Laura Miner: San Francisco

Traveling is an excellent way to change your artistic perspective. Normally my photographic comfort zone is in the studio, but in July I went to San Francisco for the first time. For that week in San Fran I had the challenge of doing lots of street, architecture, and nature photography; generally unplanned photo moments. Though, my advantage was that everything was new and incredibly interesting to me.

Living Roof: California Academy of Science (CAS) 2012 © Laura Miner

It was my second trip to the west coast (my first time being Los Angeles). San Francisco is unique in that it's a west coast city that has held onto an majority of historical buildings; not just government buildings, but homes as well. There is a similar breadth of styles and eras as east coast cities contain, but with a focus on the Victorian era and lot more purple in the color palate.

Sea Lion: Nob Hill / Saturday Afternoon: Dolores Park 2012 © Laura Miner

 It was an incredibly busy week hitting all the landmarks possible. The Golden Gate Bridge, the Mission District, Dolores Park, Nob Hill, Twin Peaks, Alcatraz, China Town, and California Academy of Sciences are some of the areas I photographed. San Francisco didn't just give me excellent vacation photos. Unlike other trips, the images I brought back were inspiring to me artistically. It's September and I still get a buzz looking at these photos. Moving in this different direction recharged me, and I am looking forward to getting back to the studio (and taking more photos on-the-go).

Can't Find That In LA: Golden Gate Bridge 2012 © Laura Miner

Cafeteria Floor: Alcatraz / Buddah: China Town, SF 2012 © Laura Miner

Fence: The Mission 2012 © Laura Miner

Frog Back: CAS / Golden Gate Fog 2012 © Laura Miner

Eddy Pula

A man playing guitar through an AMP he built himself. Learned how at the old VFW in Turners Falls. Its pretty awesome; they are making out-of-work carpenters into luthers and makers of the finest Massachusetts hand built wooden music machines. 

Dude playing guitat through a amp at the old VFW

  © 2012 Eddy Pula

This is what it looks like outside; just dudes sipping beer in plastic chairs on the sidewalk. You see, the VFW closed sometime ago, and no one really knows whats going on inside anymore, but the sons and grand kids and neighborhood kids bike around and talk to the older guys guarding the door to the old bar.

Bo Diddley (one of my like top three personal idols) was a luther, made fiddles and such, then made his own kickass cherry red rectangle guitar (he donated it to the hard rock cafe…. the less said about that the better)

 Tunrers (SIC, its actually Turners) Falls Bike Gang in Silver

 © 2012 Eddy Pula

He used to play through a toilet on its side to get echo before he bough Chuck Berry's personal recording studio - with all the Les Paul designed wizardry that they used to make #1 hit singles back in the day. Did you know Bo Diddley only ever had one, and its like his worst novelty track? But it helped invent hip hop so its ok anyways. I digress.

 John Kurtyka's Tools Are From Outer Space

© 2012 Eddy Pula

One theory on why he called himself Bo Diddley: well back in the wilds of the south they used to run a single wire from the roof of the porch to the wooden floor and they would play bump bump… bump bump bump bump… which is basically exactly the Bo Diddley beat. The whole porch would become an instrument.

They called the string a Bo Diddley. Imagine how awesome it must of sounded back in like 1890, you got fiddles and banjo’s and a maybe a beat-to-shit tuba and the whole porch is rocking to the Bo Diddley beat.

Must of been awesome!

Barn People Choir © 2012 Eddy Pula

C.R.I.T. Quarterly: Issue 2 Release Party

Just in time for the end of summer, C.R.I.T. is releasing the second issue of our quarterly book. This summer issue includes the photographic works of artists Kitty Ethridge, Ben Gebo, Beth A. Gilbert, Peter Leavitt, Laura Miner, and Traverse Day Robinette. Also featured are the works of four new, warmly welcomed additions to C.R.I.T.: Hannah Bemelmans, Michael Powers, Eddy Pula, and Dina Shaposhnikova.  

Cover Image: © Michael Powers

Postcard Images © Eddy Pula and Ben Gebo

Featuring a thoughtful and enlightening introduction by photographer Stephen Tourlentes, C.R.I.T. is very proud to release this book to the public and to keep this new tradition going.

In celebration of the release, please join us on Saturday, September 15th at Dowd Properties in Davis Sq., 407 Highland Ave. Somerville, MA from 7:00pm - 10:00pm, for an exhibition of photographs from the publication along with light refreshments. Copies of Issue 2, along with limited copies of Issue 1, will be on sale at the reception. Issue 2 will also be available online beginning the day of the release; so stay tuned for the link!

C.R.I.T. featured on Photo Nights Boston Blog

We are pleased to share that C.R.I.T. was featured on the Photo Nights Boston blog this past week. As this is the first bit of press that C.R.I.T. has received, we couldn't be more thrilled!

Caitie Moore, PNB blog coordinator and director of Aint-Bad Magazine,  wrote an excellent piece about C.R.I.T.; describing who we are, the aims of our collective, and even promoted our first publication.


If you are not yet familiar, Photo Nights Boston is a non profit organization whose mission is to "celebrate the power of photography" through the public display of large scale projections of photographic work by Boston area artists. PNB plans to hold a Boston public photo festival in 2013. Their goals of "[capturing] the attention of the public" and "[engaging] the greater community in photography and celebrate the power of public art." fall right in line with the goals of C.R.I.T.

In the spirit of promoting local artists, (and those who promote local artists), please visit PNB's blog to see what they're up to and read about the artists they spotlight. You can donate to PNB here, and follow them on Twitter and Facebook.

Thanks for following C.R.I.T. on our photographic journey and keep making pictures!

Michael Powers: Enjouanisson, France

In 2008, a British family decided it was time for a change. Leaving behind their corporate jobs, they set out for the south of France in hope of one day calling it "home". This work depicts the story of one family's constant struggle to resurrect a once thriving farm while raising two young children.

Farm Door ©2012 Michael Powers

Plantlife ©2012 Michael Powers

Harmonie ©2012 Michael Powers

 Louisa ©2012 Michael Powers

Traverse Day Robinette: The Beautiful Ohio

The last week in October of 2011 I traveled to Cave-In-Rock Illinois with my mother to visit my grandparents and great aunts. It has been at lease 20 years since I was last in southern Illinois.  I had a vague idea of what to expect but my childhood memories are rusty at best. Upon my arrival it was like I was seeing this land and its people for the first time. The small town had not changed much, the population is only 350 and the river still flows in the same direction.

 Cave-In-Rock State Park 2011 © Traverse Day Robinette

I primarily worked on photographing family, my grandparent’s house and the surrounding area which borders the Ohio River. Family and old friends would come over throughout the day to share stories and fish along the river’s edge. I found myself still, listening, and looking. Sunset sunrise, ladybugs hatch, looking, listening, being still. Only the river moves in this town with her friend the sun walking across the sky.

 Densel, 2011 © Traverse Day Robinette

Garden of the Gods, 2011 © Traverse Day Robinette 

Paige, 2011 © Traverse Day Robinette

By the end of my stay I became more interested with objects within the house. Items my grandmother chose to collect or the way she has decided to decorate and furnish rooms. As my departure grew near, my stillness faded and a sense of urgency ran through me. I had thoughts of “what if I never make it back to this beautiful land?”  “Will these wonderful people and their stories still be here?”  I worked as if with a fever on my last shots down to the wire when I was forced into the car to be taken away. One day I will return, hopefully before it’s too late.

Fake Fruit, 2011 © Traverse Day Robinette

Rooster, 2011 © Traverse Day Robinette

Hannah Bemelmans: Iceland

These pictures are from Thingvellir, Iceland.  Here you can see the rifts created by tectonic plate movement. These pictures are taken between the plates of North America and Eurasia.  This is also the site of Iceland's first official government.  When the settlers decided to create a singular government, they searched the land and decided on this place to assemble once a year to make laws and settle disputes.

 

 Armansfell, Thingvellir, Iceland 2011 © Hannah Bemelmans

 

 Cairn, Thingvellir, Iceland 2011 © Hannah Bemelmans

 

 Moss and Lava, Thingvellir, Iceland 2011 © Hannah Bemelmans

 

Inside the Rift, Thingvellir, Iceland 2011 © Hannah Bemelmans

Rift, Thingvellir, Iceland 2011 © Hannah Bemelmans