Joe Reifer

Spending too much time on the computer lately? Here are some recent book recommendations:

The Deep Focus series is a collection of pocket-sized books that are a love letter to a quirky film. Josh Wilker’s homage to The Bad News Bears in Breaking Training is one of the most insightful books I’ve read about growing up in the 1970′s. If you had feathered hair, played Little League, and remember Carter vs. Reagan, this book is for you.

The first book in the Deep Focus series is Jonathan Lethem’s wide ranging analysis of the classic John Carpenter film They Live. I really enjoyed watching the film again after reading the book. You can watch They Live on Netflix or Amazon Prime. Lethem also has a forthcoming book in the 33 1/3 music series on Talking Heads’ Fear of Music.

A friend sent me a review copy of Steve Erickson’s forthcoming book These Dreams of You. I’ve been a fan of Erickson’s work since the late 80′s when the same friend turned me on to Days Between Stations. Thomas Pynchon wrote a blurb for this brilliant first novel that holds true for much of Erickson’s work:

Steve Erickson has that rare and luminous gift for reporting back from the nocturnal side of reality, along with an engagingly romantic attitude and the fierce imaginative energy of a born storyteller.

These Dreams of You follows an L.A. family’s adoption of an Ethiopian girl just after the election of Barack Obama. Erickson weaves his interest in music, politics, and race into the family’s search for their daughter’s history. There are some amazing episodes in These Dreams of You, but overall it’s not as cohesive as some of his other work. Of course any kind of follow up to Erickson’s brilliant ode to cinema Zeroville would be tough.

While I was in Tucson, I picked up a copy of the book Junkyard Jets at the Pima Air & Space Museum. Junkyard Jets is a look inside the airplane storage and scrapping industry. If you’re a junkyard fan, you need this book!

When I meet someone for the first time, and the conversation turns to movies, I always ask “What is your favorite Coen Brothers film?” I picked up this Virgin film series book used and was pleasantly surprised by the interesting analysis of their first 10 films, and also the information on the critical reception.

Two dudes gettin’ drunk and stoned and playing with as many amps as we possibly can and basically just playing Melvins and Earth riffs but trying to play them slower than those bands played them. — Sunn O)))

I enjoyed watching the heavy rock documentary film Such Hawks Such Hounds. The full documentary is available above on YouTube, or the DVD is available directly from the filmmakers.

This time-lapse documents a 2-hour visit to Pier 24 in San Francisco to see the Here exhibit that features over 700 photographs of the Bay Area. Visiting Pier 24 is free, but you need to make an appointment online a few weeks in advance.

Time-lapse technical details: Still photography is allowed inside Pier 24, you just can’t use a flash. I asked permission before making this time-lapse. I used the string from a sweatshirt to hang a GoPro HD camera around my neck (Flavor Flav style). The camera took a photo every 5 seconds. The time-lapse was assembled at 6fps in Quicktime 7 Pro. Titles and music were added in iMovie. As the show is Bay Area focused and has suburban themes, I thought music by The Residents would be appropriate.

I hope you enjoy the time-lapse tour, and that you are inspired to book a 2 hour time slot to visit Pier 24!

Update: Thanks to Blake Andrews for spreading the word about my tour of Pier 24.

My presentation at last week’s Mono Lake Night Photography Festival was about the value of cultivating a diverse set of artistic influences. You are already doing this informally. The idea is to talk or write about your artistic input, as a playground for better understanding how these things are influencing your artistic output.

I had 45 minutes to talk, and spent just under 2 minutes talking about how each of these artists has influenced my night photography. As the presentation was both fast and media intensive, I’ve reproduced the list of artists below for those who attended the conference.

I encourage you to make your own list of influences. This could be a desert island list of your favorite films, photography books, novels, museum exhibits, dance performances — whatever you’re into. Making a list is the first step — the epiphanies are born out of process of articulating why you love this work, and how the work has influenced you. The writing doesn’t have to be lengthy — start with one sentence for the why, and one for the how. Have fun, and feel free to share your list.

1. Gordon Matta-Clark: Conical Intersect [video on UbuWeb] [photos & bio on artnet]
2. John Divola: Vandalism Series [photos on divola.com]
3. Roger Ballen: Outland | Shadow Chamber | Boarding House
4. John Pfahl: Altered Landscapes
5. Draw on your image: To be discussed in a future blog post
6. Gaspar Noe: Enter the Void [Netflix]
7. Matthew Barney: Cremaster Cycle
8. Werner Herzog: Of Walking In Ice
9. Mark Rothko: Rothko’s Rooms [Netflix]
10. William Vollmann: Imperial
11. Michelangelo Antonioni: Red Desert [Netflix]
12. David T. Hanson: Waste Land
13. Flotation Tanks
14. Haruki Murakami: A Wild Sheep Chase
15. Ikeda Carlotta: Butoh Dance
16. Yasujiro Ozu: Tokyo Story [Netflix]
17. Master Musicians of Jajouka: Apocalypse Across the Sky | Pipes of Pan
18. Lotte Reiniger: The Adventures of Prince Achmed [Netflix]
19. Caspar David Friedrich [friendsofart.net]
20. John Hind: Our True Intent Is All For Your Delight
21. Chris Verene: Family | Chris Verene
22. Jacques Tati: Playtime
23. Erik Kessels: In Almost Every Picture #9 Black Dog

Note: Book and movie links go to Amazon, and help put a few extra pennies into the epiphany research jar.

Driving California SR 108 from Bridgeport up over Sonora Pass (9624 feet) on a lovely June day. The snow was still thick and the scenery was beautiful. The song is Climbing from Meat Puppets II. Thanks to Troy Paiva and Gabriel Biderman for a fun trip.

The first Paul’s Junkyard night photography workshop was a blast. At sunset on the second night, the owner cut a car in half, and then lifted another one in the air for us to photograph. I was tempted to dub dinosaur sounds over the video. Troy Paiva and I saw some amazing work during the critique sessions, and we’re looking forward to seeing more photos online soon. I’ll be featuring some photos right here on my blog, and also keep an eye on the Flickr group.

We’re planning to do another workshop at Paul’s in the fall. The April workshop sold out in less than a day. The best way to grab a spot is to get on our email notification list. We promise not to use your car to demonstrate how the giant metal cutter works.