April 30, 2012
Astoria, Queens// I spent my first three years in New York living in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. I was excited to move there when I arrived and enjoyed my stay but by the end I was ready to leave. I get restless about every three years and need to move. The nice thing about New York is that you can pick up and move to another neighborhood and it’s a completely different experience. I’m in Astoria, Queens now living in a much nicer apartment with someone I know which makes all the difference in the world. The first leg of my morning commute is spent on the elevated portion of the N train. It’s a nice change. Catching a glimpse of the skyline before you descend underground allows your mind to wander a bit before you head to work. New York is continuously sculpting you into a different version of yourself. You can’t resist it, you just have to adapt to it. It’s a state of being I enjoy. In fact, it’s probably why I’m drawn to living here. By the end of the week I should have the 4x6 prints of the California color work. Then the editing starts. The drive to finish that project is strong. It’s all coming together. I can see the finish line. The process is beautiful when you don’t fight it and allow it to work its magic. It’s a state of creative bliss I wish I could articulate better….

Astoria, Queens//

I spent my first three years in New York living in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. I was excited to move there when I arrived and enjoyed my stay but by the end I was ready to leave. I get restless about every three years and need to move. The nice thing about New York is that you can pick up and move to another neighborhood and it’s a completely different experience. I’m in Astoria, Queens now living in a much nicer apartment with someone I know which makes all the difference in the world.

The first leg of my morning commute is spent on the elevated portion of the N train. It’s a nice change. Catching a glimpse of the skyline before you descend underground allows your mind to wander a bit before you head to work.

New York is continuously sculpting you into a different version of yourself. You can’t resist it, you just have to adapt to it. It’s a state of being I enjoy. In fact, it’s probably why I’m drawn to living here.

By the end of the week I should have the 4x6 prints of the California color work. Then the editing starts. The drive to finish that project is strong. It’s all coming together. I can see the finish line. The process is beautiful when you don’t fight it and allow it to work its magic. It’s a state of creative bliss I wish I could articulate better….

10:33pm
(Notes: 3)
  
Filed under: greenpoint new york 
February 25, 2012
Hollywood, Calif - 2007// Deleting photographs from the internet is fun. I’ve been on a rampage the last couple of weeks. I axed all my photographs from Facebook (except a few party pix), everything I uploaded to Google+, I cut my public Flickr stream down to 100, and deleted my 500px account. And then the other day, I deleted my entire photography site because I’m going to be moving it over to new portfolio network run by James Dodd. I don’t know when I’ll get it up and running. I still need to make my new edits. I know, I know. “I’m deleting shit from social media” blog posts are stupid. “Oh, good for you! Who cares!” My point I suppose is that on the web we’re continuously editing and evolving our photographic identity. I felt I had too many photographs that I didn’t really like floating around the web. I visit numerous portfolio sites and always appreciate nice, tight edits. It’s hard to go through too much work and I just felt the edits I had on my site weren’t the best I could come up with.

Hollywood, Calif - 2007//

Deleting photographs from the internet is fun. I’ve been on a rampage the last couple of weeks. I axed all my photographs from Facebook (except a few party pix), everything I uploaded to Google+, I cut my public Flickr stream down to 100, and deleted my 500px account.

And then the other day, I deleted my entire photography site because I’m going to be moving it over to new portfolio network run by James Dodd. I don’t know when I’ll get it up and running. I still need to make my new edits.

I know, I know. “I’m deleting shit from social media” blog posts are stupid. “Oh, good for you! Who cares!”

My point I suppose is that on the web we’re continuously editing and evolving our photographic identity. I felt I had too many photographs that I didn’t really like floating around the web. I visit numerous portfolio sites and always appreciate nice, tight edits. It’s hard to go through too much work and I just felt the edits I had on my site weren’t the best I could come up with.

11:00pm
(Notes: 27)
  
Filed under: ESVT california los angeles 2007 
January 27, 2012
New York// I have no recollection of making this photograph. I’m guessing it was from a night out in Brooklyn but I don’t know for sure. Did I meet this couple that night? Or were they complete strangers? I’m not likely to figure it out anytime soon so I guess I’ll just have to go with it. Surprise photographs on rolls of film are great. 

New York//

I have no recollection of making this photograph. I’m guessing it was from a night out in Brooklyn but I don’t know for sure. Did I meet this couple that night? Or were they complete strangers?

I’m not likely to figure it out anytime soon so I guess I’ll just have to go with it.

Surprise photographs on rolls of film are great. 

10:12pm
(Notes: 4)
  
Filed under: Black and White portrait 2011 
January 16, 2012
Jared Iorio - Zuccotti Park, New York, October, 2011// Jared’s the only person I know whose directly involved in the Occupy Wall St. movement. He was camping at Occupy Los Angeles right away; he’s been up to Oakland; he’s slept at Zuccotti Park; and apparently he got married along the way. Too bad his revolutionary ways have forced his photography to take a backseat.

Jared Iorio - Zuccotti Park, New York, October, 2011//

Jared’s the only person I know whose directly involved in the Occupy Wall St. movement. He was camping at Occupy Los Angeles right away; he’s been up to Oakland; he’s slept at Zuccotti Park; and apparently he got married along the way. Too bad his revolutionary ways have forced his photography to take a backseat.

9:37pm
(Notes: 10)
  
Filed under: portrait jared iorio Black and White 
December 29, 2011
Beverly, Blvd., Los Angeles// I’m not sure why I took so many photographs of myself during this time. It’s a bit strange. I suppose there’s really nothing wrong with it, but every time I did it I grinned at the absurdity. I started to call them ‘wanker shots,’ which I think is appropriate.  I still make these kind of self-portraits from time to time. Who cares? It’s just a frame. Do it and move on. MEDICINE - PUBLISHED BY HAMBURGER EYES BUY IT HERE HAMBURGER EYELAND From the series ‘Medicine,’ Los Angeles 2006-2007

Beverly, Blvd., Los Angeles//

I’m not sure why I took so many photographs of myself during this time. It’s a bit strange. I suppose there’s really nothing wrong with it, but every time I did it I grinned at the absurdity. I started to call them ‘wanker shots,’ which I think is appropriate. 

I still make these kind of self-portraits from time to time. Who cares? It’s just a frame. Do it and move on.

MEDICINE - PUBLISHED BY HAMBURGER EYES

BUY IT HERE HAMBURGER EYELAND

From the series ‘Medicine,’ Los Angeles 2006-2007

11:41pm
(Notes: 15)
  
Filed under: medicine los angeles Black and White 
December 15, 2011
Downtown Los Angeles// This one of the photos that ended up in the zine that I’d sort of forgot about. I went back and processed it a bit differently which made me more satisfied with it. MEDICINE - PUBLISHED BY HAMBURGER EYES BUY IT HERE HAMBURGER EYELAND From the series ‘Medicine,’ Los Angeles 2006-2007

Downtown Los Angeles//

This one of the photos that ended up in the zine that I’d sort of forgot about. I went back and processed it a bit differently which made me more satisfied with it.

MEDICINE - PUBLISHED BY HAMBURGER EYES

BUY IT HERE HAMBURGER EYELAND

From the series ‘Medicine,’ Los Angeles 2006-2007

10:25pm
(Notes: 30)
  
Filed under: medicine Black and White 
December 15, 2011

hamburgereyes:

MEDICINE

PHOTOS BY BRYAN FORMHALS

PUBLISHED BY HAMBURGER EYES

BUY IT HERE HAMBURGER EYELAND

Very excited about this. Thanks guys!  

5:52pm
(Notes: 28)
  
Filed under: medicine 
December 14, 2011
Hollywood, Calif.// Better edits Bryan, better edits. Something I really appreciate about the web is that you can transform yourself. I can delete photos, completely removing virtually any trace of them on the web and nobody will really notice. From my current perspective, I have far too many photographs floating around the web. So many are poorly processed, or just plain old shitty and not worth the virtual space. It’s easy to say that now of course and who knows if one can ever curb their desire to share. Processing and editing, processing and editing. The repetitive nature of it is sort of appealing. I just need more new photographs to work with, which reminds me, time to order more film. From the series ‘Medicine,’ Los Angeles 2006-2007 

Hollywood, Calif.//

Better edits Bryan, better edits. Something I really appreciate about the web is that you can transform yourself. I can delete photos, completely removing virtually any trace of them on the web and nobody will really notice.

From my current perspective, I have far too many photographs floating around the web. So many are poorly processed, or just plain old shitty and not worth the virtual space. It’s easy to say that now of course and who knows if one can ever curb their desire to share.

Processing and editing, processing and editing. The repetitive nature of it is sort of appealing. I just need more new photographs to work with, which reminds me, time to order more film.

From the series ‘Medicine,’ Los Angeles 2006-2007 

9:17pm
(Notes: 25)
  
Filed under: medicine los angeles hollywood Black and White 
December 6, 2011
West Hollywood, Calif.// My friend Dave would have people over to watch UFC. He lived in a shithole in the glamorous part of West Hollywood. It was an interesting contradiction but his parties were always fun, interesting and filled with stimulating conversation. He attracted good people.  I’d often take pictures not really knowing what people thought, then again, those were the type of parties where you didn’t care what people thought. I’m not sure I really ever made to many interesting ‘photographs’ but I have plenty of B sides to show. This is probably one of them. I’m not sure. I spotted it as I was going through the negatives last week and decided to scan it again.  From the series ‘Medicine,’ Los Angeles 2006-2007  

West Hollywood, Calif.//

My friend Dave would have people over to watch UFC. He lived in a shithole in the glamorous part of West Hollywood. It was an interesting contradiction but his parties were always fun, interesting and filled with stimulating conversation. He attracted good people. 

I’d often take pictures not really knowing what people thought, then again, those were the type of parties where you didn’t care what people thought. I’m not sure I really ever made to many interesting ‘photographs’ but I have plenty of B sides to show. This is probably one of them. I’m not sure. I spotted it as I was going through the negatives last week and decided to scan it again. 

From the series ‘Medicine,’ Los Angeles 2006-2007  

12:17am
(Notes: 31)
  
Filed under: medicine Black and White West Hollywood 
November 20, 2011
Los Angeles, Calif.// I finally had all my negatives shipped to me from Minnesota. I did so with some trepidation because now my physical and digital archive is one place. Commence urgent back up operation! I wasn’t planning on doing too much with them but then I started to browse through some of the old black and white negatives and realized I hadn’t really given them a good look in a few years. I know for certain my taste has changed and I’ve become a bit of a better editor so I wondered if I’d be looking at the negatives with different eyes. Sure enough after browsing about ten rolls I made the decision to look through them all to see if there were a few photographs that I should take a look at again. I have about 125 black and white 35mm rolls. About half of them didn’t have anything I wanted to look at again. But in the other half there were about 50-75 that I wanted to scan and take a look at again.  So, now I’m going through and scanning again. My feeling is that this will be the last time (check back in ten years!) because I’m preparing to put this series together into a book/magazine.  Most of the images I’m scanning are generally landscapes or photographs from parties and such. This sort of makes sense. At the time I was really focussed on street photography so I was probably looking for that type of work more than anything. These days, it’s the opposite. As I look through the negatives, I’m wondering why I wasted so many rolls photographing people in public, and didn’t pay more attention to other things. This has also really made me question my process. Maybe all this going back and forth is my process! It’s almost as if I’m approaching this archive for the first time after a few years away from it.  This is why with my new work I’m just going to collect piles of photographs and go from there. Very exciting but there’s no getting around how much scanning sucks…. From the series ‘Medicine,’ Los Angeles 2006-2007  

Los Angeles, Calif.//

I finally had all my negatives shipped to me from Minnesota. I did so with some trepidation because now my physical and digital archive is one place. Commence urgent back up operation! 

I wasn’t planning on doing too much with them but then I started to browse through some of the old black and white negatives and realized I hadn’t really given them a good look in a few years. I know for certain my taste has changed and I’ve become a bit of a better editor so I wondered if I’d be looking at the negatives with different eyes.

Sure enough after browsing about ten rolls I made the decision to look through them all to see if there were a few photographs that I should take a look at again. I have about 125 black and white 35mm rolls. About half of them didn’t have anything I wanted to look at again. But in the other half there were about 50-75 that I wanted to scan and take a look at again. 

So, now I’m going through and scanning again. My feeling is that this will be the last time (check back in ten years!) because I’m preparing to put this series together into a book/magazine. 

Most of the images I’m scanning are generally landscapes or photographs from parties and such. This sort of makes sense. At the time I was really focussed on street photography so I was probably looking for that type of work more than anything. These days, it’s the opposite. As I look through the negatives, I’m wondering why I wasted so many rolls photographing people in public, and didn’t pay more attention to other things.

This has also really made me question my process. Maybe all this going back and forth is my process! It’s almost as if I’m approaching this archive for the first time after a few years away from it. 

This is why with my new work I’m just going to collect piles of photographs and go from there. Very exciting but there’s no getting around how much scanning sucks….

From the series ‘Medicine,’ Los Angeles 2006-2007  

8:04pm
(Notes: 34)
  
Filed under: Black and White medicine