Week five is live.

You know what’s up.

The weekly photographic episode is ready to go.

Week two is up.

Brand-new, often unshiny photo project featuring Josh Monk and myself here. Join us for fifty-two weeks of pixels galore.

Suffice it to say there was a lot of alcohol consumption going on.

This right here is why I love working with natural light.

The Sigma 10-20mm is slowly showing me the things it does. Others may not like its willingness to flare; I love it. The Rathaus never looked more spectacular.

Eberhard Ludwig: fierce.

The Stadtkirche, unfortunately closed to non-congregation.

They can’t close the outside.

Apparently I’m that guy who sneaks up behind you when you think you’re having a private moment.

Simple beauty in the marketplace.

The fountains in front of the 5M Migros, now celebrating its 10th year in Antalya.

I love how the Sigma turns portraits into bizarre caricatures.

I didn’t mean to imply that I don’t like the Sigma for landscapes. It’s awesome.

I’ve been having a lot of fun with the Sigma 10-20mm. I know a lot of people like to use it for landscapes but I think it’s a pretty sweet lens for getting up close.

I’ve recently purchased a new lens (pictures coming soon), but nothing will ever match the love I have for my VR.

Today I completed my year-long tenebræ self-portrait series, and I have to say, I have more respect than ever for people who do 365 self-portrait projects. I think of myself as the kind of person who likes to take self-portraits, but I ended up reassessing my initial aim for doing a 100 portraits in a year, and settled on 66 instead (yes, there is a significance to that number, kudos if you work it out). One thing I’ve learned: I’m not the type to be able to force selfies. From now on, I intend to take the freestyle approach and simply do them when the mood strikes me. I do like this set, though, which you can view in its entirety here.

Every time I explore blue, which isn’t very often, it makes me wonder why I steer clear of it so much. It’s really a lovely colour in the right light.

I was so excited to get my new (old) Helios 81N, that I ran outside and took photos with it before I realised that it was completely smudged up with fingerprints. Oops.

I kind of liked the results anyway.

I didn’t actually mean for this photo to look like it came out of a Lomo, but it just sort of turned out that way. I should get some new batteries for my real LK-A and run a couple of rolls of film through it for old times’ sake. I do love that camera.

Last week I was invited to participate in a photo project by Wrong Studio entitled Mediterranean Quilt. The ideas is for photographers living in seaside cities and towns in the 23 countries all along the Mediterranean coast to send in four “patches” (i.e. four square photographs) to contribute to the quilt. The project is open to anyone living on the Med, and the deadline for submissions isn’t until April, so there’s plenty of time for you to get something together and submit it. I put my submission in a couple of days ago and I’m pretty excited to see how this project turns out. Link

The set is coming along nicely. It’s here.

I ran across the Huebner Family Photos Flickr account quite by accident; it was one of those things where I was so deep into a trail of searching for things that I have no idea how I ended up where I did. But I’m so glad I found this account— if you have some spare time (and if you don’t, make some), their photo collections are well worth a look or three. Basically it seems they’re going through all their old family photos from the past half-century or so, many of which appear to be slides, and they’re converting them all to digital uploads. While that in itself might not be so interesting to anyone who isn’t in their family, where it becomes of interest is the fact that these people travel a lot, and they were traveling fifty years ago, too. They have nearly 4,000 photos up there at the moment, many of which are from Europe in the late 1950s, stretching all the way through to the present day. Also, they appear to be a family of very skilled photographers, which helps.

I can’t even describe how many different kinds of photos are there— you just have to go see it for yourself. The above photo was taken from my favourite set, Czechoslovakia 1988-89. I find that set particularly interesting because I was dating a Czech guy at that time, and it’s amazing to see that his descriptions of his homeland were so incredibly accurate.

I’ve been told by a very reliable source that this is just the beginning, and there are more sets of photos coming soon, including a set from Europe, dated 1961. Can’t wait to see those.

I love looking at other people’s photos of Antalya, just to see how a traveler’s eyes view this fair city. Daniel MacKenzie took this gorgeous shot of three boats in the Old Port, and it’s the best Antalya capture I’ve seen all week, hands down. Great work.

Tonic.com has published a fantastic story about the merits of crowdfunding sites like RocketHub, and Hidden Anatolia is one of the featured projects. It gives me a lot of confidence to know that major web hubs are picking up on the importance of crowdfunding, and thereby acknowledging the importance of independent art. It’s a great article, and it’ll only take you a minute or two to read it (I’ve heard you’re a pretty fast reader). Link

Just a friendly reminder that the clock is ticking on the Hidden Anatolia project, so if you’ve had it in the back of your mind to get in there and become a part of it, now would be a great time! Come on, you’ve got nothing else going on right at this moment— it only takes a minute to help fuel the project, fueling levels begin at just one dollar, you get great rewards for fueling at any level, and best of all, you get to be a patron of independent art! Check it out and fuel, fuel, fuel!

New photo project: 100 self-portraits over the course of a year, with accompanying text by Dante.

I’ve never felt I could do a 365 justice, nor do I want to attempt it. Taking a photo of yourself every single day means you have to do it even when you’re ill, or too busy to do it well, or just not feeling it for whatever reason. In most cases, it seems to become a chore, something people do just for the sake of saying they did it. No one is on their A-game everyday all year round, and to be honest, at this point A-game is the only thing I’m interested in. If that means I take a photo every three days instead of everyday, or take eight in a day when I’m on fire and then skip it for a month when I don’t feel it, then that’s fine. I never want this to be about quota over quality. At the same time, the challenge of a framework is good to push the work ethic. “X amount of photos within Y timeframe” has worked well for me in the past, as it holds me to a number while giving me the flexibility not to take photos on days when those photos would be mediocre at best.

Why self-portraits? Because with all the attractive people around me, I hardly photograph myself anymore. Like my friend Rachel remarked, it’s easy to feel like you’ve forgotten how to capture your own image. And I don’t want to forget.

The set is here; one photo up so far, but you can hook up to the RSS feed on that page and watch them roll in.

Starting June off on the right foot by giving something back— a free promotional desktop for the Hidden Anatolia project. Available in a variety of screen resolutions, in your choice of English or Turkish.

This is just my way of saying thank you to everyone who has fueled the project so far, and to encourage others to do the same. You can be a patron of the independent art movement, and get cool stuff in return! Check it out and take part.

Now, on with the desktops!

2560×1440 English
2560×1440 Türkçe

1920×1200 English
1920×1200 Türkçe

1920×1080 English
1920×1080 Türkçe

1600×1200 English
1600×1200 Türkçe

1600×1050 English
1600×1050 Türkçe

1280×1024 English
1280×1024 Türkçe

1280×960 English
1280×960 Türkçe

1280×854 English
1280×854 Türkçe

1024×768 English
1024×768 Türkçe

320×480 English (iPhone)
320×480 Türkçe (iPhone)

240×320 English (mobile)
240×320 Türkçe (cep telefonu)

Here it is, the very first confirmed location for the Hidden Anatolia project. I put a lot of thought into what my top priority would be, and the Southeastern Anatolian town of Hasankeyf pretty much ticks all the boxes.

What’s so special about this town that I would want to get there before any other place and get it documented? Well, for starters:

• It has been continuously inhabited for nearly three millennia, and has seen no fewer than nine civilisations
• The modern town is built around the historical ruins, many of which are still in very good condition
• It’s situated on the Tigris
• There is a very controversial dam project underway, and if it continues as planned, the dam would put the entire town and all its history permanently underwater. Everyone would have to be relocated. The completion of the dam has already been postponed because of this controversy, but construction will likely continue sometime relatively soon
• i.e. time is of the essence if anyone wants to come and do any sort of comprehensive exploration in situ
• For some reason, people just don’t go there, except to protest the dam being built;
• This is the one place I would be so, so unhappy about if I missed the opportunity to photograph it while it still existed.

That’s it in a nutshell. There are just so many layers of struggle and triumph there, from the Sumerians to the Romans to the Mongols to the Ottomans, and even up through the struggles of the present day. For me there’s something magical about that, and basically I think we just need to go see it for ourselves, you and me. So that’s the plan.

For those who aren’t familiar, the Hidden Anatolia project is a journey to bring to light the most beautiful secrets of the Turkish mainland, one of the most misunderstood areas in the world. The trip will be documented from the road at hiddenanatolia.com, and will culminate in a coffee table book of evocative images and essays from the journey.

Funding for the project is provided via RocketHub, and with the support of people like you, independent artists and journalists like myself can continue to do work like this for the benefit of everyone. Contribution levels begin at just $1, and are not empty donations— there is a rewards structure in place so that all supporters of the project get something back for their contributions. You can select a contribution level that works well for you, and receive great rewards like a postcard from the trip, a free copy of the Hidden Anatolia book, or even a one-of-a-kind canvas print from the journey. Supporters also get special updates, and the opportunity to help shape the direction of the project.

It’s easy to become part of Hidden Anatolia. Simply visit the project page, select a reward level that appeals to you, and contribute with your credit card or PayPal account. RocketHub guarantees your donation, as well— if the project does not receive full funding, all the contributors get their money back. Become a patron of the international arts community, risk free!

Become a part of the Hidden Anatolia project now

Visit hiddenanatolia.com

I’m running a special Week Four offer for the Hidden Anatolia fueling project! Anyone making a new contribution at the $1, $5, or $10 level between now and the end of week four will automatically get their reward bumped up one level!

This gives you the opportunity to get great gifts for even less! This offer is good from 12:00:00 EEDT on 12 May 2010, until 23:59:59 EEDT on 14 May 2010. Even if you have fueled previously, you can fuel again and take advantage of this offer! Be a part of a great project, and get free stuff!

Click here to fuel and get your special reward!

Click here to learn more about the Hidden Anatolia Project

Yeah yeah, I know it’s halfway through week four, but I had to take a long weekend for various reasons, so I’m just now getting back on the posting horse.

The good news is, the end of the third week has taken us over the 25% fueling mark. The current total is $1,253, and I couldn’t be happier with that.

The even better news is that this bodes well for the rest of the fueling process. The great majority of projects that get to the quarter-mark end up getting full funding. Projects that fail usually fail right out of the starting gate, never getting enough momentum to reach the funding level we have now.

That doesn’t mean that there’s not work still to be done, of course, and you can help! If you have $1 (yes, just $1) and can spare one minute to make a difference, you too can help fuel the Hidden Anatolia project. If you have a Facebook account, you don’t even have to sign up for anything new, as you can login with your Facebook details. It’s a really easy thing to do, and you’d really be helping out to make sure this project gets off the ground.

In exchange for your fueling contribution, you’ll receive great rewards. These are real prizes for everyone who contributes, not just some drawing where only one or two people gets something. Everyone who contributes benefits. Depending on your chosen fueling level, you can get anything from your name printed in the acknowledgements of the book, right on up to a one-of-a-kind photo print on canvas! There are some really great rewards, and I encourage you to take a look and find a level that suits you.

Become a part of the project now

More at Keep up with project progress