Sunlight In the Seating Area
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.
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?
A closer view of Multnomah Falls in Oregon, from a trip to Portland a few years back.
A view of the Porcupine Islands, in Frenchman Bay, from Cadillac Mountain in Acadia National Park, Maine.
Hitting the road through Utah, on my way to the Grand Canyon.
Some amazing driving out west.
The magic of winter sunsets.
Captured on the side of The Salesman building in Concord, MI.
Route 66, Arizona, a road-side gallery.
I traveled Route 66 twice in my life – one complete time that changed my life, and another short spur through New Mexico and Arizona.
Despite Pete Carroll and the thugishness of his football team, Seattle really is a fantastic city.
After a day of hiking and tromping through the woods, there’s no reward quite like these Grand Canyon vistas.
When I look at someone’s body of work and it tens to be too cluttered and not consistent in terms of subject matter (sunsets, photos of cats, shoes, street photos, etc) I find it quite frustrating as a viewer.
That’s Eric Kim, renowned street photographer, in his “On Consistency In Street Photography” post.
He finishes with this: “I would say embrace depth over breadth. Meaning, focus on getting really good at one thing– than being so-so in many different things.”
As a liberal arts student, being decent at a bunch of things is my bread and butter. It’s how I live my life. I like to do lots of things.
Often, though, I feel that “depth” pull. Why not just pick one thing and do that well?
The trouble is, at least in creative pursuits, it takes time to develop that style and consistency Kim calls for. More often than not, I feel like I’m still developing “my style.”
I’ve thought about the photos I made when I first got into photography, and how uninformed and uninspired they were. I just shot stuff. I went outside and around town and fired away (see the shots in this post – all from earlier work).
It all fit perfectly with that “your first 10,000 photos are crap” mentality, and it’s something that’s true. If you’re not a bit embarrassed by your earlier work, you’re probably not growing.
I see this in other photographers I follow.
Take Arthur Chang, I photographer I recently found on Flickr. His early stuff is interesting and fun. But look at how dramatically it changes when you look at his recent photos. I mean, wow. There’s a perfect example of developing style and consistency.
I notice the same thing in my own work. Used to be, I didn’t know what I didn’t know. Now I know more, and so my work changes.
And you know what? I’m fine with that. I’m also fine with that lasting forever. I’m fine with messing around, trying on different styles. Maybe I’ll find one that’s truly “me” and stick with it. Or maybe I’ll keep searching.
Thing is, I like shooting a variety of things. Portraits, still life, abandoned buildings, cars, interesting design, etc. And I love using different styles, depending on my mood. Maybe that’s what makes me a hobbyist.
Kim says, in his blog post, that life’s too short. Find a style and stick with it.
Find a style you like? Great. Want to stick with it? Awesome. Maybe someday you’ll become one of the greats.
I say, don’t let a time limit stop you from trying out everything and anything. Depending on your creative goals, you’ll be fine trying on lots of creative hats.
Follow the Thomas Hawk philosophy and shoot the dickens out of everything, everywhere, using every style, and do lots of it.
Bubble Pond at Acadia National Park in Maine.
Just for fun, I’ve taken a bunch of my landscape photos from cross-country trips (this one on a swing through New England in 2008. Here’s the original.) and re-edited them with VSCO FIlm 03.
The trouble is that these were all taken with a Canon SD750 – a point and shoot with limited capabilities. It took great photos, but the files aren’t all that flexible. Or big.
Anyway, enjoy the full series, or buy a print