Well almost a month after I shot them, my last roll of Kodachrome film finally came back from the only lab on the planet that still processed the stuff, and no longer does. I was really hoping to shoot the last roll of Jay Adams since he was the subject of my 1st published photo, but parole difficulties had him back in Hawaii. Then I hit up Alva, who's always down to skate a secluded backyard pool, which would have been great, but he had a serious foot injury he was trying to heal while i was out west, so he couldn't be on it either. So I just headed down to the Venice skatepark made some calls on the way to one of my old best friends Steve Olson, see if he wanted to come down with his now "famous" son who's following in the footsteps. I also spoke to the folks at Juice magazine who mentioned the young local Haden McKenna, they have been trying to encourage to take a good path, so I kept an eye out for him, he' caught my attention briefly last year when i was out, besides I knew his father as a Marina skatepark local many years ago. So if he had a good attitude and was doing anything interesting i'd take a look through the lens and think about shooting.
When I got there Haden was already warming up (btw. you may have seen the photos i posted last month of him from the same week while i shot him with a borrowed digital camera and got smashed in the face), got a call from Steve too, the Olson's, father and son were just a few minutes away. Got some cool stuff of the local and the old man, and even a good shot of the "kid" after harassing him about a sticker he had on the bottom of his board representing a company that stole from me, i wouldn't even point the camera in his direction until the sticker was removed, the "star" didn't take me seriously until an hour later so in the end we were both lucky i still had the last few frames I could shoot of him, including my very last one. Here they are, with a bonus shot of Jesse Martinez, the Godfather of the Venice Skatepark, I also shot on Kodachrome, on my second to last roll started a few days earlier.
p.s. don't be confused! Indeed this is my last Kodachrome ever, but by no means does that mean I have finished shooting on FILM, just not that type of film anymore.
ONWARD!
Good shit Glen, thanks for sharing these. End of an era. Onward.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteIf you know me at all or the way i work and my attitude in general, the comment above that the author themselves erased was stupid.
ReplyDeleteI am not a voyer, never have been. I shoot what i like, who i like, why i like. I respect the people i shoot and they respect me. It's a two way street. I'm working to create a good photograph and so are the subjects. If a subject's politics or business associations are not in my liking i generally will not shoot them. If a friend of mine wants to promote some one who has wronged me, do you think i am going to help advance that company or organization? Hell fucking no, that's why the kid had to remove the sticker. Not only was it stupid of him in my opinion to be promoting or advertising for such a foul company for some free clothes, but it's also disrespectful to me since he knows they wronged me.
Besides, a skater who makes possibly a six figure income to promote yet another company, i need to ask WHY? and have NO PART in it. He showed respect and in turn i was able to show respect back and create a nice photo for both of us. He could have said "fuck off" as you suggested i may have as a teenager, but #1 he's not a teenager and #2 he was respectful to a friend. I'm not his slave and he's not mine, people who think, communicate ideas and ideals, they don't follow blindly, i'm never just documenting, always creating. Live and learn bonehead.
I wanted to be offended you called me a bonehead,but its such a funny word & i came across that way.
ReplyDeleteAfter rereading you original post & comment,I completely misunderstood your story.I had this image of you bullying some young kid,because you had beef with a company thats helping him out(something ive known other skate photographers to do) Not realizng you were dealing with A)a pro B)someone you have at least a professional if not personal relationship with...Misunderstanding on my part,and changes my reaction...I no longer think you bullied some young kid,and im sorry i accused you of such...And came across as a bonehead.
Damn, i thought i was being a bully, but for good reason!
ReplyDeleteBril, as always, GEF.
ReplyDeleteDon't wanna get too philosophical, but your post and following comments beg the question "Can a photo have integrity?" For that matter, can any work of art (painting, poem, choreography, musical composition) have "integrity" itself, APART and distinct from the integrity of the CREATOR (painter, composer, choreographer, author, or photographer, in this case).
I don't think it's an easy answer.
But I would argue YES.
Not because the print or musical notes or whatever themselves have integrity, but because the artistic object can both INFLUENCE others to act with (or without) integrity, and also bear the fingerprint -- the backstory -- of the integrity of the creator and the *context*.
EVERYthing you do, GEF, is done from the perspective of both an "artist/creator" as well as *always* keeping in mind the integrity and implications of the artistic object. That's pretty freakin' profound and rare in today's commerce-and-image-is-everything culture.
And I thank you.
(P.S. I was just at the Venice Beach park two weeks after that shoot; in L.A. for a performance of my music and giving a lecture on my music at USC. What a sick park!)
Lansing