thought. July 12, 2009. 12:42AM.

Sometimes the Brooklyn Flea project feels like a kind of "landscape" photography study...

Flea Bite. July 11, 2009. 11:33AM.

Foto Fest. Discuss.

I was advised by a photo book consultant I met at a dinner party last night to head out to Foto Fest in Houston in March of 2010. The plan as of now? To register (the cut-off date is Monday-it's research mania right now), to pack up Subversions and what will hopefully be a completed Brooklyn Flea and head West. Have any of you been out to Foto Fest? Have any experiences (both good and bad) you'd like to share? Discuss.

A Flea Bite (and color space comparison). July 11, 2009. 12:25PM.

Who knew? Thanks for the tips, Graham. I've always shot Adobe 1998 but converting to sRGB before uploading to the web really does make a difference. Compare for yourself...

Adobe 1998


sRGB

It's Saturday! Three from the 4th of July Flea.

ps: in other news, a computer-fluent friend explained to me this weekend why the colors in photos uploaded to the web never look as good as they do when you're looking at them on your monitor in photoshop. it's been a source of endless frustration for me but apparently there's a remedy. I'll be looking into it. If anyone else wants to too, click here. Stay tuned for more accurately and vibrantly colored images on my today!

3 New Polaroids! July 3, 2009.

It's been an interesting week to say the least and while I definitely have plans to put some kind of post-Subversions analysis up here (even if that analysis is only a few snaps from the night) I'd like to get back into the groove nice 'n easy with three Polaroids from today. They aren't scans so the color isn't perfect- but you'll get the idea. Happy 4th of July everyone!

Why is This Day Different From All Others? June 27, 2009.

It isn't, except for the fact that I have this Subversions opening tonight (eek- will anybody show?! Have I bought enough wine? Too much!?).

This morning? It was business as usual at The Flea. I'm feeling more comfortable these days talking to the vendors, letting them know why I'm there (I think many of them have been wondering what it is that this girl with a mess of curly hair is doing there every week with her camera, snapping away, usually buying nothing).

The more I talk about the project with people, as I did today- the more fleshed out and clear the ideas become. I really feel like I do know what I'm doing with this one- although I know that not every picture I take or post on here necessarily conveys the central project "themes."

Here are some of my favorites from the day. After posting, it's onto hair and makeup and last minute preparations for Subversions. I hope to see you there!

Another from the Mcgowan Promo Shoot. June 22, 2009.

Here's another one I like from the Mcgowan American Regular promo shoot:


In other news, tomorrow is the big opening. I hope to see many of you there!

In the midst of all this exhibition prep, something different with Mcgowan Southworth.

In the midst of all the crazy Subversions opening prep I've been doing this week, I had some time on Monday afternoon (a few hours before picking up the u-haul truck for my apartment move- everything happens at once, of course) to work with supremely gifted musician Mc\gowan Southworth again. Last time, it was his American Regular album cover. We meant business on that shoot. I had the Hasselblad, our January day was as cold and raw as I'd ever experienced, and we found ourselves out at an old gas station late at night on Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn going for something that felt like Neil Young. This is what we came away with:


This time, he called me in to take the album's promo shots- an important part of the package going out to the record labels and execs. What makes a promo shot? I really don't know. The great thing about working with Mcgowan is that he doesn't plan it all out in advance and neither do I. We both come to the shoot with loose ideas and work from there. It's off the cuff and in the moment and both of us like to experiment. We know going into it that we'll get what we need when all is said and done, we just don't know what that "what" is when we start.

Below is one of the images from the session, born out of this "if it comes our way, we'll take it" attitude. We were walking up the stairs back up to his apartment, found a gorgeous bit of soft light filtering through an old frosted window and tried to make something of it. This is what we made.

Enough About Me, Already! Here's One From Mikael Kennedy.

I'm crazy about Mikael Kennedy's Polaroids. We have yet to meet in person but we've had some lovely email exchanges and I'm an avid fan of his Polaroid work. His blog, Passport to Trespass, is exclusively Polaroids and although not updated daily, when it is, there are always some real gems on there. If you haven't seen his work yet, I highly recommend checking it out on the blog. In the meantime, here's a favorite of mine from one of his recent postings.

© Mikael Kennedy, 2009

Pre-Order your Subversions Exhibition 12 Postcard Packs today!

In addition to selling prints at my upcoming Subversions exhibition, there'll also be some nifty 12 postcard packs on hand for sale for a cool $30.00. I've designed each 5x7 postcard personally. On the front is a "Subversion," on the back is the image title, enough room to write a note to a pen-pal, and even a little box in the top right corner for a stamp. Click the Buy Now button below to pre-order your pack. I can have it ready for you for pickup at the show on the 27th or arrange to ship it. Below is the assortment of postcards in the pack. Get in contact if you have any questions or just press the button to order and pay...!

ps: if you want to avoid sales tax or paypal hassle, send an email to
jordana@jordanazeldin.com and let me know you want to reserve a pack (or more than one). I'll set your order aside for you and you can pay cash on the night of the show.

More Subversions Love, this time from Ft. Greene's Thistle & Clover!

Here's another another lovely Subversions shout out, this time, from Camilla Gale, co-founder of my #1 favorite store in Brooklyn, Thistle & Clover. Click here to read the entry about the show on the Thistle and Clover Blog. Thanks, Camilla!

I Can See! I Can See! A roundup of today's Flea Images. June 20, 2009.

About two weeks ago I wrote here about my frustration of not really being able to "see" on that day's excursion to the Brooklyn Flea- how the surroundings, once strange, seemed familiar to the point where I started to worry that I had lost my point of view entirely. I no longer felt like an outsider. And without a point of view, a separateness, what would become of the project? So I took a week off, went back last week with fresher eyes and made a few good images.

Today, however- POW! It was no doubt a rained out disappointment for Flea vendors and organizers I'm sure, but for a photographer in search of "new" in familiar surroundings, boy did I find it. The place, usually packed fence to fence with color and texture and self-styled...well, self-styled everything, felt like a dreary ghost town. There were maybe 20 vendors total, their wares, covered in clear tarp (or in some cases blue, completely covering the bric-a-brac for sale). The mood was subdued, feet were wet, and there was no time to make the haphazardness look chic- it was a mess. And what was so revelatory about today's set-up for me? It altered the way I saw it all. It felt like a different place entirely. It changed the way I photographed, what I was looking for. It was the very thing I needed a few weeks back. My "blindness?" Cured!

'Twas a wet one at the Flea Today! July 20, 2009

So wet, in fact, that the dye from my shoes bled right off onto my feet...! (ha- I just noticed the inadvertant "product placement" for my Subversions show in the background of this picture. Unintentional, I swear!)


I'll be posting a selection of today's Flea Pictures in a moment...

Subversions Shout out on the Dossier Magazine "Look" Blog!

The word is spreading about my little show (thanks to the net and a few "only in New-York" run-ins last week with the very kinds of people who not only like the work, but are also in a position to let more people know about it than I ever could myself). Check out the nod to my upcoming Subversions Solo Show here on the Dossier website! Thank you Alec!

You are Cordially Invited to my Subversions Solo Show Opening Reception!

Yes, yes, I've been talking about this Subversions project for over a year now (at this time last year I had just entered the book it into the Photography Book Now Competition) but one of the things I learned is that sometimes it can take a long time for a body of work to be recognized. Think about Saul Leiter's early color pictures. Shot in the late 1940s, unearthed by Howard Greenberg a few years ago. Now I'm no Saul Leiter but it makes me realize that in "photo time," a year isn't all that long for people to start paying attention. So, after a year of hustling and working on a myriad of other projects, I am pleased to invite you to my upcoming Subversions Solo show at SB Digital Gallery.

Mark your Calenders!

WHAT: Jordana Zeldin's Subversions Opening Reception
WHEN: Saturday, June 27. 5PM-8PM (drinks at a nearby VON bar to follow)
WHERE: SB Digital Gallery (124 E. 4th Street bet. 1st and 2nd Avenues)

Limited edition prints will be for sale as will these nifty 12"x18" exhibition posters, designed by yours truly, for an easy $25:

I'll even be on hand with a Sharpie to sign a few of them at your request.

I hope to see many of you there. Even if we've never met before, if you're curious about the project or have enjoyed reading this blog, do think about stopping by. It would be a pleasure to meet you!

Cheers,
Jordana

A today from Today. June 15, 2009. 11:26AM

I'm crazy about this picture. I only wish the man were in focus. I shoot wide open for my project at the Brooklyn Flea but must remember that f2.8 doesn't work for everything...

Unearthed from the Archives!

As I'm packing up my studio apartment for the "big" move- a few blocks away from where I live now, one hood over- I'm finding all sorts of things I thought were long gone. When you start to have to sift through old stuff to move forward, you inevitably start looking back. I like that.

Back in December of 2007, before I knew what "dpi" meant, what a "portfolio edit" was, or the importance of backing up digital files, I had my first solo show, PUSH, at a little tea shop in Alphabet City called gramstand. I had decided only that Summer to become a photographer and as I'm sure I've mentioned before, my Rebel Xti became an extension of my arm. I took thousands of pictures over those first few months, nine of which resulted in this little show (such beginner's confidence- a solo show six months out the gate!)

I lost my entire first year's worth of pictures after my external hard drive (home to the only copies of the image files) passed on earlier this year. It was a very sad but equally necessary lesson so you can imagine my surprise (and glee!) today when I unearthed a CD containing six of the nine prints from the show. The word that comes to mind to me when I look at these pictures is definitive. How definitive they seem. Bold. Assertive. What do you think? Do they look anything like the pictures I'm making now? Oh and if you like any of them enough to want buy a print, get in touch.

Time to Shop, 2007

Cool, 2007

Chinese Paper, 2007

What Pablo Has

Chess Abstract, 2007

Popcorn Bowl, 2003

Ze Flea! Ze Flea! June 13, 2009.

If you're getting the feeling that this blog is becoming little more than a laboratory to test out the images for my long-term project on the Brooklyn Flea, I don't blame you. Rest assured, however, that it's only a temporary thing and that I'm so damn excited about these pictures and the project at large that I can't help but want to share them up on the blog.


I mentioned here that in addition to the regular postings, I'd like use the blog to document the process of putting together a long term project, both for my own record keeping but also in the spirit of sharing my process with other photographers and image-lovers, to pull back the "curtain" and reveal how it's all done (or at least, how I'm doing it...this time around).

So in that spirit, here's a quick note:

While talking to one of the vendors today from Jamaica, I found another intriguing level to the goings on at the flea, something that might further explain flea-goers attraction to the place and its wears. So many of us who've chosen to live in New York aren't natives. We have roots elsewhere and have pulled away from them by coming here, for whatever reason (often to live out lives that wouldn't be possible to make work elsewhere in the country). Perhaps there's more to it than the purchase of nostalgia and character, but something having to do with the hope of reconnecting with our roots again by finding and buying up the stuff from when we were young, the stuff that reminds us of Louisville and Eugene and that shoe store in grade school...We may live in a loft in Brooklyn but at least we have those wooden blocks from the playroom back in Providence, Rhode Island...So maybe we are reclaiming a bit of the past that did at one time belong to us...

And with that, I present you with two more from today:

Me. Age 25.

While making my usual rounds at the flea today, I had kind of a profound moment of recognition. Passing by one of the large metal framed mirrors I stopped and noticed myself there and thought, "so this is me. This is me at age 25. This is me now. This is what I look like now. This is what I'm doing now. I'm thinking these things now." Mundane sounding, perhaps but it felt so powerful in that moment that I felt the need to take a picture of what "me" looked like then. It wasn't about vanity, but instead the documentation of a flicker of self-acceptance and acknowledgement. So here's one of me, on June 13th, doing what I love to do best, feeling "supremely 25"- with lots behind me and lots ahead of me too, I hope.


a few from the flea coming soon...

One from the Weekend. June 6, 2009.

Not sure what to make of this one, really. It's kind of a riff on this.

A Word from Lisette Model...

"Innocence is one of the highest forms of being and ignorance is one of the lowest."
-Lisette Model


Lisette Model, Woman with Veil, San Francisco, 1947

A Word from John Szarkowski...

"One might compare the art of photography to the act of pointing. It must be true that some of us point to more interesting facts, events circumstances, and configurations than others. The talented practitioner of the new discipline would perform with a special grace, sense of timing, narrative sweep, and wit, thus endowing the act not merely with intelligence, but with that quality of formal rigor that identifies a work of art, so that we would be uncertain, when remembering the adventure of the tour, how much our pleasure and sense of enlargement had come from the things pointed to and how much from a pattern created by the pointer."
- John Szarkowski


John Szarkowski, Mathew Brady in the Back Yard I, 1952

Sequencing the Day Away. June 5, 2009.

It's one thing to have a bunch of half-decent photos but quite another to compile them into book form in a way that works. It's the sequencing the tells the story in images. The images that end up next to one another converse, give each other new meaning and context. I, for one, love sequencing. I've spent that last couple of weeks scanning and spot correcting my Polaroids (admittedly not one of my great loves) and am now starting to think about sequencing. As of now, I'm hoping that this book will ultimately become a kind of simple "zen"-like journey through color and form.

Here are a couple of preliminary page layout screenshots, subject to change of course, as I continue to build the book...

One More from The Flea. Shot May 30, 2009.

The theme of last week seemed to be fathers and their kids...

Blind at The Flea. May 30, 2009.

I woke up this morning and went to work at the Brooklyn Flea but wasn't able to see.

"Take off your sunglasses!" No no, that isn't the problem.

My sense of it is is that I've been overexposed, looked too much at the same things and people--or maybe looked too much for the same kinds of things and people-- and as a result I feel like The Flea and everything in it, once strange (very very strange), have become too familiar. And because of that familiarity, it's all blended together...at least for today. What to do? Take next weekend off, I think. Rejuvinate my point of view so it can get strange again. And if not strange, something, anything but ordinary.

Here is my favorite picture from the day. It has absolutely nothing to do with any of the original project ideas but it's the kind of photo I keep looking at and in and around.

And then there's that face...

I Made the NYTimes, Baby! May 29, 2009.

I am pleased to tell you all that three of my Polaroids are featured in the latest installment of Lens over at nytimes.com! As most of you know, the future of Instant Film as we know it is mighty uncertain but as we draw nearer to the expiration dates on very last packs of 600 (08/09), there seems to be more public interest then ever . Earlier in the week The Times did a story in the technology section about some people up in The Netherlands hoping to use an abandoned Polaroid factory to restart manufacturing the film (you gotta dream!) and on Tuesday asked for reader Polaroid submissions on the blog. I submitted three, the rest of the world submitted 929, 406 were chosen and my three were among them! Here are the screenshots of my images but I urge you to go check out the complete collection yourself. Hopefully all this interest in Instant Film will make my Polaroid book a timely standout when I throw it into the Photography Book Now ring.

A Quick Note. May 29, 2009.

I watched Capote tonight. I didn't care much for the film but of course thought Philip Seymour-Hoffman's performance was absolutely astounding. In the film (and I assume in real life, too), Truman Capote felt that he was working on what would become one of the greatest novels of the century. That made me think, "god, how incredible it must be to feel like you're about to create something that's going to turn the world upside down." But a second later, I realized that I feel that way every time I set out to make something. A person must feel that in order to push forward with any creative endeavor, no? What else would drive someone to create?

The Return of the Recyclables! May 28, 2009. 11:49PM.

Does anyone remember back in the day when I was going to expand these kinds of images into a body of work, tentatively titled, The Recyclables?

A Scene:
Neighborhood Woman (from window): Hey! I said HEEEYYY! Now what's a girl like you doin' down there near midnight takin' pictures of other people's garbage?
Me (camera in hand, looking up): Hi, oh, um, it's just me....Jordana...? (holds camera up and out, explaining)
Neighborhood Woman (disapproving, shakes head): mmm-hmm. (closes window).

www.jordanazeldin.com SITE UPDATE! May 28, 2009.

Hi everyone. This is a quick post to let you know that big things are in the process of happening over at www.jordanazeldin.com. Polaroids have taken over the front page (many of which were given a test run here on the blog) and several previously unseen images have been added to the Brooklyn Flea Project. A selection of Subversions images remain in preparation for my upcoming solo show opening June 27th at SB Digital Gallery in the East Village. More on that later.

I'll get back to regularly scheduled todays very soon...In the meantime, feel free to check out the site. As always, I welcome your feedback.

© me, last saturday at the flea

Sharing a Wall with Bruce Davidson! Also: An Eerie Closer Look...May 25, 2009.

This just in: a photo-collector friend of mine informed me this weekend that he plans to hang one of my Subversions pieces just below this gorgeous print by Bruce Davidson from his Subway Series:


What an honor it is for one of my images to be in such distinguished company!

Also, in other news, take a closer look at the photo I posted in the last entry.

Notice anything?

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What first got me when I took this picture was the strange pairing of this image of destruction with the kitschiness of its presentation, the arts and craftsy-ness of it mounted on a slab of tree trunk. When I circled back around (I usually circle the flea about 10 times each Saturday) and returned to this piece, something far eerier and unsettling caught my attention.

See this?
and just under two months later...

JE-SUS! If ever there was prophecy, or at the very least, an inadvertent foreshadowing of the horror to come, this would be it...The Brooklyn Union Gas Towers were even referred to in a 1992 New York Times Article as "The Other Twin Towers"...eerie indeed...

Hot Off the Press: The BK Flea. May 23, 2009.

Here are a few pictures from this morning's jaunt to the Brooklyn Flea. I have so many thoughts about the...gulp..."big questions" when I'm there, mostly about time, really, and how we can never "go back." These objects have traveled through time- some of them over a century old- to us for purchase, but the time from which they came, even through our ownership of these things, is completely inaccessible to us. What do we want by having them? I think somewhere deep down, it's to go back...

Back in Action: One from the Flea. Shot May 16, 2009. 1:05PM.

Oh how good it feels to have my computer back, and with it, all the images that were lodged deep down somewhere inside some chip or something. It's 1AM and after a six-hour marathon session of Polaroid scanning this afternoon at the ICP, I'm editing the images I shot at last week's Flea. Hoping tomorrow is another satisfying day. In the meantime, here's one I particularly like from the last go-around... Honey, I'm home!

I have not forgotten about you blog!

My computer's down again folks. 9th time this year, believe it or not. Images are being made, though, and I'll post them as soon as I nip this thing in the bud, hopefully by Thursday. Cheers (from the iPhone), Jordana

The North Carolina Road Trip Polaroids. May 2-10, 2009.

here they are! These are just the snaps. I'll be making some scans over the coming days. Please, feel free to comment. James Danziger made a plea on his blog the other day for his regular readers to "listen up!" and put it all out there, the good, the bad, and the ugly in the comment section of his postings. I implore you, go for it. Thank you and enjoy!

While I'm putting together the Polaroids from the NC Trip...

...here's another one I like from the TriBeCa archives...

Back in Business! BIG site update coming tomorrow...

In the meantime, here's an Eggleston tribute image I shot on the last morning at our beach cottage on Hatteras Island, NC. May 9, 2009. 8:08AM.

©me

©William Eggleston

(his is better, I know...)

Until I return...

I take back what I said in my earlier post about keeping up with my todays while on vacation. The cottage I'm headed to is so remote that I'm not even sure I'll have phone service let alone Internet. In a way, I'm kind of relieved. I want to slow down, play a game of beach badminton or two. Shut out all the lights and watch the storms. Listen to things creak in the wind. So until I get back to reality on Sunday, May 10th, I'll leave you with two of my favorite images from the very best of the best, Saul Leiter (who was shooting color in the mid 50s). This man is my photographic kindred spirit.

Tanager Stairs, 1954

Red Umbrella, 1957

ROAD TRIP! April 30-May 9, 2009.

Dear Faithful Readers,

I'm off to the Outter Banks of North Carolina for ten days. The beaches there, believe it or not, are supposed to be among some of the most beautiful in the world. I'm packing my Polaroid 600, the Hassy, the 35mm Minolota Maxxum 7000- according to polls, one of the ugliest cameras ever made- my Rebel Xti and my thus far much loathed 5D. The goal is to keep away from the computer/iPhone as much as possible during this rustic excursion but I'll try to do my best to post an image or two a day. The film images will, of course, have to wait...

This little beach cottage here I come!

Without a Doubt, My Favorite Photo from the TriBeCa Film Festival. April 28, 2009. 5:06PM.

surprise, surprise. a picture of a picture...

STARS! STARS! STARS! They ain't all bad. April 26, 2009.

Here's one I like of Tony Award nominee and Revolutionary Road actor, David Harbour.

STARS! STARS! STARS! On Assignment for the TriBeCa Film Festival. April, 26, 2009. Various Times. Various Stars.

Maybe this is the kind of story you tell your grandkinds. "When I was a young photographer..."

While at work for the TriBeCa Film Festival yesterday-my first assignment for them this year- I was asked by the person in charge to go up to Jodie...Jodie Foster, that is, to take her picture. She was seated in the front row of a dark theatre auditorium. "But with no flash, please" I was told, so as not to distract the audience. Oh god. No ambient light, no flash, Jodie Foster ready for her closeup. Me, in my head, "oh crap. No ambient light, no flash, Jodie Foster ready for her closeup....maybe if I just click the shutter a couple of times, say "great" a couple of times, and thank her once, she'll think I took a picture (as opposed to a frame of darkness) and I can go on my merry way."

How do you make this situation work? So that's what I did. click! click! "Thank you very much" (half British-accent that I put on from my days of living in England when I feel particularly uncomfortable). She must have known. Jodie Foster, actor, film director...how could she not? How silly. And now may I present to you, my official portrait of the great Jodie Foster. Oh hell...


She's there, I swear! Jodie, pushed 4 stops:


Stay tuned for the next installment of "Stars! Stars! Stars!"

the brooklyn flea project. a note. april 25, 2009. 12:11AM.

would it be too much come exhibition time for the images to be framed in vintage frames (perhaps, but not necessarily, sourced from the flea market?) too gimicky? I like to tie in the way in which the photos are presented with the ideas i'm exploring with the project...

with my projects so far I've found that i'm thinking about all the details, right through to their exhibition, nearly from the get-go. maybe that's what has helped to make exhibition actually happen, the fact that i'm planning for it right from the very beginning.

for context, i.e, what the hell is this "note" about?, see here.

Little Smooshed Dog. Lexington Avenue. April 23, 2009. 11:29AM.

the brooklyn flea project. a note. april 22,2009. 3:23PM.

to put this random-seeming note in context, see here.

the self-consciously styled shoppers are upstaged by the goods for sale.

From the Trenches of Studio 2A: Let the Sequencing Begin (and may the heart PJ wearing never cease!) April 22, 2009. 2:24PM.

These mini photos from my Saturday excursion to the Brooklyn Flea were printed on my $29.00 hp printer with the Lightroom contact sheet maker. How wonderful it feels to get away from the screen and sequence these little guys, to feel them, with my hands (rather than my laptop track pad) and lay them out on my real wood 1920s writing desk (rather than the screen). Today I immerse myself in the world of real things and refuse to take off my Valentines Day pj bottoms given to me by my mom. Rain outside, David Bowie on my old tweeter-less AR Speakers...Ole!

The Teddy Bear at the End of The Tunnel. Washington Avenue. April 21, 2009. 12:49AM.

En Route to the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens. Washington Avenue. April 19, 2009. 3:39PM.

The Making of a Photo Essay. The Brooklyn Flea. April 18, 2009.

Some of you may remember a few pictures that I took at the Brooklyn Flea last summer, first posted here and later, here. At the time, I had no real intention of expanding that small body of work into anything larger and knew very little about why I was taking those pictures, save the fact that I thought it might be worthwhile to explore the feeling I felt (rage would really be the word) whenever I found myself there, aimlessly picking through old pins and picture frames, surrounded by the artisan-chocolate-loving, wayfarer-wearing, pickle-tasting, beautiful people. Me still angry? maybe a little...

No matter. I realized during these cold winter months after taking hardly any pictures that given how much I enjoyed the results from my two trips to the Flea last Summer, it might be worth taking another look to see what else I could find. So that's what I did today, opening day of the Ft. Greene Brooklyn Flea (apparently there's now one in DUMBO, too. Everyone's cashing in on Brooklyn cool).

It's a good thing when a project starts with a feeling. It propels the thing forward and kicks it off pure, like a knee jerk reaction. The conceptualizing and intellectualizing comes later, when you begin to think about why else these pictures might be relevant. Are they just for you? "Emotion without action is masturbation on stage," my theatre directing teacher told me during my first year of college. Ok, so emotion is good, but it's just not enough, I'd say. Even with photography. No one wants to see pictures about someone else's unfiltered anger. At least I don't. Those kinds of pictures make me ask, "so what?" My high school English teacher called this the "So What Factor." A kind of, "and I should care because...?"

I'm writing all of this down to try to put what I'm about to do in context, which is to informally jot down (notebook/list style) my thoughts about what I find interesting/relevant about the Brooklyn Flea, what I'm drawn to photographing there and what I hope to reveal in my pictures of it (above and beyond my own emotion). This looks like it'll be my second long(ish)-term project- the first, of course, being Subversions, and I'm hoping to lay bare the process of bringing a photo essay to life. Maybe not everyone starts out this way, maybe I won't next time around, but these are some of the things I started to become aware of as I went to work this morning to begin my photo study of the Flea. These thoughts are my beginning.

Enough with the exposition, here's my list:

the carefully designed "haphazard-ness" of each booth. The way things are meant to look like they've been sitting around like that in an attic for years, when really each piece has been meticulously placed and arranged.

the juxtaposition of real people and iconography/statues/dolls as well as the way in which these objects define the buyers and sellers. similarly, the juxtaposition of the sacred and profane. i.e. a painting of Jesus propped up next to a pair of bright yellow Reeboks. See below.

the fetishization of the past and objects of the past. our desire to possess these things. Do we feel they give our life greater meaning?

the suggested presence of the people from the past who once owned, wore, and used the objects for sale.

my own internal push and pull between my spitefulness towards the Flea-goers and my knowing that deep down, I'm probably not all that different. Hell, I own Ray Bans. I wear skinny jeans, have messy hair and try to have a sense of style. But I don't want to be one...of...them.

the hipster vs. everything on display. hipster fashion and culture is at its height at the Flea. Everyone seems to be trying so hard (ehem, effortlessly, of course) and I sense a kind of strange competition between the people and the objects for sale. The objects have actually been "around." They are worn around the edges because time and use has made them that way. They have true character because they weren't self-consciously created with a knowing or ironic twist. The same can't be said of the Flea-goers but it seems that that is what they ultimately aspire to through their possession of these goods. It's like a fast-track to character but as there is no fast-track, it ultimately results in all form and no substance.

the juxtaposition of the fenced in world of The Flea and what's just outside- boarded up houses, the sky, trees, things that are not for sale.

light and color. texture, surface (both in the sense of the physical surfaces of the objects, people and displays but also in the sense of a lack of true depth).

So that's my list for now. I'll add and refine as time goes on. And I won't do so much explaining. Here are a few images from this morning's excursion.

Portrait of My Mother as a Coffee Drinker. April 16, 2008. Noonish.

Commemorative Horse Plate. April 14, 2008. Just Before Noon.

ps: this one's not a scan

What's In a Scan?

After a surprise "dismissal" (excusal(?)- what does one call it?) from what I feared was going to be a grueling 10 day Jury Duty sentence, I headed to ICP to get a scannin' on these polaroids. Robert Wright was, well...right. Scanning is terrible mainly because of all the post-scanning dust removal. There's just no getting around it. What scanning did do for the Polaroids, though, is pull out some of the tonal variation that was hiding in the "blacks" of each image. Can you see that?

A digital photo of a Polaroid:



A scan of the same Polaroid, post dusting:

...the second one also looks like early color, which of course, given my love of Eggleston and Leiter, makes me happy- not that either one would necessarily see the resemblance. In many cases Eggleston used his dye-transfer process and Leiter, his....brilliance (?), to create a world of color that almost rivals that of any POP-y glossy ad image from today. I think I just like the nostalgia factor...

Two Book-Worthy Polaroids. April 12, 2008. 11:SomethingAM.

I was a little worried after discovering that I didn't have enough strong Polaroids to put this book together yet that I'd start to feel a kind of destructive pressure- that the desire to make "book-worthy" Polaroids might somehow get in the way of making good images. If today's images are any indication, I don't think that will be a problem. The sheer thrill I feel when stumbling upon something that seems worth capturing- raising my somewhat cumbersome 600 camera to my face (and often awkwardly holing something in front of the flash to prevent it from blowing out my subject on a sunny day)-, is just too strong to give way to fear or pressure. That's a relief! Here are two from today. I think the second one might be one of my best ever.

Subversions Solo Show @ SB Digital Gallery. June 25-July 15th.

It's quite a ways off but I was exited to see that SB Digital Gallery has already put the Subversions solo exhibition information up on their website! We'll iron out the kinks, starting with the fact that it's called Subversions and not Subvision...oops! Here's a screen shot of what I think to be a funny first hiccup. June 26th is the opening reception. More details to follow...!

Go Humans Go. April 10, 2009. 12:49AM.

Let the Sequencing Begin!...April 10, 2009.

...and the picture taking. After an editing session today (there's so much power in a good edit) I realize that I'll be needing quite a few more quality images to make for a truly satisfying and comprehensive exploration of my Polaroid 600 pictures in book form...

It's Official! I'm making a Polaroid Book!

To transition from Subversions to whatever it is that's going to come next, I'm going to put together and self-publish a book of my Polaroids. I begin sequencing this weekend and scanning at ICP on Monday. This is serious, ya'll! This time the goal isn't a cultural smash hit (for those of you who are curious to know what has become of Subversions, powerHouse said they'd publish it if I give them $20,000 to help cover production costs- bleh!- and it's currently under review at Universe) but rather a simple, elegant, and effectively sequenced book of images shot with my Polaroid 600. My dream? For a copy or two to sit humbly on a shelf at Dashwood Books.

Here are two from today. 22nd Street.

YIKES! I forgot my own birthday! April 4, 2009.

I'm not sure how I let this one slip by but I just realized that one year and two days ago today (April 2, 2008), my today was born with an iPhone snapshot of some half and half cups sitting in a dish at Veselka's on 2nd Avenue. Sharing my images, my work in progress, as well as my thoughts about photography and art-making throughout the course of this year has been incredibly rewarding for me. For those of you readers (regular, occasional, or first timers), it is my hope that this blog has given you something worthwhile too. Here's to another year of the unknown!
Thank you for your continued support,
Jordana

En Route with Robert Wright. April 4, 2009. Afternoon.

The First Hour of This Day in Polaroids. Fulton Street, Brooklyn. April 4, 2009. 12:SomethingAM.

ps: time for a major high-res polaroid scanning project, methinks. in other news, is it possible to sprain your wrist while sleeping? ow ow ow...

From White to Black. Jay Street-Borough Hall. March 28, 2009. Between 1PM and 2PM.

E. 86th Street, I think. March 27, 2009. Just after 3PM.

Little Leaping Man. March 27, 2009. 8:41AM.

The Old Chair. St. James Place, Brooklyn. March 26, 2009. During the 1PM Hour.

this one's much clearer in the actual photo (as opposed to this photo of a photo). I think it might be time to invest in a hi-res scanner...

All The Things I Like. March 25, 2009.

NYC Polaroid. Nowhere Else. March 25, 2008. Evening.

The Every-Which-Way Polaroid. March 25, 2009. Afternoon.

A Window in Soho. March 22, 2009. 5:40PM.

Reds. One from the Subway on March 17, 12:05PM.

For whatever reason, you can't get a good red on blogger. In reality, these roses are red, not mud brown or whatever it is you're seeing on your monitor. I'm posting anyway, if only to get into the habit of posting again...

Back to the Start of It All...March 21, 2009.

Fascinating, absolutely fascinating. God I wish that my entire first year's worth of photographs hadn't been deleted for so many reasons, but for the sake of this blog post, to show you how incredible I find it that over one year later (and after a bit of a "tangent" known as Subversions), after hitting the streets once again with my camera in what is now a kind of bearable chilly City warmth, I find that I am still taking the very same kind of pictures as I was when I began. Not only the same kinds of pictures, practically the same pictures. I deleted my Flickr account long ago which would also work for this post as supporting evidence, helping to give credence to my surprise here, but I guess this makes me realize that our eyes are our eyes. We see things, similarly, more sophisticatedly with time and experience, perhaps, but at the core we all perceive the world as we do. I can take on a new project (largely unrelated to the kinds of pictures I was taking when I started all this) but now that it's through, the work, for the most part, done, what do I have to return to? My photographic roots, so to speak.


My seat-mate on one of my trips back from visiting my mom in Florida last year was chatting with me about raising kids. He way a playboy, a nightclub owner, and from what it sounded like, one of the world's best fathers. I don't know how to raise kids (or sadly even plants) and was bombarding him with questions. He leaves paint and paintbrushes around the house for his daughters to experiment with, neat art books, a soccer ball here and there- things for them to discover. "Why? Why do you leave these things around the house? What if they have no interest in panting? Never become artists," I asked him. "Because," he said (and I'm kind of paraphrasing here), "no matter how lost they become, or what choices they make, if they really feel like they're losing their footing, that the ground is falling out from beneath them, they can return to these things as a source of comfort and familiarity." WOW! Now that was the best explanation I'd ever heard for exposing your kids to the kind of things you hope they'll take on (without forcing them).

When I think about my own life, I remember that my dad constantly read to me at bedtime, introduced me to the work of Walker Evans at a very young age, his favorite German Expressionist artists, figure drawing, at one time "booorrriiing" small New England seaside towns. I can't believe how much of that, after a detour of practical flat-out rejection of reading and intellectual pursuit (in favor of Kid Rock concerts and the Real World, age 14), I have returned to those things. All of them. They are all a part of my day to day adult life.

You still with me? Good. What this means to me, how this relates to what I started to say, is that even though it wasn't a father figure or mentor who introduced me to things that interested me photographically, I developed my own core of interest from my somewhat random early days of shooting. It's not uncommon to feel somewhat "lost" after the completion of a long-term project, but that's no reason to retreat from your work. My first day back out of the gate (after a night of celebrating how far Subversions seems to have made it over the course of the year), I found myself returning to my core "photographic values," if you will. Back to square one. A beginner. How nice it feels to be a beginner. There's none of that pressure to know more than you really do, or to be better than you really are. My dad always championed this notion of "beginners mind," regardless of how successful you become. And now once again I take refuge in the mind of a beginner, and am ready to take amateur pictures, a few good pictures here and there, and continue to think about what comes next, without the weight caused by the thoughts that I should somehow be anything more...

March 20, 2009. 7:23PM.

It's really happening! "Decisive Moment," Indeed! March 18, 2009. 3:59PM- 4:01PM.

In every photographer's life, there are artful "decisive moments" (wow! i'm so glad I was here with my camera right now to capture this seemingly random moment where everything- subject matter, light, composition, all perfectly aligns!) and there are "thank holy mother of god I have my camera with me" decisive moments. Today I experienced the latter. These pictures aren't photographic masterpieces but what are the chances anyway, that I'd pop by the ArtBridge: First Exposure 2009 installation site at the very moment my piece was inching its way over the scaffolding, camera in hand to capture it all blow by blow? So here we have it: photographs of a billboard of my photograph of a billboard. And so it goes...

Please join me tomorrow night from 6-8PM at the London Terrace Gardens (435 W. 23rd Street bet. 9th and 10th) in celebrating the opening of year-long outdoor art installation, ArtBridge First Exposure: 2009, featuring this image along with those of 25 fabulously talented painters, sculptures, and mixed media artists. Visit the newly minted website, www.art-bridge.org for all the details about the show.







In the words of my dad and his favorite cartoon character, Zippy the Pinhead, "yow!"

A QUICK POLL! Ground Glass or Rangefinder?

In the last few months (and after losing a year's worth of pictures on an external that died on me without warning (do they ever give warning?), I've become almost completely disillusioned with digital. I'm going medium format- thanks to the thrilling experience shooting with Shane Walsh's Hasselblad during the McGowan Southworth album cover shoot, here.

So, as I search for the perfect medium format camera I ask you to weigh in:


or

?

Nothing like a Polaroid in the Context of the Real World.

I snapped this picture of a Polaroid with my iPhone while riding the Subway into the city on March 6 at 5:41PM.

They're here! They're here! March 12, 2009.

as far as I can tell, these are the last packs of Polaroid I will (be able to afford to) shoot. Here's to the final 100 pictures! May they be fine, fine, fine!


Hungry no longer!

A few words about the Amy Stein at Last Night's Presentation @ Apple, SoHo.

This might not be as comprehensive a review as the one I wrote for Andrew Hetherington's blog, what's the jackanory back in October, here, but I'd like to stretch the ole writing muscle and say a few words about it anyway.

Firstly, I'd heard of Amy Stein and had seen some of the work from her Domesticated series, but for one reason or another, hadn't given it much thought. I saw her speak at the humble arts panel last year about Women in Photography and something tells me that my overlooking of her work might have to do with my desire (for better or worse) to more or less resist the whole WIP movement altogether, because even though I am a photographer who happens to be a woman, I really don't consider myself a "Woman Photographer." I feel as though my (so far limited) successes have come from my images, rather than my gender. Does my gender inform my work? I haven't seen much evidence of that. In fact, one artist at my last show commented on the "aggressive, masculine" quality of the Subversions prints that were on display...hrm...Maybe if I were a man I wouldn't feel the need to so aggressively assert this masculinity...? food for thought...

ANY-way, I attended last night's event primarily to see Andrew Hetherington talk about his blog and work (totally informative, entertaining, great- I can't really be impartial here because I know the guy) but Amy Stein-first up to speak- her pictures, her fluency in discussing her work, and her understanding of what she was doing with her work (and what her pictures were doing- be it after the fact of their capture or during), really impressed and engaged me. Too cerebral for some, perhaps, but the way she spoke about her work is the way I like to hear worked talked about. It got my brain going, was far deeper than the purely anecdotal, and helped me to really "see" her pictures in a way that I hadn't before while casually flipping through them on the net.

She focused her presentation around two projects, Domesticated and Stranded, the first of which addresses the "intersection of humans and nature," through photographs of animals (both alive, dead, and "stuffed") who had come down from the woods and into human civilization in unexpected ways. What gave these photos even more weight for me was the fact that they were not only staged pictures, but based on local town stories about these strange collisions of humans and beasts, Amy's reconstructed interpretation of each story, distilled into a single image. Who's invading whose world anyway? The line is blurred. In some of her pictures, we seem like the ones in self-made cages plopped down in the middle of animal territory, established long before we ever came along.


The second project she spoke about is a free-form portrait project of people stuck with their cars on the side of the road. She captured them in what she described as the moment of an "unexpected breakdown." The pictures embody both bewilderment and tension- some of which, as she pointed out last night, is no doubt caused by the strange experience of a woman running up with a tripod and medium format camera to photograph these people at a particularly vulnerable moment. The project began, she told us, shortly after Katrina hit New Orleans, and was spawned by a desire to get a better sense of American climate at this juncture in history.


During her talk, it occurred to me that she touches upon something so central to what it means to be American. Historically, I see the car as the American symbol of freedom and hunger for exploration, a big piece of the "American Dream." It's the automobile that has allowed Americans throughout history to satiate their curiosities for venturing into far off places and modern "frontiers", be it Six Flags or the deserts and prairies out West. In these pictures, the car and everything that it signifies, has betrayed these people. Is it too much to suggest that these images of people standing by their failed cars somehow throw into question the whole notion of the "American Dream?" Given the economic climate and state of the automobile industry, this idea gives the pictures a ultra-relevant layer of intrigue for me...

So, those are my thoughts. Thank you to Amy and Andrew, APA and Apple for putting together this tremendously informative event.

The BIG NEWS! A Subversion in CHELSEA: Opening Reception, MARCH 19.

I mentioned not too long ago that there might be some big news to announce but as I've come to learn that in this town that it ain't over till the fat lady sings, so to speak, I wanted to wait until it was 100% confirmed to spread the word. Well, the fat lady has indeed sung and I can now say with absolute certainly that, "RUSH," one of the pieces from Subversions, has been selected along with the work of 26 other artists to hang outside and larger than life (4ftx12ft-!!) on the scaffolding surrounding the London Terrace Gardens Building on 23rd Street between 9th and 10th Avenues for an entire calendar year as part of the Art Bridge: First Exposure 2009 debut exhibition.
The Opening Cocktail Reception will be held at the London Terrace Gardens Building (425 w. 23rd Street) on Thursday, March 19th from 6-8PM and you are all invited!

Please RSVP to info@art-bridge.org with your name and the number of people in your party who will be attending the celebration.

Below is the official invitation to the reception as well as a sneak peak of my photograph that will be unveiled on the 19th. I am also selling hand-signed, limited edition exhibition prints on my main site, www.jordanazeldin.com. 10% of all print proceeds will be donated to The Center for Arts Education here in NYC.

Thank you for your continued support! I hope to see you there!
-Jordana




and finally...
RUSH
Jordana Zeldin, 2008

Goodbye Beatty! March 7, 2009. 10:30AM.

At the One City: 100 Artists Exhibition. Newark, NJ. March 6, 2008. Evening.

* just as a note, the Polaroids from the week (and all of them on this blog, for that matter) are photos of Polaroids. Not scans. Hence the fuzziness and limited tonal range. I'm thinking of putting together a small book of the Polaroids from the year, a la Lorca DiCorcia's THOUSAND. Those of course, would be hi-res scans...

Seen Going Home and Back Again. March 6, 2009. Just before 5:30PM.

Nearly 9:30AM.

My Beatty. March 6, 2008. 12:1SomethingAM.

My love affair with Polaroid 600 Film is far from over...
In other more sentimental news, I love my mom.

Talkin' Subversions on the Radio with Zoe Young of WNYU. March 4, 2009. 7:30PM

In case you missed tonight's (Wednesday's) edition of CityWide on 89.1FM in which I was interviewed by the wonderful Zoe Young about Subversions, you can catch it here.

The intro has for some reason been cut off but I'm sure you can guess that the kick-off question is, "how did you get into photography?" Also, in case you're wondering why there's a blip of silence here and there as we discuss my favorite picture from the project, it's there to cover up the fact that I used the word "COCK" on air. It'll make sense when you hear it...Enjoy!

With Mom Once Again. March 4, 2009. Evening.

On the Radio! A hint of self-promotion. An Interview on WNYU. Wednesday, March 4. 7:30PM EST.

This is just a quick note to let you know that an interview I taped on Saturday afternoon with Zoe Young, host of CityWide Arts and Culture Radio Show, will be airing tomorrow night (that's Wednesday, March 4) at 7:30PM EST on WNYU (89.1 FM for you New Yorkers with radios or streaming live here at www.wnyu.org for those of you who don't live in the area). The subject? Subversions, mostly, along with some musings about photo appropriation and trends in modern photography. We talked for 45 minutes, easy, but the interview will be trimmed to an even half-hour. What will be revealed? What will make the cut? Tune in...!

Clinton-Washington Avenues
Manhattan-bound C train
05.17.08
7:57PM

Thoughts on Winter and Making Pictures and Paintings.

Every Winter it comes to this. A big project is completed. Some kind of gallery show is had. And as I hole up in my little one room apartment throughout these colder months, hamster-style, I wonder to myself if I'll ever take another decent picture again. My "career" becomes a narrative, a graph- with the most recently completed project as its "peak" followed by an abrupt forever fall-off. Does this happen to you, too?

The thing that is necessary is to bundle up, camera in hand, and shoot away- exercise that picture taking muscle, independently and regardless of inspiration, even. This is the thing to do. Self-assign. Get cold. Frustrated. Bored.

Subversions, that project I've been talking about, improving upon, submitting for consideration to this competition and that one for nearly a year now, is complete. My submission for publication is sitting on the powerHouse books server, awaiting review. I've felt up until very recently that if they say "thanks, but no thanks," self-publishing would be a very enticing option: complete design control, the potential for actual profit-making, neat exchanges with the printing people in the Far East, perhaps a visit to China or two to oversee production- but as of late I've realized that one can "hang" onto a project to the point where it becomes a crutch- it becomes the thing that makes you feel like you are doing something new...but are you? To self-publish in the way that I imagine self-publishing would be an all-encompassing endeavor. Might it lead to money? I believe so. Might it be a rewarding experience? Surely. But ultimately it would have very little to do with the creation of something brand new.

We, as creative people, must keep moving. I know a painter who has been working on the same piece for 12 years, making little adjustments here and there on a wall-size canvass with a small brush. To the viewer, these changes are more or less invisible. If anything, each change has hurt the painting, caused it to "tighten up." So far removed from the spirit and energy with which the painting was first conceived, the painting has lost its intention and therefore its effect. Yet what these changes do do, is keep the painter occupied and working on something. And that is when the painting becomes more about the painter than about communication and communion with its audience.

I believe I have said this before- that I strongly feel that art exists to communicate, to do something active to its viewers. Without some kind of exchange, what is it? Stuck in the mud, I'd say. Masturbation, even. When I was directing theatre, I remember being told by my teacher to ask myself, "what is this play doing to the characters?" It is assumed that it will be doing something to the audience, but in order fill the piece with a sense of moving forward at all times, it was vital to consider the play itself as an active force, doing something even to the people within the play world. Do do do, move move move.

So it is with these thoughts in mind that I am trying to push myself to move on to the next thing while fighting off the desire to go backwards, tweak, or re-evaluate...Come on Spring...come on...

© Saul Leiter

A BIG my today Update: Long Overdue. Various places and times in February of 2009.

I have a Big Update as well as some Big News to share with you all. But first, the overdue todays...

First up, my entry into James Daniziger's Valentines Day make a photo inspired by the original by Harry Callahan pic of his wife, Eleanor, competition over at The Year in Pictures. The original is on the left, my self-portrait version, on the right. I coulda (shoulda?) been a contenda...
February 12, 2009. 10:44PM.


Lonely Purple Mitten in the Early Morning. St. James Place. February 18, 2009. 8:02AM.



I couldn't resist taking a picture of this "composition." Nevermind what it's "of," I say...Brooklyn-bound C train. February 18, 2009. 7:09PM.


Not a photographic masterpiece, exactly, but I felt these shoes- and there oh-so-deliberate-arrangement on the city sidewalk worthy of a moment's consideration. February, 20, 2009. 4:30PM.


And finally, this was just weird. The bowels of City Hall. February 23, 2009. 3:55PM.


back to the more serious stuff soon. Also, stay tuned for the BIG announcement...!

Happy Valentines Day! February 14, 2009. 3:58PM.

on deck for the day? a day of book editing followed by some take in Indian food with my beau...

St. James Place John. February 10, 2009. 10:07AM.

I've been meaning to take a picture of this toilet for days...

Making Up for Lost Time. A Series of Old School "todays." February 2-8, 2009.

A New "Subversion"


Clinton-Washington Avenues
Manhattan-bound C train
02.02.09
12:12PM

And another...


Lafayette Avenue
Manhattan-bound C train
02.02.09
2:40PM

My Mitten, Abstracted. February 7, 2009. 6:21PM.



I HEART Evelyn. February 8, 2009. 4:02PM.

You Know You're a Photographer When...January 31, 2009. 1:09:PM.

You know you're crazy a photographer when, rather that rush for a paper towel and some nail polish remover, you load your CF card into your camera and make a picture.

I believe that this is, to date, in its own way, the best photo I have ever taken.

Copyright Jordana Zeldin, 2009

On assignment for musician, McGowan Southworth (pictured above) and his soon-to-be-released fantastic album, "American Regular."

I HEART Hasselblad.

A Word About Saul Leiter: Early Color.

If you can buy this book, buy it. If you can check this book out at your local library, do. Leiter's Early Color photographs from the late 50s are William Eggleston mixed with the kind of dreamlike painterly abstraction I associate with someone like Sylvia Plachy. I bet Philip Lorca DiCorcia has been strongly influenced by this guy. Hell, I bet we all have. A true pioneer! It's not everyday that I feel the thrill of discovery that I did when I came across this book at Dashwood today. Sometimes I wish I could go to the movies for the very first time again just to get back that feeling, don't you?

One more I like from Rumspringa. Same place. Same date. Roughly, the same time as the image in the posting below.

On Assignment for Pete Zinn's New Play Rumspringa. 45 Bleecker Street. January 29, 2008. 3:39PM.

Today I found myself back on familiar ground, the theatre, while on assignment shooting the production stills for the new Pete Zinn play, Rumpsringa, which begins previews tomorrow in the Green Room at the Bleeker Street Theatre. Having sold my Canon 5D Mark II, I'm stuck using the Rebel xTi, a frustrating piece of equipment to be sure, especially in these low light conditions. Nevertheless, with the Rebel I will stay until I can afford to buy the Mark II again. Here's an interesting image from the shoot today. I will also be posting a Hasselblad image from a recent album cover shoot in the next few days, a picture I believe might just be the best I've ever taken...In the meantime:

C'est Moi! A Picture of My $5 Polaroid Portrait from Carroll Taveras' Photo Studio. January 27, 2009.

Photo by Caroll Taveras as part of her Photo Studio Project. See another of me with friend and fellow blogger, Robert Wright, here.

Whenever I See Red Like This, I Think Eggleston. Out the Window of 136 W. 21st. Room 902-F. January 26, 2009. 9:28AM.

On Loving Geoff Weiss. Tillies. January 25, 2009.

New Polaroids. Between my house and Dekalb Avenue. January 25, 2009. Afternoon.

*yes, one of my hairs did make its way onto the second polaroid as I was reshooting it with my digital camera. in the spirit of the slap-dash-ness of this blog, I'm not going to bother to remove it.

Ooh la la! 2nd Avenue. January 24, 2009. 1:29PM.

Street Light. January 22, 2009. 3:14AM.

Thank you to all who came to Subversions at Think Gallery!

I just want to take this opportunity to that all of you who came out to support me and my pictures at Think Gallery VII, Cora Lambert's most recent group show at think cafe. The turn-out was phenomenal and the feel at the show was warm and energetic and vibrant. For those of you who were unable to make it, feel free to drop by sometime in between now and the 22nd of February. If you'd like to see the show and me at the same time, get in touch. I'm always up for coffee and a little guided tour.

I'd also like to apologize for so infrequently updating my today as of late. The last two weeks has consisted of preparing for the show in between trips to the MacBookPro ER (i.e. the 14th Street Apple Store) but the problems seems fixed, my beloved machine (which I was beginning to loath) is back from the dead, and with its revival, my today.

You are cordiallly invited to Subversions, part of the Think Gallery VII Group Exhibition.

The lovely Cora Lambert has been generous enough to invite me and a selection of my Subversions images to participate in the Seventh Group Exhibition at Think Gallery, her ultra-successful venture for emerging artists in NYC. Six prints- five from my book, one never before seen until now, just below- will be framed, matted, and on display for perusal and purchase. The show extends through February 22nd but the opening is one night only.

When: This Friday, January 16 from 7-10PM.
Where: 248 Mercer Street between 3rd and 4th Streets.

I hope to see you there!

Nostrand Avenue
Brooklyn-bound C train
05.25.08
1:42PM

Subversions: now available in paperback with premium paper at blurb.com.

I've been getting the sense that $65.00 is a lot to ask for a photo book in this economy so I have released a "premium paper" (that's the good stuff) paperback edition of Subversions for $39.95. Click here or on the Subversions icon to the right of the postings to purchase. Thanks for your continued support!


Franklin Avenue
Brooklyn-bound C train
05.19.08
4:44PM

In the Spirit of the Old School "today." January 4, 2009. 1:45PM and January 6, 2009. 4:15PM.

What I Sold...yeah, I know. Oy! January 8, 2009. Nighttime.

Apparently the person who bought the camera, warranty, and lens from me said she spent two weeks looking for someone in the New York City area who was crazy enough to be selling his/her brand-spankin'-new 5D Mark II. I was, quite literally, the only one...

What I'm Buying Now (!!!) December 29, 2008.

just in time for the close of the 2008 tax season...
the lens? A Canon EF 50mm f/1.4. if I want to get close to something, I'll move. That's one way to avoid the gym...

What I am Reading Now. December 28, 2008. 9:54PM.

After the Hens are Gone. A Polaroid from December 25, 2008.

It seems to be working- the whole editing with an acid-trip laptop screen- so I'm just going to go with it.

Busted Computer: a photo editing experiment. December 28, 2008. 2:32PM.

What's a blogging photographer with photos to share to do when her computer's busted logic board (again) makes Lightroom looks like this?


Take the plunge, snap a photo of a Polaroid I shot on Christmas day, attempt to crop it and adjust the contrast and color correctly (handicap and all), and see what comes out. My screen is mostly green as I type this and the text is pulsating, but I'm feeling brave and lucky. Here's an image I took at my folks house in Pawtucket, Rhode Island on December 25, 2008.


I'll leave it to all you people out there with slightly better "calibrated" monitors to tell me if I'm on track here...God speed...

Happy Everything! December 24, 2008.

This is just a quick post to wish all the faithful readers and stumbler-across-ers of "my today" a very happy holidays and new year filled with joy and inspiring images galore! This little blog is still very much a babe in the woods and I want to thank all of your for taking the time to check it out, comment here and there, and watch it (and through it, me) grow and change. More good things to come in 2009. Best, Jordana

Snapaholic. Bridgewater, Massachusetts. December 23, 2008. 1:37PM.

Print Auction: What Pablo Has. Bidding runs through 11:59PM on December 31.

So I still maintain that I'd prefer to have my 10x15 print of What Pablo Has hanging on someone's wall rather than sitting in my printer paper box. Rather than set the price at $250 and hope for a buyer to stumble across the post, I'm happy to auction off this baby, starting at $50. Bid in the comments section and just like at Christie's and Sotheby's, the highest bidder wins! Bidding will close at 11:59 on December 31. Good luck and thank you for your continued support. -Jordana


What Pablo Has
10"x 15" Archival Inkjet Print
Jordana Zeldin, 2007
2/25

Noel. Noel. Two from the Holiday Season. December 21 and 22. Brooklyn and Pawtucket. 1:53PM and 11:27PM.

Print for Sale for You or a Loved One!

While cleaning out my apartment today I rediscovered a print from my mini-solo exhibition, PUSH, from December of last year. I'd much prefer it to be hanging on the wall of someone who appreciates it than sitting in my Epson 13x19 paper holder box so if anyone is interested in purchasing it, get in contact: jordana@jordanazeldin.com. It's part of an edition of 25 (although at the moment only one other print exists out there in the world), is in "just-printed" condition, no bends or discoloration...cared for like a new born babe. Get it for a mere $250. Happy Holidays! -Jordana

What Pablo Has
10"x 15", archival inkjet print
Jordana Zeldin, 2007

Shadow-Play in My Apartment. December 3, 10:44PM and December 13, 12:55PM.

Big Prints are Beautiful! December 12, 2008. 11:56PM-11:57PM.

i made these big "work prints" today at the ICP. god they're gorgeous.** more to come...!
**please don't mistake my appreciation for the beauty of the printed-ness of the prints for egotism. after staring at work on a screen for weeks on end, seeing it sitting on your desk can feel a revelation.

The Art in my Life. December 9-10, 2008.

This is largely a photography blog but I have to say that as a photographer (and part-time employee at the School of Visual Arts), I have an ever-growing tremendous appreciation for the work of painters, sculptors, and mixed-media/collage artists. My art collection is very modest but is nonetheless something that inspires me and gives me great pleasure daily.

I remember reading a bit of wall text with a quote on it from Rodin that resonated with me during a visit to the Musée Rodin in Paris in the Summer of 2006. I wrote it down somewhere in one of my pocket notebooks and although I don't remember it exactly, it had to do with the importance of an artist surrounding him or herself with the work of other art-makers, that in order to be a great artist one's environment must be rich with artistry. Right on. This notion of the importance of a rich artistic environment in the life of an artist is one of the reasons I have enjoyed and appreciated my work at the School of Visual Arts so much. There's art everywhere (both terrible and wonderful) and the classrooms are filled with students trying to bend and mold whatever it is they're working on into the "art" they're trying to make. And it's a struggle, of course, and that struggle is a good daily reminder for me about the artistic process. It ain't easy.

Even when I have no money at all, if I see something artful of great beauty that I feel is "within reason" (financially speaking) I sometimes feel as though I just have to snap it up. I thought I'd take a moment to share with you some of these very pieces. The reproductions aren't great (sorry for the lousy white balancing, the reflections in the glass, etc.) but I hope they give you a sense of the kind of art in my life, the stuff that "grabs" me and no, doubt, inspires me (if only by the fact that it's "there").

Yesterday I purchased a piece of art from a wonderfully talented SVA student, Marysia Gacek. Although I've worked at SVA for over a year and have walked up and down the hallways lined with student work countless times, it was the first time that a piece of work there literally stopped me in my tracks. The paintings in her show are beautiful, canvases of rich deep browns, semi-abstracted-almost-blurred cafe and brasserie scenes that recall Paris and remind me of Winter. Most of the prints were a tad too large for my 225 square foot studio so I purchased this smaller piece, 102002, an oil painting on a 10"x 12" wood panel:


This little oil painting is by British Colorist Painter, Hugo Grenville. A friend and artist for whom I modeled while living in England in 2006:


These two rare, coquettish 1920s Parisian Erotica postcards from the Winter Works on Paper booth caught my eye at last year's AIPAD. I certainly didn't expect to walk out the door of the Armory with anything more than a business card or two and a dream...Yes, there were Arbuses and Cartier-Bressons but as far as I'm concerned these were the two gems of the show.



My dad gave me this little collage made by Rhode-Island based artist, Hiroko Shikashio, many years ago. It has gone everywhere with me, from Rhode Island, to New York, to England and back to New York again:


A piece like this really reinforces for me the importance of composition in a piece of art. I have no idea why this evokes something in me- it is literally two pieces of fabric and a bit of paper- but something about the way it is put together is affecting. I believe the same remains true for me of how I respond to photography. The photographic images that resonate with me often do so before I even recognize what they are "of." I am moved first (and almost subliminally) by composition and then a split second later, subject. That also goes for songs. Melody first, words after a good ten listens...

Jimmie James, multi-talented painter, collage-man, and musician, sold me this piece titled, Ascension, from his table on Prince Street on a cold day in the Fall of 2006:


I was feeling down on my luck that day, having moved to NYC expecting to take over the town with my theatre directing, only to find myself working a suit-wearing 9 to 5 at the World Headquarters of the sixth largest defense contractor in the US of A. Ay! His suggestion for my troubles? "Do something small for your art every day." I thanked him and told him I might be back for the painting- again, something about it- color, composition, texture, did something to me. While walking around the block I had this small realization that this piece was practically an illustration of everything he had just said to me. The dark greens and blacks? The muck of life, the sticky stuff that prevents you from charging ahead, be it fear or doubt or even cold weather. But then there's this bright coral shape near the top left corner, rising above it all. My reading of it, "do something for your art every day and like this bright shape, you too will ascend and although you might still find yourself surrounded by the muck, you'll somehow be brighter, better." It hangs next to my front door as a thing of beauty and a gentle reminder about the importance of pushing forward against and through it all...

And finally, a piece by friend, mentor, and fellow photographer, Thomas Holton from his series, Twilight:


When I was first starting out with my photography, I contacted Tom after coming across his work and he answered all of my questions and more in the form of page-long emails for weeks before we met face to face for the first time. Generous with his knowledge, he has consistently encouraged me and my work, my "staying on the radar," as he calls it. So, thanks Tom.

So, I hope this little "art tour" has given you some insight into the kind of work I like and maybe even into how my photography and the art I enjoy relate to one another (do they? I don't even know). As photographer (or artist working in any medium), it feels so so important to keep your eyes open, for the sake of your own work but also to be reminded that whatever you and that artist over there are making, by making it at all you are both taking part in a piece of the same conversation.

M and V. The All Day Brunch. November 29, 2008.

A Little Something Different. November 26, 2008.

This is a little series of portraits I took during an around-the-dinner-table conversation between the friends I met while volunteering for the Obama campaign during the GOTV week in Philly. I shot them with a little point and shoot (a Canon Cyber Shot 9, I think) at 1600 ISO- hence all the noise. Definitely a departure from everything else I've done but I like them enough to want to share...and to maybe do more with in the future...

JORDANAZELDIN.COM Site Update! "Anatomy of a Bus Trip" added.

I'm feeling more free-spirited these days about my main website and have posted a new short photo essay from my bus ride to Providence, tentatively titled, "Anatomy of a Bus Trip." The images featured in this section were the ones I took after that revelatory moment when the "bus world" was suddenly reveled to me (as mentioned in my Eggleston review below.) Feel free to comment on the pictures. I'm still very much finding my way these days with my photography, with no one clear, set-in-stone aesthetic and am happy to think of "my today" as a a sub-laboratory to the larger lab of www.jordanazeldin.com. I feel a certain relief approaching both with a more experimental beginner's mind. I welcome your feedback.

A Review of William Eggleston's Democratic Camera: Photographs and Video, 1961-2008 by Jordana Zeldin.

William Eggleston is my favorite photographer. It can be a tricky question, “who is your favorite photographer?” and frankly if you asked me why I’d probably be hard pressed to tell you what it is I like so much about him save the fact that by pointing his camera at “the everyday,” he quietly tips his hat to the things around us that we all see but rarely really consider. Have you ever read the book Babbit by Sinclair Lewis? Or the Moviegoer by Walker Percy? Well in one of those two books, on one morning and for no apparent reason, the main character who finds himself a prisoner to the grind of the everyday, actually sees his pile- the thing he makes on his dresser when he comes home from work by plopping down his keys, change and receipts and scoops up in the morning on his way out the door, without consideration. His seeing of his pile is a revelatory moment for that character. That’s how I think of Eggleston’s images. Oh, and then there’s his extraordinary use of color, of course, and the uncanny expressions of the people he photographs. They never seem to fit comfortably in their environments and often look so privately troubled…ok, now that I’ve gotten going I could probably tell you a lot about why I like his pictures.

When I discovered his work in Los Alamos back in the winter of 2003 (yes, I know, I know, I’m a late bloomer) while doing research for a play I was directing, I felt like it shocked me into breathing. It was around Eggleston’s photos that the cast and I built the world of the play, how it felt and how it smelled. The green shower stall was, without a doubt, the shower in which the lead character found herself being ridiculed after gym class by a group of cruel high school girls. That window with the wispy cobweb cotton candy existed somewhere in that Southern town where she grew up. The house with the mop resting on the gate outside was her house. It was remarkable. Since then Eggleston’s images have altered the way I see the world and, without a doubt, how I take pictures.

So, given all of this (and more, really I could go on), you can imagine the surprise I felt to feel…gulp…underwhelmed by his Democratic Camera, Photographs and Video, 1961-2008 at the Whitney Museum of American Art. The trip uptown in the blistering cold last Friday felt like a pilgrimage to holy ground and I expected to come away with… a feeling. Step off the elevator on the 3rd floor and there’s the white light bulb on the red ceiling, the tricycle looming-large over suburbia is to the left, the image of the black man and the white man standing at a strange angle next to that white car, lost in thought, is also right there to greet you. All of my favorites and more were hanging in one of the five or so rooms along with a bunch I’d never seen before. Going from print to print (it was somewhat surprising to see small-ish prints, bucking the trend in modern photography exhibitions today where bigger means better. No, no- here, the images, rather than their size, were left to make the impact), I paused in front of each one really wanting to take them in deeply or to respond to them in a way I hadn’t before. I wanted to get up close and marvel at the dye transfer process and find myself lost in thought in front of the open freezer, the girl with the strawberry hair ordering an ice cream soda. In short, I didn’t feel any of those things. I tried to but ultimately left feeling empty. By far the most fascinating thing for me was the collection of “drugstore prints.” I guess Eggleston had dropped off some of his rolls of film at the local film developer to proof or just for kicks before printing them himself. The difference between them and his prints is marked, of course. I knew Eggleston was a pioneer of color printing but didn’t realize just how crucial his process was in making the images work.

So I left feeling somewhat anxious (had I spent enough time taking it all in? did I miss something?), looked around the bookstore and talked with one of the people at the information desk (“how does one get into the Whitney Biennial?" ”When is it?” “How often?” “Oh yes, duh! Of course, once every two years…thank you…”) and went home.

I haven’t been taking pictures as regularly as I’d like to these days but nonetheless packed my Polaroid 600 camera and trusty Rebel xTi into my bag anyway for my brief weekend trip back to Providence. I hadn’t thought much about the Eggleston show since seeing it and as I sat on the bus in my usual seat behind the driver I wasn’t doing much looking around, until suddenly, and just as inexplicably as that character is one of those two books I mentioned up above, I was. There was absolutely nothing remarkable taking place on that bus the moment I felt I had to reach for my two cameras but I grabbed them both and suddenly I felt like this whole “bus world” was revealed to me. The warm light shining on my Au Bon Pain coffee cup reminded me of Eggleston’s image of the light reflecting off the whiskey-filled cocktail glass on that airplane; the sky, made bluer by the polarized windows, reminded me of an Eggleston sky and the light and shadow shifting across the bus driver’s hand reminded me of the kinds of images I like to take. Motel signs, lottery jackpot billboards loomed large above the trees reaching up towards the clouds, reflections, strange scale, everything seemed exciting and worth taking a picture of. I shot incessantly from my seat for the remaining half hour of the trip and couldn’t help but see just about everything on the rest of my short stay at home as similarly picture worthy. It’s the same feeling I had when I realized I wanted to become a photographer in the first place and similar to the feeling I had after happening upon Eggleston’s images for the first time.

I wouldn’t necessarily describe Eggleston’s images as "tough " in the sense that Joel Meyerowitz meant but I’d call Democratic Camera tough…at least, tough on me (and come to think of it the images were certainly “tough” on the people who first saw them in the 60s). It didn’t give me that instant gratification I was seeking, it didn’t feel revelatory, but without my knowing it, I believe it was benevolently working on me even after I’d left it.

I don’t think of Eggleston as a particularly “enthusiastic” guy. He gives each object its fair showing with a picture and moves on, never snapping the same thing twice. Well, I now realize that’s how I felt at his show. I looked at the image, considered it briefly, and moved onto the next one. And I suppose that’s what this whole Democracy business is about anyhow. None of the images are positioned to stand out, they’re all the same size, and in a true “Democracy of Images,” no one picture should arouse any more or less feeling than any other one. Looking over these objects- on the wall and framed, yes, but somehow discarded-feeling in their “humility," the viewer is forced to take them in as Eggleston might have when he found them. I don’t think this was an accident, people. I think it’s the result of spot-on curation, totally in service of the photographer, his intentions, and his pictures.

Check out the show if you can and feel free to post your thoughts and comments about it here. It runs into next year through January 25th.

©William Eggleston

(click to enlarge):



© me

© me

still going strong despite some technical difficulties!

hello faithful readers and first timers who've stumbled across my today. I just want to let you all know that since my trip to Philly in early November, I've been faced with one technical mishap after the next. First no Internet, then broken computer, then again, a mysteriously disappearing Internet connection. I'm working on it all now and plan to head to the local Internet cafe this afternoon so that I don't have to run this baby from my iPhone. Many apologies!

That said, I have been readying several things for you to look forward to once I "relaunch" the blog. Look out for a comprehensive review of William Eggleston's Democratic Camera at the Whitney along with a plethora of new images and polaroids. I also think I forgot to mention my guest appearance on Andrew Hetherington's terrific blog, what's the jackanory, a few weeks back. Click here to read that. Thanks for sticking with me...! It won't be long now...

More from the Biden Rally. My attempt at being Damon Winter. November 4, 2008. 12:20AM.

Another from GOTV Week. Joe Biden Rally. November 3, 2008. 11:53PM.

Bizarre Curious Cat in Northeast Philadelphia. GOTV Week. November, 2008.

Couple at the Biden Rally. November 3, 2008.

At the Joe Biden Rally. Philadelphia, PA. November 3, 2008. 10:26PM.

I'm not 100% sure how to present my pictures from the Get Out the Vote Week in Philadelphia on this blog (or the real website, for that matter). I suppose my today has "gone rogue," so to speak, "off message," since its inception, but I'm letting it do what it does and bend and morph into whatever it will become...

Today I'm putting up a picture I took on November 3rd just before hearing Joe Biden speak at his last campaign rally stop before the Big Day. I'm still trying to make sense of my experience from the week...in the meantime, enjoy.

Shoes in Trees. Northeast Philadelphia. November 4th, 2008. 11:21AM.

I came back to Brooklyn tonight after an exhausting and liberating and throw any other adjective into the mix and I'll bet it'll fit 4 days of working for the Barack Obama campaign in what was referred to by our field organizers as "ground zero" for this election; so much of the Pennsylvania win came down to getting out the vote in the poorer sections of Northeast Philly. It's 2AM as I write this, Barack Obama was elected our next President only a few hours ago, so while I'm still processing the whole experience (and uploading my images from the trip into Lightroom) I'd like to provide you with one of many shots captured on the job for the campaign. This caught my eye today when I looked up, door knocker flyers, pages of voter information and camera in hand...

Found on the Streets of NorthEast Philly. Day 1 of 4 for the Obama campaign and GOTV Week. November 1, 2008. 11:06AM.

There's lots to report from the front lines of the Get Out the Vote Effort here in Northeast Philly (I've been trying to do my best poor-man's Damon Winter impression with my campaign pictures, and wow- so many McCain/Palin lawn signs-!) but for now I'm just going to post this picture I snapped with my iPhone while walking around in the sun and knocking on doors.

Another Thursday Night on the Streets of Brooklyn. October 30, 2008. 10:08PM

I just wanted to make a quick announcement here: some of the flea market images from the last entry have made their way over to my "real" website, www.jordanazeldin.com An update over there is long overdue. I've replaced the "Coming Soon" category with one I'm calling "WPA" (the acronym for works progress administration). Who ever said something must be "complete" for it to be shown anyway? As of now, the recycling work doesn't quite fit in with the overall aesthetic of the main site to I'm going to quarantine it here for awhile, but I ask that you think of it as part of the ongoing WPA....

mini photo essay (my writing, some about ryan mcginley, and some of my images). the brooklyn flea. october 26, 2008.

I always leave the Brooklyn Flea filled with...well, rage really. It boils up inside and makes my chest start pounding and I while I can't quite figure out exactly what it is that makes me feel the way I do, I think it has something to do with the accessibility of endless "nostalgic" items, keepsakes, and memories, none of which any we've had anything do do with until we wait on that line at the ATM (conveniently located just outside the entrance), barter a little and plunk down our cash to "own" them. Where's the sense of the great hidden find, or hell, even the chance to experience the "finding" of anything? Do we even bother to make objects memorable anymore or do we simply purchase them- wear and tear and a bit of sand from those trips to the beach during that never-ending summer already included? I haven't looked into Ryan McGinley's work all that much but much of what I have seen I like and I think that wrapped up in his nostalgic sunburned beach-y images of youth (along with the facts of how many assistants, roles of film, and models that were needed to make those images, made public) might also be a critique of the kind of nostalgia we all long for, but never really had. They're the memories we wish we had that stand for "youth," but probably not our youth...

I brought my camera to the flea market today first to get into the habit of taking pictures again (I haven't been snapping away as regularly as I'd like to be lately) and later to try to capture moments that somehow reflected my point of view of the whole event. I'm not sure if I was successful in doing the latter but here are some images from the day. I might go back next Sunday, check my rage at the door, and try to see what else I can "find" (the great thing about photography, unlike this flea market, is that it's all about that organic "find"...as a photographer you're basically "finding" all the time)...

**you'll have to click to see the images. blogger shrunk them down...

Black Woman. White Fur. The Brooklyn Flea. October 26, 2008.

The Recyclables (a new project?). Clinton Hill/Ft. Greene. October 16, 2008. 7:03PM-9:42PM.

I'll just leave you with the images for now and not get into any kind of exposition at this early stage of what might very well become a new project...

ps: the images may look a bit dark on some computer monitors but it might help to turn up your screen brightness. Also, if it's detail you're after (and there's beauty in the detail with these ones, it seems), click on the images to enlarge them.

An Ideal Husband Poster Shoot. My Parents' Bedroom. Sunday, October 5th. 10:27PM.

At the end of my headshot taking marathon up in Boston last weekend, I managed to find some time just before bed to shoot the poster for Suzanne Ramzcyk's upcoming production of "An Ideal Husband" at Bridgewater State College. Here is the original image:


And here is the mock up of the finished poster:



Doing these kinds of assignments is not unlike directing for the theatre. You read the play and pull out all the pieces you feel act as visual clues that will make it possible for you to capture the "feel" of the show, how it looks, sounds, hell, even how it "tastes" to create this single image. Here's hoping that this makes for good training for editorial assignments...photo editors? are you there? It's me, jordana...

Leaflet Day. My Neighborgood. October 9, 2008. 12:37-12:40PM.

click on the images for a better view.

ps: yes, it's supposed to say "neighborhood" in the blog post title but there's something I like about "neighborgood" so I'm just going to keep it that way.

I didn't take this picture but I'm in it. St. James Place. September 28, 2008. 11:15PM.

photo by geoff weiss

On Board the Chinatown bus to Philly. September 20, 2008. 6:44AM.

Looking up Outisde Clinton-Washington. September 15, 2008. 7:25PM.

sheesh...making due with another iPhone captured Polaroid. St. James Place. September 14, 2008.

this one was a pleasant and somewhat haunting surprise. I think I'll scan this one at ICP this week and post it again, unmediated by the terrible quality that takes over when shooting a glossy Polaroid on an iPhone in low-light conditions...

well, maybe not the only photographic tool at my disposal. September 13, 2008. 1:15AM.

The Beatty Before Bedtime Part II. September 13, 2008. 1:01AM.

it's times like this I wish my "real" camera wasn't broken. the iPhone just can't do it all. I've done my best here with this one with the only photographic tool I have at my disposal until my camera gets back from the doctor in a week or so...

The Beatty Before Bedtime. September 12, 2008. 10:55PM.

From the Backseat on my Birthday. August 31, 2008. Afternoon.

not posting my own images yesterday didn't quite feel right (especially after my proclamation from before that I would return to the blog's "founding constitution.") So, that said, here are images of the Polaroids I took yesterday, shot with my iPhone camera for the purpose of posting on the blog. I think they lose some of their effect (and certainly sharpness) but this won't mark the first time I've posted both ineffective and/or blurry images up here. Enjoy.

My camera broke. August 31, 2008.

well, so much for posting one a day every day...for now. I'm sorry to report that my camera broke today (it's the CF card sensor- none of this stuff really happened when you were dealing with simple mechanics in film cameras). In the spirit of "my today" I took several Polaroids with the intention of posting but at the moment do not have a camera with which to take their picture to put up on the blog...With the hopes of mitigating your disappointment (and frankly- and perhaps more like it, my disappointment), I've posted an image by Weegee for you to consider that I realize now caught my eye many years ago before I knew this guy was a major player, so to speak, in the world of photography. I even made a sketch in my little pocket notebook of the woman in the white fur with the fabulous sketch-worthy face. many apologies for this technological hiccup. I'll be doing everything I can to fix the problem both for the sake of "my today" as well as my career!
© Weegee

Startling Scientific Discovery: Frequency of Today Posting Directly Proportional to Personal Happiness! August 30, 2008. Mid-Afternoon.

I realized today, the last day of my 24th year on this earth, that there is some link between my personal happiness and the frequency of my today posts- the posts representing both a daily attempt at creativity and communication through images. So, regardless of how I feel, inspired, the opposite, bored, blind, or busy, I will return to the spirit of what is both the tagline and the "constitution" of this blog: "an image a day from my today."

One Bit of Self-Promotion. August 29, 2008. 12:57PM.

Hello all. Although I have yet to hear from the Photography Book Now Competition about my book, Subversions,  I have heard via the grapevine that is the blogosphere (thank you Andrew Hetherington) that a new prize category has been introduced: The People's Choice Award. This means that you, friends, family (fans?), random internet surfers who stumble across this blog (my apologies to the person who typed "uncensored grandpa" into google- it's true, google analytics does not lie- and got a blog chocked full of a bunch of "arty" and wildly un-erotic pictures), can have a say in whether or not this little book of mine is worthy of such an accolade. I've cast my vote. Now you can cast yours. To vote, simply click here and then on the orange rectangle beneath my book's cover image. I think it says, "vote for this book," or something like that. If you're not convinced that the book is worthy of "People's Choice," that's ok. Have a look at some of the other choices in the competition bookstore and....don't come back! (I kid, I kid). Really, may the best book win...! Many Thanks for Your Continued Support. More "todays" on the way. Jordana 

Elvis. On the Floor of Providence Picture Frame. August 26, 2008. 11:37AM.

We Don't Get Light Like this in Brooklyn. Pawtucket, RI. August 24, 2008. 6:52-7:04PM.

Jill. August 12, 2008. Evening.

Letting in Some Light. Marvin Mattelson's Painting Workshop. New York. August 11, 2008. 1:47PM.

A Quiet Moment on the Set of "Break." Lindenhurst, NY. August 10, 2008. 12:36PM.

here is a nice stolen moment from a rehearsal on the set of "BREAK," the indie film I worked on over the weekend. It was my first opportunity since the Movie Stills Workshop with Kerry Hayes up in Maine to see first-hand what it's like to be on set. I have to say, I imagine it's something I could begin to grow quite fond of. For more stills, you can visit my ultra professional facebook stills album here. I'm still deciding if I should be adding these images to my main website ("what kind of photographer is this jordana zeldin anyway? fine art? documentary? abstract/conceptual? headshot? and now, film stills? she's all over the place!")...I've been warned by people who know about establishing yourself as someone who can do everything "well" (i.e- who can problem solve, get the job done, but who isn't known for a strong sense of "vision"). I know it's still early in the ole career but I'd like to be careful of that..

Starbucks Casualties. The Bowels of Penn Station. August 10, 2008. 5:52AM.

this one seems to work best in black and white.

August 6, 2008. 10:28PM.

I Have No Title for this Photo. Cafe Habana. Fulton Street, Brooklyn. August 6, 2008. 8:04PM.

Light on Legs. August 5, 2008. 7:51AM.

break. august 2nd 2008. 5:06PM.

hello there all. sorry for not having posted anything for the past couple of days. i think i'm going to take a short break from posting until i feel grabbed by something. i'd like to do more with that last entry, expand it into something resembling a new project. how does photography communicate? how effectively? how does rephotographing a news image intended to bring us right there, to the scene of an event take us even closer to it or remove us from it further? rephotographing is nothing new but i seem drawn to it: both in my book and in the today from July 29th. I'd like to see where that goes.

my today will resume, of course, but as I work on the promotion of my book and begin a few new projects i'm going to take it a bit easy for the next week or so (unless I stumble upon something i want to post.) If there are any objections please speak now or forever hold your peace. happy august. -jordana

Kurdish protesters ran for cover on Monday in Kirkuk, Iraq, after a suicide bomber struck, killing at least 17 people in the crowd. 07.29.2008.8:53AM.

Early Morning Light: Studio 2A. July 30, 2008. 7:22AM.

more of the same...a post just to post. July 28, 2008. 5:58PM

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