5 things • wyne veen

i like the strange feeling you get from looking at wyne veen's photos. it made me curious to hear what her 5 most favorite things in the world might be. you can see a previous post about wyne's work here and even more stuff here.

1/ animated gifs

i like animated gifs a lot. i think i've seen every single one on the world wide web. these are some of my favorites.

2/ david shrigley's bonnie prince billy video

i also enjoy playing ping pong, on the computer and especially in real life. you can see a post about david's photos here and see more of his stuff right here.

3/ tv5

i like to hear the french tv channel tv5 in the background while working. they have nice and strange movies and they repeat them the next day, so it's good for learning french.

4/ miltos manetas painting

this is a painting by miltos manetas. he is involved in a thing called neen and likes to play with words. 'neen' is a bit of a weird way to say 'no' in dutch. it's ancient and formal. when i used to ask my father a question he would always enthusiastically answer by directing me to the dictionary...something which i am only now slowly beginning to appreciate. this is the second piece of art i would like to own. the first is a big dutch vanitas painting, it doesn't really matter which one but there should be flowers in it.

5/ charles bukowski

charles bukowski books and poems, they make you feel really relaxed about your life. unfortunately he's dead, but there is a nice documentary about him called 'born into this.' he has some foxy ex-girlfriends.

5 things • luke stephenson

woah...luke stephenson's portraits are great. when asked what 5 of his favorite things in the whole wide world were this british photographer responded accordingly. you can see some previous posts with luke's work here and here. and take a peek at his very nice website right here.

1/ birds

i have become a bit of a bird fancier since taking photographs of budgies about a year ago. there are so many variations and colours within the bird world. they are just rather wonderful creatures and they can fly! you can see some of my bird photographs right here.

2/ useful photography

useful photography is a magazine created by erik kessels and friends. i just love this type of photography...it serve a purpose and it looks so good. it just amazes me that people are unwittingly creating such great photos. basically erik kessels is a genius. another good place to see odd photos is as-found.

3/ big shot polaroid portrait camera

this is my favorite camera, it just looks so strange, it's a bit like a plastic toy but it takes such wonderfully sharp pictures. it's a range finder camera so you're always a meter away form the person you are photographing. you can see some of my pictures taken with the big shot here.

4/ my computer and the internet

this is sort of two in one, but you couldn't have one without the other really. i spend far too much time with them both. the internet is just the best thing since sliced bread...you can find out anything, look up anything...it's mind boggling really.

5/ my glasses

my glasses are very important to me. without them i would live in a blurred world, which wouldn't be very nice especially for a photographer. it must have been horrible if you were short sighted in olden times before glasses were invented.

5 things • asha schechter

former new yorker photo researcher and i heart photograph guest blogger asha schechter just left nyc for los angeles this fall to pursue his mfa in photography at ucla. we here on the east coast miss him a lot so asked him to remind us of 5 of his favorite things. see asha's pictures here. a nice little website he created called specific things here. and his very own t-shirt company here.

1/ florian maier-aichen

i saw his show at lacma recently and was impressed by the way his pictures varied in form but were so consistent in tone. i especially liked his pictures of boats that had an epic, 19th century feeling. see some work from the show here.

2/ patrick jackson

patrick just finished his mfa at usc and does a lot of different things well. be sure to watch the excerpts of his videos. take a peek at more of his work here.

3/ the shy photographer

by jock carroll. i bought this book because of its great cover and title, but the story is better then you would expect. it's a terry southern-esque satire on tabloid journalism, but because it's from the 1960s it's not as annoying as that sounds. easy to find online but the one with the good cover is the british 1st edition. search for your own copy here.

4/ fallen fruit + treat street

these are both great ways of getting food unconventionally. fallen fruit, among other things, makes maps of all the places in los angeles where fruit trees extend into public space, which means you can go and eat it for free. treat street is a bakery that sets up shop sporadically for a day at a time in different locations, like a fancy lemonade stand. two of the nicer things about l.a. find out more about fallen fruit here and treat street here.

5/ interlochen music camp

i was looking at the amazing library of congress website and came across this collection of pictures from a "national music camp where 300 or more young musicians study symphonic music for eight weeks each summer." the photos were done by arthur siegel in michigan in 1942 for the u.s. office of war information. search the loc's database for yourself, type in "interlochen music camp" here.

5 things • paul graves

paul graves makes some of the loveliest commercial work i've ever seen. all these delightfully playful anthropomorphic things, often in collaboration with bela borsodi. rumor has it that he is currently in a big house in spain working on a personal project which i can't wait to see. when i inquired about 5 of paul's all time favorite things in the whole world this is what he shared. you can see a previous post about him here and take a peek at his website here.

1/ jethro haynes

shoe sculptures/photography from a graphic designer. they work with my sense of humor. see more here.

2/lisa reinermann

excellent work. "type the sky" uses building silhouettes to spell out the abc's. see more here.

3/ khan of finland

i have been listening to his music for years. and he's a dear friend. i can spend nights on end crawling from bar to bar with him acting like we don't have a care in the world except where the next place to get a drink is. have a listen here.

4/adalberto abbate

micro sculptures are dioramas of the macabre and disturbing (like scenes of accidents, riots, shootings, and more). see more here.

5/ thriller (in jail)

100's of inmates perform to michael jackson's "thriller" in the prison court yard. wow. you have to respect that. watch till the end.

5 things • andreas kohler

andreas kohler is a man of mystery and intrigue. seriously, how many people's list of favorite five things include butterflies on underwear? you can see a previous post about andreas here and take a peek at his great website right here.

1/ my office


2/ butterflies on underwear


3/ money on the floor


4/ orchid


5/ my dishwasher