Bike Repairs Redux

Bike Repairs Redux, originally uploaded by Ron Harrell.

- portable thoughts

At some point last month, I taught myself the rudiments of black and white film developing in my kitchen. These are the results:

Shot while assisting Todd for a job with sarah dixon's nova, a clothing line. Obviously it's not in focus, and the camera I used doesn't have a hot shoe, so I had to trip the off camera flash optically with my speedlight and time it correctly. This photo really never had a chance, but I consider it a happy accident. I still like it.

Shot at the train portal to Ikea. I wish NYC had more outdoor train stops.
The photo was published on Gowanus Lounge, which is a blog I enjoy from time to time.

momentum.

As previously mentioned, I was working on a project with Rocket Garage for the Fall/Winter '09 promotion. It's now finished. I've yet to see the physical book that they sent out, but the mockup was great. Apparently they've been scoring some shows with this ultra simple concept. This proves to me that sometimes, even in the most fantastical industry of fashion, less is more. Here is the (strange) video for it:
Untitled from Ron Harrell on Vimeo.

Secondly, I will be working with my good friend Matt Kaelin on shooting this Monday (President's Day) for the F/W '09 collection showing and lookbook of Altuzarra. This is exciting due to the fact that the last time we worked together with them (I was assisting), the images ended up in Vogue and Elle with another set slated for Vogue Paris. Cool stuff, and great clothing. I'll be shooting(!) the event this time around.

Lastly, I've scheduled my first editorial shoot ever with Joy Quarterly, which is a fantastic small-run publication made for 'creatives' by 'creatives'. I'll be shooting Au Revoir Simone, a group of young ladies from Brooklyn that makes some nice pop music that sound like springtime. I'll post the images when the mag is on news stands.

Oh, I need to make a scrapbook. And I just bought a Contax T2 for the Spring and summer sun. Both things excite me immensely.

- portable thoughts

Hello, How are you? I've been great.

Fuck, I'm hungover. It's 5 am or so and I'm feeling compelled to recall the last few weeks events in reverse chronological format. But first let me skip this shitty Kanye West on my iTunes. Why the fuck is this even in my library? Criminal.

Yesterday Impromptu Super Bowl party not having much to do with the Super Bowl at all. Things that pertained to said game... finding somebody to bet against the Steelers. I found 4 suckers. Now I have to play rock, paper scissors with Winnie for all the marbles. I'm feeling confident. (Winnie, if you read this, you're gonna lose.)

Things that didn't pertain to the game... Walked to the park with Kirsten where we smoked cigs, drank really heavy beer and watched gay guys walk their little dogs. Mosied over to Todd's to an assortment of food, beer, purps and nice friends/acquaintences. We were on This old house. Check this. It's across the street from Todd's place. As a collective, it's safe to say that we'd like to tag the door, tip the port-a-pottie and do other lawfully questionable things in funny costumes. I've got dibs on Tony the Tiger.

Saturday was Sandra's birthday party. Oh and I did some lighting tests with In Kim, #1 at being lighting curious. I feel like it'd be better to sum this day up in pictures.


Completly epic and heroic lighting with one light source. Only said subject would ideally be not quite as pudgy or ugly. But you get this idea.
















Natural light (the sun) in a black box. Still somewhat ugly, but at least I have nice eyes. I like this scenario for portraits (duh).

I would say this image defines a good portion of my sense of humor. To the left is Mike. To the right is Tigger. Tigger is huge. and mean. I like tigger. I'd take him over most dogs in a Michael Vick type scenario.







Baby's first chocolate milk, mom sanctioned. He was completely stoked.











I have more to share. TBC.

walking.

The walks have been fantastically good lately.

One of the reasons why I slightly prefer New York to Seattle is that, even though it gets cold here, it's generally sunny. Sure it rains, snows, hails, ice storms and anything else one could bitch about, but when it does the previously mentioned things... there's some effort put into it. I'm seriously considering walking to work tomorrow.

I've got a ton of sun peeking out into my pictures behind this and that. Obviously it creates some lens flare, but I'm more than happy to have it. I can't wait for the summer. The music gets a little livelier, beer tastes better, it's finally warm and girls shed a few layers of clothing which never hurts anything.

Unfortunately I won't be heading to Wisconsin for my grandfather's funeral this weekend as the weather has gotten too bad to drive and my dad just needs to fly there. I was looking forward to going there, seeing what everyone had to say about the man, and taking some photos along the way.

My work is going along well. My pop wants me to shoot the promo for his agency in the next few weeks. This excites and scares me. It's a great opportunity, but I don't know what the fuck I should do. I'm not so great at chasing muses and so, in that spirit, I'm sure something will come. Also, I'm shooting Cursive in a club about the size of my living room in a few weeks. It should be good. I'll post some of that shit when I get it done.

Dear God, Help us all.

I was named after my father's father. I never met him. He passed away a week or 2 ago and, alas, I will embark on some kind of weird soul searching journey to Wisconsin to celebrate his life/mourn his death and maybe catch a glimpse into the life of a man I'm from but will never know. I'm not exactly sure what to think but I'm at least happy for another road trip (photos, family, etc.).

Things have gotten strange around here. Dad's taken a sudden liking to bourbon. He was a scotch man. His weed is higher grade than usual. He's eating from a George Foreman grill. I guess when your father dies from a 90 percent blockage in an artery you have one of the existential "oh fuck" moments. I hope it's not soon for me. His company has been beyond stellar in the last few years.

by and bye.