a collection of photographs from my recent trip to mecca, california; an unicorporated community on the northern shore of the salton sea.
Exploring - Mecca, California
in explore
All Signs Point to Mecca
mecca california is an unincorporated community along the north shore of the salton sea in southern california's colorado desert. the sea & the surrounding settlements are almost directly on top of the famed san andreas fault.
the area surrounding the salton sea had a short life as a resort town in the 1950's, but the ever-increasing pollution of the lake all but ended tourism in the area. the sea is now surrounded by the sun bleached corpses of fish & water birds poisoned by its toxic waters, as well as the remains of shops, resorts, & motels either totally abandoned or repurposed by the community's handful of current residents.
Notebook: When Photographs are Poems
in diary
In my self-directed photography studies I find much overlap between photographic concepts & poetic concepts. I make notes as I read:
Photographer Robert Frank said that when people looked at his photographs he wanted them “to feel the way they do when they read a line of a poem twice”. I think there must be some fundamental link between photography & poetry. After all they are both a type of image making.
The etymological meaning of the word poetry is “something fashioned or made” which seems to me to be exactly what a photograph is as well. Richard Avedon said; “All photographs are accurate. None of them is the truth.”
When you freeze a moment, either in words or pictures, you make it into something unto itself. It’s not life but it’s also not not life. A simulacrum of being?
Perhaps poetry was the first kind of photography—before the camera existed. Suspending moments in blank air.
We make a poem to understand what words can do. We make a picture for the same reason. “I photograph to find out what something will look like photographed.” - Garry Winogrand.
“I see poetry as the medium most similar to photography… or at least the photography I pursue. Like poetry, photography is rarely successful with narrative. What is essential is the ‘voice’ (or ‘eye’) & the way this voice pieces together fragments to make something tenuously whole & beautiful.” - Alec Soth
Reading: The Documentary Impulse by Stuart Franklin.
Photos are from my recent photo essay, Jardin du Souvenir.
Dreaming in the Tall Grass
in explore
travel diary:
I imagine myself laying in the waist deep grass of the normandy marshlands. it rolls out in every direction until it simply ends on the coast with the creeping high tide. the end is not the hard line the map makes it out to be, but rather it is a place where greenyellow blurs into slowly rolling grey. I watch as my boots slough mud on the trampled blades.
Details - Lock It Up
a love lock is a padlock which lovers attach to a bridge, gate, fence or other monument to symbolize their love. paris' pont des arts bridge is perhaps one of the most famous locations for these locks, though the practice has spread to virtually all of the 12 bridges crossing paris' seine river.
I had always thought the love lock tradition began in paris, but this is incorrect. the practice was happening earlier in asia & eastern european countries & only moved to the city of light in roughly 2008.
attaching these locks to public structures is considered vandalism in most countries & the locks are periodically removed by local governments. but you'll still find them en masse on the bridges of paris.
Details - Brocante Market, Paris
travel diary:
I can't remember the location of the market, only that we had highlighted its general vicinity on our folded map. first we found an enclosed space, like the pike place market I had visited as a child, most of its stalls shuttered for the day or for the summer vacation. disappointed, we walked around back & into a bustling square where vendors had laid out their cornucopia of wares on well worn tables.
we wander between the rows of books, knick knacks, antiques, & clothes. I buy a small silver box, tarnished to a dark grey. priced at 15 euro, but I only pay 10. past the square a street is transformed into a fruit market, bees flocking to sliced watermelon & split open pomegranate.
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Brocante is colloquial french for flea market. the formal form is marché aux puces (literally "walk of fleas").
Harpa
in explore
travel diary:
walking through the grey of a reykjavík summer day, harpa rises up along the coast like a futuristic glass barnacle.
I wander inside to escape the cold. everything is blue hued. the sail boats in the harbour perfectly still.
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holding its first concert in 2011, the harpa concert hall replicates the basalt landscape of iceland using sculpted & coloured glass. construction began in 2007 but was halted during the 2008 icelandic financial crisis until the government decided to complete the project. because of the crisis, for several years harpa was the only construction project occurring in iceland. it is now the home of the iceland symphony orchestra & the icelandic opera.
Preservation of Mourning
in weird world, explore
travel diary:
a tuesday morning strolling among the monuments to the dead in père lachaise. I have since discovered that the cemetery was opened exactly 184 years before my birth on 21 may 1804 (I come along on the same day in 1988).
the altars to the dead in père lachaise are spectacular. many topped with elaborate sculptures, stained glass windows, & miniature gothic cathedrals. this was not a place meant to be left abandoned. the dead would be expecting their survivors to stop by for a visit.
“Be silent in that solitude,
Which is not loneliness — for then
The spirits of the dead, who stood
In life before thee, are again
In death around thee, and their will
Shall overshadow thee; be still.”
père lachaise cemetery is the largest of its kind within paris' city limits. it is the final resting place of a long list of celebrated luminaries including oscar wilde, edith piaf, marcel proust, & jim morrison. receiving more than three million visitors per year, père lachaise is the most visited cemetery in the world.
Only at High Tide
I first learned of this cool sometimes island as a teenager, but never really imagined I'd find myself one day standing on the marshy shoals on the north western coast of france looking at it live & in person.
the mont is awe-inspiring to look at up close. rising out of the water like some kind of science fiction fantasy city. it's said to be the inspiration for minas tirith in the lord of the rings movies. it also has a long & fascinating weird history, including spending some time as an offshore prison.
Details - French Cats
wherever I go, I find the cats.
slightly terrifying parisian brocante market cat paraphernalia. the french are known to love their dogs, but it isn't dog figurines lining the tables of street markets in the city.
Paris Street
in photography, explore
travel diary:
in the summer sun, people are out on the streets of paris. not just tourists, but locals who, for whatever reason, didn't leave the city for the nationwide august holidays. the markets & cafes are busy despite the heat & the otherwise empty city chatters with french, english, italian, german, & spanish.
Colours - Reykjavik
in explore
spent a day walking around reykjavik. iceland is never particularly warm or sunny, even during their summer months, but instead of succumbing to the grey the residents of reykjavik paint their houses & shops bright colours. the whole city feels cheerful despite its weather.
La Ville de Rêve de Ma Jeunesse
in explore
when I was 15 years old I went to paris. I had been obsessed with france for several years, so when a school trip appeared I begged my mother to max out a credit card so I could go. I had traveled a small amount before, but this trip launched me into becoming a person who loves being somewhere totally new. though I've returned to europe on occasion, I've never gone back to france.
tomorrow I head back to paris for the first time in over a decade, stopping over for a day in reykjavik along the way. this time, I've been dreaming of iceland & walking paris' streets testing out the travel photography tips I've been reading about in books.
& also eating a lot of bread.
-N
paris, age 15.
Red Sun + Midnight Sky
in photography, explore
diary:
sitting on the manicured sand of balboa beach in orange country, watching the fat red sun sink behind palm trees & multi-million dollar homes. a lone lifeguard stand sits empty, dusk crawling in around it.
Recycling
in photography
My friend Megan made this amazing dress out of tossed away items from her recycling bin. On Saturday we set off to downtown LA to stage a fashion photoshoot to capture the dress in all its glory. We explored some of dtla's coolest locations, from the Biltmore Hotel to the Walt Disney Concert Hall.
Megan's dress is made of paper shopping bags, old CDs, binder clips, plastic bags, a vegetable tie, & a scrap of wrapping paper.
Creating Content - Surfsies LA
Spent some time last week shooting some social media content with Surfsies LA, a local surf accessory brand. Slowly building up my branded content portfolio as part of a content creation company I will be launching shortly. Stay tuned!
California Aqueduct
in photography, explore
The long stretch of I-5 south from Oregon to Los Angeles is mostly mundane. Cities & towns of varying sizes. Truck stops. Gas stations. Fast food restaurants. Here the interstate is just a means of getting from point A to point B.
But for a chunk of time you'll criss-cross a branch of the California Aqueduct. In late summer the rolling hills are golden brown from drought. The aqueduct flows over 400 miles from the Sierra Nevada Mountains all the way down to Southern California & it is the primary feature of the California State Water Project, one of the largest public water & power utilities in the world. Construction on the aqueduct began in 1963.
Somewhere along the way I came across this vista point just before sunset. I decided to stop to see if I could capture the fat weight of the sun & its rays sinking over the California hills. This is the result.
-N
Exploring - The Golden Gate
in explore
travel diary:
dawn + fog + boats + bridge.
after spending the night by the ocean I woke up at 4 am to make my way to the presidio to catch the early morning light on the golden gate. the fog was so thick I had to drive at a snails pace. the sky turned deep blue just before the sun came up & bleached everything white.
-N
Exploring - Haight-Ashbury
in explore
travel diary:
just after dawn I get lost in the presidio & eventually find my way out into the haight-ashbury. the streets are largely empty, with only the odd groggy commuter clutching their coffee as they wait for the walk signal. I find a parking spot half a block from the intersection of haight & ashbury, which I'm certain wouldn't be there any later in the day. the morning is cool & the fog hangs in low & heavy. my los angeles blood can't bear to be out too long. I walk a half block in each direction, taking in the multi-coloured buildings & old victorian houses. the streets are quiet. none of the shops are open. I think about the east village in new york. I think about what these places used to mean, before you had to be a millionaire to afford their wood floor apartments & local coffee shops. I think about where all the art has gone, when profit becomes more important.
-N
Documenting Glass Beach
A place that has been on my bucket list since I first heard of it, Glass Beach is a fantastically weird little gem on the California Coast.
The beach is covered in multi-coloured pebbles of sea glass; a result of its past life as a dumping site for a nearby glass factory. Now a major tourist attraction, there are three beach sites accessible to the public. I spent a late afternoon exploring one & created this (very) short documentary about the beach & its history.
Read the full text from the video on Vimeo.
-N