M J R

friends, countrymen, international followers, blacks, whites, asians, hispanics, christians, muslims, meditative individuals, vegans and country music listeners and everybody else. please understand that I am now part of a new collective of photographers called MJR. It has been a long time coming but the change has come we have some stellar work on the site and the content will only grow from here. keep checking as we have weekly collections, random blog posts themed assignments and constantly updated portfolios. Hopefully this will branch you out to some other photographers and friends of mine who do their jobs all too well.

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- J

Silk n’ Candy

on Saturday Mar 15, I walked out of work at 6:05 pm. As i exited the doors i saw a big blue van with presidential tinted windows blocking myself and a coworker from leaving our parking spaces. A decal on the side of the van read www.hollywoodwildthings.com just to  the left of a sign that stated “Filming in process” and a request that also read “Adult Models Wanted”. Being who I am, i had to figure out what the hheeellllll was going on.

Behind the van I saw a man rummaging through some trash cans. I then assumed the van was his and  asked him politely to move his vehicle. He called out to someone else who was not visible at that time to start the engine and roll a few feet away, so we could get out of our spaces. Since he was so fresh and spry and quick witted, I sparked up a conversation with this trash man called “Silk”.  He then asked me if i had any recyclables but i truthfully answered no. But I did know the combination of the lock on company dumpster (we keep it locked so people wont overload our dumpster with their trash because we routinely pack it full of our own stuff) I opened it up with no hesitation for silk because he was such a nice guy. Silk then broke down his economic plan about collecting bottles and other recyclables. Words rolled off this mans tongue smoother than milk into a bowl of Cheerio’s. I stood wide eyed and mouth agape as he told me about how he collected enough bottles in an hour to compete with minimum wage laws in Southern California. He collects a couple of cans from our dumpster and then goes about his business. I locked it back up and bid farewell to silk and though “wow what a nice guy”.

3 mins later i am in my car and i realized that i had inadvertently took the keys to my workplace’s storage unit. I had to return them. I drive up the alley and Silk is a few buildings further down doing the same old same. but this time standing behind him was his friend who i correctly assumed again was the person who drove the van. I passed them and went back to the gallery to deliver the keys and remembered that there was a mini trashcan filled with soda cans and bottled waters and cranberry juice and redbull and all the stuff that Silk and his “friend” were looking for. i took them and gave them to Silk and asked him if i could make some photographs of him and his friend, pledging my coolness for giving them the cans silk willfully obliged and basically told his friend that he had to be a part of the shoot as well. I found out that the friend’s name was “Candy”. I posed them against a blue wall and we had a good time for 36 exposures or about 4 mins. Here are the results.

all images are shot on Velvia 100F and rated as normal.

I found out they were in love. Silk told me they have been together for 6 months but have known each other for 20 years. Silk did the talking, Candy didn’t speak much.

Candy…

it was more fun that weird…but i couldnt wait to get these back.
Have a good one.

-J

“Its must be jelly honey, cause jam don’t shake like that”.

…words from my grandmother, Venita. Elderly people are fucking great, they are able to explain things in such ways that make you pull your mental e-brake. My grandparents are really great in that way. I wish i could remember all the things they say that make me laugh because i could write a motivational book based on wise musings of southern rooted creole’s. That would make me some money. definitely.

Earlier this week I was on the freeway and the hood of my car flew up into my windshield. I was going 75mph (about 120kph). If you want an adrenaline rush i would suggest something a little less surprising like a pocket knife fight with a transvestite in a gay bar, paint ball, blowing bubbles with your tongue, skydiving or betting on greyhounds using eenie menie miney moe. The hood directly into your face is something completely unexpected and was about as loud as a shotgun blast to a blind person. Never again. As you may have guessed i pulled my car over and had to figure out a “safe” way of tying the hood down so that i can get off of the freeway and make it home safely. with no rope or anything i took my shoelace off of my orange chucks and cinched it down with eagle scout-like precision and independence. Fearing that the heat from my nearby radiator would sizzle away at the aged string, i cut the windshield wiper cable away from its attachment and made a double square knot much like this one http://www.uspowerboating.com/images-knots/reef_knot.jpg .  

then i began my exit of the freeway. Which was more terrifying that being blinded at high speeds. I felt like a fat person in a marathon. I couldn’t go fast because my gerryrigged hood would fly off again and the LAST thing i wanted was to be in the middle of the freeway going slow as shit with no visibility.  Somehow i passed a freeway interchange and cut off toward the exit with the help of a benevolent big rigger.

I was alive.

here are some images from the olden days,

Kodachrome 64

Provia 400F

Provia 100

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ahh, here is when my camera was broken, maybe i should have kept it and just got another proper working camera, some of these double and triple exposures are fun. Sorry i dont remember the film stocks

have a good one, and remember to respect the hood of your car.

-J

Shit that makes me chuckle.

sometimes i walk down the street and say to myself “what the fuck?” Then i take a picture of whatever it is I’m WTFing about. It can literally be anything from three legged dogs to funny messages made by people with pens or spray paint. Here are some scenes that exhibit some humor or irony followed by some that don’ t. I’m not hungry tonight so no banter about radioactive food and ovens.

in case you didn’t know…

Mattress…

woman with the dog = what the fuck?

This one goes out to all you insomniacs out there….

I just thought this was cool…

-J

I am the one who will dance on the floor in the round

the kid is not my son….Its good to be back. I was out with some friends earlier and i said to myself ” you gotta keep the blog up, go home and post something”. Then i got up, ate one of Dana’s fries wiped my greased hand on the back of my leg gave em a shout g’bye, hopped in the porsche and rolled back to my crib.

So many things have happened since september, I moved back to los angeles back to my old room and now things are feeling stagnant. I am looking for projects to shoot, slowly ideas are simmering on my mental stove which is good because its something to keep my mind busy while i work away the days in the gallery. Besides everybody knows the good shit takes a while to cook. (now im thinking about cooking, im gonna roll with it) If life were a tenderizing method, i’d like to think of myself as a marinator but my mind zaps up ideas like a microwave. I usually toss those radioactive thoughts aside. or take em out a minute early, realize they are cold and figure out what to do with the shit thats warm around the edges. Alot of the shit i think up has no meat, it aint hot in the middle. no core, i think its ready to chow on but i stick my fork in it like a hungry lumberjack only to find out inside is frozen as penguin’s dick. I dunno. Maybe thats what im doing in LA now, marinating. Although i am having a good time here i’m looking to get out of california and waiting for some things to rise up in my head like a loaf of  7 grain bread. Apparently you can’t microwave dough. Do ideas fall from the sky like manna from trees? i’ll check the weather for it.

B/W is Tri-X 400 Color is Fuji Provia 100 or Fuji Astia 100. All processed as normal.

Darts in the backyard with my brother, “Kid Precision” and my grandfather “Papa No Score”.

My grandfather teaching me how to box.

This is a color image.

Thomas, works at THE HUNDREDS and skates for Diamond Supply, or vice versa.

Fuji Astia at the very end of golden hour.

Los Angeles, provia 100 on bulb setting for about 4 seconds. i set the camera down on a ledge that i thought was straight. im thinking i set the camera down on its own strap OR it was straight until i depressed the shutter which made it tilt to the right. im going to try this shot again next time im at that vantage point.

this dress was made from a window curtain.

How would you feel if the gun you were shot with was pink? i’d probably feel like a fuckin idiot

-J

I have been missing.

sorry for my 5 month absence, i was told that i had used my free space online and kind of refused to purchase more…until now. I got bored of not sharing my work and look forward to hearing from you all. Things have been going well for me…I am working at a photo gallery for the time being and am in the midst of planning and saving for a early summer move to New York. Although i haven’t been posting that doesn’t mean that i havent been shooting. I am looking forward to reestablishing conversations with those i left hanging in late September and seeing more work from you all. if you wrote me or asked me a question and i did not respond please dont take it personally i have just had other things on my mind…sharing work and getting feedback (unfortunately) was not part of it. I am back now and ready to post. Hit me up, you are all angels, except for the assholes… assholes can go to church.

as usual all photographs are made on film.

-J

Sometimes you just gotta shoot and see what developes…

Im a big fan of pools  and “hellacoptas”

Excluded from the very popular Pink Flower Club, the yellow blossom stands alone waiting for his siblings to sprout up .

She dropped her smoke

He picked it up. (neopan 1600 rated at 1600). this film picks up an astounding amount of detail.

My brother has gained quite a reputation, he’s a dope lil cat.

Ilford 50.

This is “Chicklet” . Shot on provia 100 and was taken at a 1/4 sec @ eff two. i love making photos in situations where most people would be afraid to shoot because of a lack of light. This turned out perfect, the color in this place was great.

Also, I got a motor drive for the leica. Its great. i never have to take my eye from the viewfinder. The slides for these three are great but for some reason when i upload them they lose their green saturation, nick was shot next to this really green neon light, now it looks like a weird stomach bile color. but you get the point, motor drives open up a whole new realm of shooting with the rangefinder. im waiting for your “doesnt that defeat…” no, it doesnt. it allows you to make more moments in quicker succession its not a “cheat” at least not in the books i’ve written.

see you next time.

-J

Lets Boogie

Im in a good mood and I hope you are too. Since my last post i have gotten a bunch of great comments and it just shakes my tail that people from Israel, Scotland, a couple of cats in Austria, a guy from Romania, misc people from all over the States. Its cool to think that your work can be all over the world and you dont even know it.

People ask me all the time which film I use and the answer to that varies. The color stocks are all slides, Fuji Provia 100 and 400x and Kodak Ektachrome 100 when im feeling like butter. Black and white stocks are mostly Tri-X 400, NeoPan 400, and the bomb Ilford 50. I do not process my own film, dont really know how and dont really have the time. I know i probably should buuuttttt i have better things to do that sit in a red room inhaling fumes from chemicals that make asphalt rust. People who work at labs are loopy for a reason…i need all my marbles.

What you will be seeing today are frames from the last month, i have been all over the country lately which has been nice and rewarding

Shizzam!

I bring you New York City! Keep it clean folks

this guy…It was me rob mat and C-roLine walking out of an extremely long champagne cocktail extttrrraaavvvaaagggaaannnzzzaaaa and i look left and see the guy who looked like he just escaped from an Indian Casino holding bin. Being slightly (drunk) intoxicated i had a laugh, took out the camera and waited for him to pass, He immediately started yelling at me. “YOU FUCKING ASSSSHOLLE! YOU CANNOT TAKE A PICTURE OF ME, I AM PRIVATE PROPERTY!, THIS…ME I AM PRIVATE PROPERTY” At that point i had elected myself the mayor of this situation. I then glanced around at my constituencies (which had grown to everyone in the street and in the automobiles driving on it Like 40 heads). I had no choice or chance for trying to explain the truth to this man so I  started laughing as he rode away on his Pee Wee Herman bike. End of story, no great conclusion. I hope he knows all of his private property is aaaallll up in Romania and Austria now. Thanks for the frame ASSSHOLLE!

I don’t know why, but this is hilarious to me. Clearly someone was in an argument over this and I really wish I could have heard it. Israeli comrades and falafel authorities…what do you think Israeli or no?

You dont even know how much fun this day was, nor how great the hour or so it took me to “frame” this shot. We eventually ended up at Washington Square Park listening to the livest music.

I’ll leave you with caroline…she once thought that our mutual friend had robbed a bank. He was out of the country for a couple of months and didn’t really let anybody know about his departure but he definitely did NOT rob a bank. Anyway, I told her that he did and had to flee the country until the heat was off. She bought it and didn’t find out it wasn’t true for another 3 of 4 months. She is a homie…you tell her a secret and she’ll keep it even if it is ridiculous.

Champagne Wishes and Caviar Dreams.

-jm3

Unreleased…

Here are about 40 photographs that have yet to be seen, about a dozen of which I even forgot about.  I am sick of not sharing and am feeling a little bold. I have decided to just upload a bunch of things at the same time. No need for five here and 3 there and 11 around the corner, who am i trying to entice? I think  there are about 12 (maybe) people who look at this site and for those dozen of you…big ups. If you do read and look at this and I do not know you, please send me a message just so i know who checks the work; freek or geek… just hit me up. I would appreciate that. I hope you enjoy, take 6-7 minutes out of your internet perusing and just scroll down. im sure you will not be disappointed. If you are then thats all good, its not really about you anyway. ill start from the most recent…

Champagne wishes AND caviar dreams.

welcome to jm3’s house, the spiders don’t bite.

   

you all have a good day.

Rob and Matt

two shots of two people i spent much time and mind with in brooklyn. We pooled together our resources and came up with some great stuff. hopefully you will all see it in glossy print.

excitement boils for the next engagement.

yes rob, you made the blog…finally. M6 28mm Ilford Pan F 50.

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ROB AUGUST.

MATT CRAIG.

-J

Lets call this “photographs of great people” (in black and white)

everybody loves the sunshine. Bonjour champions, spartans, incroyable’s and exciters riders fighters and biters. It is about 1250 in the am and in the morning I am going to the east coast for a couple weeks but I will be posting. Over the last 3 or so weeks I have collected 50 or so images that are ready to be shared. I have taken notice that I photograph alot of the same people but who cares. Some of these places and faces you have seen before and some you have not. All photos are with the M6 and 28mm summicron. I dare you to find a sharper piece of glass. double dog dare.

Every person in every one of these frames means alot to me and I didnt realize it until i posted them. Its funny. I need to hang out with more girls in the daytime or under more photographic conditions. Anyways here you go…All of these photos are in black and white, you can’t handle the color work.

Thats my left arm struggling with Trixi, while I had my camera held up to my eye with my right arm. Focus was set for 2.5 feet Neopan 400 F11 at 1000th or something like that. Basically this sums up the last 3 weeks of my social life.

These next shots are on some beautiful ass shit. Ilford 50 is really nice film. My little brother “bud.

Norman. This is my family, he is really one of the greatest individuals I know and an incredible storyteller, whats best about his stories is that they are all true.

My grandfather!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ok ill share another one of Big Norm (he’s like 6′4) and his tattoo which is personally awesome.

My mother wore polka dots to a funeral. it was amazing, they were black of course.

Pops looking regal

Both of my brothers. I threw the ball at Bud with hopes he would throw it back at me so I could make this shot. i knew he would throw it at me to try and ruin it, but i flipped it on his ass and the ball makes it for me. Also pictured is a sick and sleeping Kio, my other brother.

That’s the end of the ilford fitty. The rest is Neopan 400….I forgot what was happening here but i think he was disgusted.

oh wait, this is ilford 50. TTTHHHHIIIISSSSSSSSS FOOL is really a brother for life. w/out him i would be much shittier at pool and without alot of laughs and no place to go swimming this summer.

Chip Williams, smartest person you don’t know. Think about that.

These two are troublemakers. They are sisters, Fabi and Jazzy.

Ok back to Big Norm (and the ilford fitty), I couldn’t leave this one out. This is what happens when you wait. When you stick a camera in someones face and they dont smile, just look at them weird and they’ll start cracking up. notice the elton john glasses. did I mention he is from Oakland? Just pretend it’s me smiling at you.

Next time is color.

-J