From the Archive - Boy Scout, St. Paul, Minnesota (1982) It was exciting to be on one of my first paid commercial gigs, dutifully documenting the sundry festive activities surrounding the 100-year anniversary of the St. Paul Public Library for promotional materials. I had already taken hundreds of carefully composed shots that hopefully conveyed the celebratory nature of the event and, more importantly, pleased the client. But then I turned around and saw this, getting off one shot. When I get a good photograph, one that seems to have its own complete and particular logic, I often don’t know at the time I take it that it’s the “one.” You look so hard but sometimes it’s the photo that finds you. The best ones seem to take themselves.
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From the Archive - Boy Scout, St. Paul, Minnesota (1982)

It was exciting to be on one of my first paid commercial gigs, dutifully documenting the sundry festive activities surrounding the 100-year anniversary of the St. Paul Public Library for promotional materials. I had already taken hundreds of carefully composed shots that hopefully conveyed the celebratory nature of the event and, more importantly, pleased the client.

But then I turned around and saw this, getting off one shot. When I get a good photograph, one that seems to have its own complete and particular logic, I often don’t know at the time I take it that it’s the “one.” You look so hard but sometimes it’s the photo that finds you. The best ones seem to take themselves.

Every Wednesday (round midnight) I will post a photo culled from my 35 year, film-based archive. Although many will be from projects that have been published or exhibited, some have never seen the light of day. I’m not sure how many tens of thousands of negatives I have stored in boxes and three-ring binders, but most have not been digitized. As of yet, I still shoot with a 35mm Contax Aria and a 645 Mamiya. I have not, as they say, gone digital. — From the Archive - Laotian Funeral, Lake Street USA (1997 - 2000) I was walking through a Lake Street neighborhood when I saw several monks coming out of a house. I asked if I could photograph and spent the rest of the day experiencing several elaborate stages of a Laotian funeral service that started at the home of the deceased, which overflowed with mourners, and then proceeded to a funeral home nearby. These young boys, relatives of the family, were novice, or temporary monks, chosen just for the funeral service. They shaved their head, eyebrows, and facial hair, training for two days with ten commandments to follow. Senior monks have 227.
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Every Wednesday (round midnight) I will post a photo culled from my 35 year, film-based archive. Although many will be from projects that have been published or exhibited, some have never seen the light of day. I’m not sure how many tens of thousands of negatives I have stored in boxes and three-ring binders, but most have not been digitized. As of yet, I still shoot with a 35mm Contax Aria and a 645 Mamiya. I have not, as they say, gone digital.

—

From the Archive - Laotian Funeral, Lake Street USA (1997 - 2000)

I was walking through a Lake Street neighborhood when I saw several monks coming out of a house. I asked if I could photograph and spent the rest of the day experiencing several elaborate stages of a Laotian funeral service that started at the home of the deceased, which overflowed with mourners, and then proceeded to a funeral home nearby.

These young boys, relatives of the family, were novice, or temporary monks, chosen just for the funeral service. They shaved their head, eyebrows, and facial hair, training for two days with ten commandments to follow. Senior monks have 227.