University of Michigan Museum of Art
Ann Arbor, Michigan
photography
Gibraltar Trade Center
It’s like ‘Toy Story’ — some toys enjoy a life of playtime with children, while others are collectors items, doomed to live out their fading lives in glass cases.
So it was at the Gibraltar Trade Center. Here, the characters of my youth — Ninja Turtles and WWF wrestlers and Spider-Man — existed in purgatory. Premium prices on shitty quality toys placed in precarious positions.
Consider the Marvel super heroes chained by their Pac-Man overlord to duel with their counterpart villains. Every day. Forever.
Or the poor headless Star Wars figurine ensnared in the jaws of an unforgiving and sadistic toy shark. The horror.
Spider-Man tried to make his escape, and we rooted for him.
Trains: Blair
Both sides of Blair’s family have worked on the railroad. He has five family members riding the rails.
“I love seeing my brother drive by on the train,” he says.
Blair’s been collecting train memorabilia since he was young. He has an O-gauge train set at home, and the GTs are his favorites.
He’s grateful for the Central Michigan Model Railroad Club.
“I can’t personally work on the railroad because I’m deaf, so this is the next best thing.”
Turtle Power
The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle bandwagon started at just the right time for me, just as He-Man and the Masters of the Universe was waning in popularity. As a kid, I needed another franchise: cartoons, movies, toys, video games, the whole thing.
At about nine years old, the Turtles were it. They offered another world to invest in, and boy, did they give it to me.
So when I went to my fraternity brother’s DLux Entertainment Expo earlier this spring, it was slightly weird to realize the Turtles here were not strict about their secret identities.
They weren’t shy about taking off their turtle heads. It was a little bit like the mall Santa taking off his beard in full view of the kids.
But at least they had pizza for lunch, right?
Big Show
Neon Hitch and Mike Posner, performing at Albion College’s annual Big Show concert.
One of my favorite projects to shoot all year.
Trains: Gene
Gene is 85 years old. He’s been seriously collecting trains for more than 55 years. It all started with a $5 set during the Depression.
He served two tours of duty in World War II and in the Korean War.
“When I got home from the service, I started collecting more.”
Since then, he’s been a bit of everything: pest control, fencing (as in fences), antiques.
He’s been with the Central Michigan Model Railroad Club since the beginning, in the 1960s. It’s the tradition – the idea of keeping these old trains alive – that keeps him interested. He likes the G-gauge trains: “The big ones.”
His set is full of moving parts, like a talking car wash, and a tornado that spins around on an old record player.
Gene also collects barbed wire.
F-Stops Here Podcast
Honored to be a part of The F-Stops Here podcast last night. Thanks to Zach and Jamie for having me on to talk about photo projects, Sigma’s Art lens series, and more.
We Are KMFDM
Not many bands last 30 years. Not many continue to crank out new material, either.
But KMFDM has marched on through many iterations, founders coming and going, and new lineups that freshen up the sound.
I’ve been a fan since the Nihil era – KMFDM’s glory days. The golden age when each new album, from Angst to Symbols, did better than the one before it.
And like a lot of people, it was “Juke Joint Jezebel” that turned me on to the band. I should say – it turned me on to a world of music I didn’t know before.
Danceable. Techno beats. Shredding, heavy-metal style guitars. Backup singers. Self references. Self mockery.
And so much fun.
The current lineup is a talented group. I do enjoy the twin-guitar gallop of Steve (above) and Jules. Andy’s live drums add a new dimension that makes many live KMFDM songs better.
My buddy Don and I saw KMFDM at the Magic Stick, a smaller venue than usual, along Detroit’s Woodward Ave. It’s actually the perfect place to see the band: small, intimate, and easy to get to.
A lot of the new stuff is so-so, but Sascha always throws in plenty of the classic stuff. “Light,” “DIY,” “Anarchy” – these are the songs we came to scream. Some of the new stuff, like “Kunst,” sounds great live, too. But I think the majority of KMFDM fans prefer the classics.
Who knows how much longer KMFDM will be around. Forty more years? Fifty?
