviews that NPR’s Fresh Air podcast re-ran. Interesting fellow. I also started The Passenger, by Cormac McCarthy which I’m really liking. A slow -burn.
What I Watched This Week: Nothing but baseball at night.
What I Listened To This Week: A Disgraceland podcast about Garth Brooks. Jake took us down one path and then…screeeech….like a needle being dragged across a record…took us down another. Fascinating and fun.
Favorite Image I Saw This Week: via @carol_highsmith_ameria
In Theaters Soon: The trailer for Lee about fashion and war photographer Lee Miller.
Au Natural: Zooming In On Nature’s Wonders via Photofocus
Getting Lost: Danny Lyon on Photographing A Lost New York via NY Book Review (FYI paywall)
We Can Be Heroes: How Platon Captures Everyday Heroes via Time
Don’t Have A Leica, Dude: The Simpsons…photography fans? via Zach Dobson Photo
“To be an artist you need a lot of sincerity, which comes at a very high price,” Serge Gainsbourg
© Mark V. Krajnak | JerseyStyle Photography | All Rights Reserved 2024
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