I am a photo maker in Jacksonville, FL
business inquiries alexismire@gmail.com
Jordan Tiberio, The Girl Next Door for The Photographic Journal. June 2016.
Paying homage to Irving Penn’s 1949 photograph ‘Summer Sleep, New York’, I composed this curious photo essay titled ‘The Girl Next Door’. Much of my personal work revolves around the theories of memory, and how the medium of photography aids or destroys this natural process. In this body of work, I chose to focus on how that loss of information can be objectified with the use of a camera. Using a window screen as the central point of focus in each image, simple snap shots are broken down into complex blocks of color, each becoming a building block for the bigger picture. Dashes of water obstruct bits of each scene, representing the fragments of our memories lost to time.
Asking for help is always hard, especially when you’re self-sufficient and strong-willed. In this case I am asking for help for someone who is very important to me, who I have had the immense joy of knowing and growing with, who I view as an incredibly talented person who has been dealt a really bad hand in life.
Stephen has epilepsy, he’s had it since I’ve known him, and he’s had it all his life. He has countless petit mal seizures daily, even with medication, that leave him unable to drive by law. To get around, he’s used pedal bikes for most of his life.
Four years ago he bought an electric bike which broaden his ability to travel independently by miles (and mph!). Recently his road-bike (which can run upwards of $400 for a reliable and durable bike) was stolen out of our garage, leaving him only with the Metro. However, that bike is now in need of some major repairs, a new battery and a new motor, coming at a very inopportune time.
Unfortunately the business Stephen is employed at is going under, due to no fault of his own. The restaurant/bar is being evicted and will likely be shutting its doors by the end of the year, leaving Stephen without income. He is seeking other employment, but is limited due to his lack of more reliable transportation.
You might be wondering why he doesn’t use public transit. On top of the burden of epilepsy, Stephen also has to deal with debilitating generalized anxiety disorder. Something you may struggle with, or maybe you too have a loved-one who’s worry is on a hair-trigger. His anxiety centers on his ability to control his transportation/location, a constant need to have a way out of a situation. It is largely exacerbated by his driving limitations. To make matters worse, as many anxiety sufferers know, physical exertion/exhaustion can increase feelings of anxiety, and thus at this point even a pedal bike can prove challenging.
Many of us probably take the luxury of hopping in our car and going somewhere for granted, for Stephen it is a near impossibility.
If there ever was a time to ask for help, it’s now. We’ve tried going it alone, but sometimes life just keeps piling it on and piling it on. Tonight the motor on Stephen’s Metro failed, he estimates the cost alone for a new one will run $500. The battery for the bike is likely soon to fail, it’s life already runs short and limits him on the distance he can go, a new one will cost roughly $1,000.To add insult to injury, this break-down is happening right after an unexpected flat tire repair that required a new tube and tire to the tune of $200. This newest blow – coming a week later – is beyond unlucky and just unfair.
So we’re asking for the bare minimum to help at a time when Stephen needs his own form of transportation more than ever. With his job soon ending he needs to be able to make it to interviews independently, and prove he has reliable transportation to even get hired.
Every little bit can help go towards parts for his electric bike and possibly a new one or even just helping us get by while he goes through his transition in employment.
Thank you for reading, please share if you can’t donate; and please donate if you can!
Much love,
xx Lindsey
!!
Noah Gundersen
her daddy is a preacher and may he rot in hell!
i’d sell my soul to satan for a bucket from your well
‘cause i know he don’t like me
and i know he’ll disapprove
but i’m gonna marry caroline if it’s the last thing that i do
Take this song, replace Caroline with your cat’s name (or significant other) and enjoy~*~*
We decided that every year when this giant azalea bush in our front yard blooms we are going to take a family photo in front of it.
Family being me, jess, and hopefully one day our (far away) future dog ;)
We recently announced that we are joining forces and becoming a wedding photography duo!!!!!!!, follow along on IG @jesseandlex
Making things is hard
sometimes you want to but the moment you start you feel like you’re just repeating yourself
other times you don’t want to but you want to but you don’t
It’s hard because I know that I am capable of great amazing wonderful work, but I am getting in my own way
Gotta get to work.
Gorgeous portraits by Maïmouna Guerresi
Maïmouna Guerresi who was born in Italy as Patrizia Guerresi where she was raised as a Catholic. She later changed her name when she married a Senegalese man, and converted to Sufi Islam. #Love it!
From a collaboration in Louisiana with Jesse Brantman
Brace yourselves, I’ve been meaning to write about this for a long time.
So you’re going through an artistic crisis? I get it.
Maybe you came across a little bit of internet fame at a young age and now you feel old and unsatisfied. There’s no real platform for your work anymore, no real feedback. Do you post to instagram, where you get the most interaction but lose all image detail on a phone screen? Or maybe you share on tumblr where people just ‘like,’ and don’t really say much else? Or do you turn to facebook where you have to pay for fifteen people to see your poorly resized image? You certainly don’t go back to flickr, because it’s a reminder of what you’ve lost in a way. Besides, all of your comments on flickr these days are:
Great
Sexy
Cool pic please look at my stream greetings and love xo *insert photo of dolphin*
There’s no reward anymore. Everything you once had is missing now. Maybe you grew up a little spoiled, many great artists created with no affirmation and recognition only came after death. You had a passionate community from a young age, you had positive reinforcement, people were excited to see your work and you were excited to make it.
So how do you get excited again?
You go through weird phases with your work these days that may look like this,
1. You make nothing
2. You make work that sucks and mimics your old, successful work
3. You make new stuff that feels cool but doesn’t feel like you
4. You make nothing
5. You reevaluate your creative approach, you try:
-Planning rather than trying to create a photo on a whim like you usually do.
-Choosing different subject matter. You stray away from self portraits and try shooting other people, you start doing miniatures, or maybe you take pictures of bird houses, I don’t know, you’re experimenting.
-Shooting in new locations, in a studio or in an alleyway instead of a forest.
6. You decide to do another 365 project, or a 52 weeks, but you’re too busy and most of the photos suck and it makes you feel worse.
7. You make work and hide it from everyone, it sits in a folder on your computer and you revisit it every so often. It’s like a fun secret but not always satisfying.
8. You feel irrelevant and that worries you. You want to post often and stay in the game but you don’t have anything to share.
9. You are bored.
So how do you get a second wind? How do you compete with younger you who loved photography with all of your being and created daily and had a blast? There are two schools of thought about stirring up inspiration:
1. Inspiration needs to find you working. Create and create and then it will come. Don’t wait around for it.
2. Create when it feels right.
I begrudgingly believe in number one. Even though creating when you don’t even know what you’re doing feels a little futile, it eventually works out. Either you find inspiration, or you find a new direction. I think you need to work the muscle, but don’t put so much pressure on it. A bad photo isn’t the end of the world and doesn’t need to be shared. The masters of drawing and painting did tons sketches and studies before creating their own masterpieces. You need to seek inspiration and not be afraid to use it. Practicing isn’t copying. You love a photographer’s fashion work? Practice their lighting styles, their editing style, become more comfortable posing and working with models. Hone your skills and make it your own. Obviously if you share this work, a nod to the artist is appropriate. But it’s okay to make work that you don’t share that gets tucked away into the archive, like an assignment you’ve given yourself to grow.
Develop a new relationship with your work, you aren’t a super human and can’t compare yourself to those who are constantly releasing content. It’s okay that you haven’t created in a while, that you haven’t posted in a few weeks. A web presence is important but it is not make or break. Don’t be ashamed of your absence, wouldn’t you feel worse if you knew you were sharing work you didn’t even like?
Be patient with yourself. Take bad photos, take good photos, take incredible photos.
Cry when you look at the back of the camera and realize you’ve finally made something genuinely you.
You’re older, you have higher standards now, not every image with bokeh and a hair flip will tickle your fancy, you know better now.
You are better than that young, passionate photographer because now you have the skills and perspective they didn’t have. You aren’t old and washed up, your audience has changed, your environment has changed, your availability has changed, but you still have it in you. You just need to work harder now to get the adrenaline rush that is getting the photo. You aren’t as easily impressed these days and that’s good, it’s good to grow, and I promise it’s worth it.
So make quietly if you aren’t satisfied, loudly if you are. Don’t be afraid to make it a private process. People will leave, unfollow, stop caring, but those who truly love your work will stick around during your growing pains. Remember that your art is for you and that every other element is just excess, just a bonus. Become the best you first and the rest follows.
Summer at Providence Canyon State Park
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http://www.alexismire.com/leftknee