Another war, another time, this was me. They said there were choices, there were none. I fought for the 100%.
We returned to the land of the frail and the home of the 1%. The 1% feared, creating a language hidden in pictures
All his dreams are on the ground. He is not feared.
Here is their fear. This 1%. Their mind calls to me, before I can stop. Target eliminated.
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Stay tuned for Chapter 3
What’s up everyone who reads this, hopefully there’s more than just Ale, Ryan, and Jo reading this =)
Just kidding. I just wanted to post something that may or may not make sense but feel like I need to write it out, and what better way than by blogging it and soliciting ideas from you all.
So…some of ya’ll have seen my photo posts on the various photo social network apps and flickr, tumblr, etc etc…a lot of my coverage especially in the last 3 months of 2011 was about Occupy. A lot of is because of the inspiring work from a WHOLE mess of other mobile photographers locally mainly Charles (@livinlush) and Dixon (@dixonhamby) and around the world, Rich (@richnyc), Derek (@fragileglass), Sam (@whittiersam) and many others…and of course the STRONG support from Allison (@wunderali) I’m not going to delve too much into Occupy and why I felt like I needed/wanted to cover it in this post (Sam, Allison, and a few others are actually trying to generate an article that is collective regarding Occupy and our coverage of it).
But recently, no thanks to Ryan (@rcoleman), Tony (@tonydetroit), Jim (@monkone), and Luke (@agentluke), I’ve gotten bit by the abandonment bug. I’ve always admired their work in capturing these places that most of us take for granted. Buildings, houses, vehicles…any and all of it…if it is abandoned…these guys have covered it. Again, I’ve always admired it. Luke would always send me shots that he took when he and Jim would go shoot together. These cats are straight gangsta. Not only are they on top of buildings, or on wood beams that would crumble at too much weight, or climbing through rubble that would scare anyone due to danger…but they kept doing it. Luke kept sending me pictures. Process pictures of how they got there, what they did to get there, what they saw. AMAZING stuff that I was like, “WOW thats some really cool shit!” I may have shot a few things that were considered abandoned. A house here and there but never did I think of trying to break and enter this dwelling to catch the full story.
It’s funny. Let me give you a side story about it. I met Ryan on a photowalk in Seattle where we walked up and down a part of Seattle that for many others suited them for photo sharing. Ryan and I was kind of out of the loop because we didn’t have…well let me backtrack…we didn’t see the same things that they saw. They saw the beauty in the walk and their images were AMAZING. I talked to Ryan about it, and although the walk was for socializing with other mobile photographers, we didn’t feel the urge to take many shots or post them. He asked me about my shooting preferences. I asked him about his. He loved shooting abandoned things. I loved shooting occupy…things. Jokingly, I said to him, “You got abandonement issues.” Straight faced he said, “You’re a Jerk!” To this day I still don’t know if he really has abandonment issues but I didn’t want to pry to much to increase my “jerk-ness.”
Well before he left we shot up The Moran School on Bainbridge Island. It was amazing. Imagining the stories that lay within those walls. Conjuring up ideas of who walked through those hallways. Who occupied this building after it started to decay? Why was it left like this? Why would someone occupy this decrepit building? See my previous post for more of the story but for right now, I have to say, I too now have abandonment issues.
How do I see it tied into my coverage of Occupy? (Even though I said I’m going to write it in a different article…I’ll give you a heads up in this one) I LOVE capturing people. Street photography, documentary photography…whatever you want to call it…I LOVE IT. Candid, straight up NINJA style…there’s a rush. SO throw in a cause…a CAUSE…are you kidding me…I’m all over it. Occupy is a movement with a cause. It’s global. It’s gritty, boring at times, scary at times, dangerous at times. There’s anger, theres sadness, there’s despair, there’s happiness, there’s unity, there’s disarray. There’s cops and people, people and cops. Both at odds, but both representing the people. It’s craziness. There’s children, adults, teens, women, men…and although in Seattle it’s not fully represented by people of color…there is a whole mess of people involved. So…there’s a CAUSE.
Occupation means: any activity in which a person is engaged, possession, settlement, or use of land or property, the act of occupying, the state of being occupied….
Abandonment means: to leave completely and finally; forsake utterly; to give up; discontinue; withdraw from, to give up the control of…
So many correlations that come from this.
For me…it’s the feeling of OCCUPYING an ABANDONED structure…I can also say that Ryan gave me abandonment issues much like Occupy has…because at the same time…they help me find a subject matter in Occupy and in Abandonment…then left at the same time. Ryan moved to Denver and so I’m on fire trying to find new places that are abandoned and left to forget. NOT only am I looking for things to shoot and trying to document the history of it…but I’m trying to find a partner to watch my back…it’s a scary thing to go into an abandoned building sometimes…you never know whats on the other side of that door/ wall…and then…and THEN…Occupy is in hibernation for the most part because of the weather/ cold. The protesters all have been displaced. They all have been abandoned by those who were good with it when it was warmer outside.
It leaves meaning for me. If you get abandoned, go occupy something. When you occupy something, you may have abandoned something.
What do you all think? I’m interested to see what ya’ll think!
What if you looked into your camera roll and were shown that a string of seemingly random photos were connected by a story that reached into all those pictures. We intend to not just write a story but to show you a story from photos. One clearly visible but also hidden until you place the pictures in sequence. We urge you to look deeper and see what we see, hidden in the camera.
The collaboration begins with the photographs from 2011. There were so many images that we hope that these images will lead you on a journey through captions. Each week we will continue to develop all the necessary elements of a story of this character until we find a good ending. If you read this we hope that you will help steer the story.
BP: ya’ll know me. Storm: Storm is an accomplished author.
Enough of the talk. Let’s begin.
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Borrowed Time
Chapter One
This was a naval academy. It was more than that. It was where they taught me, created me.
It wasn’t home. My home is gone now. Dying around me.
This is what I became after all the training, after all the missions. Locked here, suspended by steel and wheels.
I came to remember my past and to recover my future. We are both older and decaying, but not dead yet. What happened to me here, what it has done for me, releases me from my prison. Borrowed time it says. Borrowed is all I need.
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Stay tuned for Chapter Two
My life is extraordinarily ordinary, which is just the way I like it. I homeschool my son, take care of my family, and reach out to hurting women in the adult entertainment industry. A regular day consists of coffee, school books, and trying to improve my sons world view. One of the main lessons I teach everyday is that the details matter. No matter how large or how small they seem. There is beauty in the details and with an eye that sees the beauty knowledge usually follows close behind. I used this onion to represent our lives and steps we take everyday. Life is layers of experiences and depending on what your core is determines what your layers are made from. I want my son to have a rich, inviting presence to those around him. I want him to add to the situations he is in and not distract from them. His life needs a texture that is beautiful when the light hits it, not perfect but beautiful all the same. The onion is a perfect lesson for anyone. When it’s cut it, it brings tears to your eyes but when it is used for a purpose it adds aroma and flavor that had been lacking. People are the same as an onion. While we are being cut and molded for use we mess up but once we are doing what we were made to do we add to the experience and the tears fade away.
Hello! Hi! Hey! Hola! What up! Howzit!
So…working on my first blog…this Juxting thing has been real fun and hope ya’ll have enjoyed it so far …2012 will bring a lot more fun and games…we look forward to continuing the build of this amazing mobile arts community with you all…
With that being said…this blog entry is ALL ABOUT the Dary Shootout Trespassing Series that Ryan Coleman (@rcoleman) and I were able to do…a week ago today…
Hopefully I can cover everything that went down in a fun and informative way…I know for damn sure that it was a pretty cool shoot…by the way…DARY stems from comments that we leave on each others shots in Instagram…DARY is short for Legendary…and boy writing this out sure makes this bromance a lot thicker…so…
Let me preempt this with a BIG shoutout and BIG thanks to Mellow L. (@threetree) who made this journey thus far HELLA fun!…my first shootout with him rivals this one with Coleman…I mean…who gets to shoot the Fremont Solstice Parade (naked folks on bikes and scooters painted up as super heroes/ heroines, sonics bball stars, zombies etc etc) with a complete stranger and build a friendship…so Mellow…if you read this homie…we’ve got lots of things to do my brotha…and since we shoutin out folks…Watson (@smlife) and Bronson (@boohi_bronson)…THASSWASSUP!
And this includes the Igers Seattle (@Igers_Seattle) crew and another couple folks in Max (@liveinawe) and Dave (@dusen) who I’ve had the priviledge of shooting this beautiful city of ours…Seattle makes for a real dope mobile shootout…so now…this leads to Coleman…
Let’s talk about Coleman…great dude, amazing shooter…before a couple photowalks ago I only knew him through his art…blown away by his shit…I mean the guy has an eye for the craziest things and makes amazing art with his edits…he definitely was one of the folks (along with @joanna) who turned me onto black and white and to be honest…it has been real hard to get away…well…this dude is leaving Seattle for Denver in a matter of days…and so we both agreed that we needed to do a shoot together…but where…hmmmm
Seattle and The Moran: Yup.
Seattle has amazing scenery…amazing skyline, the people are interesting enough to do some dope street photography…Seattle and the surrounding area has both the urban and nature rolled up in one being surrounded by the Cascades and the Olympic mountain ranges…the Puget Sound…Lake Washington…Majestic Mount Rainier…can’t ask for anything more…but of course you can…Coleman found the Moran School on Bainbridge Island…
The Moran has a rich history for the Northwest…it boasts to be one of the West Coast’s first prestigious schools with alumnis who are Nobel Prize winners, City Mayors, and some of the best Navy officers (in the 30’s it turned into a Naval Academy)…it’s the “father” of the Lakeside School in Seattle, which is one of the most expensive private schools in the United States…it’s architecture is the model for the Pacific Northwest with high ceilings, columns, and early Italian influences…in it’s heyday I bet it was one of the most beautiful buildings in the area…still the tallest building on Bainbridge Island at four stories…
The Washington Trust for Historic Preservation has been trying to negotiate with the owners to keep this historical relic in place and possibly renovate in order to have future generations enjoy it and learn its history…currently it is in a holding pattern…the owners have tried to sell it, but the one buyer turned out to not be interested in the asking price of $192K…so the owners want to demolish it…the owners are the folks at Soundcare, which is a nursing home that shares the land the Moran is on…
Enter the Shooters.
In order to get to Bainbridge Island from Seattle…the quickest way is to take a 30 min ferry across the water…the ferry is probably one of the most common shots folks take in Seattle, along with the Space Needle, Pike Place, Smith Tower etc etc…it’s a fun ride and a recommendation for all visitors and even locals who just want to get away from the city for a bit…fast forward to docking and Coleman busts out his iPhone and looks up where to go…Bainbridge Island itself has a long history…the Suquamish tribe is the first nation folks there…the island had a history during the time of Japanese internment…there’s a lot of history…
Well fast forward…Coleman and I get to the school and scope out the lay of the land…the building is fenced up with vegetation covering the south of the building, east of the building is open field and plain sight for the residential houses, and on the west side is also wide open to the nursing home…Coleman and I chose to stay on the south side obviously but couldn’t for the life of us figure out how to get in…there was a door open but it led to a concrete vault…the craziest thing…Coleman tried to go down these stairs that were only halfway down…maybe 6 -8 steps…but it literally was hanging and was real rickety…Coleman was determined…he went down there with his iPhone flashlight app and found a whole in the wall that led to a bathroom or a kitchenette…”shit, we’re here…we gotta get in here” he said to me…I was the lookout…during this time he was trying how to figure out how to get in…I was the “SHHH” man…well…I had to shhh a few times…did I mention it was surrounded by residential homes…and a path that led to a waterfront park…so folks who like to walk their dogs were able to…and to our luck…there were folks who wanted to walk their dogs…off leash…and who smelled us or something and actually came up to the fence and was barking at us…and we were only there for 10-15 minutes…either way…the owners of the dog called the dogs back…and when I turned to tell Coleman we’re good…this ninja of a photographer was inside…knocking on windows…tapping on walls…ended up getting into this huge auditorium theatre…he found a window that wasn’t nailed shut…and we spend freakin 20-25 minutes trying to jack this thing up so I can get in…Coleman is able to fit into the space we were able to push up…but for my sexy ass…I needed a few more inches to get in…once we get there…I skiddadle through the window and as soon as I get up…GLORIOUS shooter paradise…we give each other pounds and a hug and commenced our shooting tirade…
The Moran and For Those With Abandonment Issues.
The auditorium seats about 250 folks…there are chairs and sofas laid out all over the place…an organ against the wall…TV kicked in, sits in the middle of the room…despite the garbage and trash strewn out…the auditorium is pretty awesome…high ceilings, exposed rafters, ceiling high windows…you can really feel the history as I’m sure there were spirits that were watching over us…thinking to themselves…look at these fools…anyways…after the pounds and hugs…Coleman is shooting…I barely caught my breath and he was already taking a shot of a recliner on the stage…and he’s in Coleman fashion…angles, angles, angles…me on the other hand…I was still trying to figure out where I was, gather my bearings and load up the weaponry… Native camera on, check. Horizontal tilt, check. Escape route, YIKES. One way in, one way out…I remember telling myself…if something/ someone was to come down these halls and it wasn’t Coleman…I would do like the cartoons and bust through the walls…no matter what floor…so I told myself this…and proceeded through the hallways…first hallway led to a stairwell that was pretty rickety…the railing was definitely not stable and if leaned upon would have given way…the walls were falling apart…the walls were rotted out and after 50 years of neglect…you can imagine that this building was ready to be torn down…sad to say…but it just wasn’t safe…at all…so what the hell…
Coleman and I ran through this MFer like it was our own little playground…each floor had its own character…2nd floor had a loft that over looked the auditorium which was cool, but wasn’t really something that I think Coleman and I really cared for…3rd floor and it got much better…if ya’ll read through some of our captions on the shots on IG…you would have read…”lots of windows, awesome light, wheelchair graveyard, dilapidated walls, broken windows, boarded up bathrooms…well that’s the 3rd floor…I’d say there were a lot of our shots taken here, as it just had a lot of things to shoot…there was a room on this floor, where there seemed to have a past inhabitant…a wheelchair sat in the middle of this huge room…sleeping bags on top of each other, and on top of those bags…dozens of motorcycle magazines…with bare skinned, lace ridden women…some who were obviously meant to grace the pages of a men’s magazine…then others…eh not so much…but I wasn’t looking…too much…hahaha…either way…I hear Coleman and he wasn’t as happy with this floor as me…at the end of the hallway was a room FULL of wheelchairs…like…storage unit style…but it looked to have newer ones…well new ones like the 70’s and other chairs that weren’t so new…I loved it because I read about it in some of the articles I ran across…the nursing home next door would put these chairs of folks who got real sick and/or passed away in this building…now why they have brought it up to the 3rd floor I have no clue…there weren’t no elevators…so I didn’t know how they got all of those wheelchairs up without someone having to be real pissed off at their bosses…move to the 4th floor…the top floor…Coleman is already up here and he tells me that to be weary because maybe the inhabitant didn’t really care for women…but left some rude graffiti all over the rooms up on this floor…some real sexual messed up-ness…one room had a door that read, “this is the room where I rape, knock before entering”…yup…told you real rude…and the graffiti and drawings were real effed up…but…this floor had the hallway that Coleman really wanted to shoot…on his feed you can see the shot…amazing…and he did the hallway real justice…
The Return.
The one thing I forgot to mention up top is that we actually was on a timeline…I had to be back to pick up the kiddo…and Coleman had to make sure that his parking was paid off…even had a homie of his go and check and maybe add more money in…as in a lot of the metropolitan cities in the US…parking is expensive…but even more expensive are the tickets that come…so in our rush back to the city…Coleman and I got to spend some quality bromance time…which was good…which is some of the reason why Juxt is in place…the getting to know the artist/ photographer is just as important as the getting to know and admiring the art…the beauty of what we are able to do in these social networks is share a piece of ourselves in hopes that folks who are like-minded and even those who are not like-minded get to communicate and dialogue despite language, culture and any other social barriers that may be placed before us…
Mr. Ryan Coleman and I got to share in story, in art process, in crime…literally…and the best part of it all…we got to share it with you all…so my new found bro is moving to Denver…Seattle is going to lose one of its amazing mobile artists…Denver gets to add Coleman and his boss to their citizenship…which means if ever I’m in Denver…I’ve got someone to shoot with…and someone who I can shoot the shit with…
Sending you off bro…at least the money you make at the gallery show next week can go to my pocket…WORD UP!!! =) ALSO…still gotta set you up with Mikey and Rich…upon your return brother!
Adios. Bye. Bam. Salud. Cheers.