Behind the Scenes of a Crewdson Shoot

© Gregory Crewdson

Boston.com features a photo and text slide show behind the scenes of a recent Crewdson shoot in Pittsfield, MA. With massive budgets and a crew of over thirty that includes grips, a lighting team, interns, models, firemen, and police it's spooky how similar your typical Crewdson shoot resembles one of my shoots.

Smart guy award goes to Pittsfield local, Robert "Skube" Skubel, who Crewdson cast to be in one of the eleven photographs he will be making during his time in the town. "Skube" was savvy enough to ask for a print instead of a model fee.

Richard Misrach: This Photo is Blowing My Mind

Desert Fire #153 (Man with Rifle) © Richard Misrach

While I was visiting Corey Arnold in Portland, I was flipping through his copy of Richard Misrach's Desert Cantos and rediscovered this remarkable photograph. All of Misrach's photos in that book are amazing, but I kept coming back to this one image.

Griffin Museum Juried Show Opening Thursday

© Shen Wei

I will be on the road again tomorrow traveling all the way to Winchester, MA, for the opening of the Griffin Museum of Photography's 13th Annual Juried Show. My traveling companion this time will be good friend, Shen Wei. I'm hoping he understands when I pull over to photograph stranded motorists along the way.

The Griffin show will feature a number of pieces in the Main Gallery and a two person show in the Emerging Artists Gallery. My Domesticated work will be featured in the two person show. All the work presented in both galleries was judged worthy by this year's juror, the inimitable Brian Clamp.

Prior to the opening Shen, Nicholas Fedak II, David Wolf, and I will all be participating in a gallery talk with museum members.

Here are the details:

13th Annual Griffin Juried Show
August 23 through October 28, 2007
Griffin Museum of Photography
67 Shore Road
Winchester, MA 01890

Opening Reception: Thursday, August 23, 7 PM
Member Gallery Talk: Thursday, August 23, 6:15 PM - 7 PM

If you are in the Boston area, please stop by the opening and say hi.

Greetings from New York City...Sigh

It's strange how one day you find yourself at the apex of mental and spiritual satisfaction stretching out in the vast unspoiled beauty of Mendocino County and the next day your joy is stripped clean to the bone as you fight with your fellow New Yorkers for an extra inch of space on the AirTrain from JFK. New York is all about compression and I realize now more than ever that my future may involve a move to a place where expansion is not only possible, it’s the norm.

Speaking of just such a place, my brief time in Portland was fantastic. I met with the very lovely Laura Moya and the board of Photolucida in the stunning new Blue Sky Gallery space to discuss my Domesticated project and the upcoming Critical Mass monograph of the series. They couldn't be more supportive of my work or more enthusiastic about the book. The folks at Photolucida and Blue Sky Gallery share a commitment to emerging photographers and the broader photography community that is truly inspired. I have some additional good news from that meeting, but will fill you in on the details once everything is formal and finalized.

Greetings from Point Arena, California

Another long day of traveling through beautiful country. We only ran into one stranded motorist, but I think the photos will be great. Possibly a triptych. Normally I would be disappointed after driving for an entire day and only shooting one situation, but this trip was just too amazing to complain.

We started in Eureka down Highway 101 toward the Avenue of the Giants. Standing in the coastal redwoods of Humboldt County is a religious experience. They are like a cathedral. You just exist in their presence empty of words and in total awe at the power of these trees.

After the 31 mile trek through the redwoods we picked up Pacific Coast Highway and drove down the Mendocino coast. This is where we found our stranded couple whose car had broken down next to a stretch of beach. They set up some tents and were camping for a couple of days while they tried to figure out next steps.

The Mendocino Coast is just amazing. Every turn reveals something more breathtaking. When you are in this area of the country you understand not to try capture it with pictures. You just look. You try not to talk about the beauty because words will fail. You just listen. This type of natural beauty politely demands you to just absorb it in the moment and promise to come back.

Tomorrow is the last day of our trip. The plan is to head inland slightly and start hitting up the wineries of the Anderson Valley and the Russian River Valley and then stay the night in San Francisco. We fly out of SFO early Sunday morning and head back to the grime and grit of New York City.

Greetings from Eureka, California

5th Street and Broadway, Eureka, CA © Stephen Shore

What a haul. Today we traveled the length of Oregon on Interstate 5, across to Crescent City on Highway 199, and down the Redwood Highway to Eureka. Along the way we photographed five stranded motorists including a one-legged hippie named Josh in Humboldt County. All day long the light was perfect and each situation proved better than the next.

Tomorrow we are going to tour Avenue of the Giants and then head to Mendocino County for a final luxurious evening before leaving the west and heading back to New York.

Greetings from Portland, Oregon

We rolled into the Rose City yesterday after a hike through Oneonta Gorge and a stop at the Edgefield for a couple of beers. We found a couple of stranded motorist, but the next couple of days are all about exploring Portland and taking a rest from photography.

Last night we hung out in the Hawthorne neighborhood with the fabulously talented Corey Arnold and crashed at his home for the night. It's always a unique privilege to talk shop and careers with someone whose work you really respect and who's in a similar place trying to figure out this whole fine art photography thing. It's even better when he is a cool cat and very nice guy.