Last Images of 2009

They say sometimes you lose a whole year.

2009 started off in a catatonic way and really didn't pick up until November.

Truth be told , I've been in a transition period for sometime now. I hit the proverbial " Old Fork in the Road" period and really didn't know what I would do next. Sometimes I can be a text book- card carrying, membership dues always current Virgo, but not when it comes to my craft.

So I puttered a lot. I didn't look too much at photography or my own work for that matter. I was on a sabbatical of some sort, but in the back of my mind I really wanted to figure out what to do next.

For the better part of 25 years I've been working mainly with an 8x10 and 12x20 inch view camera making platinum palladium prints .

I thought I'd work that way for the rest of my life, but as life would have it, I stopped seeing and my interest in the medium I've loved for almost 30 years waned.

But all is not lost as I've rekindled my love affair with examining life and the world . This time with a new tool.

I'm not saying its the end all, but at least I'm in love again.........sometimes, that's all that matters.

Sometimes you just have to tell yourself to just shut the fuck up and take pictures.

I attached a new series called " Autoscapes " . Sometimes the best view is from a moving car.

Happy New Years to all out there ! See you in 010.

New Jersey Turnpike I 95 , Dec 25th 2009

Cumberland Farms , NY 2009

Roadside Vernacular

USS Mo, Hawaii 2 0 0 9

Potsdam NY 2009

Rt 89 New York State 2009

Graniteville , Vermont

Walker Evans was Here

Hudson Storefront, 1996 Michael Lardizabal 8x10 in silver gelatin contact print

Walker Evans, Warren St ? Hudson NY

1933-34










I need to thank Melissa Stafford who's the director at Carrie Haddad Photographs in Hudson, NY who I just saw this afternoon for pointing out to me that Walker Evans worked in Hudson .




Hudson is near and dear to my heart since its only 15-20 mins from where I live and is truly an American jewel.



All those years I studied Evans' work at the Getty Museum study room I never came across any of the Hudson material, but it seems as if the Metropolitan has a group in theirs but didn't end up in the major Evans book they did.





Here's one of my favorites from the Hudson group at the Met and one of mine from Hudson.

According to the annotation attached to the archive it was made w/ a 35mm camera, so at that time Evans had both a Contax II and a Leica IIIC. I have to admit I would've loved to have seen the old man prowling the alleys and streets of Depression era Hudson w/ a Leica on his neck.

Road,Cattle,Pole,Taft,Ca. 2009

Back Home.........

Who says you can't go back home again ?

I was out in California a few times this summer and got a chance to reaquaint myself with the flatlands of Central California where I spent many years making photographs.

These open expanses of land have fortunately remained un-developed. Its still beautiful and mysterious. There are some valleys that are pristine with just cattle .

The heat is dry and therapeutic.

James Dean died not too far from where I made these images. Edward Weston also worked near Taft and Coalinga as did Morley Baer and I think Ed Ruscha. Where I stood I felt the same ancient vibes and whispers I first experienced in 1988 . Nineteen years of looking at this landscape and it still captivates me to the core.