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I’ve been thinking a lot about “ekphrasis” lately.

My friend @jeremydae introduced me to it a while back. I dabble in the world of poetry, while he is a solid citizen thereof. Ekphrastic poetry is typically about a work of art. But in the Greek, it means, literally, “to speak out.” To point out. To describe.

And what is photography if not an attempt at pointing out, at drawing attention to some detail, some thing, some moment. To say “Look at this!”

These three images are related. Years ago I saw an exhibition by @theduanemichals at the Morgan Library in New York. I loved how he wrote on the picture, brought in invisible information to the frame itself.

Maybe this will be a place to explore more of what is not seen in the images I’ve been privileged to make over the past 20 years or so…maybe it’ll be a place to point out, to say if my shirt was wet with sweat, or if the beer tasted good, or if there was a cockroach crawling along the edge of a barstool.

But because of the third image, I can’t help but see the first and the second together, in each other. And the unseen Jim Baum, who ran the radio station where the giant microphone stood, and who was the mayor of the town, and who spent all night while wildfires threatened his community helping give information and guidance to his neighbors, using the AM airwaves to share information about open roads and open shelters.

I’ve been thinking a lot about “ekphrasis” lately.

My friend @jeremydae introduced me to it a while back. I dabble in the world of poetry, while he is a solid citizen thereof. Ekphrastic poetry is typically about a work of art. But in the Greek, it means, literally, “to speak out.” To point out. To describe.

And what is photography if not an attempt at pointing out, at drawing attention to some detail, some thing, some moment. To say “Look at this!”

These three images are related. Years ago I saw an exhibition by @theduanemichals at the Morgan Library in New York. I loved how he wrote on the picture, brought in invisible information to the frame itself.

Maybe this will be a place to explore more of what is not seen in the images I’ve been privileged to make over the past 20 years or so…maybe it’ll be a place to point out, to say if my shirt was wet with sweat, or if the beer tasted good, or if there was a cockroach crawling along the edge of a barstool.

But because of the third image, I can’t help but see the first and the second together, in each other. And the unseen Jim Baum, who ran the radio station where the giant microphone stood, and who was the mayor of the town, and who spent all night while wildfires threatened his community helping give information and guidance to his neighbors, using the AM airwaves to share information about open roads and open shelters.

I’ve been thinking a lot about “ekphrasis” lately.

My friend @jeremydae introduced me to it a while back. I dabble in the world of poetry, while he is a solid citizen thereof. Ekphrastic poetry is typically about a work of art. But in the Greek, it means, literally, “to speak out.” To point out. To describe.

And what is photography if not an attempt at pointing out, at drawing attention to some detail, some thing, some moment. To say “Look at this!”

These three images are related. Years ago I saw an exhibition by @theduanemichals at the Morgan Library in New York. I loved how he wrote on the picture, brought in invisible information to the frame itself.

Maybe this will be a place to explore more of what is not seen in the images I’ve been privileged to make over the past 20 years or so…maybe it’ll be a place to point out, to say if my shirt was wet with sweat, or if the beer tasted good, or if there was a cockroach crawling along the edge of a barstool.

But because of the third image, I can’t help but see the first and the second together, in each other. And the unseen Jim Baum, who ran the radio station where the giant microphone stood, and who was the mayor of the town, and who spent all night while wildfires threatened his community helping give information and guidance to his neighbors, using the AM airwaves to share information about open roads and open shelters.

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