02.16.14 The Double R Cafe.
“Every day, once a day, give yourself a present. Don’t plan it, don’t wait for it, just let it happen. It could be a new shirt at the men’s store, a catnap in your office chair or two cups of good hot black coffee.” – Special Agent Dale Cooper
(Damn fine words to live by)
02.16.14 The Double R Cafe.
“Every day, once a day, give yourself a present. Don’t plan it, don’t wait for it, just let it happen. It could be a new shirt at the men’s store, a catnap in your office chair or two cups of good hot black coffee.” – Special Agent Dale Cooper
(Damn fine words to live by)
Thank you. It’s been an amazing year so far. Excited to see what else it brings.
Thank you.
Couldn’t agree more. Over all it was all pretty damn amazing!!!!
Julie. Portland. 2014. Polaroid 1686.
02.15.14 Seattle.
So a buddy of mine, Mr. chrisxglass, sent me this link: HERE
Which lead me to the guy that created the story, Marlow Stern and the original article here. Marlow asked Sasha Grey at SXSW if it was her:
“I whip out my iPhone and show her the image of “Woman and Crucifix.”
“What the fuck?!” she exclaims. She’s in shock. “That’s my nose! That’s me! One hundred percent … I’m in True Detective!” she shrieks in jest. “That’s the opening credits? Yeah, I need to find out about this. That’s so weird.””
Its super weird! But sadly just a mistake. For those of you that didn’t see my post about it. My original photo of Machete was posted in 2011 and the company that make the opening sequences for True Detectives reached out to me to use the photo in the amazing opening. I was hugely flattered, and even more so after seeing how amazing the show is. Heres the photo used in the show and my original:
Since the show aired, and gained in popularity shockingly this photo has been talked about in the opening sequence a lot. There was a reddit post theorizing if it held some secrets about the fait of Woody Harrelson’s daughter in the show found here.
Another searching to find out who the photo is of, here.
I kind of figured after those that would really be the end of people talking about the photo. Then today its got really interesting when I started to follow the wildfire of sites that picked up Marlow’s story its get really fun:
Huffington Post actually links to a Reddit Post that actually has people stating the photos is mine with links and then laughing at the Huffington Post article for not fully reading the Reddit Article and saving themselves a misprint.
Nerve (who added “Whoever is in charge of stock images at HBO is not on top of their game. Sasha Grey already appeared on HBO back in 2010, when she played Vinny Chase’s girlfriend on Entourage, everyone’s most favorite show ever (that’s a joke). And now here she is again, in a topless picture with a glowing cross Photoshopped into her hair. Yo, HBO, Sasha Grey is a famous person! You wouldn’t put Ron Jeremy’s picture in the opening credits of Game of Thrones. And then you didn’t even tell her! She had to find out from a reporter for The Daily Beast. Y’all messed up. Unless this is another cryptic mystery for Rust & Marty to solve? Something about the Yellow King and the Grey Queen?” – Liam Mathews)
All in all it was a pretty fun day to read all of this and I believe I can speak for Machete and myself that we are flattered Sasha mistook it for a photo as herself; however it is not.
HBO, to their credit, took the time to hunt through tumblr and find me to get the rights for the photo in the sequence. Now a days thats a pretty rare thing and ironic given the due diligence HBO went through to get the rights for the photo, while none of the above sites did half as much work before posting their stories. Well done HBO. Thank you for making me a small part of an amazing show.
02.14.14 Me. Portland.
So this is 30…
I decide the instant I turned 30 Id take a self portrait for the project. In prepping to post this for the 365 Days of Leica I looked up quotes about turning 30; there are TONS! Most designed to assure the reluctant youth hidden in yourself that “things aren’t over!” But some more honest.
One I particularly thought was interesting is “[t]he boy gathers materials for a temple, and then when he is thirty, concludes to build a woodshed” – Henry David Thoreau
I think for too many people life is about becoming complacent. Your 20s are about being able to pay your bills, find ways to support yourself and become independent; typical life after college. Most people in their 30s settle for that “woodshed.” Settling is easier. Letting that flame that keeps you discontent with any thing but your dreams simply extinguish is like letting go of a large weight most people picked up in their youth and by 30 wonder why they are still holding.
In my own life, being a mix of fiercely pragmatic, and conversely hopelessly romantic, the two sides of my mind battle with the idea complacency; I think this truly is where my two parents intersect in my brain, the pragmatic butting against the passionate. (You may think one parent being one, while the other representing the other, but I think both of my parents themselves struggled with the conflict)
Returning to photography for me, and creating art, a few years ago, was a move against the “woodshed”notion to push for the “temple.” Not from a financial perspective, damn you cost of film!, but more so from a life perspective. Photography fulfills a part of me that is constantly pushing for more. Aspiring to be greater, to refine, to advance, but with no interest in any career agenda other than the fulfillment it brings to my life to create something.
Rejecting the “woodshed” has lead into an “adulthood” that has been some of the most fulfilling years of my life; I know that steps dangerously close to the many hallmark quotes of turning 30. For me 25 to 30 has been a exercise in learning what kind of adult I want to be. Of all the questions in my life, I think this has shaped up to be the most fulfilling to answer. The young punker in me reminds me of my goals as a youth, and the pragmatist in me pushes me to be grateful for what I have and to “just relax.”
The days, and really the modus operandi, that I find the most fulfilling, is to live directly between the two. Part of this project is for me to do both everyday.
I photograph my life to remind myself to be thankful for even the small things in it, but I push myself everyday to shoot so that Im always getting better.
Recently, probably like most of you, I watched Season 2 of House of Cards, and theres a quote in there that “To improve is to change. To perfect is to change often,” originally said by Winston Churchill.
Its kind of stuck with me since I heard it, and even after sifting through hundreds of quotes for this post, and the many other posts so far, I think that quote is the defining agenda for myself going into 30.
It reminds me to push to change to be better, struggle against complacency, rage against giving up, and never settle for anything short of your passions.
Derek Woods (thirty year old)
02.14.14 Me. Portland.
So this is 30…
I decide the instant I turned 30 Id take a self portrait for the project. In prepping to post this for the 365 Days of Leica I looked up quotes about turning 30; there are TONS! Most designed to assure the reluctant youth hidden in yourself that “things aren’t over!” But some more honest.
One I particularly thought was interesting is “[t]he boy gathers materials for a temple, and then when he is thirty, concludes to build a woodshed” – Henry David Thoreau
I think for too many people life is about becoming complacent. Your 20s are about being able to pay your bills, find ways to support yourself and become independent; typical life after college. Most people in their 30s settle for that “woodshed.” Settling is easier. Letting that flame that keeps you discontent with any thing but your dreams simply extinguish is like letting go of a large weight most people picked up in their youth and by 30 wonder why they are still holding.
In my own life, being a mix of fiercely pragmatic, and conversely hopelessly romantic, the two sides of my mind battle with the idea complacency; I think this truly is where my two parents intersect in my brain, the pragmatic butting against the passionate. (You may think one parent being one, while the other representing the other, but I think both of my parents themselves struggled with the conflict)
Returning to photography for me, and creating art, a few years ago, was a move against the “woodshed”notion to push for the “temple.” Not from a financial perspective, damn you cost of film!, but more so from a life perspective. Photography fulfills a part of me that is constantly pushing for more. Aspiring to be greater, to refine, to advance, but with no interest in any career agenda other than the fulfillment it brings to my life to create something.
Rejecting the “woodshed” has lead into an “adulthood” that has been some of the most fulfilling years of my life; I know that steps dangerously close to the many hallmark quotes of turning 30. For me 25 to 30 has been a exercise in learning what kind of adult I want to be. Of all the questions in my life, I think this has shaped up to be the most fulfilling to answer. The young punker in me reminds me of my goals as a youth, and the pragmatist in me pushes me to be grateful for what I have and to “just relax.”
The days, and really the modus operandi, that I find the most fulfilling, is to live directly between the two. Part of this project is for me to do both everyday.
I photograph my life to remind myself to be thankful for even the small things in it, but I push myself everyday to shoot so that Im always getting better.
Recently, probably like most of you, I watched Season 2 of House of Cards, and theres a quote in there that “To improve is to change. To perfect is to change often,” originally said by Winston Churchill.
Its kind of stuck with me since I heard it, and even after sifting through hundreds of quotes for this post, and the many other posts so far, I think that quote is the defining agenda for myself going into 30.
It reminds me to push to change to be better, struggle against complacency, rage against giving up, and never settle for anything short of your passions.
Derek Woods (thirty year old)
Derek Woods Photography 