Knitting
When I first started wandering around with a camera, it seemed very easy to photograph people in public. No one paid much attention to me and I wasn’t self-conscious about snapping pictures. Something has changed in the last few years. I totally understand it; people are nervous about why someone would be photographing them. Just after I took this shot, this woman looked up at me and I felt kind of bad. The really cool image would have been her looking at me and smiling, but there is no way I could have taken that shot nowadays without her being startled and possibly upset. I often try to engage with people so that I can get their permission to take a photo, and I really should have done it here. I am sure she would have been more than happy if I offered to send her a print.
REM
I was walking the dog today and thinking about REM for some reason. They announced a couple of weeks ago that they were calling it quits. It brought to mind having seen them very early in their career on several occasions. This gig was on 17 October, 1983 at a place called Drumlins somewhere just East of Syracuse. I think it used to be some kind of country club and I believe had a connection to Syracuse University. It was weird because the band was very late in starting and no one was sure what was going on. At some point someone came on stage and announced that Michael Stipe had injured his eye doing something with a contact lens. Mitch Easter’s band had opened up, and when REM finally made it onstage Michael was wearing an eyepatch.
It was a great set though. The band had tons of energy and seemed really tight. And lots of Rickenbackers!
Mitch Easter played with them the whole time as I remember it. At one point Michael asked the crowd if anyone knew what a drumlin was. (I actually knew because my girlfriend Ren seemed to know stuff like that and we had talked about it on the way up. I was too shy to speak up though.) After the show Pete Buck came out and talked to the crowd and was very nice. I saw them again in London at Dingwalls a couple of weeks later. I was chatting with Peter when Phil Lynott of Thin Lizzie walked by and Pete was totally star-struck. It is funny how things turned out, as REM became so huge and Lynott died so young. A very cool memory though.
Catamount Classic
Last year my friend Thom Kendall asked if I would volunteer my time to shoot the Catamount Classic (catamountclassic.com). It is an event started by people at the University of Vermont to raise funds for the Dana Farber Cancer Institute. This year it was another beautiful day and it felt good to be doing something to help raise money for a good cause. I am in the middle of editing the photographs and really like this one. / For the last week, I have been spending lots of time and energy on my Kickstarter project, and it is nice to be looking at pictures that are so completely different. I’ll be back in Albany on Thursday to do some more work on the suitcases.
Willard Suitcase #4
Here is another case from the Monday shoot. This one belonged to Clarissa B.
The leather straps were in pretty rough shape.
The address label is quite faded, but it is clear that she was in another hospital before Willard. I googled Rockland Hospital and it is in Orangeburg, NY. The label underneath is obscured, but Worthington Place in New York City is pretty clear.
I like the details of this case; the metal bits are a bit rusty, but the some of the leather has a nice patina.
The museum has done such an amazing job stabilizing these objects. After sitting unprotected in storage for so many years, it is incredible that they are as intact as they are.
Above is the opposite side of this suitcase with more labels.
It is clear that this case has traveled around quite a bit. Even the Railway Express labels have such a pleasing design. I really wish the Date line had been filled in.
I was pretty sure there wasn’t much inside when I lifted it up.
Just a few items, and nothing particularly personal.
This little metal plate was inside one of the smaller cases. Etched into it is her name and “Bldg 18” and what looks like the date “5/2 36”.
I hope to get back to Albany next week to do some more work. Thanks for looking. You can see more about the project here.
Willard Suitcase #3
I was in Albany last Monday to shoot some more of the Willard suitcases. It was the day Peter Carroll was filming me for the Kickstarter video, so it was a bit different of an experience. I was comfortable when Peter was shooting me work, but as soon as he started interviewing me, I lost the plot. Sometimes it is hard to put into words what I am feeling about this project. The photos seem to speak for themselves and I have always expressed myself best through pictures and not words. Anyway, if you have seen the video here, you will understand what an amazing editor he is. He took my jumbled thoughts and made sense of them. Kickstarter emphasizes how important a short video is to getting funded, and I think it has really made a difference.
So here is Fred Butters’ case. It is a beautiful design, and I especially love how the leather helps to define it. The handle is also in really nice shape.
There wasn’t a lot in it when it was opened, but what was there was really interesting.
It is so touching to see what he brought with him to Willard.
I especially like the metal container of talc and the design of the Polident can.
The blank postcards say alot too. One element of this project I need to have answered is whether or not the owners had access to the suitcases while they were at Willard. If they didn’t, what would explain the envelope with the stamp on it that wasn’t ever mailed? I’ll ask Craig; he will know.
The toothbrush container is glass.
Here is the talc container, and below a letter. I really need to find out if he brought it with him or received it while living at Willard.
So, the project is now posted at Kickstarter. I am really hoping I reach my goal so I can continue to do this work. If you know anyone who might be interested, please feel free to forward it along. Thanks to everyone who has already donated, and to all who have looked at the photos.
Cornelius Krieghoff
My childhood was almost completely happy. There were very few times when I was troubled by much, but one thing that bothered me from time to time was my middle name. My sister’s is Louise, my brother’s is William and most of my friends had basic “normal” names. Carol Lee Thomas, Alan Jeffrey Radov, John Joseph Bowman Jr. (Oddly, I can’t remember Mike Hogan’s, but I am guessing it was probably Robert. In fact he might have been Robert Michael Hogan; named after his dad who was a famous University of Pittsburgh football player.) My middle name is Krieghoff. Maybe it was the proximity to the end of the second world war, but to me it just seemed weird. My mom’s maiden name was Krieghoff, and I guess she had reason to be proud enough of it to pass it along. It wasn’t until I was in my teens that I started to understand what a cool thing it was to be named after the most famous Canadian painter of the 19th Century. Read about him here.
I had known that he was buried in Chicago, and yesterday I called the Graceland Cemetery to find out exactly where. A lovely woman called Max gave me lots of information and since Cris and I are here for a couple of days I made the trek out there this morning.
It is interesting that in 1980 the trustees of Graceland paid for and erected a new stone for his site. Max walked me through the rather complicated directions to the section where he is buried (section g, resub, lot 178). Being directionally challenged, she gave me some landmark stones and once I spotted the one below, I knew I was in business.
I was told his stone was facing East, and after wandering around a bit I found it.
It is on the west side of the cemetery, just off Western Avenue.
Max had told me that he was laid to rest (what a funny phrase for being put into the ground in a wooden box) on 8 March, 1872.
Look, somebody (me) stuck a number 6 artists brush into the ground next to the stone (seemed more appropriate than flowers).
A very cool day. Something I have wanted to do for a long time. / Chicago is such a great city. Lots of amazing architecture.
Tom Schack
In a way, this isn’t really fair. Tom is always smiling, and this doesn’t really represent who he seems to be. But I really like this picture. / I spent part of yesterday morning photographing his band Outer Stylie and it was loads of fun. Really nice guys.
Joel Lamstein in NYT
I used to do quite a bit of work for the New York Times. I started shooting for them when Carlo Mastricolo was one of the assignment editors and I was living in Ithaca. When I moved to the City, I continued doing freelance work for them and when I ended up in Massachusetts, they still called on me from time to time. I think the last job I shot for them was James Taylor at his house in the Berkshires.
Yesterday I got an email from Penelope Riseborough at World Education saying that Joel Lamstein was being featured in today’s business section. The Times used a picture of Joel I took some years ago that I have always liked. He is an amazing guy and as Cris worked for him for almost 20 years, we have gotten to know him pretty well. / It was nice to see my name in the paper again after all these years. Here is a link to the article.
Curtain Theatre Lighting Grid
The Curtain Theatre renovation is moving along. Last week they put up the new lighting grid and it is very interesting. These are guys that have been doing all the work.
I’ve been on the go alot lately. Sorry for the lack of posts. / Last Wednesday we went to Fenway to see the Sox play Tampa. As often happens, we were only able to get two tickets for the three of us. Instead of messing with the scalpers, I make a small sign and stand on the corner of Yawkey Way and Brookline Avenue and hope for the best. It has always worked in the past, and Wednesday was no exception. Some guy walked past and just handed me this standing room only ticket. It was for the Budweiser Deck in right field and it was a great place to watch the game.
I stayed up here until the fourth and then Cris texted me to say that the seat next to her was still empty. So I moved down was able to sit in the shade with her and Peter in section 10 and see the end of the game from the nice new red seats. Sox lost 4-0 but it was still loads of fun. So thanks to the gentleman who made it all possible.
Jon Crispin's Notebook 
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