The Serial Box: Archive

Don't Forget Haiti...

Since the day after the earthquake, I have struggled with whether or not I could/should go to Haiti. As the images began to pour in, my overwhelming desire was to go and to go immediately. But then different stories started to trickle in, stories of people just showing up without purpose and I began to feel uneasy. I read of photographers stuck at the airport having no idea where to go. I heard...

Jul 22nd

Beyond the Still

I’ve been itching to enter Canon and Vimeo’s Beyond the Still film contest for months now. After I watched my friends Scott Brignac and Cody Bess collaborate on the second chapter, make the top 5, and have a blast, I knew that I had to do it. Now, I have never written/directed/shot/edited anything narrative before and I thought that this contest provided a great opportunity to try it...

Jun 22nd

6 notes

5 tags

Airplane Quiet

Now I have been flying pretty regularly on airplanes since I was a little kid. My parents are divorced so all of the major holidays usually meant a couple of trips on an airplane. I have never been uncomfortable or uneasy on planes. But last fall, on a flight home from a shoot in Chicago, the plane I was flying in was struck by lightning as we were in the steepest part of our ascent. I mean, a...

Jun 2nd

4 notes

A Silent 2010

It has been quiet here on the blog this year. My last post was a wrap up of 2009 and here we are rounding second base in 2010. An entire half of a year later. I want to apologize for the silence. Not necessarily to you, the readers…I wouldn’t presume to believe that my lack of writing has in any way lessened your 2010. I mostly mean to publicly apologize for not making space for this...

Jun 1st

A bit of blog soundtrack to get us rolling… ...

Jun 1st

1 note

Paper Route - A Night in Review

In honor of all of the year-end retrospectives floating around, I thought that I would share a few images I made in New York this fall. I was in town for a few meetings and happened to overlap with the Paper Route guys. They were playing a show at Webster Hall and I managed to make it over to hang out for the evening. It was great to catch up with the guys and hang out a bit in such a great...

Dec 30th

Max's Postcards

I have been a big fan of Max Richter’s work for a while now and earlier this year, picked up his “24 Postcards in Full Color.” The music is fantastic. It has been on heavy rotation for me and in fact, this is a collection of short pieces that were intended for use as ringtones. I’ll just let him explain it himself: Now I am not sure if you caught this specific line,...

Dec 18th

Postcard Number One

Postcard One from Ryan Booth on Vimeo. Remember, you can check out Max’s site here or just go toiTunes. Feel free to email your comments to ryanwrites[at]gmail[dot]com or just click here.

Dec 18th

The "Serial Box"

Over the past couple of years, I have been meeting with a handful of guys nearly every thursday morning for breakfast. We are all more or less involved in some aspect of media production and, not that infrequently, have each expressed a desire to have some kind of collective studio/production/work space… Well, last week, we finally made that happen. We kind of stumbled onto this great...

Nov 13th

Time for more blog soundtrack…just press...

Nov 2nd

I spent some more time in New York a couple of weeks ago… I had planned on a formal, big lights, full on Street|Portraits set-up, but unfortunately things didn’t quite go according to plan… I wouldn’t say that it was a total and complete disaster because gear issues not withstanding, I did manage to get setup in SoHo to make a few images. During a normal Street|Portrait...

Nov 2nd

I came across this RadioDiaries (one of my...

Oct 23rd

"Go Outside"

It seems that technology, perhaps more than anything, creates issues of scale… Global supply chains and communication networks and flight paths are causing our definitions of “neighbor” to flex to meet the reality of real-time, world-wide interactions. I can talk to someone across the world, instantly. Hell, I can get nearly anywhere on this planet in 24-48 hours. Anywhere....

Oct 21st

Westheimer Street Portraits

I haven’t finished writing my NYC Street|Portrait post (it is coming!), but in the mean time, I must say, it was nice to be back shooting some portraits in Houston. It was a quick set up and an even speedier turn around this evening, so I wanted to go ahead and get them up on the blog. My friend Cody and I wrapped up an editorial shoot for a small magazine here in Houston and decided to...

Oct 20th

Do me a favor? Press play and then read the...

Sep 17th

2 notes

I spent some time in New York this week and was reminded, as I always am when in the city, how palpable the energy is… I love the speed with which everything moves, the way that people carry themselves. It is incredibly stimulating. I can only imagine the space one would need to carve out to find some quiet when it all becomes over-stimulating. It was a whirlwind trip (as it always seems...

Sep 17th

Street|Portraits in the park...

To this point, I have been setting up for these StreetPortrait sessions in pretty high traffic, high activity intersections. People are going somewhere. It seems that the real skill is trying to convince someone to take the time (no matter how little) to have a portrait made. Interestingly, it tends to exclude the “busy” people. So I thought that I would change it up. For this...

Sep 11th

(This is a little Post-Script post from...

Sep 11th

Gear Geek-out

Sep 10th

Now, I know that this isn’t a polished...

Aug 28th

Analog(ging) Lists

Now, I don’t know about you guys, but all those iPhone productivity apps and desktop organizers and essentially every digital tool that exists to make and manage to do lists are completely lost on me. They are nice and sleek and sound like such a great idea, but it seems that I inevitably end up needing an analog to do list to keep up with my digital to do list. So, why add the extra step?...

Aug 27th

PAPER ROUTE REDUX

I realized that I ended up skipping right on over my PaperRoute blog post that I wrote a few months ago. I think they are coming back in town soon, so, in honor of an upcoming Paper Route show, my original blog post: Ok, full disclosure. I knew these guys from my Nashville days… We ran in overlapping circles and would end up at the same party or cookout or concerts from time to time. In...

Aug 24th

1 note

Will you do me a favor? Just press play and...

Aug 20th

Main Street Portraits

I got a call from a photographer and now friend here in town named Cody Bess… Seems Cody and a few other local guys had been thinking about trying out a StreetPortrait setup of their own. Cody scoped out a location, got some gear together, and asked if I wanted to come out so we could all shoot together. Well, of course I would love to… It was really great to do a StreetPortrait...

Aug 20th

RadioLab - Moments

I am constantly astounded at both the quantity and quality of information that is available in the form of podcasts. Trust me, Radio is back and in a major kind of way. It exists in this sweet spot between Film and Literature. It is linear and conversational and when done well, can be quite captivating. It is often a little meatier than a film in that it requires you to actively participate in...

Aug 19th

The Hassy

On several of my recent promo shoots I have consulted Houston’s resident film expert, Marc Brubaker, and he has either generously loaned me some of his excellent vintage camera gear or acted as my (actual) assistant on the shoot (loading film, changing backs, generally knowing more than the photographer). Now, I started out shooting film. My first band shoot was on a Canon AE-1. I shot...

Aug 13th

I am getting really excited about the fall… I have several video projects that are coming together and if everything continues in current fashion, will have shot at least one project on a RED camera by the end of the year… Folks, I am serious. I love shooting moving images… Unfortunately, I won’t be able to post much of my paid video work until it is released by clients,...

Aug 11th

Babys by Bon Iver I cannot get this song out of...

Aug 6th

"STREET STUDIO" as Inspiration

Ok, I have already received several emails regarding the previous post about the free photographic omnibus. It seems that seeing some sources of “street portrait” inspiration strikes a cord… Einstein said, “the secret to creativity is hiding your sources…” so maybe I am blowing it by showing you some of my sources of inspiration. But honestly, I don’t...

Jul 29th

Free Photographic Omnibus

Just in case you need some proof that “street studios” have been around for a long, long time, then take a few minutes to watch this video. (sorry, can’t embed it) If you don’t feel like watching the video, then at least glance at these images: A photographer named Daniel Meadows spent a lot of time criss-crossing Britain in his “omnibus”, stopping whenever...

Jul 28th

“the book of love is long and boring no one can lift the damn thing its full...”

– The Magnetic Fields (via Peter Gabriel)

Jul 28th

A Street Portrait Session cut short...

practice, practice, practice… anne’s older brother, brian, called me a couple of days ago to see if i would be interested in coming out to the “scream the prayer” tour and daylong event to shoot some promo for a band that was swinging through town. brian is pretty connected with several of the bands on the tour and he has a screen-printing shop in the admin offices of the club that was...

Jul 24th

JEZ Promotional

I recently shot promotional work for an artist named JEZ… Some images: I invited my friend Trae to come out and shoot some video while we were shooting the stills… I have some loosely formed concepts for multimedia promotion, knew the location would be great for it, and thought we could kick around some ideas. The footage looks great. I am not sure how much I am going...

Jul 23rd

“A tape recorder with microphone in hand…can be used to capture the voice of a...”

– Studs Terkel

Jul 13th

Another Street Portrait endeavor

I know that I mentioned that I went out and set up another portrait station a week or so ago, but I haven’t had a chance to share much about the experience. It has been a busy last few weeks and for that I am grateful. Anne and I live in a neighborhood called Montrose… It is a lovely part of town. We live right on a light-rail line which Anne uses nearly every day for work and nearly...

Jul 9th

Happy Birthday to Anne (the small things)

For my wife, on her birthday…a few words: We spent last weekend out of town at a friends house for the 4th. It was mid-afternoon and we had returned from running errands and getting things ready for the big meal later in the day. Everyone was kind of on their own, taking it easy. I was in the kitchen, rummaging around, and I looked out the window to see Anne outside, by herself,...

Jul 8th

Fireworks!

So, this was one of my twitter posts just before the July 4th weekend: Now part of the reason that I don’t like to take concert photographs (very often), as I have said before, is that I cannot really enjoy the music if I am focused on capturing the images. I cannot multi-task when it comes to creating visual media. Good when I am working, but not necessarily good when I am just...

Jul 8th

Prairie Dog Mountain

The other day, a friend and fellow photographer called me to let me know that he was about to go shoot an indie hip-hop duo at the Houston Zoo. In an of itself, let’s be honest, that just isn’t THAT interesting and in reality, the zoo is a rather tricky place to shoot. It is hard to control the environment and even more difficult to make it look like you aren’t in, well, the...

May 21st

Watch

This is another great stop-motion piece… I mean, kind of silly that the credits are nearly as long as the piece itself, but still, pretty inventive. It definitely makes me want to have a studio space… :)

May 11th

May 2nd

“in the silence, you’re the first one that i turn to. you’re the...”

– PAPER ROUTE

Apr 29th

Houston Street Portraits

I have made a promise to myself: If I ever have enough rental gear to set up a street portrait station (and time before I have to take it back), then I will set up and shoot portraits. However, this time, it was a much smaller operation. I called my friend Marc to have him come assist… Again, first thing is to pick the location. I have been keeping my eyes open for good places to shoot...

Apr 29th

2 notes

This week’s Bill Moyers podcast (a frequent...

Apr 21st

Dallas Street Portraits

I must confess, I love making these portraits of complete strangers. I have done this a few times over the last several months: simply throw up a backdrop, put up a single light source, and then start pulling people off the street to make photographs of… In a way, it is kind of like scooping fish out of a fishtank…your subjects have been removed from their environment, from their...

Apr 15th

Film!

This past week, I shot the promotional materials for the new, yet to be titled, Robbie Seay Band record (which will come out later this summer). I have worked with these guys in various capacities for the last couple of years and was very excited to have been chosen by EMI for this project. That really isn’t the point though. The point is that I did something while shooting that I...

Apr 15th

A Technological Moment

I was in a store for a few minutes the other day and through the overhead speakers they were playing this pretty vibey 80’s inspired song. I just happened to notice it cause it sounded slightly out of place, like it shouldn’t have been played so casually in a “background noise” kind of way. Then there was this moment in the song where everything dropped out and it was...

Apr 14th

Bruce Gilden

Another Magnum photographer… I love seeing other photographers work. Especially a guy like Gilden. I have wandered NYC shooting images on the street, but I really can’t imagine being that forward and well, to put it plainly, aggressive…

Apr 13th

Sebastiao Salgado →

If you aren’t familiar with Salgado, stop what you are doing and go pick up his “Africa” book, published by Taschen. It is fantastic, inspiring stuff. PS: If you happen to have $200,000 lying around, you could bid on his camera system on ebay…

Apr 13th

Henry

From time to time I will probably post some “b-side” images… These are images that I particularly enjoy, but perhaps don’t exactly fit into my portfolio, per se. Usually it is that there is some story that surrounds the image that tricks my mind into thinking that it is “better” than it really is…that really it is probably more blog image than portfolio...

Apr 1st

"WHERE THE..."

Is this a fantastic photograph? Nope. Is this some new amazing photographic technique? Nope. I just was playing around with a grid-spot while these guys were tracking in the studio. Is there absolutely anything about this image that would justify a blog post? Yep. Notice the t-shirt the guy is wearing… “WHERE THE…” I’ll finish that sentence for you: ...

Apr 1st