Charles Darr

Only a couple of weeks away from the opening of FRAMERATE: Desert Pulse at @dbgphx ! Here are just a handful of the views I enjoyed as I spent a year (the hottest one on record 😅), rucking through the desert as lead photographer and LiDAR tech on behalf of @scanlab_projects , gathering thousands of scans and tens of thousands of photographs. The exhibition features time-lapses, some covering a day, most covering the entire year, recorded as 3D point cloud datasets, which allow multiple waypoint animations to be generated per site, exploring key areas of interest through various vantage points. This approach uncovers myriad sustainability challenges that a place like the Phoenix Metro Area puts into high relief. Issues such as drought, extreme heat, sprawl/encroachment, industrial agriculture, biodiversity loss, car culture, and the competing interests of recreation and preservation emerge from the time-lapses that were created, along with new growth after monsoons, flowers blooming, and other ways in which life persists despite immense pressure. If you make it all the way to the last slide you can watch the official trailer for the show, which opens October 11th, and is included with general admission to the garden. Photos of me courtesy of @thewildquay

Updated link in bio - New post for the readers. I wrote about how David Foster Wallace's famous commencement speech, This Is Water, is actually about photography. I'm revealing my conclusion in this post for the tl;dr crowd, but maybe some of you will be interested to see how I got there?

Mo in front of a cactus that Bill propagated from a nopal pup Me and Bill shot by Mo 4x5 Kodak Ektar

Optical Unconscious

Got some film back from last month Kodak Ektar, Contax T2

Some medium format Bill from last month @pushingmywalker

Recent phone pics

2026_03_03

Some medium format portraits from @slowimpactaz Kodak Gold 200 Fujifilm GW670ii Pro Rangefinder

"Strive to be the same person in all contexts" - @m3thias Some digital point and shoot photos from @slowimpactaz Very honored to be part of the @csef team, and happy we get to make a contribution to such a great event Getting film developed soon

From 2022 to 2025, I worked for @cowtown_nonprofit , as a development and communications consultant, then as executive director, and then as an external relations specialist. During my tenure, I structured the nonprofit's charter to focus on accessibility, and focused on developing organizational foundations, sustainability, and scalability, organizing efforts into a cohesive, fundable organization with measurable impact and growth targets. My work included developing strategic plans and authoring guidance documents, establishing KPIs, and leading outreach and communications by producing newsletters, press releases, social media videos, printed collateral, pitch decks, project proposals, and presentations for elected officials.  I also got the opportunity to develop a strategy for turning our local fundraising project, Skateboard Angel, into a national coalition of affiliate partners, providing skateboards to kids in need around the country.  And I was entrusted to fully develop Skate & Create, a program that leverages kinesthetic learning into vocational education, teaching kids skateboarding and Adobe Illustrator foundations in South Phoenix. I was most excited to lead to our efforts with the cities of Phoenix and Tempe to push for a new, more equitable direction of public skate infrastructure development, focusing on distributed micro-spots rather than dispersed suburban megaplexes.  At the end of my tenure, I made a new website for Cowtown S.K.A.T.E., one that hopefully provides all the key information you would want to know about a mission-driven organization — mission, vision, strategy including programs and partnerships, impact, and financial disclosures. Anyway, I finished up the website last fall and have been wanting to share it since, but I keep forgetting. Go check out cowtownskate.org if you’re into this sort of stuff.