Virtual books, that is. This Japanese recycling and “ecology zoo” promotion website has some very cool 3D popup books which you can view at any angle. It’s something that would really scare W.

I had the honor of shooting some of Alex Katz’s work for an exhibition catalog. While I was there, the artist let me snap a few shots of him working in his studio. It was quite a thrill watching him make his iconic, colorful work.

Not a stadium crowd, but a fun night at the U.S. Custom House for LMCC’s final reading of our residency. Me, John Talbird, and LuLu LoLo read pieces from work created while in residence. Photos courtesy of Sean Carrol of LMCC.

An Araki+Moriyama spread on the sofa...

Ralph Gibson crotch shot...

These are from a project I’m doing with LuLu LoLo, an hommage to Nadar’s photos of Pierrot.

On the way to Ikea Redhook via the water taxi. Lady Liberty and Olafur Eliason’s waterfall on Governor’s Island.

An extra while finishing up at Alex Katz’s studio...

One of the most influential photography books of all time is coming out in a 50th anniversary edition. No doubt about it, Robert Frank had a major influence on me. I view his balance of detachment, social commentary, and poetry nothing short of pure genius. The guy has/had eyes! And he never kept still, always moved on and innovated. The Americans is like Miles Davis’ Kind of Blue, groundbreaking, iconic. Neither artist was foolish enough to rest on his laurels or repeat the past. That’s why they ended up being great.

Some of My Favorite Photos from the Book

He was one of the first to use the flag compositionally, exploiting its graphic form in ways many Americans found offensive and unpatriotic.

He photographed everyone, black, white, latino, rich and poor. Part of Frank’s gift was that he wasn’t dogmatic or biased. He seemed to treat all subjects equally, with dignity and an open mind.

He was a formalist as well as a poet. This picture taken on the East River flashed in my mind when I was writing a couple of scenes in my novel about the ferry and Ellis Island.

This picture is both compositionally and emotionally perfect. The elevator girl’s expression, the blur of the woman in the mink stole, the silhouette of the portly man with glasses, plus the angle of the composition adds movement and tension. The positive and negative spaces are just amazing, an interesting jigsaw puzzle, seemingly reconfigurable.

More on the 50th
For more commentary on Robert Frank and this anniversary, go here, here, and here. 2009 will bring a travelling exposition, starting at the National Gallery.

A few pictures of Donna, Lulu, Brendan, Alison, Mike, Monika, Clive, and Mary from the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council's Open Hours on Friday. Save the date for the real Open House on April 26-27. For more about the other artists, go here.