Bryan Formhals Photography

Astoria, Queens// I spent my first three years in New York...

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 22:33:54 -0400

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….

Hollywood, Calif - 2007// Deleting photographs from the internet...

Sat, 25 Feb 2012 23:00:00 -0500

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.

New York// I have no recollection of making this photograph....

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 22:12:00 -0500

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.

Jared Iorio - Zuccotti Park, New York, October,...

Mon, 16 Jan 2012 21:37:00 -0500

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.

Beverly, Blvd., Los Angeles// I’m not sure why I took so...

Thu, 29 Dec 2011 23:41:00 -0500

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

Downtown Los Angeles// This one of the photos that ended up in...

Thu, 15 Dec 2011 22:25:00 -0500

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

hamburgereyes: MEDICINE PHOTOS BY BRYAN FORMHALS PUBLISHED BY...

Thu, 15 Dec 2011 17:52:06 -0500

hamburgereyes:

MEDICINE

PHOTOS BY BRYAN FORMHALS

PUBLISHED BY HAMBURGER EYES

BUY IT HERE HAMBURGER EYELAND

Very excited about this. Thanks guys!

Hollywood, Calif.// Better edits Bryan, better edits. Something...

Wed, 14 Dec 2011 21:17:00 -0500

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

West Hollywood, Calif.// My friend Dave would have people over...

Tue, 06 Dec 2011 00:17:00 -0500

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

Los Angeles, Calif.// I finally had all my negatives shipped to...

Sun, 20 Nov 2011 20:04:00 -0500

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

“Mostly just random stuff. Looking for color, and more...

Sat, 19 Nov 2011 19:43:32 -0500

“Mostly just random stuff. Looking for color, and more complex black and white scenes. Not much candid people type stuff. I want to just shoot for a long time and start to build up piles of photographs….black and white, color, medium format, just a big mix of stuff. I’d like to make some portraits but I don’t know how.”

From my chat with Blake Andrews. Read the rest on his blog.

Brooklyn, New York// I finished scanning a bunch of roles the...

Thu, 10 Nov 2011 22:50:00 -0500

Brooklyn, New York//

I finished scanning a bunch of roles the other night. The first glimpse of what you think you’re photographing is always interesting and equally filled with disappointment. Psychologically I’m certain I’ve made a clean break from the NYC series I’ve been working since I arrived here, but aesthetically I’m not sure there’s much evolution.

My objective for 2012 is to tie up the series from the last few years and simply make new photographs. I’m shooting black and white and color film and don’t really have any sort of project in mind. I just want to collect photographs and evolve aesthetically.

But for that to happen I need to put a few of these series from the past into print. Doing that will give me some semblance of orientation. After, I can go back and think up new ways to assemble this mess of imagery I’m leaving behind….

strange-rs: Occupy Strangers Vol. 4 “I knew I wasn’t going...

Thu, 27 Oct 2011 21:14:27 -0400

strange-rs:

Occupy Strangers Vol. 4

“I knew I wasn’t going anywhere for awhile, so I started taking some photographs. I was forced to work from this spot, this perspective. As I snapped away, I felt at ease about straddling the line between protester and spectator. After all, this movement to me was one that avoided simple labels and classifications. I was there in the middle of it, that’s all the really mattered.

“All day, all week, Occupy Wall Street”

“All day, all week, Occupy Wall Street”

Occupy Strangers Vol. 4 - NYC by Bryan Formhals

Los Angeles, Calif.// A nice thing about New York is...

Sun, 23 Oct 2011 01:29:31 -0400

Los Angeles, Calif.//

A nice thing about New York is there’s no shortage of photographers to hang out with. In the last few months I’ve found myself chatting with more photographers over coffee or drinks more than usual. It’s a welcome development. I enjoy communicating over the web and most of the friendships I’ve developed in photoland have started there, but nothing really beats sitting down and having a free flowing conversation face to face.

In Los Angeles it was much more difficult, for a variety of reasons. First, I was just starting out and didn’t really know much about anything related to photography (still don’t honestly) but LA is also just a much more difficult city for casually socializing.

One of the few people I was fortunate enough to hang out with frequently was Raoul Gatepin. At the time we met we were both just starting to really investigate photography seriously which led to some interesting discussions. I still have very vivid memories about the mutual ideas we had for organizing and collecting our work. Both of us were thinking about how we could organize our work into chronological chapters.

I’m not sure if we were talking about those ideas on the night the photograph above was made but I remember having a good time in that booth at Tom Bergin’s, making pictures, sipping on beer and chatting about photography and the internet.

I can’t recall his name but the guy posing for Raoul was a friend of Ludmilla’s who was in town for a few days. Raoul commandeered his DSLR for a few minutes and started to snap away, much to our amusement.

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

Los Angeles, Calif.// A-mart sent me a proof of the...

Thu, 13 Oct 2011 00:37:00 -0400

Los Angeles, Calif.//

A-mart sent me a proof of the ‘Medicine’ zine the other day. It was cool to see his interpretation of the series. I didn’t have any complaints. It was a good mix that captured the vibe of the series….I think.

I feel like I’m retracing my steps, going back and finishing the work I started a few years ago. What’s nice is that I don’t feel rushed to get the work (self)published. I want to take my time and put it together at my own pace.

The web can make you dizzy and disoriented when it comes to photography. Sometimes it makes you want to vomit and avoid it like bad Chinese food, other days you feel like Godzilla, ready to destroy and devour it.

As of right now, I prefer to sit back in my chair, letting most everything drift by as I focus on putting the pieces of the puzzle together.

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

Los Angeles, Calif.// I have an organizational problem when it...

Sun, 02 Oct 2011 21:29:00 -0400

Los Angeles, Calif.//

I have an organizational problem when it comes to scanning and editing. I spent hours upon hours scanning negatives and minutes upon minutes deleting the resulting jpg’s in the name of editing.

This ebb and flow has left me with a few photographs that exist online but not on my hard drives….because I’ve deleted them.

When I think about it now, it really came down to storage. I was worried I was running out of storage, and not just in the physical sense, but mental storage. I figured deleting a bunch of jpg’s would make the photographs disappear from my mind. But that hasn’t been the case, and when these random photographs seep back into my consciousness I become really upset I don’t have the scanned file readily available so I can tweak it.

Most of my negatives are still back in Minnesota but I’m thinking it’s time they made the journey to Greenpoint.

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

Los Angeles, Calif.// I’ve never really considered this...

Wed, 07 Sep 2011 22:28:00 -0400

Los Angeles, Calif.//

I’ve never really considered this photograph for any edit but have always liked it for some reason. Abe Lincoln is sort of a weird icon to find in Los Angeles I think. At least I thought so when I found his image used in a window display.

Honest Abe in the land of fiction.

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

Danny Bonaduce on Melrose Ave.// I was at a party this weekend...

Mon, 15 Aug 2011 21:46:00 -0400

Danny Bonaduce on Melrose Ave.//

I was at a party this weekend talking about photographing in Los Angeles, and at one point the topic of celebrities came up. It’s always a bit absurd to talk about it because in my four and half years there I can only recall spotting a few famous people while walking around.

I’m sure I passed several more but had no clue since they never look how they do on TV or in the magazines. Also, I didn’t care that much. Except for the time I passed Quentin Tarantino on Hollywood Blvd. That was interesting but the photograph I made isn’t very good.

It’s one thing to see the celebrity but trying to make a decent photograph is another story, especially while casually roaming around shooting ‘street.’

On one particularly sunny Los Angeles weekend afternoon I was walking around Melrose, the area around where I lived, when I spotted Danny Bonaduce from across the street. It was an odd moment of recognition. Not because I watched him on reality TV, but because I was working in Downtown Los Angeles at the time and had seen him walking around on several occasions. I have no idea what he was doing down there but it must have been obligation.

So, when he caught me eye walking confidently down Melrose I figured I’d take a shot at making a photograph. I caught a walk signal and crossed the street just in time to intersect with him. As I stepped up onto the sidewalk I lifted my XA and pushed the shutter. Initially I had a strong sense that he saw me and knew that I took his photographs.

But when I looked at the resulting photograph, I wasn’t sure. He just looked like he was in Danny Bonaduce land, oblivious to everything. I’m not sure that comes across in the photograph but I’ve always kept it in the ‘Medicine’ edit because it represents one of those strange encounters that just seems to fit with the vibe of the series.

Santa Monica, Calif.// The main reason I’ve been digging...

Sun, 03 Jul 2011 00:16:00 -0400

Santa Monica, Calif.//

The main reason I’ve been digging through this series is because I’m planning on turning it into a zine. I have a rough idea about the edit but that’s never good enough. So I’ve enlisted my friend Alexander Martinez (zine maestro) to help me with the edit and process of turning it into a zine.

I might have said it before but I’l repeat it again. One of the best things about all this internet stuff is connecting with other people who have similar interests and ideas as you. It can be intimidating reaching out initially but I it’s worthwhile, especially if you think the person might have a similar sensibility as you do.

It’s been about five years since I made these photographs. I’ve made edits. I’ve thought about them. I’ve written a few words. I’ve thought about them again. I’ve posted them on Flickr and Tumblr. I’ve asked my friend for their opinions.

It’s all apart of the process. You make work and then struggle to finish it. The battle with this series is almost done. I have a few more words to write but I’m not worried about that anymore. The course is set and I can’t wait to put this work into print.

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

Featured in Urbanautica and The SIP Blog// I answered a few...

Sun, 05 Jun 2011 13:12:00 -0400

Featured in Urbanautica and The SIP Blog//

I answered a few questions for the guys over at Urbanautica about my work. They ended showcasing photographs from my Medicine series which I’ve been putting up on the blog the last few weeks.

I started making photographs about a year after I moved to Los Angeles from my home state of Minnesota. Initially the desire was very much just to document my California experience because I had a hunch that I probably wasn’t going to live there for more than a few years. So yes, it was very much this impulse and desire not to forget. And also to simply have some mementos to share - “Oh, I lived in Los Angeles many years ago. Here are some photographs.” But after I started studying photography and learned a bit more about the history, and especially the history of street photography, I slowly began to develop a more philosophical approach to the experience of making photographs. Much of my practice is rooted in the theory of Debord’s ‘derive’ at least as best as I can understand it, which admittedly is only superficially. Essentially I enjoy getting habitually lost in my surroundings and allowing my intuition to guide me through my urban strolls. I like to think that the photographs are the residue of these experiences. And that’s really all they can be. They can never really fully communicate the actual experience. Collectively, I guess I hope they communicate the feeling of drifting around the city and being open to what one sees on a day to day basis. I have a long way to go though, and plenty to learn. Often times your mind is about two or three steps ahead of your actual artistic ability. - Read more

The SIP Blog approached with an interesting idea. They wanted me to write some reflections on the American Road Ghost series I completed a few years ago.

Still, as I look back on the project I feel a great sense of accomplishment. I set out with an idea and explored it as fully as possible within a given period of time. Whether or not the results make for a compelling photographic series, I’m not sure. However, I do know that I’ll always look back on that series as a pivotal evolutionary leap in my photographic process. It represents an awakening to the power and importance of ideas in the photographic process. - Read more

It’s always kind of strange to have work you made a few years ago featured. Writing about it though has made me think a bit more deeply about what I’m doing and why which is always important. Once you start type, you really have no idea what’s going to come out of your head, sort of like when you leave the house with your camera, you really never know what you’re going to photograph.

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