Blogs, Bullshit, and being a Working Artist

I've "run a blog" off and on, mostly off on my website since I created this online space back in college. I have a lot of feelings- like that girl in Mean Girls and I have a lot of feelings and questions- in particularly about "art." I like the appealing idea of having a space to express my self outside of my photographs and to explore / discuss the complexities of this amazing medium with words that people can read and hopefully respond to. I'm going to start my blog up again, for a limited run (get your tickets, mark your fucking calendars) and see if I can commit myself to a select amount of "articles" and see what happens.

Things I want to discuss: retouching, process, the struggle between art & commerce, inspiration, talent, hard work, and some human interest interests, including- but not limited to : beauty ideals, gender, sexuality, adulthood, etc.

SO if you are interested in this- follow along, share, and interact with what I hope will be a conversational adventure into my thoughts about my work and the work of being an artist and a person. 

photo by Corban Harper

HOLLYWOOD PROJECT: JOAN CRAWFORD

“I never go outside unless I look like Joan Crawford the movie star. If you want to see the girl next door, go next door.”

-Joan Crawford

A true movie star- Joan Crawford lived a life of drama on and off screen. The strongest of cocktails- she’s sweet and bitter, going down easy, but with a burn. Joan’s on screen presence is startling, her commitment to the drama of being an actress is unrelenting. Her features are large and exaggerated and later in life would become somewhat garish. In 1952’s Sudden Fear, there is a scene in which Joan listens to an incriminating message in silence. Here eyes widen, well up and tears fall. She paces about the room in fear, sadness, and disbelief- it is mesmerizing to watch. You feel that just under the surface there is a true madness in Joan- a raw energy that is threatening to explode. Researching the photographer George Hurrell for this project, I came to find that Joan was something of a muse to him. She and Hurrell had 33 sessions together over 16 years- mostly for specific films, but many of them were for the fun of it. Joan would stroll over to the MGM gallery where Hurrell photographed all the MGM stars and say  “don’t you like this dress?” and he would shoot with her because she enjoyed being the production. Joan also had a sense that the images would be beneficial to her career and today, Hurrell’s images of Joan in the 30s are some of the most iconic portraits of the actress. The woman in the photo is Melody Madarasz. 

MOVEMBER

Why yes- that is hair on my upper lip. It's been about 2 weeks of mo grow and I'm into it. I'm even more into the whole bit about raising awareness for men's mental health ( and really mental health in general ) so if your into that situation ( you should be ) check out this link http://mobro.co/dssgoddard and learn a lil more about this lil diddy called Movember.

HOLLYWOOD PROJECT

This project was born from a life long fascination with Old Hollywood and the stars that defined it. Through photographing my friends as icons of another era, I am attempting to connect with the screen stars of the past and to explore my nostalgia for a time I was never a part of. Looking to the work of photographers like George Hurrell, Sam Shaw, and Phil Stern, these photographs are my impressions. They are meant to be viewed as publicity images that were never used, outtakes from an iconic photo session, or as a complete manifestation of how I see each star.

The first image in this series and the image that has set the tone for this project is of my friend Patricia Garcia as Ingrid Bergman. I had photographed Patricia multiple times before, but as I shot with her for my OR.I.GIN coffee project, something about her appearance reminded me of Ingrid. I shared my idea with Patricia and one night in Brooklyn, we put on the soundtrack to Casablanca, I did her makeup, we found the clothes- straight from her closet, and we went to Morocco.

From this first shoot and with every shoot since there has been a moment. The moment comes while looking through the view finder of my camera, before I catch my focus. When the image is a bit fuzzy and my subject is settling into their persona, for a brief moment I feel as though I have traveled back in time.

This is the moment I am chasing.  

This project is ongoing and in full swing. Here are the images so far- many more to come!