dear and yonder

ok, i have been photographing a little during my hiatus. tiffany morgan campbell and andria lessler were in town last week for the premiere of their new kick-ass movie, dear & yonder. thanks to my friend joe conway, i had the opportunity to make some portraits of these lovely ladies.

their film is really inspiring and shows women in surfing in a way i've never seen before. i left the theater feeling full of adventure and stoke - too bad it was after dark or i would've jumped straight into the ocean. learn more about dear and yonder here.

there are many more images from the photo shoot; stay tuned and i will let you know when they appear alongside an interview for the launch of Drift Magazine and also on surfline. of course i will post them here too...

have a great weekend!

Exhibition: Joseph Bellows Gallery

Aloha friends!

I'm still on a brief hiatus from making photographs and instead enjoying time with family, friends, and nature. I'll be back soon but in the meantime, you should know my work will be in a group show opening July 11th and running through August 29th.

I am so honored to have my work hanging on the walls of Joseph Bellows Gallery, especially alongside photographers such as Alex Webb, Edward Sturr and Virginia Beahan. Below is the official press release. I hope you can make it out to see the exhibition while it's up.




July 11 - August 29, 2009
Opening Reception: July 11, 5 - 8 pm



We are pleased to announce that a summer group exhibition will open July 11th with an opening reception from 5 – 8 pm. The exhibition will run through August 29th.

The exhibition will include two contemporary San Diego photographers: Bill Rastetter and Liz Cockrum. Rastetter's ongoing Seascapes Series, which consists of images shot in La Jolla, California and Hawaii, captures the ocean at night. Using 4 x 5 inch color transparency film and time lapse photography, with exposures lasting between one and eight minutes, the oceans become more abstractions than literal landscapes. The loss of wave structure creates an abstraction that one might ordinarily associate with a watercolor painting rather than a photograph. Rastetter's minimal and often surreal seascapes capture views of the ocean not normally accessible to the naked eye.

Liz Cockrum's ongoing series called Sirens focuses on the lifestyle and culture of female surfers. By documenting women in spaces outside of the water, Cockrum's images go beyond the typical representation of women in surfing and show the softer side of surf culture. Her photographs show how this culture is infused it into her subjects' daily lives and personal spaces. Like Cockrum, photographer Joni Sternbach makes portraits celebrating surfers and surf culture. Combining a 19th-century process of tintype with a contemporary subject, Sternbach's surfer subjects, photographed on the beach or near the water, seem both current and timeless.

We will also feature work from Virginia Beahan's recent book CUBA: singing with bright tears, which is the culmination of the artist's seven-year project photographing the social and political landscape of Cuba.

Also included in the exhibition are vintage prints of beach landscapes by Brett Weston and Paul Capongiro and photographs of Coney Island in the 1960s by Stephen Salmieiri. Photographs by Alex Webb, Chip Hooper, Edward Sturr, William Dassonville, and Pirkle Jones will also be included.

Joseph Bellows Gallery
7661 Girard Avenue
La Jolla, CA 92037
858-456-5620 (t)
858-456-5621 (f)

info@josephbellows.com
www.josephbellows.com

image above © Joni Sternbach, Ditch Plains, Montauk, #3 Gillian, 2007, unique tintype, 8 x 10 inches

Gramé

My grandmother Katherine recently passed away, and while thinking about her and my relationship with her, I decided to go back through some old negatives from 2003-2004. This is a little personal, and potentially boring, but here goes:

Gramé came from a different time and world... she was born in 1913 in southern Indiana. She was the most proper person I've ever known. Not the typical "let me bake you cookies and hold you in my cushy arms" grandmother by any means, but loving in her own way. She taught me about a world I would have never known otherwise. She took me to plays and symphonies in the city, museums, taught me about manners and how I should always send a thank you note and be sure to put the date on a letter. Although she went to college, she only worked about 6 months; after raising my father and uncle, she spent much of her life traveling the world, learning about other cultures, and acting as a collector of sorts.

Because of her travels and collections, her apartment was like a time machine. It was largely unchanged since she moved into it in the mid-70's but felt much older because she was such an antique fanatic. These pictures were made when I was a junior in college and looking for a new photo project. Unfortunately, my memory is pretty awful and I'm not totally sure why I abandoned this and didn't make more pictures. I think I was frustrated with the light; her bedroom was the only place in the whole apartment that got any decent light. I think that since I had been going there ever since I was a little girl, I had a jaded point of view about everything and felt there wasn't much to photograph. I really regret that now.

Anyway, these are not the best images I've ever made, but they're meaningful to me. Below are from a few of the 20 rolls of film that I have from her place. Maybe I will scan more as I rethink them. As I type this, there is a moving truck on it's way to my house from Chicago containing over 20 boxes of her things + some furniture. Perhaps I can continue the project in a new way once these things arrive.

Gramé had a hard time holding still for the long exposures required to shoot in her apartment. She had all her grandchildren call her Gramé because it was French for grandmother and sounded more elegant.

To me, her bed always looked like it belonged to a queen.

Amnerys was my grandmother's maid and, as she aged, her caretaker for over 20 years. She was just as much a part of our family as anyone.

Exhibition: Sirens at Eric Phleger Gallery

Please come if you can! This will be my first gallery show of the year and it is sure to be a wonderful evening. Jacques Garnier will also be exhibiting work from his series Passing Through in the downstairs gallery. Here are the details:

June 27 - July 25
Artist Reception June 27, 6-8pm

Eric Phleger Gallery
828 N. Coast Highway 101
Leucadia, CA 92024

ps. i promise my next post will contain some photographs, rather than shameless self-promotion! i hope you have a great weekend :)

Another OG Spread!

You may or may not know that I accept freelance work from time to time - here is my most recent contribution to the current issue of Organic Gardening magazine. I love shooting for OG, the assignments they give me are so much fun!

I know the type is hard to read in the JPEG but the message to get out of it this article is: use less water! Something we could all benefit from whether you live in drought country or not.

As I prepare for my show, I am taking a shooting hiatus so I can devote time to printing, framing, etc. Hopefully I will have some new work to show you soon. Stay tuned.

Mattson 2 Art Benefit - June 26th

I know on June 27th you will be coming to my exhibit at Eric Phleger Gallery (see sidebar for details), but what are you doing on the 26th? If your answer is anything other than "Going to Surfindian for the Mattson 2 Art Benefit", think again!!!

The evening will bring art, music, community, surfing, and FUN together under one magical roof in PB. I will have this framed & matted image available in the auction. The print sings like a bird, but you'll just have come and see for yourself. :)

Click on the gorgeous poster above (designed by Julie Goldstein and Mark Tesi) for details, or keep reading.

Mattson Family Art Benefit

Friday, June 26 - one night only!

Surfindian
4658 Mission Blvd., Pacific Beach

858.412.5334

Music by the Mattson 2



Silent Auction 7pm - 9pm

Art to be "in hand" to winning bidder by 9:30pm


100% of the proceeds will go to the Mattson family.

$5 suggested donation at the door




For more information, please go to www.surfindian.com

Artists include: Alberto Cuadros : Andrew Paynter : Andy Davis : Candace Anderson : Chivo : Ciro Bicudo : David Hanson : Droog79 : Dustin Ortiz : Ed Fladung : Frank Cubillos : Heather Brown : Jair Bortoleto : Jamie Watson : Jay Watson : Jenny McGee Dougherty : Jessica Nichols : John Zane Zappas : Joseph Conway : Julie Goldstein : Justin Furniss : Kassia Meador : Katrine Hildebrandt : Kieron 'Seamouse' Lewis : Kim Nguyen : Kyle Lightner : Lindsay Preston : Liz Cockrum : Luke Taaffe : Maggie Marsek : Meegan Feori : Michael Singman-Aste : Peter Jackson Hussey : Peter McBride : Renata Morrone : Rick Albano : Ryan Tatar : Serena Mitnik-Miller : Scott Massey : Scott Szegeski : Ted 'Clayfin' Gallup : Theo Hetherington : Thomas Campbell : Tiffany Campbell : Todd Stewart : Troy Dockins : Ty Williams : Yusuke Hanai

holgariffic

a double exposure of a my brother's surf spot in santa cruz and the palm oasis trail in anza-borrego state park. you should definitely check out the trail and the park this fall/winter if you haven't been out there yet.

i just got a very strong sense of deja-vu as i typed this. have i posted this already? i can't find it anywhere...

sunday at seaside

good morning, seaside!

happy birthday stephanie

i've had some great critiques lately that resulted in a sleepless liz with LOTS to think about - fantastic for artistic growth! however, they've also left me displeased with my most recent rolls of film, so i have nothing new that i feel is worthy of a post.

i've also been prepping like a madwoman for my upcoming show at Eric Phleger Gallery in Leucadia (opening is June 27th, see sidebar for details - come and check it out if you can!) so that hasn't left me with much time for shooting.

in the meantime, enjoy these tiny prints i made for my dear friend stephanie for her birthday. we framed them together and they turned out really well. i wouldn't have printed these images so tiny if she hadn't made the request, and i think they are actually pretty sweet as little miniatures.

2.5" x 2.5" images in 5" x 5" frame

Barny's | Andrea in Her Surf Shop

Pink Van | Boards and Flowers

F-Stop Group Exhibit

Images from Sirens have been included in the latest edition of F-Stop Magazine, an online publication featuring established and emerging photographers. Seven images were selected to be included in the group exhibit section of this issue - exciting!

You've probably already seen the photos, but if you have a chance you should take a look through the exhibit. Sirens is included alongside some talented photographers such as Leilani Wertens, Rachel Wolfe, and Laura El-Tantawy. Click the image above to check out the exhibition.

ireland

Re-discovering images when sorting through negs is so much fun!

These were made in northwestern Ireland, a few years ago.

Trail

Landscapes are something else I want to include more of in this body of work (sirens), but it's challenging to find the right combination of light, land, sky and water that makes me want to make a photo.

Greg and I scored some fun surf up at San O this past weekend and discovered a trail we had never been on before. As I turned a corner descending down the cliff, I knew this was the just about the combination I was looking for in a picture. If you look closely you can see the swell lines...

Variety Pack

(above) Chelsea contacted me after seeing Sirens on Jettygirl, and I was stoked to have the chance to go up to San Clemente to photograph her this week. As you can see by her many, many trophies, she is quite an accomplished surfer at just 16 years old! One thing I noticed is that EVERY SINGLE trophy she has ever been awarded has a boy on it. No girls on trophies. How'dya like them apples?

(below) While visiting with my friends Cher and Steve this past weekend, they were kind enough to let me photograph their house. I love how natural, unique and fun their environment is - it captures their personalities so well!

These images have me especially excited because I've been trying to capture more details to incorporate into Sirens and I think at least one of these will work well. I photographed Cher previously, and will again, and I think these detail shots will compliment her portraits nicely by telling the full story of how integrated surfing is into her life.