Steve Schofield

Fanboys are kind of too easy of a target of satire these days. Granted, dudes running around dressed like their favorite sci-fi/fantasy/comic book heroes doesn't immediately make them the coolest guys in the room. But then again, it's just as silly seeing a group of Kanye-alikes or dudes dressed like Justice (see: every photo on Cobrasnake or Last Night's Party), but no one flinches. So what's up with the double standard? Geeks need love, too. That's why us geeks over at Whisper got excited at looking at Steve Schofield's "Land of the Free", a series of photographs of fanboys all decked out, but in their natural environments. Schofield actually treats his subjects with a sense of respect and awe, at times even making them seem heroic. After all, it takes a lot more testicular fortitude to go out dressed like Captain Kirk than it does to put on your leather jacket with Soulwax remixes blasting on your iPod.

Tiny Vices in Los Angeles

It's only fitting that Tim Barber's overwhelmingly massive online gallery, Tiny Vices, completely blitzes the city of Los Angeles in support of its newest collection of books. Barber has two events planned for the first week of November: a slideshow and Q&A on the 5th at Family Bookstore on North Fairfax, and a RVCA-sponsored exhibition the following day at Hope Gallery in Echo Park. Both events should take on TIny Vice's free-flowing community-focused aesthetic, which pretty much means you'll be seeing tits (live or photographed) at either event. C'mon, dude was the photo editor over at Vice, what else do you expect?.

The Final Farewell: A Tribute to Polaroids.

I'm sure that all of you know by now that Polaroid is discontinuing its line of instant film products this year to focus on rebranding shitty digital cameras and consumer electronics. I personally know of a handful of people that started stockpiling film for the land cameras and Polaroid backs the very same day they heard the sad news.

After the initial shock has worn off, I'm glad to see that some people have stopped brooding and have started celebrating the life and death of our favorite auto-developing film Irish wake-style. Echo Park's L'Keg Gallery will be host to The Final Farewell: A Tribute to Polaroids, a group show composed entirely of photographs shot on Polaroid instant film. The artists showing includes Whisper friend Jennifer Pacia and Whisper acquaintance Keeley Higgins. The show will also have musical performances throughout the night.

The opening reception takes place on September 12th at 8PM. There is a $5 cover charge, but there will be free beer. Look at it this way, that cover charge is at least a dollar less than a tall can bought at most Los Angeles bars, so two drinks more than makes up for it.

golden half camera.

I'm the first to admit that years ago, I was once a member of the toy camera bandwagon. I fell in love with the spotty metering and the dubious glass and went everywhere with my LOMO LC-As. Eventually, my love for it disappeared as more people were interested and it finally got on my last nerve when it became accepted and ubiquitous enough for photography students to include their toy camera work in their entrance portfolios. The newly rediscovered Golden Half camera by SuperHeadz, however, might just bring the fun and irreverence back to the toy camera community.

The Golden Half shoots two vertically oriented shots on one 35mm film frame, essentially turning a 36-shot roll into one that produces 72. Unlike similar cameras like LOMO's ActionSampler and POP9, the two shots are not exposed at the same time, thus allowing users to easily create photographic diptychs on the same frame. From the looks of it, the resulting images are surprisingly crisp. It's not anywhere Leica glass, but it doesn't aspire to be.

The shutter speed is set at 1/100 and the only two available aperture choices are f8 and f11, so make sure you have a lot of light. If you're not the outdoorsy type, the camera also comes with a hotshoe, a feature that no other 35mm toy camera has besides the LOMO LC-A+ which comes at a lofty $250 price tag. Fun and unpretentious, the Golden Half is a steal at $80. You can see a sample image taken by the camera below, with more to be found at the Golden Half flickr pool.

Photos In Your Space.

Speaking of documenting people's environments, photographer Todd Selby has started a project called The Selby In Your Place, wherein he photographs creatives in their spaces like some sort of art world National Geographic. The thing that gets me about these images is that whether it be through lack of space, sheer obsession or clever art direction, the people featured so far reflect their lifestyles and personalities in every aspect of their environment. That's not just a trait to be admired, but one that should be the norm for people of this type.

I also recommend checking out Selby's portfolio. You can really see that this project is not just an extension of his established style, but more of a full-blown manifestation of his interests.

the ones we love.

I might be late on this, but I just found out about The Ones We Love. The Ones We Love is a project wherein young photographers submit six photographs of the person or persons most important to them. The images have to be taken outdoors and in a natural setting.

I've always been enamored with group projects wherein disparate artists all work within the confines of firmly established rules. The results are almost always interesting. The Ones We Love is no different in this sense.

The only warning I have is that browsing the deep collection of work really makes you want to pick up a phone and call the people that you love the most. Perhaps this reaction is why I consider the project a success. Enjoy.

middle children of history.

we are the middle children of history.

rack it up to my pending quarter-life crisis, but i get the sinking feeling that we as a generation will be but a footnote in the history books. there are no true icons, no real heroes, no movements that define as a culture. perhaps that will be our call to fame. the antihero. the non-movement. perhaps the cause of all this may be attributed to our disinterest in history itself, our passion and memory of it as faded and bleached as jasper john's american flags.

this idea is what strikes me about this series of iconic moments of the 20th century, reenacted by senior citizens. it's a trip to believe that all these moments could ever fade, ever age but i'm starting to think that it's quite possible. while it may be a stretch to cast models that are past the age of seventy in some of these photos, to our young minds, we just might think that everything portrayed within them should be that old and decrepit.

i'll get off my soapbox for now and advise you to check out the work. it's good art, whether you read into it or not.