The Red Latte

For several months, I have been working with some great people, Hart Ginsburg and Dustin Ryan Yu, on a project. I have been somewhat quiet about the project because I do not like announcing or sharing things until they are complete but the time is at hand.

A little background:
Psychotherapist by day, photographer by night, Hart envisioned a series of mixed media books; photography and writing. With inspiration from his time in Japan, his life here in Chicago, and his love of photography, he is involved in documentary and book projects, concerning contemporary challenges of the human condition.

Dustin, from Toronto, to Hong Kong, and currently in Chicago, with a degree in Psychology, designs and creates along side myself and Hart expressing his motifs of acculturation, adaptation, and immigration are themes that frequently recur in his art practice.

Together we produced a series of photography books and art installations that connect visual, audio, and written forms. With vocals by Japanese jazz artist, Yoko Noge, sounds mixing by Zac Schmidt, and music by Benjamin Thomas, I'm excited to share the trailer for On the Way: The Red Latte and the book available through Amazon.com.

Producer - Hart Ginsburg
Editor - Adrian Galli
Designer - Dustin Ryan Yu
Vocals - Yoko Noge
Sound - Zac Schmidt
Music - Benjamin Thomas

On the Way II: The Red Latte

By Hart Ginsburg

Buy on Amazon

Beautiful Garbage

A good friend and film producer, Marissa Wasseluk, while looking at a photo I shot of a piece of trash, commented, "❤️ [heart] how you can make garbage look good. "

I hadn't realized it at the time but I had a whole series of "trashy" photos from over the years. But after hearing my friend's compliment, I set out to continue, albeit more consciously, the series of garbage photos. 

It is sort of the ultimate expression in creativity and photography to find the beauty in what otherwise is junk or considered ugly. I'd say the most common ways you see this express is in the street photography. People one would otherwise never see in a television commercial or magazine cover are portrayed in a beautiful way.

I always think it is the photographer who actually takes a picture not the camera. And, while I vehemently oppose littering and support many green initiatives, I believe that perhaps this trash left behind can give something back to the world in the form of creativity or art.

Red Trash

Walking home after a visit to my friend's restaurant, the 3rd Coast Café, here in Chicago, I noticed a lonely 7-11 cup blowing around in a parking garage. Bathed in fluorescent light, there was something that compelled me, like so many photos, to take a photo of the moment.  

If you're walking by anything and your creative instincts say to you, "you should really take a photo of that," you'd be wise to ablidge. Some of my favorite photos were shot from this impulsive nature of creativity. Follow it and you'll never be lead astray.  

Trash Gallery

Shot on iPhone 6s