Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Some Days of Senior Daze (S.S.), Part I: Kenyon Solomon

Name: Kenyon "Kenon" Solomon

Age: 18

Occupation: 1. Student, Malibu High School, Class of 2013
2. Artist/Producer, Independent
3. Pizza Delivery Boy

kenyon close up #1
malibu high school, malibu, california
film

Kenyon's Song:

kenyon full length
malibu high school, malibu, california
film

My Question:
"Where are you right now?"

Kenyon's Answer:

"Alright so my answer to the question,"where I am right now?" is very boring because I'm sitting on my ass in an economics class doing busy work as a second semester senior. F this! I'm trying to graduate high school and get the hell out of here and venture out into the world. Experience my own life independently. I applied to like 9 different colleges but my number one choice is NYU. I want to get a degree in music production and become my own hip hop producer and hopefully make my own record label. I love all these friends that I have grown up with, I am going to the death bed with these homies. Even though we are all going separate ways after we graduate, I will always keep in touch with these guys and I will be friends with them for the rest of my life. Some senior days...... Peace out."
kenyon close up #2
malibu high school, malibu, california
film

Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Some Days of Senior Daze (S.S.), Part I: Will Rosenthal

Name: William Zahn Rosenthal

Age: 18

Occupation: 1. Student, Malibu High School, Class of 2013
2. Employee of Salvation (Nike)
3. Basketball, Lacrosse and Golf Player
4. Future Head Coach of the Los Angeles Lakers

will close up #1
malibu high school, malibu, california
film

Will's Song:
will full length
malibu high school, malibu, california
film

My Question:
"Where are you right now?"

Will's Answer:
"The question of "where I am now" is a tough one to answer, because in reality I am somewhere different every time I take a step. But after I thought about what the question is really asking, I realized I knew exactly where I am. I (and all my friends) am in a transitional stage of my life. I am about to experience something that I haven’t done in 18 years, live on my own. So right now, my life is about to flip flop. I am leaving my home that I have lived my entire life, leaving my family that I have been with my whole life, and leaving my friends who I have been with my entire life. I am in a place that is foreign to me. I am in a place that I have no experience with. It is a little bit scary to think about leaving all of these great things, but I know great things are to come as well. For all of my friends, in about 6 months, our real lives start. No more mom and dad to help you with all the little things. I am cherishing my home, my family, and my best friends; but I am also waiting, waiting for my life to begin. But as far as where I really am RIGHT NOW, I’m at Horizon with all the homies. SS for life."
will close up #2
malibu high school, malibu, california
film

Monday, January 28, 2013

Some Days of Senior Daze (S.S.), Part I: Jake Wexler

Name: Jake Wexler

Age: 17

Occupation: 1. Student, Malibu High School, Class of 2013
2. Summer Camp Counselor
3. Movie Theater Employee

jake close up #1
malibu high school, malibu, california
film
Jake's Song:

jake full length
malibu high school, malibu, california
film

My Question
"Where are you right now?"

Jake's Answer:
"I am in the best place in the world."
jake close up #2
malibu high school, malibu, california
film

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Some Days of Senior Daze (S.S.)

When I went home this past month for my final winter break as a senior, undergraduate student, I stepped back into a world I had thought had gone with the wind (and four years of college), living as a senior in high school. My brother, Apollo and his friends share something any nostalgic soul would sweetly and sadly smile at, but this "something", what exactly do I mean? Of course this "something" includes the years growing up playing soccer together, and the first punch thrown on the playground of elementary school, or the carpooling to skate parks in the rebellious days of Eminem and that first joint, but the fact that these memories are jointly shared by a group of boys focused on purely living is what that "something" means to me and I think them. This shared memory balances on my heartstrings, making sure I can feel the light pressure of my own memories soaked in that idea of "purely living". I understand those days as a wormhole of immortality, perpetuated by the physiological madness of youth, and at first I believed that dimension to be vacuum sealed to my brother and his friends, but I was wrong. That "something" I am talking about, that alternate reality that seems like a lucid dream, exists not only to those living within it but also to those who create it, and I know I am the creator of my childhood and my living youth. This is the reason why the heavy bows of youth fondly weigh us down as we get older, because once you have created something, it will always live within you just as vibrantly as you once lived within that lucid dream. 

It is because of my brother and his friends that I was able to come to this conclusion, and for that reason I thought it appropriate to create a project dedicated to their time as seniors in high school. The project is titled: "Some Days of Senior Daze (S.S.)", and documents my brother and his friends on some of those days back in high where you wished someone with a camera was around to capture the memory. I will be posting this project in sections; the first section will be individual, directed portraits (shot with 120mm) of the boys accompanied with a short biography, a song of their choice and their answer to the question, "Where are you right now?". The second section will be free form, capturing the boys as a friend, rather than a photographer (shot with 35mm)

I hope whomever takes the time to immerse themselves within the photographs and accompanying mediums, is able to see something I saw or something completely different, but I just hope for someone to see that "something". 

Monday, January 21, 2013

envision

what is haunting to me?
people's words
my own words
images of childhood
melodies and lyrics
thoughts of the unknown
forgotten wishes
photographs
misstepped acts
perfect days
thick scents
an untied sadness
the glow of sunshine

jessie with facepaint
santa barbara, california
film



man with the stories
santa barbara, california
film
dead snake
santa barbara, california
film

Tuesday, January 15, 2013

winter sun

flowers, like silence, are for thoughts left unsaid or the unsaid left with thoughts.

daisies
santa barbara, california
film

striped towels
santa barbara, california
film

Sunday, January 13, 2013

cleansing

bambi by the waves
santa barbara, california
film

chloe
santa barbara, california
film

Wednesday, January 9, 2013

preview

winter break photo project:
days of a high school senior

where:
malibu, california

high school:
malibu high school

subjects:
my brother and his friends

shot with:
hasselblad medium format

preview: