JerseyStyle Photography

JSP Visual Week In Review ~ 09.14.24

This week, the high school had Back-To-School Night for the high school, where Chase and Olivia go.

I kinda like Back-To-School night.

The kids go to a relatively small high school – not tiny by any means, but not some huge school. I like the quaintness of still walking around to their classrooms, meeting their teachers, seeing some of the parents I’ve know for years as our kids have grown up together. (And seeing the parents of some of the kids whom we’ve grown apart from over the years, which is natural.)

My ex-wife went to Chase’s classes, as he’s the freshman. I went to Liv’s, who is starting her Senior Year.

Maybe it was because Wednesday was a challenging day at work, but sitting in her AP English class, and looking over the syllabus…I kinda longed for that type of situation again. A space to read and discuss and trade thoughts.

Maybe I need to join a book club! Ha!

I was also viewing it through a documentary lens, one that saw me walking around the school and documenting it with my camera (which I wasn’t doing – I was taking mental photos.)

My friend, Bryan, has had the opportunity to go back to his high school and document the school and the students for their publications. He’s done this for a few years now, and is really happy they’ve hired him for this project.

And it IS a cool documentary project for him to be working on.

So, I strolled the hallways, kinda happy to be lost and not know where I was going so I’d have to ask one of the student helpers, because I got to walk the halls longer.

One of buddies, had BTS night as well, and he was lamenting having to go.

I told him to realize this is a spot in time, in our lives, that we pretty soon will be done with.

The kids will grow and we’ll never have Back To School Night again.

And I, for one, will miss it.

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This Week’s Links:

What I’m Reading: Still dipping in and out of an adventure tale, 81 Days Below Zero. Finished Two Much To Young: The 2 Tone Records Story: Rude Boys, Racism and the Soundtrack of a Generation and A Reporter’s Life by Nicholas Kristoff. Still working on collection of short stories, Echoes from the Macabre, by Daphne du Maurier

What I Watched This Week: Wise Guy: David Chase and the Sopranos

What I Listened To This Week: Keith Jarrett, The Köln concert (new-to-me jazz)

Favorite Image Of the Week: Mel Gibson, via Timothy White. The photo is fine…the backstory is great.

Favorite Lines I Read This Week: “If you want to be a better student of any art form, you have to pay attention to the credits! If you love an album, read the liner notes, notice the personnel involved in the recording, and seek out more of their work. If you like the way a movie looks, watch the credits or check IMDB to find out more about the cinematographer. If you like the way a book is designed, check the acknowledgements or copyright page for the designer, the imprint, and the other personnel involved. This is one of the easiest ways to find more of what you like and discover what you don’t know you like yet.” ~ via Austin Kleon

Discover: Baldwin Lee, who documented the Deep South. A new-to-me photographer

C’est un mystere: Who was the photographer that snapped occupied Paris and mocked the Nazis? via LeMonde

Spaced out: Here are the winning astronomy photographs of the year

Cute Selphy: Canon’s new small photo printer

Review: Kate Winslet is remarkable in LEE via The Guardian

RIP: Local-to-me Central New Jersey photojournalist, Dick Costello

RIP: Photojournalist Mark Jury, who captured the Vietnam war.

And, in closing...Earlier last week, I lost access to my X/Twitter account. I tapped the app to check my personal account…and it started asking me to complete some “prove you’re a human” test. Which I kept completing successfully…and it’s still wouldn’t log me back in. Now I’m frustrated. I’ve enjoyed Twitter for a long time – I connect with some online friends there, I read great articles, learn about art, science, news, photography. I curated my feed so it wasn’t toxic. But, I’ve been going to it less and less. I’m using Threads more. Not a lot but more. Anyway, I’m removing the link to my X account that used to appear the end of all these post. If you follow me there, you’ll find it quiet. Follow me over on Threads,

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Tags: Astronomy, Austin Kleon, Back to School Night, Baldwin Lee, Daphne du Maurier, David Chase, Dick Costello, Keith Jarrett, Mark Jury, Nicholas Kristoff, Selphy, Timothy White

Musicians & The Mosaic: Jeff Kazee

Back in 2017, after I had been going to Asbury Park for a while, I fell in love with this mosaic wall outside of the Empress Hotel.

So, I started a personal photography project called “Musicians & The Mosaic” These were simple, sometimes quick (sometimes not) portraits of the singers and songwriter and musicians that play the clubs of Little Eden.

My first one was Remember Jones.

Over the years, I’ve shot about a number of performers in front of the Empress mosaic.

I’ve shot some non-musicians as well.

It had been a while since I had anyone in my Empress spot. Just time constraints, trying to get schedules that work, gumption to drive down to AP (it’s an hour drive for me now)….different things have put this project on pause for a bit.

But, I got back on the horse recently. My latest was a couple of weeks ago. Jeff Kazee, bandleader for Southside Johnny and Asbury Jukes, 1/3 of the Early Elton Trio, and a solo act from Astoria, Queens, who kept us all entertained during the pandemic with his on-line live sets from his living room piano.

I’ve gotten to know a bit over the last few years, ever since the first time I reached out to him social media to ask if I could shoot his Early Elton Trio, and he gave me great access.

And then he asked me to shoot some photos for his solo album. And then last year, photos at Lakehouse Studios.

Prior to playing a solo gig at Transparent Clinch Gallery (Danny Clinch’s photo gallery in Asbury Park where he also hosts musicians for small gigs), Jeff gave me a few minutes to stand on that sidewalk-crack X where I have every one stand and sit on my well-worn apple box and help me add to this personal project.

I didn’t expect the beachy outfit but the hat was on point!

As we were discussing this shoot over text, I jokingly told Jeff I needed to try to get a piano out to the mosaic since that was his main thing, and I try to get the musician to bring their instrument of choice. Sadly, I never did figure out how to get a piano out there for him to play. Perhaps his accordion would have been easier.

I did play around with some in-camera double exposure…to a very odd result.

I knew Jeff had to get back to the gallery to get ready for his gig, but I wanted to do a couple more shots. When I was parking my Trailblazer on the side of the Empress, I saw a door that I thought would make a good background. So I took him around the corner to do a few shots.

And I really like the tight, graininess of this one.

And then a pull-back shot, same spot. Jeff is great, too, because he knows how to move around when the camera is on him. Can tell he’s a professional entertainer.

After that shot, it was time to call it a session. Jeff had to be on his way, back to Danny’s gallery to get ready for his gig. The next night, I’d see him on a bigger stage, the Stone Pony Summer Stage, doing his day job with the Asbury Jukes.

Overall, maybe 20 minutes but I really like what we got.

Had to close it out with one of us!

In the comments, tell me about a personal project you’re working on. Would love to hear about it.

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Tags: Asbury Park, Bojangles, create, Empress Hotel, fedora, Jeff Kazee, Musicians & The Mosaic, personal project, photography, portrait photography

JSP Visual Week In Review ~ 9.07.24

Some quick thoughts on Summer 2024 ….

– It didn’t seem like Sumer went fast or slow this year. Seemed about right and I’m ready to move on to the next season.

– It was fun watching this family grow up throughout the summer. They’ve been around my complex since the spring.

– It was hot this summer. Really hot for a lot of it. Hot to the point of I didn’t feel like doing anything outdoors much for many weekend.

– I went to beach towns many times. I didn’t set foot on the beach or go in the ocean at all. I like beach-town vibes, not really the beach part

-I curated a folder of “Summer 2024” photos that I now want to make prints. Just small ones, 4×6’s. Something to get off my hard drive and into a book. You should to do that, too.

-I meant to curate a music playlist too, like this article talked about. I stopped in June, though.

– Our Poconos vacation – just 90 minutes from me in NJ – was a success. My son, Chase, still talks about how good it was, despite the rain. Just goes to show you don’t have to go to far to make memories.

-The whole cicadas thing wasn’t as bad as they made it seem like it would be in the Spring. At least not near me in New Jersey.

– I missed out of on a couple of photo jobs (family shoots) because I was told, basically, I’m too expensive. I don’t think I am, really. In fact, I think I’m -lower than most. So, won’t change my pricing, nor will I lament the lost jobs. Making some extra money with my photography is nice but I’m lucky it doesn’t have to be my be-all. I probably couldn’t survive if I only did photography.

– Honestly, not sure that’s the type of photography I really want to do, anyway. So, just as well.

-I read A LOT this summer. And I watched A LOT of baseball.

– There some down to this summer to along with the ups. My aunt passing away, and having the car accident wasn’t good of course. But taking my daughter to Delaware, seeing her perform with the Bushwhackers Drum Corp, seeing my son, Chase, win a travel ball championship, seeing my son Matt pitch really well (as well as hit and play the field)….much goodness.

But, as I said at the top of this post, now I’m ready to turn the page and start the next quarter of 2024.

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This Week’s Links:

What I’m Reading: An adventure tale, 81 Days Below Zero. Also Witness For The Prosecution, an Agatha Christie collection of short stories and Echoes from the Macabre, a collection of short stories from Daphne du Maurier (including Don’t Look Now and The Birds)

What I Watched This Week: The Swimmer, my annual Labor Day weekend viewing. This year, I found it really disturbing. Very odd.

What I Listened To This Week: The Smartless interview with Michael Keaton. Underrated actor of our generation.

Favorite Image Of the Week: Anya Taylor Joy via Norman Jean Roy

Best Lines I Read This Week: “At its peak, the kitchen is very full and reassuring. But as we get closer to September we let things take their course and there’s a different sort of math. We’re running low of rye bread, but do we really need more? The lists are shorter, there’s less ambition. No more French black olives, no more prosciutto, no more little tomatoes. You notice other things too. The sun hits the dock later in the morning and earlier in the evening. The water is cooler, the days are shorter. Football season arrives. There are fewer kids are on the lake. You finally start getting email responses from Europeans who’ve been on vacation for six weeks.” ~ Via David Coggins’ The Contender newsletter

Discover: The photographer who captured the jazz age, via CNN

Thrill of (Photo) Victory: What is sports photography? Grant Scott and Bill Shapiro discuss over on the United Nations of Photography podcast.

Portraits of an Island: Yousuf Karsh documented Bell’s Island in Newfoundland, via CBC

Subway in: 120 Years of NY’s subterranean muse via NY Times

Hangin’ 10: The dark history of Hawaii’s iconic hand gesture, via Atlas Obscura

Life Lessons: You can learn a lot about patience from your dog, via Outside Magazine

Monochrome: My favorite B&W photographers working today via Dina Litovsky

From the JSP Archives: September 10, 2010

RIP: Jim Riswold, pioneering, provocative Nike adman (He conceived the “Bo Knows…” campaign). He announced his own death on Instagram

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