Praying Mantis.
Stephen Shore in Action
I love watching other photographers work. There's a great deal of variance between photographers who shoot in the same genre (journalism, for example), but the guys who lug around these beautiful large format cameras especially interests me. There should almost be a name other than 'photography' for what their doing. It requires such patience and self confidence (one color 8x10 costs around $20 to produce). I've never heard it explained this way before, but Shore's description of thinking without words when looking at a scene to photograph is fascinating.
Central Street
I've began shooting a project on Knoxville's Central Street. Those of us in Knoxville know that the street is in flux. By focusing on the buildings, signage, and businesses of the strip I hope to create a snapshot of what Central Strip is now, before it changes. I'm shooting film because I want this project to be an archive for years to come. And digital, as much as I like and use it, makes me nervous when relying on its longevity. It's a work-in-progress, but you can see the first round of pictures in the gallery. I'll be posting new stuff there, so keep an eye out for updates.
New Logo
Well, this is exciting. I'm proud to roll-out my fine new logo. Love it. Now to make business cards and plaster them onto the hands of everyone I meet. Thought up and created the über-awesome Jarred Elrod of Jetpilot Designs fame.
shawn_final_legacy_greenbrown
Foraging for Food at Blackberry Farm
A few weeks ago I shot pictures of the fine folks at Blackberry Farm for a New York Times story on restaurants who forage wild ingredients for their meals. Jeff Ross, garden manager and forager extraordinaire, showed me around the farm while harvesting sorrel, Jerusalem artichokes, sumac, and a ton of other plants I didn't know existed. Joseph Lenn, executive chef of the Barn restaurant at the farm, then made these ingredients into dishes as delicious as they were beautiful. [portfolio_slideshow]
My take-aways from the morning I spent at the farm: Jerusalem artichokes are delicious and (supposedly) easy to grow, I decided to grow mushrooms at home, and there is a breed of dog (the Lagotto Romagnolo, see photos below) that is better than hogs for finding truffles because a) they don't try to eat the plants and b) they smell better and let you love on them.
See the Times' slideshow for more photos from the shoot.
PS: Here are some gratuitous pictures of cute truffle-sniffing dogs.
