@lightcomesthrough in the Rothko room @themuseumofmodernart Photo taken during a cold weather photo walk back in March 2025 Photo on modern itype @polaroid film, shot with a Mamiya RZ67 and a second generation @analoguestudiodc Polaroid back for integral film #moma #rothko #lightcomesthrough #mamiyarz67 #polaroiditypefilm

Extremely esoteric photography story time! I've had this 8x10 camera, an Eastman Commercial View B, for almost a decade. It's made of magnesium. Very lightweight. Ansel Adams had one. I haven't used it much, because these cameras don't have shutters. So usually you use them with lenses with built-in shutters. I've got one such lens that I've used, and it's fine, but not very exciting. Back in the old days, you didn't need a shutter because the photography process you used—wet-plate collodion, also known as "tintype," is one example—needed so much time to expose, like a few seconds, so you could literally use your hat as a shutter. Put your hat on the lens, set up your plate, open the plate holder, take the hat off for ten seconds, put the hat back on, and then close your plate holder. Over time I've collected lenses from that era. Old brass bodies, from the mid-1800s through the early 1900s. I've got a whole bunch! My earliest is from the 1850s - only thirty or so years after photography was invented. The one on there now is a "Magic Portrait" petzval lens. But I don't shoot old processes. I shoot fast modern film, so I had no way to use my old lenses. Until now. The box on the front of my camera is a custom piece of equipment that just arrived today from Jerry Gordon Jr. It's a huge curtain shutter, very rare, made to go on the back of a camera, that allows me to shoot from 1/25s to 1/700s. Jerry modified it to go on the front of mine. That, coupled with the iris (the round metal ring on the front of the wooden box), allows me to easily mount any lens I want, and I've added cinema support bits rigged together to support the lens (which is way too much lens, ordinarily, for a lightweight field camera like mine). I'm pretty much unstoppable now. My first shoot with it is next week. I can't wait.

A portrait of @marinahita at the @ritzcarltonbacarasb . Photographed on large format film.

This is "Desperation," 2021, part of the "My Generation" project, featuring @whitney.masters and @jennshaffer8 with makeup and hairstyling by @mika_mikaela_beauty . I'm reposting this now to reveal the inspiration behind the artwork. On the next slide are two images by one of my photographic heroes, David LaChapelle: a portrait of singer-songwriter Sophie B. Hawkins, and a later ad for Kahlua that duplicates this portrait. I remember seeing the Kahlua ad and thinking how LaChapelle goes all-in on sexualization in typical over-the-top fashion, and two decades after this first impression, I wanted to recontextualize this pandering to the male gaze in a more ominous way. And yes, that's cottage cheese instead of milk.

"Behold, the Woman," featuring @tsziaaa . Second part of a diptych. Photographed on large format film, printed, and gilded with 24k gold, as an homage to "Ecce Homo" by Jean Hey, 1494. Swipe to see the original painting. Trans rights are human rights. Merry Christmas.

"Behold, the Man," featuring @mickdouch . First part of a diptych. Photographed on large format film, printed, and gilded with 24k gold, as an homage to "Ecce Homo" by Jean Hey, 1494. Swipe to see the original painting. Trans rights are human rights. Merry Christmas.

"Heavy," featuring @cleo.eternal . The latest in the "My Generation" series. Photographed on location in Chicago.

Thank you to those that came to my opening reception for "For Which It Stands" at @brooklynfilmcamera , and to those that visited during its monthlong takeover of the space. It's been a lovely experience showing my project, especially in a place that is so central to my artistic practice in New York. Pictured here are my two sons visiting the main wall of the project.

TOMORROW TOMORROW TOMORROW! My first solo show "For Which It Stands," which will be at @brooklynfilmcamera , will have the opening reception October 2nd, 7 to 9pm - I hope to see you there! Link in bio. Between the election of 2024 and the following inauguration was a time of Big Feelings in America: a pivotal moment in American history. Everyone waited with bated breath, steeling for what would come next; some with anticipation, others with dread. I wanted to capture this moment, that pause before the nation leaped: what my generation, millennials, were feeling. Each participant was handed a casket flag – five feet by nine and a half feet and made in the USA – and asked “What does this flag make you feel right now?” Their answers went on the marquee, and they posed with the flag however they wanted. There are thirty-four total portraits. This one is entitled "Jim, Chicago IL."

Continuing to post portraits from my first solo show "For Which It Stands," which will be at @brooklynfilmcamera . The opening reception is October 2nd - I hope to see you there. Link in bio. Between the election of 2024 and the following inauguration was a time of Big Feelings in America: a pivotal moment in American history. Everyone waited with bated breath, steeling for what would come next; some with anticipation, others with dread. I wanted to capture this moment, that pause before the nation leaped: what my generation, millennials, were feeling. Each participant was handed a casket flag – five feet by nine and a half feet and made in the USA – and asked “What does this flag make you feel right now?” Their answers went on the marquee, and they posed with the flag however they wanted. There are thirty-four total portraits. This one is entitled "Sophia, Brooklyn, NY."

Continuing to post portraits from my first solo show "For Which It Stands," which will be at @brooklynfilmcamera . The opening reception is October 2nd - I hope to see you there. Link in bio. Between the election of 2024 and the following inauguration was a time of Big Feelings in America: a pivotal moment in American history. Everyone waited with bated breath, steeling for what would come next; some with anticipation, others with dread. I wanted to capture this moment, that pause before the nation leaped: what my generation, millennials, were feeling. Each participant was handed a casket flag – five feet by nine and a half feet and made in the USA – and asked “What does this flag make you feel right now?” Their answers went on the marquee, and they posed with the flag however they wanted. There are thirty-four total portraits. This one is entitled "Davon, Queens, NY."

Continuing to post portraits from my first solo show "For Which It Stands," which will be at @brooklynfilmcamera . The opening reception is October 2nd - I hope to see you there. Link in bio. Between the election of 2024 and the following inauguration was a time of Big Feelings in America: a pivotal moment in American history. Everyone waited with bated breath, steeling for what would come next; some with anticipation, others with dread. I wanted to capture this moment, that pause before the nation leaped: what my generation, millennials, were feeling. Each participant was handed a casket flag – five feet by nine and a half feet and made in the USA – and asked “What does this flag make you feel right now?” Their answers went on the marquee, and they posed with the flag however they wanted. There are thirty-four total portraits. This one is entitled "Judson, New York City."