Some things are better left alone..

There is no doubt that today’s photography is quite amazing. The fact that you can shoot a night shot handheld (not this one) is just one of the many ‘advances’ that photography has made. But in the last 20 years I see nothing that makes photography better. More convenient may be, but not better.

In this digital age, we often over look the print, which for me is the most important thing in photography. A photograph is not a photograph until it is printed, but therein lies the problem. Having started out as a black and white printer back (and also color C type) in the 90’s I have watched the steady decline in good printing along with the closure of most traditional photo labs. We can argue until we are blue in the face over film and digital (not better just different), but a wet printing process will always trump the likes of an inkjet, the crudest method of printing as well as the most popular. these printers will never get close to a traditional print in terms of tonal range, color rendition and lets not forget archival qualities (100 years my eye). And then when they breakdown, which they will, they cannot be repaired, or will cost as much as a new printer. And then there’s the ink prices! We can be fooled by all the fancy ‘fine art’ papers to distract us from the image, but at the end of the day you wont better methods that have been around for more than a century.

Somethings just cannot be improved, but that doesn’t stop people from trying..

When the sun goes down.

I took an early morning stroll the other day in an old haunt near my neighborhood. It was foggy when I set out, but pretty much gone by the time I made this image.

There was a time when all I did was night photography, but in those days using film the exposures were much longer and the camera a little bigger. It was a time of meditation and being unsure if you actually captured what was in front of you, thus making photo lab visits full of surprises.

What always strikes me is how different things look at night. A small boring town in the day can become a feast of good content when the sun goes down..

That’s me.

I hate photographers profile pictures. In fact whenever I click on an ‘about page’ or info on a photographer, my hope is that there is not some cheesy photograph, or worse still a self portrait in the mirror holding a camera.

As I have been using the same picture for 20 years, I thought I should have a new one, because lets face it, everybody has one, and everybody expects one. Even with a celebrated portrait photographer and an amazing location, it was still a cheese-fest to say the least. But there were a few shots I liked, in particular this one.

Lady Speedster.

Headed out to El Mirage last week for there annual Time Trials. As suspected, upon arrival the light was amazing, but by the time the cars and bikes were ready, the sun was overhead. I did however managed to bag a fine portrait of a lady speedster. It’s been a long time since I made a portrait..

It was a good day and I managed to come away with the shot that was in my head (see below).

The Tree of Truth. Jim's Scrap yard. Mojave, September 2024

The only way to know good photography is by looking at what has gone before. Of course, there is plenty of good stuff around today, but there is also a tremendous amount of crap one has to wade through first. In a time before the internet work was shown in galleries, books and magazines. It was edited and thought about, but more importantly, once it was in print, it became final.

Before digital, if you had work published or in a gallery, there was a real sense of achievement. These days digital imagery online, although never as fulfilling, it can still give a sense of achievement, and there in lies the problem. Constantly publishing work online can give is a false sense of security as it makes us think we are better than we are. This is especially true with the likes of Instagram where there is no dislike button, a concept no better than a Sweetheart Conversation Candy.

I knew a good photographer who flooded online platforms with their work recently and as a result amassed tens of thousands of followers. After 25 years of shooting, the photographer was finally getting noticed and the ego began to grow. Everything was fine until one, and only one, person commented that they really didn’t like a particular image claiming it wasn’t as good as their earlier analogue work. The photographer was devastated by the comment despite having hundreds of likes. Why? Because he knew deep down that the image really wasn’t that good.

All is lost..

Death Valley 2024

There was a time when we would talk about Photographers Photography; Work that photographers knew was good, but often overlooked by the general public. It wasn’t about grabbing attention through over saturation, or creating something that doesn’t exist. It was about interesting subject matter, composition that made you look at the subject in a certain way, and most of all, an image that actually said something.

I feel like we have really lost something in photography that we used to talk about, that is, the image and what it represents. Sadly, these days with it’s click-bait mentality to obtain more likes from people you do not know, let alone respect, has taken over.

After 30 years of making photographs, I know this image (above) is good and covers everything I mentioned. In fact I think its the best image I have made this year. But one things for sure, its not worthy of Instagram.

Another fine and pleasant day.

I went a little further out in my Mojave desert quest looking for scrapyards this week and stopped just shy of Death Valley.

Its easy to forget that the California desert originally came with the promise of gold, something which appears to be having a bit of a comeback with a several mines reopening, but pretty much kept on the down low. At least that’s what one Randsburg local told me. At $2,500 dollars an ounce at time of writing, I’m tempted to get a shovel and start digging. Anyway….

There’s a real peace that comes with total solitude, especially out in the desert. As much as a photograph cannot beat the real thing, it can take you back there..

“Most of my wandering in the desert I've done alone. Not so much from choice as from necessity - I generally prefer to go into places where no one else wants to go. I find that in contemplating the natural world my pleasure is greater if there are not too many others contemplating it with me, at the same time.”

Edward Abbey

The Facade of the USA.

My first visit to Rosamond, CA, was back in 2008 on route to Death Valley. After filling up at a gas station and a bite to eat at the Wayside Cafe, I thought this quirky little town might be a place to revisit at a later date.

Now, sadly, Rosamond is a town that has fallen into complete depravity with only an abundance of Cannabis Dispensaries (a total of six all close to one another), and a donut shop (next to a dispensary of course). It was a very sad state of affairs and unfortunately all too common these days. The biggest disappointment was the closure of the Wayside Cafe which had closed after 50 years. I’m sure the locals would have blamed covid or the economy, but the sparkle of the new Starbucks across the street made me think otherwise. Pats Liquor was still open, but oddly closed on Saturday night which was a shame as I could have done with a drink. Despite the fact that most of what I remembered was now gone, or closed, the RV pictured above was still remained, so all was not lost..

Photographing what ‘Once Was’ can be interesting, but the decline can be a bittersweet.

Stay Hungry.

Early in the Mojave. August 2024.

I was in a university meeting the other day discussing my classes for the upcoming semester. Amongst the usual bumf the Dean told me that no student should be working on their projects at 2.00am and that they should stick to university hours, as should the professor.

I have never heard of any artist of merit working from 9.00am to 5.00pm with an hour for lunch and perhaps a nap mid afternoon. And therein lies the problem with today’s teaching. What happened to commitment, and pushing boundaries, and getting the job done whatever it takes.

Without getting too nostalgic and all sentimental; when I was at college we would all work until the job was done, even if it was 2.00am. But that was 30 years ago when photography was smelly and dirty and took real commitment.

Society is just too fat and comfortable now. No one wants to go above and beyond what is considered a normal working day. Its all about comfort and cake eaten in bed.

There’s a reason I tell students to stay hungry. Now they need to more than ever.

Danger Doyle

Mojave, August 2024

Many years ago I was a rock climber. I was pretty good, but always knew the most dangerous time while climbing was once you finished the accent. After a climb when you literally feel on top of the world, you drop your guard, and that’s when accidents tend to happen, and you fall to your death..

For the past month I have been heading out once a week early A.M to shoot the sunrise in the desert. As I have been going through a junk yard phase, I headed for another one I remembered from my Fridays Rainshadow project. (I should point out that you really need to know where you are going in the desert if its dark.) After a two hour drive I pulled up on the side of the road, mounted the camera on a tripod, and made my way across the desert towards the junkyard, confident I knew where I was going. I had not been out of the car more than a few minutes when I heard a rustle in the brittle bush and a low growl in the distance. At first I thought it might be a coyote, which would have been fine (a lone coyote is harmless), but then I realized it must be a guard dog, or should I say guard dogs. Rather than soil myself or try and make friends, I basically ran faster than the wind, the two dogs now barking and chasing me through the desert. Thankfully I had left the truck door unlocked (for such events) and managed to get inside with my camera. The barking stopped, but I could see the eyes of the beasts waiting for their breakfast, and they were not poodles..

I have been to the desert enough times to know that if somewhere doesn’t have a fence, it most likely has dogs on the premises, especially at night. But I got too cocky, just like the climber that fell off the cliff. But all was not lost and I managed to grab a few shots later of a gas station, the irony being that last time I photographed one at sunrise I was bitten by a dog.

A moment before dawn.

A large part of my Fridays Rainshadow project was made early in the morning. Leaving the house around 3.00am, I would drive to the desert ready for first light. I have been repeating the process, all be it with a different photographic agenda and content, but it still feels good to get out early before the world wakes up.

First light can be tricky to work as once that suns up, its basically over, at least it is for me. But those moments just before dawn are magical..

Dawn of the Dinosaurs..

Mojave, July 2024

There’s just something about a scrapyard in the desert that keeps me coming back for more. Over the years I have discovered the best ones and recently have been heading out under cover of darkness in order to photograph at first light. It’s a little bit like the dawn of the dinosaurs with a manor of wrecks that often resemble large metal beasts.

Perhaps over time I will develop some meaningful concept, but for now I’m quite happy photographing these man-made creations within a natural landscape, which, as it happens, is something I have always done.

Winslow Arizona

Christmas Day, Winslow Arizona 2023

After a stint in Middle America I made this image in Winslow Arizona on a the way back to California. It was Christmas Day 2023 and the morning light was magical. I was reminded of Stephen Shores, Winslow Arizona, whereupon he spent one day producing a body of work that was unedited and shown in the order the images were taken. Despite being a fan of Shore’s work, in particular American Surfaces, I was never a fan of the Winslow images made 40 years later, but it did leave an impression and the idea of a series made in one day. There may be an irony in not liking Shores series from Winslow, because this image (above) is one of my favorites.

Travels With The Bobby Dazzler

Mojave, Mojave Desert, CA. 2024

A good day in the desert this weekend with a very good friend The Dazzler, a writer who happens to be doing the essay for my upcoming book, Fridays Rainshadow.

Back in 2004 we spent time at the Salton Sea having adventures and produced Thursdays By The Sea. Not a lot had changed since; I was as bald then as I am now, The Dazzler perhaps a little wiser. It was just like old times and my only regret is that we did not do more in the last twenty years.

The last time we headed out together was on a road trip from LA to Marfa Texas. That was a good one..

Salton Sea, CA. 2004

Marfa, Tx. 2016

Choices.

There are many who would tell you that the midday sun is no time to make photographs. But of course, this is nonsense. Pioneers of color photography such as Stephen Shore, William Eggleston along with countless modern day photographers go out when the sun is bright and the sky is blue to produce wonderful work. (Despite myself claiming no one goes out on a bright sunny day and produces something challenging and unique!)

Maybe growing up in the north of England where the sun rarely shines is the reason I will either go out first light, last light, or whenever there is a storm on the horizon. (Or maybe its just too hot!)

Photography is always about choices; Of light, of lens, of subject. So on and so forth. But these should always be the photographers and not the authors.

I went, I saw, I came back, and seen.

Sometimes you see something in the middle of the day and then go back and do it at a time more suitable. In this case it was a junk in the desert shot in the early hours of the morning. The image you see here is pretty much as I imagined, which is good, and better than surprise, but at the same time a bit of an anticlimax..

Despite the image having no adjustments, it screams digital to me, but I guess that’s because it is… There is a color separation and shadow detail just not obtainable with film.

It’s not me, its you..

My work is often a contradiction in that I photograph reality, but it often looks staged and at times surreal.

I do not manipulate, saturate, or obliterate an image into something that does not exist. In this digital-age, few people question why my images look a certain way as they assume its all done in Photoshop. But twenty years ago things were a little different; What you shot was what you got and people responded very differently to my work.

The thing is, I haven’t changed a thing and continue to make work in the same manner I always have.

When going out with my camera its always the same. Its always about the light…

Photography is not a selfless act.

Sometimes its just nice to go out and make photographs, for no reason other than the enjoyment of seeing and recording.

I once heard a young girl say something was very ‘instagrammable’ and in this instance (above) I would agree, sadly.

Photography has always been a selfish act, especially in the days of social media, why? because no matter what the content, the photograph is always about the photographer.

Good Night

Market Liquor, Mojave, 2024

Twenty years ago I made images at night using an 8/10” view camera. Using such a beast was most challenging, with even the slightest breeze capable of ruining an image due to the bellows flapping in the wind. Add to this the exceptionally long exposures and limitations a large format brings and people would often ask why, until that is, they seen a large print. If you got it right with large format, nothing came close in terms of quality and detail.

These days things are different. Cameras are a fraction of the weight, with sensor sizes so big, and ISO functions so super-dooper that exposure times are reduced dramatically and night work becomes far less challenging. One thing that hasn’t changed is focusing in low light, in fact its more difficult, especially with a digital viewer. But there will always be some challenge.

When all said and done, the technical side is much easier with digital. But it won’t make a bad image into a good one as some would have you believe..

I was in discussion with my very good friend and writer for the upcoming Fridays Rainshadow essay due out early next year if all goes according to plan. The first essay he wrote for me was for Thursdays by The Sea, back in 2006 and we reminisced about the days when we would do trips together and then meet up later that week to look at prints and talk about our art over coffee. It was a precious thing and something that we will get back to now the wheels have been set in motion.

The image above was the last one I made for the Thursdays by The Sea project and the last time we ventured to the Salton Sea together. Just two Brits abroad wondering what the light was above the lamp.